This recipe makes a super juicy flavoursome roast chook. It is amazing paired with my favourite asian slaw and the leftovers make excellent lunches, or tacos! The brining is completely optional but I do it whenever planning and time allows as it helps stop the meat from drying out and adds more flavour.
ASIAN SLAW
This is my go to slaw. It makes it into my rainbow lunch bowls, chicken burgers and is the base of my favourite chicken salad. I also love serving it with a roast chicken! I even mix around some of the ingredients in the dressing and take it more towards Mexican and add it to tacos. It’s full of flavour, texture and colour. What more could you want?
BEETROOT, BASIL AND GOATS CHEESE SALAD WITH MAPLE MUSTARD LAMB CUTLETS
This is a winning combination. The sharp goats cheese with the fresh peas and sweet beetroot is fantastic and set off by the fresh herbs, lemon zest and the crunch of the walnuts. This salad is also delicious without the lamb but the two together make up one of my favourite meals, you can easily serve this with some flat bread or roast chat potatoes.
ORANGE, MINT, FENNEL AND CANDIED WALNUT SALAD
Yesterday felt like a summer’s day, I was craving a summery salad and simple pasta for dinner. I love this salad as a side at a barbecue (such as with the Middle Eastern inspired bbq chicken), or with pizza or pasta. It’s light and has a great balance of flavour, texture and nutrients – and that’s pretty much what my approach to eating is all about. And just check out those colours…
SPICY SWEET POTATO CRISPS
I clearly had no idea what to call these. They are sweet and tangy and crispy and fresh. And spicy. Well as spicy as you want them I guess! It’s also sort of a salad. Or a nibble. Or a side dish. Or even a bar snack, along with popcorn cauliflower florets of course! The crisps themselves are baked rather than fried and placed on a mixture of sauces (green thai curry, molasses, black vinegar). They are then topped with a light and fragrant salad of fresh herbs and spices. It’s all a bit magical and crazy really, thus the trouble with the name.
CAULIFLOWER SAUCE
Sometime beige on beige tastes anything but. The main ingredient in this sauce is cauliflower and it can be used on pasta instead of bechamel sauce, it also works well as a substitute for mashed potatoes! I’m a little addicted…
CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE PIE WITH A SPELT CRUST
Pie. I love all kinds of pie, but I’ve been looking for a way to make it a little bit healthier. It’s actually a great vehicle for all kinds of vegetables and fillings but the traditional crust doesn’t add a lot of nutritional value! I’ve used a super simple spelt and olive oil pastry here. I find it’s best if you pre cook the crust, it doesn’t rise much so there is no need to weigh it down. You don’t have to pre cook it but it tends to disintegrate a bit if you don’t! This filling is also great with mushrooms instead of potato if you want to cut down on the starch, but I love potatoes and my boyfriend hates mushrooms (he’s pathological about it, crazy man) so this is the version i went with. The kabana sausage is also completely optional, it adds a lovely smoky flavour.
MUSHROOM, PEA AND SPINACH RISOTTO
Risotto is severely under rated, I promise it is more than ‘wet rice’ or ‘savoury porridge’ (although The Katering Show‘s episode about this is a hilarious must watch for any foodie, as are all their episodes ). Once you’ve made it a few times it also becomes pretty easy and you can totally multitask and don’t need to spend the whole time laboriously stirring the pot! The other thing they have going for them is that you can make an impressive meal for very little money. And I’m a teacher so being frugal is kind of important haha. The below recipe is for a basic mushroom risotto with spinach and peas. I’ve added thyme and sage as these are lovely with mushrooms, and lemon as this is so good with the peas. You could add chicken as well! Get stirring…
‘POPCORN’ CAULIFLOWER FLORETS WITH YOGHURT, FETA AND BASIL SAUCE
WARNING: these are very addictive, I almost ate a whole head of cauliflower by myself and that amount of cauli would do bad bad things to me… a narrow escape… Very narrow, I kept moving them further and further away from me and eating more each time I moved them. Idiot.
ZUCCHINI, PEA AND MINT SALAD
This salad tastes like summer. Eat it by itself. Eat it with a vegetable gallette. Eat it with barbecued lamb or chicken or fish or steak. Mix it with pasta. Just do yourself a favour and eat it. It’s super quick and simple to make, tastes great and looks pretty. It’s also full of stuff that’s good for you. Green stuff, good fats, great things. So stop reading these words and skip down to the recipe.