A kitchen confession… (and a delightful chicken recipe!)

My confession is that I like to cook as well as to bake. Since the title of this blog is Lady BAKES a lot, I’ve kind of been debating whether I should publish something other than baked goods and now I’ve decided that I will! So from now on, this lady is not only baking, she’s cooking her little heart out in the kitchen and loving every minute of it!

First, a bit of a disclaimer; the thing with my cooking is that due to various reasons I can’t eat red meat (mostly because it gives me indigestion, partly because I just don’t like the taste anymore) so my meals, and therefore my recipes, mostly consist of chicken, fish and vegetarian dishes. Most of them will be pretty healthy, light and easy to make but inbetween there will be indulging; there’s only so many chickpea and couscous dishes you can make before you start craving pasta, slathered in cream sauce made with real butter!

Don’t get me wrong, I love chickpeas. Love them. If boyfriend wasn’t a devoted carnivore, I’d probably eat chickpeas 3 times a week, but for now, we compromise and eat vegetarian once a week and boyfriend gets a real, Danish meatball on the side. He’s happy, I’m happy, our bellies are happy!

But yeah, I promised you a delightful chicken recipe and here it comes; Chicken in Harissa-inspired yogurt sauce.

Chicken in Harissa inspired yogurt sauce

Chicken in Harissa-inspired yogurt sauce

– for 2

Marinade/sauce
2 large bell peppers
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp chili flakes
salt to taste
1/2 medium sized red onion
2 green onions
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup yogurt
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 boneless chicken breasts

for garnish:
fresh coriander
fresh parsley

method

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F
2. Line a bakesheet with aluminium foil and place bell peppers on their side on top of the foil.
3. Place sheet in oven and leave peppers to roast for about 20 minutes or until they start to darken and collapse a bit.
4. Use tongs to turn them over and roast for another 20 minutes.
5. Allow to cool a bit, then remove stem and seeds.
6. Place the seedless, skinless bell peppers in a food processor and add garlic, cumin, coriander, chili flakes and salt. Pulse together until the mixture is smooth (or chunky if you prefer). Pour into a bowl.
7. Chop red and green onions finely.
8. Stir onions, olive oil, yogurt and lemon juice into the bell pepper mix until blended.
9. Cut chicken breasts into about 1″ cubes and add to bowl.
10. Refigerate for at least 1 hour, more is better.
11. Preheat the oven to 375° and cook for about 30 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and garnish with fresh coriander and parsley before serving.

Tips and tricks

• Serve with brown rice, green salad and pitabread.
• The yogurt will cause the sauce to curdle a bit. This will not affect the flavor but will affect texture. If you want to avoid that, you can line a colander with a coffee filter and strain some of the liquid from the yogurt. If you do that, add a tablespoon or two to the amount of yogurt you use.