Lemon Goodness

The main part of this meal (the Paprika & Lemon Baked Chicken) was planned for Saturday night dinner but sadly the chicken wings hadn't defrosted (even after a whole day & night in the fridge). So it wound up being a Sunday night dinner and it was fantastic. I paired it with lemon green beans and pearl couscous, so there's three recipes with this post.

Paprika & Lemon Baked Chicken 

The full recipe is available on the taste website: click here. I made the following changes:

• Substituted the chicken thighs for 1kg chicken wings
• Doubled the paprika
• Lemon olive oil
• No onions (still hating them while pregnant)
• Dried oregano (I just sprinkled it over and I don't think I used 1/4 cup)
• Dried chilli flakes (again just sprinkled over & didn't measure)
• Only used 1tbsp brown sugar
• Squirted some bottled lemon juice into the sauce as well (I'm slightly obsessed with lemons if this post doesn't already demonstrate that!)

Lemon Green Beans (adapted from Kayotic Kitchen)

Ingredients

• Frozen green beans (I just guesstimated enough for 2 of us but there was probably enough for 4 small serves)
• 1tsp minced garlic
• 2tbsp lemon juice
• 1tbsp white wine vinegar
• 3tbsp lemon olive oil
• 1/2tsp dried oregano
• 1/2tsp dried parsley
• 1tbsp lemon pepper

Method

1. Throw the frozen green beans in a microwave safe container (with lid). Mix up all the other ingredients and pour over the green beans. Put in the microwave (covered) for 5-6mins. Voila it's done. 
2. You can save the liquid and then pour it over the pearl couscous if you choose to have couscous with it. 

Pearl CousCous

Method

1. Heat lemon olive oil in small saucepan and add 2 cups of stock (I used vegetable), bring to boil.
2. Add the pearl couscous and mix then add whatever seasoning you want, I added a bit of dried parsley and some lemon pepper. Cook for 8-10mins on a simmer.
3. Pour the green bean liquid in while there's still about 2-3mins cooking time left.
4. Once done (there shouldn't be any liquid left) it's ready to go. 

There was lots of yummy sauce left with the chicken so I poured that over the chicken and couscous once I'd plated the whole thing up. All of it worked really well together and I'll definitely be making it again. It's also nice to have another side to add to my repertoire seeing as I'm in love with green beans at the moment. The whole meal was also relatively cheap (especially if you have most of the items in your cupboard).

The whole meal probably took about 40mins to cook but in total I'd give yourself an hour if not a little longer.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

This was delicious (and yet another recipe sourced from the Pioneer Woman). I've always been a fan of pasta with lots of sauce but I've never really gone the tomatoey route. If you look in my cupboard you'll see a few big jars of tomato based pestos but check out how many basil ones there are in my fridge - that's my weakness and my favourite as well! But on with this yummy pasta which is neither basil nor tomato related but a great throw it all in the pan dish (and relatively cheap too). Now this served 2 but with lots of leftovers, most of my recipes could feed 4 people I reckon because I like to make sure we have food for lunch the following day.

Ingredients

• Chicken thighs or breasts (2-3 - enough to feed who you want to feed)
• Pasta (any type & again enough to feed who you want to feed, I generally use 2/3 of a bag)
• 3tsp Cajun seasoning (or in my case Cayenne Pepper)
• 2tbsp olive oil
• 2tbsp butter
• 1 red capsicum (sliced & diced)
• 1 green capsicum (sliced & diced)
• 3 tsp minced garlic
• 1 can diced tomatoes (but you can use real tomatoes)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup cream (I used the Philly Cooking Cream)
• Chopped parsley to serve
• Lemon pepper, salt... to season if you want

Method

1. Cook pasta according to packet directions.
2. Cut up the chicken and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning (1.5tsp is recommended but go with what you want). Heat 1tbsp of oil & 1tbsp of butter in a non-stick pan and start to cook chicken (let it brown on one side before turning). Once the chicken is browned on both sides (usually 1 minute on high heat) put on a clean plate and cover with alfoil. If you have a lot of chicken don't over load the pan and do it in batches.

3. Add remaining oil and butter to pan (don't clean it in between) and once heated add the capsicum & garlic and sprinkle with cajun seasoning (you can add some salt if you want). Cook over a very high heat, you want the capsicum to go a little black, for at least a minute stirring gently and then add your tomatoes. If you used canned tomatoes then cook these down a bit due to the juice in the can. Once that's all cooked through put the vegetables in a bowl off to one side.

4. Still have the pan over a high heat and add the wine and chicken stock. Cook for 3-5 minutes and scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the good bits floating around. Reduce the heat to medium-low (this is where my stove sucks and I wish it wasn't electric!) and pour in/dollop in the cream stirring constantly. Once the sauce has thickened have a taste (best part!) and add any extra seasoning you think it may need - this is usually where I add more cayenne pepper & lemon pepper - if you like spice you want this sauce to be spicy so keep adding away.

5. Add the chicken and veggies back to the pan (including all the juices from the plate/bowl - can't forget those goodies). Stir & cook until it all starts bubbling away and then add the pasta and make sure you cover it in the sauce/chicken/veggies. Once it's all heated through you're ready to go. Serve with chopped parsley.

As with any recipe the more often you do this one the quicker it is to make. I'd say you're looking at 20mins prep time (with all the chopping) and about 20mins cooking time (factoring in your pasta...).

pH Risotto

Yes a little bit of a geeky title but I am married to an awesome nerd!

This risotto dish has been adapted from a recipe out of one of my Mum's amazing Italian cookbook's (I'll post the title here later). It always reminds me of family and definitely not of our 'catch and kill your own' nights - I'll save that for another post ha-ha.

This was an after work cook-up so there aren't as many photos and I did forget to get a photo of all the ingredients WHOOPS!

Ingredients

• 6tbsp butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 cups boiling chicken stock
• 2/3 cup white wine
• 1.5 cups arborio rice
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 1+ cups spinach (as much as you want remember it will wilt)
• Ham (I used 2 of those sandwhich packs which resulted in a lot of ham so you could probably just use 1 large pack)

Method

1. Melt 4tbsp butter until foaming in a large pan and then add the onion stirring for roughly 3 minutes. (Make sure you've got your stock simmering away at this point!)

2. Add the rice and keep stirring until the grains start to burst then add the white wine. Stir until the wine is almost gone and then commence pouring the stock in little by little.*** Also add salt & pepper to taste.

3. Add frozen peas and spinach towards the end.

4. When the peas are pretty much done add the ham and remaining butter.

5. Serve with parmesan if like me you have a cheese hater in the family otherwise stir the parmesan in when you're putting in the ham and butter!

Serves 4 (or 2 people with lots of leftovers). It provided me with dinner and then lunch for the next 2 days which I always like.

***this is where I get angry at the book what is a little?! I wouldn't recommend just using a ladle which I did because it took me over an hour to cook this and after a long day at work that's not fun. I'd do 1/2 cup if not a full cup but entirely up to you and how much you love slaving over an oven.

Triple C Soup

If you have never heard of the Pioneer Woman you are missing out. Her recipes are literally to die for (I mean that and you'll see why when I list the ingredients!). This has become the staple meal in our house and I always try and make sure I have the ingredients in the kitchen. I have made a few adaptations though and if you're looking for it on her website it's Chicken Rice Soup. It does take awhile to whip up but it's definitely worth it and once you've cooked it enough that prep time will go down. This is also the only thing I've cooked that Hubby has ever been ok with eating for leftovers.

Ingredients

• 1 packet of chicken thighs (or more depending on how many people you're feeding)
• 1 packet of Pearl CousCous
• 5 chicken stock cubes
• 1.5 cups chicken stock
• 8 cups water
• 1 small onion (finely diced)
• 1 large green capsicum (a green pepper) again finely chopped/diced
• Half a bunch of celery stalks diced into small pieces
• 6tbsp butter
• 4tbsp plain flour (all-purpose flour)

Method

1. Put chicken in large saucepan and cover with water and liquid stock. Add stock cubes and bring to boil. Reduce to medium heat and cook for 20 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through).
2. Take the chicken out and leave them to cool, then cut/shread into bite size pieces.
3. Chop the vegetables.
4. Melt 4 tbsp of butter in a pan and then add the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until thickened and then add to broth. Stir the heck out of that thing and just keep going so you don't wind up with lumpy yucky flour stuff throughout.
5. Add couscous to liquid and stir. Meanwhile clean the pan and melt 3tbsp butter then add your veggies. Stir it all together and then add the chicken. Cook the chicken and veggies for 2 minutes and then add to broth.
6. Make sure the couscous is cooked (at least 8 minutes) and then serve it up in big bowls.