A Week of Roast Chicken (and other bits and bobs)

I was all alone for the week and took advantage of it by trying out some new recipes. First up, my two (rather epic) baking fails which I mentioned in the last post. The first was my attempt at flapjacks. The second: my attempt at homemade Girl Scout-inspired Thin Mint cookies. What I learned? Don’t guess measurements when baking. I’ve always known I am more of an artist than a scientist, and my approach to cooking and baking is the evidence. I prefer ‘educated guesses’ to measuring spoons and scales…but that results in bad baking! Especially when you are also converting measurements between metric and standard and vice-versa…math and science, ahh!

Fortunately, my cooking has gone better. My inspired idea? Roast a chicken at the weekend, and use it all week long. It’s a traditional custom here in the United Kingdom to have a ‘Sunday roast.’ I am explaining this to you, dear readers, because I had no idea it existed before I experienced my first Sunday roast whilst visiting my boyfriend’s family. My parents still find the idea ‘cute’. What this is, is a large meal on Sunday, with the focus on some sort of roast meat, whether that be chicken, beef or lamb, and accessories of potatoes (roasted or mashed), vegetables, gravy, and then a pudding afterwards. I fell in love with The Roast. A family sitting down at least once a week to a lovely meal? It should be a world-wide institution, don’t ya think?

So anyway, I felt that it was time for me to tackle the roast. How have I gotten through three years of university in Scotland and three years of dating a British man without learning how to roast a chicken?! It’s embarrassing really. So one day, (I’m afraid it was a Saturday), when absolutely no one was home, I roasted a chicken. And you know what, it was easy. I did of course consult my handy cookbooks beforehand (Rachel Allen’s Food for Living was my guide), but all that is really required is sticking the chicken in the oven for an hour and a bit depending on the size of it. I didn’t even bother stuffing it with anything. Just spread some butter over the top, stuck it in a big roasting tin, and put it in the oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes. And it was marvelous.

The hardest part? Letting the meat rest for 15 minutes after lifting it out of the oven. You are meant to do that to let the juices really infuse the meat and make it easier to carve. But the smell! Oh my goodness it was so seductive. Walk into a Boston Market at 5pm and that will be about 1/5 of how good my kitchen smelled.

So what did I do with this big chicken all to myself?

Well, I ate some standing up, and licked my fingers after. After carving all of the meat off the carcass, I made a chicken stock. Then I used some of the meat in my dinner, a tomato-y curry. The next day I shredded some up and added it to my quick and tasty noodle dish. The next day I used big hunks in my fettucini alfredo. The next day, I used shredded meat and some of the stock in risotto. And then I made another curry. And then I ate the rest in a sandwich! Voila, a week of meals!

Soy & Sesame Noodle Dish

Fettucini Alfredo...better than Olive Garden! 

Creamy risotto

So, this Sunday, roast a chicken. Share it if you’re feeling nice, or save it to use all week long.

How to make chicken stock:

Place the chicken carcass in a big soup pot with a few carrots, a celery stick or two, a few cloves of peeled garlic, and an onion, peeled and cut in half. Cover completely with water. Boil for 3 or 4 hours. (It will smell amazing!). First drain the stock by placing a colander over a large bowl to get all the bones and vegetables out. Then strain again with a smaller strainer (or sifter) to get another other little bits out. Use or refrigerate. 

Straining the stock

Dirty dishes? Yeah, me too.

Confession: dirty dishes in the sink annoy me. A lot. Particularly when they have been there for more hours than I think is acceptable. Much to the relief of my flatmates, this timeframe of acceptability has widened since moving in together.   

But you know what I mean. You go into the kitchen to cook some dinner. You need the medium-sized fry pan. You can’t find it. Oh, it’s in the sink, with remnants of someone’s breakfast omelet in it, underneath 2 bowls which had formerly been full of porridge, a saucepan with who knows what in it, and 3 or 4 mugs. There is a wet mess on the bottom of the sink, a faint smell….eugh!

Ok, so what should you do? Step 1, keep calm. There is no point getting angry. From here, you have a few options. 

1) Use a different pan. 

2) Lift everything out of the sink, and wash the pan you need. 

3) Wash all of the dishes.

I would like to say I always do the really kind option #3, but in reality, I switch between all three options. Living with people is difficult, but it is easier when you all work together a bit, and help one another out.  And yes, sometimes this means cleaning up after them. But if you do, they are more likely to clean up after you too. Everyone wins.  

Unfortunately I am all alone in the flat this week! We're on our spring holidays and I returned early to work on essays (I'm feeling more that a bit sorry for myself!). So all the dishes in the kitchen right now....they're mine. I have no one to blame them on at all. I also have had two, 2!, baking 'fails' this week, which have added to the poor state of the kitchen. So I'm hiding out in the family room until I muster the energy to attack the kitchen with hoover, mop and sponge. Yes, it is that bad. (Don't worry flatmates, it will be clean by the time you get home!) 

Also, shout out to Meghan, who is celebrating her 21st birthday today...in Paris! Eat lots of pastry for us all! 

Miscellaneous household tips

Hello, sorry for the hiatus! I'm back! Blame last-week-of-term stress and first-week-of spring-break relaxing. To kick things off again, here are a few household tips.

Tip #1: How to best clean the lint catcher in your clothes dryer? The hoover. I discovered this whilst hoovering the kitchen the other day. There was loads of icky lint on the floor around the dryer, and the dryer door was open, so I just hoovered it all up! It was great! Forget using my fingers from now on!

Another option: A toothbrush. My mom uses one. She keeps it by the dryer, scrapes all the lint off the screen after a load of laundry, and voila, clean screen. Don't use the toothbrush to brush your teeth with afterwards though.


Tip #2: Freeze wine in ice cube trays.  Then use one or two when making pasta sauce, jus etc. Use whatever is left in the bottle at the end of the night to pour into the tray. This a better option than a) drinking it alone and/or b) letting it go off in the back of the cupboard. Keeps it fresh, keeps it handy, is useful for cooking. Plus then you don't have to use that nice bottle you bought to have with dinner. Don't drink the un-frozen cubes though.

Tip #3: Keep track of what you finish from the cupboard. That way, when it comes time to do your weekly shop, you're not scratching you head asking, 'what do we need again'? When one of use finishes (or nearly finishes) something, say, the bag of basmati rice, we write it down on our handy-dandy whiteboard we have hanging in the kitchen. We then add it to our trolley when we do our online Sainsbury's shop. This is particularly useful with non-food items like bin bags and laundry detergent. Otherwise we would forget! 

Finally, Heads up: The Fife Farmer's Market will be in the Greyfriars car park, St Andrews, tomorrow (Saturday) morning, 8-1. Go get those buffalo, venison and cranberry burgers. And chocolates, and breads, and veg...I'm excited! 

Not Your Average Burger and Chips

Every once in a while, one of the flatmates (except Veggie Meghan), craves a burger. And when one of us starts talking about it, we all start craving them, so this is how we deal: Buffalo, Venison, Cranberry burgers. 

These are no ordinary burgers. Oh no. These are Puddledub buffalo, venison and cranberry burgers which we bought at the Fife farmers' market a few week ago and have kept in our freezer until now. These burgers are great. The meat is so lean, and unlike a lot of burgers, there is no grease oozing out of them, meaning they are healthier and not as guilt-inducing. They also are rather inexpensive, at only £4.99 for a pack of 4. Go get yourself some at the next farmers' market (Saturday April 2), you will not regret it! (They also have great lamb steaks which we frequently buy). 

These burgers deserve to be treated with respect, so we placed them on whole wheat buns, with homemade tomato ketchup, grated cheese, caramelized onions and wilted spinach. Next to that we had homemade rosemary sweet potato chips. Yeah, it’s okay to be jealous.

We’re gonna need to take this in steps.

1.     Prep your sweet potato chips. I use one sweet potato for each person eating. Cut them into chip-like shapes (sorry for the obviousness), place them on a baking sheet, drizzle with oil, and throw some rosemary on (fresh if you have it, dried if you don’t). Shake it all about to coat the chips, then put them in a 200degreeC oven for about 45 minutes. Check about halfway through, push them about to make sure they cook evenly. 

2.     Now for the tomato ketchup. Let’s be honest, this is a little over the top, even for me, but we didn’t have any ketchup or mayo in the house, and I like a bit of sauce on my burger, so this is what happened. I don’t know how to make ketchup, at all, and didn’t bother looking it up, so just racked my brain for the list of ingredients on the back of Heinz bottles, and was pretty sure it was just tomatoes, vinegar, sugar and water, so that is what I did. I took a handful of cherry tomatoes, cut them into eighths, and threw in a hot pan with a drizzle of olive oil and let them cook down for just a few minutes. Then I poured in about 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar and let it cook off for 15 minutes. It smells awful, but it gets better with time. Then I poured in about 2 tablespoons of water, and quite a lot of sugar, about ¼ cup or 50 grams. Any sugar will do. Let it all cook down together, adding water if it looks too dry. The longer it cooks the better it will taste, so keep it on the stove until it’s time to serve. Mine turned out to be a bit more of a chutney than a ketchup, but it was seriously yummy and just what I wanted.

I forgot to take photos of the whole process, sorry! 

Oh, yeah, I used butter! Olive oil would be healthier though!

3.     While the chips are in the oven and the ketchup on the hob, caramelize your onions. Thinly slice an onion and tip in into a hot pan with a bit of olive oil. Cook until they brown, about 10 minutes. I added a handful or two of fresh spinach towards the end to wilt.

4    Finally, the burgers! Use a big frying pan (we used the same one we had cooked the onion and spinach in for extra flavour), heat it up, and place your patties in it, no need for oil. Cook for about 10 minutes on each side for medium well.

5.     While the burgers are in the pan, toast your whole wheat buns by slicing them and either putting them in the toaster, or placing in the oven with the chips. Also, grate some cheese so it’s ready to be sprinkled on the hot burger.

6.     Take the chips out of the oven, put a bun on each plate, place a cooked burger on each, and let everyone add their own onions, spinach, and cheese. Eat!!!

In case you’re not convinced, let me just elaborate about the awesome-ness of this meal. It was sensational. I am a Midwestern girl, and I love a burger, but these are just out of this world good. And healthy! Lean meat, with tasty and vitamin-rich sweet potatoes, onions and spinach?! Yes, please! And all that yummy, healthy goodness allowed me to justify the second glass of wine :) 

My Mini Mexican Vacation - Spicy Tortilla Soup

It’s about that time of term (week 6) when I get a bit homesick and begin to crave Midwestern eats. On top of that it’s been raining for about three days straight. Well, the rain is anything but straight… umbrellas, hoods….nothing hides you from the horrid sideways rain and howling wind off the North Sea. My solution, as it often is, was to cook.  And not to cook just anything, no, I chose to make a massive pot of warming Mexican tortilla soup, thus solving both my cold and my craving for Chipotle (a burrito fast food place).

This soup has evolved over the last two years. It used to be quite simple, mainly focused on the chicken and the tortilla chips, because I didn't like tomatoes or cheese back then, and couldn't find black beans in the grocery store (Sainsbury's does now carry them). As I have matured, so has this soup, and it is now far more complex, and consequently, far more satisfying. 

I begin with a couple crushed and chopped garlic cloves, a sliced red onion, a diced bell pepper (any colour will do), and one or two chopped chili peppers. All of that goes in a big soup pot with a big glug of vegetable oil. Then I pour in the spices. Cumin, coriander, salt and pepper are the standards, added in copious amounts, then I typically add a dash of cinnamon and occasionally a teaspoon of chili powder. If you have fajita seasoning, you can just use that instead of everything else. Let the vegetables and spices get hot and friendly together. Your kitchen will start to smell really good and spicy. When the veg is soft, about 5 minutes, tip in a can of chopped tomatoes, two handfuls of (uncooked) rice, and then a whole lot of chicken or vegetable stock. Let boil rapidly for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to simmer. Now add frozen corn, black beans, a few tablespoons of sugar (any kind will do), and shredded chicken if using. Stir and let the soup simmer for ten minutes or so until the rice is cooked. Take that time to chop up an avocado, grate some cheddar cheese and put out the tortilla chips. 

I usually make this soup with the chicken in it, but Meghan has recently gone veggie, so I prepared the chicken separately this time. I took two chicken breasts, coated them in cumin, coriander, salt and pepper with a drizzle of oil and baked them in the oven for about 15 minutes at 200c, turning them over once. I let them cool a bit before I took two forks and shredded them into spoon-friendly pieces. Everyone then added the amount they wanted to their soup. This soup could also be made totally without chicken, and is still hearty enough with the beans and rice. 

Heap lots of soup into a bowl, sprinkle on some cheese, crumble on some chips and lightly put a bit or two of avocado on top (although I don't like avocado so I leave it off, as you can see in the picture). If you’re feeing fancy, you can squeeze some lime juice over the top before serving, or serve with a wedge of lime on the side of the bowl like a soup margarita.

Watch out! This soup makes your nose run. You can however tailor the level of spiciness to suit yourself. If you want it milder, use one green chili pepper, and go light on the cumin. If you want it spicy, use one or two red chili peppers and season heavily. Also, the longer you heat chili the spicier it gets, so the heat will intensify the next day if there are any leftovers. Or make it ahead of time to really let the flavours develop.

PS. This soup tastes great with a Corona. It’s like a mini Mexican vacation without having left Scotland. I'm not encouraging drinking early in the day or anything, but this soup and a beer at lunch will keep you warm during your long, cold and wet walk back to the library. 

Brilliant Bruschetta with Lentil and Tomato Soup

Per request, our Brilliant Bruschetta recipe!

This dish was inspired whist wandering around the Fife Farmer’s Market in St Andrews this past weekend. If you haven't been to the Farmer's Market, you should go! We stood in front of the olive/tomato/pesto stand for about 20 minutes until we decided just what we wanted: Sun Blush tomatoes and fresh green pesto. These turned out to be fabulous choices!

Just down the row was a homebaking stall, with the best looking focaccia I have seen in Scotland. It was so visually tantalizing we had to buy one. We chose a roasted pepper and herb focaccia, and a loaf of fresh bread. 

So Saturday night we made MC's bruschetta, served with bowls of Jenna’s Tomato and Lentil Soup. It was all fabulously garlicky, just the way we like it. 

Here is what we did:

Ingredients

3 tomatoes

a handful of sun blush tomatoes

4 or 5 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped

a loaf of bread or a baguette 

butter

fresh basil leaves

olive oil
salt and pepper

Turn the oven on to about 200. It’s just to toast the bread so don’t get too fussed about exactness. Slice your bread. Take a bit of butter, maybe a 2 inch slice, and pop it in a bowl. Microwave for ten seconds until soft and mixable. Add some chopped garlic. Stir and smear onto the sliced bread. Place bread into oven to toast. Don’t forget about it!

Next, chop the tomatoes and anything else you’re adding. Some people add onions or peppers, we kept it simple, just garlic, tomatoes, some torn basil leaves from our basil plant (her name is Brenda, she lives on our windowsill) and a twist of pepper and a dash of salt. Stick it all in a bowl, drown it in olive oil and lightly mix. Take the slices of bread out of the oven when they are a bit golden and crispy. 


Let everyone spoon their own tomato mixture onto the bread. Eat. Lick your fingers. Eat some more. We unfortunately didn't get a good picture of the bruschetta because we ate it up so quickly! You'll just have to make it yourself!

Like I said, we served soup with this to make it a full CDCN meal. Directions below.

Jenna’s Tomato and Lentil Soup

Ingredients

·      1 celery stalk

·      1 large carrot

·      1 onion

·      1 tin of chopped tomatoes

·      1 tin of green lentils

·      1.5 litres of vegetable stock

·      a few basil leaves

·      1 teaspoon dried oregano

·      a spoonful of sugar or so (to balance out the acidity of the toms)

·      a dash of ground cinnamon

·      salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.     Roughly chop your veg. You’re gonna blend it all in a bit, so no need to dice or slice. 

2.     Choose a big pot. Stick it on the hob over a medium-high heat, drizzle olive oil over the bottom.

3.     Toss in your onions, let them get a bit soft…3 minutes?

4.     Then add your celery and carrots. Let them and the onions mingle and soften…6 or 8 minutes?

5.     Then drain and rinse the lentils, and add them to the pot.

6.     Add the tin of tomatoes too.

7.     Pour in the vegetable stock. Or, if you’re using stock cubes, just chuck them in and pour boiled water over. Give everything a little stir.

8.     Boil for a few minutes, then reduce the heat and let simmer for a good 45 minutes to an hour. You know its done when you can easier stick a fork through the veg and the lentils are beginning to disintegrate.

9.     Turn the heat off and let the soup cool for a few minutes.

10.  Now, the messy part. Blend the soup either using an upright blender or an immersion blender. I use an immersion blender I ‘borrowed’ off my boyfriend about a year ago…I affectionately call it ‘The Zizzer’ because that’s the noise it makes.

11.  Ok, put the pot back on the hob, low heat. Now we’re going to add the herbs and spices. Start with a tablespoon of sugar, a good dash of salt and pepper. Now put in basil, oregano, or whatever herbs you really fancy.

12.  Taste your soup. Let me emphasise this point, taste, taste, taste your food! Don’t serve something without knowing what it tastes like! What if it needs a hint more salt to make it fab? Now, adjust any seasoning. This is the point where I added the dash of ground cinnamon and another tablespoon of sugar. I needed the sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes and the cinnamon to bring in a bit of warmth. Stir.

13.  Time to serve! 

So there you have it. The meal was really really yummy, if not a tad bit too garlicky. I wouldn't make this for a date! 

Our secret: Sainsbury's delivery service

We’re gonna let you in on a little secret….two words: Sainsbury’s delivers. Yes, it is true. No, we are not lazy. We are simply practical. Let me explain.

We live in a lovely spot in St Andrews, around the corner from the East Sands and Coastal Path, but miles (literally, miles) from the grocery store. Tesco, as we all know, is too expensive, too busy, and too small. Morrisons, though a better choice, was still a two hour long process we were unwilling to sacrifice each week. Solution? Delivery.

Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Tesco all deliver to St Andrews. We chose Sainsbury’s, I don’t remember why, but rest assured it was a reasoned decision. It might have had something to do with Sainsbury's own brand items being quality. Except for their coffee, which is horrendous. We still go to Tesco to buy coffee (which I'm sure you all know from our coffee-a-day post), but otherwise, we are all about the Sainsbury's. 


Every week for the last three semesters, during the one hour slot we choose, our door buzzes, the friendly deliveryman carries up our shopping, we unpack, and it’s done. 10 minutes clicking the items into our virtual trolley. 10 minutes unpacking and rearranging the fridge/pantry. That equals 20 minutes for our weekly shop. Maria often spends another 20 minutes re-rearranging the fridge and pantry, but we don't add that in. 

That should be enough to convince you. But if it wasn’t, there is more. This eliminates impulse buying, thus eliminating excess spending. Sainbury’s saves a list of ‘our usuals’, which we can instantly add to our trolley, and then amend as necessary. We buy what we need and nothing more. Well, sometimes we treat ourselves and buy two packs of clementines or an especially tasty-looking curry sauce, but usually, we stick to the list. The nagging question in the back (or front?) of your head right now is probably: 'But how do they agree on what to buy?' Ah, a story for another day.

The makings of our weekly shop. Try it for yourself today! 

So, we shop together, which means pooling money. We have a joint-bank account from which all of our bills get debited, including our weekly shop. Many of our friends think this is too difficult, and that being responsible for just your own food is easier. But actually, we think our method is much easier than the individual, self-sufficient method. We believe we waste less food this way, save money by buying in larger quantities, and are more likely to cook and eat together, which means healthier meals and quality flatmate bonding time. Win-win-win-win situation. 


Today is the day to say goodbye to long-queues at Tesco and embrace delivery! Because a flat that shops together stays together.