Recipe CXXXI - Slow-Cooked Corona Chicken plus Meatballs in Ratatouille

These times of isolation have brought out the imaginative spirit in me. Yesterday, I broke open the fridge to use up any vegetables that seemed to be going soft, and to create something that would last a day or two. So I came up with this very tasty slow cooker that I've named after this epoch of segregation.

Ingredients:
10 tomatoes
2 spring onions
1 red onion
1 ordinary onion
1 red pepper
3 diced carrots
Worcestershire sauce
10 leaves of sage, cut finely
Garlic is optional
Red wine (you choose the amount)
1 whole chicken - slit the breasts and leg open to allow the flavour in
Ground black pepper and salt rubbed into the chicken
1 baking tray with lid or aluminium foil
Food blender
Butter
Lashings of olive oil

Accompaniment: sautéed potatoes

Instructions:

Turn your oven on to 180°C and peel and cut into 2cm-sized pieces.

Take out your food blender, and put in the tomatoes, three sorts of onions, red pepper, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, sage, some salt and pepper. Blend everything to a fine pulp and leave to settle before blending again.

Take out your chicken, cover it in oil, salt and more pepper, place it and the diced carrots in the baking tray then pour over the blended sauce, making sure your chicken is entirely saturated. Spoon more on top if necessary.

Cover it and place in the oven. Cook on 180°C for 30 minutes, then turn down to 120°C and go off to do something constructive while your house starts to smell appetising.

About 45 minutes before you want to eat, parboil the potatoes, then fry them in butter and olive oil on a medium heat until they are nice and brown. Remove the chicken, cut into the appropriate number of pieces and put on the plate with the potatoes. Spoon some of the sauce onto the food and save the rest for tomorrow.

With the rest of the sauce:
The day after, I made a ratatouille with meatballs and rice using the rest of the sauce. Needless to say, it was the heaviest rata I've ever had, but it gave me a nice warm full stomach.

Ingredients:
Aubergine
Red or green pepper
Onion
Courgette
5 large tomatoes, roughly chopped into large chunks
Whole cherry tomatoes
Green beans
Olive oil
500g minced beef
Herbes de Provence
More red wine
Salt and pepper
Rice
The rest of the sauce

Instructions:

Put some pepper, herbes de Provence, salt and minced beef into a pot and mix in well. Make small balls from them. Take a tray and put them in the fridge for half an hour or so.

In a casserole dish, fry the vegetables except the tomatoes on a medium heat until they are soft, then add the meatballs and seal them on all sides.

Add the tomatoes and some red wine, put a lid on, cooking at a medium-low heat allowing the juices to run but not evaporate.

Then add the remaining sauce from yesterday, and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. Cook your rice in the meantime and add it to the mix at the end, so as not to absorb all the juices while they are cooking.

Recipe XXXIII - The aubergine, the Brussels sprout, and the broad bean: Cooking with unpopular vegetables

The aubergine. The Brussels sprout. The broad bean. Three vegetables that kids find boring, adults don't really know what to do with them. They sit on the shelf in the supermarket, begging for someone to take them away and give them some love, but nobody does. These are three easy recipes to warm up your winter, and maybe, with the coming Yuletide festival, they will give you an idea for guests.



Ingredients for the aubergine:
1 aubergine
6 thin slices of prosciutto or serrano or any cured ham
Some olive oil

Instructions:
Take a large frying pan and heat up the olive oil to a very high temperature. By heating it up very high before putting anything in, the aubergine does not absorb so much oil. Fry it on both sides until it browns.



Put the ham flat on a plate. Take the aubergne out of the pan and put them on top of the ham.



Roll the ham up inside the aubergine and serve on a cocktail stick or with forks.



Done!

Ingredients for the Brussels sprout:
200g Brussels sprouts
200g Gelderland ham or English bacon
Some whole peppercorns and a pestle & mortar
A corner of butter
A small onion
Some nutmeg and a nutmeg grater

Instructions:
Steam the Brussels sprouts with the lid on and cut up the bacon with a pair of scissors.



Fry the onion and bacon in the oil (if you still have it, of the aubergine)



Remove the sprouts from the steamer and heat some butter in a saucepan. Grate the nutmeg into the butter. Fry the sprouts in the butter, then add the other ingredients. Leave half the bacon and onions for the next recipe. Serve immediately.



Splendid!

Ingredients for the broad beans:
1 jar of broad beans
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
A generous sprinkle of oregano
The rest of the bacon
Tomato passata carton
Red wine

Instructions:
Put the onions in the frying pan and sweat them. Two or three minutes later, add the beans and garlic, and fry for a few minutes.



Add the tomato passata and the red wine. Cook for 35 to 30 minutes with the lid off and allow it to reduce.



Serve in bowls.



Delicious!