Chicken with Plums and Bacon

Sometimes I develop a craving for a dish with a combination of sweet and savory flavors, like meat, chicken or fish with fruit. This recipe is a twist to Coq au vin, Chicken with Plum and Bacon. it is great for entertaining because it is a one-pot dish and very tasty.
I use drumsticks or thighs instead of breast meat for richer flavor. I serve it white plain rice and it was absolutely delicious.

Ingredients
(4 servings)
* 8 chicken thighs or drumsticks or a mix of both , bone in and skin on
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 4 bacon slices, back or streaky, but preferably smoked, cut into small pieces
* 1 onion, finely chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, sliced
* Zest and juice of 1 orange
* 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
* 1/2 cup red wine or more, most certainly 1 too enjoy while cooking!!!
* Salt and pepper
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 4 fresh red plums or apricots
Directions
1. In a large pot heat the olive oil, add the bacon and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes or until crispy. Remove and set aside.
2. Rub the chicken with salt and pepper and to the pot. Saute for about 3 minutes on each side or until brown. Remove from the pot and set aside with the bacon.
3. Add the onions to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes or until translucent, add more olive oil if necessary. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the red wine and with a wooden spoon scrape the bottom of the pot.
4. Add the chicken, bacon and remaining ingredients to the pot. Cook over medium- low heat for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or place in crockpot on low for 5 hours or until the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thicken. Add more chicken stock if necessary. Serve warm over white rice with a nice selection of green veg.

Bedfordshire Clangers

So what's in the pot? Can you guess?

This is a recipe very local... It's called Bedfordshire Clangers.

Here they are cooking............

Two little beauties boiling in their muslin parcels.

 

 

Every 40 minutes I have to top up the water, so I set the alarm so I don't forget. Don't want the puddings to go dry.

 

 

 

 

After 2 hours boiling, I take them out of the pan, using the string rope so I don't burn my fingers and set them aside to cool a bit.

 

Where the string meets in the middle, the pudding will divide naturally. So I will have four puddings all together or two for greedy people. Traditionally there would be meat at one end and jam at the other but I have only meat and onion in mine today. The idea was that you started up one end with the meat, gravy added and then you worked your way down to the jam end which you would eat with custard.

I served mine with mashed swede this time. My son and I love mashed swede with butter in.

 

 

 

It's advisable to open the dumpling up as soon as possible to let the steam out so it can cool down a bit. We like to pour HP sauce over it. American equivalent would be steak sauce but it's not the same. HP sauce is available in Fresh Market.

 

After all that cooking and eating, it's time for a mug of tea to wash it all down and maybe a snooze.

 

This is a recipe from Oma's Kitchen.

 

The main ingredients are as follows:

1 lb of self raising flour

8 ozs of suet

cold water to make the dough

a pinch of salt

one onion, chopped

a packet of lardons, added to the onion

some fresh herbs to taste

Method:

Make up the dough by adding the suet to the flour in a large bowl. Add the water until the dough is pliable (you can roll it out)

Roll out four circles.

Cook the onions and add the lardons.

Put herbs in with the ingredients, either in the meat or in the pastry.

Put the mixture in the centre of the circle and close the dumpling up.

Roll it into the muslin square.

Hint: If you flour the muslin square first, it will seal the dumpling as soon as you lower it into the boiling water.

When you have the dumplings tied up, leave one end of string dangling so you can grab it later on and lower the dumplings into the water.

Get it back to boiling and put the lid on, half cock.

Keep the water topped up and the pot boiling for two hours.

Good luck if you want to try it.

It's not for the squeamish and it is very high in cholesterol BUT

it is very delicious!

Oma

 

Recipe for Mustard Pickle

Recipe for Mild Mustard Pickle

Contains no colourants, preservatives or anything other than seasonal vegetables and other rustic ingredients. Loved by everybody in the family and by some others too. Do not be discouraged by the colour, it's great with cheese, cold and hot meats and even on its own with fresh crispy bread!
Usually prepared in late September or early October, rarely lasts beyond Christmas in my family!
There is nothing similar available commercially.

Some preparation is required :-

(I) Collect some empty jam-jars, or similar, through the year.
Thoroughly clean the jars and tops, rinse and dry in a warm oven.
The amounts below will fill about eight 454g (1lb) jars

(ii) Ingredients with approx. quantities (the exact amounts are not critical as no batch is exactly the same as the last!) :-
Colmans Mustard Powder 50g (two heaped table spoons)
Corn Flower 50g
Sugar 25g (one heaped table spoon)
Salt 25g
Ordinary Malt Vinegar 1.14 litres (2.3 pints)
Shallots, or small pickling onions, 700g
Cauliflower 700g
Runner beans 700g
Marrow 700g (Courgette works too!)

(iii) Prepare the veg. :-
‘Top and tail’ the Onions and peel off the outer skins
Cut off any stringy sides of the Runner Beans and slice diagonally
Peel off the Marrow skin, cut into half and spoon out the seeds. Chop the remaining flesh into small cubes of about 2-3cm
Remove the outer leaves of the Cauliflower, and chop the remainder into small intact fleurettes
Place the  prepared veg. in a suitably sized bowl and add salt, turning over several times to ensure a uniform coating.
Cover the bowl and stand overnight (previous experience indicates that 4-6 hours is adequate)
After this time, decant the brine from the bowl, place the veg. in a colander and rinse briefly under running tap water. Tip out the veg. onto a clean cloth and dab gently to remove excess water.

(iv) Prepare a thin slurry by thoroughly mixing the Mustard, Corn Flower  and Sugar with about 50 to 100ml of the Vinegar, in a  jug.

(v) Put the prepared veg. in a saucepan, add the remainder of the Vinegar and place on an oven hob. Gradually bring to the boil. Once simmering, add the Mustard slurry and gently mix.
Allow to boil gently for 20 minutes and turn off the heat.
Do not boil too vigorously, or for longer than specified, as this tends to break-up the vegetables.

(vi) Allow to cool, then ladle into the jars via a ‘jam’ funnel, or similar.
Gently press the top of each jar, to ensure that the contents are totally immersed in the liquor. If not, add small portions of Vinegar to achieve this. Place the tops on the jars.

The Mustard Pickle is then ready for consumption, but is better after a couple of days maturation!

Stella's Date and Banana Cake

This is a delightful cut and come again cake using healthy main ingredients, i.e. dates and banana.

Here are the ingredients:

8 ozs self raising flour
pinch of salt
4 ozs of soft margarine
4 ozs caster sugar
1 large banana
4 ozs of chopped dates
1 large egg
4 tablespoons milk
For the topping:
1/2 oz of chopped walnuts (optional)
2 level tablespoons demarara sugar

Method:

Measure out the self raising flour and put into a large bowl

Measure the soft margarine and add it to the flour.

Take the stones out of the dates and chop them up.

Then measure out the sugar and add it.

Rub the mixture into the fat and the sugar until it looks like breadcrums. I usually add the sugar after the fat.

Mash the banana and add it to the mixture with the chopped dates.

Add an egg.

Add 4 tablespoons of milk and mix together all the ingredients with a fork

Put a paper lining into a 2lb loaf tin. No need to grease.

Smooth the top with a fork or a knife and sprinkle with the demarara sugar and/or chopped walnuts.

Bake in the centre of the oven at gas mark 4 or equivalent.
When it is done it should look like this:

Leave to cool, then turn out onto an oblong plate.

We like to eat ours with a cup of tea on Sundays.  The outside of the cake is crisp and the inside is soft.  This cake will keep for two or three days under cling film or in a tin.

Enjoy!

Karolena's Cabbage Soup

Cabbage Soup

Yesterday we had rain & it felt so nice outside I decided to make a soup
This is fixed with mushrooms in my house not green bean ( I’m not a fan of green beans )

Ingredients

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
1 1/2 cups diced carrots
1 cups diced celery
1 Tbsp minced garlic
6 oz. fresh green beans (or frozen),
** mushrooms at my house chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 small cabbage
1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 tsp Italian seasoning
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

**I’ve been cooking this soup for years I can’t remember where it came from or who gave it to me **
Enjoy

Karolena

Karolena's Recipe for 29th August 2018 - Italian-seasoned veggies with sausage.

Tried and True

Delicious Italian-seasoned veggies and sausage all made in one pan. A great and healthy meal prep idea!

Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 6 when served with rice or quinoa
Calories: 307 kcal
Author: Chelsea ( chelseasmessyapron.com)

2 large carrots ~2 cups
2 red potatoes ~2 cups
1 small-medium zucchini ~2 and 1/3 cups (( I Karolena also added yellow squash ))
2 red peppers ~2 cups
1 head broccoli ~1 and 1/2 cups (( I Karolena did not add broccoli instead I added snap peas ))
16 ounces Smoked Italian Turkey or Chicken Sausage 

Seasonings
1/2 tablespoon EACH: dried basil, dried oregano, dried parsley, garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon EACH: onion powder, dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated, optional
4 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
Optional: fresh parsley, salt and pepper

Recipe Junk Journal

Junk Journals don't have to be covered in lace. This one by Sueann Kinman is a recipe junk journal and I think it works very well.