Chicken and White Bean Cassoulet

A very simple recipe, perfect for a weekend night at home. I have served this to guests many times and they loved it served with crusty bread to mop up the juices, and a glass of crisp white wine. Its also fairly low in fat.

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped finely
1 small carrot, chopped finely
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 leeks, sliced
1 large glass white wine
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
2 bay leaves
400g tin white beans
1/2 pint chicken stock

2 chicken breasts
2 tsp. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste


Method:  (Serves 2)

Add the onion, carrot and oil to a large sauté pan (one with a lid). Fry on a medium heat until tender. Add the leeks and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn up the heat, add the wine and cook until most of the wine reduced. Add the thyme and bay leaves, beans and stock and bring to the boil. Then turn the heat to a simmer, pop on a lid and leave to cook gently for approx. 20 minutes.

In a small frying pan, heat a little oil and season the chicken breasts, Fry on both sides until golden and then put the chicken breasts on top of the bean cassoulet. Pour in any pan juices from the chicken pan to the beans. Put the lid back on the pan and leave on a low heat for another 20 minutes.

Serve the chicken sliced, on top of the beans with a sprinkle of parsley (if liked). Enjoy.

Spanish Sherry Pork Strips

Another tapas dish from last Friday. I had bought some thin pork escalopes earlier in the day - I rarely eat pork - and I wanted to do my usual. Spice them up!

The marinade I made in the morning, so had the pork getting all the flavour into it for as long as I could. Then pan fried in the evening before slicing and serving. Absolutly delicious!

Ingredients:

400g pork escalopes
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp. sweet sherry

Method:

Put the pork, oil, garlic and spices into a zip lock bag and seal. Massage well to ensure the meat gets completely coated and put into the refrigerator.

To cook, heat a tbsp. oil in a frying pan. Remove the meat from the marinade and fry on a high heat for about 3 minutes each side. Remove pork from the pan to a chopping board and quickly add the sherry to the pan. Cook on high to de-glaze the pan and cook out the alcohol, creating a quick sauce. Quickly slice the pork and put onto a plate. Pour over the sherry sauce and serve with a wedge of lemon.

Roast Potato, Chorizo and Lemon

A lovely tapas dish or served as a side dish with any meat, this is crispy, spicy and a lovely way to eat potatoes. It was part of some tapas I made last Friday night.

Lemon works particularly well with chorizo and potatoes.. and with a little added garlic - its flavour heaven!

Ingredients:

350g charlotte potatoes, quartered
140g chorizo, sliced
1 small lemon, sliced then slices halved
2 cloves garlic
glug olive oil

Set the oven to 200 C. In a bowl, mix the potatoes with the olive oil. Place in a baking dish and put in the oven for 15 minutes. Dry fry the chorizo on a medium high heat for a few minutes, or until the chorizo a little browned and the orange oil rendered out.

Take the potatoes out of the oven and add the chorizo, garlic and lemon pieces. Stir well and return to the oven for about 20-25 mins, or until all crispy. Serve immediately.