I am short of pics at present, due to my smartphone conking out and me misplacing my camera charger.
In any case, I don't think I COULD upload pictures on this blog without my little Android. The integration is beautiful and seamless- Pictures taken on the phone are auto-uploaded to Picasa Web.. and Blogger allows you to directly add snaps from your Picasa Web Albums. Google is just SO the best.
Anyway, the smartphone should eb up and running again in another 48 hours. It's already been repaired, but I have very un-smartly left the charging equipment in the store. As my friend said, the phone needs to compensate for the user:P
To get to the roast chicken:
I had attended a gourmet cookery workshop recently where they had given me a bottle of red wine. I really don't like red wine very much, even though I have plenty of friends who do, so I decided to try out some nice recipe. I searched for Coq Au Vin.. but the authentic Coq Au Vin requires a load of ingredients which I don't have the patience to go buy- in any case this modified recipe turned out quite well, I think. The recipe below would benefit from caramelised onions.. I forgot to make and add those.
Marinade some chicken in red wine(tiny amount), garlic paste, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and leave it for at least overnight or even longer ( even more than 24 hrs is ok, it doesn't go bad)
The marinade should not be too watery.. that means a very minimal amount of wine.
Heat oil and once it starts bubbling put the marinaded chicken into it. It will start sizzling and let out fat and liquid....and let out an awesome smell that will make you want to stick your head into the pan.
You can add a small stick of cinnamon to the roasting chicken; this apprently makes it brown nicely. I think it also adds to the taste of the gravy
Cover it up and let the chicken dry roast, check on it every five minutes and when one side is nicely browned and looks about to char, take a LONG handled ladle( I find a ladle better than a spatula for this) and turn the pieces around and let the other side brown.
Once both sides have that nice browned look- should be smelling really nice by now-take them out of the vessel and keep them aside. At this point the chicken is ONLY HALF or 3/4s cooked.
Ideally put the chicken in some water-this water will absorb some of the fat and can be used to cook the dish later.
I now added some black peppercorns (Those round crinkly black pepper globules- I think they are called peppercorns) and a bay leaf and lots of chopped garlic( finely chopped) and roasted these in the oil-fat residue in the pan. once they kind of crush and start giving out smells I added mushrooms and spring onions and fried these.
I did a really lazy thing with the mushrooms- I had ordered a pork dish the previous day which had mushrooms in it-I just fished these mushrooms out and added them after a thorough rinsing :P. As the original pork dish had been very mild, it was as good as using raw mushroom
and once these have browned, mix some red wine, soya sauce and cornflour in a bowl and return the chicken to the cooking vessel, add the red wine soya sauce mix-if you have soaked the half cooked chicken in water, then add this water, else just take some water from the tap, and let the chicken simmer in this liquid.
Once the water boils off, the chicken should be completely cooked - we can add vinegar at this stage.
Salt can be adjusted to this dish any time according to taste. The runniness of the gravy depends on the amount of cornflour added..by mistake I boiled off the whole gravy.. but I think a slightly viscous sauce like gravy would taste awesome!
this dish is neither lengthy nor time consuming in terms of cooking time, but requires one to be present in the kitchen through the process, alert and dexterous..Ingredients have to be added at the right moments, and if the chicken is turned over too late it will char...so I intend to make it when I have the energy.
In any case, I don't think I COULD upload pictures on this blog without my little Android. The integration is beautiful and seamless- Pictures taken on the phone are auto-uploaded to Picasa Web.. and Blogger allows you to directly add snaps from your Picasa Web Albums. Google is just SO the best.
Anyway, the smartphone should eb up and running again in another 48 hours. It's already been repaired, but I have very un-smartly left the charging equipment in the store. As my friend said, the phone needs to compensate for the user:P
To get to the roast chicken:
I had attended a gourmet cookery workshop recently where they had given me a bottle of red wine. I really don't like red wine very much, even though I have plenty of friends who do, so I decided to try out some nice recipe. I searched for Coq Au Vin.. but the authentic Coq Au Vin requires a load of ingredients which I don't have the patience to go buy- in any case this modified recipe turned out quite well, I think. The recipe below would benefit from caramelised onions.. I forgot to make and add those.
Marinade some chicken in red wine(tiny amount), garlic paste, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and leave it for at least overnight or even longer ( even more than 24 hrs is ok, it doesn't go bad)
The marinade should not be too watery.. that means a very minimal amount of wine.
Heat oil and once it starts bubbling put the marinaded chicken into it. It will start sizzling and let out fat and liquid....and let out an awesome smell that will make you want to stick your head into the pan.
You can add a small stick of cinnamon to the roasting chicken; this apprently makes it brown nicely. I think it also adds to the taste of the gravy
Cover it up and let the chicken dry roast, check on it every five minutes and when one side is nicely browned and looks about to char, take a LONG handled ladle( I find a ladle better than a spatula for this) and turn the pieces around and let the other side brown.
Once both sides have that nice browned look- should be smelling really nice by now-take them out of the vessel and keep them aside. At this point the chicken is ONLY HALF or 3/4s cooked.
Ideally put the chicken in some water-this water will absorb some of the fat and can be used to cook the dish later.
I now added some black peppercorns (Those round crinkly black pepper globules- I think they are called peppercorns) and a bay leaf and lots of chopped garlic( finely chopped) and roasted these in the oil-fat residue in the pan. once they kind of crush and start giving out smells I added mushrooms and spring onions and fried these.
I did a really lazy thing with the mushrooms- I had ordered a pork dish the previous day which had mushrooms in it-I just fished these mushrooms out and added them after a thorough rinsing :P. As the original pork dish had been very mild, it was as good as using raw mushroom
and once these have browned, mix some red wine, soya sauce and cornflour in a bowl and return the chicken to the cooking vessel, add the red wine soya sauce mix-if you have soaked the half cooked chicken in water, then add this water, else just take some water from the tap, and let the chicken simmer in this liquid.
Once the water boils off, the chicken should be completely cooked - we can add vinegar at this stage.
Salt can be adjusted to this dish any time according to taste. The runniness of the gravy depends on the amount of cornflour added..by mistake I boiled off the whole gravy.. but I think a slightly viscous sauce like gravy would taste awesome!
this dish is neither lengthy nor time consuming in terms of cooking time, but requires one to be present in the kitchen through the process, alert and dexterous..Ingredients have to be added at the right moments, and if the chicken is turned over too late it will char...so I intend to make it when I have the energy.
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