Pasta with Tomato, Chicken and Spinach

The weather continues to annoy me.
I'm sick of the rain.
I want sun.

But since I have no control over it whatsoever I guess all I can do is accept the rain and go on with life. I had chicken and spinach and wanted to bake a pie. But then I got distracted and ran out of time so I ended up making a pasta dish instead.

A big tin of peeled tomatoes, chicken breasts cubed, lots of freshly washed spinach, onion, a clove of garlic, one carrot diced, olive oil and seasoning. That was all it took. Of course fresh basil from my herb garden and lots of grated Parmesan completed the dish.

Hope you have great week ahead!

Stir Fry

I made a pretty good stir fry last week.

Chicken, green beans, pineapple, cabbage, onions and mushrooms with sweet chili sauce of course.

And fluffy basmati rice.

Think I might just repeat it again this week but with tofu instead of chicken!

Brussels Sprouts with Chicken Pasta

Now you know that I don't like brussels sprouts.
But my husband loves them so as long as they are in season and cheap I will be buying them.

Last week I deviated from my menu plan and made a pretty tasty pasta dish incorporating brussels sprouts. Definitely good for repetition.

It went a little like this:
Take one bag of brussels sprouts, clean them and throw them in a pot with boiling water for about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

While the brussels sprouts are cooking, heat up a grill pan and cook three chicken breasts for about 10 minutes (5 minutes per side). Season your chicken breasts as per your liking - I marinated them half an hour before cooking in lemon juice and crushed garlic with a dash of honey.

Let the chicken breasts rest while you get the pasta cooking in a big pot of boiling water - follow the directions on your packaging. I made spaghetti which needed about 9 minutes until nicely cooked.

While the pasta cooks take a big pan and heat up a dash of olive oil. Now add a finely chopped onion and sauté for a couple of minutes. Slice three rashers of bacon and add to the onions. Slice the chicken breasts into strips and add to the pan. Throw in the brussels sprouts too and give it all a nice stir before adding about 50ml of low fat cooking cream (feel free to add more). Mix it well and make sure the heat is turned off so that you don't curdle the cream. Season with salt and black pepper.

Add the drained pasta to the pan and mix well.

Serve with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

 Hope you have a great week ahead!

Tandoori Chicken

I was watching BBC1 and came across a cooking show by Simon Hopkinson. He made tandoori chicken and right away I knew that it would make my dinner menu this week. It seemed pretty straight forward and indeed it is. The main thing is having the patience to let the chicken marinate overnight.

I kind of like having something marinating in the fridge, the promise of a meal yet to be made.

The tandoori chicken was good. Not quite as good as in an Indian restaurant but definitely a good weeknight dinner!

One thing I dislike immensely about winter is the fact that all my photos are taken at night. My preference is natural light. And you know that I take my photos as things come out of the oven and are about to be devoured so I really don't have time to fuss around. Instead of a photo you get a little illustration I made of my chicken drumstick of last night.

Here is a link to the recipe on the BBC website. And here is a copy of the original recipe.
Note: this recipe is for quite a large amount of chicken, I just halved everything (except the dip) and it worked just as well!

For the chicken:
1.75kg chicken drumsticks, skinned
pinch salt
2 lemons, juice only
500g plain yoghurt
3-4 tbsp tandoori spice mix

For the dip
3-4 tbsps plain yoghurt
pinch salt
pinch sugar
5 fresh mint sprigs
1 green chilli, deseeded, sliced

Preparation method
Cut deep incisions into the chicken flesh with a small, sharp knife. Place the chicken into a bowl and sprinkle over the salt and the juice of two lemons, massaging into the chicken until well coated. (this is the worst part since I hate touching raw chicken - but just persevere and you will be rewarded!)

Whisk the yoghurt and tandoori spice mix in a bowl until well combined. Pour the marinade onto the chicken and massage into the flesh. Cover with clingfilm and chill in the fridge overnight.
Preheat the grill to high.

Lift the drumsticks from the tandoori mixture and gently shake off any excess. Place a wire rack over a roasting tin and lay the drumsticks upon it. Grill for 20 minutes, turning regularly, or until richly burnished and the chicken is cooked through. Add more lemon juice to taste.

For the dip, place all of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Serve alongside the chicken drumsticks.

Quick Chicken Curry

Some days just call for a quick curry.

The kind where you simply look at your cupboard and find a tin of coconut cream which will form the basis of the whole meal. Curry powder, chicken pieces, onion, garlic, cauliflower, carrots, string beans and rice will complete it.

This is my favourite kind of day.

Buttermilk Marinated Chicken

You can always count on Martha Stewart.
For recipes, of course.
I had buttermilk to use up l and vaguely remembered that it could be used as a marinade.
So after a quick google I found this recipe on Martha Stewart's website. It is actually a 'how to marinades' article with a list of recipes.

Here is a copy of the one I used, quite conveniently I had everything I needed in the house:

1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons chopped garlic (3 cloves)
Use with chicken, fish, or other seafood.

I simply placed it all with three skinned chicken breasts in a plastic ziplock bag and left it there overnight.

Cook it on a hot grill pan and you will be rewarded for your patience with the most tender delicious chicken!

Couscous with Chicken and Broccoli

Why is it that I can never follow a recipe to the letter?
I'll tell you.

1. I'm a fussy eater and inevitably the recipe will contain something I don't like so I 'substitute' ingredients. (you ever wondered why things like bell peppers never ever show up in anything I make? Well now you know!)
2. I like to use what I have in the kitchen but when I do go and buy ingredients specially for a recipe there is a big chance that I will forget one or two things...
3. Apparently I like to improvise.

Jamie's 15 minute meals is turning into a hit in my house. Clearly not because I am following the recipes the way they were written, but because it is a source of inspiration for my improvisation.

Take Jamie's recipe for a delicious chicken salad with bulgur wheat. I love the idea of it, but not all the ingredients so my recipe substituted bulgur wheat with couscous, radish with red onion, pumpkin seeds with pine nuts, pickled lemons for fresh lemons and finally red wine vinegar with white wine vinegar. Yes, you would be right if you are thinking it deviates significantly from his recipe... but it was delicious!! I'm making it again and it took less than 30 minutes :-)

Here is the improvised recipe which should happily feed 2 to 3 persons:

Make the couscous first by using a ratio of 1:2 couscous to liquid (e.g. 1 cup couscous plus 2 cups boiling water). Add some salt, lemon zest and juice of half a lemon. Cover it and let it rest.

Cut the broccoli into florets and add to boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes or until tender but not soft.

Now season two chicken fillets with salt, pepper and ground coriander seeds.
Place them in a baking sheet and pound them with the intention to flatten them to about 1,5 cm thick thereby reducing the cooking time.

Add a dash of olive oil to a pan and cook the chicken breasts until golden on both sides, turning regularly.

Drain the broccoli and let it rest while you work with the rest of the salad ingredients. Slice up some spring onions, finely chop fresh mint leaves (half a handful of leaves should do), and slice a nice red onion into rings. Place into a bowl and add a dash of extra virgin olive oil, a dash or two of white wine vinegar, salt and pepper and mix it all up. Slice the cooked chicken and toss with the salad ingredients.

Place the broccoli on the couscous, then add the chicken and salad mixture.
Sprinkle some some garden cress (tuinkers) and pine nuts on top of the salad. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the salad.  Lastly add a tablespoon or two of fat free yoghurt with a teaspoon of harissa.

Enjoy!

Orange Chicken

I had chicken breasts, fennel, onions, mushrooms and some oranges.

What to make, what to make.

Luckily the Internet is full of ideas. 

I love the Internet.

I stumbled across a recipe that matched my ingredients on this website. It turned out to be rather good and very easy (bonus!). It calls for 'herbs de provence' which of course I did not have lying around but that did not stop me from just adding whatever I felt like in terms of herbs and spices. 

Long live improvisation!

Here is a link to the original recipe.

Here is my improvised version.

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon butter

1 onion, peeled and sliced thinly

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 bulb of fennel (top, bottom and outer leaves removed), sliced thinly

1 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoons herbs (coriander seeds, basil, cayenne pepper, etc.)

salt and pepper

Juice of 2 oranges

Method:

Melt the butter in a deep skillet on medium heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook, turning occasionally, until browned and just cooked through (about 15 minutes, but depends on the thickness of the poultry).

Meanwhile prepare the mushrooms, fennel and onion.

Remove the chicken from the pan and add the olive oil, heating it for about 1 minute. Add the sliced onions, mushrooms, and fennel. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

Return the chicken to the skillet with the vegetables, then sprinkle with the herbs, and salt and pepper. Pour the orange juice on top and adjust the heat so that the liquid is just barely bubbling.

Simmer for 10 minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on top of rice.

Rotisserie Chicken

You know it.
I used my new oven.
The most delicious rotisserie chicken ever came out of it.
As if by magic.

So far I am more than a little impressed by the oven.

A word of warning... the rotisserie chicken attachment is very sharp. Trust me, I know.

Friendship = Chicken Pie

On Sunday we had a lovely dinner at Tip's place.

She made a delicious chicken pie to treat us because we've not really had a home cooked meal in a couple of weeks now.

When we got ready to leave she handed me a chicken pie to take home.

What a treat. All I had to do was heat it up in the microwave oven.

Now that's friendship.

Happiness.

Tandoori Spiced Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry

I love shopping in other countries. You know, just browsing the super market becomes an adventure. Of course it is always an adventure when you do not speak the language (in this case French).
Sometimes you stumble across good things like this little bottle of Tandoori seasoning.
It is perfect on chicken.

It will run out quickly and once it is finished it is finished for good since I won't be heading to France again soon.

For the time being I will just enjoy using it in my cooking adventures.

This lovely and very healthy meal was made by liberally seasoning about 300 grams of diced skinless chicken breasts with the Tandoori mixture. add a dash of lemon juice and let it marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Peel, slice and dice a head of broccoli, a few carrots, paksoi, an onion and of course some garlic.
Prepare enough basmati rice to serve 3 people (or more, you decide). It should take about 18 minutes.
While the rice is simmering away, I prefer to start cooking my chicken and vegetables separately and then combine them when everything is done. Add a splash of soy as you go along, and of course a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Season as needed and when ready serve with fluffy white basmati rice.

Enjoy!

Easy Holiday Pasta

We are staying in a self catering apartment with a very basic kitchen.
I mean seriously, how does anyone cope without cooking on gas?
It's quite an adjustment for me.

Our dinners have been pretty simple.
Luckily you don't need much to make a good pasta dish.

Courgette, mushrooms, onion, chicken breast and Pecorino cheese on top of lovely Italian penne pasta. That's all it took to make our dinner delicious.

Of course a bit of seasoning and maybe a dash of soy sauce helped too.

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Salad

It was the usual question.
What am I going to make for dinner.
I had chicken breasts, I had asparagus and I had a lime.
Of course I had a whole lot more than that but I really wanted to use the chicken, asparagus and the lime!

I browsed the Delicious Magazine website and stumbled across two potential recipes. I improvised and used a bit of this one and a bit of that one.

I was happy with the results and so was my husband!

Ingredients:

3 skinless free-range chicken breasts
Juice of 1 lime and lime zest
½ garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp paprika powder
½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
1 courgette, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
12 - 15 asparagus spears
2 cups arugula lettuce
60 gr couscous

Method:

Place the chicken breasts between sheets of cling film and carefully flatten with a rolling pin until they are 10mm thick. Place in a dish with the lime juice, the lime zest, garlic, dried spices and one table spoon olive oil. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for an hour or two.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place the chopped courgette, carrots and onions into an oven proof dish, season and drizzle some olive oil on top. Roast in the oven for approximately 40 minutes.

Prepare the couscous as per the instructions on the packaging.

Trim the asparagus and drizzle with olive oil.

Heat up your grill (I use an electric grill which looks a little like a George Foreman Grill!).
Now place the asparagus on the grill and let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
Next cook the chicken breasts on the grill - it shouldn't take long, but it entirely depends on your grill.

Combine everything, including the arugula, and enjoy a very healthy and tasty salad!

Dinner with the Neighbours

We are right in the middle of extending our kitchen.

Luckily we are not doing it alone.

It is a collaboration with our neighbour.

He has a lot of experience in building (lucky us!).

To thank him for the effort so far we invited him and his girlfriend over for dinner.

Of course I made Bill Granger's curried chicken rice.

A big salad, ciabatta bread and tiramisu for dessert.

Gezellig!

Kids Food #18 - Chicken Drumsticks

Kids love chicken drumsticks.
I think it is because they can grab it with their hands and just eat it off the bone.
It is a little messy, but hey, I don't mind cleaning up after them as long as they eat their food and enjoy it!

I usually make a little marinade by mixing the following for about 4 chicken drumsticks:
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons tomato sauce (ketchup)
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

Cover the chicken with the mixture and let it marinate for about an hour (or as long as you can really, I just never seem to have the time...).

Bake them in a preheated oven (180 degrees Celsius) for about 45 minutes until cooked through.

Serve them hot or cold (good for picnics!).

Chicken Salad (again)

It feels like I am on an eternal diet...
But actually I have made a change in my lifestyle and eating habits, for good.
Guess there will be lots of chicken salads in my future.
Green lettuce and ripe tomatoes.
Juicy cucumber and tasty chives.
Salad for lunch.
Salad for dinner.

Kids Food #12 - Chicken Noodle Omelette

We have a sweet little kids cook book with all kinds of easy recipes.
My husband actually found and made this one - he is quite good in the kitchen!
It is very simple and the kids liked it.

A chicken noodle omelette.
There is a bit of prep work involved, but once everything is ready and in the pan, it goes very quickly. I sliced it up 'pizza' style and as always Heidi enjoyed hers with a splash of tomato ketchup on the side.

Recipe:

1 packet of instant noodles
175 gram cooked chicken, chopped up finely (I used one chicken breast)
2 teaspoons parsley, finely chopped (I left this out since I did not have any in the house)
2 eggs, loosely beaten
2 tablespoons grated cheese
Optional: Bacon or ham (My husband's little addition to the recipe!)

Method:

1. Cook the noodles as per the instructions on the packet and drain them.
2. Mix the cooked chicken with the noodles, parsley and eggs in a bowl.
3. Pour the mixture into a non-stick pan and let it cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Do not stir, just wait it out.
4. Sprinkle the cheese on top and then place the omelette under a hot grill until it gets a bit of colour and the cheese melts.

Serve immediately!

Spicy Chicken Wraps

My husband showed up with a grocery bag full of ingredients to make chicken wraps.

Tortilla wraps, diced chicken breasts, chicken spices, mild wrap salsa, tomatoes, onions, garlic and lettuce.

Well, I guess we were having wraps for dinner.

It's pretty easy to make. Just saute the chicken, add the spices and serve with above mentioned ingredients.

It turns out that 'mild' isn't really mild at all. At least, not my interpretation of mild!
After a couple of bites my mouth was on fire!! Not just mine, but my husband's too. We poured ourselves a some milk and read the label on the jar of salsa. The list of hot chillies, jalapeno peppers, chilli powder, etc. confirmed our suspicion that this was indeed not a mild salsa.

We still enjoyed our wraps, just with a little less salsa... In fact, if you have some sour cream then this would be the perfect addition to the wrap to balance out the hot salsa :-)

A pasta dinner made by my husband

Sometimes I just don't have the energy or the inclination to make dinner.
Then my hero steps in and saves the day.
My husband is actually quite a good cook, lucky me.

Last night he made us a lovely dinner of spaghetti with chicken and mushrooms. He even served a  dessert of vanilla custard with apple pie filling. Delicious!

Chicken, Tomato and Fennel Casserole

I am absolutely crazy about Bill Granger. I love his books, I love his TV shows and I love his recipes.

One of my favourites is his chicken, tomato and fennel casserole. It is delicious and easy to make, like all his recipes. This recipe comes from his book called "Every Day".

Serve it with potatoes, serve it with rice or serve it with garlic bread. It doesn't matter what you serve it with as long as you make this lovely dish.

Ingredients
2tbsp olive oil
8 chicken thigh cutlets on the bone, with skin
1 onion, sliced
1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½tsp crushed fennel seeds
2tsp paprika
½ tsp saffron threads, soaked in 1tbsp water
Wide strip of orange rind 400g (14oz) tin chopped tomatoes
500ml (17fl oz/2 cups) chicken stock
1 red pepper (capsicum), roasted and thinly sliced
2tsp honey
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pan over a medium-high heat. Add the chicken (in batches, if necessary) and brown for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan and set aside. Drain most of the oil from the pan, leaving about 1 tablespoon.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion and fennel to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 7-8 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Add the garlic, fennel seeds and paprika and cook, stirring, for another minute. Add to the pan the saffron with its liquid, the orange rind, tomatoes, stock and pepper, and stir well. Return the chicken pieces to the pan, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Skim any oil from the top of the casserole. Stir in the honey and season with salt and pepper. 


Notes:
- I substituted the red pepper with mushrooms
- I couldn't find saffron at my local shop so I left it out.
- I used chicken drum sticks instead of thighs, since that was what I had in the fridge!