Chicken, chorizo & potato bake

This is a new mid-week favourite of mine - super delicious, quick and easy but different to anything else I usually have. Definitely one for you all to try as it has tons of strong flavours and the crisp texture from the roasted potatoes compliments the soft chicken and chewy chorizo perfectly. The best part is, everything cooks together in one roasting tin!

Serves 2 

- 250g new potatoes
- olive oil
- 4 chicken thigh fillets (skinless & boneless)
- 1 tsp paprika 
- sprinkle of ground cinnamon
- sprinkle of dried thyme or mixed herbs
- dried chorizo sausage, sliced
- 75g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 garlic clove, crushed

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Halve or quarter the new potatoes and toss with plenty of olive oil in a baking tin/tray and season. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
3. Cut the chicken thigh fillets in half and place them in a bowl. Add the paprika, cinnamon and herbs and stir until the chicken is coated.
4. Take the potatoes out of the oven and place the chicken in the tray around them. Scatter the chorizo,  tomatoes and fresh garlic around the chicken and potatoes as well and place in the oven after seasoning and sprinkling with some more herbs.

5. Cook in the oven for a further 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes crisp.

Enjoy :)

Summer salad

Yay, summer has finally hit England! It probably won't last for long but the heat and the sun lured me into making a refreshing salad for lunch yesterday. Thinking back I wish I had put fruit in it after my post about the salads in Ibiza, but oh well it was still delicious and very filling while still being healthy/nutritious. You don't have to put egg in it if you don't like egg, or any of the ingredients for that matter, swap something you don't like for something you do like - salads are amazing like that! I haven't put quantities for everything because you can put as much or as little as you like :)

- lettuce, torn (I used little gem)
- cucumber, cut into chunks
- tomatoes, quartered
- 1/4 of an avocado, cut into chunks
- new potatoes (already cooked), quartered
- 1 egg, hard boiled, quartered
- salad cream

Simply put everything together in a bowl! You can make your own dressing or try different ones with this salad but you can't beat a bit of Heinz salad cream - it goes with every ingredient! Hope I have inspired you to make some interesting salads this summer


Enjoy :)

Lemon and parsley salmon

(Completely forgot to take a picture once cooked!)

This is a simple dressing/marinade for salmon that is guaranteed to produce wonderful flavours and moist fish. It's buttery and it's tangy mm mm. Perfect served with new potatoes also tossed in a buttery, lemon and parsley sauce.

- salmon fillet

- few knobs of butter

- handful of fresh parsley, chopped

- fresh lemon

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees.

2. Simply place the salmon on foil, dot with the butter, sprinkle on the parsley, and squeeze over the lemon.

3. Wrap in the foil, place on a tray, and bake in the oven for around 20 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Chicken chasseur with new potatoes in parsley butter

So this doesn't look particularly appetising... it looked better in real life! I've had one of those schwartz (but the Tesco version) chicken chasseur packet mixes lying around for ages and instead of using it I thought, I'm gonna make it from scratch! It went really well - I looked at a few different recipes beforehand and decided on the ingredients I wanted to use (or had in the house) and the result was scrummy. I'm not a huge fan of new potatoes (does anyone else think they taste weird?) so lathering them in butter and parsley was a genius idea. There is parsley in the chasseur as well so this worked nicely, as would parsley mash - I've made this before and it's delicious. You can tell I have a lot of parsley to use up... my mum bought a lot because it's a key ingredient in my favourite meal which she cooked me the other day (may share this recipe with you soon!) so I've been trying to use it up. Another great way to use parsley is making a lemon and parsley sauce (parsley, lemon juice, butter) which is yummy with chicken (just flatten and fry some chicken breasts). Chicken chasseur traditionally has wine in it but we didn't have any in the house and it tasted fine without, just not as rich I suppose. I have never really cooked this meal before and it made a really nice change - I would never really put chicken and chopped tomatoes together but, hey, it works! I used chicken thighs because they're much more moist and tender than chicken breast when cooked this way.

Serves 2
For chicken chasseur
- drizzle of olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 4 rashers bacon, cut into large pieces
- 2-3 chicken thighs, skinless and boneless, cut into chunks
- 150g button mushrooms, or larger mushrooms, quartered
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 beef stock cube
- dash of Worcestershire sauce 
- large handful of fresh parsley, chopped

For potatoes
- 450-500g jersey royal potatoes
- large knob of butter
- handful of fresh parsley, chopped
- salt & pepper


1. Heat the olive oil in a deep pan and fry the garlic and onion for a few minutes until softened. Add the bacon and cook for a further few minutes, until the bacon begins to brown. Add the chicken pieces for around 5 minutes, or until they are cooked through and browned.
2. Add the mushrooms and stir to coat in the oil/bacon and chicken fat. Continue to cook until reduced in size and softened. Add the plain flour and stir until coated and a sort of paste has been formed. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and crumble in the beef stock cube. Boil for about 10 minutes, or until thickened.
3. Pour in a dash of Worcestershire sauce and add the parsley. Season to taste and serve with the new potatoes (see below).

1. Boil the potatoes in salted water for 20-25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small pan, melt the butter and stir in the parsley.
3. Once the potatoes are softened, drain, and stir in the parsley butter and serve with the chasseur and green vegetables (I cooked green beans).

Enjoy :)