Spanish Chicken with Chorizo

I pin lots of recipes on Pintrest and don't always get around to making them. Earlier this week I decided to go back and have a look at a few of them, especially those that looked quick and easy. Tonight's dinner was one of those and it was sooooo easy and really good to eat.
The other bonus is that it is cooked in one dish and pretty much prepare it and leave it to cook...nothing else!
I'd be tempted to spice it up with smoked paprika if I didn't have a little person eating it, but it was just fine with the spice from the chorizo coming through.
I always keep chorizo in my freezer so it is there when I need it and the other ingredients are pretty standard in my house. I added 2 capsicums to the dish to increase the vegetables and serves it with broccoli and cauliflower...but  it would have great with a salad too.


Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes
Recipe from Nigella Lawson's Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes from her bookKitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home.
Serves 6.

• 3 tablespoons regular olive oil
• 12 chicken thighs (bone in, with skin)
• 750 grams chorizo sausages, whole if baby ones, or cut into 4-cm chunks if regular-sized
• 1 kilogram baby potatoes, half the larger ones
• 2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 chopped cloves of garlic
• 2 capsicums chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• grated zest of one orange
• salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7. Put the oil in the bottom of a large shallow roasting tin. Rub the skin of the chicken in the oil, season with salt accordingly, then turn them skin-side up. Spread the chorizo sausages and the new potatoes around the tin. 

Sprinkle the onion and the oregano over, then grate the orange zest over the arranged contents of the 2 tins. Cook for 30 minutes, then swap the top tray with the bottom tray in the oven and baste the contents with the orange-colored juices. Continue cooking for about 30 minutes or till chicken is done. 

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Not the best picture...but still worth a try!

I found this one on Pintrest. It looked good and it was pretty good. My 4 year old little person gobbled it down!
I made a double recipe and froze half for another night.
The dish wasn't strong in orange flavour, in fact I'm not sure you could even identify it. I did use orange juice and the recipe asked for concentrate.
I also added chopped onion, garlic and capsicum to try to increase the vegetable ratio.












Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Ingredients:
• 3-4 boneless chicken breasts, chopped into small chunks
• 1/3 cup flour
• olive oil
• 1/2 T salt
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 3 T ketchup
• 6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate (thaw or throw it in the microwave for 45 seconds)
• 4 T brown sugar

In a bowl, mix the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, and ketchup.

Pour the flour in a small bowl.
Cover the chicken breast chunks in flour and shake off the excess.

Pour a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and brown the flour-covered chicken.

The chicken doesn't need to be fully cooked since it's going in the crock pot.

After the chicken is done cooking, pour the pieces into the crock pot.
Then cover the chicken with your sauce mixture and give the pot a stir.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2-3.

Frittata

Isabella (4 years) for some reason is really keen to watch cooking programmes on TV with me. Masterchef has been a regular afternoon event for us to enjoy together, each selecting the chef we want to win that day. Last night she was allowed to stay up to watch Annabel Langbein with me. She has a current obsession with breaking eggs for cooking so when she heard the Frittata that was being cooked had 8 eggs she decided we should make it the next day.

Our version of the one we saw last night is as follows...








Frittata
1 onion, 3 cloves of garlic and a cup of chopped mushrooms fried in olive oil until soft.

8 eggs whisked
Add 1/2 a cup of parsley and thyme.
Add onion mixture
Add 6 large sliced potatoes (cooked until almost soft)
Season with smoked garlic salt
Sprinkle with edam cheese

Cook initially on stove until almost set, then move to oven to fan grill the cheese until brown.

We ate this at room temperature but I suspect it will be great cold.
We will make this agin with whatever vegetables we have and any left over veges....and maybe bacon.

'Low Tea' at Nostalgia

I was invited to 'Low Tea' (an afternoon version of High Tea) this week. While I was happy to go along I didn't have high hopes for the experience other than a nice afternoon with family. I'm not really a big tea drinker apart from herbal teas and the idea of intricate little items of foods didn't really appeal.
I was pleasantly surprised and will be going back. It would be an ideal school holiday get together venue for a catch up with colleagues.

Nostalgia Restaurant is in Ponsonby and is like taking a step into history. I've included a couple of pictures from their website as the low light made photos difficult inside.
I had a Low Tea with two very nice herbal teas and a 'perfumed' glass of bubbles at the end. There was a lot of food (yes, I had just been out for lunch before hand...not a good idea) and it was all really nice tasting. I didn't have high expectations for the food thinking it would look nice but probably would be a disappointment - it wasn't.

Lazy Sunday Lunch - Savoury Tarts - Asparagus and Mushroom

These were just the easiest thing to make and they looked and tasted great. The idea cane from Annabel Langbein's 'Free Range In The City' but of course I modified!

I used bought sheets of flakey puff pastry, cut them into 8 pieces and then put the toppings on. They were baked at 180 for about 8-10 minutes.

I use uncooked asparagus, parmesan cheese and lemon zest on one and mushrooms, edam, fresh thyme and smoked garlic salt on the other.

I'll be making these (or a version of these) again.

Moroccan Bastilla - Chicken Pie

I have a heap of recipes filed in my email and in Pintrest. As it is the school holidays I get a chance to do some 'fun' cooking - that is cooking that is not a rush after a hard day at work! I looked in my store of recipes and this was the first one I came to. Luckily I had all the ingredients.

This one is another from Nici Wickes 'World Kitchen' series on TV. It is quite unusual but totally worth a try. The spice flavours are great.
It was also really nice cold. I'd happily make it for a lunch dish and serve it cold with chutneys.

Moroccan Bastilla - Chicken Pie 

4 Whole Tegel Chicken Legs, skin on, bone in
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 stick celery, chopped
1 onion – peeled and quartered
3 tablespoons rice bran oil or other cooking oil
3 onions, peeled and diced
1 heaped teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon saffron threads (optional)

1 teaspoon salt, extra
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup chicken stock
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup roughly chopped parsley

1 cup ground almonds
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons rice bran oil

10 sheets filo pastry
5 tablespoons butter, melted

Honey, cinnamon and flaked almonds to garnish

Chicken filling:

In a large stock pot, put the chicken legs, salt, pepper, celery, quartered onion and enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer and cook until the meat can be teased away from the bones with a fork (about 30-45 minutes). Remove chicken from the stock (reserve the stock) and allow to cool enough to handle. De-bone the chicken pieces and roughly shred. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the chopped onions. Saute until soft, then add the ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, saffron, extra salt and black pepper. Add the chicken, ½ cup reserved stock and the saffron. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Set aside.

Prepare Egg/Herb filling:

Heat 1 cup of the reserved chicken stock then whisk in the eggs and chopped parsley. Cook until it resembles scrambled eggs. Pour through a sieve and leave to drain excess stock.

Almond filling:

Meanwhile, mix the almonds with the sugar and oil until a dry paste forms.

Assembling & Cooking the pie:

Pre-heat the oven to 175 C. Grease a 25cm diameter metal pie dish.

Brush one sheet of filo with melted butter and line the pie dish with it, leaving it to overhang the edges (to be folded over the filling later). Repeat with 6 more sheets, buttering between each layer and rotating the dish so that there is some filo overhang all the way around the dish.

Now assemble the layers of ingredients.

First, spread the cooled chicken mix evenly in the case, then add the egg/parsley mix on top and finally the almond mix. Wrap the overhanging sheets to encase the filling, buttering them if they need it. Finish by layering 3 final sheets, each brushed with butter,  so that the top is smooth. Tuck them carefully down the sides.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown on top and bottom of pie is cooked.

To serve, dust the top with pinches of cinnamon, flaked almonds and honey (optional). Sounds weird but it works!