Mozzarella chicken with pesto

I have given two methods for the same dish. The first gives a neater result, while the second, which I think the more interesting, is not for the fainthearted. It includes turning the chicken over in the pan so that the cheese topping melts into the pan juices, resulting in a deeply savoury finish. For 2, as a main dish with salad.

2 large boneless chicken breasts

50g butter

100g mozzarella cheese, cut into 5mm slices

2 tbsps groundnut or vegetable oil

3 tbsps pesto from the jar

freshly ground black pepper

Cut each breast in half lengthways and flatten with a rolling pin between two sheets of clingfilm, until they are 5mm thick. Be gentle, you don't want a purée. Cook the chicken in the melted butter and oil in a shallow pan for 1-2 minutes on each side.

Without removing the chicken from the pan, spread each piece with a tablespoon pesto sauce, place a slice of mozzarella on top of the pesto and sprinkle with pepper. Now, EITHER: pick up the chicken with a fish slice and place it in a grill pan. Flash under a preheated hot grill till the mozzarella melts. Add the remaining pesto to the pan with 2 tablespoons water and stir.

Remove the chicken from the grill and pour over the pan juices, OR: turn the chicken over with a palette knife so that the cheese is on the bottom. As soon as it starts to melt and sizzle, scoop each piece up with a fish slice, making sure that the melted cheese is not left behind. Turn the chicken over, the cheese and pesto now tantalisingly melted, and place in a warm serving dish, easing the cheese from the slice with a palette knife. Add the remaining pesto and 2 tbsps water to the pan, in which some of the pesto and cheese will be left behind, and stir, scraping up all the crusty bits in the pan. Pour the pesto pan juices over the chicken and eat immediately.

Chilli chicken pitta

A wonderful snack, spicy and substantial, of chicken pieces with chilli, dribbled with mint-flecked yoghurt, then stuffed into Middle Eastern pitta bread. Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients, you will probably have most of them.
For 2 pittas

1 small onion or 4 spring onions, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

3 tbsps groundnut oil

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp runny honey

1 tsp paprika

? tsp mild chilli powder

1 small fresh red chilli pepper, seeded and finely chopped

225g boneless chicken

For the sauce

6 tablespoons plain natural yoghurt

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tsp paprika

2 spring onions, trimmed and chopped

crisp lettuce and hot pitta bread or baps, to serve

Mix together the onion, garlic, oil and lemon juice. Add the salt, honey, paprika and chilli, dried and fresh. Cut the chicken into lumps about 2.5cm square, and stir into the above ingredients. Leave as long as you can, but at least for 20 minutes. Mix the ingredients for the yoghurt sauce.

Heat the grill, which should be red hot. Scatter the chicken over the grill pan and cook till the pieces are crisp and shining golden brown on the outside, yet still juicy within - about 8 minutes, turning once. Cram the lumps of chicken into hot pitta bread with the spiced yoghurt and some shredded crisp lettuce.

Chicken with spices and cream

Nothing raises purist eyebrows quite like the mention of curry powder. I will say in its defence that I have eaten some delicious meals where the main dish was spiced with a commercially-blended powder. I prefer to toast and grind my own spices but when short of time I use a 'proprietary' powder, then add a few spices of my own. For 4

4 chicken pieces, breasts or thighs

salt

freshly ground black pepper

25g butter

1 tbsp groundnut oil

2 medium onions, roughly chopped

3 plump cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tbsps curry powder, from a recently-opened tin

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped

250ml chicken stock

100ml double cream

juice of 1/2 lemon

Rub salt and pepper into the chicken. Heat the butter and oil in a shallow pan, add the chicken and cook till the skin is golden. Add the onions and garlic and cook over a medium heat until soft, about 7 or 8 minutes.

Stir in the curry powder and cinnamon. Cook for 4 minutes until the spices are cooked. Add the tomatoes and the stock, then simmer until the chicken pieces are tender and cooked right through, about 15 minutes.

Stir in the cream. Taste the sauce. Add salt and pepper and the lemon juice, a little at a time, tasting as you go. Simmer for 1 minute, then serve hot, with basmati rice.

Chicken with orange and black olives

This simple supper uses kitchen staples to brighten up a plate of chicken pieces. Use any cut of chicken you like, though I have also tried this recipe with duck breasts and found it even better. Sautéing the chicken pieces till golden brown before adding the stock is essential to the flavour and character of the dish. It looks smart served on a plain white plate with a deep rim. For 2

2 tbsps olive oil

50g butter

2 whole chicken legs

225ml chicken stock

1 tsp dried thyme leaves

12 black olives, stoned

1 orange, cut in half then into thin slices

1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil and half the butter in a shallow pan. Brown the chicken pieces on both sides, then add the chicken stock. Stir in the thyme, olives and the orange slices. Cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Check that the chicken is cooked - when pierced with the point of a knife the juices should run clear - then remove the pieces to a warm serving plate. Taste the sauce, add the parsley and season it with pepper, and very carefully, if at all, with salt. Turn up the heat, reduce the liquid by bubbling down to 150ml, then whisk in the remaining butter. The sauce will be shiny and slightly thickened when it is ready. Plate the chicken pieces and pour over the sauce. Serve with a starchy accessory, such as wide noodles or steamed potatoes.

Chicken with watercress and mushroom sandwich

Slice a boneless chicken breast into thin strips about 1cm wide. Season with salt and pepper and sauté in butter in a frying pan. Remove the chicken when it starts to brown, after about one minute, and set aside to keep warm. (On a plate with a glass bowl on top will do.) Add a little more butter or a drop more oil to the pan, then cook a handful of sliced mushrooms until softened, about 2 minutes. Lift them out with a draining spoon and add to the chicken. Soften a few shredded lettuce or watercress leaves and stems in the butter left in the pan, lift them out and stir in a couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise. Spread two soft baps or crusty rolls, split and toasted, with the mayonnaise and then pile on the chicken, mushrooms and leaves.