Tag: chicken

Fruit mince chicken bake

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When I was growing up, my mother would have a dish in her frequent weeknight meals rotation that we called “Chicken with chutney and cheese on top”. Catchy title, yes? 😉 I’m not sure where she got the recipe from, but it formed a staple in my childhood. I have taken this as inspiration for today’s recipe, bearing in mind that Christmas is around the corner, and therefore fruit mince is in our cupboards and in our baking. Why not add it to a savoury dish?

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So here we are – a retro inspired baked chicken dish topped with oniony fruit mince and melted cheese, and served with roast potatoes and Brussels sprouts. This is such an easy meal to make, it is a literal ‘top the chicken and whack in the oven’ deal. Once again, I have made this recipe adaptable so that it is baby friendly! I have also made this recipe freezer-friendly, so that you can have one night off cooking the week after making this recipe 🙂

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Fruit mince chicken bake

  • Servings: 4
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Ingredients

  • 6-8 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
  • 75g dried apricots
  • 75g mixed peel
  • 100g sultanas
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 onion
  • Juice of half an orange
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 4-6 potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
  • 1 cup Brussels sprouts

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius. Spray a heavy bottomed roasting tray with oil.
  2. Make the fruity topping by placing the apricots, mixed peel, sultanas, garlic, onion, and spices into a food processor and process until it becomes roughly chopped.
  3. Place the chicken thighs on the roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over the topping to cover the thighs evenly. Pour over the orange juice and sprinkle over the cheese.
  4. Add the potatoes and Brussels sprouts to the tray and bake in the oven for approximately 45 mins or until the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes are golden and crunchy on the outside.

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Sesame chicken noodle salad

A tasty cold chicken noodle salad drizzled with sesame seeds and tahini

This is a meal for those who like sesame! I’ve combined a few key flavours – sesame, soy, garlic, ginger to make a yummy chicken dish. This is a lovely summery lunch or dinner recipe. It is easy to prepare, and the only cooking you need to do is grill the chicken. The chicken could be cooked on the BBQ outside, or taken on a picnic and added to the pre-prepared salad al fresco!

A tasty cold chicken noodle salad drizzled with sesame seeds and tahini

The toasted sesame seeds add crunch, and the vermicelli noodles along with the raw grated carrot and zucchini add a lightness and freshness to the dish. I have allowed for individual serving of tahini according to one’s personal tastes – feel free to be liberal!

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Sesame chicken noodle salad

  • Servings: 4
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Ingredients

For the marinade:

  • 2 tbs sesame oil
  • 1 tbs peanut oil
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 spring onion, finely sliced
  • 1 thumb sized piece of ginger, julienned
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • Salt and pepper
  • 400g chicken thighs, no skin, bone removed

For the salad:

  • 200g vermicelli noodles
  • 1 tbs sesame oil
  • 2 tbs soy sauce
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 1 zucchini, grated
  • 2 carrots, grated
  • Sesame seeds, toasted

To serve:

  • Tahini
  • 1 spring onion, finely sliced
  • Extra sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

  1. Mix the sesame oil, peanut oil, soy sauce, spring onion, ginger, garlic and salt and pepper with the chicken thighs. Leave to marinade – the longer, the better.
  2. Heat a pan on high and add the chicken. Cook for 10 mins each side until cooked through. Set aside to cool.
  3. Cook vermicelli noodles according to packet instructions. Once cooked, rinse under cold water and toss with the sesame oil, soy sauce and lemon juice.
  4. Add noodles, zucchini and carrot to a large salad bowl and toss with the sesame seeds. Slice the chicken and place on top.
  5. Serve with tahini and extra sesame seeds on the side to add as per individual preference.

Chicken and olive sausage rolls

A lighter filo wrapped sausage roll with punchy flavours of chicken, olive, capsicum and feta

Today I am sharing another quick and easy make-ahead lunch idea. You can read about my other recipes here: curry pumpkin muffins, haloumi, olive and sundried tomato loaf, spring chicken salad and pork pasties.

I love sausage rolls, but often find that they leave me with an unpleasant feeling of having over-indulged in pastry all afternoon! I made these rolls with filo, which is a little lighter and simple to work with.

A lighter filo wrapped sausage roll with punchy flavours of chicken, olive, capsicum and feta

I decided to change things up by using chicken mince (or I might have had leftover from making a chicken dish for my baby 😉 !). I am a big fan of adding flavour punches to my cooking at the moment, so this recipe has added olives, roasted red capsicum and feta. All the prep required is a simple mix together of the filling ingredients and then roll them up! You can enjoy them fresh out of the oven, or freeze the leftovers for a busy day when lunch prep is not an option, but neither is a boring cheese sandwich.

chicken_sausage_rolls_3A lighter filo wrapped sausage roll with punchy flavours of chicken, olive, capsicum and feta

Chicken and olive sausage rolls

  • Servings: makes 8 rolls
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Ingredients

  • 250g chicken mince
  • 8 green olives, sliced
  • 1 roasted red capsicum, cut into thin strips
  • 50g feta, crumbled
  • 1 egg
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 8 sheets filo pastry

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius. Grease a baking tray with spray oil.
  2. Mix together the chicken mince, olives, capsicum, feta, egg and salt and pepper.
  3. Lay out 2-3 sheets of filo pastry, spraying a thin layer of spray oil in between each.
  4. Spread one quarter of the filling along the bottom half of the pastry in a long sausage shape. Roll upwards to form a log and spray the top of the pastry. Cut in half and place on the baking tray. Continue three times more to create 8 sausage rolls.
  5. Bake for 30 mins or until golden and flaky, and the chicken is cooked through.

Spring chicken salad

A quinoa salad with spring greens, chicken and seeds

I must admit, I am not a salads person. I will never order salad when eating out, except if it is a shared dish and other more hearty dishes are also on the table. Unfortunately I have difficulty convincing myself that salads can be interesting and tasty, and filling.

 

However, I know that this is the wrong way to think about salads. And I made a spring chicken salad recently (recipe below) to help convince myself. And boy, I must make more salads for dinner! The recipe I’m sharing today was an experiment using spring greens and it tastes delicious! I’ve used a brown rice and quinoa mix, which is my new favourite carb. If you buy the microwavable pouches, they become a super easy option for lunch or dinner. Nutty and with texture, they make a great warm addition to a salad.

I added avocado and feta, for lusciousness. And a seed and za’atar rub on the chicken which gives crunch and flavour.

It makes plenty enough for four, but my husband and I were lucky to have leftovers.

A quinoa salad with spring greens, chicken and seeds

Spring chicken salad

  • Servings: 4
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Ingredients

  • 500g chicken breast
  • 3tbs almond meal
  • 3tbs pumpkin and sunflower seeds, mixed
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 tbs sesame seeds
  • 2 tsp za’atar
  • Salt and pepper to season
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • 100g snowpeas
  • 200g green beans
  • 1/3 cup frozen peas
  • 1 pouch microwavable quinoa & brown rice
  • 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • Salt and pepper
  • 100g feta

Directions

  1. To make the rub for the chicken, mix almond meal, pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds, garlic, za’atar seasoning and salt and pepper in a mortar and pestle.
  2. Coat the chicken breasts with the rub, ensuring an even layer. Fry in a frying pan with a little olive oil for 10-15 mins until cooked through.
  3. Slice the green beans and snowpeas into small 2cm chunks and steam with the peas for 3 mins or until bright green and just blanched. Add to the salad bowl.
  4. Microwave the quinoa and brown rice, and add to the salad bowl.
  5. Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a small container, and drizzle over the salad.
  6. Crumble the feta over the salad. Toss the ingredients to ensure an everything is evenly distributed.
  7. Once the chicken has been cooked, slice and lay on the top of the salad.

Spiced Chicken Bake with Cauliflower and Almonds

Spiced chicken traybake with cauliflower and almonds that is easy and quick to prepare!

With a young baby in the house, early evenings are now very busy times. At 6pm our house is go-go-go! Bath time is happening and bedtime is approaching. So… dinner preparation has had to become super-slick. The less time required in the kitchen, the less multi-tasking for this tired mama!

Spiced chicken and cauliflower traybake that is easy and quick to prepare!

I wanted to create a dish that would eliminate the crazy from our evenings. Something that involves minimal effort to put together. Something that I can whack into the oven and forget about until my husband and I are ready to eat. Our ‘dinner time’ varies from one night to the next and it is nice to be able to sit down to eat together as soon as bub is asleep.

Spiced chicken traybake with cauliflower and almonds that is easy and quick to prepare!

I LOVE cauliflower. It is seriously one of my favourite vegetables. My all-time favourite dish growing up was a luscious cauliflower cheese to accompany a roast lamb. This, sadly, is one of the few ways I know how to cook this delightful vegetable. Given cauliflower is in season at the moment in Melbourne, I decided to try cooking it a different way. I have also been loving almonds in savoury dishes and thought that they would provide an interesting crunch. The overall effect is one of major scrumptiousness. I love this recipe – not only are we set up for a yummy dinner, but also a peaceful evening, and who can complain about that?

Spiced chicken traybake with cauliflower and almonds that is easy and quick to prepare!

Spiced Chicken Bake with Cauliflower and Almonds

  • Servings: 3
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Ingredients

  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • Salt & pepper
  • ½ cup almonds, crushed
  • ½ tsp of chilli flakes
  • 6 chicken drumsticks
  • 1 red onion, cut into wedges
  • ½ cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 6 black olives, pitted and sliced
  • ½ bunch coriander, coarsely chopped
  • Couscous, to serve
  • Lemon wedges, to serve

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 220° Celsius.
  2. Combine olive oil, garlic, ground coriander, cumin, lemon juice, salt, pepper, almonds and chilli flakes in a large bowl.
  3. Add the chicken drumsticks to the marinade and toss to ensure an even coating.
  4. Place the chicken in a roasting tray with the red onion and cauliflower.
  5. Bake in oven for 20 mins.
  6. Reduce heat to 180° C and baste with juices. Bake for a further 40 mins.
  7. Add olives to the roasting tray 10 mins prior to the end of the cooking time.
  8. Sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve with couscous and lemon wedges.