Category: Poultry

Not as good as Ellen’s Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves 4

Nothing beats my mother’s Caesar Salad recipe though pretending you had eaten it for 10-days straight – which I believe you could – then this is not a bad alternative for a day.

I adapted it by adding the poached egg and seriously, why shouldn’t you?!

Stop worrying about Caesar Salad being so bad for you and focus on the positives: life is short and so eat well.

Ingredients

650gm chicken breast (skinless)
8 slices prosciutto
Quarter to a third of a baguette, cut into largish croutons
4 eggs
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp anchovy paste (chopped anchovies)
2 baby cos lettuce (the recipe asked for Romaine which would be better)
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (or Parmesan)
Pepper and Salt

Method

  1. Blend garlic, lemon juice, mustard, anchovy paste, pepper and salt in a blender until combined. With motor running, add 7 tbsp of olive oil in a slow stream, blending until emulsified.
  2. Heat a large pan with oil over a medium-low heat, add enough olive oil to barely cover the pan and cook the croutons until lightly golden: the croutons should have absorbed the oil, and oil should be added if too dry.
  3. Poach the eggs, drain and reserve.
  4. Heat a large pan over a medium-low heat, and cook the prosciutto until slightly crispy. Tear.
  5. Pat the chicken dry and coat with 1 tbsp oil, and season. Heat lightly oiled grill pan (or BBQ grill) medium high and grill the chicken. Cut into ½ inch slices and let cool slightly.
  6. Toss the chicken with two tbps of the dressing in a large bowl.
  7. Add the lettuce, cheese, remaining dressing, croutons, prosciutto and toss. Serve in bowls, placing an egg over the top of each.

Spaghetti Carbonara

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

Almost everyone claims to have an amazing pasta recipe in their repertoire.

Often, this is a Carbonara.

For me, Carbonara is the king of pastas, be it spaghetti, fettucine or farfalle. Indeed, it is very rare for me to go past a Carbonara in an Italian restaurant, especially when I know it will be one of those terrible though amazing cream-based numbers with enough calories to whack an elephant.

This recipe – originally from my mother – is one I have been cooking since I was a teenager. In fact, for as long as I can remember cooking, I have been doing this number.

It is perfect after a long day at the beach or shopping. Bottle of wine, something on TV and you will be in absolute heaven.

Ingredients

9 slices bacon, trimmed and julienned
6 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons butter
½ c julienned ham or prosciutto
12 tbsp grated parmesan + extra to sprinkle
6 eggs, beaten
Salt and pepper
Spaghetti or other pasta

Method

  1. Cook the pasta.
  2. Brown the bacon and pour off any fat. Add the olive oil, butter and ham and sauté for 5 minutes without browning.
  3. Remove from the heat and stir in the parmesan and beaten eggs. Place over heat only sufficiently to firm up the sauce.
  4. Season with salt and pepper and pour over spaghetti.
  5. No regrets.

Jamie Oliver’s Bombay chicken with cauliflower, rice and spinach

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 2

You have to give it to Jamie.

Everything he has done to advance food and healthy eating, at all levels, is just awesome. It is reflected in the fun and creativity of his recipes and as much as I love to point out that no 30-minute meal of his can be done in 30 minutes, who care when you’re eating this well.

This particular dish is super healthy, super tasty and a lot of fun to prep up if you work as a team with a glass of vino each. Nice spice, beautiful, creamy texture.

And it cooks in one dish.

As is consistently true with Jamie, so, so good.

Ingredients

100g brown rice
½ a small cauliflower
½ a bunch of fresh mint
6 tbsp natural yogurt
1 lemon
1 heaped tsp each of ground turmeric, medium curry powder
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3cm piece of ginger, grated
2 chicken breasts
1 level tsp each of cumin seeds, black mustard seeds
60g baby spinach
1 fresh red chilli
4 poppadoms

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 220c. Cook the rice in a pan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions.
  2. Chop the cauliflower into thin wedges and steam or microwave until cooked. Pick the mint leaves into a blender (reserving a few baby leaves). Add 3 tablespoons of yogurt, half the lemon juice and a splash of water to the blender, then blitz for 1 minute until super-smooth and green. Transfer to a bowl and then the fridge.
  3. Without washing the blender, add the remaining yogurt and lemon juice, the turmeric, curry powder balsamic, garlic and ginger. Blend until super-smooth to make a marinade, then pour into a large baking tray.
  4. Lightly score the chicken breasts to increase the surface area and toss in the marinade. Add the cooked cauliflower, tossing together with the chicken; sprinkle over the cumin and black mustard seeds, then place in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. meanwhile, cook the rice.
  5. Slice and divide up the chicken, with the cauliflower, rice, spinach and poppadoms. Drizzle with the dressing, then finely slice and scatter over the chilli. Finish with mint leaves.

Chicken Salad with black grapes, walnut and celery

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

I whipped up this salad a few years back and it was great. I did it again a few weeks ago and it was just as good. Time to type it up, right?!

It is originally from Gourmet Traveller whose recipes have always seemed slightly adventurous and daunting to me; though which have almost always turned out fabulous, much like this recipe.

Make Saturday lunch special and give this dish a go.

P.S. I used Neil Perry’s aioli recipe and have included it below.

Ingredients

1 celeriac (500gm), diced
2 tbsp olive oil
100gm walnuts
170gm seedless black grapes, halved
1 celery heart, thinly sliced, leaves reserved
3 golden shallots, thinly sliced
140gm good-quality aïoli*
Juice of 1-2 lemons
1 tsp Champagne or Dijon mustard

To serve: crusty baguette

Roast chicken

1 chicken (1.5kg) (cornfed if you can)
4 thyme sprigs
2 garlic cloves, bruised
1 tbsp olive oil

*Aioli (Neil Perry)

3 egg yolks
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Sea salt
2 tbsp lemon juice
375ml half olive oil and half extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground white pepper

Method

  1. For the aioli: Put a saucepan large enough to hold a stainless steel bowl on a bench. Place a tea towel around the inside edge of the pan and place the bowl on top of the pan to hold it steady while you whisk.
  2. Put the yolks in the bowl and whisk. Add the garlic, sea salt and lemon juice and while whisking, slowly drizzle in the oil. As the emulsion starts to form, add the oil in a steady stream. Don’t let the oil sit on the surface as this can cause the aioli to split. Add a grind of pepper and check for salt and lemon juice.
  3. Or do all of this in a food processor, starting with all the ingredients but the oil and then drizzling the oil in slowly with the motor running.
  4. For the roast chicken: Preheat oven to 180C. Rinse chicken inside and out and pat dry with absorbent paper. Season to taste inside and out, place in a roasting pan, stuff cavity with thyme and garlic and drizzle skin with oil. Roast until chicken is golden and cooked through (1-1¼ hours).
  5. Meanwhile, cook celeriac in a saucepan of salted boiling water until tender (3-5 minutes). Drain well, then transfer to a large bowl.
  6. Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium heat, add walnuts and stir occasionally until golden (2-4 minutes). Drain, cool and add to celeriac with grapes, celery and shallot.
  7. Coarsely shred chicken (discard skin, bones and sinew) and add to bowl. Add aïoli, lemon juice to taste and mustard, season to taste and toss to combine. Scatter with celery leaves and serve with crusty baguette.

Chicken Yakitori Skewers

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 2

This is a great dish with a really unique, Japanese-BBQ style of sauce.

Really easy to prepare served with rice.

Remember to soak the bamboo skewers in water for 15 minutes before threading the meat.

Ingredients

¼ cup sake
¼ cup Japanese soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin (rice wine)
2 tbsp caster sugar
6 chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm pieces
Ground white pepper to taste
2 green onions (spring onion), trimmed, cut into 2cm pieces
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, halved
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 green onion, extra, thinly sliced diagonally

Method

  1. Combine the sake, soy sauce, mirin and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
  2. Combine the chicken and half the sauce in a bowl. Season with ground white pepper. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  3. Thread chicken, green onion and mushrooms alternately onto the skewers. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the skewers to the pan and cook for 6 minutes or until cooked through.
  4. Transfer to a platter and spring with extra green onion. Serve immediately with the remaining sauce.

Skinny Chicken Laksa

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 2

I avoid Laksa at lunchtime. I avoid cooking it for dinner.

It tastes awesome, though it is notoriously fatty. I’m probably kidding myself given half the dinners I make, though Laksa has always been a red light for me.

This recipe by Jill Dupleix – which I have adjusted slightly – is, at least on face value, much healthier than the 400ml can of coconut cream variety I am used to, and tastes just awesome. The meat isn’t fried, the laksa paste isn’t fried off in oil.

(That means you can eat more I assume!)

On my deathbed I’ll smash down pork crackling and proper Laksa, though until then…

Serves 4

150gm vermicelli noodles
2 c (500ml) chicken stock
2tbs laksa paste
2 chicken breasts cut into 3cm strips
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tsp caster sugar
250ml can reduced fat coconut milk (OK, original recipe was 100ml though can was 250ml)
200 gm green beans, trimmed and cut in half
1 cup bean sprouts (add as much as you want)
2 cup coriander sprigs (again, add as much as you want)
2 cup mint leaves (ditto)
Fried Asian shallots to serve (half handful per serve)

Method

  1. Soak the noodled in warm water for 10 minutes until soft. Drain and set aside.
  2. Heat the stock in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Once hot, whisk in the laksa paste.
  3. Add the chicken, tomato, sugar and ½ teaspoon of sea salt and simmer for 10 minutes until chicken cooked through.
  4. Add the coconut milk and beans and simmer for 5 minutes until beans cooked through.
  5. Divide the noodles among 4 bowls and soon over the chicken and the laksa broth.
  6. Top with bean sprouts and scatter with coriander, mint and dried Asian shallots.

 

Nat’s Famous (Poached) Chicken Salad

.Reading time 2 minutes.
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OMG – As Nat would say.

Serves: 4

This really is one of my favourite recipes. And I can only claim scant ownership; I merely passed the recipe to my fabulous partner Nat who…

Now owns it.

And that is why it is her famous – and truly – amazing poached chicken salad.

Don’t hold back. This recipe is famous and famously good in our family and among our friends.

If you know Nat, you’ll know how clever and brilliant she is. With food, the theme is no different.

This salad sums her up.

Ingredients

4 x 180gm chicken breasts
100gm wild rocket leaves
20 green beans, blanched, refreshed (I then cut them in thirds)
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced (use a mandoline if you have it)
1/4 cup each finely chopped flay-leaf parsley and dill
2 x 300gm buffalo mozzarella balls, torn (or substitute bocconcini)

Red Wine Vinaigrette

1 tbs red wine vinegar
100ml extra virgin olive oil
3 tsp Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary, thyme and basil leaves

Method

  1. Place the chicken in a large saucepan and pour in enough cold water to just cover.
  2. Season with sea salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Bring to the boil over a high-heat then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes.
  3. Remove the lid, set aside from the heat and let the chicken stand in the poaching liquid for 10 mins. Drain and set aside.
  4. For the vinaigrette, whisk together the vinegar, oil, Dijon mustard, garlic and chopped herbs in a bowl. Set aside, though give a good whisk just before serving.
  5. Roughly shred the chicken into medium pieces.
  6. Toss with the beans, rocket, fennel, parsley and dill in a larger serving bowl.
  7. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and season.
  8. Serve the salad topped with the torn buffalo mozzarella.

Rick Stein’s Chicken Passanda

.Reading time 2 minutes.
IMG_5692.JPG
Nobody can complain and if they do…

 Serves: 4

Rick Stein’s ‘India: in search of the perfect curry; recipes from my Indian odyssey’ has absolutely become my go-to, easy-curry tome.

Every curry I have attempted has been spot-on and this simple, aromatic chicken curry is no different.

I cooked it for the boys as part of a bigger Indian feast and so I needed something with a hint of fire, though not too much more. This is the elegance of this curry, where it is the soft spices that carry the dish rather than some whack of heat.

Oh, and the boys loved it – and it is pretty healthy to boot!

P.S. Rick asks that the chicken breasts are merely cut in half and cooked that way. I cubed the chicken to make it easier for the boys and I am not sure I wouldn’t do that again.

Ingredients

3 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
5cm cinnamon stick
2 green cardamom pods, lightly bruised with a rolling pin
1 small onion, finely chopped
3cm piece of ginger, finely grated
3 cloves garlic, finely crushed
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
4 small chicken breasts, each cut in half
200gm Greek-style yoghurt
2 tbsp ground almonds
1 tsp salt
100ml water

To finish

Handful of flaked almonds, toasted
Handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Method

  1. Heat the ghee or the oil in a large sturdy pan over a medium heat, add the cinnamon and cardamom and fry for 30 seconds before adding the onion and frying for 10 minutes until golden.
  2. Stir in the ginger and garlic and fry for 2 – 3 minutes, then stir in the ground coriander, turmeric and chilli powder and fry for 30 seconds.
  3. Add the chicken and stir well, then add the yogurt, ground almonds, salt and water. Bring to simmer, reduce the heat slightly and simmer gently for 15 – 20 minutes until reduced to a thick, rich, almost dry sauce that coats the chicken.
  4. Scatter over the toasted almonds and coriander to serve.

Turkey chilli

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 6

For the past few months, I’ve cooked this at least once a month with plenty left for freezing until the next batch of cooking.

It is so good.

To the extent that I feel excited all day about getting home, heating it up, slicing in some avocado and mixing through some Greek yogurt. Some coriander and maybe even a chopped tomato.

It is healthy – 270 calories a cup – and it is hot.

And it’s mince! The final word in why you really should be whipping up a batch at least every month and drip-feeding the excitement when you need it most.

Lordy.

Ingredients

1kg turkey mince
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can, crush tomatoes (no salt added as if you didn’t know!)
1 can, baby tomatoes (yes, you can get them at Coles if you look)
3 tbsp tomato paste
½ tsp hot/chilli sauce
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 red capsicum (pepper), chopped
1 green capsicum, chopped
2 jalapenos chopped (you can get these in a jar, I substitute a big red bullhorn chilli)
½ tsp sea salt
Pinch of pepper
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp chilli powder (3 makes it explosive, though sure, why not if you are so inclined)
2sp dry oregano
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy saucepan/pot and sauté the onions and garlic until fragrant – 3 or 4 minutes. Add the turkey and cook until browned and crumbled and the excess liquid has cooked off.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients – boom – and cook for an hour or more until you can’t hold out anymore!

Bisteeya

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 8

This wonderful recipe – courtesy of my mother – is seriously great and in so many ways.

Whilst it is a bit of an effort to make, it absolutely rewards: it looks beautiful as part of a banquet, it tastes really special, it’s fun and as I discovered, it is Oliver (my 8 year old) friendly. So friendly that he asked if he could take a slice in his lunchbox to school; this coming from a kid that thinks that tomatoes are dodgy.

Try this just once and I promise you’ll have a smile on your face!

Ingredients

1 c butter
2 c slivered almonds
2 tablespoons sugar
Ground cinnamon
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 large onion, chopped
½ c chopped coriander
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp saffron threads, crushed
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp turmeric
salt
1 c water
3 tbsp lemon juice
6 eggs, beaten
filo pastry
icing sugar

Method

  1. Sauté the almonds in 1 tablespoon butter until golden, and then remove and drain on paper towels.
  2. When the almonds are cool, chop them coarsely and combine with the sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
  3. Sauté the chicken in 1 ½ teaspoons butter until lightly browned and then remove.
  4. Sauté the onion in 1 tablespoon butter until tender, and then add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, the coriander, garlic, cumin, saffron, pepper and turmeric and cook for 1 minute.
  5. Add the water, bring to a boil, and then add the chicken and cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through.
  6. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon, cut into small pieces, and toss with 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
  7. Simmer the onion mixture, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has evaporated.
  8. Reduce the heat to medium, stir in the eggs and cook until softly set, and then season with the remaining lemon juice and salt.
  9. Preheat the oven to 180 C and line a rimmed baking tray with baking paper.
  10. Arrange 10 – 12 sheets of filo on the paper in a pinwheel fashion, brushing each with melted butter.
  11. Top with a sheet folded in half and brushed with butter.
  12. Arrange the chicken in a 9 inch circle over the pastry and spoon over the egg mixture.
  13. Top with the almonds and fold the sheets up on top of the filling.
  14. Repeat the pinwheel pattern over the top with 10 – 12 more sheets of filo, brushing each with melted butter.
  15. Tuck these sheets gently under the pie and brush the top with butter.
  16. Bake for 20 minutes or until browned and then remove from the oven.
  17. Place baking paper on another baking sheet, place over the pie, invert, and return the pie to the oven and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes.
  18. Invert the pie onto a platter, sift over some icing sugar, and sprinkle on some cross-hatch lines of cinnamon.