Posts tagged chicken

Super yum dinner with bugger-all cooking required

February 15, 2016 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged , , , , ,

This blog made it into my dreamspace the other night, in one of those intensely real, detailed dreams that have you swept up believing that they are actually happening.

In it I was putting together a video-recipe (already farfetched considering I’d rather chew the toenails of strangers than appear on camera) full of horribly complicated instructions on how to bake the perfect roast potato. The essential first step was to puncture the entire spud by creating endless potato-gun pellets before boiling, drying, dipping in oil then baking until crispy perfection. Even in the dream I was thinking that locating an old-style toy for a single recipe was a bit of a stretch for readers, especially considering I only blog simple, everyday recipes.

image

Miss F demonstrates the first step of my dream-potato dish.

Still, the potatoes were insanely good, as is this week’s recipe. Thankfully this real-life recipe is at the opposite end of the preparation spectrum. Just marinade some chicken, then toss in a few extra bits and bake. DONE. And it’s super tasty.

vegie-smugglers-indian-chicken-tray-bake

Younger kids can have theirs chopped up and mixed through the rice. Adults can top with coriander & fresh chilli.

Indian baked chicken

This is advanced vegie-smuggling, since there’s nothing hidden. To serve younger kids, hack away at the finished dinner with kitchen scissors and mix everything through the rice, making it more of an Indian-fried rice type thingy.

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp brown sugar (optional but recommended, honey also works)
700-800g chicken thigh fillets
3 large carrots, peeled, cut into thick batons
1 large red onion, peeled, cut into 8-10 wedges
1 cup peas

1 cup basmati rice
1 zucchini, grated

To serve: Mango chutney, pappadums

Mix the oil and spices and sugar all together in a glass or ceramic dish (since I’m lazy and hate washing up, I use an oven proof one that I’ll later roast everything in).

Cut any excess fat off the chicken and cut each fillet into about 3 even-sized pieces. Roll them into the marinade, cover and leave for as long as you’ve got (somewhere between 5 seconds and all day, depending on your schedule).

Preheat the oven to 200C. Remove the cover from the chicken. Mix in the carrot and onions. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the carrot is tender and the chicken is cooked through. Toss over the peas and mix through. Leave to sit for a couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the rice whichever method you like best (I use my trusty and beloved rice cooker). When just cooked, mix through the zucchini and leave it to cook with the residual heat of the rice for several minutes).

Serve the chicken on top of the rice, with a dollop of chutney and a papadum for crunch. Adults might also like coriander and fresh chilli.

Serves 2 adults and 3-4 kids.

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Other chicken dishes to try…

Our favourite chicken pasta

Kid-friendly, one-pot chicken pilaf

Chicken sausage rolls – a Vegie Smuggling classic!

Slow cooker Chicken noodle soup.

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What Jason Derulo, the Old El Paso family and my kitchen have in common…

November 4, 2015 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged , , ,

Sometimes you have to give advertising agencies a little golf clap. While they devote their days to making content that leaves us half-demented, they do get their job done, achieving their goal of successfully branding a product to the point where we can’t walk past an item on the supermarket shelves without humming its jingle or having the tagline drift through our brains.

So it is with Old El Paso, whose little cute cheering families and mariachi tunes play around in my mind every time I walk past their products. Which is pretty crazy, since I don’t even buy them. I think other brands do better tortillas and even my jalapeños are now bought from a brand at the greengrocer. Still, I couldn’t help but imagine the little Mexican family gathered together, giving me a cheer as I presented this dinner the other night.

My kids weren’t quite as jubilant as their TV counterparts, but they devoured these completely simple-to-make wraps. And as Jason Derulo will testify is possible, the trumpets of celebration played in my head, which is close enough.

Pop foil around the kid's ones to avoid too much mess.

Adults can pop in jalapenos and fresh herbs.

One dish, one bowl, Mexican chicken wraps

Marinade
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp mild paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp BBQ sauce (optional, but recommended!)

800g chicken thigh fillets
1 red onion, cut into wedges
1/2 red capsicum, cut into thick slices

Salsa
310g can corn kernels, drained
1 roma tomato, finely diced
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1/2 red capsicum, finely diced
Juice of 1 lime
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Coriander (optional – my kids hate it, so I just add it to mine after I’ve served them)

To serve (you choose what will suit your household): wraps, avocado, jalapeños, sour cream, parsley or coriander

If you remember, pop the chicken in the marinade in the morning and let it spend all day in the fridge getting extra tasty.

Combine the oil and spices in a glass dish or ceramic bowl. Remove the excess fat from the chicken, cut into a couple of pieces and smother it in the spice rub.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Place the chicken into your oven tray (line with foil or baking paper to help with the clean up). Toss over the onion wedges.

Bake for 20 minutes. Use tongs to turn the pieces over. Mix through the capsicum. Return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through (thigh meat stays a bit pink, but also doesn’t dry out, so if you’re not entirely sure if it’s cooked, just chuck it back in for another 5-10 minutes).

Meanwhile make your salsa: Combine everything in a bowl. Done. It’s a tough recipe. See how you go.

The big reveal:
Serve the chicken sliced up on wraps, topped with the roasted onions, capsicum, salsa and your choice of avocado, jalapeños & sour cream.

Serves 2 adults and 3-4 kids

Like this recipe? Check out my cookbooks to find a bunch more meals that your family will love.

Like this recipe? Check out my cookbooks to find a bunch more meals that your family will love.

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This dinner is a bit fancy, a bit good with a noice secret ingredient!

September 8, 2015 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged , , ,

How great is it when you rediscover a ‘classic’ flavour combination that has been lost in the mists of time. In food land that usually means that it’s an ingredient or two that has gone out of fashion or doesn’t fit the current food trends.

But always being a bit rebellious in my tastes, I can’t help but flirt with these flavours a little, finding all that is good in them. And good this soy/tomato sauce/honey combo is. Sure, it’s a flash straight out of the 80s, but who cares when it shrouds a bunch of healthy ingredients and gets gobbled up in moments.

Vegie Smugglers Chinese Chicken tray bake

Chuck it all in and bake for 40 minutes. Too easy!

Chinese chicken tray-bake

700g chicken wing nibbles
2 red onions, peeled, cut into wedges
3 potatoes, chopped into largish bite-sized pieces (leave the skin on)
1-2 cups pumpkin in pieces slightly larger than the potato
4 carrots, peeled, cut into 4cm chunks
1 red capsicum, cored, cut into large squares
1/4 fennel, sliced
8 button mushrooms, halved
8 cloves garlic, peeled, left whole

1/3 cup oil of your choice (I like olive)
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder

Broccoli (to serve)
1/2 lemon

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Add the chicken, all the veggies and the garlic into a large baking dish. Use your hands to toss it all together.

Whisk together the oil, sauces, honey and 5-spice. Pour over the chicken & veggies. Toss well.

Bake for 40 minutes or so, until the chicken is golden and cooked through and the veggies are tender.

Cut the broccoli and lightly cook by steaming or microwaving. Scatter over the tray. Squeeze the lemon juice over the whole dish.

Serves 2 adults and 3-4 kids.

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Should we audition for Family Feud?

March 26, 2015 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged , , ,

Grant Denyer is not really my cup of tea. I don’t have anything against him per se, more just a general mistrust of people who are always that ‘on’ (even if that’s what they’re paid to do).

So I don’t watch Family Feud. Midweek TV is rare at our place and when it is on, my kids are so immersed in Adventure Time that nothing else gets a guernsey. But I get the FF idea. Perky host with equally perky families play word games with hilarious results.

Sometimes my family seems quite perky. I’ve seen snippets of FF during ad breaks and wondered if maybe we should ring to audition. But I had a reality check last week.

Ad flash. Smiling Grant with an enthusiastic question, “Name something that gets passed around?”

Within a blink of an eye Mr VS & I were both on the buzzer.

“A JOINT” shouted MR VS.
“HERPES” shouted me.

Who knew we were such naturals at this game! I can practically smell the gameshow riches!

But it turns out we were both wrong. The correct answer?

Hat.

Call the doctor!

Call the doctor!

Chicken Pox Pies

Ok, yes, they’re chicken pot pies. But pox pies, sounds more fun, don’t you think?

1 tbsp oil
600g chicken breast (or thigh), diced
1 onion, finely diced
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped cauliflower
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp plain flour
1 cup hot chicken stock
1/2 bunch English Spinach, finely shredded
1 cup peas
125g can corn kernels, drained
125g can creamed corn

2 sheets puff pastry
1 egg, whisked, for glazing

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Saute the chicken and until browned all over and mostly cooked through. Remove and set aside. Add the onion and saute, stirring quite often for 6-8 minutes until browning. Pop in the vegies for a couple of minutes and once softening, toss in the garlic. When fragrant, return the chicken to the pan.

Sprinkle over the flour and cook this off for a minute or so, then slowly add in the hot stock, stirring the whole time (use a wooden spoon for all this). Bring the mixture to a strong simmer, then lower the heat a bit and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is completely cooked.

Add in the spinach, peas and all the corn. Combine really well.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Find a bunch of oven-proof pots (or one big pot pie is fine, too).

Divide the mixture between your pots. Line the edge of your pots with 1cm strips of pastry (this will help adhere the lids). Brush with egg, then cut circle lids and press them in place. Brush the entire top with egg and decorate however you like. I made spots with cookie cutters and the kids thought this was just a little bit awesome.

Feeds 2 adults & 2-3 kids.

Did you see my chocolate-free Easter recipe over on Mother & Baby? See the carrot bliss ball recipe here.

vegie-smugglers-carrot-bliss-balls

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The sixth food group – food created by Satan

February 2, 2015 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged , , , ,

Bless my Facebook page and the funny folk who pop by there, including the lovely dad who referred to ‘food created by satan’. Made me laugh for days, because HE’S RIGHT, some food, whilst edible, really just is evil.

What might be in that category for you will depend on your own tastebuds and experiences. Brussell sprouts seem to be pretty universal (just general grossness), others will lump in oysters (snot), peaches (furry texture), okra (slime), red meat (legs!) offal (ick!) polenta (slop) and many kids will include a long list of vegies for a variety of reasons.

And while this blog aims to help migrate many of these items over to the other five regular food groups, there will inevitably be an item or two that remains. And that’s fine.

There are ways to negotiate individual food preferences within a family setting. This Pesto chicken bake is a good example from my house. It’s a dairy-laden triumph that makes my lactose-intolerant innards shake with fear. So while my children see this and cheer with joy, I eat something from the freezer instead. It’s an easy fix to that 6th-food group problem. And while I advocate eating the same meal most of the time, a bit of variation is ok, so long as you’re all eating something healthy, together.

It look so innocent!

It looks so innocent!

Pesto & ricotta chicken bake

To pad this meal out to feed more people, feel free to add in a couple of cups of cooked pasta before baking.

Olive oil
600g chicken tenderloins, finely sliced (or buy stir-fry strips and save yourself a bit of prep time)
1 large onion, finely diced
2 cups finely diced cauliflower (I really hack away at it with my kitchen knife until it’s almost as if I’ve grated it)
1 large zucchini, grated
1-2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp pesto (store bought is fine or see my recipe here)
125g can corn kernels (drained)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
250g tub ricotta
Salt & pepper

Turn the oven to 180C. Spray a medium baking dish with oil spray.

Heat a large frying pan over medium/high heat. Add 2 tbsp olive oil and when hot, pop in the chicken and quickly stir-fry until just browned. Remove and set aside.

Turn the heat down to medium. Reheat the pan. Add more oil if needed and fry the onion and cauliflower, stirring regularly for 8 minutes or so until the edges of everything are browning and the onion is turning translucent.

Toss in the zucchini and garlic. Stir well and let the aroma of the garlic waft about to make everyone hungry. Mix through the pesto. Turn off the heat.

Add in the corn, half the cheddar cheese and all of the ricotta. Combine well and pop into your prepared baking dish. Scatter the rest of the cheese over the top and bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbling and golden.

Serve with salad.

Serves 2 adults & 2-3 kids.

 

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3 words that make me horny?

November 18, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged , , , ,

Sifting through my inbox lately, I’ve noticed that the spam has phased back into the traditional style from the start-of-the-internet, all concerned with penis size, orgasms and my libido. For a few years there, I was inundated with lovely Russian women who were looking for my friendship and then all the ‘banks’ were sending me .exe files that contained critical financial information. All I had to do was open and enter my pin. But now, we’re back to sex basics.

However, without even opening the “3 words that make her horny” message, I’ve got a feeling that the email creator is giving the male population a bum steer with poorly researched advice. Unless the spammer is an overwhelmed and under appreciated wife & mother, who does actually know that the three words that make us horniest are when our partner yells from the kitchen, “dishes are done”. Or when he’s got other helpful things to say, like “dishwasher is unpacked”, “kids are clean” or “you keep sleeping”. With Christmas looming the phrase list expands exponentially. Now it includes, “presents are wrapped”, “turkey is cooked” and “it’s from Tiffany’s”. THOSE little 3-word-phrases do get my knickers all twisted, indeed.

In the spirit of international spice, and three-word phrases, here’s this week’s recipe…

Egyptian Baked Chicken

vegie smugglers egyptian chicken

Just an instagram snap, I’m afraid, no time for fancy photos this week.

Feeds: 2 adults & 2 small kids, when served on rice or cous cous
Timings: 10-15 minutes prep. Marindate all day, 5 minutes to chop veg & 40 minutes baking.
Allergies: this is gluten, egg & sugar free, there are sesame seeds in zatar.
Substitutions: Spring onions, shallots, green beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini would all work. Use whichever your kids like.
Freeze: No.
Prep ahead: Yes. You can marinade everything all together in the morning and just chuck it in the oven when you need to cook.
Why I like it: Marinade is quick to prepare and I can get it ready in the morning before work. Suits the days when I’m just getting home later in the afternoon. And the kids love to munch on a bit of crispy chicken skin.
Smuggling rating: 2/10 – the vegetables are mostly on show.

Marinade:
1 onion
1/2 fennel
1/2 lemon (juice & zest)
2-3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp za’atar (a MIddle Eastern spice mix that contains sesame seeds, thyme, oregano, salt & sumac) – OR if you don’t have any premixed, just add whatever combination of these spices you do have in the cupboard)

700g chicken wing nibbles (these are chicken wings with the point end taken off).
2 large carrots, peeled, cut into sticks
1 red capsicum, cut into 2-3cm squares
1/2 cup frozen peas

To serve: cous cous or rice, coriander, parsley, lemon wedges

Use a mini food processor to blitz together all the marinade ingredients.

Add the chicken to a glass baking dish, pour the marinade over the make sure everything is nicely coated. Cover and refrigerate for as long as you’ve got (an hour is ok, all day long is better).

Preheat the oven to 200C. Uncover the chicken, mix through the carrots and capsicum. Bake for a total of about 40 minutes, turning once about 25-30 minutes into cooking.

Remove from the oven and scatter over the peas (the heat will thaw them).

 

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My latest (gluten-free) can’t-be-bothered dinner

October 16, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged , , , ,

I’ve had a couple of weeks of working four days a week and it’s always a good reminder about the challenges that working parents face. Finding the time to whip up a healthy dinner when you’re struggling in late with wretched kids, lunchboxes to clean and repack, clothes to wash and life to organise is hard.

By later in the week I’m grateful for a dinner of wine and a carrot, but surprisingly enough the kids aren’t as keen on this combination. They want, you know, like food that tastes nice and fills up their tired bones after a few days of racing about. So this dinner has been making a few appearances. It’s my latest favourite-thing-to-do-with-a-BBQ-chicken (see my previous favourite here). Mix up a super easy salad and wrap it and some chicken in a rice paper roll and you’re done. Once you get the knack they’re easy to do. Watch this video if you don’t know how.

Another advantage of this dish is you can make them and store them in the fridge, perfect for those nights when people are coming and going and need to eat on the run. AND they are still ok the next day, which makes them a pretty great gluten-free lunchbox addition.

vegie smugglers BBQ chicken rice paper rolls

A bit of dipping sauce and you’re away!

BBQ chicken rice paper rolls

1/2 BBQ chicken – bones removed & discarded
2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1/2 cup fennel, finely shredded
125g corn kernels, drained
1/3 cup mayonnaise
Juice 1/2 lemon
Pepper

Rice papers

In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, carrot, fennet, corn, mayo and lemon juice.

Soak a rice paper in warm water for 10-20 seconds until pliable. Place on your chopping board. Pile about a 1/4 cup of salad onto the paper. Top with chicken (adults might like coriander & vietnamese mint). Roll up (watch the video link above if you don’t know how). Eat.

Makes 12.

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The parenting space/time continuum (and egg foo yung)

August 14, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, News · Tagged , , ,

Before you have kids, no one tells you that at some stage during those early, murky years of parenting, the switch will flip on your life. Careless days and endless possibilities morph into a sense that you’re running out of time. If you want to change careers, you better get the hell on with it (particularly if you need to study for a while). One day in the supermarket you’re going to switch straight from buying blemish face wash to some cream promising to erase lines and age spots. That you’re going to suddenly walk into a chain store and realise that you don’t any clue about how to wear the current fashion (and really, you maybe look a bit stupid in it, anyway). And then one day, you look over at your kids and rather than seeing them tipping cereal on the floor from their highchair, you realise that they’ve just gotten breakfast by themselves.

My brother had kids several years before me and I remember him saying, “it just goes by so fast.” Looking down at my baby and toddler I had the strong thought, “no, I think this sleepless, constantly sick, financially strapped, crying, difficult time is going to last forever.” But he was right. It does go by so fast.

Hug your kids today. Take a video of them just doing something simple so that you can remember this time. Be mindful at dinner. Listen to what they say. Cuddle them while they still want you to. Love them and be glad.

vegie smugglers egg foo yung

Egg foo yung.


Egg foo yung

Make the chicken mince up ahead and store it in the fridge, then make up an omelette for each family member as they make it home from their various mid-week commitments OR make them up completely, refrigerate them and just reheat in the pan when you’re hungry.

peanut oil
250g chicken mince
5 mushrooms, very finely chopped
4 spring onions, finely sliced
Big splash soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
Pepper
1½ cups chinese cabbage, finely shredded
¾ cup peas
8 eggs
4 tsp soy sauce
4 tsp shao hsing wine

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a medium sized frying pan over high heat. Carefully add in the chicken mince and stir it, breaking up lumps as you go.

Once the chicken is nearly all browned, add in the mushrooms and spring onions. Continue to stir everything. Splash over some soy, sprinkle the sugar and season with pepper. Leave it to cook away while you prepare the other ingredients. After 5 minutes or so, once the chicken is totally cooked, tip into a bowl and set aside.

I find it easiest to cook each omelette separately….

Break two eggs into a bowl. Whisk them along with the 1 tsp soy and 1 tsp rice wine. Scatter in ¼ the cabbage and peas. Add ¼ the cooked chicken mixture and combine it all well.

Pop a small frying pan over med/high heat, add 2 tsp oil and once hot, pour in the omelette mixture. After 4-5 minutes the omelette will be setting a little, turn over carefully and cook for another minute on the other side.

Repeat with the rest of the mixture to make 3 more omelettes.

Adults might like to serve this with a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce and coriander.

Makes 4 omelettes

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BBQ chicken to the rescue

May 27, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged , , , ,

No one wants to cook every day. Even when I was working on Vegie Smugglers full time, I would still find myself out of time and searching the supermarket for easy last-minute dinners.

Now I’m back in the workforce part-time, with the added issue of kid’s commitments right on dinnertime. When I’ve got hungry kids and no dinner plans, I find a trusty ol’ BBQ chook can come to the rescue.

And really, it’s one of the better take away options. But just don’t just eat it as is – the greasy mass that stews away in those creepy bags isn’t so enticing, anyway.

Chuck away any stuffing (I think the supermarket ones are nearly inedible). Toss most of the skin – although if you’re end-of-the-day starving, I DARE you to resist it entirely. Shred up the meat and do something creative with it.

When the kids were younger it was meat and salad with mayo in wraps. Then for a while I’d knock up a quick Portuguese-style chicken & rice soup. But these days we make this Asian-style salad. It’s full of the crunchy vegies that my kids enjoy and I put them to work on it, so they learn how to make something and it’s on the table within 15 minutes. Plus, Mr VS & I can pop on a tonne of coriander and chilli and have something adult-tasty.

And before you know it, there's something almost gourmet on the table.

And before you know it, there’s something almost gourmet on the table.

BBQ chicken asian salad

1 BBQ chicken
Handful green beans
Handful snow peas
125g can corn kernels
Bean sprouts
1 carrot, finely shredded or grated

Dressing:
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp oil (grapeseed or avocado)

To serve (all optional): peanuts, coriander, mint & sweet chilli sauce

While you shred the chicken, put the kids to work, washing then top and tailing the beans and snow peas. They can practise their chopping skills – cutting each into 3-4 pieces and tossing them into a salad bowl. They can also tip in the drained corn and play with add in the bean sprouts.

You might want to shred the carrot yourself. Add it and the chicken into a large bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients together well then tip over and mix through.

Serves 2 adults & 2 kids

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Your kids love milk & cheese? This dinner is for them!

May 19, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged , , , ,

Considering Miss F’s love of dairy food, it seems likely that my family must be able to trace our heritage back to Egyptian times, when Cleopatra is said to have bathed in milk. Given the choice, I’m sure my daughter would do the same. Milk, cheese, yoghurt, ice-cream. It’s all good to her and any meal that uses it liberally is down the hatch in a jiffy. Like this cheesy chicken pie, that languishes in white sauce all soaked up by a cheesy bread topping that makes those lactose intolerant amongst us shudder.

Although, on closer inspection the whole Cleopatra story is less glamorous when you realise that she actually bathed in sour donkey’s milk (supplied by 700 asses). Apparently the fermented lactose is great for skin, if not for your personal smell. Wikipedia quotes well-known Ancient Roman beauty editor, Pliny, “It is generally believed that ass milk effaces wrinkles in the face, renders the skin more delicate, and preserves its whiteness.”

Botox suddenly isn’t looking so bad.

Relax in this cheesy chicken bake.

Relax in this cheesy chicken bake.

Cheesy chicken pie

And yes, you can substitute lactose free dairy products in here, but I wouldn’t recommend soy, rice or almond substitutes.

4 slices of bread (to make 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs)
1 cup grated cheese (about 125g)

1 tbsp olive oil
500g chicken breast, diced
1 leek, white part only, diced
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 cup very finely chopped cauliflower
4 medium mushrooms, very finely chopped
Large handful green beans, ends removed, finely sliced
2 tbsp fresh herbs (parsley, chives, rosemary, thyme) optional
Salt & pepper

50g butter
3 tbsp plain flour
2 cups milk

You will need a small-medium sized oven dish for this recipe.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Use a small or large food processor to chop up your bread into breadcrumbs. Tip them into a mixing bowl and combine in the cheese. Set aside.

Add olive oil to a large saucepan over medium/high heat. When hot, add in the chicken and stir for several minutes until there are no more pink sides and the chicken is mostly cooked through (it does cook more later in the oven). Remove and set aside.

Reheat the pan, add a bit more oil if need be and tip in the leek, onion and cauliflower. Cook for 6-7 minutes, stirring often until everything is softening down. Add in the mushrooms, beans & herbs (if using). Season and cook for another couple of minutes, stirring just enough that nothing burns. Remove and set this mixture aside also.

Tip your milk into a jug. The milk needs to be quite warm, so I microwave the milk in my glass jug for about 1 1/2 minutes on high. Pop it next to the stove.

Return the pan to the heat. Melt the butter. Scatter in the flour and use a wooden spoon to stir for a minute until the flour has cooked off and smells nice. Patience is worthwhile now – take a minute or so to slowly drizzle in the whole amount of milk, stirring constantly. The mix with thicken up into a paste, then loosen back up into a luscious sauce. Stir briskly the entire time (it’s good exercise for your tuck shop lady arms.)

Tip your chicken and vegies back into the pot and mix everything through. Cook for another minute or so. Pour the entire lot into your oven proof dish. Evenly scatter over your breadcrumb/cheese mix and pop into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes or so until it is bubbling and golden.

Serves 2 adults and 2-3 small kids.

Adults might like this served with a crisp garden salad and some sourdough bread.

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