Roast chicken thighs, mediterranean veg pasta bake

The veg box arrives in two days, so we're using up what's in the fridge.

Chicken thighs
Olive oil
Chicken run

Onion
Garlic
Aubergine
Courgettes
Tomatoes
Red pepper
Passata

Pasta
Pecorino

Mixed leaves

1.  Drizzle chicken thighs with olive oil and rub in chicken rubs, roast at 180 for about an hour.
2.  Sautee finely chopped onion, crushed garlic in olive oil.
3.  Chop all other veg into small cubes and add into the onions and garlic, fry until a bit soft.
4.  Add passata and water, simmer until veg is soft - about 40 minutes.
5.  Meanwhile, make pasta according to packet instructions.
6.  Drain pasta, add to sauce, transfer to oven dish.
7.  Top with grated pecorino, and pop in the oven to melt.
8.  Serve, with a green salad, scoff.

Chicken tikka, potato, cauliflower and red pepper tray bake - with onion bhajis

Chicken thighs in the freezer - a random jar of tandoori tikka masala sauce in the cupboard - some potatoes and a cauliflower in the veg box ... Tah dah!  Also, luckily the last veg box left us with quite a few onions and I had a bag of gram flour ... so - it was almost as if I had planned it.

Chicken thighs
Tandoori masala cook in sauce
Olive oil
Potatoes
Cauliflower
Red pepper


Onions
Salt
Chilli flakes
Fennel seeds
Bicarbonate of soda
Gram flour
Sunflower oil

1.  Marinade the chicken thighs in masala mix - mine was from a jar - which is unusual - but it was using up what was in the cupboard!  Leave for a couple of hours.
2.  Into an oven dish, with a little oil on the bottom, add cubed potatoes, cauliflower florets and red pepper chopped into biggish pieces.
3.  Mix the veg together in an oven dish/tray.
4.  Plonk the marinated chicken thighs in and between the veg - and mix up gently.
5.  Roast it all for about 45 minutes - an hour at 180.  Mix through a couple of times.
6.  Prepare onions - remove skin - cut into half moons - shake into a bowl.  Add a teaspoon of salt and shake through the onions.  This will release some moisture, and soften the harsh flavours.
7.  To the onions add chilli flakes, fennel seeds, onion seeds (whatever you think might work) and toss about a bit.
8.   To the onion mixture add a scant tsp of bicarb, a handful of gram flour and mix together.
9.  Heat sunflower oil in a pan and fry the onion mixture in hot oil, in small spoonfuls, for 30 se onds - to a minute-ish on each side - drain on kitchen paper.
10. Serve, scoff ... delish..

Fried chicken, potato wedges, salad with wild garlic tzatziki

Lots of wild garlic around at the moment - I keep smelling it, but I can't find it!  However, a lovely neighbour dropped some off yesterday, so I made it into wild garlic tzatziki to have with our fried chicken and wedges.

Potatoes
Olive oil
Chicken thighs
Natural yoghurt
fried chicken seasoning (or make your own using flour, herbs and spices)
sunflower oil
salad leaves
cucumber
lemon juice
wild garlic

1.  Wash potatoes and chop into wedges, toss in olive oil and bake for about an hour.
2.  Toss chicken thighs in yogurt, then in the seasoning.  Fry on each side for 5 minutes, until coloured.  Transfer to a drying rack on top of a roasting tray - put in the oven to cook through, for about 20 minutes.
3.  To more natural yogurt add a drizzle of olive oil, a squirt of lemon juice, a pinch of salt, chopped cucumber and finely chopped wild garlic.
4.  Serve, with salad ... scoff

Chicken Korma, Chicken Tikka Masalla, Allo Gobi and Tarka Dahl - for movie night

 Tonight's film choice was A Theory of Everything - the story of Stephen Hawkings.   Did you know that curry was Professor Hawkings' favourite food?  No, neither did I!

So, curry it was - chicken two ways - Korma for the lactose intolerant,  tikka masala for the veg dodger, aloo gobi and tarka dhal for the veggie, and brown rice for all.

Lucky me - I can have all of it!

Chicken thighs
Tikka masala spices
Natural yogurt

Olive oil
Ground almonds
Cashew nuts (ground)
Onion
garlic
Brown basmati rice
red lentils
mustard seeds
coriander seeds
cumin seeds
urid dhal
turmeric
garam masala
chilli flakes
veg stock
potatoes
cauliflower
chopped tomatoes
curry leaves

1.  Marinate the chicken thighs.  Mix tandoori spices with natural yogurt and a little olive oil.   Massage into chicken.   Sautee onion and garlic with a little garam masala, add ground nuts - pour over the other dish of chicken thighs.
2.  Start the rice and lentils, cover both in an inch over the surface with water and bring to the simmer.  When the rice starts simmering, slam on a tight lid and put it in a medium oven until everything else is ready.  Watch the lentils, add more water if needed and keep simmering.
3.  Put the chicken thighs in to roast.
4.  Start the aloo gobi by sauteeing chopped onion and garlic, add spices (mustard, cumin and coriander seeds, urid dhal, turmeric and a pinch of chilli flakes).  Add cubes of peeled potatoes and cauliflower florets, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a cup of veg stock.  Simmer for about 20 minutes, add more liquid if needed.
5.  Magically everything should just about be done - so make the tarka by heating spice seeds and curry leaves in a little olive oil and fling onto the dhal.
6.  Serve, scoff … enjoy the film

Everybody had seconds - the veg dodger had thirds - and we all loved the film.