If you are having a bit of a trying day then it is an excellent idea to get a chicken in the oven roasting. If for no other reason than the fact that the smell of roast chicken is extremely reassuring. It is a nourishing hug of a smell that allows you to potter around dealing with all manner of dramas, safe in the knowledge there will be something good to eat come the end of the day.

I wasn’t sure what the afternoon was going to bring yesterday, there were some pretty dicey moments in the day let me tell you. However, as it turned out there was enough of a a lull in the poxter fiesta to throw together a very quick roast chicken curry. This is not the stuff that masterchef dreams are made of. Just look at those great hacked up lumps of carrot. Neither is the photo very stylie or artfully lit.. but it tasted just fine, almost as good as the well deserved glass of wine that accompanied it.

Fresh chilli, garlic, lots of fresh grated ginger , turmeric, fried in coconut oil. Add roast chicken, carrots, celery, tin of chopped tomatoes and tin of coconut cream. Salt, pepper, simmer and add some baby spinach at the end.

As you know then I’m usually a big believer in adapting the adult meal for the kids .. however, I’m also of the opinion that when kiddos are poorly then you do your absolute best to make food special in a kid friendly special kind of way. My guys are usually pretty happy with some plain roast chicken but it’s  too common a meal to be world rocking stuff around here. So I put some of the roast chicken to one side to make some buttery, gingery, sweet chicken sticks. I make them by melting a good chunk of butter and into it grating some garlic, fresh ginger and palm sugar. The palm sugar is the secret ingredient. It gives the chicken a sticky sweetness. You toss the chicken chunks around in the pan until they get a brown, slightly caramalised coating. Then thread a couple of pieces onto bamboo sticks.

Of course another benefit of having a roast chicken on the go is that you get to make chicken stock. The stock was doubly useful today. Firstly to bulk up the leftover curry into a soup for lunch and then as a base for a quick risotto with hot smoked salmon and peas tonight.

All that from one bird. It’s kind of a miracle really, and the irony of the bird being a chicken is not lost on me.