Roast chicken recipe

Recorded here so I can remember it for next time, and the time after that.

Yesterday, I decided that I was going to do some of the “usual” Easter things that I’ve either done in the past or have been new additions to the Easter routine in the last few years. So I bought myself some Easter chocolate, watched my church’s online Easter service, and, in the evening, cooked a roast chook we’d bought the day before.

First note: make sure you allow enough time for cooking the whole chook! I misremembered the cooking time and got started a bit late, so was very hungry by the time it was all ready. The packaging the chicken comes in should say how long to cook it for. Ours was 25-30 minutes per 500g.

So, the recipe. I began with a recipe from my Great Australian Cookbook, for “summer roast chicken”. Then I adapted it a bit.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chook
• 1 lemon
• 2-4 garlic cloves
• breadcrumbs
• mixed herbs
• paprika, salt & pepper
• canola oil
• potato, carrot, other roasting veg
• corn, peas, Warrigal greens & other veg for steaming

Materials:

• roasting tray(s)
• chopping board
• knives
• bowl
• spoons

Method:

1. Take chicken out of its packaging and let it rest, out of the fridge, for 15-30 minutes before preparing it.
2. Preheat the oven to the required temperature (this will also be on the packaging).
3. Halve the lemon and skin the garlic cloves. Set aside.
4. Make the rest of the stuffing: in a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, salt, paprika, pepper and a little oil. Stuffing should be fairly red in colour.
5. Back to the chicken.
   If you have sensory sensitivities, this is the step where things get gross and messy for a bit, FYI.
6. Dislocate the leg bones at the top of the thigh to flatten the chicken; also, remove the wishbone.
7. Open the cavity and stuff a lemon half and half the garlic cloves in, so they’re right at the end of the cavity.
8. Add the stuffing. Pack it in.
9. Shove the other lemon half and remaining garlic in, then close the skin flaps over the hole.
   If you care about properly closing it, seal the hole with a skewer or toothpicks (keeps more juices in).
10. Now for the outside of the chicken. Drizzle oil, salt and paprika over the outer surface of the chicken. Use your fingers to smear them into the skin.
    Phew! Wash your hands! You’re finished with the messy gross bit!
11. Put the chicken in the oven for the required time in a roasting tray.
12. Prepare your root veg for roasting and put them in later. They’ll need maybe an hour, it depends. (I’m still figuring this bit out!)
13. Prepare and steam the other veg in the last half an hour of the roasting. Steamed veg shouldn’t take more than 12-15 minutes on the stove in a steamer pot.
14. Test the chicken for readiness by sticking a knife or skewer into the breast and seeing if the juices run clear and the meat around the incision is white.
15. Serve!

Rubbing the oil and salt and paprika into the chicken skin gives crispy, seasoned skin (it literally cracked open when I stuck my knife in to check for doneness!). The lemons, garlic and paprika mix give a zesty, flavourful stuffing. The chicken meat inside should be tender and juicy.

Image description: a whole roasted chicken with reddish brown seasoned skin rests on a white plate. The plate is on a brown table.

My next project is figuring out what to do with the juices that leaked out during the cooking process…I’ve got enough for a stock base or something. Any ideas?

Beef casserole

• 

• 

• 

I was given some corningware dishes at the start of the year, and we made a beef casserole in the biggest one a month ago. I’m thinking I should make a chicken casserole next! We used a recipe from The Great Australian Cookbook.

Ingredients:

• Baby potatoes
• Chuck steak or other chunked beef
• Plain flour
• Paprika
• Canned tomatoes
• Wine
• Beef stock
• Garlic
• Onion
• Carrot
• Other veg

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180*C
2. Roll the beef in flour mixed with a spice like paprika – do this in a ziplock bag or something similar
3. Put beef into a deep casserole dish
4. Add tomatoes and then other ingredients – the meat should almost be covered by liquid.
5. Cover with a lid and cook for two hours then taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary.
6. Cook for another 20 minutes if necessary to ensure the meat is tender enough.
7. Eat!

Life Update

Hi all. It’s been a month, almost, since my last update on here. Oops!

The choir concerts went well, as did the socials after. (Karaoke, trivia, a pub meal and a movie night.)

I’ve had some nice successes at work too.

However, I’ve caught a viral infection so today is a sick day. Lots of rest and fluids, pain killers and listening to my body.

I made a good spicy pumpkin and zucchini soup on Wednesday which has been useful – had it for dinner last night and lunch just now.

I’m spending today on the couch. Among other things I’m watching Queen’s performance at Live Aid – I’ve wanted to do so since watching Bohemian Rhapsody with my LaTUCS peeps. What an electric atmosphere… it must have been epic to perform.

A slow day. Here’s hoping that I kick this infection to the curb by the end of the weekend.

Italian pork sausage stew

Oof, haven’t posted in a while. Other stuff keeps distracting me. Here’s a recipe post…. I intend to write another post later in the week but we’ll see how that works out.

Ingredients:

• Onion
• 6x small sausages
• Mixed herbs (3-4 tsp)
• 1/2 can diced tomatoes
• 1x tsp garlic
• 3 pinches chilli mix
• Mushrooms
• Capsicum
• Corn
• Peas
• Leek
• Gnocchi
• Vegetable stock & water

Tools: 

• Large frying pan 
• Saucepan
• Spatula 
• Kitchen spoon 
• Crockery and cutlery 

Method: 

1. Chop the vegetables
2. Brown the sausages in the frying pan with garlic
3. Tip veggies into the pan with vegetable stock, mixed herbs, diced tomatoes and chilli powder
4. Let cook for 10 minutes on low heat – put water on for the gnocchi
5. Cook gnocchi in boiling water
6. Plate up and serve

Curried sausages

• 

• 

• 

• 

My grandma (Dad’s mum) makes great curried sausages. I asked her for the recipe, then tested it.

Grandma’s recipe

Ingredients:

• sausages, gravox, curry powder, cornflour, margarine, veggies

Method:

1. Boil sausages then cool and chop
2. Sauce of gravox, tsp curry powder, cornflour, margarine
3. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn 
4. Combine sausages with sauce and veg plus grated apple

My Adaption

I prefer to chop and fry the sausages, then make the sauce around them then add the veg. It tastes so good!

Nachos

Last year, my partner and I made nachos for dinner. They’re quite easy to make though there’s a bit of a process involved.

• 

• 

• 

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 500g beef mince
• 1x can kidney beans, drained, rinsed
• 1 sachet of taco seasoning mix
• Tomato paste & water or passata
• 1x packet corn chips
• grated cheese

Method:

1. Chop onion and prepare other ingredients (now is the time to open jars or cans so you don’t have to scramble to open them later.)
2. Preheat oven to 200C.
3. Heat oil in frying pan over medium heat.
4. Cook onion for 2 minutes, or until soft.
5. Add mince. Cook, stirring, until browned.
6. Add kidney beans and seasoning (taco spice mix etc.) and tomato paste. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thick.
7. Arrange corn chips in an oven dish. Top with mince mixture and sprinkle with cheese.
8. Bake for 15 minutes or until hot.
9. While this occurs, make salad to accompany the nachos – we had lettuce and carrot.
10. When nachos are finished, top with your choice of toppings if desired – e.g. salsa, avocado, sour cream. Serve.

Delicious.

Adventures in Cooking

To kick-start some more recipe posts and clear a backlog, I thought I’d start by sharing a few new things I’ve made.

Do you remember me telling you last year that I won a cookbook through an online competition, courtesy of The Big Issue magazine? It’s called The Great Australian Cookbook and it’s full of heaps of recipes from different Australian people – “cooks, chefs, bakers and local heroes”. I’ve tried a few. I should probably try more!

Like the “Best French Toast Ever!” recipe from Michael Klausen, involving soaking bread in an egg and orange rind mixture overnight, then serving it with strawberries stewed in orange juice. I’ve made this more than once and it’s delicious!

(Caption, as WordPress isn’t cooperating with me to do alt text on these images: on white, green-rimmed plates are (a) an eggy golden piece of toast covered by stewed strawberries; and (b) two pieces of eggy toast, with sweet ham scattered over the stewed strawberries on top of the toast, and juice pooled on the plate.) 

The special spiced rice and meatballs recipe by Charmaine Solomon. I need to make these again as they were part of a “meal set” of foods. (I can’t find the pictures I took of it, either.)

The “Seychelles banana fritters” recipe from Josette and George Gonthier; battered bananas (halved and cut lengthwise), fried until golden. Yum!

• 

Most recipes have been adapted a little. I really enjoy it.

Other inspiration has come from areas such as the Good Food Guide or other publications, browsed when I’m back in my hometown for a weekend.

I’ve cooked my own twist on marinated baked chicken thighs and potatoes;

I’ve roasted chicken and veggies:

As well as roasting fish.

Looking forward to doing that sort of thing again – when it’s cool enough to use the oven properly, that is.

I’ve made a ton of vegetarian recipes; some which are completely new and I need to write them up, while others are tweaks on ones I’ve done before.

Cooking is fun! Expect more posts about it this year.

I’m back! What a lovely holiday…

Hi all. My holiday was awesome, I had a great time. Since I got back on Saturday, I’ve been tidying up a few things and getting others sorted. My placement starts next week in Paediatrics (yay!!) after all.

For the holiday, we stayed in Ubud in a villa there – Kano Sari. Our suite was lovely, and the place had a pool, massage facilities, and a common area with things to do. Plus aircon and free wifi. 😉 Breakfast was provided each day on a rotating menu; it was very yummy, with fresh fruit, muesli, fresh juice and different hot options. Our suite was near a river that ran next to the villa, which was nice. The one downside was the number of stairs we had to climb to go between the common area (pool, dining, lounge room) to our suite.

Ubud is located in the “uplands” of Bali. Nearly everyone keeps chickens – we were woken by the roosters most mornings (who then proceeded to crow all day – “up at cockcrow” should really be “up at first cockcrow”…). The surrounding area has lots of rainforests as well as terraced rice paddies, and Hindu religious practices are a big part of life and the local culture.

 

Activities

We fell into a pattern of doing things around Ubud in the morning, then coming back to the villa after lunch and spending the afternoon relaxing. A nice balance of seeing the sights (it was, after all, my first trip to Bali) and having some chill-out time. Bliss!

Apart from activities around the villa, which included reading, swimming, and a couples massage (highly recommend getting the traditional Balinese one – so relaxing!), our activities including local exploration on foot and, via a hired driver arranged through Kano Sari, a few activities further afield.

I’m glad we arranged this, because the traffic and driving conditions are best navigated by a local. Most locals travel by motorbike due to the narrow roads – the main cars are chartered vehicles and taxis. About the latter – unlike Australia, in Bali it’s perfectly reasonable and acceptable for drivers to ask if you want a ride. Get used to saying, “No.” very firmly as you walk past the calls of, “Taxi?” (they tend to leave the “you want a…” bit out – faster that way. 😉 ).

In Ubud, we visited places such as:

The Sacred Monkey Forest, where macaques live – bold enough to steal anything interesting right out of your hands! We saw a macaque investigating a stolen bottle of hand sanitiser…wonder what he thought of the taste! Very curious animals.

The Ubud Central Market – come before 09:00 for the local market, and from 09:00-17:00 for the tourist one. We got a couple of souvenirs here – mine were earrings and a packet of rosella tea. I also spied Luwak coffee for sale here too! (If interested, check out this blog post of another tourist pair’s trip to the local market.)

The Ubud Palace and Saraswati Temple – both largely closed on the day we went there, but still interesting to look at. There are particular rules about visiting the temple – if it’d been open, I’d have had to wear a “temple sarong” and also would have been obliged to avoid visiting under certain circumstances.

The Neka Gallery, a collection of art from notable Balinese artists, Indonesian artists, and international artists, with paintings “inspired by the people and culture of Bali”. We were followed through the gallery by the caretaker, who made sure all the lights were on as we explored its two levels. It’s got a bit of an indoor-outdoor feel, with the rooms structured around an open courtyard.

On the last day, we walked around Ubud again to see parts of the town we hadn’t seen before, before checking out of the villa and going exploring further afield.

Further afield, we visited:

Petulu village (on Thursday evening) where the white herons roost each night (quite the spectacle). We sat in a little rooftop family-run cafe/bar and watched the herons come into roost on a nearby tree.

The Rice Terraces, which one could walk along and through using special paths, paying “upkeep payments” along the way. The walk was fun, though at times you had to watch your step!

At the terraces, they had a giant swing which swung you (in a harness) over the fields!

On our way to the airport to go home, we stopped by Seminyak Beach for a look. Nice sunset, but not much else for us. (Plenty of stalls selling booze, but no ice-cream!)

Food

We ate out for lunch and dinner during our stay, meaning we got to try a few different places, and dishes. Sometimes we planned where we’d eat, other times we found them when hungry. We usually ate in warungs (“small eateries” or “general stores”, depending on context) or occasionally at restaurants.

Hands down the best place, in my opinion, was the Wild Ginger Warung, where we had our first dinner in Bali. A true family-run restaurant.

I had Ayam Goreng Kecap – “Chicken cooked in Putu’s Special Sauce with White Rice” as a main and a Pisang Goreng – “Fried Banana with Coconut and Brown Sugar” for dessert. Also, I had a Ginger Fizz – “Lemon, Honey, 7Up, and Ginger” to drink.

Another place I enjoyed was called Bebek Bengil. This was a restaurant that was the priciest of the trip, because it specialised in the Balinese speciality “bebek bengil”, which translates to “crispy duck”. It was lunch on our first day.

I ended up having a very spicy Nasi Campur Bebek (“mix of everything”): “Balinese Nasi Campur with Crispy Duck, Boiled Egg, Fish Satay, Balinese Vegetables and lot more”.

My partner had the actual Bebek Bengil: “Half a duck steamed in Indonesian spices and deep fried for a crispy finish … served with steamed rice and Balinese vegetables”.

For a drink, we had a fresh coconut each.

Other food places included the following:

Casa Luna, which was dinner on Thursday evening. I had a special vegetarian dish of tofu and Cassava, Moringa and other green things, accompanied by black rice and a spicy sambal dressing.

To accompany it, I had a glass of brem, Balinese rice wine. Quite potent – I drank it “straight”, but there were options for adding fruit to it to turn it into a cocktail-style drink. It was closer to a spirit than a wine in a sense.

Warung Semesta was lunch on our last day, at a vegetarian “eco-friendly” place. I had Gado Gado and a strawberry milkshake/ smoothie.

Warung Babi Guling Ibu Oka was our destination for lunch on Wednesday. I can’t remember exactly what I had – maybe nasi babi guling, which is rice with pork. “Babi guling” is a special Balinese dish made with suckling pig. It wasn’t as nice as the Bebek Bengil, in my opinion. (No photo for this one – my phone must have had a low battery.)

Nomad was where we had lunch on Thursday. It was clearly geared towards tourists, but still yummy. My partner wanted pasta and we ended up there. I had Tagliatelle A’la Nomad – “Homemade tomato tagliatelle with chicken, spinach and red onion… in a creamy white wine sauce and parmesan cheese.” I had a delicious mango drink that literally tasted as if fresh mango had been liquefied into a drink. I really like the freshness of Balinese juices and drinks!

Jaya Fried Chicken was where we had dinner on Wednesday. My partner spotted it on our travels and suggested we try it. It’s the Indonesian version of KFC. We had a special of theirs and due to a language barrier, it ended up being slightly different to what we’d imagined. But still an interesting experience. Plus iced tea, so yay!

Maccas: included because we got this as an easy dinner on the way to the airport, to compare Indonesian Maccas to other countries. I had a McSpicy, which had nice chicken in it. Indonesian Maccas provides a complimentary chilli sauce with their orders.

 

 

Chickpea bolognese pasta bake

I made this last week and it was really yummy. I was a bit impatient and – at the time – had cream but no cheese, so it ended up being a little different than I’d thought. Still delicious though – and I’m sure there are ways of substituting dairy ingredients if needed… if I hadn’t had the cream to pour over just before baking, it probably would’ve been just as nice.

Ingredients:

• oil
• onion
• garlic
• vegetables: carrot, cauliflower, bok choi, mushrooms
• 1x tin of chickpeas
• decent quantity of pasta
• jar of tomato paste and/or tin of diced tomatoes
• mixed herbs
• cream/ cheese/ substitute

Tools:

• flat-bottomed frying pan
• saucepan
• baking dish
• kitchen spoon
• cutlery and crockery

Method:

1. Choose and chop vegetables and onion into fairly small pieces
2. Heat oil in the frying pan to a medium heat and add onion, vegetables and garlic – cook until soft.
3. Drain chickpeas and (optional) if you have one on hand, you might pulse them in a blender for a few seconds until coarsely chopped (as suggested by the original recipe)
4. Add tomato paste/ diced tomatoes with mixed herbs as well as the chickpeas to the frying pan, bring to a simmer and cook for ten minutes or so.
5. While this is happening, cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente – it’ll soften more in the oven.
6. Drain the pasta and combine with the chickpea bolognese mixture and mix.
   NB. If you like, stop here and plate up your chickpea bolognese. If you have a hankering for a pasta bake, though, continue to the next step.
7. Tip the mixture into a baking dish and – if you have them on hand – top with cheese, or drizzle cream over the top.
8. Bake in the oven at 190*C for 25-30 minutes or until it’s cooked enough for you.

Mixed-bean stew with rice

Another recipe! This was supposed to be a mixed-bean goulash, a la Jack Monroe, but I didn’t have any tomatoes…and then accidentally left it to simmer a bit too long on the stove so too much water evaporated, so it didn’t end up exactly as intended. Still yummy in the end though.

Ingredients:

• 1x can of mixed beans
• 1/4x onion
• 1/2x carrot
• a few bok choy leaves
• 2x cauliflower florets
• corn kernels
• garlic
• ginger
• tsp of Vegemite
• soy sauce
• mixed herbs
• hot water (at least half a bean tin, if not more)
• stock cube
• tsp sugar
• Moroccan spice mix
• Rice

Tools:

• big frypan
• small saucepan
• kitchen spoon
• teaspoons

Method:

1. Chop vegetables and drain beans
2. Fry onion in oil with garlic, ginger and mixed herbs
3. Add other veg
4. Add Vegemite with water and stock cube (remember to add extra water if you’ve got lots of veg!) and stir.
5. Let simmer for fifteen minutes or so, stirring as needed so it doesn’t stick.
6. If you leave it too long and it does stick a bit, use a firm spatula and more water to rescue it, plus a bit of soy sauce if required to get rid of any burnt taste. 😉
7. Tip in the beans and stir to combine then heat for another ten minutes or so.
8. Cook the rice while the mixture has its last ten minutes.
9. Enjoy!