All posts tagged: thyme

Wild Chestnut & Thyme Risotto

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By next week they’ll be gone.  But while you can, there’s a bounty of smooth, nutty, sweet Autumn Chestnuts ready in abundance and littering the floor of the woods…  Don’t mistake them for conkers (or worse vice versa)… You’ll know a sweet Chestnut by it’s green shell of fine spines, which is almost impossible to penetrate without impaling a finger.  Inside you’ll find 3 cosy chestnuts, slightly tear-dropped in shape (compared to their more spherical conker cousins).  You’ll have to be creative getting in to them…. my preferred method is a sort of stamp squeeze with a foot, so that the chestnut pops free and my fingers are saved…  It’s worth it though.  Take a bag, collect plenty, top and tail them and roast them in the oven for 30 minutes and enjoy warm.  Or, add them to this delicious autumnal risotto…   Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp butter 1 large onion 2 cloves garlic 1 cup arborio rice 1 glass dry white wine 2 large chestnut mushrooms Roughly 24 Whole Sweet Chestnuts …

Garlic Mushroom, Thyme & Goats Cheese Toast

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I could almost always have a cheese and Marmite sandwich for lunch, especially when I’m on my own.  No brain power required.  Fills a hole.  No further thought until supper time.  But when I jolt myself out of my rut and start pulling ingredients out of the fridge in a ‘ready steady cook’ style challenge I remember how good lunch for one can be.  And without any extra time or effort (other than applying my mind to it)!  So the result of today’s jolt of inspiration is this… Ingredients (Serves 1): 1 slice sourdough bread (toasted) 4 large chestnut mushrooms 2 cloves garlic 1 tbsp butter 1 spring onion 2 tbsp white wine 1 small sprig thyme 4 thin slices goats cheese Method: 1) Toast the sourdough in the toaster. 2) Melt the butter in a pan on the hob. 3) Crush the garlic, thinly slice the spring onion and add to the pan along with the thyme to soften (without browning). 4) Add the sliced mushrooms and the white wine. 5) Simmer until the …

Thyme & Orange Roast Chicken with Potato Gratin, A Short-Cut Sunday Roast

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It’s been a freezing cold, snowy day and we’ve been decorating, building Lego ice stations and watching movies… Sunday is a roast day, but given that we were elbow-deep in decorating, it was a short-cut roast.  But a delicious short-cut…  The potato gratin was the most time consuming (cooking time), otherwise we roasted chicken breasts to save time and fuss… Those lovely folk at the veg box place had sent us a bunch of Thyme this week and suggested using it with orange, which is what I did… and it was absolutely lovely… So here’s our short-cut Sunday roast!   Ingredients (Serves 4): 4 chicken breasts 1 Ruby Orange 1 small bunch thyme 5 medium potatoes 100g butter 2 cloves garlic 600 mls Single Cream Salt & pepper Parmesan or other hard cheese to top We had broccoli & green beans, but I’m sure any other veg would go just as well! Method: 1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C.  Place the chicken breasts in a roasting tray, grate the orange zest and squeeze the juice …