Balsamic Vinaigrette

I always make my own vinaigrette salad dressing, and I particularly like one made with Balsamic Vinegar.  I always use olive oil as it's by far the most healthy.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

mix 1 part water with 3 parts Balsamic Vinegar.

Add a clove of garlic, crushed and a teaspoon of herbs de Provence (Or mixed herbs)

Then add 5 parts of olive oil and shake vigorously until all the ingredients are blended.

This balsamic Vinaigrette will keep for a couple of weeks with no refrigeration.

The basic portions, 1 to 3 to 5 makes any vinaigrette.

What to do with half a chicken

Wednesday for me is a funny day for dinner.   It's the day I look in the fridge!!

What I mean is that once a week, usually about Wednesday, I check the fridge to see what has been put in there over the weekend and maybe needs to be dealt with.   Mostly it doesn't need to be eaten right away but it allows me to plan a meal in the next couple of days that will reduce my wastage by using up the left overs.

Some days I'm truly surprised at what I find.  Oh, sure, I can usually remember cooking it and know when it is from, but often I have completely forgotten about it's existence.

Today was just such a day.  This morning I dutifully checked the fridges.  For reasons I won't go into I have two fridges, one in the kitchen and another one in the utility room.  Today I found half a roast chicken.

I remember cooking roast chicken when a friend popped in at the weekend but I had completely forgotten that a whole half a chicken was residing in the cool spaces of my fridge.

and so the title emerged.  and to be honest I didn't really have a clue.  Oh, I know plenty of ways of using up chicken but nothing tempted my taste buds.

I didn't want to make a huge production but just do something different and, of course, tasty.

I considered the plethora of sauces that you can use to brighten up cooked chicken, but, to be honest, no, I just didn't want anything like that.

I turned to my even colder spaces and looked for inspiration in the freezer.  The freezer has a regime much like Fridge Wednesday... I really should start to do this on a Friday.  I like the idea of Fridge Friday! Anyway, the freezer regime is much less disciplined and I also realised that it too was due for a bit of a sort out.

There were, however, a few king prawns that needed using up in the next week or two.  I was supposd to be looking for inspiration and now I had just added king prawns to my.....

King Prawns and Chicken....    Paella

and so, just about an hour later I was on my way to the market to buy some more seafood.   I was feeling a bit lazy so I decided to buy a frozen mix of seafood and a few mussels.  I already had prawn and the king prawns and on checking in the fridge I had enough chorizo and some ham.   Most paella recipes call for some sort of bacon but I often substitute ham.

So with a few things from the freezer, and some stuff from the vegetable box I was on my way.

Here's the recipe for my paella.  It looks complicated but it's just a case of adding everything into the pan.

Paella

Ingredients

500 ml (1 pint) chicken stock 1/2 a cooked chicken, 110g/4oz chorizo, cut into thin slices 55g/2oz ham cut into small pieces 1 teaspoon of minced garlic 1 large onion, chopped fairly small 1 red pepper, chopped 1 tsp herbs de Provence ¼ tsp dried red chilli flakes 1 cup (250ml) short-grain rice 1 tsp paprika 1 small glass rose wine 150 g mussels 6 king prawns 450g/1lb bag of seafood cocktail 100g frozen prawns handful of frozen peas 2 large tomatoes, cut into small pieces Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation method

Put the chicken stock in a pan and heat gently

Strip the chicken from the carcase, roughly cutting it into chunks.  remove the joints and cut them into drumstick, thigh, wing etc.

Heat some olive oil in a large heavy-based frying pan. Add the chorizo, ham and dried garlic and fry until meat is crispy.

Next add the onion and pepper and further cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the herbs de provence, chilli flakes and short grain rice, and stir well, coating everything in the juices.

Add the paprika and wine and leave a minute or so and then pour in the hot chicken stock, add the cooked chicken and cook for 5-10 minutes.

Add the mussels into the dish and then add the frozen seafood.   Sprinkle in the peas and chopped tomatoes and continue to cook gently for another 10 minutes stirring from time to time.

Add salt and pepper to taste

I served the dish with a hot baguette.

Red Lentil Burgers

A lovely recipe for a tasty vegetarian burger.  I love these and often serve them at barbecues for my vegetarian friends

 

Simmer 1/2 cup of red lentils and 1 bay leaf in water for 15 - 30 min

Saute gently, 2 finely chopped onions and 2 cloves of garlic, sliced.

add parsley, basil, marjoram, and thyme to the pan

Add in the lentils, drained.

Tip into a bowl and add 1/2 cup fresj wholemeal bread crumbs, 2 eggs, beaten, 1/2 cup of flour, 4 table[spoons of tomato paste and stir it all together.  If it's too wet add extra bread crumbs

Form into small balls and then flatten and fry in olive or sunflower  oil.

Marinated Mushrooms

The other day I had some friends drop by and as the temperature was about 30C (high 80's F) I decided to barbecue some pork and burgers.

I'm afraid I was so busy barbecuing that I didn't get any photos, but I'm sure, as always, the words will whet your appetite.

I far prefer barbecuing on an open fire and preferably wood rather than charcoal.  I can't really explain it but, to me, there is little comparison between the taste of food cooked on wood and the taste of food cooked on charcoal.  The former, I guess, is just so much smokier.

Anyway, on this occasion I accompanied the barbecue with some simple salads.  I was pretty busy and was trying to save work!!!!!

One simple salad I served is marinated mushrooms. 

The recipe is simply slice mushrooms and marinate them for a couple of hours in a vinaigrette  dressing.   Over the years, I have found that a balsamic vinaigrette really complements the woody mushroom taste so that is what I now always use and I use what ever mushrooms I have but really like the big bold "Champignons de Paris" that we get here, (a kind of huge button mushroom).

To make the vinaigrette I use one part water and one part balsamic vinegar.   To this I add some crushed garlic and a selection of herbs (I use herbes de Provence).

Give it a good shake then add 5 parts of olive oil, (I prefer extra virgin).

Give this mixture a really good shake and then let stand for an hour or two before using to allow all the herbs to infuse the liquid.

Slice the mushrooms into a bowl and cover with the vinaigrette and leave to marinate for a couple of hours

there you have it, a simple, delicious accompaniment.