Spatchcocked Poussin with Grape and Rosé Sauce

A couple of weeks back I don’t know why but I had overwhelming impulse for grapes. And not in the normal fruit bowl kinda way (or even sliced into a salad, which makes a surprisingly a good combination with ham I recently discovered...) but actually introducing them into my cooked dishes…. this is very much a new area of cooking ground for me! Over the last year or so I have discovered the whole fruit meat combination and embraced it thoroughly!

I think some of the original inspiration for this dish came some time back from reading an ancient copy of Good Houskeeping, involving some fishy dish with them in (though at this stage of my grape fuelled path that particular recipe does not sound at all appealing!) and also a little credit must be given to the lovely Helen of Fuss Free Flavours who posted a while back a heavenly looking dish involving baked grapes.

Overall I suppose the thoughts had been just simmering there, until I ended up with a glut of grapes after buying a punnet, and then my dad happened to also turn up with a punnet too for me (he always brings me fruit bless him!) and so rather promptly they all needed eating up and the grape-y thoughts all gently bubbled to the surface of my brain and this dish was born!

This particular recipe is slightly not for the faint hearted person but you can ask a nice butcher to do this bit for you! Compared to spatchcocking big chickens, its much easier to do the poussins, grab a nice big sharp cooks knife and it takes moments to do! My heart did sink a little at how small they were and my flatmate didn't want to look at what I was doing but its also quite satisfying in a weird kind of way..

Serves Two:

A little effort

Takes about an hour

Ingredients:

2 poussins, spatchcocked

100g seedless white grapes, halved
200ml water
1 chicken knorr pot
2 tbsp flat leafed parsley, shredded
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
½ large glass dry rosé wine
Olive oil
2 tbsp flour seasoned with s&p

Step 1: Preheat your oven 200o/ Gas 6

Step 2: After preparing the poussins, get a large roasting tin ready, lined with foil. Toss the poussins in a little olive oil to lightly coat, then dust all over with the seasoned flour. Place on the tray breastbone side up, stick a skewer through to keep them flat.

Step 3: Transfer the tin to the oven, after 10 minutes, toss the grapes in a little olive oil and scatter into the tin.

Step 4: When the chicken is almost cooked, at about 35 minutes, mix the rosé, mustard, stock pot and water add to the pan and return to the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes or until cooked through. Carefully transfer the remaining liquid into a small saucepan, bring to the boil and reduce by about half, add most of the parsley after turning off the heat, reserving a pinch for serving. Season to taste.

This is pre-thickened stage!

Step 4: Serve the chicken with roasted vegetables of your choice and pour over the sauce, adding the final garnish of parsley over the top.

Alongside the poussins I also served miniature pork meatloaves, which will follow in a seperate post soon! 

Both me and my dad loved this dish - it had the sweet grapes, slightly sharp wine and a little kick of the wholegrain mustard. Enjoy!

Optional extra: Serve with remaining wine to save wastage.

With thanks to Knorr for the stock pots!

Win a seasonal Knorr box!

This year at Anne's Kitchen I have been bringing regular inspiration and recipes to you using Knorr products, after all a great stock can turn your dish from good to great! Whilst I do love to cook from scratch, sometimes its not always practical to make my own stock and I admittedly regularly use ready made stock , and I am very much converted to the Knorr stock pots!

This week I was lucky to receive another box full of culinary goodies to play with from Knorr and Forman and Field, and will bring you my recipe shortly - here's a sneaky preview for now:

So how do you fancy also receiving a box full of goodies to play with too? Inside your box is everything to make Marco Pierre White's 'Spatchcocked Chicken with Chipolatas and Rosemary' and some other summery treats perfect for picnics (providing of course the rain holds off!)

There is one big condition – delivery will be made on Friday the 31st August so its a very short competition so enter now – don’t delay! Also I need the winners details by Tuesday night - so check your inboxes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Crispy Roast Chicken with a herby Mushroom Sauce

**COMPETITION HAS NOW ENDED**
Following on from my recent delicious chicken liver and tarragon pate post, I also created dinner for me and my dad using other goodies within my Knorr hamper, including a delicious tomato stew, which I will post up soon, which was served alongside my crispy roasted chicken with a mushroom sauce and herbed potato stack.

Being that the lovely organic Rhug estate chicken was whole, and that I didn’t want to cook the whole bird at once due not to wanting to eat it three days running, I dug out a copy of ‘the cooks book’, armed myself with poultry shears and a sharp knife, and set about properly butchering the poor bird up.

Having not done that particular kitchen task in a long time and I had forgotten how brutal it felt but it was quite satisfying to finish it and resulted in a chopping board with all its separate portions laid out neatly! It also makes the chicken go that bit further and ensures nothing goes to waste either - you know my motto by now is to not waste anything!

Serves two

Ingredients

2 Chicken leg quarters (I.e thigh and drumstick)

1 banana shallot, sliced into rounds

15 quartered small white mushrooms

2 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp chopped curly parsley

75ml white wine

300ml chicken stock (made using a Knorr chicken stock pot)

1 heaped tsp cornflour, made into a paste with 2 tsp water - see notes below

Step one - Preheat oven to 190o

Step two - pour yourself a nice glass of wine, test for quality control - after all you want your dish to taste good! The wine in my box fitted the job perfectly, I thought it was crisp, refreshing and delicious but was not to my dads taste. Oh well more for me then!

Step 3 - For the crispy roasted chicken I started off by flouring the leg quarters, as recommended by Marco Pierre White, browned them in hot oil in a large saute pan, skin side down for just under 10 minutes, cover slightly with a lid if the oils spitting a lot, when browned place them on kitchen paper to drain.

Step 4 - Using the same pan, add a splash more oil if needed and fry the shallot and the mushrooms, until lightly golden in colour. Add the wine and bubble off for a couple of minutes, add the stock and bring to the boil, add 2 tbsp fp the parsley, stir in and then transfer the sauce to a suitable baking dish and nestle the chicken pieces on top - they should just fit inside - I used my rectangular glass pyrex roaster. Roast for approx 45 minutes or until the chicken has cooked through.

Step 5 - Make up the cornflour and water paste, this is where I made a slight error of judgement and have adjusted the quantities in the ingredients section …the sauce was a little thin for my liking and so I strained it off into a saucepan and bought it back to the boil with a tad too much cornflour..my lovely sauce become a rather thick and gloopy.... Alas, cooking is always something to learn from and improve upon, bit like life really! Garnish with the remaining parsley and serve with your choice of vegetable.

Despite the slightly hmm sauce, the chicken was gorgeously crispy, you could really tell the difference in quality of the meat and we cleaned our plates so all was not lost!

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So do you fancy winning your own Knorr seasonal hamper to play with?

All you need to do is fill in the simple rafflecopter form below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chicken Liver and Tarragon Pate

Yesterday amongst several deliveries I had arranged to arrive, including a new shoe rack, in order to make more room under the bed for storage of kitchen items (ah the joys of a rented room and a small kitchen!), was a Forman and Field hamper, on behalf of Knorr aka the stock people, full of edible goodies!

Within my little hamper, it included all the ingredients to make a Marco Pierre White recipe for Chicken Chausseur. Now please forgive me as I will no doubt change my mind at a future date but the recipe just was not screaming out to me to make it. For one it had a lot of tomatoes in, something that I shouldn't eat in huge quantities anyway and I don't know what else, but it just didn't appeal. It seems Chicken Chausseur is a pretty classic bistro style dish but I have never tried it, one day perhaps!

One of the items was a whole organic chicken, complete with a little bag of the innards. Now being the type of person who hates waste and not needing to make any stock any time soon thanks to a stash of Knorr stock pots, my head started scheming and within the bags contents I thought I identified the liver, gave them a quick trim, going from a memory of making liver parfait a few years back and decided to knock up possibly the tiniest portion of pate to start our meal with!
The pate was very easy to make, and surprisingly delicious, though preferably make it in advance and not whilst making your main course but there again I do love a challenge and nothing makes me more content than creating a gigantic pile of washing up and getting to eat at the end of it all!

I used various bits supplied in the hamper and ingredients I had lying around - the best kind of cooking I think! Whilst I used whipped cream making the pate, regular double cream will be just fine - I had previously frozen a tub picked up on reduced, hence it being already whipped.

Makes 1 portion

1 Chicken liver, trimmed of nasty bits and roughly chopped
1/4 banana shallot, finely diced
1 sprig tarragon leaves, finely chopped + one leaf for garnishing
1 heaped tsp butter
1 heaped tbsp whipped double cream
1 tbsp brandy
s&p to taste

Heat the butter, add the shallots and gently cook for a couple of minutes, add the liver and fry until just pink inside and cooked outside, add the brandy and allow to evaporate off slightly and remove from the heat.

Scrape the contents of the pan into a small chopper and blitz with the tarragon, cream and seasoning. Adjust to taste with seasoning and extra cream if desired.

Place the pate into a suitable serving dish, or whatever you can find at the time - mine was a rather beautiful and delicate Laura Ashley flower cup, garnish with a little extra tarragon and then chill until required.

Serve with a granary roll. Or similar. Fortunately my dad had received my telepathic message and had turned up with a pack of rolls!

I will have some more recipes to follow shortly with what happened to the rest of the chicken!

Thanks to Knorr and Jen at Golin Harris

Disclaimer: All recipes are my own and I have been provided with the ingredients only.

A little Veggie Indian Feast

Over the past few years I have flirted with going ‘veggie’ even at times ‘vegan’ however it just isn’t practical, and I don’t think I am really that committed in the long term. The thing is I adore my vegetables, preferring them over most meat and fish and so find myself more often than not cooking veggie based meals, and tonight was no exception! In fact if you discount the knorr chicken stockpot and the mint raita it was all virtually vegan! I do find you have to make more effort with veggie food but I really enjoy the challenge!

Tonight I got to make a lovely mess of the kitchen, which my very patient flatmate didn’t even bat an eyelid at and made for us a little Indian Feast! Cooking for one can be fun but its always so much nicer to share food, and also gives one the excuse to make lots of dishes! I also am falling back in love with cooking again, its a great form of therapy for my mind now I have finally finished college, plus I have a lot more time on my hands, which does feel a bit strange but I daresay I will find a way to cope...is that the sound of the cake tins rattling....

All the dishes were my interpretation of Indian cuisine, they are not what you would typically find in an Indian restaurant but are my amongst my favourite meals I make. They are all very mild - I have to go easy on the old chillies nowadays or Gaviscon will be my nightcap! Best of all is that they are also very cheap to make, which in the ever purse tightening/ pre-payday times is always welcome!

The dal was, as always delicious - it really is so ugly but so full of flavour you can overlook its appearance! I based it on my mushroom and spinach version, though obviously minus both mushrooms and spinach but still as tasty! I think dal will be making a regular occurrence for my upcoming meals - I asked my dad to pick up a bag of the particular lentil I like to use - moong dal chilka - and he bought me a 2kg bag of it!

Alongside was green cabbage, shredded up and fried with garlic, ginger and yellow mustard seeds, with a splash of water to loosen - first time I have done cabbage this way and really enjoyed it! also good as getting through a rather large cabbage by myself gets a bit boring after the first three days...really wish there were smaller ones available!

The other side was a sweet potato and pea sort of dry curry - I toasted and ground up coriander seeds with fenugreek, fried white onion and garlic, and a little ginger with the cubed sweet potato for around five minutes, then about 1/2 cm of water, covered and then gently simmered for about 15 minutes, with the occasional gentle stir - you don't want mush! Then threw in some peas, seasoned with salt and pepper and allowed any excess liquid to evaporate. This also was very lovely - sweet with a delicate background of the spices. When serving up I garnished it with toasted cashew nuts, which provide a nice crunchy contrast to the soft potato mixture.

I can't bear a week without my favourite salad - simply grated carrot and sultanas, dressed with lemon juice. This keeps well in the fridge too for a few days.

Last but not least was some delicious, soft fluffy garlic naan bread - which the nice people from Warburtons sent me recently. It came with a little sachet of garlic oil, which gets splashed over before a quick sun tan from a hot grill - the smell was mmmm and both of us really rated the bread. Out of all the breades I've baked, for some reason I've never attempted naan - and to be honest this was so tasty I have no need. Torn into pieces and used to mop up the daal, along with raita and mango chutney is quite delicious!

I've also tried seperately their plain naan, which I sliced into four and froze, and I've been eating a portion with various curries I've made recently - it is so fluffy and light, will be definitely buying again.

Oh and I almost forgot - a sort of Indian rice pudding - I placed in a jug a handful of wholgrain rice (my new discovery) along with a good amount of rice milk, 4 bashed cardamom pods, a tbsp of sugar and 1/2 tsp ground ginger, then microwaved on a low setting for a very long time - it suprisingly worked and resulted in a deliciously fragrant end to our feast!

And best of all - lots of lovely leftovers to take in for my lunch!

One day I will have a dishwasher..........

Creamy Mushroom and Chestnut Wild Rice

This is a recipe that I made up around Christmas time, and being that I've not been cooking as much lately due to illness, I have dug it out of the archives of my laptop! Sorry its not very seasonal but if you have any chestnuts still around this does make good use of them!

At the time one of the biggest mysteries within my Knorr hamper was a vaccum pack of chestnuts. Or at least I hoped they were. The packaging looked weirdly a little like brains, all brownish and knobbly! Certainly not easy on the eye!

Whilst I certainly knew of chestnuts, I’d never really tried or done much if anything before with them, barring this past years fireworks night where I had the chance to try some hot on the bbq…!...Fortunately I liked them and subsequently singed my fingers greedily opening up several of them!

I had googled for ideas, and ideas a plenty abounded but none really stood out/ matched what I had in…so I decided my usual planning route of 'what's in the fridge' + 'what do I fancy' and came up with this creamy rice dish! The chestnuts add a certain sweetness and soft crunch. Mostly I was grateful I’d made something edible with them and that they hadn’t gone to waste!

This is a dinner for one – though easily up-scaled.

Ingredients:

Handful closed cup mushrooms, quartered
6 vacuum pack chestnuts, roughly crumbled
1/2 tsp garlic puree
2 heaped tbsp cream cheese
1/2 tbsp flora cuisine - or use oil/ butter
Sprinkle of dried Thyme
75g Basmati with wild rice

Boil the rice as per packet instructions. Meanwhile heat the oil in a small frying pan, and saite the musrooms over a medium heat until nicely browned - around 5 minutes.

Stir in the thyme, chestnuts and garlic, warm through, reduce the heat and stir through the cream cheese with 3 tbsp of warm water to loosen. Season to taste, and serve with the rice.

Carrot, Pepper and Orange Soup

The past few months have taught me that whilst having good quality kitchen equipment certainly helps, and is preferential it is by no means essential. I am currently without my beloved saucepans and have been making do with just my large Meyer sauté and two inherited, very battered, wonky handled and missing lid saucepans. And a warped frying pan! Despite this I’ve made some pretty decent dishes and they certainly have not curbed my cooking! I do frequently now have to check before attempting something that I have the item actually here and not in a friends loft somewhere but overall things have worked out in the end!

This soup was really delicious and so warming on a cold wintery night! It was also a good use of odds and ends – the half an orange was leftover from another recipe, and it really lifted the soup from good to greatness without actually tasting of orange! The gentle spicing from the cumin, ginger and ground coriander made it complete.

Carrots are without a doubt my favourite vegetable since childhood, and about the only fresh vegetable other than onions I buy repeatedly! I love their bright colour, and also the fact the market tend to do a giant tub of them for a pound which lasts me about a month! They are such a versatile ingredient and I love experimenting with them and this soup made good use of them!

A sprinkle of some fresh herbs to make it pretty would have been nice but I loathe paying for the little packets and didn’t have any pots at the time…. Though on the fresh herb front I finally last weekend got round to planting my little set of Jamie Oliver herb tins I was given last Christmas, and in a few weeks from now, crossed fingers, the windowsill be alive with Chives, purple basil and oregano!

Not the prettiest of photos but the pretty bowl I 'inherited' helps to make up for it!

Serves 2-3 and reheats well
Easy

Ingredients

4 large carrots, diced
1 orange pepper, diced (am sure yellow or red would be fine here too!)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
Pinch of ground ginger
1 knorr chicken stock pot (or veggie equivalent)
2 tsp flora cuisine or olive oil
S&p to taste
Hot water to cover

Heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic until softened without colouring too much.

Add the pepper and fry for a further two minutes, stir in the carrot, spices and the stock cube/ pot, cover with boiling water by just under 1cm, cover with something suitable (a lid would be perfect here!) bring to the boil and then simmer gently for 25 minutes. 

Blitz with a hand blender or in a liquidiser, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Stilton and Port Pastries..

This post is another relating back to the giant hamper Knorr sent me! And there's still a little more to come!

Within the depths of my hamper, was a gorgeous chunk of Colston Bassett Stilton from Forman and Fields. Ten years ago this would of filled me with dread, infact I remember trying a piece of Stilton as a child and immediately spat it out and wondered why anyone on earth would want to eat something so mouldy but nowadays I can't get enough of the stuff! My conversion to blue cheese was thanks to an Italian restaurant surprisingly - I was told the soup of the day was Broccoli and Sweetcorn, though it actually turned out to be Broccoli and Stilton! I was hooked at first slurp!

Blue cheese is really the way forward I think, and this Colston Bassett Stilton was a real treat! It was gorgeously creamy, yet sufficiently 'stinky' and vanished at an alarming speed! It was definitely the highlight of the whole hamper for me!

Gaze at its beauty:

Whilst on its own, its perfect in every way and I ate *a lot* of cheese and crackers that week; I still did have quite a lot to get through I decided to play around in the kitchen a little, just for a change! Amongst these little savouries, I also made a delicious mushroom and Stilton pasta dish - a match made in heaven!

The pastries were not quite perfect in the looks department, a little tweaking is needed but ohhhh boy did they taste good! As a result I'm reluctant to give any real recipes for now but to give you a taster, I roughly mixed a few chunks with some sultanas that I had soaked in port, plus a handful of chopped pecans. This then got lightly mashed to a rather hmmm looking purple/grey concoction but at the same time was an amazing tasting mixture! I stuffed the mix into both little pasties and on to mini pastry squares and baked them until golden. 

Whilst delicious the slight downside was my poor pastry sealing and over generous topping as it leaked EVERYWHERE. Rather unashamedly I admittedly ate the scrapings. Waste not, want not!

Spiced root Vegetable and Lentil soup

This year I seem to be on a roll with soups! Sometimes in the past they have been a bit hit and miss at times but so far the one thing that I've managed to do successfully is to make some gorgeous tasting soups! If only life was that easy too..!

Out of all my soups, this Spiced root Vegetable and Lentil one was really delicious and my favourite! Its very easy to make, low in fat and full of flavour! A real winter warmer! All you need is a nice hunk of bread and a spoon, then tuck in! You'll be warm in no time at all! The hint of coconut just adds a little something and I am sure you will love it too!

The ingredients for this one came out of my it seems never ending Knorr hamper sent from Forman and Fields. I really rated the curry powder they sent me, though despite my best efforts I've not managed to get my hands on their recipe for it! I guess to try substituting it for a standard spice mix, and tweak as necessary.

Whilst I have used a Knorr chicken stock pot, if you are veggie simply substitute accordingly.

Serves 2-3

25 minutes Easy

Re-heats well

½ white onion, finely chopped
250g carrot, peeled and diced
125g parsnip, peeled and diced  

1 chicken knorr stock pot into 750ml hot water
40g moong dal chilka lentils (or similar lentil)
2 tbsp unsweetened dessicated coconut
1 heaped tsp medium curry powder 

S&P
Spray oil


Spray some oil into a saucepan and heat, gently fry the onion for a couple of minutes to soften but not colour. 

Stir in the carrot, parsnip, lentils and curry powder. Fry for a couple of minutes then add the stock. Cover and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, adding the coconut after 10 minutes. 

Transfer to a liquidizer and blitz until all smooth and lovely!

Some fresh coriander would be gorgeous here but alas I had none. Next time!

Best of British Sausage and Apple Tart and Stuffing Meatballs

Following on to some of my earlier posts, I am now excited to bring you a couple of Christmas inspired recipes made using some lovely festive ingredients sent to me by Forman and Field’s, on behalf of knorr.   

Sometime back in November I was very lucky to receive a whole hamper full of goodies including everything to make a big Christmas dinner, including a giant Kelly Bronze Turkey, carrots, parsnips, chestnuts and more! With the various goodies I made a variety of dishes including this winter warming Turkey and Barley stew (which was so good I am making it again tomorrow for dinner!) 

One of the ingredients in my hamper was a container of 'Cranberry, walnut & smoked bacon stuffing'. Therein came my first challenge!

Hmm what to do with stuffing, other than well basically putting it up mr turkeys bottom? Whilst the  stuffing was good, it was also very different to others I've had. In fact it was a more like a very coarsely minced meat mixture, compared to the rather smooth sausagemeat I normally buy from the butchers. It was also nothing like the paxo type. Before playing with it, I decided to quickly cook a weeny bit of it to test the flavouring. However I then also burnt my tongue in the process which once again taught me the hard way to have some patience and let things cool first! It needed a little more seasoning but provided a good base, with lots of texture.

I decided some kind of tart was in order and decided to play around with the pastry and came with this rather cute looking gb flag:

As I had best of british ingredients, so I thought a Union Jack flag was quite fitting! However I am so used to cooking previously for two, the results were rather large but it did result in me having a lunch that had admirers the next day at work! I am very lucky working with people from all over the world; we have some very interesting food chats and smells in our staffroom! 

Best of British Sausage and Apple Tart

Makes two large tarts - serves 4

Easy

300g good quality sausagemeat stuffing

300g fresh puff pastry (roughly 2/3 of a block)

1 cox apple, thinly sliced

1 tsp English mustard powder, made up with 1 tsp water

Beaten egg to glaze (or egg spray)

Pre-heat oven to 180 fan/ 200 regular

Roll out the puff pastry until its the thickness of a pound coin, cut into half lengthways. Then cut a 4cm strip off each rectangle. Cut this bit into four thin strips lenghthways

Score a line about 1cm from the edge of each big rectangle, then fill this gap with the stuffing, to form a thin layer. Covered with the apple slices, and glaze with mustard mixture. 

Now take two of the reserved strips and carefully stretch them and place over the two longest areas of your flag, lightly egg glaze the overlapping parts to stick. Use the two shorter strips to complete the flag. Glaze all over with the beaten and, place on a lined baking tray. Repeat for the other block of pastry to give you two tarts, then bake for 40 minutes or until its cooked through. 

When cooked through, cut into half and serve with seasonal vegetables - I went with my favourite Brussels sprouts:

Whilst the recipe was very successful, I think next time will make four smaller flags as you lose some of the flag effect by cutting in half.

Enjoy!

Stuffing Meatballs:

Whilst with the remaining stuffing, I made a tray of little meatballs. These would be ideal as a canapé as part of a festive buffet, however I must point out that they also do very well as an emergency breakfast when you’ve slept through your alarm and grabbed the first thing that looks edible from the fridge!

I made them by mixing 200g of the stuffing, with a couple of tbsp of apple sauce (shh from a jar!), rolled it into small walnut sized balls, rolled them in fairly coarse dried breadcrumbs and then baked them for around 25 minutes.

 They had both a good meaty flavour and texture, a dish I will definitely make again.

Turkey, Root Vegetable & Barley Stew

When I originally made this stew I was full of cold and at the time all I weirdly wanted was to eat cheese. Blue cheese to precise (damn you heavenly Colston Basset Stilton that calls me from the fridge!). However I persevered and the stew was actually rather delicious, in that winter warming one pot way. 

The merest hint of lemon in it lifts it nicely without being at all lemony, in fact you would be hard pressed to know its in there. I really wanted fresh rosemary but had to make do with dried; however in a slow cook like this I think it has a nice flavour of all its own, especially as its fresh counterpart can be a little over powering in a medicinal sort of way I’ve found at times..

A few moons back I spotted ‘oatmeal’ in one of those weigh what you want places and purchased some on a whim, and this stew was it first outing. It did thicken the dish slightly and certainly added a little something I can’t place my finger on.. I think the idea of adding it stemmed back to when I was in hospital earlier this year, amongst some er interesting dishes I sort of ate was a surprisingly edible chicken and oatmeal casserole. Needless to say my turkey stew though is a little nicer on the palette ;-)

Despite only ‘cooking for one’ nowadays, I really can’t. It’s impossible. At the same time I think its more economical anyway to cook for the upcoming days (or for the freezer) plus I love leftovers so making extra is never a bad thing! It does freeze relatively well, just thaw gently and add a splash of water to loosen if needed. It doesn't look as pretty when its re-heated but it still tastes great!

This recipe was made using some of the lovely things that Knorr sent me recently from Forman and Fields, I really do rate their stock pots. The stew was full of flavour and I can't wait to make another batch! Perfect for these chilly winter nights! It also smells gorgeous when cooking which is never a bad thing!

Makes 3 portions.

1 knorr chicken stock pot dissolved in 750ml hot water

1 medium carrot, diced

1 large parsnip, diced

4 tbsp oatmeal

75g pearl barley, soaked in cold water (you may need extra stock if you skip this stage)

½ white onion finely chopped

½ lemon zested

Lots of black pepper, pinch of salt

1 heaped tsp dried rosemary

400g turkey thigh meat, diced small

Takes 1 hour

Fry the onion until slightly colouring, add a little drizzle of olive oil and the turkey, brown all over. Add the vegetables and barley, stir in the rosemary, oatmeal and stock. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the lemon zest, season well and simmer for a further 15-20 minutes or until the barley is tender.

Easy as that!

Christmas made easy with Knorr and Marco Pierre White

Christmas can be one of many things, from a relaxed affair with perhaps a glass or two of your favourite bubbly, to a frenzied mad rush! Following on from my recent post about cooking with Knorr, here are some exclusive tips I've hand picked for you from Marco Pierre White on how to make your Christmas cooking more enjoyable this year, along with my notes!

Shopping list
Organisation is the key to a stress-free Christmas. If you want to enjoy a bird or a large joint, make sure you order it in advance; don’t, whatever you do, leave it until the last minute. (been there, done that, have the turkey crown to feed an army t-shirt!)

Make a list of what you need to buy and be sure you get the shopping done in plenty of time. This is the time of year when supermarkets will run out of ingredients like brussel sprouts, fresh cranberries, chestnuts and double cream, so thinking ahead will really pay off. (I started my planning in early November and have already made my stuffing, Christmas pastries and par-boiled my sprouts!)

Kitchen kit
Being organised also pays off when it comes to the kitchen. Check you have a roasting tin large enough for your turkey or goose; this is the same for serving dishes and the cheese board. Don’t forget to stock up with plenty of kitchen foil and cling film. (This year I am cooking in my brother’s kitchen I.e. a small cupboard. I have invested in disposable foil dishes for ease!)

Christmas canapés
Get the meal off to a great start by serving a glass of fizz with a pre-dinner nibble. Smoked Salmon Pate and Stilton Pate are perfect this time of year and can be made in advance; serve them on crackers, mini oatcakes or home-made crostini. (I have been experimenting with Stilton – check out my next post for the results!)

Bread sauce
Home-made bread sauce really is the best; try Marco’s recipe and see for yourself. The trick to making bread sauce is the 3:1 ratio; three times the amount of milk to breadcrumbs. Simple to remember and you can make as much as you like.(I am going to try this one out this year, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without bread sauce!)

Above all, try to relax! Christmas should be enjoyable for everyone – delegate tasks to ease the burden and don’t try to over complicate your meal.

This year see's a big change for me as I have previously spent Christmases with my ex-partners family, being cooked for, but this year me and my brother are sharing the cooking - its going to prove interesting! My brother is very laid back, whereas I prefer military precision in planning...! 

We are also going for a slightly alternative Christmas dinner too, on the big day we are actually having a full mixed grill, however on Boxing day is going to be the full kit-n-kaboodle with the turkey and all the trimmings! I love turkey but didn't wanted to do two days exactly the same, also fitting things around work shifts means in theory this should all work perfectly...! What is everyone else planning this year?

With my Forman and Field/ Knorr goodies I have been working on some great Christmas recipes, which will coming up on the blog soon!

Cooking with Knorr..

Over the next year I will be working with Knorr to bring you a selection of seasonal recipes. It’s an exciting project and I hope to bring you some fantastic ideas and recipes!

On a personal note, since the launch of the Knorr stock pots I’ve been using them frequently and find they give an excellent base to stews, sauces etc. I really like how quickly they dissolve, and another bonus is that I don’t have to crumble up a stock cube – a pet hate of mine! Most importantly they taste natural, not over salty and produce excellent results every time.

Over the last decade or so Britain has really caught up with our European counterparts in the food stakes, and I am very proud of the excellent quality of products that are now available. So when Knorr approached me and asked if I would like to cook with some produce from Forman and Fields, I naturally jumped at the opportunity! They are quintessentially British and source the highest quality products for your table.

Recently I took delivery of a rather fabulous seasonal hamper from Forman and Fields, and with the contents of it I have been playing with my food, something our mothers most likely criticised us for doing when we were young! I probably should have been busy revising but cooking is far more fun to do than Maths!

Within my hamper I was given everything to make the ultimate Christmas Dinner. However factor in shifts, attending college and in general being fairly occupied, I was not able to produce said dinner in one go and some bits have been squirreled away into the freezer (including a gigantic turkey that my poor brother had to cycle home with in his rucksack – I so would love a picture of this!). However, I have instead been busy making stuff with all the lovely ingredients! 

These are a little teaser of what will appear on the blog shortly!