Mediterranean chicken and pepper bake

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breast, boned and skinned
• 1 large green and 1 large red pepper, cored and seeded
• 1 large onion
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
• 150 ml strong chicken stock
• 300 ml double cream
• grated zest of half a lemon
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• salt and black pepper
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 75 g parmesan cheese, grated

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C/ 300F/ Gas 2
2. Thinly slice peppers and onion. Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a frying-pan and cook the peppers for 5 minutes, until softened. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Remove from the pan.
3. Add remaining olive oil to the pan and heat. Cut chicken into 205 cm/1 in pieces and add to pan. Cook for 5 minutes, until browned. Gradually stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add the herbs and stock. Bring to the boil.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Arrange a layer of peppers and onions in the bottom of a large ovenproof dish.Top with the chicken and peppers.
6. Stir  the cream, lemon zest, egg yolks, salt, pepper and nutmeg together in a bowl and pour over the meat. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake in the oven for 35 mins. Remove from the heat and serve with mix salad, rice or mashed potatoes.

Gravlax – Smoked salmon with sweet mustard sauce

serve 6

2 lb (900 g) fresh salmon

5 tbsp  sugar

5 tbsp  sea salt

black pepper

7 tbsp  dill leaves

1. Remove all the bones with a pliers or tweezers.
2. Cut the salmon in half lengthways.
3. In a small bowl mix together the sugar, salt and black pepper.
4. Rub the mixture over the fish.
5. Place a layer of dill in the bottom of a dish and lay half the salmon, skin side down, on the dill. Cover with more dill and lay the other half the salmon on it skin side up. Coat with the rest of the dill and any of the remaining sugar mixture.
6. Cover  the dish with cling film and a weighted plate. Leave in the fridge for 3 days (36 hours).

Sauce

• 2 tbsp  French mustard
• 1 tbsp  clear honey
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp  white wine vinegar
• 6 tbsp (90ml) olive oil
• 2 tbsp  chopped dill leaves
• salt and black pepper

1. Make the sauce by putting all the ingredients except the oil and dill in a bowl and beating with a whisk. Slowly beat  in the oil and then add chopped dill.
2. Scrape the marinade off salmon. Slice the fresh away from the skin, across the grain, and serve with the sauce and a nice bread.

Curiosity : During the Middle Ages, gravlax was made by fishermen, who salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying in the sand above the high-tide line. The word gravlax come from Scandinavian word “grav”, which literally means “grave”  or “to dig” ( in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch and Estonian), and  “lax”(or laks), which means “salmon”, thus gravlax means “buried salmon”