Let me start off with a massive apology for the lack of posts recently. The last month or so has been incredibly busy with finishing my degree, job and house hunting, interviews, my degree show and moving out of my student house. Excuses aside, I am adamant that I'm back on it now with regular uploads. I don't want this to be another failed blog that fizzles out when I'm distracted or facing writers block. Tomorrow is a big day - I'm graduating! And after that I have literally no excuses.
Callum and I are temporarily living with his parents in Gloucestershire while we organise jobs and a place for us to live. There's not a lot to do in this sleepy countryside town, but Callum's mum has a huge collection of Jamie Oliver cookbooks that I've been pouring over. I am a huge Jamie fan and I'm obsessed with the photography in his books (shout out David Loftus). Last week we decided to cook a big family meal for Callums immediate family, Aunt and Nan from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals book. The meal was mustard chicken with dauphinoise potatoes and greens, and although it took slightly longer than 30 minutes, it was a great success and something I'd definitely like to cook again in future. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients (4-6 Servings)
Dauphinois
1 red onion
1 KG Maris Piper potatoes
1 nutmeg
2 garlic cloves
225ml single cream
4 anchovies in oil (we couldn't find these locally so left this ingredient out)
Parmesan cheese
2 bay leaves
a bunch of fresh thyme
Mustard Chicken
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
4 x 180g chicken breasts with the skin on (we couldn't find skin on chicken breasts so we used chicken thighs and deboned them, and they were lovely)
4 teaspoons Colman's mustard powder
1 large leek (or 3 baby leeks)
4 garlic cloves
white wine
75ml single cream
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
Greens
200g swiss chard or other greens (we used Bok Choi)
200g baby spinach
1 lemon
Seasoning
olive oil
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt & black pepper
Method
With 30 minute meals, the key is to prepare all your ingredients and equipment before hand so you're not rummaging around for that food processor attachment you saw last at Christmas 2013. You'll need a medium saucepan, a large ovenproof frying pan, a large roasting tray and a full kettle of boiling water. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.
Peel and halve the red onions and wash the potatoes. Place them both into a food processor with a thick slicer disc attachment. We don't currently own a food processor (it's next on the shopping list) so we hand sliced these ourselves into thin slices. Tip it all into your roasting tray and season. Add 1/4 of your nutmeg, grated, crush in your unpeeled garlic cloves, 225ml of single cream, a large handful of grated parmesan and your anchovies, if using. Add to that your bay leaves, the leaves from a few thyme sprigs and a drizzle of olive oil. Next, use your hands to mix everything up together, place the tray over a medium heat, add 200ml boiling water and cover tightly with tin foil.
Then turn to the chicken. Turn the heat on your frying pan up to medium and prepare the chicken. Finely chop your rosemary leaves and sprinkle them into the pack of chicken with 1 teaspoon of mustard powder for each breast (or thigh). Season with salt and pepper and drizzle in some olive oil, adding some to the pan aswell. Use your hands to massage the seasonings into the chicken and rub in the flavours before placing it into the pan, skin side down. We used a fish slice to press the chicken down to help it cook. It should take around 18 minutes.
Give your dauphinoise tray a shake to make sure nothing catches before turning to the greens. Slice the stalks of your chosen green finely before placing them into the saucepan with boiling water and a pinch of salt. Place the lid on.
Remove the tin foil from the potatoes and grate over another layer of parmesan. Drizzle your remaining thyme with oil and scatteer over the top before placing the tray into the top shelf of your oven for 15 minutes, or until brown and bubbling.
Trim, wash and finely slice your leeks and add to one side of the chicken pan. Add the leaves of your greens to the saucepan. Crush four unpeeled garlic cloves to your chicken pan, flip the chicken and press down on them. Stir the leeks and add a glug of white wine.
Place your baby spinach into a colander and pour the greens and boiling water on top. Add a good splash of olive oil to the empty saucepan along with the juice of 1 lemon, before returning the drained greens and spinach to it. Season and use tongs to toss the greens in the dressing before plating up.
When the chicken is cooked through, pour 75ml single cream into the pan before covering with tin foil. If the potatoes are cooked and golden, remove them from the oven and take to the table. Turn the heat off the chicken and remove the chicken from the pan, slicing into uneven chunks. Stir 1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard into the sauce in the pan and season to taste. Spoon the sauce onto a platter and top with the chicken slices. Drizzle over some olive oil, and your meal is reading to serve!
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