The lovely people over at the Happy Foodie asked what I could do with a Roast Chicken – they obviously knew that I am the Queen of cooking roast chickens, every which way – it is something that I make most weeks as I love having left overs to play with for a few days afterwards.
The idea of the challenge comes from Rosie Ramsden, a self described painter, cook and food stylist. Her new book, The Recipe Wheel, published by Random House, takes a core ingredient which sits at the centre of the wheel and then develops this into recipes which fit into different categories. In this case, the categories are Night In, Left Overs, Impress, No Frills, Friends and Creative. I’ve had a quick look at the book on-line and have to say that it is absolutely beautiful. The wheel for fish is made up of beautifully coloured fish shapes just as the chicken wheel shapes could be cockscombs – you can really see how she has cast and applied her painterly eye over the entire concept.
Inspired by Rosie’s beautiful wheels but having a very basic software package to work from, I decided to use eggs in which to place the recipes titles. You can see my wheel above. The links to the six recipes are below, in the titles – I hope that some of them are ones that you may not have seen before but they have all been published on my blog previously. This post , together with a little write-up about me, has been featured in the latest on-line edition of the the Happy Foodies Newsletter, together with posts from other bloggers using the wheel with different core ingredients – take a look at it here – http://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/articles/the-recipe-wheel-challenge
Impress – Black Summer Truffle Pesto Roast Chicken
Creative – Summer Pasta Salad with Chicken and Broad Beans
Night In – Sticky Spicy Chicken
Left Overs – Warm Chicken Noodle Salad & Spicy Tahini Sauce
Friends – Extraordinary Roasted Chicken, Potatoes and Chickpeas
- This recipe was a contest winner on Food52 – links are in the post
No Frills – Chicken Mac ‘n’ Cheese with Rosemary
© Selma Jeevanjee and Selma’s Table, 2013, 2014. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material, including photographs without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Selma Jeevanjee and Selma’s Table with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
What a fantastic organizational concept Selma. It could be applied to any dish, any ingredient. A follower asked me for a recipe for roast chicken recently, so simple I had never written a post about it, then I got thinking how important the basics are, as demonstrated here with what you can do with roast chicken.
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It is a really great concept and can be applied to any ingredient or any dish – you are quite right. When you have some time, have a look on line for Rosie Ramsden’s Recipe Wheel and see if you can find any images – they are just so beautiful…
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I love this! What a lovely idea indeed! Oh and I’m not the biggest chicken fan. However, your black summer truffle recipe already caught my eye when you posted it and now you are reminding me of trying this. Thanks so much, Selma! :)
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You are more of a fish and veggie person really aren’t you, TIna?! My son loves roast chicken more than anything so it’s something that I always do and because it’s just the two of us, there is always left overs so I have become very adept at using them up! Hope you do try the truffle chicken you could also apply the same method to a couple of breasts with skin on, if you don’t want to do a whole chicken – or maybe some quails…
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Haha, it’s true, I’m madly in love with seafood of any kind, prawns, mussels, clams, squid… But I also love beef. However, I’m not really having it all to often, maybe once a month. Apart from that I prefer to cook with seafood, don’t really know why. But I will definitely go the whole way and make an entire chicken when I try this recipe. I don’t know if you can say that in English but: Everybody can do easy… :) Is that even understandable? Anyway, have a lovely day, Selma! :)
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Great concept! Reminds me a little of Food from Plenty by Diana Henry.
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Oh, I have’t seen that one – must go and take a look, thanks for the tip, Debi! It is a lovely concept and Rosie Ramsden’s wheels are just beautiful to look at too.
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wow you must be psyched to have been asked
congrats?
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Yes, thanks so much – I am delighted to have been asked and will hopefully be doing a few more things with them which will be nice – they are such lovely people!
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Amazing concept! Must remember this and apply it to other things too!!
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It really is a great concept – would love to see what you do with it!
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What a fabulous idea – it puts onto paper or the screen what we do in our heads but in a logical order. I just downloaded the sample of the book and now sitting on my hands so I don’t click Buy!
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Oh dear – I am sorry about that but it is just such a beautiful book, isn’t it? Her paintings are just inspired. It is a great idea and once I master photoshop which my lovely son has downloaded onto my Mac, I am going to do a few more of these using core ingredients…that could take some time as I am no whizz with these complicated programs – my eyes had already glazed over when he clicked on layers to show me how it all worked…
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These all look wonderful but I’m going with the extraordinary chicken with chickpeas and the sticky chicken. I also am so drawn to this mobile/wheel of eggs. I love the playfulness and visual ease. We don’t seem to eat a lot of chicken; Dapper likes it a lot better than I do, but that is how it goes for most “meats” or birds with us — I have not outgrown my childhood preference for my meats ground up in burgers and sausages.
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Sue, if you can track down some of Rosie Ramsden’s recipe wheels on-line – they are so beautiful and make my wheel look like something out of kindergarden! It is such a lovely concept. I gathered you love your burgers (!) but you should try chicken legs and thighs which are much more flavourful than the poor old breast meat!! That’s what I have used in both the Sticky Chicken and the Extraordinary Chicken too…
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Oh, believe me I will track Rosie down. Unfortunately there is something I just don’t like about leg and thigh meat unless it is off the bone with not a scrap of gristle or slipperiness or tendon or gooeyness . . . I just don’t like the sliminess around the bone. Same with ribs . . . need all the meat off the bone then chopped beyond recognition but with some burnt ends and well done bits of skin. But I love bone marrow so go figure . . .
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Selma, what a lovely idea. Coincidentally I just made roast chicken for my in-law’s visit and a part of it is still sitting in the fridge. I have made one spoke of the wheel already (leftovers) and will look at yours for more ideas. Such an organized and sensible way to look at food!
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Oh, do try the noodles with the spicy tahini sauce – it is delicious and you can have them cold at this time of the year too – my son loves it! Hope you had a lovely visit with the in-laws – mine never went too well – I am not subservient enough, apparently! The wheel is a lovely way to organise food – it is a bit like a mind map really x
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I’ve never actually met you but I can’t imagine you being subservient, Selma!
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I am very respectful, hospitable and helpful but there is a limit to the insults I will put up with! I was quite young in those days and quite a hothead so I wasn’t entirely blameless but how I used to dread those visits…
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Love this idea, Selma! What a fun way to think about cooking and preparing meals. That sticky spicy chicken is still calling my name!
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Thank Ngan – it’s a bit like a mind map really. I made the sticky chicken the other day – it is such a tasty little dish. Added some chopped coriander this time too…delicious!
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Very cool seeing all of your chicken recipes together ☺️ Xx
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It’s a cute little idea – Rosie Ramsden does about 12 dishes per wheel – visually, it looks fabulous!
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Wow! I reckon I could do that with dips! And salads?!
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Yes!! Start with chickpeas or houmous as your core ingredient…perfect!!
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I’ll add it to the list :) x
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What a great post Selma! I too absolutely love roast chicken, have you ever tried roasting it in the slow cooker on a bed of veggies? Just recently a friend who just had her first baby asked me for simple recipes as time was not on her side with the newborn. I remember telling her to throw in a whole seasoned chicken in the slow cooker, and with the leftovers you could make about 3 meals for a family of 2. A huge bonus of course is the carcass :), great stock for soups or anything else. I love your different ideas :)
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I’ve never tried a whole chicken in the slow cooker – how long for a 1.5kg bird? Might give it a go tomorrow – it’s just too hot to turn the oven on – I’ve hardly done any proper cooking lately! I think the recipe wheel is such a lovely idea…
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We never had roast chicken growing up, only stewed chicken. My mum used a pressure cooker, it was in the days before slow cookers. It’s so hot here in Alice Springs much of the year, I’ve converted her recipe to my slow cooker and we have it about every 10 days. I can base so many meals around the chicken and the broth, it is wonderfully versatile. Your post about the book sounds interesting. I think that is mostly how I cook anyway, roast lamb or beef or chicken, then have various versions of dishes from the leftovers. No complaints from my husband!! Thanks Selma!
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Hi Ardy – so nice to hear that this is how you cook too – I think it is how many of us cook and the wheels just make it a visual treat really! It’s pretty hot here at the moment and I feel like I haven’t done any proper cooking in weeks – need to look up some slow cooker recipes for a whole bird just to get an idea on timings etc…hope you are well and take care!
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Beautiful, practical and very delectable recipes, each one of them. Recipe wheel is brilliant too. :)
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Thanks so much Fae – it is such a logical as well as pretty and creative way to arrange recipes!
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This post is a must Selma! Is really useful, well organized and funny though! Glad to hear that you are the queen of the roasted chicken, even if I have to admit all the recipes you’ve posted here look scrumptious!
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Thanks Linda! There are a lot of recipes I don’t post because they seem so basic or more usually, they are made to late in the evening and get gobbled up by the hungry teenager so there is nothing left to photograph the next day even! Glad you like the wheel – it is very practical as well as pretty :)
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Selma, I love the wheel. I just got back from. Blogher 14 and these infographics are all the rage.
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Wow – how interesting! Will you be writing a post about Blogher 14? Must have been amazing! Would love to know more…
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Selma – these all look so delicious. You are definitely queen of the roast chicken! I really liked the wheel idea too.
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Thanks so much, Margot – I really enjoyed doing it.
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Love that you created your own wheel, what a clever idea! I love roast chicken leftovers too!
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Thanks so much! Roast chicken leftovers are my absolute favourite!
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