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My Ultimate Chicken and Pesto Sandwich

I often cook several chicken breasts in pesto and then cool them and refrigerate for use in salads and sandwiches. Of course pesto is most commonly made with basil, but there are so many varieties available today - from mellow red pepper and walnut to refreshing mint pesto - that the flavour possibilities are endless. Of course you can always make your own with fresh herbs as well. I simply mix my pesto with a bit more olive oil (to make it easier to spread and to mellow the flavours a bit) and then spread it on top of chicken breasts before cooking them for about half an hour or until no pink remains inside.

You can use any roasted vegetables in this sandwich - even the ones you get in jars - however I almost always keep roasted veggies on hand in the fridge. They are unbelievably easy to prepare and keep for three or four days in the fridge. Click here to find out more.

I like to use a mild cheese like Swiss, Monterey Jack or Gruyere in this recipe, partly because it melts well and also because you don’t need anything to compete with the flavour of the pesto and the veggies, but please yourself. Any cheese that you like is absolutely fine.

You can make this sandwich as a panini and cook it in a panini press, or make it in baguettes or crispy rolls, wrap in foil and cook in the oven.

If you have made the chicken and roasted veggies up ahead of time, these sandwiches are really quick and easy to prepare. They are great for game day or game night for that matter and would be a great addition to any Super Bowl Sunday menu.

To make two sandwiches you need:

2 panini rolls, pieces of baguette or other crispy rolls

1 chicken breast cooked in pesto, sliced

about ½ cup of roasted vegetables

2 to 4 slices of cheese

It’s strictly an assembly job from here. Slice the rolls in half and place half the chicken, half the roasted vegetables and half the cheese on each sandwich. I don’t use butter because there is oil in the roasted vegetables.

Put the top on the sandwich and either cook in a panini press until done or wrap in aluminum foil, place on a baking sheet and cook at about 350℉ or about 170℃ for 15 to 20 minutes until the sandwich is warm and the cheese is melted.

Charmingly Retro Shrimp Cocktail

This blast from the past tastes wonderful and is a real treat. My Mom told me the recipe - she never wrote it down. It’s shrimp cocktail as it was served in the 1950’s - cold shrimp a sharp contrast to the bright spicy sauce they were topped with, laying on a super crisp bed of shredded iceberg lettuce. Not that I was born in the 1950’s - my experience of that decade is all from stories I was told and things I have read - but I do love the sound of them!

In England, shrimp are called ‘prawns’ and they are usually served with a Marie Rose dressing - a blend of ketchup or tomato sauce and mayonnaise, or sometimes even with thousand island dressing. Prawn cocktail was the fashionable starter of the 1980‘s here. By the end of that decade most folks were fed up with it and it experienced a huge fall from grace, along with that staple 1980’s dessert Black Forest Gateau. It’s certainly more fashionable now, but I think if folks could taste this sauce instead of the traditional mild Marie Rose version, even more people would be embracing this charming retro dish.

This makes a wonderful starter, or a real treat for lunch - if you are making lunch for one you can keep any extra sauce in the fridge for a couple of days. Thawing a handful of frozen shrimp or treating yourself to some fresh cooked shrimp from the grocery store can take an ordinary lunch and elevate it to the extraordinary.

The sauce also makes a great dip, and I have been known to serve a plate of large shrimp round a dish of it at parties. It always generates ‘ooh’s’ and ‘aah’s’ and it is usually empty in minutes.

Shrimp Cocktail

1 handful of shredded iceberg lettuce per person

1 handful of small frozen shrimp per person, thawed

For each serving, place the shredded lettuce in a pretty dish or on a nice plate. Top with the shrimp.

To make the sauce:

½ cup ketchup

1 to 2 tablespoons mild creamy horseradish (You may need a bit less than this depending on how hot your horseradish is.)

½ teaspoon lemon juice (fresh if possible)

Place the ketchup in a bowl and add about 1 tablespoon of the horseradish along with the lemon juice. Stir to mix. Taste, adding a bit more horseradish if you feel the mixture needs it.

Top the shrimp with the sauce and serve very cold.

Nigella Lawson's No Churn Pina Colada Ice Cream

I appreciate that it is cold outside in any places at the moment, but I love ice cream and eat it greedily all year round. It works for me, and it is an ethos that I urge you to adopt.

I had no hesitation in trying this recipe from Nigella Lawson’s new book Kitchen, because I have made Nigella’s no churn ice creams before with great success. Anyway, I have a secret weakness for piña coladas (which I rarely indulge) and I was powerless to resist.

It really could not be easier, and it is - quite simply - ambrosia.  You can make it in a matter of minutes, pop it in the freezer and a few hours later, you have a beautiful dessert. It is lovely on its own, but I cannot help but think how wonderful it would be served alongside a slice key lime pie.

If you are working in cups, 125 ml of pineapple juice is ½ cup, 80 ml of Malibu is ⅓ cup, 100 grams of icing sugar measured out to roughly ⅔ cup and 500 ml of double (heavy) cream is 2 cups.

For the recipe, please click here.

Nigella also has recipes for a similar Bitter Orange Ice Cream and a Margarita Ice Cream, both which I have made and highly recommend.

Yummy Pitta Pockets

So many women I talk to say they are too busy for lunch, but there is an easy way to have a nourishing and delicious lunch that doesn’t take very long at all. You can even make up the fillings in advance to save time.

The average white pitta bread only has about 147 calories and their crunchy pocket style makes them just right for all sorts of lovely fillings. These make a great light lunch - really satisfying but low in fat and calories.  They also travel well wrapped in Saran wrap or aluminum foil in an insulated lunch box if you are eating on the run.  By the way, most kids love to eat pitta breads - I used to call them pitta pockets when my son was little - they are a bit of fun and they make a great change from ordinary bread. 

Do check the mayonnaise you are using to make sure it has ‘good’ fats (not hydrogenated) and be careful as some “light”versions are actually low in fat but high in calories, and some “low cal” versions are actually quite high in fat. I use Hellmann’s Extra Light for this recipe. If you don’t like mayonnaise, you can always substitute a little plain yogurt.

Each of these recipes serves one adult or two little ones (most kids will only eat half a pitta sandwich), but it’s very easy to multiply the quantities to serve more.   

Chicken Salad Pittas

1 pitta bread, cut in half and toasted if you like

half a chicken breast, cut in small cubes

a small handful of lettuce, finely shredded

3 or 4 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

2 to 3 teaspoons low calorie or light mayonnaise

½ teaspoon freshly chopped chives

salt and pepper, optional

a pinch of curry powder, optional

Mix the chicken, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise together in a small bowl.  Add the chives, salt and pepper to taste, and curry powder if you like it.   Use the mixture to stuff both halves of the pitta. 

Waldorf Salad Pitta

1 pitta bread, cut in half and toasted if you like

half a chicken breast, cut in small cubes

one quarter to one half a small apple, peeled, cored and cut in small pieces

1 small handful of lettuce, finely shredded

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

3 or 4 walnuts, finely chopped

2 to 3 teaspoons low calorie or light mayonnaise

Mix the chicken, apple, lettuce, celery, walnuts and mayonnaise in a small bowl.  Use the mixture to stuff both halves of the pitta. 

Egg Salad Pitta

1 pitta bread, cut in half and toasted if you like

1 large hard boiled egg, chopped into small pieces

1 teaspoon chopped red pepper

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

pinch of celery salt

2 to 3 teaspoons low calorie or light mayonnaise

a pinch of curry powder (or more or less to taste but please don't leave it out!)

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the egg, red pepper, celery, celery salt and mayonnaise together in a bowl.   Add the curry powder and salt and pepper to taste and stir to mix.  Use the mixture to stuff both halves of the pitta. 

Tuna Salad Pitta

1 pitta bread, cut in half and toasted if you like

¼ cup canned tuna, drained

1 teaspoon chopped red pepper

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

a small handful of lettuce, finely shredded

pinch of celery salt

2 to 3 teaspoons mayonnaise

a squeeze of lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the tuna, red pepper, celery, lettuce, celery salt, mayonnaise and lemon.  Add salt and pepper to taste and stir in. Use the mixture to stuff both halves of the pitta.

So as you can see there is no longer any good reason to skip lunch - in fact there are at least four good reasons not to! 

Warming Winter Orzo

January and February are generally dark, wet and dreary months in England and on the whole, this year is no exception. It is still dark by 5pm, but I noticed yesterday that the outside lights (which are on a timer) came on before it got dark, which means the days are - albeit almost imperceptibly - getting longer. It’s not long now till March when the snowdrops and daffodils will begin to come through here, but in the meantime, there is nothing like a lovely comforting stew to warm the cockles of your heart. 

Orzo is versatile rice shaped pasta that works well in soups, casseroles and anywhere you would use rice or pasta. I am a big fan of orzo, and used it in yesterday's post too. It gives soups and stews a hearty texture and really enhances their flavour as well.

This dish takes a little while to assemble, but once it is cooking you can just leave it until the last few minutes. It is a wonderful to have it stewing away in the oven, the gorgeous smells it gives your home promising the wonderful meal to come.

To serve 4 people you need:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

3 to 4 carrots, peeled and cut in one inch chunks

¼ cup Madeira or sherry (optional)

1 pound of chuck steak or stewing beef, cubed

1 bottle of (lager) beer (approximately 11 ounces)

4 cups beef stock (approximately)

1 tablespoon tomato paste (tomato puree)

1 teaspoon oregano

1 bay leaf

1 - 14 ounce can of mixed beans, preferably organic, drained & rinsed

1 cup orzo

salt and pepper to taste

You need a large lidded casserole that is suitable for both stove top and oven, or a frying pan for the stove top and a casserole for the oven. Preheat the oven to 350℉ (160℃ or 150℃ for a fan oven).

Heat the oil in the stove top safe casserole or in the frying pan on the stove top over medium heat. Sauté the onion until it begins to become translucent.

Stir in the chuck steak or stewing beef cubes and brown. When the steak is taking on a bit of colour on all sides, add the Madeira or sherry (if using), the lager, 2 cups of the beef stock (reserve the rest for later). and the tomato puree.  Stir until everything is combined.

Add the carrots, drained beans and oregano to this mixture and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat for about five to ten minutes.

If you are using a frying pan, this is the point when you should transfer the mixture to an oven safe lidded casserole. If you are already using a casserole, pop the lid on. Put the casserole into the oven and cook for an hour, stirring once half way through if you remember.

Remove the casserole from the oven. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the orzo. Add the reserved stock and stir. Put the lid back on and return the casserole to the oven.

After about fifteen minutes, remove the casserole from the oven again and check if the orzo has absorbed all the stock. If it has, taste it for tenderness. If it still seems a bit firm, add a bit more stock, cover and return to the oven for about ten more minutes. If there is still stock left in the mixture don’t worry, just return the casserole to the oven for about ten more minutes. By the way, this is a good point to taste the dish for flavour (don’t burn your mouth!) and add salt and pepper to taste if necessary.

When the stock has absorbed and the orzo is al dente, your casserole is done. Remove it from the oven and place it on a heat safe surface. Allow to rest for about ten minutes before serving in warmed bowls with some nice warm bread or rolls on the side.

Honeyed Parsnip and Ham Orzo

I love orzo. It’s a fantastically versatile rice shaped pasta that works well in soups, casseroles and anywhere you would use rice or pasta. It takes less time to cook than rice and has a really delicate texture and flavour too. 

This is one of those meals that tastes really special but isn’t at all difficult to make. Yes, there is a bit of peeling and chopping, but it’s worth it. And if you don’t eat meat or are serving vegetarians, please just leave out the ham. I only include it when I have leftover ham to use up anyway.

The sherry adds a beautiful flavour to this dish, but it is still delicious without it. If you would rather leave it out, just substitute more stock.

To serve four people you need:-

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

3 parsnips, peeled and cut in half inch dice

3 carrots, peeled and diced

2 teaspoons oregano

a couple pinches of pepper

1 tablespoon honey

1½ cups orzo

4 cups vegetable stock

¼ cup sherry

½ cup frozen peas

1 cup chopped cooked ham

chopped parsley or dried parsley

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large frying pan with a lid or a stove top casserole. (I use my shallow Le Creuset casserole dish.)

Gently sauté the onion over medium heat until it begins to soften. Add the diced parsnips, carrots, oregano and pepper and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

When the vegetables all begin to soften a bit (this will take at least fifteen minutes), add the honey and stir to coat the vegetables. Now stir in the orzo.

Add the sherry and vegetable stock and bring the mixture to the boil, stirring constantly. Turn the heat down to a simmer, put the lid on the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are tender.  Be sure to keep the heat low and stir frequently or the mixture will stick to the pan.

Stir in the ham and the peas, adding a bit more stock if the mixture needs it, and heat through for about five minutes.

Serve garnished with the parsley.