Roast Chicken with tomatoey bulgar wheat

 Based on Georgina Hayden's recipe

Preheat oven to 220C (fan)

Put a 1.7kg chicken into an ovenproof casserole and sprinkle with 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon, 0.5 tsp smoked paprika and 2tsp dried oregano. Season well. Drizzle over 2tbsp olive oil from jar of sun dried tomatoes and rub all into the skin.

In a blender put a 400g tin of tomatoes with 150ml water (or 400g fresh tomatoes with 250ml water), 4 cloves of garlic and 1tbsp tomato puree. Blend until smooth. Pour around the chicken spooning a little over the top. Scatter over 150g chopped sun dried tomatoes (if you have them, which I didn't when I first made this).

Cover and put in the oven. After 10 minutes turn the oven down to 180C. Cook for a further 50 minutes. 

Make up 500ml of chicken stock from a cube just before the hour is up OR bring home made stock to the boil. 

Take the casserole out of the oven and remove the chicken. Stir in the chicken stock and 250g bulgar wheat. Put the chicken back on top, cover again and put back in oven for 10-15 minutes until the bulgar wheat is cooked through.

Serve with a green vegetable and, for those who like it, a dollop of greek yoghurt. (Georgina made 'dilly leeks and peas' in her original recipe) 

 

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Italian Pork Sausage

 

An experiment for making Italian style sausage meat without basing on shop bought sausages. Added a tad too many chilli flakes. But very good basis for a pasta dish ...which I need to update this recipe to include.

Dry fry 1tsp fennel seeds and 1.5 tsp black peppercorns and then pound until coarsely ground using pestle and mortar.

Put in bowl with

• 500g pork mince (not lean)
• 1 tbsp minced/crushed garlic
• 1tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder and 1 tsp salt (or 2tsp of 'onion salt')
• 0.25 tsp of each of dried thyme, dried rosemary. dried oregano, dried sage
• 1tbsp red wine
• 0.5 tsp chilli flakes - less if you don't want too spicy

Use hands to combine

Green Tomato Curry

Haven't tried yet. Original recipe from a friend who has access to some of the spices/mixes not available locally.

Slice a medium onion and a clove of garlic. Chop 250g green tomatoes into large chunks

Heat 2tsp veg oil and add 1 tsp black mustard seeds and 1tsp cumin seeds. When they get to the popping stage add the onions and garlic and cook gently until onions translucent.

Add the tomatoes and quarter tsp turmeric, 1tsp ground cumin (original recipe was for 2tsp chana jeera) 1-2tsp chilli powder, lemon juice (original recipe was for half tsp amchur)

Stir until cooked. Add upto 1.5 tsp salt along the way (as in taste and adjust seasoning)

Green tomato salsa

As good as one made with tomatillos. I make a large batch when all hope of tomatoes ripening outside or in the greenhouse has gone and freeze in small batches for use with 'tex mex' and other meals that salsa goes well with.

On a baking sheet place

• 3 large peeled cloves garlic. 
• 1 peeled and quartered medium onion. 
• 1 deseed and halved (quartered depending on size) fresh jalapeño chilli. 
• 225g (8oz) green tomatoes, quartered if large

Put under grill for about 5 minutes until they start to blacken. Turn all over and grill for another few minutes. Don't let them get too dark/burn.

Put half of the chilli to one side and put everything else into a blender along with a roughly chopped small bunch of coriander leaves, 2 tbsp lime juice and half teaspoon of salt. Blend to desired consistency. Taste and, if required, add the other half of the chilli and blend again.

Gooseberry Pecan Oat Bars

 

Gooseberry Pecan Oat Bars 

From Waitrose recipe

Preheat the oven to 200˚C, gas mark 6; lightly grease and line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment. Put 400g topped and tailed gooseberries with 75g sugar in a saucepan set over a low-medium heat. Stir often for 10-15 minutes, until jammy and thick; set aside. Mix the flour, cinnamon, oats, pecans and salt together. Melt the butter and remaining 100g sugar together over a low heat. Mix into the flour and oat mixture until you have a dough. 

Press ½ the dough over the bottom of the baking tin. Spread the gooseberries evenly over the dough. Carefully top with spoonfuls of the remaining oat mixture, spreading it out roughly (you don’t want it too smooth) with the back of a spoon to make an even layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes, then cool completely in the tin (or ideally overnight). Cut into 12-16 bars or squares, as wished. 

200g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing 
400g Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients gooseberries, topped and tailed 
175g soft light brown sugar 
200g wholemeal spelt or rye flour, or a mixture 
¾ tsp ground cinnamon 
150g rolled porridge oats 
100g pecans, chopped 
½ tsp fine salt

Slow Cooker recipes

A couple of weeks of making the most of the slow cooker:

Black Bean Beef - worth doing double quantities to have some in the freezer

Spanish bean and chorizo stew - I used a chorizo ‘ring’. Definitely worth having crispy bits on top (I crisped by microwaving for a bit)

Satay chicken wraps. Use boned chicken thighs and add handful of chopped fresh coriander at the end

Bean Chilli is good. Himself had modified version of Mexican fish stew (prawns rather than squid). Update: We have also used as basis of a chilli con carne and a chilli non carne (as in made with soya mince) for large gathering that included a vegetarian.

Banana Oat cake

 352g pureed bananas (if frozen, defrost and drain off any liquid). Sprinkle over 0.5tbsp baking powder and mix in thoroughly. Stir in 135g porridge oats and level tsp cinnamon.

Pour into a lined 7inch tin. Bake at 180C for about 30 minutes, until the top looks dry and is firm to touch.

When cooled, cut into 8 slices.