LOVE cooking but hate the washing up? This week’s recipes are hassle-free one-pot wonders – all you’ll need is one dish and a few basic cupboard ingredients.
Whether you’re hosting a dinner party or just prepping some lunches for the week, both dishes are super-delicious and easy to make. Roast chicken with herbs is a crowd-pleaser - a delectably juicy dish smothered in herbs and spices – while the crab fried rice is a lovely alternative dish if you want to experiment with savoury foods.
Both are great for family mealtimes and perfect for introducing some spice and flavour to children’s diets.
ROAST CHICKEN WITH HERBS
1 large chicken, butterflied approx. 1.8kg in weight
1 bunch basil
6 sprigs flat leaf parsley
1 pinch cumin
1 clove of garlic, removed from skin
1 red onion, removed from skin
90ml olive oil
Salt and black pepper
Place the herbs, onion, spices and oil in a blender and blitz to a chunky paste. Using your hands, slide the paste between the skin and the meat of the chicken, keeping the skin intact. Rub the paste all over the bird, season with the salt and pepper and place in a roasting dish. Cover in cling film and place in the fridge for a couple of hours.
When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180C. Take the roasting dish from the fridge and place on the hob. Remove the cling film, then turn on the heat to seal the chicken. Once brown, remove from the hob and place in the oven for 30 minutes, then turn over and cook skin side up for another 30 minutes.
Throughout the cooking process drizzle with the oils from the roasting dish to keep the chicken moist.
To check the chicken is fully cooked, pierce the meat with a knife – if the juices run clear then take out of the oven. Cover in tinfoil and leave to rest. Best served with roast potatoes and greens.
CRAB FRIED RICE
175g jasmine rice, steam cooked
4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 egg, beaten
100g picked crab meat
1 small onion, diced fine
½ carrot, peeled and diced fine
2 spring onions, chopped
1 small tomato, deseeded and chopped
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
Small bunch of coriander, destalked and chopped
1 lime, halved for garnish
Place the jasmine rice in a bamboo steamer over a pot of boiling water and cook until tender. (To avoid the rice sticking to the bamboo, line the steamer with a square of greaseproof paper.)
Place the vegetable oil in a wok and heat, adding the garlic, for half a minute. Then add the beaten egg and rice and stir vigorously. Add in the diced onion, chopped spring onion, chopped tomato and diced carrot stir fry for two minutes, mixing well.
Add the sauces and sugar and continue to cook for another minute, ensuring the bottom of the pan doesn't burn. Add the crab and warm through.
To serve, portion onto a serving dish, garnish with the coriander and serve with a wedge of lime to juice before eating. Alternatively, garnish with chopped chilli.
