WBC with suburban slaw

Holiday time when you are a stay at home parent feels like an oxymoron! It’s not until both the boys started school and I get a reprieve from the 8.45 school bell, do I now feel school holidays are indeed a holiday.

It’s about a break from routine, and we all enjoy hanging out in our dressing gowns beyond 9 am, having a bit more screen time and getting out and exploring in brighter weather. Being more relaxed brings about a need chill a bit with food too. With having to feed the boys every meal (and they can eat!) without school dinners to break it up, even I find it a bit of a slog and have learned to take a relaxed holiday attitude to food too!

We eat out a bit more, which means more chips, the crisp consumption goes up and even I ease up on the whole 5 a day mission. But holiday food today doesn’t have to totally revert back to the ‘dirty’ eating I did in my 20s! The Big Mac has been swapped for the Pig Mac (#Pigsty) and KFC for WBC……Westbury Baked Chicken!!!

This is something I’ve been meaning to try for ages, as I’m still all about comfort food at this time of year and I am all about nurturing my soul….especially with food! Even as the crocuses are starting to bloom and the daffodils are in bud, I’m still about fuss free tasty soul food. We ate this on Wednesday night, with my suburban slaw and baby pickled beets, and we were both in heaven! The combo of crunchy, creamy and sharp was totally spot on. 1 out of 2 kids ate it too….the fussier one, at that, so it felt like a total success story!

Let us know if you try this and what you think in the Fuss Free Foodie Facebook group or see some behind the scenes action and food reviews on the Fuss Free Foodie page. See my fuss free life in pictures on Instagram or what I’m tweeting on Twitter. Don’t forget to keep seeing FFF in your feed, keep giving a little like, comment or share! Lisa x

Westbury Baked Chicken
180℃/350°℉/Gas mark 4
6 boneless chicken thighs, skin off, cut in half
150g panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs, mixed
25g plain flour
1 tsp hot paprika
Salt and pepper
3 plates
1 oven tray and grill rack

1. 1. Preheat the oven. Prepare an oven proof tray that will fit a grill rack in it to elevate the meat off the bottom of the tray.
   2. Make sure all the little bones are out of the thighs by feeling the meat.
      Place the 2 eggs onto one of the plates and whisk until all blended together.
   3. On another plate place the plain flour, season with salt and pepper and add the paprika and mix thoroughly. On the final plate put the panko breadcrumbs.
   4. Put the plates in order of which you will need them. Flour, egg and then breadcrumbs. So as not to ‘pané’ your hands, use one hand for the dry ingredients and the other for the wet. Inevitably you will get a bit sticky but not half as bad! This is fun for the kids to do too, being careful of hand hygiene after touching raw chicken.
   5. Take 1 piece of chicken and dust it in flour, shaking to remove the excess. Then dip it in the egg mixture and shake to remove any excess and then coat in panko crumbs. Do this to all of the thighs and place them on the grill/tray.
   6. Place in the oven for 35 mins, turning halfway through so as to colour evenly.
   7. Take out of the oven and serve with suburban slaw and for a sharp twang, baby pickled beets or gherkins!

Forget the Fuss….

If you wanted to use a leaner protein you could use a chicken breast sliced into 4 goujons. Cut off the ‘mini fillet’ as one (try and trim the sinew out) , and make 3 more from the rest of the breast. Coat as above with flour, egg and crumbs, and then on a medium heat grill for 7-8 mins on each side.

Make sure it is cooked through, but try not to overcook, as it will go dryer. There is less room for error with breast meat as there is less fat. You could pop in the over too on 180℃ for 15-18 mins, turning half way through.

I get my panko breadcrumbs and sumac from Waitrose. If you can’t get there, you could use ready made croutons and crush them up. I have not tried this but have seen that used before!

Suburban Slaw
1/8 (around 160g) of red cabbage, white cabbage, finely shredded
2 carrots (around 160g), grated
1/2 red onion, finely sliced
3 tbsp full-fat mayonnaise
Squeeze of half a lemon
2 tsp of Sumac
2-3 tbsp of chopped parsley
Salt and pepper

1. Place all the vegetables in a bowl and mix. Add the mayonnaise, salt, pepper, lemon juice, sumac and mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning and creaminess from the mayonnaise, as desired.
2. If you don’t have any sumac, 1/2 tbsp of Dijon mustard works really well too.
   This works as a side dish to many others so share the recipe around!