Where is spring?

A top of 10C yesterday, today is forecast a top of 13C, and its already overcast and threatening rain today! I yearn for a warm day!



Last night I cooked :



HONEY BAKED CHICKEN



INGREDIENTS

6 chicken lovely legs (or 4-6 chicken thigh fillets quartered)
1 x 40gm packet of dry French onion soup
3 x generously heaped tablespoons of honey
¾ cup of luke warm water
1 teaspoon of chopped garlic chives
1 cup of chopped mixed vegetables - I used carrot, celery and spring onions)
plain flour, pepper and parmesan cheese powder



METHOD


Toss chicken lightly in combined flour, pepper and parmesan powder (I use a plastic bag to do this) and then place in a single layer in a rectangular casserole dish
Sprinkle chopped vegetables evenly over the prepared chicken
Mix garlic chives, dry soup mix, honey and water together and pour over chicken
Cover and bake at 160C for approximately 1 hour
Remove cover for and continue cooking for ½ an hour.



NOTE -

Garlic Chives - Asian vegetables

Garlic chives come from the green grocer section of the supermarket and are tied together in a bunch of about twenty stems 20-25cms long. A relatively new vegetable in the English-speaking world but well-known in Asian cuisine, the flavor of garlic chives is more like garlic than chives though much milder. Both leaves and the stalks of the flowers are used as a flavoring similarly to chives, green onions or garlic and are used as a stir fry ingredient. In China, they are often used to make dumplings with a combination of egg, shrimp and pork. When placing them in casseroles and slow cooker dishes I finely chop the ends until I have about half a tablespoon - that's plenty. They may be omitted if not favoured.



Serve it with boiled baby potatoes ('Chats', we call them - thumb-sized baby potatoes) and some lightly steamed Baby Bok Choy leaves cut sideways in half. (I sit mine in a colander and pour boiling water over them - that's enough!)



Eat with a good Italian crusty bread and a glass of red wine.



Shortly I'll visit my butchers and decide what cut I'll buy for dinner tonight. Its Rhonda's last evening at home until Sunday. She has two evenings and a morning shift for the next three days, so she'll sleep over at the hospital in the staff residences. So it will definitely be one of Darren's 'home-style' family sized Steak and Kidney pies for dinner on Sunday night - nice and easy dinner.