I hate long, long lists of ingredients…

I hate long, long lists of ingredients….

I have to say, as you are probably aware, most of the time I love cooking. I must say though I like to keep things small in effort, big in taste.

I am no Nigella swanning round the kitchen with an aura of calm. I confess I do wear my heels when cooking as it makes the worktops easier to reach. I occasionally remember to wear an apron (after ruining a very nice white top with a pasta sauce 🙂 ) . But that is as far as it goes..There is often washing up in the sink…flour dusting the table and homework on the go. As I frequently tell my children…I am one woman with one pair of hands…I never aspired to be perfect.

Anyway back on the subject…. I am big on flavours but low on patience, I always love to make a roast at the weekend. This week it was a chicken. I will be honest I used to buy the corn fed free-range birds. (I keep chickens so these things matter to me.) But I have been so damned disappointed in them lately that I cannot justify the £8 plus for a small chicken. I paid £5 for a semi happy bird in sainsburys and decided to cook it in a pot.

I have only recently fallen in love with coronation Chicken after tasting a well-made version at a farm shop. It had a smooth sauce that coated succulent slices of meat. (I have to say I am not a massive sultana fan though) So after flicking through my mountain of under used cookbooks I adapted an old Good Housekeeping recipe and came up with this.

When I was making it I cursed at the amount of faffing for the sauce. I swore I wouldn’t make it again….until I tasted it.

Suddenly it was worth the effort. The chicken is wonderfully moist. (And I got two good portions of stock from the cooking liquid, which I stuck in the freezer.) The sauce was quite frankly delicious…

I thought it could get no better…until yesterday when I used the leftovers as a pancake filling..Oh my…I guess sometimes it’s worth the effort.

The recipe should be on my recipe pages…Well Worth it Coronation Chicken

Let me know if you try it. and what you think

Happy Eating and lots of love

Sky @ http://www.skybendelow.com

You can never own too many dishes 🙂

A Hot date with…my griddle pan

It would seem my usual gorgeous Friday date is out gallivanting at a business dinner this evening. I guess I should be jealous. However, I know where he is going. So I’m not :S , or I should be out with the girls. But it’s January and we are all skint…and I am a bit of a homebody when it’s cold outside. (I have a wood burner…its hard to leave).

I also have a secret hiding in the fridge…not wine…. that’s not a secret here…but a delicious dinner, better than any takeaway, maybe as good as a meal out.

I guess you could call it a Yorkshire version of soulvaki; it has been bathing in its little bowl of marinade for 24 hours, and should be almost perfect. When it meets my griddle pan it will form those divine caramelised strips, yet retain its meltingly soft inner…I can almost taste it just thinking about it. Then my char grilled pork will enjoy a rendezvous with freshly made flat bread and a crispy salad. There may be roasted peppers..and an olive or two whilst I cook.

If I get really carried away I might dig out my sandals and sun top…and recreate a little Greek haven just for one…right here under Emley Mast. It’s a long way from sunny Greece…. but a girl can dream cant she?

(I have promised to save some for the wanderer when he returns …it’s going to be a tough promise to keep)

Here’s to a tasty night at home 😀

Happy Friday,

Love Sky @ thesideplate.com

Greece

So…what do a piece of steak, an onion and a tomato have in common?

The answer is my kids would never eat them…

To be fair, my daughter would eat a small morsel of steak but my son who has aspergers and is a very fussy eater would not touch any of them.

Today is not a recipe…as I am still perfecting it and I enjoy messing around with ingredients. But just a general idea… I turned a couple of slices of bread into breadcrumbs…one handful I put in the burgers…the rest I put in the bottom of the oven to crisp for another day.

I bought two pieces of rump steak …about 300g in total. And put them in my food processor with a handful of onion a shake of salt and pepper and a shake of granulated garlic (I am learning and it must be good for their immune system surely 😀 ) I gave them a ride around the blade until it was minced. Once blitzed I took it out and rolled it into 6 burgers.

I baked them rather than grilled, simply because they tend to stay together.

After 20 mins I put them in a bun, topped with an in progress homemade ketchup and called dinner.

They are a bit soft and mushy for my taste, but the kids had 2 each with sliced peppers and cucumber and a side of chips. I personally consider that an ok dinner.

Once I am happy with the recipe I will make 20 and stick them in the freezer, and have a new page for my book.

Happy dining…….its been a long day…but its nearly bedtime yay

Thanks for reading

Sky xx

http://www.thesideplate.com