Pot Roast Chicken with Chorizo, Leeks & Cider

It was my parents 41st wedding anniversary this past weekend and to celebrate I said I would cook them Sunday lunch.  I wanted something quick and easy yet still spectacular and this recipe from Rick Stein's Spain fitted the bill completely.

Pot Roasted Chicken with Chorizo, Leeks and Cider

Serves 4

1.75kg FR chicken

2 tbs olive oil

2 Chorizo cooking sausages, sliced

50g butter

700g leeks, sliced

300g baby carrots (I used chartenay), cleaned, topped and tailed

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Fresh thyme, 2 sprigs worth of leaves
2 fresh bay leaves
200ml dry cider (I used 300ml to get more sauce)
S&P

Set oven to 160oc/GM3.  Season chicken.  Heat oil in large lidded pan/casserole dish.  Brown the chicken all over, remove from pan.

Lower the heat and add to the pan the chorizo, butter, leeks, garlic, carrots, thyme and bay.  Cover and cook for 5 mins, until the leeks have softened.

Place the chicken back on top of the veg.  Pour over the cider, re-cover and pop in the oven for 1 hour.  Uncover and increase the oven temp to 200oc/GM6 and continue to cook for another 20 mins.

Remove from oven and lift the chicken out onto a serving plate, cover with foil and rest.

Place the veg on to the hob and at a fast simmer, bubble away for 5 mins to reduce the sauce, at this point it should be a lovely orange colour and will have thickened naturally, season with S&P if needed, we found the taste had really come together and concentrated.

Spoon the sauce around the chicken and serve with boiled new potatoes and green beans.

I really cannot believe how tender and juicy the chicken was, how intense the flavour of the veg/chorizo were with so few ingredients, it was a very special dish and utterly enjoyed by all.

Chicken & Pepper Pilaf

Here is a super easy one pot dish I got from http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/10216/One-pan%20Chicken%20&%20Pepper%20Pilaf the author janenicola1976's picture is far better than mine, (only had iphone to hand again!) so go check it out.  I changed it slightly to suit.

One-Pan Chicken & Pepper Pilaf

Serves 6

6 chicken thighs/drumsticks & 3 FR breasts (I only had the leggy bits) skin on.

240g jar English Provinder Hot Chilli Relish

2 tbsp Olive Oil

250g Chorizo, sliced
1 large red onions, sliced
2 red peppers, sliced
400g long grain rice
1tsp paprika
1/2tsp Cayenne pepper - my option
1 ltr chicken stock
400g tin chopped tomatoes
chopped parsley & lemon wedges to serve.

Marinate the chicken in the relish for 30 mins.
Heat the oil and lightly brown the chicken, remove to one side. 
Fry the chorizo until crispy, put aside with the chicken. 
Fry the onion on the chorizo oil, add the peppers cook a while then add the rice, paprika and cayenne, coat the rice fully in the oil.
Return the chorizo to the pan and add the stock and tomatoes, mix well.  Place the chicken on top and season.
Bring to the boil and then cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes until chicken and rice are cooked.
Serve with sprinkles of parsley and lemon wedges.

The relish gives the chicken a lovely spicy and sweet flavour.

Chorizo & Chickpea Stew with Broadbean & Dill Dip

What a weekend we just had, I call it the lost motorsport weekend.  First up there was the Le Mans 24 Hour race, followed by the Silverstone Moto GP and rounded off with the epic 5 1/2 hour Canadian F1 GP, where Jenson Button clashed into two cars, had 6 pit stops, one drive through penalty and went from last to win it in the last half lap.  Phew heady stuff going on, so I had to take a little break and do something calmer in the kitchen.

I had just downloaded The Guardian News app and found a lovely quick and easy recipe from Nigel Slater for Broadbean and Dill Dip.
 

1kg Broadbeans - once podded you are left with a measly 300g and once you have boiled them for 8 mins and then taken off their tough grey skins, you are left with about 200g.  Nigel's recipe calls for 400g.

3 tbs Olive Oil

Juice of half a lemon

Fresh dill, torn into fairly chunky fronds

S&P

With my de-podded, boiled and de-skinned broadbeans safely popped into the food processor, I blitzed them to a paste.  Then with the blender still going added the oil and the lemon juice, swiftly followed by a little seasoning.  Stir in the dill and serve with a drizzle of oil and some lightly toasted pitta breads.

A lovely fresh little dip.  It would probably have been a bit more punchy if I had used EVOO but I had none in the cupboard.  The 200g of beans were enough as a prelude to the main course.

Chorizo & Chickpea Stew

Serves 2-3 easily increased

Lovely Louise's signature dish for guests, a simple yet spectacular and very warming & hearty dish perfect on a cold, wet Sunday afternoon in front of the TV watching motorsport!

Half a ring of Chorizo no idea on weight but approx 14cm, cut in half length ways and chop in to 1cm chunks.

1 large onion, roughly chopped

400g tin Chopped tomatoes

400g tin of chickpeas

Tomato puree

Chilli flakes or fresh chilli's if you have them to taste.

Cumin

300ml chicken stock

Pop the chorizo and onion into a pan and fry, soften the onions and crisp up the chorizo, around 5 mins. Add the tomatoes and puree, a good squirt along with the chilli flakes approx 1 tsp and cumin approx 1tsp. Pour over the stock and simmer away till reduced slightly around 20mins.  Add the chickpeas and heat through.  Serve with chopped coriander (if you have it - I did not) and warmed flatbreads to mop up all the lovely juices.

Summer Chicken One-Pot

Well the Good Food Magazine June 2011 just leapt off the shelf at me this month, mainly due to the fabulous picture of this dish in the cover.  My One-Pot love continues.  Similar to the chicken & spring vegetable stew I posted a few weeks ago but just, if not more, delish.  I have made a few changes to suit what I had in the fridge at the time.

Summer Chicken One-Pot

Serve 4

8 chicken thighs

2 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp olive oil

8 rashers streaky bacon (I used smoked) - chopped

400ml chicken stock

250g new potatoes, halved

200g full-fat soft cheese (I used 100g lower fat soft cheese)

200g broad beans (I used frozen peas)

200g sweetcorn, fresh, frozen or in a can

200g cherry tomatoes (I had baby plum toms to hand)

Dust the chicken with flour seasoned with S&P and fry in the lidded pan until brown.  I found this a really good tip - usually when I brown chicken it gets stuck to the bottom of the pan, but using the flour I ended up with lovely crispy brown chicken and no sticking!  Remove from the pan and fry the bacon until crispy.

Return the chicken to the pan, add the stock, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the potatoes and cover again and continue simmering for another 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and potatoes tender.

Stir in the cheese, peas, tomatoes and sweetcorn, cook for a further 5 minutes and then serve.

Really bright and colourful, packed full of fresh flavour.  Another super easy one pot.

Lamb in a Pan

Whilst flicking through some of Mother's magazines I spied this receipe and it ticked all my boxes - easy, one pot dish, yummy looking - so I pinched it.  It came from the April 2011 issue of House Beautiful, but I have changed a few bits to suit 2 greedy people.

Roast Lamb with Summer Vegetables & Mint Pesto

500g Jersey new potatoes

500g lamb neck fillet, cut into chunky cubes

3 cloves garlic - chopped finely

1 small aubergine, cut into chunks

1 red pepper, deseeded and chunked

1 onion, chunky chopped

2 tbsp Olive Oil

S&P

For the Pesto

6 tbsp toasted roasted flaked almonds

Big bunch of fresh mint leaves

2 tsp Dijon mustard

4 tbsp Olive Oil

S&P

Place the potatoes, lamb, garlic, aubergine, red pepper and onion into a roasting pan, drizzle over the oil, season well and toss around to get everything coated.

Pop into an oven at 190oc/170oc fan and roast away for 45 minutes.

In the meantime, take your almonds, mint leaves and mustard and blitz in a blender, when a rough paste is achieved dribble in the oil whilst the machine is still whirring away, season to taste.  Plate up and serve the dollop of pesto over the top.

This really was easy and it looked special and was extremely tasty.  The mint pesto was so fresh and cut through the fatty lamb.  Next time I may add a few herbs to the roasting tin with the lamb, a sprig of fresh rosemary probably, just something to give it a little lift or may be even spike to pesto with something a little sharper, lemon maybe, just to give it a little zing.

Apologies for the piccys, only had my phone to hand!

Chicken & Spring Vegetable Stew

It was Hubby with low tolerance levels birthday on Tuesday.  I asked him what special dish he wanted me to cook for the big day - as usual the answer was lasagne, which I duely made.  The following day I said he could request another dish, he said "the chicken one with beans and a creamy sauce".  Well I went to bed that night racking my brains over what the heck that dish was, I certainly did not remember it, it was not one I had blogged before (my aid memoir).  During the night my brain worked it's little socks off and came up with the answer.  A dish I had probably not cooked in two years, but it had been a favourite, I hunted out the cook book, Good Food 101 One-Pot Dishes  and opened it to the following page:

Chicken and Spring Vegetable Stew

Serves 2

2 Chicken breasts, skin on - I had Corn Fed FR ones

1 tbsp olive oil

200g new potatoes, sliced

500ml chicken stock

200g mixed spring veg.  I chose brocoli, courgette, popped podded peas and broad beans, I also increased the quantity because they are super delish.

2 tbsp creme fraiche

handful of rough chopped fresh tarragon or 1/2 tsp dried.

Fry the chicken in the oil in a wide pan for 5 mins each side.  Add in the potatoes and coat in the oil.  Pour over the stock, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove the lid and turn the heat up, boil the stock down until it just coats the bottom of the pan.  Toss in the veg, cover and cook for about three mins.

Stir in the creme fraiche tarragon and season.

Serve.

Very simple, very tasty and jam packed full of delicious green spring veg.  Yummy, just how I remember it from two years ago, it was a favourite then and will be again now we have remembered and blogged it.  Praise be for hubby's brain/stomache or it may have been forgotten forever!

Hubby and his birthday lasagne!