Chicken, Chorizo and Tomato Paella

In our house every Tuesday Night is Paella Night. If Hubby was asked to list has favourite meals, this one would be in the top 5, and he's not easy to please when it comes to food! He plays 5-a-side every Tuesday night with the boys from work so Tuesday night is the one night of the week I get control of the TV remote and can catch up on all my Sky+ viewing from the week before. Because this recipe is so full proof (Donna Hay is to me what Nigella and Delia are to everyone else) I can throw it together and let it bubble away while I relax.

This recipe is as familiar to me as the back of my hand these days and I've found you can pretty much get away with adding or omitting whatever you like, pasta in place of the rice works really well and if you've forgotten to defrost the chicken (ahem) its just as nice with the chorizo only. I haven't been able to track down fresh oregano anywhere here so I use the dried variety. The chorizo needs to be good quality as the flavour really makes an impact when its soaked up by the rice as it cooks, when we can we get the real macoy from a great little deli in Leith.

Chicken, Chorizo and Tomato Paella

1 tbsp olive oil (I use fry lite)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp paprika (probably closer to 1 and a bit tsp goes into mine but I use the sweet variety, if the chorizo is the real deal the hot paprika can kill the dish)
200g chorizo, sliced
400g chicken breasts, cut into large chunks
1 1/2 cups medium grain rice
400g can diced tomatoes
500ml chicken stock
A good sprinkling dried oregano (or 1/2 cup fresh leaves)
2 cups baby spinach leaves

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the onion, garlic, paprika, chorizo and chicken and cook for 5-10 mins, until golden. Add the rice and tomatoes and stir to combine. Add the stock, reduce the heat to low, cover with a tight fitting lid and cook for 15 mins, or until rice is cooked. Stir through the oregano and spinach.

Serves 4 - if you are lucky!
Taken from Donna Hay's Simple Essentials: Chicken

Red Pesto Chicken

I stumbled into the 'blog-o-sphere' quite by accident and, I'm ashamed to admit, not that long ago when I was searching for a recipe. I can't even remember what the recipe was now but one of the blogs that my google search lead me to was Domestic Goddess In Training. As they say 'the rest is history' ... I was hooked! I started following Jules' online collection and caught up with every single post I had missed. One of the many posts I book marked was for this Red Pesto Chicken, such a satisfying meal to eat at any time of year but especially so when its bitterly cold outside like it is right now.

Red Pesto Chicken

2 tbsp olive oil (I use fry lite)

4 chicken fillets, diced

2 red onions, cut into wedges

2 large red peppers, cut into wedges

2 cloves garlic, crushed

200g basmati rice

2 tins chopped tomatoes

600ml chicken stock

1 tsp chilli flakes

10 tbsp red pesto (I sometimes use Chilli Pesto and omit the chilli flakes)

Preheat the oven to 190C. In an ovenproof saute pan, fry chicken in oil until the chicken is starting to brown. Remove from pan. Fry onions and peppers for 4 mins. Add garlic and fry for a further 30 seconds.

Add chicken back into the pan then pour in the stock, tomatoes and rice. Stir in the chilli flakes (if using). Bring to the boil then bake in the oven, uncovered, for 20 mins. Stir in the pesto before serving.

Serves 4

To make sure we don't miss out on a morsel of this we like to have a nice crusty bread roll to help mop all the juices left on the plate. This dinner really does warm you up from the inside out!

Cook Book Challenge Number One

One of my New Year resolutions (there are a few!) was to start making use of all those cook books I have managed to collect over the last few years. The lion's share of them sit in my book shelf and, apart from a casual flick through the pages every now and then, really don't get to see the light of day. Thus the 2010 Cook Book Challenge (CBC) was born and last night's dinner saw Kylie Kwong's 'Simple Chinese Cooking' make it all the way from the bookshelf to the kitchen bench.

Kylie is a fourth generation Australian-Chinese currently living in Sydney. She has her own restaurant there and also has several cookbooks and TV series under her belt too, you may have seen her on the Good Food Channel when it was still called UKTV Food. Her cookbook is very easy to read and the pictures are mouthwatering, the only thing I would complain about is the amount of oil that she uses. Next time I make these dishes, for there will certainly be a next time, I think I'll substitute the fry lite spray for the oil. Delish!

Stir Fried Chicken Fillets with Honey and Ginger

800g chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm slices (I used breast cause that's what we had handy!)

2 tbsp veg oil

1 tbsp light soy sauce

Marinade

1/4 cup honey

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp shao hsing wine or dry sherry

2 tbsp finely diced ginger (I grated it)

1 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tsp dark soy sauce

2 tsp five spice powder (I didn't have any handy so I substitute a pinch of crushed dried chillies)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Combine chicken with marinade ingredients in a large bowl, cover, and leave to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Heat oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly. Add half the marinated chicken with the marinade and stir fry for 1 min. Remove from the wok with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add remaining chicken and stir fry for 1 min. Return reserved chicken to the wok with soy sauce and stir fry for a further 2 mins or until chicken is just cooked through and slightly caramelised.

Arrange chicken on a platter and serve.

Serve as a meal for 4 with steamed rice or as part of a banquet for 4-6

This was very, very yummy. Hubby had a second helping which is always a good sign!

Steamed Rice

1 1/3 cups uncooked jasmine rice

2 2/3 cups water

Place uncooked rice in a sieve and rinse under running water until water runs clear. Combine water and rice in a medium sized heavy based saucepan. Bring to the boil, immediately cover with a tight fitting lid and reduce heat to as low as possible. Cook, covered, for 10 mins. Do not remove lid during cooking.

Remove saucepan from the stove and stand, covered, for 10 mins. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

Serves 4 (makes about 4 cups of cooked rice)

This is the easiest way I have ever found of making perfectly cooked fluffy rice without a rice cooker. I will be using this method from now on.

Stir Fried Snow Peas with Garlic

2 tbsp veg oil

1/2 tsp sea salt

250g mange-tout (snow peas), trimmed (I used sugar snap peas as that is what we had)

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 tsp white sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp sesame oil

Heat veg oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly. Add salt and mange-tout and stir fry for 2 mins. Immediately add crushed garlic and stir fry for 1 min, stirring constantly to ensure garlic does not burn. Add sugar and stir fry for 10 seconds. Pour in water and simmer for 2 mins or until the mange-tout are tender. Lastly, add sesame oil and serve immediately.

Serves 2 as a side dish (or 4 for a banquet)

Who would have thought a bit of sugar and water along with some garlic and a stir fry could make these even tastier than they normally are. I could have eaten the whole lot on my own, only they were a touch too oily when cooked following the instructions above. Next time I'll replace the veg oil with a few sprays of the fry lite.

I loved this meal, Hubby not so much but then he isn't a fan of rice. He has asked that he has noddles with it next time instead. I will of course be happy to oblige ;0)