Roast Chicken/Granola

A glimpse of spring sunshine brightens the day, despite intermittent showers. The washing gets half dry.
Sunday roast is traditional in our household, and because we like it best, chicken features most. My chickens are garnished with a variety of herbs, spices or butters. They are always accompanied to the oven with fruit, which gives hints of flavour, especially to the gravy.
Today my chicken is sprinkled with olive oil, cumin and a Moroccan mix bought home last year by H. Morocco reminds me of oranges, so a tangerine from the fruit bowl is split and squeezed over the bird, before bieng pushed into the cavity to join the apple quarters I put there earlier. Voila! That's all.
In she goes into a hot oven for the recommended time - supermarkets make life so easy and give you this time on the packaging, but if not, the fail-safe is 20 mins per 500g plus 20 mins.
Here are some previous roasts, with different twists:

Sunday 27^th January 2013

Apple and Sage Roast Chicken

Prepare a base for the chicken to perch on in the roasting tin… Carrots (large chunks), parsnips and one onion quartered. Add 1 glass of white wine. I like to un-truss my chicken before I place it on top of the vegetables. Into the cavity, stuff 2 apple quarters (place the other two around the chicken) and a good handful of sage, pulling off 6-8 leaves to adorn the breast of the chicken in a moment. Drizzle oil over the bird and massage into the skin (great for your hands too!). Lay the sage leaves on the breast, pressing them on with the oil. Lay strips of bacon across the breast to hold the leaves down and keep the chicken moist. I used 3 back bacon slices today, but 4-5 streaky rashers would do too.

Cook in the oven at 200˚C for the time given, or calculate it as 20mins per 500g plus 20 mins.

When ready, remove the chicken to rest, then return the veg to the oven in a new dish to keep warm and use the wine-y juices for the gravy.

Sunday 3^rd February 2013 

Fennel Roast Chicken

This recipe is a twist on the previous Apple and Sage Chicken.

Cut a fennel bulb into quarters and reserve some fronds from the top. Place in the base of the roasting tin with carrots, parsnips and an onion, quartered. Add ½ glass of white wine. Place the chicken on top. Rub oil into the skin, and then place the fennel fronds over the breast before covering with bacon. Roast for the suggested time.

I have also used and adapted Lorraine's quick roast chicken recipe a couple of times. My cooking time have varied with hers, but this is probably to do with chicken size and quality of oven!

Sunday 6^th January 2013

Tried Lorraine’s quick roast chicken today. Flattened chicken by cutting down spine and pressing breastbone until it cracks. Sprinkled the chicken with crushed mustard seeds, crushed garlic, lemon slices, olive oil and chopped fresh tarragon. Season and cook for 45-50 mins or until juices of chicken run clear. Made this with sliced potatoes laid on a tray and sprinkled with olive oil and seasoning, then cooked with chicken. Bit of a disaster though – homemade crisps would have been a better description!

Sunday 17^th February 2013

Flattened Roast Chicken with Moroccan Spices and Orange Juice.

Flatten a 1.5kg chicken by cutting down the spine, turning over and pushing down hard on the breast bone until it cracks. Wash the chicken and place on a bed of vegetables. Rub olive oil into the skin, then sprinkle with spices. Mine came from Morocco courtesy of H; a blend of nutmeg, cardamom, coriander and ginger. Pour ½ glass of white wine into the base of the tin. Cut an orange into quarters, then squeeze by hand over the chicken and vegetables, before tucking the oranges amongst them.

Cook at 180˚C for an hour, checking that the chicken is cooked through before serving. Previously, the chicken took a little longer.

When cooked like this, I like to pull or cut off the meat onto a serving plate rather than carve the meat off in slices. Much easier for people to tuck in a take meat from all the bird – I love the darker leg meat.

While the chicken is cooking, I turn my attention to my now regular granola making, following the original attempt below, but adding some lonely looking Brazil nuts  that gave it a little 'extra' last time. A newly opened pack of dried cranberries catches my eye too...

Saturday 19^th January 2013

·        Snow this morning! Got me thinking about how to feed everyone without having to go out shopping (!). Realised that an empty fridge generally means a shopping trip is needed though. However some things I could make with what I did have.

1.      Granola for my breakfast.

2.      Parsnip soup I’d been meaning to make last week.

3.      Bread – fast becoming a regular bake!

4.      Raspberry muffins to use up frozen fruit.

Then off to the shops to re-stock all the ingredients I’ve been using over the past week and see what catches my eye…

·        Granola, my favourite breakfast, but why haven’t I made it before? Perhaps it’s because I never feel I have enough time? well, this is so easy, that even bright, sunny, warm days won’t deter me from making a batch in the future! I made a small batch today that fitted one baking tray – enough for one week. Double or quadruple the recipe, or add different things to the base mix – your choice.

I used a mix by Lorraine that I found online as a starting point and then adapted it to suit me:

9oz Jumbo porridge oats

3oz mixed seeds of choice – I used linseed, sunflower and pumpkin.

3oz mixed nuts – I used walnuts pieces (you can break walnut halves easily  into smaller pieces with your hand) and flaked almonds.

2floz maple syrup or runny honey.

1oz caster sugar.

2-3 tblsp sunflower oil.

Few drops of vanilla essence.

3oz raisins or other dried fruit.

2oz desiccated coconut.

Mix the liquid ingredients together before adding to the oats, seeds and nuts. Mix these thoroughly – this can take up to 5 mins to ensure good coverage! Line a baking tray with baking paper and tip the granola out. Spread it evenly over the paper, and then bake at 200˚C for 7 mins, before shuffling the granola around and cooking for 5 further mins. Keep an eye on it and don’t leave for longer than this unless you like it very toasted!

When I take it out of the oven, I tip it into a bowl to cool so that it doesn’t keep toasting on the hot pan. Once it is cool, add the raisins and coconut. Pop it in an airtight container and shake it to gently mix up the dried fruit. Roll on breakfast!