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Four Budget Chicken Recipes That The Family Will Love – From Noodle Soup To Stew

CHICKEN dinners are always a family favourite and with these four recipes from chef Miguel Barclay you are definitely on to a winner.

The Sun on Sunday chef, who is responsible for the #OnePoundMeals social and has written a series of One Pound Meal cookbooks, believes no one should be spending more than a quid per head on a meal.

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Chicken and noodles is a tried and tested combination you can't go wrong withCredit: Dan Jones © Headline 2017

Today he shares four budget recipes that are guaranteed to perk up your poultry . . . 

Chicken noodle soup

MIGUEL says: "This is a speedy way to feel good. A bowl of chicken noodle soup is just what the doctor ordered!

"Here, I have added another One Pound Meals shortcut and cooked the noodles in the same pan as the chicken, as this adds flavour to the broth and saves on washing up."

TO MAKE ONE PORTION:

1 chicken thigh, deboned

2 spring onions, halved

½ carrot

200ml water

1 chicken stock cube

1 sheet of dried egg noodles

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

METHOD:

Season the chicken thigh with salt and pepper and pan-fry it skin-side down in a splash of olive oil over a medium heat for eight minutes, until the skin is crispy.

Flip the chicken and cook for a further eight minutes, until cooked through then set it aside.

Add three of the spring onion halves to the same pan (saving the rest for garnish) and peel strips from the carrot, adding them to the pan too.

Fry for two minutes until softened then add the water and crumble in the stock cube.

Bring to the boil and reduce heat to a simmer, then add the noodles and cook according to packet instructions. Once noodles are cooked, transfer them to a bowl with the vegetables and some stock.

Cut chicken into pieces at an angle, and place them on top of the noodles. Chop the remaining spring onion half and garnish.

Churrasco burger

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Miguel recreated hisown peri-peri-inspired chicken burgerCredit: Dan Jones © Headline 2017

MIGUEL says: "This classic peri-peri-inspired chicken burger was a huge favourite at a high street food chain until one day they took it off the menu.

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"This news made headlines! So, I simply had to recreate it for everyone to enjoy once more."

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TO MAKE ONE PORTION

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 chicken thigh, deboned

1 spring onion, thinly sliced

1 small wedge of red cabbage, shredded

½ carrot, cut into matchsticks

2 tbsp creme fraiche

1 bun

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

METHOD:

Mix half the paprika in a bowl with a glug of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Add the chicken and coat it in the spiced oil, then fry it slowly, skin-side down, in a dry pan over a low-medium heat for 10-12 minutes, taking care not to burn the paprika. Turn it over and cook for a further 10-12 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Meanwhile, make a coleslaw. Combine the sliced spring onion, shredded cabbage and carrot matchsticks in a bowl with half the creme fraiche and add a pinch of salt and pepper.

To make the piri piri mayo, mix the remaining creme fraiche with the rest of the paprika.

Assemble the burger by cutting the bun open, spreading the piri piri mayo on the bottom half, placing the chicken on top and finally adding the coleslaw before topping with the other half of the bun.

Chicken & chickpea stew

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There is a secret way to make this tasty chicken and chickpea stewCredit: Dan Jones © Headline 2017

MIGUEL says: "The quicker the stew, the fresher and more vibrant it is. So, this is my fast and fresh take on a classic.

"Pan-frying the chicken separately brings the cooking time in at under 20 minutes, and also allows the dish to be presented in an elegant stack to show off each ingredient to its fullest."

TO MAKE ONE PORTION:

1 chicken thigh, deboned

¼ onion, sliced

1 garlic clove, sliced

200g chickpeas (from a 400g tin), drained

200g chopped tomatoes (from a 400g tin)

2 tsp smoked paprika

Small handful of spinach

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

METHOD:

Season the chicken thigh well with salt and pepper and pan-fry it skin-side down in a splash of olive oil over a medium heat for eight minutes until the skin is crispy. Turn the chicken over and cook for a further eight minutes.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan, fry the sliced onion over medium heat in olive oil for two minutes, then add the garlic.

Just before the garlic starts to brown, add the chickpeas and tomatoes, season well with salt & pepper, then stir in the paprika.

Simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce is reduced. Once the chicken is cooked, spoon the chickpea stew into a shallow bowl, add a pile of spinach and top the spinach with the chicken thigh.

Finish with a little drizzle of olive oil and some cracked black pepper.

Spring chicken

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This easy to make spring chicken recipe will give you a liftCredit: Dan Jones © Headline 2017

MIGUEL says: "This truly is spring on a plate!

"Gorgeous crispy-skinned chicken cooked simply with just salt and pepper, on a bed of bright and vivid al dente spring vegetables in a chicken broth."

TO MAKE ONE PORTION:

1 chicken thigh, de-boned

½ carrot, cut into strips

2 spring onions, roughly chopped

1 tsp plain flour

½ chicken stock cube

200ml water

Handful of frozen broad beans

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Read more on the Irish Sun

METHOD:

Season the chicken thigh with salt and pepper and pan-fry it skin-side down in a splash of olive oil over a medium heat for eight minutes until the skin is crispy.

Flip the chicken and cook for eight more minutes then set it aside. Add the carrots and spring onions to the same pan and fry for a couple of minutes, then stir in the flour.

Crumble in the stock cube and add the water, stirring continuously to ensure the stock cube dissolves.

Season, simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the frozen broad beans and continue to simmer for a few minutes until the carrots are cooked but still firm.

Serve the vegetables and chicken broth in a bowl with the crispy-skinned thigh on top and cracked black pepper to garnish.

Annabel Langbein's Winter Recipes: Green Goodness Risotto, Chicken Tagine, And Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

Warm up this winter with comforting recipes like Annabel Langbein's fragrant chicken tagine. Photo / Annabel Langbein Media

At this time of year, the sun doesn't reach our little studio until around 11am. That is if it does actually appear. The ghastly inversion (Wānaka's dark winter secret), which drapes the landscape in its icy grey pall, usually arrives around this time of year. From the top of the Crown range it can be a perfect bluebird day without a cloud in the sky. Down the valley it looks like the countryside is covered in a fluffy cottonwool blanket. As you descend under the blanket, a glacial grey cold envelopes you and everything around you in a biting damp chill. Last year it lasted for a full month. No sun from dawn to dusk.

There's only one thing for it, and that's to light the fire and get the stockpot on. A big brew of soup or a hearty winter stew are about the only things that can dispel the cold and warm you up.

Whenever I roast a chicken, I'll freeze the leftover carcass, and then, when I have about 2 or 3 bags of bones, I make a big pot of chicken stock, adding in the green ends of leeks, organic carrot peelings, organic onion skins, a couple of bay leaves and a teaspoon of black peppercorns. I don't any salt until I am ready to use it, as the stock boils for a couple of hours and reduces to a stock that jellies on cooling, so you can end up with a broth that's way too salty.

Having a container of this rich, jellied stock in the fridge or freezer is the quickest way to a tasty noodle bowl, soothing risotto or flavoursome stew that I know of.

Fish stock I'm less of a fan of. I'll save up prawn heads and shells in the freezer to make a prawn stock as this will elevate a seafood risotto or a pasta seafood dish in a way that nothing else can. But stock made with fish heads and bones ... Well, that is another matter. Some fish do not make for a good stock.

Monkfish is one such species (perhaps not surprising really when you consider that grotesque lumpy head). Ling, as I have had the recent misfortune to discover, is another. Just the other day, a friend dropped off a massive bucket of ling heads from a huge polystyrene box she had thawing in the back of her car. I didn't want to seem ungrateful and so accepted her fishy-smelling gift (just how long had those heads been thawing?) and set to making a huge pot of stock.

A heavy intrusive stench gradually filled the studio. It wasn't off like ammonia, just unbelievably stinky. This appalling smell lingered for days, it was as if it had stuck, like wallpaper glue, to the walls. I should have dug a hole and buried the lot there and then but no, that stock is now taking up space in my freezer in neatly labelled plastic containers. It seems wasteful to throw it out, but I very much doubt that I'm ever going to use it. Maybe it's like a stinky cheese and will taste really good (or make my risotto taste really good) but I am not game enough to try. Just the thought of heating it up and having that smell in my house again has me gagging. I'll stick with making chicken stock, thanks. It's even good in a fish soup or seafood risotto.

Ready in 45 mins

Serves 4

3 tbsp butter or neutral oil

2 onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1½ cups risotto rice

½ cup white wine

6 cups hot vegetable stock, plus a little extra if necessary

1 tsp salt

ground black pepper, to taste

120g bag (4 handfuls) baby spinach leaves

2 cups thawed frozen peas

1 cup grated parmesan

Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Herb oil (or use pesto thinned with a little oil)

1/2 tightly packed cup parsley watercress or rocket

3-4 tbsp olive oil

pinch salt

Garnish microgreens, pea tendrils and/or rocket or chive flowers, to garnish (optional)

Heat butter or oil in a deep, heavy-based pot, add onions and garlic and cook over a medium heat until softened but not browned (8 minutes).

Add rice and stir for 1-2 minutes to lightly toast. Add wine and allow to evaporate fully, then add hot stock, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Simmer gently, stirring now and then, until rice is creamy and just tender (about 18 minutes). If the mixture dries out during cooking add a little more stock or water – it should be wet enough to fall from the spoon.

While the rice is cooking, make herb oil by pureeing herbs with oil and salt, add a little water if needed to thin to a pouring consistency. Put to one side

Place spinach and 1½ cups of the peas in a bowl, cover with boiling water and allow to stand for 2 minutes. (Reserve rest of peas for garnish.) Drain, transfer to a food processor and puree, or use a hand wand mixer to puree in the bowl.

Add the vegetable puree to the risotto with reserved peas, parmesan, lemon zest and juice, adjust seasonings to taste and stir over heat until fully heated through. Divide between heated serving bowls and top with a drizzle of herb oil and microgreens, pea tendrils and/or edible flowers, if desired.

Fragrant Chicken Tagine

Serve this delicious chicken tagine with Israeli couscous tossed with lemon juice, chopped coriander or mint and some chopped roasted almonds.

Ready in 1¼ hours

Serves 5-6

1⁄4 cup currants, mixed with 2 tbsp sherry

10-12 skinless chicken thighs, bone in or 16-18 drumsticks

1⁄2 cup plain flour or rice flour

salt and ground black pepper

1 tsp paprika

about 5 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, finely diced

2 bulbs fennel, halved, cored, and finely sliced

4 cloves garlic, finely diced

400g can cherry tomatoes

3 cups chicken stock

1 strip each lemon and orange peel

1 cinnamon quill

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground ginger

16 threads saffron

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1-2 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

2 tsp honey

1⁄2 cup green olives

If cooking in oven, preheat to 200C. Mix sherry with currants and leave to stand while you prepare the chicken and sauce. Place chicken thighs (or drums) a few pieces at a time in a bag with flour, salt, pepper and paprika. Shake to coat. Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan and brown chicken in batches, adding more oil as needed. Place chicken in a single layer in a tagine dish, baking dish or pot and set aside.

To make the sauce, heat another 2 tbsp olive oil in the pan you have used for browning, add onions and fennel cook over a medium heat, stirring often, until softened and just starting to caramelise (about 10 minutes). Add garlic and cook for a further 30-40 seconds to aroma without browning. Add tomatoes, stock, lemon and orange peel, currants in sherry, cinnamon, cumin, ginger, saffron, chilli flakes, fresh chillies and honey. Bring to a simmer and stir well to lift pan brownings. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Pour sauce over chicken. Scatter olives around olives and bake, covered, in oven for 1 hour or simmer gently for 45 minutes on stovetop. Remove cinnamon quill and lemon and orange peels before serving.

This tagine can be stored in the fridge for up to 48 hours or frozen. To serve, bring back to room temperature and then reheat in a 180C oven until fully heated through (20-30 minutes).

Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

You have only to watch the chefs at an Asian takeaway to know how quickly a good noodle soup can be prepared. The better your stock, the better your soup will be. In this recipe, I poach the chicken in a flavoursome broth (usually a day before I plan to serve the soup), then take out and shred the chicken meat and reduce the stock. If you want to eat this in a hurry use a good-quality chicken stock as your base with the star anise, peppercorns and lime leaves, and simmer 3-4 thinly sliced chicken breasts in this for 5-6 minutes before adding bok choy. Add extra vegetables such as sliced mushrooms, thinly sliced broccoli and sliced capsicums as desired, in with ginger and spring onion whites.

Ready in 30 minutes

Serves 6

Base Stock

1 small chicken

12 cups water

2 whole star anise

1 tbsp peppercorns

2 double makrut lime leaves

Soup

250g packet 1cm-wide rice noodles (narrow pad thai noodles)

2 tbsp coarsely grated or shredded fresh ginger

4-5 spring onions, green and white parts separately finely sliced lengthwise

2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tsp fish sauce, or more to taste

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp chilli oil, or more to taste

4-6 heads bok choy, quartered lengthwise or ¼ head Wong bok cabbage, shredded

To serve

1 cup bean sprouts

1 cup coriander leaves

½ cup Crispy Shallots

To make stock and cook the chicken, place chicken in a large pot with 12 cups water, star anise, peppercorns and makrut lime leaves. Bring to a simmer, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface. Simmer for 15 minutes then leave to cool in the cooking liquid. Remove chicken, reserving cooking liquid in the pot. Bring the liquid back to a boil and cook until it is reduced to 2 litres (20-30 minutes depending on size of your pot). Strain, discarding solids. If not using stock at once, chill, it will keep for 4-5 days or can be frozen.

When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the flesh and discard the bones, fat and skin. Halve breasts lengthwise and thinly slice, shred the thigh and body meat. Put this to one side (cover and chill in fridge if not using within a couple of hours, it will keep for 4 days).

To make soup, place noodles in a large bowl, cover with boiling water and allow to soak for 10 minutes. While noodles are soaking, place chicken stock and ginger in a large pot with the white parts of the spring onions and bring to a boil. Add the oyster sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and chilli oil, bring back to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. If the chicken has been chilled, add to the pot and bring back to a simmer, then add sliced bok choy or cabbage and simmer just until wilted but still with a little bite (1½-2 minutes). Adjust fish sauce and chilli oil to taste. You may need to add a little salt.

Divide drained noodles between 6 large serving bowls and divide the chicken, vegetables and soup over the top. Top with spring onion greens, bean sprouts, coriander leaves and crispy shallots and serve immediately.

Fast Recipes For Any Forecast

Here in the northeast, the weather has been all over the place: sunny and summery one day, chilly and bleak the next. This makes a couple of things difficult. First, convincing my tween that she needs a jacket on a 50-degree day when she wore shorts the day before, and second, planning meals in advance.

This explains how I ended up feeding my poor, sweaty family steaming bowls of white chicken chili on an 84-degree day, when we all would have preferred something like grilled huli huli chicken tucked alongside a cool cucumber salad. (We happily ate chili leftovers over rice the next day, when the temperature dipped yet again.) Since the weather shows no signs of stabilizing any time soon, here's a handful of recipes that you can shop for now and cook come rain, sun or (please no) snow.

1. Shrimp Pasta

Lidey Heuck subs shrimp for clams in this weeknight riff on vongole rosso, a classic Italian pasta dish of clams, tomatoes, garlic and white wine. You can use fresh or frozen shrimp; just defrost fully and pat dry with a paper towel before adding them in Step 2.

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