Crockpot Chicken

Well I moved house a week ago, but have had no proper Internet connection until now. I have my iPhone, with the WordPress app on it, but I don’t seem to be able to actually post anything that way. I also had no hot water for 4 days and still have a couple of minor problems waiting to be fixed, but the lack of wifi was my main concern!

As I mentioned, I did end up having Crust pizza on the evening of the move (see above – tandoori chicken with yoghurt drizzled on top, delicious), which actually did me for the next night as well. I love that pizza so much!

I am not completely unpacked yet, but the bulk of it is done. I am still manouevring my way around several large boxes in the middle of the floor though, as I don’t have room to put the things in them, so am just leaving some stuff packed up rather than have to repack it again in a year’s time when I will be moving again.

In the meantime it has been lovely finding old friends like my wok and bread machine, and of course my cookbooks. I was too tired to do much but collapse, for the first few days, especially as it was 38-40C for a few days in a row and there is no air conditioning (yet – it’s coming apparently) or pool where I am now. I have been working a lot and studying hard as well, but I finally felt back to normal a couple of days ago and decided to throw a few things in the crockpot for dinner when I came home from my day’s classes. I found an old “French chicken stew” recipe from years ago, and revamped it according to what I had in my (not yet restocked properly) pantry.

Coming home to the smell of something cooking is so divine!

Crockpot Chicken Stew

425 gm can cannellini beans, drained

2 cps chicken stock

6 chicken thigh fillets (skinless), cut into large chunks (you can use breast fillets, but they do dry out easily)

420 gm can tomato soup

3 small potatoes, roughly chopped

1 carrot, peeled & diced

1 brown onion, roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 bay leaves

½ tsp dried basil

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp paprika

cracked pepper to taste

1 tsp cornflour (optional)

Place all ingredients in crockpot except cornflour; mix well, cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.

A couple of hours before you are ready to eat, mix the cornflour to a paste with a little cold water; add to the crockpot and mix through, to thicken.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

Teriyaki Potatoes

One of my favourite “quick what vegies can I do that everyone always likes, when I can’t be bothered going to much trouble” dishes…..

Teriyaki Potatoes

about 8 small/baby potatoes, cut in half

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp teriyaki or light soy sauce

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp dried basil leaves

1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

1/4 cup fresh rosemary, chopped (OR 1 tsp dried rosemary leaves)

1/2 tsp chilli flakes or chilli powder

cracked pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in microwaveable dish and toss to combine. Cover and cook on HIGH for 12 minutes, stirring twice during cooking.

Serves 2-4 depending on your appetite and what else you are having with it.

Happy Fooding!

Curried Chicken Soup

 

This is adapted from a soup my cousin used to make years ago. It is very thick and filling, a meal in itself.  Definitely great crusty-bread-and-red-wine-by-the-fire Winter comfort food.

Curried Chicken Soup

1 tsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

350 gms chicken thigh fillets (skinless), diced

3 rashers bacon (rindless), diced

1 brown onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp curry powder

1 tbsp plain flour

3/4 cup white rice (I use basmati)

1 carrot, peeled and grated

420 gm can creamed corn

large pinch dried oregano

large pinch dried thyme

6 cups chicken stock

cracked pepper, to taste

Melt butter & oil together in large saucepan; add chicken and bacon and saute over medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add onion, garlic and curry powder and sauté for a further 2-3 mins. Sprinkle with flour and stir to coat.

Add remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer then reduce heat to low and cook for 40 minutes.

Stir the soup frequently as it thickens and sticks very easily as the rice cooks and expands!

Makes about 6 servings, depending on the size of your soup bowls!

Happy Winter Fooding!

Chicken Enchilada Stack

This yummy dish is my adaptation of a recipe from the Aust Women’s Weekly Easy Mexican Style Cookery book from 20+ years ago.  Some of the ingredients in the original are just too difficult to find, even now when we have such a great array of foodstuffs available to us, so I came up with my own version of the sauce part of the recipe.

The best flavours, in my opinion, are when you make this using a green sauce ie made from tomatillos, green tomatoes or green chillies. It is, however not always easy to find a jar of this, so for this current effort I used a roasted capsicum flavour taco sauce.

There is a bit of preparation in this dish, but once you have chopped up all the bits, the assembly is easy and then you just stick it in the oven.  Nice served with rice and /or salad.

The “stack” is intended to be served hot, cut into wedges, but is also really yummy served cold, so works well as a sort of chicken “slice” thing to take on picnics.

Chicken Enchilada Stack

1 L (4 cups) water

1/2 medium onion, peeled

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 fresh parsley sprigs

3 chicken breast fillets (skinless)

5 x 18cm flour tortillas

200g feta cheese, finely chopped/crumbled

1/2 cup grated tasty cheese

Sauce:

1 jar of EITHER a taco sauce of your choice or (if you can get it) green chilli/green tomato relish (ie Banditos or Nandos)

1 3/4 cup reserved stock from chicken

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp cumin seeds, ground

1 tsp coriander seeds, ground

juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp chopped jalapeno chillies (the ones you buy pickled in a jar)

Combine water, onion, garlic and parsley in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, add chicken and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes or until chicken is tender, turning once during cooking.

Drain chicken, reserving 1 3/4 cups of the stock for the sauce.  Finely chop the chicken and put aside.

For the sauce, heat olive oil in a pan, then saute the onion and garlic for 3 minutes. Add cumin and coriander seeds, stirring, for about 1 minute or until fragrant.  Add remaining sauce ingredients and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes until thickened.

Spoon about 1/4 cup of the sauce, into an ovenproof baking dish.  Dip a tortilla in the remaining sauce, place on baking dish, sprinkle with a quarter of the chicken and cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, sauce, chicken and cheese, finishing with a tortilla. Spoon 1/4 cup of remaining sauce over top of stack, then sprinkle with grated cheese.

Bake, uncovered, in a 180C oven for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. Makes 8 wedges.

Happy Fooding!

My Favourite Pasta Dish :)

I love this pasta recipe, which is based on a standard recipe on the back of a cannelloni tube box – but over the years I’ve tweaked the quantities. I think it is better my way!

Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni

250 gm pkt instant cannelloni tubes

375 gms ricotta cheese (low-fat)

250 gms tasty cheese, grated

250 gms frozen spinach, thawed and drained

2 eggs

cracked pepper, to taste

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 x 425 gm cans diced tomatoes

1 tbsp red wine (optional)

1/2 tsp dried basil leaves

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp sugar

pinch of salt

Method:

Sauce:

Mix together tomatoes, red wine (if using), basil, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper & sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer, covered, for a few minutes. Remove from heat and let cool whilst making the cannelloni.

Filling:

Mix spinach, ricotta cheese, eggs, garlic, 1/4 cup of the grated tasty cheese, nutmeg, salt & pepper together thoroughly in a medium sized bowl. Fill the cannelloni tubes with this mixture (Tip: the easiest way to do this is to use a wooden or bamboo chopstick, to pick up clumps of mixture and poke it right down into the tube).

Using olive oil spray, lightly grease a 25 x 20cm ovenproof baking dish. Spoon a thin layer of sauce over base, leaving enough left to cover cannelloni. Place a single layer of filled cannelloni side by side in the baking dish. Spoon over the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese.

Cover with foil and bake in 180C oven for 45 minutes.  Serves 6-8 depending on whether you are having side dishes with it. Salad and garlic bread is always good!

You can substitute fresh baby spinach or any other greens, for frozen – I have used bok choy for example – but you need to allow a large quantity in order to have about 250 gms after steaming/chopping it.

Happy Fooding!

Gaaaaaaaaaazpacho !

Even for those without "the right knobby parents"!!

Okay so it’s not 25th November (official Gazpacho Soup Day – see video below) lol, but the constant hot weather here is perfect for a light cold meal right now 🙂

This recipe comes from an old, out of print Tex-Mex cookbook I’ve had since 1991 (yes, I am pretty anal so I did write the date I bought it, in the front of the book!). The book is a bit dated now, but still has some quite good, easy recipes in it – and you can’t get much more simple than this refreshing soup.

Gazpacho Soup

1/2 cucumber, peeled or unpeeled (I don’t bother peeling it – why make work for yourself unnecessarily)

1/2 red or white onion (I use red for a stronger flavour)

1/2 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced or chopped

1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp wine vinegar

1 litre (4 cups) tomato juice

cracked pepper, to taste

ice cubes to serve

2 fresh limes, cut into wedges, to serve

Chop cucumber and onion in small pieces (use a mandolin if you have one). Place in a bowl along with avocado, oregano, oil and vinegar.  Stir in tomato juice and pepper to taste.  Chill for a few hours to allow flavours to develop.

When ready to serve, ladle into bowls with 2 or 3 ice cubes in each bowl. Serve with lime wedges.

Makes 4 serves.

Dedicated to Arnold J Rimmer and Smegheads worldwide! Go the Dwarf…..

Happy Fooding!