Chicken and chorizo paella

Tired and emotional today. Without any liquid assistance I stress, just life, stresses and pressures. So, when I got home at 7 ish -I wanted something which wouldn't take too long, BUT was comforting, nutritious and had enough flavour to beat .. Steam it and eat it... So, remembering I had chorizo, and a chicken breast... Da dah! Chicken and. Chorizo paella. I have had a substantial bowlful, and I fully expect to pack at least 3 portions into pots for lunches...

Olive oil
I onion, chopped
2 inches chorizo, skinned & chopped
Celery .. 1 inch of bunch chopped, or 2 stalks, chopped
Red pepper chopped
2cloves garlic, crushed
1 chicken breast, in bite sized pieces
Rice -I used arborio.. But, whatever suits you
Stock, chicken in my case
Green beans
Mushrooms
Tin chopped tomatoes
Black olives
More water
Seasoning & chili flakes, to suit


Chuck onion and chorizo into big frying pan/Arellano pan/ shallow sauce pan.. And sautéed, add celery, stir. When chorizo starts releasing oil, keep heat up and start adding other ingredients. Stir so nothing burns. When nice and hot, chuck in chicken bits, and stir so they start coking on the outside, a tiny bit of colour is what you are looking for. Then chuck in rice, and stir until every grain has a tiny covering of yummy coloured oil. Chuck in stock, and other veg. Chuck in a little bit more than you think, stir.. Make sure nothing s sticking and keep the heat up. After a few mins stir again, add tin of chopped tomatoes, good sprinkle of chili flakes, and sliced black olives (if you like them). Stir, simmer. Don't fuss with it... Let it simmer over a low ish heat.. OK, stir gently, using spatula or similar to ease bits off the bottom of the pan which are in danger of sticking, otherwise try to leave it alone. When rice is done.. About 20 mins.. Taste it... And it's still a bit saucy turn heat off, and let it suck up juices for 5 minutes. Scoff. Obviously fresh parsley and zest of lemon would be a wonderful livened at the end.. But, come on.. It's a school night!

Chicken hotpot

What do you call it when you chop stuff up and cook it in a pan, and it includes potatoes... HOTPOT... well that;s my excuse for pretending this is a recipe!

olive oil
1 leek
Celery
Carrots
garlic
green beans
chicken breast
water
stock cube
mushrooms
potatoes
brocolli
Chili flakes, pinch of herbs
salt and pepper

Veg box due tomorrow - chicken breast in the fridge.  Chop, saute briefly "hard" veg - ie. leek, celery and carrot in olive oil, add bite sized chunks of chicken, saute again briefly until edges of chicken catch, chuck in cruched garlic and stir together.  Add chopped green beans, potato and mushrooms.  Add stock, stir and simmer, the add brocolli.  Simmer again, adding herbs and pinch of chili flakes.  When cooked, scoff.

what's in the fridge? pasta

Literally... home latish, hungry, and not wanting rubbish - what was in the fridge?  Well, leek, mushrooms, broccoli, blue cheese and natural yogurt... and a bit of ham.  So, cooked some pasta, started sauce predictable with leek in olive oil, then added mushrooms until leek a bit soft... then garlic, then broccoli florets... a cup of water to help it steam down.  After about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally added chopped ham and crumbled blue cheese.  Stirred in until "saucy".  Turned down.  When penne was cooked, drained and mixed in with sauce and 2 big spoons of natural yogurt.  Black pepper - scoff.  I had seconds - and there's lunch in a box in the fridge.  :)

Kitchen Fairies - upped sticks and moved

Chickpea curry

Cheap, cheerful, and everything in - no shopping required.  The veg is what I used - but could have been pretty much anything.

1 onion
tbsp olive oil
1 carrot
1 red pepper
handful of green beans
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp balti paste
2 potatoes
handful mushrooms
tin tomatoes
tin chickpeas
natural yogurt


1.  Chop onion and saute in oil.
2.  Add chopped carrot, red pepper and green beans, turn over in the oil.
3.  Add crushed garlic, 2 chopped tomatoes and curry paste, chuck in mushrooms and potatoes, turn over again for a couple of minutes.
4.  Add a tin of tomatoes, and a tin of water.
5.  Simmer for about 20 minutes, until veg are soft.  Taste, season...
6.  Drain and rinse chickpeas, chuck into curry, simmer again for a few minutes, add more water if it's drying out.
7.  Take off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes - chuck in some naatural yogurt.
8. Scoff, with rice.

Enough left for lots of work dinners... anyone want some?

Prawn curry

I am currently emptying the freezer.  There are many prawns in the freezer, because former primary victim is very fond, but rarely cooked, so a backlog has developed.

So what to make which I would enjoy ... prawn curry... treating what some people think is a big treat as a fairly bland protein source.  And, it worked... big style - have had seconds, which I rarely do!

Recipe:

1 leek, chopped
1 tbsp mild olive oil
1 red pepper
Handful of green beans
1 tbsp curry paste (tandoori in this case)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tin tomatoes
prawns (200g ish)

Method:

I defrosted the prawns,  don't suppose it's essential, but it was a ruse to make me use them!

1.  Saute leek in olive oil, add chopped pepper and green beans.
2.  When a little soft add curry paste and garlic and a cup of water - lid in and simmer until veg are softish.
3.  Add tin tomatoes, simmer for another 10 minutes.
4.  Add prawns, and simmer gently until heated through - about 3-4 minutes.
5.  Serve with rice/ naan.

Beetroot, apple, carrot, orange juice

Recipe?

2 small beetroot, 1 orange, 2 apples and 1 carrot.

Yum

uninspiring looking fish and rice (delicious)

Looks entirely ... yeah, whatever, do I have to eat that?  But was very tasty, and very cheap.

The fish I used was actually dab - but could have been any white fish in cajun(ish) marinade.  I mixed cajun seasoning, 1 clove crushed garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp yogurt ... chucked fish in and put in fridge for half an hour.

For the rice I chopped a small onion and 1 stick of celery, and fried in olive oil (quite hot, so that it caught a little bit, so got some caramelisation, but not much), added 1 cup of rice, and turned around so that every grain had a coating of oil/onion.... added veg stock, about a pint (just short of an inch above surface of rice), stirred in added 3 tbsp sweetcorn from a tin and a chopped red pepper from a jar.  Lid on, brought to boil - stuffed in simmering oven in Aga for about 20 mins (on hob, low
simmer for about 14 mins, if your oven is on... lowish oven for 20 mins +... in a microwave, about 6 mins)...

So, fish marinading, rice nearly done ... fry/grill fish in olive oil... make sure the oil is hot - or really hot grill.

Serve as glamorously as you can manage, with lemon.

Was very tasty.

Juice-tastic

Let's get this year started in the right fashion - 1 orange, 3 clementines, 1 ruby grapefruit, 2 apples ... yum ... that's gotta be good for me, right?

Mediterranean baked tilapia

Well, to call it a recipe a bit of a cheek - but healthy, quick and delicious.

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion
2 fillets tilapia
Tin tomatoes
Black olives
Frozen peas

1.  Slice half and onion into rings, put in the bottom of oven proof dish with splash of olive oil.
2.  Add fish, pour on tin chopped tomatoes, scatter on chopped olives.
3.  Baked for 20 minutes, add frozen peas, baked 5-10 more minutes
4.  Season with black pepper, squirt lemon juice if you fancy ... scoff.

Prep time - 2 minutes, cooking time 25ish minutes.