Smokin’ Risotto

Here is the recipe for the risotto I mentioned, that I made the IKEA bread to go with. It is adapted from a recipe in Woman’s Day magazine, that I came across whilst flicking through mags at the hairdresser recently. I still had the Huon hot smoked salmon from Tasmania that I won on Valentine’s Day, so the recipe caught my eye.

If you haven’t got access to hot smoked salmon, just poach/steam some fresh salmon fillets in the microwave instead, and flake them into the rice mixture.

This risotto is amazing! I mean it. Complete and utter melt-in-your-mouth perfection that just comes together in a moment of pure food delight.

Salmon & Pea Risotto

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

2 small red chillies, finely chopped

2 cups arborio rice

½ cup white wine

5 cups chicken stock

¾ cup frozen peas, thawed

¾ cup fresh sugar snap peas, trimmed

3 tbsp fresh tarragon leaves, chopped

1 lemon – zest and juice of

250 gms hot smoked salmon fillet (or equivalent cooked fresh salmon fillet, skinless)

cracked pepper, to taste

optional – shaved fresh parmesan cheese

In a large, deep pan (a wok is good), heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and chillies and saute, stirring, for 2 minutes until softened.

Add rice, stirring to coat, and saute for 1 minute.

Add the wine and then the chicken stock, gradually, stirring constantly as the liquid absorbs into the rice. When all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked (15-20 minutes), add remaining ingredients and fold through until gently heated.

Top with a sprinkling of shaved parmesan if desired, and serve with fresh bread.

Serves 4-6 depending on what you have with it – it is quite filling.

Happy Fooding!

Charming Chicken Pie

Using dishes available

When I first moved out of home, I had quite a glory box stashed away – linen, lots of pottery, fine bone china, kitchen odds and ends etc. I also had a few cookbooks – not many, as I had not done much cooking apart from at school, and didn’t know how much I would come to enjoy playing around with food later on. This was pre-Internet too (wow, I cannot imagine going back to that!).

One of the cookbooks I had was a small, slim hardback, a pocket sized book almost, containing chicken recipes. It was part of a set, and I think I had 3 or 4 different ones. I can’t remember much about the books, but I do know that my chicken pie recipe came from this time, and was one of the first successful recipes I actually cooked in my new “adult” life. For many years it was a staple in my house, and I later adapted it to make a vegetarian version by just leaving out the chicken and putting in chunks of carrot, potato, pumpkin or whatever else I had lying around.

This week I decided to make a chicken pie for the first time in about 4 or 5 years. The only trouble was, as I am in between houses (move part 1 down, move part 2 coming up in about 10 days’ time!) and most of my kitchen stuff is in boxes, I have limited baking dishes at hand – and my favourite pie dish is not at hand! I am trying to use up what is in the fridge/freezer this week, and I had two sheets of shortcrust pastry to use, but they don’t quite stretch to fit the larger-than-pie-dish I had available. I ended up just improvising and making the shape of the pie slightly freeform (that’s all the rage now anyway, right?) within the dish. I was a bit worried the filling might ooze out during cooking, but in fact it worked out really well and was totally delicious.

Freeform is trendy…

Conveniently using a store-bought cooked chook, this pie is great cold the next day, and also reheats well.

I did blind-bake the underneath pastry sheet this time, but if short of time I don’t always bother – it depends how you like your pastry, and I don’t mind mine a bit soft and raw underneath (and yeah, I did used to nick bits of pastry and raw sausage meat when Mum was making sausage rolls, as a kid).

I also had to place a square of foil over the centre after the first 10 mins or so, or else the pastry would have burnt.

Served with eggplant skewers

Chicken Pie

1 barbequed chicken

2 sheets frozen puff or shortcrust pastry, thawed

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp plain flour

2 button mushrooms, finely chopped

½ green capsicum, finely chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

⅔ cup milk

1 ¼ cups chicken stock

cracked pepper, to taste

beaten egg, to glaze

Line a greased pie dish with 1 sheet of pastry. Optional – bake-blind for a few minutes until puffed up slightly.

Pull the meat from the cooked chicken, discarding skin/bones. Depending on the size of the chicken you will probably need about ⅔ of it, so put the rest aside to use in something else.

Chop the chicken meat and place in a dish with the mushroom, capsicum, celery and parsley. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat; add flour, stir well to break up any lumps and cook until bubbling. Add the milk first and then the chicken stock, gradually, stirring constantly to form a smooth sauce. When all liquid is incorporated, fold the chicken mixture through the sauce and gently combine over low heat for a minute or so.

Pour chicken mixture into pie dish. Top with the second sheet of pastry, press down to seal edges, and glaze with beaten egg.

Bake in 200C oven for approx 30 minutes, or until pastry is puffed up and golden brown. If the pastry puffs up too quickly and starts to burn, cover with a square of foil over the centre.

For vegetarian version – leave out the chicken and instead, add chunks of vegies of your choice – if using hard vegies like potatoes, partially steam for a couple of minutes in the microwave first before adding them to the sauce. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken.

Serves 4-6 depending on appetites and what you have with it.

Happy Fooding!

 

Spicy Chicken

I had this delicious chicken dish at my aunty’s house whilst in Melbourne over Christmas, and immediately had to try it myself when I got home. It did not disappoint, and was fabulous served with a light and refreshing Cucumber & Dill Salad and some steamed broccolini.

This salad was amazing! I did it exactly as the recipe stated, and bought a piece of Danish feta to sprinkle over the top as I thought this would be a great addition to the flavours of cucumber, dill and zucchini – however, I completely forgot until we’d finished eating, that the feta was still sitting in the fridge waiting to be used! Oh well, I’ll try that idea next time, as I fully intend to make this salad again.

You can use whatever chicken pieces you like – I love drumsticks, and they’re great for picking at cold the next day. This would be a great picnic dish too.

My quantities are double the original, so increase/decrease accordingly as you see fit!

Aunty Helen’s Spicy Chicken

1 tbsp olive oil

8 chicken drumsticks

Spice Rub:

2 tsp salt

4 tsp sugar

2 tsp ground pepper (I had a jar of ground pepperberries so used that)

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp curry powder

2 tsp dry mustard powder

Sauce:

6 tbsp mango or lemon chutney

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

a splash of white wine

Combine spice mixture and coat chicken in it (I placed it all in a plastic bag to shake it around easily). Leave for at least 1 hour (overnight is good) in the fridge.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and brown the chicken on all sides. Place in a casserole or baking dish.

Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer over low heat.

Spoon over the chicken pieces.

Cover with foil or lid and bake at 180C for 40 minutes.

Remove foil/lid and cook, uncovered for a further 20 minutes.

Happy Summer Fooding!

Relishing Royalty

Finally Summer has hit with a vengeance, and I’m loving it. My social life is crazy right now, as everyone is just happier in the warmer weather and there are so many outdoor things to enjoy in Perth when the sun is shining :), not to mention the silly season is upon us – Christmas parties, lunches, concerts, street festivals – so much is going on right now and I’m really having a ball.

I was recently reading historian Kate Williams‘ book Young Elizabeth : The Making of Our Queen, which mentioned the dish created by royal chefs to be served at the Queen’s coronation lunch in 1953. Aptly titled Coronation Chicken, this dish has become an iconic British chicken salad dish, with many variations.

Basically this is poached chicken, dressed with a mixture of mayonnaise, curry powder and fruit chutney.

You can see both the original recipe and a healthier, modern take by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, here. I made mine above by taking elements from both – I used low-fat mayonnaise and Greek yoghurt for the dressing base, and fruit chutney rather than apricots, but I did poach 2 chicken breasts rather than use leftover cooked chicken. I also topped with shaved parmesan to cut through the sweetness, but actually it was still too sweet for me – too kind of “fruity” in an overpowering kind of way.

I like the concept, and it was easy to make, but I will try it again with just yoghurt and no mayo next time, and chopped dried fruit instead of the very strong fruit chutney.

Happy Summer Fooding!

 

You Say You Want a Revolution….

Layer upon layer upon layer

A quinoa one, that is. Quinoa has been a super food winner for the last couple of years, and I’ve been on that bandwagon since living in Chile, where it has always been a commonly found staple food, and for good reason – it tastes great, is easy to cook, is suitable for those with wheat allergies, and of course is extremely good for you.

There is a plethora (I just wanted to use that word cos’ it’s a cool one!) of quinoa cookbooks around these days, and I eagerly scour through every new one that comes in at my work. The recipe below is adapted from Cabbage Crockpot Casserole, from Patricia Green & Carolyn Hemming’s new cookbook, Quinoa Revolution.

I don’t usually go in for crockpot recipes that involve a heap of pre-preparation – I do like to just throw it all in – but I had plenty of time on this day so was happy to brown the mince before putting it in the crockpot, and it was simple enough to do. Everything else is just layered over the top and then it is switched on and ignored for the day.

I don’t feel the passata on the top added anything really, so next time I will just leave that top bit out – it doesn’t really mix in through the rest, and just stays as a layer of tomato “paste”, when you serve it. Just tinned tomatoes is enough I think.

Layered Beef Casserole

1 tbsp olive oil

500 gms minced beef

1 brown onion, cut into wedges

4 slices rindless bacon, fat cut off, roughly chopped

3/4 cup red quinoa

1 green capsicum, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 green cabbage, roughly chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

400 gm can diced tomatoes

700 ml bottle bought passata

Heat olive oil in a large pan or wok, and saute the beef for a couple of minutes, stirring to break up lumps, until lightly browned. Drain in a colander and if it is a fatty mince, rinse through with hot water.

Place meat in crockpot. Place all other ingredients on mince, layered in the order given.

Cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH 4 hours.

If desired, serve with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable, or salad and garlic bread.

Serves 4-6

I don’t think this wins a lot of points for looks, but the flavours are great.

Happy Fooding!

Crockpot Chicken Casserole

The weather in Perth has been crap lately! Whilst bushfires and awful heat is raging on the East coast, here the warm weather just won’t properly start. We get a couple of warm days full of promise, in fact yesterday got quite warm, but the nights are still freeing and then the cold and rain comes back. It’s really been awful, and I am soooooo over wearing Winter clothes. I am hanging out for shorts and little Summer dresses! It is quite weird, as usually our heat has already started and the East is still getting the cold….not the other way around.

As with clothes, the weather is still making me feel like stews and soups, to go with being cosy inside listening to the rain pouring down (we had the wettest September here since 1930, and October has been wetter than normal too).

This warming comfort dish was not intended to be blog material…..I just threw the stuff in the crockpot thinking well it won’t be anything to write home about, but I’ll be at work all day and it will be great to come home to something cooked. No one to eat it but me, so if it’s not exciting it will still be nutritious and give me some leftovers as well.

I was pleasantly surprised! The chicken was tender and literally had fallen apart, so there is no need to cut it into chunks beforehand – just throw it all in. You could double it for a larger family meal too.

Chicken Casserole

600-700 gms skinless chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of any fat

400 gm can cream of celery soup

1/2 cup chicken stock

6 baby potatoes

2 carrots, peeled & cut into chunks

1 large brown onion, cut into wedges

1 large red chilli, finely chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

1 tbsp plain flour (use gluten-free cornflour if you are GF)

Place the chicken, potatoes and carrots in crockpot. Mix the soup, stock, onion, chilli and cracked pepper together in a bowl, and pour over the chicken.

Cook on LOW for 7 hours.

Blend the flour with a little cold water, into a smooth paste. Add this to the crockpot and give it a stir.

Cook for a further 1 hour.

Serves 3-4 depending on whether you serve it with side dishes or not.

Happy Fooding!

Quick Lamb Curry

This simple lamb mince dish is based on one from Simple Indian Cookery by Madhur Jaffrey – an old book that I came across at work recently, with loads of terrific and EASY Indian dishes.

There is no rocket science here; the key is in the use of fresh spices – get your mortar & pestle action on!

You could serve this as is, in a bowl, or make it a bit more glamorous with rice, tortillas or naan bread, raita, and maybe a side dish of sauteed mushrooms or mashed potato!

Minced Lamb With Peas

2 tbsp olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

1 tsp cumin seeds, ground

1 tsp coriander seeds, ground

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp cinnamon, ground

1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tomatoes, chopped

4 tbsp low-fat Greek yoghurt

500 gms minced lamb

cracked pepper, to taste

1 cup water

juice of 1 lemon

3/4 cup frozen peas

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or frying pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and ginger; stir until lightly browned.

Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper, and stir for 10 seconds. Add the tomatoes and yoghurt. Cook over medium heat until the tomatoes have softened, stirring often.

Add the lamb and cracked pepper. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, breaking up all the lumps.

Add the water and bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add lemon juice and peas, return to a simmer and cook gently, uncovered, for a further 10 minutes.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

Hawaiian Crockpot Chicken

Don’t be fooled by the title above and the ingredients below – this actually does not taste sweet! I think the soy sauce counter-balances the juice and sugar, making it just right.

Simple and tasty, this recipe is based on one of those random facebook postings that you get, designed as a sort of ad but giving you something to entice you into clicking the link. There are a lot of those popping up in people’s feeds lately I’ve noticed – not just recipes, but also a lot of home-remedy cleaning tips. I never click on the links, but I do sometimes write down the recipe ideas, and this one worked really well.

Definitely use thigh fillets here and not breast, as it will be way too dry with breast.

Hawaiian Crockpot Chicken

1 kg chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of any fat/skin

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup light soy sauce

cracked pepper

1 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp cold water

1 cup sugar snap peas

Combine chicken, pineapple juice, sugar, soy sauce and pepper in crockpot. Mix well and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours.

Blend cornflour and water then add this and the peas, to the crockpot. Stir to blend and cook for a further 1 hour.

Serve with black rice, yoghurt & naan bread if desired.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

Vegetarian Variation

As you know, I wasn’t super happy with the fish taste in a dish I made last week – too bland – so I decided to try it again with something else. Instead of fish, I bought a packet of 5 Pepper & Herb Quorn sausages, and cut them into chunks. I often eat vegetarian sausages, because I do not like the oily taste and high fat content of meat ones, and I’m being vegetarian this week anyway. I usually eat the Sanitarium vegie snags (I don’t even need to cook those, I can just eat them cold straight out of the packet!) or the Woolworths Macro ones, but I saw the Quorn ones on special so went for that….and omg they were awesome! I’ve eaten other Quorn products but never the sausages before – I’m a definite convert now. They actually tasted chicken-y and had a proper meaty texture, which some of the others around, don’t.

I made the mash for the topping, with mostly celeriac and a bit of potato, instead of just potato. I love celeriac and it isn’t something I see often here, so I grab one when I can – and I love it mashed.

The result was fabulous. I am really impressed with these sausages, and the whole thing had a much better flavour than the fish version last week. I’ve got leftovers in the freezer now, so it will be interesting to see how it reheats later on.

Happy Fooding!

Salmon Bake

Can’t remember where I got this recipe from – online somewhere I think – but I originally made it as a “non red meat” addition to a dinner party table, years ago – where I had a pescetarian who needed something in an otherwise mainly beef related dinner. It was a big hit with everyone, however, and so has been on my regular menu ever since.

Although salmon is my favourite food, the tinned kind is not something I am super keen on – I could not eat it just on its own, but this dish is one of the rare “tinned” dishes that I really love. It is great as a main dish, comfort-food-style, just to dig in with a spoon in front of a movie on a cold Winter’s evening. It is equally good at a party or pot-luck-supper, as part of an array of various dishes. Enjoy…..

Salmon Bake

30 gms butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp plain flour

1 1/4 cups milk

cracked pepper, to taste

210 gm can red salmon, drained

125 gm can corn kernels, drained (or cut the kernels from one small corn cob)

1 cup frozen green peas

1 cup tasty cheese, grated

1/3 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 180∞C.  Melt butter in saucepan on medium heat;  cook onion and celery for 3 mins, stirring, until onion is soft.

Add flour and cook for 1 min, stirring, then add milk and pepper and cook, stirring constantly, for 3-4 mins until mixture boils and thickens.

Remove from heat and add salmon, corn, peas and half of the cheese. Mix well and pour mixture into a 2 litre ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with combined breadcrumbs and remaining cheese.

Bake for 20 mins until golden.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!