Thursday 28 March 2013

I Love A One-Dish Recipe.


This is Mango chicken, bean and rice bake and is a recipe I had cut out of a recent Good Food.
It is exactly the kind of recipe I am likely to pounce on from a magazine because it is all made in one dish, takes just a few minutes of preparation then bakes in the oven for a while giving me time to set the table, listen to Boy 1 do his reading, get them to wash their hands, etc..  

I randomly chose this recipe from my cuttings file for this month's Random Recipes.

I did change it a little bit but not a huge amount so I'll just give you a rough idea of the recipe - one of these ones that is easy to play around with and bung things in in quantities that suit.

I blitzed in the processor some onion, garlic, chilli, coriander stalks, lime zest, lime juice, allspice and oil.  I then poured the paste over about 8 chicken thighs, covered and popped in the fridge for the day.  I had intended to do it the night before, but forgot.  It did make me feel very virtuous doing it before taking the kids to school in the morning, though, as usually I do nothing but grunt and drink tea in the mornings.

After school, I put 500g wholegrain rice into the bottom of an oven dish with a can of kidney beans.  I took the chicken out of the marinade and set aside then mixed the remaining marinade with  900mls of chicken stock and poured over the rice and beans.  I then placed the chicken thighs and a packet of frozen mango chunks on top of the rice and beans, covered the dish with foil and bunged in a moderate oven for 30 minutes.  I removed the foil, spooned some mango chutney over each chicken thigh, turned the oven up to high and returned the dish uncovered for another 40 minutes. 

It was rather nice.  I will certainly use the basic idea behind the dish and make my own variations.  Especially good for using up whatever you have in the house.  

I must say I get a lot of great recipes from Good Food.  They do a lot of budget or quick and easy meals  and, as you get the magazine a month in advance, great for seasonal ideas too.