Hot days in Canberra.
We’ve had daily maximum temperatures exceeding 35 °C for the last few days. It’s also been very dry with humidity mostly under 20%. Hot and dry is awful. I much prefer warm and moist. I’ve been running a humidifier in my living room to try to keep my skin from cracking. I really don’t like hot days.
Keeping hot
So what do you do on a hot night? Turn on the often and roast some chicken drumsticks!
I didn’t have much choice. I’d bought three chicken drumsticks on Saturday morning and I didn’t like keeping them too long in the refrigerator.
I thought I would cook them on a bed of quinoa rice and use some asparagus and broccoli I had. For a little colour, I used up some cherry tomatoes and red chillies. I stuck it all together with some grated Coon cheese.
Ingredients
Three (3) Chicken drumsticks
Red quinoa and brown rice—1 packet
Gorgonzola cheese—2 tablespoons crumbled
Feta cheese—2 tablespoons crumbled
Coon cheese—1 small handful grated
Asparagus spears—small bundle cut coarsely
Broccolini—small bundle cut coarsely
Two (2) red chillies—sliced
Chilli flakes—1 teaspoon
How did I make this magnificent creation?
Cook the microwave red quinoa and brown rice according to the packet instructions.
In a large mixing bowl add the quinoa rice, three raw chicken drumsticks, a good slosh of olive oil, the Coon cheese, asparagus spears, broccoli, chilli flakes and curry powder.
Mix with oiled hands, separate out the chicken drumsticks and then form a mound in an oven-proof frying pan
Place the chicken drumsticks on top of the mound
Place the frying pan into an oven at 150 °C (300 °F) for 45 minutes
At 45 minutes remove the frying pan and crumble over the top the Gorgonzola and feta cheese
Put back into the oven for 5 minutes
Remove from the oven and plate up
Picture perfect!
Well, not quite. I should have done something to avoid the shadow in the top left of the bowl. Click here for a larger version to see the detail.
How did it taste?
The rice was crunchy and cheesy. The chicken was nicely cooked. It was pretty filling. The Gorgonzola cheese really added a distinctive flavour too. 👍👍
