Lemon-Lime Cream Chicken with Tagliatelle

"When it rains it pours", that old saying it true for many things including new recipes. (While I am writing this, it is actually raining heavily!)
I needed to do a quick dish,  as we had an appointment around Tea Time, so Pasta came to mind.  I wanted to be able to prepare something in advance and the rest could be done while the Pasta, in this case, Tagliatelle were cooking.
As Better Half is not keen on Pasta, I try to make the "Sauce" with ingredients he likes,
but I wanted to please myself and visiting eldest Granddaughter as well. I decided that the usual suspects were out, aka Bolognese, Carbonara, green Pesto etc.

The following is what I thought  would fit all our tastes.

The Ingredients

Ingredients

2 big free range Chicken Breast, cubed
1 large sweet red pepper, chopped
1 medium oninon, chopped
1 lemon
1 lime
250 ml fresh cream
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp chili flakes( or more if you like chili)
150 ml chicken stock
Oil for frying (preferably rapeseed oil)

Method

1 Cut the chicken into cube size pieces, smaller rather than bigger and fry in the pan until they are cooked.
2. Add the onion pieces and pepper pieces

3. Add the chicken stock and simmer gently
4. Grate the lemon and lime and add to the mixture
5. Add the juice of half a lemon and half a lime
6. Add the cream and bring to the boil.
7. Season the mixture with salt, pepper and chili

At this stage you can stop the cooking and leave it until you want to use it later.  If you want the peppers to be crunchy. Fry them on their own in a little oil and only add them when you heat the mixture up.

All ingredients simmering gently

I served the "sauce" with Tagliatelle, but you can of course use any Pasta. I think though it suits larger Pasta better. We also had a mixed green salad as a side! (optional)

The finished result!

Warm chicken Salad

Warm Chicken Salad

A firm and long time favourite in the family. I created this particular recipe when a friend shared the recipe for the marinade with me, it was so easy to remember and I had all the ingredients in the house.
The idea of the salad came during exam time, when proper food was called for, but it had to be light, and yet nourishing and it had to be appealing to the eye. Needless to say we eat it now at all times!

Prep. Time: 30 Min

Cooking time: 10 min

Ingredients (for 4 people)

1 head of lettuce or the same equivalent of different salad leaves

1/2 half a red or yellow pepper per person

1 tomato per person

some onion rings/ spring onions per person

cucumber slices(optional) or radishes

2 Tbsp grated carrots per person

fresh button mushrooms thinly sliced (optional)

50 g pine nuts (preferably not grown in China)

1/2 large chicken breast per person
some oil for frying

• Note: I use 3 chicken breast for 4 persons, if  you want to have just a little bit more

• Note 2:  you can vary the vegetables according to season, the peppers are a must.

• Note 3: instead of pine nuts, you can use sunflowers seeds and/or blanched almons

Marinade

1/3 cup   good Rapeseed or Sunflower oil or Olive oil

1/3 cup  Balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup light Soya sauce

1/3 cup Port/Sherry (preferably Port)

Mix all the ingredients together until you have a sirupy consistency

Method

1  Cut the chicken into thin strips about 2-3 (1") cm long

2. Put the chicken into the marinade and leave in the fridge for a minimum of 20 min

3. Prepare vegetables, wash and cut
4. Arrange lettuce/salad leaves on individual plates, garnish with the tomatoes and other vegetables
5. Fry peppers in a little oil, not longer than a minute or two, they should still be crispy
6. Roast the pine nuts ( be careful they brown very quickly)
7. Fry the marinated chicken pieces in a little oil until they are brown
8. Lift the chicken pieces out of the pan, keep warm
9. Add leftover marinade to pain and bring quickly to the boil, take immediately of the heat after boiling up.
10. Arrange chicken and peppers on plate pour the juice from the pan over the meat
11. Sprinkle the pine nuts ( sunflowers seeds etc) over the salad and serve with fresh bread or garlic bread

Extra: If you want to have more salad dressing, simply mix 3 Tbsp of oil of your choice, 1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbsp Portwine, salt and pepper to taste

* Vegetarian version of the salad: Use 150 gr fresh mushrooms per person, cut into quarters, marinade like the chicken pieces and continue as above