Creamy paprika chicken and rice

Regular readers will have realised I love anything that's sort of creamy chicken with rice.  As a Bengali, I adore rice, and I find a creamy sauce stirred in with rice is a wonderfully comforting and soothing element of a meal.

As I'm working outside the home now, I like meals which I can put together quickly in that short gap of time when the kids are taking a bit of downtime after school, or something I can put on and leave for a bit while I keep and eye on them, and make sure all is well.

This paprika chicken is a bit of both and definitely good for the increasingly chilly evenings.


1 pack chicken thigh fillets
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp tarragon (I only use the dried or freeze dried)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp Marigold powder
half a cup of boiling water
3 good dollops of soured cream
a handful or 2 of some green veg - I used green beans which were left over from the meal the dinner before.

rice and another veg to serve.


Heat the oil in a saucepan or saute pan and then gently fry the onion and garlic.  While that is softening, cut the chicken thighs into bite-size pieces, and then add them to the pan.  Stir to prevent the onions and garlic from catching, and cook until the chicken is browned and not raw any longer.

Now add the tarragon, ground cumin and paprika, and stir through.  Next, add the Marigold powder and half a cup of boiling water.  If the handful or 2 of green veg you are adding is raw, add it now too.

Now cover the pan and allow to simmer.  At this point, I cook the rice (in the microwave, or in my rice cooker, or the old-fashioned way - in a saucepan!) and also prepare the side vegetable.  On this occasion, I grilled some corn cobbettes.

Once the rice and vegetables are done, the chicken should also be cooked through, so switch off the heat and then add the small amount of green vegetables if they are already cooked as mine were.

Finally, stir through your generous dollops of soured cream and serve with the rice and side vegetables.

Netflix and stir - how to actually make risotto.

On the previous weekend, I had had an interesting afternoon trying to get some shopping, which culminated in my putting a (purchased, uncooked) joint of gammon into a child's backpack and then walking cross country for half an hour with the child and his backpack to get home in time to cook the gammon.  This was because of the terrible gridlocked traffic that could have kept us stuck in the car park of the supermarket for well over an hour (luckily soon after the footsoldiers returned home and began cooking, the abandoned driver was directed out to an entrance and managed to get home after 45 mins sat not moving at all.)

Anyway, this epicly well-travelled gammon deserved a good expression of its worth, so after the pressure cooked gammon meal, I saved the cooking liquor and the left over meat for greater things.

My initial thought had been to make a pea and ham soup, but Papa mentioned risotto, and Big'Un lit up at this idea, so risotto became the new plan.

I first put the stock/liquor into a saucepan and slowly brought it to the boil. I used a very well known online Instant Pot gammon cooking recipe, and I had used the usual suspects of flavouring vegetables, as well as Marigold and some fairly ordinary cider in with the water.  I had just over a litre, about 2 pints.

While the stock came to the boil, I chopped up the left over gammon, as well as a chunk of ham I had bought from the deli when they sell off the ends of the hams very cheaply as they can't slice them so easily.  I've always had a fondness for "chunky" ham like this!

I got out a large saute pan, and fried this gammon/ham mix of little cubes in some olive oil until it was starting to brown and then I added 2 finely chopped small onions and a tablespoon or so of finely chopped garlic.  I then added 12oz of risotto rice (I always seem to have 2 part used packets in the cupboard at any given time) and stirred well to coat all the rice in the oil.  I then added about a cupful of frozen peas and stirred to mix these too.

Now I grabbed my nearest smartdevice, and started up Netflix.  This is a very important step.  I propped the device up where I could see it while stirring the pan, and started up something easy to watch.  

Only now did I grab a ladle and pour in a ladle of the simmering stock.  And stir.

And once that was absorbed, I added another ladleful of hot stock.

And once that was absorbed, I added another ladleful of hot stock.

And so on. You get the picture.  At one point I paused the ladling and stirring (but not the Netflix) to use a slotted spoon to remove the stewed veggies and mash them up and put them in a tupperware, but the rest of THAT story is to be found in another post. About Chilli Con Carne. You'll have to be patient.  Like with the risotto stirring.

I have to be honest and say that after 17 or 18 minutes with very little stock left, I honestly thought I was doing something wrong as the rice was still too hard and there was not enough liquid left to cook it all, surely?  But I had faith, and I kept going. (What else could I do, too late for takeaway!) And magically after about 23 mins in total, when all the hot stock was in the risotto, and had been sucked all away by the fat glistening little rice grains, there was a creamy richness to the whole dish, and the pink ham and jewelly green peas made such a colourful dish, I was delighted!

A sprinkling of cheese was added at the table to give that special stringy, sticky comfort, freshly ground black pepper for those who like such things, and I have to say, this was a meal EVERYONE enjoyed immensely! And I was happy because I had had a chance to catch up with Netflix for once!

Baked Cheesy Gnocchi with spinach and tomato sauce.

Baked One Pan Gnocchi

On a chilly Friday, I wanted something stodgy and comforting to feed us, and the special offer, impulse-buy pack of gnocchi seemed the right thing.  I had stopped buying them for a while as the kids just didn't seem to enjoy them, but I don't like to give up, and I like a bit of a change sometimes from the pasta/rice/potatoes trinity of carb options. We do occasionally have a bread supper, but that's also rare.

So I began by frying the gnocchi slowly in some olive oil to get them slightly crunchy on the outside, which makes them a nicer texture after baking, I feel.  To make this a true one pot, I used a pan which can go in the oven also, but if you don't have one, you can always pour the contents into a baking dish before the final step.

Once they were starting to be golden all over (and this DOES take time) I added some frozen chopped garlic and allowed it to soften and lose its harsh bite.  I then added a box of Heinz Fritto which is basically a flavoured passata, and also swished out the box with some hot water and added that too.  I then put in a handful of balls of frozen chopped spinach and stirred them in and then brought the whole pan to a gentle bubble.  

Finally, I covered the top with a layer of grated mozzarella and put the pan in a preheated medium oven for about 20 minutes.

I was rewarded with a deliciously crunchy top cheesy layer, with good oozy strings of cheese when served, and a very filling and nutritious meal all round.  The kids did enjoy it, although it wasn't one they immediately said they'd request again, but clean plates and small victories, definitely!

a weekly challenge

like many people, I recently realised I had to get my weekly shop down in price, and when I looked around for advice and tips on how to achieve this, I found most of the usual suggestions were for things I already did. I've planned my weekly menu since I first started cooking for myself at uni, and I still have all the books of weekly plans since then! I've always aimed for at least one veggie meal a week, and one fish meal a week, and tried to mix and match the meats and carbs and accompaniments the rest of the time, and I've always been careful with BOGOFs and known to look in the reduced fridge at the end of the shopping day.
I've always made a list and stuck relatively strictly to it, and I've always read cookery books and magazines looking for more ways to save, and for inspiring ideas.
I've recently discovered the slow-cooker, and I've always used a pressure cooker and microwave, as these save time and money also. We've had a veg box delivered for a number of years now, and I've learned lots of ways to use up stuff at the bottom of the crisper.
So I wanted to get MORE ideas, and a few months ago I sent an email to some of my friends asking them to give me a sample week's menu to see if it would inspire or help me. Almost everyone replied, and I was delighted by the quick and happy responses. Most of them felt the way I did, and everyone was keen to share recipes and suggestions. I picked up quite a few tips and it occurred to me that maybe my friends would benefit from each others tips as well as my own, so I forwarded each email to the other people I'd asked if they were interested and some people were intrigued.
So it turned out I'd been menu planning long before some of my friends but had fallen into a bit of a rut, perhaps because some of the adults in my house are fussy eaters (the kids eat fabulously unfussily!) so I decided I'd blog my menus and share them. Anyone who knows me will understand why I didn't start the blog then and there, but now I've set myself a budget challenge and I have to stick to it, I've got the motivation I need to blog it too.
For the past few weeks I've aimed to spend under £50 on the weekly supermarket shop, bearing in mind its not all food, and I'm feeding 3 adults and 2 children each day, plus an extra adult most weekends, plus lunches for 2-3 adults and one of the children too!
I'm delighted to say I've managed it almost every week since I started and I thought it about time I started sharing the love!!! I must add the caveat that I do have a veg box delivered too, and that's roughly another tenner, and I'm a bit spoilt as one of the girls' Godparents pays for that, to benefit her, and as a contribution as he spends a lot of days and mealtimes with us, and he's generally sweet and likes to help out. I still think it's a pretty good budget, but getting it even lower is the next challenge!
Please feel free to comment and share budgeting cooking tips with me too!