It's officially the last week of January (and it's also the first end-of-the-month payday of 2019 this week!), which means it's the perfect time to stock up on ingredients for this week's meals, from a slightly-cheating roast chicken (because who has two hours after work to spend waiting for a full chicken to cook through?) to an indulgent Friday-night curry idea, we've got your perfect winter weeknight meals covered...
Shopping list:
Approx 1kg bone in chicken pieces
Approx 100g crab (white or mixed white and brown)
200g paneer
200ml chicken or veg stock
200g natural yoghurt
1 small celeriac
Watercress
2 onions
1 carrot
2 mild red chillies
4 lemons
1 lime
Garlic
Big bunch coriander
1 aubergine
Pomegranate seeds
2-4 medium sized potatoes
Parsley
3 green chillies
Tiny piece of ginger
Frozen sweetcorn
Capers or jalapenos
Crunchy peanut butter
Pomegranate molasses (this is so worth searching out. Get it in Waitrose)
Pasta of your choice (I used tagliatelle)
Dried oregano
Brown mustard seeds
Garam masala
Hot chilli powder
Turmeric
Ground cumin
Brown lentils
Mayonnaise
Dijon mustard
Olive oil
Rapeseed oil
Monday – Pomegranate, lentil and aubergine stew, 35 mins
This is a tweaked version of Joudie Kalla’s recipe of the same name from the delicious Palestine On A Plate. It’s a tangy, vegan stew that you’ll make time and time again. Great as part of a salad, with rice, or simply by the bowlful as here.
Put 150g lentils into a saucepan with 400ml water and a tablespoon of cumin. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer. Roughly chop the aubergine and add to the pan and cook for 25 minutes. Saute 5 fat cloves of garlic, sliced, in a tablespoon of olive oil until fragrant then add to the pan. Stir in two tablespoons of pomegranate molasses, the juice of a lemon, two thirds of the parsley (chopped), season and serve with the pomegranate seeds, yoghurt and some good flatbread.
Tuesday – Garlic chicken, celeriac remoulade and watercress, 30 mins
Roast chicken is perfectly doable on a busy weekday night, just use pieces instead of a whole bird and serve with simpler, lighter trimmings.
Preheat the oven to 200C and place the chicken in a roasting dish. Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil, then sprinkle generous amounts of salt and pepper over it all. Use your hands to massage the oil and seasoning into the chicken, then add 6-10 whole cloves of unpeeled garlic to the bottom of the dish, covered by the chicken. Roast for 25-20 minutes, turning halfway.
While the chicken is cooking, make the remoulade by mixing the juice of a lemon with three heaped tablespoons of mayonnaise and two heaped tablespoons of yoghurt. Stir in a teaspoon of Dijon, a few sprigs of chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper. Now halve the celeriac, reserving the other half for tomorrow, peel, and then finely chop into matchstick-like slivers – this takes time, annoyingly. Once it’s all prepped, stir into the mayo mix.
Set two pieces of the chicken aside for tomorrow’s stew, then serve the rest of it hot with the roasted garlic (squeeze out from the skins), along with the celeriac remoulade and two thirds of the watercress.
NOTE: Be sure to save any of the roasting juices from the chicken in a pot in the fridge to add to your stew tomorrow. I always think it’s worth roasting extra chicken and stashing it in the fridge or freezer for emergency lunches and dinners.
Wednesday – Colombian chicken stew, 20 mins
This is a sped-up interpretation of a Melissa Hemsley recipe and is perfect winter fayre; hearty and nutritious yet light and full of surprising flavour combinations. It’s addictive.
Roughly chop an onion and fry gently in a tablespoon of oil (or ghee if you have it) in a large saucepan. After five minutes add two crushed garlic cloves and the other half of the celeriac (peeled and chopped) and carrot. Sprinkle in a tablespoon of oregano then add 200ml of stock, bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer for 20 minutes. When the vegetables are soft, add in a couple of handfuls of sweetcorn, the leftover chicken juices and chicken pieces from yesterday and the juice of a lime, then cook for another couple of minutes. Divide into bowls then add handful of chopped coriander, a tablespoon of capers or chopped jalapenos, a sliced red chilli and a dollop of yoghurt to the top of each.
NOTE: Swap the chicken for cooked prawns if you like, or have it with extra toppings and crusty bread.
Thursday – Tagliatelle with crab, chilli and watercress, 15 mins
Boil the tagliatelle according to packet instructions in well salted water. Drain, reserving some of the pasta water then stir in the crab, a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, the chopped remaining watercress and parsley, the juice of a lemon and a sliced red chilli. Stir together, adding a splash of pasta water to achieve a silky light consistency. Season and serve.
NOTE: If you’ve got any white wine or cream hanging around then they can also be put to good use in this recipe; just stir in with the crab but make sure to heat the pan on high if adding wine. Kids love this without the chilli as the crab is so sweet – especially if you add a sprinkling of forbidden cheese. If you don’t eat shellfish, try it with sundried tomatoes.
Friday – Paneer in Gujarati coriander chutney and spicy potatoes, 30 mins
An indulgent meatless Indian recipe that’s fresher and herbier than your usual takeaway curry
Make the chutney by whizzing up the rest of the coriander (hopefully around 100g or so) with a level tablespoon of peanut butter, two or three green chillies, the ginger (grated), the juice of the last lemon, a teaspoon of turmeric and a pinch each of salt and sugar – my Nutribullet coped with this fine. Set aside.
Slice the block of paneer into smallish cubes. Heat a frying pan on high with two tablespoons of rapeseed oil and fry the paneer until there is a golden brown crust on most of the sides. Use a slotted spoon to remove the paneer from the oil and set aside on some kitchen paper to drain.
Now fry the last onion, sliced, in the same oil until brown, adding a few cloves of crushed garlic towards the end to fry for a minute or so. Add the coriander chutney – if you’re struggling to get it all out of the blender you can add a glug of water to loosen it – and cook on low for five minutes. Make the potatoes by dicing them then boiling until soft. Drain, then fry quickly in a teaspoon each of brown mustard seeds, hot chilli powder and garam masala.
Finish by stirring the paneer into the chutney mix and serve together with the potatoes and any leftover yoghurt.
NOTE: Some frozen peas added in with the paneer up the veg content of this dish. You could also make this with tofu or diced chicken thighs.