Baked Green Chicken

An odd name I know!

My husband has a dislike for parsley and the garden is producing mountains of it just now so I need to sneak it in to as many things as I can! When he saw this before it was baked the shade of green made him call it Hulk chicken, it is that green!

You can barbecue this chicken too, it has fabulous flavour for such simple ingredients.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

1.8kg chicken pieces, bone in, skin on

2 lemons, juiced

4-5 cloves garlic, chopped

a big bunch of fresh parsley

30mls olive oil

salt and pepper

Method

Combine all of the ingredients, except the chicken, in a food processor and whizz until you have a thick but pourable paste, you may need to add a little more oil.

Place the chicken in a large bowl and pour over the marinade, use your hands to cover all of the chicken in green, leave to marinade for 30 minutes if you have time.

Preaheat the oven to 190 degrees centigrade and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Place the chicken skin side up on the tray, pour over any remaining marinade, and slide into the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes and then baste with the pan juices, do this a few times until the chicken is fully cooked and the skin is crispy.

Chicken, Chorizo and Potato

I am a huge fan of one pot wonders and this is certainly a winner. The stock cooks right down so you have an amazingly flavoured sauce that the lemon juice, added at the end, makes extra zingy!

I had chicken breasts for this but you can use what ever you have, thighs work very well too, I cut each breast into three long pieces.

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

30mls olive oil

400g mild chorizo, skin removed and sliced finely

3 large onions, sliced

1.5kg skinless chicken

2 pinches chilli flakes

4 garlic cloves, finely sliced

1kg baby potatoes

750mls chicken stock

1 lemon, juiced

2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

Method

You need a big shallow pan with a tight fitting lid.

Heat the oil in your pan and fry the chorizo until it begins to crisp up, remove with a slotted spoon.

Add the onions to the pan and cook until soft, add the chilli flakes and garlic and cook until fragrant.

Add the chicken to the pan and stir often until the chicken has sealed.

Pour the stock and potatoes into the pan, cover, bring up to the boil and then allow to simmer, covered for 20minutes.

Remove the lid and cook the liquid down until it is quite syrupy.

Return the chorizo to the pan, allow to warm through.

Pour in the lemon juice, stir well and then sprinkle over the parsley.

Pomegranate Lamb Chops

Known as caveman food in our house, these chops have to be eaten with you hands for complete enjoyment and satisfaction!

By cooking these in a very hot oven you get a lovely spicy crust on the outside that I think goes rather well with the garlicky green dressing.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

850g lamb chops

3 large garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

3 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

DRESSING

100mls olive oil

1 garlic clove

small bunch fresh parsley, leaves picked

2 large stalks of fresh oregano, leaves picked

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

Method

Combine all of the lamb ingredients and leave to marinade in the fridge for 8-24 hours.

When you are ready to cook, take the lamb out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking.

Preheat the oven as high as it goes, I cook these at 240 degrees Centigrade.

Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Lay the chops on the prepared tray and pour over any excess marinade.

Pop the tray into the oven and bake for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of your chops, the meat in the photo baked for 10 minutes.

While the chops bake process the dressing ingredients to form a thick green dressing.

Once the chops are cooked, allow to rest for 5 minutes and then plate them up with the dressing poured over the top.

 

 

Herby Prawns

These are ridiculously tasty! You HAVE to eat these with your fingers as part of the enjoyment is the finger licking at the end!

I use shell on prawns, I then remove the shell, leaving the tail on, remove the vein and then butterfly the prawns to maximise the surface area for the marinade to cover.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

1kg prawns, shells removed, deveined and butterflied

120mls olive oil

3 garlic cloves

handful fresh parsley

handful fresh oregano

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 2 lemons

salt and pepper

Method

Process the oil, garlic, parsley, oregano, zest, juice, salt and pepper.

Combine the prawns and dressing in a large bowl and allow to marinade for 30 minutes.

Cook in a frying pan or on the barbecue flat plate over high heat until the prawn meat is cooked through.

Serve immediately.

Spinach and Lentil Salad With Apple and Persian Feta

Another favourite salad that is surprisingly filling thanks to the lentils.

You can use tinned lentils if you prefer, probably two tins, drained and rinsed well.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

100g dried brown lentils

200g baby spinach leaves

1 Granny Smith apple, finely sliced

100g Persian marinated feta

4 tablespoons oil from the feta

zest of a small lemon

2 teaspoons lemon juice

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped roughly

Method

Pour the lentils into a pan and cover with at least double depth of water.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 35-45 minutes until cooked through but not squishy.

Drain in a colander and then run cold water over them to cool down quickly. Set aside to drain completely.

Make the dressing, combine the oil from the feta, lemon juice, rind, salt and pepper.

Plate up the salad, spinach followed by lentils, apple and then feta.

Drizzle over the dressing and then sprinkle with the fresh dill.

Cajun Spice Chicken Wings With Lemon

Loved by everyone, these little wings are are very moreish!

Great cooked in the oven or on the BBQ and eaten with fingers!

I make my own spice rub so I’ve popped the recipe below for reference, this makes 2 jars of rub that lasts for 3 months. Super with any BBQ meat, fish and potatoes.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

1.2 kg chicken wings, each cut in two

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons Cajun spice rub

1 lemon, juice and zest

Method

Combine the ingredients in a bowl and allow to marinade for 2-24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade and line two baking trays with baking parchment.

Spread the wings over the sheets and bake for 40mins.

Cajun Spice Rub Ingredients

6 tablespoons sweet paprika

2 tablespoons smoked sweet paprika

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper, ground

4 tablespoons ground pepper

6 tablespoons garlic powder

3 tablespoons onion powder

6 tablespoons salt

4 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons dried thyme

Method

Its so easy, just mix everything in a large bowl and pour into  jars.

Keeps for 3 months in an airtight jar.

Prawns with Chorizo, Garlic and Thyme

This is a simple barbecue or pan cooked bowl of deliciousness for nibbles or a starter.

There is no added oil and the flavours of the chorizo and prawns are brought together beautifully with a few wedges of lemon to squeeze over.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

800g peeled prawns, tails still attached

200g chorizo, sliced thinly on the diagonal

2 cloves garlic, sliced

small bunch of thyme, leaves picked

lemon wedges to serve

Method

Heat a non stick frying pan or barbecue plate over a medium to high heat.

Add the chorizo and cook until crispy on both sides, set aside.

Add the garlic and prawns and cook until the prawns are cooked through, nice and pink.

Return the chorizo to the pan or barbecue, add the thyme leaves and toss with the prawns.

Spoon into a serving dish and serve with lemon slices.

Spiced Boiled Prawns

I love prawns at this time of year, the hot weather really lends itself to easy food, served at room temperature.

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

1.5kg prawns, heads removed and shells on

4 tablespoons salt

4 teaspoons coriander seeds

3 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon all spice berries

12 whole cloves

8 black peppercorns

6 bay leaves

2 lemons

Method

Make a bouquet garni with the whole spices, except the peppercorns and  bay leaves. Take a large square of muslin, fold over twice to make a smaller square, fill with the spices and tie off with some cotton cooking twine.

Fill a large pan with litres of water.

Cut the lemon in half, squeeze the juice into the pan and add the lemon halves.

Add the peppercorns and bay leaves to the pan.

Add the bouquet garni and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for 15mins until the water has coloured a little from the spices.

Add the prawns and turn off the heat, cover the pan and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Drain and allow to cool.

Serve with lemon wedges.

 

Pan Fried Chicken with Lemon and Garlic

I love this recipe!

It’s simple but the flavours are amazing, the left over fat can go on to make gorgeous roast potatoes and the bones and pan juices make a fantastic stock base for soup or risotto.

I buy a whole chicken and joint it myself, investing in a really good cleaver and poultry shears has helped, with the added bonus of threatening the boys with a cleaver and laughing hysterically keeps them on their toes!

When I joint the chook I do keep the raw bones, bagged and labelled, they go in the freezer classed as raw bones for the next time I’m making a raw bone stock.

If you don’t fancy chopping up a bird just buy pieces with bones in and skin on.

This serves 4-6 depending on appetites and side dishes.

Ingredients

1×1.8-2kg chicken, jointed into 10 pieces

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

50mls olive oil

50g butter

250mls white wine

1 lemon, cut into 10 wedges, pips  removed

6 cloves of garlic, skin removed, whole

5-10g chopped parsley

Method

Rub the salt and pepper all over the chicken.

In a large frying pan with a tight fitting lid, melt the olive oil and butter.

Once hot, add the chicken pieces skin side down.

Fry for 10mins until turning golden brown, turn them over and fry for 15mins.

Turn  them again and cook for a further 10mins.

Finally turn one last time and cook for 10mins.

Now, remove the chicken and set aside.

Drain all of the fat into a heatproof bowl, keep for roast tatties.

Pour the wine into the pan and scrape all of the burnt on gooey bits, to form a sauce, over a high heat.

Return the chicken to the pan and add the lemon and garlic, cover wih the lid and cook over medium heat for 10mins.

Remove the lid and sprinkle with the parsley.

 

 

 

Lemon and Ginger Pie

This tastes delicious and is really easy to make.

The slice of pie in the picture is from a HUGE pie I made, 30cm diameter. That pie served 16-18! It is quite rich so thinner slices are the way to go, you can always come back for more!

I use gluten free ginger biscuits, if you don’t need to use them just use regular ginger snaps.

This recipe makes a 22.5cm diameter pie in a loose bottomed tin, that should serve 8-10.

Ingredients

155g packet gluten free ginger biscuits

75g butter, melted

150mls whipping cream

395g tin sweetened condensed milk

90mls fresh lemon juice

rind of 1 lemon, finely grated

Method

Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag, I like to whack them with the rolling pin, very satisfying!

Pour the biscuit crumbs into a bowl, add the butter and mix very well.

Line the tin base with the biscuit mix, push well down using the back of a spoon.

In a large bowl  whip the cream until forming stiff peaks.

Now fold in the condensed milk, it will look very runny!

Add the lemon juice and rind, fold in gently, it will thicken.

Pour the lemon cream on to the biscuit base.

Chill for at least 6 hours, overnight is even better.

To serve, remove the tin side.

Gently slide off the base onto your serving plate or to be honest, I quite often leave the base in place and just apologise for the metal being visible! All will be forgiven once your diners have had a taste of this!