Main Courses (Veggie, Poultry, Beef, Lamb, Pork etc)

If you are posting a recipe in this section, please mark your post with what kind of main (eg Veggie, Poultry, Beef, Lamb, Pork etc) to help anyone searching.

 

Lamb


SHINEY'S MORROCAN STYLE MARINATED LAMB

1 large leg of lamb ( remove skin and fat to allow marinade to penetrate better )
1 Tbs. cumin seed
1 Tbs. coriander seed
½ Tbs. black peppercorns
3 Tbs. olive oil
4 garlic cloves - crushed
2" fresh ginger - grated
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. brown sugar (optional, I don’t use it)
2 Tbs. cold water
1½ Tbs. paprika

Dry roast the cumin and coriander in a pre-heated frying pan. ( Don’t over roast them - they are done when the cumin starts jumping and spitting – or burning if you leave it too long.) Grind the spices and black pepper in a coffee grinder or with mortar and pestle.

Put oil in a bowl then add garlic, ginger, salt and sugar and mix. Add ground spices and pepper and mix. Add water and paprika and mix. This will become a thick paste so that it should not slide off the joint. If the paste is too thin, add more paprika. If too thick add more water.

Make small cuts in the lamb then coat the joint with the paste. Marinate for as long as possible ( 4 hours is o.k., 24 hours is good and 48 hours is best - if leaving for more than 4 hours cover the dish very well with foil and put in fridge ). Turn the joint over at least once during the marinating time.

One nice variation is to add 1- 1½ ozs of ground almonds to the marinade.

Roast in the normal way but it is best to keep the lamb covered with the foil during cooking and uncover for the last 15 minutes. If having roast potatoes as well – keep dish covered until potatoes need to go in then remove foil from the dish and just wrap it over the top of the joint. I usually cook it on Gas Mark 5, 190C.

The lamb will carve better if you let it stand for at least ten minutes - carve the slices fairly thickly.

Serving suggestions:-

with roast potatoes ( roasted with the lamb )
with lightly flavoured rice ( add a few raisins - optional )
selection of your favourite vegetables

salads:- olive and orange salad with spring onions
avocado and fennel with an orange juice flavoured dressing
mixed green - with lettuce, cucumber, fennel, celery and green apple

 

CHICKEN

The three day chicken......

Day 1:

1 large chicken
Parsnips (quantity as you wish)
Carrots (quantity as you wish)
1 Onion
Garlic (1 or 2 cloves, crushed/minced)
Pack of Sage & Onion Stuffing mix (I use Sainsburys mid-size pack, as it is only pennies and you get a good quantity)
1 Celery stick
Chestnuts (10 or so)
Potatoes
Stock cubes (chicken & vegetable)
Crushed chillies
Butter
White pepper

Finely chop the onion and the celery and melt a good knob of butter on a low to medium heat; add the onions and celery and gently cook until the onions soften - add the crushed garlic and a pinch of crushed chilies (vary the amount depending on your tastes) a few minutes after the onion and celery.

Make the stuffing according to the packet instructions. Once the onions etc are softened, add them to the stuffing mix (including any butter that might be in the pan) and mix through; allow to cool a bit and then pop it into the fridge as it is easier to make into balls when it is cool.

Put the chicken in to roast at 180º; meantime, peel and cut up potatoes and put them in a pot of water to boil; as the water heats, add stock cubes and then parboil the potatoes in the stock. Remove the potatoes once they are softened, but retain the stock. Set the potatoes aside and let them dry a bit. Prepare your parsnips for roasting, and your carrots for boiling.

Heat your chosen roasting oil or fat in the oven, then chuff the edges of the potatoes up to help them get nice and crispy. Coat them liberally with the roasting oil, and pop them into the oven - baste and turn regularly.

Make the stuffing into balls (golf ball size) and roast half of them for about 20 mins (wrap/cover the other half of them and keep them in the fridge for tomorrow) - remember to take the chicken out to rest. Boil the carrots in the stock that you retained earlier, then once they are done, remove them from the stock and add butter and ground white pepper and coat the carrots liberally.

Reserve chicken juices from roasting into a jug, and cool. Use the retained stock from the veggies to deglaze the roasting tin, putting the resulting flavours back in with the veggie stock and then make the stock into a gravy (add flour, butter, wine etc as you wish).

Serve half the chicken with the stuffing, roasties and veggies and save the other half for tomorrow. Enjoy.

Day 2:

Parsnips
Carrots
Onion
Potato or sweet potato
Mixed herbs
Garlic (couple of cloves, crushed)
Butter
Oil

Remove the other half of the chicken meat from the bird, carve it, and place it in a microwaveable container, then make a light chicken stock (one cube should be sufficient), cover the meat with the stock, and then put a cover over the container to be thoroughly reheated when required.

Put the remainder of the chicken carcass into a large pot, fill with water and put it on to boil.

Chop the veggies into chunks, then heat the butter and oil in a pot (not too high a heat), then add the garlic and the mixed herbs and mix through - add any seasoning you wish too. Put the veggies into a big bowl or pot and then add the butter/oil mixture and give everything a good rumble about to coat in the oil. Transfer the veggies to a baking sheet/tray and roast in the oven for half an hour or so. Remember to add the other half of the stuffing balls you made yesterday. Serve with your choice of gravy, bread sauce etc.

Put the stock that was used for reheating the chicken into the pot with the chicken carcass bubbling away. Once this has cooked for a while (45 mins or so), pour through a sieve catching all the fluid into a fresh pot or suitable sized jug. Strip the chicken carcass of all remaining meat, which should just fall off now, break it into smallish bits and pop it into the new pot/jug - pop it into the fridge.


Day 3:

1 Onion, flnely chopped
1 Celery stick, finely chopped
2 carrots, grated
1 leek, finely sliced
½ Swede, cubed
1 large waxy potato, cubed
Frozen peas - a good handful
Garlic (2 or 3 cloves, crushed)
Mixed herbs
Crushed chillies
Butter & oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat the butter and oil over a low to moderate heat, then add the onion, herbs, a pinch of crushed chillies, celery and leek to the pot and cook gently until softened. Add the carrots, garlic and then the jug of chicken goodness (remove the fat from the top if there is any, and discard) from yesterday, then bring to the boil - add a stock cube or two if the taste isn't quite what you want. Add the swede, potato and peas and continue to cook over a moderate heat. Season as you wish with salt and freshly ground pepper, and serve with crusty bread or homemade croutons.

 

Very interesting to see your use of summer fruits juice in there @Jack Sparrow - I assume that it mainly adds sweetness?

 

I often cook with wine..........


Sometimes I even put it in the food

 

I cook some things with a little wine - even though I'm teetotal. Too much wine can make it bitter. @Fat Controller's formula is quite a good one - 'one for the pot, six for me'