beer chicken patties

what do you do with left-over [collapsed] beer chicken? you make beer chicken patties, of course!!

on the night that o made the collapsed beer chicken we carved slices of it and ate it with a gravy made of beer and pan drippings thickened with a little bit of flour. a couple of days later i stripped the chicken of its remaining meat. with the help of my trusty food processor i processed the chicken with a slice of bread, a dollop of mustard and grated cheddar cheese and an egg. i shaped the mixture into thick patties and shallow fried them until the outside was brown and crusty. o and i ate them with toasted four grain bread with a trickle of the left over gravy.

m's version of kedgeree

the first time i ate kedgeree was at my friend emma's place in twenty o two. we were spending the weekend with her mum in southampton. i instantly took to it. what's not to like about rice boiled in curried broth, thick flakes of smoked fish and wedges of hard boiled egg. 

the name of the dish 'kedgeree' sounded oddly familiar. this is because in pakistan we often eat 'kichari', a dish made of rice and lentils. in my house it was usually cooked when someone had an upset tummy. this bland and soothing dish of lentils and rice served with some natural yoghurt helped calm tummies in turmoil. sometimes we'd eat it as comfort food. there is some dispute about the history of kedgeree as some say that kedgeree is an anglo-indian version of this sub-continental comfort food, whereas some say that the scots brought it to india. i personally see the affinity between the dishes but find that kedgeree is a more flavoursome version of 'kichari', and with the addition of cream can be quite a rich comfort food (that's how it is served at the albion caff at the boundary). 

the one i made at home for o and i included fresh haddock poached in white wine with a bay leaf and a few pepper corns. i used the poaching liquid to boil the rice in, adding a hint of turmeric and curry powder to the rice. when it was cooked i added the flaked fish and lots of chopped dill and a little bit of creme fraiche to give it a creamy texture. i topped it with half a boiled egg each.

o really enjoyed it. i made the kedgeree from the memory of its taste but am including sophie girgson's recipe which is quite close to how i made it. i will definitely try adding smoked haddock next time as i can imagine it gives it added flavour. 

sea salted chocolate chip cookies

this is a variation on david lebovitz's 'salted butter chocolate chip cookie'

here is what you need

115 grams of unsalted butter at room temperature

110 grams of demerara sugar 

100 grams golden sugar 

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

100 grams white flour

100 grams wholewheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

200 gram dark chocolate bar broken into chunks

1 cup hazelnuts half of which should be blitzed and half should be whole

zest of an orange