Jamie's Tray-Baked Chicken with Creamed Spinach

By Chris,

Main ingredients:

• 6x Chicken breasts
• Maris Piper potatoes
• 400g Baby Spinach
• Garlic, Parmesan and Streaky Bacon

Ahh chicken and bacon, what a timeless combination! This recipe is a great use for a really good quality chicken breast, and a great way to introduce people to spinach - in the least healthy way possible... Many of Jamie's 30-Minute Meals are heavily reliant on herbs, but this one is worse than most, with four herbs employed, not to mention two spices and plenty of garlic.

Start off by boiling about a kilo of washed and diced potatoes, then fry a fistful of spring onions in olive oil. To the onions add three cloves of garlic, some thyme leaves, butter, nutmeg and a splash of boiling water. Next up, roll the chicken breasts in salt, pepper, olive oil, oregano and paprika, then fry in butter for two minutes on each side to seal in the juices. While these are going, wilt the spinach down in the pan with the onions.

Next up the chicken is moved to a baking tray, then lined with steaky bacon, and four lemon quarters are stuffed in, along with some rosemary and cherry tomatoes (which I forgot, d'oh!). The whole thing is then grilled at 200 degrees (gas mark six) for 14 minutes. Once the spinach has wilted down, pour on cream and grate over a decent helping of parmesan to make a nice gloopy sauce. Finally, dry off the potatoes by frying them in a pan for a few minutes with garlic, salt and rosemary.

This is one of the fiddlier 30-Minute Meals I've done so far, which took 45 minutes in total, but the potatoes, and chicken came out perfect and the spinach is tempting enough to turn even the most ardent veggiephobe into Popeye. 

Without the tomatoes (which will make a cracking salad tomorrow) it all came to a fairly reasonable £2.50 a head, including a bonus sixth chicken breast for everyone to fight over.

Best for... Using up all the frozen herbs in your freezer and introducing people to spinach

Taken from... Jamie Oliver - 30-Minute Meals

Helen says... Not spectacular but pretty tasty - and the timings made sure the chicken was perfectly cooked

Hugh's Chicken and Mushroom Casserole with Cider

By Helen

Main Ingredients:

• Chicken legs
• Dry cider
• Mushrooms
• Cream
• English Mustard

"This rich and warming dish is perfect to serve in autumn, perhaps with mushrooms you've gathered yourself." Or, if you don't fancy risking kidney failure, plain old button mushrooms will do, it turned out. A relatively simple recipe this week, with plenty of time to sort out some vegetables while the chicken was cooking.

The chicken legs were coated in seasoned flour and browned in a pan, then moved to the casserole along with a bottle of cider, chopped, sweated mushrooms, bay and thyme. This took care of itself for an hour and a half before the juices were reduced with double cream and a little mustard.

Although mine looked a little wetter (and less effectively browned) than the picture in the book, it did mean the chicken was lovely and moist and basically fell off the bone. With some potatoes to mash into the sauce and something green on the side this was pretty satisfying, although a more adventurous choice of mushrooms might have complemented the cider better.

Not a spectacular meal by any standards but a good use for chicken legs - other than the usual curry - and only £2.25 a head including all vegetables.

Best for... Comforting a friend who has to go back to work tomorrow

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day

Chris says... Pretty straightforward and even suited a mushroom wimp like me!

Hugh's Honey Wholemeal Cake with Almonds

By Chris

Main Ingredients:

• Ground and flaked almonds
• Wholemeal flour
• Runny honey
• Eggs, butter and caster sugar

While Hugh is well known for his complicated main courses, this pudding was surprisingly simple. A basic cake mix was fancied up with some wholemeal flour, some extra baking powder for added fluffiness and plenty of almonds. 

I discovered how good ground almonds are in baking, thanks to Jamie's frangipane tart, and they were chucked in with the mixture here. I creamed together 75g of butter with 60g of caster sugar, then added one egg and 30g of wholemeal flour. 30g of ground almonds and 30g of sieved wholemeal flour was then folded in with half a teaspoon of baking powder. Flaked almonds were then sprinkled on the top for a bit of crunch.

Hugh's recipe feeds ten and takes 45 minutes at 170 degrees, but I divided it by four and it was done in around 25 minutes. A generous drizzle of honey and some double cream finished it off and there was enough to feed four easily, although double quantities would have probably come out taller and more cake-like. Very simple, rewarding and, at roughly 30p a head, a bargain.

Best for... A hassle-free treat, any day of the week. 

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day

Helen says... Simple, comforting and delicious.