Spanish-ish Chicken

Yesterday evening I made Spanish Chicken...except it was a little different to regular Spanish chicken because I used Italian salami in it rather than chorizo.  So I call it Spanish-ish chicken.

You can do this all in one pot and just cook it in the oven, but I pre-fried a number of the ingredients because I started to make it a little late and needed it to be done quicker.

I apologise that some of the instructions are vague, I kind of 'wing-it' when I'm cooking...which is why I have a bad relationship with my smoke alarm I think! 😂

Ingredients
(amount depends on the size of your family and how much you like each ingredient - I told you I was going to be vague!)

Potatoes
Chicken (I used mini chicken breast strips)
Salami (usually chorizo...but I didn't have any)
Plum tomatoes
Onions
Peppers ('bell peppers' - I put half yellow, half red in)
plus whatever other veg you like (I put in some carrots, some spinach, and some mushrooms)
Chicken stock
Garlic - have it as garlicky as you like, I just put in one clove.
Paprika
Pepper
a little salt
Oregano

Method
*there is always method in my madness*

You'll need a large casserole dish.

Chop the potatoes fairly small, then par-boil like you would if you were going to do roast potatoes.  I did mine for 15 minutes (which is longer than a par-boil) because I love potatoes fluffy and almost falling apart.

Pre-heat oven (and casserole dish with oil) to 220C if you are in a rush for it all to brown, otherwise 180-200C is fine.

Drain potatoes and pop in oven for 10 mins - sprinkled with paprika and oregano, and pepper and salt to taste.

Chop up your veggies.

Pre-fry the onions, peppers and any other 'harder' veg for about 5 mins.  Then sprinkle with paprika and oregano, and put them with the potatoes in the oven.

While they are cooking in the oven, fry the chicken for about 10 minutes until it is almost cooked right through (as I said you can do all this in the oven but it takes a lot longer), add the chorizo (or in my case salami) for a minute or two.

Then add the plum tomatoes, mushrooms (if you are having them) and around 200 mls of chicken stock to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes.

Here's what my potatoes and veg look like by now:

Then add the chicken and chorizo (salami haha) in it's sauce into the casserole dish and sprinkle with paprika and oregano.

If you want to, you can add something like spinach.

Cook together until it is bubbling and everything is nicely browned...but not for too long if you have spinach, otherwise it will go like tiny shrivelled bits of algae 😱!  Don't let it dry out either.

It was SO YUMMY!

So, what went wrong with my cake?

Hey out there all you baking bloggers, can you tell me what went wrong with this brownie cake?



As you can see it's all cracked, the cake is very crumbly in texture and nothing like the picture in the recipe book! I very rarely bake.

Here's the recipe I followed:

200g plain chocolate
200g butter
3 eggs
175g sugar
200g plain flour

Oven temp: 180 C

Break up chocolate and cube butter, put into bowl set over a pan of simmering water to melt gently (stir frequently).

Whisk the eggs until frothy. Add sugar and whisk until mixture thickens like mousse. Whisk in melted chocolate.

Sift in flour and stir well.

Transfer mixture to a tin lined with greased baking paper.

Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes.


So what did I do wrong? The cake has cracked and is crumbly, instead of moist and all in one piece.

I've never made brownies before - not with melted chocolate anyway (last time I made brownies I used cocoa, but that was years ago). I wondered if I should have let the chocolate cool before mixing in, whether the eggs weren't whisked enough? What makes a cake too crumbly???

Thanks in advance for your advice.

xxxx

PORK CHOP RISOTTO - serves 4

Click on the image above to take you to the current cooking feature on Sandra's blog

This is a favourite recipe of mine. So yummy. I've posted it before on an old blog long since deleted. I thought I'd add it again to join in with Sandra's 'Cooking Thursday.


1 medium onion - chopped
2oz streaky bacon - cut off rind and cut into strips
1 clove garlic - crushed
2oz mushrooms - sliced
1 chicken stock cube dissolved in 1 1/4pt boiling water
1oz margarine or butter
6oz long grain rice
pepper
4 loin of pork chops
1 small (7oz) can sweetcorn with red and green peppers (or 1/4 each red and green peppers and frozen sweetcorn)
1 rounded teaspoon chopped fresh parsley - if desired
2 tomatoes - cut into quarters

Method

1. Fry onion, bacon and garlic (red and green peppers, if using) for 3-4 mins in melted marg.

2. Add rice and fry until fat is absorbed.

3. Add mushrooms, stock, and seasoning to taste. Bring to boil and cook until stock absorbed.

4. While rice is cooking, grill chops. When chops are cooked, place on top of rice mixture. (If you are using frozen sweetcorn, add to rice mixture when most, but not all, of water has been absorbed)

5. Drain sweetcorn, add to rice mixture. Stir over a low heat for a few mins., taste and add more seasoning, if necessary.

6. Just before serving add parsley and tomatoes, to allow tomatoes to warm through.

7. Place rice mixture on a warm serving dish and arrange chops on top.

8. Serve with a green salad - if desired.

You can use fresh peppers and frozen sweetcorn, if preferred. Finely chop 1/4 red and 1/4 green pepper and fry at the beginning with the onion, garlic and bacon. Add a handful, or what you prefer, of sweetcorn after rice has been simmering for about 15 mins.