Midweek Roast Chicken Dinner,

Cider & Onion Soup with Cheese Croutons

and

PIE!

I can’t believe that we are into the second week of September now, and although autumn is nipping at my heels, the days remain warm and sunny, but, I did see the first leaf fall off the walnut tree in my garden yesterday and the aroma of wood smoke continues to swirl around the village like a released genie from a bottle……it’s the time of the year when thoughts turn to warm comfort meals for the family and ones that can be made with ease at the end of a busy day. I have been working on lots of commissioned work recently, with some top-secret projects that I cannot wait to unveil…….one  of my favourite tasks is to develop recipes for brands, magazines, supermarkets and various sites on-line, of which one is Great British Chefs. Today I would like to share my latest three recipes that have recently been published: All-In-One Roast Chicken Dinner, Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pie and Cider and Onion Soup with Grilled Cheddar Croutons. 

All three recipes are perfect for this time of year and would make wonderful mid-week supper dishes as well as weekend meals for all the family. I am particularly taken with my recipe for Cider and Onion Soup with Grilled Cheddar Croutons which we all enjoyed last week for a hearty lunch. Meltingly soft onions are cooked in a vegetable and cider stock before being served with a man-sized grilled cheese croûton sitting on top of the soup – I used some home-made Ciabatta bread for my croutons, as you can see here: A Random Great British Bake Off Technical Challenge: Ciabatta Bread, and the cheese in question was a fabulous 12 month matured Cheddar by Davidstow. The soup is a complete meal in a bowl and we were all particularly piggy-ish and went on to have extra grilled cheese croutons to dip and dunk in the soup! The soup can be made ahead of time and gently reheated for the family meal later on. If you are unsure about using cider in the recipe, then apple juice makes a good substitution.

The Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pie is made with A2 Milk, which is 100% natural fresh British cows’ milk which you may find easier to digest than regular cows’ milk. It’s naturally free from the A1 protein which can cause uncomfortable symptoms in some people, so is a great ingredient to have to hand. As usual, I created some “pie art” with the excess pastry and so as well as being a delicious pie, it’s also a bit of a work of art too, in the pastry sense! Apart from the fact that a pie is a wondrous thing to serve to the family, it’s also great when tucked into the school or office lunch box as there is always pie left for another meal. This recipe is simplicity itself as it uses leftover chicken from the family roast as well as an easy “dairy-free” shortcrust pastry too. Serve it with steamed potatoes, I added some herbs to mine, and seasonal greens for a satisfying mid-week meal.

And finally,  it’s an easy All-In-One Roast Chicken Dinner recipe that is one of my husband’s favourite midweek treats, as he is a real “roast dinner man”! I have requests to make this regularly, especially if we have “missed” a traditional Sunday roast dinner one week. You CAN serve it with Yorkshire Puddings, but, I usually find that its fine with all the roast spuds, vegetables, gravy and stuffing balls. It’s such an easy recipe with ALL of the vegetables (with the exception of the sprouts) being cooked with the chicken AND the stuffing in ONE roasting tin! You have all the elements of a classic roast chicken dinner but it’s on the table in UNDER an hour. I DO have other recipes for all-on-one dinners on Lavender and Lovage here: Sausage Meatball and Fennel Bake, Dukkah Crusted Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables and a Fresh Mint Dressing and “Sunday Lunch” Chicken, Sausage and Vegetable Hotpot, so there’s plenty to choose from.

I hope that these three recipes have provided you with some autumn meal inspiration and the recipe links are listed below. I’ll be back later on this week with some new recipes and travel news, see you then, Karen 

Cider and Onion Soup with Grilled Cheddar Croutons

Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pie

All-In-One Roast Chicken Dinner

A link to all my

AUTUMN RECIPES