Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Chicken with thyme, rosemary and pinenuts
1.5-2kg organic Chicken
olive oil
salt and pepper
300g Basmati rice
750ml chicken stock
pinch of saffron
80g pine nuts lightly toasted
60g Raisins soaked in boiling water for about 10 mins
4 sprigs of thyme leaves stripped and chopped
4 sprigs of Rosemary stripped and chopped
Place chicken in Roasting tin and rub over with Olivc oil and season well with salt and pepper. Roast in the roasting oven for about 1 hour or until the bird is cooked and has a crispy skin.
Meanwhile, cook the rice in the stock and the saffron, bring to the boil on the boiling plate, then transfer the pan with a lid on to the simmer oven for about 20 minutes.
When the chicken is ready remove from the roasting tin, reserving the tin and juices for the rice. Chop up the chicken and the crispy skin. Re heat the roasting tin on the simmering plate, add the herbs, rice and the drained raisins, pine nuts and toss in the juices.
Transfer to a serving platter and lay the chicken on the top.
Tatty Happell produced this dish at our recent demonstration and it received good comments.
I have since made this dish but substituted currants for raisins as my children do not like raisins.
olive oil
salt and pepper
300g Basmati rice
750ml chicken stock
pinch of saffron
80g pine nuts lightly toasted
60g Raisins soaked in boiling water for about 10 mins
4 sprigs of thyme leaves stripped and chopped
4 sprigs of Rosemary stripped and chopped
Place chicken in Roasting tin and rub over with Olivc oil and season well with salt and pepper. Roast in the roasting oven for about 1 hour or until the bird is cooked and has a crispy skin.
Meanwhile, cook the rice in the stock and the saffron, bring to the boil on the boiling plate, then transfer the pan with a lid on to the simmer oven for about 20 minutes.
When the chicken is ready remove from the roasting tin, reserving the tin and juices for the rice. Chop up the chicken and the crispy skin. Re heat the roasting tin on the simmering plate, add the herbs, rice and the drained raisins, pine nuts and toss in the juices.
Transfer to a serving platter and lay the chicken on the top.
Tatty Happell produced this dish at our recent demonstration and it received good comments.
I have since made this dish but substituted currants for raisins as my children do not like raisins.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Aga demonstration
Well our first Aga demonstration has been and gone. Tatty Happell put on a great show and really inspired me to have a go at a few more different dishes at work.
One of the big things she showed was how easy it really is to cook on an Aga and how forgiving it can be, ie you have prepared your tea buts its intended recipients have not fronted up yet, easy fixed, just put it in the lowest temperature oven and it will hold and not spoil for a good while. Tatty demonstrated how easy it was to cook from fish, to chicken, to deserts, all with the minimum of fuss.
One of my favourites was a simple chicken and rice dish that i am in the process of cooking at the moment - an easy tea for tonight.
I will post the recipe tomorrow and hopefully a pic or two from the demonstration.
One of the big things she showed was how easy it really is to cook on an Aga and how forgiving it can be, ie you have prepared your tea buts its intended recipients have not fronted up yet, easy fixed, just put it in the lowest temperature oven and it will hold and not spoil for a good while. Tatty demonstrated how easy it was to cook from fish, to chicken, to deserts, all with the minimum of fuss.
One of my favourites was a simple chicken and rice dish that i am in the process of cooking at the moment - an easy tea for tonight.
I will post the recipe tomorrow and hopefully a pic or two from the demonstration.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Aga cooking demonstration
Windrow Homebase will be conducting a Aga cooking demonstration on the weekend of 18/19 July featuring Tatty Happell and Peter Randall from the Aga Shop Melbourne.
If you are interested in attending please contact helene@windrowtas.com.au.
The idea of this demonstration is to show what the Aga is capable of and how easy it is to use.
If you are contemplating becoming an Aga/Rayburn owner this demonstration would be well worth while.
If you are interested in attending please contact helene@windrowtas.com.au.
The idea of this demonstration is to show what the Aga is capable of and how easy it is to use.
If you are contemplating becoming an Aga/Rayburn owner this demonstration would be well worth while.
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Devils Feather
One of my great loves is reading, particularly mystery books. It amazes me how many times the Aga gets a mention in books and films. You do not see many other brand get used in the same way.
I have just finished reading Minette Walters - The Devils Feather, a story in which the Aga has a relatively important role. As a lover of Minette Walters books I was amused that the Aga, with its quirks, was used in the way it was. This book is well worth the read, the twist in the finish wonderful.
I have just finished reading Minette Walters - The Devils Feather, a story in which the Aga has a relatively important role. As a lover of Minette Walters books I was amused that the Aga, with its quirks, was used in the way it was. This book is well worth the read, the twist in the finish wonderful.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Bread
The last couple of days have seen me trying to understand the Aga a bit more. Being limited to using the Aga at work my expirements are designed to be portable, ie I can take them home at the end of the day and do not require to much preparation at work. Fresh baked bread is what I am presently trying to perfect.
We have an old bread maker at work which I use to make the dough as this makes it quick and easy. Instead of cooking the bread in the bread maker I have been putting the dough in a lovely Aga bread tin and cooking it in the Aga. My aim is to get the Aga logo embossed on the side of the bread exactly as shown on the bread tin. Finding the correct baking time was a bit of an expirement but 25 minutes in the roasting oven with the rack on the base of the oven has produced some lovely bread. The other simple trick I found whilst looking through Aga cook books and web sites was to sprinkle a little bit of water on top of the dough before baking as this gives a nice crust.
Time to go and get the latest loaf out of the oven.
The down side of all this is that work now has the lovely smell of fresh bread throughout the building.
Fresh warm bread with lots of butter, what could be better.
We have an old bread maker at work which I use to make the dough as this makes it quick and easy. Instead of cooking the bread in the bread maker I have been putting the dough in a lovely Aga bread tin and cooking it in the Aga. My aim is to get the Aga logo embossed on the side of the bread exactly as shown on the bread tin. Finding the correct baking time was a bit of an expirement but 25 minutes in the roasting oven with the rack on the base of the oven has produced some lovely bread. The other simple trick I found whilst looking through Aga cook books and web sites was to sprinkle a little bit of water on top of the dough before baking as this gives a nice crust.
Time to go and get the latest loaf out of the oven.
The down side of all this is that work now has the lovely smell of fresh bread throughout the building.
Fresh warm bread with lots of butter, what could be better.
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