Monday, March 15, 2010

Why I Should Have Named My Blog "The Donna Hay Tribute Blog"

Posted by MANDI at 7:52 PM
Unless I'd called it " The I Love Bill Granger Blog"

But seriously, I think my favourite contemporary Australian cookbook author is Donna Hay. I love her magazine - pretty bits of frippery, recipes to tempt and challenge and twists on old favourites; I own several of her books and have borrowed still more from the library. Again a nice range of recipes from simple to challenging, fun to serious and tasty to downright delicious.

Whenever I'm after something quick, tasty and not too difficult for dinner I turn to one of my favourite Donna Hay books, No Time To Cook. All the recipes I've tried so far have lived up to the title and, with the possible exception of one, they've been fantastic. My latest effort was bursting with flavour and simply delicious. The kids loved it, Hubby enjoyed it and I thought it was pretty darn fabulous.

I did in fact have some time to cook so instead of cooking it under the grill I roasted the lot for about 35 minutes and it turned out great. If I really didn't have time to cook I'd go with the instructions. And as usual I didn't necessarily have all the ingredients so did a bit of switching and swapping. The recipe states that this serves two but with a salad on the side it served the four of us - bear in mind that the kids are quite little so don't necessarily eat huge amounts.


Roast Tomato Chicken
from No Time To Cook by Donna Hay

2 x 220g tomatoes, halved
8 sprigs thyme
16 basil leaves (oops, didn't have any so I used fresh parsley)
8 pitted Kalamata olives (again with the oops, I was using up some green olives)
2 x 200g chicken breast fillets, cut into thirds
1 tablespoon thyme leaves, extra
2/3 cup finely grated parmesan
sea salt and cracked black pepper
olive oil, for drizzling
rocket leaves, for serving (hmmm... no way the kids would eat rocket. A garden salad for us)

Place tomatoes cut side up in a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Make a few slits in the tops of the tomatoes with a knife. Stuff the slits with thyme, basil and olives. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with extra thyme, parmesan, salt and pepper. Add chicken to the baking tray, drizzle with oil and place under a preheated hot grill for 6-8 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Divide rocket between serving plates and top with chicken and tomatoes. Spoon over pan juices to serve.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Donna Hay (and Bill Grainger!). The girls have the cookbook by Donna Hay "Cool Kids Cook" and we always make stuff from it. I also have a few of her 'grown up' cookbooks and love the simplicity of her recipies. So easy and so yummy! Kaz x

Anonymous said...

Oops typo on 'Granger'...love ya work, Bill! x

Donna said...

I've done this one before, too. Was just thinking today it's time to pull out No Time To Cook again - it's been awhile (if you don't count the Crunchy Parmesan Crumbed Chicken).

Red Dirt Mummy on March 15, 2010 at 9:29 PM said...

Ooooh, I'll have to look for the kids one Kaz. Thanks.
Donna, I don't count the Crunchy Parmesan Crumbed Chicken as hers anymore. I've made it so many times it's mine now LOL

Chicken Willow on March 16, 2010 at 4:52 AM said...

I'm looking out for that book, this looks delicious!! Thanks

Jo MacD on March 16, 2010 at 1:11 PM said...

I <3 Donna Hay. And that looks yum!

Off The Shelf is my favourite. We live on an island and rely on weekly shopping to see us through - no popping out for last minute ingredients, so I love that she uses the same basic ingredients, instead of requiring obscure one-offs you'll never use again.

My fave is her peach and raspberry tart. I've used different frozen berries depending on what I have, it looks and tastes great, and people are always asking where I bought it :)

 

On The Sunny Side Copyright © 2010 Designed by Ipietoon Blogger Template Sponsored by Emocutez