Jamie Oliver's Gorgeous Greek Chicken with Herby Vegetable Couscous and Tzatziki

I got Jamie's 15-Minute Meals for my birthday and have ear-marked more than a dozen recipes to try.  The meals are very easy and quick- maybe not 15 minutes- but still quick!  I used chicken thighs instead of breasts as we find thighs more succulent.  The recipe below is a slight variation to Jamie's.

Serves 4

Couscous

• 300g couscous
• 2 mixed-colour peppers
• 1 fresh red chilli
• 4 spring onions
• 200g frozen peas, cooked
• 1 small handful of black olives
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 40g feta cheese, crumbled

Chicken

• 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 1 heaped tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 lemon

Tzatziki

• 1/2 a cucumber, deseeded
• 250g fat-free natural yoghurt
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1/2 a bunch of fresh mint, chopped
• Pinch of pepper

Put half the oregano, allspice and finely grated lemon rind in an ovenproof dish.  Unroll the chicken thighs and place on top, then sprinkle on the remaining oregano, allspice and lemon rind.  Pop in the oven at 180C for 40 mins.

Put the couscous in a bowl with a pinch of salt, pour over boiling water so it is 1cm above the couscous and cover for 10 mins.  Deseed the peppers and chilli and put in a food processor with the onions.  Pulse until finely chopped.  Pour this veg until the couscous when it is cooked.  Stir and add the olives, cooked peas and feta.

Make the tzatzki by grating the cucumber into a bowl.  Squeeze out the excess water.  Stir in the yoghurt, lemon juice, pepper and chopped mint.  Serve.  I had enough couscous left over to take to work for lunch the next day :)

Lorraine Pascale's Pizza

I really enjoyed Lorraine Pascale's latest series.  She makes delicious looking recipes but at the same time makes them look achievable!  I always either buy pizza, or buy pizza dough mix but I thought I'd give making pizza dough from scratch a whirl.  The recipe can be found in her book Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food and she suggests some lovely toppings none of which I can remember right now! (I haven't got the book yet, hopefully the birthday fairy will be delivering it on Thursday!!!).

The basic recipe is

• 300g strong white bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 7g fast action yeast
• hole in middle
• 175ml water
• 3tbsp olive oil

Mix to form ball, knead 8-10 mins by hand, divide into 3 pieces.

I then rolled the dough out thinly on a floured work surface and topped with passata, peppers, ham and mozzarella. Pop on a non-stick tray in the oven for 10 minutes at 240C.  Verdict- kids and myself loved it, the base was much lighter than a bought pizza, I'll be experimenting with more adventurous toppings next time!

Lorraine Pascale's Pizza

I really enjoyed Lorraine Pascale's latest series.  She makes delicious looking recipes but at the same time makes them look achievable!  I always either buy pizza, or buy pizza dough mix but I thought I'd give making pizza dough from scratch a whirl.  The recipe can be found in her book Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food and she suggests some lovely toppings none of which I can remember right now! (I haven't got the book yet, hopefully the birthday fairy will be delivering it on Thursday!!!).

The basic recipe is

• 300g strong white bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 7g fast action yeast
• hole in middle
• 175ml water
• 3tbsp olive oil

Mix to form ball, knead 8-10 mins by hand, divide into 3 pieces.

I then rolled the dough out thinly on a floured work surface and topped with passata, peppers, ham and mozzarella. Pop on a non-stick tray in the oven for 10 minutes at 240C.  Verdict- kids and myself loved it, the base was much lighter than a bought pizza, I'll be experimenting with more adventurous toppings next time!

Griddled Halloumi with Roasted Vegetable Couscous

We're trying to cook at least one vegetarian meal a week at the moment and I remembered enjoying halloumi when my Mum cooked for us years ago so I thought I'd try it.  This is adapted from a recipe in my Good Food magazine.

• 1 courgette, roughly chopped
• 1 red pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 red onion, roughly chopped
• Garlic infused olive oil
• 200g couscous
• Hot vegetable stock
• 250g halloumi
• Pesto
• Flat leafed parsely
• Seasoning

Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the vegetables into an ovenproof dish, drizzle with garlic oil and stir so they all get covered in oil.  Put them in the oven, uncovered for about 30 mins until they begin to brown.

Meanwhile, slice the halloumi finely and brush one side of each slice with garlic oil.  Set aside.  Put the couscous in a bowl and cover with the hot stock so the stock is 2cm above the couscous. Put a plate over the bowl and leave until the couscous soaks up the stock- about 10 minutes.

Then take the roasted vegetables out of the oven and stir in the couscous, using a fork to fluff it up first.  Stir in some chopped flat leaf parsley and season.

Heat a griddle pan and place each piece of halloumi oiled side down in the pan.  Brush the top with more garlic oil and fry gently for 2 minutes the turn over and fry for another 2 minutes.

Serve the halloumi on top of the couscous and drizzle with some pesto with some garlic oil stirred through to loosen it.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the most delicious, melt-in-the-mouth cookies I have ever tasted.  I actually ate 4 in one day!  The recipe is one I adapted years ago from www.aspoonfulofsugar.net

Makes 12 large cookies

• 150g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 85g unsalted butter
• 105g light brown sugar
• 60g granulated white sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 110g milk chocolate chips

Put flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a bowl and stir together.

Melt butter in pan and allow to cool slightly.  Add both sugars, vanilla and egg.  Beat well.

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Stir in dry ingredients then fold in chocolate chips.  Do this quickly as they do start to melt!  Cover with cling film and chill dough for at least 30 minutes until firm.

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Preheat oven to 190C.  Drop golf ball sized mounds of dough onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. 

Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes.  They look at feel a little underdone but they're ready.

Allow to cool for a minute or so and then move on to a cooling rack.  Then try to not eat them all at once!!!

Chicken Jambalaya

My sister-in-law recommended this recipe to me the other day. It's adapted from a recipe in Ainsley Harriot's book 'Ainsley's Friends and Family Cookbook'. I thought our children would find it too spicy but it wasn't spicy at all just really flavoursome.

• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 100g chorizo sausage, thickly sliced
• 486g skinless boned chicken thighs (approx 5 thighs), thickly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, seeded and cut into chunky strips
• 2 celery sticks, sliced
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 225g long-grain rice
• leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 400ml passata
• 300ml chicken stock
• salt and cayenne pepper

Heat the oil in a large, deep casserole dish. Fry the chicken slices until browned. Lift out and set aside.

Fry the chorizo until golden. Lift out and set aside. Add the garlic, onion, red pepper and celery then fry for 5 minutes until they are all lightly browned.

Add the chilli powder and paprika then cook for 1 minute.

Stir in the browned chicken, chorizo, rice, thyme, bay leaves, passata, chicken stock, 1 teaspoon salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

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Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Salmon Super Salad

I've had something similar to this recently in a restaurant and really enjoyed it.  It's nice and light but has loads of vegetables in it.  TMy secret cheat ingredient is the balsamic glaze which I buy from Tesco's Ingredients range.  It's thicker and sweeter than balasamic vinegar and I like drizzling it over the salad before serving.

• Salmon fillets
• Lemon juice
• Oil
• Seasoning
• Spinach, washed
• French beans, topped and tailed
• Brocolli, cut into florets
• Carrot, cut into thin strips

Preheat oven to 200C.  Oil an ovenproof dish and place the salmon fillets in skin side down.  Add  a splash of lemon juice and season.  Pop in oven uncovered for 20 minutes.

Prepare the salad in individual dishes.  Start with the spinach leaves, then top with the other vegetables around the outside.

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Take the salmon out of the oven and gently remove the skin with a fork.

Place one salmon fillet on each salad dish and drizzle with the balsamic glaze.

Variations- Try with chargrilled chicken breast, pomegrante seeds, butternut squash, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, anything you like!  Both children enjoyed this but without the glaze :)

Rosemary and Rock Salt Roast Potatoes

These potatoes are great as an alternative to roast potatoes and they're dead easy.

Par boil your new potatoes for 15 minutes.

Toss them in oilve oil in an ovenproof dish.

Add fresh rosemary sprigs and a good sprinkle of rock salt and toss again.

Put in a oven at 200C for 30 minutes or until golden brown, turning halfway through.

Coq au Vin

This is the first time I've made this recipe and it was a huge success.  I know Coq au Vin traditionally uses red wine but I only had white wine in and I remember Nigella Lawson doing something similar in her recipe Coq au Riesling- so if it's good enough for Nigella! This is a combination of Nigella's recipe and also a recipe from my Mary Berry cookbook.  Usually when I cook something my husband and I both enjoy it but only one of our two children normally give it a thumbs up.  It can be exasperating!  However, they both tucked into this dish so I was pleased I'd made a huge batch of this so we have two portions in the freezer ready for another day.

• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• Smoked bacon lardons
• 2 leeks, halved length ways and sliced
• 15 Shallots, topped, tailed and peeled
• 150g button mushrooms, halved
• 1 large garlic clove, crushed
• 2 dessert spoons of plain flour
• 1 pint of chicken stock
• 250ml white wine- I used pinot grigio
• Skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 3 bay leaves

Heat the oil in a large casserole dish and add the bacon lardons. Fry until golden brown.

Add the leeks and shallots.

Fry gently for 5 minutes until the leeks are soft.  Then add the crushed garlic.

Cook for a few more minutes, then mix in the flour so everything is coated.

Next, stir in the stock and white wine and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat.

Trim any excess fat off the chicken thighs and put them in their little rolls into the casserole sauce.

Cover and put in the oven at 180C for 1 hour 15 minutes. (I have a fan oven and uncovered the dish 15 minutes before the end of cooking.)

Then serve and enjoy!

Tomato Soup

My daughter had grommets fitted this week and I wanted to make some soup in case she was off her food.  So I searched for this recipe on netmums that I have used before.  It's got carrot and red pepper in as well as tomatoes so I like the fact I'm getting a bit extra veg into her!  I include the spices which don't make it spicy but give it a bit more flavour.

1 large carrot, sliced

1 large potato, sliced

1 onion, chopped

1 red pepper

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons of vegetable bouillon powder/ 1 vegetable oxo cube

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/4 pints of water

1 teaspoon sugar

Seasoning

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Fry the onions, carrot, potato and red pepper in the olive oil for a couple of minutes until they start to become transparent. 

Add the garlic remembering it doesn't need to be peeled before you crush it!

Add the remaining ingredients and bring up to boiling point and then simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables become soft.

 Liquidise and serve! Or pop into tupperware tubs to freeze! 

Yoghurt Fruit Brulee

My Mum used to make these when I was little and they're delicious.  Likewise, my two are just as taken with them.  I find I can pop any type of fruit in them and it gets eaten! They're also good to use up any fruit that's beginning to go past it's best.

Chop some fruit (I used grapes, an apple and plum this time) and share between ramekin dishes.

Then top with yoghurt of your choice.

Sprinkle with demerera sugar.

Pop under a hot grill until the sugar has melted.

And that's it!  Really simple and my kids love it.