SERVES 4

1 x 1,35 kg | 3 lb roasting chicken
15g | ½ oz butter
Freshly ground black pepper

For the stuffing
30 g | 1 oz butter
1 onion, very finely chopped
55 g | 2 oz fresh white breadcrumbs
1 small cooking apple, grated
2 teaspoons chopped mixed fresh herbs
grated zest of ½ lemon
½ egg beaten
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To Garnish
4 chipolata sausages
4 rashers of rindless streaky bacon

For the gravy
1 scant tablespoon plain flour
290 ml | ½ pint white stock made from chicken neck and giblets

To serve
Bread sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C | 400 deg F | gas mark 6
2. Start o make the stuffing: melt the butter in a saucepan, cover with a piece of dampened greaseproof paper and a lid, then fry the onion until soft but not coloured. Allow to cool.
3. Put the breadcrumbs, apple, herbs and lemon zest together in a mixing bowl.
4. Add softened onion and enough beaten egg to bind the mixture together in a mixing bowl.
5. Stuff the chicken from the neck end, making sure the breast is well plumped. Draw the neck skin flap down to cover the stuffing. Secure with a skewer if necessary.
6. Smear a little butter all over the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 1 ½ hours, or until the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a skewer.
7. Meanwhile, make each chipolata sausage into 2 cocktail-sized ones by twisting gently in the middle. Cut each bacon rasher into short lengths and roll them up.
8. After the chicken has been roasting for 1 hour, put the sausages and bacon rolls into the roasting pan, wedging the bacon rolls so that they cannot come undone.
9. Baste occasionally and check that the sausages and bacon are not sticking to the side of the pan and getting burnt.
10. When the chicken is cooked, lift it out on to a warm serving dish. Trim off the wing tips and tops of the drumsticks, surround with bacon rolls and sausages and keep warm while you make the gravy.
11. Slowly pour off all but 15 ml | 1 tablespoon of the fat from the roasting pan, taking care to keep any juices. Add the flour and stir over heat until straw coloured. Add the stock and stir until sauce boils. Simmer for 3 minutes. Check the seasoning. Strain into a warmed gravy-boat.
12. Serve the chicken with bread sauce and the gravy.

NOTES: English chicken is usually stuffed from the neck end.
The chicken looks neater if it is trussed after stuffing, but it is more difficult to get the thighs cooked without the breast drying out if it is done.

WINE: Light Red

________________________________________

Excerpt from Leiths Cookery Bible

[Leith, P., and Waldegrave, C., (2003), Leiths Cookery Bible, 3rd edition, Bloomburys, UK]

SERVES 4

1 x 1,35 kg | 3lb roasting chicken with giblets
Butter
Freshly ground black pepper and salt
1 slice of onion
1 bay leaf
A few parsley stalks

For the gravy
1 scant tablespoon plain flour
290 ml| ½ pint white stock, made with chicken bones or vegetable water

1. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C | 400 deg F | gas mark 6
2. Smear a little butter all over the chicken. Season inside and out with pepper only (no salt). Put the bird breast side down in a roasting pan.
3. Put all the chicken giblet (except the liver) and the neck into the pan with the chicken. Add the onion, bay leaf and parsley stalks. Pour in a cup of water. Roast for 30 minutes.
4. Take out of the oven, season all over with salt, turn the chicken right side up and baste it with the fat juices from the pan. Return to the oven.
5. Check the chicken periodically. It will take 60 – 80 minutes. It is cooked when the leg bones wobble loosely and independently from the body. Baste occasionally as it cooks, and cover with kitchen foil or greaseproof paper if it is browning too much. Remove the cooked chicken to a warmed serving dish and keep warm while making the gravy.
6. Place the roasting pan with its juices over a low heat. Skim off most of the fat.
7. Mix a tablespoon of the fat to flour to make a paste.
8. Add the stock or vegetable water and whisk the past into the stock. Stir until the sauce boils. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Check the seasoning. Strain into a warmed gravy boat and serve with chicken.

WINE: Light Red

________________________________________

Excerpt from Leiths Cookery Bible

[Leith, P., and Waldegrave, C., (2003), Leiths Cookery Bible, 3rd edition, Bloomburys, UK]

SERVES 4

For the garam masala
1 ½ teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 ¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
5 cm | 2 in cinnamon stick
6 cloves
seeds from 5 cardamom pods
¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

For the curry
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 1.3 kg | 3 lb chicken, jointed into 8 pieces
1 teaspoon peeled and chopped fresh root ginger
1 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
salt
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
55 g | 2 oz creamed coconut, roughly chopped
290 ml | ½ pint water

1. Heat the whole garam masala spices in a dry heavy frying pan over a low heat until they are lightly roasted. Shake the pan from time to time to ensure even roasting – if the spices are burnt the curry will taste bitter. Cool, then grind the spices to a fine powder.
2. Make the curry: heat the oil in a medium saucepan, add the onion and fry until golden-brown. Using a slotted spoon, remove the onion and reserve.
3. Brown the chicken on the skinned side, a few pieces at a time, adding more oil to the pan if necessary.
4. Stir in the ground roasted spices, the onion and all the remaining ingredients except the creamed coconut and the water.
5. Add the creamed coconut and the water and bring rapidly to boil. Stir until the creamed coconut is dissolved. Cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 1 hour or until the chicken is cooked.

NOTE: to vary the flavour of this curry you could omit the creamed coconut and add 150 ml | ¼ pint Greek yoghurt or 4 fresh tomatoes instead. A combination of yoghurt and tomatoes is delicious.

WINE: spicy white or beer

________________________________________

Excerpt from Leiths Cookery Bible

[Leith, P., and Waldegrave, C., (2003), Leiths Cookery Bible, 3rd edition, Bloomburys, UK]

Balti curries from the northern Pakistan are easy-to-make one-dish meals. Choose a combination of meat and vegetables and use Balti curry paste for spice and flavour. Serve with pulses or basmati rice.

SERVES 4

1 onion, chopped
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
110 g | 4 oz new potatoes, cut into 1cm | ½ dice
2 small green pepper, deseeded and cut into 2cm| ¾ dice
1 x 400 g | 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
450 | 1 lb boned and skinned chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 tablespoons Balti curry paste
2 tablespoons water

To garnish
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
4 tablespoons Greek yoghurt

1. Fry the onion in half the oil for about 10 minutes until starting to soften.
2. Add the potatoes and green peppers and fry until lightly browned.
3. Place the vegetables in a saucepan. Add the tomatoes with their juice and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown lightly in the remaining oil.
5. Stir in the Balti paste and cook for 30 seconds. Add the water, then add the chicken paste to the vegetables.
6. Simmer for about 15 minutes until the chicken and vegetables are cooked through.
7. Serve garnished with the coriander and yoghurt.

WINE: Spicy white or beer

________________________________________

Excerpt from Leiths Cookery Bible

[Leith, P., and Waldegrave, C., (2003), Leiths Cookery Bible, 3rd edition, Bloomburys, UK]

SERVES 4

A pair of calves sweetbreads or 225 g | 8 oz lamb’s sweetbreads
45 g | 1 ½ oz butter
1 small onion, very finely chopped
55 g | 2 oz button mushrooms, sliced
30 g | 1 oz plain flours
150 ml | ¼ pint creamy milk
1 tablespoon dry sherry
10 ml |1/4 pint white stock, made with chicken bones
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
A squeeze of lemon juice
225 g | 8 oz cooked chicken cut into chunks
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large vol-au-vent case or 4 Feuilletée cases

1. Soak the sweetbreads in cold water for 4 hours. Change the water every time it becomes pink (probably 4 times). There should be no blood at all when the sweet breads are ready for cooking.
2. Place them in a saucepan of cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and poach for 2 minutes.
3. Drain the sweetbreads and rinse under cold running water. Dry well. Pick them over removing all the skin and membrane, and cut into small bite-sized pieces.
4. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion. Cover with a dampened piece of greaseproof paper and a lid, and cook over a low heat until soft but not coloured (this may take 10 minutes).
5. Stir in the mushrooms and leave over a low heat for 1 minute. Remove and mushrooms with a slotted spoon.
6. Stir the flour into the pan and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the milk, sherry and stock. Return to the heat and bring slowly to the boil, stirring continuously. Simmer for 1 minute.
7. Add the parsley, lemon juice, chicken pieces, sweetbreads, mushrooms, salt and pepper.
8. Tip the mixture carefully into the vol-au-vent case and reheat in the oven for 5 minutes.

WINE: Spicy Dry White

________________________________________

Excerpt from Leiths Cookery Bible

[Leith, P., and Waldegrave, C., (2003), Leiths Cookery Bible, 3rd edition, Bloomburys, UK]