Worth the price of admission....

Well, after much putting off and meandering about in the apartment, I finally threw on a movie to listen to (I need to get some music in the living room..not just the TV) and started in on something that I watch Ramsay make on his show, "The F Word". The show is about making good food and making it fast, thereby avoiding Fast Food (which is the F word). Tonight, I made a dish he calls Sticky Lemon Chicken with Champ. As it turns out, champ is an English rendition of mashers with scallions. And it is yum.

Starting with the basic ingredients in a mis en plac, I felt ready to tackle the dish. It isn't exactly hard, which is the point of the food on this show. I realized one thing that I will change for the next time I make this: I will de-bone the breast...it was done at the end no problem, BUT was a pain to deal with on the plate.

(I just turned on my iTunes and hit the play - go fig it started off with the theme from the show! I crack myself up!!)

The addition to my kitchen of a splatter screen to cover the pan is coming SOON...I had to scrub every surface of the room.

Get the oil hot - but not smoking - and don't be afraid of the thyme. It adds great flavor to the food as well as smelling great. Fresh is imperative. USE FRESH - yes you have to pick the leaves and stems a bit but it makes a big difference!

Once the chicken was browning, I was able to start peeling the potato. I only needed one since it is just me. If making this for four, I would use two or three med-large tubers. I used Russet since that is what I have on hand, but the recipe calls for King Edward potatoes. Look here if you want to know what it is, but it seems to be close to what we call a red potato. Get it cubed and into the water to bring to a boil. Don't forget the kosher salt!

You put thyme and fresh garlic into hot oil and pop goes everything...you can't see it in the picture, but that stuff was having a day. Ah well, clean up is worth the happy of good food.

After the meat is nice and brown, crank the heat down

(aside) I hate cooking with electric. It is so stinking painful to adjust heat and get temps right. I want my gas stove back, but I also want an electric

convection oven. Yeah. (/aside)

and you add the sherry vinegar and reduce until you add the soy sauce and the honey. It really starts to take on some color and a new (and splendid) smell fills the air. The recipe calls for a "Good splash of hot water" at this point and I was a bit unsure of how to handle that. I put in roughly 2 oz and I think it was a bit much. I would add less next time and also the lemons go in at this point. You cook this over med-low heat to reduce to a really nice syrupy sauce consistency during which time it's time to get the champ done.

I had the milk and cream in a small sauce pan so that once the potatoes came off the heat, I could get them warmed up and ready after the spuds were run through the ricer. I have always wanted a ricer and now I have one. I love the thing. Easy to use and the texture of the potatoes was still very good even with no hand mixer involved. Once the potatoes were abused, they were mixed together with a couple "knobs" of butter.

(aside) It is fun to see different terminology in food. What we call a "pat" of butter, the British call a "knob" and there are of course differences in temps and measurements...I used a total of 50ml of "double cream", which I interpreted as heavy cream, and 50ml of milk. It turns out to be just under 1/2 a cup. (3.38 for those that might be counting). Of course I didn't use the oven with this meal, but I have found that 200C is going to be the temp for another one of Ramsay's recipes that I will try. (/aside)

Then I added the "Spring Onions" aka scallions and the hot cream/milk and mixed it up. Still needed a bit more salt and I like pepper so in some went. After mixing, the champ was at a consistency I really like, so I didn't add any more liquid.

What you don't see in the pictures is that I steamed some uncut green beans and they were on the side. The whole thing took less than 45 minutes to put together, start to finish: that is prepping the ingredients and cooking. It really was quite good and apart from watering down the sauce a bit too much, I think it turned out pretty good.

Here's the final product.















I really enjoyed making it and eating it was definitely not a chore. Worth the time. Try it. Now.