My extended family will be coming to our house for Christmas lunch. It will probably be a very hot day, as it usually is, so I’m scrolling through recipe books and making lists for cold food to be served on platters. As we’ll have family staying I’d like some things to serve as leftovers the next day, too.
Making plans.
making chicken roulade
Planning Christmas entertaining and want a change? I’ve bought the ham but wanted a change from turkey. I decided to practice making an old fashioned chicken roulade. It can be eaten hot or cold. The filling can be altered to suit the season. The filling I chose had leeks as they looked so fresh at the greengrocers..
To make a roulade begin by brining the chicken. This ensures the meat stays moist and tasty. I laid the breasts in a container and poured the brine to completely cover the meat for 24 hours. I use free range chicken breasts so their size is not uniform.
The brining mix is 1/2 cup of cooking salt dissolved in 2 litres of water, left to cool. Then pour it over the breasts, cover and leave in the fridge.
After 24 hours, remove the breasts, pat dry and trim off any fatty bits.
Lay the breast on a length of baking paper and cut through the middle, not going all the way through. Lay the butterflied breast on one half of the paper and fold the other half over. Most cooks use plastic wrap for this step but I try to avoid using single use plastic.
Use a rolling pin, meat tenderiser or even a bottle to flatten the breast. I use this little rolling pin as it’s just the right size. It began life in a Play Dough set but I finally adopted it about thirty years ago as it’s just the right size for so many jobs!
Uncover the butterflied breast. Check the thickness. Trim off any scrappy bits.
Lay the filling down the middle and roll one end over it. Tuck the edge under the filling and roll it into a sausage shape.
I was trying two types of meat to roll around the chicken. I used prosciutto and a smoky bacon. Both retain the moisture of the roulade. I will use the bacon for the Christmas lunch roulade as the prosciutto was quite salty.
Bacon and two prosciutto roulades ready to roast. Some cooks wrap the rolls in plastic wrap and poach them in boiling water to secure the neat shape before roasting but I’m not wrapping anything in plastic and then heating it! I rolled the breast wrapped in the bacon or prosciutto, tied with kitchen string and put in the oven.
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Into a 160ºF oven and cook, turning the rolls when one side is browned. Remove when both sides are browned, leave to cool. Snip off string.
Slice when it’s cool and enjoy! I also made gravy from the pan juices but the prosciutto meant it was too salty.
I browned a tablespoon of pine nuts and then a well washed, finely chopped leek. When they were cool I mixed in 200gm of cream cheese and four finely chopped chives to make the filling. Left it to mature in the fridge for 24 hours while the chicken brined. It was easy to spread on the breasts and tasted very good.
After I’d made the roulades I had five rashers of bacon left over. Quick audit of the fridge as I needed to shop that afternoon. I gathered bits and pieces left in the fridge to make a pie. Apart from the bacon I used five eggs, an onion I browned, some chopped up broccoli, some grated cheese and a tomato to make a pie. Eaten cold for two lunches, it was delicious!
christmas cakes
The next job to be done for Christmas was making the two Christmas Cakes. The fruit had been macerating for over a month. Normally I soak it for longer, but this year has not been a normal!
We each stirred the mixture and made a wish.
Hope all your holiday plans are going well. Sadly, some families will be separated by new outbreaks of CV-19. We live in very different times.