Baked Chicken

I have a friend who eats chicken.....lots of chicken.    When I say she eats lots of chicken I mean she eats chicken, at lots of times, breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night supper......  you get the idea.  I remember, recently, she was staying with me and, as with all our guests, off we went to Villereal for the Saturday morning market.   She hadn't had any breakfast before we left, settling just for a cup of coffee so when we arrived, the first task was to organise breakfast.   Now, I often have breakfast at the market...  I go to my favourite boulanger/pattissier  and buy croissant or apple turnovers or whatever takes my fancy.  Sometimes they have something seasonal, like last week, when they had a  "Poisson d'Avril" which was like a huge apple turnover but filled, not with apple but with a delicious almond paste......

 

But I digress, on the particular visit in question, I went off to my bakery to buy "Chausson au Pomme", an apple turnover and my friend went off in search of her breakfast....  Imagine my surprise when she returned to the bar, where I had ordered us a couple of noisettes, holding a large piece of spit roasted chicken.   The owner of the bar was completely unphased though, and when he brought our coffees simply wished us both "Bon Appetit" and announced he would bring a warm cloth so she could clean her fingers when she finished.

All this sprang into my mind the other day when I was searching through the freezer looking for something simple to cook for dinner and came across a couple of portions of chicken.

I decided to bake them with my herb and cheese crust.  It's very easy to make, smells gorgeous when you are preparing it and doesn't let you down when you come to eat it.

Baked Chicken in a Cheese and Herb crust

Serves 4

4 portions of chicken,
100gms (4oz) bread, (I use a stale crusty baguette),
100gms Strong hard cheese (I used Mature English Cheddar)
1 medium egg
Handful of Parsley
Sprig of fresh Mint
Sprig of fresh Basil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Wash the chicken and dry gently

In a food processor blend the bread, cheese and herbs.

Beat the egg and dip chicken in egg then coat generously with breadcrumb mix

Cook in the middle of preheated oven (180C) for 45 minutes

 

Note.  I subsequently made this with a selection of cheeses.....I used all the bits in the cheese box at the end of the week and, I'm not sure, but I thought it tasted  even better.   the breadcrumb/herb/cheese mixture also freezes really well.

 

It's a pity the boffins in Silicone Valley haven't come up with a way to send smells, as this really did smell so gorgeous, even before you cooked it.

Fish in a kind of Provencal sauce

It was Friday and I was running out of food....  Well it would be an exaggeration to say running out of food....  My garden is loaded with salad stuff, I had the few last leaves of cabbage growing and the new crop of Broad Beans was ready for it's first picking.....  but....

So, it was Friday and I was running out of food and I had to prepare lunch.  The solution in my mind was take a look at what I actually had and then create something...which would hopefully be tasty.

There were the last couple of pieces of coley, which I quite like.  I had Courgettes (zucchini), lots, I found a fennel in the vegetable rack and as I dug into the freezer, I found the last few tomatoes from last year,  3 large Marmande, a tomato I find very tasty and which freezes and keeps well.

I could create a fish in a kind of Provencal sauce.

  I got down my big old heavy frying pan from the rack and set it on a medium heat

Provence is olive country so a good tablespoon of olive oil was the first thing in the pan, quickly followed by a generous dose of "Herbes de Provence"....(what else??)

Next I peeled and sliced 4 cloves of garlic and chopped a medium onion, throwing them in the pan as I went.

The pan had now warmed sufficiently to turn down to a low heat.

I chopped the onion and tomatoes and added those.  I really needed more tomatoes but I didn't have any so I opened a tin of Italian plum tomatoes and chopped them before adding them, along with all the liquid

I chopped half the fennel and added that.

When I found the tomatoes, I also found a small aubergine (egg plant) from last year...although, I didn't actually grow aubergine last year!!! so that got chopped and added

A few dates, pitted and chopped and the sauce was beginning to come together although it lacked something...  I added a teaspoon of sea salt and a generous cupful of a sweet white wine I have.

The wine is a home made wine made by a local farmer....  It is made in the same way that Monbazillac is made.  Sadly, he lives a few kilometres outside the Monbazillac Vignoble limits and as he isn't a registered wine producer it remains as a home made wine which he can't sell.   This particular bottle was 25 years old and beautifully mellow and smooth.

The fennel was added next and then the sauce left to simmer gently until the liquid had reduced quite a bit.

In the meantime, I lay the fish fillets in the bottom of an ovenproof dish and scattered a good handful of peeled prawns (shrimp) over them.

Once the sauce was ready I covered the fish with it and then baked in a medium oven for about 20 minutes (180C).

I started off calling this a "kind of Provencal sauce" but I'm not sure anyone from Provence would give it a seal of approval....