Chicken thighs recipe roasted with red onions
Roast chicken thighs were never something I looked forward to, or could ever countenance as I prefer white chicken meat and always avoid brown. That was a fact until we tried this amazing recipe that was posted on the forum by Shereen, who lives near Belfast. She credits her sister in law, JennyB. Well congratulations to you both because you have converted this chicken thigh hater to a chicken thigh enthusiast. This is really is a wonderful and economical recipe that punches way above its weight. The thighs magically convert to white meat...
read moreHalogen oven chef: simple roast chicken and chips recipe
Yesterday, I sent Danny into town with £5 and carte blanche to “buy something tasty for supper”. You may agree that it is a bit of a risk to ask a man to choose my kind of treat (prawn with spaghetti, scampi and chips, a take away Indian meal for two for a fiver) but I didn’t really care what he brought back as long as he did the cooking. After poking around the meal deals at Waitrose, he plumped for chicken. A whole chicken. Not my idea of fast food, I must admit. “I just fancied chicken and chips,” he explained...
read moreThe slow cooker chef: Chicken and red pepper casserole recipe
The best piece of kitchen equipment that I bought in 2008 was my slow cooker. I found mine in a sale at Tesco and had no idea how much more flavoursome slow cooking can be. So why did I buy one? I had been seduced by Angela and the thought of slow cooked steak and kidney. Initially I reckoned that I would just use it in the winter but it’s used all year round now and saves us lots of cash as the electricity used to run it is minimal. And most things do taste better when they are slow cooked. Now I’ve got to grips with how to cook with...
read moreBest recipe for leftovers: orange and lemon chicken stir fry
This summer I stopped at the Marshalls stand at Hampton Court flower show and bought a selection of salad, radish, spring onion and stir fry leaves for a fiver. The overall saving was about £12 and I’m a bit of a sucker for a bargain. The seeds have been sown every few weeks and have done well. For the first time I have grown three varieties of pak choi, Shungiku, spicy greens, large mustard leaves and baby Chinese cabbage – the slugs have been particularly delighted with the latter. So we have an abundance of leaves crying out for a...
read moreBest quick and easy chicken breast recipe – cheat method
Chicken breasts are so fast and simple to convert into a meal. I once had them just sliced and grilled (broiled) for a few minutes, then popped into a toasted sandwich with mustard and mayo to make a deliciously fast supper. The downside is that they are basically flavourless outside of their natural home in a Sunday Lunch whole roast chicken. The trick is to either marinade them beforehand or add ingredients to add some zest. Danny here on Thu evening, giving Fiona a break after her trip to London yesterday. I touched on this in the...
read moreSpiced chicken liver salad recipe
“I’d like a bottle of white wine please. I’m going to try and tempt Danny with mussels tonight.” “Does he have a problem with them?” Enquired John. “When we first met we overdosed on them. But it has been eleven years and I spotted rope mussels on offer today. They looked so enticing.” “Surely after eleven years he’ll want to give them a go.” At the mention of mussels Danny’s face set quite still. “But we planned to have a warm chicken liver salad.” Within seconds he confirmed that he didn’t want to eat...
read moreChicken, bacon and spinach risotto with porcini mushrooms and white truffle recipe
Sometimes we pick up great bargains at Tesco. These are not in the CFC (Condemned Food Counter- our fun name for the soon to be out of date/ reduced item shelf) rather in baskets or on the shelves. These are deluxe items that are just not selling in our branch. A few months ago we discovered the wonder of Tesco Finest Tellicherry peppercorns. These were reduced to half price and were a real revelation. Luckily I bought two packs and when these run out I will be searching for them on line. Normal peppercorns are a feint whisper compared to...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: St Clements chicken, Romano pepper and rice noodle stir fry
Danny found some rice noodles on the condemned food counter at Tesco and we decided to try making a stir fry with some of the leftover St Clements chicken and gravy. This was really quick and easy to make and quite delicious. Packed with lots of subtle, summery flavours, the sweet Romano peppers balancing the citrus hints of the chicken. St Clements chicken, Romano pepper and rice noodle stir fry recipe (for 2) Ingredients: I large handful of cooked diced St Clement’s chicken 100 ml of left over gravy (from the St Clement’s chicken) 1...
read moreSunday roast: Chic St Clement’s roast chicken recipe
I think that a really good roast chicken with all the trimmings is my favourite Sunday roast. Last weekend I decided to firm up the idea that we had for St Clement’s chicken – stuffing the bird with oranges and lemons. It was delicious. Delicate, fragrant, summery and so easy. And it tasted wonderful – as if we had slaved for hours. The secret ingredient is adding the half teaspoon of chopped preserved lemons – these are essential. The recipe below is for a small chicken (1 kilo) so we only needed one orange and one lemon to pack...
read moreBest budget recipes for 50% or less: Warm chicken liver salad with chicory and pears
These are a collection of recipes inspired by cut price, soon to be out of date, supermarket food. I have discovered that this sort of shopping has made my cooking a lot more inventive and it’s really satisfying to create something delicious out of ingredients that would otherwise be destined for landfill. Many years ago I was very keen on a tall dark stranger that moved up to live with his sister in the vicinity. He invited me to lunch and made a wonderful warm chicken liver salad. I was so goofy and overawed that I was shy and...
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I made two litres of dog food by mistake
Recipe for meatballs and spaghetti with red wine, tomatoes and bell peppers. Foolproof slow cooker/crock pot recipes
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