This wasn’t something I’d planned to blog about AT ALL.
But my slap dashing about in the kitchen this evening turned up gold!
I was thrilled and so were the kids.
Trying to tackle the 41+C temperatures in Chennai at the moment can really muddle up my foodie brain.
As I tried to plan our menus this morning, all I could think of for dinner today was something that did not require too much effort and time in the ‘roasting’ kitchen.
So I pulled out a pack of frozen chicken breasts, flattened it with a mallet and marinated it very simply with:
Salt, pepper, mustard, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce and a splash of ketchup.
Put it away to rest in the fridge and thought……”what the heck, I’ll tackle that in the evening when it’s cooler.”
This evening, extremely disgruntled at having missed my daily swim, I decided that ‘Burgers and fries’ would be our dinner.
However the thought of the oily fries in this heat was not appealing at all, other than the guilt that I was offering my kids ‘junk’.
So I decided to experiment and bake a few fries.
I just used the McCain’s Frozen French Fries,
Spread them out on a baking tray,
drizzled some olive oil
and popped it in an oven pre-heated to 200C.
and baked it for 30 minutes.
The result was fabulous! I had crispy golden fries, without having to fry them.
Try it ……it was just superb.
Oven Baked French Fries, Crispy and Golden
The chicken breast, I popped under the grill for @ 10 minutes.
I turned them over midway so that each side was grilled for 5 minutes.
After toasting the burger buns, I topped them with
Lettuce, chicken breast, cheese, balsamic grilled onions (see recipe below), slices of tomato and gherkins.
It was delicioso!
Finger lickingly good.
( For my 7 year old, I made a wrap with the grilled chicken)
Grilled Onions
2 onions
1tbs balsamic vinegar
1tsp sugar ( brown or white)
1 tsp olive oil
Inspired by a fellow blogger Stephanie from Modern Christian Woman who made slow roasted raspberry balsamic onions today, I decided to use balsamic vinegar instead of my usual Worcestershire sauce in the grilled onions.
You can see Stephanie’s recipe at:
Although I call them ‘grilled’ onions, I just do them on the stove top, in a pan.
Heat the oil and saute the onions. Add in the sugar, balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt.
Saute over low heat till the onions are translucent and just beginning to caramelize.
Use it in burgers, sandwiches or hot dogs.
Now if only I could source some wholewheat burger buns…..my ‘healthy junk’ would be truly healthy.
Resource guide for Chennai:
McCains French Fries – Nilgiri’s and Mercado.
Balsamic Vinegar, various brands – Nilgiri’s and Mercado
Worcestershire Sauce, Lea and Perrins – Nilgiri’s, Mercado, Amma Naana
Boneless Chicken Breast, Suguna Protein – Nilgiri’s
Burger Buns – Nilgiri’s, Winners Bakery, French Loaf
Olive Oil – Econut
Gherkins – Tify
Lettuce – Veggie vendors outside Nilgiri’s, Besant Nagar, Cathedral Road and Indira Nagar.
JosMojo 