Chicken Caeser Salad

One of my favourite salads has to be Chicken Caeser Salad.  It is a regular on our dinner menu, at least once a week.
Below is my version of a Chicken Caeser Salad.  Enjoy.

Ingredients
Cos lettuce, preferably home grown
Free range chicken breast, cubed
Free range bacon, sliced
Ciabatta loaf, cubed
Parmesan, grated
Dried oregano
Caeser salad dressing (I use Paul Newman's Creamy Caeser Dressing if I haven't made it myself)
Extra virgin olive oil
Poached egg (optional)

Directions
Wash and dry the lettuce and either tear or slice into reasonable size pieces.  Place in a large salad bowl.
Place the cubed Ciabatta bread on to a cookie sheet, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle over a pinch or dried oregano.  Place under the grill until lightly toasted.
In a heavy based fry pan heat a small amount of olive oil and cook the bacon until golden.  Remove from pan and keep warm.  In the same pan warm another dash of olive oil and cook the chicken until golden and cooked through.
In the salad bowl with the lettuce add the toasted Ciabatta, cooked bacon and the grated Parmesan.  Add a good amount of the salad dressing and toss to combine.  Serve into serving bowls (if using) and then place the chicken in the salad bowl and toss to coat in the remaining dressing that lines the bowl.  Serve the chicken on top of the salad and top with the poached egg if using.

Creamy Chicken Fettucine

Dinner last night was a delicious Creamy Chicken Fettuccine from the latest Food magazine.  This was so easy to make and was enjoyed by both my sister and I while watching the wee one play.

Recipe adapted from Feb/March 2012 Food magazine.
Photo courtesy of Sister.

Ingredients
400g packet of fresh tricolour fettuccine
1 cup free range rotisserie chicken, shredded
3/4 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup cream
1/2 cup basil leaves, shredded
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Cook the fettuccine according to packet instructions and drain.
In a heavy based frypan heat some olive oil and add the chicken and cook until golden.  Approximately 2 minutes.  Add the peas, stock and cream and simmer for 1 minute.
Add the cooked pasta, basil and Parmesan and stir through.  Simmer for a few minutes until the pasta is heated through and the sauce is creamy.  Season well.  If the sauce becomes gluggy add some of the pasta water to thin it out.
Serve with extra Parmesan.

Jamie Olivers Perfect Roast Chicken and Consistently Good Gravy

I bought a whole chicken the other day from the supermarket and on Tuesday night I really felt like a nice warm roast meal so made Jamie Olivers recipe for Perfect Roast Chicken.

Ingredients
1 1.6kg free range, organic chicken

2 medium onions

2 carrots

2 sticks celery

1 bulb garlic

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 lemon

small bunch of fresh thyme, rosemary, bay and sage

Directions

Preheat the oven to 240 degrees celsius.  Chop the veggies and break the garlic into cloves and leave them unpeeled.

Pile all the vege and the garlic into the middle of the pan and drizzle with olive oil.  Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper rubbing it all over the bird.

Carefully prick the lemon all over and pop in to the microwave for 40 seconds.

Put the lemon inside the cavity with the bunch of herbs.

Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the roasting tray and put into the preheated oven.  Turn the heat down immediately to 200 degrees celsius and cook the chicken for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

If you are doing roast potatoes and veggies get them in the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking.

Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry add a splash of water to the tray.

When cooked take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board.  Cover with foil and tea towel to rest for 15 minutes.

Time to make the gravy!!!

Consistently Good Gravy

Ingredients

As well as the roasted vege from the roast chicken recipe you will need:

1 heaped dessert spoon of flour

a wine glass of red or white wine

1 litre of vege, chicken or beef stock

Directions

Using a spoon remove 90 percent of the hot fat from the tray.  Put the tray on the hob over a high heat.  Add the flour and stir through.  Using a potato masher, mash all the vege to a pulp.  Don't worry if it's lumpy.

You can rip the wings off the chicken and break them up in to the tray to add more flavour at this point.

When everything is mixed and mashed up add the wine to give a little fragrance before you add your stock.  Keep it over the heat and let it boil for a few minutes.

Pour in the stock or boiling water.  Bring everything to the boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Pour the gravy through a sieve into a bowl.

Discard any meat or vege left behind. 

Serve or put back on the hob to thicken/heat.

Chicken Citrus Salad

Tonight after going for a run around at the park and a bike ride we felt like a nice light salad for dinner. I had a yummy recipe from Giada that I wanted to try and it worked out perfect for tonights dinner.

adapted from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe

Ingredients
Vinaigrette
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Salad
baby spinach leaves or mesclun salad
1 orange cut into segments
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/2 red onion, finely sliced
1 chicken breast per person (approx 100 grams each)

Directions
Slice the chicken into thin strips.
Heat a non-stick pan and drizzle with olive oil.
While the pan is heating put all the vinaigrette ingredites into a jar and shake to blend.

Place the chicken in the hot pan and season well.

While the chicken is cooking combine all the salad ingredients in a salad bowl, drizzle with vinaigrette and toss to combine.

Serve out on to serving plates and top with chicken.

ENJOY!