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 Overnight Home Cured Bacon Chops

By Chris

Main Ingredients:

• 4x Pork chops
• Carrots, butternut squash and potatoes
• Leeks and cabbage
• Salt, pepper, sugar, juniper berries and bay leaves

This is the first recipe in a while that I got properly excited about and it turned out to be one of the best yet. As an avid fan of bacon, the name of this recipe jumped out at me as a challenge that had to be accepted and, overnight curing aside, this was quite straightforward.

Four normal pork chops were cured in a mixture that was 2/3 salt and 1/3 sugar. Shredded bay leaves, crushed juniper berries and ground black pepper was added for a bit of variety, but little of that was noticeable at the end. After roughly 24 hours in the fridge, the salt had drawn much of moisture out of the chops and it was washed off.

The chops were then grilled for six minutes on each side and served with three-root mash and some lovely buttery greens, as suggested. I was initially worried that the chops would be too dry without gravy, and bought a jar of wholegrain mustard to accompany the chops. We didn't even open it, and I'm a massive fan of mustard.

This has to go down as one of the tastiest and most satisfying meals I've done so far, with the tangy, salty pork being perfectly complimented by the sweet mash, which was topped with nutmeg (a seemingly left-field suggestion, which really paid off). 

At £2.36 a head, this was very reasonable, and I'd say you can leave out the juniper berries if you don't already have them and you won't miss much. 

If you've got the time to do it, I definitely recommend giving this a try - Like bacon? You'll love this!

Best for... Bacon lovers who are willing to try something a little different.

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

Helen says... Really tasty, not too fussy and worth all the effort

Jamie's Sausage Cassoulet with Warm Broccoli Salad

By Chris
Main Ingredients:

• Chipolatas
• Streaky bacon
• Haricot and butter beans
• Tender stem broccoli
• Passata, sage and rosemary

This may not have been the most picturesque Jamie meal so far, but it definitely didn't disappoint in the taste department. I was quite keen to give cassoulet a go as I've eaten it many times on family holidays in France. Jamie does call it 'kinda cassoulet' as it doesn't include duck legs, but that omission aside, it tasted thoroughly authentic.

First four rashers of streaky bacon were chopped and fried up with sage leaves, rosemary and bay leaves, before 1 1/2 red onions and two leeks were chucked on top and a jar of passata and the two tins of beans were added to give it a casserole-ey consistency. The sausages were layered on top, before a tonne of herby breadcrumbs were sprinkled on top to give it a bit of crispiness.

This admittedly mushy looking concoction was served up with tender stem broccoli al dente, in a dressing of red onion, plum tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. It didn't look particularly filling with no potatoes, but the beans more than made up for that.

My only criticism was that this didn't benefit from being a 30-minute meal, and probably would have been tastier and heartier if the cassoulet had been stewed for half an hour, instead of the four minutes it had under the grill. With my distinct lack of flashy chef skills this took 50 minutes in total, so you may as well give it that extra 20 mins to make everything thicken up a bit more. 

Also, if you wanted to make it for cheaper than the £2.82 a head this version cost, then fresh herbs could have been easily substituted for dried, although I must admit, the fresh sage really did ramp up the flavour.

Best for... Hearty winter fare after a long walk

Taken from... Jamie Oliver - 30 Minute Meals

Helen says... Nothing (away on business, boo!)