Blue Orpingtons

My beautiful blue Orpington hens laid their first eggs this week, just in time to help with the Easter baking. I bought them in October, a sustained moment of extravagence at the end-of-season auction - the first lot went for slightly more than I wanted to pay, and so I bought the second lot for a little more than that.

They live in an Eglu just outside the kitchen window, where they anticipate my every move as they hope for yet more bread, more baked potatoes, perhaps a handful of weeds and seeds. I love their low contented-hen sounds, their busy-ness, their good-natured sibling banter ... and now, their eggs. What a treat.

Oven-baked polenta

This wonderfully easy new-to-me way to cook polenta comes from Paula Wolfert's terrific new book, Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking. There's none of that strewing cornmeal onto fiercely boiling water, followed by constant stirring. You just mix cornmeal, oil and cold water, put the resulting mess into the oven & let time do all the work for you. Amazingly, it comes out of the oven entirely lump-free. Not sure if it works in a metal pot, although I can't think why not.

Waitrose in Henley have just begun to stock bags of Italian stoneground cornmeal ... perfect for this, and for a loaf of cornbread later this week.

Oven polenta in a clay pot
for 6

2 cups cornmeal, stoneground if you can find it
2 tablespoons olive oil, or butter if you prefer
salt
8-10 cups water (see note below)

Note: Paula Wolfert's instructions say: the consistency of the polenta is a factor in deciding how much liquid to use. For soft polenta, use 5 parts liquid to 1 part cornmeal and for firm polenta 4 parts liquid to 1 part cornmeal. She also specifies a wide, shallow dish; I cooked mine in a narrower, taller pot, and therefore didn't need so much water.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Stir the cornmeal, oil salt and water. Bake uncovered for one hour and twenty minutes. Stir, and bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven. If you're using a clay pot, be careful where you put it or it will break; it will be safe on a folded kitchen towel, or on wood. Let the polenta rest for 10 minutes before serving.

You could spread it out flat to cool, for cut and grilled/fried polenta shapes. That's the thing to do with the leftovers (especially good if you stir in a little parmesan). But I couldn't bear to deprive my blue Orpington hens of the pleasure.

An egg for Easter

This morning Lucius found the first egg from our new bluebell pullets. No idea whether it was the little grey hen, or the brown one who is too timid to stray far from the cockerel.

New chicks

This time last year, we had a pair of buff Orpington broody hens sitting on a clutch of eggs. They hatched, and these were pictures of their first outing. Within 24 hours, the fox came. We were left with the cockerel and one chick, who turned out to be another cockerel. The two bachelors co-exist happily.

We've been incubating eggs this spring. The first batch failed because the thermometer on the incubator didn't work. The second batch - well, look for yourself, the first chick has hatched. I'll keep you posted!

First outing for our Buff Orpington chicks

Over at Peanut Butter Etouffe, they're asking for takers for a food bloggers pet of the month. There's a wonderful photo of a fluffy white dog. Somewhere else (sorry, can't give you a link) there's weekend cat blogging.

Here at Joanna's Food, I'm starting a poultry fanciers' corner ... just look at our buff Orpington chicks (hatched last Sunday and Monday) on their first jaunt round the garden, both broodies now in full-on maternal mode, with the cockerel leading them out. Wonderful.