Chicken nuggets … a step by step guide

Before we begin, the same tip as always – set your stall out, get all your ingredients ready – if you're organised it'll be fun :

Step 1 :

Pat the chicken dry with kitchen roll. Place a sheet of cling film on your board. You can place the chicken breast whole and cut afterwards or cut into small nugget sized pieces before you begin bashing – bear in mind that the chicken is to be flattened and will therefore be larger than the cut piece. Try and keep the nuggets a similar size. Arrange on the cling film making sure you leave sufficient space between the nuggets. Cover with another sheet of cling film and bash with a kitchen mallet (or rolling pin) to flatten. Set aside.

Step 2 :

Place the flour, egg and breadcrumbs in the foil trays.

Step 3 :

A tip before you begin – make sure you have a baking tray lined with kitchen roll ready to receive your breaded nuggets.

Now for the production line and another tip - wear gloves!

Step 4 :

Coat each piece in flour, then coat in beaten egg and finally in breadcrumbs.

If you are cooking the nuggets later, cover with more kitchen roll and then double cling film and “fridge” until required.

When ready to serve you have two options :

Pre-heat oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Heat a glug of rapeseed oil in a large frying pan on a moderate heat. If you wish to check whether the oil is ready to use drop a breadcrumb into the oil – if it sizzles and begins to colour you're ready to roll. Seal the nuggets on both sides and transfer them to a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or you can continue on the hob – turn the heat down low and turn the nuggets frequently until cooked through and golden brown. This will not take more than 15 minutes since the chicken is bashed thinly. If you want to be certain take one and cut it in half, it should be thoroughly cooked before serving.

As a guide you should get 4-6 nuggets per breast depending on how large you want your nuggets – it's not an exact science.

Coming up – other alternatives!

5 down 4 to go – the photos

Here's the usual step by step guide :

The bain marie

Blob your chocolate glue

Stick your parchment to the blobs

Pour your biscuit mix into the tray

Tip your biscuit out of the tray – how clean is that parchment?!

Dust your biscuit with cocoa

How good do they look?

The remains … the jigsaw puzzle.

Lemon Meringue Fudge – the photo guide

I used lemon extract paste and mini lemon meringues – see below :

Here's the fudge :

There's a residue of tiny lemon crystals in the bottom of the meringue packet – use them to sprinkle over the top of your fudge before it's fridged :

Crush your meringues in a food bag, clipped and then sprinkle away :

Here's the finished fudge :

Freeze in boxes of a size that will suit so you don't waste any – very funny!

Post script on the pizza puffs …

… and photos too, as promised.

Here's a step by steps guide to the puffs :

I have three pieces of good news – in the unlikely event that you have any left over you can freeze them.

If you have any left over you can wrap and fridge and then reheat the following day – 10 minutes in a hot oven will do it.

You can make these ahead, cool and then wrap in foil and freeze. You can bake them straight from the freezer – use a preheated baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes – they puff up.

I have road tested all of the above and all I can say is that I'll definitely be repeating it!

Win, win and win.