Bolognese Pasta Bake & Ras-Al-Hanout Chicken - two days, two dinners

I've decided to lump these two dinners in one blog post because neither of them had us hanging out the flags with delight.  As a consequence, I won't be detailing a recipe for either of them, but they're very worth talking about.

Firstly, the Bolognese Pasta Bake.

Well, it sounds nice enough - Bolognese with pasta, baked with Mozzarella cheese on top.  Mmmmn, sounds promising!  However, and I suspect this may well just be a "Jenny's Taste" thing, as opposed to a general point of view, but I really like my pasta bolognese to stay separate from one another.  That is, the pasta is on the base, with the bolognese sauce in a neat heap on top, sprinkled liberally with parmesan.  Not all mixed into one.

You see, the thing I enjoy most about bolognese, is eating the sauce on its own and choosing to eat some pasta at intervals throughout.  I know, call me picky.  It's one of the rare times when I am picky, to be honest!

I just didn't think about that aspect of it when we agreed to use up the mozzarella in this way.  Of course, the mozzarella melted on top of the saucy pasta was completely divine - but then mozzarella always is!  Unfortunately, it doesn't soak through the pasta and once you've eaten the cheese, all you're left with is saucy pasta.  But hey ho, even if I wasn't impressed - the chaps ate theirs and Son & heir would have eaten the leftovers today, if we hadn't have gone to Cafe Rouge for breakfast!

So, moving on - the next dinner was Ras-al-hanout chicken, with new potatoes and salad.

I suspect there must have been a male:female imbalance thing going on here, because the chaps both declared the chicken to be bland, whereas I was musing approvingly to myself how Ras-al-hanout has a stealth heat which sneaks up on you.  Granted, it isn't ever the sort of heat that you would find too much, but it was very definitely there!

The chicken was simply butterflied, then put into a bowl with olive oil, salt & pepper and the Ras-al-hanout mix where it sat for the next 30 minutes, before going into the oven for 25 minutes, thence onto the plate.  So, simple enough - but obviously lacking in flavour for the chaps.

The salad was just that - salad - however the new potatoes are worth a word.  After much sampling, we have discovered that Jersey Royal new potatoes are far tastier (even to the point where hubby enjoys them - and he hates potatoes with a deadly loathing) when you buy them as "muddy spuds" (i.e. with the dirt still attached) than when you buy them all beautifully washed and ready for the pot, sealed up in a plastic bag.  Now this interesting point is one which I have been sure was true, for as long as pre-packed bags of spuds have been available.  I'm just glad that places like Asda see fit to cater for both types of consumer - the muddy and the clean!

It is hard to consider that mud has any great taste benefits, but I suspect that it may well be the cleaning process that eradicates subtle flavour trails within the potatoes.  Of course, I have no scientific backup for this opinion.  It is just that - my opinion.

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Ras-el-Hanout rubbed Chicken breast, with Sweet Potato mash

I have been eyeing up various packets of Ras-el-Hanout spice mix for what has been a quite ridiculous length of time.  I was terribly tempted to get some and then find out what to do with it, but knowing how quickly spices lose their best, I decided to go about it the other way around.

Hence, I’ve been looking at various recipes that involve the mix and quietly learning what the possibilities are.

The end result came about rather more quickly than I anticipated as hubby returned home from a shopping jaunt proudly brandishing a packet of Ras-el-Hanout.

I’d love to tell you what’s in this pack, but unfortunately the manufacturers are keen to keep the knowledge to themselves and haven’t provided a list.  Which does make me a tad worried as to whether we’re sprinkling our chicken with desiccated camel dung, but I have put my faith in “the Authorities” and hope that they did their work properly when authorising it for sale in the U.K.

However, I can tell you that it definitely contains cinnamon, clove and cumin.  As to what all the other flavours are, well that’s up for conjecture.

This recipe is, in fact, my second go at using the spice mix.  The first go has drifted off into the mists of time that followed on from Christmas.  I know that we approved of it, whatever it was, and that it was a casserole/tagine of sorts.  We definitely enjoyed it, as it gave me the confidence to try this dish where the spice mix is rather more the star of the show.

Interestingly, I also ventured into one of our local butchers for the three chicken breasts required.  The cost came to rather more than I’d have wanted to pay, but having seen the size of the things once they were cooked and tasted the vast difference between that and supermarket slop, it was definitely worth every penny.

The Parmesan Tomatoes were perfect with it.
Just halve your tomato, season, add grated parmesan and bake for 20 mins

RAS-EL-HANOUT RUBBED CHICKEN BREAST, with SWEET POTATO MASH (serves 3)

Ingredients :

2-3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2-4 tsp Ras-el-hanout spice mix

3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 fat garlic clove, crushed

200ml chicken stock

2 tsp clear honey

juice of half a lemon

handful of olives (I used black), pitted preferably

large knob of butter

2 tbsp double cream

20g coriander, leaves chopped

salt & pepper

Method :

1.  Place the chicken breasts into a bowl or large freezer bag and sprinkle over as much of the spice mix as you require to coat liberally, plus seasoning.

2.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan and brown the chicken breasts until golden.  (Around 3-4 minutes).  Reserve them somewhere to keep warm.

3.  Boil the potatoes in salted water for 10-15 mins (depending on how small you’ve cut them), or until tender.

4.  To the frying pan, add the onion and garlic and cook for 5-10 mins slowly, until softened.  Add the stock, honey, lemon juice and olives, return the chicken to the pan, and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the sauce is syrupy and the chicken cooked.  If one breast cooks before another, just remove it to keep warm and replace it for a quick warm up before serving.

5.  Mash the potatoes with the knob of butter and the double cream, remembering to season them to taste.

Serve the chicken upon the mash, with the sauce drizzled over and oven-baked parmesan tomatoes beside.