Easy Chicken with Couscous

This is a bit of a fusion dish and is a great way to get a really delicious meal quickly and easily. Instant couscous is a wonderful time saver and it tastes great. My cooking method is slightly unconventional as it does involve stir frying the soaked couscous, but it works really well.

You can season the chicken breasts however you like. The night I made the dish to photograph it, I was in a hurry, so I just used a splash of olive oil and some McCormick’s Montreal Chicken seasoning. However, a healthier marinade made with two tablespoons of oil and one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar with some salt, pepper and herbs of your choice tastes equally delicious. 

If you want to include more fiber in your meal, you can always use wholewheat couscous. I have to confess I prefer the texture of the ordinary couscous, but I do serve wholewheat from time to time.

Of course, you can vary the vegetables in this according to what you have on hand in the fridge or freezer or what is in the garden.

To serve four adults, you need:

4 chicken breasts (free range or organic if possible)

about 2 tablespoons of olive (or other mild vegetable) oil

salt, pepper and seasonings

1 large onion, finely chopped

(red onion looks nice in this dish, if you happen to have one on hand)

2 peppers (any colour), de-seeded and chopped in small chunks

1 handful of green beans, topped tailed and sliced in half

(1 cup of frozen peas works well as a substitute here)

½ to ¾ cup flaked almonds

1¼ cup couscous

1½ cups boiling water or vegetable or chicken stock

1 vegetable or chicken stock cube (optional - only if using boiling water)

2 teaspoons soy sauce

Brush the chicken breasts with oil and season them as desired. Bake at 350℉ or 170℃ for about thirty to forty minutes (depending on the size), turning once.

Meanwhile, heat about a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over medium heat and gently sauté the onion until it begins to soften. Add the peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften but still have a slight crispness.

At this point, you will need to soak your couscous. Put the couscous in a large, heatproof bowl and if you are using a stock cube, crumble it over top. Pour the boiling water over the couscous, stir through (you will need to stir a bit more if you have used the stock cube) and then cover with some saran wrap or cling film or an upside down plate. Set aside for five minutes.

Stir the green beans or peas into the vegetables in the frying pan and cook, stirring occasionally.

When the five minutes is up, gently stir through the couscous with a fork, and taste it. It should be moist and flavourful, but not grainy or soggy. If it does taste a bit grainy, add few tablespoons more boiling water, stir through, cover and set aside for a couple minutes. 

Now stir the couscous, almonds (hold a few back for garnish) and soy sauce into the vegetable mixture and cook for a few minutes, stirring, just to blend everything together.

Slice the chicken breasts and serve them over the couscous and vegetables. Sprinkle with the reserved flaked almonds.

Meatless Monday - Grown Up Applesauce

It’s Meatless Monday again, and although my recipe this week would work as an accompaniment to a meal that is not meat free, I think it is just the sort of thing that is special enough to save for a Meatless Monday!

This applesauce is a wonderful treat, and makes a beautiful accompaniment to just about anything, from vegetarian sausages to a vegetable gratin. 

It’s also a wonderful dessert, with or without a bit of cream. You can serve it warm or cold – and one of my favourite things to do is to serve a bit of it, warm, in a bowl, topped with some good vanilla ice cream and some crumbled ginger biscuits. Ambrosia!

You can use cooking or eating apples for this, and I find it tastes best if I use more than one variety of apples in a batch if possible. We love cinnamon in our house, so I always put lots in, but do go according to your own tastes. It gives the apple sauce a lovely colour as well as a great flavour.

Calvados, or apple brandy, works best for this, but ordinary brandy is good too. I suspect apple schnapps would work as well, although I honestly haven’t tried it yet!

About 2 to 3 cups of peeled, sliced apples

¼ cup Calvados or brandy

1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Put the apple slices, Calvados or brandy and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Stir well and heat over medium to low heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples begin to soften. (Try not to let them boil too much.) This usually takes about half an hour.

I then use a potato masher to crush the slices down and give the applesauce a nice, chunky texture.

Serve either as a meal accompaniment or dessert. Leftovers (if you have any) keep well in the fridge for a couple of days.

Gourmet Dining on the Monagasque Beach - La Note Bleue

Just along the Plage du Larvotto on the Avenue Princess Grace in Monte Carlo there is a beach restaurant and jazz lounge that serves the most wonderful dishes. We had coffee there the first day of our visit, and returned for lunch twice afterwards. The service is friendly and efficient and the food is very, very good.


Check out this Salade Nicoise.

Beautifully presented, fresh and utterly delicious, I enjoyed it on both our visits to this refreshingly unpretentious venue. I don't think I have ever tasted nicer tuna and the tomatoes really did taste of sunshine.


My husband also enjoyed the same dish on both our visits - a seafood risotto with three different kinds of white fish. 

The fish and risotto were beautifully cooked, and there was not a bone to be found in this meltingly tender dish.


Our son enjoyed a vegetarian dish, tofu with stir fried vegetables and a side of light, fluffy rice.

There is something so wonderful about sitting in the sunshine looking out to sea and enjoying a lovely lunch. It was a popular place, and great for people watching. As we sat there one day a recognisable musician arrived with his entourage and a very glamorous girlfriend and sat down to lunch just beside us. (I never lunch and tell, but you would have recognised him too!) 


Our second lunch at La Note Bleue was on our last day in Monaco for this visit, and we decided to treat ourselves to dessert. I am so glad we did!


My husband's Tarte Tatin was beautifully presented and absolutely delicious,

and the ice cream our son chose was just divine.

It was a sweet, salty chocolate and caramel concoction, the peanut garnish offsetting the sweetness of the caramel beautifully. And as for my dessert, well, it is among the best I have ever had. I had never heard of Macaronade des Poires before, although I have eaten my fair share of macarons, but I will be on the lookout for it from now on!

Macarons of course translates to macaroon and these were beautiful examples of that wonderful treat - crisp on the outside with a divinely melting middle. Inside the cute little jar there was a warm compote of pears, cooked in a caramel sauce and topped with a tiny dollop of vanilla ice cream. The ice cream melted into the caramel and as the biscuits dissolved slowly in it as well - oh my goodness, it was quite incredible. By the end, I found myself totally losing my self control and soaking the remains of the biscuits in what was left of the caramel sauce in the bottom of the jar - it was that good! 


We were so impressed with the atmosphere, service and food at La Note Bleue we will definitely return on our next visit to Monaco - and should you find yourself there I urge you to go along and enjoy their hospitality too!










The 21st Century Housewife was not paid or compensated in any way for this post, and the opinions in it are genuine, and my own. 

Homemade Bread The Easy Way

I wish I could be the kind of person who makes bread from scratch every couple of days, but like most modern women, my family’s lifestyle makes that pretty much impossible. So once in a while I bake scratch bread the old fashioned way, and the rest of the time, I use a bread machine. It's better than store bought, that is for sure!


The beauty of a bread machine is that it makes it possible for you to have fresh bread literally every day. It also means you know exactly what is going into your bread - right down to the kind of flour and how much salt. (Although don’t be tempted to leave the salt out entirely as the yeast needs it to work!) It also means you are not popping to the shops ‘just for a loaf of bread’ every two minutes. Although that might not seem like an onerous task, particularly if the shop is nearby, I always find that I buy a lot more than a loaf of bread when I am there and end up spending a lot more than I intended. If I can avoid the trip to the shop, I save more pennies!


I’ve had two bread machines in the last ten years, so they are fairly long lasting - and in fact the one I replaced recently was still working, it’s just the technology has moved along so much I wanted a newer model. Admittedly, when I first used that original machine, it took me a while to get used to it. And to be honest, I’ve never had much luck with the timers on either one of them. I’m much better setting the machine so that I know I will be there when it finishes and can take the bread out straight away. One of the things that helped me to really love my bread machine is a book by Sonia Allison called The Complete Bread Machine Cookbook. It was published nine years ago, so can be hard to get hold of, but it’s well worth buying if you can find a copy. I’ve tried loads of Sonia’s recipes over the years, and I’m planning to blog about them over the next few weeks, but I thought I would start with my family’s favourite - a light and easy Polenta Bread with Olive Oil that is great for everyday. (Polenta is another name for cornmeal.)


It’s Sonia’s technique for putting the ingredients in the bread machine that really works for me, and gives fabulous results. She recommends putting the liquid and any oil in the bread container first, then adding half the flour ingredients, then the salt, sugar and milk powder (if using), adding the rest of the flour and then mounding the yeast on top. This prevents the yeast from getting wet too soon and gives much better results. I highly recommend this method.


Polenta Bread with Olive Oil


2¾ cups strong white bread flour (organic if possible)
¼ cup cornmeal
1¼ cups water
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I’ve also used ordinary olive oil)
2 teaspoons salt (I use 1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon white sugar
2 tablespoons dried milk powder
1½ teaspoons instant or fast-acting dried yeast (I’ve used up to 2 teaspoons at times)


Mix together the flour and polenta. Pour the water into the breadmaker bucket, then add the oil, and half the flour and polenta mixture. Sprinkle with the salt, sugar and dried milk. Cover with the remaining flour mixture and mound the yeast into the centre.


Fit the bucket into the breadmaker and set to the programme recommended in the manual (usually basic white or No 1).


When the programme has finished, gently shake the loaf out of the bucket on to a wire cooling rack and stand right way up. Leave for at least an hour before cutting and/or removing paddle if necessary. (Sometimes I haven’t waited quite this long, but it is better if you do!)

The 21st Century Housewife's Roasted Vegetable and Potato Omelette

It’s Meatless Monday again, time for another easy and delicious meatless recipe. My roasted vegetable and potato omelette makes great use of leftovers, plus it is an easy and satisfying meal any time of the day.

Rather untraditionally, I use a larger frying pan to make my omelettes - usually a 7 or 8 inch non-stick pan - and I also use three eggs. We have hearty appetites in my family, but if you are not as greedy as we are, these omelettes can always be cut in half. They are a meal in themselves, but a small side salad and/or basket of bread rolls served alongside would not go amiss!

I’m depending on you having some leftover roast vegetables and new potatoes (either boiled or roasted) here. You might have made a big pan of my Roast Vegetables a couple of days earlier, or perhaps served my Easy Roast Potatoes with a favourite dish and had some left over. (Both of these are also vegetarian dishes so do click on the links if you want to check them out.)

My omelette cooking method is slightly untraditional too, as after the first side of the omelette has been cooked on the stove top, I put the frying pan under the broiler or grill to cook the top. I find this gives a much better result, and although purists might frown, everyone loves my omelettes!

To make one omelette, you need:-

1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I use mild olive oil)

a handful of leftover roast vegetables

a scant quarter cup of thinly sliced leftover new potatoes

3 eggs

1 tablespoon milk

½ teaspoon dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste

a handful of good vegetarian cheese

Sauté the roasted vegetables and sliced potatoes in a 7 or 8 inch frying pan (with a handle that is safe to put under the broiler or grill) over medium heat. Preheat the broiler or grill to medium (about 325℉ or 150 to 160℃).

Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a small bowl. Beat in the milk, parsley, salt and pepper.

Pour the eggs over the vegetables and potatoes.

Cook over medium heat, pushing the egg away from the sides of the pan with a spatula and allowing the raw egg to flow back round it, so that all the egg begins to cook. Sprinkle the cheese over top of the omelette.

After about three minutes, when the top of the omelette begins to look a bit less runny, lift the corner of the omelette to see if it has begun to brown underneath. Once you can see a bit of golden brown on the bottom, transfer the pan to the broiler or grill.

When the omelette is done, it will look a bit like this:-

Using a large spatula or egg turner, fold one half of the omelette over the other so it forms a half moon shape. Serve and enjoy!

Meatless Monday - The 21st Century Housewife's Vegetable Biryani

This is more an ode to biryani than a proper authentic version - I am no expert on Indian cuisine and any dishes I create are highly flavoured with my own experience and my family’s tastes. This dish, however, does have echoes of the vegetable biryani I have eaten in Indian restaurants and a wonderful warming and comforting flavour that is perfect for cool autumn nights.

My family and I do like spice, but in its milder, more subdued form, so if you are a spice lover, the quantities of in this dish may seem small. They can, of course, be increased, although I recommend increasing them proportionately (ie. use the same amount of cilantro as garam masala, and half as much cumin) as the flavours really do sing out beautifully in those proportions. Saffron can be expensive, so if you would prefer not to use it, feel free to leave it out. However if you do have some on hand it definitely enhances the flavours in this dish so is well worth including. It also adds a gorgeous hint of colour to the cauliflower and to the rice.

You can vary the vegetables in this dish according to what you have on hand, although cauliflower is almost always a part of a vegetable biryani so I encourage you to use it if at all possible. Make sure your vegetables are cut small, and that florets are kept small too, so that it does not take too long to cook. Again, this isn’t strictly authentic, as many biryani dishes are cooked long and slow, but I like the subtle crunch it gives this dish.

My method of adding some of the rice to the vegetable mixture at the end is definitely something you would not find in a true biyani, but I like the texture and appearance it gives to this dish. However if you prefer, just keep all the rice separate and serve the vegetables over top of it.

Lovely served with a basket of warmed nan breads on the side if you can get hold of them, this recipe will serve four to six people, depending on age and appetite.

2 cups of rice, basmati if possible or whole grain if you prefer

2 tablespoons olive oil, or other mild vegetarian cooking oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup cauliflower florets

1 cup broccoli florets

1 cup green beans

½ cup cashew nuts

¼ to ½ cup vegetable stock

(You can use hot water in a pinch, but stock is best - ready made or from a cube is fine.)

1 teaspoon curry powder (I use garam masala)

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried ground cilantro (known as coriander in the UK)

2 pinches of saffron

freshly chopped cilantro or parsley to garnish, if desired

Cook the rice in lots of boiling salted water according to package directions, adding a pinch of saffron to the cooking water if desired.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan and sauté the onion over medium heat until pale and translucent. Toss in the carrots, cauliflower and broccoli florets and stir fry for a few minutes.

Dissolve another pinch of saffron in a quarter cup of the vegetable stock (if you are using saffron). Add the quarter cup of the stock to the pan with the vegetables along with the curry powder, cumin and dried cilantro. Add the green beans. Pop the lid on and cook over low to medium heat for two or three minutes until the vegetables are tender but still crisp.

Remove the lid and add the cashews, stirring to warm through. Drain the rice well and add about a quarter of it to the vegetable mixture in the pan, stirring through lightly. Add a bit more stock if you feel it needs it.

Serve this mixture on a bed of the remaining rice.

Meatless Monday - The 21st Century Housewife's Tofu Pesto Pasta

Tofu is often associated with Asian or fusion recipes, but I find it works really well in Italian dishes too. This recipe is proper comfort food - tasty and warming on cool autumn nights. It couldn’t be easier to prepare, and if you use whole wheat pasta it is even more nutritious.

In all honestly, I’m still slowly coming to grips with tofu - it is something I enjoy eating but am still not a hundred percent sure about cooking with. I rely on the pre-marinated variety for most of my recipes as I find it less intimidating to prepare, but there is absolutely no reason not to use the kind you have to press and drain if you are braver than I am!

To serve four to six adults you need:-

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 red pepper, de-seeded and sliced

1 cup of mushrooms, sliced

1 cup of frozen peas, thawed a little if you have time

(or any other green vegetable of your choice - green beans work well here)

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup of chopped or sliced tofu

(Do be sure that your brand of tofu is not made with genetically modified soy!!)

1 lb of pasta (I use whole wheat penne)

3 or 4 generous tablespoons basil pesto (homemade is lovely, but from a jar is okay too, just be sure that it is made with vegetarian cheese)

1 to 2 tablespoons crème fraîche or sour cream (you can use low fat if you like)

Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling, salted water according to package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion, red pepper and mushrooms for a couple of minutes until they begin to soften.

Add the tofu and stir fry for about five minutes, or as directed on the packaging. (If you are using green beans instead of peas add them here too.)

Stir in the peas, tomatoes, pesto and crème fraîche and warm through.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it and return it to the pan. Stir in the tofu pesto mixture and serve in warmed bowls or on warmed plates.

Serve with some grated vegetarian Italian cheese to hand round at the table for garnish if you like.