The Famous Chicken Curry from Taste Tibet by Julie Kleeman & Yeshi Jampa

 

A few weeks ago... actually now I think about it. It was a few months ago, I made a very delicious chicken curry but life got in the way and then more life stuff happened and I didn't get to share it with you. But here it is. 

It's from a cookbook called 'Taste Tibet' by Julie Kleeman and Yeshi Jampa. Its a cookbooks filled to the brim with culture, history, traditions and of course recipes from the Himalayas. What I didn't know until I started reading is Taste Tibet is a restaurant, shop and festival food stall in Oxford, in the UK which is run and owned by Julie and Yeshi. Yeshi is the cook, head chef and chief recipe developer in the duo.

'At first glance, Tibetan food looks a lot like Chinese food. Noodles, dumplings and small plates are a big feature of the cuisine.' 

This book makes your mouth water just flicking through the pages. Stirfry's (hot and cold), fried rice, noodles, Tibetan yoghurt, soups, stews, savoury and sweet momos (which are a type of dumpling), flatbreads, curries and then there is the sweets for those sweet tooth's with ceremonial biscuits and truffles.

Although there were lots of delicious recipes to try, the one that caught my eye was the 'Taste Tibet Famous Chicken Curry'. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. And that was without using curry leaves and doing my very best with what we have up here to find the closest curry powders too.

Text from Taste Tibet by Julie Kleeman and Yeshi Jampa, food photography by Ola O. Smith, travel photography by Keiko Wong.
Murdoch Books RRP $49.99

Taste Tibet Famous Chicken Curry

Recipe from: Taste Tibet by Julie Kleeman & Yeshi Jampa

Serves 4-6

2 tablespoons cooking oil

2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2.5cm (1 inch) piece of ginger, washed but not peeled, thinly sliced

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon Bassar curry masala (or hot chilli powder)

1 1/2 teaspoons Madras curry powder

2 tablespoons coconut milk powder

6-8 fresh curry leaves, or 10-12 dried

1 x 400ml (14 fl oz) tin coconut milk

600g (1 lb 5oz) chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 teaspoon salt

Chopped coriander (cilantro), to garnish - optional

Place a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium-high heat and add the oil. When it's hot, add the garlic and ginger and let it brown for a couple of minutes, then add the onion and stir for a further 2 minutes. Now add the tomatoes, turmeric, curry masala and curry powder. Mix together and cook for 10-15 minutes, turning the heat down a little and adding about 50 ml (2 1/2 tablespoons) of water if anything starts to catch, then add the coconut milk powder, curry leaves and coconut milk and mix thoroughly. Take your time here: you are making a curry paste, and it needs to be cooked through completely before you can add the chicken. 

Now add the chicken and salt. Turn the heat back up to high, stir the chicken through the sauce and cook for 8-10 minutes, adding a little boiling water - but only a little - if anything sticks. The pan should be quite dry to begin with, before the juices from the chicken start to be released, so wait a while before adding any water. 

After the chicken has been in for 8 minutes, check to make sure it is fully cooked. To do this, take a piece out and cut it through the middle - it should be white all the way through. If the sauce looks too thick, add a little more boiling water and stir briskly for 2 minutes. Garnish with coriander, if you like, then serve. 

Geng Gari Curry from Thai Food Made Easy

I'm coming to you with a problem dear readers. My husband and I are funding our local thai restaurants rent with the amount of takeaway we order. We actually (embarrassingly so) order so much Thai take-away week to week that the driver now knows us and our broken apartment buzzer. And whats more embarrassing... they have an app that records your orders so that every 10th order is free... we've had a few free orders.

I can't help it, I freakin' love Thai food. It's one of my all time favourites. The freshness and variety of dishes mmmm just yum. As of last year, it also reminds me of our holiday in Patong where we ate fried rice topped with the perfect fried egg... runny yolk... crispy bottom, every single day. I wish I cooked more thai food at home than I do because as much as I love our takeaway place it's just not as good coming in those plastic boxes as it is piping hot, straight from the wok. But there is a reason for our takeaway problem. I find thai cooking somewhat intimidating. Yes, I'm a food blogger and I just admitted that. Bite me. But honestly, I do and I don't think I'm the only one. I mean, I'm pretty good with the pre-made curry pastes from the supermarket but other than that my thai cooking skills usually involve me botching up a salty stir fry by adding every asian sauce and condiment from the fridge. Sometimes it's great and others... well let just say I don't go back for seconds.

sumac roast chicken with carrots and chickpeas from Gatherings by Flora Sheddan

When I first started this blog I went through a faze of making lots of chicken tray bakes and I think two of them were great, some were ok and a few were inedible and never got a mention. They were quick to throw together when I got in late from work and it meant I could jump in the shower, potter around and dinner was done. Very time efficient midweek cooking. But I haven't made a try bake in months (maybe even a year) and to be honest, I have no idea why not. I get home earlier from work but for some reason I post less than I used to and I have more time now than I did before.

Green Chicken Meatballs

Ok where did January go? Who ate him?

and can it please be winter already??

For the past two months I've done nothing but complain and whinge about the weather. It's been sooo hot, muggy, sticky, stifling, hot, hair frizzingly awful, sweaty, coffee must now always contain ice, hot and have I said sticky yet? I wrote an entire post (then deleted it) about how I hate the hot weather and cooking in it. BORING!

So instead dreaming of our Sydney summer away which I have a tendency to do (right now Victoria and Tasmania are looking like a lovely place for a sea change) I thought I'd share a recipe that does not require an oven, great to share and so delicious that it'll change they way you eat chicken meatballs forever, or at least in 2017.

Green Chicken Meatballs from Bon Appetempt/Amelia and Teddy in the Kitchen.

These little morsels are so delicious and fresh, they are exactly what you crave in a meatball when it's hot and you want something light but still full of flavour. They use blitzed up chicken thighs instead of chicken mince so you don't get that loafy texture which means you can make them as chunky or fine as you like but also they don't have any additional bread crumbs in to stodgy them up, keeping them delicate. But it's the parsley, onion and parmesan that really make them delicious and summery and to be honest, completely moorish.

I cooked these in a frying pan and served them with a tomato pasta sauce and brown rice but these would be great by themselves or even as chicken patties on the BBQ with a salad, just be wary they are on the soft side and until sealed feel like they might fall apart on you.

If you're only going to make one meatball in 2017, make these them. You will thank me (and Amelia) for the advice - they are seriously good green chicken meatballs.

What's your go-to summer recipe for when it's too hot to eat but you can't curb your appetite for home cooking?

Green Chicken Meatballs

recipe by Amelia Morris from Bon Appetempt/Amelia and Teddy in the Kitchen

500g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup loosely-packed, chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of fresh black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
tomato pasta sauce - store bought or homemade (see below)

Cut the chicken thighs into 2cm chunks and place them on a plate in the freezer for about 30 minutes, give or take.

Place the parmesan, parsley and onion in the food processor and blitz until everything is finely chopped. Add the egg, chicken, salt and pepper, and continue to blitz until the chicken is coarsely ground — not as fine as chicken mince as you don’t want chicken much, but until everything is about ½ a cm roughly.

Using a large heaped tablespoon as a guide, shape into approx. one-inch meatballs.

In a large non-stick frying pan heat the olive oil over medium heat. One by one, dredge the meatballs in the flour and add to the hot oil. Cook until brown on all over, turning as necessary for about 15 to 20 minutes.

When the meatballs are almost cooked, heat up the tomato pasta sauce ready to serve.

Serve these Green Chicken Meatballs with the tomato pasta sauce and a crunchy side salad/ brown rice/ pasta.

tomato pasta sauce -
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 small brown onion, finely diced
2 clove garlic, crushed
splash of dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh herbs eg. basil, parsley or oregano (optional)
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a small saucepan, add your onion, garlic and a pinch of salt and fry until onions are translucent and fragrant.

Add your splash (or two) of wine, let it bubble for a couple of minutes then add your canned tomatoes and sugar. Bring to a simmer and let bubble away for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Taste and season with salt, pepper and fresh herbs.

Tikka Chicken with Mint Chutney and Naan from A Kitchen in the Valley

After my sighting of the weevils a few weeks back I was only too pleased to be rid of them, until I realised...that when there is one... there are many or should I say thousands of the little critters, everywhere... I mean EVERYWHERE. Everything that was open, in a plastic container (yes they penetrated my containers) or in a paper bag was crawling with them which meant it all went in the bin, no discussion. Everything else that was sealed properly got a wipe down with hot soapy water and vinegar and sat on the kitchen counters for two days while I aired my newly washed and vinegar-ed cupboards out. After putting what was left after my cull back inside the cupboards I was only too happy to never go back in there again in fear of seeing another critter but then Sally Wise's new cookbook 'A Kitchen in the Valley' turned up on my doorstep and I took the dive and bought flour. I am still not game enough to put it in my cupboard and have stored it in my freezer just as google instructed me to. Supposedly it's to kill any un-hatched eggs and I'm keen to give anything a go.

But enough on my cupboard dramas and more on this cookbook you say? I agree. This new book of Sally Wise's is full of recipes using local produce found in the Derwent Valley, Tasmania where Sally lives. The recipes make you want to fill a long table full of food and invite everyone you know over just to feed them. Sally's home sounds picturesque with raspberry patches in the summer and a bed of giant rhubarb under the window and how can I forget Truffles the kitten?! The photography sets the feel for the book and although not every recipe has a photo, the titles of the recipes are tempting enough. There are some great sounding bread recipes in this book such as Tasty Breakfast Twirl which is a sort-of decadent stuffed breakfast bread, Raisin Bread and Turkish Breads with Spinach and Feta Stuffing or a Tomato and Bacon filling. Can you tell I have missed baking??

There are also some classic afternoon-tea treats that would make a great home-made high tea like Neenish Tarts which I remember from the local bakery as a kid and the Raspberry and Cream Cheesecake Slice...yum. But what caught my eye for dinner was the recipe for Tikka Chicken with Mint Chutney and Naan. There was no fancy curry pastes to make in advance and no ingredients which you need a whole day to find and a trip to every supermarket in your area, everything was in my pantry (expect the flour which is still in my freezer).

I started my making the naan bread so it had time to rise before starting the curry which surprised me as I have this idea that a curry is a long slow cooking process and this relatively quick. I made one slight change in the naan bread and used full cream milk instead of coconut milk as I have a thing about opening a can and not using the whole thing and I was already using a whole can of coconut milk in the curry so happily used regular milk instead and it worked just fine. However I will say this, these naan breads are not your traditional restaurant naans which have the gnarly black bits with bubbles of dense dough, these are light and almost fluffy. I'm not sure if this was just me or if they were meant to do this (there is no photo for this recipe) but mine turned into a kind of pocket when I baked them which was great to fill with the curry and chutney and although sometimes you want those naan breads with the black gnarly bits, these were just as delicious and much lighter which meant you could eat more of them. Always a positive.

And for the chicken tikka and chutney. Wow. Tristan said, quote and quote 'this is one of the best curries I've ever eaten'. He didn't say it was the best but I'll take that compliment anyway and I had to agree with him. It is a much lighter curry then anything I've had from the local Indian restaurant and although I say it was light, it was packed full of flavour and didn't have that layer of oil which you sometimes get from using the store-bought curry pastes. I was a little worried about the sauce being quite liquid but the recipe says you can thicken it by making a cornflour slurry but I let it simmer away for a little longer instead as I have a slight aversion with cornflour and curries together...just reduce it I say. With lighter naan breads, the fresh mint chutney, I served it with some steamed rice and roasted cauliflower (how good is cauliflower in curry?!) and just so you know, it got even better the next day.

Overall it was a pretty damn delicious dinner which we gorged ourselves on a huge bowl each while watching the new StarWars movie on the couch. A perfect date night in if you ask me.

Tikka Chicken with Mint Chutney and Naan

Adapted from 'A Kitchen in the Valley' by Sally Wise.

For the naan.
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons instant dried yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
125ml warm coconut milk (regular milk also works)
125ml plain yoghurt
1 egg
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice

For the chicken.
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1kg chicken breast fillets, sliced (or half the chicken and add extra veggies)
2 onions, finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger (jarred works great too)
2 long red chilli's, finely sliced
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
400ml can coconut milk
250ml chicken stock (stock cube is fine)

For the chutney.
60g fresh mint leaves (roughly half bunch)
3 tablespoons desiccated coconut
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar (regular sugar works too)
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, crushed
180ml plain yoghurt

For the naan.
- Starting with the naan breads, place flour, yeast, sugar, baking powder and one teaspoon salt in a medium bowl and mix well. Whisk together the coconut milk (or regular milk), yoghurt, egg, olive oil and lemon juice. Pour into the dry mixture and mix using a wooden spoon until well combined. This is a wet mixture so don't be alarmed that this looks more like a mess than a dough. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

- Line two baking trays with baking paper and preheat your oven to 200C.

-Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured bench and knead for 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Cut into 4-6 pieces and dust each lightly with flour. Roll each piece into an oval about 12-15cm long and 8-10cm wide. Place on lined trays, covered with a tea towel to rise for 15 minutes.

- Bake the naan for 15 minutes or until cooked through and golden on top.

For the chicken.
- Meanwhile start on your chicken. To make the tikka chicken, heat the coconut oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat and sauté the chicken until it changes colour. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook for about 2 minutes or until fragrant. Add the spices along with 1 teaspoon of salt and stir to coat everything in the pan. Lastly, stir in the coconut milk and chicken stock and bring to a boil.

- Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 10-15 minutes until the chicken is tender. If your sauce needs thickening, simmer for 10 minutes longer or thicken with a cornflour slurry (3 teaspoon cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoons water).

For the chutney.
- Place all the ingredients except the yoghurt into a small food processor and process until smooth. Stir the yoghurt into the paste. Taste and season with pepper and a little salt if necessary.

Serve the curry with the naan, steamed rice and mint chutney.

(The) Best Chicken: Baked Chicken in Creamy Tomato Sauce from Dinner: A Love Story.

Have you ever been so unorganised you've woken up and realised you have only one pair of clean undies in your drawer and the day was a near total disaster?? I've had that phew! feeling more than once over the past few weeks. I've been some what unorganised which has also lead to a lot of dodgy dinners like last Saturday night which consisted of cheese and crackers or the other week when I reheated pasta sauce from the freezer on toast at 9pm.

But everything changed last Monday night. I cooked dinner.

It made me realise that cooking is my zen. What yoga is to some, cooking is for me. Not the mad rush kind of cooking in a commercial kitchen, been there, done that and I didn't have thick enough skin. But cooking in my little kitchen and making a meal out of ingredients gives me a certain satisfaction and feeling of fulfillment. Cooking for one doesn't have quite the same feeling as when I'm cooking for two or more so maybe it's not the act of cooking itself but the act of sharing what I've made with the ones I love.

Or maybe that makes no sense at all and I was just so high on a home cooked meal I needed to share this with you all.

I made (The) Best Chicken: Baked Chicken in Creamy Tomato Sauce from Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach. It was so delicious. There was one problem, I only made enough for two and not enough for seconds or leftovers. It was a comforting, home cooked dinner at it's finest. It was simple yet so full of flavour. The canned tomatoes turn delicious and rich in the oven, almost sticky and as the chicken cooks it soaks up the flavour from the sauce and hint of herbs. I adapted the recipe slightly since we didn't have any marscapone as it's not a staple at our kitchen, instead I stirred through a couple of spoonfuls of greek yogurt at the end and it worked just as well. I served it with brown rice cooked with a stock cube and blanched sugar snap peas coated in butter and a good pinch of salt.

It was rich and comforting and a dinner I will repeat again, especially since it's started getting a little cooler here. Store cupboard ingredients, chicken from the freezer and dinner is practically already made, a perfect weeknight meal. This would also work really well served with pasta or to make it a little fancy, serve it with a saffron risotto and a side salad.

I'm now off to do some washing so that it's at least another week before I have that phew! moment again.

(The) Best Chicken: Baked Chicken in Creamy Tomato Sauce 

recipe adapted from Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach
(find original recipe here)
serves 2

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
400g canned chopped tomatoes
5 basil leaves, roughly torn (or a pinch of dried oregano)
2 tablespoons marscapone or thick greek yoghurt
salt & pepper

- Preheat oven to 175C/350F.

- Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in an oven proof pan or skillet on high heat and brown the chicken on all sides (they do not need to cook through). Remove from the pan and turn heat down to medium-low. In the remaining oil left in the pan cook the onion and garlic for about 2 minutes.

- Add the can of chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer, stir through basil (or oregano) and season with salt and pepper. If using marscapone, stir through now. Add the chicken back into the pan then place in the preheated oven.

- Bake for 40 minutes, turning half way through or until the chicken is cooked through.

- If you are using greek yogurt, remove the chicken from the pan and stir through the greek yoghurt now. Serve with rice, pasta or some nice crusty bread and some buttered greens.

Chicken Noodle Soup - adapted from Martha Stewart.

So my attitude towards not wanting wintery foods did a 180 pretty quickly over the rainy weekend... all I felt like was chicken noodle soup. chicken noodle soup. chicken noodle soup. chicken noodle soup... I could not get it off my mind.

I've never made chicken noodle soup before but have always thought that it was something that had to sit on the stove simmering away for hours, used a whole chicken and then be able to feed an army with the amount you made. It sounded a bit daunting to me to be honest and not a midweek dinner.

But my cravings for comfort food over came any doubt I might of had and I sought out this recipe from Martha Stewart for Chicken Noodle Soup that didn't require hours of cooking, a whole chook or feed an army AND you can have this soup on the table within the hour. I was sold.

Oh my goodness! how oh how have I never made chicken noodle soup before?? Seriously!? It is everything I ever dreamed the soup to be and better. Perfect for a cold night or if someone in your home has come down with 'man flu' or passed the 'man flu' onto you (cough cough).

I adapted the recipe slightly because I couldn't help myself and added parsley stalks, a knob of butter, a bay leaf and used parsley instead of dill because that is what I had in our herb garden and of course I added a few extra noodles.

This is a great midweek soup that doesn't take long to prepare or cook and definitely feels like you have put a whole lot of effort in. I want to try and make chicken soup using a whole chicken and home made stock this winter but will save that for a weekend of pottering about when it's too rainy to leave the house. Until then... I have found my winter saviour!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Recipe adapted - original recipe by Martha Stewart.

Serves 4

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 knob of butter
2 sticks celery, diced small
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped into 1cm rings (or creative as you like)
1 brown onion, diced small
Salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
4 cups chicken stock
450g (approx.) skinless chicken breasts
220g think spaghetti (or angel-hair spaghetti or vermicelli)
small bunch parsley, chopped, stalks reserved

- Heat oil and butter in a large pot until butter is melted then add your celery, carrots and onions. Fry them on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until the onion is translucent and vegetables start to soften. Season with salt and pepper.

- Tie your reserved parsley stalks into a neat little parcel with some kitchen string (or you can let them wonder around but it's easier to take them out at the end it you tie them up - just don't do a Bridget Jones blue soup - google it!) and add them along with the bay leaf, stock and 4 cups of water into the pot and bring to a boil.

- Add your chicken breasts into the pot, clunk on a lid and simmer until cooked, about 10-15 minutes but it does depend on how large your chicken breasts are.

- Using tongs, remove the chicken from the pot and shred using two forks or chop it into small soup spoon sized pieces. Return it into the pan and bring everything back up to the boil.

- Add your spaghetti (or vermicelli) and cook until tender according to the packet instructions. I used thin spaghetti and it took about 10 minutes but I know other noodles don't take as long.

- Give it a taste, season with more salt and pepper (if needed) and stir in the parsley. Serve and enjoy... mmmm

Arroz Con Pollo with Chanterelles from NotWithoutSalt.

Still on my Mexican craze and not quite ready to admit it's soup weather this week in Sydney.... I made Arroz Con Pollo with Chanterelles from NotWithoutSalt Blog. Translated to 'Rice with Chicken and fancy mushrooms'. The 'fancy mushrooms' bit I translated... I'm a little bitter at the price and lack there of in my local supermarket so button mushrooms had to do.

The first time I made (a different recipe) Arroz con Pollo about 6 years ago I burnt my mum's pan till there was a thick layer of charchol-ed blackened rice stuck to the bottom of it. When we served up we couldn't let the spoon anywhere near the base of the pan in fear of having a spoonful of bitter burnt rice for dinner. Needless to say I've never been in a rush to make this again until I saw the recipe on Ashley Rodriguez's blog with all the lovely fresh trimmings on top.

This recipe warms you up from the inside out and fills your belly just like you want on a cold night but has a freshness to it from the feta/parmesan (I'll explain further on) and coriander so it's great for people in denial that winter is coming. I mean how can you go wrong with chicken and rice right?!

It's a good midweek meal if you're having people over or have more than two mouths to feed. There is quite a bit of chopping, frying and stirring in the recipe but then all you do it wait until the rice and chicken are cooked... it's a good pottering recipe.

However the Mexican cheese stumped me. Cotija. Never heard of it. I did some googling and it came up with a Mexican cheese, crumbly like feta but also like parmesan. I had feta and I had parmesan in the fridge so I guess I had my substitute, right? Anyway... I've never tasted Cotija so I couldn't tell you if it's right or wrong. I mixed the two cheeses together and used that instead and it tasted pretty great to me and I would do it all over again. Plus it's pretty impressive bringing it to the table so it's a good one to keep up your sleeve when friends come round for dinner.

If anyone has actually tried this Mexican cheese please leave a comment below and let me know if I was on the right track by combining both those cheeses or if I have done this dish a terrible travesty?

Arrozo Con Pollo with Chanterelles

by Ashley Rodriguez from NotWithoutSalt (find original recipe here).
Serves 4

(recipe adapted slightly to incorporate what I had and could find.)

3 tomatoes, halved lengthways
6 skinless chicken thighs, boneless (if you can find them with skin on use skin on - much tastier!)
Salt and Pepper
1 medium red onion, finely diced
225g chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped (I used button mushrooms)
5 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons of dry sherry (I used white wine)
1 medium red capsicum
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme (if you have fresh use 4 sprigs instead)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon sweet pimenton de la Vera (smoked Spanish paprika - I used regular smoked paprika)
a good pinch of chilli flakes (or more if you like it spicy)
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup arborio rice
pinch of saffron threads
1/2 bunch coriander, roughly chopped (stalks reserved), to serve
4 spring onions, finely sliced
3/4 cup cotija (or a combination of grated parmesan and crumbled feta), to serve

- Grate the cut side of all the tomato halves using a box grater and the large holes over a bowl, discard the skins.

- Place a large pan or deep skillet over high heat until it almost starts to smoke (if you are using skinless chicken thighs add a little vegetable oil to the pan to help it along). Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to medium and add the chicken pieces to the pan/skillet, skin side down and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 3-5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken onto a plate.

- Using the leftover fat in the pan, add the onions, mushrooms and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes until caramelised. Add the garlic and coriander stalks and cook for a further 1 minute then deglaze the pan by adding your sherry (or wine).

- Next add the capsicum and cook until they start to soften. Then add the thyme, bay leaf, paprika and chilli flakes stirring everything together well. After about 2 minuets it will start to smell fragrant, add your tomato mush and simmer until the liquid is almost all gone.

- Add the stock to the pan and bring it to a boil then add your rice and saffron. Give everything a good stir then nestle the chicken pieces into the rice.

- Turn the heat down to low, place a lid ajar and try not to stir anymore (I say try because I can never help myself). Cook for about 30-35 minutes until the chicken and rice are cooked through. Once cooked remove the bay leaf and any sprigs from the thyme if you used fresh and season with salt and pepper.

- To serve, top with spring onions, coriander leaves and cotija (or the combination of cheeses) and don't forget the hot sauce on the table for anyone who likes a bit of spice.

Hit 'n' Run traybaked chicken.

Chicken tray bakes. For a while I thought these would be the end of me but I have gotten to know my oven inside and out and I know what works and what doesn't.

Chicken tray bakes are easy mid week meals (note that this is a new revelation) which you can easily throw in the oven and then fluff around for an hour while the oven looks after everything. I love these kind of recipes where I can multi-task while knowing dinner is cooking away  and I can get on with other things. If you're a regular reader you'll know I'm more of a pasta girl than chicken and potatoes kinda girl. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy chicken and potatoes but give me a big bowl of pasta any day!

Tristan on the other hand LOVES chicken and potatoes. I could spend hours making hand made pasta with a slow cooked ragu and ciabbatta made from scratch but chicken and potatoes would still win. Of course he would enjoy the hand made pasta and tell me that he loved it but I know all too well when he actually loves eating something... it's like when you're a kid and you get your favourite food and the excitement beams out as you try and shovel another mouthful in an already full mouth. That's Tristan, when I serve chicken and potatoes.

Every week when I ask him what he feels like for dinner this week, trying to get some inspiration, this is how the conversation normally goes...

'What do you want for dinner this week?'

'Can we have that chicken and potatoes tray thing you cooked last week again?' 

'Again?' 

'Yeh it was really good'

'Umm maybe...' *scrunches face*

'Well why did you ask me then?!?'

'Ok ok, we'll have a chicken tray bake but it'll be different than last time'

'I'm sure it'll still be amazing'

*rolls eyes at him*

The way to his heart is chicken and potatoes.

So of course I made a chicken tray bake this week. Sometimes it's what ever I can find in the fridge but this week I found a recipe called Hit 'n' Run traybaked chicken by Jamie Oliver from his cookbook Save with Jamie. It sounded perfect to me until I realised when I started throwing everything into the tray that there was no potatoes in it... uh oh I thought... do we even have any potatoes? Thankfully there were three potatoes floating around with the onions so I chopped them up small and added them to the tray with the chicken, tomatoes, onion, garlic, capsicum with the rest of the ingredients and threw it all in the oven. Ah ha done for an hour or so!

Time to throw my feet up and relax.. ha! If only there was that much time during the week :)

This recipe is really really tasty, I'll admit it's another recipe thats not going to win the pretty award but by golly it's good. The garlic cloves go all soft and sweet and the tomatoes almost slow roast and all the natural sugars come out and give the whole dish that humble slow roast taste.  

There is only one thing I can say is...

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!!

Hit 'n' Run traybaked chicken.

Serves 2 

(Recipe adapted from Save with Jamie by Jamie Oliver)

4 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2 inch pieces

1 red capsicum, chopped into 2 inch pieces

3 medium potatoes, chopped into 1 inch chunks

4 cloves of garlic, skin on

2 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges

1 red onion, cut into wedges

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

1 small handful of fresh oregano, leaves washed and picked

- Preheat your oven to 200C or 400 F.

- Throw everything (yes everything!) in a large baking tray (roughly 25cm x 30cm) and give it a good mix. Make sure it is all evenly spread out then bung it in the oven.

- Bake for 1 hour - 1hour 15 min. Check your potatoes and chicken are cooked through then serve with a simple green salad or some crusty fresh bread.

Stuffed Cypriot Chicken from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals.

Does anyone else have the cookbook Jamie's 30 Minute Meals? The meals that are set out to make for a family of 4 or 6 are huge and there are so many components and the ingredient lists is HUGE! For two people this isn't really the book to use but if you are cooking a saturday night dinner for a group of friends or a mid week family dinner then I think it would be great. I always look through it though hoping for some inspiration and ideas and instead of making the entire meal I sometimes pick elements of the fast and choose them to cook with sometimes a simple salad or boiled potatoes. Doesn't sound too flashy but I do love a good boiled potato smothered in butter, pepper and salt.

I'm a huge pasta fan (I'm sure f you've read my posts you'd know by now) but Tristan is a huge chicken and potatoes fan. A bit of Ying and Yang... but thats not to say he doesn't like pasta or I don't like chicken and potatoes we just have our weaknesses that always bring us back for seconds.

I love the idea of stuffed chicken breasts. My Aunty used to make this delicious stuffed chicken breast with cream cheese and as many different herbs she could find then sprinkle the outside with some paprika. She was an absolutely AMAZING cook and she loved every minute of being in the kitchen and feeding her loved ones. So when I saw the stuffed cypriot chicken in Jamie's 30 minute meals I had to give it a go but the rest of the feast I have saved for another day or when I have more mouths to feed at my table.

For the stuffing I got the parsley, basil, sun dried tomatoes and garlic and placed them on a chopping board and gave everything a good chop. Crumbled over the feta and lemon zest and mixed everything through.

For the chicken I got two chicken breasts (I have adapted this recipe to feed two again) and on the underside of them I folded back the little flappy bit and cut a little pocket/slit into each one. It opened out kinda like a raw chicken book.

I then divided the filling between the two chicken breasts, folded the flap back over and pan fried them in olive oil, covering them in damp baking paper, towards the end I threw in some rosemary sprigs and cooked until they were cooked through. Yes I still have to cut my chicken breast in half to see if it's done or not so please don't worry if you have to to. I'd rather check then eat or serve raw chicken (and yes I have served raw chicken once before and I hope to never do it again) so if your unsure, check and don't stress!

I served this with a simple green side salad and boiled potatoes. Not very exciting but simple, delicious and really all this tasty chicken needs. It already has so many flavours in it and the lemon zest really keep it fresh tasting and zingy. I would definitely make this again and I think it would make a great dinner option for a few people because you could prep the chicken breasts in advance and leave them in the fridge until your guests get hear. Perfect dinner party food!

Stuffed Cypriot Chicken

serves 2
recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals cookbook

a handful of fresh parsley

a handful of fresh basil leaves

4 jarred sun dried tomatoes in oil

extra virgin olive oil

pinch of salt and pepper

2 small garlic cloves

60g feta cheese (approx.) 

zest of half a lemon

2 chicken breasts (I used skinless but you can used skin on if you like)

a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary

- Place your parsley, basil, sun dried tomatoes, 1 tsp oil, salt, pepper and garlic on a chopping board and give everything a really good chop, mixing it all together as you go. Crumble over feta and zest and mix it all through.

- Turn the chicken breasts skin side down (or the side that would have had the skin on it) and on the underside of them fold back the little flappy bit and cut a little pocket/slit into each one. It should open out kinda like a raw chicken book. Do this to both of them.

- Divide the filling between the two chicken breasts and fold over the flappy bit to incase all the goodies.

- Get a frying pan on medium heat and add a good glug of olive oil to the pan. Once the oil is hot place the chicken skin side down in the pan. Get a piece of baking paper and scrunch it under some water then place that over the top, like your tucking the chicken in to bed. 

- Cook for about 10 minutes or until golden on the side then carefully turn over using tongs. Add the rosemary to the pan and cook for about another 8-10 minutes. 

- Check your chicken is cooked through, you might need to cook it for a little longer if you have fat chicken breasts. Once cooked serve with a simple salad and boiled potatoes or the entire feast that Jamie serves it with (it does look pretty fancy and delicious).

Something a little different: Nostalgia.

Do you ever feel nostalgic about food? about a specific smell? Or even a lip gloss you used to use when you were in high school? Does it bring memories of your childhood or teenage years flooding back?

Or do you simply crave those memories and create that smell yourself?

Thats what I did tonight. Having a quarter life crisis at the moment and having a down day I wanted something that was home cooked that brought back memories of my mum's cooking when I was younger and had not a care in the world. It wasn't quite the same or even as good as her's but it filled our tiny apartment with the smell of my mum's cooking and it has given me a satisfied full tummy like when I was little. And I'm sure ever mum has their own version of chicken curry but nothing does it like your own mum's.

I remember asking for this curry for my birthday dinner one year catching my mum by surprise, normally I wanted to go out to the little Italian restaurant at the end of our street which served sizzling garlic prawns in little black pots. But I wanted mum's chicken curry.

So I thought tonight instead of sharing a recipe I've cooked from a book, I'd share my mum's chicken curry which always makes me feel like I'm home again. Given that I didn't have chicken and only turkey mince and no eggplant, only carrots and broccoli the photo looks a little different but the recipe is right. I know this won't bring the childhood memories back like it does for me but it's still a pretty damn good dinner, nostalgic or not.

What smell or home cooked meal takes you back to a place where it feels all warm and fuzzy?

My Mum's Chicken Curry.

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 glove garlic, crushed

1 onion, chopped

500g chicken thighs, cut into rough pieces

2 tsp Keen's traditional curry powder (if it's not Keen's it wont taste the same)

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

400ml coconut cream

1 eggplant, roughly cubed

- Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and fry garlic and onion till golden and soft.

- Add eggplant and cook for a few minutes. Add chicken and cook until browned.

- Add curry powder, soy sauce, fish sauce,sesame oil, lemon juice and coconut milk. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes on low.

- Serve with steamed rice, tomato salsa (recipe below), cucumber cooler (recipe below) and poppadoms.

Tomato Salsa.

2 tomatoes, diced into 1cm cubes (roughly)

1/2 red onion, finely diced

pinch of salt and pepper

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

- Mix everything together and serve.

Cucumber Cooler.

1/2 cup light sour cream (or greek yoghurt)

1/2 continental cucumber, diced in 1cm pieces (roughly)

pinch of salt and pepper

1/2 tsp dried dill tips

- Mix everything together and serve.

Jamie Oliver's Beer Butt Chicken from Jamie's America.

Has anyone stuck a can of beer up a chickens bottom before?

Yes a chook you buy from the grocery store, not a live one. I hope no one has ever or will ever do it to a poor live chicken. I'm talking about BBQ Beer-Butt Chicken.

I had friends over the other week and it was the perfect excuse to give this ago. I always think that a whole chicken cooking for just two people is a little extravagant so when we have people over I get a little excited and cook too much food. I know that people will disagree with that statement because there is SOOO much you can do with left over chicken but thats just how I feel... or we leave it for a special occasion like a Sunday dinner.

It was a warm night when we decided to have visitors so cooking the chicken outside on the BBQ was perfect because it meant the oven didn't have to go on for a long period of time and bake us all in our tiny apartment. I chose to use a recipe from Jamie's America Cookbook (yes by Jamie Oliver - my weakness). It was super simple and didn't make that much mess (in the kitchen that is). You make a spice rub in a mortar and pestle and rub it all over the chicken then drink half of the can of beer (not hard to do) then stick it up its bottom and place it on a preheated BBQ. Cook for one and a half hours and yum!

And this time I didn't serve raw chicken. It was well and truly cooked. But... we were so hungry by the time it came to eat I got no photo's of the cooked chicken, just of it as I placed it on the BBQ. Sorry folks but it just means I have to do it again to get you that lovely picture.

I was worried the chicken would have been a little over cooked because it stayed on the BBQ a little longer than is should have but it was still yum. I was told by our dinner guests and Tristan that it wasn't dry at all but maybe they were being polite :) I also made two salads to go with the chicken but if I start on them too in the post I might be half way to a novel so I will save them for next time.

The only thing with the chicken was... I thought the can of beer would be empty when we took the chook off the BBQ but it was still half full. My thinking was that the BBQ heats the beer and it boils and evaporates into the chicken as it cooks and in the end all the beer is gone but it wasn't. I have never made this until then so I could be completely wrong. The recipe says nothing about the can being empty or full after so no idea if I actually did it right but it still worked if you ask me.

Mmmm. Chicken. Good.

Jamie Oliver's Beer Butt Chicken from Jamie's America.

Serves 4

1 large whole chicken (about 1.5kg)

1x 473ml larger (I used a can of Stella)

Spice rub:

1 heaped tsp fennel seeds

1 level tsp cumin seeds

1 level tsp smoked paprika

1 heaped tsp brown sugar

1 level tsp mild chilli powder (I used 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper instead)

Salt and Pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

- Preheat your BBQ to 200 C or 400 F.

- In a mortar and pestle smash up the fennel and cumin seeds. Add the paprika, brown sugar, chilli powder, salt and pepper and give it a good mix. Finally stir in the olive oil, you should have a nice paste now. Drizzle and rub this all over the chicken, giving it a good massage.

- Open your can of beer. Drink and enjoy half of it. Place the chicken on top of the can so it looks like it's sitting on it (Can look a little rude about now) then place it on the BBQ hot plate.

- I used a gas BBQ (please forgive me Dj Bbq) and had the grill side turned on but had the chicken on the hot plate side so there wasn't direct heat straight underneath but heat all around it.

- Cook it for 1 hour and 30 minutes until the meat pulls away from the bone and the juices run clear. 

- Once cooked, remove the can from it's bottom with tongs. Be careful because it's very hot!

- Serve with salads or roast veggies. Enjoy!

I served this with Donna Hay's Potato Salad from Classics 1 and a Quinoa and Butternut squash Salad from It's all Good By Gwyneth Paltrow. 

Thai green chicken skewers with ginger quinoa from Donna Hay's cookbook Fresh and Light.

Have you ever eaten anything so spicy that you felt like your tongue was swollen and your tummy was burning?

I should have followed the recipe.

Here I am getting cocky again and boy did I regret that choice. Instead of two tablespoons of curry paste it was more like three... and I knew this stuff was hot. Somehow this completely slipped my mind and turned into a dinner that blew my taste buds away with so much spice.

Trying to be healthy and incorporating "super" foods into my diet lately I went with a different/light variation of a Thai green chicken curry which used quinoa instead of rice. I made the Thai green chicken skewers with ginger quinoa from Donna Hay's book Fresh and Light.

The quinoa was so delicious but the little bit of refreshing heat fresh ginger gives off it didn't help the burning on my tongue from the curry sauce. I had to cover my dinner in plain yoghurt but the flavours were really fresh and delicious once my mouth had started to cool down and I could taste again. It was such a lovely light change from the normal green chicken curry we make at home and it made me feel healthier :)

I added some steamed bok-choi to add a vegetable to the dish. The recipe could easily feed 4 but I'm always a little scared that maybe some people are smaller eaters than me and Tristan so what happens if I'm hungry after?! this is why we always have so many left overs and freezer lunches because I'm scared of going hungry... hmm think I'm a little crazy... please keep reading this crazy girl's food blog even if I am crazy! 

It's quick to prepare and doesn't make that much mess which is exactly the kind of recipes I love.

You can find the recipe on Donna Hay's website here.

I used one of those small can's of coconut cream (I think they are about 160ml) instead of just using the 60ml specified in the recipe, it gave more sauce for the skewers and quinoa plus I hate having half a can of anything sitting in the fridge going to waste. Also please don't make the mistake like I did and use a really hot curry paste - unless of course you LOVE hot things then by all means blow your socks off just offer your guests yoghurt as a condiment. If you know it's a hot paste be careful how much you use so you can enjoy it without having to slather plain yoghurt over it to extinguish your burning mouth. 

I will definitely make this again but either use less of the same curry paste I used or a different brand and hope that doesn't blow my socks off too.

Give this a go for a light summer change! ...just watch the amount of curry paste you put in...

p.s. Donna Hay's photo looks much better so definitely click on the recipe link above to see how the professions make it look. hmmm...still dreaming of that fancy camera and fluorescent lights and some crockery to spruce things up... I'm just always so hungry when it's time for dinner... I guess patience is a virtue.

Soba Noodle Salad with broccoli, chicken and toasted nori by Karen Martini.

Oh my goodness it's Sunday already!!??

It's been a beautiful weekend of weather and what more to celebrate summer on it's way than salads!!

I love a good salad. I'd been eye-ing off this recipe for ages but always went past it because of the sauce it used which I could never find in the super market and the fact that it used cooked roast chicken. I don't know how often you have left over roast chicken in your house but I don't have it often so the leftovers are always minimal.

But you know... who's going to stop me from roasting a couple of chicken breasts and shredding them especially for the salad. It's not hard work. Turn the oven on, place 2 chicken breast on a baking tray with some olive oil, salt and pepper and cook for 45 min. Done.

SO with no more excuses I finally made the soba noodle salad with broccoli, chicken and toasted nori from Karen Martini's Feasting cookbook that I'd been wanting to make for ages. Actually there are so many dishes in the book that I want to make but the book is set out as huge feasts and all of the dishes feed alot of people. Yes I know I can cut the down and halve them but it's hard when I'm menu planning for the week to grab a book that has all these beautiful large feasts in it when I'm looking for a quick midweek meal. But I was wrong about this book. I was pleasantly surprised that the recipe I chose was easy and didn't take that long, it was a perfect midweek meal with leftovers for lunch the following day (the nori sheets went a little soft but the flavours were maybe even better).

The recipe calls for ponzu... yeh I didn't know what that was either so I googled it while grocery shopping and it doesn't seem like it would be too hard to find in a well stocked supermarket but the one I go to is being renovated at the moment so is not so great. But here's hoping it gets better! When I couldn't find ponzu on the shelves I googled how to make it and I came across a few recipes that required reduced master stock and other fancy ingredients only available form asian grocery stores and nothing could help me in my supermarket dilema. Then I found a simple version here. What did I have to loose? If it tasted bad then I wouldn't use it and we'd make something else up instead and if it did then I could feel like a ponzu genius.

I felt like a ponzu genius.

The whole salad was super yummy. It impressed me so much how all the flavours worked together and how fresh and delicious it all tasted. YUM. I will definitely do this again soon now that I know how easy and tasty it is. Plus I feel that it's pretty healthy too... correct me if I'm not though.

It felt healthy anyway :)

A great recipe for when you have the girls over because you can have it already to go then add the nori sheets and dress it right before you serve and there is no excess cooking while people are over. And you can fell healthy eating it so the ice cream after doesn't make you feel too guilty :)

Soba Noodle Salad with broccoli, chicken and toasted nori

serves 4

recipe adapted from Karen Martini's cookbook 'Feasting' - find original recipe on here

2 chicken breasts

2 tbsp olive oil

pinch of salt & pepper

(or 400g leftover roast chicken, shredded)

300g dried soba noodles

1 head broccoli, cut into florets

2 tbsp sesame seeds

2 tsp sesame oil

60ml soy sauce

30ml rice wine vinegar

30ml cup lime juice

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 heaped tsp jarred grated ginger

5 spring onions, finely sliced

1 sheet of toasted nori, roughly ripped into shreds

- Preheat your oven to 200 C or 400 F.

- Drizzle olive oil over chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on a baking tray and bake for 30-45 minute or until cooked through. Remove from the oven and cover with foil to keep in the juices.

- Go and do something else fun for a little while so it can cool down a little (or prep everything else so it's all ready to do).

- Combine the sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, extra virgin olive oil and ginger in a large bowl (your will eventually put everything in this bowl - the bigger the better).

- Cook the soba noodles according to packet instructions (mine took about 3-4 minutes), drain and refresh under cold water.

- Cook the broccoli for 2 minutes and then drain, rinsing under cold water.

- Shred the chicken breasts with two forks. 

- Place chicken, noodles, broccoli, spring onions into the bowl with all the sauces and top with nori.

- Serve cold or at room temperature.

Nigella Lawson's Coq au Riesling from Nigella Express.

I love simple every day ingredients coming together and making that delicious dinner that reminds you of home. Who can go wrong with chicken, white wine, bacon, garlic and mushrooms?? Ok maybe a vegetarian but they are seriously good together. Add buttered pasta and holey moley look at what you have just created for dinner.

Last night I made Nigella Lawson's Coq au Riesling from her cookbook Nigella Express. This book does make you think from the name of the book that its all express dinners and in some ways it is. There are recipes that take 10 minutes to prepare from start to finish and then some like the one I cooked last night which are super quick to start then all you do is leave it for 30 minutes cooking, while if you're like me go and have a shower after a sticky day at work then when you get out and get in your jimmy-jams your dinner is nearly ready. I'm sure I say this all the time but I love meals like that!

I have this problem though where I like to keep adding ingredients when I cook by myself... especially if I'm the only one eating it like tonight (I made Nigella's recipe yesterday). I am writing this and I feel like I could kill the next person to walk in the apartment with my garlic breath. I even tried to eat something sweet after to cancel it out and all these lovely shortbread biscuits tasted like were garlic shortbread... yuk! Getting back on track... I struggle with recipes that don't require many ingredients and I feel I keep having to say to myself 'trust the recipe Dani... trust the recipe!' because otherwise I'll try and add an onion to everything or find some dried herbs in the cupboard or if I'm feeling really adventurous I'll find some jarred goodies in the fridge and sometimes it works but on those rare occasions (like tonight)... I fail. But it just shows that we are all human and we can all learn from mistakes.... mine tonight is no raw garlic chunks in carrot salad. On the plus side - if a vampire tries to get me tonight I'm safe! (or is that onions?)

Anyway this recipe I made last night was so good and I trusted what Nigella told me to do and didn't add anything extra. I did however not have garlic oil but I've seen on youtube clips that if you add whole cloves of garlic to oil and heat the oil it makes a kind of instant garlic oil. I left the whole garlic cloves in there and then fished them out and gave them to Tristan when I served up. And used a pinch of dried dill to garnish instead of fresh. It was so much yummier than my disaster of a dinner tonight. It was chickeny and winey and smokey from the bacon and you all know how much I love pasta! This weeks shape was casarecce which is like curled slightly twisted tubes. I loved them. One of my favourite shapes yet!

Try this recipe below. It's super easy, simple and very tasty! An all round winner in my books :) And trust the recipe!!!! TRUST THE RECIPE!

Nigella Lawson's Coq au Riesling from Nigella Express.

serves 3
(Original recipe here. The recipe below has been adapted slightly to feed 2 people plus one lunch)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
100g streaky bacon, diced
1 leek, finely sliced
4 boneless chicken thighs, chopped into large-ish chunks
2 small bay leaves
250g button mushrooms, roughly torn into pieces
500mL dry white wine
salt and pepper to taste
400g casarecce pasta (or any type of pasta you like)

- Heat the oil in a casserole pot and add garlic cloves and bacon. Fry for 3-4 minutes on a medium heat.

- Add the leek to the pan and cook for 1 minute to soften.

- Add chicken pieces, bay leaves and mushrooms to the pan. Mix everything through then add your white wine.

- Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer then cook for 30 minutes covered.

- Cook pasta according to packet instructions or until al dente. Put a knob of butter over the piping hot pasta and mix through.

- Taste the chicken and sauce then season with salt and pepper.

- Serve the Coq au Riesling on top of the buttered pasta and then sprinkle a pinch of dried dill (fresh would be better but I only had dried) on top.

Nigella Lawson 's Italian Traybake from Nigellissima.

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again"

Remember that saying? Also remember my chicken tray bakes that take forever to cook and we end up eating at midnight or serving raw chicken to a dinner quest? Well... guess what?! I have not been put off by a chicken tray back. Nope. And all my efforts paid off!

SUCCESS!!! Wahhoooooooooo

This week I chose Nigella Lawson's Italian Traybake from Nigellissima. I was only serving two for dinner so halved the amount of meat in the recipe and made sure I didn't over fill my baking tray. No double layers, everything on a single layer. I pre-heated my oven as soon as I got in from work. And I left it in the oven for an hour, turning half way through. I cut my potatoes to the size the recipe told me to and butterflied my sausages. I was going to make this fail safe.

We had fluffy roast potatoes and chicken thighs that fell apart and sausages that had gnarly little crunchy bits on them. Soooo Delicious! Oh how I've missed fluffy roast potatoes. They were crunchy and soft and YUM!

I should have trusted Nigella first... She was one of my first true food hero's and her recipes always seem to impress! Her book 'How to be a Domestic Goddess' was the first Cookbook I stole from my mother and I still have that copy today. Oh I do love her and her dramatic and colourful ways of describing ingredients when she cooks.

 I found this recipe on her Nigellissima App....this weeks meal planning was pretty shocking. I worked an extra day this week and was totally not organised, so on my way home while I was stuck in traffic I meal planned. Yes I know... very illegal but I was a hungry woman who was stuck in a fogging up car in the pouring rain with a window half open getting a wet arm on a mission... who still had to face the supermarket. Most of the recipes I found online, knowing I had the books at home. There are so many good recipes online but I have thousands of pages sitting in my living room waiting to be cooked from and shared with you lovely readers. So I tried my best to find recipes that were from books I was yet to share with you. There are still so many recipes and meals and food I want to make and blog about. If time and money weren't an option I would eat like a king every meal (ok I defiantly want a dishwater too... or washing up wench). I would also probably be the size of a house...

I definitely recommend this meal as a mid week dinner you can quickly throw everything together in a baking dish, chuck it in the oven while you have a shower or get comfy and an hour later you have a mini roast dinner. The only addition I would add is some garlic cloves chucked in there in their skins so they get soft and mellow.

Yay so excited a tray bake worked!! (photo looks like it was a little burnt but I swear I wasn't!).   It proves the saying right... keep trying (or traybaking) and eventually you'll get it right. Tristan was also pretty happy eating at a decent time and everything was cooked :)

Nigella Lawson's Italian Traybake from Nigellissimia.

serves 2

(recipe adapted slightly)

500g potatoes, cut into 2cm chunck

4 chicken thighs, deboned

3 italian sausages, butterflied

4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

1 lemon, zest

Salt and Pepper

olive oil

PRHEAT YOUR OVEN! 220°C or 400°F.
(if your oven is fan forced you make not need it on so high)

- Line the very base of your baking tray with foil or baking paper.

- Arrange your chopped potatoes, chicken thighs sausages in your baking tray. Make sure nothing is overlapping or on top of each other. If it is, split everything between two baking trays.

- Finely chop half the rosemary leaves and sprinkle over the chicken. Place the other sprigs of rosemary around the tray.

 - Zest the lemon over everything and give it all a good helping of salt and pepper.

- Finally drizzle with some olive oil and bung it in the oven for 1 hour or until everything is cooked through and the potatoes have a fluffy centre. If your oven is an uneven cooker (like mine) turn it half way through.

ENJOY!