Nigella's Chicken and Peas Pan bake

 

I love this recipe because you get both veggies and protein in one absolutely unctuous plate. It takes longer to make than you think though, mostly time in the oven.

Ingredients

• 1, 1kg pack frozen peas or 2, 600g packs
  
• 2 leeks chopped into 1-2 inch long peices
• 6-8 garlic cloves minced
  
• 2-3 big splashes of dry white vermouth or sherry
• Olive oil
  
• Fresh dill (we've used frozen in a pinch, fresh is obs better)
  
• 1-2 kg chicken thighs, Bone-in, skin-on
  

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 C, we use 180 C since we have a forced air oven
2. Line a deep baking tray with foil/silicone then empty the frozen peas into it
3. Add in the chopped leeks, minced garlic, dill, vermouth, and salt and stir around a bit so it is all mixed. Then put the chicken thighs on top, skin-side up, and drizzle olive oil and a bit of salt over the tops.
4. Bake in the middle or lower part of the oven for 45 minutes, then remove and stir the peas around a bit so they don't dry out.
5. Bake again for 30 minutes.
6. Serve with boiled potatoes or just by themselves!
   

Kerala pork curry

This is more of a Kerala inspired pork curry recipe than an actual one. We had a bunch of left over dosa batter and a piece of karré that needed using and et voila. I googled around and matched recipes with the ingredients that I had. Since I was basically making up the recipe I chose not to grind the spices but the pressure cooker was unavoidable else this would have been a 3-4 hour long cook time as opposed to the one hour in toto that this was.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg karré (or boston butt or picnicbog or pork shoulder etc)
• 3.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 250g shallots sliced, not too finely
• 2 large onions sliced, not too finely
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 2 large or 4 small potatoes, chopped
• 1.5 tsp mustard seeds
• 0.5 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 0.5 tsp coriander seeds
• 0.5-1 tsp fennel seeds
• 0.5-1 tsp peppercorns
• 2 sprigs curry leaves
• 3-4 green chillis, chopped
• 3.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 Tbps coriander powder
• 2-3 Tbsps meat masala powder (I used goan mutton masala)
• Salt

Method

1. Cut the pork into 1" ish chunks and marinate with about two teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of turmeric, 1.5 tsp of ginger garlic paste and the vinegar and the soy sauce. Mix well and leave at room temperature for a bit or in the fridge if longer than an hour.
2. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pressure cooker and add the marinated pork. No need to fry the pieces. Add two cups of water and pressure cook the meat. (For this amount and this type of meat I pressure cooked for 20 minutes after the first whistle on medium heat)
3. In a pan heat up oil and add a teaspoon and a half of mustard seeds followed by half a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds, half a teaspoon of coriander seeds, 3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds and about 20 peppercorns. 
4. Now add a handful of curry leaves. Since I was using frozen curry leaves, this is a total guesstimate. 
5. Now add the onions and a dash of salt and fry until golden brown.
6. Add the chopped green chillis and ginger garlic paste when the onions are light brown and cook until the raw smell disappears and the onions and golden brown.
7. Next, add the masala powders and cook for a few minutes, then the potatoes and then the tomatoes and the tomato paste, stirring and cooking for a few minutes after each addition.
8. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes on a medium-low heat until the tomatoes and squishy and the masala is beginning to look cohesive
9. Add the pork along with the water and cook for 15 minutes on medium heat to thicken and reduce the liquid if need be. If the meat doesn't feel tender enough, cook covered for longer or pressure cook the meat again for a few more whistles
10. Mash a few pieces of the potato to thicken the gravy and cook a few more minutes
11. Serve with dosa or idli or appams or rice or roti. It's all good. 

Sausage and Bean stew

This recipe is a variation of this recipe. We used Salsiccia sausages and stora vita bönor, which we substituted for lima beans. I don't know if these are the same or different.

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil
• 900g-1kg Raw salsiccia sausage
• 1 pack bacon
• 4 onions, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tsp hot chilli powder or smoked paprika
• 2, 400g crushed canned tomatoes
• 300ml chicken stock
• 4 tbsp tomato purée
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
• 3 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 bay leaves
• 3–4 tsp frozen thyme
• 200ml water
• 3, 400g big white bean cans
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Cook the sausages for 10 minutes on medium high heat until brown on all sides and set aside.
2. Fry the bacon pieces in the frying pan until they begin to brown
3. Place the onions in the frying pan and fry over a medium heat for until they start to soften.
4. Add the garlic and cook for 2–3 minutes more until the onions turn pale golden-brown.
5. Sprinkle over the chilli powder or smoked paprika and cook together for a few more minutes.
6. Stir in the tomatoes, chicken stock, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and herbs.
7. Pour over the water and bring to a simmer.
8. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the sausages into thick discs and add the sliced sausages and bacon to the stew. Let it cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
9. Drain the beans and rinse. Stir the beans into the casserole, and continue to cook for 10 more minutes or on very low heat until the sauce is thick. 
10. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chorizo Apple Mustard Puffs

This recipe is from here. We modified it as follows but if I make this again (and I probably will make this again because it was yummacious), I will probably take the casing off the sausages, but won't separate the meat more than that. I enjoyed the pig in a blanket style of leaving the sausages whole but the skins were difficult to bite through.

Ingredients

Small pat of butter

1 apple, finely diced

8 small raw chorizo sausages

small handful parsley, chopped

400g pack puff pastry (4 plates cut in half)

1 egg, beaten

1tsp-ish Dijon mustard 

Method

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. 
2. Put the butter and apple in a small pan and cook for 5 mins until the apple has softened, then cool. Then mash until its chunky but small chunks.
3. Mix in finely chopped parsley and a tsp-ish (more is probably better) of dijon mustard.
4. Thaw the puff pastry plates spread out individually until they are soft and pliable, but before they reach room temperature. Cut each one in half.
5. Add a spoon-ish of the apple mix and a sausage into each plate and then pull the plates and seal the edges around the filling.
6. Spray the baking tray down with butter, brush the tops with egg and then bake for 40 minutes. Around 15 minutes in, you should probably pull out the baking tray and remove the excess liquid and then pop them back in. 

Biscuits

This is a very simple biscuits recipe from All recipes that I just converted to grams to make it easy to measure out with a scale.

Ingredients

• 250 g flour
• 10 g baking powder
• 2 g baking soda
• dash of salt
• 13 g sugar
• 113 g butter
• 175 g buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in the buttermilk. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead 12 times (as little as possible to not activate the gluten). Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet, roll into a 6x6 inch square, and cut into 12 even sections. Do not separate.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center of the square comes out clean. Separate into biscuits, and serve hot.

Guacamole

We missed Mi Madres in Austin, and tried to find recipes for a few of their best tacos. However, before tacos we need guacamole. This recipe was tasty.

Guacamole

The guac recipe is from this blog.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tbsp lime or lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp to 1/4 cup finely cut red onion
• 1-2 hot, green chiles, stems and seeds removed, minced
• 2 tablespoons cilantro finely chopped
• A dash of black pepper
• 1/2 chopped ripe tomato
• Tortilla chips (serve with)

Method

1. Cut the avocados in half. Remove seed. Scoop out avocado from the peel, put in a mixing bowl. 
2. Using a fork, roughly mash the avocado. Sprinkle with salt and lime juice. 
3. Add the chopped onion, cilantro, black pepper, and chiles. If you are adding tomatoes, add these just before serving. 
4. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole to prevent oxidation from the air reaching it. 
5. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Asian marinated baked chicken

This was super simple and absolutely delicious. It is probably getting added to our regular rotation. I used boneless skinless chicken thighs but the recipe says that bone in, skin on chicken would work better. We only marinated it for an hour (maybe) but the recipe calls for 12-24. If it was this good after an hour of marination, I can only imagine how good it would taste after 12! I found this recipe on Yummly after googling around looking for a good chicken recipe that would use up my scallions as well. I think the original recipe is from Chow.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup soy sauce (I used half dark soy, and half malaysian sweet soy)
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 tbsps fresh ginger (peeled and finely chopped, from 1, 3- to 4-inch piece)
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic (finely, from about 5 medium cloves)
• 2 tsps toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp ground black pepper (freshly)
• 3 lbs bone in skin on chicken thigh (drumsticks, or breasts, or a combination of all three, I used boneless skinless chicken thighs)
• Scallions (bunch, I had 6) chopped 

Instructions

1. Place everything except the chicken in a 13-by-9-inch broiler-proof baking dish and whisk to combine. If I was actually going to marinate this recipe overnight I would probably do this entire marination in a big ziplock. I also added a drizzle of some hot and sour dipping sauce I had because some of the original comments suggested it needed some chili flakes.
2. Lay the chicken in a single layer in the marinade and turn to coat. Add half the scallions as well. Cover, refrigerate, and marinate at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours, turning the chicken at least once during the marinating time. (The one hour, room temp marination also yielded mind-blowingly yummy chicken. I suspect longer marination would be better for bone-in, skin-on chicken.)
3. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. (This step is not necessary if using a ziplock bag for the marination.)Meanwhile, heat the oven to 475°F (250C) and arrange a rack in the middle.
4. Turn all the chicken pieces skin-side up in the dish (if you’re using drumsticks, just turn to recoat them in the marinade). Bake until the chicken is starting to turn a dark brown color, about 40 minutes. (We started with the dish covered and then removed the foil 20 minutes in and also turned the pieces over once while baking since mine were skinless.)
5. Set the oven to broil and broil until the chicken skin is crisped, about 3 to 5 minutes more. Skipped this step. Added remaining scallions over the top and ate with boiled white rice with the sauce drizzled over the top.

Delish.

Calories: As written, this marinade contains 577 calories (excluding the ginger, garlic and scallions as minimal.) As written, the entire dish contains 1617 calories (0.9 kg boneless skinless chicken thighs at 1000 calories) and probably yields about 4-5 servings (big eater servings :blush:) at 400 calories each. Add rice calories separately. Keep in  mind that you probably won't eat the entire marinade. We had most of it left over after drizzling some onto the rice. So I think a more accurate per serving calories count would be somewhere in the 300-350 range.