Smoked Paprika Roast Chicken with Saffron Potatoes and why I hate Estate Agents

I hate estate agents and if you happen to be an estate agent reading this then I'm actually not sorry, I am sick of hearing estate agents tell me it has a quirky feature when what they mean to say is it's shit and we can't get rid of it, maybe your stupid enough to rent it from us and hand over nearly £2,000 for the privilege, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
So as you can tell my by previous comments I have been looking for a new place to rent in between working all the hours I can and trying not to have a nervous break down as there seems to be a huge lack of one bedroom flats available in Brighton and for this reason I have not felt like blogging and haven't even been cooking anything worth blogging about to be honest!
But we have had such lovely weather and yesterday I made this simple but really tasty meal and I suggest you do the same and eat it worth a big glass of white wine or beer...


I smothered my free range chicken with piri piri oil and smoked paprika and smeared it with butter and olive oil before roasting in the oven.


I par-boiled some new potatoes before roasting them in olive oil with whole bulbs of garlic and saffron.


I served it with salad, sliced avocado, sun blushed tomatoes and a big blog of mayo.



Oh and I have now found a flat through a private landlady and it even has a little garden which is virtually impossible to get in Brighton, I move in on Thursday so horray for me.

Spicy Vegetable Chilli...... with meat in it!

When you work a mixture of split shifts including ones that start at 4pm and don't finish until 2am eating properly can sometimes be difficult and I realised last night that I hadn't eaten a home cooked meal for about a week and had been existing on sandwiches, cereal and what could be eaten making the least noise at 2.30 in the morning!
So basically after eating an array of yellow coloured food and bread for the last week I was really craving lot's and lot's of vegetables and with the freezing weather and lashing down rain they had to be hot so I made a kind of chilli that was heavy on the veg without my usual additions of red wine and dark chocolate. And you can always replace the meat with more veg or quorn if your vegetarian or just don't fancy meat that day!



Ingrediants

500g Beef Mince
2 Red onions
4 Cloves of garlic
2 Chilli's with seeds
8 Mushrooms
1 Large courgette
4 Sticks of celery
1 red pepper
I tin of mixed beans
1 Tin of chopped tomatoes
Tomato paste
2 Teaspoons of cumin
2 Teaspoons of hot chilli powder
Salt and Pepper


It's a simple dish to put together, all you have to do is prep your veg and start by frying the onions, garlic and chilli in a little oil before adding the rest of your veg and letting it cook for around 5 minutes. Next add the spices and let it cook for a few mins before adding the mince and letting it colour and finally add your tomato paste, tin tomatoes and beans. I left it to cook for around 40 minutes and ate it covered with grated cheese and a chunk of tiger bread.