Yesterday was another one of those frosty days, I just love them,
We had roast chicken on the menu
For us that means a Cockerel is chosen and Martin does the deed.
We have too many cockerels and when they start fighting its time to start dispatching,
This one was a bantam and weighed in at 3lb dressed weight.
While Martin was cleaning up the Cockerel I was once again in the kitchen.
Chilies did well for us this last growing season, we had tons of them, I have some hanging up drying in the kitchen I also have a big bag in the freezer of mixed ripe chilies.
Another batch of sweet chili sauce was called for we were down to one bottle in the fridge.
I did triple the amount the recipe called for.
In the background is a loaf of bread cooling that got made up at the same time.
It was roast chicken for dinner, Martin cooked it using the Jamie Oliver method over a can of beer, it was lovely and moist, some parsnips out of the garden were roasted to go along with it.
The carcass was pick off and a pot of stock was on the go, including a carcass in the freezer of a previous chicken.
We keep carcasses and bones in the freezer for making up stock in big batches.
The meat that is left over
will be used to make a risotto for tonight's dinner.
Yesterday I had a delivery arrive
Dried Elderberries
Dried Rose hips.
There is only one elderberry tree here and it is a young one, last year it produced some flowers, but we need more, something I need to address. Rose hips again I have only seen a few, so again I need to look into planting some.
I will show you tomorrow what I have been doing with the Elderberries.
That chilli sauce looks good. Have you posted the recipe somewhere?
ReplyDeletethis is the recipe link http://shesimmers.com/2009/02/how-to-make-thai-sweet-chili-dipping.html I am sure I posted it before somewhere :-)
Deletethe chili sauce does look divine! as does your stock! i freeze all leftover carcasses and bones for bone broth and save scraps of veg and/or veg about to go off for making veg broth. i find that even just sipping some plain broth every day in the winter makes for keeping you warm and healthy. i can't wait to see what will do with the elderberries - but i have a few guesses!!!
ReplyDeletesending love to you and Martin! your friend,
kymber
Nothing beats home made broth, all that goodness that is in the carcasses and bones.
DeleteChillis are on this years list since you mentioned sweet chilli sauce to me previously. I love it and so does my daughter. Hope the cockerel was tasty. I had no idea you could buy dried rosehips! Fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI am now using surplus chilis that were frozen for sauce.
DeleteI must try the sweet chili sauce recipe out. I adore the stuff.....although it doesn't like me much.
ReplyDeleteIntrigued to know what you will be doing with the elderberries and rosehips-x-
perhaps a home made one might be more agreeable with you
DeleteIndeed. That sweet chilli sauce looks yummy! I would love to make some of that, even they boys like that so that's good. Yum cockerel, too. Are you making rosehip syrup?
ReplyDeleteIts so easy to make, I am using frozen chilies now
DeleteThere is one elder tree in the village and it is very old and spindly, I did not know that you could buy dried berries. Rose hips are in abundance along the old railway track along with blackberries.
ReplyDeleteI never knew you could buy them dried, learn something all the time.
DeleteI love growing sweet chilies and sweet peppers, both are so useful.
ReplyDeleteMore peppers are on the list for this years growing
DeleteI really do admire your devotion to duty Dawn. I have spent a lazy day eating out and you make me feel ashamed.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with lazy days we all deserve them
DeleteHummmm....dried elderberries and dried rose hips...whatever can you be up to? x
ReplyDeleteAll has been revealed
DeleteI love sweet chilli sauce especially on a poached egg. I must have a go at making it this year.
ReplyDeleteMartin likes it on eggs too
DeleteWe're counting down till the day we dispatch roast and tandoori, our two cockerels. We just can't keep them here in the burbs...I hear roast every day, crowing from 6am. We plan to cull 2 weeks from now....
ReplyDeleteLove the look of your dipping sauce Dawn! So bright and cheery for winter! I've just made a chilli and garlic oil here from produce I grew myself!
you will have to share the chili and garlic oil recipe
DeleteIt's super easy, I chop chillies, sometimes deseed, and chop garlic to fill a jar of your choice with a few cm gap over the top. Cover with oil you prefer ( I used olive as we can't eat canola or rapeseed oils here, tummy issues! ) and let sit in a cupboard for 2 mths, then use. It's lovely used as a base cooking oil, stirred through pasta or soup at the end, stirred through rice, raw as an accompaniment to meals, on toast under things like sardines, or cooked into a stir fry at the end :) the two month maturing is worth the wait!
DeleteWas just going to ask for the chilli recipe but Gill beat me to it. Looking forward to hearing about what you're doing with the elderberries, something I want to grow a lot of here
ReplyDeleteThere is a page now with recipes
Delete