Jamie's Chicken Pasta with 6 veg ragu

Jamie's Chicken Pasta with 6 veg ragu

 

This is another one from Jamie Oliver's 15 min meals, and again it did take longer than 15 mins but only because to save washing up. instead of using the food processor to finely chop all the vegies I did it by hand- which i'll admit actually did take AGES- it was a weekend though. I'd probably recommend just using the food processor- it will get the vegies finer and it will take less time to wash it up than it did to chop! I was missing a few of the ingredients but it was still yummy!

Time Taken?: About 45 mins- but about 30 mins to finely chop all the vegies by hand (there were a lot!) so it probably is a 15 min meal!

3 year old friendly?: I was hoping so, cause of all the vegies, but I think the fact that I didn't use the food processor meant the vegies were too noticeable so he didn't try it! Next time I'll get those vegies hidden!

INGREDIENTS
1 large leek (I didn't have a leek so I used a brown onion)
1 stick of celery
1 carrot
1 zucchini
3 jarred red peppers
olive oil
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
700g jar of passata
320g dried fusilli pasta (the ones that look like little cork screws)
300g skinless chicken breast fillet (diced to 2 cm chunks)
3 rashers of streaky smoked bacon
1/2 fresh red chilli (I left this out)
4 cloves garlic
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 fresh bay leaves (I couldn't find any so left them out)
1 tbsp pine nuts
balsamic vinegar
Parmesan cheese to serve

METHOD
Pre heat 1 large stove top casserole pan to high heat, a medium frying pan to medium heat, and get a large lidded saucepan of water up to the boil for the pasta.
Finely chop the cleaned leek, trimmed celery, carrot, zuchinni and jarred peppers in a food processor. Add the chopped vegies to the casserole pan with 1 tablespoon oil, the thyme leaves and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir regularly.
Add the pasta to the boiling water along with a good pinch of salt.
Add the diced chicken into the frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil and a pinch of salt and pepper, tossing regularly until golden and cooked through.
Stir the passata into the vegetables and simmer.
Finely slice the bacon and chilli (if using) and add to the golden chicken, along with the crushed garlic cloves. Strip in the rosemary leaves, add the bay leaves and pine nuts, and fry for a minute or two until the bacon is golden, then drizzle with balsamic.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
Drain the pasta when al-dente, reserving a cupful of the cooking water, then add the pasta to the sauce and toss through, loosening with cooking water if needed.
Scatter the chicken and bacon mix on top of the pasta and serve with a grating of fresh parmesan to taste.

 

Grilled meatballs (with hidden veggies)

Grilled Meatballs (with hidden veggies)

 

 

This is essentially a rissole recipe, but because I already have a beef rissole recipe on this blog and these rissoles are quite different, I have called it meatballs instead. Plus I cooked these as a way for Mr 3 year old to eat some veggies and he knows them as 'meatballs'. This is based on a recipe my mum does. I don't really measure my quantities, so apologies in advance to the measurers out there. I will try to estimate where I can!

 

Time Taken?: About 30 mins altogether. Super duper quick to make up the rissoles- so it's mainly the cooking time.

 

3 year old friendly?: Yes! Finally something fairly healthy that he ate!

 

This makes about 6-8 meatballs depending on how big you make them.

 

INGREDIENTS

500g beef mince

2 eggs

About 1 tablespoon tomato sauce (ketchup)

About 4 heaped tablespoons of breadcrumbs

Half a large carrot- finely grated

Half a large zucchini- finely grated

About 2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese

About 1-2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Some freshly ground pepper

 

METHOD

Pre-heat your oven's grill to high heat.

Add all of the above ingredients to the mince and combine thoroughly. You should have a fairly wet consistency of mince that is easy to roll into balls. If too dry add more egg or ketchup, if too wet add some more breadcrumbs.

Roll the meatballs, using your hands, into your desired size of meatball (about 2/3's sixe of your palm) and press them so they're more of a round patty shape.

Spray your oven's grill try with canola or olive oil spray and place the meatballs onto it, then slide it under the grill.

Grill for about 15- 17 mins, turning them once.

Serve with a garden salad.

 



Chicken Breast Burgers with Mushrooms, Cheese and Bacon



Chicken Breast Burgers with Mushrooms, Cheese and Bacon

This is so easy that's it's not so much a recipe but just an idea as to what to put together to create something a bit different for dinner. It's a big hit in my house with the hubby, and very simple.

 

Time Taken?: About 30 mins to get all the elements together.

 

3 year old friendly?: He's not into burgers, but I used some extra chicken to make him some homemade chicken nuggets which are easy to cook while cooking the chicken for these burgers as long as you have a little extra prep time for them (recipe for that to come!)

 

The following makes 4 burgers (we only made two and used the left over chicken patties the next night to make BBQ chicken pita pizzas!)

 

INGREDIENTS
500g chicken breast

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 tablespoon butter (or nuttelex)

4 pieces of short cut bacon

4 hamburger buns

4 slices low fat cheese

Some iceberg lettuce to serve on burgers

Some BBQ sauce, to serve (if wanted)

Olive oil or Canola Oil spray

 

METHOD

Pre-heat the grill on your oven to high heat.

Cut the chicken into 4 palm sized patties, about half the thickness of a regular breast piece (if it doesn't make 4 patties you can use smaller pieces and put them together in one burger, which is what I did with the tenderloins. The melted cheese sticks them together to make them into 1 patty). Spray them on both sides and cook them on a pre-heated grill plate or fry pan until cooked through.

In a separate fry pan, heat the butter and cook the mushrooms until tender.

Cook the bacon (I used the mushroom pan when was finished with it) until cooked to taste.

On an oven tray place the cooked chicken patties, top each with mushrooms and a slice of cheese and put under grill until cheese has melted.

Serve the chicken and bacon on toasted hamburger buns with lettuce and BBQ sauce.