How to spatchcock a chicken

I've always been a bit scared of spatchcocking, there's something rather violent about the way the word sounds. It makes me think of kneecapping, or knuckledusting. This Saturday though, I steeled my nerves and set about my chicken with new abandon. And I was relieved to find it wasn't even that difficult.

To spatchcock, if you're not familiar with the term, is to remove the backbone of the chicken and to flatten it out. It makes cooking much quicker - the bird that I used cooked in 50 minutes rather than an hour and 20 - and it makes the chicken much easier to handle if you're cooking it on the BBQ.

All you need is a chicken and a pair of kitchen scissors.

1. Put the chicken onto a board breast side down, with the head end towards you.



2. Find the backbone and cut alongside it all the way to the end. You will crunch through the ribs as you do this, but an ordinary pair of kitchen scissors should do the job.



3. Do the same on the other side of the backbone, so the whole backbone is removed. You can keep this and use it for making stock.



4. Turn the chicken over, open it up and press down on it to flatten it out. The idea is that the chicken is a fairly uniform thickeness all over.

Your chicken is now well and truly spatchcocked. I stuffed some ricotta, lemon zest and chives under the skin, drizzled with olive oil and cooked it in the oven for 50 minutes until the juices ran clear. Delicious!

Tomato & goat's cheese canapes

They may look fiddly, but once you get going these tomato and goat's cheese canapes are pretty simple. I used an icing gun to fill the tomato shells, but you could use a traditional piping bag or just wodge it in with a teaspoon/finger if you're not fussy.

Tomato & goat's cheese canapes
(adapted from In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt - a fantastic book)

Ingredients

30 cherry tomatoes (go for large ones)
150g soft goat's cheese
2 tbsp double cream
1 tbsp finely chopped chives plus some extra for garnish

1. Slice off the base of each of the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Stand them upside down on a paper towel to dry out.

2. Mix together the cheese, cream and chives. Season.

3. Pipe the cheese mixture into the tomato shells. Garnish with some extra snipped chives. Pop them in the fridge until your guests arrive.

Enjoy!

The Princess

Whiskied Butter-Bunny Bobotie

Before anyone starts complaining, this is most definitely NOT a traditional bobotie! Bobotie is a traditional South African dish, a bit like a curried moussaka with a wobbly custard topping. I took my inspiration from the version in Galton Blackiston's new book Summertime.

For my version I used chunks of rabbit rather than minced lamb, apricot jam instead of quince jelly and whiskey instead of brandy. I also added butter beans to the mix and cheese to the custardy topping. It turned out quite well - I hope you'll agree!

Whiskied Butter-Bunny Bobotie - serves 3-4

Ingredients

1 onion, diced

1 fat clove of garlic, minced

400g diced rabbit

1 tbsp curry paste

3 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp apricot jam

2 tbsp raisins, soaked for a couple of hours in 2 tbsp whiskey

2 tbsp toasted flaked almonds

2 eggs

Pinch of grated nutmeg

200ml double cream

50g mature cheddar, finely grated

1. Preheat the oven to 180c. Heat your frying pan and fry the onions and garlic in some oil until they are soft and just starting to brown.

2. Add the rabbit. Keep stirring until it is coloured all over.

3. Stir in the tomato puree, curry paste and apricot jam. Cook for 15 mins.

4. Stir in the soaked raisins (keep the whiskey!) and almonds. Transfer the mixture to an oven dish and let it cool.

5. Now for the custard topping. Whisk together eggs, nutmeg and seasoning. Stir in the cream, the grated cheese and the whiskey from the raisins.

6. Pour the custard mixture over the lamb and then pop into the oven for 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Princess

Recipease Brighton - welcome to the Jamie Zone

“That is one of the best smells in the world”, says Martyn, leaning over his saucepan of foaming butter and garlic. All five of us watch him avidly as he demonstrates just how long our garlic should cook for before we throw in the tomatoes.

I’m at Recipease, in a lurid pink building in Western Road, Brighton, a newly opened cookery school – cum – grocery - cum - foodie community hub, and another part of the ever-expanding Jamie Oliver brand. Martyn Rose, the Food Champion is teaching us how to make meatballs.

This is the second branch of Recipease to open and Simon Cochrane, Managing Director, is keen to show me around. We walk around the retail section at the front of the store. Here you can stock up on Jamie kitchenalia, fresh veg and artisan breads. Of course there are books, but not just those penned by Mr Oliver, also ones he recommends.

There is a good selection of wine available plus pre-prepared meals ready to take away and cook at home. All the chicken and eggs are free-range, and both beef and pork is British reared.
Simon tells me: “Provenance is very important. What people like about Recipease is that they can trust it. They know what’s gone into it”.

Aside from the main cooking area, where I make my dish, there are also pizza and curry kitchens. These workstations don’t need to be booked, you just drop in and get cooking from the step-by-step instructions and pre-prepared ingredients. Pick your meat, pick your sauce and dive in, or “freestyle” if you’re feeling braver. “It’s all about making it accessible and easy for people”, Simon tells me. Your “homemade” pizza or curry is then boxed up for you to cook at home. Very satisfying, and from less than a fiver per head for a curry, good value too.

At the back of the store is the main cooking area. Book a class online at a level that suits you, from the easy “Make” classes where you put together a recipe and take it away, to the more advanced “Learn” series, which focuses on techniques such as knife skills. There are classes for kids too.

Back in the kitchen and the cooking style is definitely very Jamie, it’s easy, non-pretentious and full of big, bold flavours. Our meatballs are packed with plenty of spices and ripped up herbs, plus quality ingredients with a conscience. A bit of bish-bosh-bash and we all have our own trays of chunky meatballs with spinach and buffalo mozzarella, all in a handmade tomato and basil sauce. Our handiwork is heat sealed and packaged up complete with cooking instructions so that we can cook it when we get home.

Jess Lancaster, 22, from St Margarets Place, Brighton, was also trying out the class. “I like to cook at home and I wanted to come along anyway”, she tells me. “It was good fun, and it’s great to learn new skills for the kitchen”.

The best thing about Recipease is that it caters for every level, from nervous beginner to competent cook. Simon tells me of fresh pasta classes, fish filleting and plans to get a local butcher in to run a meat jointing session.

Love or hate Jamie Oliver, you can’t really argue with a venture that gets more people into the kitchen. And that’s just what Recipease is trying to do.

Recipease, 72 - 73 Western Road, Brighton BN1 2HA
01273 311338
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipease/index.html

Pig cheeks in cider

Thanks to a tweet from Niamh at Eat Like a Girl, I discovered that Waitrose are now selling pig cheeks amongst other "forgotten cuts" of meat. And a bargain they are too, with 300g setting me back just over a quid. They're best cooked slow and long, braised in wine or in my case, cider.
Pig cheeks in cider (serves 2)

Ingredients

4 - 6 pig cheeks

Large knob of butter

500ml cider

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp herbes de provence

1 savoy cabbage, shredded

1) Preheat the oven to 160c.

2) Heat a pan, get the butter foaming and then brown the pig cheeks all over. Remove and put into a casserole dish.

3) In the same pan, cook the onion until soft, then add the garlic and herbes de provence. Cook until the garlic is just starting to colour (add more butter if necessary).

4) Pour the cider into the pan and gently scrape the bottom to get all the yummy porky bits off.

5) Add the cider mixture to the casserole.

6) Bung it in the oven for 1 and a half hours.

7) Throw the cabbage in for the last 10 minutes so that it wilts down into the cidery juices.

I served this up with a heap of lentils, a bit wintry perhaps but definitely an earthy and satisfying meal. It would probably be even nicer with a few slices of Bramley apple thrown in, but I didn't think of that until afterwards!

A Taste of McClements, Kew

A Taste of McClements is a little bit off the beaten track, but I'm never one to resist a tasting menu. There are no difficult decisions to be made, no finding that you've chosen the wrong thing and really need to eat you partner's meal instead of (or as well as) your own. Everything's simple with a tasting menu, just pay up and tuck in. And at John McClements' eponymously named restaurant there is no A La Carte menu anyway, just 18 tiny courses of absolutely everything.

We set off on our journey across South London.

2 hours and 3 trains later, we arrived to find a tiny 20 seat restaurant tucked away near Kew Gardens station. Tiny, intimate and candlelit, with two friendly waiters, we were immediately at ease and looking forward to getting started.



We began with an amuse bouche of foie gras "snow" with crisped fingers of brioche. The "snow" was frozen and shaved foie which melted on the tongue. It might have looked like the sort of snow you get by the side of the road, but it certainly tasted good!

Course 1 was a mouthful of smooth chicken mousse served with a Roquefort sauce. We thought it was all over, but once finished our waiter knocked open our dishes to reveal a tasty tarragon-infused chicken soup hiding underneath.



The second course consisted of three tasting plates - a crab soup served with crab croquette, a lobster thermidor and a langoustine ravioli. The ravioli was the real stand-out dish, with deeply savoury (as Greg the Egg would say) flavours leaving us wanting more.



Course three, and we were served with the next two dishes, a smooth Jerusalem artichoke veloute and a quail egg ravioli. Both hit the spot, with just the right hint of truffle in the veloute and the quail egg cooked to gooey perfection.



The scallop royal, a strange scallopy mousse (right in the photo), was more of a disappointment. It just seemed wrong to mash up a scallop so unceremoniously. However, the sauteed scallop (on the left), served with squid ink, parsnip puree and a parmesan crisp, made up for it. The scallop was perfectly cooked, thick and meaty, and set off perfectly by the creamy parsnip, the deep sea tang of the squid ink and the salty parmesan crisp.



The duck landaise went down very nicely, although I am never one to complain about two lots of foie in a meal.



Tuna cubes were again a little disappointing, I thought that they didn't have much flavour, but they certainly looked pretty.





The Dover sole and the Dublin bay prawn with champagne sauce were both spot on.



The Pyrenees lamb was also delicious, perfectly pink and tasty and served up with some yummy dauphinoise potatoes.



Finally, we were up to the ninth course and still not flagging. It was just as well too, as the desserts were not to be missed. We started with Calvados souffle, snaffling it up before it sagged, then a chocolate praline "Louis xv" with scented violet ice cream, finishing off with a refreshing confit rhubarb.

It had been a marathon, but we were at the end and surprisingly not stuffed to the gills due to the well-judged portions. Even better, the full menu only set us back £70 a head including 7 glasses of wine. If you go alco-free it's only £35 for the food.

Overall, a hassle to get to, and some misses alongside the hits, but well worth the journey. We will be going back to A Taste of McClements. Or perhaps moving to Kew...

A Taste of McClements 8 Station Approach Kew TW9 3QB Tel: 020 8940 6617

St Patrick's Day cooking with Miele

Last Tuesday a lucky group of food bloggers was treated to a day in Miele's Experience Centre, to cook some St Patrick's Day fayre and test out the technology. I travelled down to Oxfordshire along with Joanna of Joanna's Food, Joy of Almanzo's Belly, Sam of Antics of a Cycling Cook, and my namesake Alex from Just Cook It.

The theme of the day was, of course, Irish recipes. After some coffee and pastries, we split into four teams and got cracking on the cooking, with the chance to play with some of Miele's toys at the same time.



I tried out the integrated steam oven and the Tepan-Yaki hotplate. Steaming rhubarb to make a Roscommon Pudding meant that the fruit really kept its colour and shape. We also made a really simple leek and watercress soup and I was surprised to find that it didn't need any seasoning. Steaming the vegetables kept the flavours fresh and vibrant. It's a very healthy way of cooking too.



The Tepan hotplate was lots of fun. If you haven't seen one before, it's a flat, smooth hob that lets you cook directly on the surface, Japanese style. It took a while to heat up, but once it was searing we grilled some prawns on it with the minimum of oil. You could just as easily use it for a full English (or should that be Irish?) breakfast.



After a few hours of toil in the kitchen we had the chance to taste our just desserts. It was quite a spread, with soda bread, beef in Guinness and Roscommon rhubarb pudding amongst the dishes on the table.

We were then shown around the centre to learn more about Miele. The technology was innovative to say the least. I was particularly keen on the dishwasher that opens its own door when it has finished (no more nasty water marks on my glasses!), the fridge that keeps a cabbage fresh for 6 whole months, and the wireless meat probe that lets you cook your meat to medium-rare perfection.

The Miele Experience Centre isn't just for food bloggers either; Miele run regular Let's Do Lunch events to help prospective purchasers test out the products. So if you're thinking of decking your kitchen out with some top end gadgetry (can I come and live with you?), why not try it out first?

My favourite dish of the day was this Bailey's chocolate cheesecake. It's too good to eat just one day a year, and although it takes a little bit of effort it can easily be made ahead and is very impressive.



Bailey's Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients

For the base:
150g digestive biscuits
110g butter
3 tbsps cocoa powder
2 tbsps caster sugar

For the filling:
300g cream cheese
120ml double cream
1 egg
75g icing sugar
120g plain chocolate chips
4tbsps Baileys liqueur (plus extra if you like a tipple whilst you're baking)

For the topping:
75g plain chocolate
2 tbsps golden syrup
30g butter

1) Preheat the oven to 150c

2) First make the base. Crush the digestive biscuits. Melt the butter in a saucepan or the microwave. Mix the melted butter into the crushed biscuits, cocoa and sugar. Press the mixture into the base of a 22cm springform tin.

2) Bake the base for 15 minutes. Remove and let cool. Leave the oven on as you'll be using it again later.

3) Now for the filling. Beat together the cream cheese, cream, egg and icing sugar until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips and slug of Baileys.

4) Pour the mixture over the base and return the tin to the oven for 35 minutes or until the filling is just set. We used the Miele oven's Moisture Plus setting, which injects an automatic burst of steam to keep the cheesecake moist and lovely. If you're not lucky enough to have one of these then just bake it at 150c. If you're feeling brave then you could try using a bain marie, but my Leith's Bible doesn't seem to think it's necessary so I didn't bother.

5) Cool the cheesecake in the tin and then pop it in the fridge overnight.

6) Finally, you need to make the chocolate topping. Break the chocolate into small pieces and put it into a small saucepan with the golden syrup and butter. Gently melt the ingredients together. Give it a stir and then pour the topping over the cheesecake. Chill again to set the topping.

Enjoy!
The Princess