Portuguese Chicken and Prawn Pizza

Home made pizza night always works well .  Everyone makes their own flavours - Alex had a Satay Chicken, Ollie a BBQ Meatlovers and Noel made a pizza with Chicken, Hot Salami and Chilli BBQ Sauce.  As you can see we all have a creative streak when it comes to making pizza!

Tonight inspired by a dish one of my previous bosses had at Kelly's hotel in Cranbourne when we went out for dinner Thursday, last night.  Joe ordered Piri Piri Chicken and Prawn Rissotto.  It looked nice although it was too spicy for Joe.  The dish itself looked like a paella so I used that style of cooking as a basis for my recipe.

Marinating the chicken and prawns in a portuguese marinade topped with spanish style vegetables and of course black olives sprinkled with a little cheese made for a different pizza, that's for sure.

Portuguese Chicken and Prawn Pizza

Serves 4

ProPoints per serve: 8

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 teaspoons crushed garlic

1 tablespoon chopped chilli paste

2 teaspoons crushed ginger

2 teaspoons dried oregano flakes

200 grams chicken fillet, sliced

200 grams raw prawns

cooking spray

1 x large pita bread (100 grams)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 brown onion, sliced

1/2 red capsicum, sliced

1/2 green capsicum, sliced

60 grams grated light cheese

100 grams whole pitted black olives

Mix together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, chilli, ginger and oregano until well combined.   Place chicken and prawns in a medium bowl, add marinade and toss to coat.  Cover and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes or longer if time permits.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Spray a frying pan with cooking spray and heat over high heat.  Remove chicken from marinade, reserving the prawns and marinade and cook for 1 -2 minutes until sealed.  Remove from heat.

Place pita bread on a pizza tray sprayed with cooking spray.

Spread tomato paste over entire base.  Sprinkle with 40 grams of grated cheese.

Place chicken over pizza base and top with onions and capsicum.  Place prawns on top.

Sprinkle with remaining cheese and top with olives.

Cook for 20 - 25 minutes or until cheese has melted and pizza cooked through.



(click here for a printable version of this recipe)

Portuguese Grilled Chicken

I know many of you visit us and are probably wondering what is happening with A Dash Of Flavour. We have been very very busy so once again I apologize for the lack of updates on this blog - please be assured we are not abandoning A Dash Of Flavour as this is a passion of ours we just need to work out how to become more time savvy.

Takeaway!! A downfall when one is time poor is the option of getting takeaway. Thankfully we enjoy food too much to resort to McDonalds or KFC, etc but when it comes to the choice of chinese, indian there is some temptation for at least they are "better" options than mass produced fast food. But another favourite of ours is Nandos - mainly just the chicken not the sides. So the chance to recreate this at home arrived this weekend and I must say this may be our answer to avoiding one temptation of take away.

We love cooking half chickens on the weber especially marinated and over the coals. They have such a flavour - the taste of the chargrill and then this marinade, which I must say kept the chicken moist and it was full of fresh flavour from the lemon juice and the fresh coriander.

Last night we used small chickens cut in half but I am sure this recipe would work well with chicken peices or even fillets. Propoints wise this is a high value dinner due to the skin being on the whole chicken which you could remove to reduce points.

Overall a delicious easy dish full of flavour and much cheaper than Nandos.

Portuguese Grilled Chicken

Serves: 4
ProPoints per serve: 14

2 small chickens, cut in half
8 cloves garlic, crushed
juice of 2 lemons
1/3 cup Jack Daniels Whiskey
2 bay leaves
1 - 2 tablespoon paprika (depending on taste)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Clean chicken halves and pat dry. Place in a large snap lock bag or deep casserole dish.

In a jug combine remaining ingredients and mix well.

Cover the chicken with marinade ensuring all chicken in coated. Seal bag or cover dish with plastic wrap. Allow to marinade for 1 hour or overnight if time permits.

Light weber or heat bbq grill. Cook for 5 - 8 minutes each side ensuring that chicken is cooked through.


(click here for a printable version of this recipe)

Peri Peri Chicken

Watch out Nando's - we now have our own recipe for Peri Peri and it was delish! It wasn't as fiery as what I was expecting but it would only take some adjustment in the spices to give it the kick I was looking for but for a first attempt at Peri Peri made from scratch it was really nice. So nice I think the kids would eat it with no complaints!!

Although tonight this was cooked in the oven, it would make an idea bbq meal and would look very exotic with the chargrilled markings. This marinade would suit other meats especially kebabs. For a more intense flavour allow meat to marinate for longer especially overnight. I decided to use chicken maryland tonight, skin removed, but I think I will use the thigh fillets next time or even just chicken pieces.

Peri Peri Chicken

Serves: 4

Points per serve: 7.5

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 fresh small red Thai chillies, chopped finely

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons sea salt

4 chicken maryland pieces, skin removed

Preheat oven to 200 deg Celcius.

Combine lemon juice, olive oil, chilli, sugar, paprika, garlic, rosemary and salt in a large bowl.

Make deep diagonal cuts in the chicken pieces and rub spice mixture all over chicken. Allow to stand for 10 minutes, longer if time permits.

Place chicken on a foiled lined oven tray and bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

(click here for a printable version of this recipe)