When it's mid-week and things are hectic, you need something easy and reliable for supper FOOD
IN RECENT MONTHS, the price of chicken has gone up by a significant amount. Certain chickens are now selling for around the €20 mark, which means they really ought to be treated like a VIB (very important bird). Despite knowing how, I don't think I've ever bothered to make chicken stock at home from the leftover bones, which I really should be doing. I compensate by scraping every bit of meat off the carcass, which makes a good school lunch or two.
For years, I was under the impression that trussed chickens would not cook properly. I blame my mother for this particular bit of misinformation. Trussed chickens will cook more evenly. The breast is slightly protected and less likely to dry out than one whose legs are splayed. I like to start off by rinsing a trussed bird in cold water, then roasting it breast-side down on a bed of onions and carrots, with garlic, thyme and lemon.
The food police get very cagey about letting mere mortals rinse raw meat as they worry that splashes of water, coming from the chicken will contaminate things around your sink (cloths, cutlery and so on) and potentially give you food poisoning. There are ways you can get around this. Have the roasting tin ready and near your sink. Run the tap very gently and have some washing up liquid poured out onto a little saucer. Take your bird, rinse gently (avoiding big splashes) and place in the roasting tin immediately. With the tap still running, you can wash your hands and when you feel they are clean, turn up the hot tap and wash well again. Spray down the sink area with disinfectant, and you should be fine. What you are trying to avoid is washing your bird, having lots of water splash all over the place, handling the taps or oven door or fridge door with contaminated hands and then leaving a dirty sink in which you might wash fruit or veg later.
Splash a glass of white wine over the chicken, sprinkle it with sea salt and black pepper and roast it on a high heat until the legs are pretty much cooked through. It then gets flipped over, splashed with some more wine and a bit of water (to help deglaze the roasting tray), topped with honey and put back in the oven for another blast, giving the skin a chance to crisp up.
Roast chicken
1 head garlic, unpeeled, halved
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 onions, unpeeled, roughly chopped
1 medium chicken, approx 1.5kg
1 lemon, cut in half
Few sprigs thyme
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp of Dijon mustard
About 200ml of stock or water or white wine
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees/gas five. Put the garlic, carrots and onions in the middle of a roasting tray. Give the chicken a good rinse in cold water, and then place breast-side down on top of the veg - don't worry if it's wet.
Squeeze the lemon over the chicken and then stuff the lemon halves into it. Season generously with thyme, salt and pepper. Cover with tinfoil and roast for about 35 minutes. Remove the foil, flip the bird over and spoon the honey, mustard and Worcestershire sauce over the top. Season again and cook for another 15-20 minutes. At this stage, take the bird out and leave it for a few minutes. Give the legs a wiggle: they should move about freely. If you aren't sure, slice between the leg and the breast. Check what colour it is. It shouldn't be too pink, and the juices should definitely be clear.
Boil the kettle. Remove the bird, carve it up and keep it somewhere warm, such as wrapped in foil and left on top of the cooker or back in the oven, with the door open. When carving, I start with the legs, then the wings, before moving on to slicing the breast.
Pour some of the boiling water from the kettle onto the roasting tray - this will help dissolve the delicious meat juices (and help with the washing up) - and scrape with a wooden spoon. If you can put the roasting tray onto direct heat, great; if not, pour the contents into a saucepan. Heat thoroughly and taste. If it is a bit watery, turn up the heat and reduce by boiling for a minute or two. Alternatively, add some more water or stock if it gets too jammy. Serve with the chicken and roasted garlic, onions and carrots.
Seared tuna with spicy guacamole (serves two)
I love tuna, but no matter how hot my pan gets at home, I always seems to overcook it. Having the tuna very cold helps. I sometimes stick it in my freezer for 15 minutes so that the inside stays rare, but it doesn't always work. Tuna and guacamole go perfectly together.
400g tuna ( 2 x 200g loin steaks)
Olive oil
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil per steak until the oil is just about smoking. Season the tuna, going heavy with the black pepper, and cook for 10 seconds on each side. As soon as you have some colour on the outside, remove the tuna from the heat onto a plate to stop it from overcooking.
Spicy guacamole
2 avocados
2 big cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tomato, finely chopped
Juice of 2 limes
Salt and black pepper
A few chilli flakes (optional)
Cut the avocados in half, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh. Mash with a fork, mix with the garlic and lime juice, tomato and chilli flakes. Season well and cover with a thin layer of extra lime juice and clingfilm pressed down flat, unless you are going to serve it straight away.