Double Oregano Chicken

The oregano is growing like a weed in the garden just now so I am trying to come up with ways to use it up.

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

8 large chicken thighs, bone in, skin on

15g fresh oregano leaves

6 garlic cloves

12 sun dried tomato halves

5g fresh parsley leaves

2 tablespoons dried oregano

45mls olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method

Whizz all of the ingredients, except the chicken, in a food processor to give you a thick paste.

Smear the paste all over the chicken and pop into the fridge to marinade for 4-8 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade.

Place the chicken in a roasting tin, skin side up. Cover with foil and slide into the oven for thirty minutes.

After thirty minutes, remove the foil and baste the chicken with the pan juices, bake for a further 30-40 minutes, basting regularly, until the chicken is cooked through and well coloured.

Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken And Corn Burgers

During the school holidays we have been trying out new burger recipes and this one has been very popular with my boys so I am now making these burgers in the canteen of our local primary school.

These burgers freeze brilliantly so double the recipe, bake them, cool them and freeze them for another night.

This recipe has a gluten free option in the ingredients list too. Makes 6-8 burgers.

Ingredients

500g chicken thighs, minced

100g sweet corn kernals

60g grated cheese

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

a pinch of chilli powder

20g fresh breadcrumbs or 2 tablespoons potato starch

salt and pepper

Method

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.

Preheat the oven to 210 degrees centigrade and line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Fill a bowl with water, wet your hands and form the meat into six balls and the six patties, wetting your hands between each one.

Lay the patty onto the prepared baking sheet and using the palm of your hand flatten gently until 1cm thick. Repeat with the remaining patties and pop into the oven.

Bake for 15-20 miutes until cooked through and golden.

Paprika Chicken Skewers With Haloumi

Perth, Western Australia, has a heat wave coming this weekend! That will mean minimal cooking inside, lots of barbecuing and salads for us!

Get the kids involved in making these as it is a bit mind numbing! Make sure they have an apron on and no white shirts in sight as the paprika infused oil does not wash out easily!

Makes 22-26 skewers. Serves 6.

Ingredients

6 teaspoons smoked paprika

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

3 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2-1 teaspoon ground chilli

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

salt and pepper

60mls olive oil

1.2 kg skinless chicken thighs, fat removed and cut to 1cm dice

180g Haloumi, cut I to 20-30 cubes

1 large red onion, cut to 1-2cm pieces

Method

Combine all of the ingredients except Haloumi and onion in a large zip lock bag and leave in the fridge to marinade for 2-24 hours.

Soak your wooden skewers for 30 minutes.

Preheat the barbecue flat plate to medium hot.

Prepare your first skewer, I like to start with onion and then chicken, onion, chicken, onion, Haloumi, onion, chicken, onion, chicken, onion, but that’s just me!

Prepare all of the skewers and then pop them onto the barbecue and cook, turning regularly, until the chicken is cooked through.

The Ultimate Butter Chicken

  This is an absolute favourite in our house.

A long list of ingredients I know, but, they will reward you with an amazingly rich dish and lots of it! This freezes really well so I always make this large quantity to give me a night off another night.

Please note, the tomato paste is not a typo! I use a large jar of the triple strength paste that we can buy here in Australia. The tomato paste, paprika and Kashmiri chilli will give you the amazing colour so associated with butter chicken.

Start this recipe the day before.

Serves 12.

Ingredients

1.8kg chicken thighs, diced

250mls natural yoghurt

40mls lemon juice

2 tablespoons garam masala

4 teaspoons paprika

1 tablespoon ground cumin

50g fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated

100g ghee

2 onions, thinly sliced

4 large cloves garlic, minced

2 cinnamon sticks/quills

4 green cardamom pods, seeds removed and crushed

16 black peppercorns

1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder

2 teaspoons turmeric powder

3 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons brown sugar

80g raw cashew nuts

450mls cream

500mls tomato paste

250mls water

fresh coriander to serve

Method

In a large zip lock bag, combine the chicken, yogurt, lemon juice, garam masala, paprika, cumin and ginger. Seal the bag and give it a good squish around to make sure all of the chicken is covered. Pop in the fridge for 24hours.

In a large pan, I use a very large shallow pan,  heat the ghee.

Once hot add the cinnamon, cardamom seeds and black pepper, once fragrant add the chilli, turmeric, garlic and onions and cook over a medium heat until the onions are very soft, around 30mins.

Add the chicken and marinade to the pan, stir well.

Process the cashews and water, add to the chicken, along with the cream, tomato paste, salt and sugar.

Bring up to the boil and gently simmer for 30-40 mins until the sauce has reduced and thickened. Check the seasoning, you may want to add more salt and or sugar.

To serve, just sprinkle over a little fresh coriander.