Roasted Maryland of Chicken - Pretty Lunch for One

I was about to make a sandwich for lunch, but it wasn't hitting the spot, so I rushed off to the butcher and bought a Maryland of Chicken Not the Southern Fried chicken usually associated with that name. Instead in this Antipodean part of the world it is the name that Butchers have given to the Thigh and drumstick joint of the bird.

I would much rather eat this cut of chicken than the breast which as we know can so easily be dry and then chewy. Personally I love to eat the meat of the leg and then pick up the bones and have a good gnaw on them. Its the primitive in me, I believe. I then, have the insane desire to throw the bones over my shoulder but I have resisted that. So far.

Anyhow back to lunch. There is nothing nicer than Roast Chicken, roasted of course, "Skin On".
I haven't given specific amounts, you can't really go wrong with any proportions of these ingredients.
Go for it.
I picked some Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and chopped the leaves with the zest of a lemon,
1 small shallot, some sea salt, good grind of black pepper 
All mixed up with a little good olive oil.
Chop away till almost a paste and then push this beautifully aromatic mixture under the skin of the leg.
Rub on a little more oil,  sea salt and pepper.
Sit on a bed of fresh herbs and another shallot to make a little rack for the roasting.
Add 1/2 cup chicken stock ( this helps to steam the chicken and keep it moist while the skin is meanwhile crisping up. Yum)
Gosh my mouth was watering. Is there anything better than the aroma of Roasted Chicken in your kitchen?
I had to eat a peach while I was waiting, to stave off the hunger pains.
This will take about 35 - 40 minutes till the juices run clear
Rest for at least 10 minutes.


Meanwhile make a pretty little salad.
I used Iceberg lettuce. I'm sorry, not fashionable but I love it, really crunchy
Bright red radish sliced
English Cucumber, sliced
1 x tomato quartered, de-seeded and sliced, reserve the seeds for the dressing
Spring onions, chopped

I love using the seeds of the tomatoes, to retain the juice.
Just squeeze them through a tea strainer or small sieve
This juice, makes a good base for a dressing
Season it with a pinch of sea salt, ground black pepper and a pinch of sugar.
This delivers a very intense tomato flavour.

I then turned this into a dressing with 2 tbs of Extra virgin Olive oil
2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar
Stir well and dress your salad.
Cut your perfectly roasted chicken in two
Plonk on top of the salad.
Isn't that marvelous?

How healthy is that...even with the Skin on?

Spaghetti Carbonara - Dieters Dream...Not!

Being on the boat means being frugal and working through your pantry and fridge as best as you can.
The thing that you run out of first of course, is fresh vegetables.
Frozen meat, prawns, canned tuna, Vacuum packed salmon and other cold cuts
There is UHT milk and Cream in cartons. Plenty of tinned and dried food. Rice, Pasta etc
Its easy to make bread, but one day the fresh veges go, and its time for a trip to the shop. I had eggs, cream, bacon, onions.
I had an desire to make Spaghetti Alla Carbonara.
First I needed to check out a recipe.
I have lots of recipe books on the boat.

But nowhere could I find this dish.
Finally back to a favourite of mine
Open House (published in 1987) by Sarah Leah Chase Co-author of the Famous Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook
She has frequently been inspirational and I don’t know why I didn’t go there first. But there ya go. Maybe it was just time to get the others out and have a quick peruse!!!

I didn’t make it exactly like this. First not so much bacon…my better half, doesn’t eat bacon but I substituted smoked salmon for him
Plus I was only making for 2 people. I was also lacking in Mushrooms
Nevertheless the dish I made was delicious

I have given you Sarah’s recipe and it’s then up to you to go… where you want to go.
This feeds 4-6 people

450 gms Pancetta or good quality sliced bacon
1 medium onion peeled and cut into slivers
250 gms fresh mushrooms sliced
¼ cup dry white wine
5 eggs at room temperature
¾ cup cream
¾ cup coarsely grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
450 gms spaghetti
½ cup chopped fresh parsley

Fry the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat
Remove and drain on paper towels and when cool crumble

Add onion to reserved fat and sauté till soft about 7 minutes
Add mushrooms and wine and cook for 5 minutes

Heat a large pan of well salted water to boiling, to cook the pasta

Whisk the eggs and cream together until well blended
Stir in Parmesan and season with S & P

Cook the pasta to the manufacturer’s instruction, but still firm to the bite.
Drain and add back to the still warm pot
Add egg mixture, mushroom and onions
Toss thoroughly

Add parsley

Top with bacon and in this case smoked salmon

Serve at once with some extra grated Parmesan, over the top if you wish

New Zealand Pizza? You Say – A Clash of Cultures Perhaps…or a Touch of Genius?

Bliss... Mr Dale relaxing in the pretty green waters of the Whangaroa Harbour

I want to call this a New Zealand Pizza if I’m allowed.

Our family have always been great ones for putting leftovers on top of toast, throw on some grated cheese and pop under the grill. We particularly loved cold potatoes. A British throw back to chip butties etc. Another huge favourite
I’ll digress for a moment. This is a very greedy tale. I loved chip butties for school lunch. My Mother refused to make them, she disapproved. So I would run across the road to the corner store and buy ½ Long John loaf. (You know the one you picked at if your Mother was stupid enough to get you to pick up the bread, from the store, after school. Frequently, there wouldn’t be much of the loaf left) So soft and fresh.
I then made a pan full of chips, sliced the bread, buttered it, placed the hot chips on top and wrapped them in greaseproof paper while still warm. Brown bagged them and off to school I went. I actually made 3 whole sandwiches… 6 slices of bread.
The aroma coming out of my school desk was too much for me and often I would lift the lid and have a quick bite. One day I had consumed them all before lunch. I had to sit there while all around people were tucking in.
I was only allowed to do this about once a fortnight. I guess my Mother was worried about me getting too fat.

So back to the pizza.
I made a very easy Tomato Sauce
Its so so simple.
I small onion peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
S & P
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 can tomatoes
Large Pinch sugar
Splash of balsamic, I actually like to use white balsamic for this

Sauté onions and garlic till soft
Season with Salt, Pepper and oregano
Add tomatoes and sugar bring to simmer
Left gently cook till nice and thick
Add splash vinegar

Cook for another 4-5 minutes
Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary

Cool and put aside

To assemble pizza
Cold minted potatoes grated
Salami and or smoked salmon sliced finely
Grated Cheese Cheddar

Roll out the dough
Cover with tomato sauce
Add salami or salmon
Cover with grated potato
Then generous amount of cheese
Good grind black pepper

Into 200C oven for 10-15 minutes.
Cool a bit…other wise "Burnt Tongue Syndrome"
Biting into that potato cheesy mixture
Heaven

I now want to sing the praises of this bread recipe.
Click here to get the recipe
Not only have I made Pizza and Focaccio Style bread

BUT I have also turned it into a nice little white loaf

Good crumb

Makes excellent toast.

The toaster on the boat requires a bit of expertise not to get Burnt toastIts amazing what one can do when one is pressed

Pizza Bianca and the Crowd Went Wild

So Pizza
This was a real hit.
The crowd went wild

A Pizza Bianca

It is so nice to make a pizza without the usual tomato base. A dollop of sour cream, a good grate of Parmesan, smothered with caramelized onions and topped with prawns.
Beautiful
Make the pizza dough as per recipe here 

This recipe makes 2 pizza bases


Meanwhile Prep...
2 med onions sliced
½ yellow pepper sliced
Sauté in 2 tablespoons olive oil
Season with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, ½ tsp of sugar
And the leaves of 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
Cook altogether till onions and pepper are soft and melting
Cool


Take 12 prawns
Add 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
Zest of 1 lemon finely grated
Toss with olive oil, sea salt, pepper and a little chili flakes
Set aside


3 tablespoons sour cream
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan Cheese
Heat oven to 200C
To assemble

Line a greased pan with Pizza Dough
Spread it with sour cream and grated Parmesan
Layer on the onion mix
Dob prawns on top
Another grind of black pepper, to finish off

Into oven, it should take about 10 minutes depending on your oven.

We all gobbled that up and meanwhile I had popped Pizza number 2 into the oven
I am a big fan of Pizza Marguerita, using fresh tomatoes
Just seasoned tomatoes and beautifully melted cheese
Once again, can’t get more simple than this

Take 3 med tomatoes, chop roughly
Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil
Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Rip up 6-8 basil leaves
Add to tomatoes
Pour over pizza base
Cover with strips of mozzarella cheese
Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over... and bake once again till base is brown and cheese bubbling.

Yumo.

Gnocchi - Its easy when you know how.

 

I never really got Gnocchi, thought it was a bit boring. Obviously I hadn’t really tasted it properly.
This recipe that I got from Chef Michael Smith is perfectly simple and is excellent.
The little gnocchi pillows just melt in your mouth, with the added extra, of brown sage butter
Heaven.
Sorry if you are on the Atkins, or watching the calories, stop here.
Otherwise carry on, you are in for a treat.

The Gnocchi is made from Kumara (Sweet potato)
No eggs just some oil to moisten.

There is a little trick rolling them down the fork and I haven’t got that right yet but I am on my way. This is not necessary but the ridges formed by the fork hold the sauce.

Has to be fresh sage but that is easy to come by. Sage is one of the herbs easily grown in pots. If I can do you can!

So here we go


Sweet Potato (Kumara) Dumplings (Gnocchi).

3 medium Kumara
1 cup flour plus extra for rolling out
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper


1/4 cup unsalted butter
6 fresh sage leaves

Heat oven to 170C
Place Kumara on baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour till they are squishy
When they are cool enough to handle
Split open and spoon flesh into a large bowl
Add oregano, 1 cup flour. Salt, pepper and olive oil
Mash and knead everything into a dough
If the dough seems a bit wet add a little more flour
The trick is to add the least amount of flour to bring the Kumara into a workable dough

Turn out on floured board and roll into a ball.

Cut in half and roll each half into a sausage

Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to the boil
Salt the water liberally as you would for pasta.
Cut each sausage into 2.5 cm pieces
Toss them around in flour, to stop them sticking together

 Now is the time to roll them if you wish

Just roll down the fork and the tip of the prongs will make little ridges

Drop them into the boiling water you can do about 10 at a time.
Cook them till they float to the surface about 2-3 minutes

In another pan melt butter over medium heat
Add sage leaves
Let butter brown and bubble
DON'T burn
It will have a lovely nutty smell
Remove gnocchi from pot and place in sage butter

Toss around for a minute or two till they brown
Continue and repeat with the rest of the gnocchi.
Look at these. So yummy

I placed the extra, not eaten by us, on a tray and free flow froze them for a later date.
NOW leftovers
I had of course the Baked Kumara Skins
Popped them on a greased tray

There was leftover Pumpkin Risotto
Filled the skins.

There was also Sage Brown Butter in the pan
Too rich to eat the lot, over the Gnocchi

Warm the butter
Add 2 medium chopped tomatoes
Saute about 2 minutes
Add enough flour to make a roux
Stir well
Season with S & P

and add water stirring while it thickens.
Let simmer for about 5 minutes

Pour over filled skins
Cover with grated cheese

Into a hot oven say about 10 minutes

Sprinkle with a little parsley
Voila Lunch!

A Celebration Lunch No Not Coronation Chicken but Anniversary Prawn Salad

 Our friends the Heinzies have left us, we had several lovely days, even lived through the Cyclone Wilma which really was only rain, (and plenty of that for us) we missed the wind, thank goodness.
Of course it is a beautiful day
Mr Heinz driving the boat

Mr Dale preparing for landing

It was fun to have them with us and now we are back to Darby and Joan.
BUT we did celebrate a Wedding Anniversary not a significant one but its a long time
Popped some Bubbly and I made a delicious Prawn and Potato Salad

Very simple but so so good.
I used a couple of different ingredients but they can be substituted quite easily
I love using the vinegar from the gherkin bottle, it has all those extra flavours and also love the Japanese Mayonnaise, which is on the Supermarket shelves. But you could use white wine vinegar and ordinary Mayo. Not compulsory
So
2 medium potatoes
Handful of Chives
2 tbs chopped sweet gherkins
2-3 tbs Gherkin Vinegar
Sea salt and Freshly ground black pepper
12 prawns
2 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic finely chopped

Sea salt and Black pepper
Pinch chili flakes
Zest of 1 small lemon

2 hard boiled eggs quartered
2 medium tomatoes quartered and seeds removed

Japanese Mayonnaise about 3 tbs

Salad leaves

Basil for garnish

Peel the potatoes and cut into cubes

Bring to boil till just tender

Drain and while still hot, toss with gherkin vinegar, gherkins and chives

Toss the prawns in oil, garlic, salt and pepper and chili flakes

Roast for 6 minutes in a 200C oven

Add lemon zest and cool

Meanwhile cook eggs and prepare tomatoes

Add Mayo to potato mix (you just want enough, to coat the vege)

Toss gently

Add prawns complete with juices and oil

To assemble

Make a bed of salad greens

Add prawn and potato salad

Decorate with tomatoes and eggs

Throw a few Basil leaves on top

Serve

A nice crisp white wine is a great accompaniment 

Next blog Cows on the move and Fab Pizzas

And The Rains Came Down- But we had Excellent Bread

Whangaroa not so pretty today. The promised Cyclone came and has now passed over us. Still blowing a bit but the rain has gone. 24 hours of persistent rain.
Thursday it looked like this

Ms Mary chopping chopping for our Frittata lunch

That was Thursday
This is Friday

Time for soup and bread. It was still a warm day but pretty miserable.

I made a simple Tomato and Bean Soup
2 tbs Olive oil
1 onion chopped
Leftover steak chopped into tiny piece
Can tomatoes
Stock cubes dissolved in a can of water
Can of Cannelini Beans drained
Parsley finely chopped
Basil leaves torn

Heat oil in pan
Add onion and garlic
Cook till soft not brown
Add steak
Season S & P
Add tomatoes break up
Add stock dissolved in water
Bring to boil and simmer for about 15 minutes
Add beans and parsley
Simmer another 15 minutes

Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary
Serve with basil leaves torn over the top.
I have been making pizza bread for ages and have a very simple recipe
I decided to use the same recipe and make some Foccacio style bread
The difference was extra time in kneading and rising.
Gave it 3 rises
The result Very Excellent bread

2 cups High Grade flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 sachet dried yeast
Slug of olive oil
around 200 mls hand hot water

Put your flour in a bowl
add the salt sugar yeast and oil

Just place them around the bowl. salt can kill yeast so keep them separate till its time to mix.
Add most of the water, the idea is to have a wettish dough but not sticky
Below... too dry add more water just a little at a time

Easier to add flour than water, When dough leaves the sides of the bowl

Knead until it form a nice ball about 5 minutes

Oil the bowl, Place the dough back in toss around till it is coated in oil
Leave about 45-50 minute still doubled in size
Roll out to a rectangle shape and place into a tin, already oiled

Leave about another 20- 30 minutes

With your fingers make dimples in the dough

drizzle with good olive oil

I sprinkle with salt or you could put some olives in the holes or maybe rosemary and garlic

On this occasion...plain

Leave it to rise another 10 minutes while you heat you oven.

200C

My old oven on the boat is a bit temperamental

It is either hot or not

The bread takes about 15 minutes in this oven

Leave it to rise another 10 minutes while you heat you oven.

200C

My old oven on the boat is a bit temperamental

It is either hot or not

The bread takes about 15 minutes in this oven

We woke up this morning to a muddy bay. It looks like horrible

Looking like The River Plate In Argentina

We want to look like this

Much nicer for swimming etc