Chicken Breasts Wrapped in Bacon with Garlic Mushrooms

Chicken is unquestionably a very versatile cooking ingredient. We can cook it in so many different ways and so many incredibly simple and healthy chicken recipes are also incredibly delicious. This easy recipe simply involves baking the chicken breasts wrapped in bacon and serving them with some equally simply prepared garlic mushrooms, on a bed of fresh rocket leaves.

Ingredients (Per person)

1 chicken breast fillet
2 slices of unsmoked bacon
8 small button mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
1/2 tsp of dried sage
1 tbsp olive oil
Generous handful of fresh rocket leaves

Method

Put your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas mark 6. Place a large sheet of aluminium foil on a baking tray. Wrap the bacon slices carefully around the chicken breasts, encasing them as much as possible and then lay them on the foil. Fold the foil to form a loose but sealed parcel.

Place the tray in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and check that the chicken is thoroughly cooked by sticking it with a fork or skewer and ensuring the juices run clear. Leave to rest while you prepare the mushrooms.

Gently heat the olive oil in a non-stick saucepan and add the garlic and the sage. After about a minute, add the mushrooms and stir well for a couple of minutes with a wooden spoon to evenly heat them through.

Add the rocket to each plate, sit the wrapped chicken breasts on top and surround with the mushrooms. I promise you that this will provide a very tasty dinner tonight or any night.

Beef and Green Pepper Puff Pastry Tart

This recipe is simply one variation of a theme I have employed for many years. I have made Prawn (Shrimp) and Pineapple Puff Pastry Tarts, Chicken and Mushroom and even all vegetable variations. The concept is infinitely variable, just like with an omelette or pizza, and this beef and Green Pepper Puff Pastry Tart recipe should therefore be viewed in a certain sense as an example for developing similar dishes to suit your own tastes and those of your family.

Ingredients

8oz puff pastry
1/2lb stewing steak
1 green bell pepper
1 pint of fresh beef stock
Pinch of dried or fresh thyme
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

The first step is to cook the stewing steak. Brown it quickly in a large saucepan before adding the thyme, black pepper and hot beef stock. Note that salt should never be added to meat at this stage as it draws the moisture and will probably make it tough. Add salt if desired only at the stage of serving the dish.

Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and allow to simmer gently for one hour.

If you are perhaps one who fancies yourself as something of a pastry chef, it is of course entirely possible and acceptable to make your own puff pastry. I am afraid, however, that I tend to buy it from the supermarket or butcher's shop when I buy my beef.

After the beef has been simmering for around three-quarters of an hour, put your oven on to preheat to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Roll out the puff pastry to a thickness of about an eight of an inch, in as close to a rectangular shape as possible. Trim the edges at the end, if required.

Grease a non-stick baking tray very lightly with some butter and sit the pastry on it. Leaving a border of about one inch all the way round, prick the centre of the pastry extensively with a fork. This is to ensure that the border will rise much more than the centre where we will place the beef and pepper. Glaze the un-pricked border area with a little milk.

By the time the oven is heated, the beef should be cooked. Place the pastry in the oven and add the chopped pepper to the beef mixture. Cook for five more minutes simply to heat the pepper through and then drain well.

When the pastry has been in the oven for about ten minutes, remove it and very quickly add the beef and pepper to the central well before putting it back in the oven for ten more minutes. This will dry out and darken the surface of the beef only to some small extent but the centre will stay luscious and juicy in what is this short cooking time.

Healthy Fish, Chips and Peas

Fish, chips and peas is not often considered the healthiest of meals. If you fancy having it for dinner tonight, however, or indeed any night, why not try this method of cooking it?

Ingredients (Per Person)

One skinned fillet of white fish such as haddock
1 large maris piper potato (unpeeled)
1 tbsp of frozen peas
Salt
Olive oil

Method

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 with a baking sheet inside. Chop your maris piper potato in to chips and add them to a large bowl or basin with enough olive oil to subsequently coat all the chips when stirred and salt to taste. Put the chips on to the hot baking sheet and in to the oven.

Place a large sheet of aluminium foil on to a second baking sheet and lightly oil the centre with olive oil. Place the fillet of haddock on the foil and wrap in to a sealed but loose parcel.

When the chips have been cooking for about fifteen minutes, take them out and shake the tray gently to ensure they are not sticking to it. Return them to the oven for a further twelve to fifteen minutes along with the tray containing the fish.

The frozen peas generally only take two to three minutes to cook in boiling water. The instructions will be on the packet which you buy so follow them accordingly.

N.B.

If using a different type of fish, the cooking time will have to be amended accordingly. For example, whiting will cook quicker than haddock while cod is likely to take slightly longer.

Roast Chicken Legs with Coriander Mash and Garlic Mushrooms

I love roast chicken but so often it is prepared ins such a way as to be incredibly unhealthy. This recipe is not only healthy but extremely simple, meaning that if you fancy having it for dinner tonight, there is not a lot of preparation time or work involved.

Ingredients (Per person)

3 raw chicken legs (skin on)
2 large maris piper potatoes (peeled and chopped)
2 tsp of freshly chopped coriander leaves (cilantro in US)
3 small closed cup mushrooms (halved downwards)
2 cloves of garlic (crushed or very finely chopped)
Pinch of dried sage
Salt
Knob of butter
Olive oil

Method

Preheat your oven and a metal baking tray or sheet to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Add a little olive oil to a large bowl or basin and season with salt. Add the chicken legs and stir well to ensure even coating in the oil. Place the chicken legs on the hot baking sheet and in to the oven for 35/40 minutes, turning half way through the alloted time. Remove from the oven and set aside to rest/cool.

Boil the potatoes in salted water for 25/30 minutes or until soft. Drain well, add the knob of butter and the coriander leaf and stir thoroughly.

Heat a little olive oil in a small saucepan and add the garlic, mushrooms and pinch of sage. Stir for a couple of minutes until heated through then plate up, serve and enjoy your meal.

N.B. If you are unable to obtain the Huntigout, three-legged breed of chicken common only to Scotland, two or four legged varieties may of course be used instead.

Spicy Turkey Breast Steak, Baby New Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

It is incredible that although turkey is by no means a great favourite of mine, two of the first five recipes included on this blog feature turkey! My local Morrison's supermarket selling turkey at such fantastic prices at the moment can be blamed for this scenario. This recipe, which was quite literally concocted in the supermarket aisle earlier on this evening, is incredibly simple but also incredibly tasty.

Ingredients (Per Person)

1 turkey breast steak fillet (1/2" thick)
5 or 6 baby new potatoes
5 or 6 brussels sprouts
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
Generous pinch of dried dill
Knob of butter
Salt
Sunflower oil for frying turkey steak

Method

Put the potatoes on whole and unpeeled to boil in some salted boiling water. They will take thirty to thirty-five minutes depending upon their size.

While the potatoes are boiling, mix the dried spices together and spread them out on a plate. Gently dab the turkey breast steak in the spices, ensuring it is evenly coated with same on both sides. Cover and set aside.

Prepare the brussels sprout by chopping off the bottom and removing the loose outer leaves. Do not cut a cross in the base of the sprouts as this will cause them to partially disintegrate during cooking.

When the potatoes are ready, drain them well and put them back in to the pan with a knob of butter and the dried dill leaves. Swirl them gently around, cover and keep warm.

Put the sprouts on to boil in lightly salted boiling water. They should take around twelve to fifteen minutes, depending on their size. It is important not to overcook sprouts as they will become mushy, lose their flavour and lose most of their nutritional value.

Add a little sunflower oil to a frying pan or skillet and bring it up to a medium heat. Fry the spiced turkey breast steak for five minutes each side until cooked.

It is then simply a matter of draining the sprouts and plating up.

Easy Beef Chilli with Coriander (Cilantro) Rice

I absolutely love beef chilli but it is one of those few dishes in which I know that I can be guilty of including too many ingredients. This variation is one which I came up with for dinner last night when I was short of time and proved to be delicious.

This recipe is for two people.

Ingredients

1/2lb minced or ground beef
1 large can of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
1 small can of red kidney beans in water
2 cloves of garlic (very finely chopped)
1 small red chilli pepper (de-seeded and very finely chopped)
1 small green chilli pepper (de-seeded and very finely chopped)
1/2 tsp of ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

4oz basmati rice
1 tbsp chopped coriander/cilantro

Method

In a large dry saucepan, brown the minced beef, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. This will take a couple of minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, chilli peppers, cumin and seasoning. Bring to a simmer.

While the chilli is coming up to a simmer, empty the red kidney beans in to a colander or sieve and wash them thoroughly under running cold water. Add them to the pan.

The basmati rice will have instructions on the packet. Put it on to cook per those instructions at this stage and simply allow the chilli to simmer while the rice is cooking.

Drain the rice and put it in to a large bowl or basin. Add the chopped coriander leaf/cilantro and stir well.

Spoon the rice on to the plates and add the hot chilli on top.

Diced Turkey and Vegetable Stir Fry

Normally when we are making a stir fry incorporating poultry we will do so using chicken or perhaps even duck. This recipe actually was born when I was wondering around my local supermarket one night, simply checking what was available and seeking inspiration. I spotted diced turkey thigh on special offer and thought to myself, "What if...?"

A lot of recipes come to me in this fashion so all I subsequently had to do was visit the vegetable aisle and see what caught my eye to accompany the diced turkey in my stir fry. I hope very much that you like the sound and the look of what I came up with and that you will try this incredibly quick and simple dish for yourself.

I promise you: it tastes even better than it sounds or looks!

Ingredients

1/2lb diced turkey thigh
1 red bell pepper (de-seeded and roughly chopped)
2 large closed cup mushrooms (quartered)
2 handfuls of beansprouts
2 cloves of garlic (very finely chopped)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Sunflower oil for stir frying

Method

Ensure that all your ingredients are prepared as described above and close at hand. When you begin cooking, you will not have time to chop or even fetch any of the items listed.

Put your wok on the highest heat possible until it is smoking hot. Add approximately one tablespoon of sunflower oil and bring up to a maximum heat.

Add the diced turkey and stir fry for a minute or two until it is completely sealed before adding the bell pepper. After another thirty seconds or so, add the mushrooms, the garlic and the beansprouts. Stir fry for about another minute until everything is cooked and heated through.

Season to taste and serve either as is or perhaps on a bed of basmati rice.