Blog – Page 60 – The Food Wife

Paprika and Lemon Chicken Tapas

25th June 201825th June 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 3-4 as a tapas

At the weekend my sister came to stay and having been out for tapas on Friday evening with some mummy-friends, I felt inspired to play around with some flavours and came up with a few small dishes. It was a great success and my sister and Mr FW declared them definitely blog-worthy, so here goes.

This is the first of my tapas dishes. Juicy and flavoursome, this easy marinade perks up chicken breasts and is a great addition to a tapas meal. By allowing the meat to marinate for an hour or two, the citrus and spice permeate the flesh and you are left with succulent pieces of chicken that can be simply grilled or cooked on the barbecue.

These would also be a great filling for a wrap or to jazz up a salad.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Zest of an unwaxed lemon
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
2 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

Step 1: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave to marinate for at least an hour in the fridge.

Step 2: Remove from the fridge 20 minutes before you are ready to cook.

Step 3: Cook under a hot grill, turning once, for a couple of minutes each side until cooked through.

Baby Weaning Ideas #4

23rd June 201825th June 2018
by thefoodwife

So this time round I thought Iâ€™d focus on some of the meals Austin has been wolfing down that have been siphoned off from meals the food husband and I have been eating.

As a general rule, I simply take three or four portions out for Austin before I add the salt. With the recipes below you’ll find a link to a previous blog post and a note of what I left out/altered to make it baby-friendly. I would say that Austin likes a bit of spice – I think he must have got used to it in the womb and from my breast milk!

Katsu curry sauce

So I left the soy sauce and sugar in the recipe (it is such a small amount considering the volume of sauce produced) and he had the full amount of curry powder, but it is such a sweet and fruity sauce from the apples and carrots that the heat is tempered. I just took out the portions for the food baby before I added any extra salt.

Austin has had this with couscous but it would be good with rice or pasta too, along with some extra veg (and chicken if you like!).

Pizza

When I made a batch of dough for the food husband and me, I took one of the portions (this amount of dough made eight medium pizzas) and quartered it. I simply wrapped each quarter in clingfilm and froze them ready to make an easy meal for Austin. I defrosted the dough in the fridge over night (but you could get it out a couple of hours before you need it and let it defrost at room temperature), rolled it out thinly on a floured surface and then topped it with a small amount of the tomato and carrot (pasta) sauce in my last baby weaning blog post, some fresh mozzarella and torn basil leaves. I cooked it on an oiled oven tray at 220c for seven or eight minutes. Yum.

Apricot Yogurt

And finally a quick pudding idea. I whizzed up a drained can of apricots to a purÃ©e and froze portions. I simply defrost a portion and stir it through some full fat yogurt to make a fruity yogurt for pudding.

Chickpea and Preserved Lemon Tagine

23rd June 201823rd June 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 6

If you want a super quick and easy meal then this is perfect. Ready in half an hour but bursting with flavour, this Moroccan-inspired stew can be flung together from a few store cupboard ingredients.

Iâ€™ve called this a tagine, but Iâ€™ve just made it in a normal pan on the hob. If you wanted to make this in a proper tagine in the oven then you can of course, itâ€™ll just take a lot longer! At step four you would transfer it to your tagine and cook at 150c for an hour or two.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil
1 onion, large dice
2 heaped tsp ras al hanout
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 pepper, large dice
2 pieces of cassia bark/cinnamon sticks
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
2 tins of chickpeas
10 prunes, quartered
2-3 preserved lemons, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Step 1: Soften the onion in the oil for five minutes on a medium heat.

Step 2: Add the ras al hanout and stir for one minute.

Step 3: Add the garlic and diced pepper and stir for another minute.

Step 4: Add the tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, cassia/cinnamon, prunes and preserved lemons. Simmer for 20 minutes. Season to taste.

We had this with couscous or quinoa and a fat-free yogurt, spiced up with some garam masala (simply stir a teaspoon of the spice mix through a few tablespoons of the yogurt). You could also have some salad or vegetables on the side.

Courgette and Butterbean Salad

20th June 201820th June 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 2 as a lunch or 4-6 as part of a meal.

I had a version of this wonderful salad at a friendâ€™s house a while ago and loved the textures from the combination of vegetables and beans. I decided to tweak some of the flavours and have come up with this, equally tasty, salad which is great as part of a meal or on its own as a healthy and nutritious lunch. It does no harm to make this a couple of hours before serving; in fact, I think it improves as the flavours from the dressing infuse into the vegetables.

If serving with other salads try it with my spiced butternut squash, feta and pomegranate salad.

Ingredients:

For the salad:
1 large or 2 small courgettes, 1cm dice
1 small red onion fine dice
200g baby plum tomatoes, halved
1 tin butter beans, drained
3 sprigs of mint, chopped

For the dressing:
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ras al hanout spice
Salt and pepper (a small pinch of each)

Step 1: Add the courgettes and red onion to a large bowl along with the tomatoes and butterbeans.

Step 2: Add the dressing ingredients to an empty jam jar and, with the lid on, shake vigorously for a few seconds until combined. Alternatively, whisk together in a bowl.

Step 3: Pour the dressing over the salad and stir through along with the chopped mint.

Chorizo and Pea Baked Risotto

18th June 201818th June 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 2

A traditional risotto can be a labour of love but a baked risotto requires little interference and still produces a satisfying dish for a weeknight meal.

This combination uses spicy chorizo and naturally sweet peas to give a nice balance of flavours. I like to use bouillon vegetable stock, and find I donâ€™t need to add any extra salt as the stock and parmesan are salty enough. I also cut the chorizo up into different sized pieces, some finely diced, some half moons, some full slices, I find this gives a good dispersion from the small pieces and also you still get the odd big chunk!

This is a one pot dish but just make sure the pan you use is hob- and oven-safe and deep enough to hold the cooked risotto. It does not need a lid.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil or butter
1 onion or leek, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, cut into small dice
75g chorizo, chopped
110g arborio rice
320ml hot vegetable or chicken stock
50ml white wine or vermouth
Pinch of white pepper
2 tbsp grated Parmesan
150g frozen petit pois

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 150c.

Step 2: Heat the oil or butter on a medium heat in a deep oven proof pan. Add the leek or onion and soften for five or so minutes before adding your red pepper and softening for another five minutes.

Step 3: Add your chorizo and stir to release its oils and then stir in the rice, coating it in the oils.

Step 4: Add your pinch of white pepper, stock and wine and bring to the boil, then transfer the pan (uncovered) to the preheated oven and leave for 25-30 minutes.

Step 5: After this time, remove from the oven and stir in the parmesan and frozen petit pois and then return to the oven for a further 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serve with green beans and an extra sprinkling of parmesan.