I love making roast chicken for a meal, it’s a one pan wonder, just flavor and season to your heart’s content. Put it in a roasting pan with veggies or roast potatoes and pop it into the oven for a few hours.

I love making blackened chicken as well, so when I accidently burn the chicken, I don’t have to lie, I can show my parents the recipe and see it was supposed to be charred.

This past week, life has taken a new course, a more complicated one and who knew that I would discover what a panic attack would feel like. It feels like a heart attack, I can tell you that.

I have had zero menu planning, haven’t been shopping in a few weeks and have been eating whatever I can make with whatever there is in the pantry or the fridge and sometimes my good friend Mr D helps me out.

The week started off with Leo developing hives and been rushed to the doctors and in my haste, I went with all the house keys and getting them back home for my dad to get into the house was a nightmare. Traffic was a night mare.

As we are finally coming the realization that Rags isn’t going to barge through the door demanding hot chocolate anymore, my other Uncle passed away. It wasn’t really a shock, we were expecting it. He was sick for a long time with kidney problems.

Having the phone ring an answering a call like that within 11 months of losing Rags, just brought back all those emotions and feelings and heartache and pain that my mum and I thought was buried deep deep somewhere.

My Uncle didn’t die of Covid, but because he died during a Covid pandemic, we had protocols to follow and it was strange to say. To sit so far apart from each other at a funeral, no hugging and no touching, makes attending a funeral very different.

Of course, there is always me causing havoc, the undertaker apparently told everyone not to touch the coffin or learn over and kiss my Uncle. Don’t ask me where I was when this was announced, but trust me, when I went to view the body, I of course has to touch his head and my mother could not have screamed louder at me not to touch. I spent the rest of the funeral, sanitizing and trying not to make eye contact with the undertaker.

Since I spent most of Saturday at the funeral, Sunday lunch was last minute with no planning.

Then I came across a recipe for blackened chicken in Sabrina Ghayour’s cookbook and it was a recipe that required me to finally use my chicken scissors to cut out the spine.

The recipe itself was super easy to make, with little to no cutting, just a snip here and a snip there, some pressing down and then into the oven it went.

The verdict, my parents kept laughing at me that I burnt the chicken, even though I showed them about a million times that the recipe and the picture attached stated and showed that it would be charred.

There is just no pleasing old school people I tell you.

Ingredients:

• 1 x whole chicken, cleaned and spatchcock.
• 1 x tbsp. cumin seeds.
• 2 x tsp coriander powder.
• 1 x tsp cumin powder.
• ½ x tsp cardamom powder.
• 1 x tbsp. chilli flakes.
• 1 x tbsp. dried thyme.
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 2 x cloves garlic, crushed.
• 1 x tbsp. castor sugar.
• 4 x tbsp olive oil.
• Salt and pepper to season.

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients, expect the chicken in a bowl and whisk till well combined.
• Rub this spice mix all over the chicken.
• Wrap the chicken in cling film and pop into the fridge to chill overnight.
• Unwrap the chicken and place on a greased baking tray.
• Pop into a preheated oven and bake at 180 degrees for 45 – 60 minutes or until the skin is crispy and brown.