Cheap as chicken

I love a roast chicken, there is something completely satisfying about seeing it, all gleaming and golden out of the oven, but sometimes I want to make it less of a traditional roast, I want different flavours. This week I made Corfu roast chicken, by the ever present Diana Henry.


Stuff half a lemon inside the chicken, season the outside of the bird, squeeze over half a lemon, olive oil and half a tablespoon of cayenne pepper. Chop about 900g of sweet potatoes into chunks and 2 red onions into wedges mix with some more olive oil another half tablespoon of cayenne pepper. Roast  the chicken 20mins per 500g at gas mark 5, plus an extra ten mins. When the chicken has 45 mins left, toss I the veggies, I actually added some peppers to the mix too, as I couldn't be bothered to cook any other veggies. Check it is actually cooked, make sure the juices run clear, then take the bird out and cover with tin foil and rest for 10 mins. 

Carve up and devour. 

As there were only two of us eating there was a lot of leftovers, which are my favourite thing. I looked in the fridge and found half a chorizo sausage, so I made a quick stew like this:

1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 red onion
About 100g chorizo sausage
50g leftover chicken in chunks
1 can of cannellini beans, or any white beans
1 pack of baby sweet peppers or 1 large pepper
Smoked paprika

Chop the onion, peel the skin off the chorizo and chop into chunks. Put a pan on to heat and add the chorizo, you don't need to add oil, the chorizo is quite fatty and all the golden spiced oil will come out of there. When the oil has started to come out of the chorizo add the onion and cook until softened. Add the pepper and cook for about 5 mins add the chicken. Add the tomatoes, and the white beans that have been drained and rinsed and cook until it is hot through. I think the longer the better! Serve with good bread and enjoy! You can see a picture on my instagram feed @kategwilliam !!

We still had leftover chicken! 

Last night we had chicken, bacon and leek pie. YUM! Very easy, even easier if you don't make the pastry. We made shortcrust pastry, I only know the imperial measurements for this, so 

8oz plain flour
4oz fat (we did 2oz butter 2oz lard)
About 2tbsp of cold water

Put the flour in a bowl and chop the fat into it, use a knife to chop the fat and flour together. Once it looks breadcrumb-ish make a well in the centre and add 1 tbsp cold water and mix the flour into it using the knife, add the next bit of water and bring it together until it forms a ball. You want it to be a bit crumbly, but not completely falling apart. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge to rest. Which gives you time to make the filling! 

We had cooked the bacon earlier in the day for sandwiches, but a pie is a much better use, so cook the bacon, about 8 rashers, chop it up into inch pieces.

In a bowl break up the leftover chicken into pieces, chop 1 leek finely, put into the bowl. Add the bacon. I made a cheats sauce, 3 tbsp of Philadelphia cheese, mix with milk until smooth, add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard add any herbs you may have lying around, we had some tarragon so I chopped that into the sauce. Pour it into the bowl stir through put the mixture into a pie dish. Remember to put a pie funnel in!

Roll out the pastry, wet the top of the pie dish, place the pastry on top and squeeze the edges down. Trim off the excess. Place in the oven gas mark 5 for 30mins.


Enjoy!