Sweet Spiced Chicken with Cous Cous Tabouleh and Homegrown Salad

30 minute, no fuss dinner!

Apologies for the long delay since my last post - I have been lucky enough to have been on holiday in Verona. It was unbelievably glorious and scorchingly hot. I had so much incredible Italian food: fresh basil linguine, spinach gnocchi, tortelli di zucca (delicious spiced pumpkin stuffed tortellini from Mantua) as well as beautifully thin pizzas, gelati and Valpolicella wine. Have I been rubbing it in too much?!

Okay, okay, I will now show you my first dinner since getting back from Italy. When we were away, we had very little meat and so I really fancied something light but meaty for our first meal back as well as something far away from the classic Italian flavours, as tasty as they are.

Ingredients (serves 2): Sticky Chicken

2 x chicken thighs cut in half then scored with a sharp knife

Small glug of oil (not olive oil - I used rapeseed)

1 tblsp spicy mango chutney

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground corriander

A pinch of ginger

A pinch of cinnamon

A pinch of ground chilli

Salt and Pepper

Method: Sticky chicken

Place all the ingredients in a bowl for as long as you can up to 30 minutes before you want to eat. Make sure the marinade oozes really nicely into the scores you've made in the skin.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and then cook for 30 minutes. Check it's cooked then leave to rest with foil whilst you prepare the tabouleh.

Ingredients (serves 2): Cous Cous Tabouleh

2 x small handfuls cous cous

Boiling hot water

1/4 red onion very finely chopped

2 rosy tomatoes cut into cubes

Handful of parsley (*SHOW OFF ALERT* Mine was from my little herb basket)

Drizzle of olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Method: Cous Cous Tabouleh

Put the cous cous in a heat-proof bowl and cover with 1cm of boiling water. Place the lid on top and leave for a few minutes. 

Chop up the onion, tomatoes and parsley and add to the bowl once all the water has been absorbed.

'Fluff up' the cous cous with a fork and mix in the olive oil and seasoning.

Ingredients: Homegrown Salad

'Cut and come again lettuce'

Homegrown pink radishes

Cider vinegar

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

*SHOW OFF ALERT No. 2*

Here are some pictures of my little homegrown lettuce leaves and radishes which I dote on and speak to on most days. It is one of the most rewarding things to 'grow your own' and if I can do it with a tiny bit of window-sill space in my flat, then anyone can.