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Slow cooked Chicken Supreme

It's that time of year where we're arguing on whether we need to crank the heating on or not and thick, unflattering clothes are all of sudden looking so snuggly and nice. Only one thing for it, dust off the slow cooker and get something in it.

This recipe is so simple, just something I threw together with what I had in the cupboard after a spotting some Chicken Supreme at the butchers this morning.

You'll need:

Chicken Supreme for each person
About half a pint of stock (chicken or veg)
Soy sauce or tamari
One large white onion
One lime
A teaspoon of Agave syrup or honey
Generous pinch of rosemary
3 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

1. Fry your onions and when starting to brown, add your Chicken Supreme. Fry both sides until browned

2. Add enough stock to cover about an inch of your slow cooker and squeeze the juice of the lime in. Feel free to throw in the remains of the lime. Now add all your other ingredients and place the chicken and onions on top

3. Cook for 4 hours on the high setting. If you fancy, you can brown off in the oven on a high setting for 10 mins.

4. Serve with mash or roast tatties and some greens. How easy was that? The joy of the slow cooker.

No photo am afraid as the chicken was so succulent it fell apart!

Vegetarian Friendship

A resounding meat fan, I used to harbour feelings of unease when presented with a menu devoid of all things carnivorous – rarely too, did I enjoy such menus to the same extent. Lately however, my feelings have changed, and I can see why more and more people are opting to re-think their cultural eating habits.

No, I haven’t been persuaded fully toward a meat-free life – and I won’t add a ‘yet’ – though with more reasons than ever to sample marinated tofu, I am proud to say I don’t mind jumping on the bandwagon and promoting meat-free Mondays; meat-free Tuesdays too, if I may be so bold.

All this new-fangled gastro-foliage comes with generation, and the ever increasing British conscience of diet I suppose; upon telling my Grandfather of my recent vegetarian dining he exclaimed: “Vegetarian? I’m sorry but I would rather have a 21-day-old matured Rib-Eye than sit in front of a salad!” I could hardly contest this statement – but he must realise, like I did, the unequivocal truth: top vegetarian food can rival Rib-Eye.

Food For Friends is a monumental example of vegetarianism reaching culinary heights: certainly too when they boast an evening set menu for £19.99. I think everyone will agree that’s affordable even in these strenuous economic times – even more so too when you get three courses for your money.

Cynics might scorn at this, dismissing it as too low in price to possibly be good quality. How wrong they would be; we’re approaching a second recession – it’s wise and fitting to our times. Remember too, that prices can be lower; however good the quality of asparagus is, it’s still not going to come close to the price of say, lamb cutlets.

My experience at Food For Friends was worth more than £19.99: I sat contented sipping a crisp Sauvignon, awaiting my first course. The walls, adorned with close-up shots of fruit and vegetables, accompanied a gentle live act playing by the bar. In front of me, a curved glass wall stretched out allowing me to watch the South Lanes float by.

As I sat, it wasn’t long before I was enjoying a spinach and ricotta bake with crostini: elegant and smooth. The texture was refined, much like a pâté, and there was enough of it to spread generously on each piece of crostini. Ricotta can be salty, yet it didn’t over-power the spinach, and each mouthful felt fresh yet indulgent enough to sit back and feel a bit decedent.

What followed is what I believe rivalled a good old fashioned steak, something that left me feeling seriously content. Competing with European-inspired exuberance, the risotto fritters of broad beans, peas, ricotta, and herbs highlights the now relatively well-known winning methods used in vegetarian cooking, that have now become somewhat traditional in a meat-free restaurant – as steak is to cooking in countless restaurants all over the world. These were the best I’ve had however, and why I stake this claim.

So often I have had to hit down hard upon a risotto fritter, exposing a dry over-cooked inside with nothing to offer. Not only were they moist and flavoursome, they were served with a great
combination of fresh salad and sweet peperonata. My only slight confusion was the addition of asparagus: welcome of course, but with their menu being seasonal (like all good restaurants) I do think September is pushing it – though I can’t complain, we are experiencing an ‘Indian Summer’ after all.

As with all good experiences, my first impression of Brighton’s vege-novou scene finished with something equally delectable: chocolate fondant with Baileys ice cream. For me, it doesn’t get much better, such a fresh and wholesome first two courses deserves a finale doused in chocolate – I had now totally stripped away my seeded preconceptions of vegetarianism, they certainly know how to indulge.

Food For Friends was an education. An education for a 22-year-old food lover who worried about getting cheese dipped deep-fried cop-outs, where meat was replaced with bland substitutes, and everything was covered in cream.

Rarely have I sampled cooking without meat or fish that I have enjoyed so much, so often have I sat back at the end of some form of aubergine medley and wondered: what could have been? Not last week. It reminds me of a glorious spring evening a few years ago when I sat in ‘Rootmaster’ restaurant on Brick Lane, eating vegan food for the first time. On this occasion I was truly inspired by the creativity and flexibility even in vegan food. Somehow though those memories had evaded me, and I had slipped back into a primitive hunter obsessed with pigeon, venison and fowl. No more, I wish to learn, and if that means giving up parmesan for a while, well…so be it.

Palitaw

These lovely little balls of goo are sweet rice cakes that are traditionally eaten in the Phillipines as a snack or dessert. They're extremely simple to make so are great for kids. 


Ingredients:


1 cup of sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous flour)
1 1/2 cups of caster sugar
3/4 cup cold water
Sesame seeds
Flaked coconut


Directions:


Put the rice flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl and add enough water to form into a stiff dough. Take small amounts of the dough and roll into small balls. Press with thumb to flatten out. 


Add the balls to a large pan of boiling water and remove when they begin to float. Allow to cool. 


Toast some sesame seeds in a pan and put into a bowl. Also put flaked cocunut in a seperate bowl. 


Roll each rice ball in the coconut and then in the sesame seeds. 


Enjoy!

Spotted...

...at the Farm Market at the weekend. Made us laugh anyway! 

Gardening tots

I think you all know by now that Edible likes to do what it can to promote sustainable living and all that is associated with it. So while I was in Waitrose the other day I picked up a leaflet that caught me eye and followed the link on it.

Basically, the Royal Horticultural Society has teamed up with Waitrose on a campaign to promote gardening in schools. In a world of convenience food and over pasckaged, over processed foods, I think it's extremely important that children are taught how to grow their own food.

Brighton and Hove have approximately 5 schools taking part in the scheme and we really hope to see more getting involved too. We throroughly recommend getting registered and reading more about the scheme. Visit the RHS website here

Pork and cider hotpot

Here at Edible, we try and research as much as possible. So in the name of research, I found myself in possession of a load of root vegetables and some pork. Once they'd been photographed I wondered what I could do with them (you'll have to wait until the summer issue is out to see why). That's when I spotted the cider in the fridge. 


This recipe is so simple and you can do whatever you like with it. Maybe you want to cut some apple and pop it in. 


I basically browned some halved onions, 2 leeks, 2 larges carrots and a small butternut squash with 400g diced pork. I then stuck it all in the slow cooker with some stock and half a bottle of cider. I then added some thyme and garlic and cooked for 5 hours. You can do this in a casserole dish too on a low oven heat, reduce the cooking time to 2 hours though. 


My suggestion for serving? With buttery celeriac mash. Perfect for rainy days like today.