Recipe : Chicken Caesar Salad - Vegetarian Option Included

Since I've been busy studying, these Gousto meals are a God send. I don't have to plan a menu or shop for ingredients with a menu in mind. I just go online, check what recipes for the week appeal and order the pack from Gousto.

They come home well packaged, even if I'm not home when the package arrives, its well packed in a woolen mat to maintain temperature for a couple of hours, which the cat adores (I think she looks forward to the opening of the Gousto box with much more enthusiasm than I do)

If you want to make this a vegetarian salad, just drop the chicken.

If you want you can add crisp croutons or grilled halloumi to make the dish more filling.

While potatoes aren't traditional in a Caesar Salad, Gousto added it to this box as the carb component.

Most caesar salad dressings also include anchovies, but this recipe did not.

Ingredients:

400 gms potatoes - peeled and cubed

4 cloves garlic - peel and chop fine

4 boneless chicken thighs with skin (if you can't find boneless thighs with skin, Make sure you oil the chicken breasts well before baking to prevent drying out.)

1 tbsp white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

4 tbsp mayonnaise

10g fresh chives finely chopped (or 1 spring onion)

40g Italian Hard cheese like Parmesan

1 small gem lettuce

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / 400F / Gas 6

Take a large baking tray, spread the potato and garlic on it.

Place the chicken thighs skin side up on top of the potato mix.

Drizzle with 1-2 tbsp olive oil and season with salt & pepper

Put in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the chicken skins are crisp.

In a large bowl, combine the vinegar, mayonnaise and 1-2 tbsp olive oil.

Add the chopped chives, season with salt and pepper and mix well.

Shave a few shavings off the cheese with a veg peeler and keep aside for garnish.

Grate the rest of the cheese and mix into the dressing.

Separate the gem lettuce leaves from the base and discard the root. Tear the leaves roughly and add to the bowl. Mix well.

When the chicken is done, transfer the crispy chicken thighs to a chopping board and slice in strips.

Let the potatoes cool slightly.

Add, potatoes, garlic and half the chicken into the bowl and mix well.

Serve the salad topped with the remaining chicken and the cheese shavings.

Recipe : Chicken Mole, Coriander Rice & Onion Raita.

I was always curious as to what a Mole (stew cooked with chocolate) would taste like, so when Gousto had this on the weekly menu, I quickly added it to my list.

Ingredients:

1 red onion
2 chicken breast fillets
a knob of butter (1-2 tbsp)
2/3 cup fragrant basmati rice (150gms)
1 chicken stock cube
15g 70% dark chocolate coarsely chopped
3 tsp creamy peanut butter
1 tsp jeera / cumin powder
1 tbsp rich tomato paste (tomato sauce is a passable substitute)
2 tbsp smokey chipotle paste
1 tomato diced
1 lime
150g yoghurt/curd
10g fresh coriander finely chopped
Salt
Sugar
Vegetable oil

Method :

Peel the onion and slice a few rings off it (as finely as you can)

Separate the onion rings, place them in a bowl of cold water and set aside for garnish

Gousto Tip: the cold water removes some of the harsh flavour from the raw onion

Dice the remaining onion

Kim's tip : If you do not like the taste of raw onion, make onion raita. Dice the whole onion. Mix half the onion into the yoghurt with a pinch of salt and set aside for serving

Boil a kettle of water

Rice :
Add the rice, 350ml hot water to a pot with a lid over a high heat and bring to the boil

Once boiling, reduce the heat to very low and cook, covered, for 10-15 min or until all the water has absorbed and the rice is cooked

Once cooked, remove from the heat and keep covered until serving.


Chicken :
Heat a large, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick with a matching lid) with 1 tbsp vegetable oil, add the chicken with a pinch of salt and cook for 3 min on each side until golden and slightly undercooked.

Remove chicken from pan and set aside.


Mole Sauce :
Return the pan to a low heat, add a knob of butter and the diced onion with a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar and cook until soft.

Dissolve the stock cube in 300ml hot water, add the chopped chocolate and peanut butter and whisk to combine - this is your chocolate stock.

Add the cumin and tomato paste to the softened onion and cook for 1 min

Add the chipotle paste, diced tomato and chocolate stock

Whisk to combine and bring to the boil over a medium-high heat - this is your mole sauce

 
Assembly :
Transfer the chicken into the mole sauce and cook, covered, for 5 min or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened

Shred the cooked chicken while in the pan (use a knife and fork or 2 forks)

Fluff the cooked rice and squeeze the juice of half the lime into it and mix in the coriander

Cut the remaining lime into wedges

Serve the chicken mole over the rice

Garnish with the drained onion rings, a big dollop of Greek yoghurt (or onion raita) and the lime wedges