The most finger-lickin´chicken EVER

On Monday I did my shopping at the Corte Inglés supermarket. I go there once in a while, to buy the heavy stuff I don´t want to drag up my own stairs. Beers, washing powder, that sort of thing.
Of course, once inside, it´s very hard not to succumb to other stuff, and so the trolley ends up piled high with filo pastry, blueberry jam, flour tortillas, dark chocolate chips and the like.
Another thing I find hard to resist is the portioned organic chicken. At the market, if I don´t want a sorry-looking bird, I have to buy an animal the size of a young condor. I´m not averse to leftover chicken, quite the opposite, but really, for two, it can last for ever. And it would be silly to try out a recipe with enormous amounts. What if I don´t like it?

This was the perfect occasion to try out the Barefoot Contessa´s Indonesian Ginger Chicken.
Now, of course, I wish I´d used a mammoth champion chicken, and could eat it again today. It was the best thing ever. Moreish, lip-smacking, and literally finger-licking good. Even if it had been bad you´d have to lick your fingers, because it is sticky. I don´t know if my oven pan will survive the experience, but it´s totally worth it.
I entreat you, do this chicken. It is the platonic ideal of all roast chickens; crisp, glazed a deep golden brown, charred in parts, juicy and eye-poppingly flavourful.
I think it would taste very good cold, but sadly, I don´t know, because it all went in one go.
And did I mention, it practically cooks itself?

Indonesian ginger chicken,
adapted from The Barefoot Contessa cookbook
( and the quantities are scaled down. The original calls for three whole chickens. What sort of ovens do people have in the States?)

1 kg. chicken pieces
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 chunk of ginger, roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, smashed

Put everything in a freezer bag. Maybe it would be best to mix it in a bowl first, buy I just bunged everything in, and it was fine.
Marinade overnight.

Bake, skin down, in a 180ºC oven for thirty minutes. Turn the oven up to 230ºC, turn the chicken over, and leave it another half an hour.
Let it stand for 20 minutes or so, the better to tear it with your fingers. You really don´t want cutlery with this. And you might want to use one of those disposable trays, because the burnt honey and soy are a bit of a nightmare.

More tomatoes

I´m a sucker for a god looking bunch of tomatoes. Usually I buy way more than I need, and I don´t mind, because I like the way they look on my white table. I may sketch them if I have time. And if I have time, I will make any of a million different things with them.
But if I don´t have time, or if I need to get them out of the way before I succumb to the next gorgeous looking lot, I roast them.
In they go, into a roasting pan where they will fit snugly. I drizzle some olive oil over them, some salt, maybe some oregano. I put them into a hot oven, and forget about them, more or less.
After an hour they´ll be pretty much cooked, and can be used. But I prefer to squish them a little, sprinkle some brown sugar over , and leave them there for another hour, or two in a slightly less hot oven.
When they´re done,and cooled, I either put them in a glass jar in the fridge, or I freeze them. They´re very handy to have around.
By the way, if I seem annoyingly vague about oven temperatures, it´s because my oven doesn´t have any. No gas marks either. Baking is a high anxiety business for me.

Asparagus

We´ve been eating quite a few bunches of asparagus this spring. I do love them.
And I love the trick where they snap on their own just at the place where you have to cut them because they´re too fibrous.And I like eating with my hands.
We´ve had them steamed, and then dipped in mayonaise or in vinaigrette. Once I went so far as to try hollandaise and it was heavenly.
I´ve done risotto, and asparagus soup, and thought I´d make a quiche but was too greedy and ate them before that could happen.
I´ve roasted them, and boiled them.
But my favourite method, so far, has been to pan-steam them.
You take a non stick pan with a lid. Put some olive oil on it, very little will do. Put the spears in , and leave them for a minute. Then cover , and leave two to five minutes, depending on the thickness.
This is quick, unfussy, and gives you a crispy burnt asparagus that is also juicy and that cooks very fast.