Cajun Chicken traybake

We saw this recipe in Waitrose as part of the suggested meals during January.  It's taken us until February, but we've made it!

The ingredients we used were -
400g chicken thighs, skinned
1 red onion, cut into chunks
3 carrots, halved and cut into thick slices
500g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
25g walnut pieces, roughly chopped (these can be omitted)
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp runny honey

Having prepared the vegetables and chicken, they were placed in a roasting tin.

In a jug, we mixed the Cajun seasoning, oil and honey together and seasoned with freshly ground black pepper.





The seasoning mix was then drizzled over the chicken and vegetables.

Placing the tin in a pre-heated oven (180ºC fan) the dish was roasted for 30 minutes when we checked the chicken was cooked through (by inserting a fork and seeing if the fluid ran clear).  We also checked to see that the vegetables were tender.  We like to be sure chicken is properly cooked, so returned the dish to the oven for a further ten minutes whilst we prepared the accompanying sweetcorn and peas.

We liked the recipe and agreed it would work well as a slow cooker meal, and other vegetables like small potatoes could also be added to the mix.

Pan-fried Paprika Chicken

Looking for a quick and easy recipe to cook some chicken mini fillets, we spotted this one by Mary Berry.  Checking the ingredients, we had all that was required.

Gathering the 6 ingredients together, we began by making the marinade out of a Tablespoonful each of paprika, grainy mustard, runny honey (although ours was no longer fully runny!) and Worcestershire sauce (we used biona gluten free).

Mixing the marinade in  a pasta bowl, the chicken fillet/strips were added and thoroughly coated before being set aside for half an hour.

Once it was time to cook, a small amount of oil was added to a frying pan and heated through.  We then added the chicken fillets and cooked them on one side for a couple of minutes before turning them to cook the other side.  We made sure the chicken was thoroughly cooked.

Having measured out 150ml of double cream, this was added to the remaining paprika marinade and this cream mix was poured onto the cooked chicken.  Once the pan contents were bubbling, the heat was turned down and the 'sauce' was reduced slightly.

We served our chicken dish with mixed root vegetable mash and stir fried leeks and peas.  Mary suggests, in her recipe, serving with boiled rice and young spinach which we are sure would work well.

Orange and Honey Roasted Chicken

Working our way through the Waitrose weekend paper a while back, we saw this recipe and thought it sounded like our sort of thing.

Needless to say, we didn't *quite* follow the recipe completely... but that's the norm for us!




So, the ingredients we used were:-

500g Chicken Thighs (recipe says 8 drumsticks)
2 blood oranges - zest of both, juice of one
2 Tbsp runny honey
2 Tbsp Tamari sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil




The chicken thighs were placed in an oven proof dish and scored to break through the skin in parts.  Then they were seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.




Sous Chef J placed all the sauce ingredients in a glass pot and took a few pics as he liked the layering of liquids.

Once mixed thoroughly, the sauce was poured over the chicken pieces.






Finally, the dish was placed in a pre-heated oven 180ºC for 30 minutes until cooked through.  Whilst the oven was on, we also roasted some potatoes and steamed broccoli as accompaniment.

Having prepared the dish, we're pretty sure this would transfer well to being cooked in a slow cooker and that's how we'll make it next time.

Pear and Honey Polenta Cake

A while back (early 2011 I think), when Something for the Weekend was on BBC2 on a Sunday morning, we watched Simon Rimmer make this cake... and, ever vigilant for all items Gluten Free, we noticed there was no gluten in the recipe. Yippee! Another cake for us to try.

The first time this was made, we stuck to the recipe to the letter (a rarity in this kitchen) and the resultant cake was HUGE.  Also, the pear prep was "a bit of a faff" so, being lazy, we now came up with an alternative.  We also only make half the quantity that's listed in Simon's recipe... I would link to it on the BBC website but it seems to have disappeared (perhaps at the same time as the show?)  Instead we've taken a pic of the sheet we printed off and, hopefully, it's legible.

In case not, here are the ingredients in Simon's recipe:-
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450g/1lb pears, peeled and chopped

500g/4oz unsalted butter

50ml/1¾fl oz honey

450g/1lb caster sugar

450g/1lb ground almonds

6 free-range eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 lemon, zest only

225g/8oz polenta

pinch salt

1½ tsp baking powder

As is the routine, we set about getting all the ingredients out.  You will see we have a tin of pears in the line up.  This is one of the 'tweaks' to Simon's recipe we now use.  One tin of pears, drained, contains the amount needed for the half recipe we make up.  Much easier than using fresh pears and we get consistent results too.

Remember, we make HALF the quantity shown in the ingredients list above.  If you make the full amount you will need a BIG mixing bowl or stand mixer.

Having allowed the butter to reach room temperature, it was creamed with the sugar until it became lighter in colour.  Whilst this was happening, the tinned pears were drained and put in a small pan with the honey and 25g of the butter and heated through.  They were then mashed and left to one side to cool a little.

Once the butter and sugar were combined, the ground almonds were added and mixed.  This is the point where our ancient electric hand mixer starts to groan about nearing retirement age.  The mix at this stage is like a stiff porridge and adding the beaten eggs, one at a time does loosen it slightly.  Then the polenta, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and vanilla extract were incorporated... we use a silicone spatula for this.  After this, the mashed pear mix was added and mixed through.

Finally, it was time to share the mix between 3 individual mini loaf tins and 14 cupcake/muffin cases.  They were then baked in a preheated (160ªC) oven and checked after 25 minutes (using a skewer), returned to the oven and checked again 5 minutes later.  It's quite a wet mix and the moisture content of the pears does vary, so checking regularly rather than relying on set times works best with this recipe.

Once today's baked cakes were declared 'done' by Sous Chef J (having inspected the skewer prodding process) they were left to cool, in their baking tins, on a wire rack.

Simon's recipe uses a 2lb loaf tin and says to cook for 45-55 minutes but the first time we made the cake, it took well over an hour to be baked through.  And, as you can see, we used a round cake tin so perhaps that was the reason why?!

Our Special Salad Dressing

This is a variation on a family recipe that my mother has used since the 1970's.  No idea where it came from but it's a staple as far as we're concerned.  We gathered the ingredients together... as ever, there are not too many in our recipe.

To make enough to fill our shaker, we used one garlic clove, one teaspoon of Dijon mustard, one teaspoon of runny honey, 100ml rapeseed oil and 100ml vinegar.
To make the dressing, we put 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard (check it's gluten free) and a teaspoon of runny honey in the bottom of the shaker. Then, the garlic was peeled and sliced before being crushed with a little sea salt. This was also added to the shaker.
Next, we added the rapeseed oil and vinegar (we use white wine or cyder vinegar) as well.

Having added all the ingredients to our trusty salad shaker, they looked like this...Sous chef J was then in charge of holding the lid on and shaking and
... this is what we got!

Served over green salad, with avocado, on sliced tomatoes or mushrooms. It is delicious and keeps well.

Store in the fridge and shake well before serving.

If you don't have a shaker then a jam jar will work just as well... and a screw top lid's probably a better idea than the push in type of lid our shaker has!