0 Rosemary, lemon and garlic roast chicken thighs with baby roasties

I love dishes like this where everything cooks in the same pan concentrating the flavours and minimising the washing up. Chicken thighs are an economic cut of meat to get hold of and in my humble opinion also a cut of chicken which has the most flavour, ideally try to purchase free range if you can the taste will be better and the chickens will thank you.

I plundered the herb garden for an ample handful of rosemary which is one of my favourite herbs, so reliable, versatile and it smells amazing too. Rosemary is also this months theme for Cooking with Herbs, one of my favourite blogger challenges hosted over on Lavender and Lovage by Karen if you fancy joining in. The lemony inspiration came from the fruit bowl and preserved lemons. So lets pull together a great easy supper dish which satisfies that mid week crazing for a roast.

What you need

• Large roasting dish (works best if you use metal)
• Chicken thighs (skin on, bones in)
• Lemon - sliced (about thickness of a pound coin)
• Whole head of garlic - sliced across the middle
• Large bunch of rosemary
• Baby potatoes - skin on, slice in half if large
• Olive oil
• Sea Salt and Pepper

What you do

• Pre heat the oven to 200c
• Place all ingredients in roasting pan, nestling the garlic and lemon around the chicken and potatoes
• Break the bunch of rosemary into small sprigs and sprinkle on to the dish
• Drizzle with olive oil and sea salt and freshly ground pepper, toss slightly.
• Place in the oven for 45 minutes until golden and the chicken is cooked through
• Serve with rocket salad dressed with balsamic vinegar or blackberry vinegar.

                                           

Detail: Rosemary, lemon and garlic roast chicken thighs with baby roasties

0 Baked chicken with tomatoes and olives for Nigel Slater Dish of the Month

As my contribution to "Recipe of the month" challenge hosted by Janice who blogs over at Farmersgirl and Sue who blog over at a little bit of heaven on a plate, I have chosen a recipe from Nigel Slaters kitchen diaries II.

The recipe is on page 322 and is recipe from August in the book, I fortunately managed to get hold of some English tomatoes to make the recipe with and I always have chicken thighs in the freezer I thought I'd give it a try. I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter except I didn't have any green tomatoes as you can see from the photographs the recipe turned out well enough but was a little too moist for my taste, so if I made it again I would roast longer to burn off some of the meat juices.

Nigel recommends you serve the dish with bread, rice or couscous to soak up the juices.

As stated above I'm taking part in "Dish of the month" hosted this month by Sue who blogs at "A little bit of heaven on a plate"

                                                 

Detail: Baked chicken with tomatoes and olives for Nigel Slater Dish of the Month

0 Slow cooker creamy chicken curry

Firstly apologies for not the most wonderful of photographs, its a quick snap taken before demolishing this dish and I was very hungry. I love my slow cooker but up until recently I hadn't made a curry in it, its so nice to return home from work with supper ready and just needing some rice to accompany it.

I used some of the last of the courgettes from the garden and also some other waifs and strays from the fridge too, along with some trusty chicken thighs and a tin of coconut milk.

What you need

• A Slow cooker
• Chicken thighs - chopped into bitesize chinks
• Onion - finely chopped
• Curry powder
• Mango chutney / bengali pineapple chutney
• Courgettes - cut into quarter slices
• Red pepper - cur into little chunks
• Handful of frozen peas
• Tin of coconut milk
• Strong chicken stock
• Salt and pepper

What you do

• Preheat your slow cooker
• Fry off the onion,pepper, courgettes and chicken 
• Place in slow cooker
• Add the curry powder, chutney, coconut milk and a little chicken stock
• Cook on slow for approx 6 -8 hours until the chicken is tender
• For the last 40 minutes of cooking add the frozen peas, turn slow cooker to high
• Serve with basmati recipe and poppadoms.

Detail: Slow cooker creamy chicken curry

0 Crispy chicken thighs, roasted tomatoes and crushed new potatoes

Looking for a one pot dish that is satisfying and so so good, try this one ! we love this dish, great for entertaining or a family meal and so very easy. Its fabulous served along side a rocket salad (which is always good as we have a permanent glut when its in season in the garden) and a nice glass of a crisp Italian white wine. 

The dish uses one of the most under rated cuts from the chicken, the thigh. In casseroles, curries, roasts etc I don't think you can beat this cut plus its economical too, if you are squeamish about bones you can even buy them ready bone , personally I don't have a problem with removing the bones its pretty easy plus de boned are more expensive to buy , so I use the saving to buy free range meat instead.

What you need

• Chicken thighs, skin on, deboned, cut in to finger sized strips
• Tomatoes -fresh, cherry, baby plum, etc
• Baby new potatoes - skins on, cooked until tender
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar (or a fruit vinegar)
• Garlic - couple of cloves, peeled
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Fresh Oregano
• You will also need a flameproof casserole dish
• Pestle and mortar

What you do

• Pre heat the oven to 180c
• Heat the flameproof casserole dish and add a little olive oil
• Fry the chicken thigh strips in batches  skin side down initially and then turn until golden brown, remove to a plate whilst you cook  the others. Switch the heat off under the pan.
• Once this is done then add them back to the pan , along with the tomatoes, now add the baby new potatoes crushing them with your thumb.Ensure everything is nice and snug in the pan.
• In the pestle and mortar heavily bruise the garlic and most of the oregano reserving a few spring to garnish. Now add a good slug of olive oil about 2 tbsp and 1tbsp red wine vinegar, mix and season.
• Now drizzle this all over the chicken, potatoes and tomatoes, then place in the oven and bake uncovered for approximately an hour until all crisp and golden.
• Serve immediately with green salad and some great bread.

Detail: Crispy chicken thighs, roasted tomatoes and crushed new potatoes