Chicken Diane

Ingredients:

• Free range chicken
• Red rascal potatoes
• Green beans
• Red onion (or eschallots I guess)
• Parsley
• Garlic
• Lemon juice
• Chicken stock
• Brandy
• Cream
• Butter
  
• Balsamic vinegar
• Dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Method:

1. Peel and dice potatoes.
2. Spread on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and season.
3. Stick in preheated 180 degree oven.
4. Dice onion as small as possible.
5. Break down chicken (save frame to make stock)
6. Chuck about 30g of butter in a pan along with 30ml or so of Olive oil and brown the chicken all over.
7. Put on a baking sheet and put in the oven.
8. Soften onions and garlic in same pan.
9. Add cream, brandy,mustard, balsamic, stock to pan and reduce about half.
10. Having begun to read The French Laundry cookbook, I now strain sauces (when I remember).
    

11. Blanch the beans, boil the corn. Add the lemon juice and parsley just before plating.

Time to cook: 35 minutes
Cost per serve: $9
Inspiration: Feb 2008 issue of delicious magazine.

Turkish chicken with apricots, ginger, lemon, saffron and pistachios.

Ingredients:

• Cumin seeds
• Coriander seeds
• Cinnamon
• Black pepper
  
• Salt
• Turmeric
• Chilli flakes
• Saffron
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Green chilles
• Thyme
• Mint
• Apricots
• Dried apricots
• Lemon
• Brown Onion
• Pistachios
• Honey
• Tomato paste
  
• Vegetable stock powder
• Wine (I used a rose)
• Olive oil
  

Method

1. Toast and grind all the spices to make a coarse rub.
2. Break the chicken down into 8 bits
3. Coat the chicken in the rub (large plastic bag is useful here)
4. Dice the onions, julienne the ginger and chop the apricots.
   
5. Dump 100ml of olive oil into a heavy pot and brown the chicken all over.
6. Fry the onions, the ginger and the split chilli in the oil and fallen off spices.
7. When they are soft, dump in the wine to deglaze then stir in tomato paste, thyme, apricots, saffron, vegetable stock powder and bring to a simmer.
8. Then return chicken to pan and toss in lemon juice and zest and cover with water.
9. Simmer covered for 10 minutes and then uncovered for 15 more until chicken is meltingly tender. If you go a little bit further the apricots will render down and the sauce will become almost jammy (whoops, but yum!)
10. Serve with steamed cous-cous, creme faiche and mint.

Time to prepare: 15 minutes larder, 15 minutes active, 25 mins goofing off.
Cost per serve: $8
Inspiration: Sunday Life Magazine, Jan 27 2008 page 25.

Ramen vs Soup Noodles

Ingredients

• Good stock, I used vegetable.
• Oyster sauce
• Keecap manis
• Sesame oil
• Soy sauce
• Finely sliced chicken breast
• Soba noodles
• Lop cheong
• Pak choy
• Baby sweetcorn
• Pork and chive dumplings (store bought)
• Spring onions (not pictured but home grown)
  

Method

1. Heat stock
2. Dump in rest of ingredients
3. Add a little oyster sauce and keecap manis, stir
4. Plonk in bowls, float a little sesame oil on top of hot liquid
5. Garnish with spring onion

Time to prepare: 20 minutes
Cost per serve: $10
Recipe inspiration: Nothing conscious.

Peking Duck, Chicken with Vegetables and Cashews, Rice

Ingredients

• Duck legs (preprepared peking duck flavour luv-a-duck vac pac)
• Cucumber
• Spring onions (home grown)
• Hoisin sauce
• Peking duck pancakes (I bought 'em as I'm lazy)
• Long grain rice
• Corn-fed chicken thighs
• Baby corn (canned chopped)
  
• Water chestnuts (canned sliced)
  
• Capsicum
• Snow peas
• Beans
• Broccoli
• Cashews
  
• Stir fry sauce
• Ginger (grated/minced/reduced to pulp however you want)
  
• Sugar
• Salt
  
• Soy sauce
• Garlic (same as the garlic)
  
• Sweet chilli sauce
• Tomato sauce
  
• Water
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to stupid degrees C.
2. Whack duck on an oven tray and stick in oven.
3. Stir fry sauce, is easy, mix it all together in a bowl.
   
4. Put rice in heatproof bowl and cover with water to the depth of one knuckle. Cover with glad wrap.
5. Nuke rice on full power for 3 minutes.
6. When done nuke for a further 10 minutes on 50% power.
   
7. Chop cucumber into bits, and spring onions into long batons, stick on a plate.
   
8. Chop vegetables and chicken up.
   
9. Heat wok until smoking and then toss in a little canola oil (don't use olive oil it smokes too much)
10. Stir fry vegetables in batches (or all at once if you have a good wok burner than can keep up the heat)
11. Stir fry the chicken in batches.
12. Chuck all the vegetables, chicken, cashews into wok and toss in sauce, heat through.
13. Nuke pancakes for 30 seconds or so, until they go soft but don't turn into a single gelatinous mass.
14. Remove duck from oven and remove meat from bone and slice.
15. Serve thusly

Time to cook: 30 minutes
Cost per serve: $15
Recipe inspiration: The luv-a-duck pack spotted in the local wholesale butchers.

Pad Thai (well sort of)

Ingredients:

• Chicken fillets
• Rice noodles
• Spring Onions
• Capsicum
• Pad thai sauce (previously made, but basically mixed keecap manis, dried prawns, chilli, palm sugar, ginger and salt)
• Onion
• Bean shoots (couldn't get fresh used canned)
• Baby sweet corn
• Water chestnuts
• Bamboo shoots
• Fried shallots
• Peanuts
  

Method:

1. Slice chicken and veges up into small slices.
2. Stick noodles in boiling water to soften up.
   
3. Stir fry hard veges in a oil until soft, set aside in bowl.
   
4. Stir fry chicken in batches in a little oil and some sauce.
5. Chuck everything in wok and sprinkle with peanuts.
6. Serve with garnish of crunchy fried shallots

Time to prepare: 20 minutes
Cost per serve: $5
Recipe inspiration: Side of a bottle of pad thai sauce that I was stealing the ingredient list from.

Fajitas

Ingredients
Fajitas

• Chicken strips
• White onion
• Capsicum
• Chilli flakes
• Coriander (ground)
• Chilli powder
  
• Lemon Juice
• Pepper
• Salt
  

Condiments

• Kumato tomatoes
• Shredded Cheese
• Avocado
  
• Soured cream
• Tortillas
• Coriander
• Lemon juice
  

Method

1. Remove avocado flesh (it's icky so dragoon a volunteer if you can)
2. Squeeze lemon for juice (use a helper if you can)
3. Combine the two to make guacamole
4. Chop onions into segments, capsicum and chicken into thin strips.
5. Chuck onions capiscum and a little oil in pan. Find something else to do so you don't disturb 'em. You want them a little charred. Once they have started going sprinkle some of the seasoning over them.
6. Chop the coriander.
7. Fry the chicken in small batches in the same pan as the onions and capsicum where done. Again you want it charred so don't move the chicken about too much.
8. When the chicken is done return the onions and capsicum to the pan, chuck in any leftover seasoning and the coriander and stir through.
9. Put the condiments in dinky little bowls and have your helper ferry them to the table.
10. Mix and match as you will to make yummy (if monotonous) fajitas.

Time to cook: 35 minutes (50 with helper)
Cost per serve: $8
Inspiration: Very little

Risotto with broccoli and chicken balls.

Ingredients:

• Chicken mince
• Coriander
• Arborio rice
• Vegetable stock
• Garlic
• Onion
• Broccoli
• Parmesan cheese
• Prosciutto
• Olive oil
• Salt

Method:

1. Heat oven to 220 degrees C.
   
2. Chop coriander leaves into tiny bits
3. Grate onion
4. Chop coriander stems into really tiny bits, mix with onions
5. Chop broccoli into florets
6. Heat the vegetable stock (I nuked it as I killed my last saucepan not too long ago)
   
7. Mix half the coriander leaves, a tiny bit of grated onion and the chicken mince.
8. Form into balls and fry in batches until brown. Shaking the pan makes rounder balls that using tongs.
9. Stick garlic bread in oven.
10. Heat olive oil in pot and chuck in garlic, rest of onion and coriander stems.
11. When translucent, chuck in rice and stir to coat rice with all the oily, oniony goodness.
12. Chuck in the florets to soften
    
13. You know the drill, whack in stock and stir until absorbed, repeat until bored and rice feels right when you squish it between your fingers.
14. Just as you are about to serve chuck in the rest of the coriander and stir.
15. Crumble prosciutto over the top and remove garlic bread from oven.

Time to cook: 45 minutes
Cost per serve: $7.50
Inspiration: None

Lack of development: Fajitas again

Lack of development: Fajitas again

Another meal selection by the 3 year old, another meal of fajitas. I threw in some prawns again this time for a bit of variety and it wasn't too bad at all. But really I think I need to declare fajita a "naughty word" in our household.

BBQ Chicken Satay Sticks, BBQ corn and Mini-Veg Salad

BBQ Chicken Satay Sticks, BBQ corn and Mini-Veg Salad



Sorry, no photo's today the camera had pooped out. The meal was tasty though and the meat on a stick thing got the three year old eating. He even ate the salad if we stuck it on the stuck too. Wife ate so much she said she felt ill, which has to be a good sign.

Ingredients

• Chicken tenderloins
• Peanuts
• Coconut milk
• Curry powder
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Corn
• Mini tomatoes
  
• Mini cucumbers
• Mini broccoli
  
• Balsamic vinegar

Method
Heat BBQ enough to keep you warm in the chill night air and make enough smoke to chase away the mossies, then whack the corn on it. Stick chicken on sticks, mix salt, curry power, crushed peanuts, coconut milk in a bowl and coat the chicken sticks. Whack them too on the bbq and turn frequently and baste with the satay sauce. Chop the veg and slather with a salted 1:3 mix of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Time to prepare: 45 minutes
Number of serves: 4
Cost of ingredients: $28
Recipe inspiration: very little.

Chicken cashew, apple, potato curry with Rice

Chicken Cashew, Apple and Potato Curry with Jasmine Rice











This is very similar to curries I've cooked before, I beefed it up a little with some stock The three year old was entranced with the moulded rice and scoffed a sizable quantity. I think I could have chucked in more chilli, but it was tasty none the less. Certainly it was better than the last inspid curry I made.


Ingredients:

• Chicken thighs
• Golden delicious apples
• Beef stock
  
• Potato
• Coriander
• Cashews
  
• Curry paste
• Coconut cream
• Salt
• Pepper
  

Curry paste:

• Onion
• Shredded coconut
• Tomato paste
• Sugar
• Curry powder
• Chilli
  
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Tumeric
• Garam masala
• Cashews
• Almonds

Method
Curry paste
Stuff everything in a blender and turn it up to obliterate.

Rice:
I succesfully nuked it and it turned out nice and fluffy. Secret turned out to be nuke on high for a while and then on low for a long time in a bowl covered with glad wrap (BTW NEVER go cheap on plastic wrap, it's just not worth the hassle)

Curry:
Sweat some onions in a pan and then fry off the curry paste. When it starts to become fragrant, chuck in the chicken thighs and fry 'em until golden. Then chuck everything else in and turn the heat down low and cover the pan and cook until it's all tender.

Time to prepare: 60 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $18
Number of serves: 4
Recipe inspiration: Many many recipe books.

Fajitas ad naseum

Chicken Fajitas.



No need to comment allthough I haven't actually done a method before for these so behold the wonder that is the meal which is the bane of my belly.


Method

Toss chicken strips in spice rub and leave for as long as you can.
Slice onions into wedges and capsicum into thin slices. Chuck in a hot pan with a little oil and sprinkle over some of the spice rub. Leave it alone to char. When you can smell the carmelisation toss the vegs around a bit and carmelise on another side. Repeat until the veg is nice and charred. Remove from pan and chuck in a bowl. Toss in chicken strips in batches and again leave 'em alone to char. Toss in bowl with veg as you go. Return the lot to the pan and squeeze over the juice of several limes.

Guacamole (well my version).
Mash with fork, avocado, corriander, chilli. Squeeze in some lime juice.

Spice rub.
Dry roast, then pound in a mortar and pestle.

Tortillas (when you can be bothered making them, rather than buying them)
Mix masa with water until the consistency is kinda like cardboard that has been left in the rain for a couple of minutes. I then use two cast iron skillets to squeeze the masa out into tortillas. Cook 'em in a dry pan until they blister just a little bit then flip and repeat.

Risotto with Corn, Mushrooms and Chicken Sausages with baby veg salad

Corn, Mushroom and Chicken Sausage Risotto, with a baby veg salad











Sorry about the lack of posting, the family has been ill again. You didn't miss much, cheese and tomato on toast and miscellaneous deep-fried frozen things (fish fillets, fingers, chips) and steamed veg were as exciting as it got. Today we had risotto and in an effort to get the 3 year old to eat without help I snuck some rice around his sausages. It turned out a little salty, which is a change from my normal insipid, oh well live and learn.

Ingredients:

• Arborio rice
• Chicken stock
• White wine
  
• Swiss brown mushrooms
• Corn
• Coriander
• Chicken sausages
• Onion
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Parmesan cheese
• Baby vegetable salad
  

Fairly standard risotto method, heat the stock to a simmer. Fry the mushrooms in a hot pan with butter and then add the snags to the pan and fry until nicely cooked and crispy. Then Chuck some onion and oil in the pan on low heat and sweat until translucent. Then toss in the rice and swirl about until the rice just begins to catch and lets off a nice smell. Then dump in some white white and stir until it's gone. Gradually add the stock whilst stirring until the rice is basically done. When it's done add the corn, coriander, mushrooms, cheese and season.

Baby veg salad is simple chop vegies, toss with a little olive oil, lemon and salt.

Time to prepare: About 45 minutes
Cost of ingredients: About $30
Number of serves: 6
Recipe inspiration: none

Pappardelle with Swiss Brown Mushrooms and Poached Chicken in Cream Parmesan Sauce.

Pappardelle with poached chicken and swiss brown mushrooms in creamy parmesan Sauce











This one was just a tasty delight, the 3 year old liked it, the wife liked it, the mother outlaw liked it. I earned a good load of brownie points tonight.

Ingredients

• Pappardelle
• Swiss brown mushrooms
• Poached chicken
• Cream
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt
• Parsley
• Butter
• Olive oil

Pappardelle

• '00' flour
• eggs

Poached chicken

• White wine
• Salt
• Coriander seeds
  
• Cumin seeds
• Bay leaves
  
• Water
• Chicken stock

Time to prepare: About 25 minutes
Number of serves: 5
Cost of ingredients: $28
Recipe inspiration: This one was all mine baby, it's been tried in many many variations up to now.

Fajitas again

Same bat channel, same bat tortillas, same bat result.







I think I'll try wrapping up other food in tortillas and see if the three year old will come at that. Failing that I'm headed back to the bad old days of different dinners for the kids and grownups.


Refer to the previous posts for more information.

Chorizo, Chicken and Cannelini Beans in Tomato Broth

Chorizo, Chicken and Cannelini Beans in Tomato Broth












This was a fantastic, tasty quick meal and for once in my life I almost got portion control right to boot (no huge ass plastic tub full of leftovers in the fridge; just a small one this time). I think some crusty bread would have finished this off nicely, but that would have broken the one starch rule.

Ingredients

• Chorizo
• Chicken tenderloins
• Cannelini beans
• Tomatoes, tinned
• White wine
• Salt
• Coriander
• Pepper
• Olive Oil

Time to prepare: 15 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $23
Number of serves: 2.5
Recipe inspiration: Nothing in particular, but it was all mine.

Takeaway: Rosebud Nando's

Mild Chicken Wrap


No photo as I'm a twit, I figured they would have something on their website, but it seems not. However, I'm sure you can all picture a soft orangish tortilla wrapped around mildly spicey chicken tenderloins with lettuce and tomato. They seem to have learned from Maccas' as they had very natty and effective packaging. The meal itself was very nice, tender juicy chicken slathered in a mild chili flavoured sauce. The lettuce was crisp and fresh and the tomato, whilst flavourless, was at least firm.


Ingredients:

• Tortilla (they told me it was corn, I'm not so sure)
• Chicken tenderloins
• Mild peri-peri sauce
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Mayonaise

Time to prepare: About 8 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $6.75
Number of serves: 1.2 (my three year old decided he needed some and I was still full)
Recipe inspiration: No idea, check out their website perhaps

Fajitas again

Fajitas

No need to say more really is there? This is what you get when the 3 year old is given free range to choose what he would like for dinner. To be fair he eats very well when he gets his way, in fact he ate more than his generously fleshed father.

Chicken, Apple, Potato and Cashew Curry with Rice

Chicken, Apple, Potato and Cashew Curry with Rice












Not nearly enough ommph to this one, was almost insipid. I'm still very partial to the combination of curry with the sweet apple and the tender chicken. The three year old turned it into finger food with the help of some Naan so he scoffed the lot (the offer of an icecream if he finished probably didn't hurt either).


Ingredients:

• Chicken thighs
• Golden delicious apples
• Potato
• Coriander
• Cashews
  
• Curry paste
• Coconut cream
  
• Chicken stock
• Salt
• Pepper
  

Curry paste:

• Onion
• Shredded coconut
• Tomato paste
• Sugar
• Curry powder
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Tumeric
• Garam masala
• Cashews
• Almonds

Naan:

• No idea it was store bought.
  

Time to prepare: 40 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $15
Number of serves: 5
Recipe inspiration: Nothing in particular

Cannellini Beans Cooked in White Wine With Roast Capsicum, Rocket and Chicken Sausage

Cannellini Beans Cooked in White Wine with Roast Capsicum, Rocket and Chicken Sausage











For a fancy pants looking dish this was really quick to cook and very tasty (I think it was down to getting the seasoning right, and beans need a lot of salt.) Eaten with gusto by all and sundry, except the 3 year old turned his nose up at the rocket. The 6 month old did a little better tonight with his rice gruel (red bowl in the background of the photo), perhaps on 50% of it came straight out again rather than the previous 75%. I think he's holding out for real food, instead of his gruel, as he watches most intently when people eat around him.

Ingredients

• Chicken sausage
• Cannellini beans (canned)
  
• Capsicum
• Rocket
• White wine
• Onion
• Salt
• Pepper
• Parmesan cheese
• Olive Oil

Time to prepare: 15 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $15
Number of serves: 4
Recipe inspiration: June issue of Delicious magazine
Current weight: 105.1kg

Chicken and Fennel Sausages with Honey Mustard Pan Sauce and Steamed Veg

Chicken and Fennel sausages with Honey Mustard Pan Sauce and Steamed Veg
+
Rice Cereal







Very exciting night tonight, my 6 month old son had his first "solid" meal. Rice gruel effectively and he was confused by the concept of food you don't drink but he did pretty well just the same. The chicken sausages were very nice, but I put a little much honey in the sauce so it was a little sweet.

Ingredients:

• Chicken and Fennel sausages (purchased from Nepean Bulk Meats)
• Honey mustard pan sauce
• Corn
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Carrot

Honey Mustard Pan Sauce

• Juice from cooking sausages, fat drained off.
• Honey
• Seeded mustard
• Salt

Rice Cereal

• Rice
• Vitamin C
• Mineral (iron)
• Water

Time to prepare: About 15 minutes and 2 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $18 and $1.98
Number of serves: 2 and about 500 at current consumption rates
Recipe inspiration: Very little and What to expect the first year