More wild ways with chicken…

It’s time to have a love-affair with chicken!

According to my little survey we are serving chicken to our families at least three times a week.  I thought I’d share a few of my favourite chicken dishes and you could try them over the next few weeks and let me know what you think?

I think I’ll start working towards having naughty or nice scenarios on the same recipe, you can either take the family friendly ,normal’ option or use my healthier alternatives, what do you think? See below where I’ve given it a partial test run on the Baked Chicken Tenderloin recipe where you can either use breadcrumbs or cauliflower ‘crumbs’ or on the Teacup Thai Pie, you can use the Phyllo OR zucchini ribbons.  That way you can use the same recipe many times over!

Let me know what you think and I’ll get working on developing some more chicken quickies…

Mel

Serves 4-6

4 chicken breast fillets

50ml Thai curry paste

5ml minced garlic and 15ml minced ginger

3ml turmeric powder

Salt and pepper to season

2 Kaffir lime leaves finely diced (really fine…I mean like dust!)

300ml coconut cream or milk

Method

1. Cut the breasts I half lengthways and then flatten with a mallet.
2. Rub each of the breasts with the paste, ginger, garlic and turmeric and then roll up as for a Swiss Roll, place in a greased loaf tin or deep baking dish.
3. Drizzle with the coconut cream and the lime leaves and then bake for about 20 minutes until browned and cooked and fragrant.
4. Serve with your choice of sweet potato curry or even Jasmine rice…

This is one of my favourite weeknight meals. After a long hard day of work, traffic, kids or all of the above what better way to feed the family than with this show-stopper meal…Not only is this dish amazingly glamorous comfort food, it takes less that 30 minutes to prepare and cook! You can either use breadcrumbs or cauliflower crumbs/rice!

750g chicken tenderloins

150ml dairy cream, light ricotta or plain yogurt

1 tablespoon prepared Dijon or mild mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup frozen broccoli or beans or peas

Crust

3 slices bread made into crumbs in processor or use 1.5 cups cauliflower ‘rice’ (blend cauliflower in food processor until it is finely diced)

100g bacon diced

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped oregano, thyme or rosemary

80g grated Parmesan or cheddar cheese

Method

1. Mix the cream/ricotta/yogurt and mustard together to form a mustard ‘creme’. Spread this into the base of a baking or casserole dish.
2. Place the chicken tenderloins and chopped broccoli, beans or peas into the mustard cream as an even layer. Season well.
3. Place the bread/cauliflower ‘crumbs’, bacon,  parsley and cheese into a food processor and blend until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Place these sexy crumbs over the chicken and vegetables and spread over to cover the chicken.
5. Place in an oven of 170c for about 15-20 minutes until the crumb is lightly golden and the tenderloins cooked. All of our ovens are different so drop the temperature of yours if those crumbs are browning too quickly.
6. Serve!

1 small onion finely chopped

400g chicken tenderloins

5ml minced garlic

10ml fresh ginger

5ml turmeric powder

3 kaffir lime leaves finely chopped (dust)

30-50ml  Thai curry paste

1/2 cup chopped coriander

3-5 ml shrimp paste (optional) or use 10ml fish sauce

1 tin coconut cream or milk

Fish sauce/Salt and pepper to season

200g diced cooked sweet potatoes (easiest is to microwave the peeled sweet potato cubes)

3 sheets phyllo pastry, brushed with melted coconut oil, olive oil or butter (and then roll up as for a Swiss roll or a carpet when you move and then cut into thin strips or ribbons with a sharp knife) OR two to three zucchinis sliced lengthways into ribbons instead

Method

1. Heat and grease a frying pan with a little vegetable oil and then add the Thai paste and onion. Once fragrant add the chicken. Add the garlic, cooked sweet potato cubes, shrimp paste and coriander and cook over a medium heat for about 5-8 minutes.
2. Add the coconut cream or milk and allow to cool.
3. Spray 4-6 teacups or a baking dish with canola spray and then add the cooled chicken and sweet potato mix. Yes, of course you can do this in a larger family casserole dish…I was just trying to have some fun!
4. Top with the shredded sheets of pastry that have been light brushed with oil OR zucchini ribbons and bake in a pre-heated oven of 180c for about 15-20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. These are nice and rustic and ‘messy’ and look like beautiful little pastry ribbons.
5. Serve with a delicious salad or vegetables

 4 chicken breasts

1 bunch fresh basil

2 tablespoons sunflower seeds or cashews or pine nuts

1 clove garlic crushed

1 small onion finely chopped

50g pecorino or parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons good olive oil, 50ml water

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place these ingredients into a blender and whizz to make into a paste as if you were making a pesto.

To prepare the chicken breast simply place skin side up on a chopping board. Remove the skin and then use a sharp knife to score the top of the chicken, taking care not to cut all the way through! This will not only help your chicken to cook faster, but this will also allow the flavor to infuse beautifully! Rub the ‘pesto’ into your chicken.

Cook criss-cross side down in a hot greased pan until the first side is brown, sticky and fragrant. Once brown turn over and cook on the other side. You can cook the cherry tomatoes and/or asparagus/broccolini in the same pan, just until tender! They will only benefit from all the delicious flavours in the pan and help keep the chicken moist. Season with rock salt and pepper and serve.