Roasting bag chicken
Serves 8
Preparation time 10 minutes Cooking time 1 hour
You need
• 2 tablespoons Cajun spices
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 8 chicken pieces (drumsticks and thighs)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 300 g baby potatoes, halved • 6 carrots, peeled and cut into 4 cm pieces
• 8 small onions, peeled and halved
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 5 sprigs of thyme
• ¼ cup white wine
• roasting bags
Here’s how
1 Preheat the oven to 190° C. Combine the spices and flour. Drizzle the oil over the chicken, making sure the pieces are coated all round. Dust the chicken with the spice mix – the oil helps the spices stick to the chicken. If your spice mix doesn’t contain salt, add salt and pepper to taste.
2 Combine the rest of the ingredients and transfer the vegetables to 1 extra-large or 2 medium-sized roasting bags, in a deep oven dish. Place the chicken pieces on top of the vegetables and seal the bags. Prick holes in each bag to allow the steam to escape. Roast for about an hour or until the chicken is golden brown and the vegetables are tender. Set the bag aside for about 10 minutes before you open it. Be careful of the steam.
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 200 g mangetout
• ½ cup thawed or fresh peas
• 1 big leek, thinly sliced
• 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1½ cups arborio rice
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1 litre stock, hot
• ½ cup cream
• ½ cup finely grated parmesan or pecorino
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon fennel leaves, chopped
Here’s how
1 Put a heavy-bottomed pot over a medium heat. Melt the butter and oil. Add the prawns and sauté for a minute without stirring until the tails turn pink and curl up. Turn the tails over and add the mangetout and peas. Sauté for 1 – 2 minutes until the prawns are bright pink and cooked and the peas are bright green. Remove the ingredients from the pot but retain the oil.
2 Add the leek and fennel to the oil and sauté for 5 minutes or until tender. Add the garlic and rice and stir until the rice is coated in oil. Add the wine and stir until it’s absorbed. 3 Add the stock – enough to cover the rice at first, then add a spoonful at a time until the stock is absorbed. Stir well each time you add stock. Cook the rice for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should be al dente but not chalky. Add the cream, prawns and peas. When the mixture is cooked through, remove it from the heat. Add the cheese, season with salt and pepper, and scatter over the fennel leaves.
You might need a little more or less stock depending on your rice. If the dish is too watery and the rice is undercooked, keep stirring. I always keep extra stock on hand in case the mixture is drying out but the rice is not yet cooked to my liking.