Egg, bacon and mushroom fried rice

When hunger strikes and you don't feel like spending loads of time cooking, this is a great cheating meal for 2. It makes a great brunch. I use some ready prepared ingredients that we always have in the fridge or cupboard, plus other basic stores from the fridge.

Ingredients

1 pack of ready cubed pancetta/bacon bits 1 large Spring onion, finely sliced 1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped 1 large chestnut mushroom, roughly chopped 1 packet of ready cooked basmati rice 2 free range eggs, lightly whisked with a fork chopped fresh coriander (optional)

Method

Use a nonstick frying pan on a medium heat, pop in the bacon and frazzle until browning, add the spring onions and garlic and continue cooking for another minute, add the mushroom, cook for another minute. Add the rice, break down with a wooden spoon and fry for another 2 minutes. Scrape the rice to the edges and add the egg to the middle, keep stirring and start mixing in with the rice, continue cooking until all cooked and mixed in. If you like coriander, add this now and continue stirring in to rice. Serve You don't need any oil in the pan or salt as the bacon has enough of each.

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Chicken with white wine and tomatoes

Sometimes the simplest recipes are the most tasty.
It was a beautiful day yesterday, really hot and my kitchen was toasty and too warm to cook for long prepping/cooking session. I wanted to make dinner as easy as possible and to only use the minimum of cooking equipment. This was one evening when I cooked from the heart. I popped baby new potatoes, broccoli stems and green beans into the electric steamer, switched on and then started the protein part of dinner.

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs (skin on)
1/2 large spanish onion, finely sliced
4 tomatoes, cut into eighths (halve, then quarter those halves)
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 glass white wine
Salt and pepper

Method

(Tip - I've recently been treated to a Le Creuset non-stick casserole which I use for this, it has a lid).

I gently heated my casserole pan (you will need a lid eventually). I put the chicken thighs into the pan, skin side down, no oil needed as the pan I use is non-stick. I left the chicken to brown, then turned them over to brown on the other side. Push the chicken together as much as you can and pop the onions in. There should be enough fat released from the chicken to cook the onions until they start to brown. Add the fresh thyme sprigs to the pan and the tomatoes, add a few grinds of salt and black pepper, then splash over the white wine. Pop on the lid and turn down to a simmer.

Turn the chicken over after 15 minutes.
Continue to cook for about 30 minutes in total, check that the chicken is cooked by cutting into the biggest thigh in the pan, just through to the bone, if there is no sign of pink juices, the chicken is cooked.
Serve with the steamed veg.

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