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Chicken In Garlic & Mushroom Sauce

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Ok so most of you will already know that I am on a major diet at the moment and it’s working really really well.. I have so far lost 1stone and 3lb and I’ve been dieting since May 28th so I’m pretty proud of myself. There are two reasons I think it’s working well:

1. I am walking most days pushing a fairly hefty weight (baby, buggy and occasionally shopping) or carrying said baby around or playing about with her at home.

2. I am not depriving myself of everything. Most days I use myfitnesspal – I can’t really recommend it enough as it really helps me to keep an eye on what I eat. I limit myself to 1200 calories and keep it as low fat/sugar as possible however I still have treats and the occasional indulgent meals as I’m a foodie I love to cook and eat and I see no reason why I shouldn’t do that in fact I firmly believe it is helping me diet for longer!

After spending 2 days at The Plum baby cookery school followed by 5 days at Blissfields festival I was really missing home cooking so this past week I have cooked a lot. Mostly dishes I have cooked before such as vegetable curry and spaghetti bolognese ( topped with sautéed spinach and leeks- so good) but I am aiming to try a new recipe (from a book, online or friends) or invent a new recipe of my own each week from here on so last night I made chicken in a garlic and mushroom sauce now this is hardly a wondrous new invention of mine as chicken, mushrooms and garlic go together like strawberries and cream but I didn’t follow any kind of recipe and it turned out so well I would quite happily eat it every day this week.

Chicken In Garlic & Mushroom Sauce

Two large chicken breasts

Double cream-150ml

Butter ( small knob)
Red onion diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
8 mushrooms ( I used closed cup as that’s what I had but use whatever you like) chopped finely
Ground pepper ( I use a mix of black and pink peppercorns) and salt
Sprig of thyme
Olive oil

In a pan or small cazuela sauté your diced onion and garlic in olive oil and butter being careful not to burn the garlic, after a few minutes add your mushrooms and cook for 5 more minutes before adding your cream, thyme and seasoning. Remove from best
Heat a little olive oil in a large cazuela or pan which is ovenproof and pan fry your chicken breasts for a few minutes each side, pour over your mushroom sauce and cook at approx 190 deg or gas mark 4. After 20 minutes remove from oven and shred the chicken ( you can leave the breasts whole but I prefer it this way for this kind of dish) into the sauce before retuning to oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven adding a little more pepper and serve immediately.

* I served with sauté potatoes, peppers and leek and a giant salad but I imagine it would be lovely with rice or mixed into pasta.

Chicken In Garlic & Mushroom Sauce

This is a fairly naughty dish for me as it has double cream but it was worth it and I didn’t gain any lbs. 🙂

Instead of a dessert I was inspired by a tweet I saw from Beverley Glock who was the food expert at Plum cookery school for a recipe for Pimms frozen cocktails.. Now the recipe she tweeted had lime sorbet as a base but I didn’t have any limes so I improvised and it was refreshing and tongue
tingling.

 

Chicken & Chorizo Paella

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I love anything which has chorizo in it, it’s a beautiful ingredient which has the most incredible flavour and a little goes a long way.

Chicken and chorizo paella

You will need:

A paella pan or cazuela
Olive oil
400g Chicken cut into 1 inch pieces- thigh is best for flavour but breast is fine too.
Chorizo – you can use as much as you like here. I use about a third of Asda extra special chorizo sausage diced into small cubes
1 large onion diced
2 red peppers chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
Some chopped red chilli or a squirt of fresh chilli paste
1.5 litres of chicken stock
2 teaspoons of smoked sweet paprika
400g paella rice – you can use other rice but it just won’t be the same.

*optional ingredients –
A pinch of saffron
2 handfuls of frozen peas.

Heat your pan slowly with about a tablespoon of olive oil.
Brown the chicken.
Add your chorizo, garlic and onion
When your onion is soft add your peppers, chilli, paprika (and saffron & peas if using) and after a few minutes add 1 litre of your stock.
Preheat your oven to gas mark 4.
Leave the ingredients bubble away on a medium heat for 15 mins.
Now add your rice and stir thoroughly.
Put lid on pan or a tinfoil roof if you don’t have one and place in oven for 15 minutes ( if your pan is not ovenproof simply continue to cook on hob but cover your pan)
After 15 minutes take the paella out of the oven and add remaining stock ensuring you give it a good stir.
Place back in oven for 15-20 mins and Tada you should have a beautifully cooked Paella.

I serve mine with a rocket based salad.

This makes a lot! It serves a family of 4 or 2 very hungry adults with lots of leftovers!

Also I am still getting used to writing recipes out so please let me know if they do not make sense or if you have any questions.