Simple AND spicy. Score!

I think I established a very long time ago that I’m not really a ‘proper’ foodie.

I mean, the salt I’m using at the minute isn’t even from the Himalayas or anything.

It is from France.

But even that is only because I liked the packaging. And everybody knows Maldon is just fine.

I mean, this week, I ate practically an entire packet of SHOP BOUGHT BUNS.

Not even buns that are hard to make at home.

I JUST COULD NOT BE BOTHERED.

GASP! SHOCK!* HORROR!

(*Pre-proof reading, this read SOCK. I’m still laughing inside.)

And on Tuesday, I brought an old chum to Made in Belfast and ATE CHICKEN AND CHIPS AND GRAVY.

Bloody gorgeous it was too.

PHONE THE FOOD POLICE!

This recipe is for all of us who succumb to shop-bought buns and chicken and chips and gravy and who sometimes buy ingredients merely because we like the packaging,

This recipe is for those of us who come home knackered, feeling a bit stabby at the FOOLS who phone us in work, who just want dinner.

This recipe is for those of us in a rush somewhere, for the times when we really want dinner on the table in a hurry.

I mean, this recipe is practically a recipe for empowerment.

OK, not really.

What it is though, is a recipe for quesadillas.

Well, maybe not actual quesadillas, but a little pink version thereof. Something that is quick and easy and can be rustled up when you get home from work in no time at all.

Fantastic.

For pudding, may I suggest a shop bought bun

First up, the ingredients: tortillas, a chicken breast, a cob of corn, a lemon, some mozzarella, cumin, spring onions, dried coriander, salt, pepper, and oil. There is also some fresh coriander here, it’s just that you can’t see it.

It is SO there, though.

Take the chicken breast, and remove the wee ‘flap’. Keep it, it’s delicious, but cutting it off makes the next step easier.

That next step would be cutting the chicken through the middle, but not all the way, so you can sort of open it up, like a book.

Really handy if griddling chicken, because it takes half the time to cook.

Also, if using a boring breast, it means there is a greater surface area to cover with tasty and delicious things.

Marvellous.

The chicken then goes into a bag with some oil and chilli sauce. You could chop a fresh chilli, but this was a sort of storecupboard supper, and I didn’t have any.

I also think the sauce makes for a better marinade.

More…..saucy….

MAN I have a way with words.

then add the dried spices, some salt and pepper, and the zest of the lemon.

Then, zip up the bag and squish it about so that all the chicken is covered in marinade.

I’m clearly going for technical descriptions with this one.

Set the bag to one side, and heat up a griddle pan.

Open all the windows in your kitchen, too. These griddled things are SMOKIN’,

Just sayin’.

Look at me, and my tex-mex cuisine, and I think I can just drop my ‘g’s.

I’m quite the rebel.

Griddle the chicken for a few minutes on either side, so its nice and brown and crispy.

I am impatient, and turn it too early, so will never achieve pretty lines.

I’m fine with that.

Once the chicken is cooked, set it on a plate to cool.

Shuck the corn.

This basically means taking off all the leaves and stuff, but it is one of my favourite phrases in the cookery world.

I don’t know why.

I love it,

When corn isn’t in season, a few tablespoons of the frozen/tinned stuff will suffice, even if we don’t get to talk about shucking it.

After the corn is shucked (YES. I SAID IT AGAIN. ITS MY FAVOURITE. SUE ME.), cut the kernels off using a sharp knife.

If you do this over a bowl, it stops the corn going ALL OVER THE RUDDY KITCHEN.

Ahem.

Voice of experience, that’s all I’m sayin’.

Chop the spring onions.

Yes, mine are a bit mucky. Occupational hazard of the smug, middle-class, organic lifestyle, I guess.

And then chop the mozzarella. Any melty cheese is fine, but Mr P, while being the least fussy person I know, isn’t big on cheese, and mozzarella is SO much nicer than that mild cheddar guff the supermarkets sell.

Also, it means you get a stringy dinner. Score.

Chop up the chicken.

And a couple of handfuls of fresh coriander.

Add this all to the bowl with the corn.

And mix it well, adding salt, pepper, and the juice from the lemon you squeezed earlier.

Lime would be nice, and more authentic, but I got a glut of lemons in the fruit and veg box, so I went with the lemon thing. If using limes, you might need two.

If you like spice, put a bit more chilli sauce on the tortilla.

I was going to write a message to you all on this one, but:

1. I am lazy.
2. It would have resulted in really hot bites then not spicy bites, like dinner roulette.
3. It was a quick dinner, roulette was a bit beyond me.

Then place this tortilla on a frying pan over a lowish heat, and top with the filling.

Not too much filling, because you do have to flip the thing.

Again, with the voice of experience.

Then top this with another tortilla.

Keep the heat fairly low, because you want the cheese to go all melty. This method means the tortillas go all crunchy and delicious, too.

When you peek a look at the bottom and see that it is lovely and brown, flip the thing.

Just do it with confidence, and it will happen.

Promise.

Be timid, and there will be sweetcorn in your hair.

Voice of experience.

Remember?

Cut into wedges to serve.

I did mine with a simple guacamole and a tomato salad.

I think I’m eating as many tomatoes as I can while they are still in season.

Mr P probably has a blog entitled ‘not another sodding tomato salad’.

S’ok, will be over soon.

Untill next summer,

Mwahahaha.

Enjoy!

Chicken and sweetcorn
Serves 2-3. Cooking time 20 minutes.

4 tortillas
1 chicken breast
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp hot chilli sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried coriander
1 tsp dried cumin
1 lemon or 2 limes
1 cob corn
1 bunch spring onions
1 handful fresh coriander
Few grinds of pepper
250g cheese of your choice

1. Cut the chicken almost in half, though the middle, but not the whole way.
2. Put in a sandwich bag with the dried coriander, cumin, oil, chilli sauce, the zest of the lemon or limes, and half the salt.
3. Squish it all together, so the chicken is coated.
4. Heat a griddle pan and cook the chicken for 3-5 minutes each side.
5. Place the chicken on a plate to cool.
6. Shuck the corn, and scrape the kernels into a bowl.
7. Chop the spring onion, chicken and cheese, fresh coriander, and add to the bowl with the other half of the salt.
8. Mix well.
9. Spread two of the tortillas with chilli sauce, and place one of these in a heated frying pan.
10. Top with a layer of the filling, and another tortilla.
11. When brown underneath, flip the tortilla.
12. When cooked both sides, slide onto a plate.
13. Repeat with the other tortillas.
14. Cut into wedges and serve.

A mid-week chook

I, like many, many others, made the decision a while back to steer my meat-eating habits away from the intensively reared. It takes a bit more organisation, but above anything, the taste difference is amazing.

Still, when it comes to chicken, choosing free-range in my local butcher means one has to buy a whole bird. Sometimes I get the nice chaps to butcher the bird into manageable chunks, but more often than not I quickly roast it, and use the leftovers to fill pies and risottos for the rest of the week. This is a great way to cook; not exactly quick, but certainly not complicated.

When I roast a chicken to serve simply (i.e. NOT with all the Sunday trimmings), this is what I do.

Get the chicken and season the cavity with salt and pepper…

Cut a lemon in half…

And do the same with a head of garlic.

I take some lovely herbs (this time I used sage, rosemary and thyme, singing Simon and Garfunkel all the way)…

And stuff all of these lovely givers of flavour into the handsome bird.

I cut some shallots in half to make a trivet for the bird (these are EXCELLENT for gravy, or even just spread onto lovely, lovely bread the next day *piggy icon*)…

And lay these on the bottom of my roasting tray.

I then plop the bird on top of the shallots, drizzle with oil and season well.

And then the whole thing goes into a lovely hot oven, until a fork into the thigh produces clear juices. A hard thing to photograph, by the way. Must. try. Harder.

Then devour the lovely chicken with mash. Or rice. or bread. Or salad. Or your bare hands. Enjoy!

Roast chicken.
Serves 4-6 (or two with enough leftovers for a couple of other dinners). Cooking time 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

1 1kg chicken
1 lemon
1 head garlic
2 handfuls herbs
8 shallots
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade.
2. Season the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper.
3. Cut the lemon and the head of garlic in half, and stuff into the cavity with the herbs.
4. Cut the shallots in half and place on the bottom of the roasting tray.
5. Place the stuffed chicken on top, season, and drizzle with oil.
6. Put in the oven for about an hour and a half, or until the juices run clear.
7. Serve.

For Rachael x

Underneath it all, I’m just a small town girl, living in a lonely world, really. I come from a little-known (yet EXCELLENT) town in Northern Ireland, called farmer country, culchie-ville, Ballymena.

Anyways, when I was growing up in this little known place, the chicken goujon was considered to be the height of dining out sophistication. Don’t ask me why, but the people there, they LOVES THE CHICKEN.

I can never ever bring myself to part with 10 hard-earned pounds when I know for a fact these tasty nuggets of joy are so easy to make at home yourself. This particular batter method is my favourite because a. It’s easy b. It’s tasty and c. One is likely to have the ingredients lying around. It’s a sort of ‘popcorn chicken’ type effect and yum.

This one is for Rachael, who will forever share my exasperation at restaurant chicken goujons.

First up, we heat a good bit of oil in the bottom of a pan. Any light oil is good, I used sunflower oil here. You are aiming for about 1/2 centimetre of the stuff.

While that is heating, prepare your chicken…

I did long, thin strips, but you might want little nuggets, or monster pieces, or something else. Your chicken, your way.

Then we have to prepare the flour. Mix the flour and the spices together in a nice big bowl.

Then, in an other bowl, put the buttermilk. ‘WAIT!’ I hear you cry. ‘I have no buttermilk and the WORLD WILL END!’.

Actually, it won’t. Just sour up some ordinary milk with a squeeze of lemon. Crisis averted.

Then, coat the chicken in flour…

Strip by strip, dip into the milk…

Followed by the flour again.

Then drop into the nice hot oil…

And turn when nice and brown and crispy…

When both sides are lovely and brown and crispy, which should take a few minutes each side, remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.

I served mine with some homemade mayo, salad, and sweet potato wedges…

That will be a tenner. Kthnxbai.

Crispy chicken strips
Serves 2. Cooking time 15 minutes.

Oil
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp mixed spice
Pinch salt and a few grinds of black pepper
75ml buttermilk (or regular milk with a squeeze of lemon)
1 large chicken fillet

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok.
2. Cut the chicken into strips.
3. Combine the flour, spices and salt and pepper in a large bowl.
4. Place the buttermilk (or milk and lemon juice) in another bowl.
5. Coat the chicken in flour.
6. Strip by strip, dip in the milk, and then one final coating of flour.
7. Fry in the oil on both sides until crisp and golden.
8. Drain, and serve.