OH EM GEE Chicken and Veg Bake

This is the most delicious Chicken and Veg combo EVER!

Very quick and easy, I’ve got a feeling this one’s going to be a winter favourite in my house this year.  People who aren’t used to high veg in their diets will look at this recipe and think.. urgh.. vegetables. If you think veggies are urgh, is more than likely because you don’t know how to cook them other than boiling, steamed, mushed, frozen or out of a can. This type of person is also prone to frying foods well and eating a lot of takeaways.  Sound familiar? Yup! Now have a look at this recipe, it’s sinfully good.

Servings:

6 Skinny Portions (420cals)

4 Piggy Portions   (624cals)

Ingredients:

900g Raw Fresh Mixed Veg
2 Large Chicken Breast Fillets
50grams Butter
1/2 Onion (Chopped)
Handful Mushrooms (optional)
1 Teaspoon Mustard Powder
1 Teaspoon Paprika
30g Chickpea Flour
1 Cup Milk
1 tin (400g) Cream of Tomato Soup
50g Hard Parmesan (Grated)
Salt/Pepper
150g Cheddar Cheese

Chicken Marinade:

2 tsp Soya Sauce

1 tsp Dijon Mustard

 

*Veg - good choices are (Broccoli, Butternut, Sweet Potato, Mixed Peppers, Onions, Green Beans, Carrots, Baby Marrow)

Method:

Cut the chicken breasts up into strips, mix the soy sauce and dijon mustard together, swoosh it around to coat the chicken and stick that in the fridge.

Get all you veggies prepared and chopped up into cubes. (no smaller than 3x3cm) If you've bought prepacked veg, you can do the microwave in the bag option, or lightly steam it on the stove. Do NOT boil the veg.. and do NOT cook it soft. This still needs to bake and you don't want to end up with mushy on your plate. If you're doing the in the microwave bag option, 4 minutes will do, if you're using baby marrows, don't cook those, they go soft too quickly.

Once the veg is pre cooked, gently put it in a caserole dish and leave it alone. 

In a pan, melt the butter over low heat and gently fry the chopped onions. If you're using mushrooms you can add them in after the onions have been going for about 5 minutes. You can also add some fresh chive at this point.

Once all that is looking good, add the paprika and mustard powder and mix it all up.

Now add the chickpea flour and mix it until it looks crumbly

Pour the milk in, and using a whisk, start whisking it until you have a nice smooth thick paste

Pour in the tin of tomato soup straight away and whisk the lumps away

Add you grated parmesan and seasoning and stir.

Pour this mixture over the veg in the caserole dish.

In the same pan.. or a clean one, whichever you prefer, lightly coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil.

Once the oil has heated, seal the chicken on both sides. It doesn't need to cook through as there's still some baking to be done, just as long as it's sealed.

Finally, toss the chicken with with the veg and sauce and GENTLY mix it all up careful not to mush your veg.

Top with the cheddar cheese and bake at 180degrees for about 30 minutes. Grill for a few minutes to crisp the cheese on top and voila! :)

Let it stand for about 20minutes to set before dishing up.

Lemon Basil Roast Chicken

Last weekend I decided to take a drive out to Spier wine farm to get some pasture reared chicken. I was a bit dissapointed to find out they don't sell frozen or fresh chicken in their deli (I could however order it online and have it delivered) but I did go away with a good supply of pasture reared chicken eggs and a whole cooked bird. Had my chicken supplies delivered earlier this week..

So this is my first ever home cooked pasture reared chicken... and damn was it good!

Ingredients:

1 whole bird
big handful of fresh basil
garlic cloves
olive oil
2 lemons
lemon pepper
salt

 Chop the basil and garlic up.. here's the fun part, gently seperate the breast skin from the meat and shove about 3/4 of the garlic and basil mixture under the skin spreading it out nice and evenly

chop the lemons up in quarters and place that in the cavity of the chicken

mix some olive oil with the remainding basil and garlic mixture and rub that all over the chicken

season the chicken the salt and lemon pepper

Line a racked oven dish with foil and place the chicken on the rack. This is so the chicken doesn't end up doing breast stroke through chicken fat/drippings.

Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the bird. Leave it in at 200degrees for an hour or so. To check if it's cooked, insert a skewer into the thickest part til it reaches the bone, the juices must run clear, if it's bloody, your bird aint cooked.

If you're satisfied that it's cooked, take it out and give it a good baste with the juices from the bottom of the pan and put it under the grill for a few minutes, careful not to burn it.

When it's done, let it rest for 15 minutes before cutting it up.

Bon appetite!