The Mystery Box: Chicken with sweet potato and garlic, Parmesan sauce

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I love cooking shows. It’s embarrassing, but true, when I was a teenager I used to cook in my kitchen and talk as if I was on my own cooking show. I did. Oh man, WHO DID I THINK I WAS? And they didn’t even have brilliant cooking shows back then either. I was paving the way. ?

Imagine my excitement when I got sent a mystery box of ingredients to be all chef-like. At first I was really excited, and then I was all, “What on earth am I going to make with this?” I don’t know how the contestants on TV think up ideas so quickly, and beautifully. Of course, I asked my Facebook friends for their advice.

Bruce of Big Family, Little Income was the decider of the contents of the mystery box {and I get to choose as well for someone else soon!} and he did good. I was stumped for a while.

BOX

My mystery box: Olive oil, leeks, eggplant, chicken, SunRice Medium Grain Rice and sweet potatoes.

And then it hit me. Smack bang in the face. Chicken with a delicious garlicky, parmesan sauce. That sauce is to die-for. I am telling you. It’s 100% naughty, but there is spinach in the dish so it totally evens out. Add rice, and you’re mopping all that deliciousness in the most heavenly way.

It’s also incredibly simple – you can easily find most of the ingredients in your cupboard, and the whole meal take approximately 45 minutes, including prep and cooking time.

Of course the eggplant didn’t make it into the dish. But I’ll throw it in a pasta dish or make something else yummy with it.

chicken-dish

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups SunRice Medium Grain Rice, cooked to the packet instructions
6 chicken thighs {bone in and skin on}
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 leek, chopped {white part only}
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces

GARLIC PARMESAN CHEESE SAUCE
75g butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock {more if you need}
2 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves removed
1/2 cup thickened cream
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
Salt and Pepper to taste

DINNER-DISH

METHOD
♥ Preheat your oven to 180ºC. Lightly oil a large baking dish or coat with non-stick spray.
Season chicken with salt.
♥ Melt the butter and oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Set aside.
♥ Place the spinach and leek into the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes. Set aside.
Make the garlic parmesan sauce: Melt butter in the frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, and cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant. Stir in flour until lightly browned.
♥ Gradually whisk in chicken stock, and thyme. Stir until all combined, then add the cream and parmesan until slightly thickened {about 1-2 minutes}. Salt and pepper to taste. If the mixture is too thick, add more cream or stock and stir.
♥ In your prepared baking dish, place the chicken in a single layer, skin side up. Top with sweet potatoes, spinach and cream sauce.
♥ Bake in the oven until cooked through, around 30 minutes. Serve with rice and enjoy!

So, I want to know. What would you have made with the ingredients from the mystery box?

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4 thoughts on “The Mystery Box: Chicken with sweet potato and garlic, Parmesan sauce”

  1. HAHAHA! I used to talk to my fake ‘audience’ and pretend I was on a cooking show as well. It always used to happen at my Nana’s during the school holidays! But I was probably more like Primary School/Intermediate aged 😉

  2. That sounds so good. I love garlicky sauces and sweet potato is one of my faves. When I was about 8 or nine I used to watch an Asian cooking show every Saturday called “The Magic Wok”, and I would pretend that I was one of their guests cooks. No kidding, I talked to myself in the kitchen too. I dreamed of having my own TV Show. Maybe that’s why I tinkered with recipes on Plate4Eight when I had a bit more time on my hands. I think you would make an excellent cooking show hostess. p.s. I wouldn’t have used the Eggplant either, spinach was perfect.

  3. 2 of my favourite online people linking together……… it seems so random but yet comfortable at the same time!

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