Cilantro Lime Salsa Chicken With Goats Cheese Accompanied With Garlic infused Brown Rice. An Explosion of Flavours.

Everyone loves my cilantro and lime baked fish, this time I used Chicken and put a slight twist on it by Adding deliciously tangy goats cheese, my mouth is salivating at the thought. This is a easy simple dish & you'll never guess it, it's actually quite healthy, a bonus right? I served the chicken with garlic brown rice with spring onions but you can always dish it up with anything you like, fries, baked potatoes or even a salad, you're the cook, you decide!

Actual quote from the brother, "I'd pay good money if I was served this in a restaurant" kinda boosted, but then again he says that about pretty much all my dishes :)

Ingredients for the chicken (serves 6)

2 whole baby chickens & 1 chicken fillet

5 garlic cloves minced

2 tbsp salt

1 tbsp pepper

1 1/2 tbsp paprika

3/4 tbsp red chilly powder

1/2 tbsp cumin powder

1/4 cup olive oil

Zest & juice of 1 large lemon & lime

100g crumbled goats cheese

1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes

1 cup diced sweet peppers

1 cup thinly sliced spring onions

3/4 cup chopped coriander

Ingredients for the roux (sauce thickener)

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1 1/2 cup milk

Method

Prepare the chicken, put slits In each peice, this allows the marinades flavour to infuse throughout the whole chicken. Set aside for later. 

In a seperate bowl add all the marinade ingredients together and set aside. 

Get a small saucepan and make the roux. Heat the butter until it's melted then add in the flour, whisk vigorously untill all the flour is cooked out, add in the milk and continue whisking until it has thickened, leave it to cool for about 20 minutes.

Once the roux has cooled down, add it to the marinade, combine well then add in all the chicken & coat well. Let the chicken marinade for a few hours for maximum flavor.

Before baking the chicken, to get a more crisp skin, pan fry only the chicken pieces on both sides for about a minute (use tongs to place the chicken in the pan, this stops you from scooping up any of the sauces in the marinade bowl), transfer the chicken to a roasting dish, pour over the remaining marinade sauce on top of the chicken & bake for about 20 minutes on high, just before taking the chicken out put it under the grill for a further 10-15 minutes on high to brown and crisp up the chicken.

Serve immediately with whatever you prefer.

Bon Appetit!

It's a Hearty Shepherds Pie With a Slight Twist. Perfect On a Cold Winter's Night.

My mother tends to make shepherds pie for the family, well this time I decided to give it a go. I totally ignored her recipe & made mines up as I went along. Surprisingly everyone loved it, so much so that my sister even took a portion for her work lunch. Lucky her I know (only joking) 

I scrapped the whole traditional way of making a shepherds pie & added all the things I love.

Imagine sitting round the dinner table on a cold night, digging into a warm shepherds pie, nothing could beat that right? Well how about giving it a go, I know I said I made it up but the end result was yummy. I think i'll go & have seconds now. 

So what's The twist? Well not only did I use parmesan & my home made jus in the mince mixture, I didn't just top it off with boring old plain mash, I added spring onions, lemon zest & yes you guessed it goats cheese to make a delicious creamy mash. How lush does that sound?

Ingredients for the Chicken mince mixture

1 1/2 pound chicken mince 

1 medium onion chopped finely

4 garlic cloves chopped finely

2 tbsp paprika

1tbsp red hot chilly powder

Salt & pepper to taste

Zest & juice of half a lemon

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

2 tbsp tomato puree 

1 cup of my home made jus (if you haven't Got home made then just use gravy granuels mixed with water or chicken stock but home made has 10 times the flavor)

1 tsp chilly flakesd

1/4 cup olive oil

Splash of worcestershire sauce

3/4 cup of sweetcorn
Link for my home made jus:  http://chefzainab.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/i-like-peanuts-but-i-love-pistachios.html

Method

In a heavy based saucepan, add the 1/4cup olive oil, chopped onion & garlic, paprika & red hot chilly powder. Braise the onions & cook the spices (you don't want the taste of raw chilly powder, not good at all). Once the spices & onions are cooked down, add In the Chicken mince & cook for a further 8 minutes, Season with salt & pepper, keep tasting making sure you dont add too much salt. Once seasoned To youre liking Add the lemon zest & juice & chilly flakes and stir well. Add in the tomatoe puree & Worcestershire sauce & stir again. Once you have cooked the mixture add in the jus or stock & stir in the parmesan. Make sure you combine everything well & cook it down so its not too runny. Lastly add the sweetcorn, stir & transfer to a oven proof dish or Iindividual ramekins. Set aside to be topped of with mash.

Ingredients for the Mash

6 medium white potatoes cubed Skin peeled off

3 tbsp butter

1/2 cup double cream

1 cup chopped spring onions

50g crumbled goats cheese

Salt to taste

Zest & juice of half a lemon

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

2 tsp english mustard

Method 

Add the cubed potatoes to a heavy sauce pan, boil some water and transfer to the potatoes with some salt & let them boil until fully cooked. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them and transfer back in to the pan. Mash up the potatoes, add in the butter, double cream, goats cheese, parmesan cheese, lemon zest, juice & English mustard. Mash up together making sure there are no lumps. Using a wooden spoon stir in the spring onions & add salt (Make sure you keep tasting making sure you dont over season it)

Once everything is well combined, transfer the mash ontop of the mince mixture & grate over a generous amount of parmesan cheese. Garnish with thinly sliced tomatoes & bake in the oven till its golden brown on the top. Serve with a fresh salad & dig in.

Bon Apetite!

Moroccan Potato Sovory Crepes With Cottage Cheese. Experimenting in the Kitchen!

My mother made an Indian potato fry the other day & served it with savory pancakes & yogurt, I thought I'd experiment & try something different. What did I do? I used my Moroccan Chicken marinade & done it with potatoes this time, everyone Loved it. The marinade has quite a kick with chilly so what could be better than serving it with cottage cheese? So delicious. The cold creamy cheese balances the heat out perfectly.

Savory crepes may be knew to some of you, they work really well with pretty much any filling, it's a must try, so lets get cooking!

Click on the following link to get the Moroccan marinade, all you gotta do for the potatoes is boil them, add them to the marinade & cook them with some extra olive oil, pour over 100ml double cream & combine, lastly add spring onions & serve. (Make sure to proportion the marinade with the amount of potatoes you have, I went according the recipe but did half of everything) 

http://chefzainab.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/its-moroccan-feast-moroccan-chicken.html

Ingredients for the crepes

2 eggs 

2 cups of milk

1 cup plain flour 

3 crushed garlic cloves

Salt to taste 

Handful chopped coriander

1 tsp red chilly flakes

Method

Beat the eggs & mix the rest of the batter ingredients together, the batter should be a smooth wet consistency,  not too runny or thick. Heat up a non stick pan with a touch of olive oil & make your crepes. They have to be nice & thin so it'll be easy to roll them with the filling.

To assemble, place some filling in the middle of the crepe top of with a bit of cottage cheese, roll up & top of with a bit more cottage cheese. Enjoy!

Momma Made Paneer. HELL YEAAAAH.

So I decided to let the mother do the cooking today, trust me she's an amazing cook, probably the best. What did she cook then? It's PANEEEER! One of my favourites. Shop bought is pretty tasteless & bland, I don't have to worry about that tho, you know why? Because my mother makes hers from scratch adding chilly flakes, garlic & black pepper to give it that extra kick, its absolutely deeeelicious. Yum.

Im pretty sure you can find paneer recipes anywhere just make sure to add some seasoning,  it makes a lot of difference! Here's the sweet & sour base we made to coat the paneer in. So easy I tell you.

Ingredients

700g paneer

2 small onions cut into chunks 

2 small red bell peppers cut into chunks 

5 garlic cloves crushed 

1 tbsp hot red chilly powder

1 tbsp paprika

2 tbsp salt 

1 tbsp pepper

1/4 tsp red food coloring

1/2 cup tomato ketchup

2 tbsp light soy sauce 

Juice from 1 small lemon 

2 tbsp honey 

1 cup of water mixed with 1 tbsp corn flour

Method

In a pan, add a splash of olive oil, cook the spices (red chilly powder & paprika) once cooked down add the garlic, cook for a few minutes then add in the onions & red pepper. Let that cook on medium heat for 2 minutes, dont over cook the veg you still want them to have a slight crunch. Add in the tomato ketchup, soy sauce, lemon juice, honey, salt & pepper, give it a quick stir making sure to coat everything then lastly add the food colouring to the water corn flour mixture & add it to the pan, keep stirring & once its thickened, taste to check if seasoning needs adjusting then add the paneer coat in the sauce & you're done. Serve immediately. 

Bon Appetit!

Risotto Vegetariana topped With Parmesan Chicken. Italian Food is My utmost Favourite. Delizioso!

On Monday we celebrated Eid with the family. We all decided to go La Favorita, an Italian restaurant based in Birmingham. Personally, I love there food, from there risotto to there pastas, not to forget there delicious freshly made pizzas. This dish is inspired by there vegetarian risotto without the mushrooms & peas. My dad's not keen on those so had to cook without them. This beautifully creamy risotto has fresh tomatoes, spinach, garlic & finished of with Parmesan cheese & Basil. I'm salivating at the thought. 

I need some sort of protein so I served up the dish with Parmesan, rosemary,  lemon & garlic chicken. To die for. You seriously need to give this dish a try, its full of flavor & deliciously creamy. Enjoy!

Ingredients for the risotto

300g arborio risotto rice

2 litres of chicken stock

2 small onions finely chopped

4 big garlic cloves chopped finely

2tbsp butter 

Splash of olive oil

Zest & juice of one lemon

Handfull of fresh spinach chopped

2 medium tomatoes cubed 

1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes 

1 tbsp pepper

Salt to taste 

1 tbsp red chilly flakes 

Handfull chopped fresh basil leaves 

1 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped 

150g parmesan cheese grated finely 

50g crumbled goats cheese 

150ml double cream

Method

In a heavy based saucepan add the chicken stock & let it boil, meanwhile in a separate heavy based pan, add 2 tbsp butter & a splash of olive oil. Let that heat up then add the chopped onion. Braise them until they are translucent then add in the chopped garlic. Once you have cooked the garlic add the risotto rice and coat well with the onions and garlic. 

Add the stock a ladle at a time, making sure you cook off the water before you add the next ladle. Let it simmer & keep adding water, this may take as long as 20 minutes, make sure you stir continuously. Once the rice is cooked & slightly al dente add the lemon juice, zest, pepper, chilly flakes, basil, rosemary, sun dried tomatoes & spinach. Cook until the tomatoes are softened & spinach is wilted. Add the Parmesan cheese & the goats cheese, combining everything together then lastly stir in the double cream. Taste to check seasoning, if you think you need more salt then feel free to add some. Serve immediately. 

Risotto is best at it's freshest so make sure to marinade the chicken in advance because all it needs is a quick fry on the pan.

Ingredients for the Chicken

1 pound of chicken strips

2 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped

4 garlic cloves chopped

Zest & juice of half a large lemon

2 tsp black pepper

3/4 tbsp salt 

1 tbsp red chilly flakes 

3 tbsp melted butter

50g Parmesan cheese 

Olive oil for pan frying the chicken

Method  

In a large bowl, place the chicken & add all the marinade ingredients excluding the Parmesan cheese & olive oil. Let it marinade for a few hours. 

Heat up a non stick pan, add a splash of olive oil. Once the oil is heated add the chicken, once browned on one side, before turning over grate over Parmesan cheese & turn the chicken over & cook till its nice & crisp on the other side. Slice up & serve with risotto, garnish with a bit more Parmesan cheese & enjoy!

How do you turn your bread into Restaurant Quality Garlic bread? I'll Tell you How With this Easy & Simple Concoction I Made up. Delicious!

My aunt owns her own bakery & cafe, every now & then she drops down & hands us freshly baked bread. How lucky am I? Well on this occasion she gave us two large bread sticks which contained all the goodness of omega 3, what could be better than that? 

Pizza night always needs some sort of garlic bread right? Instead of buying Dominos garlic bread I decided to turn these beautifully fresh bread sticks into my ultimate garlic bread with the addition of goats cheese & Spring onions, sounds lush I Know.

It's easy simple but absolutely delicious. What could possibly be better than home made garlic bread? Add a bit of this & bit of that & you're done!

Ingredients 

2 bread sticks

1 bunch of spring onions chopped finely

50g crumbled goats cheese

Salt & pepper

Chilly flakes

Rosemary

Lemon zest grated

3 tbsp melted butter

4 garlic cloves chopped extremely finely (or just grate them)

Method

Melt the butter & add the garlic, 1 tbsp pepper, 2 tsp salt & 1 tbsp chopped rosemary. Get the 2 bread sticks and slit them length ways as you would see on any shop bought garlic bread, in between the slits spread the melted seasoned butter, make sure you coat the bread inside properly. Stuff each section with goats cheese & spring onions. Lastly sprinkle over some red chilly flakes & lemon zest then place in the oven for about 15 minutes just till the bread is heated up through out. Serve immediately. 

Bon Apetit!