Category: chicken

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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.

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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?

Lunch

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.

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Chinese Chicken Wings

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.

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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…

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?

Grilled Chicken

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.