Category: Mains

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Roasting Bag: Chicken Breasts in Chicken Tonight Country French White Wine Sauce …With Cream & Chives

This is a speedy way to have a home cooked meal in a sauce.

Roasting bags are one of my favourite things to cook with, as the food really just never goes wrong.

I have made this recipe with 1 jar, which just gives the meat and vegetables a very nice coating with this level of ingredients.

This worked perfectly for us, but I suspect I might add 2 jars at my next attempt at using a jar of sauce for a roasting bag.

Roasting Bag: Chicken Breasts in Chicken Tonight Country French White Wine Sauce …With Cream & Chives

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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 6 Chicken Breasts
  • 1 kg Baby or Mini Potatoes
  • 2 Large Carrots Chopped
  • 1 Large Roasting Bag
  • 1 jar Chicken Tonight in Country French White Wine Sauce

Instructions
 

  • Set oven to 180C . To make this dish easier, I used a dish to mix the chicken breasts, potatoes and carrots in while I coat them all with the jar of chicken tonight.
  • Pop all the ingredients into the roasting bag and seal it well.
  • Lay your chicken out so that each piece is separate and on the floor of your roasting tray. If they are piled on top of each other, they will not cook properly. This is why you need a large roasting bag. If you only have smaller ones, split your ingredients into smaller batches.
  • Cook in the oven for an hour, or until the chicken breasts are fully cooked. This could be more or less, depending on how large your chicken breasts are.
  • Just take out of the bag and serve. Easy Peasy.

 

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Cheese and Tomato Quiche Recipe, with Maw Broon’s Sauces

Cheese & Tomato Quiche 2

This recipe size makes up to 8 x 4″ flan case sized Quiches.  Use half the quantities for a smaller batch.

Quiche is nice and easy to make and almost everyone enjoys Quiche hot or cold.  Eaten hot, it’s great with some baked beans and is fabulous cold as part of a salad, and can even go in lunch boxes.

We’d been sent some lovely Maw Broon’s sauces to try.  As a Scottish person who grew up on the Broon’s books, the Maw Broon’s range isn’t one that I’m going to let slip through my fingers.

Two of my children love Tomato Sauce and the other loves Brown (or Broon) sauce.  The verdict in this house was one of thumbs up.

My boys are usually Heinz fans only, so I was slightly apprehensive that they wouldn’t like it, but they did.  There are no artificial flavourings, colourings or sweeteners, so it’s all good.

For the Quiche, it all starts with the shortcrust pastry.  I’ve added the recipe for that first, and then followed it up with the cheese and tomato quiche one underneath.  Enjoy.  This makes for delicious quiche/flans.

[gmc_recipe 25753]

[gmc_recipe 25773]

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Puff Pizza: Chicken and Tomato Pizza Recipe

I love puff pizza as it’s just so quick to make compared to bread bases and makes a full meal on it’s own.

With this version, I simply used Sainsbury’s Lighter Puff Pastry, Ready Rolled.  It fitted the size of my baking tray perfectly with absolutely no overlap at all.

It’s just a case of rolling it out, throwing on your toppings and popping it in the oven for a great choice.

You can make it as healthy or as unhealthy as you like by the amount of cheese and toppings that are added, so the world is really your oyster.

Puff Pizza – Chicken and Tomato

Lesley S Smith
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Dish
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • Tomato Puree Paste
  • 375 g Puff Pastry Ready Rolled Sheets, Hand Made, or just Blocked and Rolled Out
  • 2 Chicken Breasts Diced
  • 12 Cherry Tomatoes Halved
  • 300 g Grated Cheddar Cheese

Instructions
 

  • Flour an oven dish, I used a very rectangle tray that we use for making oven chips. Roll out the puff pastry to fit the tray.
  • Dab tomato puree along the pastry and use a knife to smooth it out across the whole base.
  • Sprinkle on the chicken evenly, spread the cherry tomatoes out and top it with the cheddar cheese.
  • Bake in the oven at 200 Degrees or 180 Degrees for a fan oven, for up to 20 minutes.

 

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Piedmontese Beef – Low Fat Mild Chilli Recipe With Soy Beans (Lower Fat Than Aberdeen Angus and Chicken)

Not many of you will have heard of Piedmontese Beef.

Piedmontese is pure Irish Beef and is lean.  If you think you can’t eat beef because of a high fat content, you might be pleasantly surprised.  Piedmontese beef is bred to be lower in fat than chicken is, and we all tend to associate chicken with low fat cooking.

The official stats for Piedmontese are:

  •  Calories:  104 per 100g
  • 1.9g of fat per 100g
  • 31.5mg cholesterol per 100g
  • 21.6g of protein per 100g

Chicken per 100g is:

  • Calories: 200 per 100g
  • 13g of fat per 100g
  • 78mg cholesterol per 100g
  • 25g protein per 100g

I decided to make my Piedmontese mince into a mild chilli.  It was really very good and even my fussy youngest polished his off.  If you want to try it, you’d need to head on over to the Fresh Food Guru in the UK and order some for yourself.

Piedmontese Beef Low Fat Mild Chilli with Soy Beans

Lesley S Smith
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Mains
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kg Piedmontese Beef Mince
  • 1 Large Onion Chopped
  • 200 g Soy Beans Green Endamame for Cooking (I used frozen)
  • 2 teaspoons Mild Chilli Powder
  • PinchSalt
  • PinchPepper
  • 75 g Rice Per Person
  • 500 g Tomato Passata
  • Water
  • Ground Rainbow Peppercorns To decorate the Rice

Instructions
 

  • Using a thick bottomed pan, add the mince and onions. Use a wooden spoon to move the mince around and break it up as it browns.
  • When the mince is completely broken down and browned, add the tomato passata, a little water, the soy beans, chilli powder, salt and pepper. Put your rice on to cook while you finish the chilli.
  • Simmer for 10 minutes. Add a little more boiling water if needed while your chilli is cooking. I added around 300ml in total as this was quite a lot of mince.
  • Simply serve up on the plate and decorate the rice with rainbow peppercorns.

 

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Chicken and Mushroom Stir Fry

We eat a lot of stir fries in this house.

They’re easy and quick to make and fill the kids bellies up well with little effort.

Buy your own veggies, or buy some pre-cut and washed vegetables to just throw in the pot.

For this stir fry, I’d bought a bowl of stir fry veges from the Co-op and just added what there was in the fridge to make it up.  I had some chicken, some more beansprouts and a couple of onions.

To serve, I simply throw it all in a big dish, plonk it on the table and everyone just helps themselves.

Chicken & Mushroom Stir Fry

Lesley Smith
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Mains
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g Cooked Egg Noodles
  • 400 g Chicken Chopped or diced.
  • 50 g Shredded Carrots
  • 75 g Beansprouts
  • 200 g Sliced Mushrooms
  • 100 g Chopped Onions
  • 100 g Shredded Green Cabbage or Spinach or Lettuce
  • 100 g Mange Tout
  • 300 g Hoi Sin Sauce

Instructions
 

  • Pan Fry the chicken with the onions in a thick bottomed pan or wok until fully cooked. I use butter, but just a little at a time to cook the chicken.
  • Add the pre-prepared vegetables with 2 - 3 tbsp of vegetable oil and stir for up to 5 minutes until all the vegetables are fully cooked.
  • Add the Hoi Sin Sauce and cook for a further few minutes until the food is hot throughout.

 

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How To Cook A Haggis

Being Scottish through and through, I’m often asked how to cook a haggis.  If you can stomach this popular dish, then you may find you really do like it.  Haggis is usually a little spicy with a mealy texture.

Traditionally, a haggis was made up of the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep or lamb, with oats, suet, herbs and spices added to it.  Originally, haggis would have been cooked in the sheep or lamb stomach, but these days, the casings are usually artificial and quite like the skin of a sausage.   There are also vegetarian options for those who cannot stomach the meaty variety.

Most of us will buy our haggis pre-cooked and we are essentially just reheating, but you can also make your own.

Macsween Haggis

1  Heating up a Pre-Cooked Haggis

There is no real right or wrong way to reheat an already cooked haggis, which is what you will usually get from a shop.

Slow Cooking

I slow cooked haggis last year with a baked potato to go with ours, and they can also be boiled or roasted.   The beauty of a haggis is that it’s already cooked before it gets to you, so you really do just need to heat it up thoroughly.

On The Hob

In a pan on the hob, all you need to do is wrap the haggis in tin foil and put it in a big pan with plenty cold water.  The water needs heated to simmering point and left for approximately 100 minutes per kilo.  You really don’t want your haggis to be in water that is boiling and severely bubbling away, or the skin is very likely to burst on you.

Baking

In the oven, simply wrap the haggis in tin foil with a little water.   Put it in an oven dish with a heat of around 180 – 190 C for around an hour.  Most haggis will come with instructions on the pack for how to get the best out of your wee rubgy shaped ball of haggis.

To Serve

Just drain the water off, open the haggis skin and fluff up the haggis with a fork while you serve it up.

2  Cooking a Haggis From Scratch

Choose your meat, chop it into small pieces or mince it, add spices like cayenne pepper, allspice, nutmeg and ginger.  You add the spices that you like.  If you make your own, you can also add extra ingredients like onions for more flavour.

  • Sheeps stomach.
  • Heart liver and lungs of a lamb or sheep.  Some people use pig products.
  • 2 finely chopped onions.
  • 10 ounces of oatmeal.
  • Tablespoon of salt.
  • Water
  • Your chosen spices.  Approximately a teaspoon of each.

What To Do

  • Pre clean a sheep stomach, turn it inside out and soak it overnight in cold salted water.
  • Boil the heart, liver and lungs until fully cooked.  Keep the water the meat has been cooked in.
  • Mince or very finely chop and mash the www.direct.gov.uk/passportsmeat.
  • Mix the meat with the oatmeal, onions and spices.
  • Spoon the mixture into the stomach pouch and seal it up.  I’ve heard of people using needle and thread to do this, but any way of sealing it will be fine.   Pierce the pouch a few times to let steam escape.  I’ve heard of people using muslin squares instead of a stomach pouch or artificial casing, but I’ve not seen the results of that and have no idea how well it would work.
  • Put the haggis in the stomach pouch into a big pan with cold water and add the water the meat was cooked in.   Bring it to a low boil and simmer for 2 – 3 hours to allow the spices to flavour the meat.

 

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How to Cook Roast Beef

Roast BeefWhen it comes to late Autumn and the cold weather starts to bite, lots of us start to move to comfort food to keep our kids warm on cold days and put some good solid food into their bellies.

Making roast beef and then later adding all the trimmings is something that we can all do easily and make as healthy or as unhealthy as we want it to be.

Even adding something as simple as a Yorkshire Pudding can make it a dish that everyone would love to sit down to.

Getting roast beef cooked properly is actually easier than most people think it is.

Once it’s cooked, it can be used for a full meal, with salad, mashed, roast or boiled potatoes, or even sliced and added to sandwiches for a fabulous packed lunch.

Choose a Good Cut of Beef

I’d personally choose a rib of beef or a fillet to roast, but there are other options.

  • Beef should look mature and have been well hung.
  • There should be some fat to allow for flavour and to keep the roast moist while it’s cooking.  It can be cut off before it is served up.
  • There should be some marbling through the roast to help keep the roast moist.

Cooking Times

I’d recommend going by the times of your cooker as they can change, or be different from cooker to cooker.  As a general rule of thumb, a very hot oven around 220C to start off with for the first 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven.

Lower the temperature of the oven for the rest of the cooking time to about 190 – 200C.

I check my meat by using a thermometer and put it right into the thickest part of the meat.

Options are approximately:

  • Rare –  (130-140F) The middle of the meat is a bright red hue and pinky towards the outside.
  • Medium – (145-150F).   The outside of the meat will be brown  with a pinky centre and the roast will be hot.
  • Well Done –  (160-175F) As we prefer our meat well done here, I am usually looking for my roast to be brown throughout.

These cooking times and heats are a guide for example only.  Guide temperatures can change depending on who is cooking and the roast you have picked.  Make sure you follow manufacturers and suppliers instructions to make sure your meat is safely stored, cooked and eaten.

How to Cook Roast Beef

  • Rest your beef for an hour before cooking it.
  • It should be roasted in a tin big enough to catch any juice drip that might happen.  Completely encase the roast in tin foil and loosely close it.
  • Once the meat is cooked, it again needs to rest.   Use the aluminium foil and make a loose parcel shape over the top and leave the roast to rest for about 15-20 minutes to get the most out of the meat.
  • Pour off any excess juice for making gravy and your roast is ready to carve and serve with your accompaniments.

 

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Sloppy Joes Wrap Recipe with Piedmontese Beef

Sloppy Joes food is actually quite simple and easy to make.   We don’t have to be expert cooks to rustle up something as quick and easy as this.  It’s more known as Sloppy Joe from America and usually involves some kind of ground beef, vegetables and tomato ketchup type sauce bases.

I was lucky enough to try some of the lower fat than chicken beef which is Piedmontese.

I had 500g of mince and a plan to feed all 6 of us with it.  It was exceptionally easy.

Sloppy Joes Wraps

Lesley Smith
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Course Mains

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g Piedmontese Mince
  • Halfl Water
  • 200 g Onions
  • 1 carton Tomato Passata
  • 400 g Mushrooms
  • 200 Baby Sweetcorn
  • LettuceWashed
  • 8 Tortilla Wraps

Instructions
 

  • Wash the lettuce, chop the onions and cut sweetcorn into pieces.
  • Put mince and onions with a little salt to taste on a moderate heat in a thick bottomed pan with no fat added. PIedmontese is very lean, but it can still take the beginning of browning. Use a wooden spoon to separate the mince in the pan as it browns.
  • Mushrooms can be cooked separately or added to the onions and mince in the pan. I cook them separately in a small pan.
  • When the mince is browned, add just enough boiled water to give a couple of mm depth and let the water finish cooking the mince. If you need to top up, add just a little at a time. Let it simmer for 10 minutes and add a carton (400g) of tomato passata. Allow the mixture to simmer. If it gets too thick, just add a couple of tablespoons to the pan.
  • Heat up the tortilla wraps, and serve in bowls for everyone to help themselves from.

 

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Meatballs and Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe

My mum arrived home with a wee pack of Swedish meatballs at the request of my youngest and I had loads of vegetables from the plot to use up, so they were put to good use in a simple vegetable stir fry.

I had lots of onions from the plot, with sugar snap peas and added mushrooms and baby sweetcorn from the supermarket.  I’ll serve this with baby potatoes from the plot for the kids who thankfully all love their potatoes.

Meatballs and Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe

Lesley Smith
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Course Mains

Ingredients
  

  • Meatballs
  • 2 Onions Chopped
  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Baby Sweetcorn
  • Mushrooms
  • Chives
  • Parsley
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Instructions
 

  • Wash all the vegetables, chop the onions and put them all in a wok or frying pan with a little rapeseed oil, a pinch of salt and a sprinkling of pepper. We used rainbow peppercorns.
  • Lightly fry until the onions are soft and the mushrooms are cooked.
  • Add in the meatballs and lightly fry until fully cooked and hot.
  • Serve, garnish with chives, parsley and pepper.

Notes

This recipe doesn't have specific weight amounts added to it.  It's all dependent on the vegetables available in your fridge, or ones you've grown.

 

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Quick and Easy Mince & Baby Sweetcorn Lasagne

We don’t always have time to make lots of different sauces to finish a popular dish at home.  Some great meat from a local butcher can be eked out really well to ensure there’s enough food for a whole family.

I made this lasagne with good meat and cheap sauce.  It’s delicious and you can vary it as much as you want by adding herbs and spices.  This recipe gave me enough for one night fresh, and I froze the rest for another night.

Quick and Easy Mince and Baby Sweetcorn Lasagne

Lesley S Smith
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Mains
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kg Mince
  • 200 g Baby Sweetcorn Cut into thirds.
  • 200 g Petit Pois
  • 1 Large Onion Chopped.
  • 2 Jars Dolmio Bolognaise Sauce
  • 2 Jars Lasagne White Sauce
  • Lasagne Sheets
  • Olive Oil

Instructions
 

  • Add a little olive oil to a frying pan or thick bottomed pan. Fry the onions gently until they are soft, but not brown.
  • Add the mince and use a wooden spoon to bash it down and separate it as it browns and cooks.
  • Add in the baby sweetcorn, peas and 2 jars of Bolognaise Sauce, simmer for 5 minutes.
  • Add half of your mince mix to the bottom of a baking tray or large dish.
  • Line the top of the mince with lasagne sheets and pour over the remainder of your mince mix.
  • Add another layer of lasagne sheets and simply pour over the jars of white sauce.
  • Cover with tin foil and bake at 180 degrees for 35 minutes.
  • Check to see if your lasagne sheets have gone soft, if they have, remove the tin foil and bake for a further 10 minutes to begin browning the top. This is an optional choice.
  • Serve and garnish.

 

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Lactofree Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast – (Bag Roasted)

This is one of the ultimate easy fast foods.  Perfect for a lunch or just for a treat.  This lactofree cream cheese stuffed chicken breast is make by using a simple roasting bag and then adding some herbs on the top.  I think this will be served up next time I have others to cook for at a lunchtime.

Lactofree Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast – (Bag Roasted)

Lesley Smith
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Course Mains

Ingredients
  

  • Chicken Breast Fillets 1 Per Person
  • Chives
  • Rainbow Peppercorns
  • Nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons Cream Cheese I used Lactofree Cream Cheese
  • Tomatoes To serve
  • Roasting Bag

Instructions
 

  • Put your chicken breasts into a roasting bag and into the oven at 200 degrees for approximately 40 minutes for large chicken breasts, or 25 minutes for small ones. Ensure they are fully cooked.
  • Simply take the chicken breasts out of the roasting bag and spoon a teaspoon or two of juices over the top of your chicken breast to keep it moist. Save the rest of the juices if there are enough to make stock, or freeze for another day.
  • Slice the chicken breast down the middle and simply spoon in the cream cheese.
  • Grate peppercorns over the top of the cream cheese, close the chicken breast and sprinkle with chopped chives.
  • Lastly, a half teaspoon of nutmeg sprinkled across the top of the chicken gives the look of barbequed or fried chicken. Garnish and serve.

Notes

Be free with this recipe and don't hold to the ingredient amounts. Just add enough of whichever spice or herb you like to taste and enjoy.

 

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Fillet Steak, Bag Roasted in Red Wine

Using roasting bags is a relatively new find to me. I’ve usually roasted in tin foil, but have found that roasting in a bag actually gives me a much better texture and taste.

Fillet Steak 7

It actually doesn’t look like much on a plate, but it tasted absolutely heavenly. I’m not quite sure how else I would ever cook a fillet again, as this has spoiled me rotten. Our fillet steak came from Andrew Gordon Butchery and Fine Foods as does most of the meat on this blog nowadays. It’s always easier to have a successful meal when we start with great ingredients.

The addition of red wine made me a little nervous when I was making it, but I needn’t have worried. I’d love to try it in stout another day. The piece of fillet was gorgeous, and I think that’s what made me nervous about cooking such a great piece of meat this way, but for us, it was amazing.

Fillet Steak

Fillet Steak, Bag Roasted in Red Wine

Lesley Smith
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Mains
Servings 5 - 6

Ingredients
  

  • 800 g Fillet Steak
  • 5 Large Carrots Cut into batons.
  • 3 Large Onions Sliced in strips.
  • 100 ml Red Wine
  • 500 g Tomato Passata
  • 1 teaspoon Rainbow Peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Clove Garlic

Instructions
 

  • This is so easy to do. Simply rub the pepper and salt evenly into the fillet steak.
  • Put the passata and wine into the roasting bag first, and then add the other ingredients one by one. Gently hold the neck of the bag and allow the contents to mix and coat the vegetables.
  • Add the fillet steak to the bag and gently move the ingredients around until the fillet steak is fully covered by the ingredients.
  • Pop in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees c for approximately an hour. If you like your meat well done, leave it for 1.5 hours and check on it. If you wish to thicken your gravy, pop it in a pan and reduce or thicken it for a few minutes until it reaches the texture you prefer.
  • Serve with mash, bread, rice or salad.