Saturday Snippets 4

The common cold won out in the Starman household this week.  By last Saturday evening I had gone down with a very sore throat and racking cough, and the cold became full-blown during the next 24 hours.  It was totally debilitating, and whilst Starman does his best, he is not known for his culinary skills, so I still staggered up in the evenings to ensure we had at least one square meal a day.  At least these days I don't have horses to worry about like in the past!

Starman is now holed up in bed in the spare room, TV remote, mobile phone, home-phone handset, daily newspaper, paracetamol tablets, and cups of tea to hand!  He is happy croaking out various instructions to me in a 'deep brown voice' and enjoying being waited upon.

I am doing laundry, thinking what to do for tea, and writing these snippets.  So don't be too hard on me if I sound a bit doo-lallie this week!

Everything has completely gone out of the window as regards any types of spanking, and I only hope he'll remember what to do with his hand, and I'll remember what to do with my bottom, when we eventually both feel well enough to consider it.

So there are two queries I have this week.  One is because Cat kindly reminded me that chicken soup is an excellent remedy for when you not yourself.  I promptly opened my 'book of soups' and found a wonderful old Jewish recipe and hastily got it underway.  There was only one simple snag.  The bag of chicken pieces I defrosted, turned out to be pork!  So that ended up in the bin, and we had to have the soup minus the chicken; which was really the whole point of it!  And yes, I did have some excellent homemade chicken stock I used as the basis for the soup, but I had to recompense with lots of vegetables.  It was excellent, but stupid, and typical Ami!

So this first query, in all seriousness, is what do you do when you get awful winter colds?  Any remedies or recommendations will be seized upon with alacrity!  

The second query is: spanking is the last thing on poor old Starman's mind at the moment.  But I am getting very antsy!  I've been for a walk in the fresh air, and cleaned the house, and even done my ten minutes intensive cycling.  I need some recommendations NOW!!!!  As a couple, what do you do in these situations?

And here is my recipe of the week.  It's a real cracker!  We eat a lot of chicken and this recipe is just a little different, and surprisingly the garlic in it tastes very sweet cooked this way.  

Chicken with Sherry Vinegar and Tarragon Sauce  (Serves 4)

1 3.5lb (1.75kg) chicken, jointed into 8 pieces, or you could use 4 bone-in chicken breast portions

5 fl oz (150ml) sherry vinegar

15 fl oz (425ml) medium-dry sherry

12 shallots, peeled and left whole

4 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole

2 tbspns olive oil

2 tbspns fresh tarragon leaves

1 heaped tbspn creme fraiche

salt and freshly milled black pepper

First of all heat the oil in a frying-pan and season the chicken joints with salt and pepper.  Then, when the oil begins to shimmer, fry the chicken (in two batches) to brown well: remove the first batch to a plate  while you tackle the second.  Each joint needs to be a lovely golden-brown colour.  When the second batch is ready, remove it to the plate to join the rest.  Then add the shallots to the pan, brown these a little, and finally add the garlic cloves to colour slightly.

Now turn the heat down, return the chicken pieces to the pan, scatter the tarragon leaves all over, the pour in the vinegar and sherry.  Let it all simmer for a bit, then turn the heat to a very low setting so that the whole thing barely bubbles for 45 minutes.  Half-way through turn the chicken pieces over to allow the other sides to sit in the sauce.

When they-re ready, remove them to a warm serving dish (right side up) along with the shallots and garlic.  The sauce will be now have reduced and concentrated, so all you do is whisk the creme fraiche into it, taste and season as required, then pour the sauce all over the chicken and scatter with sprigs of tarragon to garnish.  This is lovely served with potatoes and freshly shelled peas.  Serve with some well-chilled Fino sherry as an aperitif!

I will be so glad when we see the sun again.  We saw it briefly for all of two hours yesterday, but mostly our skies look like this!  However, there are some little patches of colour appearing in the darkness.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  

And that you don't have colds like us!

Hopefully spring is on its way!