Tatties Bojangles

My boy treated me to a gorgeous roast dinner tonight; roast chicken with tomato gravy and roast potatoes on the side. I'm usually more a fan of the red meats when it comes to roasting, but this was sooo good.

Everything came from the market of course, except the shallots which came from our neighbourhood butcher W. Christie. It's a fantastic family-run shop who know us by name - one of the sons taught us how to make perfect crackling!

This is definitely a rustic style meal, but you can't beat it for proper comfort food. We're not big choppers in our house, so if it can be crushed, mashed or left unpeeled, you can be assured it will be!

Roast chicken with tomato gravy

Medium organic chicken (Hugh Grierson)
Giblets
6 shallots, quartered (W Christie butchers, Bruntsfield)
8-10 vine tomatoes (JM Craig)
Chilli infused rapeseed oil (Summer Harvest)
Sea salt
Green peppercorns, crushed

Preheat oven to 180*C

Rub the bird with sea salt and green peppercorns. Drizzle a roasting pan with the chilli oil, place the bird in the centre and arrange the shallots and tomatoes around it. Place in oven to roast for about 1.5 hours, depending on the size of the bird. Prepare the potatoes and roast alongside the chicken.

Meanwhile simmer the giblets in some water and a pinch of salt.

Remove the bird from the oven and place onto a serving platter and leave covered in a warm place to rest. Whilst the bird is sitting nicely, add a spoonful of plain flour to the juices and whisk well to remove the lumps; then strain the giblet stock directly into the roasting tray. Simmer gently, breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Season if needed.


Roasted chilli potatoes with brussels sprouts

500g roasting potatoes, peeled (Phantassie)
10-15 brussels sprouts, scored with an X (Phantassie)
Chilli oil (Summer Harvest)
Dried chilli flakes
Sea salt

Drizzle plenty of chilli oil into a roasting tray and heat in the bottom tier of the oven.

Slice potatoes about 4-5 mm thick. Toss directly into the hot roasting tray and heat quickly on the hob a few minutes until the potato slices are coated. Season with sea salt and chilli flakes. Place in the bottom of the oven with the roasting chicken.

About 30 mins before the chicken is ready, toss in the brussels sprouts and continue to roast until tender. This is the simplest potato recipe I have come across - no parboiling!

We ate this with Phantassie's beetroot relish rather than the more traditional cranberry sauce, and it was lush.

Roast lamb for two with sweet potato and chilli jam

Boyfriend cleaned the kitchen whilst I was at work yesterday, which was a joy. I got a text sometime mid afternoon to let me know he’d rescue some select vegetables from the plastic veggie rack under the counter, but unfortunately some of their friends were not so lucky, and not everyone made it. The most notorious casualty was a melon that died in his hands.

We had a mini lamb roast I’d bought from the Puddledub stall at the farmers market weekend before last. I’d actually forgotten about it completely, but it’s a novel idea – a tiny lamb roast of about 350g total weight, perfect for two people as a mid-week roast, with pretty much no waste. I bought one for my friend Chris last time we went to visit him, because he only has a toaster oven so wouldn’t be able to roast a whole leg of lamb. These mini roasters are terribly cute and would be perfect for a dinner party idea I’ve been brewing since Christmas. I managed to find a handful of shallots that didn’t look too suspicious and some organic sweet potatoes from Waitrose that my boyfriend nudged me towards – probably as they didn’t have much time left, and also because he loves sweet potato.

Roast lamb for two with sweet potato and chilli jam

350g mini roast lamb (I used a Jacob mini roast from Puddledub, which is cute as hell and ready rolled)
A handful of shallots, chopped
2 sweet potatoes, chopped
Rapeseed oil (Summer Harvest – farmers market)
Chilli salt
1 tbsp sweet chilli jam (made by the lovely Mel)Preheat oven to 190 º.

In a heavy bottomed pot – I used a large Le Creuset – pour about a tbsp of oil. Add the sweet potatoes and shallots, taking care to spread them out so they lie in a relatively even layer covering the whole dish. Place the piece of lamb on top, season with chilli salt (don’t forget to season the veg as well) and brush with a little sweet chilli jam.

Roast 45-50 minutes for medium, 35-40 minutes for medium rare. Let rest covered.

Serve with sweet onion chutney.