Recipe: Spiced Marinated Chicken Drumsticks

These were lovely! Pretty cheap to make, and a bit of a cupboard use-up of all those jars and things in the fridge and cupboards. I prefer to take the meat off the bone (the second method) so it's a little easier to eat, but the marinated drumsticks are great to bring to a picnic- just make sure you bring plenty of napkins for your sweet sticky fingers! I served this with my apple, celery and pecan salad- yum!

Spicy Marinated Chicken Drumsticks (serves 3/4)

12 chicken drumsticks

50g ketchup

50g Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp crushed ginger

1 red onion, finely diced

2 rounded tsp Dijon mustard

20g raspberry jam

¼ tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper

1. Put the drumsticks in a large ovenproof dish. Mix together all the marinade ingredients, cover the chicken drumsticks, and leave in the marinade for at least half an hour, or preferably overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 200C. Roast the drumsticks in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven. You can either eat the drumsticks on the bone, with the excess  marinade in a bowl for dipping, or-

3. Remove the drumsticks from the marinade and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.  Get the chicken off the bone, mix the meat back in with the marinade, and serve!

Recipe: Tsing-Tsao Beer Teriyaki Chicken

GAWDD this is the most authentic tasting Chinese dish I've ever made!!! It's got the right, glossy thick texture,  moist chicken, sweet sticky Asian flavours- wow! Bit of a cheat using a packet in the recipe- but I didn't have any ginger in the house and knew I would need something "gingery" to set the recipe off!! As you can see, I have served this with some steamed white rice. A nice dish to serve alongside this is also stir-fried pak choy with fresh coriander, garlic oil and Chinese 5 spice.

Tsing-Tsao Beer Teriyaki Chicken (serves 2)

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 garlic clove, finely diced

6 spring onions

1 green pepper, seeded and diced

6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs

1 packet blue dragon chow mein sauce

100g cashews

200ml tsing-tsao beer (or similar tasting lager)

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

½ tsp toasted sesame oil

1.       Fry the garlic, spring onions, pepper and chicken in the oil for 10 minutes on a high heat, stirring often.

2.       Add all the other ingredients, and cook on a high hear for a further 10 minutes (or until the sauce is thickened and glossy), stirring often. Season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Spicy Chicken Satay Noodles

Here's a very spicy, but very moreish Asian noodle dish, using juicy chicken thigh meat and crunchy peanut butter to liven it up! These chicken thighs in a chilli sauce were on offer on Sainsburys hence using them, but if you want just use 6 normal chicken thighs and about 5 tablespoons of hot sweet chilli sauce instead. Lager seems an unusual ingredient, but cooking with beer or lager is quite common in Asian cuisine. I seem to always have a can of lager open in the fridge that I hadn't finished from the night before, so this is a good way of using it up.

Spicy Chicken Satay Noodles (serves 2)

1 x 700g pack Sainsburys Just Cook Sweet Chilli Chicken Thighs

200ml lager

2 stacks medium egg noodles

2 tbsp olive oil (plus a little extra for noodles)

1 carrot, julienned

100g spring greens, sliced

1 tsp minced ginger

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp Thai 7 spice

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

Few drops toasted sesame oil

2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the chicken thighs and the lager in a baking dish, and bake in the oven for 50 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool a little. Remove the thighs from the baking dish, reserving the cooking juices.

2. Remove the skin from the thighs and discard, pick the meat off the bones, and set aside. Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions, drain, mix with a little oil (to avoid sticking later) and set aside

3. Mix together the reserved chicken juices (draining any fat away if necessary), soy sauce, sesame oil and crunchy peanut butter. Set aside.

4. Put the oil in a wok and put it on high heat. Fry the carrots, ginger, garlic and spring greens in the oil for 3 minutes. Add the chicken and fry for a further two minutes. Add the noodles and sauce, and stir fry for 1-2 minutes, or until everything is hot and well combined.

5. Season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Chicken Chop Suey

This is as close as I could darn-well get to one of my favourite chinese takeaway dishes! I think it's a good stir fry dish, because i swear whenever you buy beansprouts, unless you use them all at once, they go off far too quickly. I think supermarkets really ought to sell them in smaller packets. Eh, they're cheap anyway i suppose, but i really hate food waste! Cornflour/cornstarch gives that strange thickness you get in takeaway food that some people dislike, but I love! I had this with red pepper thai rice, but it's very nice mixed into egg noodles too.

Chicken Chop Suey (serves 4)
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
8 spring onions, sliced
3 chicken breasts, sliced
8 garlic cloves (and/or garlic powder to taste!)
1 red chilli, finely diced
1 tsp minced ginger
½ tsp celery salt
400ml chicken stock
½ tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp cornflour, mixed with water

200g beansprouts
1 tin water chestnuts, drained, rinsed and sliced
1 tin bamboo shoots, drained and rinsed
Soy sauce and pepper to taste

1. Fry the spring onions, garlic, chicken, chilli and ginger for 5 minutes. Add the beansprouts and celery salt and cook for a further 2 minutes.

2. Add all the other ingredients and cook for a further 10 minutes. Season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Spicy Chicken Arrabbiata Pasta Bake

The spicy chicken pasta bake- what a canteen staple! This would knock the socks off anything any of the dinner ladies cooked for us at school though! It is just the most delicious thing, it really is. Feel free to make it spicier, by adding chilli flakes and another fresh red chilli- i've only used 2 because as you guys know i'm a bit of a spicy wimp! I have served this with a pea shoot, tomato and red onion salad- a very nice accompaniment.

Spicy Chicken Arrabbiata Pasta Bake (serves 2)
1 tbsp olive oil
20g butter
2 red chillies, diced finely
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 chicken breast, diced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
100g diced green olives
300ml beef stock
3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
170g farfalle
50g breadcrumbs
4 tbsp grated parmesan.

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Fry the chicken, chillies and garlic in the butter and olive oil for 6 minutes. Add all the other ingredients (except pasta, breadcrumbs and parmesan) and cook on a low heat for 30 minutes.
2.Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Mix the pasta into the sauce, season to taste, and pour into a baking dish. Top with the breadcrumbs and parmesan, and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve!

Recipe: Crispy Buttermilk Chicken, with Tomato and Chive Bulgur Wheat

This recipe is great for those who are allergic to egg, as normally one would put the chicken in flour, egg, then breadcrumbs. Using buttermilk is a great way of keeping chicken moist and flavourful, whilst still creating a nice golden crispy crust on top! Kentucky Fried Chicken eat your heart out, ha-ha!! The bulgur is a very pleasant, tasty and healthy accompaniment to the chicken too. I have garnished my plate with a handful of pea shoots (because I love them!) but feel free to serve this meal with your favourite salad/ green veg. 

Crispy Buttermilk Chicken, with Tomato and Chive Bulgur wheat (serves 4)

The Chicken

4 chicken breasts

120g plain flour

140ml buttermilk

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

½ tsp celery salt

150g dry breadcrumbs

¼ tsp garlic powder

Salt and cracked black pepper

The Bulgur wheat

300g bulgur wheat

900ml beef stock

1 tsp tomato paste

4 large ripe tomatoes, diced

Large handful fresh chives, diced

Splash red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Salad garnish (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Get three deep plates. Put plain flour on one plate, put the buttermilk, Worcestershire sauce and celery salt (mixed) on one plate, and the breadcrumbs with garlic powder and seasoning on the other.

2. Coat the chicken breasts first in the flour, then in the buttermilk, and then into the breadcrumbs. Place onto an ovenproof tray, and repeat for the other chicken breasts. Place tray in the oven for 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, cook the bulgur wheat in the beef stock until the wheat is cooked, and all the stock has been absorbed (add more water during the cooking process if necessary). Put into a mixing bowl, and mix with the tomato paste, tomatoes, chives, vinegar and seasoning.

4. Remove the chicken from the oven, and serve with the bulgur wheat, and a green salad on the side if desired.  

Recipe: University Moroccan Chicken and Chickpea Tagine!

Hey guys. So this recipe i've written up here is causing me the biggest amount of stress at the moment! Me, and my friends Jack and Kelly (Kelly took the lovely piccys!) as part of a University module had to create a low budget, healthy convenience meal, suitable for a standard range at a UK supermarket. We are having to write up a 4000 word report about it's development for next friday- eep!! At the end of it all, we found that a portion of the product supplies you with 2 portions of your 5 a day fruit and veg, it has high fibre, high protein, low in saturated fat and provides a 1/4 of your vitamin C and folic R.D.A. So to summarise, it tastes pretty darn good, and it's also pretty darn good for you too- and thank god I don't have to reference a medical journal just to write this post down, haha!!

Chicken and Chickpea Tagine (serves 2- makes 860g)

20g olive oil
100g chopped white onions
10g minced garlic
10g minced ginger
250g raw diced chicken breast
4g ground cumin
3g cinnamon
4g ground coriander
25g tomato puree
6.5g vegetable stock powder (low sodium)
300ml water
150g chickpeas
5g cornflour, mixed with 15ml water
15ml lemon juice
40g diced apricots
25g red pepper
25g green pepper

1. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil, for 5 minutes, covered. Add the chicken, spices, and tomato puree, and fry for a further 4 minutes.

2. Add all the other ingredients, and cook on a medium heat for a further 15 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. Uncover, and cook for a further 15 minutes, stirring often.

3. Serve, with our serving suggestion of buttered couscous.

Recipe: Lemon and thyme roasted chicken, with Mediterranean butterbeans and sweet leek gravy

Hey guys. Now this is, I must admit, a bit of a lengthy recipe, but then again it is a proper gurt lush roast chicken dinner, with a properly made gravy (no bisto here!) so it requires perhaps a little more effort than a lot of my quick-fix recipes. My housemates loved it, as did I. I've really perfected this roast chicken recipe, i've tried "lemon thyme" chicken's before, but theyve always ended up too lemony! Basically, don't chuck a lemon up the chicken's jacky, nor squeeze a load of the lemon juice onto the chicken/ into the roasting dish. Again- too sharp and lemony! I made a leek gravy in the end because I didn't have any onions/shallots and it's just what i had in the house- use onions instead if you fancy. Cooking time of the chicken of course depends on how big your chicky-bird is, just generally roast until you can put a knife into the thigh cavity of the bird and the juices run clear.

Lemon and thyme roasted chicken, with Mediterranean butterbeans and sweet leek gravy (serves 4)

The Chicken

30g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 clove garlic, crushed
Handful fresh thyme
Zest of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
1 rasher smoked bacon
1 small/medium raw chicken
2 shallots
2 celery sticks (plus another celery stick for trimmings stock)
150ml white wine
150ml water
1 bay leaf

The Butterbeans

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 spring onions, sliced
1 rasher bacon, finely chopped
1 tsp herbs du provence
2 tins butterbeans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp diced roasted red peppers (from a jar)
200ml water
Juice of ¼ a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Leek Gravy

1 tbsp butter
1 large leek, finely sliced (the dark green ends kept for chicken trimmings stock)
1 garlic clove, crushed
Pinch sugar
100ml white wine
400ml chicken stock (made from the chicken trimmings)
1 tsp corn flour, mixed with water

1. Preheat the oven to 180. Soften the butter, and mix it with the olive oil, 1 clove of garlic, thyme, lemon and seasoning. Prep the chicken- cut the strings tying it together, and chop off the wing tips, the bottom of the legs, and part of the tail. Put these trimmings in a pan, with a the green bits of the leek, a celery stick, a crushed garlic clove, a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, and some seasoning. Fill this pan up with water, bring to the boil, and cook for 30 minutes (to make a temporary stock) and set aside.

2. Put 2 celery sticks, a garlic clove, and shallots in a deep roasting tin. Place the prepped chicken on top of this. Rub all over with the garlic/herb/lemon butter, and put a rasher of bacon on top. Pour the wine and water into the roasting tin, and put in the oven for about 1 hour/ 1 hour and a half (depending on how large the chicken is). Remove the chicken from the oven half way through cooking, remove the bacon rasher, top up with water/wine if necessary, and put back in the oven.

3. In a medium saucepan, fry the spring onions and bacon for 5 minutes. Add all the other ingredients and cook on a high heat for a further 5 minutes. Season to taste, and set aside.

4. Remove the chicken from the oven, lift it from the roasting tin onto a plate, and cover it with foil to let it rest. In another saucepan, fry the leek, garlic and sugar in butter for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add all other gravy ingredients and all the scraped juices from the roasting tin, and cook on a high heat until thickened (takes about 10 minutes). Season to taste.

5. Carve the chicken, and serve this with the hot butterbeans and gravy.

Recipe: Chicken Jalfrezi

Heres another hot recipe for you girls and boys! I've been getting much more into my spicier food lately, not sure why. I think i just tend to go through phases with the sorts of foods I eat. Like I might for instance, live off salads and soups for weeks, and then the next month literally have chips every day. Same with spicy food- in a spicy mood at the moment, but i could go completely back to Korma-land in a bit. I put quite a lot of natural yoghurt on top of this as a garnish, but that's because it ended up being hotter than I expected again!

Chicken jalfrezi    (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
350g diced chicken breast
½ tsp garlic salt
1 white onion, finely chopped
1 tsp freshly minced ginger
Handful fresh coriander, chopped
1 hot dried red chilli, chopped up finely (add seeds if you want it even hotter!)
½ green pepper, diced
1 tsp asafoetida
1 tbsp curry paste
1 tsp cumin
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
300g passata
200ml chicken stock
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp natural yoghurt
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste
Natural yoghurt for garnish (optional)

1. Add the oil, chicken and garlic salt to a pan on high heat. Cook the chicken for a few minutes until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan, add the onion, ginger, chilli, coriander, green pepper and spices, and fry for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are beginning to brown.

2. Add all the other ingredients, and the reserved chicken, and cook on a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste, and garnish with extra natural yoghurt if desired.

Recipe: Chicken Fajitas, with a tomato and spring onion salad

This is the first proper meal that i've made for my new housemates! So cool! My south african house mate Brendan, who i get on fantastically well with, really liked this dish. Aw- i'm glad I can hopefully keep the (4!) boys i'm living with happy through feeding them lovely things! This is a really tasty, quick and healthy dish- and you can make it as mild or as spicy as you like, just depending on personal taste. You can adjust the cayenne pepper and the chilli in the dish- or you could add some spicy salsa or jalapenos to the wraps just before eating. Yum!!

Chicken Fajitas with a tomato and spring onion salad (serves 3)

1 tbsp olive oil
2 chicken breasts, sliced
½ green pepper, sliced
½ red pepper, sliced
½ yellow pepper, sliced
½ white onion, sliced
Handful fresh coriander, chopped
1 tsp Thai yellow curry paste
1 tsp Schwartz vegetable seasoning
¼- ½ tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like it!)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

6 medium or 3 extra-large tortilla wraps.

250g cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp French dressing
Big handful fresh coriander, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

1.       Add all the fajita ingredients to a large frying pan or saucepan, and fry on a high heat for about 25-30 minutes, or until everything is well cooked and the chicken and veg have started to blacken a bit/ stick on the pan. Season to taste.

2.       Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C, and put the tortillas, wrapped in cling film, into the oven for 8-10 minutes. Mix together all the salad ingredients, season to taste and set aside.

3.       Take the wraps out of the oven, fill them with the chicken fajita mixture, and serve with the tomato salad, and some natural yoghurt if you so desire.

Competition: Red Tractor Assurance Recipe Competition

Hey guys, sorry I havent posted in a while, it's just i've got this mahoosive scary assignment that i've just only just manage to finish now (the day before the hand-in date) so i've had to really focuss on my Uni stuff recently. Anyway, so you might have remembered me mentioning this competition a little over a month ago, and, well, it's all over now and I got second place! My Cider and Mustard Chicken, made with Red Tractor Farm assured ingredients, won me a pretty Aga Cast Iron oven dish, and a red tractor branded apron and tote bag.

To be honest, I should have got 1st place, it's all down to the fact that these people can't run a competition properly (people could vote unlimited times, and I was winning for the full 5 weeks of the competition just from normal votes, then on the last night of the comp someone spam voted their entry in order to win), but hey ho, never mind- 2nd place is still pretty fab anyway! Thanks to any of you guys for voting for me xx

Recipe: Spiced Chilli Lemon Chicken with Potato Wedges

This is a nice relaxed saturday lunch i made for me and my boyfriend over the weekend- it was really using what we had in the fridge really, but i fancied something a little bit spicy, a little bit healthy, but filling- and this fitted the bill. The recipe is for two but it is very easily multiplied.

Spiced Chilli Lemon Chicken, with potato wedges (serves 2)

1 tsp Lazy red chillies in white wine vinegar
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp paprika
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp ginger paste
Juice of ½ a lemon
½ tsp sugar
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
Salt and pepper
3 chicken breasts

4 medium sized maris piper potatoes, sliced into wedges
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried rosemary
Salt and pepper

1. Mix together the chillies, garam masala, paprika, garlic, ginger, lemon, sugar and oil. Add the chicken, coat it in the marinade, and then marinate for a minimum 30 minutes (maximum 24 hours).
2.Preheat the oven to 180C. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, and boil the potato wedges for 6 minutes. Drain and add the parboiled potatoes into a roasting tray, with the olive oil, rosemary and plenty of salt and pepper. Toss to coat, and bake in the oven for 35 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, bake the marinated chicken breasts (with the marinade) in the oven for 30 minutes. Once cooked remove chicken and potato wedges from the oven, and serve- with the remaining marinade poured over the chicken breasts, acting as a sauce.

Recipe: Chicken and Roasted Butternut Squash Tagine

I love tagines! In fact at University at the moment, in one of my modules (Food Product Development- definitely my most exciting one!) me and my group have decided to develop a low budget, healthy chicken (or maybe turkey or lamb, we're still in the planning stage) tagine recipe, that would theoretically be for a basics supermarket range. Really exciting actually- I think theres a real gap in the market for Morrocan food. I reckon it's getting more and more popular as a cuisine, and yet there arent many products on the supermarket shelves currently. I'm just thinking lets all be a bit different and not go for our pizzas, tikka massalas and curries, but try something a little more unusual! This recipe is also very nice with sweet potato if your'e not a fan of squash.

Chicken and Roasted Butternut Squash Tagine (serves 2)

1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
3 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp garam masala
Salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp crushed ginger
300g diced chicken breast
1 tbsp Harissa paste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cinnamon
100ml passata
300ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp cornflour, mixed with water.
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Add the squash, oil, rosemary, garam masala and seasoning to a roasting tin, toss to coat, and roast in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove and set aside. Once cool, weigh out 250g of the roasted squash (use the rest in another dish sometime!)
2. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil for 10 minutes. Add the chicken, Harissa pastes and other spices, and cook for a further 5 minutes.
3. Add the passata and stock and cook on a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the reserved squash and corn flour, and cook for a further 20 minutes, stirring often. Season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Tomato and Black Olive Chicken

I made this tonight to warm me up as I believe both me and the weather have conveniently agreed that it is pretty much Winter now (ok... I know it's autumn really but I reckon we're just going to have a really cold time from now until march!). Nick however disagrees, and says it's not cold enough to start using the portable heaters around the house yet (our house doesn't have central heating or double glazing)!!. "Think about the heating bills" he says. It's so funny, my student friends were saying that because they are so skint (and also because they'd rather spend their money on alchohol) they are officially not turning on their heating until December, meanwhile they're all sleeping in jumpers and sleeping bags AS WELL as their duvet, haha! This was really nice served with this couscous dish I made on the side too- it's simply cous cous mixed with kidney beans, feta and sundried tomatoes.

Tomato and Black Olive Chicken (serves 2)

2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 chicken breasts, sliced
Knob of butter
1 large red onion, sliced thinly
Pinch sugar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
200ml chicken stock
1 tin tomatoes
100g black olives, halved (and pitted!)
Handful fresh basil, chopped (plus extra for garnish)
Salt, sugar and pepper to taste

1. In a large deep frying pan, sauté the chicken in 1tbsp of the oil, with some salt and pepper, for a couple of minutes each side, or until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
2. To the same pan, add the rest of the oil, butter and red onion, and cook on a high heat for a further 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the reserved chicken and all other ingredients (except fresh basil) and cook for 20 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the chopped fresh basil, stir in well, season to taste and serve- with some extra basil leaves on top for presentation.

Recipe: Chicken and sweetcorn mayo

Hey guys, sorry I havent posted in a while, was on holiday in Barcelona! In fact I wisked Nick away there as a present for his birthday and our 4 year anniversary, aren't I the most awesome girlfriend ever? Haha! Basically this is the nicest filling for jacket potatoes or sandwiches- yummm! You can use full fat mayo, or if you are trying to keep the fat down, you can use low fat mayo or natural yoghurt- both work just as well.

Chicken Sweet corn Mayo (serves 2)

1 small cooked chicken breast, diced
1 340g tin sweetcorn, drained
100g mayo
½ tsp English mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Creamy Coriander Chicken

Hey guys. Made this the other day because I had this block of creamed coconut that'd had been in the fridge for aaages, and a load of fresh coriander and chillies to use up- so I sort of chucked this together really! Rather scrummy, kinda like a passanda but very fragrant. Quite rich too- bit of a treat, considering i've been watching my weight and working out a lot lately. Mind you, it seems it doesn't matter what I do about my diet- pig out every day, or survive on nothing but salads and ryvitas for weeks, my weight always stays the same. Eh, maybe i'm just supposed to be this size- just "normal-sized"? Anyway, I served this with rice and peas and that went very nicely with it.

Creamy Coriander chicken (serves 2)

½ white onion, diced
Large handful coriander, roughly chopped (plus extra for garnish)
2 green chillis, seeded.
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 tbsp garam masala
100g creamed coconut
400ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Blitz the onion, coriander, garlic and chilli with a little water in a food processor until it forms a paste. Fry the onion, garlic and coriander in the rapeseed oil for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken and garam masala and fry for a further 5 minutes.
2. Add the other ingredients, and cook on a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce is thick and the chicken is cooked. Serve with some extra fresh coriander on top.

Recipe: Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breasts wrapped in Parma Ham

Can't believe this worked so well! Yaaay! I've always seen people on TV and cookery programs making various types of stuffed chicken recipes, but I always thought if i'd tried to do it everything would fall out and it wouldn't work. This worked really well though! The chicken stays really nice and moist and when you slice it up it looks very "dinner-party-presentable"- despite being so seasy to makr. Nick wasn't too fond of the lemon flavour with the ricotta, but you can flavour the ricotta with anything really, sundried tomatoes, olives, herbs- very nice with rosemary actually.

Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breasts wrapped in Parma Ham
100g ricotta
Zest of half a lemon (or ½ tsp any type of dried herbs- rosemary,thyme etc.)
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 chicken breasts
4 slices parma ham

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Mix together the ricotta, lemon (or herbs), olive oil and seasoning. Slice into the chicken breasts lengthwise, until almost all the way through, and open out. Stuff with the ricotta, and close up.
3. Place two Parma ham slices together, place the stuffed chicken breast on top, and roll up (so that the entire breast is wrapped in Parma ham). Place on a non-stick tray and bake in the oven for 35 minutes. Slice and serve!

Recipe: Chicken, Ham and Pea Risotto

This is by no means a traditional risotto recipe but it's certainly a tasty one. It's good recipe for using up cold cuts,such as after Christmas, for example. I've just come back from Yorkshire and, like normal, my boyfriend's mum sent us packing with a joint of beef, and a load of roast chicken and ham. I know that in normal risotto recipes you are supposed to add the stock gradually, but since my boyfriend doesn't like his risottos al dente, I just chuck it all in at the same time. It's a less authentic way of doing it but also less fussy I suppose.

Chicken, Ham and Pea Risotto (serves 2)

1 tbsp olive oil
Knob of butter
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
150g risotto rice
600-700ml vegetable or chicken stock
1 bay leaf
100g cooked (leftover roast if possible) chicken
50g diced ham
100g frozen peas
1 rounded tsp Philadelphia
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan shavings for garnish

1. Fry the onion and garlic in the butter and olive oil for 6 minutes. Add the rice, stir in, and then add the stock and bay leaf and cook for 5 minutes on a medium heat, stirring often.
2. Add the chicken and ham, and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the peas and Philadelphia, and cook for 2-5 minutes, or until all of the stock has been absorbed and the rice is cooked. Season to taste and serve with parmesan shavings!

Recipe: Chicken, Bacon and Boursin Pie

You will be getting a load of Bel cheese recipes from me over the next few weeks. As you guys may remember about 1/2 a year ago i won an Ipad from Bel, and then after this they asked me whether i wanted to become a Brand Ambassador. I of course agreed, and whilst they have been sending me loads of lovely cheese, i've been busy developing scrumptious recipes! In the recipes i used a product called "Boursin Cuisine"- which is something caterers can find in bulk, but it's basically the same as normal boursin, only a bit more creamier. If you cant get boursine cuisine, instead just add 50ml single cream to the recipe as well as the normal Boursin you get from supermarkets.

Chicken, Bacon and Boursin Pie (serves 2)

1 tbsp olive oil
6 spring onions, finely sliced
5 rashers thin streaky bacon, diced
400g diced chicken breast
200ml skimmed milk
200g Boursin Garlic and Herb Cuisine
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 sheet ready rolled short crust pastry (or homemade)

1. Sautee the spring onions and bacon in the olive oil on a medium high heat for five minutes. Add the chicken and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the skimmed milk and cook for a further 10 minutes.
2. Add the boursin cuisine, increase the heat to high, and keep stirring the mixture until it has become quite a thickened consistency. Season to taste, and set aside to cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a greased pie dish with short crust pastry, then bunch up and roll out the rest of the short crust pastry thinly. Spoon the pie filling into the pastry evenly, top with the rest of the rolled pastry, and trim any excess away from the sides of the pie dish.
4. Decorate the edges of the pastry, and add a pastry leaf or some other design for the middle of the pie, brush with beaten egg, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

Recipe: Traditional Chicken and Vegetable Casserole

This is a really basic casserole that is always a staple in my flat. It always makes exactly the right amount for two, it's really comforting, it's got potatoes in there so it's filling enough not to have to have mash or bread with it, and it's just scrumptious. I think everyone has a dish that they cook often, because they normally have all those ingredients in the fridge/cupboards, and this is one of mine!

Chicken and Vegetable Casserole (serves 2)

50g butter
1 white onion
1 clove garlic
2 leeks
1 large chicken breast, diced
100ml sherry
1 tsp dried rosemary
500ml vegetable stock
2 tsp lemon juice
1 large potato
2 carrots
2 tsp bisto gravy granules
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Cook the onion, garlic, leeks and chicken in the butter in a casserole dish for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the sherry and rosemary, and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the vegetable stock, lemon juice, carrots, and potatoes, cover with the lid, and cook in the oven for 1 hour.
2. Remove casserole from the oven, add 1 tsp of bisto, stir until well combined, and return to the oven for a further hour.
3. Remove from the oven, add another tsp of bisto, and cook on the hob, stirring often, until the casserole has thickened enough. Garnish with some freshly chopped parsley and serve!