One pot lentil chicken!

Apologies for the lack of posts.  It has been a busy few weeks, what with festivals, flu, work and Ibiza.  I'm now back, needing a bit of rest and relaxation.  And what a better way to do it with good food...

So during the week, I like to try and take food with me for lunch to work a few times a week.  It's mainly because deciding what to eat (and we have LOADS of choice around our new office) can be super time consuming, especially since I'm so picky.  I'm also trying to be healthy and I have a feeling the lovely wraps from Doughmasters or the massive portion of chicken chili fried rice from the Japanese Canteen is not exactly low in fat.

So I've come up with this lovely, filling and relatively healthy one pot chicken meal with lentils!  It's easy to cook, so great for making on a Sunday evening, and tastes even better after a day in the fridge.  You can add as many different types of vegetables to it, whatever you have in your fridge/freezer.  I like it both served hot or cold with a handful of baby spinach leaves.

One pot chicken

Serves 4-5

6 skinless and boneless chicken thighs
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dried thyme
sprinkle of paprika
sprinkle of white pepper
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs olive oil
1 bay leaf
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
chillies (optional)
 150 ml red wine

6 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped

fresh or frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, spinach, broccoli, courgette, aubergine etc, chopped into rough cubes)

1 can chickpeas

3 handfuls of brown rice

3 handfuls of puy lentils

500 ml chicken stock

1.  Marinate the chicken thighs in the olive oil, soy sauce, spices, chillies, garlic and onion.  Leave in the fridge for at least an hour, but overnight if you have time.

2.  In a very hot pot, brown the chicken thighs then remove.

3.  Deglaze the pot with the red wine.  Add the remaining marinate plus the onions, garlic and sundried tomatoes.  Simmer for a few minutes

4.  Add the rice, lentils, chicken and stock to the pot and bring to a rolling boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 45 mins or until the lentils and rice are almost tender.  If the mixture becomes too dry, add a bit of water and stir.

5.  Add the chickpeas and any vegetables.  Cover and simmer for another 5 mins or until the vegetables are tender.

6.  Serve hot or cold with a handful of salad and chopped tomatoes and sprinkled with sliced fresh coriander.

Cold days need a hearty, warming soup

I'm so tired of the cold.  I feel that this year it has been cold forever.  And so much colder than it has ever been before.  To be fair, I probably think the same thing at around the same time, every year.  But surely this year it REALLY has been so much colder for so much longer!

So how better to warm up with than a big bowl of hearty soup.  I have been eating a lot of soup this year and I've grown quite tired of the same old recipes.  So when I came across this soup in Jamie Oliver's magazine I was very pleased.  I had been looing for something new to do with lentils, and this soup is just like a big, warm hug.  Of course I made some changes here and there - so here's my version of Jamie's soup!

Lentil and Pasta Soup

Serves 4

For the lentils:

300g puy lentils

water

1 bay leaf

olive oil

salt

For the soup:

1 onion finely chopped

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

olive oil

1 can plum tomatoes in juice

1 or 2 chillies (to taste) finely chopped

1/2 liter of stock

1/2 liter of water

200g small pasta

Fresh Parmesan to grate over the top

1.  In a big pot, cover the lentils with about 2 inches of water, add a splash of olive oil, bay leaf and salt.  Bring to the boil then turn down the heat, cover and let simmer for approx 25 mins or until the lentils are almost done - they should still have a bit of crunch.  Keep a cup of the cooking water for later and drain the lentils.

2.  Using the same pot, pour in a good glug of olive oil and saute the onions and garlic on medium heat for approx 5 mins.  Drain the tomatoes and add along with the chillies.  Simmer until the tomatoes have broken up.

3.  Add the lentils, stock and water to the pot.  Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and let simmer for 10 mins.

4.  Add the pasta to the pot - if the mixture looks a bit dry, add more water.  Bring the heat up so the mixture bubbles and cook covered until the pasta is done.  Add salt and pepper as needed.
5.  Serve pipping hot with (the best bit!) a good amount of freshly grated Parmesan on top.  Delish!