The Get Well gift … more hints and tips

I know you've had a photo guide but I thought it would be helpful to be a smidge more specific – just four ingredients :

Chicken and Mushroom Pie

250g chestnut mushrooms – sautéed as

in the photo guide

diced leftover roast chicken – a mixture of

breast and leg meat – the equivalent of one

breast per person

200ml of chicken stock

Velouté sauce

The key to this supper dish is the Velouté sauce – a light white sauce made with stock and a roux.

You'll need :

15g unsalted butter

15g plain flour

½ tsp Dijon mustard

200ml double cream

salt and black pepper

Melt the butter, take the pan off the heat, add the flour and whisk. Return to the heat and cook out the flour for 2/3 mins, stirring continuously – do not walk away.

Then tip your cold stock straight into the roux and whisk until smooth, then cook on a low heat for 30 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

Add the mustard and cream and simmer for 5 minutes.

Your sauce should be fairly stiff. Fold through the mushrooms and chicken and place in individual bowls. Top with sliced, cooked baked potatoes, season with salt and black pepper, add a knob of butter, wrap in foil and fridge until you're ready to rock and roll.

When you're ready to serve pre-heat the oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 and bake, uncovered for 25 minutes. Serve with any veggies that take your fancy!

P.s. I've frozen this sauce, with the chicken and it's every bit as good out of the freezer.

Next up … Chicken soup for the soul!

The Get Well gift

I've decided to make a chicken and mushroom pie – the filling immersed in anise flavoured chicken stock and a drop of double cream – the “pie” is not pastry but – remember the baked jacket potatoes – a sliced potato top.

Slice the chestnut mushrooms and sauté

in a drop of rapeseed oil until they have lost all

the liquid and have some colour

Make the sauce – make a velouté sauce and

add diced chicken and the mushrooms

Decant into individual foil containers, add a

layer of baked jacket potatoes

Extra pots of sauce – everyone likes gravy!

I haven't finished yet – there are hints and tips and more to come.

Fast food for the working week … do you cook a Sunday roast?

My ethos has always been the same – since time is such a precious commodity I like to make the most of it. If I'm in the kitchen cooking a Sunday roast then I multi-task, I fill the oven, use my slow cooker - the net result is that I have part prepped and cooked my suppers for the following week.

The best way to illustrate what I'm going on about is to describe the last few days. Last weekend I'd taken advantage of a meal deal which included a chicken, ready to roast in its tray and bag. Whilst the oven was on I added 6 large jacket potatoes to bake. I also grated a bag of cheese and fridged. I marinated and baked the Asian Spiced Salmon.

Sunday evening supper, a roast chicken with trimmings – remembering of course to allow for deliberate leftover veggies. I fridged the remains of the chicken, cooled and covered of course!

Monday evening supper … no huge surprise, fast and meat free – a baked jacket potato, a sprinkle of grated cheese and baked beans. Nothing amazing I grant you but it took the time to split the potato and microwave, followed by the beans. Delicious and nutritious.

Tuesday evening supper … the Squeak – leftover potatoes and sprouts from the roast, diced chorizo and topped with a poached egg.

Wednesday evening supper. You might think what follows is completely random but bear with me. My friend's husband has been very ill in hospital but thankfully is now back home recovering after heart surgery – phew! What sort of “get well” gift do you take – a meal, for them both. The meal needed to be “one pot” and easy. It's my personal experience that the “carer” needs the support too not just the patient so an evening not having to think about food might help.

I need to consider all sorts of stuff – not too rich but plenty of flavour, nothing heavy duty like pastry - it's difficult to digest – no red meat again due to personal experience even patients who normally enjoy red meat find it too much. I need to appeal to the taste buds!

Time for a rummage – firstly the fridge - I had a 250g punnet of chestnut mushrooms as well as a pot of double cream – a good start. I check the freezer, I'm after stock and my rummage is rewarded, a bag of anise flavoured stock always taken from slow cooking a whole chicken. It's liquid gold and perfect for my morphing supper dish.

Read on for what happened next and photos too!

Fast food for the working week … there's more

There are optional extras depending on whether you want to add carbs, for example, the fastest would be microwaved rice – ideal for a working week supper.

Noodle nests work well too. They are available in fine or medium and come in 250g bags. You'll get five nests in each bag and each nest weighs 62.5g. If I use nests, I submerge however many nests I need in boiling water (covering two thirds of the nest) together with a vegetable stock pot – a wok works well - leave for for a few minutes then turn the nests and you'll find that they are loosening and you're able to separate the noodles – perfect to stir fry. Drain the noodles and set aside. Stir fry your veggies and chicken as mentioned, add the noodles and toss through thoroughly then finish with the stir fry sauce.

Just for reference, here's a photo of the noodle nest :

It may sound a bit long winded but I promise you it's not.

If you prefer the Asian Spiced Salmon version bake the marinated salmon for 15 minutes as mentioned in the protein to go with the slaw. You can bake ahead, cool and fridge, so whenever is convenient for you. Stir fry the veggies and/or noodles as previously then gently break the salmon into pieces and fold through the stir fry with the sauce.

Alternatively you could serve the chicken or salmon with roasted new potatoes and stir fried veggies if you don't fancy rice or noodles, hot or cold, delicious and fast.

Now for the Sunday roast ...

Fast food for the working week …

… suppers

The following ideas are interchangeable. We used the Asian Spiced Salmon recipe in the proteins to go with the slaw. You can use the same marinade but with chicken fillet.

Asian Spiced Chicken

Serves 2

240g chicken fillet sliced thinly

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

The marinade

2 roasted garlic cloves

2 tsp powdered star anise or one whole star anise

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

Mix together the marinade and pour over the fillet slices, ensuring that the slices are thoroughly coated. Box and leave in the fridge for an hour or so – it won't hurt to leave it longer.

Heat 2 tbsp of rapeseed oil in a pre-heated wok or large frying pan. Seal the fillet slices on either side quickly – don't overcrowd – cook in batches – cover and set aside.

For a stir fry :

The sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp Chinese rice wine (dry sherry will do)

1 dessert spoon of sweet chill sauce

mix together – can be made ahead, covered and fridged

Choose vegetables that are in season and/or that you love :

2 tbsp of rapeseed oil

100g baby broad beans – blanched and popped – box and fridge

100g small sweet mini peppers, finely sliced – bag and fridge

100g (2 large) salad onions, finely sliced – ditto

all the above can be prepped and bagged ahead

1 can (225g) water chestnuts, sliced

300g beansprouts

I realise that baby broad beans are not in season. They are an excellent product frozen, for your freezer. I realise too that they take time to “pop” - this is just an example of what you can include – it's up to you!

Using a large frying pan or wok, heat the rapeseed oil, add the thinly sliced fillet along with any residual juices – stir fry for 2/3 minutes, then add the onion, sweet peppers and broad beans - stir fry for 2/3 minutes then add the water chestnuts and beansprouts - finally add the stir fry sauce of dark soy, rice wine and sweet chilli sauce. Toss to stir fry for another 3 minutes.

Serve immediately in warmed bowls.

There's more …

Fast food for the working week …

… the protein options to go with the slaw

Here are three ideas for your protein choice. First is a recipe I've used gazillions of times – it's just as good hot or cold.

Asian Spiced Salmon

Serves 2

2 x 4oz Salmon fillets

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp powdered star anise or one star anise

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

Mix together the marinade and - using an ovenproof dish – pour it over the salmon fillets, turning to coat thoroughly, cover and leave in fridge for an hour or so.

Bake in a pre-heated oven 160fan/180c/Gas 4 for 15 minutes.

If you're using whole star anise then remove before serving. The salmon has a charred look when cooked which is aromatic and delicious with the raw slaw and particularly with the pomegranate dressing.

For a chicken option :

Miso Maple Glazed Chicken

Serves 4

4 chicken breasts

1 tbsp baking powder*

4 fl oz/½ cup maple syrup*

2 fl oz/¼ cup white miso paste*

Mix * together, add the chicken breasts and

marinate for 24 hrs

Sprinkle with chopped spring onions

Bake in a pre-heated oven 180 fan/200c/Gas 6

for 35 minutes

Takes no time at all and, if you marinate the chicken in a foil tray, it can go straight from the fridge, into the oven – no washing up!

Now for the vegetarian option – that old faithful halloumi – cubed, coated in a seasoning and sealed in a drop of rapeseed oil in a non-stick frying pan. I know I've mentioned this recipe recently but it is excellent and tasty with the slaw together with a dressing of your choice!

250g Halloumi cheese

50g plain flour

1 tbsp seasoning of your choice

check out Halloumi Seasonings and dips to

go with 3rd March2018 or a ready made option!

Definitely food for thought!

Coming next fast food suppers for the working week and a question … do you cook a Sunday roast?

Fast food for the working week - dressings for the slaw …

… there's lots to choose from depending on whether you want light or not.

Pomegranate Dressing is delicious and perfect with salmon or chicken or halloumi with the slaw in a wrap or as a salad lunchbox.

Pomegranate Dressing

2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

juice of two limes

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

pinch of nigella seeds

1-2 tsps sumac

Mix all the ingredients together, preferably in a jug then

pour into a clean jar (with a lid!) and shake well

You might have noticed that it's healthy too!

Next up :

An Italian/Indian dressing

4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil

1½ tbsps balsamic vinegar

1½ tsps brown sugar

¼ tsp coarse black pepper

¼ tsp cumin powder

pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients, as above

If you cannot live without your mayo then try the following home-made recipe which has no additives and takes minutes to produce. It does not mean that you can overdo it, do not be a greedy guts!

Matt Preston's

Stick blender mayonnaise

1 egg

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

pinch of salt

juice of half a lemon – 2 tbsp

350ml of grapeseed oil

Break an egg into the stick blender jug. It's important that the yolk doesn't break. Add the mustard, salt and lemon.

Add the grapeseed oil, again being careful not to break the yolk. Insert the stick blender, be sure that the blades completely cover the yolk.

Blend – after a couple of seconds you'll see white ribbons rising through the oil. Slowly pull the blender up through the oil so it amalgamates and push down again to incorporate all the oil.

Variations on a theme :

For a French mayonnaise swap the lemon juice

for white wine vinegar, keep the remaining ingredients

Smoked mayo – stir in a few drops of smoke flavouring

substitute cider vinegar for the white wine vinegar

The choice is yours!

Optional extras anyone?

Add any of the following for a fruit and nut hit :

30g ready to eat apricots, finely diced

30g sultanas soaked in mango and apple juice

1 eating apple of your choice – quartered and

chopped

30g of chopped nuts – walnuts or brazils

Now for the protein choices …