Porchetta-style herby chicken slices

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood
Porchetta-style chicken slices

A chicken and herb ballotine, cooked, then sliced thinly as a sandwich filling

Proper porchetta, ideally from a street food stall in the Trastevere quarter of Rome, is an unbeatable, delicious and super-tasty food. I stress here that I am not trying to reproduce this, particularly not with chicken instead of pork.

What I am proposing here, instead, is a delicious and healthier alternative, inspired by this delicious Italian food that I love so much! 🙂

This porchetta-style herby chicken is relatively simple, but a little bit fiddly to make.

Ingredients (for 2 generous portions):

  • 4 Chicken thigh fillets
  • A handful of herbs of your choosing (I used fresh thyme, flat-leaf parsley, sage and rosemary)
  • 2-3 garlic cloves
  • a sprinkling of fine sea salt

Method:

Start by finely chopping all the herbs and garlic together (I did this in my Ninja Chopper but you could do it by hand, if you are less impatient and lazy than I am).

Then use a meat hammer to flatten out the chicken thigh fillets. Season both sides of each flattened fillet with fine sea salt.

Lay the fillets out on a large piece of clingfilm, forming a large rectangle of chicken, ensuring there are no gaps, then sprinkle the chopped herbs and garlic generously over the fillets.

Using the clingfilm to help you, roll the rectangle of herb-topped chicken thigh fillets into a tight ballotine (like a large sausage shape) and tightly twist the clingfilm at both ends. If you have enough clingfilm overhang at both ends, you can bring these together into a knot. You can cook the ballotine in the clingfilm, or do what I did and further wrap it in tinfoil, also tightly twisted at both ends.

Place the ballotine into a large pan of boiling water, cover with a lid and boil for 35 minutes.

Once the ballotine is cooked, you can either leave it to cool in the clingfilm until you are ready to slice it, or if you prefer to serve it warm, you can unwrap it and cut it into thick slices or even serve it in pretty chunks. It will be almost impossible to slice thinly while it’s hot, as it will fall apart. To get lovely thin slices, leave it to cool fully, and ideally in the fridge for a few hours, before slicing it with a very sharp knife or an electric meat slicing machine (this is what I did). Some slices may still fall apart, but will taste just as delicious.

Store for 2-3 days in an airtight container in the fridge and serve either in a sandwich or plated up with a salad. Enjoy!

Porchetta-style herby chicken slices – Gloriously Simple, Gloriously Good!

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Spiced bean, pea, lentil and tomato soup

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood
spiced lentil pea bean and tomato soup

This is a really hearty soup suitable for the whole family.  I made it as part of my liquid post-gastric-sleeve diet, but it would be equally suitable for anyone on a low-fat diet, or a reflux diet, or of course just someone who enjoys a wholesome nourishing soup! 

Because I need to be on liquids with ‘no bits’, I blitzed it as finely as I could, then put it through a sieve, but under other circumstances, I’d either just blitz it but not sieve away all the fibre goodness from the bean and lentil hulls, or would take some of the beans and lentils out before blitzing, then add them back in, to give the soup more of a chunky feel, so it’s up to how you like your soup! 

spiced bean pea lentil and tomato soup

Ingredients (for 2 very generous portions for people not on my diet!)

  • 2 handfuls dry cannellini beans (these may need soaking in cold water overnight before you cook them – check the pack for instructions)
  • 2 handfuls dry yellow split peas (these may need soaking in cold water overnight before you cook them – check the pack for instructions)
  • 1 handful dry green lentils (these may need soaking in cold water overnight before you cook them – check the pack for instructions)
  • 1 handful dry red lentils (these may need soaking in cold water overnight before you cook them – check the pack for instructions)
  • 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
  • 1l chicken or vegetable stock (I used 2 Knorr Chicken Stock Pots and 1l water)
  • 0.5l water
  • half a teaspoon Ras El Hanout spice mix
  • optional: low-fat cheese triangle (1 per portion) or a sprinkling of powdered milk or whey protein powder to add more protein into the soup (for post-bariatric surgery liquid diet supplementation)
  • optional: sea salt, to taste

Method

Place all ingredients (aside from the salt) in a large saucepan or stockpot and bring to the boil.  Boil on a high heat for 10 minutes. 

Turn the heat down, cover, and simmer / boil gently for about an hour and 20 minutes, checking that the beans and lentils are soft and easily squashable (otherwise cook a little longer). 

Liquidise in a jar blender or using a hand-held blender in the saucepan, then, if you’re using this for the post-bariatric surgery liquid diet, sieve to ensure there are no bits left.  If you are not following this diet, and prefer a chunkier soup, you can either just liquidise it but not sieve it, or take out some beans and lentils before liquidising the soup, then add those back in, so it has a more chunky texture.

Taste and add a sprinkling of sea salt if you feel it needs it.

Note: If you are following a post-bariatric surgery liquid diet and need to supplement your liquid nutrition with protein, you can add a little powdered milk, whey protein powder, or a cheese triangle melted into the soup. 

Serve and enjoy! 

Gloriously simple, gloriously good!

Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or medical professional.  These are simply ideas based on meals I have created to suit my own dietary needs and, as I’ve enjoyed them, I wanted to share them. If you are unsure about the suitability of any ingredients or recipes on my blog for your own requirements, please check with a health professional first. 

Velvety potato and cheese soup

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood
Velvety Smooth potato and cheese soup | liquid diet | bariatric surgery diet | reflux diet | low-cal | low-fat

This is another one of the recipes I developed for my liquid diet after my gastric sleeve weight-loss surgery.  It is, however, a delicious, velvety-smooth, low-cal, low-fat soup suitable for all the family, and suitable for those following any low-fat diet, including those on a reflux diet. 

Velvety Smooth potato and cheese soup | liquid diet | bariatric surgery diet | reflux diet | low-cal | low-fat

Ingredients (for 2 tiny portions for liquid post-bariatric-surgery diet) – increase as required

  • Approx. 250ml chicken or vegetable stock (I used my home-made hen stock, but any good stock, even made with stock cubes/pots, will work)
  • 1 small potato
  • 1 low-fat cheese triangle

Method

Peel the potato and cut it into small cubes.  Place it in a small saucepan with the stock and bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for approximately 15 minutes, until the potato is fully cooked and very soft. 

Add the cheese triangle and place everything in a fine blender (I used my Nutribullet). 

Serve and enjoy! 🙂

Note: This super-velvety creamy soup is also delicious with the addition of a sprinkle of chilli powder and garlic granules/powder (I always use the ‘aglio e peperoncino’ mix I get from Italy, but you can just add both ingredients separately). 

Gloriously simple, gloriously good!

Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or medical professional.  These are simply ideas based on meals I have created to suit my own dietary needs and, as I’ve enjoyed them, I wanted to share them. If you are unsure about the suitability of any ingredients or recipes on my blog for your own requirements, please check with a health professional first.