Attempt #65: Chicken Club Sandwich with a Twist!

Now, why do I call this as Chicken Club Sandwich with a twist? 
Well, it calls for an interesting salad dressing base consisting of pear, cucumber, tarragon (herbs), english mustard, yogurt and apple cider vinegar. 


The result:
Super healthy, light sandwiches with a Mediterranean twist. 
And oh, this goes into the picnic basket along with the Guacamole that I made in Attempt #64. 

Spicing the wrapped sandwiches up with some Aussie flags in conjunction with our Straya Day picnic! 

Attempt #56: Beer Butt chicken

In this recipe, we have Jamie saying that making this will be fun and a great crowd pleaser. And the 'crowd' in my kitchen on the day I attempted this recipe involved a 4 year old, a 7 year old and 3 fabulous 30-something adults. Young or old...we indeed found the 'up the butt' beer can be really cute and funny. And most importantly, it was super easy to make!!

The 'Before' photoshot 

- Strangely, I couldn't help it but felt that I was 'violating' the chicken when I was tying to insert that Budweiser into the chicken's butt. 

Beer Butt Chicken in the oven 

- Looking good and smelled even better as the chicken roasted very comfortably in the oven :-) 

The 'after' photoshot 

- It was golden brown, crispy and juicy. Eat while it is hot! 

Ingredients (Serves 4) 

• 1 large whole chicken (approx. 1.5kg), preferably free-range or organic
• 1 x 473 ml can of Budweiser or other lager

• For the rub:

• 1 heaped teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 level teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 level teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 heaped teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 level teaspoon mild chilli powder
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil

The Method

You need a standard kettle-style barbecue with a lid and a thermometer. Make sure it's tall enough to hold the upright chicken. The steam from the beer cooks the inside of the bird, so the meat ends up lovely and juicy.

Preheat your barbecue or oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Take your chicken out of the fridge while you make your rub. In a pestle and mortar, bash up your fennel and cumin seeds and mix with the paprika, brown sugar, chilli powder, salt and pepper. Stir in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil until you get a nice paste. Drizzle this rub all over the chicken, inside and out, using your hands to make sure you get it into all the nooks and crannies.

Crack your beer open, have a couple of good swigs so your can is just about half full, then lower your chicken's cavity on to the top of the can so it looks as though the chicken is sitting on the can. A bit undignified, I know, but trust me – it's going to be delicious.

If you're using the barbecue, try to strategically move a small amount of coals to the sides rather than directly underneath the chicken, so the heat radiates around it and cooks it from all angles rather than grills it. The same principle applies to roasting.

Carefully sit the chicken on the bars of your barbecue or in a tray on the very bottom of your oven. Cook for around 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until it's golden and delicious and the meat pulls away from the bone and the juices run clear. If this isn't the case (all barbecues and ovens are slightly different) just cook for a bit longer. 

Once done, remove the can and loosely cover your chicken with foil and a tea towel while you get some grilled veg, salad or warm breads together – but trust me, it tastes so good you won't need much else.

Attempt #52: Quick crispy chicken with tomatoes & broccolini

Jamie declared that this is really a quick and simple meal to make. I can now attest to that statement as not only it is that simple and quick to make, it is yummy yummy yummy.

Jamie suggested using olives, anchovies or sun-dried tomatoes to add a bit of saltiness and extra flavour.

The Result:

It was indeed a very yummy combination of ingredients but the chicken did not turn out to be ‘crispy’ per se. I used skinless chicken as suggested in the recipe and it got me wondering if one can crisp chicken without skin as this attempt did not give me crispy chicken although it had been sold/mentioned that way in Jaime’s recipe. Hence, I did some research after I attempted this recipe and generally, one got to either dunked skinless chicken in egg mixture, flour it or bread it to get it all crispy. Good learning though! J

And oh yeah, I used anchovies for the saltiness and it works really well.

Method:

Place a large pan on a high heat. Lay your chicken breasts on a board and cut three incisions into each one like fingers, going all the way through the breast but leaving about 1cm joined at the top. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Snap the woody ends off of the asparagus spears. Add a splash of olive oil to the pan, followed by the chicken, pancetta and asparagus. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the chicken and asparagus are cooked through, turning halfway. Lift the pancetta on top of the chicken once golden and crispy.

Move the chicken, bacon or pancetta and asparagus to one side of the pan then throw in the tomatoes, olives, basil leaves and butter. Reduce to a low heat and add a splash of wine to help make a sauce. Leave to bubble away and thicken for a couple of minutes. Use tongs to divide the chicken, bacon or pancetta, asparagus and most of the tomatoes between your plates. Squash the remaining tomatoes, mixing them with the lovely juices in the pan, then drizzle over the chicken before serving.

Serves 2

Ingredients

·         2 x 120 g free-range, skinless chicken breasts

·         sea salt

·         freshly ground black pepper

·         1 bunch of asparagus

·         olive oil

·         4 rashers of higher-welfare pancetta

·         250 g cherry tomatoes, halved

·         5 black olives, destoned

·         a couple of sprigs of fresh basil, leaves picked

·         a small knob of butter

   a splash of white wine 

Attempt #37: Perfect roast chicken

Tried this recipe again and this time, the lemon fits nicely into the chicken’s behind! J

 

The result :

And after numerous attempts at baking chicken, I have learnt that the temperature of the oven is important. The way Jamie suggested to heat up the oven to 240C and then to bring it down to 200C when you pop the chicken in works! You get a cripsy skin on the outside and moist tender meat in the inside.

 

Ingredients

• 1.6 kg higher-welfare chicken
• 2 medium onions
• 2 carrots
• 2 sticks celery
• 1 bulb garlic
• olive oil
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lemon
• 1 small bunch fresh thyme, rosemary, bay or sage, or a mixture

Method

To prepare your chicken
Take your chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before it goes into the oven. Preheat your oven to 240°C/475°F/gas 9. There's no need to peel the vegetables – just give them a wash and roughly chop them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled.

Pile all the veg and garlic into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper, rubbing it all over the bird. Carefully prick the lemon all over, using the tip of a sharp knife (if you have a microwave, you could pop the lemon in these for 40 seconds at this point as this will really bring out the flavour). Put the lemon inside the chicken's cavity, with the bunch of herbs.

To cook your chicken
Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the roasting tray and put it into the preheated oven. Turn the heat down immediately to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and cook the chicken for 1 hour and 20 minutes. If you're doing roast potatoes and veggies, this is the time to crack on with them – get them into the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking.

Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them burning. When cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so. Cover it with a layer of tinfoil and a tea towel and put aside. Now is the time to make your gravy.

To carve your chicken
Remove any string from the chicken and take off the wings (break them up and add to your gravy for mega flavour). Carefully cut down between the leg and the breast. Cut through the joint and pull the leg off.

Repeat on the other side, then cut each leg between the thigh and the drumstick so you end up with four portions of dark meat. Place these on a serving platter. You should now have a clear space to carve the rest of your chicken. Angle the knife along the breastbone and carve one side off, then the other.

When you get down to the fussy bits, just use your fingers to pull all the meat off, and turn the chicken over to get all the tasty, juicy bits from underneath. You should be left with a stripped carcass, and a platter full of lovely meat that you can serve with your piping hot gravy and gorgeous roast veg.

Attempt #35: Tender & crisp chicken legs with sweet tomatoes

As I was trying to assemble the ingredients for this recipe, it seemed like déjà-vu that I have attempted this before. Then I realized why it feels like déjà-vu.... most of Jamie’s recipe calls for either lemon, tomatoes or basil.

The result:

It was definitely tasty. However, it taste like the previous attempts or recipes as they are all baked in lemon, basil and/ or tomatoes as well. J

Ingredients

•      4 higher-welfare chicken legs, jointed
•      sea salt
•      freshly ground black pepper
•      1 big bunch fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped
•      2 big handfuls red and yellow cherry tomatoes and ripe plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes halved, plum tomatoes quartered
•      1 whole bulb garlic, broken into cloves
•      1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
•      olive oil
•      410 g tinned cannellini beans, drained, optional
•      2 handfuls new potatoes, scrubbed, optional

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Season your chicken pieces all over and put them into a snug-fitting pan in one layer. Throw in all the basil leaves and stalks, then chuck in your tomatoes. Scatter the garlic cloves into the pan with the chopped chilli and drizzle over some olive oil. Mix around a bit, pushing the tomatoes underneath. Place in the oven for 1½ hours, turning the tomatoes halfway through, until the chicken skin is crisp and the meat falls off the bone.

If you fancy, you can add some drained cannellini beans or some sliced new potatoes to the pan and cook them with the chicken. Or you can serve the chicken with some simple mashed potato. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins before serving. You could even make it part of a pasta dish – remove the chicken meat from the bone and shred it, then toss into a bowl of linguini or spaghetti and serve at once.

Attempt #32: Roast chicken & Pesto

If you ever come across days where you need to whip something up with common ingredients available in our kitchen, this would be one of those amazing recipes to know.

The result: Although the cooking time will take almost an hour, the preparation takes merely 10 minutes to put together. Healthy dinner for a weekday night. :)

Ingredients that you need :

·         chicken (whole or whole thigh)
·         Sea salt, Black Pepper (for seasoning)
•       1 bulb garlic, peeled and crushed
•       1 large orange
•       a few sprigs fresh thyme
•       extra virgin olive oil
•       Pesto sauce from the jar
Optional: Some freshly grated Parmesan cheese (to mix into the Pesto sauce)


Method

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6, then stuff your chicken with the1 garlic bulb or place the garlic in between the chicken thighs and thyme. Zest the orange and then squeeze the juice of the orange over the chicken. Place the orange peel / skin in between the chicken.

Then, rub the outside of the chicken with lots of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then rub with olive oil and roast for 1 to 1½ hours (depending on the size and weight of the chicken). To see if it's properly cooked, pierce a thigh with the tip of a knife and check that the juices run clear. If they don't, continue cooking and check again.

Scoop out a tablespoon of the Pesto sauce from the jar. Add the Parmesan and season with salt and pepper. If the pesto looks stiff, moisten it with olive oil.

Serve the chicken in portions – hot or cold – on a big plate with the pesto in a bowl next to it or over the chicken.

Attempt #22: Chicken with Scallions and Black Bean Sauce

I bought a jar of black bean sauce and was looking at a different way to cook using it apart from steaming my dish with it. I didn’t expect Jamie to have a recipe with black bean sauce but it was a pleasant surprise when I found a recipe this recipe of his – sizzling beef with scallions and black bean sauce.

However, instead of beef, I replaced it with chicken and I steamed the rice separately instead of frying it.

The result:

Really simple dish to make and goes well with rice. The cilantro leaves or coriander, provides that spicy, strong fragrant that enhances the ginger, garlic, chille and scallions mixture. And for anyone who loves sesame oil… you would just love this dish.

In short, an interesting discovery. A Chinese-inspired Jamie Oliver dish that my parents or for folks who are not fans of Caucasian / European based dishes can appreciate. J

Recipe:

Ingredients:

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Approx. 300gm of chicken
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger
2 cloves of garlic
½ a fresh red chilli
2 spring onions
a small bunch of fresh coriander
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon groundnut oil (or any oil for frying)
2 tablespoons of good-quality black bean sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 limes

Method:

1.      Halve and deseed your pepper and cut it into thin strips.

2.      Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic.

3.      Finely slice the chilli.

4.      Cut the ends off your spring onions and finely slice.

5.      Pick the coriander leaves and put to one side, and finely chop the coriander stalks.

6.      Get yourself a big bowl and put in the ginger, garlic, chilli, spring onions, coriander stalks and chicken. Add the sesame oil and mix everything together.

To cook your stir-fry:

7.      Preheat a wok or large frying pan on a high heat and once it’s very, very hot add half of the groundnut (frying) oil and swirl it around. Add all your chopped ingredients from the bowl. Give the pan a really good shake to mix everything around quickly. Stir-fry for 2 minutes, taking care to keep everything moving so it doesn’t burn. Add the black bean sauce, and stir in half the soy sauce and the juice of half a lime. Keep tossing. Taste and season with black pepper.

Attempt #5: Tender and Crisp chicken legs with Sweet Tomatoes

Since a tomato-based dish turned out pretty good in my last attempt, I thought why not test the theory that anything with tomatoes will taste good regardless if you can cook or not.

 

An Ah-HA! I can now confirm that theory - “ANYTHING WITH TOMATOES WILL TASTE GOOD”.

For this Tender and Crisp chicken legs with Sweet Tomatoes dish, I substituted chicken legs with chicken pieces and I omitted the red chilli so that it is suitable for the kids as well.

The result : Yummy and to quote Jamie Oliver’s famous expression…”Heavenly”. Although I am not sure how Jamie got his dish coming out looking saucier than what I had. But it still taste yummy.

Getting read to go into the oven...

 

Hot out from the oven...

 



Jamie's rendition...looks soo much better as usual :)

For the full recipe, click on this link to Jamie’s website.

Curious Corner:

Difference between red and yellow tomatoes. Extracted this from eHow.com

The most obvious difference between these two types of tomato is their color. Red tomatoes are far more common than yellow tomatoes, and are often the only color of tomato found in grocery stores and supermarkets. Red tomatoes are high in lycopene, a powerful antioxidant thought to prevent some cancers. Lycopene is what produces the tomatoes' red color. Yellow tomatoes do not contain lycopene. Red tomatoes are highly acidic, which produces their tangy flavor. Yellow tomatoes are lower in acidity, making them generally sweeter than red tomatoes. Red tomatoes are higher in vitamin C, while yellow tomatoes are higher in niacin and folate. Both colors are a tasty and nutritious addition to any meal.