Parmesan Polenta Chicken Mini Fillets

This recipe was developed as a response to the thought 'what can we eat tonight?'  The oven was going to be in use to bake some shortbread for J and we were out of the 'usual' items we'd use to coat chicken (ready salted crisps, crushed)   With a small remnant of parmesan and a bagful of polenta to hand, a plan (recipe) presented itself.  It's really simple and turned out well too.

Doing a fridge audit and seeing we had a pack of chicken mini fillets and needing something that could be baked in the oven, we decided coating the chicken would be a good idea.  

We grated some parmesan (about 40g) and added it to a handful (80g) polenta and seasoned with freshly ground black pepper.  Placing the coating in a bowl, an egg was beaten in another bowl and these were then used, in turn, to coat the chicken mini fillets.

Dipping the chicken in the beaten egg






it was then added to the parmesan/polenta mix and coated.

Once coated, the chicken was placed on a non-stick baking sheet before being baked in a 170ºC oven for 20-25 minutes until completely cooked through - adjust cooking time depending on the thickness of the pieces used.

When cooked, the parmesan/polenta coating was starting to brown.  The chicken was removed from the oven and served with chilli potatoes, stir fried kale and sweetcorn...



This coating and technique could also be used with chicken pieces to make nuggets or, if you flattened some larger chicken pieces, it would also be a good way to make escalopes.  Adding a dash of chilli powder to the parmesan/polenta will result in a spicier coating too.

Parma Ham, Cheese and Pea Tarts

Following a post-Christmas 'fridge audit' we discovered some Parma Ham that needed to be used up.  We also had double cream and yogurt that were nearing their use by dates.

The ingredients we needed to use were -
2 large eggs, beaten
50g Parmesan cheese, grated
One red onion, diced and lightly cooked
200ml live, natural yogurt
100ml double cream
6 slices Parma ham
Seasoning

Also - 100g frozen peas (could be replaced by asparagus spears or brocolli florets)

The onions were being lightly cooked in some sunflower oil until they became transparent.

Taking a muffin tin, each slice of ham was cut in half and used to line the tin.  This would form the 'case' for the tart/quiche filling.

Having mixed the yogurt, cream and beaten eggs, the Parmesan cheese was added and mixed through.






A dessertspoonful of the mix was added to the bottom of the 'case' and then some fried-off onions were laid on top.  Next, another layer of the mix was added until the 'cases' were filled.

Finally, a few frozen peas were added to each case.  The tarts were then ready to be cooked, at 170ºC (fan oven) for about 15 minutes.

We also cooked a 'large' pastryless tart/quiche by oiling a pyrex dish, and layering the mix, onions, mix in the same way.  This, larger, dish also had extra grated Parmesan sprinkled over the top before the frozen peas were added.  This was cooked for about 30 minutes, until it was lightly firm when the dish was moved.

The Parma Ham tarts were used, cold, for lunch on a day out before New Year's Eve with friends - they were much admired by our gluten-eating foodie pals.










We ate the large pastryless, vegetarian, quiche warm with chilli potatoes and a green salad.  It made a lovely change from the 'excesses' of the Festive Season.

Stilton Biscuits

When carrying out a fridge audit, we discovered a chunk of left-over-from-Christmas Blue Stilton and, as we don't like to food waste, started to think of ways to use it up.  Naturally, we considered making broccoli and stilton soup (but have no broccoli), then thought of stilton on toast (Sous Chef J's nose twisted into a disapproving pose at this thought) and, finally, remembered a recipe for biscuits in Sainsbury's December 2012 magazine.  We dug out the relevant page and checked the ingredients list and, joy of joys, we actually had all that was required.

I've tried to find the recipe online to link to (lazily) but can't so here are the ingredients -

125g plain flour (we used Dove's Farm gluten free)
Good pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsp light brown sugar
100g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
25g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
100g crumbled Blue Stilton cheese
3 Tbsp black onion (nigella) seeds, sesame seeds

The dry ingredients were whizzed in the large food processor part of our Braun hand blender device.

Next, the butter was cubed and then added to the mix and blitzed til combined.

Having weighed the remaining Blue Stilton cheese we were amazed to find it was exactly 100g that we had to use up. However, if we hadn't had enough we'd have made up the amount with more grated Parmesan to give us 125g cheese in total.

The Blue Stilton was crumbled into small bits and then the cheeses were also added to the pot and blitzed til the mix started to come together as a dough.

Taking the cheesey mix from the machine, it was kneaded lightly to bring it together and then rolled until it was about 4cm diameter.

The dough was cut in half before one piece was rolled in black onion seeds and the other in sesame seeds.  To do this, we used a lock'n'lock lid and liberally scattered the seeds on... then simply rolled the dough in them, pressing slightly, til covered.

Next the dough was covered in greaseproof paper and put in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours. (The recipe also states you can use the freezer, leave them in for 30 minutes.)

Once fully chilled, the dough was sliced into rings (about 4mm thick).  We got 13 biscuits from each.  These were placed on a non-stick baking sheet and baked in a 160ºC fan oven for 12-15 minutes.

They biscuits were left to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes before being moved to a rack to cool completely using a palette knife.

Beware! These biscuits are very moreish and may not make it to a storage box... however, they can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days or frozen. 

Serve with olives or salted nuts or just have them on their own.

Sous Chef J's verdict is "they're nice, crumbly and there's a hidden bite".  Well said!

Parmesan Crisps

Sous chef J likes crunchy textures and we find that our version of parmesan crisps provide this very tastily!  They are the simplest item to make.  Requiring little equipment and the only ingredient is parmesan cheese.

Once you have the cheese, (this is a good way to use up the leftovers/hard bits of parmesan) it needs to be grated.  We used quite a fine grater and then the cheese was placed in small pastry cutters (an attempt at portion control and neatness) on a non-stick baking tray.

The tray was then placed in a pre-heated oven (180º) for about 4 minutes... they need to be watched as, depending on the size of the crisps, the parmesan can melt at different rates.   Once the cheese melted and started to bubble, we took the tray from the oven and allowed the crisps to cool for a few minutes.

This is a high fat cheese, but a fair bit of fat is left on the tray after cooking....

...however, the resultant crisps are yummy!  They can be stored in an airtight container and are good with dips, soup or on their own.