Baked chicken oriental style with olive oil mash potatoes <3 Frango assado ao modo oriental com pure de batata de azeite

An update on my fitness journey, has been awhile now that I don’t exercise regularly, but a couple of weeks ago I started doing yoga at home ( I do have quite some foundations as I practiced for 2 years with a teacher) 5 or 6 times a week and I feel really good! My other half is going to the gym 3 times a week so I thought I should do something to 😉

I have to say that excluding my Mediterranean chicken rub ( https://fionabluerecipes.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/roast-chicken-and-baked-rice/ ) this one is my absolute favorite! Full of spices and the warmth of the chili, with a golden crust (which I gave to my other half as I don’t eat it) and it’s really easy to do 🙂

For the rub you will need :

-1 large onion (chopped, doesnt go into food processor)

-1 TBS of molasses

-2 TBS of sea salt (coarse, unrefined)

-1 TeaS of honey

-3 garlic cloves (if using the food processor whole otherwise chopped finely)

-1 thumb size piece of fresh ginger

-1 Teasp of sweet paprika, dry chili, black pepper

-1/2 a cup of white wine

-1/3 cup of sushi vinegar (if you don’t have it you can use apple cider vinegar or just 3/4 cup of white wine)

Blitz everything in a food processor or chop everything in very small pieces and mix well. Rub into the chicken.

Inside the chicken put half a lemon and 2 twigs of rosemary. Place the chicken into a baking tray on top of the sliced onions and into the fridge.

I usually do this the night before and I cook it for lunch, it definitely tastes better, if you can’t leave it at least 30m before cooking.

Pre heat the oven at 190C and cook chicken for around 20m uncovered. After this put on a lid or cover with foil and reduce the temperature to 150 and cook for another 1 hour. I do this for a medium size chicken, if your is really big increase time.

So, to make my life easier I cook a big batch of potatoes,and once cooked I put them through the potato ricer and divide in portions, once is cold I freeze the excess. The frozen mash potato can be as good as the fresh one, almost 😉 ,if you give it some TLC, just warm it slowly, adding nutmeg, salt, black pepper, milk (dairy or vegetable) and some olive oil (or butter). It really makes my life easier, and with the rest you can make gnocchi, waffles, bread…Whatever takes your fancy!

As I don’t eat the skin I topped my chicken with fresh chilies, some sesame seeds and the cooked onions,which is totally up to you, I thought it fitted the theme.

Este frango assado e’ um bocadinho diferente do que fazemos em Portugal, mas e’ maravilhoso! Aqui fica o link para um mais portugues : https://fionabluerecipes.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/roast-chicken-and-baked-rice/ (esta receita esta em ingles, mas se alguem quiser a traduçao e’ so avisar 😉 ). Este frango fica soculento e e’ super saboroso com especiarias e picante.

Ingredientes para marinar o frango:

-1 cebola grande cortada as rodelas (este ingrediente nao vai para a trituradora)

-1 Colher de sopa (CS) de melaço ( se houver se nao aumentar o mel para 2 CS)

-2 CS de sal grosso marinho, natural

-1 Colher de cha (CC) de mel

-3 dentes de alho

-1 pedacinho de gengibre fesco ( se nao tiverem usem em po’ 1CS)

-1 CC de paprika, 1CC de pimenta preta, 1CC de flocos de chili seco

-1/2 taça de vinho branco

-1/3 taça de vinagre de sushi  (se nao houver substituir por vinagre de maça ou simplesmente aumentar o vinho para 3/4)

Se tiverem uma trituradora piquem tudo junto se nao, cortar o gengibre e o alho bem fininho e misturar os ingredientes todos antes de massajar o frango com o molho.Colocar dentro do frango meio limao e um raminho de rosmaninho (ou louro). Colocar o frango numa assadeira por cima das rodelas da cebola.

Eu por norma massajo na noite anterior e deixo no frigorifico para cozinhar no dia seguinte, se nao der, massajar pelo menos 30 minutos antes de cozinhar para intensificar o sabor.

O forno deve estar pre aquecido a 190C, cozinhar o frango destapado durante 20m para dourar e depois diminuir a temperatura para 150C e cozinhar tapado (com um testo se existir, senao com papel de aluminio) durante 1 hora. O meu frango era medio, se o frango for muito grande aumentar o tempo.

Para o pure’, cozer as batatas em agua e depois passar pelo passevit ate ficar em pure’. Eu faço quase sempre o dobro do necessario e depois congelo, ja em pure’, e’ bastante comodo desta forma, basta descongelar para fazer pure’, pao, waffles, o que desejarem. Adicionar ao pure de batata leite (animal ou vegetal), sal, pimenta preta e noz moscada (essencial) e azeite virgem (ou manteiga se preferirem), isto deve ser feito com o fogao ligado em lume brando sempre a mexer ate’ obterem um pure cremoso.

Eu nao como a pele do frango por isso coloquei umas sementes de sesamo, chili fresco e a cebola assada por cima, mas claro que e’ a descriçao.

Bom apetite e ate a proxima xxx

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Quick potato dish and some more thoughts on USA

Arrived to grey London yesterday, leaving sunny US behind. Lots of memories were made, beautiful and colorful ones, like their trees in autumn 🙂 We decided that we will definitely go back to Colorado and Utah to see in more details the amazing natural parks there, loved hiking and the fresh air!
On a different note I have to say that I noticed how much healthy food cost over there, really I paid $5.20 for 4 organic apples, just as an example… Even in he restaurants healthy options are much more expensive, which perpetuates the poor being fat with poor health, with much worse health insurances than the rich… Another thing I noticed was the amount of homeless people, specially of course, in the cities. I was quite surprised with SF…. such a beautiful city with so many people that need help…

I love fall, and i love the way americans embrace it, the decorations, the pumpkin lates and pies! Wish that you could find the same things over here, it’s lovely!

I love tea, an of course went to see the japanese tea house in SF park :

Quick potatoes dish made straight after arriving from the airport, so something very simple, but tasty! Just boiled potatoes, hard boiled eggs, salad leaves, radicchio and raw carrots and tomatoes, all brought together with an olive oil,cumin and paprika dressing, enjoy! Missed my posts and blog Will start a soup season soon and some american inspired dishes, so keep tuned!

Lentils stew, tasty and on a budget!

Yesterday I was busy doing my new facebook page —  https://www.facebook.com/fionabluerecipes , add me if you have an account there 🙂 — and my other half was away, so for dinner I wanted something quick, healthy and not very expensive to make. This was I came up with :

 

Ingredients :

1 can of organic lentils

1 can of tomatoes

2 organic carrots

Kale

Spinach

Onion

Garlic

Olive oil

Bacon ( always optional)

Spices : Paprika, oregano, salt, black pepper, red chilies, parsley.

Method :

Cook garlic, onion and parsley with olive oil, until soft. Add the tomatoes and let it cook for 10m, add spices and a bit of water/wine if necessary. To this add the lentils and let it cook for a further 5m. The spinach and kale need no more than a couple of minutes, so do it at the very end. If your version has bacon, I would add it with the onion.

Always remember to wash your vegetables well. A bit of vinegar when washing is said to help cleaning them.

Had the stew with a piece of rye bread that I baked in the afternoon, was really nice, filling and not too heavy. It produces an amazing gravy, which I love, so if you are like me, you are in for a treat!

Benefits of kale :  Helps with high cholesterol. It has a very high level of sulphur based compounds, which help to increase cells ability to process and break down potentially cancerous chemicals. There is a long accepted link between the consumption of cruciferous vegetables and reduced risk of cancers ( ex : kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cress, cabbage, bok choi, rocket and many more!)

So remember to top up on this every time you can 😉

Enjoy xx