Oven-baked chicken with orange, watercress and olive salad
Serves: 4
Cooking time: 20 mins
Preparation time: 15 mins
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 4 oranges (or blood oranges if you can get them)
- 2tbsp Seville orange juice or lemon juice
- 1tsp grainy mustard
- 3tsp honey or Seville orange marmalade
- 1tsp balsamic vinegar
- 80g watercress
- 24 black olives
- ½ cucumber, seeds taken out and sliced
- Handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6. Season the chicken breasts with
salt and leave for a few minutes. Warm the olive oil in an ovenproof frying
pan over a high heat. Once hot, place the chicken breasts in the pan,
skin-side down, and cook for 4 minutes, until the skin turns golden. Turn
them over and cook for a further 3 minutes. Pop the pan in the oven.
While the chicken is continuing to cook, prepare the salad. Peel the oranges
over a bowl and, using a small paring knife, cut into segments and set
aside. Collect the juice and squeeze any remaining juice from the skin, then
set aside. To make the dressing, mix the Seville orange juice or lemon
juice, mustard, honey or marmalade, and balsamic vinegar in a jam jar.
Then toss the watercress, black olives, cucumber slices and parsley with half
of the dressing in a large bowl. Divide the salad and the orange segments
between four plates.
Once the chicken is cooked (after about 7-10 minutes), take the pan out of the
oven, remove the meat and allow it to rest on a plate for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, place the pan on a high heat and pour in the orange juice you set
aside earlier. Reduce the liquid by two thirds, then combine it with the
remaining dressing.
Slice the chicken into large chunks and arrange on the plates. Pour a little
dressing over each and season with a few twists of freshly ground black
pepper. Serve immediately.
- FYI Seville oranges are more tart than regular oranges, making them ideal for
cooking and they’re traditionally used in marmalade. You can spot them
by their thick, dimpled skin.
Nutritional information: 354 calories, 14g fat
Steamed white fish and vegetable paper parcels
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Ingredients
- 2tsp olive oil
- 2 small red onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, bashed and minced
- 1 small carrot, julienned (cut into thin strips)
- 2 small courgettes, halved and thinly sliced
- 60g mangetout, cut lengthways
- Salt and white pepper
- 1tsp balsamic vinegar
- 4 cod or haddock slices (about 150g each)
- 10g butter
- Zest of ½ lemon
- 1 lemon, sliced
- A small handful of parsley, roughly chopped
Equipment
- 4 sheets baking or greaseproof paper (30x30cm)
- 4 skewers or cooking string
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6. Heat the oil in a medium-sized pan
and fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes, until lightly cooked. Add
the carrots, courgettes and mangetout, and fry for 1 minute. Season with
salt and pepper and add the balsamic vinegar.
Stir gently and set aside to cool slightly.
Spread out the baking paper on a work surface and divide the stir-fried
vegetables between the four sheets. Place the fish on top of the vegetables,
season with a little salt and pepper, and divide the butter, lemon zest,
lemon slices and chopped parsley evenly between the parcels. Fold over the
paper to enclose the fish and vegetables, then fold the edges over twice and
secure with with skewers or cooking string.
Place the parcels on a metal baking sheet and cook in the oven for between
20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Serve immediately.
Nutritional information: 165 calories, 5g fat
