Bread sauce is traditionally served with roast turkey at Christmas, but why should you only eat it once a year when this sauce is so tasty?
Ingredients

4 oz (115 g) of freshly made white breadcrumbs
1 pint (570 ml) of milk
1 onion
12 cloves
6 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp of butter
2 tbsp of double cream
nutmeg
salt and pepper

Method

Take the onion and stud it all over with the cloves.
Place the studded onion into a saucepan together with the milk, peppercorns and bay leaf.
Slowly heat and bring to the boil.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, cover with a lid and leave to one side for two hours, so that the flavours infuse together.
Remove the onion but leave to one side. Discard the bay leaf and remove the peppercorns with a slotted spoon.
Add the breadcrumbs and butter to the pan and cook over a gentle heat for about 10 minutes. Stir frequently. The sauce should then thicken and swell with the breadcrumbs.
Season with salt and pepper and add a good grating of nutmeg.
Stir in the cream and then serve warm with hot or cold chicken or turkey.

Chicken Breast with Almonds and Prunes

This chicken dish is very simple to prepare. There are a lot of ingredients but you basically chuck them all into one pot and leave to cook.
Ingredients

4 boned chicken breasts
1¼ pint (710 ml) of chicken stock
4 oz (115 g) of raisins
2 oz (55 g) of fresh breadcrumbs
2 oz (55 g) of ground almonds
1½ oz (45 g) of toasted flaked almonds
1 oz (30 g) of butter
12 prunes, stones removed
3 tbsp of freshly chopped parsley
1 tbsp of fresh thyme
1 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 tbsp of freshly chopped marjoram
5 cloves
3 chopped sage leaves
½ tsp of ground mace
few saffron strands, crumbled
salt and pepper

Method

Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan and add the chicken pieces.
Fry for about 10 minutes until the meat has browned all over.
Transfer the chicken breasts to a large cooking pot.
Pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer.
Stir in the raisins, breadcrumbs, ground almonds, prunes, cloves, mace and saffron and cook over a gentle heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the chicken and set aside on a plate.
Bring the liquid in the pan back to the boil and continue to boil until it has reduced by half or to your desired consistency.
Add the parsley, sage, thyme and marjoram and mix well.
Return the chicken to the pan to warm through and then serve with the sauce and a sprinkling of toasted flaked almonds on top.

Caramelised Oranges

You will need a day or two to prepare this dessert and to really bring out the best flavours.
Ingredients

6 large oranges
9 fl oz (255 ml) of water
8 oz (225 g) of sugar
3 tbsp of orange liqueur
6 whole cloves

Method

Peel two of the oranges with a sharp knife or a potato peeler, making sure that you remove any white pith from the rind.
Cut the rind from the two oranges into very thin matchstick strips and place them all into a small saucepan.
Fill the pan with water to just about cover the orange rind strips.
Heat the water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and drain the orange rind and set aside. Reserve the boiled water as well.
Peel the remaining four oranges, removing all the pith and peel, which you can discard.
Take one orange and with a sharp knife cut it into 4 equal horizontal slices. Pile the orange back together and secure into place with a cocktail stick. Repeat with the remaining oranges.
Place all of the reassembled oranges into a heatproof dish in an upright position.
Place the sugar, water and cloves into a heavy saucepan and bring the water to the boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved.
Bring back to the boil and boil until the syrup begins to darken and thicken. Do not stir.
Once the syrup reaches a light brown colour, remove from the heat and add the reserved orange water.
Return to a gentle heat and cook until the caramel has dissolved. Stir in the orange liqueur.
Mix well and then pour the liquid over the oranges in the heatproof dish.
Sprinkle the oranges with the reserved orange strips.
Cover the dish with cling film and chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours but if possible between 24 - 28 hours.
Remove from the refrigerator and discard the cocktail sticks before serving in individual dishes.

Back to Introduction to Spices.