Chicken Pie

It has well and truly felt like winter the last couple of weeks (finally!) meaning I’ve been turning to more homely, hearty dishes -such as this classic chicken dish- to warm me up. The beauty of this is in its simplicity and that it can be adapted to make into a pie, or just to eat with rice or mash. Either way – add some seasonal veg, keep the carbs wholegrain, and you have yourself a healthy meal (fairly healthy if you make it into pie…). This is a great one to make for your housemates – this was very popular with mine – or scale it down to use 2 chicken breasts and eat it over two days – making sure you heat the chicken up carefully so it’s piping hot all the way through.

Ingredients – serves 4:

3-4 chicken breasts

Juice of half a lemon

30g butter

Approx. 200g of mushrooms (2/3rds of an average supermarket pack) - sliced

1 leek – finely sliced

30g flour

300ml chicken stock (use a whole chicken stock cube dissolved in 600ml of boiling water)

*Optional bacon if you have it

Parsley if you have it

If you’re making it into a pie – half a block of ready-made puff pastry.

Put the chicken breasts in a dish, drizzle with olive oil, squeeze the juice of half a lemon over them and season with salt and pepper. Cook them in the oven at 190 degrees, gas mark 5 for 35-40 minutes – or until the juices run clear**.

With 10-15 minutes left to go on the timer, put the kettle on and make your stock. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan on a medium-low heat and fry the leek until it’s starting to go soft (*add bacon cut into pieces at this point too if you’re using it). Add the mushrooms and continue to fry until they’re soft too. Don’t worry if there’s excess butter – this is what makes the sauce.

Once the leek and mushrooms are soft, add the flour and stir until it’s soaked up the butter. Then start adding the stock – stirring continuously. It may go lumpy at first but persevere and it should come together and start to thicken. Keep adding the stock until it’s the right consistency. At this point if you’re feeling clever – get the chicken out and tip the juices from the dish into the sauce, then put the chicken back in the oven to carry on cooking.

Taste your sauce and season it. At this point I add parsley if I have it, salt, pepper, maybe some mixed herbs, a little more lemon juice if it needs it – whatever floats your boat! Once the chicken is done, cut it up into chunks and mix it in with the sauce.

You can serve it with wholegrain rice and vegetables and you’re away! 
OR
Make it into pie…

Transfer the chicken and sauce into a fairly deep dish, roll out the pastry to roughly 3mm thick and place it over the chicken. Make sure to make a small hole in the top of the pastry, and then cook for a further 20 minutes until the pastry is brown.

ALL THE YUMMY PIE

**(to test this, poke the chicken breast with a knife and then press down on it with the flat side of the knife. There should be no pink colouration in the juice that comes out. Alternatively chop the breast in half and check it’s not pink – you’re going to cut it all up anyway).

Tune of the day: Don't Give Up (On Love)- Blinkie - It's cold, it's wet, it's miserable, so listen to the electronic charms of Blinkie, and reach for a saucepan rather than those Dominoes 2-for-1 offers.

Tip of the day: there are so many really good videos on YouTube showing you how to make many amazing, healthy recipes. I personally love Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube - he invites lots of other chefs as guests to his channel and has so much variation. Also Donal Skehan.    

New Year, New Us!

***DRUM ROLL PLEASE***

We are back ladies and gents, and it has been far, FAR too long and for this we greatly apologise.

But guess what? It's a brand new year, and with that comes a brand new us, and a brand new blog post - better late than never right?

This year, I am all about the veg - so much so that 90% of my fridge content right now is filled with the green stuff. We've both stopped rowing and with that comes a slightly different diet plan: carbs aren't as needed as we're not exercising quite as much and so vegetables have become my new BFF. This is not to say I have stopped eating carbs -especially on hangover days- as they are still a staple part of your diet to keep you going throughout the day.

My top tip is to have a carb laden breakfast to start the day and to give you an energy boost that will last til lunch.

To start off our grand return, today's blog is going to be about the, not-so-grand, coleslaw. I referenced it as an accompaniment in our sausage roll recipe, but it can be so much more than just a side salad.

I'm going to tell you the recipe at its most basic and then explain how it can make the transition from barbecue side dish to hearty lunch salad. With this, you can make a large amount of the base and then change small portions of it as and when needed.

Edgy zoom

Ingredients (makes 4 to 5 portions)

1/2 white cabbage
3-4 carrots (depending on the size)
1 and a 1/2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 and a 1/2 tbsp plain yoghurt


Recipe

• Grate cabbage and carrots and put in a large bowl. The best basis for carrot amount is to match it to the cabbage. Alternative: if you're not a huge fan of cabbage, try Chinese lettuce! It doesn't need to be grated, just slice it thinly horizontally and make the coleslaw chunky!

• Stir in mayonnaise and yoghurt, add more or less depending on how moist (lol) you want your salad

• Add seasonings, all about that black pepper.

• Et voila - you have, in its most basic form, coleslaw

If it doesn't look like this you've messed up 

Variations

So some slightly different options for you lovely people...

Raisins - some people hate them, some people think they're a strange item to put in coleslaw - it's all up to personal preference. Something my Mum taught me in order to juice up the raisins before adding them, is to cover them with apple juice and put on the hob in a saucepan until the juice starts to bubble. At which point, drain most of the juice and add the plumped up raisins to the bowl. This adds a lovely fruity zest to your salad.

Red onion - some people prefer a more American style 'slaw, and this is created through the addition of some onion. My favourite way to do this is to finely chop up 1/2 a red onion -it can be quite pungent- and bung in with the rest of the ingredients. This combo is generally best for BBQ style situations as the onion goes dreamily with burgers and sausages.

Apple and dried apricots - don't hate me, this is a thing I swear. This goes best with the Chinese lettuce coleslaw and is a great accompaniment to any Asian themed foods, but don't let that stop you branching out! This is really yummy and again originates from my Mum's kitchen - I know dried apricots can be quite a pricey salad ingredient, but I hope if you seen them on offer you seize the chance to try this out. I would advice a handful of apricots chopped in half and 1-1 and a half apples cut into segments for a chunky mouthful!

Feta and walnut - last and by no means least is this little nugget of wisdom I want to share. I discovered this late at night when I needed to make a packed lunch for a day on campus the next day and only had some previously prepared coleslaw in the fridge. To bulk it up and make it more substantial, I chopped up some feta and bunged in some walnuts. About a third of a block of feta is enough and chuck in a handful or two of walnuts for extra crunch and protein. Again, I know walnuts are expensive, but they are well worth buying in bulk as an extra bit of long lasting energy to add to any salad. I bought a large bag from Booker but in you aren't able to buy from a wholesale supermarket, most health food shops will let you order a large amount in one go for a discounted amount.

We're back and better than ever

Complimentary tune: Let's Dance - David Bowie, in memory of the late and great David Bowie, let's dance away those winter blues and into the new year.

Tip of the day: Head to Morrisons to stock up on cheap fruit and veg, and look at ways to get them -and all your shopping- to stay fresh for longer with tips like these.

---C