How to produce 14 meals with only 2 chickens happened quite by chance!
January was a real busy month with holiday guests in our BnB, but they all self-catered.
As soon as the holidays were over, the local training centre filled our BnB to the brim with hungry young men whose companies ordered meals for suppertime.
During all the busyness, it was really tough as my Mom Lily who lived with us, was gravely ill for the month of January and sadly passed away on 30 January.
It's going to take a long while to get used to not having her around, but Mom had been preparing me for that day. She always spoke of the circle of life and taught me that I will need to get on 'with the job of living' when her circle stops spinning
Something else Mom taught me, was cooking and baking AND how to make ingredients stretch, which of course helps with budgeting.
So, I wanted to serve roast chicken, but one chicken certainly was not going to feed 7 diners, so I popped 2 lemon & fresh herb chickens into the oven. Thankfully we were down to only 3 young men this week and we of course eat from the same menu!
Let's get cooking!
A secret to ensure the breast meat remains juicy is to always roast the chicken breast-side down.
Dinner the first night was roast chicken with a creamy potato bake, rice & gravy and country crop vegetables.
There still was plenty of the breast meat left over, so I pulled it off the bones and cubed the bigger portions. I also made way too much potato bake, so that was also cubed and added to the chicken meat.
Chopped parsley from the garden and frozen mixed veggies was added and some of the leftover gravy to bind it a little.
Super Pastry
- 500ml Cake Flour plus approx 1/4 tsp Salt
- 250g Chilled Butter
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 10ml Vinegar
- Iced water
Grate the butter into the flour and salt, cutting with a knife to spread the butter evenly. I then use my old hand beater to incorporate the butter into the flour to make fine crumbs.
Place egg yolk and vinegar into a measuring jug and top up with ice water to make 125ml liquid. Knead to form a dough and place in the refrigerator. Roll out and use as required
So...I often cheat when baking and this time pressed the pastry into various size pans - it made 2 individual pot pies, 4 regular pies, and one large one.
Sprinkle a little grated cheese onto pastry base, then pile the filling inside.
When my son came for Mom's memorial service, he spoiled us by filling the freezer and pantry with all kinds of easy-to-cook food from the best food store in town.
Mashed potatoes I always make from scratch, and one of the frozen foods was...mashed potatoes!
I thought this was the height of laziness but did it come in handy! One simply heats milk and add the chips of frozen mashed potato with butter already added. It was perfect for piping as I did not have to let it heat through, and really delicious.
Baked in the oven at 180°C for approx 40 minutes or till pastry is cooked and topping is nicely browned; these pies were really good and a big hit with everyone!
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