Off to a double header at the drive in tonight, Star Trek, followed by Wolverine. This lets me indulge in one of my favourite picnic style treats. It's a Jamie Oliver classic and I'll pull a variation out whenever I get the chance.
Chicken in Bread
One whole free range chicken
Lemon
Salt and pepper
Some type of woody herbs, thyme or rosemary
Plain flour
Olive oil
Garlic
In a bowl place the flour, chopped herbs, dash of oil, zest of one lemon and salt and pepper. Add water until you have a pizza dough consistency. You can pretty much put whatever seasonings you like in the dough. Roll out to about 2cm thick. Prick the lemon and place in the chook cavity. Wet the edges of the dough, then wrap the chook up in it so it's sealed. Bake for 2 hours or so depending on the size of the chook at 180 degrees.
This will stay hot for up to about four hours out of the oven. To eat, just tear off some of the bread crust and a bit of chook, add some salsa and sour cream and eat. It'll be the softest, most scented chook you'll ever eat. Crack it open in the middle of a picnic miles from the nearest oven for maximum credibility.
Mother Foccacia from the iPhone
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That is serious picnic food.
ReplyDeleteDammit that sounds fine. Cooking at present - crap really - and dealing with serious food envy!!
ReplyDeleteWow.
ReplyDeleteHow much flour would you suggest?
ReplyDeleteDunno mate, maybe 600-700g I use about double about what I'd use for pizza. It's just flour and water really so I'd go more than less first time round. The chook was awesome, Pity star trek wasn't up to the same.
ReplyDeleteHmm. I've stolen that same recipe from Mr Oliver. Love it to pieces... but since there's no leavening, the dough 'shell' is pretty frockin' hard. Jam-O recommends just putting it aside.
ReplyDeleteI find there's always someone at the table who wants to gnaw on it, but on the whole, it's too tough and flavourless for me. Makes me wonder what would happen if we actually tried it with a little yeast in the mix, eh? Get a proper bready, chewy crust instead of a hard shell...
PS: try peeling the lemon, chopping it coarsely, and mixing it with a bowl of chopped chorizo sausage and onion, then using THAT to stuff the chook. Seriously.
Hmmm, i tried a bit of yeast on the weekend but preferred that nice crusty shell. The steam from the inside keeps it doughy enough on the inside to make a great edible plate.
ReplyDeleteI tried this - worked well. I stuffed it with only meat. Fatty Bacon and lean beef mince. The stuffing was a little dry ( i added water and a little oil), so next time i will add onion and/or fattier mince. The shell worked a treat with a 1/2 teaspoon of yeast. I probably used a too little herbs in the bread, but I'll fix that next time. Thanks
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