C is for Chicken Salad

As the weather starts to warm up, I have to rethink most of my weekend meals.  On the vast majority in the winter, I cook up a roast.  They're just so easy.  And it means I get time to relax and do other things.

However with the weather warming up, I have to start to rethink my weekend repasts and 'summer' up my recipes.

And this roast chicken salad is one of my favourites as the chicken is really well flavoured and moist.  Note the roasties so it still 'eats' like a good meal.

Gather:

• 1 roast chicken (size depending on number of people being fed)
• ½ an onion, skinned, top and tailed
• 1 pack of Boursin (150 gms size, or any other soft flavored creamy cheese)
• 2 rashers of streaky bacon per person
• 2 tblspns pine nuts
• Salad leaves
• Spring onions
• Cucumber
• Radishes
• 2 teaspns dijon mustard
• White wine vinegar
• S&P

Then...

1. Unpack the Boursin into a disposable piping bag / large freezer bag and leave to soften
2. Take the chicken and using a wooden spoon, carefully part the chicken skin from the breast so it doesn't tear  
3. Use a pair of scissors to snip the membrane holding the skin to the breast bone without cutting through the skin
4. Put the half onion in the bird cavity
5. Snip the end / a corner off the Boursin bag and pipe the cheese into the space between the chicken and the skin.  Massage through the skin to check it evenly covers the whole breast area
6. Rub the skin with oil, season well and then layer over the bacon rashers to form a protective cover for the chicken/cheese
7. Roast the chicken @ 180℃ for 1½ to 1¾ hours until the internal meat temperature reaches 72℃
8. Once cooked, take out the chicken and remove the bacon strips from the chicken and set to one side (don't cover else they'll go soggy)
9. Leave the chicken to rest
10. Pour the cooking juices and the fat from the roasting tin into a clean jam jar and leave the lid off to cook a little
11. Roast the pine nuts for 3½ mins @ 200℃
12. Prep the salad cutting the spring onions into chunks, and slicing the cucumber and radishes
13. Add the Dijon mustard to the cooking juices in the jam jar and add half as much vinegar as there are juices (or to taste)
14. Season the vinaigrette, pop on the lid and shake together vigorously in the jar
15. Toss the salad leaves, veggies and nuts together with the vinaigrette and serve with chicken carved into slices on top (making sure people get a bit of the cooked cheese), roasties* on the side and two bacon strips in a cross on top of the chicken

* New potatoes tossed with butter and fresh dill work well too.

P is for Printables

After a couple of missed deliveries while I was pottering in the garden, I created the below sign to direct people to find me:

But then got a bit carried away and did a sign for when I'm sewing (given I'm in the attic):

And I got to thinking about the entertaining I'm doing soon, so I decided on the three menus there and then...

Menu care of Real Simple

Leave me a comment if you'd like the template sent over.

P is for Place Cards

Last year we went around Grimsthorpe Castle just outside Bourne in Lincolnshire.  It's a lovely old stately home that's run independently and so still has the family living in it and aristos regularly come to visit.

During her lifetime, one of the regular visitors was Beatrix Potter.  So when I spotted these on the table as plate settings, it gave me inspiration for my Easter table this year.

I use Avery business cards (C32096) as my place cards. They're a good size and I know you're not suppose to put the names through the printer, but it really is much easier given that I'm usually printing a design on them and since I love typography.  

And here are some my B.Potter inspired set for the weekend.

UPDATE: While I previously said I was happy to provide the template upon request, I failed to actually deliver on that. Sorry! So here is the template for people to download going forward.

L is for Lefton

I'm always looking for more unusual holders for my flowers and this shabby shot shows a Lefton rabbit à la Martha that's full of the joys of spring.

The rabbits will take pride of place on my Easter table this weekend.

B is for Bread Sauce

Bread sauce is so good with chicken, but a faff to make properly.  So I have a shortcut version of the sauce:

• Chop up half a white onion finely
• Sauté the onion in butter over a medium heat until translucent (not coloured)
• Take the pan off the heat and put in two star anise
• Heap the onion bits over until the spice is covered
• Leave for 15-20 mins for the flavour to steep
• Discard the star anise and stir in a cup of frozen breadcrumbs to soak up any butter
• Grate over quarter of a teaspoon of nutmeg
• Stir constantly over a high heat for a full minute before adding in two cups of (whole) milk
• Continuously stir until the sauce starts to bind together (basically when the milk boils)
• Decant the contents into your serving dish and cover with cling film to keep it hot until needed

Serves two to four depending on whether you like lots of this tasty, traditional sauce!

Note I have not posted a picture of this as it looks like wallpaper paste.

S is for a Simple Setting

Nice idea from Storage | Glee for a kitchen supper.

C is for Carrot Craft

I finally decided to tackle one of Martha Stewart's creations for April's Easter holiday. Here's how mine looked:

I didn't think they were that bad since I hadn't touched crepe paper for over 30 years. One thing I would change to the instructions is to make a cone out of (greaseproof) paper first, fill with sweets and fasten at the top. Then weave the paper around that. It was a lot easier than trying to wangle in sweets and weave the paper streamers around them to form the carrot especially since my hot hands would melt the sweets.

R is for Rabbit

I know it's over a month to go before Easter, but I've already got my thinking cap on.  Matthew Mead published this idea on Miss Mustard Seed's blog a couple of years ago and I think it's a bit different.

Download the template from Pinterest, insert in a word document and then create text boxes to write over your menu.

I'm using light beige card (so they stand out from my white plates) and a matching pompom instead of a flower so I can make them up ahead of time.  But here's how my template looked pre-printing:

Now...the pompom...I used to make loads (35 years ago!).

S is for Spring

This year's been unseasonably mild and already the garden's almost a month ahead of what's usual.

As a result, many of the flowers that are usually out for Easter are already out and will have wilted by the time the long weekend comes around next month.

But since I've got people coming for food this weekend, I'm cutting some of them now and digging out the spring details...just ditching the bunnies.

© My Hand's Made It

So I'm printing off some doilies for the menu.  I tend to print off circles of coloured paper and cut them out to cover the centre circle, rather than try to put the lacy paper through the printer as it gets stuck.

I've got out my lovely tulip tea light holders.

© Edith Juhasz Ceramics

And on the day, I'll put some lovely spring flowers on the table.  I'm keeping it simple though by dotting bud vases around the tea light holders

For the menu, I'm rustling up:

• Pea & mint soup, served with parmesan tuiles
• Spring pork stew, served on rice
• Raspberry & rhubarb meringues*

* I'm replacing the blueberries with rhubarb.  To do so, line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, arrange over a single layer of 2"/5cm lengths of the rhubarb and sprinkle lightly with caster sugar. Roast in an oven for 200℃ for 15-20 mins.  Set aside to cool.  I also replace the cream with (shop bought) rhubarb fool.  Assemble as per the pavlova recipe, but make sure that the pink skin of the rhubarb is kept upwards.

D is for (St.) David's Day

1 March marks the day all of Wales celebrates its patron saint.

And while I don't think anyone else will be sporting daffodils or leeks, it's worth digging out some of the traditional Welsh recipes as something a bit different.

My favourite is cawl (pronounced cow'l) which is basically a half house between a stew and a soup.  There are as many versions of cawl as there are sheep in Wales.  If you're by the coast then fish and seafood make their way in, but because this weekend is still chilly, I'm making the lamb mountain version.

Gather:

• 1 kg lamb on the bone, cut into bit sized pieces
• Knob of butter
• 2 l of lamb stock
• 250 gms of onions, skinned and diced
• 250 gms of leeks, trimmed and sliced
• 250 gms of potato, peeled and cubed
• 250 gms of carrots, peeled and cubed
• 250 gms of swede, trimmed and cubed
• S&P

Then...

1. Braise the lamb in the butter in the bottom of a pan with the bone and some seasoning to brown the meat
2. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil.  
3. Let simmer for half an hour and then add in the veggies and simmer for a further hour
4. Serve immediately OR
5. Better still leave to cool and allow to sit over night and then reheat before the meal by bringing to the boil and simmering for 10 mins.
6. Serve 4 with crusty bread and some Caerphilly cheese.

I like to serve it with some mint sauce. Less than traditional but I like the taste.