Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 can tomatoes pasta sauce
• 3 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, sliced or grated

Directions

1. Working on a large surface lay down the chicken breasts. Using a tenderizer, bash the chicken till the thicker end is equal to the thinner end.
   
   
   
2. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, paprika and chicken seasoning.
   
   
   
3. In a large prep pan or dish crack 3 eggs and whisk
   
   
   
4. In another large prep pan or dish, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Spread out to cover the whole bottom of the pan.
   
   
   
5. Lay down as many chicken breasts into the eggs first, then into the breadcrumb mixture coating with the breadcrumb mixture. Repeat the process with the remaining pieces of chicken.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, along with butter, to coat the pan. Add the chicken breasts in one layer and cook until golden, about 3 minutes on each side. Remove and repeat the process for the remaining chicken, adding a little oil and butter to the pan as needed.
   
   
   
7. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Spoon some tomato sauce into a greased baking dish and add the chilli flakes. Layer in the chicken pieces and top with mozzarella. Bake until golden and bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Let rest for at least 15 minutes and serve with pasta.
   
   
   

Sticky Chinese Spare ribs

This take away favourite can be made at home without all the MSG or artificial additives!

Ingredients

4 shallots

8 garlic cloves

5tbsp oyster sauce

200ml tomato ketchup

80ml soy sauce

70ml water

2tbsp worcestershire sauce

2tsp crushed black peppercorns

10tbsp honey

25g butter

As many ribs as you want! :)

Preparation

Saute shallots and garlic in butter till soft.

Then add remaining ingredients (apart from ribs) and gently simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Allow marinde to cool.

Preheat oven to 150C.

Coat the ribs thoroughly in the marinade for a couple of hours, overnight in the fridge is even better.

Place the ribs seperately in a roasting pan and cover with foil.

Cook for 3 hours or until the meat is tender and almost falling off the bone.

Chicken in mushroom sauce

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs and drumsticks

4 minced garlic cloves

100ml white wine

1 bay leaf

2 finely chopped shallots

100ml chicken stock

20g butter

150g of sliced mushrooms

90ml double cream

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 190c. Season the Chicken with garlic powder, seasoning cube, paprika, salt and pepper and set aside for 15 minutes.

Heat olive oil in an oven proof pot and sauté the chicken till they turn brown, if they cant all fit in, do it in batches.

When all the chicken is browned, set aside.

Add chopped shallots and garlic to the pot till softened.

Add white wine and bay leaf and cook for a few minutes till the liquid has reduced by half. Then pour in chicken stock

Add chicken back into pot. Place pot in oven and cook for 20 minutes.

After chicken is cooked set them aside in a warm plate and reserve the remaining liquid for the mushroom sauce.

In a separate pan, sauté the mushrooms in butter till softened

Add the juices from the pan used to cook the chicken and double cream. Stir and season to taste

Pour sauce over chicken, rice and runner beans and serve.

Traditional Oxtail stew

Ingredients

• 1kg oxtail, cut into chunky pieces
• 5 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp tabasco sauce
• 3–4 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 4–5 sprigs fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried thyme)
• 2 bay leaves
• 300ml red wine
• 500ml beef stock
• 2 tbsp tomato purée

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 150C
Wash the oxtail pieces and pat dry with kitchen paper. Trim off as much excess fat as possible. And season with Worcestershire sauce and tabasco sauce



Season flour well with salt,pepper,paprika and seasoning cube and coat the ox tails in flour.






Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Brown the oxtail over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning every now and then, until dark brown all over. You may need to add extra oil if the pan looks dry at any point during the browning step. Put the browned oxtail into a flameproof casserole dish. (You may need to do this in batches.)



Return the frying pan to a low heat and add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery. Add a little extra oil if necessary. Cook gently for 10 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the wine, beef stock and tomato purée, then tip in the ox tail. put the casserole on the heat and bring to a gentle simmer. 



Cover the casserole dish with a lid or foilpaper and cook in the centre of the oven for 3 hours. Stir after 1½ hours, turning the oxtail in the sauce

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After 3 hours, the meat should be falling off the bones and the sauce should be thick. Remove the casserole dish from the oven and transfer the oxtail pieces to a plate, set aside and keep warm.
Skim any fat that has pooled on the surface of the sauce.Serve with mashed potato and fresh vegetables.

Chorizo red onion salad

This is a simple and delicious Spanish inspired salad. The smoky flavours of the chorizo and the sweetness of the red onion make for light summer meal that is ready in minutes.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of olive oil or salad dressing

1 tube chorizo sausage

1 red onion

1 bag rocket leaves

Preparation

Open uo the rocket bag into a sallad bowl and toss with the olive oil or dressing

Slice the chorizo sideways into thick slices, and chop the onions thinly in half moons

Fry the chorizo slices in a large frying pan over a high heat on both sides until sizzling, crispy and red and red oil drains out of them

Remove the chorizo from the pan and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes before putting the adding them to the salad bowl

Then fry the onions in the chorizo oil left in the frying pan until they are soft.

Add the onions to the salad bowl and mix together

Can be eaten as a meal on its own, but here I used it as a side dish to a steak

Lamb Tagine

Ingredients

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1½ tbsp paprika
• 1½ tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• About 1.1kg lamb meat meat trimmed and cut into 5cm/2in chunks
• 2 large onions
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tin 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 115g/4oz dried apricots, cut in half
• 55g/2oz raisins
• 600ml/1 pint lamb stock
• 1 tbsp clear honey

Preparation

Place the cayenne, black pepper, paprika, ginger, turmeric and cinnamon into a small bowl and mix to combine. Place the lamb in a large bowl and toss together with half of the spice mix. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge.

Grate the onion and garlic in a food processor

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot and brown the cubes of lamb on all sides then add the browned meat to a separate dish. Brown the Lamb in batches, if there are too many in the pot at once, they end up boiling!

Add a little more olive oil to the stock pot if needed and add the chopped onions and garlic, and the remaining spice mix and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes so that the onions and garlic are soft but not coloured.

Then re add the browned lamb cubes to pot and put on a vey low heat while you prepare the sauce

To make the sauce: In a separate bowl, pour in the tinned tomatoes, add the tomato puree, stock and honey.

Pour in the sauce into the pot, turn the heat back on high till the sauce is boiling, then turn low to a simmer and cover.

Chop up the dried fruit and add to the sauce.

Cook for 2-2½ hours or until the meat is very tender.

This Morrocan dish is usually served with cous cous, but I chose to use roasted aubergine.

To prepare the aubergine, cut aubergines in half, place skin side down and season with salt pepper and olive oil.

Cover with foil and put in oven at 200c for 15 minutes.

The finished product!