Wow, this was a Jamie great. Very pleased with the results.
Started with chicken legs: skinned, then trimmed the meat off and diced. The skin was then put into a hot pan and allowed to render the fat out. Then browned the leg meat, and added onion, garlic and celery. Once this had all sweated a little I chucked in some sliced chestnut mushrooms and seasoned well. Then, a spoon of flour mixed through to help thicken it up. I added some chicken stock until soupy, then lovely wood thyme.
I poured this into a casserole pot and topped with lightly-boiled sliced potatoes and baked in the oven for half an hour. Thick, savoury and a lovely blend of textures. Nice!
Here it is, the eponymous food of the blog. These were exceptional specimens too.
Everyone has their own method for roast potato, though that stems from how you like your spuds. Me? Fluffy inside, dark and crisp outside. The science to this is that it’s surface area that collects fat – and therefore crispiness – so you want to maximise surface area. How do you do that? Think small. The potatoes need to be parboiled to the point just before they forget how to hold their shape. And the water must be salted. Once they are quite soft, drain thoroughly, and treat ’em mean. Jamie Oliver uses the phrase “chuff ’em up a bit”, and he’s quite right. Shake them in the colander or pan, get the edges bashed up, because it’s these ridges and crumbled edges that make areas for the hot fat to attack. If I have inclination and equipment to hand, I’ll boil the skin in a cloth bag in with the pots before discarding, I feel it lends an earthy tone.
An optional extra at this stage, that adds both crunchiness and sweetness, is to add a dessert spoon of dried polenta to the floury potatoes. Stir it right in, and you’ll get an extra layer of flavour to your spuds. You’ll also find they soak up an awful lot of fat.
Speaking of hot fat, whatever comes to hand will do, although if we’re talking perfection it’s goose fat for me. Your fat of choice has to be in the oven already at a hot temperature, about 225C, before the boiled potatoes hit it. Give them a good turning to ensure they’re covered with fat, then let ’em roast for 45mins+. Makes sure they get turned often and always sprinkle liberally with salt before serving. You’ll know when they’re ready; they just sound right. Like rustling a paper bag.
Aren’t they just bliss? I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t love a roast potato, and I don’t think I’d want to know them anyway.
I made this a while back but just found pictures of it so thought I’d share. I bloody love asparagus, but optimistically I’ll leave it til the season to wax then.
This is a Jamie recipe, and deserves heaps of praise for making the most of it’s wonderful homely ingredients. It’s boiled new pots mashed together with cream, eggs and cheshire cheese (that lovely crumbly one), poured into a filo pastry-lain dish. This is then topped with charred asparagus and baked in the oven til set. Mega-filling and handsome with some salad leaves.
Not mucking about now – this is proper winter food.
It’s very simple and fills like few other dishes. I use lamb neck fillet, which I’ve espoused the glory of before. It’s diced and layered here with onion rings, sliced potatoes (sod peeling), and diced carrot. Each layer is seasoned and dashed with chopped rosemary. Finally lamb stock is poured over and allowed to mingle between the bits. Then I leave it in the oven for about three hours, so everything gets a chance to soften and develop.
It comes out of the oven as pure wholesome warming comfort food. As a total flavour contrast I pair it with pickled cabbage out of jar, which gives you a real mouth-puckering tang against the savoury meatiness.
