Special Cassoulet by the Hairy Bikers

From Hairy Dieters – How to Love Food and Lose Weight
Serves 6

Ingredients
½ tsp sunflower oil
6 sausages, at least 85% meat
4 celery sticks
3 carrots
2 onions, halved and sliced
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 450g/1lb)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g/7oz piece smoked lean gammon, trimmed and cut into 2cm/1in cubes
2 x 400g/14oz cans chopped tomatoes
150ml/5fl oz red wine (or water)
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 bay leaf
4-5 bushy sprigs fresh thyme
400g/14oz can cannellini beans in water, drained and rinsed
400g/14oz can butter beans in water, drained and rinsed
freshly ground black pepper

For the garnish
handful fresh flatleaf parsley
½ large orange, zest only, finely grated

Brush a large non-stick frying pan with the sunflower oil, using the tip of a pastry brush. Add the sausages to the pan and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes, turning every now and then until nicely browned on all sides.

Meanwhile, trim the celery and peel the carrots and cut them into diagonal slices about 1.5cm/½in thick.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

Add the onions to the frying pan and cook with the sausages for 6-8 minutes, stirring regularly until softened and lightly browned.

Trim the chicken thighs of any visible fat – we find a good pair of kitchen scissors does the job well – then cut the thighs in half.

Add the garlic and chicken pieces to the pan with the sausages and onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning the chicken twice until coloured all over.

Transfer everything to a large flameproof casserole dish.

Stir in the gammon, celery, carrots, tomatoes, red wine and 300ml/½ pint cold water, then sprinkle over the caster sugar and chilli flakes. Stir in the bay leaf and thyme and season with lots of ground black pepper.

Bring the cassoulet to a simmer on the hob, then cover with a lid and transfer to the oven. Cook for 45 minutes.

Take the casserole out of the oven and stir in all the beans. Cover with the lid again and put the dish back in the oven for another 30 minutes.

Just before the cassoulet is ready, prepare the garnish. Chop the parsley roughly and toss with the orange zest in a small bowl.

Serve large portions of the cassoulet in deep plates or wide bowls with a good sprinkling of the zesty parsley garnish on each one.

Cassoulet (French pronunciation: ​[ka.su.lɛ], from Occitan caçolet [kasuˈlet]) is a rich, slow-cooked casserole originating in the south of France, containing meat (typically pork sausages, goose, duck and sometimes mutton), pork skin (couennes) and white haricot beans.
The dish is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, a deep, round, earthenware pot with slanting sides.

Grilled chicken breast with tomatoes, olives and feta cheese relish

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped cherry tomatoes (about 10 ounces)
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 3 1/2 ounces)

4 large skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about 6 to 7 ounces each)
preparation

Mix cherry tomatoes, olives, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, mint, and vinegar in medium bowl. Gently stir in feta cheese. Season relish to taste with salt and pepper. 

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Brush chicken on both sides with remaining 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill chicken just until cooked through, about 7 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plates and slice, if desired. Top with relish and serve.

This is such an amazingly simple yet delicious dish. The relish can be used for pasta, I made a huge batch of it and am using it for salad for the next couple of days.

I used chicken thighs instead: 220 degrees for 25 minutes followed by 3-5 minutes until the grill.

Chicken paprika

From the Hairy Bikers
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 large chicken, jointed (or use 2 large chicken legs and 2 breasts, halved)
salt
2 tbsp olive oil
knob butter
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp hot paprika
1 tbsp flour
285ml/½pint chicken stock
3 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
2 red peppers, de-seeded and cut into 1cm/0.5in strips
4 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
250ml/8fl oz sour cream

Rub the chicken pieces with the salt. Heat the oil and butter in a large heavy-bottomed pan and brown the chicken all over for a few minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set to one side.
To the same pan, add the onions and garlic and sweat for about five minutes. Add the sweet and hot paprika, then the flour, and stir until combined – take care not to burn it.

Add the stock and stir. Return the chicken pieces to the pan, adding a bit more stock if the mixtures seems too dry.

Add half of the chopped parsley and bring to the boil. Add the red pepper strips, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes and simmer gently for about one hour.

When the chicken is cooked, remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the sour cream and the remaining parsley. Check the seasoning and serve.

The gf thinks this is western curry. Have to admit, it does look like curry although it’s not really spicy unless you consider paprika spicy.

Pasta Puttanesca or Working Girl’s Pasta

Jamie’s Dinners
Serves 4

Ingredients:
A handful of fresh basil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Two 8-ounce tuna steaks, chopped into bite-size chunks, or 2 cans of good-quality tuna, drained
14 ounces penne or spaghetti
8 anchovy fillets
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 handfuls of soaked capers
A handful of black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
1 to 3 small dried chiles, crumbled to your taste, or 1 fresh red chile, deseeded and finely sliced
2 handfuls of really ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
Optional: a swig of white wine
A handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Smash the basil to a pulp with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the lemon zest and juice and 2 good lugs of extra virgin olive oil. Mix this up and either rub over your chopped-up fresh tuna or mix with your broken-up canned tuna and allow to marinate.

Get a large pan of salted boiling water on and cook the pasta according to the package instructions. As soon as you put the pasta on, put 3 or 4 good lugs of extra virgin olive oil into a large frying pan and put on the heat. As the pan starts to get warm, add your anchovy fillets and allow them to fry and melt. At this point add your garlic, capers, olives, and chili and stir around for a couple of minutes. If you have used fresh tuna, add it to the pan now with all of the marinating juices and sear it on both sides. When done, add the tomatoes and a little swig of white wine if you have some. If you have used canned tuna, add it to the pan at the same time as the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer for around 5 minutes, stirring regularly with a spoon, breaking the tuna up into smaller pieces. What you don’t want to do is overcook the tuna so it goes tough. You want it to be soft and silky. Correct the seasoning carefully with salt and pepper.

The pasta should now be ready, so drain it in a colander, reserving some of the cooking liquid. Toss the hot pasta with the hot tuna sauce, add the parsley, and mix well. You may need a few more lugs of olive oil and a spoonful of cooking water to make the sauce nice and loose.

One of my go-to recipes for good wholesome seafood pasta.

Chicken with chorizo

Ingredients

4 chicken legs jointed
2 tbsp paprika
2 small onions, sliced
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
150g chorizo sausage sliced
400g can of chopped tomatoes
2 bay leaves
5 tbsp sherry

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Coat the chicken in paprika, making sure that they are evenly covered, then season with salt. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken until brown.

Transfer to an ovenproof dish. Add the onions to the pan and fry quickly. Add the garlic and sliced chorizo, and fry for about 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, the bay leaves and the sherry, and bring to the boil. Pour over the chicken and cover with a lid. Bake for 45 minutes.

Remove the lid and season to taste. Cook for a further 20 minutes until the chicken is tender and golden.

I know I can be really repetitive with my food but I just can’t go without my chicken tomato casseroles!

Spinach and feta cannelloni

From BBC GoodFood 101 Mediterranean dishes
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 large sheets no-pre-cook lasagne
1kg frozen spinach , defrosted
200g pack low-fat feta cheese
generous grating nutmeg
large handful olives , pitted and chopped
1 tbsp capers , rinsed
400g can chopped tomatoes
25g parmesan , grated

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Put the lasagne sheets in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 5 mins or prepare according to pack instructions. Meanwhile, squeeze as much water as possible from the spinach, then mix with the feta, nutmeg and some seasoning. Drain the pasta, then cut each sheet in half vertically. Spoon 4 tbsp of the filling along the centre of each half, then roll up to enclose. Place in a lightly oiled baking dish.

Mix the olives, capers and tomatoes together in a bowl, season, then spoon over the cannelloni. Sprinkle with parmesan, cover with foil, then bake for 20 mins.

Baked fish on rosemary potatoes

From BBC GoodFood
Serves 6
Ingredients

1 large fennel bulb
6 medium sized potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
8 tablespoons olive oil
8 cloves garlic
8 sprigs fresh rosemary
2-3 whole fish, such as bream, bass or trout, total weight about 1.5kg, gutted and scaled
2 x 275g packs cherry tomatoes on the vine

Heat the oven to 190C, Gas 5.

Roughly chop the fennel and blanch for 1 minute. Put all the potato slices and fennel in a large shallow roasting tin and pour 6 tablespoons of the oil over them. Bash 4 of the garlic cloves, skins still on, with the flat side of a knife. Season the potatoes generously and tuck in the garlic cloves and 4 sprigs of the rosemary, broken up a bit. Toss the potatoes with the other ingredients to coat them in olive oil, then arrange in the tin and cook in the oven for 15 minutes.

Wash and dry the fish inside and out. Peel and slice the rest of the garlic. Make 3 slash marks across each fish on both sides with a sharp knife and push in some garlic slices and rosemary sprigs.

Season inside and out. Drizzle about a tablespoon of oil over the fish and rub it on. Take the potatoes out after 15 minutes and lay the fish on top of them with the sprigs of tomatoes.

Give a final drizzle of oil, then roast until the potatoes and the fish are cooked through, about 25-35 minutes.

Serve on a large flat dish with a green salad.

Tomatoes and thyme cod

From BBC More One-pot Recipes
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion , chopped
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 heaped tsp light, soft brown sugar
few sprigs thyme , leaves stripped
1 tbsp soy sauce
4 cod , fillets (we like No Catch) or another white flaky fish, such as pollack

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion, then fry for 5-8 mins until lightly browned. Stir in the tomatoes, sugar, thyme and soy, then bring to the boil.

Simmer 5 mins, then slip the cod into the sauce. Cover and gently cook for 8-10 mins until the cod flakes easily. Serve with baked or steamed potatoes.

Lainey! See! Penne! Not Fuscili!

Rosemary chicken with tomatoes

From BBC More One-pot Recipes
Serves 4
Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 rosemary sprig, leaves finely chopped
1 red onion , finely sliced
3 garlic cloves , sliced
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp capers , drained
75ml red wine (optional)

Heat half the oil in a non-stick pan, then brown the chicken all over. Add half the chopped rosemary, stir to coat, then set aside on a plate.

In the same pan, heat the rest of the oil, then gently cook the onion for about 5 mins until soft. Add the garlic, anchovies and remaining rosemary, then fry for a few mins more until fragrant. Pour in the tomatoes and capers with the wine, if using, or 75ml water if not. Bring to the boil, then return the chicken pieces to the pan.

Cover, then cook for 20 mins until the chicken is cooked through. Season and serve with a crisp green salad and crusty bread.

I know. I know. Yet another chicken and tomato casserole recipe!

Mediterranean chicken

From Chicken – the best ever recipe collection
Serves 4
Ingredients

4 chicken breast portions
115g cream cheese
2 red peppers, seeded
450g plum tomatoes
4 celery sticks
3 tbsp olive oil
275g onions roughly chopped
8 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp paprika
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Loosen the skin of each chicken portion, without removing it, to make a pocket. Divide the cheese into four and push one quarter underneath the skin of each chicken portion in an even layer.

Cut the peppers into similar side chunky pieces. Quarter the tomatoes and slice the celery sticks.

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large shallow, flameproof casserole. Cook the onions and garlic for 4 minutes until they are soft and golden, stirring frequently.

Add the peppers and celery to the casserole and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano and balsamic vinegar. Season well.

Place the chicken on top of the vegetables, drizzle over a little more olive oil, and season with salt and paprika. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the chicken is golden and cooked through.

This is one of my go-to chicken dishes. Been cooking it for almost a decade now (although have to admit I still get confused about the amount of time it takes to cook the chicken every now and then but that’s really because I am not used to the new oven…) The combination of the cream cheese and the crispy chicken skin is always heavenly.

I have modified this recipe; key thing is that I prefer using chicken thighs/legs rather than the breast. Also I tend to use a lot more paprika.