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This is a simple easy recipe for cooking chicken.
One of the key things about cooking chicken this way is that it stays really nice and moist with lots of flavour.
Firstly take four chicken thighs, now you could use a whole chicken, half chicken or other chicken pieces. I much prefer chicken thighs over the breast meat as it has a lot more flavour (in my opinion).
Continue reading “Chicken with mushrooms, tomatoes and courgettes”
Do you have friends who live in Surrey, or Kent, or London?
Be aware that Marks and Spencers are coating them in Southern style spices and serving them with a spicy tomato salsa in wraps to hungry customers up and down the country.
Today I roasted some pancetta covered organic chicken thighs on a bed of onions, red pepper, mushrooms and courgettes. This was splashed with some olive oil and seasoned with black pepper.
Whilst this was in the oven, I softened in a frying pan, some finely chopped onion with pancetta. When the onion was nicely soft, I added some red wine and beef stock before simmering it down. Beef stock over chicken stock just because of the colour rather than flavour. I then reduced and reduced this.
When I was happy with the sauce I whisked in some butter (with a fork as it happens rather than a whisk) and then added a tin of Epicure Organic Puy Lentils. I needed to add a bit more stock at this point.
I was really impressed with the Epicure Organic Puy Lentils and will certainly be buying them again, I guess it would be potentially tastier to use dried lentils, but I personally was quite happy with the tin.
So I put the lentils on the plate, placed the chicken on top and surrounded it with the roasted vegetables. I served this along with carrots and green beans.
Really tasty.
Last night I cooked a very nice stuffed chicken dish.
Take four chicken thigh joints, take out the bone, you can take the skin off, but I usually leave it on.
Take four slices of pancetta bacon (normal streaky bacon can be used, but I prefer the thinness and flavour of pancetta). Lie them flat slightly overlapping. Place the chicken thigh flat out on the pancetta.
You can use a lot of different things for the stuffing, I used some Doux De Montagne that I had left over, a strip of red pepper and some strips of courgette (zucchini). But you could use any other cheese or other vegetables.
I then rolled and wrapped the stuffed chicken thigh with the pancetta bacon. I placed these in a roasting tin and roasted for about thirty minutes.
I served this with some roasted vegtables and some homemade salad consisting of coleslaw and a green bean salad.
Tonight I had a very nice spanish chicken dish (that was cooked for me). Containing tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, potatoes and chicken and cooked in a single pot, it was delicious. The main seasoning was freshly ground black pepper which to me gave it a very spanish feel, as did the potato.
Are you worried about the additives in the fast food you buy?
Are you concerned about the ingredients used in the snacks you eat?
Do you care about the welfare of the animals used for the foods you love?
I really like southern fried chicken, but wherever possible try and avoid buying it from those fast food places as:
a) I am worried about the salt content.
b) I am worried about the additives used.
c) I prefer to use organic free range chicken where possible.
So I now make my own southern fried chicken.
Take some skinless boneless organic chicken thighs, some supermarkets sell them like this, others you will need to skin and bone them. I prefer the thigh meat as it has a lot more flavour than the breast meat (and is cheaper).
Slice into strips.
Coat in flour.
Coat in beaten egg (free range and organic).
Coat again in seasoned flour, I use a mix of cajun spices usually.
Deep fry for a minute or so, until brown.
Drain and put onto kitchen towel on a plate to drain any excess oil.
Serve with dips and stuff.
Quick and easy.
This is a dish I made.
Take some chicken thighs, add olive oil to a hot pan.
Brown the chicken in the pan, then remove.
Add chopped onion and red pepper to the pan.
Cook on a low heat until soft.
Add chopped mushrooms.
Meanwhile soak some saffron in a little hot water.
Once the mushrooms, onions and red pepper are cooked, add the chicken.
Add some freshly chopped parsley.
Add the saffron.
Add a couple of large spoonfuls of creme frache, you could use double cream, but I prefer creme frache.
Serve with some freshly cooked gnocchi.
Done.
Here’s a great kitchen tip. You know how bowls of soup in food magazines always have a few bubbles rising artfully to the surface, giving that freshly ladled-from-the-tureen appearance? Well, you can recreate this effect quite easily at home by lightly drizzling some washing-up liquid into your soups but, please, only use the best stuff; this is no time to cut corners. Next, take a plastic straw and gently blow into the soup, creating an entire bowlful of bubbles. Using a pin pop away until you are left with just those few artistic ones that will survive for hours. The taste might not be to die for but at least your bowl of soup will look just like it does in the food magazines.
So organic free range chicken is twice the price of *normal* chicken.
Is it worth it?
A resounding yes.
The flavour and tenderness was superb.
I made chicken, mango and pineapple kebabs and served it with a mixed salad (with virtually all organic ingredients).
Recommended.
Ingredients for four servings
4 boned-out chicken legs or thighs or even whole legs
pepper
approximately 12-16 rashers of pancetta bacon
dash olive oil
Stuffing
handful of sauasge meat, I used two (proper) sausages and removed the skins
half a handful of pistachio nuts,
half a handful of pistachio nuts, ground
half a handful of breadcrumbs
1 egg yolk
herbs, parsley is fine
Make the stuffing by mixing all the ingredients together.
Open out the chicken legs or thighs, season with pepper and divide the stuffing between them. Roll up to enclose. Lay about three or four bacon rashers on a board, overlapping them slightly. Put one stuffed chicken portion on top and wrap the bacon around to cover completely. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.
Cut four very large pieces of foil. Wrap each chicken parcel tightly in foil, twisting the ends to seal. Roll back and forth to even the shape. Poach the chicken parcels, two or three at a time, in a large pan of boiling water for 25-30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked. Allow to cool in the foil, then refrigerate for 30 minutes (this helps the bacon to ‘set’ around the chicken). Remove the foil and pat dry to remove any excess moisture.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and carefully sauté the chicken parcels until the bacon is brown and crisp on all sides. Transfer to a warm platter and rest in a warm place.
You can make a sauce by deglazing the pan with say some wine or sherry.
You can serve with vegetables.
With thanks to Gordon Ramsey for the inspiration.
I also made this recipe this weekend, but used pork loin steaks and no bacon.