FLOWER POT KITCHEN: PIRI PIRI ROAST CHICKEN AND LEFTOVERS

9 Feb 2014

PIRI PIRI ROAST CHICKEN AND LEFTOVERS

Hot and spicy succulent Piri Piri rubbed chicken, this is a great way to pep up your standard roast chicken, the hot hot crispy skin and juicy chicken are great served with garlic roast potatoes, for me the best mini roast potatoes are the crispy tops with soft squidgy bottoms that have soaked up all the chicken juices in the pan topped of with lots of nutty crispy shards of roasted garlic. This dinner has to have a side of Piri Piri mayonnaise.

LEFTOVERS MARVELLOUS LEFTOVERS

This is the first stage to several more dinners for the family (4) just from this one bird. We will be having Piri Piri stuffed tacos, chicken and salad wraps, chicken and mushroom pie, chicken stir fry rice and vegetables and finally ramen or Thai laksa with stock from the bones. Having a few standard staples in your larder (on next blog page), can make your food go so much further. Using shreds of meat as a seasoning in dishes like stir fry or ramen makes more of your food, and you don't even know you had half the amount!

INGREDIENTS

1 organic free range chicken 1.5kg

(I find this bird goes further than the cheaper alternative)

1 bottle nandos hot Piri Piri sauce (optional)

1 tbsp sea salt

2 tbsp Piri Piri spice

PIRI PIRI SPICE MIX

6 fresh chillies chopped

2tbsp dried chillies

4 cloves of garlic grated

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp paprika

GARLIC ROAST POTATOES

1 blub garlic rough chopped

6 King Edward potatoes diced

So simple, take your whole chicken, un-teather and squash flat, sprinkle with salt and then rub all over with your choice of hot sauce inside and out, sprinkle over the Piri Piri spice, bang in the oven 200 degrees for 1 hour 10 minutes. At 40 minutes throw in the diced raw potatoes, toss in the rendered chicken cooking fat, be mindful if the chicken needs a covering of tin foil to stop the spices catching and pop,back in the oven for 20 minutes, for the last 10 minutes of cooking sprinkle over the chopped garlic and roast.

This is a really gorgeous and simple roast with so much more to offer.

DINNER No 2

PIRI PIRI CHICKEN CHORIZO AND LIME TACOS

DINNER No 3

ROAST CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM PIE

DINNER No 4

THAI COCONUT AND LIME LAKSA

Full recipes on blog.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.