Chicken Laksa

(serves 2, so I would double as a minimum)

2 tablespoons peanut oil

2 spring onions, white and green parts sliced and separated

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons red curry paste

2½ cups chicken or vegetable stock

1½ cups low fat coconut milk

1 teaspoon brown sugar

½ teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons fish sauce

10 button mushrooms, wiped clean and quartered

2 chicken breasts

100 g dried Laksa noodles

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons coriander leaves

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat.

2. Add the white part of the spring onions and saute for 1 minute. Add garlic, turmeric,

curry paste and cook for 1 minute, stirring.

3. Add stock, coconut milk, sugar, salt and fish sauce and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, add chicken and simmer for 5 minutes, uncovered.

4. While the soup is simmering, soak the noodles in boiling water for 10 minutes.

5. Add the mushrooms to the soup, return to boil and cook for 2 minutes.

6. Stir in the lemon juice.

7. Drain the noodles under cold water, place in the bottom of the soup bowls, sprinkle with

green spring onions and fresh coriander leaves and ladle the laksa soup on top.

My Fav Thai Steamed Fish

One fillet of fish (any really, trout, salmon, cod, etc.)
One clove of garlic
One red chilli
A good sq. cm. of fresh ginger
One lime
Pak Choi
Soy

Place the fillet on a square of tinfoil. Crush garlic, ginger, chilli over fillet. Zest lime and squeeze over the top. Halve 2-3 pack choi and place on top of fillet, pour 2tbsp soy over the top. Steam for 15 minutes.

Smoked Chicken Pesto Pasta - Nailed

Chicken pesto pasta is a classic, first made for Si and I by G - who used to whip up and serve an amazing casserole dish of this delicious pasta for parties in Abu Dhabi. I believe over the past little while, the whole KC household in AD are on the bandwagon and Dad has started making his own pesto for the dish. I had a play today and officially nailed my 'personal best' chicken pesto pasta. It sound a bit complex but its really not...

I smoked my own chicken while I was doing the dishes (no dishwasher!), literally took 20 minutes. 3 of work, 17 of doing dishes.


The Smoked Chicken


Make a wee bowl out of tinfoil, double layers is best, just the right size to fit into the bottom of a pot. Inside the bowl add

• 50gm brown sugar 
• 25gm loose leaf jasmine tea 
• 75gm jasmine rice (uncooked) and mix. 

Place the bowl in the bottom of an empty put and put over medium heat until the tea starts to smoke. Turn the heat right down, place a rack over the tin-bowl (our microwave oven rack fits perfectly into our pot, luckily - you might need to improvise to make this work), place two raw chicken breasts on the rack and cover with the lid. Leave for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

The Pesto


'Pesto' is a derivation of the italian word for 'pounded'. Seriously, like all herbs, pesto gets its amazing flavour when you POUND the herb, not cut it. So unless you are going to mortar and pestle this - you're going to bastardise the recipe as much as the dudes to put it in a jar the supie. Don't blend, process or anything with a blade as you won't get the amazing 'bruised' fragrance and flavour.

• a handful of finely grated parmesan cheese 
• about 30gm pine nuts 
• 2 small cloves of garlic 
• as many basil leaves as you can fit into the mortar (a few cups) 
• A big drizzle of olive oil 
• A pinch of course salt 

Take to it with a pestle until it becomes a broken down paste - you know how it should look. I like to throw in more and more basil leaves as I go to bulk it up. It should go quite creamy too with the olive oil and nuts. When I made it today, the whole house smelled of basil - devine! It keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks but be aware that the garlic taste will get stronger with time.


The Pasta dough recipe is here but today we just used bought fresh pappardelle from the supermarket - couldn't be bothered!


The Dish


You need:

• 1 large onion, chopped 
• 2 red chillies, chopped 
• Cup - (+1/2) white wine (chardonnay is good) 
• 10-15 mushrooms 
• 1 knorrs chicken stock pot 
• 2 tablespoons sour cream 
• Pasta 
• Toasted pinenuts
• Pesto (about 4 tablespoons) 
• Smoked chicken (thinly sliced) 
• Fresh rocket

Fry the onion, chilli and mushrooms in a pan until the onion is caramelised. Add the glass of wine and chicken stock put with 1/2 cup water and allow to simmer until reduced by 50% (or mushrooms are cooked).


Leave to cool as you bring a pot of salty water to the boil.


Once cooled down a little, the stock, veg and juice should be rather thick. Add the pesto and sour cream. Stir and then lay the chicken slices into the pan, turning the mixture (not stirring so as to hold the chicken in nice slices) warm up slowly. Add your pasta to the boiling water. When the chicken and sauce reaches a simmer, turn off heat.


Once the pasta is done, pour off most of the water, leaving a few tablespoons in the bottom. Cut in 1/2 tablespoon of butter and then add to the chicken and sauce. Gently flip to mix and finely grate a little more parmesan over the dish. Add the pinenuts and throw in several large handfuls of rocket and gently flip again encouraging the rocket to wilt a little before serving.


Enjoy :)

Sarah and Simons Silky Pasta Dough Recipe

Using 3 cups of plain flour and 1 teaspoon of salt, make a wee mountain on the bench. Make a well and add four eggs and two tablespoons of olive oil. Gradually mix using your fingers, taking a tiny bit of flour from the walls without letting the liquid escape. Once combined, work the dough hard-nuts until it becomes a very silky dough that holds its form. Wrap the dough in gladwrap and leave to sit for at least 1/2 an hour to allow the gluton to relax.


Cut the ball in half and rewrap one half to prevent the dough from drying. Flour the bench and form the ball into a flat rectangle and run through the pasta maker on the widest setting. Keep processing the dough until you reach the smallest width, then fold the length in half as many times as you can before repeating the processing cycle. This helps to work the dough and keep it silky.

Dry the dough for as long as you like.

2011's BEST cooking tip EVER

Buy a meat thermometer that can stay in the meat while it cooks in the oven. You can get roast meats at the PERFECT point of moisture and temperature meaning you NEVER get tough or overcooked meat. Its easier than checking for juices as while the roast rests the internal temperature continues to rise for about 20 minutes. Its the best £12 ever spent.

Nae's Mama's Pie Recipe

1 kilo of sirloin steak cut into pieces

500 grams minced beef

1 x finely sliced carrots

2 x very finely diced red onion

500 grams button mushrooms

3x heaped tablespoons tomato paste

1 tsp curry powder

grated nutmeg

beef stock

red wine

1 x tablespoon mustard

tub of sour cream

Put at least 6 large agrias on to boil.

Fry the steak with a little olive oil and garlic ( not much)  until brown and tender.Put aside. Fry beef mince  until browned. Into the pan with all the brown from frying the meat , add your 1 cup of beef stock and stir to get all the flavour out.  Place the meats , stock, mustard,diced mushrooms,  etc etc all except the sour cream into a large saucepan. Simmer for an hour. Add your 1x cup of red wine mixed with a little rice or corn flour to thicken.. Simmer and taste for salt etc.. add more condiments to taste. Stir in the sour cream....keep back a cup for the potatoe topping.

Potato Topping

Mash potatoes with salt, pepper, a cup of sour cream and parmesan cheese. Mash until soft and fluffy ( if you need to add a little milk thats ok,  but this whole pie is not a runny pie. The meat mixture should not be too gravyish....quite thick.

Line a large pie dish with flaky pastry. Pour in mixture. Top with the potatoes,  black pepper, parsley and xtra parmesan. Place  on your top layer of flaky pastry. Cook for aprox 1 hour on a relatively hot oven....

Can put in peas and or spinach  but I like it mainly being a beef sour cream pie myself..  Serve with broccoli , steamed carrots with lemon butter, crusty rolls. A green salad is aceptable too as this is not a runny pie.

I have done this pie with chicken too Darling and it works well just swapping the stock to a chicken one , and red wine to white. Adding a little bacon and some  steamed spinach to sit under the layer of potatoes is really yum. This is my basic pie recipe I always use when baking a pie. Interchanging a few ingredients to suit. Hate runny pies.

Janets Diet Curry

This curry has jack all in it but tastes awesome -loads and loads of flavour - and fills the gap without any lard at all. It is quite carbo though, its good for slimmers world type diets.

300 ml of vegetable stock
750gm sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size wedges
1 onion thinly sliced
225g fresh baby spinach leaves
2 garlic cloves
1 red chilli sliced thinnly
1 TBSP medium or hot curry powder
4 Ripe plum tomatoes chopped or canned tomatoes drained)
salt and pepper
1 can of chickpeas (optional)

Pop the stock into a pot adding sweet potatoes and onions. The liquid will not cover the potatoes but go with it. Bring to the boil reducing the heat, covering and simmering for 4-5 minutes.

Add the spinach, garlic, chilli, curry powder, tomatoes and chick peas. Stir well and cook over a medim heat for ten minutes until spinach has wilted and the potatoes are soft. Serve without rice or anything.

Chicken Salad for dieters

1 skinless boneless chicken breast per person
Paprika
Sugar
Salt/pepper
Flour

Crunchy lettuce/rocket/salad/baby gem
Cherry/baby plum tomatoes
Red onion
Avocado
Boiled egg
Lemon
Spray balsamic
Sugarsnap peas

Put 1TBSP paprika into a bowl
Add 2 TBSP flour
Add 1 tsp Sugar
Add 1 tsp Salt

Stir well.

Slice chicken into smaller pieces, then throw into flour mixture and coat completely. Place coated chicken into George Foreman for approx 5 minutes, or until cooked through. This will dispense of any fat and also make the coat crispy and the inside tender. I am in love with my George Foreman.

Toss into salad with other ingredients. Add baby or new potatoes if required. Squeeze lemon over the top and spray with balsamic.

Optional add on for boys: Make a dressing using mustard, mayo and lemon juice for a naughtier ceasar type dressing.

Green Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

If you're feeling like something a little lighter but delicious and filling.. or if you have a cold like Simon!!

4 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
Two cooked chicken breasts, shredded (or a ready cooked chicken from the supermarket)
Green curry paste
Milk/cream/coconut milk - about 100ml
Approx 1lt hot water
2 chicken stock cubes (added to hot water)
Fresh basil
Fresh corriander
Rice noodles (or those pre cooked in a vacuum pack - avoid dry egg noodles)

Gently saute the finely chopped shallots in a pan with oil until soft, add garlic and fry for a further minute. Add a big table spoon and a bit of green curry paste and fry for a further minute. Add chicken stock and water and stir.
Add noodles until soft and noodle-like. Add cream/milk/coconut cream, chicken, and a couple of tablespoons of each herb and cook until chicken is heated through. Taste for seasoning and balance ingredients until perfect.

Serve with a sprinkle of the fresh herbs on the top.

Fishcakes

This is quite yummy for a change - pretty easy too.

• Some fish (350-450gm-ish)
• 150ml milk
• 150ml water
• 350gm-ish potatoes
• tablespoon of something creamy - bestfoods, sour cream, creme fraise, cream (any'll do)
• whatever herbs take your fancy (parsley, dill, basil, mixed, dry (a bit of chilli powder is good), fresh blah).
• lemon juice or zest
  
• an egg (beaten in a bowl)
  
• some flour
• some bread crumbs (I didnt have any so toasted bread in oven at 60-odd degrees while I prepared the rest, then smashed with a bacardi bottle when I was ready for it)

Put fish, milk, water in to pan. Bring to boil, lower heat then simmer for 4 minutes. Take off heat, put the lid on and leave to sit for ten minutes.

Extract fish with a holey spoon and leave in a bowl.

Boil potatoes. When soft, drain, leave for a few minutes to let moisture evaporate then moosh in pot. Add spoon of creamy yum. Add herbs, lemon juice and a good dose of salt and pepper. Taste (this is the bit you want to be yummy). Flake in fish with your fingers then fold into potato. Just once or twice - don't stir!

Roll patties with floury hands, dip in the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Fry 5 minutes each side.

Serve with watercress salad and a slice of lemon. Yum!

Mammas Roast Chicken

Mammas roast chicken is super easy and ALWAYS a winner.

She melts some butter, fires it on top of the chicken with lots of salt, places in pan with a cup or two or water in the base to stop it sticking and roasts it on fan bake at 175 degrees for about 2 hours. Delish!

Lately, I've tried a couple of variations. Cooking roasts every sunday with the neighbours means constant competition so here is my favourite;

Preheat oven to 240 degrees

2 Large carrots - not peeled
2 large onions - peeled
Rough chop both in really large bits

1 whole bulb of garlic, broken to cloves - outer shell peeled but cloves DEFINATELY left in shell

Chuck all in roasting dish, drizzle olive oil generously

Place chook on top of all of the veges (so resting off the base of the dish), follow mammas chicken recipe (minus the water as the veges make their own water) - throwing the salt all over the chick and the veges.

As soon as you put it in the oven, reduce heat to 200 degrees. Leave it for about 1 hour 20 minutes.

The veges taste amazing and the gravy is wicked with lots of flavours.

Enjoy!

Oarsome Roast Lamb! Nom!

Hi guys, here is a great recipe for roast lamb, we have just this minute finished sunday night roast and this was really, well and truely delish!

This is for a 1.5kg leg.

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

On the bench or a board spread a couple of tbsp of flour and roll your lamb leg through, covering completely. Sprinkle salt and pepper liberally.

Take the roasting dish and pour a good wallop of olive oil into it. Put it over the element until its nice and hot then throw a whole bulb of chopped rough garlic.

Chuck in the lamb leg and seal for about 10 minutes - tanning all surfaces.

Take off the heat, throw in a glass of white wine or water until there is about 1cm of liquid at the bottom.

Put into the oven for about 2 hours, uncovered. Baste two or three times while cooking, top up liquids if they dry up too much. Check for pink juices - if clear its ready.

Nom nom.

Roast Pork

I don't know what recipe mum and dad use for their roast pork, but this is a good 'un and we use this one for Sunday roasts with friends - awesome crackling every time! xx

A big pork lump (1.5kg-ish) WITH crackling
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 onions, halved
2 carrots chopped in big bits1 bulb of garlic worth of unpeeled cloves

Preheat your oven to full whack, it needs to be at least 220°C.

Place your pork on a clean work surface, skin-side upwards. Score the skin cutting through the tough bit but not all of the way through to the meat.

Rub salt right into scores, give it a good old massage to get the flavour in there. Brush any excess salt off the surface of the skin and turn it over. Season the pork all over the underside and sides. Place skin side-up in a roasting tray and place in the hot oven.

Roast for about half an hour until the skin of the pork has started to puff up and you can see it turning into crackling. Turn the heat down to 180°C and roast for another hour. Take out of the oven and baste with the fat in the bottom of the tray.

Lift the pork up and transfer to a chopping board. Add all the veg, garlic and thyme to the tray and stir them into the fat. Place the pork on top of everything and whack back into the tray. Roast for another hour. By this time the meat should be meltingly soft and tender. Move the meat to a serving dish, cover with tin foil and leave to rest.

Make gravy as per gravy recipe, but if there is lots of fat on the top of the liquid in the pan, spoon it off before you get started.

Shop Fettuccine

250g fettuccine
500ml cream
1 large onions
1 cups mushrooms
4 bacon rashers
Oregano
Salt and Pepper
3-4 big, fat tbsp tomato paste
garlic
1 zucchini
1/2 capsicum
1 chopped tomato

Stir fry onions, zucchini, capsicum, mushrooms, tomato and herbs.
Add tomato paste, then cream. Allow to simmer. Add cooked pasta 10 minutes before serving.

Shop Frittata

Saute 1 large onion and some garlic.

Fill a lasagna dish with chopped, cooked potatoes and add onion/garlic mixture (also some fresh herbs if you like)

Beat together 1 1/2 cups cream, 1 1/2 cups milk and 8 eggs with salt and pepper.

Pour over potato mixture and top with capsicum, or broccoli and mushrooms or asparagus and mushrooms. Bake at 160 degrees.

Mums Old School Baked Paprika Chicken

6-12 chicken bits (thighs bone-in or drumsticks)
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp castor sugar

Spray chicken with oil spray (or brush with oil) and arrange in an oven proof dish.

Mix flour, sugar, salt, paprika together and sprinkle over chicken (both sides) using a wire sieve.

Bake at 200 Degrees C skin-side down for 20 minutes then flip using a fish slice. Cook for another 20 minutes. Check for clear juices. Serve. Yum.

Mamma's New Fav Low-Carb Dinner - Pork Patties

This is a new recipe we tried last night that was an absolute winner, super super tasty and v low in carbs. The apple serves as a type of fresh apple sauce flavor and is awesome for a change.

750g Pork mince
1 small red onion, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, grated
5 gherkins, chopped
1/3 cup of chopped chives
Sea salt and Cracked black pepper
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
100g baby spinach leaves
2 Granny Smith apples, extra, thinly sliced
1 bulb fennel, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Place the pork, onion, apple, gherkin, chives,salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well to combine. Shape 1/4 cupfuls of the mixture into patties. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Cook the patties, in batches, for three minutes each side or until cooked through. Place the spinach, extra apple, and fennel in a bowl and toss to combine. Place the oil, vinegar and mustard in a bowl and whisk to combine. Serve the patties with the salad and spoon over dressing to serve. Serves 4.

Sausage Casserole

Place sausages in an ovenware dish.
Add 1 large carrot and 1 apple (grated) and once sliced onion.

Mix together 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp flour, 2 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp sauce (tomato or Worcestershire), pepper and salt mixed with 1 cup boiling water and pour over sausages.

Dad's Fettuccine with Roman Style Meat Sauce

(for Anna)

1 onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
75g bacon, rind removed, finely chopped
50g butter, plus extra to toss through pasta
300g prime minced beef
salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
freshly grated nutmeg
100g chicken livers, rinsed, trimmed and finely chopped
75ml dry red wine
600g canned italian tomatoes, mashed
1 1/2 tablespoons italian tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
500g fettuccine
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Put onion, carrot, celery and bacon in a saucepan with the butter. Fry gently until the onion is a pale golden colour. Increase the heat to high and add the minced beef. Break the beef up with a fork and cook until it loses its pinkness. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, some pepper and some nutmeg. Add the chicken livers and cook for two minutes more.

Turn the heat down to medium, stir in the wine and cook until it has evaporated. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and oregano. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and cook gently, uncovered for 30 minutes. Partially cover with a lid and cook for 15-30 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until rich and thick.

Cook the pasta in plenty of gently boiling, well-salted water until al dente. Drain briefly and turn into a heated serving dish. Quickly toss a large knob of butter through, then pour the sauce over (dont toss). Serve immediately with cheese.

Dad's Spaghetti PUTTANESCA

50ml extra virgin olive oil (or however much you like)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
75g can anchovies, drained and mashed
½ tsp crushed chili – more to taste and maybe cayenne pepper if you like it hot!
600g canned tomatoes, mashed
2 tbsp tomato paste – I use more sometimes and balance it with a little sugar if necessary
1 tbsp capers
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
Salt, pepper
50g black olives, chopped
500g spaghetti (or penne, rigatoni)
Shaved /grated parmesan

First, put on water for pasta – remember: Start with cold water and add rock salt after it begins boiling.
Sauté garlic in olive oil, stir in anchovies and crushed chili. Add tomatoes, paste, capers, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring sauce to the boil, and cook gently, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes. Add olives.
Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and place in serving dish. Add ¾ sauce and toss together and top with remaining sauce. Serve immediately with parmesan cheese and lots of parsley.
Enjoy!