Chicken and Cheese

We enjoyed a delightful meal with Alex, Bill and Fiona on Monday as a post birthday, pre-travel trip celebration for Alex.  Originally scheduled for Sunday, we’d had to postpone because I was unwell: unheard of, but true. As always, it was an entertaining evening with enjoyable conversation around the table. In honour of absent daughters, I made Nigella’s Spanish chicken and chorizo which seemed to go down well and Fiona and Bill very generously brought us a delicious selection of cheese from the famous Shills of Cockermouth. It’s fair to say by the end of the meal we were replete!

SPANISH CHICKEN AND CHORIZO

Ingredients

2 tablespoon(s) olive oil

12 chicken thighs (bone in with skin)

750 gram(s) chorizo sausage (whole if baby ones or cut into 4cm chunks if regular sized)

1 kilogram(s) New potatoes (halved)

2 red onion(s) (peeled and roughly chopped)

2 teaspoon(s) oregano (dried)

1 orange(s) (zest)

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7. Put the oil in the bottom of 2 shallow roasting tins, 1 tablespoon in each. Rub the skin of the chicken in the oil, then turn skin-side up, 6 pieces in each tin.

Divide the chorizo sausages and the new potatoes between the 2 tins. Sprinkle the onion and the oregano over, then grate the orange zest over the contents of the 2 tins.

Cook for 1 hour, but after 30 minutes, swap the top tray with the bottom tray in the oven and baste the contents with the orange-coloured juices.  

The dire consequence of greed

Unusually, I took to my bed on Sunday. After eating an excess of sweet-corn, I paid for my greed on Saturday night with indigestion reminiscent of a dog gnawing at a bone. To ease the pains, I drew a bath at 3am and relaxed in the warm water, half reading an ancient Dick Francis paperback which I didn’t mind getting wet if I dozed off.  After several hot water top-ups, I staggered back to bed and slept all day.  By 2am on Monday morning, I felt fine but peckish.  No one was more relieved than me with my speedy recovery

Like many people we’ve watched more television during the winter months than we will over the summer.  Immersed in the latest BBC gem “ Wild Arabia”, we reflected on how lucky we are to have adventured in the chilling arctic wastelands, the endless African savannahs and the arid deserts of Arabia from our snug, living room.  I firmly believe that no one does natural history as well as the BEEB: The images of Hazar and his family watching the replay of their victorious camel race on a laptop in the middle of the desert are worth the licence fee alone

John Muir

Recently, I’ve been captivated by the writings of John Muir, his descriptions of  life as a Scottish emigrant to America, vividly illustrating the harsh environment faced by those early settlers in the pioneering days of the mid 1800s. His prose is truly beautiful, depicting an affinity with nature and an instinctive attitude to “conservation”, despite the seemingly endless abundance of natural riches that the virgin environment provided.  Clearly a spiritual man, his writings reflect how his youthful enjoyment of the wilderness remained  throughout his life and left a lasting legacy  in a way that would have delighted and humbled him

It is FINISHED!

It is finished.  I resolved earlier this year to finish stitching my flock of Northern sheep and at last, it’s done. Despite my reluctance to sew the last couple of sheep over the last 2 decades, I’ve enjoyed stitching the Scottish Blackface far more than I anticipated. It began so well, 20 years ago; the Swaledale was soon stitched, followed by the Herdwick but somehow my enthusiasm waned.  I undertook a myriad of other sewing projects, but my pleasure was always diminished, knowing that the Cheviot was still incomplete.   But, finally, determination (and new glasses) have freed me from guilt!

El Papa

I remember commenting, when the elderly Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as Pope Benedict 8 years ago, that the primary legacy of his inevitably short reign should be the creation of a stable platform for a subsequent incumbent to progress much needed modernisation.  I don’t think I’m far wrong in believing he’s achieved that.  It’s clear from his unprecedented,  in modern times at least, resignation, that the Pontiff has no intention of replicating the lengthy stagnation of natural growth that overshadowed the later years of Pope John Paul II’s leadership.  Although I don’t expect liberalism, I do expect reform and swiftly

Let the paper sticking begin!

No doubt you are wanting to know how my attempt at papier mache went (not)?  Well,  I have to say, it was great fun.  First up, I made a small bowl using a stainless steel bowl mould but for my second, larger project, I took the plunge and started a shallow dish using sculpted chicken wire.  I haven’t finished either of my pieces but I fully intend to complete them over the next couple of weeks.  Some of my fellow crafters undertook ambitious projects, including creating a pig and a belted Galloway.  My appetite for further crafting has been whetted!

The search continues.....

For over 40 years, I’ve been searching for an oaty biscuit recipe that re-creates biscuits like those a school-friend’s mum used to make.  I remembering asking her for the recipe several times but maybe it was a family secret as sadly, it never came my way.  These delicious “melt in the mouth” shortbreads  ( pretend they’re healthy as they contain oats!),  go some way to fulfilling the challenge as  the texture isn’t far off but they still need some adjustment to  the taste.   I shall definitely bake them again as they are so easy to make but my search continues

Oat and Vanilla Shortbread Cookies


Makes about 25


Ingredients

200g (7oz) butter, softened
100g (3 ½ oz) icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g (7oz) plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
100g (3 ½ oz) porridge oats

Preheat the oven to 180oC (350oF), Gas mark 4. Cream the butter in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer until soft. Add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Sift in the flour and baking powder, then stir in the oats and bring the mixture together to form a dough. Using a sheet of cling film to cover the dough, roll it into a log about 30cm (12in) long and 6cm (2 ½in) in diameter. Allow to chill in the fridge, covered in the cling film, for about 30 minutes until firm. Remove the cling film; slice the log into rounds about 5mm (¼in) thick and place slightly apart on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until light golden brown and dry to the touch. Carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Papier mache!

I’ve been invited to a “papier mache” workshop tomorrow and despite not having an artistic bent, I’m going to attend.  I’m going to go along as much out of curiosity as anything else, for I’ve seen some glorious papier mache items when researching on the internet . I’m interested to see how achievable they are for someone whose last efforts were making a dubious model of a volcano out of papier mache and chicken wire with our daughter when she was in Junior School. If nothing else, I’m sure I can create a simple bon-bon dish with minimal artistic talent

 

Brace yourselves!

I’m looking forward to our dinner tomorrow as we’re having quail for the first time.  We were given a brace of pheasants along with a brace of quail on Friday by a colleague of Andy’s.  As we were going away for the weekend, I hung them in the shed from my bicycle handlebars as I didn’t have time to pluck them. (Personally, I don’t think that’s extraordinary but my colleagues in the office found it bizarre.) Tonight, I’ve prepared the quail which are now reposing in the slow cooker, dressed in red wine and tomorrow, I’ll deal with the pheasants.  

Big Skies

The big skies of Lincolnshire really do provide a blank canvas for that fickle artist, the weather. During our weekend visit to see Terry and Mandy, we were lucky enough to witness the full spectrum of the artist’s palette.  At times, there were patches of azure blue sky, as the sun teased us from behind the ever present clouds but for the most part, the sky was the usual cheerless, leaden grey of winter. But we were also rewarded with glorious sunsets and late dawns, the fiery reds and oranges providing an intensity of colour that only nature can create

A Birthday Across the Miles

Compared to the excitement of her 18^th birthday last year, Nerea’s birthday celebrations were always going to be low key but with her celebrating away from home for the first time, today has been a “rite of passage for us all.  But, when we spoke on Skype tonight, she was delighted  that Iratxe, Manu and the children had made it an extra special day for her with a candlelit cake, an English rendition of Happy Birthday and a generous  gift of a coat.  It was a lovely gesture, designed to cheer her after Alex returned home from his weekend visit