Roast Things

 I'm back in my own flat, and it is COLD. Partly because I've become accustomed to my folks' lavish heating approach, partly because my heating isn't actually very good in bone cold weather, and partly because downstairs is currently vacant and they've left the heating off I think. Which means there's a hellacious draft from the hall (which is in my living room, on account of Open Plan Living/having a flat too small for internal walls). So, much against my cheeseparing instincts, I have been delighted to have the oven on twice today. 

I'm also not in the mood for soup. Soup is a workday lunch and I (despite some judicious marking today) am Not At Work. So I've made instead a hot salad which is one of my fave mass catering in winter dishes, and a most excellent one for crowds. For one, it's a bit haphazard but well worth doing across several days. 

Roast carrot salad

I need you to picture a vast platter. A bed of watercress leaves, avocado chunks, walnut pieces and dressing (mustard, pom molasses, lemon, oil). Then a layer of roast carrot pieces (done in citrus [lemon and orange today on account of leftovers in the fridge], whole cumin and coriander, plus roasting oil), then blobs of Greek yoghurt, scatterings of pomegranate seeds, and some coriander leaves. 

It's pretty darned majestic as a platter. Less so for one. 

But I've got most of it on there. If you're scaling down/using up, I'd say you could easily lose either the avocado or the yoghurt (or use alternative dairy - goat cheese would be fine, for example) as their textures are similar. Any green leaf is obviously fine. I'm using almonds instead of walnuts on account of both preference and what's open. The pomegranate seeds are fancy but disposable - with the dressing doing a similar job of sweet-sharp taste and the nuts doing the crunchy job too. And though coriander is nice, you could mix up the herbage or live without it. 

Leaves+sharp+squidgy fatty something+crunch+CARROTS is what's essential to get the goodness of this. All together, it's a vitaminny, delicious winter feast.

But dinner is another matter. Dinner is a thing I spotted a while back in Claudia Roden's Food of Spain. Did a few double takes, and now think, why not, really? It's what I considered cooking for myself for Christmas (along with another one, which I may report later), and I just fancied.

Guineafowl stuffed with marzipan

Uh. Well. Not so much guinea fowl, just chicken thighs. Not so much stuffed, more accompanied. But definitely marzipan. And roasties, and cabbage. But you know how to do those.

Basically just an exercise in making washing up, ugh

 

The guinea fowl should be wrapped with bacon, put under foil with a hefty slosh of sherry, stuffed if you will (that'll be 90 minutes in the oven, unwrapped thighs with a bit of bacon and sherry in the tin with them went for 45 minutes only - de-foiled at the end for a few minutes). It makes delicious gravy for zero effort, hurrah.

The stuffing is 50:50 prunes and apricots, cooked slowly in water for 20 mins or so, then liquidised and mixed with ground almonds, an egg yolk, sugar and orange blossom water. 

 

Or alternatively the first two mixed with a load of marzipan leftover from Confined Cookalong. Prudent housekeeping. Tbh it's probably sweeter than it should be, but never mind. My fridge is fractionally more empty (still half a packet of marzipan. Its BBE date is in 2022 so I'm not rushing, but I'd appreciate any inspiration you have handy). 

Stuffing always looks awful, right?

 

This is the Spanish bit - apparently people on Mallorca still use this kind of medieval-style stuffing, which is intriguing. I say people, Claudia says it's nobility.... Of course that's what I style myself on. Daily. Ahem. 

After being cooked, there are some perceptible marzipan puddles and some toasty fruit round the edges. It's very sweet, but it's also Christmassy. I might do it again with a less 50:50 fruit and marzipan balance, more like 75:25 would be tasty. And I do have the marzipan...

 

Ridiculous Wednesday extravagance, but it's cheerful when bugger all else is.  And for a solo celebration in the face of awful things, it'll do.