An Experiment with Couscous

I haven't used couscous that much but decided to have a little experimentation on Saturday. There was the remnants of a red and yellow pepper and chopped them very finely and fried them off with some garlic, finely chopped mushrooms, chopped chilli and chopped cherry tomatoes. I mixed all this into the steamed couscous and spooned it into half a red pepper and a yellow pepper.  These were cooked in a moderate pre-heated oven for 30mins approx. About 10mins before the end of the cooking time I laid a sliced of sharp cheddar cheese on top to melt into the couscous.  Stuffed peppers are a cliché I guess but I don't cook them that often so it made a nice change to a meaty main and was perfect with a green salad.

Chicken stuffed with Mozzarella & Roasted Red Pepper

There is nothing like the comfort food of stuffed chicken and this dinner was no exception.  The extra cheese topped the roasters and I served a little roasted pepper bruschetta on the side.

For the Chicken:

Chicken breast, with a pocket cut into the side of it

2 or 3 slices of Serrano ham, you can also use Prosciutto or a stretched rasher

Slice of roasted red pepper

Couple of slices of mozzarella

For the Potatoes:

Baby new potatoes

Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Cubes of mozzarella

Olive oil

For the Roasted Pepper Bruschetta

An orange, red and yellow pepper, halved

Couple of shallots, finely chopped

Garlic clove, crushed

Fresh thyme, leaves picked from stalk

Sea salt & black pepper

Olive oil

Cut a pocket into the chicken and carefully slide the red pepper slice into it and then squash in the cheese.  Season the breast with black pepper, no salt needed as the ham will be salty. Wrap tightly in the Serrano ham and set aside until ready to cook.

To get your peppers roasted, halve them and place under a very hot grill or directly onto the gas flame. Let the skin get completely blackened and put into a plastic bag to steam away until cool. Once cool, remove the black skin. Do not do this under a running tap as you'll lose the roasted flavour.  Chop into thin slices, keep the slice for the chicken aside and place the rest into an ovenproof dish.  Add the chopped shallots, garlic, seasoning, thyme and a teaspoon of olive to the peppers and stir to combine.  Set aside until really to heat.

Slice your potatoes lengthwise and rinse off to remove the starch on them.  Make sure they are completely dry before you add them to the roasting pan. I used low-fat spray oil, spray a layer on the pan then add the slices of potatoes giving them another spray and season generously.  Place in a preheated oven at 180C/fan 160C, they'll take 35-40mins to roast.  Turn them over every ten mins or so to ensure even cooking.

After the potatoes have been in the oven for 10mins then place the chicken in the oven uncovered to cook.  If the chicken looks like its burning then you can cover it with foil but not too tightly as you want to retain the crispy nature of the ham.  The chicken will take 25-30mins to cook it all depends on much they are stuffed.

Ten minutes before the end of the cooking time, top each potato with a cube of mozzarella and return to the oven.  You can also top the chicken with some mozzarella as well if you want.  At this stage you add the pepper bruschetta to the oven to let it heat through.  Its probably best if you can rest the chicken out of the oven for 5mins covered.  When ready to eat, pour over whatever juices have come from the chicken over it for some extra juiciness.

Spiced Beef Patties

I think I see a pattern developing! We like spice in this house and it seems to creep into a lot of our meals. I suppose it's the fact that I'm dieting I'm trying to find as many ways as possible to make my dinners exciting and flavoursome. So last night it was some Spiced Beef Patties.

Mix some beef mince with big pinches of paprika, cumin, chilli powder, chilli flakes, tomato sauce or puree, finely chopped garlic, a small handful of breadcrumbs to bind and plenty of salt and pepper. Shape into patties and put in the fridge for a couple of hours. Cook them straight from the fridge they'll hold their shape better.

Fry the patties in some oil until cooked through about 15mins or so. Serve either with pitta breads or a flatbread (again!!!) and some chargrilled peppers, onions and a spoonful of mayonnaise.

ROASTED PEPPER SOUP

Serves 4

• Halve 6 peppers (a combination of red, yellow or orange but not green), remove seeds & stalks, then cut each half into 6.
• Cut a medium sized red onion into 8 wedges.
• Use either 10 cherry tomatoes, left whole, or quarter 4 normal sized tomatoes.
• Use 1 garlic clove but leave it whole, just remove the outer papery skin.
• Throw the whole lot into a roasting tray.
• Drizzle with some olive oil, about 2tbsp. Or if you want to be healthy sprinkle with 1tbsp of water or spray on some Light spray oil.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Sprinkle on dried or fresh herbs of choice.
• If you like a bit of heat, sprinkle on some chilli flakes or roughly chop up a red chilli and add to the mix.
• Give the whole lot a good stir.
• Roast in a preheated over at 180C/fan 160C for 30-40mins until the peppers are slightly charred and the other veg are soft.
• Remember to give the mix a stir every 10mins or so in order that it doesn't stick or burn. If it looks like its burning cover with tin foil for the remainder of the cooking time.
• In the meantime, make up approx 1 litre of stock with 2 chicken or veg stock cubes. Don't use beef cubes. If you've got it, and even better, use your own homemade stock.
• Bring to a gentle simmer.
• Once the veg are done, add them to the stock and blitz the whole lot in a food processor or with a hand blender.
• Return to the saucepan, check if it needs more salt and pepper. Then serve.
• This is nice with a crusty roll or even garlic bread.
• And better still, if you leave out the olive oil its calorie free so you can eat as much of it as you like!!