Spatchcocked BBQ Chicken

This is actually much easier to do than it sounds, you just need a strong stomach, but if I can do it with a history of 7 years of vegetarianism... I'm sure you can too! And it's well worth it! The chicken will cook through much quicker than a whole bird in it's natural shape, and there's plenty of surface area to smother with flavoursome marinades and absorb smokey flavours from the BBQ! 

Here's how...

What you need

A whole chicken... Or two!

2 skewers per chicken, metal or bamboo is fine.

Your favourite marinade or rub. Nandos marinades are a regular feature in my house!

A good strong pair of scissors, ideally poultry scissors.

Hot BBQ! 

How to do it

1. Sit the chicken back bone up, snip off any excess skin around the neck, then take the scissors and cut along one side of the spine, along the full length of the chicken.

2. Cut along the opposite side of the spine, and remove it completely.

3. Turn the chicken over, and give it a good press to flatten it out.

4. Take a skewer, pierce through a thigh, continue pushing through the breast, then through the opposite wing, so the skewer runs diagonally through the chicken.

5. Repeat with another skewer, starting with the thigh on the other side, working your way across the bird diagonally in the opposite direction to before. The skewers hold the chicken out flat, and help you handle it as you cook it.

6. Smother with your favourite marinade or rub and leave it to soak in and flavour the meat for as long as you can, up to 24hours.

7. Pop them on a hot BBQ, skin side down at first to get the skin crisping up. Keep a close eye on it for around 15-20 minutes, before flipping them over and cooking for the same time the other side. Check it's cooked through by slicing into the breast and leg before serving. The meat should be white and juices clear. 

8. Serve as you wish. The chickens can easily be halved by removing the skewers and cutting down through the centre of the breast bone with your scissors, or quartered by then cutting through between the breast and thigh too. Tastes great with a fresh salad, or nandos style sides such as spicey rice, chilli and mint peas, corn on the cob, mash, chips... the choice is yours! 

Cream Tea Darling?... Rich Fruit Scones

Very little says classic British Summertime better than a cream tea! Both Devonshire and Cornwall fiercely claim to be the original home of the cream tea, and have done so for years. There is supposedly evidence that the tradition of eating bread with cream and jam began in Devon, in the 11th century, when it was fed to workmen building Tavistock Abbey, but no one really knows! Both counties serve their cream tea slightly differently. Although the basic components are the same; scone, clotted cream, jam and tea, the difference is in the order in which it is assembled! The Cornish split the scone, spread the bottom with jam then add a dollop of cream before replacing the top, whereas the tradition in Devon is to first spread on the cream before dolloping the jam on top of that. Personally I'm in the Cornish camp!... For taste preferences however, not political! I'm not a massive cream fan so like to make sure I have a good covering of jam all over then just add a little blob of cream to the middle. The choice is entirely yours!

Ingredients

(Makes 6 scones)

225g self raising flour, plus a little extra to dust

1/2 tsp baking powder

40g golden caster sugar

75g butter, cubed 

50g mixed dried fruit

1 large egg

3 tbsp milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C fan.

2. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar and butter in a bowl, and lightly rub together between your fingers, until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

3. Stir through the fruit, crack in the egg, and spoon in the milk. Use a slicing through action with a knife to combine these ingredients. 

4. With floured hands, bring the mixture together into a ball and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead very briefly, just enough to bring the dough together into a smooth and workable ball, handling as little as possible to get to this stage.

5. Roll or press out to a good 3cm thickness. Then using a 5cm pastry cutter, cut out 6 scones.

Holly's Hints- when cutting out the scones, place the cutter on the surface and cut through in one sharp tap, then lift straight up. Do not be tempted to twist or wiggle the cutter, this will wrap the edges of the scones and cause them to rise in the oven into all sorts of strange shapes!

6. Place the scones on a baking sheet covered with grease proof paper, sprinkle the tops with a little extra flour and sugar, then bake in the oven for approximately 12 minutes. When done they should be risen and a pale golden brown. 

7. Slice through and serve when still a little warm, with a pot of clotted cream, jam and a brew!... And let your guests debate which way to assemble them!

Iced Biscuits! Orange and cinnamon biscuit recipe and royal icing instructions!

One of the latest baking crazes are iced biscuits! So of course I thought I'd have a go! I made some orange and cinnamon biscuits, cut them to little heart and bunting shapes, then baked and iced them using line, flooding, and wet-on-wet royal icing techniques! You could make whatever shapes and designs you like! There are hundreds of different cutter shapes available cheaply in cook shops and online! You could also skip the orange zest and cinnamon, and instead add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract if you preferred!? These make great gifts, that can be very personal! I even made some bunting which could be used as edible decoration for a party! Let your imagination go wild!

Ingredients

300g plain flour

150g caster sugar

150g unsalted butter

1 large egg

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

Zest of 1 orange

1 tsp cinnamon 

500g pack royal icing sugar

100 ml cold water

Gel food colourings 

Method

1. Put all of the dry ingredients, plus orange zest and the cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks, in a food processor. Pulse for a few seconds at a time until it resembles fine bread crumbs.

Holly's hints- the less you handle the biscuit dough the better! You don't want to be developing too much of the gluten in the flour and causing a tough, rubbery biscuit! The food processor is a great way of combining the ingredients quickly and lightly. If you don't have one however, gently rub the butter into the dry ingredients using your finger tips.

2. Add the egg and pulse until the dough just begins to come together.

3. Tip the contents of the food processor out into a lightly floured surface, and working as little as possible, lightly knead it together until it will form a smooth ball of dough.

4. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for around 15 minutes until firm. 

5. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until approx 5mm thick, again, handling as little as possible.

6. Use a sharp knife or cookie cutter to cut the shapes you wish.

Holly's Hints- if making round biscuits using a round cutter, take care not to twist the cutter before you remove it from the dough after cutting. This would seal the edges preventing rise in the oven.

7. Place cut out shapes on a baking tray covered with grease proof paper and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes whilst you preheat the oven to 160C fan.

8. Bake in the oven for 15-17 minutes, until pale golden brown.

9. Whilst the biscuits are cooking/ cooling you can make your icing. Put your royal icing sugar into a large bowl and add 80ml cold water. Stir with a spoon at first to avoid a cloud forming! Then whisk with an electric hand mix for a couple of minutes until smooth, glossy and holds it's shape in peaks but is soft enough to be piped. 

Holly's hints- You can add more water or some regular icing sugar to make it thicker or thinner. 

This will be the right consistency for piping outlines around your biscuits and intricate designs. 

10. Separate the amount you need for this job into smaller bowls and colour as desired with gel food colourings before spooning into disposable piping bags. 

11. Add a little more water to the remaining icing and whisk again, you are now looking for a looser consistency for flood filling the biscuits.

Holly's Hints- drizzle a little icing along the surface of more icing, the trail should only last around 10 seconds if you have the perfect consistency. 

12. Separate the remaining icing into smaller bowls, again colour as desired and pour into disposable piping bags.

13. Once your biscuits are completely cool and you have all your bags of icing ready... It's time to get creative!

14. Snip off the very end of the piping bags you need as you go, snipping more more or less to create thicker or thinner lines. Take the thicker consistency icing and pipe a line around the edge of your biscuits. 

14. Take a bag of the looser icing and pipe it roughly inside the border line you have just created.

15. Use a cocktail stick and small circular motions to fill in any gaps, and give the biscuit a little wobble to encourage the icing to flood into any gaps and lay nice and smooth.

16. Now you can use the wet-on-wet technique to create designs and patterns. This involves piping over your first coat of icing, with another colour of icing, the same consistency. Because both colours are still wet and if the same consistency, the second coat will sink into the first leaving a smooth, flat finish. 

You can try stripes and checks as above. Or polka dots as below. 

You could even create more intricate flower designs... 

You can also easily create a heart shape by running a cocktail stick through a polka dot... 

Or create marble effects by running a cocktail stick up and down across horizontal stripes...

17. Once you are happy with your designs, heat the oven to it's lowest setting, or around 50C, then turn it off and pop your biscuits back in for around 30 minutes to allow the icing to set hard. Or alternatively leave them to set over night. 

18. Once the icing is set you can then add more detail that stands up from the rest, by piping on more of the thicker consistency line icing. 

 

Once they are all dry, they are ready for nibbling!