CarcASS or 10 Bean Soup

Hahaha...

Since the chicken was free-range and a bit more oriented towards flavour and bird-quality of life, it had less breast meat than a normal store bird. Think Pamela Anderson vs Me. To the trained eye there is a slight difference.

So when the man and I were done eating our fair share, I pick the that carcass clean of delicious meat and prepared to have my wicked way with the bones.

Into the pot when one onion, quartered, a chopped carrot and a chopped celery arm. Then went in the bones (with ease) and the carcass (with smashing). Covered it all with water, let it bubble it all for a while. How long? Hm. A long while - a telly show? I did some tidying? Hm. Just a while, I guess. Then I drained the stock through a colander into another pot, put the lid on it and left it on the stove.

OVERNIGHT.

I MAY DIE FROM THE DISEASES. INFECTION.

I also take such risks as breathing air and making sandwiches on the countertop.

This morning I took said stock, all jelly-like and wiggly and heated it up. Into it I placed some beans.

The BEANS: Waitrose 10 Bean Mix, put in a bowl, covered with water, left overnight (again, ON THE COUNTER - OMG), rinsed.

Then I placed the beans in the stock. As I write they have been bubbling away on the stove for an hour. Or two. Something. Its tasty so far, but needs something else.



Looks a bit unappealing. A wee trip to the cupboard seems to be in order.

Lets see...



Nothing. I thought there was a can of - oooooh - ginger biscuts. Don't those look tasty.
No, no. Back to the search, surely...



There you are! Friendly little can of tomatoes. You will do. You and your friend Worcestershire sauce.

I must be honest - when tasting the beans and broth, pondering the flavour additions, my mind instantly said 'cheese.' 'Add cheese, Eliza. Cheese would make this so tasty. Grate it, also chop some into chunks, then maybe some cheese on the side.' But in waiting for this soup to be done I have already broken a chunk off the block of cheese and eaten it, so I don't think I need more cheese. Me and cheese are too friendly.

So, tho I wanted to just add cheese, I thought tomatoes were a more mature option.

Plus, I remembered the tasty ginger biscuits in the cupboard so just will eat some of those instead.

:)



So, in the end, it wasn't terribly tasty. Not that there were any offensive flavours, its just that I don't find beans THAT tasty. As aforementioned, I like cheese. Or things that are gooey. I also like things that are savoury and crispy. Fruit things are nice, too. So this soup didn't really fill the bill of blowing me away.

However, I know that it is GOOD FOR ME. Which means, if I eat it I am being a GOOD GIRL. Which means that later I can EAT PUDDING AND FEEL SMUG.

And yes, that is cheese. I make no excuses.

Roast Chicken

I was at Waitrose and was easily swayed by a gimmick, and that gimmick improved my quality of life. Their chickens - both the free-range and organic, have the roasting time printed directly next to the weight and time SPECIFIC TO THE SIZE OF THE CHICKEN. Amazeballs. So I took it home and did it - roasted it for one hour and fourteen minutes at 200C and it was PERFECT. Juices running clear and all that.

So dinner last night a free-range roast chicken with stuffing (done the old-fashioned way, stuffed right up there inside the chicken) and potatoes.

Here's the base for the stuffing - I had some sage left over from a recipe the week before, and half a loaf of wholemeal bread I baked a few days before. A day earlier I sliced the bread into cubes and dried it out in a low oven. I then forgot about it and left it in the turned-off oven for a day. Two days? I can't remember.

I put some butter and a few lardons in a frying pan. Then I added a shallot, an onion and one arm of celery, chopped. Some salt, too. A few chopped up mushrooms that I had left went in next. Then some fresh sage, chopped and some dried parsley. After a bit, a half a cup or so of chicken stock (made from an organic boullion cube - still cheap) to loosen up the tasty browned bits on the bottom of the pan.



Into a big bowl went the bread crumbs, the veg mixture and one egg. I mixed it all up, and then kept adding chicken stock until the bread was quite moist.



I sliced two small pats of butter and ground a bunch of pepper and salt in a bowl. The butter went between the skin and breast, and the salt and pepper all over the skin. Then SHOVE THE STUFFING ALL UP IN THAT BIRD. FO' REAL.



I put the chicken in a tray on top of some sliced onions, a couple of potatoes chopped in bits and a carrot. Into the oven it went.

THEN I SET THE TIMER FOR 1:14 AND WATCHED TV.

THEN I ATE MY FREAKIN' DELICIOUS CHICKEN. THE END.



note: was extremely tasty - think a big part of that was its free-range-ness. it looked different than a regular chicken, less implant-sized breasts, etc. makes a difference.

Past Food

I realised that my iPhone camera has half photos of my niece and nephew and engagement ring, and half of food. That I've made. So I decided to start writing about the food I make, because I like food and I like writing. I also have a little bit of time on my hands. So, might as well.
Here is a record of some past FoodiMade.