What’s Cooking – 45 Minutes Roast Chicken

First, let me start with an apology – I hadn’t planned on sharing this recipe, hence the lack of more pictures, but as it came out so delicious, I really wanted to tell you all about it.

The recipe for a 45 minute Roast Chicken is loosely based on the “Roast Chicken” from “On the Table in 30 minutes – One Pot” by Paraggon books. I say loosely, as I got the main idea from the book but then to make it work for me I had to change both the ingredients and the method to get it done.

So, let’s start with the ingredients:

• 6 skinned chicken thighs
• 500g of baby potatoes
• 250g Brussels sprouts
• 2 large carrots
• 1 large pepper
• 2 onions
• 1 courgette
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 2tbsp of multigrain mustard
• 2tbsp of honey
• 1tbsp white wine vinegar
• 0,5tsp chilli pepper
• 100ml chicken stock
• 1tbsp dry oregano
• 2tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat your oven to 240C.

Wash and peel (if needed) your baby potatoes and cut them into halves.

Chop the veggies into your desired size – I tried to make the carrots the same size as my potatoes and everything else was chopped into thick slices.

De-skin your chicken.

Prepare 100ml of chicken stock (stock cube, fresh or best of all make your own); then add to it: mustard, honey, wine vinegar, chilli pepper and crushed garlic plus a little bit of salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a large heavy pan (I used my go to cast iron one). Toss in the onions and potatoes and fry them for 2-3 minutes; then add the carrots and courgettes. After a further 2-3 minutes, add all the remaining veggies – in my case peppers and Brussels sprouts. Fry them all for an additional 2-3 minutes.

Remove the veggies from the pan and place in a casserole dish, which will be suitable to go to the oven and will hold all the veggies plus the chicken.

Reheat your frying pan with some additional olive oil and start on the chicken. Please your chicken in the pan, add a generous amount of salt and pepper and fry on one side until lightly browned. Turn them over and add your earlier prepared “sauce” plus sprinkle all over with your oregano. Fry for a minute or two, and then transfer the chicken and all the sauce into the casserole dish.

Place in the oven and allow it to cook for 30 minutes.

After this time you will have one amazing dinner ready to be served.

Just in case you are wondering how on earth I’ve managed to take a 30min recipe and turn it into a 45min one, I will explain… The original recipe calls for the whole dinner to be cooked in one pan (who would have thought it given the title of the book) and I simply do not own a cast iron pan to take this volume of food in one go, so I started to prepare it using two separate dishes, then decided that was a rubbish idea and just used my biggest pot I owned. Unfortunately as my decision was so late in the game I had not warmed my new pot up like I had with my two smaller pots. Therefore as my food was going from the frying pan to the cold casserole dish I needed to add some extra time to allow everything to heat up again, hence the longer cooking time. Anyway as it turned out I was saved and it worked perfectly… the chicken was falling off the bone and my veggies had still kept their shape and where just right.

Happy cooking!

Foods Of The World – Poland – Kotlety Mielone – Polish Meatballs

This time I will share a Polish recipe as a part of my little series: Foods Of The World.

Kotlety Mielone a.k.a. Polish Meatballs are extremely popular in Poland and are really quick and easy to make. They are usually eaten as a part of the dinner and are served with boiled potatoes and some cold salad like sauerkraut or pickled/boiled beetroots. That said they are actually not limited to being a dinner meal only. They are perfect as sandwich filling or even as part of a salad.

These particular meatballs were made from pork meat but any type of minced meat would be perfect. If you use chicken or turkey they will have a much more gentle taste obviously.

Let’s start with the ingredients list:

• 750g minced pork
• 1 large egg
• 1 onion
• 2 handfuls of breadcrumbs
• Salt, pepper, garlic, sweet paprika to taste
• Oil for frying
• Fresh Spring onion (the green parts) – optional
• 1tspb chilli flakes – optional

Method:

Peel and fine chop your onion. Fry it on a medium heat until just golden brown. Put aside to cool down.

In a large bowl place your minced meat, 1 egg, 1 handful of breadcrumbs, earlier fried onions and spice to taste.

Mix all the ingredients together until everything is well combined and you have an even looking mixture. Don’t be afraid to work it. This is nothing like the burgers where your meat shouldn’t be touched / poked / pressed too many times. Work it with your hands until the mixture becomes a bit sticky, when this happens you know you have mixed it well.

This recipe will make for 16 meatballs. I normally use half of the mixture to create 8 “standard” tasting meatballs and use the remaining half to make a spicier version by adding fresh chopped spring onions and chilli flakes for some additional heat.

Once your mixture is smooth (more or less) it is time to form our meatballs. Ideally you want them to be about the size of a small egg. But as they are going to be fried and not cooked in any sauce, it is best to flatten them with your palm to make a doughnut shape…. Once they are formed gently toss them around in the remaining breadcrumbs just to give them a final coating that will crisp up nicely when they are cooked.

Fry on a medium heat for about 15 minutes turning them over every few minutes. Make sure that your pan isn’t too hot and your meat balls do not brown too quickly. Time as always makes food taste divine.

Remove from the frying pan and serve.

They are great for freezing if you fancy making a bigger batch, but if you are planning on freezing them it is advisable to skip the onion part. They will last longer in the freezer without the onions.

Happy cooking and I hope you enjoyed this Polish recipe.

This is one extremely full dinner plate 🙂

Parragon Book Buddy – “On the table in 30: One Pot”

This month I have yet another great cookbook I would like to tell you about. This time it is “On the table in 30: One Pot” 60 super speedy recipes.

We all know that in this fast moving world time is of an essence and sometimes we really can’t spare half of the day for cooking a meal. I know someone who would really like that; stay in the kitchen all day and “play” with food creating some amazing dishes for others to enjoy, but the reality is cruel and there is no time for it. “On the table in 30: One Pot” is a perfect cookbook for anyone who wants to enjoy a nice healthy meal, which can be prepared fast and with use of only one cooking dish.

“On the table in 30: One Pot” is split into four main parts:

• Super-quick poultry
• Made-in-minutes meat
• Fast fish & seafood
• Speedy veggies & beans

Plus there is an introduction and a chapter on useful information.

Every recipe includes a list of ingredients, picture of the dish and clear method on how to make it which is written giving you time indicators (30 minutes to go, 15 minutes to go, 5 minutes to go etc). This layout is actually very handy, as it gives you precise instruction and a countdown to when your meal will be on the table.

I studied this book for a while searching for meals to cook, checking differences in methods and getting a general feel for it. There are a lot of lovely recipes in there.

One of my favourite must be Spicy Bean Chilli. It is really easy and straightforward. It calls for a lot of store cupboards ingredients so it can be made without any special preparations and trips to the store. I didn’t try to make it as yet, but it is on top of my list and I will share with you once I make it… for now enjoy this Spicy Bean Chilli picture from the book.

There are a lot of cookbooks on the market these days… some of them are better than others and some are just perfect. I would include “On the table in 30: One Pot” into the perfect cookbook category and let me tell you why… Mainly because it has a great selection of fast recipes, which can suit every household taste including any vegetarians at the table; but that’s not all… As I mentioned at the beginning “On the table in 30: One Pot” contains an introduction and a chapter on useful information. The introduction part gives you great hints and tips for quick preparation and cooking shortcuts. The useful information part has a lot of really useful information; strange I know! 😉 It talks about essential equipment, covers all preparation techniques and “supermarkets cheats” (you will have to get the book if you want to know what they are, my lips are sealed) and it has a clear temperature and measurement guide.

I think this book will make a great addition to any cookbook collection but specifically I would recommend it to any new cooks, students and people always in a hurry, who are fed up of take away dishes and would love to eat a home cooked meal for a change.

Do you have any tips on how to speed up the cooking process in general?

***
On the table in 30: One Pot:
ISBN 978-1-4723-4439-7
Published by Parragon Books Ltd in 2014
Part of Love Food
Number of pages: 175
RRP: £12
Hardback

* I received this book for free from Parragon as a part of my Book Buddy pack.