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!!

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TUNA SWEETCORN QUESADILLAS

It is turning into a regular occurrence that I decide to cook something for supper but then it takes a lot longer than I was expecting and I try to do too many things at once - I need to learn to concentrate on one thing at a time! My phone is becoming my own worst enemy as I am constantly texting or speaking on it and ignoring the job in hand and this was certainly the case here. Anyway despite a few errors and a few forgotten ingredients this was a great mid week supper.

Ingredients for 4 people:

4 tortillas 
1 x quesadilla spice mix
200g cheddar cheese
1 x 198g can sweetcorn, drained
1 x 160g can tuna chunks in brine, drained
1 x red or yellow pepper, deseeded and chopped
2 tbsp oil

Guacamole and salsa to serve - you can buy this ready made or I prepared it myself:

Salsa
15 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
Salt and Pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Guacamole
1 avocado, mashed
3 cherry tomatoes, quartered
Half a small red onion, chopped (I didnt have this)
A bunch of coriander, chopped (I didnt have this)
Juice of half a lime
Salt and Pepper

To start prepare the salsa and guacamole - basically just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and season to taste. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the peppers for 2-3 minutes.

Add the sweetcorn and tuna, and sprinkle over the quesadilla spice mix and 100ml water. Then stir together.

Preheat the oven to a low heat, this is to keep the first quesadilla warm while you cook the second.

Brush a large frying pan with the oil.

Add a tortilla and spread with half the tuna and sweetcorn mixture, salsa and cheese. Then place another tortilla on top and press down slightly.

Cook for a few minutes on each side until the tortilla browns and the cheese melts. Flipping the tortilla is not an easy process, I used a plate and a fish slice and managed not to drop it….just! Definitely dont attempt this while on the phone!

Repeat the process with the remanding ingredients.

Finally serve with a dollop of guacamole and enjoy.

I do love a quesadilla and these were fantastic, I will definitely be making them again. Arabella apparently isnt such a fan however she did polish off her plate so they cant be too bad. If you are vegetarian you can swap the tuna for courgettes and aubergine and I might even substitute the tuna for prawns next time….watch this space!

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SWEETCORN FRITTERS WITH HALLOUMI HUMMUS

I really fancied going out for a pizza with Arabella tonight however I had bought the ingredients for this recipe so knew I had to cook them not waste them. I have wanted to try sweetcorn fritters for a while - I always eye them up on brunch menus but then I end up ordering Eggs Benedict as that is my all time favourite. I knew I therefore had to make them myself if I ever wanted to taste them….luckily Fay Ripley had a recipe in her latest book.

They were very quick to make - around 10 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.

Ingredients for 4 people:

350g sweetcorn
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 large eggs
3 salad onions finely chopped (I used one big continental onion)
10g fresh mint leaves, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
500g halloumi
Hummus to serve (or sweet chilli sauce)

To make the batter, place the flour, baking powder, cumin and eggs together into a large bowl.

Whisk together until smooth.

Season and then add the salad onions, chopped mint and drained sweetcorn. Mix well.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large non stick frying pan and then ladle in half the mixture so you make 4 separate patties. This didnt quite work for me and I ended up with three!

Fry for 3 minutes on each side.

When they are ready, remove from the heat and keep warm while you cook the rest of the batter in another tablespoon of oil. I popped them in the oven under a low heat.

Whilst all the fritters are ready and warming, you need to fry the cheese.

Slice the halloumi into 12 slices and brush with the remaining oil. (I was cooking the recipe for just Arabella and I so only used half the ingredients).

In the same pan as before, fry the halloumi for a couple of minutes on each side.

Serve the sweetcorn fritters and halloumi with a big dollop of hummus or if you prefer a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce.

I have to say these surprised me. They turned out much better than I expected and went really well with the halloumi and hummus. I could definitely have done with a side of bacon or chorizo - that would have finished the dish off perfectly. Unfortunately Arabella was not a fan - she doesnt know why - she did love the halloumi though but no surprise there! 

One thing I like about this recipe is that it is very easy to cook for just one person and you would normally have most of the ingredients at home. A great brunch or lunch idea - I think a bit of a step up from a normal fry up!

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