A lot on

It was a stunning morning yesterday..

The clivias are looking so pretty..

We have, as Tim would say, got a lot on at the moment.  We're lamb marking, Tim is in China on a trade delegation looking for lamb markets, there's been sports day and a school dinner, it's frantic in the office, golf, the weeds are bouncing out of the ground (how do they get so big in such a short time??), there's mowing and cutting back to do constantly and we seem to be always on the road to Melbourne.

Still I'm loving the blossom

and the spring flowers:

Needless to say, not much interesting cooking has been going on but now that the days are getting longer I have definitely moved into spring mode with less long and slow cooking and more throw it all in at the last minute.  This chicken dish is a perfect example:

I know it's a bit soon for home grown cherry tomatoes, but sometimes needs must.

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Allow 1 1/2 chicken thighs per person, cut them all in half.

Put them in a roasting dish lined with baking paper.  Halve an appropriate amount of cherry tomatoes and black olives and scatter them over.  Add a couple of unpeeled garlic cloves.  Drizzle with olive oil (I used a little Cobram Estate garlic olive oil and a little basil infused olive oil) and season generously with salt and pepper.  Cook in the oven for approx 20 - 25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

While that is happening I steamed some cauliflower and pureed it with a little butter, sour cream and salt and pepper.

Serve the chicken with the cauliflower and some chopped basil over the top, making sure you drizzle over the pan juices.  Quick, delicious and low fat.  We had this with some pan fried rainbow sliver beet from the garden.

I braised the last of the brussel sprouts, broccoli and carrots from the garden a few nights ago:

I just melted a small knob of butter in the pan, added the vegetables and poured over about 1/2 cup of chicken stock.  Cooked them until tender and finished them with lots of salt and pepper a sprinkling of fresh parsley.  So simple.