Healthy Chicken Kebabs

For me, a kebab is not the kind of food I would consider eating on a regular basis; it's more likely to be something I might grab at 1am on my way home from a big night out... However, when my friend Simone mentioned that she and her family have a weekly homemade kebab night, I couldn't get the idea out of my head, and decided to give it a go myself.

I wanted to make something super light and fresh, with lots of flavour and colour, so I opted for grilled chicken with a tasty parsley salad and yoghurt dressing. It was delicious! The perfect quick meal for a hot summers night.

Marinade for chicken:

2 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

1 tbsp chopped fresh lemon thyme

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt & cracked black pepper

Kebabs:

2 small skinless chicken breasts (or 1 large)

1/2 red onion, finely sliced

1 cup flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

50g feta cheese, crumbled

6 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/2 lebanese cucumber, diced

2 wholemeal pita breads

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt & cracked black pepper

Yoghurt Dressing:

200g natural yoghurt

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves

1 tbsp lemon juice

Sea salt & cracked black pepper

Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl, add the chicken and place in the fridge to marinate for 1 hour.

While the chicken is marinating you can get on with the other elements of the dish. Start by combining the ingredients for the yoghurt dressing in a bowl and set aside in the fridge.

For the parsley salad, place the parsley, red onion, feta, tomatoes and cucumber in a bowl, then drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and toss lightly.

Heat a griddle pan over medium-high heat and grill the chicken for a few minutes on each side, or until slightly charred and cooked through. Remove from the heat and slice into thick pieces.

In a clean dry pan over medium heat, toast the pita breads on both sides until warmed through and very slightly crisped. (Be careful not to overcook your bread or you'll find it difficult to roll up later).

To present the kebabs, spread the warm bread with a generous amount of yoghurt dressing, then top with the parsley salad and chicken pieces. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and serve with extra yoghurt if desired. You can then roll it up at the table and get stuck in!

Serves 2.

Fettucine with Ricotta Pesto, Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

Ok I know what you're thinking... What am I doing writing a post about pasta made with store bought sauce, right? Well, I have some good news for you dear readers - it is ok to cheat!

Last night I got home from work and all I wanted was a quick and easy dinner that tasted amazing but without a lot of effort. So I stuck my head in the pantry and pulled out this jar of ricotta, spinach & pecorino stir-through sauce, along with my favourite spinach fettucine. Now I could have left it at that, but I figured I might as well take the time to jazz things up a bit.

With just a teensy bit of effort this dish quickly turned into a delicious, flavoursome and incredibly easy meal for me and Mr B, proving that you don't always have to make everything from scratch. After all, we don't always have the time for that now do we?

250g spinach fettucine 

350g Leggo's ricotta, spinach & pecorino stir through sauce (or you could use basil pesto)

1/2 red onion, finely sliced

1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 birds-eye chilli, finely chopped

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn

Sea salt & cracked black pepper

Boil a large saucepan of salted water and cook the fettucine until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile heat a little olive oil in a deep frypan and saute the onions and chilli until the onion is tender, then add the tomatoes, cook for about 3 minutes until they soften and then add the cooked pasta.

Next add the jar of Leggo's sauce, season with sea salt and cracked pepper and stir through until the pasta is well coated, then add the fresh basil right at the end.

And you're done. Easy!

Serves 4.

Carrot & Radish Salad with Spiced Beef Skewers

Summer it seems, is here. I think. It's kind of hard to tell when you live in Melbourne... Anyways, the other day was hot, so a light refreshing dinner was in order. I had been dying to try this carrot and radish salad, so when Mr B said he felt like whipping up some beef skewers I immediately thought this recipe would be a great accompaniment.

Not only did the beautiful bright colours look amazing on the plate, the flavours and textures were exactly in balance. The crisp carrot ribbons and crunchy radish were complemented perfectly by the tangy lemon dressing, and combined with Mr B's lightly spiced beef, this meal absolutely hit the spot. Best of all, it only took around 20 minutes from start to finish!

Carrot & Radish Salad

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced into ribbons (using a speed peeler)

5 radishes, washed and trimmed then cut into thin discs

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup mint leaves, roughly torn

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp sumac

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt & cracked black pepper

In a serving dish combine the carrots, radishes, onion and mint. In a separate bowl whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and sumac, season with salt and pepper then pour over the salad. Toss gently to combine, sprinkle with a little extra sumac and serve immediately.

Serves 2.

For the beef skewers, Mr B diced 2 medium sized porterhouse steaks and marinated them in olive oil and Peter Watson North African Ras el Hanout spice rub. He then threaded the meat onto skewers with diced capsicum and red onion, and cooked in a frypan over medium heat for around 8 minutes. This was enough for three skewers each.

Out & About: The Fox Hotel

One of the perks of living in inner city Melbourne is that you are absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to pubs. I can think of at least 10 within walking distance from my house! However, one of the downsides is that they don't all seem to be able to get the food just right... 

The exception here is the Fox Hotel (351 Wellington St, Collingwood) which in my opinion is far superior to any of my other locals when it comes to a good pub meal. So when my dear friend Julia came to town for a visit and was in the mood for some good old fashioned pub grub, it was really the only choice.

We headed off down Wellington St with Mr B in tow. I was pretty set on getting the beef burger, but quickly changed my mind when we arrived and opted for the chicken parma ($19). Jules went for the same, but Mr B stuck to his plan and ordered the burger ($16).

It was a niceish Melbourne day weather-wise, so we seated ourselves on the rooftop, which has a great view of the city and is definitely the best place to be when the sun is shining.

After a couple of beers our food arrived, and as usual we were awed by the sheer size of the parmas! (Yes there are chips hiding under that beast somewhere!)

Mr B's burger was juicy and tasty, and probably slightly more manageable size-wise.... (Apologies for the bad iPhone pic!)

So as usual The Fox delivered a fantastic pub lunch. And that combined with a few beers and good friends, is pretty much all you could ask for :)