Sometimes, simplicity is perfection!

So, after a long hard day of work and exercise dinner had to be special, and it was. Vey special, yet very simple. A look in my fridge gave me leftovers; 1 uncooked chicken breast, a chilli and a small bunch of fresh chives. How could I possibly combine these leftovers? Well a quick trip to the shop around the corner from my house and I was good to go. No nonsense, I was going to make an omelette. Not just an omelette, a super omelette!

I fried off the chicken breast in some olive oil whilst I combined 4 eggs with chopped chives and chilli. Once the chicken was cooked through I chopped the breast into nice sizes and added to the egg mixture.
Omelettes are so simple to make, but they are easy to get wrong. You don’t want it falling apart, you don’t want scrambled eggs, you don’t want one side burnt and the other raw. I melted a good knob of butter in a small frying pan and once nice and golden, I poured in the egg mixture, ratting the pan to get as even a distribution as possible. The trick is to wait a minute for the edges to set, then with a spatula, lift the edge of the omelette and tilt the pan so the uncooked egg runs over the edge and onto the bottom of the pan. That way you will not burn the bottom side.

Once there was very little raw egg mixture on top it is time to flip, but just as I was ready to do this, I had an idea what if I was to pour over a tbsp of balsamic vinegar before folding? That way I would get a delicious layer of acidity in the middle of my omelette. Man I’m glad I tried it. Once folded over, push down on the omelette with a fish slice and cook for a further minute. Then you can scoop onto a plate and serve either with a salad, some lovely rocket, or simply on its own.

This omelette was the real deal; a tiny bit of heat from the chilli, freshness from the chives, delicious, juicy, tender chicken and of course some sweet acidity from the balsamic. Simple and delicious, you just gotta love the omelette!

The weekend is approaching and I have finally been paid! Not sure what is on the menu, but I can’t wait to find out!

Happy eating everyone and hope your weekends are all full of laughter and, of course, wonderful food!

J

All you need is food

If I ever needed proof that food solves all your problems then I got some today. A rather dismal day at work forgotten in the time it took me to gather my ingredients for tonight’s dinner. I have been really healthy recently, and tonight’s dinner was no exception, Chicken with courgettes, sugar snap peas and some basil rocket.

You may have noticed already, but I don’t like doing too much to ingredients. I would go as far to say that I am put off by complicated recipes that have a huge list of ingredients. I say keep it simple and let the ingredients do the talking.
I very simply seasoned some chicken breasts and fried in a little basil olive oil on all sides until there as a little colour in them. I then placed the chicken into a pre heated oven at 180degrees for 10 minutes. Meanwhile I chopped a courgette into thin strips and added to some boiling chicken stock to poach for a few minutes.
That is all the cooking I am planning to do. I will mix some of the aforementioned basil oil in with rocket and serve the sugar snap peas raw. Raw peas take me back to my childhood when every spring I would get in trouble for stealing my mums peas from the garden. I just loved the texture, the freshness and the sweetness of these awesome vegetables.
10 minutes in the oven and my chicken was lovely and juicy. Do take care with chicken, I pierced the thickest part of the breast and looked for juices to run clear. Any sign of pinkness and it needs more time.
I served the chicken over the rocket, drained the courgettes and finished with a nice big pile of raw peas. Delicious, healthy, quick and very very simple. Happy James, and what was it I was so annoyed about? I can’t remember. Thank you food!

Happy eating everyone

J