chicken, fennel and orange salad

a lighter take on things, compared to the weekend’s cheesy pasta bake, was this chicken and fennel salad from jerusalem, the new cook book from yotam ottolenghi and sami tamimi, which i have already sung the praises of and which i am continuing to cook my way through.

this saffron, chicken and herb salad has a lot of light fresh flavours but the star component is, i think, the orange and saffron dressing, which is made from a boiled orange, honey, saffron and white wine vinegar which is blitzed together and used to make a paste which is then loosened with a bit of water and used to dress the salad. a simple salad of cooked chicken, thinly sliced raw fennel plus flavourings of mint, coriander, basil, chilli, garlic olive oil and lemon juice.

one orange gives you more than enough dressing for a salad for six so make sure you have a plan for using the leftovers. they suggest using it with oily fish. i think it would be great in a salad with duck or to add zing to a carrot soup. i also saw an idea that used it as  addressing for deep-fried artichokes and i think it would be lovely with stuffed courgette flowers (especially if they are stuffed with a tangy goats cheese).

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creamy coriander & minted chicken curry

quick and easy mid-week supper options are always welcome and if it varies from my default choice of pasta, risotto, pilaf or soup then all the better.

quick curries can be very average but thankfully this recipe, which a friend recommended, is not. it’s based on a recipe from delicious magazine which i tweaked to add some extra fresh flavours and vegetables.

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summer chicken

this was a very simple supper, created to showcase some teeny tiny potatoes that a friend provided me with from her garden. this is my first home grown (albeit not by me!) garden produce of the year and given how feeble my courgette and tomato plants are looking, it might be the last!

the potatoes were mixed with slices of both fennel and red pepper plus some shallots, garlic and chilli before being tossed with olive oil and lemon juice. the squeezed lemon halves were then cut into small pieces (1-2 cm) and they were added to the roasting tray too (they caramelise as they cook and taste delicious – eat the whole lot), along with my seasoned chicken thighs, to be roasted for 30-40 mins at 200c.

the accompaniments were asparagus (just boiled) and courgette chunks which i fried with garlic, chilli and strips of sundried tomatoes until they softened. very easy and very delicious.

middle eastern chicken kebab

 

wow, i loved how dramatic this dish looked! it’s a maria elia recipe from her fabulous new full of flavour book, and it is exactly that.

chicken thighs, deboned and marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, cinammon, allspice, salt and black pepper then squished onto a double set of skewers before being cooked through. we ate this with flat breads, salad (shredded lettuce, tomato mixed with fresh mint and finely sliced shallots softened in a little orange juice with a pinch of sumac), pickled chillies and a tahini and yoghurt dressing.

the recipe suggests you skewer up your uncooked meat and then griddle it for a bit of smokey flavour before finishing in the oven – my griddle pan is too small for my skewers so i briefly griddled the meat on each side and then put it on the skewers. this worked well and had the advantage that i could cook the fatter pieces of meat for a bit longer than then the others.

i can’t wait to make this again.

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roast chicken and chorizo with red and green tomatoes

 

having used nigel slater’s recipe for red and green tomato chutney i also wanted to try his baked chicken with (red and green) tomatoes and olives, to use up a few more of my green tomatoes.

in this the red and green tomatoes are mixed with one-third green to two-thirds ripe ones. he adds garlic, thyme and olives for flavour; i also added a handful of chorizo chunks.

this is incredibly easy to prepare (in advance if you want) and really delicious. you need something to mop up the juices though – we went for brown rice (plus cauliflower cheese) but couscous or crispy bread would be just as good.

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