Thursday 21 July 2011

Moroccan Chicken Wings with Herby Quinoa

Chicken wings tend to get over looked, but with the right marinade they’re extremely tasty… and cheap too! My girlfriend made this fantastic recipe for Moroccan wings as featured on BBC Good Food. The recipe uses Harissa, which is made form chilli, spices and citrus which originates from Tunisia and has a delicious warm and smoky taste. You can get in the supermarkets and a little goes a long way. With the syrup and citrus used in this recipe there’s a great balance of sweet and savoury flavours. We followed the cooking instructions in the recipe and grilled the wings but these would be a great addition to any barbecue.
As you can see from the title we substituted the couscous for quinoa a grain which has the advantage of being gluten free. It takes around 15 minutes to cook, but once done, just follow the same instructions as the couscous. A fantastic and simple dinner!

Full link to recipe:

Saturday 16 July 2011

Perfect Portugese Piri Piri

Having just got back from the Algarve, I couldn't wait to share this recipe! Frango Piri Piri (Piri Piri Chicken) is hugely popular in Portugal and when it's done right, I can see why. Unfortunately, our first experience of Portuguese Piri Piri wasn't a good one - a touristy restaurant in Albufeira where the chicken was dry and tasteless. However we then found a recipe in our villa which tasted incredible full of flavour and with a tasty kick to it. We did both chicken and prawns on the BBQ in this marinade. Anything between 2 and 6 hours in the marinade is plenty. You can obviously cook this in the oven but for best results it has to be the BBQ!

Piri Piri Chicken - We did thighs, wings and breast on skewers!
Piri Piri Prawns! Chorizo and Steak also great on the BBQ!
Recipe - Piri Piri Marniade
Mix together the following and smother over chicken, prawns or whatever else takes your fancy:
250ml olive oil
Juice of 4 lemons
1 tablespoon of Piri Piri powder or Cayenne Pepper
5 teaspoons paprika
5 teaspoons ground cumin
5 teaspoons dried oregano
4 crushed garlic cloves