Chicken & Spinach lasagne

The other night, I had a craving for lasagne. Thing is - not only had we just had a red meat overload the night before but also I was short of time. So the thought of making the beef in sauce AND the béchamel (white sauce) was too time consuming.

So I decided on a chicken, spinach and tomato sauce - I made it looser than my usual thick meat mix and didn't make a béchamel. It was moist and flavourful and was lovely after work, with a simple salad on the side. And was pretty quick.

(Before you ask - no, I didn't make the pasta... I had dried sheets so why would I in a hurry? Perfect..)

Ingredients:    (Serves 4)

1 tbsp. olive oil
3 chicken breasts, skin removed and sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 small red pepper, sliced
2 tbsp. either tomato (or red pepper) paste
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. chilli flakes (or a chopped red chilli)
260g bag of fresh spinach
140g grated cheddar cheese (or other if you have a favourite)
few sheets of dried lasagne

Method:

Set the oven to 180 C. Put the spinach into a large pan on a low heat (no water needed). Steam, stirring occasionally until wilted. Cool and squeeze excess water out and chop. Set to one side.

Heat the oil and fry the sliced chicken for 3 minutes until mostly cooked. Add the garlic, onion, sliced pepper and stir. Cook for 5 minutes until softened. Add the paste, tinned tomatoes and a half of the tin of water and season with salt & pepper and the chilli flakes. Bring to the boil and turn to a low heat for 20 minutes to get the flavours to combine. Finally add the chopped spinach and sugar (the sugar takes the bitterness out of the tinned tomatoes). Taste to check for seasoning. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring well.

To assemble, put a third of the chicken & spinach sauce on the base of a 9 inch square lasagne dish. Sprinkle on a third of the cheese and a layer of pasta. Then the second layer of sauce, topped with cheese and another layer of pasta. Finally the last third of the sauce topped with the last of the cheese.

Put in the oven for 25 minutes or until bubbling and cooked through. Serve with a simple salad of lettuce, red onion and tomatoes and some garlic bread if you like.. Comfort food at its best!

Apple Ravioli with Blackberry Compote

After the trials and tribulations of yesterdays attempts at using a pasta roller for the first time, I am glad to say the Apple Ravioli was a success. They looked cute, were crisp on the outside and the hot apple, honey & cinnamon filling was soft and sweet. Accompanied with a Blackberry Compote and a large spoon of vanilla ice cream, it was a light sweet delight! I served three per person and froze the rest (uncooked) in a freezer bag for a later date.

Ingredients:    (Makes about 16)

150g '00' flour
25g butter
25g caster sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of 1 orange

3 tbsp. milk

oil for frying

For the filling:
1 large apple, chopped very finely
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp. runny honey
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Add all of the dough ingredients, apart from the milk, into a food processor to combine into a breadcrumb texture. Then add the milk, a tablespoon at a time to make a dough. Tip out onto a board and knead lightly to bring it all together. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge.

After half and hour, using a rolling pin or a pasta rolling machine, roll out as thinly as you can without the dough breaking. Using a 6cm cutter, make as many circles as you can.

Mix the apple filling ingredients in a bowl and with one of the dough circles into the palm of your hand, put about 1 tsp. into the centre of the circle. Wet the edges with a little milk and pop a second circle over to cover. Move the ravioli around in your fingers, pushing out any air and sealing the sides of the ravioli. Leave on a tea towel as you work and continue until all the circles have been used up.

Heat about 2 inches of vegetable oil in a large pan until hot and adding about six at a time, fry the ravioli for about a minutes, turning during cooking with a slotted spoon. Drain on kitchen paper and serve piping hot, dusted with icing sugar.

For the blackberry compote, put 170g blackberries into a small pan, add 1 tsp. water and add sugar to taste (about 2-3 tbsp.). Leave on a low heat until blackberries beginning to break up, but still holding their shape and strain most of the liquid away. Chill until needed.

 

 

Pasta Not So Pronto

Its days like today that although I am aware of saying that I am a patient person - that I know for sure I actually am. Now, unless you come from the foothills of Calazo di Cadore or are very particular in your pasta - you have probably avoided a pasta rolling machine. I know there are many people who use them, true, but those people have either got a grandmother called Concetta - or they are just more dedicated than I have been in the past.

Yes I have made pasta. Lots of times - using a rolling pin and working my biceps as I roll. But it is difficult to get the pasta dough thin as its very elastic and bounces back all the time.

So at Christmas just gone, The Bloke decided that was what I needed and its been looking at me - unopened - until today.

I guess it would have helped if I had made the standard pasta dough...but no. I had to be clever and made a sweet pasta dough so I could made Apple Ravioli. I am glad to say it is done and the ravioli is sitting happily in the fridge waiting for tonight to be fried and served with a blackberry compote & clotted cream. (I cooked a test one - was lovely). But be warned. It takes a while to get the hang of it. Two and a half hours to be precise! In theory it seems easy enough, but it comes with more issues than Vogue.

The main problems were a] getting the dough to stay in a straight line with one hand while you wind the wheel with the other (this is easier if normal egg pasta dough as it is considerably more stable that the sweet version). And b] getting the filling not to push through the pasta. After much tutting and huffing, I re rolled the lot in the end and made it less thin than usual - a no. 6 instead of a no. 8, which as it turns out IS thin enough for this particular dough. I'll follow this up later with a photo (before they get demolished) and the recipe.

Next time - I'll give linguine a go!

Good old Chicken Soup

Now this is one of those recipes you hear about again and again and every time I taste it from a different household or restaurant, it tastes different. The only rule I believe, as in all soups, is in the quality of the stock. You can of course, go and buy fresh chicken stock quite easily but if you really like chicken soup, or roasting chickens, it makes more sense to just make it yourself. I had a recent recipe request for a chicken soup - or Jewish Penicillin as it is often called - and it happens I made it yesterday. And ate it today. Its a labour of love and was worth it, as I have loads and it freezes well.

 

 

If you have read the part of my blog from last week where I mentioned that I had guests and cooked 2 Indian style roast chickens you will know that I mentioned that you always get leftovers. But by buying two chickens gives the guests and yourselves not only plenty of meat, but a choice of cut (rather than be stuck with a leg when you wanted a breast!). When the guests left - I popped the leftovers into a large pot and covered with water. The only other addition I made was a handful of bay leaves and some peppercorns, Incidentally, although the chickens had Indian spiced butter under the skin, the flavours hardly came out in the soup. Don't get me wrong, it made a fabulous stock, but the Indian spices were so subtle I wouldn't have known the origin of the carcasses!

Bay leaves are so good for soups!

I brought the chicken carcasses and water to a boil, covered with a lid and turned it down to a low simmer for about 3 hours. I then left it to cool in the stock for a few more hours while I went out. On my return I strained the stock into a large jug and put it in the fridge overnight (the fat will rise to the top and solidify which you remove when making the soup the next day). The chicken on the carcasses was picked off and popped into a freezer bag in the fridge.

 

I know its a two day trial, but again - it is all about the stock - and if you go to the effort above you will be so pleased to have made such a good soup! The next day I chopped up 1 leek, two carrots, 1 large onion, 2 large potatoes and 2 cloves of garlic. With a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter, I sautéed the vegetables (in the same large pan the carcasses were cooked in) for 3-4 minutes and boiled a kettle of water. Then added 3 tablespoons of flour and stirred in. You have to cook the flour out so keep stirring. After a minute, add a splash of boiling water to the pan to scrape all the goodness from the bottom. Then add all of the reserved stock along with another bay leaf and salt & pepper. Stir, partially cover and leave to simmer for an hour. Then you can add the reserved chicken along with a couple of handfuls of chopped green beans. 

 

Fifteen minutes later, you can serve with a bit of bread and butter on the side. Bliss.

Restaurant Review - Barcelona Tapas

Tucked quietly away in a street near Aldgate Station is a lovely place called Barcelona Tapas - located at 1 Middlesex Street. Aldgate, London. E1 7AA. I am a huge fan of Spanish food so I had hopeful expectations and crossed fingers as I made my way there with The Bloke and a friend.

I am so glad to say we were not disappointed. The two ladies that I spoke to were Spanish - one from Madrid - and appeared to love their jobs, which is often a rarity to find. They spoke perfect English but I decided to try out my Spanish and they were so patient and helpful when I got confused. I chose about a dozen small tapas dishes (all ranging from £3-£6) which were delivered promptly, steaming hot and full of flavour. The lighting was neither too bright or too dimly lit and the Spanish music in the background took you to a tapas bar back in Spain.

The pork cheeks were melt in the mouth delicious, the squid crisp and tender with a garlicky aioli and the courgette 'chips' were a delight. The bottle of house red wine that they recommended, was a perfect accompaniment. I personally couldn't fault them.

Jerk chicken and Avocado Coleslaw

Thursday night last week The Bloke and I really fancied jerk chicken, so I grabbed two chicken breasts, put slashes all over them and marinated them in 2 tablespoons of my jerk marinade (recipe here). Turned out we didn't get to eat them that night - life got in the way as it often does.

However the next night these chicken breasts were sitting happily in the fridge, having marinated for 24 hours. I just popped them in the oven for 25 minutes at 200 C and we got these steaming hot spicy chicken breasts!

Now as the chicken was going to be quite hot from the chillies in the marinade - I needed something cooling to go with it. Being bored with the standard coleslaw I made Avocado Coleslaw. The flavour was immense and surprisingly looked delicious - even though it was green!

Here's what you do:

Crush one garlic clove and add to a bowl along with a pinch of salt and pepper and the juice of 1/3 lemon. Add one ripe avocado and mash together until its a paste. Stir in one tbsp. of mayonnaise and half a tsp. of salad cream.

Grate one medium carrot, a piece of mooli (white radish) about half the size of the carrot. Finely slice half a red onion and a shred a quarter of a white cabbage. Add the vegetables to the avocado mix and combine.


Note: Mooli is a white radish that looks like a large white carrot and can also be called daikon. You can buy these from some supermarkets and greengrocers - but if you can't find any, you can just leave it out of the recipe.

 

 

Albondigas Soup

This soup originates from Mexico (albondigas is Spanish for meatballs) and is warming and filling. I have this as a main meal - I am usually too full to need any bread on the side. I like to make a huge pot on a Sunday and all week if I don't get the chance to cook its perfect. I never get sick of the flavour. If there is one soup you will keep coming back to make - this is it!

Meatball Ingredients:
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup rice
1 onion, finely chopped
1 slice white bread, made into breadcrumbs
small bunch fresh coriander, chopped
1 tsp. oregano
500g minced pork
2 egg whites
1 tbsp. oil

Soup Ingredients:
1 tbsp. oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
400g tin chopped tomatoes
3/4 litre vegetable stock (cube is fine)
1 courgette, chopped
small bunch fresh coriander

Method:
Pour the boiling water on the rice and leave to stand for 20 mins, then drain. Mix the rice with all of the meatball ingredients thoroughly and roll into small meatballs. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the meatballs in batches till slightly browned. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

In a large pot, heat oil and add the carrot, onion and garlic. Cook gently for 5-8 minutes until onion translucent and carrot tender. Add the tin of tomatoes and combine well, adding salt and pepper. Stir in the stock and bring to the boil. Add the meatballs and lower the heat to simmer for 30 minutes. Add the chopped courgette and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Garnish with fresh coriander and serve.

Chicken Beyti

In Leytonstone there is a fabulous Turkish restaurant. Every time I go there I make sure I order one of the Beyti kebabs. Far removed from a doner kebab (I have still never eaten a doner kebab) it is delicious and very easy to cook. I am going to cook a chicken one for dinner tonight.

Ingredients:      (Serves 2)

3 chicken breast fillets, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 onion, grated
1 tbsp. dried parsley
1 tbsp. red pepper paste (you can use tomato too)
dash of tabasco sauce
pack of flour tortillas
1 clove garlic
2 tsp. paprika
3 tbsp. tomato puree (paste)


Set oven to 200 C. In a bowl, combine the chicken, garlic, onion parsley and paste and season with salt & pepper. Roll into two sausages the length of a tortilla. Place one of the sausages on the tortilla and roll up. Cut excess - you don't want the tortillas to be too thick, one layer is plenty. Place seam side down in a baking dish and cut the wrapped sausage into 2 inch wide pieces. Repeat with other sausage. Cover with foil and place in the oven for 20 mins.

To make the tomato sauce, chop one garlic clove and fry gently in 1 tbsp. of olive oil on a low heat ensuring it doesn't burn. Add the paprika and stir. Then add the tomato puree and a cup of water. Bring to the boil and leave on a low simmer till thickened. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Take the foil off the chicken beyti and spoon over half of the sauce. Place back in the oven for a further 10 minutes without covering.

Serve the Beyti with a spoon of natural yoghurt, some more of the tomato sauce, a sprinkling of fresh coriander and some couscous.

Todays Lunch: Roast Tomato Soup

I don't know about everywhere else but right now in London - its cold. Yes, I know its probably colder in more places but to me sitting typing, wearing 2 pairs of socks and a poncho in the kitchen, it's freezing.

On cold days there is nothing that warms me, or makes me feel more wrapped in a blanket than a bowl of homemade soup. Around lunchtime I headed to the fridge and spent a few minutes trying to decide between leek and cauliflower soup or roast tomato soup. As the tomatoes were looking a bit over ripe - I decided on the latter.

Its fairly simple. Get a large roasting tray and pop in your tomatoes - I had 6 large ones and they were pretty soft. I cut them in half and added them to the tray. Then in went a sliced red pepper & a large thickly sliced onion. In a small bowl I poured a glug of olive oil and added 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. smoked paprika, salt & pepper and whisked together. I poured this over the veg and popped it in the oven for 20 minutes on 200 C.

Then, I left to the veg to cool and made up a pint of vegetable stock made from a stock cube. The veg, stock and 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan went into the food processor. Blended to smooth perfection! Taste for seasoning and if the tomatoes aren't ripe (sweet) enough you may need to add a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.

I topped this with basil oil - usually I have some basil in the garden but the weather doesn't like basil outside so I have a small shop bought pot in the window sill of the kitchen. Blended with olive oil and drizzled onto the soup with some parmesan shavings.

It is SO much better than tinned soup and you know exactly what's in it!!

It certainly warmed me up!! Keep warm people.. it'll soon be summer.

Learning to Make A Curry

My favourite food bar none - is a good curry. A HOT curry at that.

I don't mind what country it comes from but I also expect to have enough chillies in it to make me sit up and take notice.

It has honestly taken me years to perfect the flavours. For years I randomly threw in cumin, coriander without a clue what I was doing. And adding water as I didn't want tomato paste or cornflour as a thickener ended in a wet disaster!

I then found out that if you puree onions and let them cook on a very low heat in some butter for about 45 minutes...they make the sauce. You then add the spices and a touch more butter and leave again. Then add stock and leave to simmer. Its a true time consuming labour of love but if you like curry as much as I do without the bother or expense of a takeaway, its worth every minute. The curry in the picture above is an Ethiopian Berbere spiced Chicken curry - the recipe for the spice mix is on my website www.julesdinnertable.co.uk - check it out!

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