Tag Archives: Quick

Chicken, Rocket & Pasta Bake recipe

Leave a reply

Chicken & Rocket Pasta Bake

You know those days when you get home from work late, you’ve had an ordinary day, and the last thing in the world you want to do is muck around in the kitchen for an hour or so slaving over a hot oven? Yeah, I hate those days too. Instead of ducking out and getting some junk food or some other type of take away I like to run through my list of 15 minutes or less recipes.

This Chicken, Rocket & Pasta Bake recipe is a relatively new one in my arsenal, in fact I’ve only made it once! But, it was pretty damn good so I figured I would share it with you anyway.

chicken-pasta-bake.jpg

Ok your ingredients for this Chicken, Rocket & Pasta Bake recipe are;

  • 250gm Angel Hair Spaghetti (half pack)
  • 500gm Chicken Mince (you could also use beef)
  • 1 Brown Onion (medium sized), finely sliced
  • 2 Tbs Tomato Paste
  • 500gm Pasta Sauce
  • Hand full of fresh Rocket (you could also use Baby Spinach)
  • 4 or 5 fresh Basil leaves, finely chopped
  • 1 cup of Mozzarella Cheese, grated
  • Parmesan Cheese, shaved or finely grated
  • Splash of Olive Oil

First up get a big pot of water on the boil to cook the pasta. Angel Hair Spaghetti is really thin and will only take about 2 minutes to cook. Once it’s cooked, drain it and set aside.

Put a splash of Olive Oil in a frying pan, I used a wok, and fry off the onions till they are translucent. Once the onions are clear add in the Chicken Mince and cook till it’s lightly browned.

Chicken & Rocket Pasta Bake

Now that the mince is browned add in the Tomato Paste, give it a good mix around and let it cook for about a minute, then add in the jar of Pasta Sauce.

Chicken & Rocket Pasta Bake

Add in the basil now, cook for another minute and then the first stage is done.

Chicken & Rocket Pasta Bake

Back to the already cooked Angel Hair Pasta. Put the drained pasta into a baking dish, splash a small amount of Olive Oil over it so that it doesn’t stick together too much, now add the handful of Rocket (or Spinach).

Chicken & Rocket Pasta Bake Chicken & Rocket Pasta Bake

Pour over the cooked Chicken Mince and spread it out so that it covers the Angel Hair Spaghetti and Rocket, once that’s done spread the grated Mozzarella Cheese, and then the Parmesan Cheese all over the top of the mince mixture.

Chicken & Rocket Pasta Bake

Put the Chicken, Rocket & Pasta Bake into the oven for about 15 minutes, at 200 degree’s C, or until the top starts to brown.

Serve it up with some Garlic Bread, a green salad, and a nice Cabernet Sauvignon. Lovely!

Looking for more of my world famous recipes, then head over to the recipes archive!

Garlic King Prawn Recipe

2 Replies

Garlic Prawns

Here’s a really quick and simple, and amazingly tasty recipe for Garlic King Prawns. It’s almost so simple that I don’t even need to give you instructions, but I will anyway coz I’m nice like that.

Garlic Prawns

Ok, the ingredients for this Garlic King Prawn recipe are;

  • Fresh King Prawns, raw (1/2 kg serves 2 people)
  • 5 cloves of Garlic
  • 3 small Chillies
  • Olive Oil (try for virgin, or extra virgin)

First thing you’ll need to do is shell and devein the prawns, try and leave the tails on as well as they present better on the plate. Make sure you give them a good wash afterward, and pat them dry with some kitchen towel.

Thinly slice your garlic and chillies, once completed you’ll need a big, heavy based, pan or wok. Put some oil in the pan / wok about 1 cm deep, or enough to cover most of a prawns width.

Garlic Prawns

Put the sliced garlic and chillies into the oil and heat it up slowly. The idea here is that you’re not trying to cook the garlic and chilies, you’re trying to infuse their flavour into the oil. If the oil starts to bubble away like it’s frying then the heat is up too high, lower it just a bit.

Give the garlic and chilli about 7–10 minutes in the oil before adding the King Prawns.

Garlic Prawns

Place them in the oil, careful not to splash the oil on yourself!

Once all the Prawns are in you can turn the heat up a bit, we want to get some colour on the King Prawns.

The King Prawns should only take a couple of minutes to cook all the way through, you’ll know when they are cooked because they go a nice pink colour.

Garlic Prawns

Now that your King Prawns are finished cooking it’s time to plate up. I like to keep this one really simple so that the Garlic King Prawns are the star of the show, a handful of mixed lettuce lightly dressed, and some nice crusty bread.

Serve it with a crisp white wine and that’s about it. Enjoy!

Looking for more of my world famous recipes, then head over to the recipes archive!

Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops recipe

Leave a reply

Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops

Here’s a quick recipe I started playing around with over the weekend. These Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops with Grilled Asparagus are incredibly easy to make, and incredibly tasty! So let’s get straight into it!

Ingredient wise you’ll need;

  • Medium to Large Scallops
  • Slices of Prosciutto (1 for every 2 Scallops, ie. 4 Scallops = 2 Prosciutto Slices)
  • Fresh Asparagus (3-4 per person)
  • Balsamic Vinegar
  • Pinch of Sea Salt

First things first, slice up the Prosciutto so that they are a similar width to the Scallops. Wrap the Prosciutto around the Scallop, if you’ve got large Scallops you can do it around the sides instead of over the top and bottom, and then secure them with either a skewer or a toothpick.

Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops

Once you’ve prepped all of the Scallops it’s time to start cooking them. I’m using a wok in these photos, you can also do them on the BBQ, or in a griddle. They only take about 2 minutes on each side, though it will depend on the size of your Scallops.

Don’t over cook them! Maybe do a test cook first to get the timing right!

Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops

Ok, onto the Asparagus. First up you need to trim the woody part off of the ends of the Asparagus. Once they are all ready put a splash of oil in a fry pad, or griddle, and once it has heated up chuck the Asparagus in.

Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops

You need to keep the Asparagus moving, you don’t want it to stick and burn on any one part. After about 20-30 seconds splash in a good slurp of Balsamic Vinegar and a pinch of Sea Salt.

Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops

Give the Asparagus another 10 to 20 seconds, moving them around the pan so they don’t stick.

Now you’re ready to plate up.

Place 3-4 Asparagus Spears down on a plate, then place 3-4 of the Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops on top and make sure you take out the toothpicks or skewers first!

This makes a great entree, serve it up with either a crisp white wine like a Sauvignon Blanc or even an Unwooded Chardonnay. Now go eat and enjoy!

Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops

Looking for more of my world famous recipes, then head over to the recipes archive!

Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

1 Reply

Terriyaki Chicken

Another really quick and simple dish for tonight, and it will totally ‘wow’ anyone you cook it for as it’s so flavourful! It’s not a proper Japanese, just a Mat version that is quite similar to the Teriyaki Chicken at Melbourne’s Edoya Japanese Restaurant on Russell Street, Melbourne.

Terriyaki Chicken

So here’s you ingredients list, most of which you should be able to pick up in your local grocery store and bottle shop. Oh and this will serve 2 people by itself, or 4 if you make another dish as well.

  • 4 Chicken thigh fillets
  • 3 teaspoons of sugar
  • 1/4 cup (2fl oz) Sake
  • 1/4 cup (2fl oz) Mirin
  • 1/3 cup Light Soy Sauce
  • Sesame Seeds
  • Spring Onions
  • Sesame Oil (for frying)

Terriyaki Chicken

Pat the fillets dry on some absorbent kitchen paper, trim off the excess fat if you’re worried about it, then season it well with some salt and pepper. Put a little splash in a griddle or frying pan and let it heat right up, we want it close to smoking when we put the chicken in!

Terriyaki Chicken

Fry the chicken till it’s really sealed and brown. It needs to be nice and crisp on the outside, but tender in the middle. So be sure not to overcook it!

Terriyaki Chicken

While the chicken is finishing up cooking it’s time to organise the sauce. Mix in the Sugar with the Sake, Mirin and Light Soy Sauce. Give it a really good stir so that you dissolve the sugar.

By about now the chicken should be finished up, if it is then take it off of the heat and put the fillets on some absorbent kitchen paper to drain off the excess oil. Don’t get rid of the pan as we’re going to deglaze it with the sauce and there’s plenty of flavour there that we don’t want to waste!

Terriyaki Chicken

While the chicken thighs are resting, put the sauce in the pan you used for cooking the chicken and get it back on the heat. Don’t let it boil over, and make sure you give it a bit of a stir so that you get all that flavour from the chicken into the sauce. Once it starts to boil, drop the heat right down low and let it simmer for a minute or two.

Terriyaki Chicken

While the sauce is finishing up, chop up the spring onions for the garnish.

Terriyaki Chicken

The chicken should’ve had enough time to relax, slice it up into bite-size strips and place it on a nice serving plate. Once it’s all on the plate take the sauce off of the heat and spoon, not pour, it over the chicken making. Sprinkle some shallots and sesame seeds on top and voila, Chicken Teriyaki is done!

Serve with some Jasmine rice, I like the microwave packs from Sun Rice because they taste great, they’re ready in 90 seconds, there’s no mess to clean up, and it’s pretty damn hard to wreck it.

Looking for more of my world famous recipes, then head over to the recipes archive!