dinner

Lemon Chicken Recipe

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photo

Sorry for the awful photo!  That’s what happens when you’re super hungry …

This is an absurdly easy (and quick to put together) roast chicken dinner recipe that was inspired by two recipes I found on The Good Food Channel’s website. The first, Mark Sargent’s lemon and herb roast chicken and the other, Rachel Allen’s leek and fennel roast chicken.

Naturally, my version of things doesn’t follow the script too closely and I wonder if I should really call it pot roast chicken … but no matter.

Preheat your oven to 200°C fan. In a roasting dish, which has a lid (this is quite important!), splosh a little light olive oil and arrange some chicken portions. I got the butcher to joint a chicken for us (by far the easiest way to buy chicken on the bone) and, for the two of us, I used the 2 drumsticks and the 2 thigh portions. You could buy marylands and halve them yourself.

Add 4 halved small new potatoes, 1 leek, cut into 1cm segments, 1 lemon or lime cut into quarters (we have an excess of limes to use thanks to my parents’ lime tree!) and a few sprigs of fresh thyme.

Sprinkle a little extra olive oil on top, cover with the lid (or tin foil) and place in the hot oven.

After about 20 minutes, give the meat and vegetables a bit of a poke and return to the oven for another 10 or so minutes, until the potatoes and chicken are cooked (that is, until you stick a knife into the thickest part of a chicken joint and the juices run clear – no blood!). The amount of time you actually need will depend on the size of the chicken joints, how tightly packed everything is in your roasting dish and, of course, how hot your oven actually is.

When the chicken is cooked, remove the lime quarters and thyme sprigs and return to the oven without the lid to crisp up the skin on the chicken. If you are not also trying to warm plates, you could pop things under the grill for a few moments.

Do try not to use too much olive oil because you want to be able to use the pan juices as an immediate gravy (rather than an oil slick!).

Serve on hot plates, with steamed vegetables.

No effort at all!

Tasting Australia – Best of British

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Best of British

Disclaimer: I received a basket of scones and jam from the Intercontinental, along with the information about this event.

Hopefully everyone knows that Tasting Australia is coming up at the end of April. I’ve already written about the pasta events that will be happening.

Of course, masterclasses are not the be all and end all of Tasting Australia – there are plenty of dinners, lunches and breakfasts to be had along the way. One such dinner is the Best of British dinner which takes place on Monday 30 April at the Intercontinental. This dinner is not only an excuse to eat a lot of good food but part proceeds will support the Australian athletes heading to London for the Olympic games in August.

The star of the chefs is Mark Hix (formerly chef director of Caprice Holdings which includes London icons such as The Ivy and J Sheekeys, and now running his own venture, which includes the Hix Oyster and Chop House). Hix is also very much a champion of British food – his British Regional Food being one of the modern bibles on the subject (and, I note, a book missing from my own collection …).

Hix will be joined by British expats now based in Australia:  Simon Bryant, Jeremy Strode and Matthew Kemp. The menu features Brit dishes such as steak and kidney pudding, smoked eel, lamb and a selection of UK cheeses put together by Will Studd. You can see the full menu on the Intercontinental’s website.

Tickets, limited to 300, are $195 per person and are available through ticketek.

Kay Brothers Wine Dinner 17 August

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For quite a while now I’ve been meaning to get an event calendar up and running and I’ve finally done it!

The first event listed is a Kay Brothers wine dinner coming up at Jam the Bistro on Wednesday 17 August, from 6:30pm.  The dinner costs $95 a head which is inclusive of 4 courses paired with Kay Brothers wines.  If carpaccio of venison served with Grenache, or wild goat moussaka with a Cabernet Merlot appeals then this dinner could be your thing.  The evening will be hosted by Colin Kay, the winemaker, so it’s also a good opportunity to get any questions answered.

You need to make your booking through the restaurant – either phone them on 08 8231 7411 or call in (112-114 Wright Street, Adelaide). A deposit of $15 per person is required.

And if you have an event you’d like listed in the calendar, please let me know. I’m on a ridiculous number of mailing lists but that doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to pick up and make note of every event going!