why did the chicken……?

Chickens don’t have teeth.

Misty has some new teeth.

Boosty loves chickens.  While staying at our friend’s house over the Christmas holidays when we were overseas, she ate one of their chickens.  Actually, she just played with it until until it probably just died of sheer shock, and then proceeded to chew it’s beak off.  Boosty then taught my friend’s dog how to chase and catch chicken.  Bad Boosty, bad bad Boosty.

There seems to be a theme of chickens in our family.  Our fridge makes noises like a chicken.  Seriously.  We bought it brand new 2 years ago, and from the word go, it has been our “chicken fridge” – it makes these noises all the time that sound exactly like a chicken.  Weird. Entertaining though.

Misty also has the Chicken Pox.

Don’t know how he managed to get these, but he did so we are just going to have to wear it.  Luckily, Viper and I have both had them (scars remaining on my belly to prove this)  so we should be OK – can dogs get the Chicken Pox?  It would serve Boosty right – chicken Karma.

I want nothing more to do with chicken today, so decided to make some of these:

Sweet slow-cooked Cherry Tomatoes

• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, each cut in half (or 6 regular tomatoes, cut in half )
• 1T olive oil
• 1/2t sea salt
• 1/4t raw sugar (trust me, tomatoes sing with a bit of sugar!)
• Black pepper
• Fresh or dried herbs (optional)

Place tomatoes on a tray that has been lightly misted with spray oil

Mix together salt, sugar and a good old grind of black pepper

Sprinkle tomatoes with seasoning, and if using, herbs (I find thyme gives a beautiful flavour, and withstands the cooking well)

Sprinkle with 1T olive oil.  Place in a very low oven (100 degreesC) to slowly cook for about 40 minutes.  You will have to adjust cooking time for larger tomatoes – around 1 hour should do it.  Use your judgement; you want the tomatoes to be starting to ‘give’ and wrinkle, but still hold their shape, and be just a little juicy.  You don’t want to dry them out (that’s another recipe).  Slow and steady wins the race.

The slow- cooking brings out an awesome flavour in the tomatoes – these can be used in so many dishes, or just eaten on their own.  Tossed through salads, in pasta, as part of a big cooked breakfast (Viper’s favourite) or on a anti pasto platter – the possibilities are endless, and it’s a great way to use up tomatoes that are starting to look a little sad.

Slow cooked Tomato and Snozzie Pasta Salad

• 1C cooked pasta
• 1 Snozzie, (or chorizo, vegetarian sausage etc) cut into rounds and pan fried
• Chunk of feta or goats’ cheese, crumbled
• Sweet slow-cooked tomatoes
• 1 1/2T Viper’s Vinegrette
• Fresh herbs (parsley, basil, thyme – whatever you fancy)

Mix all ingredients together, season with black pepper.

Who needs chicken when you have snozzies?  Stupid chickens.