Tuesday 7 April 2009

Chicken Topped With Chunky Salsa

Chicken can be a little monotonous from time to time. Here's a very easy to make your chicken breasts a little more interesting! Simple ingredients, delicious flavours! Serves 2.

Ingredients:

2 good quality chicken breasts
4 medium sized tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1-2 red chillis, finely chopped
A bunch of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil


1. Place the chicken breasts into an oven proof dish
2. Drizzle a couple of tbsp of water in the bottom of the dish, to prevent the chicken from sticking
3. Put the rest of the ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly
4. Spoon the salsa onto the chicken breasts evenly and pop them into a preheated oven, 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Remove after 40 mins and check the chicken has cooked through before tucking in.

Notes:

 - Serve with a good salad or some cous cous. Or both!
 - Season the salsa in the bowl, to taste.
 - The photo of the chicken was taken before I put it in the oven!

Try Try Try!

Saturday 4 April 2009

Prawn & Smoked Salmon Salad

A quick and simple salad, perfect as a starter or a lunch time snack. Serves 2!

Ingredients:

As many king prawns as you'd like, cooked & peeled
Pack of good quality smoked salmon
2 baby gem lettuces
10-12 vine cherry tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Couple of bulbs of garlic, roughly chopped
1 red chilli, diced
1 lemon
Coarse black pepper
Pinch of dry dill


1. Mix a few teaspoons of olive oil in a bowl with the chilli, garlic and juice of half a lemon and coat the prawns with the dressing
2. Fry the prawns for a few minutes to warm through
3. Slice the salmon into bitesize strips
4. Wash the lettuce and arrange 2-3 leaves on a plate
5. Add the vine cherry tomatoes to the plate
6. Mix the now-warm prawns with the smoked salmon and scatter over the lettuce leaves.
7. Sprinkle some dry dill and black pepper over the top

Ideas:

 - fry or grill the vine tomatoes before serving
 - squeeze some more lemon juice over, at the end

Try it! :)

Thursday 2 April 2009

Slow Cooked Spicy Veg Soup

This hearty soup is infused with a kick! Perfect for cold nights or for those who like chilli in everything! Really simple, really easy to make and tastes fantastic! Serves quite a few, too! (Maybe 4-6)

Ingredients:

1 white onion, diced
Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 bell pepper, sliced
Handful of cauliflower florets
Handful of broccoli florets
A good handful of potato, peeled and cut into chunks
2 leeks, thickly sliced
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery sticks, sliced
2 whole chillis
Couple of bulbs of garlic, chopped
A good helping of coarse black pepper
Pinch of turmeric
Pinch of cayenne pepper, depending how hot you like your soup!
Pinch of paprika
1 bay leaf
Enough good quality chicken or veg stock to cover the vegetables, maybe 1.5 litres


1. Wash, chop, cut, slice or otherwise prepare all the veg
2. Put all the veg into a slowcooker, or crock pot
3. Pour over the hot stock, until the vegetables are covered
4. Season with salt & pepper, add the spices and the bay leaf
5. Cook on medium - high for around 6 hours, or until the vegetables are cooked to your liking - try not to remove the lid, albeit very tempting!
6. Remove the bay leaf and serve into warm bowls with some fresh crusty bread!

Notes:

 - You can basically put any vegetable you like in this soup. This is just an example! You could try sugar snap peas, celeriac, sweet potato, squash, cabbage, spring onion etc.
 - I hate salt, so you might have noticed that I didn't include it in the ingredients - there's enough salt in the stock ;) However, feel free to season the soup at any stage you like!

Easy! :)