Chicken in Spicy Yoghurt

We are on another attempted health kick. This, i guess, is when i should start advocating a healthy balanced diet etc etc but if you want that kind of chat then this may not be the place for you. If i'm having to eat healthy 90% (wishful thinking) of the time, then my weekly blog will be my calorie slip up. One of the reasons for the said health kick (apart from my favourite belt getting too tight) is the because The Houseboy is competing in his first half marathon in Bath and followed swiftly by his first full marathon in Copenhagen. Needless to say i will not be running but i will be standing at the finish line waiting for him with a shiny foil blanket thingy & a sandwich.

The Houseboy is a bit of a junk food prude & can ignore a plateful of biscuits easily, i on the other hand find it a little harder. For one, this is partly down to my workplace which seems obsessed anything to do with sugar. Cakes, biscuits, robinson's fruit juice, sugary tea... There is always something tempting lurking on the meeting table. Some things i can say no to - rich tea biscuits & ginger nuts to name the very few, but when someone brings in treats from Ottolenghi it's completely impossible to resist. I also have to confess now that i baked a carrot cake to take in tomorrow. The Houseboy is right - i am a feeder and i have no will power. 

                                                               Temporarily banned...

                                          

Don't be fooled by the substandard picture, this is actually a lovely recipe full of flavour & takes no time at all to rustle up. I originally saw a version of this on salmon & green chillies in place of harrisa paste & thought that i would try it out with chicken instead. You can omit the harrisa paste if it's not your thing.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breast
• one large yellow pepper
• 250g of spinach
• 300g low fat greek yogurt
• one tablespoon of harrisa paste
• 2" knob of fresh ginger
• two cloves of garlic
• one bunch of coriander
• s&p

Method:

Take the ginger, garlic & coriander - pulse together in a processor or mini chopper (or finely chop by hand if you're old school). Add the yogurt & harrisa paste, mix well, taste & season. Slice up the chicken and the pepper setting the pepper aside for a moment, take the chicken and cover with the yoghurt mixture leaving a couple of table spoons spare. Add to a medium hot pan or wok & begin to cook gently (you don't want to curdle it) until the chicken is cooked through. Throw in the yellow pepper & cook for a further three or four minutes (you don't want them to get soggy) and finish off by stirring in the remaining yogurt dressing. I served this with couscous but it would go equally well with rice. 

Ottolenghi Raspberry Cheesecake

                                                     

Smoked Salmon Pate

I feel like i've just completed a foodathon, but i'm not sure if sure if i came first or last...

We ate so much food over the weekend that i should really do a 24 hour self imposed famine like i did as kid for charity (was tough but a lot easier than a sponsored silence) It's probably not going to happen though. Anyway the reason for eating so much was a good one - catching with friends & going to a great restaurant. For the first time in ages we headed to The Hardwood Arms in Fulham which sports a Michelin star, a menu to make a meat lover swoon & a lovely atmosphere. It's well worth a visit - just make sure & book. After our fantastic meal we headed round the corner & over the road to Vagabond to samples some wines. A great place where you can buy wine by the snifter, the glass or the bottle its perfect or people who like me who love wine, but doesn't always know where to start. The Houseboy felt nice & smug when one of my favourites turned out to be an  South Australian Shiraz called Sitting Spider.

When ever i make pate, i always seems to do either chicken liver or smoked mackerel, but given the fact that that we still have a whole side of smoke salmon in the freezer the decision was a simple one. I originally found this recipe on the BBC Good Food site but changed it as i thought it didn't have enough smoked salmon in it & i prefer chives instead of fennel.  

Ingredients:

• 300g smoked salmon
• 150g creme fraiche
• 50g cream cheese
• handful of chopped chives
• juice of half a lemon juice
• a little cracked black pepper
 

 Method:

Take all the ingredients, place into a food processor & pulse until combined. It's that easy folks.

...Crisp Brawn with Jerusalem Artichoke Puree & Bread & Butter Pickles... 

  ...Ruby Shirt Steak with Potato,  Spinach & Mushroom Puree...

 

...And finally the Yorkshire Rhubarb Eaton Mess...

Apple & Raisin Cookies

So this weekend past i made ice cream, which happened to coincided with the coldest weather London has seen in a long time - great timing. The Houseboy was pretty against my choice of dessert, requesting a wintry pudding possibly featuring apples & pastry, but i couldn't get the idea of ice cream out of my head, so i just locked myself in the kitchen & got with it. The Houseboy despite his misgivings still managed to eat quite a hefty portion...

Apart from some weekend ice cream & soup making, cooking took a nose drive last week due to a nasty bout of flu which left me not giving a fig what i ate as i couldn't taste anything. The highlight had to be a Swedish/German dish cooked up by Miss Crabbie involving ham, sweet red peppers, cheese, cream & potatoes. It was delicious (possibly the last thing i tasted before my senses went into lock down) despite Crabbie claiming she forgot what she was doing half way through. This week will filled with more hearty fare to try & combat this cold (i don't why i'm moaning, it was waaaaay colder growing up in Scotland as a kid) so cottage pies, soups & goulashes will all be making an appearance. 

Everyone loves cookies, & if they don't, they're not worth knowing. This recipe was an attempt at recreating an Apple Strudel Slice which i saw in being sold in a dodgy shop in Battersea. I was going to buy the slice but then i read the ingredients list & realised it would take me several spin classes to work off the 'trans fats'. So i made these instead. They may have butter & sugar etc, but at least you know whats gone into them. Next time i make these i will be throwing in a handful of chocolate chips & hazelnuts instead of apples & raisins. Just to mix it up.    

Ingredients:

• 250g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 100g caster sugar
• 200g soft brown sugar
• 170g melted butter
• a handful of chopped dried apple
• a handful of raisins 
• one egg
• one egg yolk
• one tsp vanilla essence 

Method:

Set your oven to 170C, grease a baking tray & set aside.

Take the melted butter & cream together until blended.

Add in the vanilla essence & eggs & blend till light & fluffy.

Carefully sift in the flour, salt & bicarb & gently mix.

Add the raisins & apple & fold in.

Place roughly one tbsp of the mixture onto the baking tray - don't flatten them.

Bake for 15 - 17 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack & keep in an air tight box.