chicken

Autumn Chicken and Lentil Tray Bake

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After a morning walk and seeing the leaves changing colours,  I was inspired to make this because the colours looked so good together (it also tastes fantastic).

With the days getting colder and shorter this is proper comfort food but still pretty healthy with all your brightly coloured vegetables and plenty of protein from the chicken and lentils.  What makes it even better is that it’s a one pan dish meal.  

I used tinned lentils but you could boil your own if that’s what you have.  Mop up all the yummy juices with some crusty bread or spoon this over some buttery mashed potatoes and greens for the perfect Autumn comfort meal.

Serves 4

1kg Chicken thigh (bone in, I removed the skin but you can keep it on if you prefer)

3 Smallish sweet potatoes (washed, but skin left on, cut into 2cm cubes)

4 Carrots (washed but skin left on, cut into 2cm cubes)

150 Grams Butternut squash  (cut into 2cm cubes)

1 Onion (peeled and cut into 6)

100 Grams Cherry tomatoes  (cut in half)

1 Large red pepper (cut into 2cm cubes)

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Smoked paprika

1 Tsp Dried Thyme

1 Tsp Garlic powder

1 Tsp Chilli powder

2 Tbsp Oil

1 Tbsp Balsamic or cider vinegar

1   x 400 Gram Tin of Green lentils

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
  • In a large oven proof dish add the oil sweet potatoes, carrots, and butternut squash and bake for 20 minutes
  • Add everything else to the tray except the balsamic vinegar and lentils.  Mix well and bake for 30 minutes
  • Add the lentils and balsamic vinegar to the baking tray, mix again and bake for a further 10 minutes (check the chicken is full cooked), and serve with crusty bread

Chicken with 30 Cloves of Garlic

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Yes, you read it right, 30 cloves of garlic.  Before you imagine that you will stink enough to scare off a small town of vampires I promise you won’t, the garlic mellows and becomes almost sweet. This is a classic French dish, and it’s a classic for a reason.  Traditionally it’s made with a whole chicken, but I prefer chicken thighs

The garlic cooks gently in wine and the chicken juices until they are soft and delicious.  Cook them with their skin on and when cooked squeeze the soft garlic onto the bread you serve with this dish., they taste amazing.

I used a dish that could be used on the stove top and in the oven.  If you don’t have one just transfer to an oven proof dish before putting in the oven.

The whole dish is incredibly tasty, serve the soft  chicken with salad and crusty french bread, to spread the confit garlic on and mop up the sauce with it.

Ingredients

1 Kg Chicken thighs (skin on and bone in)

30 Cloves of garlic (about 3 bulbs, remove most of the papery outside, but leave on the tight pink/white skin around each clove)

250 mil White Wine

2 Sprigs of rosemary

25 Grams Butter

1 Tbsp Oil

Salt and pepper

Method

  • Pat the chicken dry with kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius)
  • In a large oven proof dish heat the oil and butter together.  Over quite a high heat brown the chicken thighs on both sides (you might need to do this in a couple of batches, because if you crowd the pan the chicken won’t brown and you don’t want to lose the flavor)
  • When all the chicken has been browned add the wine and rosemary to the pan and scrape the bottom to release the yummy brown bits
  • Add the garlic cloves to the pan and stir well, before covering the dish with a lid (if your dish doesn’t have a lid, cover tightly with tin foil
  • Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes (maybe a little longer if the chicken thighs are large, just check they are cooked through)
  • Serve with salad and crusty bread, squeeze the garlic out of it’s papery cover onto the bread and spread with a knife, you can thank me later

Extra Protein Chicken and Spinach Cannelloni

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This dish would normally be made with a rich bachamel sauce full of butter, which while super tasty isn’t the healthiest.

The sauce in dish is thickened with pureed cannellini beans which still provide creaminess but also adds more protein to the dish (you’ll need either a blender or food processor for this part).

Serves 6

Ingredients

350 Grams Cooked chicken (shredded)

150 Grams (Frozen weight) Frozen Spinach (thaw, and squeeze out as much liquid as possible)

400 Gram Can of Cannelini beans (drain off any liquid in the can)

1 Tsp salt

2 Leeks (finely sliced)

2-3 Cloves of Garlic (Finely chopped)

1 Tablespoon Oil

12 Cannelloni Tubes (buy the sort that don’t need pre-cooked)

150 Grams Cheddar Cheese (Grated)

750 Ml Milk

Large handful of chopped parsley

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius)

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the leeks and cook over a gentle heat until they start to soften. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes (don’t allow the leeks or garlic to brown)

Add the beans to a food processor or blender (if you have an immersion blender add them to a deep container), and half the milk. Whiz until the beans have started to break up, then add the cooked leeks, salt and garlic and the rest of the milk and whiz until smooth. Test the seasoning and add more salt and a little black pepper if you think the sauce needs it).

In a large bowl mix the shredded chicken and spinach together, add one third of the sauce to the chicken and mix well

Take a large oven proof dish and cover the base with one third of the sauce.

Fill the pasta tubes with the chicken mix. (You can use a teaspoon to do this, but thought it was easier to do it with my hands).

Lay the filled pasta tubes in the oven proof dish on top of the sauce. Cover the tubes with the remaining sauce and sprinkle the top of the dish with parsley and grated cheese.

Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown.

Chicken Marsala

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I love a fairly straightforward recipe that tastes so good people think you have spent hours on it.  This is one of them.

I don’t cook with booze that often, but if you get a chance to pick up of Marsala (fortified wine), you’ll be glad you did.

I used tiny little button mushrooms in this, but if you can’t get them just chop larger mushrooms roughly, you don’t need to get too fancy.  You can use chicken breasts for this recipe, but I opted for boneless, skinless chicken thighs became they’re cheaper and i think have more flavour.

Serves 4

600 Grams Chicken thighs

1 Onion or 2 shallots (finely chopped)

200 Grams Button mushrooms

75 Mil Marsala

250 Mil Chicken stock (it’s fine to use a stock cube dissolved in warm water)

Juice of 1 lemon

1-2 Cloves of garlic

2-3 Tbsp flour

50 Grams Butter

1 Tbsp Oil

Salt and pepper

Method

  • Spread the flour on a plate and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper
  • Coat the chicken in the seasoned flour
  • In a large pan, heat the oil and a large knob of butter over a medium heat until the butter starts to foam
  • Add the chicken to the pan and colour until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the pan set to one side
  • Next add the onion and mushrooms to the pan and cook for a few minutes before adding the garlic, stirring occasionally
  • Pour the stock, lemon juice, and Marsala to the pan and stir well to make sure all the yummy crusty chickeny bits on the base of the pan disolve into the liquid
  • Return the chicken and any juices back to the pan to finish cooking and the sauce reduces by about a third and the alcohol has evaporated off
  • Check the seasoning and you can add more salt and pepper if you think it needs it.  I love this with potatoes and greens, but its also great with crusty bread to mop up the delicious sauce

Chicken and Prune Tagine

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I visited Morocco years ago and fell in love with the food (not so much the scorching heat and hard sell tactics of the street hawkers).

Tagines are kind of a stew containing meat and or pulses, vegetables, dried fruit, and lots of spices all cooked in a special clay pot that gives it its name (I did have one but broke it because I’m incredibly clumsy and is part of the reason why I can’t have nice things). An ordinary casserole dish will do the job, or cover an oven proof dish with tin foil.

You can swap the ingredients based on what you have or what is in season, and adjust the spicing to suit your own taste.

Ingredients

8 Chicken thighs (skin on and with the bone in)

1 Large onion (thinly sliced)

1 Red pepper (cut into 2-3cm chunks)

150 Grams Green beans (I used frozen)

12-16 Prunes (without stones, you can also swap these for dried apricots if you prefer)

2 Cloves of garlic

1Tsp grated ginger

1Tsp Ground coriander

1Tsp Ground  Cumin

1Tsp Ground cinnamon

1Tsp Salt

400 Mil Passata

250 Mil Chicken stock (its OK to use a stock cube)

400 Grams Can of chick peas (drained)

Method

  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees
  • Heat a heavy pan and add the chicken thighs skin side down and brown before turning and cook for another couple of minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients and mixing well
  • If your pan isn’t oven proof, then transfer everything to a casserole dish and cook in the oven for 30-40 minutes
  • Serve with cous cous or other grains. Flat bread are also great to mop up all the tasty juices.  This is even better served the next day

Mauritian Chicken Curry

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I was lucky enough to visit Mauritius last year and stayed at the amazing Outrigger resort. While there, their very sweet and super talented Chef Matthieu showed me how to make this fantastic curry.

Mauritius was populated largely by slaves and indentured servants brought from India and the Asian sub continent to work on the sugar plantations. So their food is highly flavoured and draws influence from many different cultures.

Ingredient for the curry paste.

Now that the cold wet weather is back I needed a little reminder of lush and beautiful place I visited and the warm friendly people who were kind enough to share this recipe with me.

This curry is usually eaten with roti flat breads, but nan bread or rice are also great with it.

Ingredients

500 Grams Chicken breast or thigh meat (cut into bite sized chunks)

1 Onion (finely chopped)

1 Tbsp Minced garlic

1 Tbsp Minced ginger

1/2 Tbsp Chilli powder

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 Tbsp Salt

2 Tbsp Oil

1 Tbsp Garam masala powder

For the curry paste

1 Onion (finely chopped)

100 Grams Dessicated coconut

2 Tbsp Fennel seeds

5 Cloves of garlic

2 Cinnamon sticks (or 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon)

Method

  • Marinade the chicken with the minced garlic and ginger, salt, chilli powder and lemon juice for 30 minutes
  • Heat a large frying pan before adding the coconut to toast until light brown, stirring regularly (don’t take your eyes of this, as it can burn in a second). Remove from the pan a set to one side (or else it will keep on cooking with the heat of the pan)
  • Add 1 Tbsp of oil and cook 1 chopped onion over a medium until it starts to caramelise.
  • Add the toasted coconut, caramelised onion, garlic cloves, fennel seeds and cinnamon to a blender and blitz until you have a crumbly paste
  • Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large pan, before adding the diced chicken and finely sliced onion and seal over a high heat for 1-2 minutes. Reduce the heat and add the paste, cook this for 5 minutes before adding 500ml (1 pint of water) and the garam masala powder and mix well.
  • Simmer gently for a further 20-30 minutes. Adding more water if you think it needs it. It should be quiet a loose curry, as the sauce is the best bit for mopping all the delicious flavours with flat breads.

Fesenjoon (Persian Chicken or Aubergine and Walnut Stew)

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This dish was would have traditionally been made with duck (which I think would be too rich), and is now usually made with chicken. I have also made a vegan version with aubergines and I have to say I think it was my favourite.

This is quite a rich dish and the use of pomegranate molasses (available from most big supermarkets or Asian grocers) gives the stew a tangy sweet and sour flavour.

I call this a weekend recipe, meaning its something that requires low and slow cooking and you aren’t going to try and do for a quick weeknight dinner.

Serves 4

Ingredients

8 Chicken thighs (bone in, but skin removed), or 2 large aubergines (cut into bite sized chunks)

1 Tbsp. Tomato Puree

250 Grams Walnut pieces

1/2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

2 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Black pepper

125 Mil Pomegranate molasses

1 Tsp Sugar (or more to taste)

Pomegranate seeds to decorate (optional)

Method

  • Add the walnuts to a food processor and whiz until they become fine crumbs and start to stick together in a paste
  • Move the walnuts to a large pot with a lid, and add 1 litre of cold water to the walnuts. Bring to the boil for a couple of minutes, and then reduce the heat and cover with a lid simmer for 2 hours.
  • Stir in the pomegranate molasses, tomato purée, cinnamon, sugar, salt and pepper until well combined. Return the mixture to a simmer
  • Add the chicken thighs or aubergine chunks to the pot and cover with the lid again and simmer for a further hour. Remove the lid and simmer for another 10-15 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.
  • Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds if using just before serving rice or flat breads

Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Lasagne

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Traditional lasagne is pretty epic, but it does no harm try new versions of things and this is pretty amazing. This was a giant lasagna, but you can reduce the recipe if you need to make a smaller one.

Ingredients

Serves 8

1Kg Chicken Breast (cut into 2-3cm chunks)

500 Grams Mushrooms (roughly chopped)

50 Grams Dried Mushrooms

200 Grams Spinach

750 Mil Milk

75 Grams Butter

75 Grams Plain flour

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Black Pepper

2 Tbsp Oil

250 Grams Cheese (grated, I used a mix of mozzarella and Cheddar)

1 Tbsp Rosemary (chopped)

4-5 Cloves of garlic (crushed or finely chopped)

12 – 14 Lasagna dried sheets (the type that don’t need pre-cooked)

Method

  1. Before doing anything else, place the dried mushrooms into a bowl and cover with 350 mil of warm water
  2. Add 1 table spoon of oil to a large high sided pan and heat over a medium heat. Add the chopped chicken and colour on all sides before removing from the heat and setting to one side
  3. Add a second table spoon of oil to the pan and add the roughly chopped mushrooms, cook for around 10 minutes (don’t stir too often or they will start to release water)
  4. Drain the dried mushrooms (keep the water they were soaked into one side as it will go into your sauce later)
  5. Stir in the dried mushrooms and spinach to the pan with mushrooms (it will look like it won’t fit, but it quickly wilts down
  6. To make the sauce, melt the butter, and add the crushed garlic to let it infuse and flavour the butter. Add the flour and stir well to make a loose paste
  7. Over a medium heat, gradually whisk in the milk and a water the dried mushrooms were soaked in as this will be packed with flavour.
  8. As the sauce starts to thicken, stir in the rosemary and salt and pepper (you can adjust the seasoning to your own taste). Cook the sauce out for a further 10 minutes, stir regularly until the sauce no longer tastes floury. The sauce should not be especially thick, so add more milk if you think it needs it.
  9. Pre-heat you over to 180 degrees (Celsius)
  10. In a lasagna dish, ladle in enough sauce to cover the bottom of the dish add about a third of the chicken and mushroom mix before topping with lasgna sheets. Repeat this on two more layers, making sure you ladle in liberal amounts of the sauce over the lasagna sheets
  11. Top with grated cheese and bake for 45 minutes until deep golden brown Enjoy with salad and garlic bread

Fake Away Orange Chicken

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On the days when I’m not in the mood for cooking I enjoy a good Chinese take away.

This can be expensive, and not especially healthy. One of the dishes I enjoy is orange chicken. Sometimes it can be overly sweet and the chicken is deep fried, making it high in calories.

My version is a bit healthier, but still delicious. It’s perfect for a week night dinner if you want something a bit different and is pretty quick to make. I don’t like this dish too sweet (I think there is enough sweetness from the orange), but if you prefer you can add a tablespoon of honey to the sauce if you have a sweet tooth.

Ingredients

500 Grams Chicken breast (cut into bite sized pieces)

2 Oranges (finely grated zest and juice)

250 ml Chicken stock

1 Tbsp Rice wine or cider vinegar

1 Tbsp Garlic (finely chopped)

1 Tbsp Ginger (finely chopped, or 1 Tsp of ground ginger if you don’t have any fresh)

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Oil

1 – 2 Tbsps Cornflower (mixed with a small amount of water until its a smooth thick liquid)

Seseme seeds and finely sliced scallions/spring onions (optional) to garnish

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the chicken. Cook for 5-10 minutes until nearly cooked
  2. Remove the chicken from the pan and add the garlic and ginger, cooking for 1-2 minutes
  3. Add the stock, salt orange juice and zest and the chicken to the pan and simmer
  4. When the liquid has reduced by about a third, add your cornflour mix to the pan stir well.
  5. Simmer for a further 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened
  6. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and thinly sliced spring onion and serve with rice or noodles

Chicken and Gnocchi Traybake

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On cold days you want eat something wholesome and delicious with very little effort, and this is perfect. Roast chicken veggies and potato dumplings mmm.

What’s even better is that everything is cooked in the same tray, so you have fewer dishes to wash.

I use shop bought gnocchi, as most of us don’t have time to make them. This helps make this a really easy dish, that just needs to be assembled and then the oven does the work.

Ingredients

8 Small or 4 large chicken thighs

1 Leek (cut into chunks)

1 Red pepper (cut into chunks)

100 Grams Spinach

1 Tsp Smoked paprika

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1 Tbsp White wine or cider vinegar (I promise you won’t taste vinegar, but it will help bring out the flavours)

500 Grams Bag of Gnocchi

Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees (Celsius)
  2. Sprinkle the olive oil on the base of a large roasting tray
  3. Place the chicken, Leeks, peppers and gnocchi in the tray and sprinkle with smoked paprika, salt and pepper
  4. Bake for 30 minutes, and remove from the oven. Sprinkle the vinegar over vegetables and add the spinach and mix through the contents of the tray
  5. Bake for a another 15 minutes and the serve. Double check that the chicken is cooked (the juices should run clear, cook for longer if they aren’t)