Monday, 8 October 2007

Two Blackberry Puddings & Roast Chicken with Potato & Mushroom Gratin


Here is the next batch of recipes from The Project, cooking from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson.
17. Brandied-Bacony Chicken
I should first say sorry for the picture! I forgot to take a pic of the bronzed chicken out of the oven, and only remembered afterwards, still there is enough to see the burnished colour. This was some bacon fried to crispy, the bacon stuffed into the chicken and some brandy added into the bacon fat and juices in the pan, then tipped over the bird before roasting. It was good, but any roast chicken is good, it wasn’t extra special to me though as the bacon and brandy taste didn’t come through when all was cooked.

18. Potato and Mushroom Gratin
This is the suggested accompaniment to the above chicken, sliced potatoes and mushrooms baked with milk, wine and garlic. We liked this, and the garlic-y mushrooms were a good addition, I wondered if it would have worked with cream instead of the milk, maybe single so it isn’t too rich. Ill try that next time. In the words of one of my online friends though, ‘it isn’t pretty!’.


19. Blackberries in Muscat Jelly
This is a spin by Nigella on her raspberries in chardonay jelly, and a very nice spin it is too. The blackberries and the muscat pair together so well. This would be a great special dinner pudding, I would class it as special because the muscat isn’t cheap and you need two small bottles for six jellies. Still I’ll make this next Autumn again =)


20. Blackberry Crisp
Oh how we loved this! One of the real stars so far from the book. Juicy sweet vanilla sugared blackberries with a seedy-oaty-almondy topping, which was speedily made by melting butter and stirring into the dry ingredients including oats, almonds, sunflower seeds and cinnamon (plus flour and sugar). If you have access to a blackberry (or bramble as we would call them in Scotland) bush do try this one, I had to buy mine so it was quite an outlay, but still it’s a real treat. I’m going to give it a go with blueberries and see how that works out too.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everything looks just beautiful, Kelly-Jane. Well done!

Anh said...

Kelly-Jane, I am drooling at everything now! Great job!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Once again, lovely recipes! Actually it's the chicken that sounds most wonderful to me, but then again, two puddings....hmmmm....

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

It all looks and sounds delicious! I have to say I'm loving your posts a lot more than the series.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

I am drooling at this feast. It all looks so good!

KJ said...

Oh it all looks delish. I am especially taken with the blackberry crisp. It looks absolutely delicious.

Lis said...

Everything looks wonderful, Kelly-Jane! hehe I'm so loving this Nigella thing you are doing!

xoxo

Susan said...

Kelly-Jane, you can never go wrong topping fruit with crunchy-rich crisp topping. I don't often see blackberries in my markets, especially not local ones. I have, however, had this with blueberries. I guarantee you with love it with them, too.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

A delicious menu Kelly-Jane!!!All of my favourite things. Chcicken, musrooms, potatoes and blackberries (which don't grow here..to dry...pity)

Belinda said...

Kelly-Jane...everything you have posted from this cookbook experiment has been delicious looking! I wonder how many sales of this book could be attributed your your gorgeous blog posts?! :-) This whole meal is just perfection!

Gemma said...

I definitely want to try the gratin, it sounds delicious as does the crumble.

Anonymous said...

ooo..everything looks so good around here :)

Shaun said...

Kelly-Jane - I love the sound of the chicken and will try it myself. I will do my utmost to have those bacon and brandy combinations pervade the chicken because it seems a waste of two good products for them not to shine.

Ah, crisps! I love how simple they are, and how they make the best of any fruit. I use lackluster fruit or fruit from early in their season in crisps to get their juices going.

I love your sidebar showing which books you've cooked from and what how many recipes from each book you have tried. I'm glad I'm not the only one who loves Diana Henry's magnificent Crazy Water Pickled Lemons.

Anna's kitchen table said...

I'm looking forward to trying the blackberry crisp KJ, I'm thinking of adding pears too....
xx

Anonymous said...

Looks wonderful! Nigella is certainly showcased in your kitchen.

Maggie said...

Still love coming to have a look at your Nigella reviews. Keep them coming. They all look delicious.

Truffle said...

Oh what wonderful creations. They all sound so delicious!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

All things potato, I'd have to try this first! Would it be rude to then just skip to the blackberry crisp? I fear that would be my plan! What a lovely menu.

Kirsten said...

All lovely!! I have yet to try a Nigella recipe, but your experiences are winning me over. :)

Cynthia said...

I know that I've mentioned this before... and I have to say it again, I do enjoy this series that you're doing.

Kelly-Jane said...

Karen and Anh, thank you!

Lydia, it a hard choice =)

Amanda, praise indeed =)

Meeta, KJ and Lis, thank you!

Susan, that's good to know, I'm definitely going to give blueberries a go.

Valli, Belinda, Gemma and Maryann, thank you!

Shaun, I did think it was a bit of a waste of the brandy, slthough it did give a great bronzed finish colour wise!

Anna, great idea with the pears!

Lynn, Margaret and Truffle, thank you!

Tanna, got to leave room for dessert =)

Kirsten and Cynthia, thank you!

KJxx

Kajal@aapplemint said...

i think Nigella shud start paying you something for all the free publicity ! or just link on to your blog..." if you want more about my recipes pls go to ...Cooking the Books !! No one can do it better " :P

Anonymous said...

Magnific!

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.