WeightWatchers Chicken Basque

This a great one-pot meal which can feed a whole family. It's actually a WeightWatchers recipe as it's fairly low in fat if you use skinless boneless chicken breasts or thighs - I used thighs for this recipe so it's good value as well. If you left the chorizo out it would be lower in fat but wouldn't taste as good!

According to the recipe which I found in an old WeightWatchers magazine, this has 9 and a half points per person. It involved scattering olives and orange slices over the top at the end which I didn't do, so I have left these out of the recipe.

To serve 4, you need:
8 skinless boneless chicken thighs
low fat cooking spray
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, cut into thin wedges
2 red peppers, de-seeded and sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
75g chorizo sausage, skinned and sliced
50g semi-dried tomatoes (I used sun-dried, drained of oil on kitchen paper)
175g brown basmati rice
1 chicken stock cube, mixed with 225ml water
125ml dry white wine
1 tbsp. tomato puree
1/2 tsp paprika
2 tsp chopped fresh parsley

 

Season the chicken. Use an oven proof dish that can also go on the hob if you have one, and spray with low fat cooking spray. Brown the chicken on both sides - alternatively you can do this in a frying pan. Heat the olive oil in the casserole dish or frying pan and brown the onion and peppers, then after about 5 minutes add the garlic, chorizo and tomatoes.

Preheat the oven to 180C. If you're using a frying pan, at this point transfer the ingredients into the casserole dish. Stir in the rice until it's coated in oil then add the stock, wine, tomato puree and paprika. Put the chicken on top, making sure the rice is still covered by liquid, and put the lid on top.

Bake in the oven for about an hour until the rice has cooked and the liquid absorbed and the chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with parsley to serve.

One-Pot Cheeseburger Chilli

I wanted to make spaghetti Bolognese for dinner but realised I’d run out of spaghetti, so instead of just using a different shape of pasta I decided to try out this recipe for “cheeseburger chilli”. It’s basically minced beef in a tomato sauce, served with pasta and topped with cheese. The chilli element comes from adding chopped red chilli and red kidney beans – I thought I had a tin in the cupboard but it turned out to be black eyed beans. I don’t really like those (it’s mainly the texture – I don’t eat baked beans either) so I pulsed them in a blender together with the passata to make a healthier tomato sauce with hidden veg. Both red kidney beans and black eyed beans are meant to be good to eat if you have high blood pressure, which I do, so that's another bonus.

 

The other thing about this recipe that stood out was the way that the pasta is cooked. This is a one-pot meal where you fry the mince and then add the pasta and water into the same pan. I used a bit too much water so it didn’t all get absorbed and I had to drain a little away, and I was worried that I was draining some of the flavour out of the meat, but it tasted really good. If you’re looking for a hearty, healthy meal that won’t mean a lot of washing up then I recommend you try this!
 

 

 

To serve two, you need:

half an onion, peeled and chopped

1 chilli or 1-2 tsp Very Lazy chopped chilli, to taste (err on the side of caution if you don't like it too hot!)

2 tbsp. olive oil or 1 tsp coconut oil which is what I used

300-400g minced beef depending on how big an appetite you have

100-150g pasta like penne or macaroni, ditto

300g passata

150g black eyed beans or red kidney beans (the latter is preferable)

2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

50g grated cheese like Cheddar or Emmental plus extra to sprinkle on top if you like

 

If using a whole chilli, carefully remove the stalk and seeds and chop it finely. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion, chilli and mince until the mince has browned.

 

If you don't like the texture of the beans (or have children who won't eat it if they see them) then pulse in a blender with the passata and add to the mince. Or if you have more grown up tastes than I do, add the passata and beans straight into the pan. Season with salt and pepper.

 

 

Then - and this is the part I found weird - add the pasta to the pan and enough water to cover the pasta. Simmer until the pasta is cooked - you may have to drain off a bit of water. Finally stir in the cheese, and serve topped with fresh herbs and a sprinkling of cheese if you like.