Grilled Orange Garlic Chicken, with Orange Broccoli

You will need

• chicken tenderloins
• 3 garlic cloves
• sea salt
• 1/4 cup chopped basil leaves
• zest of one orange
• oil
• one head of broccoli
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• juice from orange
• 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• handful peanuts

Directions for chicken

1. Crush garlic cloves with the blade of a knife, peel and roughly chop.
2. Sprinkle chopped cloves with a pinch of sea salt and then grind with side of knife until garlic moistens and begins forming a paste.
3. Combine garlic with basil, orange zest and oil in a bowl.
4. Place chicken in bowl and ensure it is covered with marinade. Leave for 30 minutes.
5. Grill chicken on hot grill pan, until fully cooked.

Directions for broccoli

1. Chop broccoli into florets.
2. In a bowl, combine broccoli florets with sesame oil, orange juice and sweet chilli sauce.
3. Lay flat in one layer in a roasting pan and roast for 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees celsius.
4. Remove from oven and sprinkle peanuts over broccoli, then put dish back in oven and roast for 5 more minutes.

Serve with roast vegetables and pita breads.

I'm not a fan of cream, so in the past this would have lead me to foolishly pass over recipes requiring cream, when really it's the flavour of straight cream that I don't like. My aversion to cream as an ingredient has fallen away thanks to Nigella's Tarragon Chicken from Kitchen.

Tarragon Chicken with Garlic Roasted Broccoli

adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe in Kitchen

For the tarragon chicken you will need:

• olive for frying
• 2 spring onions thinly sliced
• 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 tsp salt
• slightly less than 1/2 cup cream
• 1 tsp dried tarragon

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a casserole dish with a lid and then fry spring onions and 1/2 tsp dried tarragon for a minute or so.
2. While that fries, remove any visible fat from the chicken breasts and use the flat side of the knife to bash the breasts to thin them out.
3. Put the chicken into the pan and cook for 5 minutes without turning. You want them to develop a bit of a golden tinge.
4. Turn over the breasts and add the white wine. Let it bubble up and then add the salt.
5. Put the lid on and leave to simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
6. Remove the chicken breasts and set aside.
7. Bring the liquid to the boil, add the cream and more dried tarragon, and stir until thickened.
8. At this point I add the chicken back to the casserole and coat it in the sauce, but you could just pour it over the top as Nigella does.

For the Garlic Roasted Broccoli you will need:

• 1 head of broccoli, washed
• 3 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

1. Chop the broccoli into bite sized pieces, discarding the stalk.
2. In a casserole dish, combine the broccoli, garlic, sugar and oil. I do this with my hands, making sure the broccoli is thoroughly coated.
3. Roast in a 180 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until broccoli is slightly blackened on the ends and is slightly crispy.

The sugar combined with the garlic gives the broccoli a savoury caramelised flavour, which complements the creamy chicken nicely.

Yesterday's dinner was Once Upon a Chef's Asian Slaw with Ginger-Peanut Dressing with sliced minute steak. I used white vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar and didn't add carrots or coriander. It reminded me of the Little Tokyo salad at the Food Truck Garage. It was such a hot day yesterday I wanted something cool and crunchy for dinner. Shelby, however, heated his up. Boys.

The leftover salad accompanied tonight's dinner.

Silver Fern Lamb Steaks with Yoghurt Marinade

Adapted from a Silver Fern Farms recipe.

• 2 lamb steaks
• zest and juice of a lemon
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 125 g natural yoghurt (small individual pottle)
• olive oil for frying

Serve with:

• store bought garlic bread
• Asian Slaw with Ginger-Peanut Dressing

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except lamb steaks in a bowl.
2. Immerse steaks in the marinade liquid, leave for 15 minutes.
3. Wipe excess marinade from steaks and fry in a hot pan. The recipe recommends 4 minutes a side, but I would go for longer.
4. Remove steaks from pan and set aside. Add the marinade to the pan and let it bubble up.
5. Slice the steaks across the grain. At this point I realised they weren't as cooked as I would have liked them to be (preference for medium/well done meat rather than medium/rare) so added the slices in with the marinade, but otherwise just drizzle the thickened marinade over the steak slices.
6. Serve with thick wedges of garlic bread and leftover coleslaw.

Yesterday I went to Taste of Auckland for the first time. It was a nice way to spend a warm Saturday evening in the sun. After trying various samples (some more than once...) we purchased some of the standouts: Garlic & Herb Marinated Feta from Top Shelf, two packets of haloumi cheese from The Collective Dairy, turkish bread from Wild Wheat, and Divinity Olive Oil. We didn't purchase any crowns (the festival currency) so didn't try any of the restaurant meals. There were actually enough samples so that we didn't need to eat dinner that night, but next year I will definitely get some crowns to try restaurant meals and drinks. One thing that intrigued me was the number of stalls selling alcohol spiders (beer and cider), which is something I'm curious to try.

Honey Roast Chicken Breast with Haloumi and Broccoli

You will need:

• 2 chicken breasts
• haloumi cheese
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• dried thyme
• lemon zest
• 1 onion cut into quarters

Directions:

1. Cut the chicken breasts in half so that you have 4 portions and place them in a roasting dish
2. Cut four slices of haloumi from the block (as thick or thin as you want - I went for about half a cm thickness, wanting to save the rest of the block because it's just that good) and drape across each piece of chicken.
3. Grate lemon zest over the top of chicken and haloumi
4. In a microwaveable mug, put olive oil and honey. Olive oil first, because it will lubricate your spoon so that you can get the honey off more easily. Microwave this for 10 seconds and mix together.
5. Pour honey and oil over top of chicken.
6. Sprinkle with thyme.
7. Place onion quarters in the center of the dish, in between pieces of chicken.
8. Bake in a 180 degree celsius oven for approximately 20 minutes.
9. When the chicken is just about cooked, take it out and with a pastry brush or a spoon, spread the pan juices over top of the meat.

The salty haloumi is really boosted by the sweet honey sauce. I served this salty-sweet roast with boiled broccoli sprinkled with lemon juice and shaved almonds, and the last of our turkish bread with the deliciously sharp Top Shelf feta spread on top.