Rescuing my meal…

I haven’t blogged a lot in the last few weeks, my excuses for that; I have cooked, every now and then, and I will try to catch up with at least some of the recipes.

Tonight, I had Chicken with Creamy Bacon Penne. Actually, I was supposed to eat this dish two days ago; but then I discovered in the very last second that my cream had turned sour, and that the canned peas I bought because I couldn’t find any fresh ones were absolutely disgusting. Luckily, I still had a ripe avocado and a can of corn, so I added those together with a marinade of olive oil and vinegar, and voilà, there was my Easy Pasta Salad (you can throw in a lot of other ingredients if you wish, fresh tomatoes, dried tomatoes, cucumber, carrots (slightly braised?), feta or mozzarella cheese, braised broccoli, …)

 

Chicken with Creamy Bacon Penne

1-2 chicken breast(s), cut in strips
a small pack of bacon
(1-2 small onions, chopped)
4 tbsp. white wine
a few carrots, finely sliced
a small pack of peas
5 tbsp. double cream/1 cup single cream
Pasta

Fry the bacon, the chicken and the onions. If you prefer crispy bacon, fry the bacon first until its half-done, then add the chicken and the onions. Add the carrots, fry a little longer, then add the white wine. When the wine has nearly evaporated, add the peas, the cream and possibly some water, and cook for a couple of minutes until the peas are done.

The original recipe calls for instant pasta which I didn’t have (and never would buy); I had to cook the pasta separately, and so strictly speaking this wasn’t a one-dish meal anymore, as the cookbook’s title suggested. However, if you prepare the double amount of bacon, chicken and pasta, you could end up with a two-in-one meal, eating Chicken with Creamy Bacon Penne on the first day and the Easy Pasta Salad on the next.

Serves 2-3; adapted from the BBC Good Food Series’ 101 One-pot Dishes.

 

Easy Pasta Salad

Pasta
1-2 chicken breast(s), cut in strips
a small pack of bacon
4 tbsp. white wine
1 ripe avocado
1 can of corn
any other ingredient (fresh tomatoes, dried tomatoes, cucumber, carrots (slightly braised?), feta or mozzarella cheese, braised broccoli, … see note above)
olive oil and vinegar

Fry the bacon, and the chicken. Add the white wine and cook until the wine has nearly evaporated. Mix with the pasta, adding the corn and spoonfulls of avocado, and any other vegetable, and serve with a dressing of olive oil and vinegar.

Serves 2-3; a family recipe.

Saffron Rice with Chorizo

Just a very quick post today. Our freezing compartment is overflowing with food we don’t need, so I decided to clean up and use up at least one item from the freezer. Like for instance one of the two (still unused!) packets of peas.

 

Saffron Rice with Chorizo

200 g Chorizo
2 onions
325 g yellow rice
750 ml bouillon
300 g peas
2 tomatoes

Roughly chop the Chorizo and the onions and fry until golden (that is, if you can discern any colour other than the red the Chorizo will discharge). Add the rice, fry for another minute or so and then add the bouillon. Perhaps I should already mention at this point that my rice was overcooked, but that I had to wait until all liquid was evaporated, so I’d rather recommend to cut back on the bouillon. Boil gently for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, skin and de-seed the tomatoes, and then add them and the peas. Season with pepper, if you think it necessary. Cook another 5 minutes, cover and let rest for another couple of minutes. Serve with fresh parsley.

 
Notes:

I was a bit disappointed by this one. On the one hand it was fun to make, it made me think of some kind of mini-paella, and it was easy. The taste, however, was nothing like a paella; the chorizo was overpowering, and the yellow rice is just not comparable to the taste of real, good rice with saffron. If I were to try this recipe again, I’d really take care to use good ingrdients (normal rice with real saffron, and perhaps a other kind of chorizo), and in general I’d rather go for the original next time (unless I’m really in a hurry…).

Serves 4-6; adapted from a recipe provided by my local supermarket.