Tag Archives: chicken

Cheese, Chicken, Desserts, Salads, Salmon

Christmas 2018

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Florence, Damien, Marie-Danielle and GrahamWe spent an informal Christmas Day this year in the company of two good friends, Florence and her son, Damien. We also decided to keep it simple, so we kicked off with smoked wild salmon from Olsen Bornholm, a specialist smoke house and curers, just a mile from where we live. But we dressed it up a bit and turned it into Julie’s Salmon and Prawn with Lime. This is such an easy recipe and it’s been a huge success every time we’ve done it. Damien was more impressed with Marie-Danielle’s hat. And a mighty fine hat it was too!Florence, Damien, Marie-Danielle and Graham

For the main course, we cooked Chicken in a Salt Crust (or Poulet a l’ail en Croute de Sel if you want me to be pedantic). It’s a simple, straightforward recipe and I know from experience that the salt crust takes a bit of breaking. In fact, I often employ the help of a hammer. So it was a racing certainty that Damien would find this amusing. Nothing like getting someone involved in the kitchen at an early age – even if it is only with a hammer!

Happy 2019 from Marie-Danielle and GrahamFlorence lives in the heart of Paris and she had brought with her some truly wonderful cheeses that we took our time over. She also brought the deserts – delicious hand-made cakes from one of the best patisseries in the capital. We would have been happy if she had just brought herself and Damien, but the cheese and desserts were an added bonus.

Incidentally, I used Florence (with her permission) as a model for one of the characters in my book Web of Tangled Blood. It’s the story of a couple struggling to understand their past as they search for their long lost son.

So, finally, I hope you’ve enjoyed following this blog. I leave you at the end of 2018 with all my best wishes for the year ahead. May you enjoy health and happiness. Everything else will follow from there.

Chicken, Slow Cooking

Let it cook itself

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Granny's Slow-baked ChickenSometimes you know you have a busy afternoon planned so you want dinner to cook itself. And so it can with Granny’s Slow-baked Chicken. This is a dead easy way to cook a chicken while you have a sleep, or go jogging, or whatever else turns you on.

The other day was such a day. Marie-Danielle and I wanted to go looking for a new bathroom cabinet but we had guests coming to dinner. No problem… after a Tomato and Mozzarella Salad (ready in less than 10 minutes), we dug into a corn fed farm-raised chicken so juicy and tender, it could have won prizes in any juicy and tender chicken competition!

While we were out looking for our bathroom cabinet (which we didn’t find!) I slow-baked the bird in one of those German clay pots called Römertopf (don’t worry, the recipe allows you to use other casserole-style pots, particularly a cast iron Dutch Oven). Into the pot went whole garlic cloves, a quartered lemon, and fresh herbs from an amazing nearby outlet called ‘Grand Frais’ which specialises in fresh and seasonal produce.

Even before we served the chicken, our guests were salivating at the aromas coming from the kitchen. After the tomato salad, I took care of the carving and brought the platter of chicken portions to the table with sides of mashed potatoes and Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries. The chicken also gave out a gravy boat of golden brown cooking juices, in which the softened garlic cloves were paddling about, ready to have their pungent-sweet pulp smooched out and used as a condiment.

Our guests declared that the chicken was hands-down the best they’d ever had. I have trouble deciding whether my chicken was really as good as that, but it was pretty close, and I have a feeling that Granny’s Slow-baked Chicken will make frequent appearances on our menu. It is an extremely easy and foolproof recipe since the chicken cooks in its own steam and at such a low temperature, there is no risk of it overcooking or drying out. All you really need is good ingredients and time.

Chicken, Salads, Salmon, Vegetables

The End of Summer

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While the UK (and the poor old Isle of Man) is suffering from 80mph (130kph) winds and floods, here in France, the weather is a very pleasant 27C with just a gentle cooling breeze to take the edge off the heat. But even so, I sense that the summer is coming to an end. The birds are circling and the fields are being harvested (us country folk know about things like that!)

Caesar SaladMeanwhile we’re making the best of what good weather we still have. We’re eating salads like Caesar Salad or Salade Niçoise at lunch time and simple fayre in the evenings like Chicken and Ham Soup or Leek and Smoked Salmon Rolls

Often the simplest of meals are the most satisfying. M-D and I have just had a salad that was nothing more than a cooked chicken breast and Marinated Carrot Salad.Simple, yet tasty and filling (and very few of those nasty calories!). I just finished adding a recipe to the site for Roast Belly Pork Dinner. Now that’s serious comfort food! But maybe I can wait till those dark winter evenings!

M-D is busy planning for our return to the Isle of Man in about 3 weeks. She’s digging out all sorts of stuff that we have duplicated here in France (like a wok, for example) and creating a “heap” for us to take with us. We’ll be going by car this time, so we can carry lots of stuff (including the obligatory cases of wine!).

Until August we lived in a small apartment when we were on the Isle of Man. However, we decided that we needed somewhere bigger since our families are always made welcome. Within six weeks we had found the right house, bought it, moved in and rented out the apartment! But it took a bit of a toll on us physically and mentally so we came back to France for a rest.

Now it’s time to go back and sort out everything we didn’t manage to get done before – like a couple of extensions to the phone line and a desk each and…. a wok, it seems!