Good life, great food

Recipes by Gillian Swinton

Gillian Swinton and her husband Hamish live on a lifestyle block in Central Otago. Her book The Good Life includes more than 25 recipes for pickling, preserving and delicious meals to help you get the most out of your kitchen, garden and paddock.

What inspired you to write The Good Life? 

We have always naturally leaned into sharing our knowledge, skills and failings with our neighbours, friends and community. Growing our own food, trying (and failing) new skills and methods is part of what fills our cup here on our lifestyle block. What we have been doing on our farm comes from years of seasonal work, living on farms and remotely - having our own space now to do what we want has meant we have the ability to put it all into action. What I hope people can take away from the book is that you don't need to own your own land to live the good life! 

What is your top tip for becoming more self-sufficient? 

Community is really key, finding people in your area doing similar things is great as you can share equipment, knowledge, produce and skills. Through them we have learned so much, and life (and food) is so much more fun when shared so we try to do that as much as we can. The main thing is to have fun, don't grow what you don't eat and work with Mother Nature and the seasons. Winter is coming for us, so we are starting to slow down and tuck the garden away for winter. Being able to rest in winter is important! 

How hard is homesteading on a smaller farm? 

Often a lifestyle block can be referred to as a life sentence block: you don't have the infrastructure, equipment or income as you would on a larger productive farm. Some days it can feel like a money pit, with endless equipment breaking, but the good days outweigh the bad. We have tried to include other income streams like selling our excess produce, honey and eggs at our roadside stall and workshops. This money heads straight back into the farm for feed, seeds and repairs which definitely helps! I think homesteading is as hard as you want it to be, our key principles are based on growing our own food, bettering the soil and working with community. We try not to put much pressure on ourselves, and try and have fun with it!

PERFECT ROAST CHICKEN 

Time: See cooking timetable 

It’s a bold move to call a recipe ‘Perfect Roast Chicken’, but sometimes you gotta own it! When I was working on the stations, I realised how easy life can be when you dial in some basic meals that are also tasty and impressive. Seeing as we’re in New Zealand and not the Australian outback, I’ve swapped out the perfect turkey for the perfect chook. A roast chook is now my go-to if I need to feed guests, or if I’ve run out of ideas for dinner. It’s simple, easy and always a crowd-pleaser. 

Firstly, you need to work out the size of your bird. You know the sizes on the front of store-bought chickens (15, 16, 17, etc.)? Well, that translates to their weight: 1.5kg, 1.6kg, 1.7kg and so on. Knowing this number helps calculate your cooking time and stops the meat from drying out. Don’t throw away your bones after eating, I have a recipe for them too — remember, this is a self-sufficient kitchen!

INGREDIENTS

Chicken, Butter, Lemon, Fresh herbs (my favourites are sage, rosemary and parsley) Whole head of garlic, Salt and pepper.

METHOD

• Pat the skin dry and place the chook breast side up in a roasting dish. Carefully make an incision at the top of the breast between the skin and the meat. Push some butter into this gap so there is some underneath the skin of the chicken. Manipulate the butter from on top of the skin to distribute it as best you can. 

• Carefully prick holes in a lemon using a sharp knife and pop this in the cavity of the bird. Stuff a good handful of herbs in the cavity, too. If you don’t have fresh herbs at hand, you can season the skin with dried herbs, but make sure the cavity has a lemon in it. 

• Halve the head of garlic by cutting it horizontally. Place this in the dish with the bird. 

• Season well with salt and pepper.

COOKING TIMETABLE

To work out your cooking time: a stuffed chicken requires 50 minutes per kilogram (2 lb 4 oz) at 180°C (350°F) if the oven is on fan-bake. If you don’t have the fan-bake option on your oven, increase the time to 60 minutes per kilogram. 

1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) chicken = fan-bake 75 minutes 

1.6 kg (3 lb 8 oz) chicken = fan-bake 80 minutes 

1.7 kg (3 lb 12 oz) chicken = fan-bake 85 minutes 

1.8 kg (4 lb) chicken = fan-bake 90 minutes 

To ensure your chicken is fully cooked, pop a skewer in and check that the juices run clear. Remove the lemon from the cavity and squeeze it over the skin. Grab the garlic and squeeze the cloves out onto the skin too. Eat the skin first, as the crunchy deliciousness is best enjoyed hot!

For another great homesteader recipe from Gillian Swinton, head to Issuu.