Tag Archives: spring onions

Country Captain Chicken with Rice

Country Captain Chicken with Basmati Rice (9964)

I’m sure that summer’s officially here, one, because it’s almost unbearably hot, and two, because I buy chicken by the bucket, or whatever expression you might choose to put instead. There are tonnes of reasons for which this happens. The first one that comes to mind is that it makes a perfect meal for when I have people over for supper. So I keep various chicken pieces in the freezer at once. This past week I went to the butcher twice; they were on my list for both trips, simply because I had guests last Saturday and I ran out of chicken breasts. As I must have mentioned somewhere before on C&T but I must do so again I would rather have the dark meat bits. The meat next to the bones is generally more tender and juicy. However lately, since the turn in the weather, I much prefer grilling or pan-frying a marinated chicken breast. The marinade bit is most important. It’s amazing what some extra virgin olive oil together with freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt and pepper does to a piece of meat, and to vegetables! Place the meat in a dish, marinate, cover with cling film in the fridge for a couple of hours. Grill, serve with a simple salad and voila, you have a meal. Right there.

This recipe is a little different, in that you don’t even need a grill pan and there’s no marinade prep but it’s easy. I like it because it resembles a curry without the extra spice. It comes in handy when you know you will feed a group of people who undoubtedly have various likes and dislikes, or even allergies and/or intolerances. As months go by I am often finding myself in this predicament, which can be a headache on one hand, but a positive thing for me, meaning I’m reconnecting with people. It’s been almost a year now since I moved back from Surrey. Unbelievable.

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Frittata

Frittata (8623)

I wish I was a morning person. (Is anyone out there a morning person? Any good tips of how to be one?) Being an insomniac doesn’t help so as much as I love it when the sun shines on spring and summer mornings, and as much as I love a good sunrise when I manage it, mornings suck the life out of me. There are two main things that make my mornings great though: food and holidays. And somehow these two things always seem to go well together. One of my Italian holiday resolutions is to never miss my cappuccino and cornetto. The guy behind the counter recognised us as the slightly timid ‘stranieri’ later a.k.a ‘Maltesi’ who looked as if they never tasted good coffee in all their lives. Which, by the way, was partly true. The Italians know their coffee, true. And almost everything on holiday tastes great. I did say almost.

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Mock Pizza with Spring Onions and Eggs

Mock Pizza with Spring Onions and Eggs (8437)

I don’t know whether I’m going to give Mr. Daniel Young a fit if/when he reads this! Let me start by apologizing profusely if I did, but this mock of a pizza is something I quickly whip up when I’m either in a hurry or when I have run errands all morning and just want to chill out when I return home. Better than grabbing some greasy concoction from anywhere I say. These days I admit I would make soup or the traditional Maltese minestra (a richer version of the Italian minestrone) which fills me up until dinner time, as long as I have made it beforehand. When I slack on the prep, or when only pizza will do – without the time it takes to make a decent dough, I make this or anything similar. Before I go on, as I very often do I have recently posted an updated version of my proper pizza recipe here, so give it a go if you have some time to spare today.

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Easy Bite

Grilled Sourdough with Tomatoes and Dolcelatte (7485)

August is a quiet time, and I probably won’t be posting often in the coming weeks. (Thank you J for posting this for me.) This is a very quick idea for a bruschetta with Dolcelatte. This Italian cheese has a much more delicate taste than other blue cheeses, and is deliciously sweet. I’m a huge fan on strong blues, but sometimes you just need something milder. This is my take on the classic grilled cheese on toast. All you need is sourdough bread, sliced tomatoes (the beefier the better), dolcelatte, spring onions, olive oil and pepper. Enjoy!

Rob x