Butter Roasted Whole Chicken with Lemon and Thyme and a darn good cookery book!

I was surprised and quite pleased the other day to get a package in the post and find inside this lovely little cookery book. Chris (my Morphy Richard's friend) had sent me this as I had so enjoyed the slow cooker that I was sent last month. He thought I would enjoy using it along with my new Flavour Savour Slow Cooker.

He was right!! I could not wait to get stuck in! Today was my chance. I just happened to have a chicken and we were going to be in church all morning. We are always starving when we get home, so I like to use my slow cooker on Sundays. It's my slow cooking day of choice!

At Morphy Richards, they’re passionate about their products, and quite rightly so. I have always been more than happy with everything I have ever gotten of theirs, and I can assure you that I have had Morphy Richards products in my home since I first moved over here some 11 years ago now. This cookery book, The Ultimate Slow Cooker Cook Book (published by Ebury Press and written by Cara Hobday) is the perfect companion to their slow cookers and features over 100 delicious fuss-free recipes from family favourites, to dishes for a dinner party.

It's filled with tips and advice for using your slow cooker as well as several tasty chapters, including:

• Soups (Moroccan Chickpea Soup, Midweek Chunky Vegetable Soup etc.)
  
• Chicken, Duck and Fish (Jerk Chicken Casserole, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Salmon and Tararind Curry, Duck with Orange, Cranberry and Thyme, etc.)
  
• Pork and Lamb (Sausage, Red Onion and Bean Casserole, Lancashire Hot Pot, etc.)
  
• Beef and Game (Beef Provencal with Olives and Anchovies, Beef and Cashews with Coconut and Chilli, Venison Braised with Blueberry and Juniper, etc.)
  
• Vegetarian and Vegetable Dishes (White Bean and Tomato Cassoulet, Pine Nut Fennel and Parmesan Risotto, etc.)
  
• Desserts (Sticky Toffee Pudding, Baked Cherry Cheesecake, etc.)
  
• Preserves (Orange Marmalade, Spiced Tomato Chutney, etc.)

Today I cooked the Butter Basted Chicken with Lemon and Thyme. It went together very easily with little or no effort. That is important to me on Sunday mornings as I have about a bazillion other things to do.



When we got home we could smell it as soon as we opened the door. It smelled heavenly. Poor Mitzi, who loves chicken so much must have been tortured by the lovely smell while we were out!



In no time at all I had a delicious dinner on the table for Todd and myself and I can tell you it was truly lovely. The chicken was moist and had a wonderful flavour. The sauce was delicious and perfectly flavoured as well, with just a hint of lemon and butter and herbs. I would and will make this again. It has truly become a favourite recipe!



Please do check out the Morphy Richards Innovater Site where you can buy this lovely book for yourselves. They will also be bringing you extracts from this book throughout the winter months to tempt your palates! If you like what you read and you want a copy for yourself; the book can be purchased from the Morphy Richards website for a mere £5.99, and I for one think it is very good value for money!



Many thanks to Chris and to Morphy Richards for sending me this lovely cookbook. Next on my to make list for sure is the Cherry Cheesecake!



*Butter Based Whole Chicken with Lemon and Thyme*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Succulently moist and full of flavour. We really enjoyed this.

50g of butter (4 TBS)
the juice and zest of one unwaxed lemon
2 TBS thyme leaves
1 X 1.4kg chicken (free range, organic, about 3 pounds in weight)
150ml of chicken stock (about 2/3 cup)
3 TBS cornflour (cornstarch)
2 TBS chopped fresh parsley (optional)
salt and freshly groune black pepper
various cooked vegetables to serve (they suggest sugar snap peas, baby carrots, mangetout. I used
stuffing, roasted potatoes and baby carrots)

Mash together the butter, lemon juice and zest. (this works best if your butter is somewhat softened) Add salt and pepper to taste. Using your fingers, loosen the skin from the breast of the chicken, carefully so as not to tear. Push the butter mixture in between the skin and the breast of the chicken. Replace the skin and then massage the breast all over to spread it out.

Place the chicken into the slow cooker and pour the stock into the bottom. Cover and cook for 5 hours on the high setting, or 10 hours on low.

Remove the chicken from the cooker. Set aside and keep warm while you make the sauce.

To make the sauce, spoon off all of the excess fat from the cooking liquid. Whisk the remaining juices in a pan over medium heat, along with the cornstarch which you have mixed together with a bit of water. Whisk constantly until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes before serving.

Carve the chicken and place servings on heated plates along with some vegetables and spooning some of the sauce over top. Delicious!



Baking in The Cottage today, a delicious Mother's Coffee Cake with a Lemon Glaze!

Lazy Man's Beef Stew

(This is after the initial baking period of 4 hours as I was stirring in the
frozen peas and mushrooms.)

Again, here I am using up all the fresh veg etc. that I can from the fridge before I go on holidays. The Toddster is a meat and potatoes kind of a guy. As you know all I have to do to please him is throw some meat and potatoes on to a plate and he is quite happy . . . AS IF! I would never just throw some meat and potatoes on to a plate!!!


(The finished product.)

On his Birthday this week, I baked him a lovely cherry almond cake, AND a fruit cake AND I made him this lovely stew. He was one very happy camper. You just can't beat a good stew can you?



Fruitcake, cherry cake . . . meat and potatoes!
This is a very easy stew to make. All you do is throw everything into a casserole dish and bake it in the oven. No browning. No mess. No fuss. Easy peasy as can be!



I love it when things are easy and yet come out tasting gloriously delicious and as if you'd spent all day slaving over a hot stove, don't you? (Tis called Lazy Man's Beef Stew, coz who'd ever believe a woman would be lazy? tee hee!)



*Lazy Man's Beef Stew*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

An oldie but a goodie. Delicious, easy and quick to throw together. Beef and vegetables baked in a slow oven until the meat is meltingly tender and the accompanying sauce, rich and delicious.

2 pounds of stewing beef, trimmed of all fat and cut into cubes
4 large carrots, peeled, quartered and cut into pieces
1 tin of cream of tomato soup
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp savoury
freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
8 fluid ounces of red wine
2 leeks, trimmed, washed and thinly sliced
8 ounces of frozen peas (1 small package)
1 punnet of fresh mushrooms, sliced and browned in a bit of butter, or 1 tin of sliced mushrooms, drained
(about 1 cup)

Oven temperature 140*C/275*F/ gas mark 3.

Grease a large casserole dish. Put into the beef, carrots, tomato soup, leeks, potatoes, bay leaf, black pepper and 1/2 of the wine. Stir well together. Cover tightly and bake for 4 hours. Remove from the oven and stir. Add the frozen peas, mushrooms and remaining red wine and if necessary a little water. Cover tightly and cook for 1 hour longer.



There's some tasty Lunch Box Oatmeal Cookies baking over in the Cottage today!

Oven Braised Lamb Shanks

It is hard to believe that I had never really eaten lamb before I moved over here to the UK. It is a meat that I have come to love very much and I have to say that here in the UK we have beautiful lamb . . . some of the best in the world.



More often than not we have lamb chops, cutlets or steaks, and occasionally I will treat us to a shoulder or a leg. All are very, very good.



Last weekend I cooked some lamb shanks for the first time and I was very pleased with the results. They were tender and full of flavour and we both really enjoyed them!



The shank is cut from the shoulder area of the animal and is actually very lean, with very little fat marbling or cut into it. Lamb can be quite a fatty meat, so this was surprising. Because it is so lean, it truly lends itself perfectly to braising in a liquid.



A long slow braising in the oven may require more patience than frying a few chops in a pan or roasting a leg, but your patience will be more than rewarded with fork tender meat and a rich and tasty gravy.



Not to mention that, once it is covered and in the oven, it really requires no attention at all.

The resulting dish lends itself perfectly to being served with a delicious mound of buttery mashed potatoes . . . the absolute comfort meal!! It made my meat and potatoes loving husband a very, very happy camper indeed!



*Oven Baised Lamb Shanks*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Tender and juicy, with a delicious gravy. Perfect comfort food served with freshly mashed potatoes!

5 lamb shanks
olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and chopped
1 large stick of celery, trimmed and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 pound of carrots, peeled and cut into sticks
1/2 pound of parsnips, peeled and cut into sticks
a handful of fresh rosemary leaves
400ml of lamb stock ( 1 1/2 cups)
400ml of chopped tinned tomatoes (1 3/4 cup)
2 star anise
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 TBS red currant jelly

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the lamb shanks and brown them on all sides. Remove and place into a large roasting dish which has a lid, with the bones sticking up. Add the onions and celery to the drippings. Cook and stir over medium heat until they begin to soften. Add the garlic, carrots, parsnips and rosemary. Cook and stir for several minutes. Add the stock, tinned tomatoes, star anise, sea salt and black pepper to taste, and currant jelly. Heat through and then pour over the lamb shanks in the roaster.

Cover tightly with the lid and put into the oven. Roast for 3 hours, until the meat is very tender. Remove the lid and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes until the meat and bone begin to brown somewhat.

Serve immediately with a nice pile of mashed potatoes. Serve one shank per person on a plate with some of the vegetables and gravy spooned over top.