Abel & Cole Citrus Chicken

Tags

Abel & Cole, carrot, clementine, CSA box, onion, orange, orange roast chicken, potato, winter root vegetable

Each week, our Abel & Cole box comes with a little newsletter with fun information and a couple recipes concerning the things in your box and what you can do with the abundance of squash or greens they send, etc so you get the most use out of your box each week.

The recipes are always an interesting jumping off point and have given us plenty of ideas for what we want instead in the past but this past Tuesday when we read the recipes that were included, it was the first time that both the husband unit and I were interested in making BOTH! So here is the first, it is a roasted citrus chicken and we had to sacrifice one of Mei’s clementines for the meal, but she hardly noticed.

Mei literally eats 1 kg of oranges every two days so we go through a whole bunch of oranges each week, in addition to all of the other fruit she loves to eat on a daily basis! She loved a bit of this chicken too! Naturally!

This was really simple and don’t let the recipe fool you! You can include as much chicken as you like, just adjust the number of oranges for the amount of chicken you are making, along with the root veggies. We tried to keep our veggies proportional to each person and what they would eat but you can leave the veggies out or put in more or less and of course, only the veggies you want! The beauty of this type of roast recipe is that it is entirely adaptable to you and your family – and I’m certain that you will be able to sacrifice some of your citrus for this recipe even if you have an orange hoarder on your hands like we do!

Ingredients:

• chicken (you can use two breasts, two legs, four thighs or four drumsticks or whatever combinations suit you) 
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 oranges or any orange citrus variety you have on hand, quartered
• a couple handfuls of seasonal vegetables, cut into chunks (we used potatoes, onions, carrots and turnips)
• one red chilli, finely chopped (to taste)
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 TBS honey
• a handful of fresh coriander or parsley roughly chopped for garnish (optional)

Preheat your oven to 400 F/ 200 C / Gas 6.

Pop the chicken in a roasting tray. Glass with oil and season well with salt and pepper. Scatter the veggies in among the chicken then squeeze two of the orange quarters over the chicken and place the rest of the orange segments around the veggies.

Roast for 25 minutes.

Squeeze the juice from one of the orange segments taht is in the dish over the chicken then drizzle the honey over the chicken and decorate the skin with the chilli and garlic.

8

Crank the oven up to 450 F/ 230 C/ Gas 8 and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes until the skin is crispy.

Add a final squeeze of roasted orange juice over the chicken and finish with a scattering of fresh herbs.

Slow Cooker Sunday! Welsh Cawl

Tags

Abel & Cole, butternut squash, carrot, celeriac, CSA box, giveaway winner, lamb roast, leek, onion, onion squash, parsnip, potato, rosemary, slow cooker, slow cooker lamb, slow cooker sunday, squash, swede, thyme, turnip, Welsh Cawl, winter root veg

Every once in awhile, one of the recipes that comes with our weekly Abel & Cole boxes is so good sounding that we have to make it!

This one turned out to be a slow-coked roast on the stove but we adapted it for the slow cooker since it was just one of “those” days. It worked out beautifully and we managed to clear out a bit of our freezer with it since we happened to have a gallon bag filled with cubed butternut and onion squash leftover from our soup making adventures earlier this winter and this just seemed to be the perfect occasion to use up some of it! After all, we are working on the Eat Your Pantry Challenge!

The hubby had this all alone in his bowl and I served my portion on top of some leftover rice that I didn’t want to go to waste. Either way you go, some crusty bread certainly does the broth justice and just makes it taste more comforting.

Bread gives hugs.

It’s a known fact.

Ingredients:

•  400 g lamb (we chose a bone-in half shoulder)
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper
• 4-5 TBS all purpose flour
• a glug of olive oil
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 carrots, peeled and cubed
• 2 handfuls of diced winter roots (turnips, parsnips, swede, celeriac, butternut squash, or any other squash)
• 2 leeks or onions
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 C water
• 1 C red wine
• two lamb bouillon cube (or vegetable) meant to season 2 C of water each
• a few good splashes of Worcestershire sauce

Season the lamb generously with salt and pepper then dredge in flour. Bring a frying pan with about 3 TBS of oilve oil in it to heat then carefully sear each side of the roast until it is golden brown. Then set it in the slow cooker.

Add the potatoes, carrots, root veg,  onions and herbs to the slow cooker, scattering evenly around the lamb.

Add three cups of water and one cup of red wine then toss in the lamb bouillon cubes (or vegetable bouillon cube if you prefer).

Cover and cook on LOW for 6-7 HOURS.

Press a fork into the meat and if the meat pulls away easily and is tender, turn it off and add a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce to your liking, top up with salt and pepper if necessary then serve with warm crusty bread and cheddar cheese!