I was going to make this yesterday, thinking it would be a nice warming tummy-pleaser to pop in the oven before going to the gym, but when I went to put the chicken in the marinade early afternoon, I realised the recipe said to leave it for 4-5 hours minimum, preferably overnight, before browning the meat and softening the leeks etc etc, and then two hours in the oven. Not really enought time, oops. So I popped the meat in the marinade and then left it in the fridge until this evening - and boy, did the orange infuse into the meat!!
I didn't use a whole jointed chicken in this, as per the recipe, since it's only the two of us and I'm rather enjoying cooking more recipes rather than having lots of leftovers... this may change once my new job starts on the 1st February :)
I always buy a whole chicken instead of chicken pieces/fillets and joint it - saves a lot of money, can buy better quality chicken in the first place instead of nasty water-filled pieces, and get the carcass at the end to make stock with. Yum! It's a bit of a faff but when I'm at work all week, it makes me feel productive on a Sunday afternoon, to joint a chicken, pop some in the fridge to use in the next couple of days and the rest in the freezer, and brew up a litre or two of good stock and then make soup for lunches during the week...
This recipe made a very tasty stew indeed, with the meat falling off the bone, with soft leeks and melting garlic, and cannellini beans breaking up the richness. It's always a good sign when T eats the pulses/lentils in a dish! There's a good amount of gubbins* left in the pot, which I will probably eat as a soup, I think, but not as much as in the lamb shanks dish the other night.
And then on to the pud... Which was a bit of an afterthought actually. I decided T needed a treat after a busy week, along with the bottle of Cab Sav to go with dindins. I've had some upsetting failures with whipping egg whites in the past - teeniest bit of grease/yolk in the bowl with the whites and they won't whip up... so didn't tell T that I was making a pud until it was definitely looking like it might work... But it did, and a lot of top notch dark chocolate, butter, and a blob of chocolate spread later, mmmmmm!!! Perfect gooey melty chocolate fondants out of the oven for afters! They were incredibly rich though, so maybe a dollop of fruit on the side, raspberries or something, perhaps gently stewed up, would be rather nice...
Update: The next day, the chocolate fondants are actually even better cold! They've sunk in the middle, but have taken on the consistency of dense chocolate fudge cake... mmmmm!!!!
* gubbins - another family technical term, referring to the bits and bobs, veggies, oniony pieces, sauce, and juices, left in the dish after a casserole/pot roast.
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