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 CVII - Veal Cutlets in Tomato-Pepper Sauce

There comes a time when even such a humble customer as myself can force (or embarrass) a supermarket to expand its sorry variety of wares at the meat counter. And so it came to pass, that in the last month or so, my local supermarket has cut down on painting all their best meats some orange-red hue of tasteless marinade, and tried very hard to make pork just one of the meats on offer, not the main meat on offer. And to my surprise, they had veal cutlets there yesterday. As soon as the woman offered them to me, I didn't even bother looking at the rest. This is a flexible recipe, and you should add ingredients as you see fit, but here is the skeleton.

Ingredients:

Some veal cutlets

*Some tomatoes

*A red pepper but if you like bitterness, a green one

*a few slices of leek

*3 to 5 cloves of garlic

*A glass or two of red wine

*A tablespoon of vinegar

*Salt and freshly ground black pepper

*Some fresh herbs (I used 7 leaves of sage)

An onion, roughly chopped

A courgette, cut into thick pieces

Some pasta or boiled potatoes.

Tools:

An electric blender

Instructions:

Put all the ingredients above highlighted with an asterisk (*) into a blender and give it a good go until the pieces are very thin and there is a drop of liquid from it. 

Put the veal in a high-sided pan with some hot butter or olive oil, and seal it. Remove from the pan and put in the onion and courgette. Sweat them nicely, put the veal back in the pan, and pour the mixture over the meat.

Cover it and cook it on a low heat for as long as you like. I gave it 2 hours, to let the flavours really run.

Due to the choice of my guests, I used penne for it, but tagliatelle or potatoes would be a lot better.

I really apologise for the terrible photo above, but I had to improvise because the photos of the original presentation somehow deleted themselves!!

Recipe CVI - Pork Belly Stew with Honey and Beans

How do you know when a recipe is fully rounded or not? When you have adapted it three or four times to reach the right flavour and ingredients. This recipe will take some time before it reaches its roundedness, but here is a good base from which to adapt. It is extraordinarily simple to make and your house will smell utterly delicious for hours.

Ingredients (for four people):

A medium-sized ceramic or cast iron casserole dish with a lid

Some butter for frying

500g sliced pork belly, cut into strips or left whole - your choice

4 potatoes

4 large cloves of garlic

1 onion

A cup of broad beans (but chick peas, lentils or something similar will also do)

A cup of yellow peas*

A bouquet garni (fresh herbs - sage, rosemary, thyme, etc...)

Some coarsely ground black pepper

2 tablespoons of honey

Salt and water

*fresh yellow peas are rock hard and you should either leave them to soak in water overnight before you use them, or you should cook them for at the very least 2 hours. I chose the latter, as it fit the recipe.

Instructions:

Switch the oven on to about 170°C. Put 2 of the garlic cloves in some butter and allow it to brown. Then remove the garlic from the oil. This will give your casserole a hint of garlic without overpowering it.

Then add the pork with a dusting of salt. Brown it until sealed, then add the black pepper, onion, the rest of the garlic and bouquet garni.

Give it a stir, allow the onion to sweat a little, then put in the yellow peas, broad beans, potatoes and honey. Give it a very good mixing so the yellow peas sink to the bottom. Add water until almost to the level of the ingredients, a good shake of the salt pot and bring it to the boil.

You can then put it into the oven. Give it a minimum of 2 hours, keep trying the yellow peas as they will be the last to be ready. Everything else will be so succulent and moist, and should have a prevailing taste of honey without being overbearing.

Take it out of the oven every 30-45 minutes to fill up with water and to add a sprinkle of salt.

Recipe CI - Pesto from Garden Herbs

We had a party at the weekend, and my herb garden came in pretty useful for marinades. This one is so easy to make and also so very tasty. It goes incredibly well with chicken or pasta.

Ingredients:

Rosemary

Oregano

Sage

Any other herbs you wish

1 small onion

4 cloves of garlic

Some hard cheese like Manchego, Cheddar or Pecorino

Some freshly ground black pepper

Some salt

A good amount of olive oil

Instructions:

Put everything in a blender and give them a good spin for at least two minutes.

Done!

Recipe LXIV - Sage & Onion Stuffing

One of the most special thing about roast dinners is the way the meat is seasoned. When it comes to birds, you can not go wrong with some stuffing. Now, whilst most people get it from the supermarket, actually making it at home yourself is easier (and cheaper [and tastier]) than what comes out of a packet. This is one of two recipes this week, to make up for lost time.

Ingredients:
2 slices of bread, preferably no longer fresh
1 egg
A cup of milk
1 onion, chopped
Some fresh sage
3 cloves of garlic
Ground black pepper
Salt



Instructions:
Cut up the onion into fine pieces.
TIP: to avoid your eyes being affected too much, many people have their own methods: in some parts of the Mediterranean, they cut onions on their heads. I favour sticking my tongue out - then my tongue bears the brunt of the odorous onion, leaving my eyes less affected.
Take the leaves of the sage, and fold them into a ball. With a knife or a pair of scissors, slice them up into small pieces.
Put the bread, egg and milk into a bowl and with a potato masher or fork, bind it into a smooth consistency. Then add the onion, sage, ground pepper and salt.



Mash well, until it is all nicely mixed in together.
Open the bird and fork the mixture inside. I favour leaving the bird open, as this allows the stuffing to slowly slide outwards, leaving a delicious crust.



Salt the skin of your bird, and baste it in oil. Put some butter on the leg area - this gives some crispiness to the skin on the legs. I sometimes put half-cloves of garlic under the skin, but with the stuffing inside, this is not necessary. Roast the bird for about 20 minutes per 500g, plus twenty minutes on top.



The photos of the result did not come out very well (dark!) but this was the best I could do:



The potatoes enjoyed bathing in the oil too...