Moroccan Lemon Chicken Casserole

Mothering Sunday was this last Sunday in the UK - it falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent. I asked my Mummy to come over for lunch a while ago and was excited to cook for her. Food is a big thing in our family. And that's GOOD food. We talk about it constantly and love cooking for each other. But not just any old thing. I think we all like to impress the others and enjoy looking at satisfied faces at the end of a meal. My boyfriend and I are obsessed with food. We don't eat out that often simply because we think (quite big-headed of us!) that we can cook it better than your average restaurant. Usually I do the baking, he does the main courses. Team work but it also means we can't interfere with what's being prepared. At the moment said boy is away - STILL - so the main course was down to me for Mothering Sunday. Quite by accident the entire meal had a Middle Eastern feel - we had nibbles first which included my Courgette and Avocado Houmous, then this deliciously wonderful casserole and finished with my Pistachio, Almond and Carrot cake. Yum yum yum. Packed full of flavours and warmth, which was just as well because it was freezing on Sunday. So much for Spring. I promptly lit the fire and soon the house was cosy and the dogs were happy. Thank goodness for that! 

This dish is definitely better if you can marinade the chicken AT LEAST 6 hours beforehand. I marinaded mine the night before and popped it in the fridge for the flavours to develop. I serve it with cauliflower purée with masses of olive oil, cumin and coriander whizzed up with it. Serves 3-6 depending on how much cake you want afterwards. 

You will need:

6 large free range and organic chicken thighs -skin on and bone in.

2 large red onions

1 unwaxed lemon

handful of pitted green olives - drain and rinse thoroughly

handful of fresh coriander

500 ml good chicken stock

1 tsp turmeric

1 heaped tsp smoked paprika

1 heaped tsp cumin seed

2 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped

good olive oil

For the cauliflower purée:

1 large cauliflower

1-2 tsp heaped ground cumin

fruity olive oil

salt

pepper

small handful fresh coriander

The night before you want to make this, prepare the marinade. Crush the garlic with a pestle and mortar. Add the smoked paprika, turmeric and cumin seeds and grind to a paste. Add enough olive oil to make it runny enough to coat the chicken.

In a dish place the chicken and rub the marinade all over, making sure it is fully coated. Cover with  lid or cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. 

When you are ready to cook, pre-heat your oven to 150 degrees centigrade and heat a little olive oil in an oven proof dish and fry off the onions until they are soft. Add the chicken thighs skin side down and brown off. Turn over and brown the other side. Add the sliced lemon slices on top and some salt and pepper and enough chicken stock to just cover the meat. Cover with the lid and bring to a boil for about 1 minute. Place into the oven for 40 minutes until the meat is tender and almost falling off the bone. Whilst the casserole is cooking, make your cauliflower purée. Remove the centre of the cauliflower and roughly chop up the remainder. Boil for 3-4 minutes until tender. Transfer to a food processor and add a good glug of olive oil, salt and pepper. Whizz for about 30 seconds then add your ground cumin and more oil if necessary. Scrape down the sides and then finally add the coriander. Whizz again until smooth. Transfer to a dish and keep warm until you are ready to serve. 

When the chicken is done, add the coriander and olives and return to the oven for 5 minutes to warm the olives through. 

To serve I used a round cutter to plate up the purée and added a little extra coriander to garnish. Spoon out 1-2 thighs per person and a couple of olives and plenty of the fragrant onion and juices. 

Paleo Courgette and Avocado Houmous

I used to be a houmous junkie. Just couldn't get enough of it. Since turning to the paleo way of eating - 80% of the time - I have seriously cut down and have only had it a few times since Christmas. I do miss it and so this is how this little gem of a recipe came to be born. It satisfies the cravings for the real thing without laving me bloated and without a 'heavy' feeling. This is quite garlic-y so if you don't like a strong garlic taste, just use half the amount. I used half lemon and half lime juice but you could just use all lemon if you prefer. Try adding coriander for an added note of flavour. It goes very well with a toasted piece of my caveman bread or some vegetable batons.,,,and a glass of bubbles.

You will need:

a food processor with blade attachment 

1 medium courgette - about 200g peeled and chopped

1 small OR half of a medium avocado

2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

juice of 1 lemon

juice of 1 1/2 limes

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup tahini

salt and pepper to taste

paprika to serve

pumpkin seeds to serve

extra oil to serve

Place the juice of the lemons and limes - should make about 1/4 cup - into the whizzer along with the tahini. Blend for about 30 seconds until smooth. 

Add in the chopped courgette, avocado, oil, cumin, garlic and salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. You may need to stop and scrape the sides then blend again. Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.

Pour into a bowl and garnish with paprika, pumpkin seeds and a little more olive oil. Cover and place in the fridge for an hour until ready to serve. This will keep for a couple of days if kept covered and refrigerated. 

Paleo Pizza with Goat Cheese, Wild Rocket and Prosciutto

Just so you understand, I LOVE PIZZA. Always have. And now thanks to this little beauty of a recipe I always will. I tried a cauliflower version but I'm afraid we didn't agree with one another! This is so delicious, crisp and tasty that I can safely say it satisfies my pizza craving and doesn't leave me bloated or feeling guilty. It is also super easy and quick to make. The base is completely gluten, dairy and grain free. The top is too except for the organic goat cheese, so you can skip that it you like. If you are going to use cheese - of any kind - and follow a Paleo diet use organic and grass fed as a minimum. If possible you need unpasteurised but that is sometimes quite difficult to get a hold of. Even if you don't follow a Paleo lifestyle, it is important to source the best ingredients you are able to as this really does improve the flavours and the quality of food you are eating. Goat cheese obviously has no lactose and is therefore perfectly fine for those with a lactose intolerance. I now follow a Paleo diet most of the time but occasionally I dip into the so-called Lacto-Paleo world and have organic, grass fed butter or a little goat cheese or mozzarella. Sometimes I use capers and anchovies instead of the cheese and prosciutto as a topping and they also go really well with wild rocket. 

You will need:

Baking parchment

Baking sheet

Oven to 180 degrees centigrade

Food processor

For the base:

3 eggs

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 cup full fat coconut milk

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp basil or oregano

2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped

For the tomato sauce:

1 cup passata - check the ingredients to make sure no added sugar or nasties!

6 baby plum tomatoes, cut in half

1 tsp oregano

pepper

For the toppings:

50 g full fat, organic and grass fed goats' cheese

3 slices of prosciutto 

few olives - check no added sugar, if there is rinse in boiling water before using

5 or 6 sun dried tomatoes - again check no added sugar, rinse in boiling water if needed

1 tbsp toasted pine nuts - be careful not to over do them!

large handful of wild rocket

olive oil to drizzle

To make the base, heat your oven to 180 and place the baking sheet in to warm up. Scrunch up the baking parchment and then smooth out again and drizzle a little olive oil over. Leave this to one side.

Place all your ingredients except the coconut milk into a food processor and add half of the coconut milk. Start mixing the ingredients and add more milk as needed. You want the mixture to form a smooth paste. You need to be a bit careful about the liquid content as it won't cook properly if it is too wet.

Take out the baking sheet and pop the greased parchment on top. Use a spatula to smooth the 'dough' into whatever shape you desire! You want it fairly thin so you get a nice crisp base. Place into the oven for 12-15 minutes but check after 10 to make sure it isn't burning. 

Whilst the base is cooking you can make the sauce. Into a pan, pour the passata and drop in the halved plum tomatoes, a little pepper and the oregano. Bring to a simmer for 5-10 minutes until you have reduced by a third and you have a thicker consistency. Carefully toast your pine nuts in a small frying pan (no extra oil needed), but be really careful not to burn them. 

When the base is slightly golden, take it out of the oven but don't turn it off and spread the tomato sauce on top, crumble over the cheese and then add the olives, sun dried tomatoes and prosciutto. Put back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes. 

To serve scatter the wild rocket on top, followed by the toasted pine nuts and a little drizzle of olive oil. Happy eating!

Sweet potato and chicken curry

My boyfriend is an amazing cook. He creates these incredible meals with scraps and not much more but they always come out tasting insanely good. He has a gift. Sadly he is away travelling for work a lot so I have taken to trying to recreate his dishes with a Paleo twist. The following is his original recipe but with some additions and maybe one ingredient which some Paleo purists will disagree with. The humble pea. When I originally transferred to eating the Paleo way, I thought all legumes were off limits. I accepted this and carried on cooking without out them. Quite by accident I came across several articles which said that peas could be enjoyed as part of a Paleo diet, so long as you didn't make them a staple. They have much less of the nasty phytates and the lecithins aren't as toxic or as numerous as with other legumes. I read a piece in the Paleo Magazine which helped to make things slightly clearer. It seems if they are fresh and not dried and you eat them occasionally then they are ok. Phew, justification over, let's get back to the serious matter of cooking. You'll need a good spice selection but a pestle and mortar is not obligatory! 

Serves 2 very hungry/greedy people or 4 normal ones!

You will need:

4 - 6 chicken things, preferable free range/organic, take the skin off

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks

Plenty of fresh coriander

500 ml of good chicken stock (you may need a little more to add in the cooking process)

2 large white onions

2-3 garlic cloves

1/3 cup coconut milk

1 tsp coconut oil

1 cup fresh peas

pinch sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

5 cardamom pods

few sprigs of thyme

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cumin seed

1/2 - 1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)

1/2 tsp allspice

1 tsp fenugreek 

1/2 tsp coriander seed

1/2 tsp ginger

Pop all the spices and the thyme into a pestle and mortar (or small bowl and handle of wooden spoon) and mix them up. Gently and only slightly crush the cardamom pods.

Gently melt the coconut oil over a medium heat in a deep pan. Brown the chicken thighs on both sides. Add the spices, thyme, salt and pepper and stir so that the mix covers the meat. Continue cooking for 1 minute. Take a moment to enjoy the aromas being released. Add the onions and garlic and fry off until the onions begin to soften. 

Add the sweet potatoes and the stock, bring to the boil then turn down and simmer for about 40 minutes (you may need to add a little more stock depending of how thick you want it to be) until the potatoes can be squashed against the side of the pan. Add the peas and a handful of freshly chopped coriander and stir through. Finally add your coconut milk and simmer gently for 30 seconds. 

Serve in bowls with a little extra coriander sprinkled on top. A delicious and nutritious dish that is packed full of flavour and goodness. Enjoy!