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Spatchcock Harissa Chicken Kebabs

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken around 1.8kg
  • 3 cloves of garlic finely grated
  • 1 shallot finely grated
  • juice and grated zest of 1/2 a lemon
  • 3 dessert spoons greek yogurt
  • 2 teaspoons harrisa paste
  • Salt and pepper
  • Drizzle of olive oil

homemade harissa marinade

marinaded harissa chicken

Instructions

  1. To Spatchcock the chicken, turn the chicken over so the breast is facing down. Either take a sharp scissors or knife and cut down either side of the breast bone, remove and discard.
  2. Turn the chicken back over so the breast is facing up and the and the cut side underneath. Open up the carcas so that it spreads out on a flat clean surface or roasting tin and press down in the centre of the breasts until you hear it click and lays flat on the surface. Spatchcocking is great for reducing the cooking time down as the internal core temperature inside the bird doesn’t take as long as it’s one flat piece of meat now.
  3. Use a fine grater like the one used for Parmesan to grate the garlic and shallot very fine. Place all the other ingredients into a bowl and stir. I don’t tend to weigh or measure the ingredients so you can play around with exact quantities to your taste putting in more or less harrisa depending on how spicy you want it.
  4. Make some incisions in the chicken all over to allow the marinade to penetrate and work it’s magic. Pour the marinade over the chicken and massage it in making sure to work it into all the incisions for ultimate flavour.
  5. Leave to marinade for at least 30 minutes or longer in the fridge if you have time.
  6. Once the marinade has had chance to absorb and leave it’s mark on the chicken, place the chicken in the roasting tin in the oven and cook for around an hour depending on weight on around 180-190C. Check the colour of the skin before that time to make sure it isn’t burning and amend the temperature and time accordingly so that it doesn’t blacken too much but cooked through.
  7. The juices should run clear on the thickest part of the thigh. Leave it to rest for a few minutes to save your little pinkies when carving or just yanking the spicy, slightly chared legs off.

filled harissa chicken and tzatziki pitta

Serve with

I served mine with with griddled or toasted mediterranean style pittas from M & S, halloumi, hummus, tzatziki, salad and a sprinkle of summac. Not that I have to say but would go great with a crisp white wine.

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Chipotle Corned Beef Hash with Crispy Parmesan Potatoes Recipe

Chipotle Corned Beef Hash

Ingredients

  • 1 tin corned beef cut into chunks
  • 1 red onion sliced (or I used a small red and half a white onion)
  • 2 cloves of garlic grated
  • 1 birds eye chilli
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Tin of good quality Italian plum tomatoes
  • Chipotle hot sauce
  • Mustard
  • Salt and pepper to taste

chipotle corned beef hash

Parmesan roasted potato cubes

Ingredients

  • 2 large potatoes chopped into chunks ( I left the skin on)
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan if that’s all you have

roast parmesan potatoes

Instructions

  1. Add the cubed potatoes to a pan of salted water and bring to a boil. Cook for around 10-15 minutes to soften but not break up. Drain in a colander and shake to bash them about and fluff up a bit so they go crispy in the oven.
  2. Mix the potatoes with a bit of oil, salt and pepper and add to the oven to crisp for around 20 minutes to finish around the same time as the hash.Add the sliced onions to a hot pan with some olive oil to brown between 5-10 minutes. I added a bit of salt and a sprinkle of sugar for the last few minutes to help caramelise the onions.
  3. Add the grated garlic and chilli to the onions and maybe a splash more oil if itís been absorbed by the onions so it doesnít burn and cook for about a minute.
  4. Add the cubed corned beef and mix to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes to warm up the corned beef then add the tinned tomatoes to the pan.
  5. Mash the tomatoes with a spoon or fork so there are no large chunks left.
  6. Give a good glug of Worcestershire sauce, a spoonful of mustard and a couple of dashes of chipotle hot sauce. Season with some pepper but you can skip the salt as there is plenty in the corned beef.
  7. I added a bay leaf to the mix and cooked on a medium for about 10-15 minutes.
  8. Check the potatoes and if they are crisping up nicely and nearly done, grate a good helping of Parmigiano Reggiano on top but not too much and return to the oven for 5 minutes to crisp up some more.
  9. Taste the hash and if it needs a bit more pepper or spice add pepper, Worcestershire sauce or chipotle sauce to your liking.
  10. Spoon the crispy potatoes between two bowls but make a well or put to the side and then add the corned beef hash in the middle of the well or on the other half of the bowl not to make the crispy potatoes soggy.
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Asian Slaw recipe for beef bulgogi lettuce wraps

Asian Slaw Recipe
Ingredients

1/2 red cabbage sliced

1 red onion

3 spring onions

8 radishes sliced into rounds

2 medium carrots julienned

1 bag of beansprouts


Dressing

juice and rind of 1 lime

3 dessert spoons light soy (because who actually has a table spoon in the kitchen?)

3 dessert spoons fish sauce

3 dessert spoons rice wine vinegar

3 dessert spoons toasted sesame oil

2 dessert spoons honey

1 dessert spoon sesame seeds

2 cloves of minced or finely grated garlic

1 inch thick piece of grated ginger

1 small bunch of corriander chopped finely

leaves of around 6 stalks of mint finely chopped

Instructions

Prepart the dressing by adding everything to same bowl.

Due to recent food bacteria scares related to beansprouts I added the bag to a steamer for a few minutes to kill the bacteria but still leave crunchy. After a few minutes in the steamer I rinsed under cold water to stop the cooking process and still leave a little crunch.

In a seperate large bowl add the vegetables for the slaw one by one after slicing.

Pour the dressing over the veggies and mix to combine. Leave to infuse for an hour or two in the fridge.

I served this with BBQ’d bulgogi beef lettuce wraps, pickled cucumber, pickled daikon and kimchi for my birthday BBQ last week. It still tasted great for lunch with the leftovers the day after down the beach with a nice cold can on fruity Brewdog Elvis Juice.

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Bacon and leek cauliflower cheese recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 bulb of cauliflower with root and leaves removed and chopped into chunks
  • 1 slices of bacon chopped into little chunks ( I used Cure & Simple Pancetta bacon)
  • 1/2 a leek slices thinly
  • 1/2 red onion
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 box corn flower
  • 1 jar of dijon mustard ( I used horseradish and dijon mustard from M & S)
  • 125 ml whipping cream
  • 125ml whole milk
  • cayenne pepper
  • black pepper
  • sea salt
  • 100g of your favourite mature cheddar
  • 1 pack parmesan cheese

Instructions

Cook the bacon pieces until they render out the fat and start to brown then set aside. Place the chopped leeks and half the chopped garlic with some oil in the oven for about 10 minutes on 200C.

Place the chopped cauliflower in a pan of boiling salted water and reduce the heat to a simmer for around 10 minutes checking that it’s cooked and for this so a knife goes through the stalks with little effort but not boiled to a mush like my grandmother as we want it to keep it’s shape. When cooked, drain and set aside.

In a sauce pan add the chopped red onion and fry in a little bit of real butter for a few minutes to sweat out, add a sprinkle of sea salt, black pepper and add the remaining garlic. Continue cooking for another minute or two.

Add a tablespoon of the cornflower to the pan mixing it all in. Add a teaspoon or 2 of the mustard depending on taste mixing it in then add a small amount of whipping cream to make a rue, adding a bit more at a time to make sure there are no lumps. When the mixture is the right consistency and there are no lumps add the rest of the cream and milk and stir well and continue to heat gently. When the mixture begins to get hot add the mature cheese to the mix, stiring to melt and bring to a gooey heaven then take off the heat.

Place the cooked cauliflower in a casserole dish spreading evenly to fill the gaps. Top with the creamy cheese mixture making sure it’s evenly coated. Top with the crispy bacon and leek slithers then finely grate parmesan cheese over the top and freshly ground pepper.

Place in the pre-heated oven at around 200C for 15-20 minutes until golden and desired cooked finish.

Great accompaniment to my keto inspired wheat free herb crusted lamb rack.

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