Nigel Slater’s winter salads with chicken and pork
I am $4100 celine black leather python edge satchel gold zip top bag women’s on sale not going to forgo my daily salad just because there’s a bit of frost on the roof. Those crisp, crackling leaves of winter, the welcome snap of bitterness and bright flavours will continue to take their 0 celine a scene 75 facebook place on my table, they just need a slightly different treatment. Most of my winter salads have a hot element to them – a sizzling, often spicy addition to contrast with the coolness of all the lush, crunchy greenery.
Roast chicken tossed with a dressing made from its own roasting juices, mellow black garlic and ice cold segments of citrus appeared on the menu this week, as did another salad of fat-marbled pork (I used belly), sweet miso and honey with pears and freckled lettuce. The pears, incidentally, were cooked with vinegar, sugar and peppercorns to give a teasingly pickled note, and would be good with cold meats or a wedge of pork pie, too.
Add a spicy element to contrast with all the lush greenery
The introduction of something hot 0 celine bag 30 cm equals how many inches and sticky to a refreshing salad can stretch as far as pork ribs tossed with an orange, watercress and pomegranate; sliced sausages with a tangle of shredded cabbage and radishes celine replica phantom bag, or maybe sautéed potatoes and smoked mackerel lurking deliciously amid spinach and a tangle of young leaves.
I cannot be alone in the urge to toss chilled watercress, spinach and chicory leaves with steaming hot juices from a roast, the heat of the gravy lightly softening the leaves. For me, the contrast of temperatures and textures, the juxtaposition of the searing hot with the icy cold only adds to the pleasure of what is on my plate.
This is not the time to abandon the salad bowl.
Chicken, black garlic and citrus salad
I suggest chicken thighs here, but drumsticks will work, too. Just choose really thick and meaty ones from a free-range bird. The texture of the salad is much improved by tearing the roasted chicken from the bone by hand in thick, juicy pieces rather than chopping it with a knife. Lardons and frisée aside, little cubes of $1900 celine drape front cap sleeve wrap crepe tunic meat do nothing for the look of a salad.
Serves 4chicken thighs 1kg (about 6)olive oil 2 tbspblack garlic 4 clovessesame seeds 4 tbsplambs lettuce 25gwatercress 50gmustard and cress or other micro-salad leavesgrapefruit 1orange 1, largeclementine 1
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Put the chicken thighs into a roasting tin, pour in the olive oil, season generously with salt and black pepper and toss gently to coat the chicken. Bake for 30 minutes until the skin of the chicken is deep gold and crisp.
Remove the black cloves of garlic from their papery skins, then crush the flesh into a smooth, sticky paste with the back of a knife.
Crush the garlic cloves into a smooth, sticky paste
Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan until golden then remove from the heat. Wash the lamb’s lettuce and watercress and dry well. If the watercress stems are long, chop them into short pieces. Peel the grapefruit with a knife then slice thickly. If the grapefruit is large, cut the slices in half. Do the same with the orange, reserving as much juice as you can.
Remove the chicken from the pan then pull the meat from the bones in large, juicy pieces, place in a large bowl and set aside. Pour away all but a couple of tablespoons of the oil in the roasting tin, then place the tin over a moderate heat, and stir in the mashed black garlic, the juice of the clementine and any reserved citrus juice. Stir thoroughly to combine, then pour the dressing over the chicken and toss gently to evenly coat the meat.
Add the prepared grapefruit and orange, the watercress, cress and lamb’s lettuce and toss gently to combine. Scatter with the toasted sesame and serve.
Pork, miso and pickled pear
Strips of pork belly, sold without the bone, work nicely here. Look for those with plenty of fat. I use white miso for the dressing. Use dark miso if that is what you have, but the flavour will be saltier and more intense.
Serves 4For the pears:white wine vinegar 4 tbspblack peppercorns 8caster sugar 1 tbspsalt 1 tsppears 2pork belly 700g, strips, without bonesliquid honey 2 tbspwhite miso paste 3 tbspgrain mustard 2 tbspsalad leaves a handful
Put the vinegar, black peppercorns, caster sugar and salt in a saucepan with 100ml of water and bring to the boil. Peel the pears, halve them then cut out the cores with a teaspoon. Lower the pears into the pickling liquid, lower the heat and leave the pears to cook until tender to the point of a knife. Remove from the heat, cover with a lid 0 celine 173823ska 18cc money and leave to rest. Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.
Place the strips of pork on a shallow grill pan, season with salt and black pepper, and roast for 30 minutes until golden and sizzling. In a large shallow pan, warm the honey, white miso paste and mustard until you $950 new celine us 10 eu 40 turquoise pony hair espadrille loafer slip have thick paste.
Tear the pork into short, finger-width strips, then toss with the hot dressing. Return the dressed meat to the oven for 7-10 minutes until sizzling and starting to caramelise. Wash and dry the salad leaves and place them on a serving plate, then pile the hot pork on top. Place half a pickled pear on each plate.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @NigelSlater