Category: chicken

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Chicken with lentils and peas

My original plan was to cook chicken with lentils in my usual manner, and as explained in this blog post.

However this time decided (as I was cooking) to cook something slightly different. Firstly the chicken wasn’t entirely suitable for grilling in my original recipe, as I was using skinless and boneless thigh pieces. So I went with cooking them in the pan that I would normally use for the lentils.

The chicken was added first and browned. I then added some pancetta, chopped red onion and some chopped courgette. This was then cooked for a few minutes. I then added some chicken stock. I let this cook for about ten minutes.

It was at this stage that I decided to change my recipe. I added some frozen peas and some chopped sun dried tomatoes, and let the dish cook for another five minutes.

I then added the tinned green lentils and half a pot of creme frache. This was then brought back to the simmer to ensure that the lentils are heated through and the creme frache mixed through.

I then served the dish.

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Chicken and Prawn Paella

Tonight I took the time to make a paella using a slightly different recipe to the one I normally do.

This time I took some chicken thighs (for flavour, they generally have more flavour then chicken breasts). These I tossed in olive oil and an Italian spicy herb mix. These were browned in a hot frying pan and then removed.

To the hot pan I then added diced onion, red and green pepper and courgette. When these were softened I added the paella rice. Do use paella rice or rice suitable for paella and not the rice at the back of the cupboard. The rice needs to both take on the flavours in the pan, but also soak up the stock and cook. Using other types of rice usually results in a wet paella with undercooked rice.

Having coated the rice in the oil, pepper and onion mix, I added a large splash of white wine and some chicken stock. As the rice cooks I stir the paella and add more stock as required.

After ten minutes of cooking I added the previously browned chicken. Ten minutes after that I added a handful of frozen peas.

Meanwhile in a separate pan I cook off some thick slices of cooking chorizo sausage. If you are using dried chorizo then just add them as they are to the pan when you add the peas. On my griddle I also cooked some large prawns.

Ten minutes after adding the peas, I added the cooked chorizo sausage, the grilled prawns and some slices of lemon.

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Roasting Chicken Breasts

This is one technique I use to roast chicken breasts that adds flavour and stops them drying out.

In the roasting pan I add (in this example) chunks of onion, parsnip and squash. Though you could add other root vegetables of course.

Towards the end of cooking I then add bread chunks, mushrooms and courgette chunks.

In this dish I have used free range corn fed chicken which has a lovely chicken flavour, much more so than the “plain” chicken you can buy in supermarkets these days.

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Paella with chicken and chorizo

I seem to be cooking paella more and more recently.

The key for me is the right kind of rice and saffron. I really do like the way the saffron adds not just colour, but also flavour.

After that you can add many different things to make a really nice paella.

The dish above contains in addition to the rice and saffron, the following, chicken, chorizo, prawns, onions, pepper, pancetta and peas. This is different to the last time I cooked paella.

There is something about paella, the richness, flavours that I really enjoy.

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Roast Chicken Crown with Chorizo

This was a dish I made last week.

I took a crown of free range chicken. This was actually cheaper than buying two chicken breasts and of course cooking it on the bone means it won’t dry out as much as cooking chicken breasts on their own.

Before cooking I covered the chicken in pancetta, this was partly to protect the chicken, add flavour and also add some much needed fat to the pan for the vegetables roasting their.

The chicken was roasted in the oven on a bed of squash, carrots and onions. After cooking for 30 minutes more pieces were added to the pan, this included chorizo cooking sausage, slice of courgette, mushrooms, pepper and cubes of bread. This was then cooked for a further 20-30 minutes until everything was cooked.

The pancetta was crispy, the chicken moist and delicious. The roasted vegetables were full of flavour and perfectly cooked. The bread was flavoursome and crunchy.

Delicious.

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Have you learnt your lesson yet?

So there I was needing a place to go to lunch. I did actually fancy La Tasca, however they weren’t doing anything like their Tapas for a Tenner deal though they were doing quite a few deals if there were two of you (eat for £12). However I was on my own so that wasn’t going to happen.

I looked round, but didn’t fancy Spud-u-like or Burger King so with time running out, but with a little hesitation I decided to go to Café Rouge.

Now my past experiences with Café Rouge have not been always favourable.

When I went to the branch in Cardiff I said:

Overall I was disappointed with the food and the service, I know Café Rouge is a chain, but in this case the Cardiff branch was a real disappointment.

When I was at one of the Bristol branches I was also not impressed:

They do a very good merguez sausage and it is always very well done, well cooked and nice and spicy.  The lentils were quite good too.

However the dish was let down by something as simple as rocket leaves. They were not fresh, old and somewhat manky! A disappointment using not just old rocket leaves, but ones that looked as if they were verging on going off.

Now it’s not always bad news, otherwise I would certainly not have gone again this time. I had a wonderful meal in Brighton a few years ago and I think that’s the reason I keep going back.

So what went wrong this time?

This time the food was up to scratch and I’ll start with that. What I did notice was that the merguez sausage was no longer on the menu, which is a personal favourite.

I went for the fixed price menu, which is very reasonable at £8.50 for two courses, even though the choice is limited to three items for started and mains.

For my starter I went with the Salade de Toulouse – A warm salad of smoked Toulouse sausages sautéed with new potatoes and caramelised onions on a bed of mixed leaves.

This was quite nice, the sausage though was no merguez sausage and I expected a little more flavour from it. The onions and potatoes were cooked just right and the salad was fresh and crisp. I enjoyed it and used some bread to soak up the dressing.

The other two choices were Champignons a la Creme – Chestnut mushrooms cooked in garlic & cream served with French bread and

Salade Niçoise – Classic Niçoise salad with tuna, anchovies, egg, olives, potatoes, French beans and tomatoes with mixed leaves.

For my main course I went with the Poulet et Dauphinoise – Roasted chicken leg with dauphinoise potatoes and thyme jus.

This was also very nice, the chicken was cooked fine, the dauphinoise potatoes had flavour and good texture. The thyme jus was very nice.

The other two choices for the mains were Filet de Colin – Pan fried fillet of hake served on a bed of Ratatouille and Omelette aux Fines Herbes – Fresh herb omelette served with French fries or mixed salad. The fish had run out so it was a choice between chicken and omelette in the end.

So the food was good, what went wrong, why are you not going again?

Well this time the service is what was awful.

When I walked in, the place was quite full, and the waitress did say there would be a 30 minute wait for food, I was fine with that. It just seemed to taken them an inordinately long time to take my order. The first course arrived within 20 minutes which was nice. But then I had a 30 minute wait for the main course! By this time the place was much much emptier. What annoyed me though was that other tables were getting served before me even though they had come in later. In other words I had been forgotten… this was also evidenced by the waitress asking if I had had my main course (with my empty starter plate in front of me).

I normally do tip, however on this occasion I felt that I hadn’t had any service let alone good service.

So next time I think about going to Café Rouge, remind me of this time, oh and that time too….

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Chicken thighs with pork, sage & thyme stuffing

Sainsburys have recently released a new range, called Easy To Cook Autumn Meals.

We have tried a few and as you might expect some are better than others.

One we did like and have bought again, was the boneless chicken thighs with seasoned pork, sage & thyme stuffing.

Something that is relatively challenging to do yourself and takes a fair bit of time is to bone chicken thighs and stuff them. These already prepared saves a lot of time.

I roasted mine in the oven for 20-30 minutes with chopped onions, mushrooms, pepper and courgettes. I also added cubes of bread with ten minutes to go.

Once cooked, I let them rest for five minutes before slicing them and serving them.

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Chicken and Avocado Salad

In December 2009 I went to a conference in Auckland in New Zealand. I spent a couple of days after the conference exploring the area around Auckland. I had caught the ferry to Devonport and after climbing Mount Victoria went for some lunch.

I had this really nice salad of chicken and avocado.

The chicken was freshly grilled and served with the avocado, salad and a spicy dressing.

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Chicken with a Parmesan and Lemon Crust

Having got Chicken with a Parmesan and Lemon Crust as part of the £10 dine in offer from Marks and Spencers, I roasted it in the oven alongside some potatoes and steamed vegetables.

It was quite nice.

I am not sure how much of a deal those £10 deals are from Marks and Spencers, actually of course it is no deal really, just the price that they charge called a deal to tempt you in…

However I don’t buy them because it is a special offer I buy them because it’s a quick and easy way to get a meal without having to spend huge amounts of money.

Oh and the wine isn’t too bad either!