Monday: Roast Chicken and Veg, and Carrot and Nettle Soup

I took the boys to the park today, and finally harvested some Nettle that grows along the creek near the playground. Stinging Nettle grows everywhere in England. Although it's something you want don't want touching your bare skin, once cooked, it's apparently quite delicious and very nutritious. It loses it's stinging quality once cooked. It's similar to spinach, but with a peppery kick.

So with gloves, scissors and a bag in tow, I trimmed the tops off of several nettle plants. I discovered that the cheap disposable plastic gloves are not strong/thick enough for this job (but at least I knew I was picking the right thing). Next time I'll bring my rubber washing up gloves.

Since I had the nettle, I decided to make a soup to go along with the roast chicken I had planned for tonight. (I bought a whole chicken at Tesco for £1.59!) Even though I don't write out a weekly menu for the week, sometimes I am organized enough to plan ahead, especially when I have leftover food I need to use up. I had a ton of rice leftover from dinner last night, and knew I would have leftover chicken from tonight. So I plan on making burrito/enchiladas later this week using those two ingredients. Because I wanted some Mexican type flavours for the burritos, I decided to go that route with the roast chicken as well.

Verdict: The soup was actually really good. My two-year old ate it right up. Although a bit wary at first, Paul really enjoyed it too. My three year-old took one look at it and declared he didn't like green soup. I made him try a couple of spoonfuls, and he still declared he didn't like it. The chicken turned out great, and the oven chips were good as usual.

Carrot, Nettle and Coriander Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

Bunch of Nettle leaves, about 1 cup packed (handle with gloves!)

~1 Tbs dried coriander leaves (cilantro leaves)

Vegetable stock or water

salt and pepper to taste

Sweat the onion and carrot in a bit of Oil until soft. Add the nettle leaves and cook until wilted. Add the coriander, seasoning and enough stock or water to cover the vegetables. Bring to boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Let cool, and puree the soup until smooth. Season to taste.

Roast Chicken with a spice butter rub

In a frying pan, (I used the saucepan I was going to use for the soup), dry roast about 1 Tbs Cumin seeds, 1-2 tsp Coriander seeds, and a dash of hot pepper flakes, on medium heat for a couple minutes, until you can smell the spices well. Remove from pan, and using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, grind the mixture into a powder. Add salt and pepper to taste, and some chopped fresh Coriander/cilantro leaves. Add to some softened butter (~1-2 Tbs), along with a squeeze of lime juice), and mix.

Using your finger separate the skin from the flesh of the breast on a whole roasting chicken. place about half the butter rub under the skin of the breast, and using your hand, push the butter to the end of the breast, and evenly spread it around. Do the same with the other breast. If desired, you could make a slit in the skin of the drumsticks and rub some butter under that skin as well. Season the cavity with a salt, pepper, ground cumin and paprika rub, and place a couple small pieces of lime inside as well. Rub the outside of the chicken with oil, and season with the salt, pepper, ground cumin and paprika rub. (You could also just season with Salt and Pepper. Cover the breasts with foil. Place chicken in a roasting pan, on a rack if possible, and bake at 350*F for about an hour, removing the foil after 30 minutes. The temperature of the meat should reach 170*F. Let rest for at least 10 minutes.

I also made some oven fries and roasted carrot sticks to go along with the meal.