13 propoints | Skinny Jeans and the Inbetweens

I love steak and usually have it with pepper sauce but I fancied a bit of a change and rustled up this fancy posh dinner sure why not it is the bank holiday after all! The Roquefort has a beautiful tangyness that compliments the beef superbly. Mushrooms and onions are a natural accompaniment to steak but you could serve this with some beautiful tender stem broccoli either. This fabulous dinner can be yours for just 13 propoints (and only 3pp on filling and healthy!). Serves 2, Here’s the skinny:
2 x 190g fillet steaks

300g peeled raw potato

Mushrooms

1 Onion

40g Roquefort Cheese

20g Reduced Fat Butter

Fresh Thyme

Salt and black pepper

Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius. Take your steaks out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you cook them to bring them to room temperature. Cut the potatoes into chip shapes and place on a plate. Microwave for three minutes. Spray well with spray oil and cook in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes until browning. Season the steaks each side with black pepper and cook on a very hot griddle pan sprayed with oil for the time according to your liking approximately 2 to 3 minutes each side for rare 4 minutes a side for medium and 5 to 6 minutes a side for well done. Place the steaks on a plate and cover with tinfoil & allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. Quarter the mushrooms and fry alongside the onions in a pan sprayed with oil. Mash the Roquefort and butter together with a sprinkling of fresh thyme leaves and some black pepper until nice and smooth. Serve the chips, mushrooms and onions, and steaks topped with half of the roquefort butter per person and enjoy!

If you’re a regular visitor to my blog you’ve undoubtedly seen & hopefully tried my Gorgeous Chicken & Chorizo Risotto Recipe. Well the origins of that little tasty number lie here, I have made this dish a thousand times it is without doubt my most favourite invention ever & I adapted these particular flavours to fit around my popular risotto dish but the pasta version wins out every time. This is so simple to make I could do it with my eyes closed at this stage & it’s always welcomed with great enthusiasm in this household, I’m lucky if the chorizo makes it to the pot with little pickers! I successfully skinnied this up without losing any integrity of the original recipe, it is still generous in portion with plenty of chicken & chorizo per person at just 13 propoints or just 7 propoints on the filling & healthy plan (if using whole wheat pasta). This serves 4.

250g Chicken (approx 2 medium fillets)

95g Chorizo

2 Large Shallots

1 Clove Garlic

250ml Avonmore Cooking Cream

Large Handful of Fresh Basil Leaves

20g Grated Parmesan

Salt & Black Pepper

200g Uncooked Tagliatelle

I like to get everything chopped & organised into separate small bowls before I start so you literally just add everything to the pot in stages making for a very easy peasy dinner, so chop your shallots finely, dice the chicken into bite size pieces, peel the skin off the chorizo and slice it finely, grate the parmesan & set these all aside in separate bowls. Heat a large saucepan over a medium heat & add the chorizo slices, you don’t need any spray oil for this as dry frying the chorizo is going to release the lovely chilli oil from the chorizo that you will use to cook the rest of the ingredients with. Watch the chorizo carefully stirring occasionally so it doesn’t catch & burn this will take about 3 minutes until all the oil starts releasing from the chorizo & it starts to brown slightly. Remove the chorizo from the pan to a bowl and set aside leaving the chorizo oil in the pan. Add the chicken pieces & cook for 8 to 10 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked through, it will go a lovely orangey colour from the chorizo oil & will have mountains of flavour from that gorgeous oil. Add in the shallots for the last 3 minutes or so whilst cooking the chicken so they soften. Add the crushed garlic to the pan & sauté for 30 seconds to a minute. Return the chorizo to the pan with the chicken & shallots & pour in the cooking cream. Season well with Salt & Black Pepper & stir for 5 or 6 minutes until the cream thickens into a sauce. Add a tiny bit of the pasta cooking water from the pot to loosen the sauce if it goes too thick. Add the grated parmesan & stir for a few seconds until melted. Just before serving chop the basil leaves & stir through the cream sauce. Drain your pasta & add the pasta to the sauce stirring well to coat all the tagliatelle with the mixture & ensure even coverage of chicken & chorizo pieces. Divide between four bowls/plates, top with basil & Enjoy!