Monday, April 22, 2013

Roasted Chicken with artichokes, lemon and thyme











Here is a Mediterranean recipe for chicken from London's, Stevie Parle that I have adapted to be even faster and easier. Plus, it's all Paleo.

Ingredients

1 can/tin of artichoke hearts
2 lemons, thickly sliced
2 onions, thickly sliced
1 head of garlic, peeled and broken into cloves
1 teaspoon sage
2 teaspoons thyme
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
2 handfuls of pitted olives, black or green
Olive oil
1/2  cup white wine

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 200C/400
  2. In a roasting pan, spread out the sliced onions, lemons and garlic cloves. Then add the thyme, sage, olives and artichoke hearts on top.
  3. Place pieces of chicken on top of that - whatever pieces you prefer - but I think thighs are the nicest and season with salt and pepper and some paprika or cayenne pepper for colour is also good but not essential.
  4. Drizzle olive oil over the chicken. Then add the white wine
  5. Place in the oven and cook for 45 minutes
  6. Scatter the chopped parsley over the dish - or skip it. I do it because it makes it look better and because I like parsley but it's not essential 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Grilled Tuna with Onions and Oregano


You can't expect to read a cooking blog by your mother without the occasional piece of free advice. Guys and gal, you should eat more fish and here's a recipe from Sicily for those times when you are feeling flush and can afford to pay up for the good stuff. Don't try this with cheap tuna. You can also use this recipe for swordfish. Get the fishmonger to cut your steaks medium thick (10-15mm). You can see from the picture that I also added sliced zucchini that was about to go off which was a good additon but not traditional.



Tuna steaks
1 large white onion
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons wine vinegal (red or white) or lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves (its OK to use dried if that is all you have)

Slice the onion thinly and fry over low heat in the olive oil with a pinch of salt until very soft but not coloured. Be patient with this.
Add the vinegar and oregano and continue to cook gently. Add a little bit of water if it gets too dry. It should be like a sauce.
Heat another pan until it is very hot. Rub olive oil on the steaks and grill the tuna for 2 minutes on each side.

Serve the tuna on a bed of salad leaves and then spoon the onion sauce over it and serve a sliced lemon on the side. Add a little more olive oil on top and finish with salt and pepper.