Claire's Cake Bake & Other Foodiness

It is an impossible task to cook, photograph & blog all at the same time. Especially when Gordon cooks so quickly! But we managed, just about, to keep up with the cooking & here are the very tasty results – even the steak was delicious…

Scallops with a warm tomato & olive salsa

Sirloin Steak with homemade chips & a rocket salad

The rocket dressing was simply 1 part white wine vinegar to 3 parts extra virgin olive oil but it was really, really lovely

And finally Chocolate Mousse

Mmmmmmm. Thanks Gordon.

As part of the ‘bags weekly challenge I decided to cook scallops this weekend. Now this is something I’ve been wanting to try for ages and ages but Mr C is not a fishy man at all but I persuaded him with a starter sized portion and combining it Nigella style with Chorizo. Very quick & simple – I enjoyed it & would love to try scallops again.

For mains I cooked something that was on my To Do list – Spicy Chicken with Aubergine and Naans:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
• 1/2 lime, juice only
• salt and pepper
• 2 chicken breasts, boned, skinned, halved horizontally and flattened slightly
• 1 small aubergine, sliced horizontally into eight
• Natural low fat yoghurt (we used a small pot)
• 1in piece cucumber, diced
• 1/2 tsp mint, chopped
• 4 mini naan breads (or 2 normal sized)
• fresh coriander
• lime wedges to garnish

Method

1. To make the marinade, combine the oil, cumin, ground coriander, ginger, chopped coriander, lime juice, salt and pepper.
2. Pour the marinade over the chicken and chill for 15 minutes (though I left for about an hour)
3. Brush the aubergine with oil, season and grill on both sides until golden.
4. Grill the chicken for about 12 minutes until golden. Slice into pieces.
5. Make the dressing by mixing the yoghurt, cucumber, mint and seasoning.
6. Warm the naan and layer the aubergine, chicken pieces and yoghurt dressing on top.
7. Garnish with coriander and lime wedges (if you remember before you eat!!)

It really was very tasty and something we’ll have again.