Succulent Oven Baked Chicken Breasts

Oven baked chicken breast with roast potatoes and broccoli

Chicken breasts are hugely popular, fairly inexpensive and incredibly versatile in the number of ways in which they can be cooked, either whole or having been chopped up in advance. If they do have one failing, however, it is that if they are in any way undercooked, they can represent a health risk, and if they are in any way overcooked, they can be tough and unpalatable. This method of cooking chicken breasts as good as ensures perfect results every time and is a very easy recipe to follow. The accompaniments to the chicken breasts can of course be varied to suit your tastes and preferences but in this instance, the potatoes have to initially be cooked at least a few hours in advance, or cooked the night before and stored in the fridge overnight.

Cook Time

Prep time: 10 min (plus cooling time for potatoes)

Cook time: 1 hour 10 min

Ready in: 1 hour 40 min (plus cooling time for potatoes)

Yields: 2 servings

Ingredients

• Baby potatoes as required for 2 people, whole, skin on
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon freshly chopped coriander (cilantro)
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and grated/shredded/very finely chopped
• 2 medium skinless chicken breast fillets
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 head broccoli, chopped into florets

 Method

Put the potatoes into a pot of cold, salted water, ensuring they are all comfortably covered. Put the pot on to a high heat until the water starts to boil then reduce the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are just softened. Drain, return to the pot and leave to cool. If desired, once they are partly cooled, they can be placed in a suitable container and refrigerated (still in their skins!) overnight.

Olive oil and flavourants are added to casserole dish

Put your oven on to preheat to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5. Add the olive oil, chopped coriander (cilantro) and garlic to a casserole dish just large enough to accommodate the chicken breasts side by side. Stir briefly with a wooden spoon to combine.

Chicken breasts are added to seasoned oil

Season the chicken breasts on both sides with a little salt and lay them side by side, presentation (smooth) sides up in the casserole dish. Put the lid on the dish and place it into the oven for precisely 20 minutes (reduce accordingly if using fan assisted). When the chicken has been in the oven for 10 minutes, pour the vegetable oil into a deep baking or roasting tray large enough to accommodate all the potatoes and place it in the oven to preheat.

While the chicken is cooking, carefully peel/rub the skin from all the cooled potatoes.

Oven baked chicken breasts

Take the casserole dish from the oven and - being careful of escaping steam - remove the lid. Use a metal skewer to pierce the thickest part of each chicken breast and ensure the juices run clear. Lift with a slotted spoon to a deep plate and cover with foil to rest while you cook potatoes and broccoli.

Carefully add the potatoes to the tray of hot oil and turn them around with a spatula to ensure even coating. Turn oven up to 220C/450F/Gas Mark 8 and cook for 15/20 minutes until golden, giving tray a gentle shake half way through.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the broccoli fillets for 7 to 8 minutes before draining to serve. 

Lift the potatoes to a plate covered with kitchen paper to briefly drain before plating your meals.
  
 

Easy Roast Chicken and Potatoes

Roast chicken, roast potatoes and broccoli

Recently, I shared on this blog details of an Indian rogan josh spatchcock chicken served with turmeric and red onion rice recipe. It was mentioned to me by someone that they loved the idea of preparing a chicken in this way but without the spicy influences. For this reason, today I'm sharing a simple, straightforward recipe for roasted spatchcock chicken served with potatoes roasted in the chicken juices.

Potatoes are parboiled prior to being roasted

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 2 hours 20 min

Ready in: 2 hours 30 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• Baby new potatoes as required
• Salt
• 1 medium chicken
• Black pepper
• Vegetable oil
  
• 1 medium head of broccoli 

 

Chicken is spatchcocked by removing the backbone

Directions

Wash the potatoes and cut them in half but leave them unpeeled. Put them in to a pot of cold, salted water and simmer for about 15 minutes until just partly cooked. Drain and set aside to steam off, dry out and cool down. Cover until required.

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.

Sit the chicken broad end down on a chopping board and carefully cut down either side of the backbone with a cleaver or very sharp and robust knife. Remove the bone and discard. Weigh the bird to establish cooking time of 20 minutes per pound and 20 minutes over.

Chicken fully prepared for oven roasting

Lightly oil a deep roasting tray. Season the chicken with salt and pepper on the flesh side and lay on the tray flesh side down. Season the top of the bird liberally with salt only and place the tray in to the oven for the allotted cooking period. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5.

Spatchcock roast chicken must be left to rest

Take the chicken from the oven (but don't turn the oven off) and pierce the thickest part of each thigh with a skewer to ensure the juices run clear. If not, cook for 10 more minutes before testing again. Carefully lift to a large plate, cover with foil and leave to rest.

Pour another 2 or 3 tablespoons of oil in to the hot tray and add the cooled potatoes. Turn them around carefully in the oil and roast for 20 minutes, stirring carefully again half way through.

Chop the broccoli in to even sized florets and add to a pot of simmering, salted water for 5 minutes.

Roast potatoes are drained on kitchen paper

Take the potatoes from the oven and lift to a plate covered with kitchen paper to drain. Cut the legs from the chicken and slice off the breast fillets. Drain the broccoli and serve a leg portion and breast portion of the chicken along with half the potatoes and half the broccoli per person.

Hot and Spicy Wings, Onions and Potatoes

Hot and spicy wings, onions and potatoes

Who doesn't love chicken wings? They are tasty, succulent, satisfying, fun to eat - in fact, they tick all the important boxes and more when we are looking for something for dinner. If there is one downfall many people have, however, when it comes to particularly cooking wings at home, it is a failure to realise just how incredibly versatile they are as well as enjoyable. Do you maybe only eat them from your favourite fast food restaurant, always prepared in the same fashion? Do you cook them at home but always use the same spices and accompaniments? This is just one very straightforward idea to take wings out of any established comfort zone and hopefully and ideally get you thinking of other ways in which you can flavour and prepare these special treats.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

12 chicken wings
3 tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon medium hot chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
Salt
White pepper
8 baby potatoes
1 medium red onion
1 large green chilli
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaf (cilantro), plus extra to garnish

Directions

If you have the time, you could prepare the spiced oil and marinate the chicken wings for longer than in this recipe but that is not absolutely essential.

Wash the potatoes and cut them in half, unpeeled. Add them to a pot of cold, slightly salted water and bring to a simmer for about twenty minutes or so until cooked. Drain, allow to steam off for a few minutes then cover and leave to cool completely (around half an hour should be sufficient). This is quite important as if you assemble the dish for roasting when the potatoes are still hot, they will tend to absorb some of the oil rather than roast in it.

Potatoes are firstly boiled before being roasted

When the potatoes are on to cook, measure out the oil in to a large glass or stone bowl. Add the curry powder, chilli powder and garaam masala and season well with salt and white pepper.

Spices and seasonings are added to oil

Take a wooden spoon and mix the spices and seasonings in to the oil to form a lump free light paste.

Spices are stirred in to the oil

Cut off and discard the tips from the chicken wings if they are still present. Cut the main body of each wing in half at the natural joint. Add them all to the oil and carefully stir fold them around to evenly coat. Cover with clingfilm and set aside to marinade while the potatoes are cooking and cooling.

Wings are stirred through spiced oil

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Empty the chicken wings in to a large, deep, ovenproof dish, being sure to include as much of the seasoned oil as possible. Add the potatoes. Peel the onion, cut it in half down through the core then lay each half flat and slice to around a quarter inch. Separate each slice in to strands before adding to the wings and potatoes. Top the chilli before slicing thinly in to discs and also adding to the cooking vessel.

Wings, potatoes and onion are added to baking dish

You can try to combine everything using a spoon but this can lead to spillage and take quite some time. The best and quickest way by far to combine everything well is to use your hands. Be sure to wash them especially well afterwards due to handling the chilli.

Combined wings, potatoes and onion are ready for the oven

Place the dish in to your oven for a total of forty minutes, removing it to stir briefly (with a spoon this time!) half way through cooking.

Wings and accompaniments are stirred half way through cooking

When the wings are ready, scatter with the chopped coriander/cilantro and carefully stir it through.

Coriander is added to roasted wings

Set the dish aside for ten minutes uncovered to let the wings rest. Garnish with the last of the coriander immediately before serving as a sharing platter for two.

Coriander is carefully stirred through wings, onion and poratoes

Roast Chicken with Pork, Sage and Onion Stuffing and Deep Fried Red Potatoes

Roast chicken, pork sage and onion stuffing, deep fried red potatoes and mixed veg

It is very rare for me to stuff a chicken that is going to be roasted, least of all buy one that has already been pre-stuffed. This is because I feel it can be an invitation to unevenly - and even worse, improperly - cooked chicken. I prefer to cook anything that is ultimately to be served with the chicken separately. On this occasion, however, I couldn't resist buying this bargain priced pork, sage and onion stuffed chicken and carefully giving it a go.

Ingredients

3 to 4lb pork, sage and onion stuffed chicken
Olive oil
6 (or as required) medium sized red potatoes (halved)
1/2 pound casseroling suitable mixed vegetables
1 pint fresh chicken stock
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Freshly chopped parsley to garnish

Bargain pork, sage and onion stuffed chicken

Directions

This chicken had been reduced in price from £6.03 to £1.99, simply because it was about to reach its sell by date. That meant it had of course to be cooked on the day of purchase but that was already my intention. By the time I got it home from the supermarket, it had already reached room temperature so it was ready for final preparation and roasting. I started by getting my oven on to preheat to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.

Pork, sage and onion stuffed chicken ready to be roasted

I lightly oiled a roasting tray and cut away the trussing from the chicken. I then weighed the bird to calculate the precise cooking time. This is vitally important and you shouldn't just take the word of the label on the pack. The cooking time is calculated by allowing twenty minutes per pound and twenty minutes extra. (Remember that if you are stuffing the chicken yourself, you should weigh it after it has been stuffed as it is the gross weight which determines the cooking time). The chicken then went in to the preheated oven for the alloted period of time.

Red potatoes

Wash the potatoes and cut them in half but don't peel. Add them to a pot of salted cold water and bring the water to a simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes, just until you can see the skin starting to separate from the body of the potatoes and no more. Carefully drain and return to the empty pot. Allow to steam off for about five minutes before covering and leaving to cool completely.

Parboiled red potatoes are drained and left to steam

These vegetables were also on bargain sale at my supermarket, reduced in price from £1.47 to 25p, making this an all round very budget friendly meal! Do be sure that even when the pack states it is not required, you do wash them thoroughly in a colander under running cold water before use.

Mixed vegetables designed for casseroling

Although the vegetables were intended for slow oven cooking, I simply cooked them on the hob in a pot. Add the required amount of vegetables to a suitable pot and pour in the cold chicken stock, bring to a simmer for about half an hour or until done (cooking time will vary depending upon type of vegetables used).

Mixed vegetables are poached in fresh chicken stock

When the chicken is ready, take it from the oven and be sure to pierce the thickest part with a skewer to ensure all the juices run clear. Leave to rest for fifteen minutes.

Roast chicken with pork, sage and onion stuffing is rested

While the chicken is resting, you should deep fry your potatoes. This can be done in a deep fryer but I prefer to do it in a deep frying pan, allowing me to better monitor the potatoes as they cook. Make sure you bring the oil up to a high heat before carefully adding the cooled potato halves. They will take around five minutes.

Red potato halves are deep fried in hot oil

The chicken could be conventionally carved but I prefer to portion it. I start by slicing off the leg portions and the wings, followed by the two breast fillets.

Starting to portion roast chicken with pork, sage and onion stuffing

Lift the potatoes to a plate covered with kitchen paper with a deep frying spider or large metal slotted spoon to drain.

Deep fried red potatoes are drained on kitchen paper

Drain the vegetable through a colander. Plate up the meal componenets (not forgetting the stuffing!) and scatter with chopped paresley as a final garnish before serving.

Roast chicken with deep fried red potatoes and mixed poached vegetables

Pork Casserole with Spicy Apple Sauce

Slow casseroled shoulder of pork with spicy apple sauce and roast potatoes

Casseroling is a very popular way of cooking the tougher cuts of pork, such as leg and shoulder. If you are not careful, however, even the perfectly slow cooked meat can become dry and tasteless. This experiment involving cooking and subsequently briefly resting the meat while the casserole accompaniments are blended to form a sauce is something I believe worked very well.

It is also worth specifically pointing out the stock I used in this recipe. Usually, a pork casserole recipe will call for the use of chicken stock. I got to wondering why we never tend to make actual pork stock. I decided to give it a go and made my own homemade pork stock before incorporating it in this casserole.

Pork shoulder steaks

Ingredients (Serves Two)

3/4 pound pork shoulder steak, chopped to about one inch chunks
Olive oil
1 Granny Smith apple, cored but not peeled and roughly chopped
1 medium white onion, peeled and quartered
1 large garlic clove, peeled and chopped
1 red chilli pepper, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon dried sage
3/4 pint fresh pork stock (or chicken stock)
12 new potatoes (or as required)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 ounces trimmed green beans

Browning and sealing diced shoulder of pork

Directions

Start your oven preheating to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.

Pour a little oil in to a large pot or saucepan and bring up to a medium heat. Add the pork and stir for two or three minutes with a wooden spoon to evenly seal all over.

Vegetables and fruit for pork casserole

Carefully tip the pork in to a large casserole dish and pour the pork stock in to the empty pot. Heat the stock gently until it reaches a simmer.

Solid ingredients for pork casserole

While the stock is heating, add the apple, onion, chilli, garlic and seasonings to the dish with the pork and carefully stir/fold to combine.

Pork stock is added to casserole ingredients

Pour the heated stock in to the casserole dish, put the lid on and pop in to the oven for two hours.

As soon as the casserole is in the oven, add the unpeeled potatoes to a large pot, season with salt and pour in enough cold water to comfortably cover. Bring to a simmer for half an hour or so until the potatoes are softened. Turn off the heat and drain the potatoes at your sink. Return them to the pot and let them steam for five minutes before covering and leaving to cool completely.

Preparing potatoes for roasting

Ten minutes before the pork is due to come out of the oven, pour two or three tablespoons of olive oil in to a small roasting tray and place it in the oven to preheat. Carefully peel the cooled potatoes with your fingers. When you remove the casserole from the oven, set it aside for a minute while you carefully stir the potatoes and roughly broken rosemary sprigs through the oil. Turn the oven up to 220C/450F/Gas Mark 8 and cook the potatoes for twenty minutes, stirring or shaking gently halfway through cooking.

Cooked pork is removed from casserole dish

Take a minute or so to remove the pork chunks from the casserole with a large slotted spoon and a fork to a heated bowl and cover with foil. Ladle the gravy and vegetable pieces in to a blender and carefully blitz until smooth.

Blitzing apple sauce for pork

Pour the blitzed gravy in to a pot and gently reheat. If you want it a bit thicker, add a teaspoon of cornflour/corn starch mixed to a paste with a little cold water and stir through for a couple of minutes.

Blitzed spicy apple sauce

Take the potatoes from the oven and drain on kitchen paper while you blanche the beans for a couple of minutes in boiling, salted water.

Draining roast potatoes

Plate the potatoes, beans and pork before spooning the gravy over the pork to serve.

Plating up casseroled pork, roast potatoes and trimmed green beans

Spicy Plaice Fillets with Crispy Potatoes

Lightly spiced, pan fried plaice fillets served with crispy, deep fried new potatoes

Plaice is funnily enough a type of British sea fish I don't remember ever catching while fishing. I have caught flounder and dabs which are similar in the way they are prepared and not unlike plaice in taste so any plaice recipes are pretty much interchangeable with these other species. This is good to know as plaice does tend to be a little bit more expensive than the common flounder. This is a very straightforward plaice recipe, easy to prepare and with few ingredients but its simplicity will hopefully not put you off: it was also absolutely delicious.

Potatoes ready for boiling

Ingredients per Person

10 to 12 baby new potatoes or as required
2 whole plaice fillets (see pictures below)
Vegetable oil for frying
2 tablespoons plain/all purpose flour
2 teaspoons medium chilli pepper
Salt and black pepper
Finely sliced basil leaves to garnish

Plaice fillets ready to be skinned

Directions

The potatoes should be boiled in their skins in salted water until done (about half an hour) then drained and left to cool.

You will need to skin the plaice fillets before they are fried in this recipe. Alternatively, you could ask in your supermarket or fishmonger's for this to be done for you.

Skinning a plaice fillet

Skinning a fillet of fish like this is not difficult and the technique can actually be seen in the above photograph. Simply lay the fillet skin side down on a board and hold the tail end with yout weaker hand. Cut through to the skin (but not through it) with your filleting knife and using backwards and forwards motions, slide the knife over the skin to free the fillet. Half each fillet lengthways along the natural line.

Seasoning is mixed through flour with a knife

Put the flour in to a wide bottomed bowl and season with the chilli powder, salt and pepper. Using a knife rather than a spoon to stir the combination helps prevent lumps forming.

Deep frying cooled and peeled potatoes

Rub the skins from the potatoes with your hand and deep fry in hot oil for five or six minutes.

Pan frying seasoned and floured plaice fillets

Bring a little oil up to a medium heat in a large, non-stick frying pan. Pat the plaice fillets in the flour, shake off the excess and lay them carefully in the hot oil.

Plaice fillets are very carefully turned to fry on their second side

The plaice fillets should only take a minute to a minute and a half each side to cook. They need to be turned carefully with a palette knife half way through cooking.

Fried plaice fillets are plated

Lift the potatoes to a paper covered plate to drain. Lift the plaice fillets on to a plate, garnish with the basil leaves and serve with the potatoes alongside.