Orange and Apricot Chicken with Quinoa and Baby Peas

I found a recipe in a cookbook that looked good.  I thought I had most of the ingredients to make it but when it came time to cook it, I discovered that I didn't.  So ... I improvised.  Here's the resulting recipe ...

Ingredients:
1 orange, you'll need the juice and the zest
1/4 cup chicken stock, salt reduced
2 teaspoons apricot jam
4 chicken breasts, skinned and boned
2 tsp cornflour
fresh parsley
slivered almonds
olive oil

How to make it:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F

In a small saucepan, over a medium heat, mix 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest, 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, the chicken stock and the apricot jam.  Stir until smooth (like in photo above)  ... doesn't take more than a minute or two.

Over medium heat,  heat olive oil in a large oven proof fry pan and add chicken.  Lightly salt and pepper each breast. Brown chicken just a little bit ... a minute or two on each side.

Pour orange/apricot mixture on top and bake til chicken is cooked through ... about 20 minutes. 

Mix 2 tsp cornflour with 2 teaspoons of water to make a smooth paste.  Once the chicken comes out of the oven, remove to a plate and keep warm.  Add cornflour paste to fry pan with remaining sauce.  Stir for a couple of minutes until the sauce is nice and thick.

Serve chicken, drizzled with sauce, over quinoa and with a side of baby peas.  

Sprinkle parsley and slivered almonds on top of chicken.

Brown Sugar, Lemon and Orange Salmon

This was delicious !

We love salmon around here and I'm always looking for new ways to cook it.

This was simple.  And tasty.  We'll have this one again for sure.

I based my cooking on this recipe but I added a bit, changed quantities, and didn't use it as a 

marinade but rather just reduced it down to be a nice thick sauce to pour on top !

2 salmon fillets (we ate 1/2 each)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 a fresh lemon - it was quite a big lemon

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 spring onion, chopped small

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

fresh ginger, minced (to taste)

juice of one orange

a few drops of sesame oil

Place all ingredients, besides the salmon, into a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until your desired thickness is met.  This took maybe 5-10 minutes for mine.  Stir and taste while cooking.  You may need to add more lemon, do this to taste ...

Cook salmon as you prefer.  Usually we BBQ but last night we cooked them in a bit of olive oil, with salt and pepper, in the cast iron fry pan.  

I topped each piece of salmon with a slice of fresh avocado, the sauce and a sprinkle of spring onions.

So yummy.

Fruit Salad a la Alia

The other night Alia (6) made this fruit salad for dessert. I helped her take the skin off the kiwifruit and I segmented the orange. She did EVERYTHING else on her own ! I was so impressed. I bought the neatest little gadget last time we went strawberry picking that helped her with slicing the strawberries ! I'll do a post on that little beauty soon ... but beware, you are all going to want one !

This fruit salad contains one punnet of strawberries, one orange, two kiwifruits and one banana. There are also red and green apples on the side so we could add whichever one we have a preference for ! Isn't she thoughtful ?? :)

How To Peel An Orange

Another of my many favorite gadgets ....