Griddled Honey and Mustard Chicken

I love using my griddle pan in the Summer, those charred lines are so evocative of barbeques. (Which I unfortunately don't have in my puny garden.) Plus it's also a very healthy way to cook as the fat can drain away!

Honey and mustard is a classic flavour combination, here I've used it with chicken but you can also use it with pork, maybe even hard tofu!

For the Marinade:

1tsp wholegrain mustard
2tsp english mustard
1dsp Olive oil
1tsp minced garlic
2tsp soy sauce
2tsp runny honey
tiny splash of cider vinegar

Butterfly  2 chicken breasts (cut it in half, but not all the way and opened like the pages of a book).

Put a splash off oil in the bowl and put the chicken breasts in, coat them on both sides with the marinade. Cover the dish with cling film and put in the fridge for a minimum of 45 minutes.

Heat up the griddle until it's really hot and cook the chicken on one side untill you can see it turning white up the sides, then flip over and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Great with a fresh green salad and crispy potatoes!

Egg Fried Rice

Made Chinese Pork Loin last night (hence why the recipe now has a picture!) and cooked some lovely egg fried rice to go with it, so thought I would share it with you as it's a real takeaway style treat which is really easy! (Chinese purists, don't be mad at me, this is just the way I do it, I'm not saying it's authentic or anything!)

RICE is nice...

I really really recommend cooking your rice in a microwave, I've spent years messing up rice in a saucepan and never getting it quite right. Then one day (I think I didn't have a clean pan! :/) I decided to cook it in the microwave and BAM amazing rice! It is worth taking the time to measure it out like on the packet instructions (even if just for the first time) and this is coming from someone who eyeballs everything!

So once you have cooked your rice, this is what else you're going to need

Vegetable/sunflower oil

Garlic (minced or finely chopped) 1tsp

Ginger (same as garlic)

Big pinch of chilli flakes (or if you like it less spicy, use a blob of sweet chilli sauce)

Eggs (one for every portion of rice you are cooking, free range, but I don't need to tell you that!)

Soy sauce

The rest is up to you, additional bits I've put in the past include frozen peas, spring onion, tiny cooked prawns, bits of cooked ham/chicken, finely diced mushroon, fresh/dried herbs (coriander is good)

Heat up a couple of good glugs in a big frying/saute pan on a medium/high heat (if you don't use a big pan, it will get messy) or use a wok if you can be bothered cleaning the thing, anyway.

Add the garlic ginger and chilli and give it all a quick stir then crack your egg(s) in, quick stir so the yolk all breaks up and then leave it for about 30 seconds, just for the egg to start to cook.

Stir the egg around again, so some long tendril-like bits are starting to form and then tip in your cooked rice add another spalsh of oil and keep moving around the pan.

Once all the eggy oily mixture has coated the rice shake in some soy sauce, I use about four shakes for two of us, but basically you want all the rice to have gone slightly golden colour.

This is the time to add any extras you want.

Stir for another 2 mins and then you're done!

Chicken and Mushroom Pasta in Blue Cheese sauce

You know when you've had one of those days when you're fed up, tired and hungry.
Thats the time when I like pasta.
Fresh Pasta is super quick and convenient (even if you freeze it you only add a few more minutes on the cooking time). Make sure you cook it in a big pan of salty water with a splash of olive oil to stop the pasta sticking together. This recipie is good with taglitelle!

This is so rich and tasty, even if your not much of a fan of blue cheese ( maybe try with half cream cheese and half blue if you're a bit shy!)

For everything else except the pasta....
-Few chestnut mushrooms
-Big chicken breast (if you get happy free range chicken, which I can't recommend enough, it will be big enough for two) cut into strips.
-2 Shallots (1/2 an onion will do but shallot just works!)
-50g blue cheese (buy just that from the cheese counter if you don't normally eat blue cheese)
-100ml(ish) milk
-Big handful of shredded Spring Greens (or spinach, kale or savoy cabbage)

Put your water onto boil for the pasta.

Thinly slice a few chesnut mushrooms and cook them with a splash of olive oil and 1/2 a teaspoon of chopped garlic (I love the minced stuff in a jar, very convenient). Once they're browned take them out of the pan and keep them on a plate.

Thinly slice two shallots and gently cook them in the pan you just took the mushrooms out of. Once they are starting to brown add the sliced chicken and sprinkle with apprx 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika.

When the chicken is sealed (it looks white all over) crumble in the blue cheese and stir until it's all melted in. Then pour in the milk, just enough so it looks a bit too runny ( it will reduce down a bit). Season with salt and pepper and put the mushrooms back in.

Cook your pasta whilst your sauce is bubbling away and add the spring greens then drain the pasta and tip it into the sauce stirring everything together so the pasta is all coated.

Scraped the pan tonight! Very tasty!

Chips Chips Chips

I'm not usually once for absolutes, but oven chips are DISGUSTING!

Except curly fries, they're amazing once in a while (see maybe not so absolute).

The worst thing I did for my health was to buy one of those mini deep fryers you put on the hob from Wilkinsons,
Still it's a damn sight cheaper than the chippy,
And if you leave the skin on, they're kinda healthier (yeah whatever!)

After much trial and error I would recommend..
Slicing your potato into little finger ish width chips and pressing them gently between two kitchen towels whilst heating up the oil until it sizzles when you drop a chip in (I usually reserve a runty one I dont mind wasting).
Bang your chips in and put the heat on medium, for 8 minutes, then turn it up as hot as you can get for another 5, or untill they're a nice golden brown. Shake out on more kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt.

Mmm chips!
Gotta go do me some right....now!

Duck with mash, pears and a cherry-red wine sauce

Okay, so this definately doesn't fit my fast cheap and simple criteria, but boy, do I love a bit of duck!

Mash potato, there's nothing worse than lumpy mash, I can only recommend you go out and buy yourself a potato ricer, seriously, so worth it!

'Note of thanks to my mother in law who got us ours ;)'

So tonight I'm cooking duck breast - pan seared and then oven cooked.
Pile of creamy garlic mash potato
Steamed asparagus
Caramelised pear and fig
And a red wine and cherry sauce (because I found some mini jars of morello cherry jam in the cupboard!)

I'm not going to say use this or that type of potato or veg. But what I will say is get it fresh and get it local! I'm always inspired by our local greengrocers and it's such good value I'm never afraid to experiment and buy something new! Hence the fresh figs tonight. Seriously, no matter how hard I try filling my basket, I never spend more than £10!

First, make your mash, it's up to you how you like it, but we made it with a dab of butter and 100ml cream, 1 clove of garlic and seasoning. The potato ricer makes it really smooth and creamy, put it to one side to re-heat later.

Pre-heat your oven to 200*C. Cut criss-cross over the duck skin and season with salt and pepper. Heat up a frying pan with no oil untill it's very hot and put the duck skin side down, reduce the heat down to about half-way and cook for 6 minutes. Flip it onto its front and leave for 30 seconds, then slide into the oven. Leave it for 5 minutes if you like it pinker, up to 10 for well done.

Whilst the duck is in the oven, in a small saucepan make the sauce.
So 2 3rds of a little bottle of wine, 2 mini jars of cherry jam (or 80g if you're being precise). A heaped teaspoon of brown sugar. dessert spoon of balsamic vinegar and a couple of slivers of a orange citrus (I had a satsuma in the fruit bowl). Bring to boil and then turn down to a simmer for 5 minutes.

Get your asparaguas on to steam/boil/griddle however you like.

Once the duck is done get it out and remove it from the pan to rest.
Quarter a fig and peel and wedge a pear ( don't forget the cut out the woody bits), get the frying pan you cooked the duck in and put back on the heat, add the fig and pear wedges and turn occasionally until the pears are nicely golden.
Add a knob of butter and a dsrt spoon full of the duck pan juices to the sauce.

Just re-heat the mash and put it all together on the plate, gorgeous!

Pictures coming soon once I upload it! :)