Chicken Fricasee
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the Fricassee
2 onions
2 tins of tomatoes
350 ml chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1/4tsp dried chili flakes
2 carrots cut into batons
1 pkt sugar snap peas,
2 stalks celery
For the Marinade
Juice of 1 lemon 3 cloves of garlic crushed 1 tbsp white wine vinegar 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce pinch of salt 1 tsp thyme 1 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp allspice 1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes 4 chicken breast
Method
Chop chicken breasts and rub with juice of lemon.Mix all the marinade ingredients together in plastic food bag, add chicken pieces.Make sure the pieces are coated fully, tie the bag and leave to marinade in fridge for at least 2 hours.Check the marinade is coating the chicken from time to time.Drain off the marinade but keep to one side.Begin to brown the chicken pieces in a wok, a few pieces at a time, set all the browned chicken aside.
Chop the onions and add to the same pan and leave to softenAdd the tins of tomatoes & cook down to a thick sauce.Add back the chicken together with chicken stock & the remaining marinade.Bring back to boil & then simmer until chicken is fully cooked.Add vegetables (small florets of broccoli, batons of carrots, sugar snap peas, peas, celery or whatever is in the fridge) into the sauce to cook
Serve with basmati rice
Lemon Meringue Pie
Serves 8, 23cm round tin
Ingredients
For the Pastry
Butter for the tin
200g plain flour, plus a little extra for dusting
2 tbsp. ground almonds
150g chilled butter, roughly diced
1 free-range egg yolk
1 to 2 tbsp. cold water
Egg wash to glaze
For the Filling
6 free-range egg yolks
250g caster sugar
50g butter
6 lemons, zest of 3 and juice of 6 4 tbsp. cornflour
For the Topping
6 free-range egg whites 250g caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
Method
Brush a loose-based 23-cm flan tin with some melted butter. Dust with a little flour. To make the pastry, place the flour, ground almonds and butter into a food processor and blend until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Pour in the egg yolk and pulse to form a soft pastry dough. Add a little cold water if needed.
Roll the pastry out between 2 pieces of cling film and then peel off the top piece. Turn-over and carefully line the dusted flan tin with the pastry. Peel off the other piece of cling-film. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 4. Place a piece of parchment paper over the pastry and pour in baking beans. Bake for about 20 minutes and then remove the baking beans and parchment paper. Brush the pastry with egg wash and bake again for about 10 minutes until golden. Set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4. To make the filling, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Whisking all the time, add the butter. Then pour in the lemon zest and juice. Whisk in the cornflour and simmer until a thick sauce/filling develops. It is best to keeping whisking while the filling is thickening. Set aside.
To make the meringue topping, whisk the egg whites to soft-peak stage. Gradually add the sugar until a thick meringue develops. Fold in the cornflour. Pour the lemon filling into the baked pastry case, allow to cool slightly and then spoon or pipe the meringue topping over, starting from the outer edge and working to the centre, ensuring that you make peaks. Transfer to the preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes until golden and brown.