Author: Saleem
Grilled Veg and Chicken Pasta
Grilled Veg and Chicken Pasta
Nothing beats grilled vegetables so today we're going to do a simple and fresh hearty grilled vegetable and chicken pasta.You can use a variety of vegetables, I just used what I found in the fridge.
Ingredients
For grilling
- 2 courgettes sliced
- 3 bell peppers chopped
- 3 small brown onions chopped
- 3 stalks spring onions chopped
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
The rest
- 2 chicken breasts cubed optional
- 1 medium onion finely sliced
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 500 grams pasta fettuccine works well
Instructions
- Grab whatever vegetables you want really.
- Chop them all up, stick them in a deep oven tray. Season, add lots of olive oil and mix together.
- Preheat the oven to around 200 ℃ and cook for 25 minutes or until the vegetables start to brown on top.
- I like to give them a stir and cook for another 15 minutes so they get an all over tan.
- While the vegetables are browning, if you’re using chicken now is the time to fry it.
- You should fry in batches to avoid crowding the pan. Fry it on high to seal in the flavour.
- Leave the fried chicken on the side and we’ll come back to it.
- Now is the time to put on the pasta, I used fettuccine because it looks nice with this dish.
- Undercook it by a couple of minutes, drain and leave to the side.
- OK, so now we’re going to start combining stuff as the vegetables should be almost ready, the chicken is ready and the pasta has just come off.
- Sautee the sliced onions, add the finely chopped garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the grilled vegetables and the chicken, if using, to the pot.
- Throw the pasta in as well and combine everything. Throw in more olive oil, can’t hurt 🙂
- This is why we undercooked the pasta as it will cook a little while its sitting and we’ll cook it a little more when we’re combining everything.
- That’s it, yep this one was a lot of juggling so sit and enjoy your creation.
Not Really Sphagetti Carbonara
Not Really Sphagetti Carbonara
I love Carbonara and it's the dish I most often use to see if I like a restaurant or not.Of course Carbonara doesn't have broccoli in it but I'm trying to get the kids to eat more veg 🙂And its pancetta instead of ham but I had ham in the fridge and I don't know where to get good pancetta tbhIt actually turned out pretty good, kids liked it so it's a win even if it isn't really Carbonara 🙂
Ingredients
- 1 head brocolli flowered
- 250 g cooked ham
- 3-4 cloves garlic whole
- 100 grams parmesan cheese. finely grated
- 100 grams cheddar cheese. finely grated
- 500 grams sphagetti
- 2 tbsp butter
Instructions
- Wash and cut up the broccoli into small florets.
- I didn’t have anything else so I used ham cut into strips.
- Peel some garlic but leave it whole.
- Grate some cheese. I used cheddar and parmesan.
- Measures are a bit rough and ready.
- Generously salt and pepper the brocolli, add olive oil or whatever oil you have and throw into the air fryer or oven.
- In the air fryer go for around 175 for 20 minutes. In the oven 190ish for 20 minutes. We just want them browned.
- Get the pasta on, we want to cook it just a couple of minutes less than the recommended time so stick a timer on.
- In the meantime beat some eggs with lots of salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
- Throw the cheese in with the eggs and leave while you get back to the frying pan.
- Once the pasta is half way done heat some butter on medium heat and throw in the garlic for a couple of minutes until you can start to smell it.
- Throw in the ham.
- Yep, I swapped pans.
- Fry on medium / low until the ham is starting to crisp up.
- Your pasta should be almost done. Scoop out around 500ml of liquid from the pot.
- Now throw the pasta in with the ham and mix it all up.
- Add the egg and cheese mixture and mix in. Everything should be hot at this point so the egg will cook through. Some people leave the egg fairly liquid, I prefer to make sure its all cooked through.
- Once the eggs look fairly cooked, add the water you saved earlier from the pasta to moisten everything up. You might not need all of it, just use enough to moisten the pasta but not flood it!!
- The broccoli should be done now so mix that in.
- That’s it, if its too dry add more of the pasta water. Otherwise, you’re done.
- Plate up and enjoy.
- You can add more parmesan and black pepper if you like.
- If reheating in the microwave use half power otherwise the egg will go rubbery.
Carrot and Chicken Curry
Carrot and Chicken curry
We're making a spicy carrot and chicken curry. That's sweet and savoury all mixed into delicious spiciness !!
Ingredients
- 4 large carrots sliced 1cm thick
- 500 grams chicken whatever cut you prefer is fine
- 1 can plum tomatoes
- 1 medium brown onion sliced
- 2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 finger tip ginger finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp coriander
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp paprika powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp curry powder
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- Optional Spices
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 4-5 cloves
- 4-5 cardamom pods
- 2 cm cinnamon stick
- 4-5 chillies roughly chopped
Instructions
- First dice 4 large carrots and fry them on high heat until they start browning on the edges, remove and put aside.
- You can also do this in the air fryer using a little spray of cooking oil. Air fry on 175℃ for around 15 minutes or until starting to brown. You may need to shake and spray a little extra oil during the cooking process.
- In the same pan, on medium / high heat, brown the chicken on the outside. We’re not cooking it, we’re sealing it at this stage, once browned remove from pan and put aside.
- Now fry the onion on medium heat with plenty of oil until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger, cumin seeds and fennel seeds if you have them. Don’t worry if you don’t. Don’t add any ground stuff at this stage.
- Cook for a few minutes or until the garlic and ginger are starting to brown and smell incredible.
- Now add the coriander, salt, paprika, turmeric curry powder, black pepper and cumin. If the pan is sticking deglaze with a tablespoon or two of water.
- Fry off the spices for 2-3 minutes.
- Now add in the can of tomatoes and mix together.
- At this stage, we’re going to to add some optional spices. if you’re adding these whole you will need to take them out later so ideally using a muslin cloth to contain them. Alternatively, grind them up or using ground versions, Remember this stage is optional so don’t sweat it if you don’t have these ones.
- So the optional spices are the cloves, cardamom pods and the cinnamon stick.
- Cook the tomato base for around 15 minutes or until the oil begins to separate.
- Phew, right, now throw in the caramelised carrots, the chicken, fresh coriander if you have it, and chillies if you want it spicy.
- Add hot water to just cover everything, around a cup should do.
- Turn the heat to low and cover. Simmer for 30 mins.
- Finally, leave off the heat uncovered for 10 minutes and you’re good to eat. Enjoy with rice, toasted pitta bread or chapattis.
- The trick with chillies is; if you like the taste but don’t want the curry hot put the chillies in early, i.e. with the base. If you like it spicy put the chillies in late, i.e. with the chicken.
- Also the bigger the pieces of the chillies the hotter the curry. So just adjust as you like.
- This one is a little complicated but curry really doesn’t need to be that hard as you can see that in my other recipes. For example the masoor daal or the chickpeas curry.