Early in lockdown life I was really good at meal planning and not just falling back on the same old stuff over and over again. As time has gone on, my ingenuity and patience have decreased so there has been a lot of falling back on old favourites (some of which were previously blogged). My energy has dropped, I'm sick of my house, I'm bored of thinking of things to cook, I want to be somewhere else. We've booked a long weekend in Edinburgh towards the end of August and I'm cautiously excited about it - mysteriously* the hotels are fairly cheap, I can catch up with lots of people and be in one of my favourite places, hurray! Sure, it's not the Italian holiday we were planning for early June but it's NOT SE London, and that's what's important. So I'm clinging to that, even if the travel is scaring me slightly. And tonight I cooked something that I've not cooked for a while, which is both simple and delicious, so perhaps my cooking prospects are looking up again.
It was a Nigella recipe for chicken with frozen peas and leeks and it's incredibly easy, as well as scaleable. As many chicken thighs as you need for the amount of people you're feeding, and make sure you have a dish you can lay them all out in - they can squish together a bit, don't do it just yet though. Turn your oven to 200C, grab a bag of frozen peas and fill your ovenable dish with a layer of them, the thickness of the layer can vary depending on how many you're cooking for. Add some cloves of chopped/crushed garlic, a chopped up leek (or more, depending on amounts, this was for two people so I used two cloves of garlic, one leek), some dill or herb of your choice and a hefty splash of vermouth, then stir it all together. I've used thyme or rosemary before instead of dill, because I always have those to hand and never remember to buy dill but this time I took it out of the newish plant in my herb bed outside. For additional smugness, the garlic was also home grown. Full disclosure: the peas were Birdseye.
Layer the chicken thighs skin side up on top of the green mixture, rub them with olive oil and salt then put in to the oven for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Nigella recommends checking after 45 minutes and making sure that the leeks aren't burning - if they are, just tamp them down a bit. I find it's usually ready after an hour. You get crispy chicken skin on top, but because of the liquid the chicken is juicy and the peas/leeks are lovely. I only discovered Vermouth as a really useful ingredient in the last couple of years, and now wouldn't be without a cheap bottle of it in the cupboard. I'm not a huge fan of it to drink but splashing it into a range of dishes is very handy!
*Not at all mysterious, the Festival and Fringe are cancelled, they're all desperate for the income - sad for them but good for us.
It was a Nigella recipe for chicken with frozen peas and leeks and it's incredibly easy, as well as scaleable. As many chicken thighs as you need for the amount of people you're feeding, and make sure you have a dish you can lay them all out in - they can squish together a bit, don't do it just yet though. Turn your oven to 200C, grab a bag of frozen peas and fill your ovenable dish with a layer of them, the thickness of the layer can vary depending on how many you're cooking for. Add some cloves of chopped/crushed garlic, a chopped up leek (or more, depending on amounts, this was for two people so I used two cloves of garlic, one leek), some dill or herb of your choice and a hefty splash of vermouth, then stir it all together. I've used thyme or rosemary before instead of dill, because I always have those to hand and never remember to buy dill but this time I took it out of the newish plant in my herb bed outside. For additional smugness, the garlic was also home grown. Full disclosure: the peas were Birdseye.
Layer the chicken thighs skin side up on top of the green mixture, rub them with olive oil and salt then put in to the oven for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Nigella recommends checking after 45 minutes and making sure that the leeks aren't burning - if they are, just tamp them down a bit. I find it's usually ready after an hour. You get crispy chicken skin on top, but because of the liquid the chicken is juicy and the peas/leeks are lovely. I only discovered Vermouth as a really useful ingredient in the last couple of years, and now wouldn't be without a cheap bottle of it in the cupboard. I'm not a huge fan of it to drink but splashing it into a range of dishes is very handy!
*Not at all mysterious, the Festival and Fringe are cancelled, they're all desperate for the income - sad for them but good for us.
I'm so with you on vermouth, especially the dry stuff. Not a fan, but it really adds an edge of yum to things. Glad you're travelling, a little bit, cautiously, within limits, etc. It really is starting to chafe, stopping in the one spot all year.
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