Baked chicken with garlic and sherry

This is the most delicious way of cooking chicken which basically creates sticky, sherry-flavoured chicken nuggets. It comes from my friend Charlotte and I’ve been cooking it for about 20 years

Serves 4

A medium-sized chicken or 1 kg chicken thighs

1 head of garlic

extra virgin olive oil

about 3 sprigs each fresh rosemary and/or thyme

100ml fino sherry or white wine

Salt and pepper

* Take a medium-sized chicken and chop/joint it into pieces - slightly bigger than bite-sized - leaving it on the bone or chop each thigh in half with a sharp knife or cleaver. DO NOT REMOVE THE SKIN!

* Sprinkle salt (and pepper) over the chicken pieces

* Take a head of garlic, separate the cloves and, leaving the skin on, smash with the flat side of a knife.

* In a large, thick-bottomed, shallow pan heat a good glug of decent olive oil and sauté/seal the chicken til golden brown (skin-side down first)

* Throw in the garlic and a couple of sprigs each of fresh rosemary and thyme and turn the heat up, whilst stirring

* Add a small glass of fino sherry or white wine, quickly bring to the boil and then put into a pre-heated oven (180°C/350°/gas 4) for 30-45 minutes until the chicken is cooked and sticky with the caramelised garlic and juices

* Serve with a bitter leaf salad and roasted new potatoes or crusty bread to mop up the juices in the base of the pan.

What to drink: Well, you could carry on drinking sherry but I think that might be overdoing it. I'd go for an oaked white rioja or a white Côtes du Rhône myself.

Want more ideas for pairing with sherry? Download my ebook 101 Great Ways to Enjoy Sherry here.

Oktoberfest Chicken

This recipe which I edited slightly from the version in the Oktoberfest Insider Guide by Sabine Kafer, comes from my beer and food book An Appetite for Ale. The secret is the lavish last minute slathering with butter.

Serves 2
1 small chicken (about 1.2kg or 2lb 10 oz. Geitl stresses the importance of this being dry-plucked)
Salt and pepper
A good handful of fresh parsley with the stalks
50g (2 oz) unsalted butter

An hour before roasting season the chicken generously with pepper and salt “so that even the preparation makes your mouth water” Wash the parsley, shake dry, chop roughly and stuff inside the chicken. If you have a rotisserie attachment in your oven preheat the oven to 220°C/425° F/Gas 7, skewer the chicken on the spit and roast for about an hour.

Alternatively preheat the oven to 200° C, and put the bird breast side downwards in a roasting tin. (Geitl recommends not using a fan oven or fan oven setting for this as it will dry the meat out. Not sure I agree about that.). Roast for about 30 minutes then turn the bird breast upwards and finish cooking (allow 25 minutes per pound in total - just over an hour for a bird of this size.)

Either way - and this is crucial - 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time the bird should be coated with fresh, soft but not runny butter. Repeat this process 4-5 times. To check if the chicken is ready stick a skewer or the point of a sharp knife into the thickest part of the leg. The juices should run clear. Cut the chicken in half down the breastbone and serve half a portion each.

Best beer matches: At the Oktoberfest it would be served with a light Helles beer but I prefer it with a classic Oktoberfest Märzen or a golden lager like Budweiser Budvar.

Do also make this delicious Oktoberfest potato salad

Photograph © Miredi at fotolia.com

Beer-Can Chicken - the best way to barbecue a bird!

One of the recipes in my book An Appetite for Ale for which I have the greatest affection is Beer-Can Chicken. Actually, I say recipe, but it’s more like a technique.

The basic idea is to prop a whole bird on a beer can and barbecue it. Sound impossible? In fact it’s ridiculously easy.

The only slight snag is that you need a kettle-style barbecue with a high enough domed lid to take the bird upright. You’ll also need a medium sized chicken (about 1.3-1.5kg/3lb-3lb 5oz), a couple of teaspoons of a good quality spicy rub like a jerk or Cajun seasoning (I like the ones made by Seasoned Pioneers and the South African brand, NoMU) and a small 330ml can of beer. Which doesn't have to mean lager - there are loads of great beers in cans nowadays.

Rinse the chicken inside and out and dry it thoroughly with kitchen towel. Remove any surplus fat from the carcass and sprinkle the inside of the chicken with about 1 tsp of the spice mixture, rubbing it in well. Sprinkle another teaspoon or so of the rub over the chicken and rub that in too. Leave the chicken to marinate for half an hour or so while you fire up the barbecue.

Pour half the contents of the beer can into a glass (cook’s perk!). Lightly oil the can and lower the chicken onto the can so that it stands upright propped up by its legs. Set the can on the barbecue rack and cook over an indirect heat for about 50 minutes to an hour until the juices run clear when you pierce the leg with a skewer. Holding the can with a pair of tongs very carefully remove chicken from the can and set aside on a carving tray. Rest for 5-10 minutes then carve and serve with a barbecue sauce or a salsa.

The point about the whole exercise is that the beer creates steam inside the chicken making the flesh wonderfully moist and the fat runs down the skin, basting it and making it beautifully crisp. I promise you it will be one of the best chickens you’ve ever tasted!

What to drink: Given that you’ll probably be serving it with an assortment of salads and relishes I’d serve it with a robustly hoppy pale ale or IPA. Or a rum punch.

10 great beer and food matches for summer

Picture © Brent Hofacker

Thomasina Miers' Mole Amarillo

To celebrate Day of the Dead - or maybe even Bonfire Night - here's a fabulous warming spicy Mexican stew for 10 from Thomasina Miers' Wahaca: Mexican food at Home.

Tommi writes: "We first tried this yellow mole outside Oaxaca’s 20 de Noviembre market, where it was mixed with shredded chicken plus a little corn dough and stuffed inside tortillas, baked into empanadas and served with the outrageously hot chile de agua and onion relish.

We tried it again a few days later at the house of one of our mezcal suppliers; his wife cooked it outside over an open fire and fed fourteen of us; it was so good that some actually wept!

It is not a complicated sauce to make, although I have substituted the chillies they use in Oaxaca for ones more readily available in Britain. I dream about putting this on the Wahaca menu. It is such a wonderfully rich, homely tasting stew.

Feeds at least 10, but freezes beautifully

Time: about 90 minutes

1 onion

2–3 garlic cloves

2–3 bay leaves

sea salt

450g neck of pork, cut into 2–3cm dice

1 large chicken, jointed into 8 pieces

450g new potatoes, cut into chunks

1 large acorn or butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks

450g green beans, cut in half

1 cauliflower, broken into florets

hot tortillas or steamed rice, to serve

For the mole:

6 guajillo chillies

2 ancho chillies

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

8 cloves

10 allspice berries

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 large onion, quartered

2 large tomatoes

5 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1 x 790g tin tomatillos, drained

small bunch of fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican

40g lard

2 tablespoons masa harina

small handful of tarragon, chopped

Fill a large pan with water and add the onion, garlic and bay leaves, season with salt and bring to simmering point. Simmer gently for 10 minutes before adding the pork pieces. Simmer very gently for a further 15 minutes before adding the chicken pieces. Cook for 15 minutes before turning off the heat and leaving to cool.

To make the mole, toast and rehydrate the chillies (there's a useful step-by-step guide here), soaking them for 20 minutes. Now toast all the spices in the dry frying pan until they smell fragrant, about 5–10 minutes. Grind to a powder, then transfer to a blender.

Add the onion, tomatoes and garlic to the pan and dry roast, as described below*. Transfer to the blender as they cook, remembering to slip off the garlic skins. Drain the chillies and add them to the blender with the drained tomatillos and oregano and whiz for 5 minutes to a smooth purée.

Heat the lard in a pan and, when very hot, add the purée, stirring all the time to prevent it spitting. Turn the heat down and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Thin the masa harina with just enough of the chicken stock to make a smooth paste, then add to the mole. Stir in 2 cups of the stock, add the tarragon and cook for 15 minutes over a low heat. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Meanwhile cook the vegetables. Fill a pan with water, add a teaspoon of salt and bring to the boil. Add the potatoes and cook until tender. Remove with a slotted spoon then add the squash and cook until just tender. Remove with the slotted spoon then cook the beans and cauliflower in the same way, removing each when they still have a slight bite. Do not overcook or they will turn to mush in the stew.

Drain the meat and add to the mole. Heat through, adding more stock if necessary. About 5 minutes before serving add all the vegetables to heat through. Serve the stew in shallow bowls making sure everyone gets a piece of chicken and pork and some of the vegetables. Serve with hot tortillas or, if you prefer, with rice.

Note: Traditionally a plant called hoja santa is used in this recipe. If you can get hold of it finely shred 3 large leaves and add them in place of the tarragon. Mexican chillies and tomatillos are widely available now - you can also buy them online from the Cool Chile Co or from Otomi in Bristol which also has a shop in the Clifton Arcade.

* Place a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a high heat and add the onions, tomatoes and garlic, leaving the skins on. Turn the ingredients while they are roasting so they are charred all over. Tomatoes take about 15 mins, onions about 10 and garlic 5-10 minutes.

What to drink: Personally I'd go for a beer like a golden or amber ale or lager with this dish or even a dark Mexican beer like Negro Modelo. Otherwise a rich chardonnay should match well or a syrah, grenache or tempranillo if you prefer a red.

Recipe taken from Wahaca – Mexican Food at Home by Thomasina Miers, published by Hodder & Stoughton, £20. © Thomasina Miers, 2012