Archive | September, 2017

Chicken and courgettes with spaghetti

25 Sep

DSCI0560I was caught on the hop the other night. We were supposed to be going out and our plans fell through so I had to pull together a meal from what I had in.  The result was amazing.  In the past I have made off the cuff meals from scratch. I suppose it is a bit like the invention test in Masterchef.  We have had some great meals but I would not write down what I did so they were always a one-off, much to my husbands dismay.  This was one of the reasons my grandson, Danny, talked me into doing a blog.  Well, this is my latest attempt at an invention test.  Hope you like it.

Chicken and courgettes with Spaghetti                    Serves 4

  • Spray olive oil or Frylight
  • 3 rashers of lean bacon, all fat removed, sliced
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • 1 courgette, halved lengthways and then sliced
  • About 150g/6 oz leftover roast chicken, cut into bite sized pieces (or 1 chicken breast simmered in chicken stock until cooked the cut up as before)
  • 1 large, ripe tomato, roughly chopped
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 300g spaghetti
  1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan then fry the bacon over a high heat for a couple of minutes until changing colour.
  2. Turn down the heat to low – medium and add the onion and garlic. Mix well and sauté for about 10 minutes until the onion is soft but not coloured.
  3. Add the courgettes, mix well and cook for 3 minutes.
  4. Add the chicken and cook for 4 minutes then add the tomatoes. Season to taste then mix well. Cook for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down, the chicken is cooked through and the courgettes are tender.
  5. In the meantime, cook the spaghetti as per packet instructions.
  6. Add a couple of tbsp of the spaghetti cooking water to the chicken mix to make a little sauce.
  7. When the spaghetti is cooked, drain and add to the chicken. Toss so the spaghetti is coated with the sauce then serve immediately.

 

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Baked cod with chilli and ginger – delicious!

18 Sep

DSCI0082I love fish but wanted something different that would fit in with my Slimming World eating plan.  This was exactly that! I can honestly say that every mouthful was delicious. I served it with steamed broccoli and stir fried vegetables for added texture, although a side of boiled rice or noodles with the broccoli would be just as nice I’m sure.

The recipe calls for Piquant Peppers (Peppadew) from a jar. These are round in shape, similar to Scotch Bonnets, but there the similarity ends.  They are relatively mild although you will detect a slight heat which is enhanced by the sweetness of the chopped stem ginger.

Peppadew is the brand name of sweet piquanté peppers,  grown in the Limpopo province of South Africa. This type of piquante pepper was first discovered in early 1993 and introduced to market later that same decade.The flavour of the Peppadew fruit is sweet, with mild heat of around 1,177 on the Scoville scale.   To put this into context Jalapeños have 2,500–10,000 Scoville  heat units.

Here is the recipe. I found it in a Woman and Home publication but could not find a link to it on their website

Baked cod with chilli and ginger               Serves 2 (easily doubled)

  • 1 clove garlic, sliced
  • 1 piece stem ginger, chopped plus 1 tbsp ginger syrup from the jar
  • 4 Peppadew peppers from a jar, drained and sliced
  • 2 pieces of of cod fillet
  • 1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (Kikkoman)
  1. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
  2. Place the fish in an ovenproof dish. Scatter the garlic, chilli and stem ginger over the top.
  3. Mix together the soy sauce and ginger syrup and pour over the fish.
  4. Bake in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.

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