MEAT AND TWO VEG

I was in two minds this morning over whether to write this post as, let's be honest, from this photo this meal looks pretty uninspiring but then I gave myself a good talking to. At first glance this is just a chicken breast with mash and greens but what chicken, what mash, what greens...

The chicken is my favourite choice from my local butcher. Chicken breast on the bone with the wing still attached. I tend to coat the skin in some dijon mustard, a little honey, salt and pepper and herbs, last night was herbes de provence as my usual choice, fresh thyme, was a bit passed its best. This is cooked, skin side up, in a fairly hot oven for about 45 minutes by which point the skin is crispy and far too tasty for my waistline and the meat is cooked through but still surprisingly succulent (too many skinless and boneless chicken breats have coloured my opinion forever) and juicy with little nuggets of yumminess hiding in between the bones.

The mash is potato and celeriac. I used roughly equal weights of celeriac and potatoes and boiled them until they were cooked (obviously), then mashed them with a fairly large wodge of butter, some milk and a good measure of sea salt. It took some pretty consistent work with the masher to get this lump free but it was worth it.

The greens are beautiful tender stalks of purple sprouting broccoli, one of the best options for brightening up an otherwise dull month. I popped it in a pan of boiling water for just a few minutes and remembered almost immediately that I really should steam it to keep that beautiful purple colour in the broccoli rather than ending up draining away water the colour of ribena.

I have just had a horrible realisation that this post sounds like a rip off M&S ad - 'this is not just food...'. Anyway, this is just food, this is weekday food, this is not the prettiest food, but this is damn tasty food.