Sticky soy, lemon and ginger chicken
Ooh I love the sunshine. One of the few downsides of living in Ireland was watching the weather forecast and seeing that our family at home in the south of England were enjoying weather a good 6 or 7 degrees warmer than us.
Happily, we’re now enjoying those extra degrees (interspersed with a few proper English days of torrential rain – just to keep us in our place), plus a few more it would seem. At the weekend I popped to the shops and picked up a couple of bottles of Rosé (bit of a must on a sunny day), plus one of those mixed packs of free range chicken pieces, some new potatoes and a few bits for a salad. It turned out to be such a yummy meal. And so easy too – all you’ll need is:
1 pack free range chicken drumsticks/thighs
1 bunch spring onions
2 garlic cloves, crushed with a little salt
An inch or two of fresh ginger, grated
2 tbsp runny honey
4 tbsp soy sauce
Juice of 1 lemon (or a couple of limes)
1/2 chilli, deseeded and chopped, if you like
So just mix all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl, and add the skinned chicken. Cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for about an hour.
Then, preheat your oven to 200 degrees/gas 6 (you can do this on the barbecue too) and pour the chicken and all the marinade into a baking dish. Bake for about 30 – 40 minutes, occasionally moving the chicken around and spooning some of the liquid over, until all the chicken is cooked through and lovely and sticky.
Meanwhile, boil the new potatoes with some mint, and leave to one side. When the chicken is ready, quickly toss the potatoes in a couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise, some chopped mint and a few more chopped spring onions.
Add a big, fresh salad and a couple of glasses of chilled rosé and you’ve got the perfect summer dinner.
Cheers!
Healthy baked chicken burgers with help from the glamorous Turtle
So during half term, my adorable twin niece and nephew, Miss Turtle and Mr Jackson came to stay with my two chisellers. We decided to have a blow-out junk food and video night and Turtle agreed to be my glamorous assistant, tearing herself away from her mobile phone and nail file (how the girl doesn’t have stumps for fingers the amount of filing she does, I’ll never know) for just long enough to knock up some yummy chicken burgers.
These burgers are a bit of a fave in our house. Not only are they really cheap, they’re very healthy too and there are endless variations. You can make little dinner party ones to serve with a nice Thai dipping sauce, you can make them into little meatballs and serve with a tomato sauce, or you can vary the flavours, say, with coriander or chilli…
Anyhoo, onto the main event. Firstly, you’ll need:
Breadcrumbs (I whizz 2 slices in the blender of doom)
1 onion, or a couple of spring onions
1 egg
500g minced chicken or turkey
Seasoning
Firstly, then, your glamorous assistant needs to bung a couple of slices of slightly stale bread into the food processor (actually we’re using the blender – not that blender – because I broke my lovely braun Braun MR400 Plus Multiquick Handblender 300w
Next up, warn the aforementioned glamorous assistant about the perils of mixing fingers and blenders (she’s worn hers down enough as it is), then bung in the onion/spring onion and the egg. If you’re using anything else, like chilli or coriander, chuck it in now. Of course, if you don’t have an onion-phobic child and therefore don’t need to resort to this kind of stealth cookery, you could just chop them finely. Whizz until you get a strangely satisfying frothy green liquid and silently pray to the cocktail god that your next mojito won’t taste of spring onion:
Next, and this is the good bit, bung the green goo into the breadcrumbs and add the chicken mince. Season generously with salt and pepper, then roll up the sleeves of your glamorous assistant and set her to work squelching up the mixture (with clean hands and beautifully manicured nails) into an even paste:
When the mix is nicely combined, form it into about 6 patties, or smaller little cakes, or balls or whatever (and yes, they do have a slightly green tinge, but don’t let that put you off):
Put them on a non-stick tray (important that) and bake at 180 degrees/gas 4 for about 20 mins. The smaller ones will take less time, but make sure you check to see that they’re thoroughly cooked in the middle.
Now just assemble your burger. We used fresh crusty rolls and garnished our burgers with crunchy lettuce, grated cheese and a little spicy tomato salsa, but feel free to experiment.
Finally, we got out every single fattening thing we could find, including ice cream, whipped cream and a variety of chocolatey stuff, and set about having an ice-cream sundae competition (#1′s is the one that’s just a sundae dish full of chocolate):
And the winner is? Yup, you guessed it:
Chicken & broccoli pie with step by step easy shortcrust pastry
A funny thing happened on Friday afternoon. A chap knocked on the door and delivered an enormous wicker hamper, stuffed with every possible seasonal vegetable you can imagine. I was in the garden, and was, frankly, slightly confused when #2 came out to find me and declare that ‘some bloke just dropped off a big box of broccoli and stuff’. Anyhoo, it turned out not to be an anonymous food parcel from the locals, (bless ‘em, they’ve had to stand by, helpless, whilst witnessing my shambolic attempts at gardening), but a ‘Best in Season’ hamper from those lovely chaps at Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board. So our weekend was full of absolutely yummy produce, all available right now in an Irish field near you (or a supermarket, if you’re lazy).
Saturday morning, we had a lovely big fry up, along with a huge stir-fry of big, fat tomatoes, lovely fresh mushrooms and some sliced red and yellow peppers. Saturday evening, we had a big pot of leek and potato soup, with some home made cheese bread, and today I set to work making the mother of all pies. So start with the filling then. You’ll need:
1 carrot, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, diced
4 chicken breasts
1 head of broccoli, split into florets (or 1 leek, which are also fabulous at the moment, sliced)
1 tbsp flour
300ml chicken stock
Slug of double cream
Grab a heavy-based casserole or frying pan, pour in a couple of tablespoons of oil, then throw in the carrot, onion and celery. Fry gently until the vegetables soften, then add in the cubed chicken breasts. A sprinkle of thyme would be lovely here, unfortunately I managed to kill mine. Season well and continue to fry until the chicken starts to go opaque (it doesn’t need to be cooked through), then sprinkle over the tablespoon of flour. Carry on stirring while you pour in the chicken stock and add in a big slug of double cream:
Now leave the chicken on a low heat to bubble gently and reduce a tiny bit while you quickly blanch some broccoli in some boiling salted water and make the pastry.
A Pastry Pep-talk
Now, I feel a little word about pastry is called for here. Let’s face it, pastry’s a pain in the arse. Frankly, EVERYONE is crap at pastry. It falls apart, or it’s too dry, or it sticks to the board… but that’s kind of the point: it’s supposed to look homemade, so if it’s a bit wonky, or you have to patch it or whatever, who cares? It’ll still be a pie that you made with your own fair hands, and infinitely the better for it. There. I’ll get off my soap box now.
There’s no big ‘secret’ to pastry making, although keeping everything cool and using a light touch definitely helps. For a basic shortcrust pastry ‘pie lid’, you’ll need:
115g plain flour
Pinch of salt
60g cold butter, cubed
Couple tbsp cold water
So weigh out the flour, add in a pinch of salt, then throw in the butter.
Now lightly, with just the very tips of your fingers, start to break up the lumps of butter, rubbing them gently into the flour until you get a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs:
Now, sprinkle over a couple of tablespoons of very cold water, and with a knife, start to bring the mixture together:
If it’s a little dry, sprinkle on a tiny bit more, until you can gently bring it together into a ball with your hands:
If you’re doing the pastry in advance, wrap it in clingfilm and leave it somewhere cool (I find it gets too hard in the fridge, but it’s up to you). Otherwise, sprinkle with a little more flour and roll out, turning 1/4 turn with each roll and making sure it’s not sticking, until it’s slightly bigger than your pie dish or casserole.
Back to the chicken, then. Now just drain the broccoli and add in to the chicken. Don’t worry if there seems to be a bit of excess liquid as some will disappear during cooking. Now just roll your pastry lid over your rolling pin and unroll it over the top of your pie. Because I’m lazy, and let’s face it, this is just home cooking, I just leave it in the casserole and fling the pastry lid on top, tucking over the edges, but if you’re entertaining or whatever, you can put the contents into a pie dish and neatly crimp the edges, brushing with a little milk to glaze the top.
And that’s it. Bung the pie in the oven at gas 4/180 for 20 – 30 minutes until it’s golden brown, and serve with more seasonal vegetables (we had honey roasted parsnips, carrots, peas and creamy mashed potato), then just sit back and bask in the glory especially reserved for people who make their own pies.
Go on, you deserve it.
PS: Big, huge thanks to Bord Bia for all my lovely fresh goodies. If you want to know what’s in season now, check out Best in Season for ideas, recipes, stuff for kids, and links to some rather fantastic food blogs *cough*.
Chicken and asparagus risotto
Ah, Mother’s Day. A day for eating cremated bacon sandwiches whilst smiling broadly and going ‘mmm, delicious!’, drinking the half-cup of dodgy tea that was delivered to your bedside whilst secretly worrying how long it’s going to take you to remove the other half that’s been slopped up the stairs, and being the recipient of approximately fifteen hardly squeezes and twenty five sloppy kisses every five minutes. I love it. I got some beautiful flowers, some pink and blue furry (yup, furry), sparkly cards, a lovely set of aromatherapy smellies and a chocolate fondue as well. I made teeny meringues to dip in the chocky and a lubly day was had by all.
In other news, the Death Wish Child seems to have recovered well from his recent face-first encounter with the tarmac at school (teeth through top lip – ouch), and his subsequent head-butting of someone else’s knee in a footie match. Deciding, then, that he might like some comfort food, I whipped up a little risotto. I like making risotto. There’s something really therapeutic about standing at the stove stirring - it makes me feel all efficient and homely (that’s a first):
2 pints chicken stock (cubey stuff is fine)
2 chicken breasts (free range, natch)
50g butter/slosh of olive oil
1 onion, or a couple of shallots, finely chopped
350g risotto rice (carnaroli or arborio are easily available)
Handful of frozen peas
Bunch of asparagus
Parmesan cheese to taste
So make up your stock (or if you’re really efficient, reheat your home-made stuff), and pop the chicken breasts in to poach – you can add some herbs or an onion or whatever too, if you like. Grab a heavy based pan, put if on a low heat and melt the butter. Glug in some olive oil, then gently fry the onion until it’s translucent (little tip here – a pinch of sugar will stop it browning). Then bung in the rice, stirring around until it’s all glossy.
Now just keep adding ladlefuls of stock, one at a time, stirring constantly and making sure all the liquid is absorbed before adding another. I tend to leave the chicken breasts wallowing in the stock until I’ve nearly used it all, which means they get at least 20 minutes’ poaching. Take them out and shred them, then add them to the risotto along with your frozen peas. Meanwhile, get another saucepan going with some boiling salted water to blanch your asparagus. When all the stock is gone – this might take half an hour or so - the risotto should be nice and creamy, still with a teeny bit of bite to it.
Now turn the heat off, have a quick taste and season generously, then stir in another knob of butter, put the lid on and leave it to sit while you blanch the asparagus for about 6 to 8 minutes (add the heads last so they don’t get soggy). When just tender, drain and reserve.
Finally, ladle the risotto into warm bowls, topping with some grated parmesan and the asparagus. Of course this is nice with the asparagus incorporated into the risotto, but with #2 being ill already, I don’t want to scare him any further by serving him up anything green that isn’t a frozen pea.
Parmesan chicken
So I sometimes think my little carpet monsters don’t know when they’ve got it good. Take last week: #2 went out shopping with D-next-door and seriously, dearest reader, you’d think he’d won the flipping lottery:
‘D gets curly fries! And chicken nuggets! And spicy wedges! And we walked straight past the fruit and veg without buying anything!! And we got chocolate fingers!’, all said in the breathless manner usually reserved only for conversations about Slash and Rooney.
‘But hang on’, says I, bristling somewhat, ‘you get lovely, fresh home-cooked food every day!’
‘Yes, but Lou and Little C get to eat curly fries! And nuggets from the freezer. Not like your ones’.
See what I have to put up with? D-next-door of course thinks all this is hilarious, but actually (with plenty of nagging coaching from me and Mrs Lovely) he doesn’t do too badly, and recently cooked leeks, LEEKS, I tell you. He was darned pleased with himself too. Anyhoo, digressing. So right, I thought, I’ll cook him nuggets and wedges, if that’s what he wants. I’ll just do them my way:
4 chicken breasts
2 slices stale bread (or crusts, whatever)
The nice heel bit left over from the parmesan (or a 2″ chunk)
1 egg
Splash of milk
Olive oil
Potatoes
Chilli powder
So first, preheat your oven to 200/gas 6 and cut the potatoes in half, then cut each half into three or four wedge shapes. Bung them into a pan of salted water and bring them to the boil.
Meanwhile, cut each of your chicken breasts into three or four pieces. Whizz the bread and parmesan together in the food processor until they’re crumby, then add a generous pinch of salt and a good grinding of pepper. Whisk up the egg with a splosh of milk and dunk each piece of chicken first in the egg, then toss in the cheesy breadcrumby stuff.
Drizzle some oil on a baking tray and put your coated chicken pieces on it. Drain the now-boiling potatoes, and spread them onto a second baking sheet. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and a generous pinch of chilli. Bung both trays in the oven and leave for 20-30 mins until both your potatoes and chicken are golden brown. The timing will of course depend on how big the pieces of chicken and potato are. You might have to put one to the bottom of the oven or whatever – you know the drill.
Serve with a nice green salad, or some buttered frozen peas and some sweet chilli sauce. Or mayo. Or both. Bung it on the table and pretend it’s Captain Birdseye’s. *Tsk*
Chicken and Thyme Pie
I love baking. Especially a nice pie. Okay, so it’s a bit of a faff, but give it a try; it’s worth it for the wow factor when you cut it at the table. And you know what Oscar Wilde said: ‘one should try everything once. With the possible exceptions of incest and morris dancing’.
4 chicken breasts
500ml good chicken stock
Couple of stems of fresh thyme
2-3 peppercorns
1 carrot, diced
1 onion, sliced
Handful frozen peas
1 tsp butter and 1 tbs plain flour to thicken
Seasoning
For the pastry:
250g plain flour
125g butter
1 egg
Pinch salt
So start with the chicken – get the stock bubbling away on the stove, snip the chicken into bite-sized cubes, and pop it into the stock along with the thyme, peppercorns, carrot and onion (I always leave onion in quite big pieces as #2 likes to irritate me by picking it out). I know you’d probably normally chuck thyme on top of roasting stuff, but trust me, it really adds a little something here. So leave the chicken to simmer away and get on with the pastry. You know my view on pastry – don’t ponce about, if you don’t like making it, just buy it, but if you’ve got a food processor, whizz the flour and butter together until breadcrumby, then just whizz in the egg and generous pinch of salt. When it starts to come together, squish it into a ball, then wrap it in clingfilm and pop it in the fridge.
When the chicken’s completely cooked through (probably 20 minutes, depending on your chunk sizes), fish it out and reserve it while you reduce the stock (make sure you fish out the thyme and peppercorns at this stage too). It would benefit from a splash of cream here (ooh, lovely with some sliced mushrooms…yum), but Hubby’s not a fan of creamy sauces so I left it out. If you like a thicker sauce, mush together a teaspoon of flour with the same amount of butter and whisk it in. Season to taste. Add back your chicken, along with the frozen peas, then turn it off while you roll out about 2/3 of your pastry and line your pie dish.
If you can be arsed, it really helps to blind bake the lined pie dish to stop your pie having a soggy bottom(altogether now ‘and nobody likes a soggy bottom’). Put some greaseproof paper loosely in the dish, then pour in some baking beans (or just any old dry beans) and bake it for about 15 minutes. Remove the beans and greaseproof paper, and brush with beaten egg to seal, returning to the oven for 5 minutes. But if you don’t want to, don’t bother; I won’t tell.
Now roll out the pastry lid, place it on top of the pie and crimp it artistically. Brush with beaten egg, then put the whole thing back in the oven until the top is golden brown. Remember you’re only cooking the lid really so 20 minutes should be fine.
It’s a standing joke in our house that #1 (aka A A Gill) will always find something not quite to his taste at the table. The roast potatoes are never quite as good as Auntie Jen’s (curse you, Jennifer, what the hell did you do to them?), the sauce will be a tad salty, the rhubarb a little too tart. All this will be commented upon whilst enormous quantities of the slightly sub-standard food are whooshed into his mouth, along with seconds, and often thirds. Still, nothing’s ever completely up to scratch. This one, though, actually shut him up. Yup, we all waited with baited breath, but no, not a single comment. Things must be looking up.
#1′s home made breaded chicken baguettes
Unlike in England, where you’re lucky to find an out-of-date Twix and maybe a curly-edged sandwich, the petrol stations in Ireland are a haven for the half starved motorist. Practically every one will have a deli selling not only the ubiquitous ‘breakfast roll’, an artery-busting ensemble of sausage, bacon, fried egg and maybe even some black pudding, all levered into an enormous half of a french stick, but that most beloved of items in my children’s eyes: the hot chicken baguette.
Every time we get petrol, there emanates from the back seat of the jeep the most pathetic begging and pleading, and no matter how much I quote Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and give empassioned speeches about the miserable fate of intensively farmed chickens, it all falls on deaf ears. They don’t give a toss if the chicken was free range, nor even if it was miserable, or even a tad depressed - what they want is a chicken baguette – and when they want it is now.
So faced with this irritating chirruping today, I decided that what my children needed was action and not words, and set about teaching them to make a kinder, healthier alternative to the crap they crave. It just so happens that the fridge at English Towers generally contains the odd bit of cold chicken, either left over from the Sunday roast or from when I get a large pack of chicken breasts, poach them and use half for chicken noodles. So when we got home, I cattle prodded them into the kitchen and set them to work:
1 egg
Splosh of milk
Leftover cooked chicken
2 slices bread
Salt, pepper
Olive oil
Butter
So first, crack the egg into the bowl, whisk in a big splosh of milk and then slice each chicken breast into three and dunk in the eggy mixture.
Meanwhile, set a small child to work with the food processor button (safety first here people, children with stubs for fingers will never make Booker prize winners) reducing the slices of bread to fine breadcrumbs. Season the breadcrumbs well.
Next, whip the chicken out of the egg mixture and into the breadcrumbs. Toss until both chicken and child are liberally coated with breadcrumbs.
Finally, heat your oil along with a knob of butter until nice and hot, add your breadcrumbed chicken and fry until golden.
Stuff into a baguette and serve with coleslaw and baked beans. Yum scrum pig’s bum and a bloody sight kinder than anything Spar can offer. Hugh would be proud *sigh*.
Chicken with tomato, olives and mozzarella
So you’ll like this. My car’s been knackered most of the week, so shopping has been a little difficult. Hence, an uninspiring bag of chicken breasts in the bottom of the fridge was all that greeted me yesterday, on a mission to prepare something yummy for Sunday lunch. More rummaging produced a ball of mozzarella, still in date, half a butternut squash and a couple of onions. Oh. Undaunted, I set to work and the result wasn’t half bad. Good enough, in fact, to share with you. Brace yourself:
Chicken with Tomato, Olives and Mozzarella
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
1 large onion, cut in half then finely sliced
6 chicken breasts cut in half, or this would be lovely with big fat pork chops
1 tin plum tomatoes
Chicken stock
2 tsp sugar
Ball of buffalo mozzarella, torn into pieces
Handful basil
Couple of handfuls black olives, roughly chopped
So heat up the oil (I like a knob of butter in there too, it smells so nice) in a large, heavy-based casserole (oh, for Le Creuset’s new teal range – I love it so). Bung in your chicken breasts (or pork), season with salt and pepper and just brown on either side. Remove them from the pan and throw in your garlic and onions, frying until translucent. Put the chicken breasts back in, adding the olives and the tin of tomatoes. I quickly whizz the tomatoes with a handheld blender first, purely because #2 doesn’t like big lumps of tomato.
Quick moan here: buy a decent tin of whole plum tomatoes like Napoli or something. Don’t buy those dreadful tins of chopped tomatoes – they’re so watery and you want a nice velvety sauce with this.
Add about 1/2 pint of chicken stock (I’m certainly no stock snob, I just bung a cube into the empty tomato tin and fill up with boiling water), season again (I know, but it needs it), sprinkle over the sugar, then give it a stir, cover it and put into a moderate oven (180 degrees) for about 20 minutes (30 if you’ve got fat pork chops).
Just before serving, stir through the torn mozzarella and sprinkle over the basil. As you serve it, try not to get too cross at the big strings of mozzarella chewing gum that tangle across the plate. Slurp.
EDIT: I tried this recipe with lamb shanks tonight – increasing the cooking time to two hours and leaving out the mozzarella. It was incredibly nice.
Coconut Chilli Chicken Noodles
So noodles then. Unfortunately with noodles, we’re a family at war. We all love them, but #2 likes stir fried chicken noodles with frozen peas (‘and NO juice’), #1 likes chilli, Hubby likes chilli and lots of soupy stock, I don’t mind chilli but prefer them with coconut milk… Oh the dilemma. This latest edition, then, is a kind of mixture of stuff that everyone likes. It went down quite well:
1 pack fine egg noodles
2 chicken breasts or some leftover chicken, shredded
2 tbsp oil
Marinade:
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped, or 1 tsp chilli flakes
Juice of a lime
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce (Nam Pla)
2 tbsp brown sugar or honey
1/2 tin coconut milk
1 pack Pak Choi, sliced and washed (can be gritty)
Couple of spring onions, thinly sliced
To garnish: Salted peanuts, chopped coriander
So first boil up a big saucepan of salted water and chuck in your noodles. Mix up the marinade ingredients (don’t put the coconut milk in yet). Heat the oil in a wok and snip up your chicken breasts into strips. Bung them in along with the marinade (you can marinate it first but frankly I can’t be arsed unless I’m making kebabs with it).
Stir fry until the chicken’s cooked and the marinade is starting to reduce. Now add the coconut milk and your chopped spring onions and Pak Choi. Stir until it’s just wilted then drain your noodles and tip them into the wok, mixing them all in with the chicken and the sauce. Serve sprinkled with chopped salted peanuts and some coriander.
If you’re a fan of coconut milk, you can always add more (I would if it was just me). And if you are just marinating chicken to make kebabs or just to grill or whatever, bung the coconut milk in with the marinade. It’s yum scrum pig’s bum (bless my children and their wordy ways).
Chicken, mushroom and bacon risotto
So we were all in need of a bit of comfort food last night. And this packet of bloody Carnaroli rice has been sitting in the cupboard glaring at me every time I go in there for a tin of beans. Me and risotto have a chequered history. It’s not that I don’t like it, oh no, it’s just that every time I make it, I get that kind of ‘hmmm’ response from my lot that means ‘yeah, it’s okay’, not the more favourable ‘mmmm’ which translates to ‘wow, that was fabulous’. My best effort was Jamie Oliver’s pea and prawn risotto which is rather nice.
Anyhoo, I was in the mood for a bit of messing in the kitchen (keep it clean, people) and this is the result:
2 pints chicken stock
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
300g carnaroli or arborio rice
3 or 4 large flat mushrooms
1 pack streaky bacon
2 chicken breasts (free range, natch)
Handful of frozen peas
Parmesan cheese to taste
So first things first, get your stock bubbling on the hob and plop your chicken breasts in to poach. Get a nice heavy based pan and chuck in a big slice of butter and a glug of olive oil. Finely chop your onion and garlic and let it soften on a low heat. Snip up the streaky bacon and add to the pan along with your sliced mushrooms. Keep it cooking until the mushrooms and onions are starting to look a little golden, then add your rice and stir around.
Now you can start to add ladles of your stock, one at a time, making sure all the liquid is absorbed before adding another. It takes a while but the stirring is really therapeutic. When the stock’s nearly gone your chicken breasts should be ready, so chop them up and add them to the risotto as well. Finally, bung in a final knob of butter, stir it through and leave it to sit for 5 minutes with a lid on, just to get even creamier. Taste, season, and pile into big bowls to eat in front of the telly.
A little fresh thyme would be lovely with this, but I didn’t have any. Enjoy!
