Feeding your freezer

Well, after yesterday's post I thought it might be a good idea to give you some follow-up on how to add all those lovely things to mince in order to make some yummy meals. I'm a great believer in saving myself time and effort so I will make up batches of food and freeze them in advance, in portion-sized containers and have them as ready-meals that I can defrost any old time that I can't be bothered.

Weekdays we tend to have something from this list on at least a couple of nights a week so that we can take it out of the freezer in the morning, stick it in the oven at night and, 30 minutes later, there's dinner!  So bear in mind that these instructions are for a household with two people who are trying to eat healthily. If one of you is a roadmender or hod carrier or any other kind of heavy work you might need to increase your portions a bit. Use your imagination and a bit of common sense.
Anyhow. You will need a bit of time (no more than an hour though) and the following ingredients. This will make three different meals for two people.
 
Three freezer-proof food containers. (If you want to microwave them you'll need plastic ones but I find that metallic ones like you get from a Chinese takeaway are perfect. They sell them in supermarkets.)
Three medium sized saucepans
A cooker with at least three rings on it
Three wooden spoons (or any other kind of large stirring implement)
500g turkey mince
2 tins of tomatoes
At least 6 onions
Tomato puree
Garlic
A couple of carrots
Half a dozen sliced mushrooms
A tin of red kidney beans or any other kind of ready-cooked pulses
A red chilli
Worcester Sauce
Salt and pepper
Basil and oregano
Thyme and sage
A bit of cooking oil
Some water or if you really want to be posh - chicken stock

The first bit is called "mise en place" by fancy chefs. It's French for put in place.  It means that if you do all your preparation first it saves a lot of time and hassle later. Some people like to have dishes for each ingredient but you'll find you can get away with keeping most of them on the chopping board if you're a tidy worker.  (I'm not - I use lots of dishes!)

Start by peeling your onions and chopping four of them up fairly finely. The other two can be chunky.
Peel and dice your carrot (cut it into small chunks, or cross-wise slices, doesn't really matter)
Peel six cloves of garlic (for those of you who don't cook regularly a clove of garlic is one of the bits that go to make up the "head of garlic" that you buy in the shops. I really did know someone who thought they needed three heads of garlic in a recipe. It was awful!) and chop them finely or splat them under a wide bladed knife.
Chop up the chilli.

Now put three pans on the stove with about two teaspoons of oil in each one. Put a low heat under each one. I'm going to call them Pan One, Pan Two and Pan Three. Novel, huh? Pan One is going to turn into bolognese sauce. Pan Two will be chilli and Pan Three will be the base for a cottage pie. (or just good old savoury mince!)

Put half of the finely chopped onions in Pan One, half in Pan Two and the chunky bits in Pan Three.  Add two splatted garlic cloves to each one. Add the chopped chilli to Pan Two and the diced carrot and sliced mushrooms to Pan Three.  Give each one a stir and listen for the sizzle. If they aren't sounding like they're hissing gently at you, turn the heat up a bit.

Now add basil and oregano to Pan One and thyme and sage to Pan Three. How much is a matter of taste really. For your first go just imagine that you're sprinkling salt on some chips. Give them another stir. 
The onions will start to look slightly translucent as they cook. Try not to let them brown. If they start to turn brown at the edges take the pans off the heat and let them cool down a bit. Turn down the gas/electricity.
Once they start to look a bit like they're blending together divide the mince into three and put a section into each pan. This is about the only busy bit. Give them all a good stir to break up the "strings" of mince.  Keep stirring until it starts to look like the mince is mixing in.  You don't have to stir all three at once (You've only got two hands). One at once, in turn, will be fine. When the mince has gone grey, rather than pink, you can stop stirring.

Add a tin of tomatoes to Pan One. Add a tin of tomatoes to Pan Two. Give Pan Three a good squidge of tomato puree.  Now add a good dash of Worcester Sauce to Pan Three.  They might all look slightly dry at this stage, depending on how juicy the tinned tomatoes were. If they do, give them some water (or stock) - just enough to cover the meat.

Now adjust the heat until they all start to bubble gently. Put lids on them and walk away for 10 minutes.  Come back and give them another stir . Check they're still bubbling nicely and they aren't drying out, then put the lids back and leave them for another 10 minutes.

When you come back, how do they look?  Do they look like food? Taste them. Add salt and pepper if necessary. If the chilli's a bit bland add some chilli powder. When you're happy with them turn off the heat. Stir the tin of kidney beans into Pan Two and leave them all to cool down.

When they're cooled lower than body temperature you can put them into the freezer containers, label them and stash them away for later.  If you like, you can layer the bolognese between sheets of lasagne. End with mince or it'll be very dry!  Make some mashed potatoes and cover the top of the cottage pie, or it's quite tasty if you sprinkle grated cheese on it too.

Happy eating!

How to make the most of a chicken

TV seems to be full of advice at the moment on how to avoid wasting food but there never seems to be a FULL story about anything. The other night I saw something about using up leftover chicken. But if you follow the Auntie Anne way you won't have any leftovers in the first place - because you'll have a plan for everything you've cooked - including the bones!

How to make the most of a chicken

Let's start with a little discussion on the type of chicken you buy. Do you think you save money by getting a cheap, battery-bred one? Well you don't. Quite apart from how cruel battery pens are to chickens, they create tasteless, spongy meat. So BUY FREE RANGE! You WILL be able to tell the difference and you will get more out of it in the long run.

So let's start cooking....

First roast your chicken. You might think you know how to do that but - a little care at this stage will pay dividends later. Unwrap the bird and take off any string or bands that are holding it trussed up. Pull on its legs and wings a bit to spread it out. That way the heat can get round it and it'll cook more evenly.

Make sure you roast your bird on a trivet. (That's a metal rack that holds the meat away from the pan bottom.) Place it on the trivet and have a look at the body cavity at the parson's noe end. Just inside the skin flaps you'll find pads of fat. Pull these out and place them on the top of the bird. (Actually it's lying on its back so the "top" is really the bottom - but you know what I mean) The fat will melt during cooking and baste the meat automatically.

Now - for a bit of added flavour, place any or all of the following into the body cavity through the hole where you found the fat: garlic cloves, a whole lemon that's been stabbed with a fork a few times, some fresh herbs, some onion wedges. Put your chicken into a pre-heated oven at about 190 - 200 C. Roast it till it's done. It'll look golden brown and will smell gorgeous. If you are in any doubt, stab it on the inside of its thigh to make sure the juices run clear. If there's any blood, put the bird back in the oven for 10 minutes then try again.

Once it's done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for a while on the trivet. Don't let it go cold or it'll be VERY difficult to portion out.

Dividing it up
You will need:
Your cooked chicken
A large pan that has a lid
A small bowl (cereal bowl or that kind of size)
A larger bowl or plate
A small, sharp knife

Cut the skin along the breast bone. Cut the skin around each of the thighs. Continue the cuts right around the leg and on towards the parson's nose.

Use the back of the knife to ease one of the breasts away from the breastbone and the ribs. Keep easing it until you reach the wishbone. If you cut carefully around the wishbone you should be able to pull it out whole. If there's any meat still attached, remove it and put the meat into the small bowl. Make your wish with the bone - then put it into the pan.  Ease both of the breasts away from the carcass and put them onto the larger bowl/plate, keeping the skin in place.

Take hold of one of the drumsticks and bend the "extra" bit of the leg backwards until it breaks away from the main bird. Put the spare piece in the pan. Repeat with the other leg. Now - take hold of the thigh in one hand and the main carcass in the other hand and twist the leg backwards. It will come away in one piece, breaking away at the hip joint. Repeat on the other side. Put the leg portions on the plate with the breasts.

Now pull off the wings and take as much meat as possible off them. Put the meat into the small bowl and all the bones, skin and sinewy bits into the pan.
Strip any obvious bits of meat off the top of the carcass and add them to the small bowl.

By now your chicken is looking pretty badly battered!

Turn it over to find some of the best bits of meat on a chicken. Strip off the skin and add it to the pan. Identify two long bones that are the equivalent of shoulder blades. Underneath those two bones are pieces of juicy meat. Strip off the meat and add it to the small bowl. Put the bones in the pan. At the end of those two bones you'll find two small, round bits of meat (sort of like chicken nuggets) that are called the oysters. Remove them and add them to the small bowl.

You will also find meat along each side of the chicken's backbone at the neck end and by the parson's nose. Add all of that to the small bowl, which by now should have a reasonable amount of chicken in it.

Chicken stock (you might need to read the bit before this as well)
Take a last look over the carcass and make sure you haven't missed any obvious bits of meat. If you're happy with your gathering, put the rest of the carcass, including any of the additions like garlic, onion, lemon etc from the inside, into the pan.

Now boil a kettle. Pour some boiling water into the roasting pan and stir round to pick up the cooking juices from the bottom. Add the water and juices to the pan with the bones. Add as many as posible of the following to the bones pan: chopped onion, garlic, whole black peppercorns, herbs, a chopped carrot, a chopped stick of celery, slosh of white wine. Top up with water and put the lid on. Bring it to the boil then turn down to a simmer. Leave it simmering, with teh lid on, for about an hour. Keep an eye on it to make sure it isn't drying up. Add water if you think it needs it. Drain the stock into a large jug and throw out the boiled bones.

Now what are you going to do with the bits?

Breast portions.
Treat these exactly like you would roast chicken.

1. Cold with mayonnaise and a salad.
2. Roast some vegetables by cutting a selection of the following into large chunks: carrots, onions, mushrooms, garlic cloves, tomatoes (score the tops), parsnips, swede, par-boiled potatoes, cauliflower florets, turnips, anything you like. Put them in a roasting tim and sprinkle with cooking oil. Add salt and pepper and put in a few fresh herbs. Roast at about 200C for 45-50 minutes. Put the chicken breasts on top (with the skin on) for the last 10 minutes to warm them through.
3. Serve with pasta and a cream sauce.
4. Slice thickly and make a yummy sandwich.

Leg portions.
You can use these in similar ways to the beast portions but I like them barbecued. Make a sauce by mixing some or all of the following: mustard, tomato puree, ground garlic, honey or brown sugar, brown sauce or Worcester sauce, white wine vinegar, olive oil. Smear it over the chicken and bake the portions for about 25 mins at 200 C until they're thoroughly warmed. Serve with chips and a vegetable.

The bits.
The world's your oyster with these.

1. Make sandwiches.
2. Mix with cooked bacon and button mushrooms, Cover in a white sauce and add a pastry lid - instant chicken and ham pie.
3. Add to stir fried vegetables and serve over noodles.
4. Cook some long grain rice. Fry an onion and garlic and add the cooked rice, chicken pieces and leftover cooked vegetables to make a risotto.  (If you add seafood it's a paella)
5. Mix with mayo, curry powder, chopped spring onions (scallions) and a spoon of mango chutney to make coronation chicken. Serve in sandwiches or over baked potatoes.
6. Chop finely and mix into cooked rice with herbs. Bind with a beaten egg and shallow-fry spoonfuls of the mixture as rissoles. Serve with salad.