Bread sauce

Partridge for dinner last night. Roasted for 20 minutes at 220C. Could have done with a minute or two more, I think. Slightly disappointing, we both thought, just a little too like chicken to be worth bothering with. But it was red legged partridge, which is not so tasty as the native grey partridge.

I'm posting my method for making bread sauce because Lettice rang up from university last week to ask how to make it, after failing to find it on the blog. The really important thing is to have decent bread. Proper bread, preferably a loaf you made yourself. Anything that comes in a plastic bag will almost certainly not make decent breadcrumbs.

You hear people say they can't be bothered with bread sauce because it doesn't taste of much; I think they've probably only ever had packet bread sauce. For years I didn't bother, which I now rather regret, as it adds good texture to any bird. It's a good way to use up stale bread (important if you make your own, when there's no question of throwing any away), AND it's one of those thrifty dishes that stretches the meat further .... another way to eat less meat &/or save a little money. All the virtues. Especially if you bake a loaf first.

Bread sauce

I do it all by eye. It's very forgiving: if you get it wrong, you can correct it with more milk or breadcrumbs. It's also easy, so long as it's the first thing you prepare; it doesn't require much input from the cook, but it does need time to develop into something worth eating.

You'll need

milk (it doesn't have to be full-fat; I often use skimmed if that's what there is)
onion
cloves
nutmeg
good breadcrumbs

Peel an onion or two (I used a couple of shallots yesterday). I generally cut them into chunks and leave them in the finished sauce, but this is not what refined cooks do. Pour milk into a saucepan (say, 5-600ml). Add the onions, a couple of cloves (stick them into the onion if you're going to fish it all out at the end), and grate a little nutmeg into the pan. A bay leaf would be good, too.

Heat the milk, but do not let it boil. Leave to steep for at least half an hour. Then add breadcrumbs (best if they're not blitzed to dust; a few bigger bits add texture). Somewhere between three and five slices is probably about right for up to 600ml of milk; they'll swell up as they absorb the flavoured milk, so leave a little spare milk in the mix. Better to be adding more crumbs at the end than milk, as any liquid you add will dilute the taste.

When you're ready to eat, reheat the sauce, adding more milk or breadcrumbs if necessary. Taste it, too, although you're unlikely to need to salt it, as bread is high in sodium.

Related posts

Roast grouse with bread sauce

Other things to do with stale or leftover bread

Panzanilla
Herb stuffing for roast chicken
Grilled trout with rosemary stuffing
Baked scallops
Anchovy toasts

Lots of easy ways to bake your own bread, even though you're busy

Daily bread
Daily bread 2

Six seed rolls
Bread knots - another simple way to make beautiful and delicious rolls, using this dough, or your default dough

Yeast starter for bread - and the bread make your own sourdough starter

No-knead bread the famous NY Times recipe
Speeded-up no-knead bread and a different take on it

Yoghurt bread fabulous, easy, TRY IT
Quick oat loaf
Spelt bread - it's getting easier to buy this highly-flavoured flour

Anti-oxidant tea bread - I made this for my husband for a pre-surgery boost - delicious, too!

Yeast conversion - fresh/dried/quick

Supreme de poulet aux morilles

Last night's dinner was supreme de poulet aux morilles. Except that it wasn't, because there were "only" porcini in the larder. And although I was notionally following the recipe in Raymond Blanc's A Taste of My Life, I don't think he'd have given me the keys to a restaurant, because I couldn't help but disobey some of his orders.

The recipes in A Taste of My Life are fully explained; on top of that there are notes giving details of the science, the art, the prejudices of cheffing. Enough to intrigue.

Well, this was good, but we both agreed the sauce would have been better poured over a little pork. Lucius thought it should become part of my standard repertoire. That good. Also pretty simple, shorn of some of M Blanc's strictures.

I did, however, follow this guidance (given again and again): I like to boil wine before adding it to the dish. It intensifies the desirable flavours and removes the alcohol, which can leave an unpleasant flavour in the mouth. If you over-reduce the wine, however, you will lose the freshness and acidity.

Chicken breast with porcini & manzanilla sauce

30g dried porcini, soaked in 150g hot water
4 chicken breasts
a little butter
120g button mushrooms
120ml manzanilla, reduced a little
double cream (RB says 400ml, but I didn't use even half that)

Soak the mushrooms for as long as you can. RB says at least six hours for morels, but porcini rehydrate in less than half an hour. At the same time, bring the sherry to the boil in a small pan, and keep on the heat for a couple of minutes.

Brown the chicken on both sides in the butter - RB says two minutes each side. Put the meat onto a plate while you make the sauce in the same pan. Add the sliced fresh mushrooms and the drained porcini. After a few minutes, add the soaking water and the manzanilla, stir, then add the cream. Put the chicken breasts into the pan, cover and cook. RB says that 180g breasts will take six minutes; although I didn't weigh the chicken, I found this timing spot on.

Plate the chicken, then reduce the sauce a little further.

Nigella's gingerbread stuffing

It's funny, stuffing used to be made to eke out the meat. These days it's mainly used as part of the Christmas feast. The best shouldn't just be relegated to December, and this one is good enough to eat all through the winter. We're having it tonight alongside the duck in orange sauce Lettice is cooking. Easy, too.

Gingerbread stuffing

Blitz three smallish onions and two peeled and cored eating apples. Put them in a large saucepan with some oil and fry gently. Meanwhile, blitz 400g bacon (I used smoked bits the butcher sells at a discount). Add this to the pan and continue frying.

While this is going on, blitz a gingerbread loaf (say a McVitie's 400g Jamaica loaf). Use the same food processor bowl each time, and you don't need to wipe it out, because the whole mixture will be cooked in the oven later.

Take the pan off the heat after 10-15 minutes in total, and grate on the zest of an orange. Cool a little, then add the crumbs.

When you're ready to cook the stuffing, stir in an egg, then press the mixture into a loaf pan. Cover, and bake for 3/4 hour at 200C. Take off the lid/foil for the last 10 minutes.

You can use this to stuff a bird; I always cook it separately, because that's what we did when I was a child. Fear of bacteria, I seem to remember. No picture again: I'm back to using my blog to remind myself of what I've cooked, so that I can cook it again.

Chicken nosh

In the first of the spring sunshine, it feels a little foolish to be posting a winter standby supper recipe, but last night was so cold that some comfort food was in order. Chicken nosh is hugely adaptable, so we never get tired of it.

I generally make it with the leftovers from a roast chicken; this time I bought chicken pieces specially. I use chicken stock if I have it for the sauce, otherwise skimmed milk. Chicken nosh can be eaten as a stew with baked potatoes, as a pie with pastry (olive oil pastry would be good) or a mashed potato topping, or strewn with breadcrumbs. My all-time favourite is anchovy breadcrumbs, the salt contrasting with the sweetness of a bechamel made with olive oil (beats butter bechamel hands down).


















Chicken nosh

Onions
chicken
bacon pieces (optional)
mushrooms if you've got some
olive oil
plain flour
skimmed milk or chicken stock
thyme, lemon zest

You need to make a white sauce, using olive oil instead of butter, a little flour, and either skimmed milk or chicken stock. At the same time, chop and gently fry some onions (or, as I did last night, use some left over roasted onions). If you are using bacon, this can be added to the onions when they are soft. If you are using uncooked chicken, you need to cook this off; otherwise, pick the meat from your bird.

Combine all these ingredients, plus flavourings - thyme and lemon zest is delicious, but so, too, is nutmeg (especially if using prunes rather than mushrooms); I haven't experimented with hot spices, but they'd be good too.

If it's just a quick stew you're after, warm it through and serve with baked potatoes or rice, and lots of vegetables. Otherwise, put everything into a shallow ovenproof dish, and cover with your topping of choice. It needs half an hour in a hot oven, around 200C.

Fat in chicken

"The problems of overweight, inactive chickens are being transferred to overweight, inactive humans."

This is a letter published this morning in The Independent, from two academics at London Metropolitan University, Professor M A Crawford of the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, and Professor J T Winkler of the Nutrition Polic Unit. It makes depressing reading:

For decades, nutritionists have been advising people to avoid fatty meats, and eat more chicken because it was lean. So it was. But chickens reared in modern intensive conditions, with energy-dense feeds, are no longer a lean choice.

For the past 38 years, we have been measuring the fat content of British supermarket chickens in our laborator. In our latest study of 52 chickens from various supermarkets, we found that there were about three times the calories coming from fat as from protein. And organic chickens were just as fat as battery birds.

Consumers, and many nutritionists too, still think chicken is a protein-rich product. The reform of the chicken industry must focus not just on how they are reared, but how they are fed; on their welfare certainly, but also on their nutrional value. The problems of overweight, inactive chickens are being transferred to overweight, inactive humans.

Spiced chicken with orange

This is what we had for dinner last night - really good, fuss-free. The recipe is from Diana Henry's new book, Cook Simple, although I tinkered with it a bit (no chicken stock, so I used dry sherry and water, which meant I had to use more honey, also a little balsamic vinegar). Even though this dish contains cooked oranges, there's not a hint of marmalade in the finished dish. It's particularly good at this time of year, when oranges are plentiful and in season - I used blood oranges (although Waitrose, irritatingly, now call them blush oranges). Warmly recommended.

Turkish chicken with oranges and warm spices

for 4

8 chicken thighs (I used strips of breast)
2 red onions, sliced into wedges
2 oranges, sliced into wedges
5 crushed garlic cloves
1 small red chilli, chopped small
3 tsp ground coriander
1 cinnamon stick
75g raisins
juice of an orange
150 ml chicken stock
1 1/2 tbsp honey
a small handful of mint leaves

Brown the chicken thighs on each side in a little oil in a shallow casserole; lift out and set aside (skip this if you are using strips of breast). Briefly saute the orange and onion wedges, add the garlic, chilli, spices and raisins and carry on cooking for a few more minutes. Add the juice, stock and honey. Simmer for 10 minutes. You can do all this ahead if you like. I added a little dried mint, because there's no mint in my garden at present.

Put the chicken into the pan and simmer until done - 20-25 minutes for thighs, 12-15 minutes for breast strips. Chop in the mint leaves (in summer). I stirred in some mixed salad leaves. Serve with plain rice and Greek yoghurt.


Related links

Lemon chicken
Spicy chicken with dried plums

Quick supper: savoury chicken

This supper takes less than five minutes to prepare, 40 minutes to cook, and is my new favourite. It's hardly a recipe, really.

I'm leaving quantities up to you, but you're aiming for roughly equal amounts of chicken, potato and onion. Tonight I'm using chicken breasts (cut into two lengthwise), but it's just as good with thighs, and would work with other joints. Or a jointed chicken, if you're up to such a thing.

Savoury chicken with roasted onion and potato

chicken pieces
onions, red for preference
waxy potatoes
fat garlic cloves
rosemary
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
Maldon salt
pepper

Heat the oven to 200C. Find a roasting dish big enough to take all your ingredients.

Peel the onions and slice them thickly. Add an equal amount of potato: you can use baby potatoes for this, but I prefer to use slightly larger ones cut into two or four, as the cut edges become satisfyingly crunchy. Chuck in some cloves of garlic, separated but not peeled, enough for at least one per person. Add the chicken pieces. Chop a good lot of rosemary needles onto this (saving a couple of sprigs), then douse in oil and a little balsamic vinegar. Mix it all up well. Crumble salt over the dish, grind on as much pepper as you like, and top with two or three sprigs of rosemary.

Cook for 40 minutes (the exact timing will depend on the size of your chicken joints).

When the chicken is cooked, everything else should be cooked through and blackening at the edges. Make sure everyone has a clove of garlic to squeeze out onto their plate, making a sweet and unctuous sauce.

Good with green salad. Or tomato salad.

PS this is good warm, as well as hot from the oven. Just as well, because supper is now ready and Lucius is still in the workshop - I can hear him hammering. I'm not complaining, he's building the world's most beautiful pergola

Lemony chicken nosh

Useful variation on the normal, what to do with a little bit of leftover chicken?

Lemony chicken nosh

I'm not giving amounts because you need to be guided by how much chicken you have and how many people you need to feed.

Onions
Cooked chicken, chopped
Stock
0% Greek yoghurt
Lemon zest and juice

Chop the onions and sweat them slowly in oil. When they are soft, add the chicken, stir it about so that it doesn't stick. Add a little stock, enough to make a sauce (if you like a thick sauce, then you could add a little flour to the onions before adding the chicken). Simmer gently until you are sure the chicken is heated through. Add the zest of a lemon, and a little of the juice. Take off the heat and stir in a dollop of yoghurt. Lots of pepper is good, too.

Quick, easy, delicious.

This would work well with turkey, too, so it's my first entry for this month's Heart of the Matter, hosted by Ilva at Lucullian Delights, the theme this month is Quick and Easy ... especially to help with the December madness.

Spiced chicken livers

These are quick, easy, delicious, low-fat, a treat ... and something you should try even if you think you don't like liver (like my pasta con sarde for sardine haters). The gentle spicing emphasises the creamy sweetness of the meat. I can't tell you what a treat this is, at £1.59p for 400g organic chicken liver in Waitrose (and I think organic is probably a given for liver).

This recipe is from Good Tempered Food by Tamasin Day-Lewis.

Spiced chicken livers

400g chicken livers
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp Maldon salt
1 tsp peppercorns
2 dssp flour

Dry fry the cumin and coriander seeds until they start to brown. Tip them into a bowl and bash them with a pestle or the end of a rolling pin. Add the flour and the rest of the spices. Coat the livers in this mixture, and fry in hot olive oil for a couple of minutes each side.

Serve on a bed of mixed leaves with the juices poured over.

This will do two for a light lunch, or 4-5 as a starter.


PS Some of you may be surprised to see a recipe for chicken liver on this blog, because it is high in dietary cholesterol. This is disputed stuff, but my understanding is that dietary cholesterol is not on the banned list, as it does not translate into the kind of cholesterol that clogs up arteries. Here's up-to-date information on dietary cholesterol from Harvard, where a lot of the research has been carried out.

Lemon chicken

No picture, I'm afraid, but this was our delicious lunch (no point in waiting for other people to blow my trumpet for me!); you end up with chicken in a sharp, fresh lemon sauce:

In a wide pan, gently stew (in olive oil) sliced onions - so gently that they are just beginning to brown after half an hour. Push them to the side, and add chicken breast cut in half lengthways to make even-sized strips. Turn up the heat and brown the chicken on all sides (this will brown the onions a little, too). Then finely grate the zest of a lemon over the pan, and add the lemon juice. Turn the heat right down, cover, and cook for 15 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked through. (For six, I used three or four onions, four chicken breasts, one lemon.)

Lettice made some mustard mash to go with this (potatoes mashed with milk and crunchy seedy mustard), and I stewed some chopped chard in olive oil. Lovely combination of flavours.

Superquick noodles for lunch

Not even an attempt at authenticity, just a need for a quick, filling lunch that would involve vegetables and some of the leftover chicken sitting in my fridge.

Mix equal quantities (by eye, no need to obsess) of peanut butter, oil, soya sauce and chilli jam. This will take quite a long time if, like me, you've given up on ordinary peanut butter (full of palm oil, don't even think about it, it's the saturated fat as well as the orang utangs) and are finishing up a jar of the old-fashioned sort that separates like it used to when we were children. Boil the noodles. Mix. Add whatever you've got: today it was chopped chicken, spring onion and thin slices of red pepper. Next time it could easily involve cucumber. Or lightly cooked slices of pak choi. etc.

But some of you will have noticed from the paragraph above that I do obsess - it took me ages, and a lot of reading the small print on labels, to find a peanut butter that we can eat (in small quantities, it's still 50% fat, albeit mostly "good" ones): Organic Meridian Crunchy Peanut Butter.

If there was no chilli jam in the house, which sometimes happens, then I'd put in some ginger, garlic, perhaps a little nam pla. And it occurs to me that this sauce would be very good to pep up a bit of chicken, made in the morning and marinaded until it was time to start cooking supper.

I'm going to try the noodles out on the family at the weekend, with some home-made Char siu, along the lines Nigella calls char sui-ish ... in other words, I'm not going to consult a Chinese cookery book!


PS this is my entry for Heart of the Matter round three. It's pasta dishes this time - I didn't think Chinese noodles would count as pasta, but Ilva, who is hosting this round over at Lucullian Delights, says that it does ...

Spicy chicken with dried plums

Here's proof that "low fat" food isn't boring - this is a good supper dish by anyone's standards, with the advantage of being quick and easy. Spicy but not hot.

You'll need some chicken breasts, prunes, and a little stock.

Chop an onion and sweat it in some olive oil; add finely chopped garlic just as the onion is beginning to brown. After a moment, add half a teaspoon each of turmeric, coriander, ginger and cinnamon. Slice three or four chicken breasts, add these to the pan. When they have browned, add a couple of large squirts of tomato puree (or the contents of one of those tiny tins), and 300ml of liquid, which can be water, chicken stock, veg stock, whatever you have to hand. The chicken will neeed to cook for 15-20 minutes. Add 150-250g prunes to this. If they are the expensive, half-dried sort, add them towards the end of the cooking time, as they will only have to warm through; if they are the cheaper ones, then put them in with the chicken; if they're really hard, it would be a good idea to soak them first (probably in the cooking liquid).

We ate this last night with broad beans in white sauce, boiled Shetland Black potatoes (very floury, quite tasty), and a tomato salad.


Last night there was a heavy frost, the heaviest so far this autumn, and as heavy as any we had all through last winter. We woke this morning to a whitened world. The thermometer showed two degrees of frost, despite being in quite a sheltered spot. This is what my herb bed looked like: