0 Baked chicken with tomatoes and olives for Nigel Slater Dish of the Month

As my contribution to "Recipe of the month" challenge hosted by Janice who blogs over at Farmersgirl and Sue who blog over at a little bit of heaven on a plate, I have chosen a recipe from Nigel Slaters kitchen diaries II.

The recipe is on page 322 and is recipe from August in the book, I fortunately managed to get hold of some English tomatoes to make the recipe with and I always have chicken thighs in the freezer I thought I'd give it a try. I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter except I didn't have any green tomatoes as you can see from the photographs the recipe turned out well enough but was a little too moist for my taste, so if I made it again I would roast longer to burn off some of the meat juices.

Nigel recommends you serve the dish with bread, rice or couscous to soak up the juices.

As stated above I'm taking part in "Dish of the month" hosted this month by Sue who blogs at "A little bit of heaven on a plate"

                                                 

Detail: Baked chicken with tomatoes and olives for Nigel Slater Dish of the Month

0 Tomato focaccia

We love focaccia of all types and being lucky enough to have picked a large bowl of cherry tomatoes from the garden, we decided to use some of our bounty in a lovely fresh focaccia. Focaccia is a great bread to make and share with friends, especially if you have some great oil and vinegar to serve with it. Serve on a platter fresh from the oven Italian stylee, another bonus of this recipe is that you can use handfuls of fresh herbs just picked from the garden, I love this time of year when the garden is bountiful !

What you need

• 20g dried yeast
• 2 tsp sugar dissolved in warm water - 300ml
• 450g strong white bread flour (organic if you can get hold of it)
• Fresh thyme - picked and roughly chopped - 1tbsp
• Fresh rosemary - picked and roughly chopped - 1tbsp
• 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 4 good tbsp extra virgin olive oil - the best you can afford it does make a difference
• cherry tomatoes - halved if large
• Extra virgin olive oil - for sprinkling
• Sea salt - proper crystal flakes for a great finish

What you do

• Mix the yeast into the sugared warm water, leave to one side until the yeast is frothy, you are now ready to bake
• Place the flour, herbs and salt into a large bowl, ensure the salt is well distributed throughout 
• Make a well in the centre and mix in half of the yeast mixture, mix with your fingers , keep adding liquid and mixing, now add the olive oil, still mixing and semi kneading until you have a soft slightly sticky dough.(Depending on your flour and the weather will depend on whether you need all the liquid)
• Lightly flour the work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes until you have a soft elastic dough.
• Put the dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover to rise until doubled in size, in a warm kitchen this will take approximately an hour.
• Meanwhile oil your baking tray or roasting dish with a little olive oil, remove dough from bowl and place in roasting dish, squishing with your fingers to one level and to the edges and corners of the pan.
• Cover the pan with a large plastic bag or clingfilm which you have lightly oiled to prevent the dough from sticking to it when rising.
• Let this prove for about 30 minutes
• Pre heat the oven to 190c 
• When ready to bake, press the your fingers all over the dough to make little dinks in the dough for the tomato pieces, once you have used all the tomatoes, sprinkle with a little more olive oil and some sea salt flakes.
• Bake for approx 30 minutes or so until golden and well risen
• Delicious hot or cold, once baked and cooled it also freezes well, double wrapped in foil

The fabulous photography is once again by the talented Mr Lancashire Food 

Detail: Tomato focaccia

0 Crispy chicken thighs, roasted tomatoes and crushed new potatoes

Looking for a one pot dish that is satisfying and so so good, try this one ! we love this dish, great for entertaining or a family meal and so very easy. Its fabulous served along side a rocket salad (which is always good as we have a permanent glut when its in season in the garden) and a nice glass of a crisp Italian white wine. 

The dish uses one of the most under rated cuts from the chicken, the thigh. In casseroles, curries, roasts etc I don't think you can beat this cut plus its economical too, if you are squeamish about bones you can even buy them ready bone , personally I don't have a problem with removing the bones its pretty easy plus de boned are more expensive to buy , so I use the saving to buy free range meat instead.

What you need

• Chicken thighs, skin on, deboned, cut in to finger sized strips
• Tomatoes -fresh, cherry, baby plum, etc
• Baby new potatoes - skins on, cooked until tender
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar (or a fruit vinegar)
• Garlic - couple of cloves, peeled
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Fresh Oregano
• You will also need a flameproof casserole dish
• Pestle and mortar

What you do

• Pre heat the oven to 180c
• Heat the flameproof casserole dish and add a little olive oil
• Fry the chicken thigh strips in batches  skin side down initially and then turn until golden brown, remove to a plate whilst you cook  the others. Switch the heat off under the pan.
• Once this is done then add them back to the pan , along with the tomatoes, now add the baby new potatoes crushing them with your thumb.Ensure everything is nice and snug in the pan.
• In the pestle and mortar heavily bruise the garlic and most of the oregano reserving a few spring to garnish. Now add a good slug of olive oil about 2 tbsp and 1tbsp red wine vinegar, mix and season.
• Now drizzle this all over the chicken, potatoes and tomatoes, then place in the oven and bake uncovered for approximately an hour until all crisp and golden.
• Serve immediately with green salad and some great bread.

Detail: Crispy chicken thighs, roasted tomatoes and crushed new potatoes