chicken Archives - Page 21 of 29

August 1, 2011

Chicken Korma

Sometimes time is against you and you aren’t at home and need something cheap and quick to eat. Supermarket cafes are not always my first choice for somewhere to eat, but if you are on your own, don’t want to spend too much money and don’t have the time then they aren’t that bad.

This is a Chicken Korma curry I had recently at Morrisons.

No it wasn’t fantastic and nor would it win any awards, but then I wasn’t expecting fantastic. It was as you might expect pre-cooked and heated up in the cafe kitchen. It was pleasant enough and the naan bread was fresh and hot. The rice unfortunately suffered in been reheated and was crunchy in places, it really needed to be freshly cooked in my opinion.

July 31, 2011

Grilled Chicken

I do like grilled chicken, however I don’t like my grill! I would love to have a proper commercial salamander grill, I am reminded on a regular basis that this is a standard domestic kitchen, and not a restaurant kitchen… So the grill we do have is built into the oven and is not separate. So if I want to grill I need to leave the oven door open and that I don’t like from a safety perspective, especially with young children running around. So the other day as I had the time I would be able to ensure that everyone else in the house wouldn’t be grilled.

I decided to do two types of grilled chicken.

Firstly I took some chicken thighs and with a marinade of olive oil, white wine vinegar and mixed dried herbs mixed and coated the chicken before placing them on the grill pan

I then took some chicken drumsticks and in a bowl added some Schwartz’s Spicy Italian spice mix, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and coated the legs.

I turned the chicken a couple of times and each time I would brush the chicken with the remaining marinade from each of of the bowls.

The result?

Well the chicken had a wonderful flavour and was beautifully moist and tender. I really do like the taste of grilled chicken and these were just right.

July 28, 2011

Quick Roast Chicken

I do enjoy roast chicken, but sometimes I don’t have the time to roast a whole chicken.

When time is against me I will roast legs and thighs, which can be done in under half the time.

I do like to roast my chicken with “stuff”, usually onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and other things I can find in the fridge.

Why legs and thighs?

Well I find that the meat on these cuts of chicken are full of flavour compared to chicken breast.

After the chicken is cooked, I usually remove the chicken from the roasting pan, let it sit for a while. In the meantime I add cubes of bread to the roasting pan. These soak up the juices and crisp up, a great accompaniment to the chicken.

Alongside my roast chicken we had roast potatoes and steamed green vegetables.

The courgette was home grown and tasted great.

June 25, 2011

Selezione Classica

A quick lunch at Bella Italia was on the cards and not fancying pizza or pasta I went with a sharing platter all to myself…

Our selection of oven baked lemon & rosemary chicken wings, spiced meatballs, calamari, mini garlic filled calzoni and lightly battered courgettes served with flamed pepper and lemon herb dips.

I have talked before about platters, sometimes they consist of a bundle of stuff that was thrown into a deep fat fryer. This one from Bella Italia was more imaginative than most.

The chicken wings were, as I expected, reheated from cooked, but you could smell and taste the lemon and rosemary. The problem with reheating is that it changes the taste and texture of the chicken. Freshly cooked chicken wings are much more succulent and have more flavour and when you have had freshly cooked, you are always disappointed with the reheated versions. These, though reheated, were very nice, and it was also a nice change not have them covered in a sweet sticky sauce.

The meatballs were nice and spicy and were something I wasn’t expecting to find on the platter. They came in an earthenware tumbler and were covered in a pleasant tomato sauce.

The calamari were typical of the calamari at Bella Italia, covered in flour and deep fried. Slightly overcooked for my liking, but it was proper squid and not just rubbery rings as you find at some places. I do like calamari.

The mini garlic filled calzoni were simply small pizza bases, with garlic butter, folded and baked like a calzone pizza. Soft on the inside, but with crunchy edges, the garlic was subtle and complemented the bread.

The lightly battered courgettes, reminded me of a dish I had ordered on Kefalonia. Chunky strips of courgette, covered in a batter and deep fried. These were crispy on the outside and the courgette was lovely and tender, almost melt in the mouth on the inside. Really nice.

Overall I enjoyed my platter and would be happy to order it again.

May 17, 2011January 6, 2020

Chicken Fajitas “made easy”

I will admit that though I normally much prefer to make stuff from fresh, I do use (and sometimes even like) the “easy” packs from the supermarkets. In the past I have talked about Waitrose’s Easy To Cook range and Marks and Spencer’s The Cook Menu. This was the first thing I have had from the Morrison’s version.

To be perfectly honest making chicken fajitas is not exactly difficult and usually I would make my own. The reason for using this pack was a) it’s a little cheaper and easier than buying all the other ingredients separately and having lots left over and b) I didn’t actually buy it, my better half did to save me some time.

It was a very easy dish to cook. Start to cook the chicken, I used my griddle, add the prepared onions and peppers. Heat the flour tortillas in the microwave server with the salsa and sour cream.

It was as it said on the packet, easy.

So what about the flavour?

Well very nice, as it used fresh ingredients, the peppers and onions still had crunch and flavour and the spiced chicken was tender and spicy.

You can buy pre-cooked fajitas from the cook-chill cabinet that you heat in the microwave and they are pretty awful, this in comparison is so much better.

Would I buy it again? Well we did enjoy it, but when I came to cook fajitas again, I bought all fresh ingredients and I made my own guacamole to go with it.

May 3, 2011

It’s just a chicken sandwich…

I was on my way to catch a train when I stopped off at my local Costa for a coffee and a sandwich.

The coffee was a Flat White, well it was nearly a Flat White, well one can live in hope!

As for the sandwich, it was a chicken salad sandwich on malted brown bread.

So what did I think?

Well it was a chicken salad sandwich and there isn’t much more to say.

The most flavoursome part of the sandwich was the bread. The chicken was cooked processed chicken, so tasted like chicken, well as in tasted of very little. The salad was mainly bland tomatoes and iceberg lettuce. There was some mayo which overpowered the chicken and salad, though you could still taste the bread. There was texture, as the salad was crisp, but I would have preferred a more soggy sandwich with lots of flavour.

The problem with mass produced sandwiches is that they are catering for the mass audience. The mainstream want something like this sandwich and in many ways prefer a bland sandwich over one with flavour. I remember watching a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall programme a few years ago on chicken and he did a taste test between organic free range chicken and a supermarket battery chicken. Interestingly most people preferred the supermarket chicken. The organic one had “too much” flavour.

We as a society have got so use to bland chicken that we now prefer bland chicken. ask yourself do you prefer breast or thighs? Chicken breast has a lot less flavour than the thighs, but most people prefer breast.

As a result of this, I get a rather tasteless chicken sandwich rather than one bursting with flavour.

April 23, 2011

Chinese Chicken Wings

I do like chicken wings and not only are they cheap, they are tasty too. The key is to cook them fresh and not to re-heat them.

The problem I have found with ordering chicken wings in restaurants is that they re-heat pre-cooked ones to order. I know that they often do this as it saves time, but if you have only ever eaten chicken wings from a restaurant then you must try cooking them fresh and you will be able to taste the difference.

I do joint the wings and then roast in the oven for about 15-20 mins. It’s as this point I add any sauce; I have found that though you can add the sauce from the beginning, there is a possibility it will burn. The wings are then cooked for a further 10-15 minutes.

I often make my own sauces, but I do also use ready made sauces to see what they’re like or for inspiration to try and make a better home made one later.

I tried out a jar of Blue Dragon Chinese BBQ Sticky Sauce.

A smoky and sticky sauce for roasting with a rich blend of molasses, caramel, garlic, ginger and Chinese spices.

I did really quite like this, sweet and sticky, but the garlic and ginger really coming through. Probably quite easy to make yourself too.

March 21, 2011

Grilled Chicken

Well one can dream…

So the grill we do have is built into the oven and is not separate. So if I want to grill I need to leave the oven door open and that I don’t like from a safety perspective, especially with young children running around.

So the other day I decided I would use my grill and as I had the time I would be able to ensure that everyone else in the house wouldn’t be grilled.

I took some chicken thighs and legs and in a bowl added some Schwartz’s Spicy Italian spice mix, some olive oil, lemon zest and the juice form the lemon too.

This I coated the chicken before placing it under the grill.

I turned the chicken a couple of times and each time I would brush the chicken with the remaining spice mix from the bowl.

The result?

Well the chicken had a wonderful flavour and was beautifully moist and tender. I really do like the taste of grilled chicken (especially with lemon) and this was just right.

I intend to use the same ingredients in the summer, but use the barbecue.

February 25, 2011

Spicy Italian Chicken

A simple, quick way to cook a tasty chicken dish. I took some chicken legs and thighs in a bowl with some olive oil and a good sprinkle of Schwartz’s Spicy Italian.

Perfect Shake Spicy Italian Special Blend with red and green peppers, chillies, garlic and herbs, adds a rich spicy flavour to Italian-style dishes.

These spices are quick and easy and though yes doing it all fresh is so much better, that implies you have the time and money to do this. I don’t most of the time.

I also added some red wine and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

I then mixed the chicken in the wine, vinegar, oil and spice mix and roasted in the oven on a bed of onions and courgettes.

I served it with some small crispy roast potatoes and some steamed green vegetables.

February 22, 2011

Chinese BBQ Chicken

This was a simple recipe that was very tasty as a result. It was based on the pork belly recipe that I made recently, but this time used chicken.

I took a splash of sunflower oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup (though you could use honey), chinese five spice and tomato ketchup. I coated some boneless and skinless chicken thighs with the marinade and left for about 30 minutes. You could leave it for longer, but I was hungry and trying to be quick!

I then roasted the chicken in a hot oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Once out of the oven, let rest for five minutes before slicing into thick slices.

I served it with a stir fry of vegetables and cashew nuts alongside some plain boiled rice.