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

.
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