Roasted chicken breast with corn, potatoes and green garlic sauce

My ugliest habit in this world is talking over people. More specifically, finishing sentences for people that are perfectly capable of wrapping it up for themselves.

The worst thing is, 99% of the time I get it totally wrong. Like, radically wrong. "So I went out on the weekend and bumped into my friend from school. She told me she's...." I jump in: "Pregnant and has cancer and is deciding whether to have chemo because it's risky for the baby?" (All my guesses are Steph Scully storylines from Neighbours). "No, she's starting a new job on Monday". Oh. Right. Sorry.

Most people are pretty patient with me in this regard. But to be totally honest, I wouldn't blame them for getting a bit ticked off. I'm displaying total impatience for people just trying to finish their thought, and total arrogance to think I am soooo insightful I can glean every piece of information they were hoping to express from the first three words of a sentence. Like I said, pretty ugly.

My second ugliest habit is being fairly inflexible when it comes to cooking techniques. I remember have a conversation with my buddies Nellie and Nadia. Nell and I were saying we thought chicken thighs were the best eating, but Nadia insisted a quick pan fry and bake for a chicken breast was the bee's knees. "Hurumph! Outrageous! Never!" was my response. (Now I've morphed from Steph Scully into Harold Bishop. And over cuts of chicken.)

I now have to eat my words. And my chicken breast. These babies were out of this world. I picked them up at the Coburg Farmers Market one fine Saturday morning from a mob out in Mirboo North (in Gippsland). It was their first pass at the market in Coburg, and I'm pretty glad they took the leap. This was some seriously good chicken - moist and tender, but a beautiful deep chicken flavour that you just cannot get in a supermarket bird.

Right nextdoor to the chicken stall were some fabulous looking veg. One pile caught my eye. Long, grassy, green stems attached to slim white and purple bulbs. I thought I'd seen these on some food blogs from the States. Ramps, maybe? I asked the friendly chap across the table and he advised they are similar to ramps, but really, they're just young garlic. They hadn't formed bulbs yet and were still quite sweet. You could simply chop them raw (but pretty finely) in salads. I chose to roast them instead and make a brilliant green sauce from the full plant. There'd be no smooching in our house that night.

I haven't totally overcome my interrupting habit. I'm working on it though. This weekend, I listened to an old man tell a story about his family and it went for at least 5 minutes and I didn't say a word. The intolerance for alternative cooking techniques? Well, today I told Matt he was stirring the pot of bolognaise wrong. Seriously guys. He was stirring. There's not that much that can go wrong. Let's just say I'm a work in progress.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp duck fat
3 nicola potatoes
3 corn cobs
2 stems of green garlic
1/2 bunch parsley
1/2 bunch coriander
1/2 bunch mint
1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 200ºC. Scrub and wash potatoes well to remove all dirt on the skins. Chop into even sized pieces, around 2cm square. Add to a roasting pan with the corn cobs and green garlic. Roast for around 45 minutes, or until crispy and golden.

In the meantime, season chicken breasts and rub with a little olive oil. Heat the first quantity of olive oil in a heavy based pan and add the chicken breasts, skin side down. Cook on each side until a deep golden brown in colour. Add to cook for around 10 minutes in the oven, on top of the potatoes and corn. Remove and rest for around 10 minutes in a warm spot.

To make the green garlic sauce, remove the green garlic from the oven around 20 minutes before the potatoes and chop roughly. Add to the food processor with the remaining ingredients and blend until roughly combined and saucey-like.

To serve, remove kernels from the corn cobs and mix with the potatoes. Slice the chicken in 1cm thick slices and fan over the top of the potatoes and corn on a plate. Top with a drizzle of the green garlic sauce.

World's best roast potatoes

That's one inflammatory blog post title if I've ever read one. Everyone thinks they make the best roast spuds. That, or their mother's can't be beat. I'm here to tell you you're wrong. As usual.

Our roast spuds were always cooked alongside the lamb they were accompanying. The delicious lamby juices would penetrate the little starchy nuggets so they'd be not only crispy but meaty at the same time. If there's one thing that improves vegetables, it's meat. (Sorry vegetarians, I'm in one of those moods).

I've modified Mum's tricks but stuck with the key concept - potatoes are a great little vehicle for more dominant flavours, particularly when they're all crunchy and golden. I keep them out of the meat tray when roasting: sometimes the meat can cause the potatoes to sog up. No one like a soggy spud.

I also veer away from the regular old olive oil. How do you feel about duck fat? I know, I know. It's goose fat's poor cousin, but we will have to make do on this occasion. I kid. Duck fat is like a great tan: great in the searing heat, completes the look, but will probably kill you in the long run. Yolo, amiright?

You've probably seen some of these tips on the telly before. Boil the spuds beforehand. Rough'em up a bit like they talked smack about your mother. Garlic and something herby (not that herb). But the most important tip: patience.

Stop opening the oven door. I can see you lingering there, pacing back and forth wondering if they're done. When you're at that point, put the timer on for 30 minutes. That's how wrong you were. Totes wrong.

Don't turn the heat up either. Just leave them be. Jeez. Go do something else. Watched pot and all that, yeah?

What kind of tots to use? A coliban's good (and can be found in a supermarket pretty easily) and a King Edward also rocks, but is probably more easily found at a farmer's market. A sebago or pontiac will also do the trick. You're looking for a good floury morsel: probably the only time in this life you'll use that term. Embrace it.

You may have read all of this and still be thinking, "But Emma, I do all these things, my potatoes are pretty great, but not earth shattering." Well, my friend, you may have done all of these things separately, but it's the culmination of all these tips that hits the spud out of the park and splatters it against a mesh fence. A synergy, if I may.  And I may. And you should too.

Ingredients

8 medium floury potatoes, peeled
sea salt and pepper
4 tbsp duck fat
your favourite fresh herb (like sage, thyme or rosemary)
1 small head of garlic

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Place the duck fat in a roasting pan and pop in the oven around halfway through preheating.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Chop the potatoes into pieces around 4-5cm wide. Salt the water and add the potatoes. Boil for around 8 minutes and drain. Scuff up the potatoes in your colander.

Add the potatoes to your roasting pan and roast for at least one hour, turning half way through cooking. They may need another 15 minutes, but will take longer if you keep opening the door. You have been warned.

Creamy kipfler potato bake

Some nights you need to climb onto the couch and not move until someone brings you food. That food should be stodge-tastic - comforting right down the the soles of your feet.

Tonight was one of those nights. It's rainy and cold and Matty had punctured the tire on his bike. I hurtled across town to pick him up, the spuds baking away all the while. Oh the anticipation - talk about keeping yourself in suspenders!

We arrived home to this little piece of heaven coming out of the oven. We pared it with a little grilled chicken and some green beans, though I have to admit I barely touched them. The potatoes were so melty and gorgeous. It was one of those situations were you start eating and realise 20 minutes later you've consumed the better part of 500g of potatoes. Uh-huh, like that.

Kipflers are a beaut type of spud for this recipe. They hold their shape well on baking, even in liquid. But one bite and they're soft and luscious inside. They also take on the flavours they're baked in: in this case, a little cheesy, a little creamy, a lot yummy.

My word to the wise? Don't have any grand, productive plans for the remainder of the night. For the same reason you decided on comfort food, you will be completely unable to move after this dish. Pull on your fluffy slippers, queue up your favourite television shows and curl up under a blanket. You won't see the light of day for a little while. Food coma commence...... now!

Ingredients

1 kg kipfler potatoes
250ml cream
250ml chicken stock
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp mustard
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Chop each potato to around 4cm square in size.

Heat the cream and chicken stock over a low heat. Once the cream begins to simmer, add the mustard, paprika and cheese. Add the potatoes and seasoning and place into the oven. Bake for around 1 hour or until liquid has reduced and potatoes are soft.

Loot soup

Saturday just gone was one of those stellar days you dream of when you're planning a slow weekend. Wake up, mooch around the house for an hour or so and head out to the nearest Farmer's Market. I hit up Fairfield and had a funny feeling in my bones I'd see my buddy Scott.

So it was as natural as could be when I saw the man wandering up the street with an armful of groceries. He kindly escorted me to the markets and was perfectly patient as I fondled every pumpkin, smelled the garlic and squeezed each oranges. I'm nothing if not a tactile shopper.

Fried chicken fiesta

I'm not sure what the Bureau of Meteorology says, but it feels like it's been over 30 degrees for the 30 days straight (if we were a fancy restaurant, we'd be called 30'30' humans or something). With no aircon and 1970's insulation (ie. none) our flat has a tendency to become something of a hotbox. It's not fun to cook inside these days, so we've been barbecuing our little hearts out recently. So you can imagine how it felt to stand over some sizzling hot oil on a particularly scorching day. To say my forehead was a little shiny would be something of an understatement.

I knew I wanted to do a fried chicken cook up for our friends, but to be honest I hadn't mastered a recipe. No matter - I found some good sources round the traps who knew a thing or two about chicken of the fried variety. Matt Wilkinson, from this post, recommended soaking in buttermilk and mustard. I can't deny he's onto a winner there. He also suggested a quick dredge in breadcrumbs or flour and frying. I went with flour, because another learned meat man, our lovely butcher from Skinner and Hackett, had kindly passed on a chicken spice rub from Peter Watson. It was a cracker when paired with flour, salt and pepper.

My latest purchase: Mr Wilkinson's Favourite Vegetables

Matty is an avid reader. If we had his books alone, they'd fill a pretty decent bookshelf. He'll read a book a week, but is generally pretty good at passing them on when he's done. Sharing the literary love. The real problem is my complete inability to say no to a cookbook. I don't hear voices in my head, it's more that the cookbooks grow legs and jump into my hands, take out my credit card and pay for the purchase. They even know my PIN for heaven's sakes!

There was no buyer's remorse with this one. Mr Wilkinson's Favourite Vegetables has actual recipes you'd reasonably believe you can cook and won't stuff up. They're also interesting and creative without being naff. It's one of those cookbooks you open and instantly feel a connection to the dishes: approachable but impressive.