15 Minute Meals: Golden Chicken and Potato Gratin

As I write this I'm watching the Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood.  How the hell did I go 11 year without seeing this movie?  I mean, Sandra Bullock and Maggie Smith in the same movie?  What's not to like?

Ok, I took some liberties with this recipe.  Not that that's anything new.  I work with what I have, and I avoid certain things....like cream.  Cream is my worst enemy.  But I had some potatoes & fresh herbs that needed using.  This one has only a few ingredients.  I like that.  It tends to mean that my kitchen is not a disaster by the end of it.  But it still doesn't mean that I can do it in 15 minutes.

325.  Golden Chicken, Braised Greens & Potato Gratin (Jamie's 15 Minute Meals, page 48)

RedOnline.co.uk recipe

The chicken is just the usual breast, salt & pepper, with a sprig of rosemary, and flattened on some greaseproof paper.  The star of this meal is the potatoes.  I have always loved scalloped potatoes.  I've done a few versions over the last couple of years....French Baked were by far my favourite.  These are quite similar to that, but they are quicker.  Much quicker.  To accomplish this, you thinly slice the potatoes with the food processor, and cover them with boiling water in a pot.  Then you put the onion through the same processor, and sauté it in a baking pan, with a little oil, on the hob.  Add a chicken stock cube (or, in my case, Knorr concentrated vegetable stock), salt, pepper, and fresh sage (or, in my case, fresh bay).  Once the potatoes are soft, drain them & add them to the pan.  The recipe calls for 100 ml of cream at this point, but I used plain soy milk.  Grate over a bit of parmesan and put this under the broiler to brown.

Keep turning your chicken to get it golden on both sides, and cooked through.  In the meantime, prepare your greens.  Jamie uses baby leeks, baby spinach and frozen peas.  I decided to use up some asparagus, bok choy & snow peas.  Instead of sautéing them, I thought it would be better to boil them.  And lastly, chop up a couple of rashers of smoky bacon and brown them in the pan with the chicken towards the end.  These you can sprinkle over the top for flavour.

 

 

This was a quick, easy meal that I will definitely do again.  Really, no recipe required.  And the potatoes are so flavourful!  Did I mention the potatoes?

 

This post has been linked to the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up at Gastronomical Sovereignty!