Chicken in a pot

Serves 4 : Very easy : Quickish

Ingredients
3 – 4 skinless chicken breast fillets, cut in chunks
3 leeks, cut on diagonal , thick slices
2 large carrots, quartered lengthways
6 – 8 parsnips, quartered lengthways
2 courgettes, sliced
200gm button mushrooms
400gm new potatoes, halved
500ml chicken stock
200ml dry white wine
2 tsp dried tarragon
1 cup frozen peas
1 – 2 Tblsp corn flour

Method
Put the chicken, leeks, carrots, parsnips, courgettes, potatoes and mushrooms in a large lidded saucepan.
Pour over the stock and wine.
Add the tarragon.

Bring to the boil.
Reduce heat and allow to simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Add the frozen peas, and simmer for another 10 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked.
Stir through the corn flour, slackened with a little water.
Allow sauce to thicken.

Serve.

I find potatoes take surprisingly long to cook when they are in with something else, so I par-cooked mine in the microwave for about five minutes, to give them a head start.

Rosemary chicken

Serves 4 : Very easy : Quick

Ingredients
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large sprig rosemary, leaves picked off and finely chopped
2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped (optional)
1 Tblsp capers, rinsed, drained and finely chopped
1 x 400gm tin chopped tomatoes
150ml dry red wine

Method
Spray a large, deep frying pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Brown the chicken pieces all over.
Once the chicken is sealed, remove it from the pan and set aside.

Fry the onion and garlic until the onion begins to soften.
Stir in the finely chopped rosemary and fry another 2 minutes.
Add the anchovy fillets, capers, tomatoes and wine.

Nestle the chicken pieces into the sauce.
Cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile make a salad and warm some crusty bread.
Serve these alongside the chicken thighs.
Spoon the sauce over the chicken pieces.

Chicken and sweetcorn soup

Serves 4 : Very easy : slow (but well worth the wait)

Ingredients
2 skinless chicken thighs
2 carrots, chopped
2 leeks, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
½ large aubergine (optional)
Kernels from 2 sweet corns
70gm pearl barley
1 Tblsp chicken stock powder
1 ½ litres water

Method
Place everything in a large saucepan.
Bring to the boil, then simmer for one hour.

Fish out the chicken thighs and strip the meat off the bones.
Discard the bones and put the meat back in the pot.

Blitz, with a hand blender, 4 or 5 times, depending how smooth you want the soup to be.

Serve with a swirl of soy sauce.


There is something about chicken soup that makes you feel better – even if you don’t have the flu! This one is a really hearty meal.

Chicken with sweet-earth sauce

Serves 4 : Very easy : Quick

Ingredients
4 skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
Chicken spice
1 onion, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
200gm cherry tomatoes, halved
200gm thin green asparagus spears
1 Tblsp red wine vinegar
1 Tblsp fresh chopped parsley

480gm new potatoes
1 small pillow-pack of mixed lettuce

Method
Put the potatoes on to cook in lightly salted boiling water.
Once cooked, drain and keep warm.

‘Butterfly’ the chicken by slicing right through each fillet horizontally.
Sprinkle with chicken spice.
Spray a large frying pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Dry fry the chicken pieces both sides until cooked through (about 5 minutes per side).
Remove the fillets from the pan and keep warm.

Fry the onion and celery in the chicken pan until the onion starts to soften.
Add the tomatoes and the asparagus and cook until the tomatoes start to break down.
Add the vinegar and parsley, and stir well.

Serve 2 fillets per person beside the baby potatoes and a handful of mixed lettuce.
Spoon the sweet-earth sauce over the chicken.

Chicken and baked bean stew

Serves 4 : Very easy : Quick

Ingredients
400gm skinless chicken breast fillets, cut in chunks

1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 tsp dried thyme
1 cup frozen peas
500ml chicken stock

1 Tblsp corn flour mixed with a little water
2 x 400gm tins baked beans, rinsed and drained
2 Tblsp chopped fresh parsley

Method
Spray a large pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Dry fry the onion, carrots and celery until the onion begins to soften.
Add the thyme and stir well.
Add the chicken and continue stir frying until the chicken is sealed.
Toss in the frozen peas.
Pour in the stock.
Bring to a simmer and continue to cook, covered, for 20 mminutes.

Stir through the corn flour and allow the gravy to thicken slightly.
Add the baked beans and bring everything back to the boil.

Serve with crusty bread, if desired.
The beans make this dish very filling, so I did not serve a starch with it.

Sweet spice chicken

Serves 4 : Very easy : Quick

Ingredients
3 skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into small chunks
2 onions, chopped
½ - 1 tsp each of ground cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp paprika
2 x 440gm tins chopped tomatoes
1 x 440gm tin red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 Tblsp corn flour

240gms rice

Method
Spray a large pan with non-stick cooking spray and place over heat.
Dry fry the onions until they start to soften.
Add the spices, paprika and thyme and stir well to combine with the onions.
Now add the chicken pieces and continue stir frying until it is ‘sealed’.
Pour in the chopped tomatoes.
Add the kidney beans.

Bring to a simmer then cover and cook for about 30 minutes.
Slacken the corn flour with a little water and stir through the pan to thicken the sauce.
Bring back to the boil to cook the flour.

Cook the rice in lightly salted boiling water until tender.
Drain.

Serve the rice and chicken with a spoon of natural fat free yoghurt spooned over (optional).
Accompany with mango chutney, poppadums and sambals, if desired.

Braised chicken with leeks

Serves 4 : Very easy : Quick

Ingredients
8 skinless chicken thighs
2 large leeks, sliced
1 Tblsp Dijon mustard
500ml chicken stock
2 tsp dried tarragon
Juice and grated rind from 1 lemon
125ml fat free natural yoghurt
1 Tblsp corn flour, slacked with a little water

2 large potatoes (±300gm), peeled and cut in chunks
300gm butternut, peeled and cut in chunks
250gm green beans, topped and tailed

Method
Spray a large frying pan with non-stick cooking spray and place over heat.
Tip in the leeks and allow to soften.
Add the chicken all brown all over.
Now add the stock and mustard, the tarragon, lemon juice and rind.
Stir to combine.
Cover the pan and allow everything to simmer for 25 minutes, by which time the chicken should be cooked through.

Meanwhile, put the potato and butternut on to cook in lightly salted boiling water.
Drain and mash when cooked.
Keep warm.

Microwave, steam or boil the green bean until they are cooked but still crunchy.

Stir the corn flour through the chicken and allow the sauce to thicken.
Remove the pan from the heat.
Stir in the yoghurt.

Divide the mash and beans between four plates.
Serve with two pieces of chicken per person.
Spoon over the leeky sauce.

You can cook the chicken for much longer, if you have time. The meat will come off the bone that much more easily.

Stove-top chicken casserole

Serves 4 : Very easy : Quick

Ingredients
500gm new potatoes
1 butternut, cut in chunks
1 head broccoli, broken into florets
150gm baby corn, halved

3 skinless chicken breast fillets, cut in chunks
200gm button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1 x 440gm tin chopped tomatoes
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chicken stock
8 sweet pepper dews, chopped
1 - 2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 - 2 tsp paprika
1 Tblsp cornflour, mixed to a paste with a little water

Method
Put the potatoes on to cook in lightly salted boiling water.
Microwave, boil or steam the butternut, broccoli and baby corn.
Drain all of these once they are cooked and keep warm.

Meanwhile, spray a deep frying pan with non-stick cooking spray and put on to heat.
Dry fry the onions a few minutes until they start to soften.
Add the chicken pieces and keep stirring until the chicken is sealed.
Sprinkle in the cinnamon and stir until fragrant.
Now tip in the chopped tomatoes and stock and the chopped pepper dews.
Cover the pan and reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes (or more, this won’t spoil with longer cooking).

When the chicken is cooked through, stir through the cornflour a bit at a time until the sauce is glossy.

Serve the chicken with the potatoes, butternut, broccoli and baby corn.

I had about ½ cup of cannellini beans that I tossed in this – not essential, but just stretched the meal a bit further. This dish has a spicy sweetness that is deliciously warming.

Chicken and veg one-pot

Serves 4 : Very easy : Quick

Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
3 skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into bite sized pieces

2 large carrots, julienne
4 – 6 courgettes, julienne
400gm new potatoes, quartered
300gm broccoli florets
125gm sugar snap peas
125gm mushrooms, chopped
400ml vegetable stock
8 - 10 large spinach leaves, shredded
1 – 2 tsp dried rosemary

Method
Spray a large pan with non-stick cooking spray and put on to heat.
Dry fry the onions until they start to soften.
Add the chicken pieces and stir until the chicken is sealed.
Now tip in the carrots, new potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms, followed by the stock and rosemary.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the sugar snap peas and courgettes and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Fold through the spinach.
Allow a few more minutes on the heat for the spinach to wilt down.

Serve.

You don’t need any starch with this – it already has potatoes in it. Maybe some crusty bread to soak up the juices.

Chicken with tarragon dressing

Serves 4 : Very easy : Quick

Ingredients
4 skinless chicken fillets
Accompaniments
500gms new potatoes, halved
500gm green beans
4 carrots, julienne
8 slices marrow (or 8 courgettes)
Dressing
1-2 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
200ml natural fat free yoghurt

Method
Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl.
Set aside.

Put the potatoes on to cook in lightly salted boiling water.
Steam, microwave or boil remaining vegetables.
Drain all vegetables once cooked and keep warm.

Meanwhile, spray a frying pan with non-stick cooking spray and heat.
Dry fry the chicken fillets about 10 minutes per side, or until cooked through.
Take the pan off the heat and remove the chicken.

Tip the mixed dressing into the pan and stir briefly to deglaze and warm with residual heat.

Serve the vegetables with one chicken fillet per person.
Spoon the warm dressing over the chicken.