cute carrots, chicken, cider

I have not been very disciplined with thinning out my carrot patch. The idea of of pulling half of them out felt a bit wasteful, albeit in order to give the others room to grow. I finally tackled it last weekend, the result being a nice wee bunch of baby carrots for the pot. They are so cute it seemed a bit of a shame to eat them. Some were so cute ie.tiny that we actually couldn't eat them.

The little carrots were added to our Sunday night dinner...chicken braised in cider with bacon and apples. Based on a Judith Cullen recipe this was pretty good. We soaked up the braising juice with the leftover sourdough but I think it woud be vey good with very crunchy little roasted potatoes.

chicken braised in cider with spring vegetables - for 2

4 chicken thighs, halved (boneless)

4 baby onions or shallots, halved with root intact

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 c cider

1 c chicken stock

1 bay leaf
2 rashers bacon

1 apple, peeled and wedged

1 c baby peas

1 handful baby carrots, blanched

Brown the seasoned chicken in a pan with some oil, then remove. Add the onions and garlic and cook to soften, allowing the onions to caramelise a little. I poured bit of cider over them each time they looked like they may burn and let it reduce down. Add the bacon and apples to the pan and continue cooking to caramelise the apples. Add the rest of the cider and the stock along with the bay leaf. Cover and simmer gently for twenty minutes. Add the peas and carrots and simmer another ten minutes until tender and they will have soaked up the flavoursome braising liquid.

a warm winter salad

I pulled out a recipe a few weeks ago from the Sunday paper for a nice looking chicken salad...chicken that has been marinated and roasted in apple syrup and wholegrain mustard tossed with sliced crisp red apple, toasted walnuts, crumbled aged cheddar and rocket leaves with an apple vinaigrette. This salad was a very easy and tasty dinner. It made a nice change from the heavier wintery comfort food-style dinners that are so appealing when the weather first starts to cool but the novelty of which tends to wear thin after a while!

Warm chicken salad with apple, walnuts and cheddar (for 2)

4 chicken thighs

2 tbsp apple syrup

2 tbsp grainy mustard

Marinade chicken in syrup and mustard overnight. Roast chicken at 180c for 20 minutes or until cooked.

While still warm gently tear into pieces and toss with handfuls of rocket, a sliced apple (make sure it is nice and crisp!) toasted walnuts and pumpkin seeds, and scatter with some crumbly aged cheddar. Make a vinaigrette with 1 tbsp each of apple syrup, cider vinegar and rice bran oil and gently toss through the salad ingredients.