The Season starts Here

It is a glorious day; plenty of sun, nice and warm and the forecast is set fair for a few days to come. So I have taken advantage of the weather and done some shopping in Fuengirola which means that later on today after work I will be cooking making soups, curry pastes and most importantly, my Dinner which is to be the recipe for Balsamic Chicken that I was sent the other day. Just one problem, I think that I have bought a small pumpkin and not the Butternut Squash as specified. Never mind. Let's hope it won't notice.

A couple of excellent sessions in the bar of late and as we are expecting visitors this weekend (hopefully Elise has already arrived) I have high hopes for the next few weeks. Favio has started to mention about me having a day off one day a week. I not too bothered about it but if he insists then so be it. Can't stop right now or I'll be late for work but I'll come back later tonight while I'm cooking...

2135 - Elise is here, we met in the bar earlier. Right now I'm at home because I've got some cooking to do and she has gone to a local restaurant (The Beirut) to eat. I've left a message with Beryl to the effect that if Elise wants a drink and a natter tonight then give me a call on the dog & bone (which I won't answer) to let me know that she is in the bar waiting. In the meantime I've got curry paste to make, dinner to cook and a cauldron of soup to start.

The recipe for my dinner tonight was sent to me via this blog by an anonymous reader :

Easy Balsamic Roast Chicken.
1 MEDIUM BUTTERNUT SQUASH, PEELED AND DESEEDED.
2 SWEET POTATOES, PEELED.
4 SMALL OR 2 LARGE PARSNIPS, PEELED.
4 TBLSP OLIVE OIL.
1 LARGE RED ONION, PEELED.
4 CHICKEN LEG JOINTS.
FEW SPRIGS FRESH THYME + ROSEMARY.
4 TBLSP BALSAMIC VINEGAR.
1 TBLSP CLEAR HONEY.
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Preheat oven 200c/180c fan/gas 6. Cut the butternut squash, sweet potato and parsnips into large chunks.
Put the oil into a large roasting tin and heat it in the oven. Put the squash, sweet potato and parsnips in a pan, cover with cold water heat until boiling.Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes,then drain. Leave for 5 minutes. Meanwhile cut the onion into 8 wedges.
Put the chicken into roasting tin, skin side up,and surround with the vegetables, tucking the herbs in between. Roast for 30 minutes basting occasionally.
Mix the balsamic vinegar and honey. Remove the chicken from the oven and drizzle with the honey mixture. Cook for another 10 - 15 minutes, then serve. Hope you try this...its lovely.

My version is going to be slightly different (dictated by shopping quantities and errors :-)) I'll let you know how I got on tomorrow (and what I actually did).

Ooops...it's 5 past midnight and I've just noticed a missed call on my mobile at 2146 from Elise...probably she was waiting for me in the bar but I didn't hear the call. Too busy cooking. The curry paste has turned out well though. I've made it pretty potent with extra chilli powder, pepper and ground mustard and added vinegar as well as water (a trick I learned from a real live Indian Chef in West Malling, Kent) to form the paste. I think that Anna will like it, used in small doses, and it'll keep for ages provided an oil layer is maintained on top in the jar. I made this one once when you came to stay in Manchester and you liked it as well, or rather the chicken curry it went towards making so I think it's worth a page over on My Kitchen.

I had an email from the website hosts yesterday advising me that my bandwidth quota was almost used for this month already so I've had to shell out a few more dollars to increase the quota. Getting far too popular is my sierracazorla.net website. That's twice I've had to increase bandwidth requirements, the first being when I ran the webcam at the Red Lion closure party. Talking of which, Ann S recently sent me this snap of a crowd outside said party. I won't identify the folk cos I don't know them all but one or two of the faces in shot use Anas Bar now (that's Erica's Dad behind the guy in the waistcoat by the way.)