chicken, vegetable and rice noodle soup

This was basically a meal I made by winging it - but it was actually really tasty, and healthy to boot.  Also it's very cheap as I used only one chicken breast (on the bone) that I'd saved from a whole chicken I'd cut up.  I was pleased to see Ken Hom on This Morning talking about how chinese food is healthy because they use such little meat in comparison to the typical western diet.  Well I'm certainly sold on this concept and regularly use as little as one chicken breast to make a dish that feeds all 4 of us comfortably.

Anyway, I digress, here's roughly what I did:

Ingredients:
spring greens
1 chicken breast on the bone
chopped fresh mint and coriander
thumb sized piece of ginger
2 large cloves of garlic
a couple of carrots
a broccoli stalk (no waste on this challenge!)
pinch of 5 spice powder
soy sauce
salt

Method:

1. simmer the chicken breast in water with some salt until just cooked
2. meanwhile shred the spring greens, trim and thinly slice the carrot, ginger, garlic cloves and broccoli stalk
3. remove the chicken and shred the meat from the bone and reserve
4. add the sliced vegetables to the stock and continue to simmer, meanwhile heat some oil in a pan and fry the shredded chicken with a good pinch of 5 spice powder and soy sauce.
5. add the rice noodles to the stock and vegetables, then add the fresh herbs (in my case I had previously chopped and frozen them, but it makes no difference) and a good glug of soy sauce
6. ladle the soup and noodles into a bowl and top with some chicken
7. serve!

NB. If I wasn't also cooking for the children I would have also added some fresh, sliced chillies.....

Yoghurt marinated roast chicken

As a practice for my upcoming challenge, I decided to see how far I can make a whole chicken last.  Sadly I forgot about the stock I made in the slowcooker using the carcass and had to throw it out, but on the saturday I used one of the chicken breasts to make chicken and broccoli in blackbean sauce with stir fried noodles and beansprouts.  It was delicious and the kids both heartily approved - Ben even had seconds (practically unheard of!) In order to have even the slightest chance of completing the challenge, I need to make meat less of the 'main deal' and more of an ingredient, and find ways to bulk out our meals without using so much.  So this is what I did with the joint portions of the chicken.

Yoghurt marinated chicken

Ingredients:
2 x chicken thighs, 2 x legs, 2 x wings - skinned
few tbs of low fat yoghurt
roughly 1 heaped tsp each of paprika, ground cardamom (my most prized spice), ground coriander, ground cumin and black pepper
pinch of turmeric
couple tsps salt (you need extra to compensate for the yoghurt and lemon)
juice of a lemon
1/2 tsp chilli powder (optional)

Method:
slash all the pieces of meat with a sharp knife and put in a bowl.
In a seperate bowl mix together all the rest of the ingredients.
Pour yoghurt mix over chicken and mix well to coat all the pieces.
Cover and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.
When you are ready to cook it, bring it out of the fridge and let it come back to room temp, before putting in a pre-heated oven.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and cook on about 180 degrees for approx 40 mins or until cooked and the juices run clear.

I served this over a bed of rice which I had cooked with lemon, and sprinkled fresh coriander all over it, a garlic yoghurt sauce and peas and broadbeans with mint

We could all have eaten twice as much as was on offer, but cutting down on our portion sizes (me and Nick) would not be a bad thing.....

Stuffed roast chicken

....and if I do say so myself, possibly one of the best roast chickens ;-)

This was the star of the birthday feast requested by Ben.  This served all hungry four of us (and as it's one of Ben's favourite meals, he actually managed to eat quite a bit.)

Ingredients

• good quality chicken (I chose a corn fed one) approx 1.4kg
• sitck or two of celery chopped into large chunks
• a carrot or two chopped into large chunks
• 1 head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
• 1 large onion chopped, quartered
• salt, pepper and paprika to taste
• olive oil for drizzling
• 1 pint vegetable stock for basting

for the stuffing:

• a few slices of day old bread (or, if like me you don't have any, then just partially toast some normal sliced bread)
• 1/2 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 stick celery
• few sprigs of fresh herbs (sage is traditional, I only had rosemary)
• drizzle of olive oil
• couple tsps water to help it bind
• pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. blitz the bread in a processor until you have fine crumbs
2. blitz the onion, celery, garlic and herbs in the processor until they are finely chopped, then sweat them off in a little olive oil until softened, seasoning with a little salt and pepper
3. add the onion mix to the breadcrumbs, drizzle with a little olive oil and the water and mix together until the mixture is starting to bind a little.  Set aside
4. throw the chopped vegetables into a large casserole dish and drizzle with a little olive oil (make sure the garlic is cut face down

5. clean out the cavity of the chicken and rinse, then sprinkle the inside with a little salt, and pepper
6. lay the chicken onto the vegetables and season all over with salt, pepper and paprika

7. stuff the chicken loosely with the stuffing mixture (do not pack it too tightly as you want the heat to be able to circulate properly)
 
8. drizzle the chicken with a little olive oil and cover loosely with foil
9. put into a pre-heated oven and cook for about 50 mins at approx 175 degrees, basting with the veg stock every 20 mins or so
10. uncover the chicken, turn it onto its breast and cook for a further 50 mins this side down, again basting it every 20 mins or so
11. turn the chicken back the right way up and pour the remainder of the veg stock over it.  Cook now until the juices run clear when you stick a skewer into the thigh - depending on weight of the chicken and how efficient your oven is, probably another 20-30 mins (mine's a very hot oven)

12. Put the chicken on a serving plate and place some of the garlic cloves (which should be all soft and buttery) around it, along with the roasted carrots and cover with foil to rest
13. meanwhile, pour all the lovely stock and juices, with the rest of the roasted vegetables into a pan and bring to the boil.  Thicken with a cornflour mixture, or gravy granules (yes, I confess, I use these sometimes!)
14. serve!  I piled on lots of Ben's favourite crispy roast potatoes with rosemary and served it all with a large yorkshire pudding, a big bowl of vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, spring cabbage), the chicken juices and, because we are caribbean, the ever present bowl of rice.  Yes, rice.  We eat it with almost everything.  oh, and don't forget the hot sauce!
15. Enjoy!

Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

There's just something about this time of year that has me craving good old stodgy food - I guess it's the dark , cold, rainy days that makes salads and the like rather unappealing. Well, to me anyway!
So, seeing as though it has been very cold of late, I felt in the need of something more substantial and fried chicken it had to be! So here's my recipe for some delicious fried chicken, which I prefer to serve with mashed potatoes and parsnips, and broccoli and carrots. See, it's not so unhealthy after all. That's four varieties of veg in one meal!
As with most of my recipes, the amounts are only guidelines (and a bit of guess work!) as I tend to cook on instinct. So add more or less of things to suite your own circumstances/palate/on hand ingredients etc...

Ingredients:

For the fried chicken
8 pieces of chicken
1-2 cups plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1tbsp paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 egg lightly beaten

For the mashed potatoes and parsnips
4 large potatoes, skin on, scrubbed and chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
milk
salt and pepper to taste

For the gravy
1 tbsp flour
1 small onion sliced
pinch of oregano

Method:
1. wash the chicken and pat dry
2. mix the flour with the other seasonings, then dipthe chicken, first into the egg, then roll in the seasoned flour.
3. heat a good layer of oil (about 1 inch deep) in a large pan (don't worry, if the temperature is correct, the chicken won't soak up very much of it)
4. fry the chicken in the oil until golden on all sides, then transfer to a baking dish and finish off in the oven. It is cooked when the juices run clear and no pink remains. reserve 2 tbsp of the oil for the gravy.
5. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes and parsnips in lightly salted water until very soft, then mash with some milk and a knob of butter. season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. To make the gravy, saute some onions gently until they start to brown. In a separate pan heat the reserved oil, stir in the flour and mix until smooth. Cook for a couple of minutes to 'cook' the flour then add some boiling water. Add the onions and season with the oregano, salt and pepper.

Serve the chicken and potatoes with steamed carrots and broccoli - or any other vegetable of
your choice, and lashing of gravy.