Following our chicken supreme based Nopi extravaganza, our freezer has been a bit:
So we did a bit of a chicken based blitz.
For dinner we piled on the spices and used up all the thighs and drumstick with Levi Root’s Puerto Rican Chicken and Rice.
We have his Caribbean Food Made Easy book, and we’ve been pretty impressed with quite a lot of his recipes. His Butterflied Leg of Lamb is a thing of beauty.
The first time we made this we clearly followed the recipe to the letter and there is a small comment next to it that we should “remove the seeds next time.” Well clearly we’ve either become more chilli hardened, or we were using less spicy chillies, but I could have certainly coped with a bit more kick.
Not that is wasn’t delicious. It’s definitely been a reminder that we should cook Caribbean more often.
That’s the problem with constant experimentation. Very little replication.
Bad science really.
Lunches were from the other end of the spice scale, but from an equally neglected cook book. We used one of the chicken carcasses (plus some duck giblets from the bottom of the freezer) to make Real Old Fashioned Chicken Soup from Comfort Food by Maxine Clark. A meal that probably didn’t require a recipe, but it was nice to have one anyway.
Essentially take the chicken carcass, plus giblets, an onion, two carrots, lots of celery, a bay leaf and a generous quantity of salt and gently simmer until an excellent stock is achieved. Chill in order to aid fat removal. Then bring back to the boil and cook some spaghetti in it.
Nice, gentle and very soothing. Definite comfort food.
We picked this book up from a clearance shop back when we were students and we used to cook from it all the time. Pretty much anyone we entertained when we lived in Nottingham would have had the Lamb Shanks and Apricots with Minted Sesame Couscous, and the Hazelnut Pain Au Chocolat Pudding (or heart attack pudding as we generally called it) served to them.
Dammit. Now I want to host again. Who’s free in January for a Scandinavian inspired multi course belated Christmas thing?
Spiced Nuts and Cocktails, Salad with Cheese, Roast Ham and Veg, Cheesecake and Truffles.
We’ll need another six Guinea pigs for this one.
Volunteers?
thegreedyguineapig 
Me – but you knew that!
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