Looking back

Since working in a proper kitchen,I have become like all other chefs i know, and rarely cook at home. There is not enough time off to gather ingredients, use ingredients effeciently, and literally have time to cook things.
On double shift days I rarely eat, and there's usually at least 3 of those a week.
"That's catering."

I look back through my blog and see so many things I've made, so much energy and enthusiasm. That energy is moving out of home cooking and into professional kitchens. Its a big shift. And I miss the variety, creativity and freedom of home cooking. It is such a joy to create.

Roast chicken with garlic, parsley yoghurt and toasted almonds

Woke up this morning and wanted yoghurt. Fresh, soothing. Realised that combined with some herbs and roast chicken would be great.
Found chicken, roasted it very simply with oil, seasoning, lemon. Made yoghurt with chopped parsley and garlic. Toasted almonds. Grabbed some salad leaves and voila.
wSuperb summer dish. Fresh, light, satisfying. Must be generously seasoned with crunchy salt.

Ciabatta

This is a bread I've been wanting to try for a long time but hadn't had time to schedule in making the ferment (or 'biga') before making the bread, and I wanted to do it using bricks in the oven, to give good lift on such a wet dough.

But I had a couple of days where this was going to  be possible, and so set off for homebase and bagged some paving bricks (flat on top) for 79p each, and then lined the oven floor with them.

Unfortunately they were millimetres out from being able to cover the oven floor - which then led to some interesting mis-shapings as I tried to get the bread in to a small area. And some bread slightly fell over the edges of the bricks, giving some interesting 'hooks' :)
So comedy ciabatta. Which tasted great :)

Vanilla ice-cream, Tarte tatin

Vanilla ice-cream was made using the Roux Brother's Patisserie book - I thought it was slightly sweet before icing it down, but afterwards, it was very good. Although I still think I'd take a bit of the sugar out.
Tarte tatin was good - tho' not great. I need to make my puff pastry thinner and lighter - I didn't judge it well enough.
It was meant to go with the blood orange prosecco, roast chicken, hoummus and pitta breads yesterday - but I was ordered not to cook any more. The guests were happy - and we tucked into lemon drizzle cake with tea instead ;)

Hoummus, Pitta, Roast Chicken, Green Salad

After the Blood Orange Prosecco aperitif - for dinner with our guest we had homemade hoummus, pitta bread, and roast chicken - with a green salad. It was lovely. Homely, tasty, moreish - an easy informal meal which was just what we felt like eating.

Blood orange prosecco

 The shop round the corner had blood oranges. Having had blood orange processo at River Cafe some weeks ago - I immediately wanted to copy.
And with a guest for dinner, perfect.
I juiced 8 oranges for 1 bottle of prosecco - and it was absolutely delicious.
The taste of blood oranges is hard to describe - its less acidic than normal oranges and feels more fragrant as a result.

Pitta breads

I didn't really know what made pitta breads, pitta breads - not rolls. So I found a recipe in Madhur Jaffrey. And to be fair, they were quite bread-y - but cooking them on a hot skillet in the oven gives them so much lift - they hollow out more than rolls.
The dough is pretty normal - usual hydration, yeast, salt - with some olive oil added.
I loved cooking these on the skillet - they puffed up within seconds and were only cooked for a couple of minutes each :) then they were grilled to give them colour. They were soft and the definition of 'pillowy' :) Great fun.