Save Money - Ditch the Breasts

Buying individual chicken breasts is very expensive and there is a much cheaper/easier alternative if you invest in a good knife.

A large free range chicken in Aldi costs €5.99.  A boning knife should cost in or around €25.

To begin remove the chicken from the packaging. Even if you are not going to bone out the chicken straight away, do this to store your chicken.  It will keep better and won't sweat.

My boning knife is a Wusthof.

To begin boning a chicken, press down on one of the legs to stretch the skin and slice carefully into it.  Keep pressing down on the leg until you hear a slight crack and then turn the chicken over on it's breast and work the knife around the leg.  You can see where the leg joins the body at a knuckle type joint.  Gently work the knife in between the knuckle and cut the leg free.  It should be easy to do this, if you have to use brute force you are not doing it right.


Remove the other leg in the same manner.









You can see the knuckle joint in this picture and how I have worked the knife around it trimming the meat from the leg, free from the carcass.

                                                                
To remove the wings pull one out from the body and begin to carefully cut the skin around the base of it.  Work the knife to find the attachment to the carcass as in the leg and ease the knife in behind the joint. It should be easy to cut again.  Remove the other in the same manner.

To remove the first breast slice the knife along the breast bone as in the picture.  Then carefully using the carcass as a guideline gently work the breast free starting at the neck end and working your way down.  Keep the knife pointing more into the carcass so as to remove as much meat as possible.

The first time you do it you will probably leave too much meat on the carcass but don't worry it won't go to waste (nothing does).

Remove the second breast in the same way.

 First breast removed.

Both breasts removed.

Trim up the carcass removing excess skin and fat (I cook and give to the dogs).

You can split the carcass easily to make it fit into a saucepan.

Add this carcass with an onion split in half with skin on, a carrot sliced in chunks and a stick of celery.  Fill up with water and simmer for at least an hour (preferably more).  When it is cool gently remove the meat from the carcass and reserve.  Drain off the stock, straining it through a piece of muslin in a sieve to remove fat and any shards of bone.

Freeze the stock in ice cube trays and when frozen pop them out into a plastic bag.  This way you have stock cubes for later use.

A large chicken like this should give you two good sized breasts at least 220g each. 

Chicken stuffed with goats cheese and pesto
A really delicious way to cook the breasts is to stuff with goats cheese, homemade pesto (frozen in cubes the way I suggest doing the stock) and then wrapping in Pancetta.

Bake in tinfoil in a moderate oven 180 deg C for approx 30 minutes.

I wrap them in cling film and freeze them.  I often cook them from frozen but cook for about 10-15 minutes longer.  You can always defrost in a microwave or naturally if time permits.

Slice the pesto cube in half and add some of the cheese.

Fold the fillet over the stuffing and then cover with the pancetta.

Chicken stuffed and wrapped for cooking immediately or freezing.


















So for less than €6 you have two large chicken breasts, 2 legs, 2 wings and at least a litre of stock (the chicken meat you have flaked off the carcass can be used to make chicken soup with your stock).

Two chicken breasts alone normally cost that.

Simples and remember practice makes perfect.

 Tags: Chicken  Boning a chicken  Money saving tips Pancetta wrapped chicken stuffed with goats cheese and pesto

Bowled Over

My new pink bowl with it's ancestors

Flicking through the Aldi magazine recently in the Irish Independent I discovered they were having a bakeware sale.  I always had a hankering for a bowl similar to one my mother and grandmother used when I was a child but never got around to buying one.  So when I saw the ones in the Aldi sale were something similar I was really pleased.

I tweeted about it and there followed a long conversation about the bowls and people's memories of them, either their mother or grandmother's bowls.  And then the clanger, when Colette @katzwizkaz tweeted the ones with hearts around the outside were valuable.

I bet there were lots of pudding bowls rooted out of cupboards to have a quick peek.  I rang my mother and she told me she had hers and my grandaunt's in the shed and I could have them. I held my breath waiting for her to tell me that they had the magical hearts on the outside, but they were the common or garden diamonds.

She arrived for a visit today with the bowls and I set about cleaning them. I always remember the green spot in the smaller one and often wondered was it a flaw or was it intentional.

There is something magical about these bowls, as here in Ireland they were always used for making a big round of soda bread and at Christmas for mixing the pudding.  Many's a child was allowed lick the bowl or stir the pudding in them.  They obviously stirred up lots more memories, in a good way - as someone tweeted that cakes mixed in them tasted better, the way tea in a china cup does.

Both my mother's and my grand aunt's were made by T.G Green and Company in Church Gresley in the U.K and have patent numbers which presumably would date them as they have been manufactured since 1926.  I Googled the name and they are still in existence http://www.tggreen.co.uk/. When I clicked on the site the familiar old blue and white pottery reminded me of a similar set we had at home years ago.

I would love to see if the patent numbers on mine can date them.  For now they are going to be stored in my kitchen for passing on to my daughter and hopefully onto hers.

Sometimes the simplest of items evoke nice warm memories.

Tags: Ceramic Bowls  Christmas pudding Irish soda bread Church Gresley  T.G Green & Co. Ltd

White Cake - almost had me Djangoed!

I watched Django recently; the bit I think I enjoyed the most was the southern feast prepared on it and particularly the southern accents.  There was a shot at the end of the meal of White Cake and it looked really impressive. Four layers of almost white sponge with that thick American frosting which you just know is going to be tooth-achingly sweet. 

I have made several attempts to make it and get it looking authentic. My first mistake was using Irish butter as it's much too yellow in colour.  My second using French "white" butter was more successful but I still can't get it as white as it appears on American websites.   

It has a large number of egg whites and a huge volume of sugar.  Luckily my hens are laying really well at the moment so I don't feel guilty using so many eggs up.  The sugar is another story though.


For the cake:

200g white butter (I used French unsalted)
350g sugar
6 egg whites
390g flour
1 tsp baking powder
230ml milk

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and reserve. (the American method said to whisk the egg whites with the milk as you can see I did here but I wouldn't recommend doing it).  Add the sieved flour and baking powder and stir into butter and sugar mix.  Add a little of the milk to loosen it up.  Fold in the egg whites alternately adding more of the milk until you have a smooth batter.  You may not need all the milk.

Pour into two greased cake tins and bake at 170 deg C for about 30-35 mins until just firm to the touch. I had some of the batter left over and so poured the remainder into silicon bun cases.  These almost took as long to bake as the cakes.

Allow to cool and turn out onto a wire rack.

For the white topping:
200g cream cheese
100g butter preferably white and unsalted
350g icing sugar

Beat the cream cheese and softened butter together until soft and fluffy.  Add in the icing sugar slowly and keep tasting until you get the sweetness you desire bearing in mind that the cake is very sweet and the icing should be a nice contrast.  I used a good bit less than the recipe called for.

Tags: Irish Food  Irish Baking White Cake  Irish Butter  French Butter  Django