Back in the kitchen

 for proper meals.

Today we are having the roast chicken and trimmings that I should have cooked yesterday but neither G or I fancied a full on tea.  Tonight is a different kettle of fish though.  This chicken is dearer than a normal supermarket chicken.  It is dearer but the chicken has had a much better life, there is more meat on the bone and it cooks up lovely and tender. It comes from our local butcher - it was just under £10, but I will get two good roast meals out of it, and probably a stir fry and the stock from the carcass.  I will make the stock and then bottle it for the Pantry shelf - so it is also paying it forward where the Pantry is concerned.  A good stock makes all the difference to a good meal.

The Chicken is roasting in the oven.  I have popped half an onion into the cavity along with a little butter. On the outside I have spread butter, and then sprinkled a good helping of proper Herbes de Provence all over it and then roasted it in the oven slowly. 

The veggies have all been prepared and the Roasties are on (these days I tend to do them in my Ninja Foodi) as it takes less than 35 minutes to get a nice big pan full of roasted veggies and they taste scrummy.  Today before putting them into the Ninja I blanched them for 5 minutes, then drained the veggie water and retained this for making the gravy. They then with a little oil and salt went straight into the Foodi on roast. 

The steamer is also on with the rest of the veggies. Choice of veggies to accompany tonight's tea roasted onion, potato and sweet potato. Sweet potato is fantastic roasted especially with some fresh Rosemary which I did not have to hand today. I normally have a plant or two.

Then in the steamer, Cauliflower, peas, carrots, mashed potato, runner beans. As per usual I have cooked for two days worth of meals.  Any meat or veggies left over will be put to good use one way or another.  I do not like waste, but equally always tend to cook a bit more veg as there are always ways to use them up.  Sometimes the best meals come from leftovers. 

Tea itself was delicious.

Because I have cooked up two days worth of veg prepared and cooked it makes it nice and easy on the meal front tomorrow and means I will be able to get on with something else. It will be basically a duplicate of today which will just need re-warming.

We also have the last of the Gloucester Old Spot sausages (two left) to accompany the roast Chicken.

I have chosen not to make a pudding tonight, although might well make a Bread and Butter pudding for tomorrow night's tea. If there are any veggies left over (unlikely but if there are it will go into a homemade veggie/leftovers soup for serving with some bread and dunking.  We are great dunkers here. If there is quite a bit of chicken left over and I suspect there will be there could also be either baked potatoes and chicken with perhaps a Coronation Chicken mix added and warmed up as a meal in itself.  Will see what we fancy nearer the time.

Have a lovely evening.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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