Zesty Lime and Coriander Spatchcock Chicken

This September marks the 20th Anniversary of Freedom Food, the RSPCA’s food accreditation scheme and in conjunction with Sainsbury's, who sell over 60% of the UK's Freedom Food certified products, and I have developed a delicious recipe for you to enjoy, using a Freedom Food certified whole Chicken. 

Freedom Food was developed to promote higher welfare foods but with a more affordable price tag and hopefully my recipe can inspire you to explore the range. I do try to buy free range or at least freedom food products where possible but I admit I am not perfect and by buying the best we can, it affords a little peace of mind that we are doing the right thing. This whole meal including the sides came in well under £10, approximately £7.50 for the four of us.

Now this recipe is possibly not for the faint hearted...It involves a little bit of butchery..but its relatively easy so don't fear! I have via trips en France acquired a few pairs of poultry shears but if you have a sharp heavy knife or decent scissors you can also achieve the results.. by spatchcocking the chicken, it cooks quicker, its easier to carve and also marinade too - a win win situation! I have given instructions but if in doubt simply look for online guides to show you how!

When it comes to marinading things, especially those involving chillies you want to be careful on the whole eye face contact afterwards...for which I can't recommend having been there got the tee shirt but I can recommend using CSI style gloves for this manouvere! You can pick them up pretty cheaply and they save a lot of mess and facial burn risks!

I spent ages trying to decide what to make with the chicken but after much deliberation I decided to go vaguely down the Thai route, using zesty lime juice, fresh fragrant coriander and a little chilli to add a little zing to the party! It worked really well, I just wish my oven understood the crispy setting - I am sure it will go a far more delicious shade of golden n crispy in a regular oven! 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 x whole Freedom Food Chicken
15g fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp Nam Pla (fish sauce)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

You will need 2 x metal or bamboo skewers to keep the chicken in place but its not essential so don't worry too much if you don't have some!

Method:

Start by turning your chicken over and using your shears or equivalent sharp implement remove the backbone, cutting through either side of it. Remove any excess fatty bits or skin.

Turn the chicken back over so its breast side up and use the heel of your hand to press down so that the chicken breast and legs are all one equal layer

In a small bowl combine the coriander, chilli, lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, oil and season with salt and pepper.

Glove up and get massaging your chicken all over. Place on a large, shallow baking tray and using the skewers, thread through to form a kriss kross, to keep the chicken in one layer.

Marinade for a couple of hours, though one hour will be okay..

Pre-heat the oven to 180o, then cook the chicken covered in foil for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, baste with the juices and roast for a further 15-20 minutes, or until juices run clean and its cooked through. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before carving.

The easiest way is to use a sharp knife to remove the legs, then remove the breast meat. This way you can also please your squeamish guest who dislikes meat on the bone! 

Personally for me the legs are the best bit - juicy and flavoursome! What is your favourite part?

To go with my chicken I tested out my Steama cooking basmati rice for the first time - I flavoured it with a little coconut and seasoned on serving with soy sauce, nice and simple! I also added steamed broccoli dressed with sesame seeds and a drizzle of sesame oil:

Many thanks to Sainsbury's who provided vouchers to cover the cost of the meal and my time developing the recipe. 

Thai Turkey with Coconut Coriander Sauce - Random Recipe #36

This months Random Recipe #36 - New Year, New Book was set as always by Belleau Kitchen, was actually chosen by B – he had no idea what he was doing it for at the time but I gave him the most recent cookbook I was given (though admittedly was a slight cheat as I was given this particular book and the ‘Reggae Reggae’ cookbook together but nothing really appealed in there when I had previously looked!) I just simply handed the book over and told him to flick it open to a recipe – and with a slight sigh of relief Thai Pork with Coconut Coriander Sauce was read out! If you just noticed the deliberate change from the title to the reference above then well done – we did switch the meat from Pork to Turkey, mainly as I had bought reduced some Turkey breast steaks, and as the recipe called originally for Pork Fillet which is equally pretty lean it made an excellent and economical substitute!

So the book in question this month … its Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home (by Rachel Allen), and the Thai Pork is also the first recipe cooked from it. Dad gave me the book late last year after managing to source it for I think something like a measly 99p brand new in a clearance shop! I do like a bargain but really lack bookshelf space now (in fact a boxful linger sadly in the loft softly calling at night..either that or we’ve got pigeons!) and now I’ve actually had a proper look through it there are some rather tasty looking recipes including some Fruity Breakfast Muffins that the page just opened on as I got the book out to type it up!

This also reminded me once again (and the second time that week oops) to READ A RECIPE FROM START TO FINISH as we completely cacked up the timings and wasted precious time and energy making it! Dinner was finally served about 9pm! I have written the recipe out to make it easier for those with similar brain programming to me!

Many moons back I attended evening classes for a Thai Cookery course, it had been initially advertised in the local paper as South East Asian Cookery but I think Thai food was becoming popular and there must have been requests made and it was changed to just Thai cookery. To this day ashamedly I note that I have never looked up the difference! I am no expert by any means on Thai cusine and not really sure how authentic this is either but it has all the elements of a Thai meal, and despite our attempts to ruin it piece by piece, it actually turned out pretty tasty and can see us definitely making again.

The original recipe serves a whopping 10-12 so I have scaled it down somewhat to suit 2-3 adults. I also opted for using Gourmet Garden’s fresh herb and spice pastes as er its easier and I had them in! I left out the lemon zest as I er forgot to buy one. I’ve never used lemon zest in Thai recipes before either so wasn’t too concerned missing it out!

Ingredients:

400g Turkey breast, into 1x2cm chunks

Marinade:

2tbsp fresh coriander leaves chopped up

3 spring onions, roughly chopped

½ tbsp ginger paste

2 cloves garlic

Squeeze of lemon juice (I use bottled)

½ tps red chilli paste

½ tbsp lemongrass paste

1 heaped tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp Nam Pla (fish sauce)

1 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Sauce

1 tin coconut milk (in hindsight next time use ¾ tin)

2 tsp Nam Pla

3 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves and stalks roughly chopped

S&p to taste

Some of the ingredients!

Method:

This is the bit I we-wrote completely - there are two options for making the marinade– option one is if you have a liquidizer or similar gadget. Option two is if you only have a food processor (I don’t this is how book states it?!)

Option one – whack all the marinade ingredients together in a liquidizer till nicely combined, mix with the Turkey and reserve for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Option two – In the food processor add the coriander, spring onions, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, chilli and lemon juice, blitz and combine with the remaining marinade ingredients mix with the Turkey and reserve for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Mmm soo good!

1) Heat a large frying pan until very hot (but not so hot the alarm goes ping ping ping) and lift the turkey bits out of the marinade (a slotted spoon in great here) and fry in a single layer for about 2 minutes, turn over and cook through – should be at the most 3-4 minutes and lovely and sticky and your kitchen smells fab. Keep warm

2) Meanwhile place the leftover marinade in a small pan and bring to the boil uncovered, and boil until slightly thickened, then add the sauce ingredients. (We were a little impatient having mis-read original instructions and added cornflour shh!)  It may well not need much seasoning – the soy and nam pla are quite salty on their own so do check first!

3) Serve the cooked turkey on top of rice if desired and lather a little sauce over the top or on the side. We actually poured most of the sauce back over the turkey to warm through! It most likely lost some marks at this point in the looks department but it tasted great! As you can see we didn't have rice - I used up some leftover chapati's and made a dry sweet potato curry on the side. Garnish with a little extra corinader and spring onions to hide the dodgy colour if you like.

No stake in the beauty contest but wins on taste! 

As I managed to make the recipe more economical by substituting Turkey breast for the Pork Fillet, and it was reduced to a purse friendly £1.78 I am sending over this to Credit Crunch Munch set up by Fuss Free Flavours and held by Fab Food 4 All this month:

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The trio of tasty cheats!

Disclaimer: Gourmet Garden provided me with the spice/ herb pastes for my own review and I was under no obligation to feature on Anne’s Kitchen

Thai Spicy Red Bean and Baby corn Curry

The Thai New Year is coming up soon, 13th to 15th April and to help celebrate, Thai Taste sent me a pot of their Red curry paste. A few years back when I first started getting into cooking I completed a cookery course on Thai cookery at a local college, and whilst some of the Thai dishes were just not for me, I did find a few favourites, including this recipe, that I have made some minor tweaks to. This recipe also converted me into liking green beans!

I really love the slight creaminess, and gentle spiciness of this curry and hope you enjoy it too! Be careful with your pastes though, as I find brands do vary greatly in spice levels, it is always easier to add than to takeaway! Thai Tastes paste was quite mild, so you can use a teaspoon quite safely!

Some ingredients can be hard to track down depending where you live and so good quality, ready made curry pastes are very handy. Thai Tastes’ paste contains no nasties and made of all natural ingredients, just how you would make at home. D is not keen on spicy food either so having the paste on standby is ideal for when I want to whip up something just for me to feast upon!

Easy – 10 minutes
Serves 2-4 as a side dish

400g mix of green beans, trimmed and baby corn, halved (you can use just green beans if preferred)
1 tsp red curry paste (see above guidance)
1 garlic clove
100ml coconut milk
4 spring onions, thinly sliced and roughly split between whiter and green parts
2 tsp Nam pla (also known as Fish sauce)
1 tbsp ground roasted peanut, optional
1 stick lemongrass or 2 tsp dried, soaked in hot water
S&P to taste (Nam Pla is quite salty tasting, so best to taste before adding any salt)
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp mint and coriander leaves

Blitz together the curry paste, garlic, lemongrass, fish sauce and coconut to make a smooth paste

Blanch the vegetables, refresh in cold water and drain

Heat the oil in a wok, add the whiter spring onion parts and fry for 2 minutes, add the paste and reduce by half, add the vegetables and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve immediately, garnish with peanuts if using, remaining spring onions and a scattering of fresh mint and coriander leaves.

Alongside our curry, I roasted cod fillets, with a topping of finely grated ginger, garlic, lime juice and zest, red chilli, spring onions and a bit of s&p:

And some red pepper and aubergine tempura. Whilst they were nice, and all were eaten, the batter was not as light as I’d hoped. Not sure if it was the recipe or me though! I did manage to accidentally forget to put the first batch actually into the batter after flouring and only realised when I wondered why they looked so pale!

Can you spot my chilli flower in the picture? This has also been entered over this months Create and Carve event, this month being held over at Fuss Free Flavours, don't forget to check back there at the end of the month for the the round-up!

To end our mini Thai feast, I also made these Thai Coconut custards. Whilst the recipe was successful, I am not entirely sure I would make them again, can’t decide if I liked them or not! Neither could my Dad!

Thanks to Clementine at Storm Communications.

An evening with Tilda..

Last Wednesday, I spent a gorgeously hot summers evening with a lovely bunch of food bloggers at the gorgeous, quirky location that is Food at 52 in London, I believe most of us had serious house envy during our visit! It had a real homely feel, with lots of random jars lining the shelves (reminded me of my windowsill!) and big deep sofas to get lost in!

The evening was hosted by Camilla from ‘Tilda’, the ‘rice people’ who have just launched a new range of stir-fry rice’s that are already cooked and flavoured, all you need to add is your meat or vegetables and cook through, great for when time is short! All the packets serve two which is ideal for us. The range currently has Kung-po, Peking, Thai green and Thai red rice.

Whilst you can use the packets just as they are, we were very lucky to have Jo Pratt demonstrating other uses, including a delicious prawn and rice broth, gorgeous Thai chicken toasts with a nutty cucumber relish, which were a real crowd pleaser, tasty duck & rice pancakes and last but not least, a tasty and fragrant lamb rice dish.

After Jo’s demonstration, I teemed up with Kavey and Gary, and whilst Gary expertly stirred everything me and Kavey rounded up goodies to add into the wok, this was our final dish using Tilda’s Peking rice:

Tilda select only the best grains of pure basmati rice, and following a little talk, I have strange visions now of a big red laser zapping all the baddies out, but no wastage is involved as this goes into animal feed. Tilda also works closely with over 10,000 farmers, providing them with the seed to ensure they receive the best market prices and ensuring a better future for them so you can buy with confidence.

All of the rices are gluten free, suitable for veggies and with no nasties in. They will be available via Waitrose or Ocado imminently.

Big thanks to the ladies at Wildcard for arranging the evening, the great hosts at Food at 52, Tilda and the lovely Jo Pratt for taking the time to discuss her chilli con carne recipe with me (one of my favourites !) and her really fab book In the Mood for Entertaining, which I plan on cooking the entire book through! Oh and most definitely a big thanks for my lovely new wok, I will try really hard not to kill this one - have gone through 5 so far on our ceramic hob, I must get one of these portable gas cookers:

P.s. don’t stand near MiMi when she is armed with a wok and hot oil! ;-)