Sunday, November 15, 2009

I Heart Cooking Clubs: Man-Food!

One Pan Sage and Onion Chicken and Sausage
(and some roasted brussel sprouts)



I have been a lover of Nigella for.....oh, quite a while now. I love how she talks about food and makes it so sensual.


I wrote a post about Nigella once, but I can't remember if it was for my food blog, or my book club blog. (yes, I used to have a book blog, but I just couldn't keep up with both of them).

The reason I wrote about Nigella for a book club tho, was because one of the women in my book club had made some great cream puffs for dessert (brought them to my house) and in the middle of the night, they actually called to me. Called me to get out of bed, walk down the stairs, turn on the kitchen light, and sensually pull a cream puff out of the fridge and bite into it...that soft kiss of powdered sugar still on my lips as, I glance towards the dining room window only to realize that I've turned on the light, the neighbors can see in my kitchen now and I'm standing there in my underpants only, with wild bed hair eating a cream puff and the powdered sugar is smeared all over my chin.

When Nigella gets out of bed to have a "midnight" snack, she NEVER looks like that.
Nope, not EVER.
I'll have to work on my Nigella impersonation.
But for now... now, I have joined a cooking group, "I heart cooking clubs".

In "I heart cooking clubs", there is a cookbook author or chef, whom is chosen and then the bloggers who choose to join in, make a dish of that author/chef's and post about it in their own blog. With a link back to all the others who joined in that weeks theme.

That is another reason I was inclined to join in the fun of "I heart cooking Clubs"... because there is a "theme" every week. This week it's "Man Food" and we can cook whatever our heart desires, as long as we consider it to be in keeping with the theme for the week and the author/chef of the time period.
 
Check it out here (to see the other takes on MAN FOOD)   for this week's theme.
 
(to join and be on the blogroll click here) 
 
Whew! I feel like I just explained all the legalities as they do on Oscar night... when the Price-Waterhouse attorneys come on stage and explain the voting process.



Because all you really want to know is....whatdya cook? whatdya cook?
Well....my "Man Food" of the week (and that week ends tonight at midnight--I love the pressure of cutting it close) is:  One Pan Sage and Onion Chicken and Sausage.
I've been wanting to make it for quite some time, and this seemed like a good opportunity. It's Man-Food. Sausage. Chicken. Onions.


The only problem I had with the recipe was that she/Nigella listed everything in the metric system. At first I thought I'd have to go google to get a conversion chart, and that would be a lot of work. But, little did I know that Pyrex's glass measuring cups have the metric system right there beside our oz, pints, quarts, etc


I was relieved.


The other thing was, English Mustard. I bought "original English mustard", and when I got home and was reading the directions better, it mentioned "seeds" in the mustard, but my "original" didn't have seeds. It was quite a smooth yellow, but with a different tang than French's mustard.


I also didn't use "jointed" chicken, but chose thighs instead. We like them.


The outcome of Nigella's One Pan Sage and Onion Chicken and Sausage?
The Handyman "liked it fine".
I, on the other hand, really liked it. It was very "fall".... an autumn kind of meal. But all in all it was just baked chicken, with a baked sausage. With some onions and sage seasoning. Nigella makes all food seem so fancy.
Nothing too fancy, but it made for a good Sunday dinner.
Would I make it again? Yes, I would make it again.


One Pan Sage and Onion Chicken and Sausage


Ingredients:
1 large onion or 2 small onions

125ml olive oil (not extra virgin)
2 teaspoons English mustard
1 tablespoon dried sage
ground pepper
1 lemon
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2kg chicken jointed into 10 pieces


Method:
Peel and cut the onion into eighths and put into a freezer bag with the oil, mustard, dried sage, a good grinding of pepper, the lemon juice and the squeezed out husks of the lemon, cut into eighths, and the Worcestershire sauce. Squidge everything around to mix (the mustard needs help to combine), then add the chicken pieces. Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight, or for up to two days.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 7/220c ( I did it at 350degrees-f ). Allow the chicken to come to room temperature in its marinade.


Arrange the chicken pieces in a roasting tin, skin-side up, with the marinade, including all the little pieces and bits, and tuck the sausages around them. Sprinkle with with some fresh sage and put them in the oven to cook for 1hour and 10 minutes.
Turn sausages over halfway through to colour them evenly.


Arrange the chicken and sausages on a large platter.



The stuff we needed for the marinade



I must say, that I do love the way Nigella uses Zip-loc or freezer bags.  She rarely has any mess.
And I had little this day.



Ready to pop in the oven




On the plate.  Let's eat!


8 comments:

Deb in Hawaii said...

Looks delicious! Love the chicken, sausage and sage combo. Nice to have you at IHCC. ;-)

NKP said...

Definitely man food!
I would love this dinner too, looks delicious.
As a Canadian, I am used to juggling both metric and imperial - often without a firm grasp on either!

Lara said...

My man would definitely love this!

Mary Bergfeld said...

What a marvelous combination of your three main ingredients. Men and women would enjoy this one.

teresa said...

oh this looks so good! i love the flavors!

Kathleen said...

When I was choosing my Man Food for IHCC, I was vacillating between your dish and the one I ended up with, Lamb shanks. Thanks for your input on The chicken sausage recipe.

Connie said...

That looks fabulous! So many of my favorite fall flavors too.

Can't wait to see what you made for the challenge!

Anonymous said...

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Thanks

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