Duck with orange sauce

From Chicken the best ever recipe collection
Serves 2-3

Ingredients

1 whole roasting duck, approximately 2kg
2 oranges,
1/2 cup caster sugar
6 tablespoons white wine vinegar,
1/2 cup grand marnier
salt and freshly ground black pepper,
orange slices to garnish.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Trim off the excess fat and skin from the duck and prick the skin all over with a fork. Season the duck inside and out with salt and pepper; secure the legs with cooking string.

Place the duck on a rack in a large roasting tin. Cover tightly with foil and cook in the oven for 1½ hours.

With a vegetable peeler, remove the orange rind in wide strips then slice into thinner strips. Squeeze the juice from the oranges.

In a small heavy-based saucepan mix the vinegar and orange juice and stir to dissolve. Boil over a high heat, without stirring, until the mixture is rich caramel colour. Remove from the heat and carefully add the orange juice, pouring it down the side of the pan. Swirl the pan to blend, bring back to the boil and add the orange rind and liquor. Simmer for 2 – 3 minutes.

Remove the duck from the oven and pour off all the fat. Raise the oven temperature to 200?C/400?F/Gas 6. Return the duck to the oven and continue to roast, uncovered for 25-30 minutes, basting frequently with the sauce, until the duck is brown and juice runs clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a knife or skewer.

Pour the juices from the duck cavity into the tin and transfer the bird to a carving board. Cover with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Pour the roasting juices into the saucepan with the remaining caramel mixture, skim off the fat and simmer gently. Serve the duck garnished with watercress and orange slices, and accompanied by the sauce.

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

Chicken the best ever recipe collection
Serves 4

 

Ingredients

4 tbsp Rosemary, Fresh
1 chicken
40 clove Garlic
4 tbsp Olive Oil
0.25 tsp Salt, Table
0.25 tsp Pepper, Black
425 grams Beans, Snap, Green

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Place the lemon half and the rosemary sprigs in the chicken.

Separate three or four of the garlic bulbs into cloves and remove the papery husks, but do not peel. Slice the top off the remaining garlic bulb.

Heat the oil in a large, flameproof casserole. Add the chicken, turning it in the hot oil to coat the skin completely. Season with salt and pepper, and add all the garlic.

Cover the casserole with a sheet of foil, then the lid, to seal in the steam and the flavour. Cook for 1-1 1/4 hours until the chicken juices run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a skewer or knife.

Serve the chicken with the garlic, accompanied by steamed broad beans and spring onions.

 

Roast chicken with lemon and herbs / Roman tomato salad

From Chicken the best ever recipe collection
Serves 4

Ingredients

1.3kg chicken
1 unwaxed lemon, halved
small bunch of fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
15g butter, softened
60-90ml chicken stock or water
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Season the chicken inside and out with salt and pepper

Squeeze the juice of one lemon half and then place the juice, the squeezed lemon half, the thyme and bay leaf in the chicken cavity. Tie the legs with string and rub the breast with butter.

Place the chicken on a rack in a roasting tin. Squeeze over the juice of the other lemon half. Roast the chicken for 1 hour, basting two or three times until the juices run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a knife or skewer.

Pour the juices from the cavity into the roasting tin and transfer the chicken to a carving board. Cover loosely with foil and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.

Skim off the fat from the cooking juices. Add the stock or water and boiler a medium heat, scraping the base of the in until slightly reduced. Strain and serve with the chicken.

From Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup pitted green and black olives, halved
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
3 anchovy fillets, drained and chopped
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
8 fresh basil leaves, shredded
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound vine-ripened tomatoes (about 3 tomatoes)

Cook the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan over low heat until thick, syrupy, and measuring 1/4 cup, about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Combine the olives, parsley, anchovies, capers, garlic, basil, pepper, and olive oil in a small bowl and toss to combine.

Haven’t been doing much cooking for a while because of work, the Spawn and the trip back home. So with the beginning of a new year and no work commitments for the weekend, I decided to go back to my usual pastime. Had a craving for roast chicken because I had some at Cafe Rouge and thought I should expand my repertoire of roasting chicken to the French way. Butter makes the breast extremely moist and flavoursome. All in all quite happy with my effort. Moist, tasty chicken. What more can you ask for?

Ham with madeira sauce

From The Best Ever French Cooking Course cookbook by Carole Clements & Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter
4 shallots (finely minced)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato puree
6 tablespoons madeira wine
4 ham steaks (6-7 oz each)
salt & freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Melt half the butter in a heavy med-sized saucepan over med-high heat. Add the shallots & cook for 2-3 min till just softened, stirring frequently.

Sprinkle over the flour & cook for 3-4 min till well-browned, stirring constantly. Whisk in the stock and the tomato puree and season to taste with salt & pepper. Simmer over a low heat till the sauce is reduced by nearly half, stirring occasionally.

Taste the sauce & adjust seasoning as desired. Add the Madeira wine & cook for 2-3 minutes. (The sauce can be made up to 3 dys in advance, chilled & then rewarmed to serve.).

Snip the edges of the ham steaks to prevent curling. Melt the remaining butter in a large frying pan over a medium high heat. Add the ham steaks & cook 4-5 mins (turning once) till the meat feels firm to the touch. Serve immediately with the sauce.

Special Cassoulet by the Hairy Bikers

From Hairy Dieters – How to Love Food and Lose Weight
Serves 6

Ingredients
½ tsp sunflower oil
6 sausages, at least 85% meat
4 celery sticks
3 carrots
2 onions, halved and sliced
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 450g/1lb)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g/7oz piece smoked lean gammon, trimmed and cut into 2cm/1in cubes
2 x 400g/14oz cans chopped tomatoes
150ml/5fl oz red wine (or water)
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 bay leaf
4-5 bushy sprigs fresh thyme
400g/14oz can cannellini beans in water, drained and rinsed
400g/14oz can butter beans in water, drained and rinsed
freshly ground black pepper

For the garnish
handful fresh flatleaf parsley
½ large orange, zest only, finely grated

Brush a large non-stick frying pan with the sunflower oil, using the tip of a pastry brush. Add the sausages to the pan and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes, turning every now and then until nicely browned on all sides.

Meanwhile, trim the celery and peel the carrots and cut them into diagonal slices about 1.5cm/½in thick.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

Add the onions to the frying pan and cook with the sausages for 6-8 minutes, stirring regularly until softened and lightly browned.

Trim the chicken thighs of any visible fat – we find a good pair of kitchen scissors does the job well – then cut the thighs in half.

Add the garlic and chicken pieces to the pan with the sausages and onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning the chicken twice until coloured all over.

Transfer everything to a large flameproof casserole dish.

Stir in the gammon, celery, carrots, tomatoes, red wine and 300ml/½ pint cold water, then sprinkle over the caster sugar and chilli flakes. Stir in the bay leaf and thyme and season with lots of ground black pepper.

Bring the cassoulet to a simmer on the hob, then cover with a lid and transfer to the oven. Cook for 45 minutes.

Take the casserole out of the oven and stir in all the beans. Cover with the lid again and put the dish back in the oven for another 30 minutes.

Just before the cassoulet is ready, prepare the garnish. Chop the parsley roughly and toss with the orange zest in a small bowl.

Serve large portions of the cassoulet in deep plates or wide bowls with a good sprinkling of the zesty parsley garnish on each one.

Cassoulet (French pronunciation: ​[ka.su.lɛ], from Occitan caçolet [kasuˈlet]) is a rich, slow-cooked casserole originating in the south of France, containing meat (typically pork sausages, goose, duck and sometimes mutton), pork skin (couennes) and white haricot beans.
The dish is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, a deep, round, earthenware pot with slanting sides.

Stoved chicken

Ingredients

3 potatoes thinly sliced
1 large onion thinly sliced
1 tbs chopped thyme
3 slice bacon chopped
4 chicken thighs
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 140 degrees

Place half of potato in the bottom of a heavy casserole, then cover with half of the onion, half of the thyme. Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Heat oil in pan to brown the bacon and chicken.

Transfer the bacon and chicken to the casserole on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle the remaining thyme and add the bay leaf. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the remaining onions. Layer the potatoes on top.

Pour the stock into the casserole and brush the potatoes with the pan juices remaining after the browning of the chicken and the bacon.

Cover the casserole and cook in the oven for 2 hours, remove the cover and cook under the grill for another 15 minutes.

Serve.

“Stoved” is derived from the French etouffer – to cook in a covered pot.

Vichyssoise (Leek and potato soup)

Ingredients

600g leeks, white parts only, thinly sliced
250g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1.5 litres of chicken stock
butter

Melt the butter in a heavy pan and cook the leeks, covered, for 15-20 minutes, until they are soft but not browned.

Add the potato chunks and cook over a low heat, uncovered for a few minutes.

Stir in the stock with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and partly cover the pan. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.

Cool, then process the soup until smooth in a blender. Sieve the soup into a bowl. Taste and adjust the seasoning and add a little water if the consistency of the soup seems too thick.

One of my favourite French soups and one that I make on a regular basis. I think this is supposed to be a cold soup; I am just a bit apprehensive about having it that way…

Baked sea bass with tomato confit and black olives

From I Know how to Cook – Ginette Mathiot
Serves 2
Ingredients

1 garlic clove
1 sea bass, about 800g, gutted and cleaned
100ml olive oil plus extra to serve
50g butter
12 sun-dried tomatoes
12 black olives, stoned
pepper
salt
12 basil leaves, chopped

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Rub an oven proof dish with the garlic clove, and place the sea bass in the fish. Pour in the olive oil, lemon juice and 100ml water over the fish, and dot with the butter. Bake for about 16 minutes, basting frequently. To check whether the fish is cooked, insert a wooden toothpick: it should pass easel through the thickest part of the fish. If it does not, cook for a further 5 minutes before checking again. Just before the fish is cooked, add the tomatoes and olives to the dish and return to the oven.

When the fish is cooked, drain the cooking juices into a small pan, place on a high heat and simmer until half the liquid has evaporated. Add a splash of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. To serve, return the reduced sauce to the oven proof dish with the sea bass and garnish with the basil.

This is a Franck Raymond recipe, the head chef at Mon Plaisir at Covent Garden, London. Have to admit I wasn’t a huge fan of that restaurant, I went there once and I thought it was alright, nothing really fantastic. But I suspect my impression of that dinner was marred by the fact that I was sat right next to the cheese board. I actually didn’t know what the smell was until someone unveiled the cheese board by removing the cloth that was covering it.

Anyway, this is a good simple recipe for sea bass. I used sea bass fillets rather than the whole fish. I am now tempted to go back to Mon Plaisir to get a second opinion on the food there!

Pan fried chicken in mushroom sauce

From bbcgoodfood.com
Ingredients

2 tbsp sunflower oil
6 large, free-range chicken legs , halved at the joint so you have 6 thighs and 6 drumsticks
700ml/1¼ pts chicken stock (or water)
50g butter
1 onion , finely diced
400g mixed wild mushrooms
300ml/½ pt dry white wine
284ml pot double cream

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Fry the thighs for 8-10 mins, skin side only, until golden brown, then transfer to a casserole dish. Fry the drumsticks for about 5 mins each side and add them to the thighs.

Pour the stock over the chicken legs in the casserole. There should be enough stock to just cover the chicken, if not add a little water. Bring stock to the boil and cover, leaving lid slightly ajar. Cook at just below simmering point for 30-35 mins until chicken is cooked.

While chicken is simmering, drain oil from the pan. Heat the butter in pan and add onion. Sweat onion for 5 mins until soft, but not coloured. Turn up the heat, add the mushrooms, then fry for 3 mins until they soften and start to smell wonderful. Pour over the white wine, raise the heat to maximum and boil rapidly for 6-8 mins until reduced by two-thirds. Turn off the heat and leave until chicken has cooked.

Once chicken legs are cooked, strain stock into pan with the onion, mushrooms and white wine, bring back to the boil and reduce again by two-thirds until it is thick and syrupy. Pour in double cream, bring it to the boil, season if you want, then pour it over chicken. Heat chicken through in the sauce for 2-3 mins then turn off the heat and leave for a few mins before serving. This is such an aromatic and beautiful looking dish you should serve it straight from the casserole with the lid on.

Salade Niçoise

BBC GoodFood 101 Mediterranean Dishes
Serves 4
Ingredients

5tbsp olive oil, plus a little extra for frying and drizzling
2tsp finely chopped fresh oregano
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
16 new potatoes, halved
100g green beans
4 X 100g fresh tuna steaks
handful of black olives, pitted
8 anchovy fillets, thinly sliced in strips
16 cherry tomatoes
4 small eggs, soft boiled, halved
grated parmesan, to serve

Whisk the five tbsp of olive oil with the oregano and enough of lemon juice to taste, in a large bowl. Season, set aside

Cook the potatoes in boiling, salted water for 10 minutes or until tender, adding the beans for the last 4 minutes . Drain well and toss well while warm in the dressing.

Heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Add the tuna and fry over a high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. Add the olives, anchovies and tomatoes to the potatoes and gently toss. Scatter the salad over four plates, top with the tuna, eggs, Parmesan and a drizzle of oil.