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Perfect roast chicken

This recipe isn’t for those looking for the quickest way to roast a whole chicken, but it truly is the one that gives you that extra special, juiciest one. Years ago, when I was practicing the cooking of roast chicken, I must’ve gone through so many different instructions. At the time I came across this recipe, I was a big fan of Heston Blumenthal, so I had to try his recipe. And boy, is this still the best, most perfect roast chicken I’ve ever had! It may seems like it requires a lot of effort and time, and yes, you may need to be organised with your time management, but after the short prep for the steps at the beginning you have a lot of free time. I don’t always do the brining the day before, but if you want it very special I would recommend you try. I’ve served mine with roast potatoes click here for my recipe, Vichy carrots, Yorkshire pudding click here for my recipe, minted pea puree and gravy made with the cooking juices of the chicken.

6% brine
5 litres water
300g table salt

Chicken
1.5- 2kg whole chicken
1 lemon
bunch of thyme
125g butter, plus extra for rubbing onto the skin
30ml dry white wine (I use Sauvignon Blanc)

Gravy
20ml dry white wine
250ml chicken stock
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 sprig of tarragon (leaves only)
1 sprig of parsley

1. To make the brine, mix the salt with water, and warm until dissolved. I do this with about 3 litres of water, and then add the remaining two litres afterwards, as this will help brine cool down quicker.

2. Place the chicken in a container, large enough for the chicken to be submerged in the water entirely. Once the brine has cooled down, pour over the chicken. Cover with clingfilm, and keep in the fridge overnight.

3. Remove the chicken from the water, and dry with kitchen tissue. Remove the wishbone (this will make carving easier).

4. Bash the lemon on the table a few times, and stab all around with a sharp knife. Place inside the chicken, together with half of the thyme. Place the bird on a roasting rack, and rub some butter on the skin.

5. Heat the oven to a very low temperature of 80°C / 180°F, and cook the chicken until the inside temperature of the thickest part of the breast is 60°C / 140°F (official recommendations are usually for the inside temperature to be 75°C / 165°F, if worried you can always cook until that. I have however never had any problems with cooking to the lower temperature). The cooking should take about 3-4 hours.

6. Take the chicken out of the oven, and rest for at least 45 minutes. I sometimes get to this stage early in the day, which then allows me to go out, and continue once I’m back. Or, during the resting you can make your roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.

7. Melt the butter in a pan and add 30ml white wine and a few sprigs of thyme. Bring to boil, then remove from the pan from the heat and use the melted butter to baste the chicken before and during browning.

8. Heat the oven as high as it goes. Once the resting time has elapsed, put the chicken back in the oven for about 10 minutes, until golden brown, but taking care it doesn’t burn. Once coloured, remove from the oven. Keep on a cooling rack. Season your carved chicken with salt and black pepper.

9. Add white wine to the roasting tray with the cooking juices, and place on the hob over medium heat. Scrape the edges and bottom of the tray, and stir. Add the chicken stock, and reduce until thickened to a sauce. Strain into a small saucepan.

10. Before serving, stir in the mustard and warm through. Add the finely chopped parsley and tarragon, and season with salt and black pepper.

Chorizo and potato omelette

My inspiration for putting this dish together is from the Spanish omelette. My husband wanted omelette for breakfast, and as I happened to have some chorizo in the fridge for another dish, I thought I would make this omelette version. I think all these flavours go really well together.

1 chorizo sausage, cut into pieces
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
handful of parsley, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
5 cherry tomatoes, chopped
small piece of leek, finely chopped
small piece of red pepper, chopped into small pieces
25g butter
3 eggs
small splash of milk
salt
black pepper

1. Prepare all the ingredients.

2. Melt the butter in a pan. For this particular omelette, I use a wok pan. Place the potato cubes and chorizo into the pan, and fry, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. During this time, whisk the eggs and milk together. Season the eggs with salt and pepper too.

3. Add the garlic, pepper and leek, and fry for couple of minutes.

4. Next, add the tomato, and stir into the mixture. Then add the parsley and stir it in too.

5. Pour the eggs into the pan. At the beginning, keep stirring it, breaking the hardening texture. Lower the temperature, and let cook for about 5 minutes, undisturbed. You will have more runny, uncooked texture on the edges. With a spatula, start pushing the edges towards the centre. You may want to drain some excess juices off at the end, before serving.

Fish pie

Before moving to Britain, it was quite an alien idea to me to eat pretty much anything in a pie (the savoury kind). From chicken to steak – and to fish. Pies are very versatile, and you can add whatever your favourite ingredients are, which make it an ideal kind of food. Your next pie might also be very different from the last. For example, I might often add ingredients depending on what I can find in my fridge, and the next time that might be something completely different. This recipe will make quite a lot of filling. You could double the amount of pastry and make eight instead of four pies, or even have some of it with pasta the next day.

makes 4 pies

320g puff pastry (I use ready to use, rolled sheet)
125g salmon, chopped into cubes
170g cod, chopped into cubes
120g smoked haddock, chopped into cubes
100g prawns
250ml milk
150ml double cream
100ml vermouth
2 bay leaves
small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/4 large leek, finely chopped
1dl peas
1/4 broccoli
salt
white pepper
black pepper
~~~~~
25g butter
1/2 dl plain flour
1/2 dl milk
~~~~~
1 egg

1. Put the onion, leeks, bay leaves, milk, cream, vermouth and the chopped fish in a pan. Bring to boil, and simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.

2. Cut the broccoli florets into small ones. Place in a pan with hot water and boil for 30 seconds. Pour the hot water out, and cover with cold water.

3. In another pan, melt the butter, and add the flour. Mix together. This will form quite a firm dough. Pour in the milk, and mix with the dough. Ladle by ladle, add some cooking liquid from the fish, mixing to the dough, until it becomes more of a runny texture, then pour to the fish, and mix together.

4. Add the peas, drained broccoli, prawns and parsley, and stir until it’s all mixed together. Let the mixture cool.

5. Cut the pastry into four pieces. Brush the edges of one half with the egg. Put some cooled filling on the same half, and fold the other half over. Press the edges tightly together. I use a fork, to go around the edges, pressing them firmly together. The pies will seems quite small at this stage, but will get bigger once cooked.

6. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 390°F (fan). Brush the pies with the egg, and cook for about 20 minutes.

Pan seared, oven roasted duck breast with garlic potato mash and roasted beetroot

I was so late with my food shopping order last night, that I wasn’t able to get it for delivery today. I’ve therefore had to rummage through my fridge and freezer for any left over ingredients I can use for dinner tonight. Luckily, I’ve found a duck crown (I’ll be cooking it on the bone), potatoes and beetroot. With these ingredients, I somehow don’t think I’ll be starving tonight.

serves 2-3 portions

250g beetroot
olive oil
salt
black pepper
~~~~~
1 duck crown
salt
black pepper
~~~~~
5-6 medium white potatoes
1-2 garlic cloves
50g butter
milk
dash of cream
salt

1. Heat the oven to 180°C (fan) / 355°F.

2. Peel the beetroot, and cut to wedges. put in an ovenproof dish, splash with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Cook in the oven for about an hour.

3. Peel the potatoes, wash, cut in half (or quarters if bigger in size), and boil in salted water for about 40 minutes or until soft. Pour the water away, and mash the potatoes. Add butter, milk and salt to taste and texture desired, finish with some cream. Squeeze in the garlic.

4. Rub some salt and pepper on the skin of the duck breasts. Cook in a frying pan, skin side down, until browned. If you’re cooking breasts off the bone I would also sear them briefly on the meat side too.

5. Put in the oven, skin side up, and roast for 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and let rest for 10 minutes (this will allow the juices to stay in the meat better). On high setting, grill for 10 minutes.

Tip I find it easier to get a crispy skin on duck breasts that are cooked off the bone. When cooking this way, I slit the skin with a sharp knife, then rub salt and pepper in. Then fry in a pan in a little olive oil until browned and slightly crispy, and finish off in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Mince beef soup

This winter warmer soup is especially perfect for those cold, cosy days. This is a very Finnish style soup of basic runny liquid base, with all the ingredients as bitesize chunks, rather than those thick, puréed soups. I personally quite like these kind of soups, because you can see and taste the ingredients separately. This soup contains a lot of healthy root vegetables, and doesn’t actually require a lot of cooking itself, most of the work goes to chopping the vegetables. This recipe makes a big soup, which is perfect. I think homemade soups are a little bit like curry, in a way that they seem to taste even better the next day. Also, the great thing about this kind of food is that you are not restricted to follow the ingredients too strictly, but can add other ingredients too. My recipe will be ever so slightly peppery-hot, if you don’t like any heat in your food you might want to leave out the white pepper, or reduce the amount.

1 onion, finely chopped
250g mince beef
1.2kg potatoes
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp allspice
1.5 litres beef stock click here for homemade recipe
1 large parsnip (200g)
2 small turnips (200g)
300g swede
1/2 large leek, finely chopped
3 bay leaves
2-3 dl frozen peas
(1 tsp salt if necessary, to taste at the end. I tend to use sea salt for this)

1. Fry the onions in vegetable oil in a pan, until starting to get translucent. Add the mince beef and mix with the onions. Add the spices, and fry until cooked. During the cooking process, keep braking into small pieces.

2. Take about a quarter of the potatoes, and peel and chop into small pieces. Boil in the stock, covered, until cooked, then mash them.

3. While the potatoes are boiling, peel and chop all the other root vegetables into small, bite size cubes. Add to the stock and mashed potatoes, together with the bay leaves.

4. Peel and cut the remaining potatoes into small pieces, and add to the soup. Lastly, add the finely chopped leek, peas and the mince beef.

5. Cook until all vegetables are cooked. After all the ingredients have been added this should only take about 10 more minutes, depending on the size you’ve cut your potatoes.

6. Check the taste, and add the salt if required.

Cottage pie / Shepherd’s pie

This is a heart and belly warming classic British dish, however I’m sure other nations have their own variation of the same thing. Even in my native Finland we have something similar. I have added ingredients to the basic version, so it actually probably doesn’t even have any particular national background. For a long time, I always had to check with my British husband what the difference with cottage pie and shepherd’s pie is. The difference is very simple: cottage pie is shepherd’s pie, but with a cheese crust on top. This kind of food is proper, honest home cooking. I tend to make a large batch, which will give you couple of dinners, or dinner for the first night and lunch to take to work with you for few days. I like mine with slight heat from the pepper, if you would like yours mild I would suggest reducing the black pepper and white pepper to half (or just use full amount of black pepper and leave white pepper out).

1.5 kg potatoes
2 tsp salt
50g butter
3dl milk
pinch of salt
~~~~~
1 medium onion
2 small or 1 large carrots, peeled
1 courgette / zucchini
4 chestnut mushrooms
500g mince beef (if you don’t eat red meat, you can easily swap this to mince turkey)
2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1/2 – 1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp ground paprika
1 tsp ground allspice
~~~~~
3 dl cheese

1. Peel and rinse the potatoes. Cut in half or quarters, depending on size. Place in a pan and cover with cold water. Add the salt, and bring to boil. Depending on the size of the pieces, boil gently for about 20 minutes, or until soft.

2. While the potatoes are boiling, finely chop the onion, carrots, courgette and mushrooms. I normally use standard brown/yellow onions for cooking, but I have a lot of very strong red onions in my cupboard, so I used that instead.

3. Fry the onions in the oil for few minutes, until starting to turn translucent.

4. Add the meat. Keep beating it with a wooden spatula as it’s cooking, to break it into small crumbly texture. During the cooking, add all the spices. This’s whole step will take you around 10 minutes.

5. Once the meat is cooked, add the carrots, courgette and mushrooms, and fry for 5 minutes, stirring.

6. Once the potatoes are soft, discard the cooking water. Mash the potatoes, and add the butter, milk and salt. I prefer my mash to be firmer when using it in a dish like this, otherwise it won’t hold the mince mixture in a separate layer.

7. Layer half of the mash at the bottom of an oven casserole dish. Then add a layer of the meat mixture. I usually pat it into a firm, dense, even layer. They add the remaining mash. To make sure you have an equal amount to cover the whole dish, I usually start by adding a dollop in the corners, then in the middle, and then plead it across evenly.

8. Finally, add the cheese. I normally tend to use a mixture of extra mature cheddar and red leicester, however this time I replaced the latter with gruyere. Cook in preheated oven 180°C / 355°F for 40-45 minutes until the cheese top has become slightly crunchy.

Thai green curry

This fragrant Thai food is one of my favourites. I was very glad when I learnt how to make my own paste some years ago. The paste itself is easy to make, and so is the rest of the food.

5 tbsp Thai green curry paste click here for my recipe
400ml coconut cream
500g chicken, cut into strips or chunks
1 courgette / zucchini, cut into pieces
2-3 mini aubergines / eggplants, cut into pieces
1 red pepper, cut into strips
5 chestnut mushrooms, quartered

1. Fry the paste in a pan for about 10 seconds. There is no need to add oil.

2. Pour the coconut cream in, and add all the other ingredients. Bring to boil, and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Thai green curry paste

When cooking foods that are not part of your original culture, it’s often easy to think that it’s something very difficult and complicated. I’ve loved the fragrant Thai green curry for a long time, but didn’t really know how to make it. Until I started making my own paste, and realized how easy it actually is.

6 small green chillies
1 onion
large piece root ginger
3 cloves of garlic
small bunch of coriander
2-3 stalks of fresh lemongrass
1 lime, juice and grated zest
8 kaffir lime leaves
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 tsp Thai fish sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil

1. Break the whole spices with either a pestle and mortar or a spice mill.

2. Cut the stalks off the chillis, and chop roughly to smaller pieces.Peel and roughly chop the garlic, onion and ginger, and prepare the lime. Also chop the lemongrass into smaller pieces.

3. Put all ingredients in the food processor, and blitz until smooth paste.

4. The paste is now ready to be used.

Thai sweet chilli sauce

This simple and tasty dip is a perfect accompaniment to give your food an oriental twist.

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5 hot red chillies
6 cloves of garlic
250ml caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground sweet paprika
130ml rice vinegar
130ml water
1 tbsp Thai fish sauce
1 tbsp lime juice (1 fresh lime)

1. Finely chop the garlic and chilli. Do also use the seeds from the chillies.

2. Place all the ingredients in a pan, apart from the fish sauce and lime juice.

3. Bring to boil, to dissolve the sugar. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10-15 minutes. While it’s warm it will stay quite liquid, but will get thicker once cooled. Depending on how thick you want it, you can simmer the mixture for longer, you will only know how to make it to your preferred consistency by trying it.

4. Take off the heat, add the fish sauce and lime juice, and mix together.

Pheasant tortellini with homemade spinach pasta

I love making my own pasta. The dough itself couldn’t be any simpler, as you only need flour and eggs for the basic one. You can make different variations by adding different ingredients like tomato puree, spinach or squid ink. I have finally managed to get my dough to the perfect consistency, and have also finally learned how to best make the filling for stuffed pasta. Ravioli is something my husband asks for more often than I make it. In the past, my ravioli didn’t seem to work out so well, however I have now managed to overcome this. Might even be I will have a happy husband eating ravioli more often from now on! On this post, for the first time, I’ve added small video clips about couple of stages of the pasta making. I’m very much at a practice stage with my tutorial videos, and hopefully with experience will get better.

Spinach pasta dough
250g 00 grade pasta flour
2 large eggs
125g fresh spinach, cooked and pureed

Pheasant stuffing
400g pheasant breast or leg meat
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
25g butter
150 ml dry white wine
150 ml double cream
salt and pepper

1. Chop the onions and garlic, and fry in butter until translucent. Add the pheasant meat and the white wine, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the pheasant is just cooked through. Set aside to cool.

2. Once cooled, place the meat, onion and garlic into a food processer. If you have any liquid left in the pan, leave it there and use it as part of your sauce. Blitz the ingredients in the food processor, and add the cream, until the mixture is soft, mousse or paste -like texture.

3. Boil the spinach until soft. Drain / squeeze all water off, and puree.

4. Measure the pasta flour in a bowl. Make a well in the centre, and pour the eggs in. Then, starting with a fork, break the eggs and little by little mix the eggs with the surrounding flour. Once the dough gets firmer, move onto kneading by hand. Once the basic dough is ready mix the spinach puree in.

5. Cut the dough into four pieces. Repeat the next stages with all pieces. Flatten the piece with your hands, and roll through the pasta machine, on the widest setting. Fold the dough over in half, and roll through the same setting again. Then reduce the setting to the next, and roll through. Repeat until desired thickness is achieved. I would say from 7 down to 3 or 4 should be fine.

6. Cut your pasta. Brush half of the pasta round with egg, and add the filling. Fold the other half of the pasta over, and close with your fingers, pressing the pasta firmly together. Make sure you don’t leave air in.

7. Boil a large pan of water, with a generous amount of salt. Add the tortellini to the boiling water and cook for 4-5 minutes.