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Thai Pies June 16, 2018

Filed under: Chicken,Favourites,Tarts & Pies,Uncategorized — delishuss @ 6:29 am
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This is  take on Donna Hay’s Red Curry Pork Pies from her Season’s Cookbook. I was looking for a nice recipe for a picnic in the lovely Roma Street Parklands in Brisbane. Donna’s recipe uses pork; I swapped it out for chicken thigh meat and I’ve added some veggies to bulk them up.

I told my partner that I was making pies, I think he was slightly disappointed when he realised that they weren’t steak and kidney. He was won over when he actually tasted them. They are banging with flavour and just that little bit different.

Utensils: You’ll need 2 round pastry cutters, 1 slightly smaller than the other for the top and the bottom of the pies. A metal pastry muffin tin. I had neither of these so I had to improvise. They were a bit rugged looking but the flavour certainly wasn’t compromised.

Makes 12 pies

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil

1 large brown onion, peeled and diced

1.2 kg chicken thigh fillets, chopped into bite sized chunks

2 tablespoons red curry paste

1 red pepper, finely diced

1 yellow pepper, finely diced

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup coconut cream

1 cup chicken stock

5 x 200g sheets store-bought shortcrust pastry, thawed

1 egg, lightly beaten

Oil spray for greasing the pastry tin.

 

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.
  2. Heat a large saucepan over a high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and onion and cook for 2 minutes. Add in the peppers and fry for a further 5 minutes until they are starting to become soft.
  3. Remove the vegetables from the saucepan and set aside temporarily while you brown the meat.
  4. Add the remaining oil to the pan, allow to heat and then add the meat and cook until brown. Stir in the curry paste and cook off for a minute or 2.
  5. Re-add the veggies. Add the coconut milk, the coconut cream and the stock to the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened. You don’t want it to be too runny or you’ll get a soggy bottom for your pies and no one likes a soggy bottom.
  6. Set the sauce aside while you prepare your pastry.
  7. Cut out 12 of the larger pastry rounds and 12 of the smaller pastry rounds. You can get artistic or get the kids involved and make some leaves for the top of the pies with the leftover pastry.
  8. Grease the pastry tin. Line the holes with the larger pastry rounds.
  9. Spoon in the filling. Don’t overfill or the sauce will ooze out while baking.
  10. With a pastry brush, brush the egg around the edges of the pastry round.
  11. Add on the top pastry round and brush with the remaining egg.
  12. Place in the oven and bake for 30 mins or until golden brown on top.
  13. These are good eaten hot or cold. I just had a thought, they’d be delishuss with a mango chutney.

 

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Chicken and Broccolini Pasta Bake August 19, 2015

Filed under: Chicken,Pasta — delishuss @ 10:47 am
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I have been hankering after pasta a lot lately. I have been doing a lot of training at the gym, so I’m blaming that 🙂 This is a very straight forward recipe and one of my own creations. I did freeze this as it makes about 6 portions. I wasn’t very happy with it defrosted so my recommendation is to eat it up straight away. It’s so good, you’ll be going back for seconds anyway.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 bunch of broccolini, roughly chopped

2 chicken breasts, diced

1 can (400ml) of light evaporated milk

50ml chicken stock

100g breadcrumbs

2 sprigs thyme

200g cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons olive oil

olive oil spray

Salt and pepper to season

Method

  1. Heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius (fan assisted), 200 degrees celsius, 400 degrees fahrenheit or gas mark 6.
  2. Heat a frying pan and add the olive oil. Saute the onion for about 5 minutes until it’s starting to become translucent. Add the garlic, remove the thyme from the sprigs and sprinkle into the pan. Cook for a further 2 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
  3. Add the diced chicken to the pan and fry until browned. While it’s browning add the broccolini. I think to add the stalky bits first, fry for a minute or so and then add the florets.
  4. Re-add the onion, garlic and thyme and stir.
  5. Stir in the stock and simmer it down for about 5 minutes.
  6. Add the evaporated milk, bring to the boil and reduce the heat to a simmer for until the milk has thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. Spray an oven proof dish such as a casserole dish with the oil spray.
  8. Transfer to chicken mixture to the casserole dish. Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs and cheese.
  9. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
  10. Serve with some sugarsnap peas or green beans.
 

Pad Thai August 6, 2015

Filed under: Asian,Chicken,Noodles — delishuss @ 9:52 pm
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My friend sent me a random text this evening. The fact that she sent me a text wasn’t random but the content was; she asked me what I was having for dinner. I have been trying out http://www.taste.com.au 30 days of healthy recipes. Tonight’s recipe was a stir-fry with tofu and quinoa. I wasn’t really feeling it. I’m not wild on tofu, I just kind of think it’s a nothing food. Possibly, if it was deep fat fried then it might be good. Message me if you have any nice recipes with tofu and maybe I will be converted.

After walking around the supermarket trying to decide what to eat, I arrived at Pad Thai. After all my complaining about tofu, I included it in this dish :-). It kind of made it a bit more silky but disappeared really.

This turned out great, if I do say so myself. I wolfed it down. It’s quick to make, you just need to get everything organised before you start. Otherwise, you will be back and forth to the cupboard if you are anything like me. Enjoy.

Serves 1-2

Takes about 25-30 minutes to make all up

Ingredients

100g flat noodles (pad thai)

100g chicken breast, chopped into slivers

50g tofu (I used one that was of medium firmness)

30g scallions/green onions, sliced diagonally

1 egg, beaten in a bowl with salt and pepper to season

1 bulb of bok choy, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

2 teaspoons of sambal or minced chilli

The juice of half a lime

1 cube of palm sugar

1 teaspoon of fish sauce

50g chopped peanuts

2 tablespoon of chopped coriander

2 tablespoon of oil (for Asian cooking they recommend that you use normal cooking oil, peanut oil would be good with this but I didn’t have any in stock.

Salt and pepper to season

Method

  1. Add the noodles to a heat proof bowl and pour over boiling water until they are covered. Add a pinch of salt. Set aside while you get on with the stir-fry.
  2. Add the sambal, lime juice, soy sauce, fish sauce and palm sugar to a bowl. I grate in the palm sugar so that it dissolves quicker but you could just chop it finely if you prefer. Add the chicken and marinade for 5 minutes or so.
  3. Heat a frying pan and add nearly all of the oil. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes turning in between to cook on both sides. Stir in garlic and fry for a minute. Add the bok choy, tofu, onions and half of the nuts.
  4. While those are cooking, heat another frying pan and add the remainder of the olive oil. You will want to make an omelette with the egg. Pour the egg in the pan and roll it around so that the egg covers the base of the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, chop it up with the edge of your spatula or spoon making sure that it’s cooked through. Set aside for a minute
  5. Drain the water off the noodles and then add to the stir-fry and stir through. You can add some of the marinade mixture if it’s a little dry.
  6. Stir in the omelette.
  7. Serve with a sprinkle of coriander and the remainder of the nuts.
 

Rotisserie BBQ Chicken November 14, 2014

Filed under: Chicken,Favourites — delishuss @ 10:03 am
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I find it really hard to cook chicken so that it is lovely and succulent. Marinading is probably the nearest I get with the exception of Rotisserie chicken done on the BBQ. It’s awesome. I think the reason it stays so moist is because it’s rotating all the time and it doesn’t lose all it’s juices. Plus it cooks at a low enough temperature so it doesn’t dry out. You could probably just add some olive oil and seasoning but a rub gives it a lovely flavour. This rub recipe was taken from: http://www.food.com/recipe/rotisserie-chicken-rub-484807. There’s very little involved in this process, the only tricky part is getting the chicken onto the rotisserie rod.

Rub Ingredients

1.8kg whole chicken

3/4 cup salt

1/4 cup paprika

1/4 cup onion powder

1/4 cup garlic powder

1/4 cup Italian seasoning

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons dried thyme

2 tablespoons mustard

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

Method

1. Pre-heat the BBQ on a low setting.

2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Smear over all the chicken. You could place a lemon inside the chicken to enhance the flavour but I left it out this time around.

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3. When you are spearing the chicken onto the rotisserie rod make sure you try and keep the wings tight together with the body of the chicken so that they don’t dry up and overcook. If they are starting to overcook mid way through cooking, stick some tin foil on the ends.

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4. I placed a tray under the chicken to stop the juices/fat spilling onto the flames and starting a fire.

5. This size of a chicken takes about 1 1/2 hours. If you are worried about it being under cooked, give it a prod with a meat thermometer.

6. About a 1/2 hour into cooking, I added some chopped potatoes onto the tray. They were fantastic. They had the lovely juices from the chicken and were lovely and crispy.

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I served the cooked chicken with the potatoes, a garden salad and some steamed greens.

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Chilli and Lemongrass Chicken

Filed under: Chicken,Healthy Eating,Rice and Grains — delishuss @ 9:08 am
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I was looking for a quick and healthy chicken dish to cook mid-week. I had a look on the Google and came across this recipe. It’s from taste.com.au. The chicken is really tasty but I think the rice is lacking something. I added some soy sauce which made it a little less bland. That said, it’s a lovely meal.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1-2 long red chillies, chopped

1 lemongrass stem (inner core only), finely chopped

3cm piece ginger, chopped

3 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons mirin

3 teaspoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

700g chicken breast fillets, sliced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 cup (200g) jasmine fragrant rice

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup Thai basil leaves, roughly chopped

1/2 up coriander leaves, roughly chopped

200g snow peas, blanched, refreshed, thinly sliced

Method

1. Whiz chilli, lemongrass, ginger and garlic into a paste. Add honey, mirin, fish sauce and 1 tablespoon oil and blitz until combined.

2. Toss chicken in a bowl with half the marinade. Chill for 15 minutes. Combine soy with remaining marinade. Set aside.

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3. Meanwhile, cook the rice according to packet instructions. Keep warm.

4. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a wok or large pan over medium-heat. Add half the chicken and cook, turning, for 5-8 minutes until browned and sticky. Repeat with remaining 1 teaspoon oil and chicken. Keep warm.

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5. Meanwhile, toss spring onion, basil, coriander and snow peas with the rice.

6. Spoon rice into serving bowls and serve topped with chicken and reserved saue.

 

Spicy Chicken Tacos with Sweetcorn Salsa October 16, 2014

Filed under: Chicken,Mexican — delishuss @ 10:34 am
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I had some leftover shredded chicken and I was wondering what to do with it and then it dawned on me that I could make some tacos. This recipe requires no skills whatsoever and can be whipped up in no time. I have added a nice sour cream sauce to take a bit of the heat out of the spicy chicken and salsa. I’ve added some Jalapenos to serve as I like a bit of spicy punch but you can leave them out if you don’t like heat. Some shredded cheese of re-fried beans would also be good.

Serves 2

Ingredients

Salsa

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1/2 avocado, diced

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped

couple of sprigs of coriander, finely chopped

40g tin sweetcorn. drained

1/2 lime

Salt & pepper

Spicy chicken

200g shredded chicken

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cumin

Olive oil spray

Sour cream sauce

1 tbsp sour cream

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tsp Tabasco

1 tsp Worcester sauce

To serve

4 mini tortillas

jalapenos, chopped

 

Method 

1. Salsa: I have a bit of a trick for dicing the avocado with very little effort. Chop the avocado in half and take out the seed. Take one half in your hand and make some diagonal cuts down the flesh. Do the same horizontally and then scoop out with a tablespoon.

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Mix all the salsa ingredients in a bowl. Squeeze in half a lime and season with salt and pepper.

 

 

2. Sauce: To make the sauce, add all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

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3. Spicy Mix: Mix all the dry spices in a bowl. You will probably have a bit more spice than you need for this recipe but you can store it in a sealed container to use some other time.

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4. Chicken: Heat a frying pan and spray with olive oil spray.  Add in the shredded chicken and a tablespoon of the spice mix. Give it a taste to see if it needs more spice. Add some more if required and fry off for 3 minutes, just enough to re-heat the chicken. Remove from pan and set aside.

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5. Assembly: You can heat the tortillas on a frying pan slightly or heat according to packet instructions. Place your tortilla on a plate, smear some of the sauce on the wrap, then add the chicken and salsa and any other condiments.

Get stuck in and messy.

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Chicken, Chickpea and Spinach Curry June 16, 2014

Filed under: Chicken,Curries — delishuss @ 12:15 pm
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I am on the constant hunt for the perfect curry recipe. I think I have nailed it this time. I will be straight up, this recipe takes a while to make but it’s worth the effort.  Oh I nearly forgot to mention that this recipe is a hybrid of two cookbooks: The Curry Secret and Good-Food Best Ever Curries and also some of my own finishing touches. The curry sauce recipe makes the base of about 8 meals. I used enough for 4 meals and froze the rest.

 

Ingredients

Curry Sauce

This sauce recipe makes approximately 8 main course dishes.

2lb (900g) onions

2oz (50g) green ginger

2oz (50g) garlic

2 3/4 UK pints (3/12 US pints/1.57 litres) water

1 tsp salt

1 tin (8oz/225g) tomatoes

8tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp tomato puree

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp paprika

 

Curry Core Ingredients

4 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 US cups curry base

1 tbsp. curry paste (I used korma)

1 large chicken breast

1 onion sliced

400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

50ml of cream (I used thickened cream)

50g spinach

 

Method

Curry Base- Stage 1

1. Peel and rinse the onions, ginger, and garlic. Slice the onions and roughly cop the ginger and garlic.

2. Put the chopped ginger and garlic into a blender with about 1  to 1 1/2 UK cups (1 US cup/275ml) of the water and blend until smooth.

3. Take a large saucepan and put into it the onions, the blended garlic and ginger, and the remainder of the water.

4. Add the salt and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat to very low simmer, with the lid on, for 40-45 minutes. Leave to cool.

Curry Base- Stage 2

1. Once, cooled, pour half of the boiled onion mixture into a blender and blend until perfectly smooth. Absolute smoothness is essential. To be certain, blend for at least 2 minutes. Pour the blended onion mixture into a clean pan or bowl and repeat with the other half of the boiled onions.

2. Wash and dry the saucepan. Freezing is best done at this stage.

Curry Base-Stage 3

1. Open the can of tomatoes, pour into the rinsed blender jug, and blend. Again, it is important that they are perfectly smooth, so blend for about 2 minutes.

2. Into the clean saucepan, put the oil, tomato puree, turmeric, and paprika.

3. Add the blended tomatoes and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

4. Now add the onion mixture to the saucepan and bring to the boil again. Turn down the heat enough to keep the sauce at a simmer.  You will notice at this stage that a froth rises to the surface of the sauce. This needs to be skimmed off.

5. Keep simmering and skimming for 20-25 minutes, stirring now and again to prevent the sauce sticking to the bottom of the sauce. Use immediately or cool and refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Curry Core Method

1. Heat 2 tbsp. of the oil in a frying pan, then add the chicken chunks and fry for a few minutes to brown, stirring. Remove the chicken from the pan and fry off the onion. Add in the curry paste and fry it off for a couple of minutes.

2. Add the chicken back to the pan and then add in the curry sauce and chickpeas. Cook the chicken for about 10 minutes until the meat is almost cooked through,

3. Stir in the cream a little at a time to prevent it from separating. Stir in the spinach and cook until it has wilted. Serve it with rice or naan or both.

http://www.pinterest.com/grainiac/recipes/

 

 

 

 

Chicken Sausage Salad November 25, 2013

Filed under: Chicken,Meat,Salads and Dressings,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 11:30 am
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Here’s another salad idea from Weight Watchers. It’s really substantial, you don’t feel like you are going to be starving ten minutes later.  I was actually starving making it so I didn’t get a chance to take any photos. Trust me it’s really good. I was a bit hesitant about the dressing but it tasted lovely, would consider using that for other salads.  I ended up using Thai Style Turkey Sausages from Aldi for the recipe. They are great, even the in-house taste tester was impressed.

Serves 4

Ingredients

12 baby chat potatoes, quartered

2 tsp vegetable oil

6 lean sausages

1/2 bunch rocket, chopped

1/2 cup (140g) no-fat Greek-style yoghurt

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 bunch watercress, sprigs picked

1 Lebanese cucumber, halved lengthways, sliced

250g cherry tomatoes, halved

 

Method

1. Place the potato in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat. Cook for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the sausages, turning, for 6-8 minutes or until browned and cooked. Slice diagonally.

3.  Using a food processor, process the rocket, yoghurt, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Combine the potato, sausage, watercress, cucumber and tomato in a serving bowl. Drizzle with the rocket and yoghurt dressing and toss to coat.

 

Asian Style Chicken Salad October 13, 2013

Filed under: Asian,Chicken,Salads and Dressings,Uncategorized — delishuss @ 6:56 am
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I saw this recipe in the Woolworths Fresh store magazine. I think it’s really tasty and simple to put together but before you start the chicken needs to be marinated for 30 minutes. It’s worth doing to be honest because it infuses the flavours and also makes the meet more tender. This recipe is great if you are looking for something nice and light in the evening.

Serves 4

Ingredients

275g sachet of sweet chilli stir fry sauce. I used a Blue Dragon one with garlic in it.

1 large lime, juiced

600g free range chicken breast stir-fry strips

Spray oil

1 tsp vegetable oil

2cm piece ginger, peeled and grated

1 garlic clove, crushed

350g Ready to Stir-fry Asian Leaf Blend

1/2 bunch coriander

1 tbsp. soy sauce

1 red chilli, sliced

Method

1. Combine sauce, lime juice and soy sauce and chicken in a bowl. Cover and stand for 30 minutes.

2. Spray a chargrill pan with oil. Place over a medium-high heat.

3. Reserve marinade and cook chicken strips, in batches, for 1 minute on each side or until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer to the bowl.

4. Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add reserved marinade and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Divide leaf blend between serving plates. Chop coriander and sprinkle over leaves. Top with the chicken. Drizzle with sauce. Sprinkle over chilli. Serve.

 

Spicy Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dip September 28, 2013

Filed under: Chicken,Starters — delishuss @ 3:34 am
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I always order these when I see them on the menu. I have a bit of a weakness for wings. I made these along with the Shredded Chilli Beef as an entrée. It was supposed to be a Mexican themed night. I’ve always associated wings with Mexican food as some of the Mexican restaurants that I have been to had them on the menu. I was curios about their origins so I did a bit of research and they supposedly originate in Buffalo, New York’s Anchor Bar. I was really chuffed with how these turned out.  The recipe for the wings was adopted from: http://americanfood.about.com/od/appetizersandsoups/r/bufchicwing.htm

The blue cheese dip recipe I used was: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/fried-buffalo-wings-with-blue-cheese-dip-recipe/index.html

This recipe served 5 hungry adults

Wings Ingredients

  • 1 kg chicken wings
  • Olive oil spray
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons hot sauce
  • 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup

Dip Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 small clove garlic, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon milk or buttermilk
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 392 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix the flour and paprika in a bowl and coat the chicken wings in the flour mixture.
  3. Spray an oven-proof dish with olive oil spray.
  4. Add the chicken wings to the dish and cook in the oven for 40 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile mix the sauce ingredients together in a bowl. 10 minutes before the wings are cooked (they should be starting to brown), remove from the oven and pour over the sauce, ensuring that the wings are fully coated in the sauce. Place the wings back in the oven and cook for the remaining time.
  6. While the wings are cooking make the blue cheese sauce. Pulse the sour cream, blue cheese, mayonnaise, garlic, milk and lemon juice in a food processor until combined but still chunky. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. Serve with celery sticks and blue cheese dip.