This week, I cooked a dinner for 20 people from Tucking In, and when I was deciding what to make, I landed on Life Saving Garlic Chicken from the book, as I really don’t think you can beat chicken with a salad and maybe some potatoes for dinner. This has led me to bring you the chicken special this week - a couple of recipes for simple dinners that taste PHENOMENAL but aren’t going to stress you out too much.
It is also less than a week until Tucking In is out (eek!!), and it is currently on sale on Amazon. If you’d rather buy from Waterstones, you can also be in with the chance of winning a load of tableware thrifted by me if you pre-order it by midnight on 12th June.
The Recipes
Curried Tomato Chicken Piccata
A classic chicken piccata, with lots of caper and lemons, is a really lovely mid week dinner that I’ve eaten for yonks. I wanted to create a summery version, with tomatoes squished down into the sauce you make in the pan, and this baby was born. Serve this with a crisp salad, and maybe even some bread or potatoes for mopping up the sauce.
Fresh curry leaves are far superior to dried ones - it’s absolutely worth seeking them out! Big supermarkets and smaller South Asian shops often have them.
Serves 2
200g cherry tomatoes
2 chicken breasts
50g plain flour
40g butter
1 clove of garlic
½ tsp cumin seeds
handful of fresh curry leaves
½ tsp mild curry powder
½ tsp ground turmeric
150ml chicken stock
1 lime
salt and olive oil
Halve your cherry tomatoes
Place a sheet of cling film on top of your chicken fillets and bash with a rolling pin to create even thinner fillets. Cut each in half horizontally to create 4 pieces of chicken (the false fillet will probably separate in the bashing, so make that 6).
Pour your plain flour into a bowl with a generous pinch of salt and grind of pepper. Dredge your chicken breasts in this mixture so that they are fully coated in flour.
Heat a large skillet pan over a medium-high heat with a small glug of olive oil and 10g of the butter. Once the pan is hot, add your chicken breasts a few at a time and fry for about 2 mins on each side until golden and tender. Remove your chicken from the pan and keep warm.
Grate your garlic into the pan, and add your cumin seeds, curry leaves, curry powder and turmeric. Cook for 1 minute on a low heat, until the seeds and leaves start popping.
Add your cherry tomatoes to the pan, and cook them for 5 minutes over a medium heat until they have broken down a bit.
Add your chicken stock, then add the rest of your butter piece by piece, mixing until it's melted before adding the rest.
Get your chicken back into the pan, and simmer it for 2 minutes, basting the fillets in the sauce. Season it to taste with salt, then squeeze over the juice of 1/2 lime.
Spoon your chicken onto plates, then spoon over your tomato sauce. Serve with the other 1/2 lime, and enjoy.
Chicken Thighs with Chickpeas and Tahini
One pan dinners are unbeatable for simple dinners. I don’t have a dishwasher, so any meal that reduces my washing up load is a hero in my books. This would be a really great one for feeding people mid week, for meal prep, or for serving up with lots of other sides on a weekend.
Rendering out the fat from your chicken skin is key to building the flavour in this one - cook them gently to allow it to slowly melt out of the skin without burning it, and you will get phenomenal flavour.
Serves 4