Little Chicken Pies

Or to give them their correct title

Mini Torte Poulete-cheddar.

Another lovely recipe from Gloria's Blog. I have made a few recipes from Gloria and they have all been excellent. This is no exception. It is quick and simple and presents beautifully. Tastes divine. This got a big thumbs up from hubby so it must be good. I made my own pastry. That is I made Delia's quick flaky pastry
I have made flaky pastry from scratch. It's a great thing to do when you are at home and can pop back and forwards to do all the rolling but it is not quick. This is so very quick and is light as a feather.



Pre heat the oven to 180/C/355.F/Gas 4

Ingredients (4 servings)

350 gms chicken breast in strips

1 packet ready made puff pastry

100 gms. cheddar cheese

1 celery stalk

3 carrots

1 onion chopped

2 tablespoon of chives chopped

25o mls. cream

30 gms. butter

1 egg

salt and pepper

Method

Cut the chicken into strips. Grate the cheddar. Chop the chives and carrots.
Peel the onions and slice them and the celery.

In a frying pan/skillet, melt the butter over a medium heat.
Fry the chopped vegetables and chicken strips for 10 minutes, stirring often.

Remove from heat and add cream, cheddar, chives, salt and pepper and mix.

Roll out the dough. Cut into 4 rounds with a diameter slightly larger than the ramekins.
Divide chicken mixture between the 4 ramekins.
Brush the edges of the ramekins with beaten egg (reserve the remainder).
Lay the dough rounds on top and press the edges to make them adhere.
Refrigerate 30 minutes (an essential step for the dough to rise during baking).

Brush the dough with remaining beaten egg.
Bake 20 minutes in the oven until the pastry is golden. Serve hot.

Thank you Gloria x

Paremesan Chicken

This is a really quick and very tasty meal. The chicken stays superbly moist throughout the grilling but has a satisfyingly crunchy top. Great way to use up your slightly past their best salad leaves too

Ingredients

1 chicken breast per person
1 Medium potato per person
1 tablespoon oil(or melted butter if you prefer)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
A good squirt of sweet chilli sauce
1 egg white
1 good tablespoon finely grated parmesan cheese per chicken breast
A good handful of spinach leaves or tender salad leaves per person
One scallion chopped per person
A handful of frozen peas per person


Method

Turn the grill on to a medium heat
Line the grill pan with foil.

If your chicken breasts are very large baton them out under cling film a bit to flatten.
Beat the egg white in an oval/rectangular dish with salt an pepper just until it is no longer slimy.
Now roll the chicken in the egg white and then into the grated parmesan cheese to cover.
Place the chicken breasts in the grill pan and grill for ten to twenty minutes until cooked through and golden. Turn once during cooking.

Wash and chop the potatoes into cubes and set to boil for ten minutes or until just cooked.
Towards the end of cooking toss in the peas.

Combine the oil vinegar and sweet chilli sauce.

When the potatoes and peas are cooked drain and toss the salad leaves onions and the dressing through them. Serve onto warm plates with the chicken breast on top

Enjoy

Note

You can use up all sorts of bits of salad in the fridge doing this.
If you don't have new potatoes use old ones but make sure they are waxy and not floury as they will just break up.

Flying Scotsmen

I love 'Come Dine With Me' My net book is beside me on the work top when I am cooking so I can watch away. It sometimes makes me cringe and also makes me laugh. Some of the recipes are very good and it's helpful seeing someone throw it together. This recipe came from a Scots contender. No surprise there. I love chicken and haggis and I thought what a great way to combine the two. It is very pretty when cooked and slices nicely if you want more delicate servings. I know it's not easy for people to get haggis. I imagine it would work nicely with sausage meat infused with some spice. I also wonder what it would be like with pate. All these are on my must try list. When I am in Scotland I buy the haggis in large sausage form and slice it for the freezer. Very convenient to use. My supply is nearly out though and as I have no visits planned to go across the water in the near future I really have to see if I can buy on line. Can't do without my haggis fix. The Flying Scotsmen are served with a whisky cream sauce. Couldn't be simpler to make and can be prepared well in advance ready to pop in the oven. It's yet again a really tasty way to use chicken breasts.


Ingredients

1 chicken fillet per person battened out flat between two sheets of cling film.

2 slices of streaky bacon per chicken fillet spread out flat with a knife (or you can use pancetta)
A little oil or butter
1 tablespoon of whisky (optional)
Approximately 1 tablespoon of haggis per chicken fillet

Whisky Sauce

100 mls chicken stock
100 mls of double cream
2 tablespoons of whisky
cornflour to thicken if needed

Method

Pre heat oven to 180.c/160.c Fan/Gas 4/355.F

Mix the whisky if using with the haggis in a bowl to marinate for a few minutes

Spread the haggis on each flattened out chicken breast and roll up tightly. Don't make the layer too thick or it will just squish out.

Wrap the two bacon slices round each parcel

Place on a baking sheet, drizzle with a little oil/butter and bak for approx 45 minutes.

Whisky Cream Sauce

In a small saucepan boil the stock. Add the whisky and let it bubble for a few minutes.
Add the cream and heat through
You can use a little cornflour to thicken but I found it wasn't necessary


.

Gingered Marmalade Chicken

I am not a great fan of chicken breasts when they are not attached to the bird. I always think they lack flavour on their own. In their favour they are a quick and simple meal so I am always on the lookout for tasty ways to prepare them. This is a winner. Very quick to prepare and looks so pretty on a plate. It ticks all my boxes and is made with a fair amount of regularity in my kitchen. I have added a few variations at the end of the recipe so it is handy to use up any of those Christmas preserves.


Adapted from Good Food Magazine

Gingered Marmalade Chicken

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of olive or other oil
250mls hot chicken stock
4 tablespoons fine cut marmalade
1teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 a teaspoon of dried
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
Grated rind and juice of an orange

Method

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry the chicken for about 8 minutes until golden on each side.
Add the stock, orange juice and grated rind,marmalade, herbs and ginger.
Stir well to mix then simmer for five minutes, spooning the sauce over the chicken as it cooks.
Remove the chicken and boil the sauce hard until reduced to a syrup.
return the chicken to the pan and turn the pieces in the sauce until they become glazed.
Serve hot spooning any remaing sauce over them.

I like to serve with mashed potatoes and a salad but they would be equally good with rice.

Some Variations

Use cranberry jam/jelly instead of the marmalade replacing the ginger with cinnamon.

Use chilli jam leaving out the orange juice and rind (just increase the amount of stock) but adding some finely chopped sweet pepper. You can add some dried chilli flakes for extra heat

Plum Jam with finely chopped prunes and cinnamon is also good.

The variations are endless depending what you have in your store cupboard.

Quick Lemon Chicken.

I pinched this recipe from another Blog. Not a food blog but Grannymar's. It's a very good read. Lot's of short stories of interest. The comments are pretty interesting too. Monday is recipe day and I liked the look of this. Grannymar had borrowed it and changed it and in turn I borrowed and changed it. It's just one of those dishes. I always find chicken breast a little tasteless unless it is attached to the bird so I used a little bacon to add flavour. It is very quick and easy. A handy dish for when in a hurry or when you have a few veggies needing using up. Grannymar's version can be found here So with apologies to Grannymar here is my version

Quick Lemon Chicken

Serves two

1 tablespoon oil.
4 strips of smoked streaky bacon cut into smal pieces
2 chicken breasts cut in strips
2 garlic cloves crushed
6 tenderstems of broccoli or florets.
3 chopped spring onions
6 cherry tomatoes halved
1 heaped teaspoon cornflour/starch.
1 tablespoon clear honey ( I used maple syrup.)or 2 teaspoons sugar
grated zest of half lemon plus juice of 1 lemon
Approx. 100mls chicken stock
1/2 a teasp chilli paste
A quick splash from the open bottle of wine (I used marsala)
Handful of toasted pine nuts.
Flat leaved parsley or coriander to garnish

Heat a large frying pan or wok.
Toss the pinenuts around until toasted. Set to the side.
Add the oil to the pan and fry the bacon. Set to the side
Add chicken and fry 3-4 minutes until golden, do not burn. Set to the side with the bacon
Add the garlic, broccoli, tomatoes and spring onions.
Stir fry for a minute or so, then cover and cook 2 minutes more until almost tender
Mix the cornflour, honey (maple syrup)or sugar, chilli paste, stock and booze (if using) in a small jug, then pour into pan and stir to thicken.
Tip the chicken back into the pan and let it heat through, then add the lemon zest and juice and the pine nuts.
Stir and garnish with the parsley and/or coriander.
Serve with rice or new baby potatoes.

Quick Chick

I know it is Easter Friday and I should be making something elaborate but my grandchildren are away on their holidays and I decided to use the freedom to do some much needed cleaning and sorting out. If it didn't move it was cleaned and tidied away. Come dinner time I was weary and I didn't feel much like cooking but wanted something tasty. I had two chicken legs so my Quick Chick was born and very tasty it was too. perhaps there is a nod to Easter there somewhere.

Two chicken legs
8 cloves of garlic squashed
1 teasp dried oregano
A few sprigs of fresh oregano leaves
Peppadew peppers for a little kick
A lemon
Black Pepper
Olive oil
Dry Vermouth about a wine glass
A little parmesan cheese

Place the garlic in a small roasting tin or dish
Set the chicken legs on top drizzle over some oil and rub into the chicken.
Squeeze the lemon juice over, cut the skin up into three or four pieces and tuck it in beside the chicken
Pour over the vermouth
Tuck in a few of the peppadews
Sprinkle over the dried and fresh oragano
Grind plenty pepper over the top.
Pop in the oven at about 180.C/350.F/gas4 for about 40 mins.
Sprinkle over some grated parmesan and put back in the oven for ten minutes.
Serve with the juices and the now soft squashed garlic poured over.
Delicious

I served it with roast smushed potatoes which are really Nigella Lawson's sticky garlic potatoes without the garlic.
Boil new skin on baby potatoes, drain and bash them up a bit.
When they are nearly cooked, heat some oil or fat of your choice in a roasting tin.
When it's good and hot tip the bashed potatoes in and cook in the oven for about half an hour or until golden and crispy. Turn them over about fifteen minutes into cooking.

I love a meal that is all done in the oven

Happy Easter

Morrocan Chicken

This delicious and simple recipe comes from the Blog of our dear departed friend Pistachio. She has gone from us but her Blog still remains. There are some wonderful recipes so it is well worth having a wander round.
I have not made very much in the way of middle eastern dishes and am still trying to sort out the lovely aromatic spices used. I need also to master the art of flavouring couscous. This is a very tasty dish. I used chicken thighs as that is what I had. I cooked them first and then added the sauce ingredients to the juices in the pan. I also added some peppadew peppers which added a little warmth without taking away from the flavours. I always have a jar of these in the fridge as I just love them. Really nice on a salad too.

Ingredients

500g/Approx 1lb chicken fillet, cut into 2cm dice
4 tbsp (Aus. 20ml) flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
60ml olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp sumac
4 tbsp sultanas
250ml chicken stock
50g/2oz toasted pine nuts
4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Juice of 1 lemon, plus wedges to serve
Serve with couscous, greek yoghurt and Lebanese bread.

Method

Toss the chicken in the seasoned flour.
Heat 40ml of the olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat until hot, then cook the chicken in batches until golden and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in the pan.
Add the onions, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes, stirring, until golden and softened.

Return the chicken to the pan and add the spices, sultanas and stock.
Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes until heated through and thickened slightly.
Stir in the pine nuts, coriander and lemon juice.

Serve with couscous, yoghurt, bread and lemon.

Ritzy Chicken Nuggets with Sweet Chilli Sauce

There is a junk food addict inside of me I am convinced. While I don't buy this sort of thing at the supermarket or eat at fast food establishments I confess a liking, now and again, to eat this sort of food. There is of course a big difference in making your own. They taste nicer for a start and you are sure what is in them.
This recipe is from Nigella Lawson's Feast and is wickedly delicious.

Please take my word for it and marinade in the buttermilk for 2 full days then pan fry them. They are so much better this way rather than baking in the oven.

Ritzy Chicken Nuggets by Nigella

2 -3chicken breasts
275mls/1/2 pint buttermilk
2-3 Tablespoons oil (if you are frying the nuggets)
150gms/5 oz Ritz cracker crumbs or any salted cheesy snack biscuits or crackers will do

Place the one of the chicken breasts into a freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin until the chicken is quite thin.
Take it out and slice into about 6 to 8 slices.
Repeat with the other chicken breast. This is easiest done with scissors.

Put the slices into a freezer bag with the buttermilk and leave in the refrigerator to marinade for up to 2 days.
When you are ready to cook them, heat the oil in a large frying pan.
Tip the cracker crumbs into a wide shallow bowl, and then shake off the excess buttermilk from the nuggets and dip them in the crumbs. Coat them well before lying gently in the hot oil, and cooking for about 2 minutes or so a side until they are golden brown. Transfer to a kitchen towel on a plate to blot the excess oil.
They can be frozen once marinated and crumbed.
Allow a little more time if cooking from frozen.

The buttermilk really seems to make a difference. These are truly delicious

The chilli sauce? I hear you ask. Oh that's easy. I got it in a bottle ......well it was a junkie sort of meal.

Chicken and Mushroom Pasties

It was once said that the Devil would never dare to cross the River Tamar into Cornwall for fear of ending up as a filling in a Cornish Pasty. For centuries the Cornish have been filling their famous pasties with almost any ingredients that you would care to think of. The traditional filling is,of course, beef and potato, usually with slices of onion and swede mixed in as well, but the humble pasty can
also be found in a number of other guises.
The pasty originally evolved to meet the needs of tin mining, that other great, but now sadly declined, Cornish industry. A hearty meal wrapped in a pastry casing made for a very practical lunch (or "croust" , as they used to call it ) down in the dark and damp tunnels of the mine. Some mines even built huge ovens on the surface to keep the miner's pasties hot until it was time to eat. Tradition has it that the original pasties contained meat and vegetables in one end and jam or fruit in the other end, in order to give the hard-working men 'two courses'.
By no means is this trying to be a recipe for traditional Cornish Pasties. I just find this a much more convenient way to make individual pies. Easier to serve and the pastry is crisp and golden all the way round. No soggy bits and no pie dishes to wash. I do so prefer the simple route.
The original recipe is for Chicken Pot Pies and comes from Nigella Lawson's Feast. I have, as is my want, tweaked it a bit.

Serves 4

Pastry
450gms/1lb plain flour
225gms/8oz butter
One large egg and enough iced water to bind the pastry
One egg beaten to glaze

Filling
50gms/2oz butter plus a little extra for frying the mushrooms
50gms/2oz plain flour
A chicken stock cube or similar
575mls/1pint milk
200gms /7ozmushrooms chopped
250gms/9oz cooked chicken

Fry the mushrooms in butter until just cooked.
Leave to one side

Pastry
Tip the flour into a bowl and add the butter, cut into chunks, into it. Shake and put the bowl in the freezer for about ten minutes. Put a small jug of water in the fridge and the beaten egg.
Tip the flour and butter into the food processor and pulse until like breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg and enough cold water to bind. It will form a ball in the food processor.
This can also be done of course in a mixer or by hand which ever your preference
Cut into four pieces and wrap in cling film and put in the fridge.

Filling
Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat.
Whisk in the flour and the crumbled stock cube.
Allow to cook gently for a moment or two
Off the heat add the milk a little at a time whisking until smooth each time.
Return to the heat and keep stirring until thickened and smooth.
Pour the thick white sauce into a jug or a bowl and cover with dampened greaseproof paper until assembling the pasties

When you are ready to put everything together preheat the oven to 200.C/Gas 6/400.F

Roll out each of the pastry quarters into a round and use a dinner plate to cut a circle.
Mix the diced chicken and the mushrooms through the sauce.
Divide the filling between the pastry circles.
Brush the edge of the pastry with some beaten egg and pinch together on top then fold over again pinching the ends and turning them upwards onto the pasty
Brush with beaten egg and bake on a baking sheet until golden brown. About 20 minutes.

I like to serve this with root mash. Potato, turnip, carrot and parsnip all boiled together, drained and mashed with butter salt and pepper.

Lemon Chicken and Sticky Garlic Potatoes

To me Nigella is at her best in this book. It has become my kitchen bible. The pictures are wonderful. They set the juices flowing and make diving in and trying something an absolute must. Most of the recipes are simple and easy to follow. This particular one for Lemon Chicken is rolled out most Sundays in our house.. There is little to the recipe. It requires half a lemon in the cavity of the bird and the skin covered in butter then roasted at 180.C at the usual 20minutes to the pound. When cooked the bird is left to rest for a little while with the other half of the lemon squeezed over it. Remove the chicken to the carving board and make the gravy from the pan juices. This to me is what makes it very special. Add a little water and de glaze. Reduce it down. Nigella says to make a small but very intensely flavoured gravy but there is no flavour lost if you leave a biggish volume and sprinkle a little flour in, whisk and let it cook for a few minutes to thicken. Simple but mouthwateringly delicious.



Although not the recommended accompaniment to the lemon Chicken, Sticky Garlic Potatoes are also from Feast. I find theses a perfect compromise between roast and mashed potatoes. Nigella recommends new potatoes with skins on but it works equally well with old potatoes peeled. It can be prepared in advance by boiling the potatoes and leaving them without the lid on the pot until you need them. Heat some oil or your favourite fat in a roasting tin in the oven. If the potatoes are new smash them a bit with the end of a rolling pin. If old potatoes and peeled a fork will probably suffice. Add a few squashed garlic cloves. Put the whole lot into the roasting tin and cook at 180.C-200.C for about half an hour. Half way through turn them over in the pan and return to the oven until golden brown

Simple but delicious.