Week 6 already! I can’t believe how quickly the weeks are flying by. We’re already partway through February but it feels like Christmas was only a couple of weeks ago. It is still quite wintery and cold outside though – especially today with a (hopefully) final dumping of snow here so it feels fitting that this week’s recipe is of the hearty and warming variety.
This recipe is also quite fitting because I’m going through a phase at the minute with proper cider (none of the sweet mass-produced rubbish thanks very much) so when Mr Gem emailed me a link to this recipe and I saw that cider was a key ingredient I knew I needed to try it!
Chicken Braised in Cider with Celeriac Mash
This recipe was an absolute treat, it contains most of my favourite things, chicken, cider, chorizo, celeriac, cream… you can find the full recipe on the BBC Food Website and I genuinely would recommend anyone to give it a whirl.
I substituted the chicken legs for boneless chicken thighs – I know that meat on the bone retains its flavour and moisture but I can’t eat chicken from the bone, I also added in some garlic that I had left over but other than I kept to the original ingredients list.
To cook this I browned the chicken in a frying pan but added everything into an oven proof dish to cook because I don/t have a pan or dish that is both oven and hob safe, this does mean more washing up, but until I can afford my dream casserole pot Mr Gem will just have to deal with it! All the ingredients for the casserole went into the pot and in the oven for around an hour., Whilst the chicken cooked I commenced battle with the celeriac.
I love celeriac, it has a lovely flavour and texture but I hate preparing it! I ended up peeling it with a carving knife because no other implement in my kitchen would work (please don’t try this at home!) Once I had finally peeled and chopped the celeriac I popped it in a pan with lemon juice and covered with water to boil until it was soft enough to mash with butter and a bit of double cream.
In the time it took to deal with the celeriac, the chicken was almost finished in the oven. At this stage I added a bit of cream and a tiny bit of cornflour paste to thicken the sauce a bit and popped it back in the oven whilst I cooked some greens.
I served the casserole over the mash with sugar snap peas and it was delicious – the cider and chorizo and chicken went so well with the celeriac mash, hands down it was my favourite dish of 2013…so far!
This looks too good to be true! The fact that it doesn’t have too many carbs makes it perfect – thanks for sharing!
- Jonathan I http://styleoverstress.wordpress.com
Thanks! It was really delicious, thanks for the comment
Have to admit I do like speciality ciders, and there are so many. Especially sparkling. Yet, I’ve never cooked with it. I think I’m still slightly scarred by having to try scrumpy in Somerset years ago! Though the fact I’m willing to drink the stuff doesn’t make sense. Will have to adapt and move on!
I’ve cooked with it twice now and both times it worked really well, which is good as it means I will have to keep some as a store cupboard essential…!
This looks soooooooo good!
Thank you very much! It tasted pretty good too!