Garlic and lemon chicken with chilli

Serves 1

2 for a snack

Ingredients

Two chicken breasts

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp red Thai curry paste

1 red birdseye chilli

Splash of soy sauce

Small tsp of palm sugar

Juice of half a lemon

Coriander

My recipe

I made this, to be honest, as a healthy snack to accompany my vino on a Friday night.  I just sat and picked at it whilst watching Nip Tuck.  I ate it cold with a nice salad.   

Having cooked so many Thai dishes, I have come to know the basic ingredients and this is something I tried out from my head and it worked really nicely.

This is a quick and hot tasty dish.

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Chop the chicken into chunks, brown, then add the paste until it’s all mixed over the chicken.   

Add the palm sugar, stirring loads.

Followed by the garlic then the chilli and a splash of soy sauce.

Squeeze the half a lemon over when it is ready so it doesn’t all evaporate.

After you’ve taken it out of the pan, stir in a good helping of coriander.

I made a nice standard salad to go with it; lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onion and pepper.

Enjoy 

Conchiglie with bolognaise

For 4 people or 2 greedy ones

Pasta shells

1lb minced beef

Olive oil

1 onion chopped fine

1 garlic clove

Salt and pepper

Tomato puree

Splash Worcester sauce

Tin chopped tomatoes

Mushrooms

1-2 spoonfuls of sugar

2 bay leaves

Cheese (optional)

Garlic bread (optional)

I would say this was my own recipe as it feels like it is but it’s obviously a classic Italian dish.  I have never seen a recipe of this; someone taught me how to cook it and now I am sharing it with you.

Get everything out and get your ingredients chopped. 

I added celery on this occasion as I had some left over but it is not part of the recipe.

The mince takes about 30-40 minutes so I normally put the pasta on a slow cook.  I am putting it in with the mince at the end so if it’s cooked too soon it can always have a little extra heat at the end when it’s combined with the meat.  Alternatively put your pasta on when the meat has been cooking for ten minutes. 

I use a rather large cooking pan as I am going to combine the pasta and mince.

Fry your mince off in the large pan with a bit of olive oil.  When it’s brown, empty it out and drain the fat in a colander.  This can be a bit messy for your sink so if you’re not really bothered I often keep the fat in there.       

Fry off the onion then add the mince. 

Add the garlic and the tomato puree and stir it around so the meat appears red. 

Add Worcester sauce and salt and pepper.

Add the chopped tomatoes followed by the chopped mushrooms.

Stick in a couple of bay leaves (this isn’t essential).

You want to leave this on a medium boil for about 20 mins.  Keep a check on it and your pasta although it’s quite self sufficient once it’s all in the pan.  You’re alright to have a glass of wine while it’s cooking.

Get your garlic bread in the oven.

Add the sugar and give it a taste; this should be just right but if it’s too sweet for you add more salt.

Sprinkle with cheese; parmesan is best but it’s just as amazing with a bit of cheddar.

Last time I cooked this it was so delicious I went back for another plate J

If you want it to go further make a big bowl of salad and serve with garlic bread, salad and sour cream.

Enjoy