The Bertinet Kitchen Bread Making Course In Pictures

And finally...

Ultimate Onion Gravy

Well, it seems that Spring has finally arrived. Today I spent a couple of hours walking around Portsmouth in the sun. (Yes, the sun was actually shining). Perhaps this dish would've been more appropriate last week, when it's comforting tastes would've been more necessary. But, anyway, it's still a tasty one.

Serves 2

2tbsp olive oil

2 onions, finely sliced

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 sprig of rosemary, chopped

1tbsp plain flour

1tsp tomato puree

150ml stock, beef or vegetable

2tsp Balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper, to season

Add the olive oil to a frying pan and set over a low heat. Add the onions, garlic and rosemary and gently cook for 15-20 minutes, until the onions of really soft. Add the flour and give it a good stir to cook as much of the onions as possible.

Add the puree and stock, bring to a light simmer and cook for another 15-20 minutes, adding the vinegar for the last few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve with a thick slice of toasted, homemade bread and a few sausages.

Chorizo and Black Olive Bread

Over the past few years, Britain has been inspired by shows like The Great British Bake Off and Paul Hollywood's current series Bread to take up baking. I find that baking bread, in particular, can be a satisfying enterprise and you can really begin to experiment. And, there's a limitless amount of variation available to you. 

This recipe uses a stand mixer, but it can also by done my hand.

Also, I use a pizza stone because it helps to give a good, crisp base. But it isn't essential.

100g chorizo, roughly chopped
100g black olives, pitted and halved
500g strong white bread flour
20g semolina
15g dried yeast, type that needs reconstituting
5g table salt
50g extra virgin olive oil
320g water, (320g of water is the same as 320ml but it's more accurate to weigh)

Add the flour, semolina, yeast, salt and olive oil into the stand mixer bowl, adding the yeast and salt on opposite sides, and attach the dough hook. Mix on a low speed to combine the ingredients, then gradually add the water - increasing the speed, if the mixer starts to labour. Continue to knead for about 4 minutes, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with a tea towel and allow to double in size for about an hour at room temperature or in the kitchen with the oven on. 

Meanwhile, add the chorizo to a cold frying pan and put on a high heat. Once the chorizo starts to release its oil, add the olives and cook for another minute. Set aside and allow to cool before continuing.

Add the chorizo and olives to the dough and, using the dough hook, mix until it is evenly distributed.

Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured and roll into a ball. Return it to the bowl and leave again for 30 minutes. Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 220C.

Once again, turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and cut into three equal portions (use scales to ensure they are equal). Place the portions on to the pizza stone and bake for about 30 minutes, until cooked. When cooked, the bread will sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool.

Fried Chicken

Juicy. Crispy. Chicken. I could end this post with just those three words.

Frugality in the kitchen very often leads to dishes that you might not have otherwise made. It has a tendency to inspire creativity in order to make ingredients stretch that little bit further. And, you can't get much thriftier than being a whole chicken - as long as it's treated right.

Whole chickens offer so much variety. The breasts can be baked or grilled, or turned into goujons or kebabs. The legs and thighs can make a mean coq au vin. The carcass can make a great homemade stock or soup. And the wings can be BBQ'd, naturally. Of course, there's a load more that can be done.

To be able to use the different portions like this, you'll need to know how to fillet a chicken. Trust me, it's not as daunting as it seems. (Check out my video).

Serves 2 (or a greedy 1)

6 pieces of chicken (drumsticks, wings and thighs)

300ml buttercream

5tbsp plain flour

1tbsp smoked paprika

1tsp chilli flakes

1tsp salt

1tsp pepper

Place the chicken in a bowl and entirely cover with the buttercream. Pop this into the fridge for a few hours (8 if you can wait that long), this helps to tenderise it.

Once the chicken has marinated, preheat deep fat fryer to 170C.

Mix the flour and seasonings together. Wipe off as much of the buttercream from the chicken as possible, then coat it in the flour mixture. Fry the chicken for 10 minutes then lower the temperature to 150C and cook for a further 20 minutes. Pat it dry, to remove excess oil, and serve piping hot. 

Chicken and Ham Pie

Happy New Year to you all.

So, with the festivities slowly sculking into the past, my thoughts have been a little bit hindered i.e. where's all my money gone?! 

Some slight over indulgence in food has left my purse feeling a tad light and turns out my laptop couldn't survive to see 2012 out, for which I'll need to save pennies for a new one. 

With this in mind, I wanted to share a cheap but very tasty meal with you. Chicken and ham pie. 

To keep the costs low, I've used the cheaper, and tastier, chicken thighs, added reduced cost ham pieces from the supermarket's deli and cooked in bulk. 

Hope you enjoy. If not, here's a photo of young me with two ice creams to make up for it. 

Makes 6 individual pies or 1 very large pie

For the filling:

40g butter, unsalted

40g plain flour

600ml whole milk, warm

2 bay leaves

6 chicken thighs, filleted and cut into small chunks

100g ham, roughly chopped

Salt and pepper, to season

For the pastry:

75g lard

75g butter, unsalted

300g plain flour

1tsp salt

Cold water

1 egg, beaten

To make the filling, melt the butter in a fairly deep pan, then stir in the flour using a wooden spoon. Now switch to a whisk and gradually whisk in the milk. (This is easier, and quicker, if you have the milk warmed in another pan). Throw in the bay leaves, followed by the chicken and ham. Simmer for roughly 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked, then taste and season. 

Now to make the pastry (or this can be done beforehand, up to you). Using the tips of your fingers, rub the fats into the flour, until it looks like breadcrumbs and add the salt. Very gradually add the water until it comes together and forms a ball. Note: the less water you did the shorter (more crumbly) the end result will be, but it still needs to be workable. Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 30 minutes. 

Now to assemble. 

Preheat the oven to 200C. 

Put the filling into the pie dish(es) and brush the edges with some of the egg. Roll out the pastry and cut to the appropriate size for your dishes and place on top of them. Glaze the pastry with the remaining egg and cut two small holes into the centre with a knife (to release steam so the pies don't explode). Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until piping hot in the middle and golden brown on top.