Perfect poached chicken

I love poached chicken and it unfairly gets a bad rap.

Nothing too serious, y’know, just basically that it’s tough, boring and tasteless!

Well I, for one, love it and here’s why …

1. It keeps the chicken super-moist and delicious but you do have to cook it on a whispering murmur of a simmer for maybe 20-25 mins (not boil the crap out of it for ten mins). .

2. If you find it tasteless then try adding some flavour! A few slices of onion, a squashed garlic clove, lemon or lime, stock cube ... apparently some people add ‘leftover wine’ but I’m afraid I don’t know what that is.

3. It keeps you looking youthful! True. It’s a much more anti-ageing way of cooking - basically the more you keep hydrated the better so cooking in liquid is way better than dry grilling or frying. .

4. Yes I’m sure it does have an old-fashioned ‘diet cooking’ feel about it but hey times move on and if it was tastes great AND it’s got no added fat, what’s not to love? .

5. I forgot to mention my favourite way to poach and that’s to do so in a mixture of coconut milk and water. OMG. I add rice to the same pan too and all of a sudden you’ve got the most amazing warm salad with soft coconut rice and chicken and then crunchy veg and a super spicy sour dressing. .

5b. If you only used half a tin of coconut milk for the poaching liquid then you can chuck the rest straight into a bath for a beautiful luxurious bath milk soak.

6. It’s so versatile and you can poach enough to last the next day or so two. I love it in a spicy sour salad, in a stir fry, with noodles or as tonight in a simple salad with a mustard vinaigrette and Parmesan shavings.

7. Your dog will demand some too! And why not? It’s as healthy a snack or addition to their food as it is for us. .

Er, I really didn’t know I had so much to say about poached chicken but it seems I do

With flavours in the pan

Simmering softly

Lovely poached chicken salad

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Mango + pineapple red Thai curry

I’ve always had a bit of a thing about not liking fruit in my food … but over the last year or so I’ve been slowly changing my mind.

Last summer, I made - many times - what’s now one of my favourite salads, chicken with watermelon and sweet chilli sauce. It’s so good!

And then I’ve been just experimenting more and more - and now this red curry with chicken, mango and pineapple is another favourite.

It’s so easy to make too, and just feels really special, so a great one to make when you’ve friends round - as I did on Friday for six of us at our book club!

Anything that’s made in one pot is good with me, really.

So, for two, you’ll need:

cooked rice - cook and then leave with a lid on to keep warm so it’s ready to go

a little coconut oil or vegetable oil

a good red curry paste - I get mine from my local Thai supermarket

one chicken breast, cut into small pieces

a tin of coconut milk (I always use the full-fat one, I don’t think the ‘light’ versions work as well)

one big slice of pineapple, core removed and cut into bite-sized pieces

1/4-1/2 mango, depending on size peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

some vegetables - I had mushrooms, peppers, carrot and cherry tomatoes, all cut into small pieces

fish sauce

two spring onions, chopped, and a handful for baby spinach leaves if liked and you have it

Thai sweet basil or chopped fresh coriander leaves if you can’t get the basil

1/2 lime

Get everything prepared and ready to go, then put a saucepan on a medium heat and add the oil.

Add a tablespoon or walnut-sized amount of red curry paste and stir into the oil for a few seconds until you can just start to smell it release its fragrance.

Then add the chicken and a splash of water if needed and stir to seal the meat.

Tip in the coconut milk, stirring, and bring to the boil.

Add the fruit and vegetables (but not the spring onions, spinach or herbs) and cook on a medium boil for six minutes.

Next add a good dash of fish sauce and add the spring onions and spinach if using and cook for another minute or two.

Throw in the herbs, squeeze in the lime juice, remove from heat and stir to combine everything.

That’s it! Serve with the cooked rice and just enjoy this lovely nurturing, warming curry.

These below are just more photos fro when I made this again as I used broccoli this time and just wanted to show that it’s so easy to adapt to whatever you have.

I also like the photo of the ingredients as I really like that the meat is just another ingredient in this dish - there’s about the same amount of chicken as there is of some of the other additions.

I hope you like this one!

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Ruth's Homemade Chunky Guacamole

Whenever I talk to someone about food and life for this blog, I always ask them to share a recipe too ... and I honestly couldn't wait to try this one shared with me by my friend and huge inspiration to me ... Ruth Ridgeway.

For some unknown reason, I've never had a good guacamole recipe and now when I think about it, that seems really strange - I love all the flavours in this and I adore avocado.

But sometimes, maybe, perhaps  .... the reason I've never had a good one before because one day I would have this one.

And this one is my idea of perfection when it comes to guacamole.

Also, pretty much perfection in other ways.

In it's beautiful simplicity ... every ingredient is exactly what is needed and results in a big flavour, easily.

I also love those baby avocados now available - and just as well as now this seems to be a staple part of my diet - I don't want to be using half an avocado and having the other half go brown (no matter what I do, or tips I follow, it seems to still happen).

I've already made this twice in the last 24 hours!

Once to go with a griddled steak and some stir fried vegetables, which was amazing.

And then to top a piece of toasted ciabatta - with an egg on top of that, which was pretty much SUBLIME - and one of the best breakfast/brunches I've had for a long time.

I love this recipe ... I know you will too.

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“I just love things on a good slice of wholemeal toast - and this homemade guacamole is one of them ... preferably with a crispy fried egg too”

— Ruth Ridgeway

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To serve 2, you'll need:

1 avocado

1 tomato (flesh only) chopped into small cubes

A little red onion (or spring onions, either work) diced into small cubes

1/2 finely chopped red chilli

A little salt, a little pepper

Squeeze of lime (I used a good half a lime as I like it very lime-y!)

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Put everything in a bowl and mash with a fork until mixed but chunky.

Serve, eat, enjoy.

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But those avocado skins!  What to do with them?

I hate food waste and I love natural beauty ingredients, so the avocado skins went straight into my bath - yep, just as they are.

OK, it IS messy, there's no hiding from that, but I turn them kind of inside out and rub all that leftover flesh, full of gorgeous avocado oil, onto my knees, elbows, all over my skin, then soak in the bath with the pieces of avocado.

You'll need to pick the pieces out and clean the bath straight away but it does give you very soft skin - it's so good for you! 

There's something about using natural ingredients that just makes me feel really good too - as well as getting that deliciously soft skin of course.

Oh and I added a couple of drops of my favourite lime essential oil too - just to kinda recreate the guacamole essence in my bath :) 

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