Rosemary Roast Chicken

Can I just say how incredibly hard it is to style meat and fish?! That’s why most of my recipes on Add A Little are vegan – the bright colours of the vegetables are naturally very appetising and pleasing to the eye! But every time I try to style meat or fish, I try real hard to make it look real good but I’m never 100% happy with the shots – if you have any tips it would be greatly appreciated!

 

But I couldn’t not share this recipe with you guys because this tasted outtathisworld good! I’ve also made a video! (Don’t know if you can tell, but I’m trying to get back into the video vibes!)

Rosemary Roast Chicken gluten free, dairy free
Serves 2

An easy and delicious 1 pan meal (aka. barely any cleaning up!) that’s full of flavour. Perfect with a side of salad for a light meal or with roast potatoes. 1o minute prep and the oven does the magic!

2 chicken legs
1 large carrot, cut into chunks
2 small white onions, sliced
5 or so cloves of garlic, smashed and still in the skin
A few stalks of fresh rosemary
Coarse sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Splash of white wine

Preheat your oven to 180ºC.

Put your carrots, onions, garlic and rosemary in a baking tray with a liberal amount of salt and olive oil.

Set aside and rub the chicken with olive oil and salt then place on top of vegetables.

Place uncovered in the oven for 30 minutes until the skin starts to brown and crisp up.

After 30 minutes, cover with tin foil and turn the oven down to 160ºC and leave the chicken in for 30-40 minutes until cooked and tender.

For the last 10 minutes before serving, take off the foil so the skin can get crispy.

Serve with an (optional) sprinkling of coriander and a squeeze of lemon to liven the dish.

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Maisen Review

If you go to Tokyo, this place is a MUST.

I rave about it to just about anybody who will listen because if you’re looking for the best tonkatsu in the world, you’ll find it here!

The restaurant itself is super cute (and a bit hard to find, although there are guides luring you to it all across the street!) and, fun fact, used to be an old bath house, so the main area where you sit is where people used to change!

If you are unfamiliar with tonkatsu, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered! Tonkatsu is tender and juicy pork thats coated in light panko breadcrumbs, fried until crispy… or in other words, the best piece of fried meat you will eat!

In my opinion, no one does it better than Maisen. Ofcourse they do more luxury tonkastsu using the best pork but they also have delicious fillets for a much more reasonable price!

However, my favourite has got to be the daily changing set lunch. It’s a bit of secret that only locals know since it’s written in Japanese on a tiny board, but I love it because it’s got a bit of everything!

You start with some freshly grated daikon with a drizzle of soy sauce to cleanse your palate before the main event.

And this is what you come for.

The menu changes daily and today’s main was a pork and green pepper fry along with a king prawn cream croquette.
The meat is unbelievably tender and juicy whilst the outside gives a contrast with the crunch and it’s surprisingly not greasy at all!

Whilst I couldn’t eat the croquette I was told it was piping hot and creamy with large chunks of prawn (no skimping here!)

As with any traditional set meal, it comes with a few sides. the first of which was some light and refreshing cucumber salad with shirataki noodles. The cucumber gives a lovely crunch and cooling flavour when you need a break from the rich tonkastu.

There was of course some nimono on the tray as well – super fluffy yet creamy potatoes, carrots and melt in the mouth onions and pork belly stewed in a sweet yet savoury stew. This is a meal that will transport any Japanese person back to their childhood – it tastes like comfort!

I always find the little portion of fish a really nice touch, it’s simply seasoned with salt and grilled to give it a perfectly flaky texture. They also somehow have the most deep coloured salmon known to man which gives a lovely brightness to the tray of more brown hues!

I couldn’t recommend Maisen enough, so if you’re planning a trip to Tokyo, this better be on your list!
If you can’t make it, make sure to go to a depachika or get a quick takeaway from outside the store where they sell bentos, sandwiches (which are to die for: the fluffiest, slightly sweet Japanese bread (crusts off of course!) which encases the tender tonkatsu and delicious sauce, I could eat 100 easily) and mini katsu burgers!

Maisen
Website: http://mai-sen.com/
Address: Japan, 〒150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya, 神宮前4−8−5

Chicken, Kale & Coconut Rice

I remember seeing this recipe yeeears ago on Tracy’s blog and wanted to try it for so long.
I don’t know why I didn’t, I guess I never go round to it as I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand yada yada yada.
But the, I finally made it and OMG BEST DECISION EVER!

Such an easy, healthy meal: tender chicken thighs (they’re more flavourful than their breast counterpart), garlicky kale and crunchy toasted coconut, all on steaming hot brown rice. Comfort food at its finest.

Chicken, Kale & Coconut Rice dairy free, gluten free
Serves 2

This is one of my new go to meals, adapted from Shutterbean‘s Kale Salad w/ Coconut and Sesame Oil. Quick, easy and super delicious – what more could you want?! You can use left over chicken to make things even speedier and you can also make this into a fried rice situation by dumping everything into a wok.

2 chicken thighs, cooked and shredded (you can poach, bake or pan fry them)
A few handfuls of kale
Thick coconut chips (unsweetened)
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or coconut oil if you want more flavour)
Salt and pepper (you can also substitute for soy sauce)
Sesame oil, for drizzling
Brown rice (you can also use quinoa, white rice, farro etc)

notes: to make this vegan, simple omit the chicken, you can eat it as is or add tempeh or tofu (which you may want to marinade in soy sauce, chilli flakes and sesame oil and bake till crispy.

Heat a dry pan and add coconut chips.
Frequently stir around so that they don’t burn.

Once browned, put in a bowl and set on the side.

Heat oil in a pan and add garlic and kale and cook the kale has started to wilt.

Add the shredden chicken and keep cooking until hot and kale has started to brown.

Drizzle the kale and chicken with sesame oil for extra flavour.

Serve ingredients on top of rice and dig in!