Cocktail snacks - cheesy potato flatbread with pistachio & garlic confit butter
+ crispy chicken skins with whipped honey butter & a cookbook recommendation
Welcome back to Sunday’s Recipes & More.
'Tis the season when gift-giving takes center stage in everyone's mind. For me, nothing echoes affection quite like food. If I possessed superhuman abilities, I'd craft a personalized cookbook for each cherished friend, family member and Substack reader, all tailored to each person’s distinct personality, tastes, and idiosyncrasies. Alas, this grand venture might well span several lifetimes, so I hope that you will consider the forthcoming free newsletters as my Christmas gift to you.
As we continue the cocktail snack series, and in the spirit of festive cheer, today there are two recipes. If you are hosting a festive get-together and don’t fancy toiling over complicated canapés, consider these small plate snacks as no-nonsense alternatives to hors d'oeuvres.
The Recipes
First of all we have a delicious potato flatbread paired with tarragon, garlic confit, and pistachio compound butter. This is followed by crispy chicken skins served with whipped honey butter – a versatile addition that could double as a delightful topping for the flatbreads
What I love most about this week’s recipes, beyond their fairly effortless preparation, is the perfect marriage of flavor and texture.
Once cooked, the potato flatbreads - a nod to the beloved Irish potato farls - boast pillowy softness on the inside with just the right amount of crispiness on the outside. The real triumph, however, is that as the flatbread sizzles in the pan, the mozzarella and cheddar nestled within, gradually melt, resulting in the perfect stretchy cheese pull. The tarragon, garlic confit and pistachio compound butter suggestion is offered as a luxurious optional addition.
And onto the crispy chicken skins – you won’t believe how perfectly crunchy they become in the oven so no deep frying required. When ready to serve, sprinkle the hot crackled skins with a little salt, smoked paprika and cayenne before topping with chives. Oh, and don’t forget to serve them with whipped honey butter.
These crunchy honeyed treats can be served at any time of year but the heady aroma of sizzling chicken skins is particularly comforting on a cold winter’s day. Don’t be at all surprised if your guests appear to be following you as you pass round these deliciously satisfying morsels.
Cheesy Potato flatbreads with Pistachio, Tarragon and Garlic Confit Butter
Ingredients
265g mashed potatoes
160g all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
Water (approx 3-4 tbsp)
Mozzarella & cheddar cheese, grated
Method
1. Mash the potatoes and let them cool.
2. Mix the mashed potatoes, flour, salt, and olive oil in a bowl. Gradually add a little water and knead into a soft dough.
3. Divide the dough into approx. 4-6 small balls, and on a lightly floured surface, roll them into 5 - 6” (13 -15cms) round flatbreads.
4. Place a large pinch of grated cheese in the center of each flatbread, then gather the sides of the dough to the center to form a dumpling shape before pinching to seal. Roll out again to reform the flatbreads.
6. Cook the flatbreads in a hot skillet with a little olive oil over medium heat until they puff up and turn golden brown. This should take approx. 3-4 mins on each side.
Tarragon, pistachio & garlic confit compound butter
Ingredients
50g pistachios
20g fresh tarragon
200g salted butter
3 tbsps. garlic confit (or to taste)
For the garlic confit
Ingredients
3-4 garlic bulbs, cloves peeled
Olive oil - enough to cover the garlic cloves
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp of brown sugar (optional)
Rosemary sprig
Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 275°F (135°C).
2. Place the peeled garlic cloves along with the oil, seasoning and rosemary in an oven-safe dish or small ovenproof saucepan. Cover with foil then puncture a small hole in the foil for the steam to escape.
3. Cook for approx. 40–50 mins. During this time the garlic will become soft and tender, but remove from the oven before it turns brown or crispy.
Once cooled, transfer the garlic cloves and oil to a clean, airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Crispy Chicken Skins with Whipped Honey Butter
Ingredients
Chicken skins (according to number of guests)
Salt
Smoked paprika
Cayenne
Garnish: chives, finely chopped
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Arrange skins flat on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and season with salt.
4. Cover with another sheet of baking parchment, then place a second baking sheet/tray on top, to keep the skins flat.
5. Bake for 15-25 mins or until crisp and golden. When baked sprinkle with paprika and cayenne.
Whipped smoked paprika honey butter
Mix equal parts of butter and honey, plus a pinch or two of paprika in a stand mixer for 2-4 minutes. I used 100g of both honey and butter but, just as with the chicken skins, tailor to the numbers you are catering for.
As this is a cocktail snack series it would be remiss not to recommend two cocktail pairings. To help decide the pairings, I used an antique cocktail recipe spinner that belongs to my Dad, (regular readers will know my father loves to collect unusual object d’art as well as antiquarian cookbooks). I can only apologize that I do not have a link or equivalent product I can recommend. Delightful as it is, we really have no idea where the cocktail recipe spinner came from.
Tom Collins (to pair with the potato flatbread)
2 oz gin
1 tsp powdered sugar (although I would recommend using a 1/2 oz of simple syrup)
A squeeze of lemon
Ice
Soda or sparking water
Method
Combine gin with lemon juice and sugar syrup. Stir. Pour into a tall glass with ice and top with soda or sparkling water. Garnish with a lemon.
Tasting Notes
Light and refreshing with bright citrus notes. This perfectly complements my rather indulgent flatbread.
Fernet Cocktail (to pair with the crispy chicken skins)
2 oz cognac
½ oz Fernet-Branca
¼ oz simple syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters
Method
Combine cognac (or whisky), Fernet-Branca, simple syrup, and Angostura bitters in a mixing glass with ice. Stir until chilled then strain into a chilled coupe glass before garnishing with an orange twist.
Tasting notes
Cognac and chicken is a wonderful food and drink pairing. Robust and complex, expect rich, warming notes from the cognac, layered with the herbal bitterness of Fernet-Branca, complemented by a subtle sweetness from the touch of simple syrup. The dash of Angostura bitters adds depth, enhancing the overall complexity with hints of spice and botanicals. Lovely.
A gift recommendation: How to be a Domestic Goddess (Nigella Lawson)
It’s come to my attention that some of you, especially some of my American friends, haven’t had the pleasure of reading Nigella Lawson’s, How to be a domestic goddess. That is a great shame. Let me make a compelling case as to why you should read this cookbook.
As a teenager, I used to feel that the word 'domestic' had rather negative connotations. The concept of domesticity conjured up rather antiquated images of a downtrodden 1950s housewife: hair set, tray in hand, complete with a bright smile that betrayed dark thoughts associated with murdering the suit, her husband, with a Le Creuset Dutch oven. One blow to the head: coq au vin all over the carpet.
Anyhow, one day, years ago, my mother gifted me a copy of How to be a Domestic Goddess for Christmas. I was horrified. However, as soon as I opened the book, my pre-conceived ideas were immediately challenged.
Within the pages I discovered wit, rebellion, and best of all, an active departure from the concept of domestic drudgery. Here, instead, was the joy of baking and the pleasure of eating.
These weren't totally new concepts, mind you, many women have paved the way ahead of Nigella, namely powerhouses such as Julia Child, Delia Smith, and M.F.K. Fisher. In How To Cook a Wolf, Fisher promoted the pleasure of eating and cooking during war time. Yet, at this stage of my life, it was Nigella's school of thought that resonated with me the most.
I loved, and do love, the way Nigella speaks about the experience of the kitchen through the lens of the female gaze. How can one not respond to her statement that ‘we don’t want to feel like a postmodern, postfeminist, overstretched woman, but, rather, a domestic goddess, trailing nutmeggy fumes of baking pie in our languorous wake’? What imagery, what sensuality! Her undeniably authoritative tone strongly conveys the underlying message of the book: women don't have to be chained to either a desk in the office or a stove in the kitchen. Rather, we can exist wherever we damn well please.
You know, that's the beauty of Nigella; she is a wonderful catalyst for reimagining the experience of cooking within the home, not only for others, but also oneself. Where some other food writers might tell you how much butter to include in a bake, Nigella presents stories, and asks you questions using seemingly perfunctory and quotidian processes as a way of making you imagine yourself and the world around you, just a little bit differently. As Nigella herself says: 'Cooking, we know, has a way of cutting through things, and to things, which have nothing to do with the kitchen. This is why it matters.'
Until next week!
S x