Piri Piri Chickie

I've had Piri Piri Chicken once before in some remote part of Portugal, and it was rather good. I've never been to Nando's because if I'm gonna stoop that low, I'll get a KFC. So I had a go myself, with a made-up guessed recipe. 


With some Waitrose Chicken thighs (I sometimes have ethics when it comes to meat), I covered them in smoked paprika, salt pepper, lemon zest & juice and fried them off with a finely chopped chili (seeds as well) and bulb of garlic. To prepare the garlic I bruised each clove by smashing it with the palm of my hand. This releases the flavour, but kind of keeps the clove intact and the skin stops it from burning. Whist the chicken was hanging out having a good time in the frying pan, I shoved some McCain chips in the oven, cos chicken & chips love each other. Once the chicken had released its sexual juices, it was ready for a good grilling. I grilled it until all the juices dried up to a sticky glaze and the skin became really crispy.

To serve, I picked some salad leaves from the Jardin de Balcon, sent the lady to the Co-Op to get some coleslaw and put a couple cheeky gherkins on the plate, just because it felt right.

This chicken really worked and I even had a cold piece from the fridge when I came home drunk last night. On the whole the meal had a wiff of CHD (Council House Dinner), but was redeemed by the gherkins and salad.

AGB

She likes to keep it hidden, but the masses need to see, this fantastical world of an Ageing Bee - http://ageingbee.tumblr.com/

Enjoy.

Weekend Indulgence

Like many people it appears to be a common occurrence to splash out on booze during the weekend, but it's been brought to my attention that as I get older, food is eating up most of the cash in my wallet or rather, I'm eating the food that's eating my cash.


On Friday evening we foraged in the supermarket for something easy and quick, then suddenly we struck gold, well it looked like gold as the glowing rotisserie chickens huddled together clucking "eat me!". We nearly had one whole bird each, which I quite like the idea of, mainly for the comedy value, but we settled for 2 between 3 people, which was obviously more than enough. So we gobbled down some dirty, cheap, intensively farmed chicken (which we all do from time to time) and in-between mouthfuls of accompanying salad & bread, we discussed the ethics of poor meat in a hypercritical middle class fasion (I think I may be one of those people I hate). Although what we did was bad, we knew it was bad, so does that make it worse or does the awareness redeem us from eating the un-ethical meat? All I know is, we enjoyed every mouthful of our perfectly cooked, tender, moist birds. So the moral of the story is - if you do something bad, make sure you enjoy it with bread and salad.

For breakfast we had a Full English or Flinglish. I keep returning to The Tangerine Tree, which consistently delivers the best breakfast around. Everything is cooked perfectly and is the opposite the disappointing breakfast I had last weekend at Darts Farm, which was such a letdown, honestly don't bother trying it.


I skipped lunch and had afternoon tea at the famous Greys Dining Room in Totnes, which is so so so good. Their company description is - we are one of the top tearooms in the country. need i say more? 


Need I say more? They don't need a website or social network pages, mainly because it's alway full of customers and that's because it's so so so good.

For some more cardiac abuse on the old ticker I had fish 'n' chips on the Saturday evening at Jolly Rogers, in Buckfastleigh. I was actually attending the annual Lamb Pie Day, where I've never even caught a wiff of lamb pie, never mind eat one of the things. Such a con. Anyway, the fish was very good, and whist I was in the poor ethics mindset I had Cod (which I assume was non-sustainable), but this was not out of choice, I wanted the Hake, but they had sold out. I then went for Haddock, but they had sold out. So poor old Cod was the only one left. Maybe the nation has twigged onto the fact we need to change the trend of fish and Hugh's Fish Fight is fighting a winning battle on both the European Parliament and the British public (do sign up if you haven't already).


So another weekend has passed without me doing any form of cooking. The more I love food, the less cooking I do. I honestly think it has been a month since I did any cooking at the weekend, and I've booked a table at Riverford Field Kitchen for next week, so looks like I'll be doing the same again. Eating myself into an early grave (In a non-cannibalistic manner). Self Cannibalism, does that exist? Yes it does - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-cannibalism


Eat me out!

My Irish Baby

No I don't have a bun in the oven, but I do have a loaf of bread! This soda bread recipe has been perfected over a couple of years and I'm ready to give birth to it's method. 


This bread is so good because it's very quick and easy to make, mainly because you don't have to dick around proofing/proving dough. The other bonus, nobody sells good soda bread! well I can't find it anyway. My grandmother was Irish so I suppose I'm a little proud of my Irish ginger roots and love this un-pretentious style of cookery. This bread doesn't make the best sandwiches, unless it's an open one, but toasted and smothered in lots of butter, topped with a poached egg and there is no need for heaven, you're already there. Also, great for dipping in your Irish stew or Colcannon soup.


Because the bread is scone-ish, you could add other things, like cheese for example. How about Gruyère and Rosemary? A Swiss-Irish baby. Or you could use Guinness instead of milk, but that may have racial connotations.

Makes 1 round loaf or you can put it in a loaf tin or up your ass

300ml milk (none of that skimmed shit, your baby needs a healthy layer of fat)

20ml vinegar

300g flour (plain or wholemeal or a mixture of both)

160g jumbo oats

1 tsp bicarb

1 tsp baking powder (if you don't have this, double the bicarb)

1 tsp dark brown sugar or other sugar

1 tsp of salt

1. Mix the milk, vinegar, salt & sugar in a jug until everything dissolves.

2. Get a tray lined with baking paper or line a loaf tin with baking paper.

3. Sieve the flour into a large bowl. Also sieve the bicarb & baking powder. Add the oats and give a rough mix by hand and then add the milk mixture and give a good mix with one of your hands, holding the bowl with the other.

4. You should create a sloppy wet dough mixture, but don't worry your stupid self, it's supposed to look like placenta.

5.  Using the mucky hand shape the dough into a ball and dust with a little more flour whist it's still in the bowl, then transfer onto the baking tray. Or if you're using the loaf tin transfer the mix into there.

6. Sprinkle the loaf with some more oats and cut a cross shape on the top with a knife. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 180 degrees.

The bread is cooked when it has risen and started to turn golden, to double-check it's cooked pick up the bread up with a tea towel and tap the bottom with your fingers and the bread will sound hollow.

Leave for an hour before cutting. Freezes well, but will keep for 4-5 days and toasts like a beautiful fair-skinned Irish baby.

Have fun making babies, and remember, keep them sexy. Who doesn't like a sexy baby?