Comfort dining in April
Spicy chicken with oven roasted new potatoes, purple carrots and red peppers and ramson aioli
Serves 4
1 fresh chicken
1 TBSP Ras-el-hanout
Salt
11/2 pound potatoes
11/2 (purple) carrots
2-3 snack peppers
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Ramsons Aioli:
1 clove garlic
1 pinch salt
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 organic lemon
1 little handful Ramsons
Salt and pepper
Cut the chicken in to desired pieces – I just cut the legs of and split the breast in two pieces.
Season the chicken pieces with Ras-el-hanout and salt and place them in a roasting pan. Place in the oven, turn in on to about 390 degrees F (200 degrees C) and let it roast for about 1 hour.
Scrub the potatoes and mix them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on a baking tray with baking paper. Scrub or peel the carrots. Wash the peppers and slice them. Mix carrots and peppers with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and place on baking paper on the baking sheet. Pop in the oven the last 25 minutes.
Put the garlic in a mortar and pestle with the salt and grind it into a paste. Whisk mayonnaise and sour cream together and add garlic, mustard, 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon rind, 1-2 tsp lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Wash the Ramsons leaves thoroughly and remove any tough stalks (the tender ones are fine). Chop them finely with a sharp knife and toss them in the aioli. Season with more lemon, salt and pepper if needed.
Serve and enjoy!
Ras-el-hanout is a Moroccan spice blend which can contain up to 50 different spices or more. You can buy Ras-el-hanout in specialty shops or make your own:
Ras-el-hanout:
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
1/2 tsp whole cloves
1/2 tsp whole black pepper
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cayenne
1/4 tsp ground mace
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Roast the whole spices in a frying pan until aromatic – a couple of minutes.
Put them in a mortar and pound away at them with the pestle. Add the ground spices and your ready to go. Keep in a jar.
Ramsons, buckrams or bear's garlic (Allium ursinum) is a wild relative of chives. Tastes a little garlickyJ
