PixieCooks

This is a recipe that I’ve taught D how to cook, and it seemed like a plan to include it here. It’s incredibly simple but very tasty and easy to scale up for larger numbers; it makes a great dish for casual entertaining if you serve it with a large leafy salad and some good crusty bread. It also reheats pretty well if you want to keep some back for lunch the next day – box it up with the cheese already on it and just nuke for a couple of minutes.

serves 2 hungry people
Ingredients

• 150g (or a generous 1/2 cup) Pancetta (or dry cure bacon) cubed
• 2 Medium onions, diced
• 2tsp dried basil*
• 2tsp dried oregano
• 400g/14oz tin of tomatoes (chopped is fine, if they’re whole either break them up with the spoon in the pan or blitz them first)
• 2tsp crushed garlic or garlic puree
• 2tsp tomato puree
• Enough pasta for 2
• Fresh parmesan to taste (if not, any hard cheese can be grated (shredded) on top)

Method
Gently brown off the pancetta in a little olive oil.

Add the onions and gently sauté.

Once the onions are translucent and just beginning to colour, add the herbs, garlic, tomatoes and tomato puree and simmer very gently, stirring regularly until the sauce thickens.

Whilst the sauce is thickening, cook the pasta according to the instructions, drain and then stir in the tomato sauce.

Serve in a shallow bowl with a grating of Parmesan cheese on top. Goes well with green beans (if it’s chilly outside) or a leafy salad.

*Or fresh, use twice the amount and add it later in the cooking process

I’ve had a bag of breadcrumbs burning a hole in my freezer for almost a month now, and when D came round late on Saturday afternoon it seemed like time for a cooking lesson combined with a craving for something coated in breadcrumbs was too good a coincidence to waste*.

(*I’m aware that, as coincidences go, this is a rubbish coincidence, but it’s also entirely how my brain works and it’s probably just better to be happy for me.)

I’ve had Veal Parmigiana several times at our good local Italian and I like it very much and I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to make a version with chicken.

Serves 4, or one and one D
Ingredients

• 3 Chicken Breasts, butterflied and battered out to 1cm/ 1/2″ thick (or 6 breast fillets, battered evenly thick, or 6 chicken thighs, deskinned and deboned, battered out to 1cm 1/2″ thick)
• Breadcrumbs equivalent to 3 slices of bread (more is not a bad thing)
• 1 Egg, beaten and seasoned
• 1 Cup plain (AP) flour
• 2 medium onions, diced small
• 400g/14oz tin/can of tomatoes, blitzed to smooth (or equivalent of passata)
• 2 Tbsp dried basil*
• 1 tbsp dried coriander (cilantro) leaves
• 4 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 pack (6 slices) dry-cure bacon (or Prosciutto , something with a bit of salt/smoke and not too much fat or water)
• 1 pack mozzarella (around 125g/5oz) sliced and well drained if wet
• Enough pasta for 4

(* it’s february, in Scotland. Fresh herbs come here to die, but if you’ve got them use about double the quantity, well chopped, and add them closer to the end of cooking)

Method
Pre-heat over to 200C (180C fan assisted/400f/Gas Mark 6)

Prepare a baking tray for the chicken (the breadcrumbs can be sticky, so either non-stick, silicone lined or lined with very lightly oiled foil).

Put the flour, seasoned egg and breadcrumbs out on 3 flat (dinner) plates.

Taking one piece of chicken at a time, lightly coat each piece in flour (tap off the excess), coat in egg (drip off the excess) and coat in breadcrumbs (press on gently then tap off the excess) and lay in the baking tray

Cook in oven for 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes.

During the cooking time prepare the tomato sauce and start the pasta so it finishes 5 minutes after the chicken’s oven time is over.

Soften the onions gently, so they become translucent and smell yummy, but don’t start to brown.

Add the dried herbs, tomatoes and tomato puree, stir in and cook gently over a low heat until it becomes thick and delicious (this suace can be reheated, or kept in the warm pan for up to 20minutes).

Take the chicken out of the oven and turn over so the “best side” (where the majority of the breadcrumbs have stayed on and browned) is on the bottom, then place the sliced mozzarella evenly over the chicken and cover with the bacon. Put under a medium-high grill (broiler, if you’re in the US) until the bacon is cooked and browning (5-10minutes).

Drain the pasta and combine with the tomato sauce, warming through if required.

Serve the pasta gently draped over the top of the chicken.