Summer appears to be racing by at a dizzying pace, wildly spinning the wheel of weather as she goes. From sultry heatwaves to spectacular storms, August has given us plenty of gloriously sunny days too. It’s 
always a busy month for us, celebrating birthdays in the first few days & our anniversary later in the month (there’s much cake to be baked & eaten!). Breakfasts, lazy lunches, pasta & Prosecco have all been enjoyed on the patio, while the plants have been abundant with their produce & easily picked for dinner.
The last few months, I’ve been sharing the home office with Mr Hungry (his upstairs, mine down) & it’s been a change most households have seen this year. There are some downsides (other people can hear & see you on live calls), but there are plenty of ups too! Not so long ago, we would meet for lunch in town to share a 
coffee & a few kisses, before wandering back to work. This brief interlude would put a pep in my step & make the afternoon brighter – we have now have resumed our mid-day meet-ups. Even though we are all in much closer proximity at the moment, it doesn’t mean we should become territorial about sharing space with our loved ones.
Shopping has recently become a bit like a treasure hunt, heightening our resourcefulness & making us more aware of our limited pantry. This is nothing new to some of us, especially those on a limited budget or diet. Being frugal can be a blessing, especially in the taste department. Think of it as one of those old TV shows, where you were given a bag of ingredients & had to make a delicious dish. It’s a challenge, but you’re up to it!
One of my favourite frugal recipes is based on an old minestrone soup. Hearty, healthy & heaped with lots of little ingredients that don’t cost much. We call this the Coupler Soup, because you need a 
couple of this & a couple of that. We’ve all bought a tin of this, a packet of that, hoping to use it in some elaborate & exquisite dish, but shoving it to the back of the cupboard. Bits of leftover dried pasta, a random tin of beans & that twisted up tube of tomato puree with a tiny bit left. All seemed a bit pointless when you popped them in there, but now they are like gold dust! You might notice I’ve used spinach instead of Cavolo Nero or cabbage. This is simply because I like spinach on my pizza & there’s always a bit leftover, just enough to chuck in a soup or whizz into a delicious pesto, as you will know if you’ve been following my blog. Over the years, I’ve adjusted the recipe to accommodate whatever ingredients were available, but it always has the same result – soupy satisfaction!
One of the main ingredients for this recipe is fresh chicken stock & here’s the link to my stock recipe: https://hopeyourehungry.co.uk/a-bird-in-the-hand-is-worth-ten-in-a-dish/ . I dilute it for this recipe, with a little water to wash out the tomato tin. If you prefer to use a stock cube, make enough according to the instructions on the pack. Ready to take the plunge? Hands washed, aprons on & here we go!
What you need:
2 pints of fresh Chicken Stock, well-strained if homemade
4 rashers Bacon (I used streaky smoked or whatever is in the freezer)
1 medium Onion, finely chopped
2 medium Carrots, washed & finely chopped
2 sticks Celery, washed & finely chopped
2 dried Bay Leaves
1 tin White Beans, drained (such as Cannellini or Haricot beans, whatever you have available)
1 tin Italian Plum Tomatoes (save the tin for measuring your pasta)
2 handfuls of Dried Pasta (see above)
2 handfuls of fresh Spinach, washed & chopped chunky, stems & all
1 tablespoon Tomato Puree
1 sprig fresh Rosemary – remove leaves & chop finely (keep the stalk)
2 cloves fresh Garlic, chopped finely
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Freshly ground Black Pepper
What to do:
Prepare your ingredients first – wash, peel & chop finely as above. Set them aside, ready to start. Keep the Rosemary stalk & dry it – they make fabulous skewers for mini kebabs (slide whole cherry tomatoes & bocconcini on, then bake for 5 minutes in a hot oven – delicious!).
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a deep saucepan (you will need the lid for later) & using some good kitchen scissors, finely snip the smoked bacon into the pan. Let it sizzle for a couple of moments, allowing it to render it’s fat (this adds essential flavour & in all honesty, it’s a miniscule amount).
Add the onion, carrot & celery to the pan, mixing well with the bacon & oil. Give everything a good stir & fry for about 4-5 minutes, until slightly softened & the onion become glossy.
Tip in the garlic & Rosemary into the vegetables & then add the beans. Add the chicken stock & bay leaves, stirring everything gently together.
Pour the plum tomatoes into your hand over the pan, squishing them carefully into the liquid (you can always tip them into a bowl & do this beforehand, if you prefer).
Fill the tin with cold water, swish it around to get the last drops of tomato juice & pour into the pan.
Using the empty tin, fill it with dried pasta pieces – whatever you’ve got in the cupboard is fine. This recipe is to make the most of those leftover bits you’ve been saving for a rainy day – well it’s chucking it down now! Carefully, without splashing yourself, sprinkle them into the soupy liquid.
Add the tomato puree, tip the chopped spinach into the pan & get stirring, mixing everything together.
Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer & put the lid half on the pan. Let it bubble away softly for about 15-20 minutes, giving it a swirl around with the spoon occasionally.
Using a clean spoon, have a taste of your soup & adjust the seasoning to your personal taste (get a clean spoon before tasting again). It’s worth noting that any stock (homemade or shop-bought), along with bacon, contain salt, so you shouldn’t need to add much. When you’re happy with the flavour, turn off the heat & tuck in!
Scoop your soup generously into bowls, making sure you get to the bottom of the pan! Add some well-buttered, crusty bread for dunking & indulge in some soupy comfort food. Ladle any leftovers into tubs or pots when cooled, pop them into the fridge & save for another day (it should keep in there for a couple of days at least). I’ve used jam jars to stash soup in the fridge, just put an upturned cupcake case on the jar before putting on the lid (it gives it a bit of a better seal).
Although an everyday soup, it can also be turned into a souptacular starter. Got a bit of day old bread that needs using up? Make your own croutons! Cut into cubes (as chunky or dainty as you like), drizzle with a little olive oil & bake on a tray in the oven at 220*C for about 10-15 minutes (give them a shake halfway through cooking). Once bronzed & crisp, tip them onto a sheet of greaseproof paper on a cooling rack, before transferring to a serving plate for people to help themselves. Pile a few in the centre of your soup, swirl with a little olive oil & a dusting of grated Parmesan. That’s it!
Whether a romantic lunch or a suppertime starter, try my Coupler Soup to use up those random ingredients & create a hearty, wholesome soup! Stay hungry! Aimee 😉 x
meal to prepare, satisfying those cravings for fried fast food without actually being fried. Leftovers can be frozen for future lazy suppers, lunchtime wraps with salad or even sliced & tossed in pasta with a little homemade tomato sauce & a few roasted peppers. To pané means to coat in a little flour, egg & breadcrumbs (in my last blog, I did this with arancini to make crispy risotto balls). The only tip I will give is you need to keep one hand for the dry ingredients & one for the wet, otherwise you’ll end up with panéed fingers!
2 large Chicken Breasts (you can get 8-10 pieces from this)
Drizzle the remainder of the oil generously over the chicken portions & place the tin in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes. Halfway through cooking, give it a good shake to loosen them from the tin & flip them over. Because it’s thin, the chicken will cook faster & the crumb coating will stop it drying out.
sharp knife to check they are piping hot before eating), or simply layer them cold in a sandwich, wrap or salad for lunch the next day. Try adding a teaspoon of pesto 
Although we’re barely into the New Year, piled up platefuls of plenty are replaced with sparse-looking salads, kale on a crispbread & some rather questionable smoothies. Personally, I don’t go in for all that stuffing & starving yourself (there are other ways to be miserable). As I’ve mentioned before in a previous blog, there are two things to remember: (1) your “in door” is much larger than your “out door” (think about it) & (2) everything in moderation (one slice of chocolate cake, not six). January is not a sponge to wipe away the over-indulgences of December! It’s still Winter & we need warming, cocooning comfort food that satisfies the appetite & fills you up, so this is no time to start depriving your body of much required sustenance!
watching old movies together while dinner’s cooking. Sometimes, I’ll cook a roast chicken & make chicken stock at the same time (multi-tasking at it’s finest!). Homemade stock is extremely easy to make, you know what’s in it (no hidden nasties) & is very versatile too, being the base to many soups, sauces & dishes. It also means that we can have a rich, rib-sticking risotto on a Monday night, made with fabulously fresh chicken stock, a bit of bacon & a variety of colourful vegetables. Here’s a link to my easy roast chicken & chicken stock recipe: 
glossy risotto is beautiful piled on a plate, adorned with shimmering roasted vegetables & a drizzle of the oil from the pan with all it’s garlicky goodness. A tray of roasted veggies will cook in about the same time too & any leftovers are perfect on pizzas, tossed in pasta or just topping some toasted ciabatta rubbed with a little raw garlic & olive oil, creating a beautiful bruschetta anytime (I’ve usually got a jar of these in the fridge). If you’re cooking this risotto as a vegetarian meal, simply swap the chicken stock for homemade vegetable stock instead (& leave out the bacon, of course). Ready to give it a go? Hands washed, aprons on!
Pre-heat the oven to 220*C & prepare your roasting vegetables – wash thoroughly & apart from the tomatoes, chop into chunky pieces.
Put in the middle of the oven to cook while you make the risotto. Give everything a shake after about 10 minutes & return to the oven. Once cooked, pop them on a cooling rack (this will be when your risotti is finished, but here’s a picture to give you an idea of what to expect).
Pour the glass of white wine into the pan & stir well (the scent of this bit is always lovely!). Always use the wine you would drink & absolutely never anything marked “cooking wine”!
Once you’re happy with your risotto, add a generous handful of Parmesan, along with a couple of small chunks of butter dotted around the pan & leave the pan to one side (you can cover it up if you like). Give it a couple of minutes to rest, then slowly stir in the puddles of butter & melted cheese.
Parmesan, then tuck in! This rich, warming comfort food tastes lovely with leftover chicken from Sunday dinner or try topping with crispy chicken legs roasted with honey, lemon & fresh Thyme. Have a wander around my other recipes to give you some ideas.
which are perfect for creating the most amazing arancini (which literally translates as “little oranges”). Because the amount leftover varies each time I make risotto, I don’t tend to measure the ingredients when I make these beautiful little rice balls, so these are approximate measurements below. An ice-cream scoop comes in very handy when you’re making these & I have been known to use a melon baller on occasion, hence the title to this blog. Ready? Let’s get rolling!
Using a tablespoon or an ice-cream scoop, take little heaps of cold risotto & shape into balls in your hand (yes, you’re going to get messy but that’s half the fun). Leave them on a tray in the fridge to chill for at least half an hour (if you can leave them for a couple of hours, this will be better).
Beat the egg in another similar dish (tip: add a tiny pinch of salt to break down the egg & make it smoother).
If I’ve made quite a few (which is quite often), I’ll bake them in the oven – really easy & no hot pans to stand over. Get a cupcake or patty tin, put an arancino in each cup & drizzle with a little olive oil (drizzle, not drown!). Bake them for about 10 minutes, turn them using a couple of spoons, & return to the oven for a further 5-10 minutes until crispy & golden. Test one as before, to make sure they are piping hot in the middle before serving.
Once cooked, remove the arancini gently using a slotted spoon or tongs & place on either greaseproof or kitchen paper to remove the excess oil (or tip them into a metal sieve & shake). Allow them to cool for a couple of minutes before serving. Sometimes, I’ll let them cool completely & pop them in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours, ready to snacking later (they are perfect for picnics).
beautiful balsamic vinegar & add a dusting of black pepper. My homemade tomato sauce goes very well with these – the richness of the risotto is cut by the sweet, but tart tomato (see my meatball blog for tomato sauce recipe). These more-ish little mouthfuls are perfect for munching, whether for lunch, supper or as a simple starter (also great for nibbling with pre-dinner drinks or curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine & a good film).
Sundays are perfect for relaxed cooking & sometimes you just want an easy, lazy dinner that you can chuck in the oven & forget about (until dinner time that is!). Nobody wants to be racing around the kitchen, trying to prepare a fabulous feast for the family in record time. The best meals are those that just fit together, like the pieces of an edible food puzzle. We tend to eat our Sunday meal at dinner time, giving us a chance to catch up with family & friends during the day, enjoy a crisp Autumn walk in the sunshine together, or simply curl up on the sofa together & watch old films. Eating later in the day means you can just kick off your shoes, pour yourself a glass of wine & relax for the evening, especially in the chillier months.
of sumptuous sides. It’s great when you have the time, but not everyone wants to start preparing lunch first thing in the morning (especially when you should be making a pot of fresh coffee & a mini mountain of fluffy pancakes). This is where a spatchcocked chicken comes in handy. To reduce the cooking time of a piece of meat, it is sometimes butterflied or spatchcocked. This bodes well for those long days at work or when you’ve been out galavanting & haven’t the energy to cook a full-on roast dinner, but have guests arriving in a couple of hours or just want to eat before midnight! Obviously, there is some element of preparation & even a little delegation, but spatchcocked chicken is an elegant yet effortless dish that your family & guests will love.
If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I always have a selection of sides in the freezer ready prepared for impromptu dinners & after-work suppers (if you prep them the day before, you can pop them in the fridge, ready for Sunday). This could perhaps be one of the laziest, most rapid roast dinners you’ll cook if you’ve done the same, so here’s a couple of links to my previous blogs to give you a bit of help: 
Turn the chicken breast-side up again & lay in the roasting tin, splaying out the body & legs. Give the top of the bird a firm press down, just to contact the chicken with the tin.
get the most juice from them, give the lemons a firm roll on the board first.
But it doesn’t end there, you can still make a few more meals with the leftovers. Any extra slices of cooked chicken (& don’t forget the bacon bits!) can be used for packed lunches, crammed into pots with pasta, roasted peppers & salad, or stuffed in freshly baked baguettes, filled to the brim with rocket, fresh basil leaves & a splodge of mayo or pimped up Greek Yoghurt (just add a pinch of black pepper & dollop of pesto to a cup of the yoghurt). Plus you can save the carcass to make stock too! Great 
for rustling up a rich risotto, making a spicy soup or even for gravy. See my “Bird in the Hand” blog link I shared above for instructions & just chuck it back in the oven to work it’s magic, while you all tuck in to dinner (multi-tasking at it’s finest of course).
Autumn has well & truly painted the garden some beautiful bronze, ruby & amber colours this year. Our little cherry tree saplings seem to be in some sort of Fall foliage competition with each other, while the tomato plants are still heavy with their fruits, defiantly resisting the change in seasons. The warm October sunshine has kept the garden blooming with bright bold colours, especially the vivid, almost flamingo pink clematis flowers climbing their frame. Even the potted chrysanthemums have tiny buds of deepest magenta & pure white emerging from their greenery.
day of the week as possible, prepping meals, writing, baking cakes for people & creating various sugar art, which means I get to relax on Friday. Recently, my Husband took me out for a couple of lovely weekend day trips (we’ve been a bit like ships that pass in the night in the last few weeks), which involved walking for miles & indulging in some well-deserved treats, so it was really nice to spend some time together. Friday nights are great for getting all the family together & having a relaxing dinner, but trying to get everyone in the same room at the same time can be a bit difficult, as we all work different shifts & have various commitments.
The guys love a homemade sweet & sour chicken with fluffy egg fried rice, along with a few bowls of locally bought prawn crackers (even I draw the line somewhere & the Chinese restaurant up the road makes the most lovely huge, crispy crackers, so it would be rude not to buy them). 
The best bit is it takes very little time to prep & cook – you can generously feed four hungry people in well under half an hour (because Friday nights mean you want food fast!). It also tastes amazing as a vegetarian dish & I like to make a huge pan full of the sauce – maybe add a handful of cashew nuts, bean sprouts or sliced water chestnuts too (my fave). 
Stir fry the chicken slices for a couple of minutes until opaque (no pink bits, just white).
Pour in the tomato ketchup, all around the pan & add the honey, balsamic & a few spots of soy sauce (I prefer the light one, but you can use the dark if you like).
Serve your sweet & sour & the fluffy egg-fried rice in separate serving dishes for everyone to help themselves at the table, or just spoon some onto individual plates, with a plentiful supply of crispy prawn crackers for dunking. Usually this is when I have to tell my guys to wait until I’ve dished up, because they’re jostling behind me with plates, ready to tuck in! If you do have any leftovers, either box them up for lunch tomorrow or freeze them for those lazy nights when you want something nice, but don’t have time to cook.
amber & ruby rouge coloured leaves in the garden. Sultry Autumnal evenings require soothing, slow-cooked, substantial suppers full of rich colour too. Working long hours or shifts, whatever your line of work or study, can have a knock-on effect when it comes to preparing a hearty, satisfying evening meal. As the nights start to draw in, we begin to crave richer & robust fayre to comfort us in the cooler evenings ahead.
being turned into simple suppers & frozen in readiness for rewarding after-work dinners. Vegetables are sliced & chopped (my little food processor is an absolute treasure for this!), then popped into pans of water or stored in the fridge for when you just need a handful of veg. Pots of stock can defrost on a cooling rack, waiting to be whipped up into a rich, rib-sticking risotto, topped with a couple of 
roasted, crispy chicken legs. One of the best things about a risotto is there’s always enough left to make arancini for lunch the next day too, which means you’ve already covered meals for two days & there’s no waste!
infuse into the sumptuous sauce. You can buy ready prepared chicken portions if you prefer & use whichever cut you enjoy. Chicken legs & thighs are perfect for this recipe as they are much more flavoursome, especially when they’re cooked on the bone. These portions of meat tend to be overlooked & so often wasted, yet they are a much cheaper, just as tasty alternative to chicken breast. If you do use chicken breast, you will need to reduce the cooking time as they cook quicker & the meat can go stringy (don’t worry, I’ll remind you later on in the recipe).
6-8 cloves fresh Garlic, chopped finely or crushed
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet or frying pan, then fry the chicken portions skin side down for about a minute. Add the bacon & fry this alongside the chicken.
Once browned, transfer the chicken & bacon to a large casserole dish. Using scissors, snip the bacon into pieces & scatter over the chicken, then put the lid on.
Usually, while it’s resting, I’ll pop some dinky jacket potatoes on metal skewers in the oven. By the time they’re done, the chicken will have rested sufficiently & you can dish up!
This recipe is brilliant for freezing, just spoon leftovers into individual pots or bags & freeze (lay an open freezer bag in a bowl, then fill & seal – it won’t move around & spill sauce all over if you do it this way). Defrost & warm through when you fancy something warming (great for those evenings when you know you’re going to need a speedy supper!). Any leftover sauce is really versatile too! Simply freeze in single portion pots & use as much or as little as you need. It’s lovely ladled onto well-buttered jacket potatoes, poured over a pile of papparadelle, or even just heated up & eaten as a chunky soup with fresh crusty bread! I’ve even made a lasagne with it, layering between thin sheets of pasta & creamy cheese sauce.
been following my blog, you’ll have most of your Christmas cooking prepared by now too (well done you!). This part is all about the main event: a beautifully basted bird, & whether you prefer turkey, chicken or something else completely, you want it to be perfect. It’s like a spectacular Sunday lunch, only with more people (& more wine). Whether you’re having a full-on festive feast or not, everyone will be looking forward to spending a few days with their family & friends.
pterodactyl (it was a bit of a beast & needed two people to wedge it into the oven), along with joints of beef, pork & Quorn, plus a glazed gammon joint & various crates of veg – this involved several days, two kitchens & a bottle of Sherry! Despite all the chaos, dinner would be done & I somehow managed to keep smiling – it’s a bit like being a swan on a pond, all calm & graceful on the top, but paddling like mad under the water!
2-3 medium/large Carrots
Next you need to fill the cavity of the chicken – again, this helps the chicken cook evenly & it also flavours it nicely too. There are various fillings you can use, but ultimately it’s down to personal choice – some people prefer traditional sage & onion stuffing, some prefer using a few fresh herbs & vegetables. If you made some of my homemade sage & onion stuffing for this, simply spoon it into the cavity until full. If you prefer your stuffing separate, bundle together a couple of thin carrot & celery sticks with the leaves on, along with the herbs (saving a couple of Sage leaves) & put inside the chicken cavity.
If you’re using bacon, layer your bacon rashers across the chicken breast, starting at the top & working your way down, with each rasher overlapping the previous one. This is good if the skin has split on your chicken – it will keep your breast meat moist & the bacon will crisp up nicely at the end of cooking. Wash your hands well again afterwards (they’ll be sparkling by now!).
Lay a couple of equal sized foil strips on top of each other, with the dull sides on the inside (the side that goes next to the chicken), then fold the top over about a centimetre all the way along. Do this a couple of times, then mash them together well to make sure they don’t come undone in the oven. If you have a larger sheet of foil, just put a crease or fold in the middle, leaving the central part un-creased. Put over the tin, making sure it forms a dome over the top & doesn’t touch the chicken, then press firmly around the edges of the tin so that none of that lovely steam can escape. This is what makes your stock, infusing with the bird & veg to produce a fragrant, flavoursome fluid for making gorgeous gravy later.
When you’re happy that it’s crisped enough, remove your roasting tin from the oven & place on a cooling rack (I use a grill tray with a wire rack in it for this, to catch any drips). Replace the foil lid & seal around the tin to protect the meat from drying out, then let it rest for at least half an hour. By resting the bird, the meat relaxes nicely & becomes beautifully tender. Traditionally, you should let the bird rest for the same amount of time it was in the oven, but I leave it as long as it takes to cook the accompanying side dishes.
If you’ve been following my previous blogs, this is where you grab a well-deserved glass of something nice, give yourself a pat on the back & relax, because all your sides will be prepared! Just pop them in ovenproof dishes, then warm them through in the oven while your roasties cook (bet you’re glad you did all that prep now!). Obviously, this is also when you tell everyone else to keep out of the kitchen while you’re working hard (on your G&T hopefully) & send them off to set tables, find tablecloths, fill glasses – anything to keep them busy & give you a five minute breather.
a pint into a jug (keep the rest in the pan, put the lid on & leave to cool, then freeze). To remove any fat from the stock (that’s the golden bubbles you can see here), get yourself a few sheets of kitchen paper & touch it gently on the top – the grease will attach itself to the paper, which you can then throw away (no faffing around trying to separate it).
When everything is ready & you’re happy with it, get your Little Helpers in to distribute dishes to the table (maybe have some extra treats to reward them for their support).
also the time of year my Husband & I met, so we always celebrate our first date (it involved a large Harley Davidson Sportster, a couple of hundred bikers delivering Christmas presents & rather a lot of tinsel!). 
Christmas Day. Some of these multi-tasking munchies can even be used as a starter, so make a few extra (which is my mantra, as you probably know by now). One of my favourites (& apparently everyone else’s!) are baked cheesy biscuits – you can serve them simply on their own or with a dip, or even pipe some cream cheese on them & decorate with chopped chives. They are really easy to make & the recipe is in my blog called “Grate Expectations” – here’s the link for speed: 
Scoop spoonfuls of the breadcrumb mixture into each mushroom – be generous & keep going until every mushroom is crammed full, then sprinkle with a little more cheese. Any leftover breadcrumb mixture, chuck it in the fridge for later (someone always turns up late or you might fancy a midnight snack). Scatter a few pine nuts over the top (these are gorgeous & have a sort of popcorn taste to them).
If you’re preparing them in advance, cover in cling film now & pop them in the fridge until you need them (they keep until the next day at least). Otherwise, bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden & gorgeous. These are great hot or cold, either on their own or with dips, or just with a green salad as a starter.
prepped by one of your Helpers a few days before, then stashed in the fridge in airtight containers or bags, ready to be whipped out with a delicious dip anytime! If you fancy something different, try raw crunchy cauliflower florets (one of my faves), sliced peppers, sugarsnap peas & mangetout. Give them a good wash, trim the ends & stand them in a cup. One thing I don’t do at this time of year is make dips – I really cannot be bothered & what with all the other stuff to do, just buy some nice ones & store them in the fridge until needed. Simply scoop them into individual tea cups with saucers & dinky spoons (saving your table from splodges), rather than leaving them in a plastic tray – even if they do have one of those optimistic re-sealable tops, dips always disappear first!
Measure your spices into a cup & carefully mix together. (Sometimes, I only use half this mixture & sprinkle the rest over chunky raw potato slices, drizzled in olive oil, to make spicy wedges in the oven – bake at 220*C for 25 minutes & serve with a cooling dip, like Greek yoghurt mixed with a few chopped mint leaves).
Take a couple of pieces of chicken, coat them in the egg & shake off the excess. Chuck them in the breadcrumb mixture & pat this onto the chicken to ensure it’s coated well. Place them into the roasting tin & repeat until you have coated all the chicken. Drizzle more olive oil over the top (drizzle, not drown).
Spread them on a huge plate for people to help themselves – turn it into a starter with a salad, a couple of potato wedges & a yoghurt & mint dip, or leave them to cool before freezing them in a bag until needed. Job done!
Firstly, apologies for the delay in writing my blog, as we are in the process of having a new kitchen fitted (week three, yay!). As you’re probably aware, the kitchen is my sanctuary, my haven of foodliness & culinary creativity. It’s one of my favourite places when life gets stressful, where I go to take my mind off things & create sweetness when there is none (or knead the crap out of some dough for a bit to de-stress). When I can’t cook or bake, I tend to get a bit tetchy! I started the first week like SpongeBob on his first day at the Krusty Krab (“I’m ready!”), but rapidly transformed into Donna Corleone by the end of the second. It’s never straight-forward when you’re having building work done, even a small kitchen & no matter how organised you think you are, you’re not. As I discovered, even the most perfectly planned projects can go a bit awry & bring out your inner DeNiro.
Until Friday morning of the second week, there was no working sink, no oven, no hob, no washing machine in place & no wine, which even for the most patient of people starts to get a bit much. None of this was made easier by sharing our lounge with most of the large kitchen appliances (which was everything but the fridge), a dining table & six chairs, along with all the usual furniture one has in a lounge & everything the cat owns too (along with one rather disgruntled cat, who was having to share with “the staff”). The kettle, microwave, toaster & slow cooker were all perched rather precariously on the dining table & washing machine, just across from the sofa. It was very cosy!
midway into week three, with various as yet unresolved issues (such as a gaping chasm in the ceiling where the old oven fan used to be, no hob as yet & a couple of minor head injuries from the low oven vent, which has a tea towel on to cover the blood), you can imagine that we’re getting rather vexed & I’m suffering from serious Spaghetti alla Carbonara deficiency. Note to self: remember wine next time & double it, with a few whiskey chasers!
Before the chaos began, I prepared a few meals in advance & filled the freezer with lots of luscious treasures to keep us going. Firstly, I made my staple Italian favourite: an enormous lasagne al forno. This was 
baked 
of Parmesan & Cheddar, which works really well. To give it a crispy topping, roughly grate half a crust of bread over the top & spread liberally. It can be chunky or fine, it really doesn’t matter. Sprinkle a pinch of Oregano on top, some freshly ground black pepper & bake it in the middle of the oven at 200*C for about 20 – 25 minutes. It will be crispy on top, the cheese will go golden & all that gooey cheese sauce will plump up the veg, infusing them with cheesiness. Leave it to go cold, slice into portions & freeze in individual tubs. This tastes amazing on it’s own too & is quite filling (we had it with chips from our local Chinese takeaway – gorgeous!).
The next day, I prepared a couple of fresh chickens by filleting, skinning & cutting them into portions. This provides four chicken breasts, four legs & two carcasses with the wings on. Have a read of my article 
smoked bacon before being cooked, then frozen individually. The carcasses went into the oven with some veg, herbs & water to make stock (which was also frozen for future risottos when we have a hob). The chicken breasts were divided into two to make chicken pies & kievs, stuffed with homemade garlic & smokey bacon butter.
a month, I buy a big pack of smoked bacon, split it into 4 or 6 rasher batches & freeze them, so I’ve always got smoked bacon for risotto or cacciatore – now I have it for garlic butter too. I have also used Proscuitto di Parma when I have leftover slices – it crisps up perfectly when fried. It makes more sense to make a large batch of the butter, rather than faffing around with piddling portions just for two kievs. The measurements are general here, depending on how much garlic you like, so go easy if you’re unsure.
inch above the edge of the paper, leaving a couple of inches either side to twist together afterwards. Roll away from you & keep it tight, smoothing the paper with your fingers to make a sausage of butter, tucking the edge of the paper underneath it. Roll evenly until completely rolled up & twist the edges together. Wrap in clingfilm & twist the edges again. Pop it in the top freezer drawer & leave it to set for at least an hour. This will become firm & easier to slice. Once ready, cut a couple of slices & put to one side ready for stuffing, then put the rest in back in the freezer. When you need to use it again, leave it out of the freezer for about ten minutes to soften slightly before slicing.
Using the same hand you did for flouring, sprinkle & pat the breadcrumbs onto the chicken, ensuring it is thoroughly coated on all sides. Shake off the excess & place in a plate (sprinkle a few breadcrumbs onto the plate before you do this). Repeat this process for the other chicken kievs, then cover the dish with cling film & put in the bottom of the fridge for an hour or so – raw meat should not be next to cooked or be above anything else, so I always use the bottom shelf.
carefully, replacing them in the oven to finish cooking. Once cooled, pop a couple in a tub & freeze (pour over any escaped butter & crispy bits from the tin too). They reheat well once defrosted too – just put them in a dish in the oven at 200*C for 20 minutes or so. Make sure they are piping hot before dishing up – stick a metal skewer in the 
centre & if it’s hot to the touch, they’re ready. They go great with a huge salad & proper chunky chips. If you’re not keen on bacon or garlic, try using different stuffings in your chicken – maybe some sundried tomatoes, a couple of slices of Mozzarella & some fresh Basil leaves, or shredded spinach, Ricotta & chopped pine nuts.
If I had to count how many single portion meals I can get from one fresh chicken, I would have to say at least ten – yes, you read that correctly: ten! That’s ten individual meals from one regular sized chicken. I’m not Merlin the Magician, I’m just a mere mortal woman who insists on getting value for money & doesn’t like waste.
Not only is it ridiculously more expensive (think of the wine you could buy!), but learning to do it yourself is a great skill to have & it’s very satisfying knowing that you’ve got meals in the freezer for when you can’t be bothered to cook.
Get yourself a large metal colander & place over a deep pan that covers all the little holes (I use my pasta pan for this) & tip in the carcass, veg & stock to strain through. I usually strain it again through a fine sieve to remove any sediment & that’s the stock done! 
Then there are the very versatile chicken breasts – these are almost double the size of the ones you get in those pre-prepared packs! Usually, I can make four kievs per chicken (coating them in homemade breadcrumbs from leftover crusts), 