Chicken for Dinner

Work has been so busy since the Christmas break, the weather has been miserable and it is so hard at times to get motivated to cook dinner when I return home in the evenings. This is so quick to throw together and really hits the spot.

I actually had no idea what I was cooking when I started putting things together. There was chicken in the fridge and I spotted some brocoli and there was some left over white wine from the previous weekend.

I diced two breasts of chicken and seasoned them with salt and pepper. Having heated some olive oil in a pan I added a chopped clove of garlic and the diced chicken. At the same time I put on some basmatti rice to cook and some brocoli. When the chicken was cooked (this only take about 5 mins depending on the size of your pieces, be careful not to over cook, there is nothing worse than tough, chewy chicken), I removed it from the pan to a plate leaving the juices and the garlic behind. I added a cup of wine, a cup of chicken stock and some cream (add as much or as little as you like, I tend to lean towards less with cream) and simmer gently until the alcohol burns off and the sauce thickens. You can then either add the chicken and brocoli to this or pour the sauce over both when you plate your food, depending again on what you like! So quick to make and it really did hit the spot!! I think it would also be great served with linguine and garlic bread.

Sauce poured over!

Mid Week Dinner

When someone is calling over for dinner mid-week, I usually go for hassle free and tasty! The weeks seem to jam-packed lately and are flying by, so it’s always nice to sit down over a meal and catch up with friends. I love this prawn dish and I make a few variations of it including a chili/ tomato version. It’s so so simple and very quick to prepare. I made it whilst chatting to the lovely Ciars Lite!

You first put the pasta on to cook. Heat some oil and butter in a pan and when hot fry a few cloves of mashed garlic. When they have coloured slightly you add the prawns, leave them for a minute and add about a glass or more of wine, depending on how many you are cooking for. Let this simmer to boil off the alcohol. Bring the heat down and gradually stir in some cream, let this simmer and thicken. If you like a thick sauce (I don’t) you can add some corn flour. To do this I generally remove a tbsp or two of the sauce from the pan into a cup, mix in the flour and then return it to the pan and stir it in. When the spaghetti is cooked toss it into the prawns and sauce. I love this served with fresh lemon squeezed over it and sprinkling of grated Parmesan!

Prawns in a White Wine Sauce