Braised Chicken Thighs

Saturday, 16th November 2013

Season the chicken and brown it in oil for a few minutes on each side. Remove it from the pan and add onions and chopped fennel. Fry these for a few minutes then add garlic and then a glass of wine. Deglaze the pan and add sliced courgette. Let it cook for another couple of minutes then put the chicken back, with enough stock to cover the veg but not the chicken. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover, turn the chicken and cook for another 15 minutes, while the rice is cooking. Adjust seasoning.
Basmati rice - Wash the rice several times, then soak it for a bit. Drain it and add twice as much water as there is rice (by volume) and salt. Bring to the boil and allow the water to boil away to the point where hardly any is visible, and there are craters in the surface of the rice. You need to be paying attention. As soon as the craters form, add a small knob of butter, slap on a lid and put the pot on the lowest possible heat, so the remaining liquid steams the rice for 10 minutes or more.
Chicken thighs are meaty, juicy and flavourful and the best part of the bird I think. The very simple sauce in this was delicious.

Fennel Risotto

Monday, 10th December 2012

Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food page 204. I make this risotto often for myself and its always a winner, although this was the first time I tried it with fresh fennel. I also added some fennel salami at the end, because I had it. I have a tendency to overdo the parmesan, but not this time. Delicious.

Monkfish wrapped in Coppa

Friday, 20th January 2012

I wrapped a couple of pieces of monkfish in italian coppa, sauteed them briefly and then let them stew in a little white wine for 10 minutes. Meanwhile I sauteed some potatoes (a bit overdone but still good), stir fried some fennel, and finally made a cream and onion sauce with the juices in the fish pan. Very nice, and the boneless monkfish was a plus point.

Chicken casserole with chorizo

Sunday, 18th September

I did this in the slow cooker, because we were out in the afternoon, and it was a bit overdone to be honest. Should have had the heat on low instead of medium.
Diced some chorizo and fried it off until the fat ran, then removed it from the pan. Jointed and browned the chicken in the chorizo fat the removed that as well and browned some tiny onions and a bit of garlic. Deglazed the pan with wine and transfered everything to the slow cooker. An hour or so before serving I added the zest of an orange and some black olives.
Served with roast potatoes and caramelised fennel with figs. Cooked the fennel in stock for about 10 minutes, then fried it in butter and sugar for about 5 minutes on each side, until it was nicely browned, then transfered it to a dish with a bit of liquid and topped with sliced fig (from the balcony!) and baked it in the oven for 20-30 minutes.