Category Archives: Mains

Creamy Chicken Pasta

Chicken, Mains, Pasta and Rice

This is sort of my twist on a carbonara. It’s creamy and delicious 🙂

Serves: 2 people

Ingredients

  • 1 large chicken breast (or 2 small)
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Half a red chilli (or half a teaspoon of chilli powder) – this is optional to add a bit of spice but you can leave it out
  • 2 slices of smoked bacon
  • 100ml white wine – drink the rest of the bottle with the food 😉
  • 200ml cream (single or double, whichever your prefer)
  • 200g spaghetti
  • Parmesan to serve

Optional Extras

  • Try adding some red or green pesto after the cream.
  • Try adding a squidge of tomato puree before the cream.
  • Try adding a handful of spinach just before the cream.

Method

  • Get a large frying pan on a medium heat with some olive oil.
  • Get everything prepped so that you’re ready to get cooking. Chop your onion, mince or chop your garlic, chop the chilli into tiny pieces, slice the bacon into small strips and dice your chicken.
  • Add the onion to the pan and cook until soft and starting to brown.
  • Add the garlic and chilli to cook for 1 minute. Don’t let the garlic brown.
  • Add the bacon and stir until it’s cooked.
  • Now add your chicken with a good sprinkle of salt and pepper and stir it around.
  • At this point, put a pan of water on to boil for spaghetti if you’re using dried. Cook as you normally would while doing the rest.
  • Once the chicken is almost cooked through, add the wine and turn the heat down a bit so it can simmer for 5-10mins. This will allow the alcohol to cook away and leave you with the flavour.
  • If you are using fresh pasta, get it going now.
  • Now turn the pan down to a low heat and add your cream. Make sure you don’t add the cream until the pan has cooled down a bit or it will go lumpy.
  • Drain your pasta and add it to the pan. You can turn the heat off at this point as it will stay hot enough.
  • Serve and sprinkle with parmesan 🙂

Hungarian Goulash

Beef, Mains

Serves: 2-4 people
Prep time: 30mins
Cooking time: 2hrs 30mins

Chef’s tip: This is delicious with gnocchi, rice or pasta. You can also add a dollop of sour cream!

Ingredients

  • 600-650g stewing/casserole/slow cook beef, diced into small chunks
  • 30g plain flour
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 1 green pepper, in 2cm square chunks
  • 1 red pepper, in 2cm square chunks
  • 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 2 large tomatoes, diced OR 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 2tbsp paprika
  • 2-3 bay leaves
  • 1tbsp caraway seeds, crushed
  • 75ml white wine
  • 300ml beef stock
  • Fresh parsley to serve

Method

  • Get everything diced/sliced/chopped etc so it’s all ready to go.
  • Coat the meat in the flour
  • Get a large casserole pot or large saucepan on a medium heat, add a little oil and brown the meat in batches. Set the meat aside.
  • Add a little more oil to the pan and add the onion. Cook for 5 minutes until soft, then add the peppers and garlic. Cook these gently for about 10 minutes until softened.
  • Once the veg is soft and started to brown, add the meat, paprika, caraway seeds, puree and bay leaves. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes to bring all the flavours together.
  • Add in the tomatoes, wine and stock.
  • Cover and simmer for at least 90mins. Half way through, check if any water needs adding.
  • Season with salt and pepper at the end and serve with a sprinkle of parsley, and if you fancy some sour cream.

Sweet Glazed Gammon

Christmas, Mains, Pork

Serves: 4 people
Prep time: 15mins
Cooking time: 2hrs 30mins

Chef’s Tip: Delicious when served with log stem broccoli and my Perfect Roast Potatoes

Ingredients for the Meat

  • 1.3-5kg Gammon joint (unsmoked or smoked, it’s your preference)
  • 1 large or two small carrots
  • 1 onion or 1 leek
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • Handful of peppercorns
  • 4 bay leaves
  • Choose your Glaze (simply multiply the measurements up or down if you need more/less)

Honey Glaze

  • 65ml water
  • 65ml orange juice (smooth)
  • 65ml honey
  • 65g muscovado sugar (soft brown sugar)

Treacle Glaze

  • 65g light muscovado sugar
  • 65ml treacle
  • 65ml golden syrup
  • 65ml water

Method

  • Place the gammon in a large pan of cold water that just covers the joint. Roughly chop the veg, and add along with peppercorns and bay leaves and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat to a low simmer and cover for the cooking time for your joint. (25min per 500g, plus 20min).
  • Periodically skim the froth off the top if necessary.
  • Remove the meat pan from the heat and let it stand for 20-30mins to absorb the flavours
  • Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas Mark 4
  • At this point, you can make your glaze. Simply add all of the ingredients to a pan and bring to a fast simmer/almost boil. Simmer it until the glaze resting time is up.
  • Take the meat out of the pan and place it in a roasting dish with a little bit of the liquid to stop it from sticking.
  • If your gammon join has skin and a fat layer on it, use a knife to remove it.
  • Brush glaze all over the joint and then pour two thirds of the rest all over it (save some for serving).
  • Cook in the oven for 30mins, re-brushing with the glaze every 10mins.
  • You might want to cook it for a bit longer if the glaze isn’t quite sticky enough 🙂