Semi-Fried Chicken Breast With Lemon and Rice

Receita em Portugues AQUI

This was a very fast food that I prepared yesterday as was only me and my son eating, I had to scavenge the fridge for something to eat and ideas. So I found some round green beans, a couple of old carrots, a lemon, a piece of dried ginger, and I had a couple of left over chicken breasts from another meal I had made before.
So I whipped my paella frying pan out and thought, I can do a part fried part stewed meal, and that is exactly what I did.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts (cut in cubes)
• 200grs rice (I blended long grain and basmati)
  
• 2 carrots thinly sliced
  
• 150grs of round green beans (chopped in three parts)
  
• 1 garlic clove (minced)
  
• 1 piece of fresh ginger (about same size as garlic, minced)
  
• 1 juice of a whole lemon
  
• 1 soup spoon of tomato paste
  
• 3-4 spring onions (finely sliced)
  
• a little olive oil
• seasoning salt and pepper (to taste) also a little paprika

Put the frying pan on the fire and in it a glug of olive oil, once this was hot I added the beans, spring onions, garlic and ginger and a little seasoning, always tossing it with a couple of wooden spoons (like stir-frying), done this for about 4-5 minutes then added the chicken checked the seasoning and, stir-fried the chicken until it was all sealed about 3 minutes at this stage I added the tomato paste and the lemon juice, letting this cook (simmer) for about 4-6 minutes adding a little water if it gets too dried, at the end add the paprika and let it cook for one more minute and it is ready to eat.

The rice is boiled as normal for about 10-12 minutes till cooked drain it and pass through it some boiling water while draining, this will remove the starch leaving it nice and dry and fluffy, you can also ad a little drizzle of olive oil to help retain moist

Pan Fried Chicken Fillets w/ Butter Sauce and Spring Onions

Recipe Ingredients:

• 400grs chicken boneless and skinless mini fillets
• the juice of 1/2 lemon
  
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/3 glass white wine
• 400grs spaghetti (100% durum wheat)
• 3 spring onions sliced
• 1/3 glass milk
• 2 soup spoons of butter
• salt and black pepper to taste
• a little olive oil
• 1 heaped tea spoon of plain flour dissolve in water
  

Way easy and quick, and very...very cheap. Boil the spaghetti as normal it will take about 12 minutes to be cooked.

While that is doing, put a large frying pan on the stove on high temp, add a couple of glugs of oil, and once hot add the chicken fillets (previously seasoned with garlic, the lemon juice, salt and pepper and left to marinade for 1/2 hour).

They'll immediately start to sizzle, and therefore require turning around fairly quickly to seal the meat (the reason why is important to seal is that the meat becomes this way more juicy and moist as if the outside is sealed the moisture and juices inside will escape at a much slower pace), once sealed cook well on both sides until it goes a golden colour (see photo) once that happens on both sides it is done remove them and let them rest only time enough to make the sauce.

For which you deglaze the pan, which means you pull out the stuck to the pan chicken stock by pouring the wine in and rubbing it around with a wooden spoon, which will make the wine go a brownish colour, at this stage add the butter and as soon as it all melts add the milk and the dissolved flour, this will thicken the butter cream, ready to pour over the edges of the pasta and chicken (see photo) finally you put the sliced spring onions over the edges of the pasta and chicken, this is not only a good garnish it also provides an excellent flavour and texture once mixed in with the sauce, pasta and meat while eating. bon apetit...

Spicy Meat Balls with a Smooth Chilli and Tomato Sauce

Receita em Portugues AQUI

The meat balls are back, after a request I received for spicy ones.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 400grs minced Beef
• 1 hand full of bread crumbs
• 1 egg (whole)
• 1 full onion finely chopped
  
• 3 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 coriander bunch (finely chopped)
• 300grs of fresh fettuccine
  
• 1 tin of tomatoes
• 1/3 of a glass fresh cream
  
• 2 level two chillies (finely chopped with the seeds, for less hot remove seeds and white veins inside the chillies)
  
• a pinch of chili powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• some olive oil
• 1 chicken stock cube
• a tea spoon of flour diluted in a little water (to thicken sauce)
  

On a deep pan put some water and salt and a drizzle of oil and boiled the pasta it takes only about 5 minutes to do as is fresh pasta (fettuccine), bearing in mind the sauce may take a little longer to make, make sure only to make the paste 5 minutes before the sauce is ready, so all comes out at the same time.

To make the meat balls, put the minced meat in a bowl, and put there also the parsley finely chopped, 1 garlic clove minced, a pinch of black pepper a pinch of salt and a pinch of chilli powder, the bread crumbs and the egg. With your hands mix it all very well and shape pieces of the meat into balls, and set these aside.

For the sauce on a frying pan or wok put in a glug of olive oil, once very hot add the onion, the garlic, the chilli and season it (salt and pepper to taste), cook these for about 5 minutes then add the meat balls, and turn them around to seal them, once fully sealed (brown all around) ad the tomato and chicken stock cube, let them cook for another 7 minutes, and now add the cream and the water with flour, and that will make just a nice sauce, let it cook a further 3 minutes (or more) as if you want the sauce tastier and thicker you can let it simmer for longer.

This one was really delicious, and fiery hot...most of the heat is felt around the lips as is fresh chillies. And you must admit the dish is very colourful and fiery too. You can see the steam coming of it yum yum!!

Brocoli and Butternut Squash Fettuccini and Lemon Chicken

Recipe Ingredients:

• 1/2 Bitternut Squash (cut very thin slices)
  
• 1 broccoli branch (cut very thin slices)
• 3 chicken thigh
• zest strands of half a lemon
• juice of 1 lemon
  
• 2 garlic clove (minced)
• salt and pepper to taste
• some olive oil
• 1 tea spoon of flour diluted in a little water
• 300grs fresh fettuccine
• 1 glass of white wine

Ok here it goes. Put a pan on the stove with a glug of olive oil, when hot place inside the thinly sliced butternut squash and 1 minced garlic, the idea is that the butternut squash cooks and gets really soft so that you can puree it, while this happens as it will take a good 5-7 minutes on another pan put boiling water and a little salt and put the broccoli into small bits inside, you want these well cooked nearly breaking apart so that it blends later with the butternut squash (but if you don't like them mushy, just don't cook them too well).

Back to the butternut squash, as it cook gently break it with a wooden spoon, and as it starts getting dry ad bits of the wine bit by bit and keep breaking up the BN squash, once all the wine is in add a little water and use the hand blender to blitz it into a creamy sauce, add to this sauce your cooked broccoli and season it with a little salt and pepper to taste, turn the fire down and let it simmer gently for about 3 minutes.

The fresh fettuccine only takes about 5 minutes to cook, so just boil as normal for that time with a little salt, and drain it, drizzle a little olive oil and toss it so that it doesn't stick together and serve it with the BN squash and broccoli sauce on top (optional you can ad shavings of rich dried cheese or Parmesan)

As to the chicken, remove the skin and the bones cut them into small (ish) portions, on a pan put a glug of olive oil, once hot add the chicken the remaining garlic and the lemon zest strands, cook on a high temperature and turn the chicken constantly to seal, once sealed add some seasoning (salt and pepper) and let it cook until the chicken is cooked through. the process is quick as chicken pieces are small and are de-boned and skinless about 3-5 minutes, at this stage add the whole juice of the lemon and a little plain flour diluted in a little water, this will thicken up the lemon sauce making it delicious, simmer for another 2 minutes and it's done...Cheap too.

Now remember to control the times so that everything sorta comes out at the same time. Bon Appetit.