CHICKEN, ORZO – A DELICIOUS COMBO

CHICKEN WITH ORZO

Recipe by Delicious Magazine
Servings

4

servings
Cooking time

35

minutes

Chicken with orzo – well, as we all know, thighs are tasty (and inexpensive, no bad thing!) and orzo is a marvellous type of pasta that I only discovered about a year ago but really like using. Caramelised chicory adds another dimension to this dish. It’s a winner. Quick to prepare – about half an hour, so perfect for midweek or when you fancy something deliciously simple.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil

  • 500g free-range chicken thighs and drumsticks

  • 1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed

  • 140g chicory, sliced

  • 150g orzo

  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

  • Finely grated zest and juice ½ orange

  • 2 tbsp crème fraîche

Directions

  • Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat, then add the chicken, skin-side down. Cook for about 8 minutes until all the skin is golden and crisp, then pour out the excess fat and turn over. Add the fennel seeds, chicory and a pinch of salt around the chicken and cook over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the chicory has caramelised and the chicken is cooked through (you may want to turn the chicken pieces once or twice to ensure it’s cooked through).
  • Meanwhile, cook the orzo in salted boiling water according to the packet instructions, reserving a cup of the cooking water before draining.
  • Lift the cooked chicken onto a plate, then stir the drained orzo into the chicory, along with the balsamic vinegar, orange zest and juice and crème fraiche. Drizzle in a little of the pasta water to give the sauce a creamy texture. Season well and serve topped with the chicken.

We have a few more yummy recipes you might like here

AVOCADO + SMOKED SALMON + EGG

AVO WITH SMOKED SALMON AND EGG

Recipe by Olive Magazine
Servings

6

servings
Cooking time

20

minutes

Avocado and egg to my mind is a strange combo but gosh it really works as many of you already know I’m sure. Protein-rich this will keep you going for longer. And your tastebuds won’t complain either!

Ingredients

  • 3 large avocado

  • 6 small eggs, separated

  • 3 slices smoked salmon, cut into pieces

  • finely chopped to make 1 tbsp chives

  • r a pinch (optional) cayenne peppe

  • to serve toasted dark rye bread

Directions

  • Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Halve the avocados lengthways and remove their stones. Cut a small slice off the skin-side of the avocado halves to stop them rolling and put them onto a baking tray. Scoop out some of the middle from where the stone was, add a little salmon to each and then add the egg yolks. Beat the egg whites quickly, so it’s one uniform consistency, and pour in as much as you can. Grind over black pepper and bake for 10 minutes, or until the whites have set. Scatter over the chives and a pinch of cayenne, if you like. Serve with rye soldiers for dunking.

More tried and tasted recipes can be found here

BAKED WARM ROQUEFORT CHEESECAKE

BAKED WARM ROQUEFORT CHEESECAKE

Recipe by Jane Lovett
Servings

8

servings

On a chilly Winter day, this Roquefort Cheesecake by one of our fave chefs, Jane Lovett, is an absolute winner. I serve it with a green salad which acts as a foil to the richness of this warm crumbly cheesy gorgeousness. A little of what you fancy does you good…

Ingredients

  • For the oatcake base

  • 140g rough oatcakes, broken up

  • 60g butter, softened at room temperature

  • 25g walnut pieces

  • For the filling

  • 250g full-fat soft cheese, at room temperature

  • 3 eggs

  • 100ml double cream

  • 100g Roquefort cheese, crumbled into assorted small and larger chunks

  • 1 heaped tablespoon snipped chives sea salt and freshly ground

  • black pepper

  • 4 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced on a diagonal

  • nigella or onion seeds, for sprinkling

  • micro leaves or salad cress, to garnish (optional)

Directions

  • Line a shallow, loose-bottomed, 24cm fluted round tart tin with baking parchment (or foil-backed baking parchment), allowing the sides to come at least 2.5cm above the top of the tin to form a collar. Put onto a baking sheet.
  • For the base, process all the ingredients in a food-processor until they come together (or bash the oatcakes into crumbs, finely chop the nuts and mix both with the butter), then press evenly over the base of the tin (the bottom of a flat glass is useful for doing this). Chill for 30 minutes, until the base has firmed up.
  • Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5.
  • For the filling, put the soft cheese into a bowl, then gradually add the eggs, one at a time, whisking with a hand whisk until smooth, before adding the next egg. Stir in the cream, followed by the crumbled Roquefort and the chives. Season, bearing in mind the filling should be well seasoned.
  • Pour the mixture into the tin over the oatcake base, then scatter over the spring onions and a few nigella or onion seeds. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and just set around the edges, but barely set with a bit of a wobble in the middle. It will be risen like a soufflé but will sink down as it cools.
  • Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes or until it shrinks away from the sides, then, if serving it warm, carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin with the paper still in place. If serving cold, leave to cool completely in the tin. Garnish with a few micro leaves.

Notes

  • From Just One Pan by Jane Lovett – a wonderfully useful cookbook. BUY NOW

More tried and tasted recipes can be found here

STICKY POMEGRANATE & HARISSA AUBERGINES

STICKY POMEGRANATE & HARISSA AUBERGINES

Recipe by Waitrose
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

1

hour 

Whenever I’m in Waitrose, I always look out for their recipe cards and make sure I pop one of their excellent magazines in my shopping bag. Without fail there will be several recipes that inspire me to put my apron on and get cooking! This is a favourite as I love firm glossy aubergines. I find de-seeding pomegranates relaxing and they are so useful as a garnish, keeping well in an airtight container in the fridge. This two step recipe makes a great side dish or main course, depending on your appetite.

Ingredients

  • 2 aubergines

  • 3 tbsp olive oil

  • 1½ rose harissa

  • ½ tsp cumin seeds

  • 1 clementine (scrubbed), zest and juice

  • 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

  • ½ pomegranate, seeds only

  • ½ x 25g pack coriander, leaves picked

  • 100g feta, crumbled

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 200ºC, gas mark 6 Cut the aubergines in ½ lengthways and score the cut sides in a criss-cross pattern. Put in a roasting tin, drizzle with the oil and season. Spoon over the harissa, scatter over the cumin seeds and clementine zest, then massage into the cuts in the aubergines. Cover with foil and roast for 50 minutes. Remove the foil, drizzle with the pomegranate molasses and roast for a further 5-8 minutes until tender, caramelised and sticky.
  • When the aubergines are ready, transfer to a serving platter. Pour the clementine juice into the roasting tin, scrape the base to release the sticky bits, then spoon over the aubergine. Scatter over the pomegranate seeds, coriander and feta.

More tried and tasted recipes can be found here

Mobile phone holder

Best £5.99 I’ve spent recently. Sturdy and transparent, I can now use my mobile phone hands-free – and while it’s charging too. No more cracked screens either as the phone isn’t always being picked up and put down. Brilliant gadget! (Grace)

THE KENT HOUSE SERIES

No idea where she gets the time from but Grace has been helping set up a series of high profile author talks – The Kent House Series – which will be held in London (Knightsbridge) from January next year. Tickets £25 including a complimentary glass of (delicious!) wine.

THE SECRET SHORE

‘Liz Fenwick weaves intrigue and romance into this profound, luminous novel’ Woman’s Own

The Secret Shore is an historical fiction romance set in World War 2 – from Liz Fenwick, author of from the bestseller The River Between Us

COCO CHANEL

If you love fashion, you’ll probably admire Coco Chanel. Check out V&A membership if you want to visit the sold out exhibition (ends Feb 2024) about this incredible fashion icon.

IT’S TIME TO PARTY!

Whether you’re having a relaxed festive family dinner, treating yourself to a fun night out with friends, or have been invited to a drinks party – well, we women usually feel the same way… what am I going to wear? Eeeek. Can’t put on my tried and trusted dress that makes me feel good because everyone’s seen it a hundred times before. So we’re usually scrabbling about trying to find something new to put on and it can be frustrating.

Grace and Annabel get ready to party - great value party wear courtesy of M&S

Like you, we know that M&S is not the only excellent store in the world, but when Annabel and I went to have a look at what party wear they had, we felt spoiled for choice. And nothing costs the earth, so we didn’t feel guilty making a purchase or two!

Let’s be bold and sparkle when we’re out. Sequins are not just for the young, we can rock glitter too!

You may have spotted this stand out sequin bomber jacket on the M&S TV Xmas ad. Great if you like a more contemporary style and looks especially good if you pair it with one other colour ie navy as Annabel has done here.

Annabel chose plain navy trousers and this sophisticated Collared Tie Neck Shirt to wear with it. Made from lamé, which lends it a subtle sheen, it’s designed in an easy regular fit, with long sleeves that have deep cuffs, creating a neat silhouette. The ribbon at the neckline is removable or can be tied into a bow. £39.50

Grace  wearing an M&S sheath dress

This simple sheath dress caught my eye immediately. Not just because of it’s unbelievably reasonable price – £35 – but because it is so very flattering, hiding any lumps and bumps you may have. It is sheer but has an opaque underslip. Such a great design.

The little gold clutch was a great sparkly addition. If you are more of a Winter or Spring colouring, you may well prefer silver accessories and there are plenty of those to choose from too (scroll down to view some of them.)

I find it very tricky to walk in heels so plumped for these really comfortable gold loafers. However, for the more naturally elegant of you, this dress would look equally good worn with the metallic kitten heels pictured below.

This Sequin Ruched Midi Column Dress is available in Petite, Regular and Long and is another bargain at £49.50.

If you’d like to add a bit of height, these knee-high sparkle boots have a stiletto heel – Annabel found them surprisingly comfortable. This is no doubt due to the design which includes Insolia® technology that helps keep your heels comfy for longer by redistributing weight away from the balls of your feet. £79

Here’s our pick of the great value silver accessories:

Really hope you approve of our party wear choices and have found our style suggestions useful.

So, if you are looking for some new party sparkle or a sophisticated dress and want to go easy on your debit card, you know which website to check out!

LOOKING FOR YOUR NEXT GOOD READ?

Annabel has recently read three books that she has very much enjoyed and thinks you might be entertained by them too. So, if you’re looking for your next good read…


‘A writer at the peak of her powers’ The Telegraph

Kilburn, 1873. The ‘Tichborne Trial’ has captivated the widowed Scottish housekeeper Mrs Eliza Touchet and all of England. Readers are at odds over whether the defendant is who he claims to be – or an imposter.

Mrs Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her novelist cousin and his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects England of being a land of façades, in which nothing is quite what it seems.

Andrew Bogle meanwhile finds himself the star witness, his future depending on telling the right story. Growing up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica, he knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realise.

Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about how in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what’s true can prove a complicated task. BUY HERE


‘Full of horrors but energetic, funny and tense as a spring . . . plants its devilish brilliance deep in the reader and won’t let go.’ John Self, Observer

Giles Trenchard is born into privilege – and an atmosphere of hidden violence and isolation. Wholly unloved, he is shipped off to one boarding school after another. Always hoping to live up to his family’s expectations he joins the Navy on the outbreak of war. The camaraderie of life offer him some semblance of purpose and contentment. Yet on his return from war, he finds himself adrift and one day – like the hero of Joseph Conrad’s classic Lord Jim – he commits an act so shocking that it calls his past, his character and his whole world into question.

BUY HERE


‘Haunting, compelling and brilliant’ The Times

‘Irresistible and seductive’ Guardian

Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality. From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Goldfinch.

BUY HERE