Caesar salad

Tara is in New York, shopping and partying for a few days with Fern, so i only have to share the kitchen with Marni.  Which means for a few days, i can continue to with some Nigella style cooking.  Tara was complaining that i just created a load of mess in the kitchen for her to clean up, and that it was taking up too much time, so i agreed to a temporary halt.

I went straight out and bought a chicken, for the chicken tagliatelle before and this caesar salad.  The caesar salad was pretty good, although i'm unconvinced as to her recipe for the sauce - seems to be some olive oil, a drop of worcestershire sauce and an essentially raw egg.  I've never made caesar salad, but this sauce wasn't anywhere near the ones i've had in restaurants.  I added chicken to mine (the best bit!) and used traditional croutons instead of Nigella's suggested diced potatoes, enough for one.

- Make some croutons by coating some bread in olive oil, a pinch of salt and putting under the grill until toasted, then dice.
- Chop up a cos lettuce and put in a bowl, coating with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt, some pepper, 5 drops worcestershire sauce, and a squeeze of lemon.
- Boil an egg for 1 minute exactly then break over the lettuce and toss.
- Add the croutons and lots of grated parmesan.

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Chicken stew

Another day, another stew, although this did handily use up the chicken thighs.  It tasted pretty good, but nothing amazing.  I think i'd add a bit more harissa to give it more of a kick.  I used boneless chicken thighs, although nigella also suggests cutting up a whole chicken.

- Pour 3 tablespoons olive oil in a big pot and add 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, cumin and cayenne pepper, together with 2 finely sliced onions and a pinch of salt.
- Cook for a few mins until soft and then add 12 portions of chicken and fry for a couple of mins.
- Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, skim off any scum, then add 400g tin of chick peas, 1 bouquet garni, a stock cube, 4 unpeeled cloves of garlic, 500g sliced carrots, 4 sliced sticks celery and 2 teaspoons of harissa.
- Cook gently for 1 1/2 hours, and serve with couscous.


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Chicken noodle soup

I had some chicken thighs that i needed to use - originally defrosted for saturday night, but i ended up staying sat night at wittering having gone down to buy a sailing dinghy.  A successful trip though - fiona and i are now the proud joint owners of an RS Vision!  So, after easter lunch at Matt's (great salads - very ottolenghi), i started on a couple of chicken dishes - the noodle soup for supper, and the chicken stew to freeze.  The chicken stew asked for harissa, which we'd run out of, so i had to quickly make some harissa as well.

The chicken noodle soup was not quite how i imagined - a classic jewish feel good soup, i thought, but nigella marinades hers in mirin and sake - not the most jewish ingredients.  It was okay, but i think could be improved upon.

- Mix 4 tablespoons of sake, 3 tablespoons mirin, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 minced clove garlic and 1 dried red chilli.
- Cut 1 chicken breast into strips and marinade in the mixture for an hour.
- Cook 100g noodles and add choi sum or pak choi (i didn't have any green to cook, so just added pea shoots at the end) for the last couple of mins of cooking.
- Heat up 500ml chicken stock.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil and a few drops of sesame oil in a pan or wok and add the pieces of chicken on a high heat.
- When cooked, pour in the marinade and when its nearly all bubbled away, put the noodles in a bowl, add the chicken stock, top with the glossy chicken, and sprinkle with fresh coriander.
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Chicken and chick pea tagine

Half way!  120 recipes down out of 240.  It's taken me nearly 6 months though - 6 months to do the whole book is looking a bit amibitious.  I have no idea how julie powell cooked 550 recipes in a year.  She would have done 250 recipes by now, and i feel like i've been really going for it.  it must have completely taken over her life.  Anyway, i'm really enjoying it and learning lots, so here's to the next 120 recipes.

Had this with the chickpea couscous and it was a bit chickpea-tastic. i think i'd add fewer chickpeas next time, and more vegetables.  The chicken thighs were delicious in it though - much tastier than chicken breast and less bony than wings - from now on, its "Eat More Thighs".  I didn't cook it in the tagine above, because you can't use it on the hob, but it looks more authentic for the photo!

- Put 1 onion, 5 cloves garlic and 1 stick celery in a processor and finely chop.
- Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a casserole on the hob and brown 10 chicken thighs.
- Remove to a plate, add the onion mixture and cook for 5 mins until soft.
- Add 2 carrots cut into batons and cook for a further 5 mins.
- Mix 1 tablespoon flour with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon each of cumin and turmeric, add to the pan and cook for a couple of mins.
- Put the chicken thighs back in, add 2 tins chickpeas, pour over 400ml white wine and 300ml chicken stock.
- Season and put on a low heat for about 1 hour.
- Sprinkle with coriander to serve.

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