Chicken in Sweet Pepper Sauce | Low Fat Recipe | Reflux Recipe

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood

As a reflux* sufferer, I often use peppers as a tomato substitute, but they are so much more!

Peppers add a delicious sweetness and richness to many dishes, and this chicken in sweet pepper sauce is no exception.

This recipe makes lots and lots of sauce, that you can then re-use as a soup or as a base sauce for other dishes.  The chicken quantities below are for 4 people, but because it makes so much more sauce, you can just add more chicken thighs for more people.

chicken with sweet pepper sauce

Ingredients (for 4 generous portions)

  • 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs, all visible fat removed
  • 4 big cloves of garlic, finely chopped (leave the garlic out if this triggers your reflux – there are plenty of flavours to make up for the lack of garlic)
  • 2 medium onions, or one large onion, finely sliced (again, if onions trigger your reflux, do not add them)
  • 4-5 peppers (orange, yellow, red), cut into large, approx. 2cm squared, chunks
  • 2tbsp olive oil
  • 1tsp dried oregano
  • enough boiling water to just about cover all the contents of the pan (if the pan is small and deep, don’t try and cover the contents or the dish will be too watery) – aim for about 700ml
  • 1 chicken stock pot (or any good quality chicken stock cube)
  • optional: a few handfuls of black olives in brine (brine drained)
  • fine sea salt

Method

Remove all visible fat from the chicken, keeping the pieces whole.

Finely chop the garlic (if using), slice the onions (if using) and chop the peppers, keeping all the ingredients separate.

Heat the oil in a non-stick casserole dish, on a high heat.  Season each piece of chicken with a sprinkling of sea salt on both sides and brown in the hot oil.  If your casserole dish is quite narrow, you may have to do this in batches.  Remove the browned pieces from the casserole dish (they just need to be lightly browned, but don’t cook them at this stage).

Add the onions to juices and turn the heat down to medium-low.  Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, allowing them to soften and start turning translucent (but careful not to let them brown), then add the garlic, stir and cook for another minute.

Add the chicken pieces back in, then add the peppers, olives (if using), the oregano, the chicken stock pot (or cube) and the water and stir.

Turn the heat up and bring to the boil.  Cover with a lid and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.  Cook for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and almost falling apart and the peppers are very soft.

Carefully remove the chicken pieces (including any small pieces that may have broken off) and the olives.

Place the peppers and onions into a blender, with some of the juices, making sure your blender jug is heat proof.   When all the peppers and onions have been removed from the casserole dish, you can place the chicken and olives back in and cover with a lid, to keep warm.  If your blender isn’t very big, do this in batches to avoid spilling hot sauce!  As always, when blending hot liquids, leave the centre piece off the lid and cover with a folded tea towel, then start blending slowly at first. Blend thoroughly to a smooth consistency.

Place a sieve over your casserole dish and gradually pour the sauce through the sieve back into the juices, using a spoon to help you.  Towards the end, you should just be left with minimal pepper paste and the pepper skins, with all the silky pepper sauce having been sieved into the remaining juices.  Stir.

Serve with mashed potato, cous-cous, polenta or rice.

Any left-over sauce will make a great soup the next day!

Gloriously Low-Fat, Gloriously Reflux-Friendly, Gloriously Good!

*Please note I am not a doctor, speech therapist or in any way medically qualified.  The recipes are a combination of my interpretation of the rules outlined in the ‘Dropping Acid – The Reflux Diet’ book and ingredients that work for my reflux.  If you believe you suffer from reflux, please seek advice from a medical professional to confirm your diagnosis and work out the best course of treatment/management for you.  I hope that my recipes can help you as part of this management.  The recipes are, by their nature, very low in fat, so are also suitable for anyone wishing to follow a low-fat diet. 

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What to do with leftover James Martin Rustic Tomato, Bread and Basil Soup

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood

James Martin’s Rustic Tomato, Bread and Basil Soup is delicious,

so it’s not often we have left-overs, BUT…

…last night we made tons of James Martin’s soup (click for recipe), so I had to think of something to do with the leftovers.

I decided to blitz the soup in a blender, add olives and capers and use it as a base sauce for a chicken dish.

Thus, Chicken with a James Martin Rustic Tomato Soup, Olive and Caper sauce was born!

chicken with james martin rustic tomato bread and basil soup sauce | chicken in tomato olives and capers
This would also be delicious served with mashed potatoes or polenta
Ingredients:
  • James Martin’s rustic tomato, bread and basil soup, blitzed in a blender – enough to form a base in a deep sauté pan
  • Pitted black olives (a good handful or two, depending on how much you like olives!)
  • 2-3 teaspoons of baby capers (from a jar, kept in water, vinegar and salt)
  • Chicken legs, skin left on, seasoned with fine sea salt

I’ve not written down prescriptive quantities – let your taste buds and appetite guide you.

Method:

Place the blitzed soup, olives and capers into a deep sauté pan and bring to a gentle boil.

Add the seasoned chicken legs and ensure they are covered in sauce, place a lid over the pan and turn down the heat.  Simmer gently for approx. 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and starting to loosen off the bone.

Serve with mashed potatoes or polenta.  We had this with sautéed potatoes with chorizo tonight:

Chicken with James Martin soup sauce and chorizo potatoes
Served with Chorizo Potatoes
Chicken with a tomato sauce made from left-over James Martin rustic tomato, bread and basil soup – Gloriously simple, gloriously good!

Rice Salad

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood

This is not so much a rice salad recipe as an idea of ingredients you could put into your rice salad

My mother always used to do rice salad with tuna, olives, and lots of other ingredients; It was always seasoned with extra virgin olive oil and salt rather than mayonnaise.

I still adore rice salad with tuna, but for a meat BBQ side dish that doesn’t always work (especially when hubby can’t stand tuna!).  This is my Italian/Mediterranean take on the English rice salad made with mayonnaise.  I’ve not added quantities as this will depend on how many people you want to feed…and you can adjust the ingredient quantities to suit your individual taste.

Rice Salad

Ingredients

  • Long grain rice, washed in cold water, then boiled according to instructions (usually approx. 12 mins) in slightly salted water, then rinsed in a colander under cold water and left to cool down and drain/dry
  • Pitted black olives, sliced
  • Pitted green olives, sliced
  • Chargrilled artichokes in oil, drained and chopped

    Rice Salad Ingredients
    Rice Salad ingredients before adding Rice
  • Sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and finely chopped
  • Sweetcorn (tinned, drained)
  • Spring onions, finely chopped
  • Capers, drained and finely chopped
  • Green, Yellow and Red peppers, finely chopped
  • Mayonnaise or extra virgin olive oil

Method

Mix all the ingredients together, taste and adjust seasoning if needed.  Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until needed.

Food safety note: Rice can quickly become unsafe to eat as it contains spore-forming bacteria. Always keep cooked rice refrigerated and, in the case of rice salad, which will be eaten cold (i.e. without re-heating to kill off any bacteria), consume within a couple of days.

Rice Salad – Gloriously Simple, Gloriously Good!