Chicken Parmigiana

I honestly can’t remember where I came across this recipe, but I always thought that it would make a quick and easy mid-week meal.

We were housing-sitting for Kelly’s Mum and Dad recently and had to come up with a menu that Kelly’s sister would also enjoy. Katie has very exacting standards when it comes to meal-times, so there was some doubt whether this recipe would ever be made. There was no need to worry though – the Chicken Parmigiana was a resounding success! So much so that it got a mention in Katie’s phone-call to her parents that night – if that isn’t a sign of approval, I don’t know what is.

If you’re thinking of adding this dish to your repertoire, I have a word of advice – you need a sharp knife to butterfly the chicken breasts. While this may not present a stumbling block to most, my experience is that when you’re cooking in your mother’s house a sharp knife is impossible to find (this is based on a study of 2 out of 2 mothers). To save yourself a lot of heartache, come prepared..

Serves 4 (or a very hungry 2)

You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7Image 8Image 9

Ingredients

• 4 bone-less and skin-less chicken breasts
• 1 cup of plain flour
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil, for cooking
• 2 tablespoons of butter, for cooking
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 3/4 glass of red wine (optional)
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 250g of grated mozzarella
• 100g of grated parmesan
• A handful of fresh basil
• 450g packet of spinach (or a 260g packet if you’re cooking for 2)
• A packet of Stirato bread

Method

1. Trim any fat from the chicken breasts
2. We need to make the chicken breasts nice and flat, and thin enough so that they will cook quickly. To butterfly the chicken breasts delicately slice at the start of a thicker piece of the meat, angling the blade to 45 degrees. If the knife is sharp you won’t need to exert any pressure, and one stroke will have a nice, shallow slice in the meat. Repeat this procedure until you have a flat piece of chicken breast.
3. Mix the flour, salt, and pepper together on in a deep bowl.
4. Dredge the flattened chicken breasts in the flour, making sure that the meat has been covered. Now, set the chicken aside on another plate.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 200°
6. Place the olive oil and butter in a non-stick pan and heat over a medium heat. When butter is melted and the mixture is foaming and hot, fry chicken breasts until nice and golden-brown on each side.
7. Remove chicken breasts from the frying-pan and place on a clean plate.
8. In the same pan, add the finely chopped garlic and allow to sweat until it has become translucent.
9. If you’re using the red wine, pour the wine into the pan and allow the liquid to reduce by half.
10. Pour the chopped tomatoes into the pan and cook until the watery juice has virtually disappeared and you’re left with a thick sauce.
11. Add the chopped basil to your sauce and stir thoroughly.
12. You’re ready to cook the spinach – place the spinach leaves in a large saucepan with a little water in the bottom of the saucepan, and place over a medium heat.
13. Pour your tomato sauce into a deep casserole dish and carefully place the chicken breasts into the sauce, making sure that the surface of the chicken stays well above the sauce.
14. Sprinkle the grated mozzarella on top of the chicken breasts, followed by the grated parmesan.
15. Place the casserole dish in the oven – along with the Stirato bread – and allow the Chicken Parmigiana to heat through until the mozzarella has melted.
16. Once the spinach has fully wilted, press the back of a spoon against the spinach leaves until the water in the leaves has been released. Drain the liquid.
17. Spoon the spinach onto the plate and, using a large spoon, scoop a chicken breast (along with plenty of the sauce) onto the dish.
18. Roughly tear off a portion of the bread and place it on the side of the plate – you’ll need this to mop the sauce up!
19. Sprinkle any remaining parmesan over the chicken and serve.

Enjoy.

Cream of Chicken and Vegetable soup

This is a yummy recipe and is made almost weekly in our house.

It’s also a great way of getting our daughter Sophie to eat her veggies.

You can see a larger photo here

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 chicken fillets
• 1375mls chicken stock
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 parsnip
• 1lb potatoes
• salt and pepper
• 250mls double cream
• 1 tbsp chives

Method

1. Prepare chicken stock.
2. Heat oil in a pan, remove fat from chicken fillets and seal the top and bottom of chicken fillets in the pan.
3. Add a cupful of the chicken stock to chicken and simmer until chicken has cooked through (This normally takes around 10 minutes).
4. Meanwhile chop up onions, garlic, carrot, parsnip and potatoes into small pieces.
5. In a separate pot, fry onion and garlic in a tbsp of olive oil until soft.
6. Add remaining vegetables to the pot with the garlic and onion in it, season with salt and pepper, add remaining chicken stock and boil for 25 minutes.
7. Remove Chicken fillets from the pan, cut into small pieces and set aside.
8. Add the left over chicken stock to the pot with vegetables in it.
9. When the vegetables have softened remove them to a blender and blitz until they have turned into a puree.
10. Add this back to the pot along with the double cream, chicken pieces, and chives.
11. Reduce the heat and allow the soup to heat through (around 30 minutes or so).
12. Serve with brown bread.

Enjoy!

Parmesan Chicken Goujons

Firstly, i would like to apologise for being a bit lazy about adding new recipes. I have been extremely busy since the end of November between shopping in New York and the lead up to Christmas. But i’m sure i’ll be forgiven when i share some of the new recipes that i have picked up recently.

I also have to write a few reviews on restaurants that i visited while in New York and also in Dublin during the lead up to Christmas.

The chicken goujons are a definite favourite in our house. These are one of my daughter Sophies favourite foods. They are really handy and can be made in advance. I made them recently with chips and mushy peas but they also go well with mashed potatoes and broccoli and parma ham.

see more photos here

Ingredients

Parmesan Chicken goujons

• 600g chicken breasts
• 50g flour
• salt and pepper
• 2 eggs beaten
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 50g parmesan cheese
• 3 tbsp oil (i used goose fat recently and it was yummy)

Honey mustard dip

• 250ml creme fraiche
• 1 tbsp grainy mustard
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 1 tsp dijon mustard

Method

Method – Parmesan Chicken goujons

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
2. Cut the chicken fillets into finger sizes
3. Place the flour and salt and pepper into a bag
4. Place the eggs into a bowl and beat with a fork
5. Place the breadcrumbs and parmesan into another bag
6. Toss the goujons into the seasoned flour, then remove and shake off excess flour
7. Dip into beaten egg
8. Toss into breadcrumb and parmesan mix and lay themk unto a plate
9. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes turning once and serve with honey mustard dip

Method – Honey mustard dip

1. Mix all of the ingredients altogether and serve. Note, depending on your taste you may want to add more honey or more mustard.

Enjoy!

Chicken patties with gorgonzola stuffing

Niall and I found a recipe for chicken patties and decided to alter it slightly to suit our taste – the result was a delicious lunch-time snack. The recipe mentioned that the blue cheese was optional. I would say it was a must!

I ate mine with a side salad and lemon wedges, while Niall had his in a burger with lettuce, sliced tomato, and mayo – you can decide how to eat yours..

You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6

Serves 3-4 people, with two patties each

Ingredients:

• 5-6 chicken breasts, roughly chopped
• 2-3 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
• 100g slice of smoked pancetta or fatty bacon, finely diced
• 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 75g Gorgonzola, chopped
• A good pinch of black pepper to taste
• Olive oil for frying

You’ll also need: a food processor for mincing the chicken, and a tray with greaseproof paper

Method:

1. Place the chicken in a food processor and blitz to mince the chicken
2. Add some olive oil to the frying pan, place over a low heat, and sweat the onion and garlic
3. When the onion has become translucent, add the pancetta, black pepper, and rosemary, cooking the pancetta until it has coloured
4. Remove the mixture from the heat and allow to cool
5. In a bowl, mix the chicken and the mixture thoroughly
6. Take a heaped tablespoon of the mixture and lightly press together to form a ball – then make a depression in the ball with your fingers
7. Place some of the chopped blue cheese in the hollow
8. Take another tablespoon of the mixture and place on top
9. Take care the seal the edges of the mixture so no cheese can escape – then lightly slap the top and bottom of the patty until you have a burger-shape
10. Place the patty on a tray with greaseproof paper and repeat the process until all of the mixture has been used – and place the tray in the fridge for 30 minutes
11. Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees
12. Add some olive oil to the frying pan and place over a medium heat – add the patties, two at a time, cooking them until the top and bottom have browned nicely – and place the browned patties onto a separate plate
13. When all of the patties have been fried, place them in the oven for 10 minutes or so to finish cooking

Enjoy

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken fillets cut into pieces
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• salt and pepper
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 500mls fresh cream / whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary
• 3 teaspoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of ground chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon of chopped parsley
• Parmesan
• fresh or dried pasta

Method:

Heat the butter in a saucepan until melted.  Add chicken pieces and cook for  5 minutes or until cooked through.  Add tin of tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper and rosemary and cook for a further 5 minutes.  Then add cream, chilli, chilli flakes and parsley, bring to the boil and allow to simmer for around 20 minutes.

10 minutes before this is cooked, cook the fresh pasta.  Add sauce and serve with loads of parmesan and garlic bread! Enjoy

NOTE: I didn’t give an exact amount for the pasta as it depends on how much you like yourself! In our house 1 packet is enough for myself, the hubs and our 2 year old -we are quite greedy when it comes to pasta portions!

Photographs to follow