Cheesy Chicken & Aubergine Dinner

This recipe is for a very easy, quick and still tasty dinner.  This should feed 6 people, with some left over for lunch!

Ingredients:

Chicken Breasts (skinless, boneless, and cut into nice bite sized chunks)

1 – 2 Aubergines (tops taken off, cut into chunks)

1 Pack Rosa tomatoes, 1 tin chopped tomatoes, tomato paste

Thyme and Oregano (fresh if possible) chopped finely

Garlic, chopped finely 

Salt and Pepper

Dried Chilli Flakes

Worcestershire Sauce

80g – 100g Mozzarella cheese, grated

Fresh Basil (two handfuls)

60g Parmesan, finely grated

Ciabatta bread

Cheesy Chicken and Aubergine Preparations

Method:

- Fry chicken breasts chunks in olive oil, garlic, chilli flakes, salt and pepper and a good dash of Worcestershire sauce

- Add aubergine chunks shortly after (you want them to get really nice and soft)

- Add thyme and oregano

- Once the aubergines are nicely browned add the tomatoes and the tin of tomatoes.  Also add tomato paste

- Add more Worcestershire sauce and spice to taste

- Turn to medium heat and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until the aubergine is soft and chicken is cooked through

- Add the mozzarella in small handfuls until sauce turns creamy and cheese is mixed through evenly

- Add basil just before serving

- Garnish with Parmesan

- Serve with Ciabatta bread

Cheesy Chicken and Aubergine Dinner served with Ciabatta Bread

Coriander, Ginger and Chilli Butter Chicken

This is Gordon Ramsay's take on his favourite Indian meal.  I got it from his book "The Ultimate Cookery Course" which literally has everything you would ever need to know about cooking.  There is a TV show based on the book on BBC at the moment which is just as awesome.

He recommends you start marinating the chicken the night before to allow all the flavours to develop.

Ingredients:
- 500g boneless, skinless chicken pieces cut into 4cm pieces (he recommends thighs but I used breast)
- Olive oil for frying
- 1 small onion, peeled and diced
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 3cm piece of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp ground tumeric
- Pinch of chilli powder, or to taste
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 25g butter
- Small bunch of fresh coriander, leaves roughly chopped, to garnish

For the marinade:
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 4cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- Juice of 1/4 lemon
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds 
- 1/2 tsp ground tumeric
- 150g natural yoghurt
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.  Put the garlic, ginger, chilli and lemon juice from the marinade ingredients in a bowl.  Toss the chicken into the mixture, cover and set aside.

2.  Continue preparing the marinade.  Toast the coriander and cumin seeds in a dry pan for about 1 minute until aromatic and the coriander seeds are popping.  Grind to a powder, then mix with turmeric, yoghurt, salt and pepper.

3.  Pour the yoghurt mixture over the chicken.  Mix well, cover and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours.

4.  When ready to cook the chicken, heat a large heavy based pan over a medium heat and add a little olive oil.  When the pan is hot saute the onion with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook until lightly golden before adding the ginger and cooking for a further minute.

5.  Add the ground coriander, garam masala turmeric and chilli powder and stir into onions over a medium heat until aromatic.  Add the tomato puree and stir for 30 seconds.  Add the butter and allow to melt before stirring it through.

6.  Remove the chicken from the marinade and wipe off any excess.  Add the chicken pieces to the pan and cook for 10 minutes, turning now and then until cooked through.  Lower the heat, add the remaining marinade to the pan and cook gently for 5 minutes until piping hot (be careful not to let the sauce boil as this will cause it to split).  Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.  Serve garnished with chopped coriander leaves.

I added 2 chopped tomatoes when I added the chicken, which worked out quite well, and served on basmati rice.