Emergency Defrost - Pollo al Ajillo, homemade stock & a last minute giant tortilla
I arrived home after work yesterday to find the chicken frozen despite sitting in sweltering conditions for 12 hours! Bang goes the roast chicken idea then.
As I said yesterday, I got the Rick Stein Spain book for my birthday, I've already had a good ferret through, yumming and oohing over lots of recipes and taking issue with several things too (will get to that later in the week!). I remembered spotting a recipe which required a jointed chicken so I decided to go for that, there seems to be (probably definitely is) something inherently wrong with putting a whole chicken in the microwave to defrost, however, chop it all up and it's suddenly fine. I've never jointed a chicken before, it's always seemed like a lot of fuss when you can buy all the bits in the shop, so a new and novel experience lay ahead, made slightly high risk by my blunt knives and shiny chopping board, thanks to a step by step by Delia and a bit of luck I emerged with all my limbs, but the chicken sitting in 2 bowls, one of bony bits and one with some nice joints of chicken.
Having my domestic goddess head on by now, I decided I couldn't possibly just throw away the bones - I would make some stock, so I fried up the bones in a little oil, added some seasoning, a fresh bay leaf (please let me know if you need any bay leaves I have a very good back garden supply!), a carrot and an onion, added some water and let it all simmer away until it looked a nice brown colour. I've strained it and put it in the freezer to make soup one day.
The chicken defrosted quickly once jointed so I made the following - courtesy of Rick and his new book and served it up with courgettes and peppers, a very little broccoli and some mashed potatoes...
Pollo al Ajillo
(the book has the exact quantities http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rick-Steins-Spain-Recipes-Inspired/dp/184990135X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310590278&sr=8-1)
Remove the skin from your chicken pieces, leaving it on will stop all flavour permeating the chicken.
Crush 4 cloves of garlic in a pestle and mortar, a little salt will help this, add some olive oil, mix well and then rub into your jointed chicken pieces . Season and cover and leave for an hour.
After the hour, heat some olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed frying pan. Add the chicken pieces and fry on a medium heat until they are golden brown all over.
After about 20 minutes, remove from the pan. Drain away the oil leaving about a tablespoon. Finely slice a further 4 cloves of garlic and put this into the oil and cook on a low heat until the garlic is golden but not brown. Add 200ml of white wine to the pan, bring to the boil, then add the chicken pieces and 2-3 bay leaves, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until your chicken is cooked (opaque all the way through and not at all pink), but not overcooked or the breast pieces will be dry. Take the lid off for the last 5 minutes allowing the sauce to reduce a little. It is now ready to serve.
I thought the chicken was really tasty, a nice tinge of wine and plenty of garlic.it went really well with creamy mash. If I made it again, I would get some chicken legs and thighs to use rather than a whole jointed chicken as I found the breast dry, but the thighs were gorgeous and juicy, but it's all down to personal preference. The skin definitely needs to come off or it will be to oily and that would not be right.
and finally The Tortilla
Somewhere in the middle of making tea, the shopping arrived, unpacking the 9 slightly war wounded eggs, I realised I already had 9, I had some chorizo left over, some onions and a lot of odds of potatoes that needed using...to me this says only one thing and that's tortilla...I wish it hadn't said it at 8:30pm, but off I went!
You need a really decent, fairly large, very non-stick frying pan for this.
I must stress that this is how I make a tortilla, sometimes with, sometimes without chorizo. Some say it should be eggs and potatoes only, but I've only ever had it with onion too, we add chorizo to pep it up and I like a bit of garlic too. Anything else would make it a frittata and not a tortilla, just my opinion though!
So I finely chop some onion, I like quite a lot, at least one large onion, maybe a bit more - depends on your pan. I add it to some olive oil in the pan and cook on a medium heat, I finely slice 1-2 cloves of garlic and add those, ensuring they don't burn, stirring frequently. While they are cooking, I start the potatoes, if they are new potatoes I don't peel them, anything larger and I would and then finely slice. Add the slices to the pan with the onion until the pan starts to look quite full. Then it's a matter of controlling the heat and stirring until the potatoes soften and the onions are soft and golden. Don't forget to season with some salt. If you are adding slices of chorizo, do that half way through the potato cooking, it will give of it's lovely red oils and paprika taste.
While the potatoes cook, I break the eggs into a large bowl - 6 for a normal sized (12 inch) pan, my pan is bigger and my eggs are various sizes so I used 10. Season with salt and pepper and then beat lightly.
When the potatoes are cooked, take the pan and tip all the cooked ingredients into the egg mix. Put the pan back on the heat, quickly mix the potatoes and onions into the egg and then put the whole lot into the frying pan, ensure all the ingredients are evenly distributed and all the potato is sitting in the egg and leave to cook on a low heat. When it starts to look cooked underneath and you can tell it's halfway cooked, only the surface wobbles, you can do one of 2 things - either finish it off under the grill, or place a plate over the top of the frying pan, turn it all over so the tortilla is sitting on the plate cooked side up, then slide it back into the pan. I find this hard as my pans and plates are heavy and you may find you tip hot oil and egg over yourself, so the grill may be easier but take care to ensure the tortilla is just cooked through, not runny (unless you like that) but not over cooked.
If you have the will power this will keep in the fridge for several days, but eat it at room temperature or warmed through, never straight from the fridge, it doesn't taste right.
Hope you enjoyed the recipes, sorry the photos are a bit grainy. Tomorrow will be some Mexican food and I will have the photos back on the normal camera by the end of the week. See you soon....thanks for reading x
As I said yesterday, I got the Rick Stein Spain book for my birthday, I've already had a good ferret through, yumming and oohing over lots of recipes and taking issue with several things too (will get to that later in the week!). I remembered spotting a recipe which required a jointed chicken so I decided to go for that, there seems to be (probably definitely is) something inherently wrong with putting a whole chicken in the microwave to defrost, however, chop it all up and it's suddenly fine. I've never jointed a chicken before, it's always seemed like a lot of fuss when you can buy all the bits in the shop, so a new and novel experience lay ahead, made slightly high risk by my blunt knives and shiny chopping board, thanks to a step by step by Delia and a bit of luck I emerged with all my limbs, but the chicken sitting in 2 bowls, one of bony bits and one with some nice joints of chicken.
Having my domestic goddess head on by now, I decided I couldn't possibly just throw away the bones - I would make some stock, so I fried up the bones in a little oil, added some seasoning, a fresh bay leaf (please let me know if you need any bay leaves I have a very good back garden supply!), a carrot and an onion, added some water and let it all simmer away until it looked a nice brown colour. I've strained it and put it in the freezer to make soup one day.
The chicken defrosted quickly once jointed so I made the following - courtesy of Rick and his new book and served it up with courgettes and peppers, a very little broccoli and some mashed potatoes...
Pollo al Ajillo
(the book has the exact quantities http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rick-Steins-Spain-Recipes-Inspired/dp/184990135X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310590278&sr=8-1)
Remove the skin from your chicken pieces, leaving it on will stop all flavour permeating the chicken.
Crush 4 cloves of garlic in a pestle and mortar, a little salt will help this, add some olive oil, mix well and then rub into your jointed chicken pieces . Season and cover and leave for an hour.
After the hour, heat some olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed frying pan. Add the chicken pieces and fry on a medium heat until they are golden brown all over.
After about 20 minutes, remove from the pan. Drain away the oil leaving about a tablespoon. Finely slice a further 4 cloves of garlic and put this into the oil and cook on a low heat until the garlic is golden but not brown. Add 200ml of white wine to the pan, bring to the boil, then add the chicken pieces and 2-3 bay leaves, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until your chicken is cooked (opaque all the way through and not at all pink), but not overcooked or the breast pieces will be dry. Take the lid off for the last 5 minutes allowing the sauce to reduce a little. It is now ready to serve.
I thought the chicken was really tasty, a nice tinge of wine and plenty of garlic.it went really well with creamy mash. If I made it again, I would get some chicken legs and thighs to use rather than a whole jointed chicken as I found the breast dry, but the thighs were gorgeous and juicy, but it's all down to personal preference. The skin definitely needs to come off or it will be to oily and that would not be right.
 |
| Pollo al Ajillo |
Somewhere in the middle of making tea, the shopping arrived, unpacking the 9 slightly war wounded eggs, I realised I already had 9, I had some chorizo left over, some onions and a lot of odds of potatoes that needed using...to me this says only one thing and that's tortilla...I wish it hadn't said it at 8:30pm, but off I went!
You need a really decent, fairly large, very non-stick frying pan for this.
I must stress that this is how I make a tortilla, sometimes with, sometimes without chorizo. Some say it should be eggs and potatoes only, but I've only ever had it with onion too, we add chorizo to pep it up and I like a bit of garlic too. Anything else would make it a frittata and not a tortilla, just my opinion though!
So I finely chop some onion, I like quite a lot, at least one large onion, maybe a bit more - depends on your pan. I add it to some olive oil in the pan and cook on a medium heat, I finely slice 1-2 cloves of garlic and add those, ensuring they don't burn, stirring frequently. While they are cooking, I start the potatoes, if they are new potatoes I don't peel them, anything larger and I would and then finely slice. Add the slices to the pan with the onion until the pan starts to look quite full. Then it's a matter of controlling the heat and stirring until the potatoes soften and the onions are soft and golden. Don't forget to season with some salt. If you are adding slices of chorizo, do that half way through the potato cooking, it will give of it's lovely red oils and paprika taste.
While the potatoes cook, I break the eggs into a large bowl - 6 for a normal sized (12 inch) pan, my pan is bigger and my eggs are various sizes so I used 10. Season with salt and pepper and then beat lightly.
When the potatoes are cooked, take the pan and tip all the cooked ingredients into the egg mix. Put the pan back on the heat, quickly mix the potatoes and onions into the egg and then put the whole lot into the frying pan, ensure all the ingredients are evenly distributed and all the potato is sitting in the egg and leave to cook on a low heat. When it starts to look cooked underneath and you can tell it's halfway cooked, only the surface wobbles, you can do one of 2 things - either finish it off under the grill, or place a plate over the top of the frying pan, turn it all over so the tortilla is sitting on the plate cooked side up, then slide it back into the pan. I find this hard as my pans and plates are heavy and you may find you tip hot oil and egg over yourself, so the grill may be easier but take care to ensure the tortilla is just cooked through, not runny (unless you like that) but not over cooked.
If you have the will power this will keep in the fridge for several days, but eat it at room temperature or warmed through, never straight from the fridge, it doesn't taste right.
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| Cooking in the pan |
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| The finished article - enough for at least 6 - 8 portions |
Hope you enjoyed the recipes, sorry the photos are a bit grainy. Tomorrow will be some Mexican food and I will have the photos back on the normal camera by the end of the week. See you soon....thanks for reading x
Just smelt and eaten all that in my head lovely! Are well back to the scrambled egg on toast for breakfast.Tom
ReplyDeleteA book critic was taking issue with Rick Stein's Tortillas, in his latest book
ReplyDelete