And yes, I change my blog template once again. Why? I just want it to be white, and wider. Now that I'm uploading my pictures on an external host, I want to find a template that allows me to just link the pictures directly without having to keep resizing the images, it can really be very troublesome. But it seems changing the template has taken a toll on the header (the quality of the header is... eeew). Not to worry, I'll get it fixed over the holidays! (:
After taking a photo of the plate of food above, I realise that I need a big plate. At least a bigger one. The plate looks so overcrowded, don't you think so? At least I think so. I guess this is a sign indicating that it's about time I make a trip down to IKEA during the holidays (or maybe I'm just trying to find an excuse to go shop for more stuff, oooops).
Okay, back to about this dish. This is another dish that I like to make for lunch when I'm at home. It can be easily doubled and it looks nutritious, isn't it? There's salad made using Jamie Oliver style, French fries that are baked not fried and a deliciously yummy drumstick that is baked and roasted towards the end for a crispy skin. Well, at least it's healthier than eating fast food, right?
And it's not that difficult to make either! Hmmm around 5 to 6 ingredients, basic seasoning, an oven and some patience. There's just some pre-marinading and oven-baking time that you'll have to wait before you have a scrumptious meal. Trust me, the wait is worth it. (:
First grab a chicken. It can be a big chicken leg like mine, or several chicken drumsticks. Give it a good wash, and trim off the excess fats using a pair of kitchen scissors. Then get it into a bowl. Chicken breasts may be an alternative... but nah, try not to use it, kay? The meat is just not as tasty! Give it a try!
Next, grab a lemon. If it's an organic lemon I would have gotten the zest of the lemon and dump it into the bowl with the chicken, but not today. Lemon juice is an biological meat tenderiser - the acid properties in the lemon will help us to tenderise the meat. After a good wash, roll the lemon a few times back and forth - it will give you more juices later on. Cut it in half (mine's not very proportional but that's okay!). Grab the bigger piece of lemon and reserve the other half.
And then we squeeeeeze. Get all the juice in there!
Next, add just enough water to cover the chicken. Normally I will use 4 parts water to 1 part lemon juice but I'm not being too particular about that today. Marinade them for at least ½ hour to maximum 2 hours. You will need a minimum 1 hour (using the 4 parts water and 1 part juice) in order to get the lemony flavour into the chicken. Throw in a good pinch of salt and mix it up. Let the chicken steep in the mixture, covered.
We wil squeeeeeze the other half of the lemon into a measuring cup (I just love to emphasise on the squeeeeeeze part). We will use that to make a never-simpler salad dressing later on.
When you are ready to cook, grab a baking tray and a baking rack so that they can stack like this. Line the baking tray with aluminum foil to make your life easier later on. The baking tray is gonna get the fries and the lovely meaty juices that will be dripping down from the chicken later on. Yum. Preheat the oven! To 190 degrees Celsius.
Grab some potatoes - one per person. My potatoes are slighly smaller so I used two. Cut them up into thick strips (thick, fat fries are so much nicer than those skinny fries)
Place the potatoes in a pot. Cover with water and add in a good pinch of salt. And then set them onto a big, hot fire and get the water to boil. As we wait for them to boil, we shall first marinade our chicken.
ake the chicken out of the lemon-water-salt mixture and pat it dry with a kitchen towel. Place it on a flat surface, any surface that will let you marinade the chicken. Discard the lemon-water-salt mixture! You can't really use them in any other cooking.
And then it's time to season! I sprinkled some ground oregano, salt and black pepper onto the chicken. I suppose you can use other herbs like rosemary, garlic... or whatever herbs you like. I would have thinly slice a few cloves of garlic and stuff them into the chicken meat, but I'm too lazy today, so... never mind.
Season it well, you'll want the meat to be flavourful and nice!
Then drizzle some olive oil on top. About a tablespoon of oil will do. After drizzling the oil on top I will pat the chicken, just to make sure that all parts of the chicken is oiled.
Flip the chicken over and repeat!
By the time you finish seasoning the chicken, the water should already be boiling. Well, mine boiled like, halfway through when I was seasoning the chicken, but it's okay. One step at a time! If you can't cope with the multi-tasking (like me), just turn off the heat first. One thing at a time!
Once you are ready to deal with the potato, drain them in a colander/seive, then return back into the pot. Turn the heat back on to a medium low heat and heat the potatoes, making sure that you stir the potatoes constantly. This will help to dry your potatoes, giving you an even more crunchier crust later on. If you don't stir the potatoes, the potatoes will stick to the bottom of the pot... and it's not such a happy story later on. Once the potatoes are starting to stick, remove the pot from the heat. A handy tip that I learnt some time ago is to cover the pot with the lid and shake as vigorously as you can, up and down, left and right to roughen the edges of the potato. The result? An even more crunchy exterior! Drizzle a little oil (a! little!) and season with black pepper, and/or whatever herbs you like. Lay them in a single layer on the baking tray. It's impossible to take photos of me grinding the black pepper in becuase my grinder is a manual grinder. So... it's just gonna be a fast-forwarded picture!
Transfer the seasoned chicken on to the baking rack and arrange it like this. The chicken juices will drip its way onto the potatoes, flavouring the potatoes! What this means? More yumminess! (I think I need to stop being so hyped up!) Bake the chicken and the fries at 190 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes, turning the potatoes once after 30 minutes.
When the chicken is cooked, we will want to brown the skin to make it crispy. So, remove the baking tray which contains the potatoes (they should be cooked after 45 minutes of baking, if not, bake them longer), then transfer the chicken onto the highest rack possible (or a broiler) and set to the highest temperature possible. It will take only 5 to 10 minutes to brown the top. Meanwhile, make a simple salad. This salad only have two vegetables - lettuce and tomato - that's because that's the only two ingredients I have at home at that point in time. xD Give the lettuce a wash and place them in a bowl.
Take one small tomato, cut into half, deseed the tomato then cut them up into small pieces. Transfer them into the bowl with the lettuce.
Time for the dressing! If you're making the salad dressing home-made style, you will definitely need extra virgin olive oil. Not any other oil, but extra virgin olive oil only. I bought this olive oil just to make salad dressing. Yes, it's that important!
The dressing is made Jamie Oliver style. Don't know who is Jamie Oliver? This is Jamie Oliver. He always says the key to making a basic salad dressing is one part acid, three parts oil. And then just add some salt and pepper, and you're good to go. Well, that's exactly what I did. Remember the lemon juice we squeeeeeze earlier? Yup, we are adding some olive oil in there (extra virgin only!), then just gonna season it with salt and black pepper. Oh yea. Then drizzle just enough over the vegetables to coat them. Don't drown the vegetables, kay!
Time to serve. Serve a little salad... Oooh, looks shiny, eh?
And we have the fries... crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. And not to mention, way healthier than those deep-fried fries.
And of course, the fabulously lovely, alluring and delicious baked chicken. See the skin see the skin? It is a crispy skin, achieved without deep-frying.
Sorry I artificially blurred the background. I just can't wait to have a dSLR. Hah. Anyway, here's a simple yet satisfying lunch! Enjoy!
Baked Chicken
A part of a chicken - breast, drumstick, thigh etc
Around ½ cup of lemon juice
Around 2 cups of water
Salt and black pepper
Other spices
Olive oil
Wash and trim the chicken part. Place it in a shallow bowl. Add in the lemon juice, water and salt. Let stand for a minium half an hour up to two hours, covered.
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
Remove chicken part from the lemon-water-salt mixture. Discard the marinading liquid. Season the chicken on both sides with plenty of black pepper and spices like rosemary, oregano etc. Drizzle a tablespoonful of oil on each side, patting the chicken to coat.
Alternatively, you can mix all the spices up in a bowl. Add in two tablespoonfuls of olive oil and mix well. Brush the chicken part with the mixture.
Place the chicken on a baking rack, setting a baking tray at the bottom to catch the chicken juices. Bake the chicken for 30 to 45 minutes. Once it's cooked, transfer the chicken to the top most layer and turn the heat up to the maximum. Bake/roast/broil (whatever you call it) for 5 to 10 minutes until the skin is browned and crisp. Keep a good watch to prevent the skin from getting burnt.
Serve with baked potatoes and salad. (:
Baked Potatoes
You will need:
A potato per person
Salt and black pepper
Olive oil
Wash and peel the potatoes. Place them in a pot. Fill with enough water to cover the potatoes. Add in a good pinch of salt and set on the hob for the water to come to a boil.
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
Once it has started boiling, drain the potatoes and return them back into the pot. Heat the potatoes, stirring constantly, until the excess moisture evaporated. Once the potatoes are starting to stick to the bottom of the pot, remove the pot from the heat. Cover with a lid and shake the pot vigourously - up and down, left and right, diagonal to diagonal - to roughen the edges of the potatoes. Drizzle with just enough olive oil to coat the potatoes and season well with black pepper.
Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes until tender on the inside, crunchy on the outside, turning once after 30 minutes. Bake it longer if you want it to be crispier.
Serve with anything in the world you like. (:
Salad - Jamie Oliver Style
You will need:
Salad ingredients
(lettuce, tomato, spinach etc... try to get organic vegetables)
Extra virgin olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt and black pepper
Wash the vegetables well. Cut the tomato, remove the roots of the vegetables... then get them all into one big bowl.
Mix the extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice in the ratio 3:1. Meaning if you use ⅓ cup of lemon juice, you'll need 1 cup of olive oil. A rough estimate is okay, no need to be too precise. Season with salt and pepper and whisk to combine. Drizzle just enough on the vegetables and comb the vegetables through.
Serve with anything in the world you like. (:
That's all! (:
What are you thinking?