Continuing from my previous post...
Shared Lunch #3: Roast chicken sandwich with Christmas stuffing, coleslaw with toasted sesame seeds, gravy and crispy chicken skin in an Arobake baguette. I'm sure I've mentioned this before but I love roast leftover sandwiches. Even better when there is leftover gravy and stuffing to add to the memories of the dinner before, relived in a white bread sandwich (or roll) with a spread of butter and salad leaves when we're trying to pretend like it counters everything else.
Chicken (free-range, cornfed and organic)
Pre-heat oven to as high as possible. Pat chicken dry with paper towels to allow undiluted absorption of crushed garlic, sea salt, plenty of black pepper and olive oil rubbed lovingly into all creases and folds to marinate for as long as possible. Because I have a cast-iron pan (which I highly recommend to anyone) I preheat this dry and high before adding the chicken to sear it off on both sides for a minute each (ending breast-side down), moving the bird in the pan periodically to prevent sticking. After this process I'm able to easily transfer the chicken straight into the oven, which has been preheated on high, lowering the heat to 170deg on transfer. There's no proof that this helps to create a juicier roast chicken, but I like to think it does (as results confirm). To aid in gravy production according to this recipe, I also add chopped potatoes, carrots and parsnip to sit underneath the chicken as it cooks.
Christmas stuffing
I call it Christmas stuffing because of the added luxury of fresh pork sausage (I used French Toulouse sausages from Moore Wilson) to help season and give an added depth of flavour. For about a cup and a half of homemade breadcrumbs, I squeezed the contents of one plump sausage out of it's case and into smaller pieces and added it to the breadcrumbs, along with one small diced onion, a teaspoon of thyme, 50g of butter diced into small pieces, a swig of olive oil and salt and pepper. Mixed thoroughly to evenly distribute butter and sausage, it then went into the oven (with the chicken) to bake for 20 minutes or until starting to colour and crispen on top. Remove from oven and cool.
Coleslaw
Made to this tried-and-tested Food Lab recipe, I added toasted sesame seeds and substituted apple cider vinegar for red wine vinegar and dijon mustard for wholegrain (I had none of the former). It is so good that I've since made this coleslaw twice and will do repeatedly until the day I die.
Gravy
Again, made to this recipe by Jamie Oliver, including trimming wings off my chicken to add to the mix.
Crispy chicken skin
As I embarked on stripping the chicken of all it's meat to be sandwich-ready, I carefully removed the chicken skin as well so I could grill this to a delicious crisp.
Preheat grill/broiler to high. On a foil-lined lipped baking tray (to save from the rendered chicken fat running off easily) lay chicken skin in a single layer, season and place under grill. Check after 5 minutes (all grills/broilers are different) to understand how much longer they may need, if any. You want all of the chicken fat to render from the skin, leaving behind a crisp, wafer-like piece of savoury decadence.
Assembly
Half a baguette, split open (with inner bread torn out and reserved for future use, e.g. breadcrumbs)
Bottom half smeared lightly with butter or olive-oil based spread
Generous heap of roast chicken meat, seasoned
Heaped tablespoon of stuffing
Gravy
Coleslaw, and
Cut strips of crispy chicken skin.
Self-criticisms: I didn't make enough gravy. Or crispy chicken skin! A simple hearty sandwich in any case and I was much happier for my choice of baguette this time around. Delicious.
Shared Lunch #3: Roast chicken sandwich with Christmas stuffing, coleslaw with toasted sesame seeds, gravy and crispy chicken skin in an Arobake baguette. I'm sure I've mentioned this before but I love roast leftover sandwiches. Even better when there is leftover gravy and stuffing to add to the memories of the dinner before, relived in a white bread sandwich (or roll) with a spread of butter and salad leaves when we're trying to pretend like it counters everything else.
Chicken (free-range, cornfed and organic)
Pre-heat oven to as high as possible. Pat chicken dry with paper towels to allow undiluted absorption of crushed garlic, sea salt, plenty of black pepper and olive oil rubbed lovingly into all creases and folds to marinate for as long as possible. Because I have a cast-iron pan (which I highly recommend to anyone) I preheat this dry and high before adding the chicken to sear it off on both sides for a minute each (ending breast-side down), moving the bird in the pan periodically to prevent sticking. After this process I'm able to easily transfer the chicken straight into the oven, which has been preheated on high, lowering the heat to 170deg on transfer. There's no proof that this helps to create a juicier roast chicken, but I like to think it does (as results confirm). To aid in gravy production according to this recipe, I also add chopped potatoes, carrots and parsnip to sit underneath the chicken as it cooks.
Christmas stuffing
I call it Christmas stuffing because of the added luxury of fresh pork sausage (I used French Toulouse sausages from Moore Wilson) to help season and give an added depth of flavour. For about a cup and a half of homemade breadcrumbs, I squeezed the contents of one plump sausage out of it's case and into smaller pieces and added it to the breadcrumbs, along with one small diced onion, a teaspoon of thyme, 50g of butter diced into small pieces, a swig of olive oil and salt and pepper. Mixed thoroughly to evenly distribute butter and sausage, it then went into the oven (with the chicken) to bake for 20 minutes or until starting to colour and crispen on top. Remove from oven and cool.
Coleslaw
Made to this tried-and-tested Food Lab recipe, I added toasted sesame seeds and substituted apple cider vinegar for red wine vinegar and dijon mustard for wholegrain (I had none of the former). It is so good that I've since made this coleslaw twice and will do repeatedly until the day I die.
Gravy
Again, made to this recipe by Jamie Oliver, including trimming wings off my chicken to add to the mix.
Crispy chicken skin
As I embarked on stripping the chicken of all it's meat to be sandwich-ready, I carefully removed the chicken skin as well so I could grill this to a delicious crisp.
Preheat grill/broiler to high. On a foil-lined lipped baking tray (to save from the rendered chicken fat running off easily) lay chicken skin in a single layer, season and place under grill. Check after 5 minutes (all grills/broilers are different) to understand how much longer they may need, if any. You want all of the chicken fat to render from the skin, leaving behind a crisp, wafer-like piece of savoury decadence.
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| (l-r, clockwise) Arobake baguettes, stuffing, chicken, gravy, coleslaw and my amazing Japanese knife. Too hungry and too delicious to remember to take a photo of an assembled version! |
Assembly
Half a baguette, split open (with inner bread torn out and reserved for future use, e.g. breadcrumbs)
Bottom half smeared lightly with butter or olive-oil based spread
Generous heap of roast chicken meat, seasoned
Heaped tablespoon of stuffing
Gravy
Coleslaw, and
Cut strips of crispy chicken skin.
Self-criticisms: I didn't make enough gravy. Or crispy chicken skin! A simple hearty sandwich in any case and I was much happier for my choice of baguette this time around. Delicious.
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