TRAY BAKED CHICKEN WITH SWEETCORN BACON

It was Pascals birthday on Thursday and so we went for an incredible meal at our favourite restaurant Gola, of course. We then celebrated again last night with friends and I cooked this tray baked chicken recipe which I adapted from one of Jamie Olivers cook books. In his recipe, he adds banana to the chicken but to me that sounds utterly gross so I left it out but each to their own! This was a great dinner party dish as it was quick and easy to make and you can prepare it all beforehand. Although presentation wasnt the best….something I definitely need to work on!

We made this dish for 6 however here is the recipe for 4.

Ingredients for 4 people:

4 chicken breasts, no skin
4 fresh corn on the cob
1 x 410g tin of cannelloni or butter beans, drained
1 large wine glass of white wine (250ml)
300ml double cream
55g butter
12 rashers of smoked streaky bacon or pancetta
a handful of fresh mint, leaves picked

Preheat your oven to 220 C / gas mark 7.

Run a knife down the length of the corn of the cob to remove the corn. Once done, add the corn to the tray and discard the cobs. The corn is much more flavoursome than buying it in a tin and this is super easy to do.

Using a fork or your fingers (messy but best I reckon), squash up half of your beans until you have pulp and then add these to the sweetcorn along with the unsquashed beans.

Add the chicken breasts side by side and season well.

Next add the 300ml of double cream and the 250ml of white wine.

Divide the butter into little knobs and scatter around the tray.

Then drape the bacon or pancetta over the chicken breasts and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes (I did 40).

Then serve with some scattered mint leaves.

This was really good - I love all the different flavours together. Definitely both kid and adult friendly. It did need further seasoning though. My plate didnt look as good as Jamies in his cook book and Pascal reckoned there was too much sauce - next time we will serve this with some mash or rice as I think that would go wonderfully together and it would soak it all up. If you like the combination of fruit and food, you can add half a squashed banana to the inside of each chicken breast - it is how they cook this in the American South!

For pudding I made a cake…..it is a good job we like chocolate and sugar!!

Read More..

BAKED CHICKEN PORCINI RISOTTO

Happy New Year! I do love a new years resolution and so this year I am trying to eat more fruit and veg and do the 5:2 diet. So far so good….but then again its only been a week!

Tonight was definitely a 5 day so Pascal and I decided to cook a risotto and this has to be the easiest risotto recipe possible.

Ingredients for 4 people:

30g dried porcini mushrooms
180ml boiling water
500g chicken thighs, trimmed and chopped
400g arborio / risotto rice
1 litre chicken stock
2 tsp thyme leaves
1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
50g butter, chopped
80g Parmesan, finely grated and some to serve 
Salt & pepper

Now I did put all the ingredients together for a photo but I forgot to take it - doh. I am obviously out of practise!

Anyway start by preheating the oven to 200C fan / 220C / gas mark 7.

Place the mushrooms in a bowl and cover with the boiling water. Leave to stand for 5 minutes.

Crush the garlic and cut the chicken and then put in an ovenproof dish (3 litre capacity).

Add the thyme as well.

Drain the mushrooms, reserving the soaking liquid. Next chop the mushrooms and add them to the chicken etc along with the reserved liquid.

Finally add the stock and rice, stir together and season.

Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Halfway through cooking, give it a stir.

After 40 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and stir in the butter and Parmesan for around 3 minutes or so until the risotto thickens. Season again if required.

Divide into bowls and top with Parmesan to serve. We also added a drizzle of truffle oil.

This was really good - I have never baked a risotto before but I definitely will again - so much easier than all the constant stirring and you wouldnt know the difference. I had ripped this recipe out of a magazine 2.5 years ago so I am very pleased I finally got round to cooking it and I would certainly recommend it! Yum!

Read More..

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

One of our favourite meals is tacos and we have them regularly in our house. It does mean however that we rarely cook any other Mexican style dishes because as soon as I mention something similar but new, my husband and daughter ask for tacos and I cannot resist either! I did put my foot down last Sunday though and we cooked these chicken enchiladas from Olive magazine.

They took around an hour and I also made guacamole on the side.

Ingredients for 3-4 people:

1 tbsp of olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
Pickled jalapeños, finely chopped (we left these out as we are not keen on spice however I would suggest adding at least 6 to add a little kick - you can obviously add more)
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
6 corn tortillas
400g cheddar cheese, grated
2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded (or you could use the equivalent amount of leftover roast chicken)
A small bunch of coriander, chopped (ours came from the garden and wasnt too sprightly)!
400g tin of refried beans
200ml sour cream to serve
Guacamole to serve

Preheat the oven to 150 C and wrap the tortillas in foil. When the oven is ready, put in the tortillas for around 10 minutes (or as instructed on the packet). Once ready, set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan and add the onion for 3 minutes. 

As it begins to soften add the garlic and around a third of the pickled jalapeños (if you are using). Cook for another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion and garlic are soft and translucent.

Add the tomatoes.

Then fill half the tomato tin with water, swish it around and add to the saucepan.

Season generously and then cook for another 15 minutes until thick and glossy (not sure mine looked very glossy)!! At the same time preheat the oven to 190 C / 170 C fan / gas mark 5.

Now it is time to assemble the enchiladas.

Spread 1 tablespoon on the tomato mixture over one side of the tortilla.

Split the chicken into 6 different portions and add one portion in a thick line down the middle of each tortilla.

Add a handful of cheese - I got Pascal to do this as his hands are bigger than mine!

Add a sprinkling of jalapeños and coriander (keep some coriander leftover to garnish with at the end).

Add a tablespoon of refried beans (these taste much better than they look). We had quite a bit leftover and so served these as a side.

Roll together tightly.

Then place into a ceramic baking dish, seam side down.

Repeat for all the tortillas.

Pour over the remaining tomato mix.

Sprinkle with the leftover cheese (you can always add extra if you have run out).

Cook for 25 minutes until the cheese melts and the enchiladas are piping hot.

Serve with some chopped coriander, sour cream and guacamole (and any leftover refried beans).

These worked out extremely well - it was the perfect lunch for such a miserable rainy day. We all enjoyed it, Pascal and I regretted leaving out the jalapeños to give the dish a little something extra however Arabella was relieved we had. We ended up having to season it again at the end. I will admit we still all prefer tacos but this is a close second. This would work well for a informal supper party as you could prepare the enchiladas before. 

Read More..

EASY CHICKEN AND LEEK BAKE

I love a chicken pie but I am not that mad on pastry, therefore I was delighted to find this recipe for a chicken bake with a crispy topping. The weather is miserable and winter is on its way so this was the perfect recipe to cook. Plus it was easy!! It took about 45-50 minutes in total to prepare and cook.

Ingredients for 4 people:

2 tbsp olive oil
6 chicken thighs,skinned, boned and cubed
6 rashes of smoked streaky bacon, roughly cut into 1 cm wide strips
2 leeks, sliced
4 lemon thyme sprigs (I just used normal thyme as that is all we had in the garden)
350g tub of cheese sauce (I used a three cheese sauce)
35g fresh white breadcrumbs
2 x 25g packs Walkers Sour Cream and Cracked Pepper Sunbites, crumbled
25g flat leaf parsley, chopped

Prepare all the ingredients such as cutting the chicken, crumble the crisps (I squeezed the packets), slice the leeks and chop the parsley.

You can fry the bacon but I prefer to grill it as it is "slightly" healthier so heat the grill to a medium to high heat and then put the bacon in for around 8 minutes, turning half way through.

Once the bacon has cooked start preheating the oven to 200 C / gas mark 6.

At the same time heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large pan and cook the chicken over a high heat for 6 minutes until nicely browned.

The bacon should be ready around now and so chop into strips and then add to the chicken with the leeks and the thyme and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until the leeks are softened.

Stir in the cheese sauce, cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through - it is always wise to check….no one wants food poisoning!!

Meanwhile stir the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil into the breadcrumbs and then mix in the crumbled Sunbite crisps and parsley.

Spoon the chicken mixture into an oven proof dish.

Scatter over the parsley and breadcrumb mix.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until crunchy and golden.

Serve either on its own or with a mixed green leaf salad or vegetables.

This was good - I will admit we added some grated cheese which I think it needed, however I am a cheese obsessive. When I cook it next time, I will add some Parmesan to the breadcrumb, crisp and parsley topping. If you are a vegetarian you could substitute the chicken and bacon for some mushrooms, peppers and courgettes and the chicken mixture is freezable.

I much preferred this to a normal pie - Arabella moaned there was too much parsley and I think I should have chopped it into smaller pieces however it didnt really make a difference as we really enjoyed it and managed to polish off the entire portion between the three of us! 

Read More..