Roast Chicken with Broccoli and Cheese Crumble and Pan Roasted Baby Potatoes

Last night on this blog, I included a small section about how to easily find healthy recipes to suit your personal tastes. Purely off the top of my head, the three food ingredients which I used in the example were chicken, broccoli and cheese. A couple of hours after publishing the post, it occured to me that I should provide my own option to suit the example. So, today we have my healthy eating option incorporating chicken, broccoli and cheese...

Ingredients per Person

1 chicken breast quarter portion
1/2 small head of broccoli
8 to 10 small new potatoes
1 slice of bread
2 oz cheddar cheese (or other hard cheese)
1/2 tsp dried sage
Salt and black pepper
Butter for greasing baking dish

Method

The potatoes have to be firstly cooked by boiling. They should be washed and added to a pot of cold water, placed on a high heat until the water boils and the heat reduced to achieve a simmer for half an hour. The potatoes should then be drained and added to a pot or bowl of cold water to cool. The expansion/contraction process helps to make the skin later easier to remove.

The chicken portion should be baked in the oven on a baking tray. The oven should be preheated to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6 and the chicken put in for half an hour to cook and then the oven turned up to full for five to ten minutes to crisp the skin. It is imperative to check that the chicken is fully cooked after this time. The easiest way to do this is to pierce the thickest part of the flesh with a skewer and then press down over the hole you have made to ensure the juices run clear and that there is no trace of red, or even pink. Cover the tray with tinfoil and set it aside for the chicken to rest.

The broccoli should be split in to florets and added to a pot of boiling, slightly salted water for ten minutes. While the broccoli is simmering, the bread and cheese should be grated and mixed with the sage and some black pepper in a bowl.

The broccoli should be drained and added to a small oven proof dish, lightly greased with butter. The crumble mixture should be spread evenly over the top and the dish placed under a hot overhead grill for around five minutes.

The potatoes should peel easily simply by rubbing them with the ball of your thumb. They should then be deep fried for around five minutes until beautifully golden and drained on kitchen paper.

The broccoli and cheese crumble should be removed from under the grill and carefully slipped out of the dish with a fish slice on to a plate. The chicken and roasted baby potatoes can then be served alongside.

Brocolli and Cauliflower Cheese Recipe

It was recently mentioned to me by Linda Joyce, a reader of this blog, that I had not included any recipes for vegetarians. Personally, I am an omnivore - verging upon being a carnivore - and simply hadn't realised this quite unforgivable omission, even though my mother is vegetarian! I am therefore beginning the rectification of this siuation and promise to include more vegetarian recipes on a regular basis.

Most people will have heard of cauliflower cheese and perhaps be very fond of same but whenever I am making cauliflower cheese, I also include broccoli, both for its excellent health benefits and for even tastier results. The following recipe is for two people.

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
1 head of broccoli
4 oz plain flour
4 oz butter
12 to 15 fl oz milk (depending upon how thick you like your sauce)
4 oz cheddar cheese (grated or shredded)
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Basil leaves for garnishing (optional)

Method

The first step is to wash the cauliflower and broccoli and split them in to florets. Put the cauliflower only in to a large pan of boiling, slightly salted water. This is because the cauliflower will take slightly longer to cook than the broccoli. When the cauliflower has been simmering for four minutes, add the broccoli and cook for a further eight minutes only.

It is vital when making the sauce that the milk be heated first until it begins to simmer. Adding cold milk to your roux can cause it to be lumpy or worse. Pour the milk from the saucepan in to a jug or bowl and slowly melt the butter, then sift in tthe flour. Stir well and cook for a two to three minutes, stirring constantly.

The milk should then be added in three or four stages, stiriing all the time. When a lush, thick sauce has been formed, add the cheese and the grated nutmeg and stir until the cheese is melted.

Drain the cauliflower and broccoli well, place it back in the pot and pour in the sauce. Stir very carefully so as not to break the cauliflower and broccoli florets, then serve, garnished with the basil if required.

Pan Fried Salmon Fillet with Dill Cream Sauce

Salmon is one of my favourite types of fish. It can be expensive, however, especially if we are fortunate enough to have the chance to buy wild salmon, which are of course under threat today in so many ways. It is vital, therefore, when we are cooking salmon, that we do not overcook it. Like tuna, salmon should retain that under-cooked, moist centre when we put it on the plate.

The quantities in this delicious recipe are stated per person.

Ingredients

1 salmon loin fillet (skin on - this is very important)
2 medium potatoes
3 or 4 florets of broccoli
2 tbsp double cream (use heavy cream in the USA)
1 large pinch of dried dill weed
1 small garlic clove (optional)
2 tsp plain flour
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Butter and sunflower oil for frying

Method

The first step is to get the potatoes on to boil. Especially if the potatoes are new, I like to leave the skins on but this is of course optional. Chop them to the desired size and put them in salted boiling water to simmer for half an hour.

When the potatoes have been on for twenty minutes, put the broccoli in to a separate pot or pan of boiling water. It is imperative that we do not overcook broccoli as it will become soggy and extremely unpalatable. Eight minutes only is the timescale for boiling broccoli - no more!

Put a little sunflower oil and a small knob of butter in a non-stick frying pan and gently heat. Spread the flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper before patting the skin side only of the salmon in it. Shake off the excess flour and place the salmon skin-side down in the frying pan. Turn the heat up to medium.

Drain the broccoli and subsequently the potatoes. Add a little butter and dill weed if required to the potatoes and swirl them around to fully coat them.

When the salmon appears from the side to have cooked just over half-way through, switch the pan off and remove it from the heat. Turn the salmon fillet (s) over and leave them to finish cooking in the residual heat while you quickly prepare your sauce.

It is imperative that you use double or heavy/whipping cream for the sauce. Single/light cream will split during the cooking process and ruin your sauce. Gently heat the cream in a small saucepan, along with the crushed garlic if required, until it begins to simmer. Add the pinch of dill, stir well and you are ready to plate up.

Place the salmon on the plate skin-side up. The skin should have crisped up and peel off easily, perhaps with the gentle aid of a knife. Add the potatoes and broccoli and finally spoon the sauce over the salmon.