That's what I'm thinking Sez! Now that I'm in the process of morphing into this domestic goddess who actually cooks!! I want to get as much use out of it as possible!
Chop a couple of onions, carrots, celery sticks, a chopped red chilli and a leek and fry in the casserole dish with a healthy glug of olive oil - season with sea salt.
Once they have sweated down, add some fresh thyme, a couple of chopped chorizo sausages, a good pinch of saffron and an entire shoulder of lamb (with the bone still in it) on top of the veggies.
Add a few bay leafs, 6 whole cloves of garlic. a couple of tablespoons of tomato puree and a couple of cans of chopped tomato.
finally pour in some red wine (or a good stock) until the lamb is covered and bring the whole thing up to a simmer.
Cut out a piece of grease-proof paper to the same size as the pan, and lay it on top of the mixture - this will stop anything burning, or a skin forming.
Put the lid on and place in the oven @ 160 for a good 4-5 hours.
About 30 minutes before it's finished, pull it out - remove the paper and add a couple of cans of cannellini beans and stir them in as best you can, then replace the lid and put it back in the oven.
When you are ready to serve - pull the lamb out and pull the shoulder blade out of it - you can carve it into neat pieces, or just push it apart with a spoon. The beans will make the sauce substantial enough that you won't need rice or potato to accompany it.
Something more complex, but utterly delicious - Chicken Fricassee with vinegar and tarragon. This is a classic french recipe, light and full of flavour.
Cut a 1.5 kg chicken into 10 pieces with the skin still on- (or ask your butcher to do it for you)
- 2 breasts (cut into two)
- 2 thighs
- 2 drumsticks
- 2 wings (tips removed)
Keep the leftover bones and chop them up into manageable chunks.
First we need to make a stock - it is really worth doing this for this recipe, a commercial stock really won't work - you should make the stock in advance.
Take a large saucepan and sear and colour the chicken bones in oil and butter over a high heat until they have a good colour - you are looking for almost burnt colour at this stage, this will get maximum flavour out of them.
Add a 1/2 a small onion (finely chopped) and a crushed clove of garlic, and sweat for 2-3 minutes - keep the garlic moving around to stop it burning and becoming bitter.
Add 120ml of white wine and boil until it has reduced by 1/3
Add 4 chopped tomatoes and a teaspoon of tomato puree, a sprig of thyme and 2 sprigs of tarragon - then cover with water.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes, then remove from the heat.
Discard the chicken bones and pass the rest of the liquid and veggies through a fine sieve, mashing it down with a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.
You should have around 200ml of well flavoured stock at this point, if you have a little more then return it to a clean pan and simmer until it is sufficiently reduced.
Cool and then refridgerate until you are ready to use it.
Stage 2 - Now you get to use the casserole dish!
Heat a little butter and oil in the bottom of the casserole dish and sear the chicken pieces skin side down, turning them over after two minutes once they have started to colour. Season with salt and pepper, cover and place in the oven @ 200 for 25 minutes, leave the lid slightly ajar.
Remove from the oven and turn it down to 160
Place the casserole back on the stove and spoon out as much fat as you can - then add 50ml of good white wine vinegar and bring to the boil until it has totally evaporated - turn the chicken pieces in the boiling vinegar until they are nice coloured.
Put the chicken pieces on a serving dish and place them in the oven to keep warm.
To finish the sauce....add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard to the casserole and gradually whisk in the 200ml of stock, making sure that you scrape the caramelised bits off the bottom of the pot. Now add a tablespoon of whipping cream and 40g of cold, diced butter and whisk well to incorporate - finally add a tablespoon of finely chopped tarragon and another of chopped chives.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste and pour over the chicken pieces in the serving dish.
This is a bit of work....but it is one of the spectacular flavours that you ever experience!
Yep - exactly right Deirdre! It can go right from stovetop to oven. Maybe Janie does a baked risotto - or else just a normal one on the stovetop using the french oven and not actually using the oven!
I do my risottos baked often in a huge cast iron pot.
I/2 onion (my preference, you could use a whole onion) chopped
2 cloves garlic (i just smash it, no chopping or mincing)
1 can tinned roma tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups arborio rice
I add veges to suit me, but you could use mushies, capsicum, sun dried tomatos and a handful of olives for a noice treat.
Last edited by christy; August 11th, 2008 at 07:45 AM.
I made one last night using onion, fennel, roasted pumpkin and fried chicken breast that was just amazing - I'm not a fan of baked risotto - the stirring releases the starch from the rice to get that really nice creamy texture to the risotto.
If it's baked in the oven it just doesn't feel quite right IYKYIM?
LOL I totally get you Bear, just that sometimes I'm too lazy or busy to stir.... but even when I bake I take it out & stir it a few times to get that starch flowing
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