Projects and procrastination

Hello everyone!

I have been a bad, bad blogger and not posted here in almost two months - for shame! I do have lots of lovely news for you though so please forgive me...

Roast bread

Now, this is something that is a Christmas morning tradition in my family (and the Big Guy thinks is the most disgusting thing he's ever heard) but I learned the other day that it's possible to do with any roast meat. I will be much fatter by the end of this year so...

Butter-roasted saffron chicken

This is from Annie Bell's 'The Country Cook' which has loads more delicious recipes in it. You can find it by clicking the link on the left - it's definitely worth investing in!

I doubled the quantities as I needed to feed 5 hungry adults and the supermarket had no big chickens, but I'm giving you Ms. Bell's original recipe. Gorgeous moist chicken meat, just lovely!

Boozy Leeks

Great vegetable accompaniment to most dinners, my first time making leeks as a side dish in their own right and they went down a storm with everyone!

Quick-roast chicken for two

So I was flicking through a food magazine today and I saw a recipe that sounded lovely for dinner tonight, but then I read the ingredients and the list became "he doesn't eat that, he doesn't eat that, or that. Hmm, it's not really very winter seasony either. Hmm."
So I popped to the supermarket for the chicken breasts (though mine are part-boned, skin on thankyouverymuch!) and mooched around the kitchen until I'd thrown this together. I've called it a quick-roast as it's done in about an hour (less if you use skinless, boneless chicken breasts) compared to an entire roast chicken! The quantities are so easily bumped up to feed more than two, having made this once I'll now be making it again, and again, and it'll be on some of our dinner party menus for sure!

Brown Soda Bread

This is a great little brown bread recipe, you can knock it together and have it on the table in no time, which is useful seeing as it tends to disappear just as fast, if not faster, as you can make it! This is the bread we serve with soup, you can make and bake it whilst the soup cooks, and then it'll be cool enough to slice, but still slightly warm from the oven, when you get around to eating the soup. Mmmm!

Cream of Vegetable Soup

It's minus something important here, and the freezing fog has graciously moved off enough so I can see...when the cats sit on the window and want to come in. Definitely soup weather!

Made this one this morning whilst the Big Guy had a lie-in. Nothing better than waking up to freshly made soup and bread (not that I'd know that since I'm always the one making it, but I've heard...) and it's also great for using up the vegetables that you'd otherwise turn your nose up at. Slightly sad looking carrots? In ya go! Pepper that may or may not be about to start sprouting fur? Cut off the soft bits and in you go as well! Everything and anything can go into this soup, whatever you have in your kitchen at the time. I've used leeks here as I had them and they needed using, but onions would be perfectly good as well. How many it'll serve depends on how much you make, this morning I used 'The Vat' so I've a good 4-5 litres of soup (and that's only it half full!). Just try and use the biggest saucepan you have, if you've made too much you can just pop it in the freezer (or drop some round to friends, family and neighbours), that's the joy of soup.