Category: Quick suppers

Chicken and chorizo with roasted new potatoes

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

The best way to get a nice dinner in exchange for little cooking is to use the oven. A few days ago I made this utterly simple traybake of chicken thighs, chorizo, new potatoes and celeriac. The chorizo is so full of flavour and transfers it to the chicken that all you need to add is olive oil, salt and pepper. We had some of the lovely slaw with it and homemade chilli mayo. You didn’t really need the mayo and I need to tune the recipe a bit more before I am proud of it. But you can have the recipe for the chicken and chorizo already now, as it is perfect as it is, so simple and all.

Chicken and chorizo with roasted new potatoes and celeriac, serves 2  + a lunch box

800 g chicken thighs

1/2 ring chorizo

300 g new potatoes

1/4 celeriac

olive oil

lemon pepper

salt

white pepper

Line an oven tin with parchment paper. Add the potatoes whole, cut the celeriac in sticks and add them too. Sprinkle some lemon pepper and a drizzle of oil. Place the chicken thighs, skin side up, in another tin. Slice the chorizo and add it to the chicken. Add some olive oil, salt and pepper. Place both tins in the oven, 200 C for 45 mins- 1 hr.

After 15 minutes, turn the chicken pieces around, and after another 15 minutes, place them skin side up again.


Creamy polenta with mushrooms and chorizo

Published on by Hanna4 Comments

I’ve tried once before to make creamy polenta but I failed terribly although (or despite of) I followed the instructions on the back of the packet. To not repeat my failure I consulted an Italian cookbook (Bringing Italy Home by Ursula Ferigno) and a google-search, and that made me succeed this time. Yay!

There are few different types of polenta, both yellow and white, and according to the cookbook the yellow polenta that takes about 40 minutes to cook is the best one. I could only find yellow 1-minute polenta, but that worked well too.

I didn’t have parmesan at hand, so I used a Swedish mature hard cheese instead and at the end I added, very unorthodox, a dollop of Philadelphia cheese (I picked that up in the google search) and the result was a creamy fluffy polenta with lots of flavour.

I kept the trimmings simple, just fried button mushrooms and chorizo but it complemented the creamy polenta very well. A perfect weekday supper for a gloomy day, and if you use the quick polenta like I did, this is done in about 10 minutes.

Creamy polenta with mushrooms and chorizo, serves 2

100 g chorizo, in slices

200 g button mushrooms, in quarters

chopped parsley (optional)

butter and oil for frying

600 ml chicken- or vegetable stock

150 g polenta grains

50 g butter

150 ml finely grated cheese of parmesan type

2 garlic cloves, pressed

salt, white pepper

1 tbsp Philadelphia

Bring the stock to the boil in a large saucepan. Fry in separate pans the mushrooms in butter and the chorizo in oil. Season the mushrooms. Pour the polenta grains bit by bit into the stock, stirring with a wooden spoon until it thickens (which is fast). Remobve from heat and ass butter, cheese, garlic, salt, pepper and at the end the cream cheese. Serve in bowls with the mushrooms and chorizo. All you need is a fork – this is comfort food.

Chicken thighs with asparagus couscous

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I know that a lot of people prefer the fillets when they buy chicken, but I have always prefered the darker meat. Which was perfect at home when I grew up. If he had a whole roast chicken, my dad would have the breasts and my mother and I the darker meats like thighs, wings and drumsticks.

Chicken breast is good for ceratain dishes, but it feels like people in general have forgotten about the other cuts. A shame… But good for me I guess. My favourite part of the chicken is the thighs, and they are really cheap in comparison. And juicier (it is almost impossible to end up with dry thighs) and it also has more flavours.

Last week we had this really nice, but oh so easy to make, dish for supper. Fried marinated chicken thighs with a delicious couscous salad, containing marinated red onions and fried asparagus, served with sweet chili creme fraiche (it goes so well with chicken).

Chicken thighs with asparagus couscous, serves 2

4 chicken thighs

4 tbsp garlic marinade (I used a store bought one)

300 ml vegetable stock (boiling water + concentrated stock)

couscous

a bunch of asparagus

1 red onion

1 lime, the juice

olive oil

rocket

creme fraiche

sweet chilli sauce

Pour the marinade in a ziplock bag and add the chicken. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. Fry the chicken on high heat to brown, then transfer to a roasting tray and fry in the oven. 200C ,20 minutes.

Pour the hot stock into a bowl. Add enough coucous to nearly soak up all the water. Add some olive oil. Wait for a minute. Mix with a fork.

Cut the onion in half and slice thinly. Place in a bowl, add lime juice (or lemon) and some olive oil. Leave until everything is ready.

Break the ends off the asparagus, cut into small pieces, diagonally, and fry until soft in olive oil on medium heat. Re-use the pan used for frying the chicken.

Mix creme fraiche with as much sweet chilli sauce as you prefer, add salt.

Take out the chicken from the oven and let it rest while you finish off the salad. Mix the couscous with the asparagus, onion and the marinade for the onion. Put it on a large plate and add rocket. Serve with the chicken and the sauce. 

Green pasta salad with bacon

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On Monday when it was a bank holiday here, me and some friends tried to make the most of the extra day off, and met up for a picnic. It was very windy unfortuately, so we had to hold onto our didposable plates. But it is always nice to get together, drink rosé and eat nice food.

I contributed with this pasta salad. It is easy to make, and really nice on its own or with chicken.

Green pasta salad with bacon, serves 4 or 6-8 on a picnic

300 g fusilli pasta

3 tbsp pesto

3 msk olivolja

1 courgette

1 packet smoked bacon

a few handfuls baby spinach

Cook the pasta, drain and rinse in cold water to get rid of the starch. Slice the courgette and cut the slices in half. Fry in olive oil on medium heat until soft. Leave to cool.  Fry the bacon in small pieces until crispy. Drain from excess fat on kitchen towel. Mix pesto and oil in a large bowl. Add the pasta and mix thoroughly. Add courgette, bacon and spinach. Mix again. 

Two-root slaw

Published on by Hanna8 Comments

My tummy is extremely sensitive to too much fiber (or the wrong kind). It can be a hassle, but it is lovely to be pain-free after several years of constant pain. I have had to give up a few things I love, like coleslaw, because cabbage just don’t work. But there are good substitutes. Like this two-root slaw from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s River Cottage Everyday. It is as nice as coleslaw but is made with celeriac and carrots and no onion. As usual I had difficulties sticking to the recipe, but I only added a bit of creme fraiche and omitted the caraway seeds.

Together with baby back ribs and potato wedges, this was a great weekday meal.

Two-root slaw, adapted after Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s recipe

3 large carrots

1/2 celeriac (ca 400g)

4 tbsp mayo (homemade or Hellman’s)

2 tbsp creme fraiche

2 tsp English mustard

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and black pepper

(roasted caraway seeds)

Peel and grate the root vegetables. Mix all the ingredientsfor the dressing in a bowl and add the vegetables bit by bit and incorporate them.

Simple pasta

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I really like fresh filled pasta such as ravioli and tortellini, but I always end up disappointed when I buy some from the supermarket. However, Italian brands found in delicatessens are great. We found this lovely mushroom tortellini at Partridge’s and together with some fried pancetta, freshly grated parmesan and some truffle oil it is an instant hit. So simple, yet lovely!

Perfect supper for a cleaning day

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Even though I love cooking, I don’t particular like other domestic chores. Laundry is ok, but ironing is a bit boring. And I hate doing the washing up, and am forever grateful that we have a dishwasher. Worst of all is the cleaning though. It is so tedious, and although I like the satisfaction when it is done, it doesn’t way up the fact that it is such a boring task. Apparently my grandmother disliked cleaning as well, but my mother seems to enjoy it more than I do. Maybe the cleaning gene skipped one generation, I don’t know.

But when I do have to clean (far too often for my liking) I want a reward at the end. A quick supper that takes care of itself but still is fulfilling. And the jacket potato is my perfect friend here. But I want a classier topping than cheese and baked beans (which I don’t even like) but still something quick. And this is it. After you have taken the spuds out of the oven to let them cool for a few minutes, you quickly make this topping.

 

Crayfish mess for jacket potatoes, serves 2

180 g crayfish tails in brine

200 ml creme fraiche

4 tbsp mayonnaise

a plash of lemon juice

1/2 finely chopped red onion

1 tbsp lumpfish caviar (Waitrose stock it)

chopped fresh dill

Mix all the ingredients. Press both sides of the potato so it ‘opens’, pour filling onto the spud. Tuck in.

Nigella’s sesame peanut noodles

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

It is very probable that I am repeating myself, but I think the cokbook Nigella Express gets better and better everytime I pick it up. It contains plenty of weekday recipes, which  is great. And this recipe is from that book. I have made it many times, and you can eat it as it is or have maybe some chicken scewers with it. And it is perfect for the lunch box the next day.

Sesame peanut noodles, serves 4

Dressing: 

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp garlic oil (or regular olive oil)

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

100 g peanutbutter

2 tbsp lime juice

Salad:

125g mange tout

150 g beansprouts

1 red pepper, sliced

2 spring onions, sliced

550 g cooked cool egg noodles

20g sesame seeds

4 tbsp chopped coriander

Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl. Add everything but sesame seeds and coriander. Mix throughly. Add extra olive oil if it feels to dry. Add sesame seeds and coriander just before serving. 

Fish burgers, sort of

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I try sometimes, not to spend a fortune on food every week, but it is so diffucult not to when I find lots of interesting recipes everywhere. I bought fresh Alaskan Pollock the other day, because it is quite a cheap fish but still tasty, but I didn’t really know what to do with it. At first I thought of fish soup, but I wasn’t in the mood, so in the end I settled for burgers, sort of.

I didn’t mince the fish and made burgers that way. Instead I just cut each fillet in three, turned them in flour and fried them in butter. I served it with burger buns, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, lemon, storebought hollandaise, a homemade cold dill sauce and potato wedges. It was actually very tasty, surprisingly good, especially with the dill sauce, so we will make this more often.

Cold dill sauce, serves 2

100 ml creme fraiche

100 ml mayonnaise

1 tsp dijon

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

salt & white pepper

Gnocchi gratin with spinach and smoked ham

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I love my iPhone for lots of reasons, but one is that it is so easy to write down notes. I have lots of to-do-lists there and quite a few recipes. This recipe, or the ingredients list rather, I found on there. But I hadn’t written where I found it or how to cook this. And because I’m me, I of course made a few changes to the ingredients list anyway, but I only added things, mind you.

So whoever the creator(s) of this recipe were, it was truly great! Perfect for a weekday supper. It takes no time at all to whip it up, and it tastes amazing. So try this at home! 🙂

Gnocchi gratin with spinach and smoked ham, serves 3

500 g gnocchi

250 g fresh spinach

butter

olive oil

1 schallot

1 clove garlic, pressed

4 sage leaves

150 ml sour cream / creme fraiche

50 ml cream

75 g grated parmesan

grated nutmeg

concentrated vegetable stock

salt, white pepper

4 slices smoked ham, chopped

50 ml grated cheese

Cook the gnocchi al dente according to the instructions on the packet. Heat up butter in a pan and wilt the spinach. Transfer to a bowl. In the same or a different pan, heat up some olive oil, andd the chopped shallot, garlic and sage and let it sweat for a few minutes. Add sour cream, cream and parmesan. Bring to the boil and let it thicken slightly. Season with salt, pepper, stock and nutmeg. Butter a gratin dish, sqeeze the water out of the spinach and place half at the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle half the ham on top. Add the drained gnocchi, then another layer of spinach and ham. Pour in the sauce. Sprinkle grated cheese on top. Put in the oven, 200C, for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.