Chicken and Butter Bean Casserole

Today seemed the perfect opportunity to make a rich, warming casserole to use up lots of things I had in the fridge and cupboard. We ate this with boiled potatoes which I think are seriously underrated. I love the fluffy texture of and they’re healthier than butter and milk loaded mash.

Ingredients:

• 600g skinless and boneless chicken thighs
• 2 carrots
• 1 large white onion
• 3 sticks of celery
• 1 red pepper
• 1 tin of butter beans (drained)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (best quality)
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 large glass white wine (optional)
• 2 chicken stock cubes (we recommend Knorr)
• 1 pint boiling water
• Olive oil for frying
• Salt and fresh black pepper

Method:

Start by preparing the ingredients so you’re ready to go!

• Finely dice the onion, carrot and celery (this is called a mirepoix and makes the base of lots of classic recipes). Take the time to ensure everything is diced finely and evenly so everything cooks at the same time; it’s worth the extra effort and is actually quite therapeutic!
• Finely slice the garlic and roughly chop the pepper.
• Season the chicken all over with salt and black pepper.
• Drain the beans and open the tin of tomatoes.

Now for the cooking…

• Heat some oil in a large frying pan then add the chicken, keeping it on a high heat. Fry the chicken for 5 minutes then turn over; the chicken should be golden on the outside. Transfer the chicken to a plate and reduce the heat.
• Add the mirepoix (see above) to the pan and fry gently for 12-15 minutes, stirring every so often.
• Put the chicken back in to the pan, then add the red pepper, paprika and garlic.
• If you have some leftover wine, turn up the heat and add it now, letting it bubble for a minute or two to burn off the alcohol.
• Now add everything else! So in go the tomatoes, beans, stock cubes, water, oregano and bay leaf.

Options for the rest of the cooking time.

1. Transfer the whole thing to a slow cooker and cook on high for about 3 hours,
2. Leave it in the pan. Cover with a lid and cook very gently on the hob for an hour, or
3. Use an oven proof frying pan or transfer to a dish and cook in the oven at around gas mark 5, 190 degrees for an hour.

Cabbage Rolls

This is simple, nutritious and great value. It’s also a welcome side step from the usual mince recipes like chilli or cottage pie. You can use pork or beef mince and adapt the sauce with flavours of your own like garlic or fresh green herbs. Here’s the recipe I like!

Ingredients:

• 1 savoy cabbage
• 500g beef or pork mince
• 1 mug of basmati rice
• Half a teaspoon nutmeg
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 x 500g cartons or jars of passata
• 1 medium red chilli

Method:

For the rolls:

• In a large saucepan, pour out a mug of rice and add two mugs of boiling water. Put a lid on and turn up the heat for a minute, then turn the heat down simmer for 5 minutes. Now take the pan off the heat, leaving the lid on and don’t touch it! The rice will continue to steam and should separate out nicely! (If you’re short on time or not confident about doing that, you can use 3 of the pre-cooked packets of basmati instead.)
• Prepare the cabbage by gently pull away the leaves, keeping them as intact as possible! I find it easiest to make incisions at the base of the cabbage using a sharp knife – this helps the leaves come away whole.
• Boil a big pan of salted water and drop in the cabbage leaves a few at a time. Cook for 2 minutes then remove from the pan and set aside on to a plate.
• Once the rice has cooked and cooled, combine with the mince, nutmeg and a big pinch of salt and black pepper. You can also add other flavours here if you want to; try finely chopped onions, peppers or even chopped nuts.
• Spoon a tablespoon of the mixture in to the centre of each cabbage leaf and wrap it around the filling. It doesn’t have to be neat but it does have to wrap all the way round so take some filling out if you need to.

Steam the rolls for 15 minutes. They are now cooked and can be eaten plain, but I like to accompany with a smooth, spicy sauce.

For the sauce:

• To make the sauce, simply add touch of olive oil and a chopped a chilli (seeds in or out) to a frying pan and fry gently for a few minutes.
• Add the passata and season well with salt, black pepper. Add a pinch of sugar and and a teaspoon of white wine vinegar then simmer for at least 10 minutes.

To serve:

 

You can serve this any way you like, but I usually pour half the sauce out in to a roasting dish then put the rolls on top of the sauce. Pour over the rest, cover and bake for 20 minutes. Alternatively, you can pour the sauce out on to a big platter then put the rolls on top; the colour contrast is fantastic. Either way, they’re just so simple and satisfying! I served some garlicky green beans on the side for crunch and extra flavour.

Tomato and Feta Salad with Herby Dressing

I tend to make variations of this salad all the time, but I thought this particular one was blog worthy! There is a great range of vinegars in the supermarket these days, and because they’re inexpensive, you can have a whole variety in your cupboards without spending very much. Sherry vinegar is lovely in place of white wine vinegar in this recipe.

Ingredients:

• Large handful of cherry or baby plum tomatoes
• Half a block of feta
• Half a red onion, very thinly sliced
• 4 or 5 sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 3/4 shallots
• Small handful of fresh mint
• Small handful of flat leaf parsley
• Tablespoon of capers
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

• To make the dressing, combine the oil and vinegar with the mustard and a couple of twists of black pepper then set aside.
• Peel and finely chop the shallots – it’s worth taking your time to do this properly 🙂
• Chop the herbs together and add to the dressing along with the shallots and capers. Combine well and taste to check the seasoning.
• Half the fresh tomatoes and place in the serving bowl with the sundried tomatoes and red onion. Crumble in the feta using your fingers to get a range of sizes which makes for a lovely texture.
• Dress the salad with your lovely herby dressing.
• Enjoy with pretty much anything (especially wine).

Try your own combination or experiment with green herbs to find your perfect version.

Meatloaf with Tomato Sauce

Meatloaf is a one pot, fuss free way to use up minced beef. I get bored of chilli and spag bol sometimes so this is a nice alternative which gives loads of great leftovers for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

• 500g steak mince
• 4 good quality pork sausages (skinned)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon chilli powder
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• Tablespoon salt
• Tablespoon black pepper

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees (gas mark 6).
• In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients then squash everything together with your hands until it’s thoroughly mixed.
• Tip the mixture out on to a board and use your hands to shape it in to a loaf then place in a close fitting dish or tin.

• For the sauce, chop a red chilli and two cloves of garlic as finely as you can, then fry gently for ¾ minutes until it starts to smell really nice.
• Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and simmer gently for about 15 minutes.
• Pour the sauce over the top of the meatloaf and cover with foil.

• Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, then remove the foil and cook for a further 15 minutes.
• It’s best to leave the meatloaf to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

I served with cous cous and a big salad!

Day 5 – Panzanella with Crispy Salami #7daysofsalad

It has been a hot, sunny day in Manchester – perfect BBQ weather!  I’ve only started making this salad recently, as I never liked the thought of the bread being soggy, but I totally changed my mind when I tasted my first bite in Spain recently (you can read about it here). Cold tomatoes (especially the ones we buy from the supermarket) really don’t taste very good, so it’s best to leave them out of the fridge altogether or bring tomato based salads out of the fridge once assembled. This works really well for a BBQ as you can make it before you start cooking the meat and it will be just right when you are ready to eat.

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Ingredients:

• 1 long baguette (the fresh supermarket ones are the best)
• 1 red onion
• 6/7 tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 6cm long piece of salami

Method:

• Chop the salami in to small chunks (about 1cmx1cm) and fry in a hot, dry pan for a few minutes or until they start to crisp up.
• Half the onion, peel away the outer layers and slice really thinly. Add to the bottom of a large serving bowl.
• Quarter the tomatoes (I didn’t remove the seeds) and add to the onions.
• Tear about half the baguette in to small chunks and throw in to the bowl.
• Add in the salami along with any of the tasty oil from the pan.
• Season with plenty of salt and black pepper and pour over the oil (salami can be salty so be sure to taste before adding too much).
• Mix everything together and cover.
• Leave the salad at room temperature for about an hour (or longer) so the bread can soak up the tomato juices and the oil. It’s also a good idea to mix it all up a couple of times.

We ate this earlier today with the rest of the baguette, grilled fennel and mackerel fillets (recipes coming later) – we were all very happy indeed!