Jim's Chicken Tagine Pitta Breads

My fiancé is very talented in the kitchen. Last night he did the cooking and I thought I'd feature his semi-improvised recipe for a chicken tagine (which he didn't cook in a tagine). After a long and stressful day, I really, really liked it. It was proper comfort food and I wish I could have it again today. The recipe may need a bit of development but for a first attempt at something he made up rather than following someone else's recipe, I was pretty impressed.

For 2:

2 chicken breasts
2 peppers - we used 1 red and 1 orange because pretty
1 red onon
1 clove garlic
Jar of tagine paste
Small pot of natural yogurt
Pitta bread

Roughly chop the onion and garlic and fry until softened (I like them to retain a bit of a crunch for this sort of recipe but that's a personal taste thing).

Cut the chicken into small pieces, stir in the tagine paste (maybe 2 tablespoons depending on how strong you want it) and add to the pan. Fry for 5-10 minutes and make sure the chicken is completely cooked. While the chicken's cooking, stir some of the paste into the yogurt and set aside.

When the chicken's cooked, add the peppers and fry briefly to warm them. Toast the pitta bread (we found the lowest setting on our toaster was perfect for pitta bread) and serve with the tagine-pastey yogurt.

J wants to try this again with feta and apricots, which sounds amazing and I can't wait to try it and update with pictures of our next cooking experiment :) 

Cashew Chicken Noodle Stir Fry

This was semi-improvised for a weeknight when I wanted something quick and healthy and it went down very well with J. I like noodles for weeknights because they're so quick, and there's always something in the cupboard I can used to improvise something to put with them. This was pretty simple, especially as I used Very Lazy garlic and ginger, which saves so much time and more importantly, faffing.

For 2:

2 chicken breasts
1 large red pepper
1 red onion
A few handfuls cashew nuts
2 tsp light brown sugar
1 tsp Very Lazy garlic or 1 clove fresh garlic
1 tsp Very Lazy ginger or a small piece fresh ginger
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar
Oil for cooking (I used olive but I would've used groundnut if I had any in the cupboard)

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions, garlic, ginger and sugar and caramelise over a low to medium heat (about 5 minutes should do it).

Add the chicken and fry for as long as it takes to get it fully cooked. Combine the soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce and rice vinegar, add a bit of water to thin the sauce, then pour over the chicken and stir through.

Cook the noodles separately. Add the cashew nuts and peppers to the chicken, then stir the noodles through and fry for 3-5 minutes before serving

There's plenty of potential to improvise and add/remove ingredients. J wants me to make this again with five spice in it somewhere, looking forward to experimenting and developing the recipe :)

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

I really enjoyed making this - spicy pasta is a good thing. One day I'll be brave enough to attempt a one pan pasta recipe (where the pasta is boiled in the sauce as opposed to being cooked separately in water), but not today. I guess you could with this recipe in theory but I haven't tried it and I'd imagine you'd need to add a lot more liquid. Maybe I'll get round to experimenting with that eventually. 

For 2 plus lunch leftovers (or 2 really hungry people):

2 chicken breasts
2 spring onions
A few handfuls frozen petit pois
1 tsp chopped garlic (I used pre-chopped from a jar but use fresh if you're not lazy like me)
1 jar enchilada sauce of desired spiciness
Grated cheddar (optional, I only put it on J's)

It's really simple to make, just prep the ingredients and chuck them in a pan while the pasta's boiling

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. While it's cooking, fry the chicken and garlic until cooked, adding the powdered spices at this stage if using (the enchilada sauce I use comes with them and I use about half otherwise it's too spicy for me).

Stir in the sauce, frozen peas and spring onions.

When the pasta's cooked, stir it in

At this point I put mine on the plate, sprinkle the cheese over the rest and put it under a really hot grill for a minute or two for J.

I was so pleased when I saw my husband-to-be getting seconds - I find it incredibly rewarding when he likes my cooking (he was raised by a domestic science teacher so when it comes to food he knows what he's doing and he's not the easiest to impress). He found the Mexican-Italian fusion a bit bewildering but he liked it. He suggested maybe adding some red or orange peppers which I might do next time. This definitely went down well and it's quick and easy for busy weeknights :)

Chicken and Lettuce Quesadillas

I've been experimenting with simple and healthy recipes that hopefully don't taste like health food. I haven't had a quesadilla in a really long time so I thought I'd try to make something that tastes nice and won't stop me getting into my wedding dress. That's why I've used half-fat creme fraiche and a minimal amount of cheese. 

This is how I made it this evening for me and J:

Chicken breasts

1 tsp crushed garlic (I use pre-crushed garlic from a jar, it's quicker)

2 tsp smoked paprika
Juice of half a lemon

Handful fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 medium spring onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp half-fat creme fraiche

Grated cheddar (as much or as little as you like, it's optional but holds everything together nicely)

Shredded lettuce

Tortillas

I start by lightly frying the garlic for a minute or two, before adding the chicken and paprika, and frying until completely cooked.

Turn the heat down, add the spring onion, coriander and creme fraiche. 

Heat some oil in another small pan, place the tortilla in the pan and sprinkle with cheese and lettuce. Place the chicken on top and fry until the cheese has melted and the tortilla's gone slightly crispy. Transfer to plate and fold.

That is literally it. These can be totally customised with whatever you like, I'd suggest maybe peppers, tomatoes or maybe sriracha - versatile and easy for busy weeknights :)

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry

The slow cooker is brilliant for curry. I like to experiment with various combinations of flavours and spices to create something different each time. This recipe is actually a bit hot for my taste (J had no such problem) but the beauty of a curry is that it can be made to suit the individual palate. I'll probably tone down the cayenne pepper next time but this is how I made it today:

500g chicken thigh fillets
390 chopped tomatoes
150ml stock made with 2 tsp bouillon and 2 tsp cornflour
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp approx chopped ginger
Spinach
Coriander
1 tbsp medium curry powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin
50g low fat creme fraiche

Soften the onion, garlic and ginger, then add chicken and spices and fry for a few minutes.

Add tomatoes and stock and bring to a rapid boil for a few more minutes before transferring to the slow cooker

Cook on high for half an hour, then turn down to low for around 6 hours

I served it with rice - while the rice was cooking I stirred in about 100g of young spinach (I used what I had leftover from a previous dinner) and the creme fraiche.

We really liked it despite it being too hot for my taste. Excited to try it again with an amount of spice that won't make me dizzy next time :)

Crispy Fish Fajitas

Fish fajitas became a weeknight staple for me and J during Lent when I gave up eating meat (I totally underestimated how hard that would be). They're made using using a packet mix of breadcrumbs and spices which is intended for chicken but works really well with fish, it transpires.

They're also incredibly simple. The fish gets coated in breadcrumbs and goes in the oven. While it's baking I prep the veg which just means frying the mushrooms and chopping the peppers and onion. I just have a small amount of guacamole on mine and I restrict myself to one* because pre wedding calories but J has a couple with a generous amount of salsa.

*there may have been an occasion when I was so stressed and hungry I stopped caring about my tight-fitted wedding dress and had 3. I'm not proud of this but it happened and I've moved on, ok?

That's basically it. I usually use haddock but on this occasion I've experimented with cod purely because Sainsbury's had an offer on.

The top one is J's - he's really into cheddar in a fajita. (And that's our chihuahua gazing longingly at our dinner. But there was no fajita for Rocky).

I'd love suggestions for other things I can wrap in a tortilla with guacamole :)

8-Hour Slow Cooker Bolognese

I really, really like my slow cooker. I find it useful for days when I've got a bit of time on my hands during the day, then I'm busy in the evening (often the case on a Monday as I do voluntary work in the evening). This way I get to actually enjoy cooking something nice and it's ready when I want it, ideal after a long and challenging evening of volunteering.

My bolognese is really simple, it's 6 ingredients (plus peas which are entirely optional). 

750g 10% fat beef mince
3 carrots
3 onions (red, brown, whatever)
2 x 400g approx chopped tomatoes (yes there's only one in the picture but I do use 2)
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
400ml stock (I use whatever's in the cupboard, be it beef or chicken or anything)

I like to prep the ingredients separately, then assemble the sauce in the slow cooker. I used to soften the onions, brown the beef then add the other ingredients in the pan before transferring to the slow cooker. I've now started softening the onions until they look like this...

...then putting them in the slow cooker before browning the beef in the same pan with no added cooking oil, I just fry it in its own fat. The advantage of doing it this way is that when the beef goes in the slow cooker I put it in with a slotted spoon and all the fat stays in the pan, which is great considering I've got a wedding dress fitting at the end of the month so I'm counting every calorie.

I mean just look at how much fat is left behind in the pan which would've ended up on the plate if I'd stuck to assembling it all in one pan. And that's with no additional cooking oil, just the fat from the meat. Makes me feel a tiny bit sick looking at it.

Anyway at this point I add the tomatoes, stock and carrots and leave it to cook on Medium for 8 hours, then serve it however I feel like. Usually with spaghetti :)

Honey & Lime Salmon with Teriyaki Noodles

I love putting various combinations of herbs, garlic, and honey on fish and baking it (suits my pre-wedding diet nicely). This is not a new idea and there's about a million subtly different recipes on the internet. The husband-to-be really likes my teriyaki noodles; they've been refined over many attempts until I got them exactly right for our tastes. This is the first time I've made them together and I'll definitely be doing it again, it was very well received. 

I like to keep the dressing simple:

3 tbsp honey
Juice of 1 lime
Handful of coriander
2 cloves garlic, finely grated (I wish I owned a garlic crusher)
Grated ginger to taste (I used 1 tsp Very Lazy ginger)

The salmon goes in cute little individual foil-lined oven-proof dishes, the dressing goes on and I bake it at 190c in a fan oven for 25 minutes (or whatever the instructions say on the particular fish I'm using). It is the easiest thing ever.

I then cook the noodles (I use medium egg noodles but any would do I think) according to the instructions on the packet. After draining I then fry them in sunflower oil for 1 minute before adding the sauce which is really simple and just 4 ingredients:

Per noodle 'nest' (you want one nest per person)- 

2 tsp oyster sauce

2 tsp + a splash less sauce soy sauce

2 tsp teriyaki table sauce

Tiny splash rice wine vinegar (seriously just a splash to cut through the teriyaki sweetness but don't overdo it)

I then continue to stir fry the noodles for about 4 minutes while the pak choi steams, then serve. J likes some extra teriyaki sauce on his, the sauce it's cooked in is a good base to which we both add extra seasoning to taste :)