Month: February 2018

Roast Chicken with Feta, Olives & Vegetables

Serves 4

750g new potatoes

2 tbs olive oil

4 chicken breasts or 8 chicken thighs

350g cherry tomatoes

1 red onion cut into thin wedges

100g back olives, stones removed

1 tbs chopped fresh oregano 

200g of feta 

2 tbs red wine vinegar

Get the oven heated to 185C fan. Cut the potatoes into thick slices lengthways and put in a large roasting dish (the biggest Le Creuset is best) with half the olive oil and toss until coated. If using thighs put these on top and put in the oven and roast for 30 mins, wait if using breasts and just roast the potatoes.  

Add the onion, cherry tomatoes, olives, oregano and feta and toss. Put the chicken breasts on top (or put the thighs back on top) and drizzle with remaining olive oil and the red wine vinegar. 

Cook for 20-25 minutes and check the chicken is cooked through before serving. 

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Houmous (best recipe EVER!)

800g chickpeas (jars are always the best*) drained and rinsed (about 500g drained)

4-6 tsp of tahini (depends how strong you like)

1 dsp of Maldon salt

6 tbs of good quality olive oil (no shit to be used here!)

3.5 tbs lemon juice (usually 1.5 lemons but depends on size)

Cold water

Put everything except the olive oil in the blender and blitz, take the lid off and scrape down the sides to make sure everything gets combined. Add the olive oil through the funnel while it is running. Then to make the houmous really smooth add in cold water a tbs full at a time. I usually end up using 4-6 tbs. Check the seasoning, add more salt and lemon juice if needed. Serve.

(*the chickpeas are larger and seem to have much softer skin)

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Pumpkin & Courgette Soup

Serves 4-6 

1 large white onion roughly diced

3 courgettes, roughly sliced

1 small butternut squash or a large chunk of pumpkin, peeled with seeds removed and diced

3 chicken stock cubes

Boiling water, around 1.5 litres

Salt and pepper

Put the onion and pumpkin in a pan (Le Creuset is big enough) and add the stock cubes and enough boiling water to cover the veg plus a few heavy handed grinds of black pepper. Stir to break down the stock cubes and bring to the boil. Add a lid and simmer until the pumpkin is nearly cooked (about 20 mins).

Add the courgette and some more water if there is not much left and replace the lid. Cook until everything is soft, about 5-10 minutes depending how big the courgette slices were. 

Turn off the heat and using a stick blender blend the soup until it is all smooth. If it is too thick add some more hot water and blend again to mix well. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper and blitz one more time with the blender before serving. 

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Sticky Toffee Pudding

Taken from Nigella…

Serves 6 greedy Jamie’s or 8 normal people

FOR THE CAKE

100 grams dark brown muscovado sugar

175 grams self-raising flour

125 millilitres full fat milk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

50 grams unsalted butter (melted)

200 grams chopped dates

FOR THE SAUCE

200 grams dark brown muscovado sugar

approx. 25 grams unsalted butter (cut into little blobs)

500 millilitres boiling water

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven to 175°C fan and butter a 1½ litre capacity pudding dish.
  2. Combine the dark muscovado sugar with the flour in a large mixing bowl. Pour the milk into a measuring jug, beat in the egg, vanilla and melted butter and then pour this mixture over the sugar and flour, stirring – just with a wooden spoon – to combine. Fold in the dates then scrape into the prepared pudding dish and smooth down to level. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look very full: it will do by the time it cooks.
  3. Sprinkle over the top of the mix the 200g of dark muscovado sugar and dot with the butter. Pour over the boiling water (yes really!) and transfer to the oven. Set the timer for 45 minutes, though you might find the pudding needs 5 or 10 minutes more. The top of the pudding should be springy and spongy when it’s cooked; underneath, the butter, dark muscovado sugar and boiling water will have turned into a rich, sticky sauce. Serve with vanilla ice cream, creme fraiche, double or single cream as you wish.

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Turnip & Kidney Bean Curry

2 medium turnips, peeled and cut into 12 wedges each

1 medium red onion, finely diced

2 gloves of garlic (minced or grated in when directed)

Thumb sized piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 tin of good quality chopped tomatoes, juice drained and kept for something else

1 tin of kidney beans

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp ground turmeric 

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp paprika or dried chilli flakes

1/2 tsp garam masala

1tbs chopped coriander

Cook the turnips in boiling water until soft, about 5 mins. Once cooked add the kidney beans and boil for a minute and then turn off the heat.

Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a wide frying pan on #6 (green Le Creuset is best) and fry the spices (except the garam masala) for a minute or until they start smelling (good not burned!). Add the onion and a pinch of Maldon and cook until soft/golden brown. Add the fresh ginger and garlic and fry for a minute and then add the chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes on a medium heat (it shouldn’t boil too hard).

Drain the turnips and beans but keep the cooking water. Add the veg to the tomato spice paste and add a few spoons of the retained water. Simmer for 10 mins. If it goes too thick add a little more water but not too much as should be quite a thick curry. Add the garam masala and coriander and check the seasoning just before serving.

Serve with cauliflower or normal rice with a spoon of thick natural yoghurt on top.

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‘Bubble & Squeak’ Pasta

Serves 2

100g dried pasta shapes of choice

1 large sweet potato

1 small red onion, finely diced

12-15 Brussel sprouts, any old outer leaves removed

1 tsp chili flakes

Juice from half a lemon

150g feta cheese

Peel the sweet potato and cut into 1cm cubes. In a large pan (which you will later cook the pasta in) bring to a boil and cook until just soft, remove with a slotted spoon into a colander and let them air dry a bit. 

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook.

Fry the onion in a little olive oil on number 6 with a pinch of salt. Remove once soft and add the chilli flakes. While the onion is frying finely slice the Brussels (as fine as possible).

Put the potato cubes into the frying pan with around 1tbs olive oil and fry until crispy and then add the Brussels and sauté for a couple of minutes, and add back in the onions as well as a couple of tbs of the pasta water.

Drain the pasta and add to the veg mix combining well. Crumble in the feta, add the lemon juice, check the seasoning and mix gently then serve.

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