Rob has been working hard for the money this week. Late nights and away in Syds so I have spent the nights dealing with sick kids and watching whatever takes my fancy, which is mostly cooking shows. I stumbled across Jamie’s 15 min dinners and gave it a quick look. While the repetitive music of Neneh Cherry’s Buffalo Stance drives me a bit batty I love the concept of quick, easy, tasty dinners that can be whipped up in 15 mins. I’ll say this though: Jamie uses a gazillion pans and everything is pre-heated, boiled and ready to go so it’s more like 20-27 minute dinners for normal people.
I caught this recipe and it appealed to me because it was so simple. Chicken. Chinese 5 spice. Noodle salad. This is stuff I have in my pantry/fridge and it was a welcome break from the normal fortnightly menu rut that I inevitably get stuck in. Tasty dinner in about 20 mins, different to what I would usually have? Done! Original recipe can be found here.
Jamie Oliver’s Sticky Kicking Chicken (stupid name don’t know what it means)
4 chicken thigh fillets
Salt & peppers
Chicken 5 spice powder
Olive oil for frying
Rice Salad (this is not at all like the original recipe)
Vermicelli rice noodles
Mint, coriander
Cucumber
Carrot
Shallots
Toasted almonds
Dressing: Olive oil, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce
: First up you take a long sheet of baking paper and sprinkle straight onto it a decent amount of chinese 5 spice powder, salt and pepps
: Whack the chicken thighs onto the spices, salt and pepper the top of it and turn over to coat both sides
: Fold the excess baking paper over the top of it and give the chicken a good whack with a rolling pin (or something hard). This tenderises the meat and squashes it down to make it a quicker cooking time
: Whack your rice noodles into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them sit for a minute or so, pulling apart with tongs as you go and then drain
: Take about a third of the drained, cooked noodles and whack them into a hot dry fry pan. These get crunchy and are a different texture for the salad – a contrast if you will!
: Get your fry pan HOT, throw in a drizzle of olive oil and cook the chicken for a good couple of minutes each side until cooked. Let those spices crisp up and cause a crunchy outside to the chicken. The more you whack them at the start, the quicker this will be
: For the salad I basically just looked at the bottom of the fridge and used what was in there: some carrot which I peeled into ribbons, some cucumber cut into chunks, some shallots slices, some coriander and mint leaves pulled off and then the crunchy noodles on top (just wait for those to go a little brown – about the same time as it will take to cook the chicken, maybe a little less)
: The dressing was basically just the Chang noodle dressing – some soy, olive oil, sugar, vinegar and sesame oil and I had some toasted nuts in the cupboard that I whacked on as well. Different textures make a salad go from ho hum to shit hot.
: Serve a couple of fillets with some salad and you have a delicious dinner. I would even carve that chicken into strips and whack it through the salad. I think Jamie added some sweet chilli sauce and sesame seeds to his (neither of which I did because I forgot)
It’s SO good to try something else for a change…choose something next week and make it OK? I promise to too!
What’s your go to Thursday night dinner?
Yeah! 15 min my arse! He is full of the talk that Jamie.
Our Thursday night dinner is thai takeaway.
Have you seen Kylie Kwongs My China cook book.
Its great, I’ve learnt how to cook chinese with a few basic ingredients: sesame oil, brown rice vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, shao sing cooking wine. Its a brilliant book, my gospel!
I don’t have that book…might ask for it from Santa.
That does sound tasty Beth, alas my kids wouldn’t eat it though. Tonight we had rump steak, baby potatoes with a big dollop of sour cream, mushrooms, corn on the cob and a green salad. Delish!
Doesn’t mean you can’t have it through right? I made the girls schnitzel to go with the salad because I knew they wouldn’t eat it either.
Whether it takes 15 mins or not, I love that he gets people excited and in the kitchen and using fresh ingredients. Even if it takes 25-30 mins, that’s still a quick mid week dinner, and they are all pretty healthy and mostly use ingredients you can get at the supermarket. I hear he started the 15 min meals as people were taking an hour or so to do his 30 min meals, so he could see that wasn’t really working the way he intended. He cops a lot of flak does Jamie, but I think he’s great. Might give this a whirl myself, love the Beth spin you’ve put on it x
Oh I absolutely agree that he is a dead set LEGEND. What he has done for teaching people about food is truly amazing. I am a HUGE fan of Jamie! It’s very tasty and so easy – give it a go!
I made the Jamie 15 minute pork tacos tonight – fabulous!!! try them!!
Sounds bloody delicious!
Looks good – maybe the chicken is ‘kicking’ because you use thighs and not breast meat (thighs are so much tastier). I’m always making something new and my husband often has to request for old favourites. Recipes for your perusal can be found at my blog http://www.goodfoodweek.blogspot.com
I think you might be right! Thanks for the link to your blog, I’ll be sure to check it out.
I love Donna Hay’s “No Time To Cook”. It’s my weeknight go to cookbook. I do love a bit Jamie though.
I’ll have to check it out…sounds like me…no time to cook during the week!
Gorgeousness! Thursday night we tend to go for pasta or pizza. Quick and small one can help me in the kitchen. Is it possible that you photos are even more gorgeous that his? C:
Ha! Thank you for saying so, I’ll take it x
Looks low on effort, high on flavour, my kind of food – yummy. “Kicking” is London slang speak for good innit
I’m addicted to Jamie’s recipes. I don’t even try to make them in the time he suggests though! But they always taste great and always work. Love his new show too with his mate. Great fun!
Thankyou in advance for making me look good in the kitchen again Beth!