Tag: Jamie Oliver

Chicken Paella Recipe

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Paella in Barcelona – Photo by Peter Morton

We had a wonderful meal of chicken paella whilst on holiday in Barcelona.

The dish was so sumptuous that I still think about it today. LOL  I have tried to make my own version and I found Jamie Oliver’s version is a good starting point for a truly delicious Spanish paella.

Below is a Jamie Oliver recipe:

Chicken Paella Recipe

ingredients

• 6 boneless chicken breasts or thighs, preferably free-range or organic, skin on, each quartered
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• plain flour, for dusting
• olive oil
• 100g chorizo, sliced
• 6 slices pancetta or streaky bacon
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 litres hot chicken stock, preferably organic
• 2 large pinches of saffron
• 1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
• 500g paella rice
• small bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped, stalks chopped
• 2 handfuls peas, fresh or frozen
• 10 king prawns
optional: 500g mussels, scrubbed
• optional: 2 small squid, halved and scored

method

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. Season the chicken pieces and dust with flour. Heat a little olive oil in a large deep pan and fry the chicken until golden brown on both sides. Place the pieces on a baking tray and into the oven for 30 minutes.

Put the pan back on the heat. Add the sliced chorizo and pancetta or bacon and fry until browned and crispy. Then add the onion and garlic and cook until soft. Meanwhile infuse half the hot chicken stock with the saffron. Add the smoked paprika, rice and infused stock and leave to cook on a medium heat, stirring from time to time.

After 20 minutes the rice should be nearly cooked. At this point, pour in the rest of the stock along with the peas, prawns, and the mussels and squid if you are using them. Place a lid on the pan and cook for 10 minutes more.

Finally, add the cooked chicken and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley and a wedge of lemon.

Jamie Oliver’s Baked whole Carrots

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Method

  • Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6.
  • Toss your carrots with a good lug of olive oil, a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper, the thyme sprigs and the garlic cloves.
  • Place in a roasting tray or earthenware dish, cover tightly with tin foil and cook for 30 to 40 minutes until just tender.
  • Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes until the carrots have browned and caramelized nicely.

Union Jacks – Jamie Oliver & Chris Bianco’s Restaurant

Blogs REVIEW & RECOMMENDATION

 

The whole gang of Peter (husband), James (son), Stacey (daughter-in-law), Nathan (grandson) and myself went to Jamie Oliver’s Union Jacks restaurant; the one located at 4 central, St Giles Piazza, London WC2. The restaurant is co-owned by an American chef, Chris Bianco.

It was quite a good family experience despite the menu being rather constraint due to non-availability of the grilled items and the fish fingers which was apparently due to being a Bank Holiday. We were therefore restricted to the Bites “starters”, followed by a main course which is really a selection of pizzas.

At first we thought of leaving but decided to stay anyway and made our choices. The bites “starters” were interestingly varied. We had the bloody Mary mussels which were a dish of 8 mussels covered in chillied, tangy, spiced tomato liqueur. We also tried chicken livers over toasted bread. And ordered some spicy sausages with bacon bits drenched in really hot mustard. We enjoyed the starters very much. We also opted to have the only available main course to be served at the same time as the starters and it turned out pretty good. The pizza went well with the starters. The mushroom pizza is to die for. Really mushroomy. The chilli pizza is a must. Very spicy but so addictive. The meaty pork pizza was a delight to the palate. Little Nathan enjoyed his own sausage lolly. He is a picky eater but really loved and tucked in into his sausages served with iceberg lettuce in caesar salad sauce.

The beverages were quite quaint. A tea for one was served in a little tea-pot covered in a lovely colourfully knitted cozy. There was a complimentary old-fashioned tea-strainer to be used to filter out the tea leaves. (no tea-bags used, gasp!!!)

For dessert we had black forest gateaux, cheddar and biscuits from the cheeseboard, arctic roll and a selection of home-made ice-cream.

The food and condiment, sauces, etc were British sourced.

The service was good, very polite and friendly and punctual. We did not have to wait for too long for the food, thank goodness as we were starved.

The toilets are good and clean.

Sweet dinky pin Union Jack motiffed pin-badges were given with the bill which we thought was great fun.

Overall we rate the restaurant, the food and service a good 7-8 stars out of ten. We would certainly go back again we are next in the area at the Tottenham Court Road near Centrepoint building.