Beer-Can Chicken

Never was there more amusement to be had from roasting a chicken.

The bird is 'stuffed' with a can of beer, which bastes it from the inside out.

Result: extra moist chicken.

Two things to remember: don't drink too much of the beer or your chicken will fall over (possibly you will too); and make sure that the chicken is at room temperature before cooking.

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 6-8 minutes

Cooking time: 1-1 hours

Per serving: 218 kcals/14.2g fat/4.4g saturated fat/0.8g salt/0.3g sugars

Ingredients

1 x 440ml can Kronenbourg 1664

1.15kg Chicken, plump and free range

1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

Seasoning Mix

1 tsp Sea salt

1 tsp Pimenton (smoked paprika)

1 tsp Ground cumin

1 tsp Black pepper, freshly ground

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C, gas mark 6.

Drink about one third of the beer (or set aside). Carefully make a few extra holes in the top of the can with an old-fashioned can opener or a corkscrew. Stand the can in a fairly large oven-proof dish.

Mix together all the ingredients for the seasoning mix.

Remove trussing strings from the chicken and trim the parson's nose and flapping bits of skin and fat from the leg-end cavity. Smear the oil over the skin and rub some underneath. Rub half the seasoning mix over the skin and sprinkle 1 tsp of the rest inside it.

Pull the leg-end cavity of the chicken open and slide the bird carefully over the beer can.

Pull the chicken's legs out in front to help prop it up. Carefully put the chicken in the oven, supported on its beer can. Roast for 1-1 hours until it is cooked through, basting it occasionally with its own juices.

Turn off the oven, prop the door ajar and let the chicken rest for 10 minutes. Take the chicken very carefully out of the oven, remembering to keep it upright so that the boiling beer doesn't spill on you. Lift the chicken off the beer can and carve as usual.

Serve with the pan juices.

Beer

Match this dish with whichever beer you choose to use in the recipe.

Pictures and recipes courtesy of Waitrose

Christmas Pudding 2006

This is the pudding we'll be eating this Christmas, just as we have done every year for nigh on a decade. As figgy puddings go, it's light and has a particularly good flavour.

Makes 2 puddings, each enough for 6-8

Preparation time: 30-40 minutes

Cooking time: 7 hours, plus 2 hours On christmas day

Per serving: 579 kcals/21.3g fat/10g saturated fat/0.8g salt/69.8g sugars

Ingredients

275g Soft brown or white breadcrumbs

125g Dried apricots, chopped

125g Dried figs, chopped

225g Currants

225g Seedless raisins

225g Sultanas

75g Candied peel, chopped

75g Almonds, chopped

225g Light or dark muscovado sugar

225g Suet

level tsp Salt

1 tsp Ground mixed spice

1 tsp Ground cinnamon

tsp Nutmeg,

freshly grated

1 Orange, finely grated zest and juice

1 Lemon, finely grated zest and juice

1 Eating apple, peeled and grated

3 Medium eggs, lightly beaten

150ml Stout

150ml Milk

4 tbsp Brandy

Butter for greasing moulds

Instructions

Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly. Add the wet ones and mix well with your hands (stirring may be more genteel, but it doesn't work half so well). Divide the mixture between two well-greased 1.2-litre pudding basins, filling almost to the rim. Smooth down. Cover each basin with a large square of greaseproof paper, and over that a large square of silver foil. Tie tightly into place with string, leaving long ends of string trailing. Loop one of these over the pudding basin and slide underneath the taut string on the other side, then bring up and knot with the other trailing end, to form a handle for lifting the pudding in and out of the water. Leave overnight before cooking.

Stand the puddings in a deep, heavy-based pan (or two if that's easier). Pour enough boiling water around them to come about halfway up the basins. Cover the pan(s) with a lid or dome of foil and boil for 7 hours. Check regularly and top up with boiling water as necessary. Cool, re-cover with clean greaseproof paper and foil, and store in a cool, dry place.

To reheat them at Christmas, steam again for 2 hours.

Wine

A sweet sherry or fortified dessert wine seems appropriate, but Asti is a wonderful way to finish the meal and lighten the mood at the same time.

Beef stew with mushrooms and double chocolate

There is nothing to beat a big, steaming casserole of meaty beef and mushroom stew on a chilly evening.

When it's good, it is wonderful and repays the hours of slow simmering.

Serve with buttery mash - lots of it - and carrots.

Serves 6

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 2-3 hours

Per serving: 462 kcals/22.1g fat/7.2g saturated fat/1.3g salt/7.4g sugars

Ingredients

1kg Shin of beef or stewing steak, trimmed and cubed

2 tbsp Plain flour, seasoned

3 tbsp Sunflower oil

4 Rindless back bacon rashers, cut into short strips

2 Onions, peeled and roughly chopped

1 Bouquet garni of 2 sprigs parsley, 1 bay leaf, 2 sprigs thyme

400ml Double Chocolate Stout or Guinness

2 tbsp Tomato pure

tbsp Caster or granulated sugar

250g Button mushrooms, wiped and halved

25g Butter

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150C, gas mark 2.

Toss the cubes of beef in the flour. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan over a moderate heat.

Add one third of the beef and brown on all sides.

Take the first batch out, and place in a casserole.

Repeat with half the remaining beef, and then the last lot, adding more oil when necessary.

Fry the bacon and onions gently in the pan, until the onions are tender and translucent.

Tip them over the meat in the casserole. Tuck in the bouquet garni and season the contents with salt and pepper.

Return the frying pan to the heat and add the beer.

Bring up to the boil, scraping up the tasty brown residues stuck to the base of the frying pan.

Stir in the tomato pure and sugar, then pour the mixture over the contents of the casserole.

Add enough boiling water to cover the meat.

Stir, cover and transfer to the oven. Leave the casserole to cook for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat is very tender.

Fry the mushrooms in butter until lightly browned and tender.

Stir into the casserole once the beef is done, then return to the oven, without the lid, for a further 15 minutes.

Discard the bouqet garni before serving.

Serve immediately, or if you've prepared the stew for serving later on, reheat the cooled stew thoroughly on the hob, allowing it to bubble for a good 4-5 minutes (adding a little extra water if necessary) before serving.

Beer

Drinking anything other than beer would seem odd with this combination of flavours.

Try any rich wintry ale, although you might be happiest with a creamy pint of stout.

This recipe is from Waitrose Food Illustrated