Sunday, March 15, 2009

Roasted Chicken & Sausages with Sage & Onion

roast chick and sausages
I got this recipe from Nigella Lawson's book Feast, and wanted to share it here as I love the flavours in this dish, yet it is very simple to make. (by the way, I highly recommend many of the other recipes in that book, too...) The mustard, lemon, Worcestershire sauce, sage and onion marinade blend really well together and adds a little more zest and flavour to plain roast chicken.

This dish is perfect to make when inviting family or friends over for Sunday brunch, as the oven does all the cooking, allowing you time to prepare some side dishes. Serve with mashed potatoes, pasta salads, tomato ketchup spaghetti and salads/vegetables.

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Roasted Chicken & Sausages with Sage & Onion
(from Nigella Lawson's book
Feast)
(Serves 6)
1 large onion (I prefer red onions, but brown onions are also fine)
125 ml olive oil
2 tsp English mustard
1 Tbsp dried sage
black pepper
1 lemon
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 kg chicken, jointed into 10 pieces (or else just buy a variety of chicken pieces, with their bones in)
12 sausages (thick English and Italian style sausages work well)
2 Tbsp chopped sage leaves (I don't usually have these on hand, and resort to the dried variety)
1. Peel and cut the onion into 8 pieces, and put it into a large freezer bag. Add the olive oil, mustard, dried sage, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Wash and cut the lemon into 8 wedges, then squeeze the lemon juice into the freezer bag, and add the squeezed husks as well.

2. Mix the marinade together, then add the chicken pieces, and mix everything together until well combined. Marinate in the fridge overnight, or up to 2 days (check the expiry date of your chicken). If you do not have time, you can also marinate the chicken for a couple of hours at room temperature (this is not recommended if you live in a very warm climate).

3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C and allow the chicken and sausages to come to room temperature. Arrange the chicken, skin-side up, together with the marinade (including the onion and lemon wedges) in a roasting tin. Place the sausages around the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with fresh sage. Roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes, turning the sausages over halfway to brown them evenly.

Tip: I find that I get a lot of liquid at the bottom of the pan, so after roasting, I scoop the meat and onions into a separate serving dish, leaving behind the lemon wedges and excess liquid.

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Friday, March 6, 2009

Owl Bento

owl bento
I've taken a long break from making kyaraben (character) bento. I've just not been all that inspired, I suppose. It's been a blob of pasta, or leftovers with rice for poor YH for a few months! As my parents are visiting us right now, I thought I'd make the effort and make a special bento for them, especially since my mum has been hinting about how she'd love to eat one. My mother loves owls, so I thought an owl bento would be appropriate. To be honest, it was not one of my best efforts. But it was easy to put together...

The owl is made out of rice, with carrots for eyes, and brown mushrooms for its beak, wings and feathers. Surrounding the owl is a forest of broccoli, fried green capsicum, beef soboro, tamagoyaki (rolled egg omelette), corn and a little tofu moon and tamagoyaki star. The colours were a little dull (I guess it's nighttime) but my mum was pleased with it, and I guess that's all that matters.