The weather is just beginning to feel properly spring-like round here. It’s the kind of weather in which you can leave the back door open for a while without freezing, and when you go outside you hear the general buzz of people pottering around in their gardens. Today I could hear the low hum of a lawn mower, children kicking a ball about and people stopping for a chat on the street. Suddenly you remember that you live in a friendly place, and the reason for the lack of human sightings over the last few months is the weather, not the people.
It’s a relief that the weather is good because on Sunday we went to the beach for the day.
Now, we live a significant distance from the coast, our village being pretty much slap bang in the middle of the country. Therefore a day trip to the beach is sadly a rarity. However, we had a specific reason for our journey as our youngest was entering a dance competition in Whitby.
We had decided to make a day trip of it, rather than stay the night, as we wanted to take Jess (our old black lab) with us. This had seemed like a sensible idea at the time but seemed significantly less sensible when the alarm went off at 5.15am. Thankfully we managed to make it out of the door a little bleary eyed but on time. And wow, the morning was beautiful – the world was still in its grey form, when no colour is visible, and mist had settled over the fields making everything seem magical, mysterious and intriguing. You could feel the world sleeping and it felt a privilege to witness it.
The sun had well and truly risen by the time we arrived a few hours later, a little stiff but eager to see what the day held, and it was a fantastic success. Our youngest had a great time and danced really well coming away with a couple of trophies. To top it all we then headed to Robin Hood’s Bay.
Robin Hood’s Bay is one of our special places. You know, those places where you love to be, that feel part of you. It seems that with every visit we imbibe a little bit more of its special atmosphere. Over the years we have photos of the girls playing on the beach, each year a little taller, slightly more grown up. We have stayed in a few of the beautiful, quirky, fishermen’s cottages all built so higgledy piggledy on top of each other. We love to spend our evenings exploring the maze of narrow streets that criss-cross the steep, steep winding road (one of only two in the village that are wide enough to take a car) that runs from the top of the village down to the jetty, sand and sea.
This time we didn’t have long there, just long enough to take a short walk along the beach drinking in the sights, smells and sounds; the caw of the gulls, the rush of waves, the rugged, beautiful coastline. It was fun introducing Jess to one of our favourite places. I always said that if I ever got a dog I would love to take it to Robin Hoods Bay. Watching her roll in the sand, explore rock pools (some a little deeper than she expected!) and run along the beach was fantastic fun. Then it was off to the fish and chip shop to grab a quick tea before the long journey back home; tired and sandy, but happy.
Forward to Monday morning and OH MY GOSH. I felt like I had been hit by a bus. Poor Dan, he had to get up and go to work. I was lucky as the schools are still off around here and therefore so am I, but my plan for heading to the shops to stock up on food went out of the window.
I spent the day trying to convince myself that sitting around achieving little was OK. At one point I turned on The Food Network to try and get some recipe inspiration so I could feel I had achieved something with my day and promptly fell asleep. At 5pm when reality struck and I realised I really did have to produce something for dinner, I dashed to the shops to grab some chicken, retrieved the last few sweet potatoes sitting in the box in the utility room and managed to engage my brain enough to make this.
So here it is…Baked chicken and sweet potatoes with garlic rice bowl. Although it looks a little more involved than some of my recipes, the oven does all the hard work so don’t let that put you off. I hope you like it!
By the way, am I the only person who uses a whisk to stir their rice? OK, I know I’m meant to rinse my rice to remove the starch that makes it stick, but I never remember/can’t be bothered and I have discovered that a quick, occasional whisk separates any grains that have begun to clump. If you’ve never done this then give it a go, especially if you forgot to stir it 15 or so seconds after you added it to the boiling water and it’s all stuck together in a lumpy mess. It works so much better than a wooden spoon.
Baked Chicken and Sweet Potatoes with Garlic Rice Bowl
Ingredients
For the sweet potatoes
- 3 sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into 2cm (¾ inch) dice)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the chicken
- 4 - 8 chicken thighs (skinned and boned)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the rice
- 140 g brown basmati rice
- 140 g white basmati rice
- 110 g peas
For the garlic oil
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper
To serve
- Fresh coriander
Instructions
For the sweet potatoes
- Place on a baking tray, drizzle with the oil, sprinkle over the salt and bake at 210⁰C, stirring often, until charred round the edges and caramelising – 50 to 60 minutes.
For the chicken
- Put the chicken in an oven proof dish and drizzle over the oil. Mix the spices and salt together and rub this into the chicken. Cover tightly with foil and bake in the same oven for 30 to 40 minutes until cooked through.The juices should run clear, not pink, once cooked and the chicken should register 165⁰F on an instant read thermometer. Pour the juice that has collected in the baking dish into a jug and reserve.
For the rice
- Add the brown rice to a pan full of boiling water and cook for 12 minutes. At the end of this time add the white rice, bring back to the boil, stir and cook for 9 minutes. Now add the peas and cook for a further three minutes. Drain.
For the garlic oil
- Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until the smell of the raw garlic has gone - the oil should sizzle very gently for 30 to 45 seconds. Be careful not to let the garlic brown and burn as it goes bitter.
To assemble
- Stir the garlic oil and chicken juices through the rice and peas and ladle into bowls. Spoon over the sweet potato and chicken and sprinkle over the fresh coriander.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- It’s really important not to use more than a tablespoon of oil on your sweet potatoes, or to overcrowd them in the pan, as either of these will stop them crisping up and caramelising.
- If you’re cooking for someone who doesn’t like any heat then feel free to switch the hot smoked paprika for regular (sweet) smoked paprika.
- Feel free to use 280g white basmati rice instead of half white and half brown. Just cook all the rice together for 12 minutes.
Nutrition
That’s great. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I haven’t made it for a while -it’s funny how you forget about your own recipes! I’ll have to put it on the menu for next week.
This is delicious! I made it this evening. Everything works together very well.
Thanks Katie! Glad you like it ☺
I need to give this a try!! It looks amazing. Thanks for the GREAT recipe 🙂