The Recipe Room

I absolutely adore this harissa chicken and rice salad. For me, it’s pure summer on a plate; bursting with vibrant sun-ripened colours and flavours. Think of combining refreshing cucumber, mint and lime, with the mild spice of red chilli, ginger and harissa. Afterwards, you can cool and complement all this with thick and creamy Greek yoghurt and fresh herbs.

I’m giving you the recipe for 4 people, but we sometimes double up the quantities if friends are coming round for a barbecue. It’s a complete meal in itself if you want it to be, but it also makes a great accompaniment to other marinated chargrilled meats or fish.  You could also just make the salad without the chicken, and serve it with these these ginger and coriander crab cakes.  I like to enjoy my harissa chicken and rice salad with a freezer cooled beer topped with a slice of lime.

A Chinese-style lemon chicken dish that you can make at home.  Serve it with plain boiled rice or a medley of yummy veggies. For more Chinese chicken recipes, why not try this hot and spicy chicken with almonds?

Ingredients:

• 475g chicken breasts, boneless
• 2 tsp dry cornflour, and 1 tsp cornflour mixed with water
• 1 egg white
• A generous pinch of salt
• 245ml groundnut oil
• The juice and zest of 4 lemons
• 90ml chicken stock
• A generous dash of dry sherry
• 1-2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• A slug of sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic, skin removed and finely sliced
• 1 bunch spring onions, very finely sliced
• 1 fresh red chilli pepper, finely sliced
• 1cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and shredded
• Salt and pepper to season

Steps:

1. Make the chicken coating by mixing the egg white, dry cornflour, and salt together in a bowl.
2. Cut the chicken breasts into strips and stir them into the mixture, coating them well all over, and leave to one side for 25 minutes.
3. Whilst the chicken is resting, juice and zest the lemons and prepare the remaining ingredients.
4. Put a large wok on a high heat, and once very hot, add the groundnut oil and heat until it begins to smoke.  Take it off the heat and add the chicken, moving it about to prevent it from sticking, and stir-frying until it becomes white all over.  Remove the chicken, and drain off the oil – be careful as the oil may be extremely hot, so drain it over a heat-proof bowl.  Leave the chicken to one side.  Let the cooking oil cool, discard it, and then clean out the wok with kitchen paper.
5. To make the lemony sauce, add the following to the wok: lemon juice and zest, chicken stock, soy, dry sherry, sugar, garlic, ginger and chilli.  Bring the mixture up to the boil and then stir in the cornflour and water mix.  Turn the heat down to a simmer for 20 seconds, adding the chicken pieces and half of the spring onions.  Move the chicken pieces about to coat them all over and ensure that they are thoroughly heated.

Duration: 25 to prepare, 15 to 30 minutes to cook

Recipe for: 4 servings

Here is a simple recipe bursting with flavour.  Chicken marinated in herbs and garlic with roasted red peppers is quick and easy to prepare, so don’t let the long name fool you! You can be getting on with other jobs whilst the peppers are roasting in the oven – and before you fry the chicken.

If you are quite hungry, you can accompany the chicken with oven-roasted peppers and pine nut couscous.

Ingredients:

To marinate the chicken:

• 4 thin chicken fillets
• 3 cloves of garlic, pressed or finely chopped
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh parsley, finely chopped

For the roasted red peppers:

• 4-6 small to medium red bell peppers, whole
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• A couple of pinches of dried parsley
• 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Pinch of salt
• Garlic powder to taste

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
2. Place the peppers drizzled with oil onto a roasting tray, sprinkle over with the herbs, and season with salt and black pepper.
3. Roast the peppers in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on their size.
4. Whilst the peppers are roasting, place the chicken fillets into a bowl, cover with the oil, stir in the garlic and the fresh parsley.  Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for 20-25 minutes.  For extra flavour and softness, marinate the night before.
5. About 15 minutes before serving, take the chicken out of the fridge, and in a large frying pan, spoon in the oil from the marinade.  Heat the oil on high, testing that the oil is ready for the chicken by dropping a bread crumb in.  If the crumb sizzles, the oil is ready!  Fry the chicken with the rest of the marinade, making sure that each piece of chicken fully touches the bottom of the pan.  First seal the chicken on a high heat for a few minutes on each side, then turn the heat down to medium and continue to fry until the chicken is cooked throughout, about 10 minutes depending on the size and thickness of the fillets.
6. Present the whole peppers with the chicken on a plate.  Serve with fresh granary bread or rocket leaves drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Recipe for: 4 main courses

Duration:15 minutes to prepare (some of this is done during the peppers’ roasting time) and 45 minutes to 1 hour cooking time.

Paprika garlic chicken with beans and potatoes is a meal I cook at least once a month.  It’s a modern twist on a classic meat and two veg dish: simple, wholesome and healthy.  Something for the weekend.

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breast fillets, about 1cm in thickness
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and pushed through a garlic press
• 1-2 tsp smoked ground paprika
• A couple of pinches of salt
• 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for marinating and 2 tbsp for sautéing the vegetables
• 2 medium to large potatoes, skins on, chopped into 1.5cm rounds
• Pack of fresh runner beans, topped & tailed, then sliced into halves lengthwise before cutting at a shear angle into 4-5 cm lengths
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Fresh ground black pepper

Steps:

1. Put the chicken in a bowl, pour over the olive oil, and stir in the garlic and a pinch of salt.  Cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for a minimum of 20 minutes.  You can do this some hours, or even the night before, if you like.
2. When you are ready to prepare the meal, steam the potatoes for 5 minutes before adding the beans and steaming both together for about another 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked and tender.  Try to retain a slightly firm consistency in the potatoes so that they don’t fall apart at the next stage.
3. Whilst the vegetables are steaming, pour a little of the marinade oil along with the garlic into a frying pan over a fairly hot heat.  Seal one side of each of the chicken fillets in the frying pan.  During the sealing, sprinkle a pinch of paprika over each chicken breast fillet, and when you turn the chicken to seal the other side, sprinkle paprika across the other side of the breast too.  Continue to fry the chicken until cooked throughout.  Remove from the heat.
4. Heat olive oil in a clean frying pan and sauté the potatoes and the beans for a few minutes.  Sprinkle the vegetables with a pinch of salt and squeeze over the lemon juice.
5. Serve the chicken and vegetables together on a plate, finishing with a drizzle of cold olive oil and a twist of black pepper across the vegetables.

Duration: 20 minutes preparation time plus a minimum of 20 minutes marinating time.  Cooking time less than 30 minutes.

Recipe for: 2 people

Coronation Chicken is normally eaten cold. However, it’s also delicious served warm with rice.  Here’s one that I often cook in the spring and the summer.  Sometimes I make extra quantity; eat some hot, then store some in the fridge for a picnic.

The invention of the dish is accredited to a florist called Constance Spry and a chef called Rosemary Hume, who prepared the combination of cold chicken and a creamy curry sauce for the Queen’s coronation in 1953.  There are many variations of the dish, including this warm coronation chicken.

You can also use leftover chicken from previous recipes such as this sweetheart chicken curry with fragrant rice to use as a coronation chicken alternative.

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
• 1 small onion, finely sliced
• 1 carrot, peeled into long, thin slices
• 2 tsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots, finely sliced
• 2-3 tsp curry powder of your choice
• Juice of ½ a lemon
• 295ml mayonnaise
• 160ml natural yoghurt or crème fraîche
• 3 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• Handful of flaked almonds
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Steps:

1. In a large saucepan, add the whole chicken breasts, the onion, carrot and bay leaves.  Cover the ingredients with water and season well with salt and pepper.  Bring the water up to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer very gently for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.  Remove the pan from the heat and place the chicken breasts onto a plate to cool down.
2. In a shallow-based frying pan, heat the oil and fry the shallots on a low to medium heat for 3-4 minutes until soft.
3. Add the curry powder to the onions, some of the chicken stock that you have just made, including the carrots.  Then stir in the lemon juice and the tomato purée.  Cook at a simmer for around 10 minutes until the sauce is reduced and thickened.
4. Slice the cooked chicken breasts into 1.5cm pieces.
5. In a separate bowl, add the yoghurt or crème fraîche along with the mayonnaise, stirring them together before adding them to the frying pan.  Taste the sauce, and if necessary, add some extra seasoning.
6. Place the chicken pieces into the frying pan and coat them all over with the sauce. Add the flaked almonds.  Turn off the heat and sprinkle all over with the fresh coriander.
7. Serve with plain boiled rice.

Duration: preparation and cooking time less than an hour
Recipe for: 4 people

Home-made nutritious chicken nuggets use unprocessed meat, less salt and more natural ingredients than the ones you get in most restaurants and frozen sections of the supermarket. They are very quick to make and taste good, leaving the kids with happy tums and the mums with happy minds!

Let’s face it – children just love chicken nuggets; and the ones they fill their tummies with are not always the healthiest. I know for my part, that I cringe a little inside when my daughter picks nuggets off a menu.  ‘If only she’d pick the soup, or something with vegetables, or something at least vaguely healthy,’ I think, and I worry about it. So I’m always looking for ways to create healthier alternatives at home. Making these give me some peace of mind knowing that at least my little one is getting a healthier version of the much loved chicken nugget.

If you can find organic chicken breasts, that’s fantastic. We make these at least once a month now and serve them with home-made chips and peas. For a grown up meal that you could eat with your children try this roast chicken with home-made chips. If your’e looking to introduce your children to slightly more adventurous foods, try this mild vegetable curry.

Here’s a really lovely midweek meal to put together in no time and leave cooking whilst you relax or get on with other things. Chicken and pesto are always a wonderful combination. Sometimes I make this chicken and pesto open tart with green pesto, as in this recipe – but I also like to vary it with red pesto or aubergine and olive pesto when I can find it.

Another nice variation is to throw over a few walnuts or almond pieces 10 minutes from the end of the cooking time to add a little crunch.

We had friends over at the weekend who are about to go abroad to their homeland to get married (exciting times), and we served up this chicken and pesto open tart and tucked into it together, accompanied by a glass of sparkling white wine – now that we are getting into the warmer season. The tart is also really nice served with this lamb’s lettuce salad with serrano ham and apricots.

Now that the summer is coming, I’m starting to think more about eating outside. Chicken and pineapple skewers can be cooked on a barbeque or in the kitchen under the grill as in this recipe. Juicy pineapple goes really well with the subtlety of chicken, and peppers are always mouth-watering when grilled or flame roasted. This side dish is great accompanied by a rice dish. Why not try this Indian-style brown rice?

I use tins of pineapple chunks for my chicken and pineapple skewers so that I can add the juice to the marinade, and save on preparation time. For a nice variation to the peppers, and as a further time saver when you need it, thread whole cherry tomatoes onto the skewers instead.

 

 

Ah, good old chicken liver paté, a taste from childhood that I’ve only recently rediscovered.  It was only yesterday, in fact, when my daughter and I went over to a friend’s house to play after school.  She and her buddy drank juice, drew great big pictures on a large sheet of paper in green and yellow, and then watched a movie.  And us two mums spread brandied chicken liver paté onto warm slices of wholemeal pitta bread and sipped on a small glass of good red wine in the kitchen, all the while chatting over life, the universe and everything.  An evening very well spent in good company.

You can do a lot with paté. Try this recipe for a multicultural sarnie called a banh mi, using paté as its main ingredient.

There are plenty of great shop-bought patés, but it’s very rewarding making it at home too, so here’s the recipe of the one my friend and I enjoyed yesterday, for you to try.

Ingredients:

• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 250g butter + 60g melted
• 500g chicken livers
• 4 slices of bacon, rind removed and chopped
• A couple of pinches of dried thyme
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 30ml brandy
• 60ml cream
• Fresh ground black pepper to season

For the topping:

• 120g melted butter
• A handful of scissor-cut chives

Steps:

1. Using a large heavy-based saucepan, first melt the butter.  Then add the onion, bacon and garlic; coating everything in the butter and sautéing until the bacon is golden and the onion is softened.
2. Toss in the chicken livers and fry them, moving them about occasionally, for 5-10 minutes.
3. Add the herbs, grind over with plenty of pepper, then stir in the brandy, cream and melted butter.
4. Put the mixture into a blender or food processor and whizz until you obtain a smooth consistency.
5. Turn the mixture out into a serving dish, or dishes.
6. To create the topping, simply pour the melted butter over the surface of the paté and then sprinkle over with the snipped chives.
7. Put the paté in the fridge to cool overnight, removing it from the fridge about half an hour before you are ready to serve it, so that it comes up to room temperature.
8. Wonderful served with hot, toasted and sliced wholemeal pitta bread.
   

Duration: 30 minutes to prepare, 30 minutes to cook

Recipe for: 8 servings

Chicken and chips: a good old British classic, right?  But these are home-made chips, and you’ll eat them fresh, hot, crispy and spicy.  And that’s a real treat!  Roasting chicken always fills the house with a homely, cosy smell; and chips have to be near the top of the list of the ultimate comfort foods – go on, admit it!

Roast chicken legs and home-made chilli chips is a good Sunday roast alternative to throw in to the mix of home cooking once in a while.  Children will love it, though you may want to leave out the chilli powder for them; just pop some chips in a separate bowl before adding the spice.  Sure, those chips are full of calories, but if you enjoy them occasionally and don’t get tempted to make them every other day, that’s fine isn’t it?! (Also, try these lemon and parsley chicken with chips which aren’t as spicy.)

Ingredients:

• 4 large chicken legs on the bone, with skins on
• 2 pinches of ground cumin
• 2 pinches of rock salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 6 large potatoes
• Bottle of olive oil
• 1 tsp hot chilli powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
2. Lay the chicken thighs on a baking tray, skin side up, and season with the ground cumin, salt and ground black pepper.  Roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the chicken legs.  Check that the juices run clear when pierced with a skewer before serving, and if necessary, return the chicken to the oven.
3. Whilst the chicken is roasting, wash, peel and cut the potatoes into long, thin chip shapes. Fill a deep frying pan halfway with olive oil (enough to entirely cover the chips).  Bring the oil up to a very high heat, and when the oil begins to bubble, gently lower in all of the potatoes and fry them until they are crispy and golden brown.  This will take between about 10 and 20 minutes, depending on the size of the chips, how crispy you enjoy them and the size of the pan. If the pan is small, you may need to cook the chips in a couple of batches.  Remember never to leave hot oil unattended.
4. Once cooked, lift the chips out of the pan with a slotted utensil and drain them on kitchen paper in a large bowl.  Sprinkle over the chilli pepper and the cumin seeds to your taste, and season well with salt.

Try serving the chicken and the chips together with a mixed side salad and a great big blob of lemon mayonnaise.

Duration: 15 minutes preparation, around 45 minutes cooking time.

Recipe for: 4 people