Dorowat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)

Dorowat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)

Although it has been a while since we last posted, I can assure you we have been cooking.  The pressure of having a very young child to take care of is taking it's toll and the blog is the one that has suffered.  Mainly we have been cooking tried and tested recipes but every now and again we have searched for something a little different.

We have used the slow-cooker quite a lot recently too as it is good to prepare food during Olivia's morning snooze, hit the button and have tea ready 8 hours later.  This recipe is an absolutely fantastic example that we found in Making the Most of Your Slow Cooker. 

We changed things only very slightly so this is basically the recipe as stated in the book:

Vegetable Oil
3 Medium Onions (chopped)
3 Garlic Cloves (chopped)
1 tsp Minced Ginger
200 ml Vegetable Stock
250 ml Passata
3 Hard Boiled Eggs
6 Skinless Boneless Chicken Thighs
Salt and Pepper

Spice Mix (crushed and mixed)

5 Cardamon Pods
5 Cloves
1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Method:

Pre-heat the slow cooker
Cook the onions over a medium heat for about 10 minutes
Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a further 2 minutes
Add the stock and passata and cook for a further 10 minutes till thickened a little
Add the spice mix and stir through and season
Transfer the sauce to the slow cooker and add the chicken thighs whole and push them down to just be submerged.
Cook on medium for 5 hours
Add the boiled eggs and cook for a further hour

We had this served with rice and flat breads and thought it was fantastic.  It had a lovely dark colour and a sweet and spicy flavour with just enough heat.  The boiled eggs was a new one on us but it seemed to work well.  In fact we enjoyed this dish so much we might do a little research into Ethiopean cuisine and see what delights we can discover.

Creamy Tomato and Chicken Stew

Another recent "freezer food" dish we have made a couple of times since the new addition to our family is the Creamy Tomato and Chicken Stew from the fantastic Soups Stews and Mash book.
Grandma actually introduced us to this dish when she brought round a meal for us in the first week that Olivia was home. She had modified the recipe slightly with the addition of potatoes and peas so that we wouldn't have to cook accompaniments. We have since made this recipe a couple of times, and it does freeze well and is delicious.

A quick word about the book: It was Grandma who introduced us to this book a while ago and we've since blogged the Beef and Peppercorn Stew. This book is fantastic. It has the look of an old-fashioned book, but it was actually published in 2000. It also seems that it is no longer available (on amazon anyway), but we managed to get hold of a second hand copy via ebay. Some of the recipes are quite adventurous, using different ingredients, and combinations that are not automatically thought of. The mash section is particularly inspiring. Instead of either plain mash, or sweet potato mash, there are recipes for pumpkin and white bean puree, swede and orange mash to name a couple. There is also a section of different breads to compliment the soup section.

Anyway, on to the recipe - taken straight from the book.

4 rashers bacon
2 tbsp oil
50g butter
300g small button mushrooms, halved
1.5kg chicken pieces
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
400g can tomatoes
1 cup/250ml chicken stock
1 cup/250ml cream
2 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp lemon thyme leaves

1. Chop the bacon into large pieces. Place a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Brown the bacon, then remove and set aside on paper towels.
2. Heat half the oil and a third of the butter in the pan until foaming, then stir in the mushrooms and cook until softened and golden brown. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon.
3. Add the remaining oil to the pan with a little more butter. When the oil is hot, brown the chicken pieces in batches over a high heat until the skin is golden all over and a little crisp. Remove from the pan.
4. Heat the remaining butter in the pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook over a medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, or until softened. Pour in the tomatoes, stock and cream. Return the bacon, mushrooms and chicken pieces to the pan and simmer over medium-low heat for 25 minutes. Stir in the herbs, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and simmer for another 5 minutes before serving.

We generally use boneless and skinless chicken thighs rather than chicken pieces, and use either a mixture of herbs (dried or fresh) or normal thyme from the garden. The potatoes and peas (or any other beg you like really) can be added along with returning the mushrooms, chicken and bacon to the pan.
We do this that the way the recipe instructions read is a little faffy. Why does everything need to be cooked separately and removed from the pan. For time purposes it is much easier to cook the chicken separately, then cook the veg and bacon together, it might take a little longer but allows us to nip out of the kitchen. Not actually sure if the way the method suggests adds anything to the flavour, but it could well do?
And we've eaten this just by itself with a spoon to slurp us the delicious sauce, or it could be served with an exciting mash, or crusty bread.
This recipe was even appreciated by Nana, who is well-known within the family for not liking things with too much spice, herb, garlic, onion, pepper, or translated as "flavour"!

Chicken and Courgettes with a Tarragon Sauce

Last year we had a fantastic meal at The Lamb Inn, Chinley and I was bowled over by the Tarragon sauce that I had served with my Ham Hock.  For a while now we have had taragon growing in the garden but for some reason it has gone unused, until now.  Tarragon is a fantastic herb that tastes quite different from how it smells.  This pleased Fran as when it is picked and chopped it has an aroma similar to aniseed which she does not like, however, added at the end of a dish and cooked down for a few minutes, the aniseed edge is lifted a little and you are left with a wonderful warm and savoury taste that is perfect with all meats and sits particularly well in a creamy sauce.

So this time while looking through the fridge to see what could be made for tea we decided on Chicken and Courgettes with a Tarragon Sauce.  Fran had some inspiration in a dish she had at Cafe Rouge called Poulet Breton, however we couldn't find a decent recipe for this so we trusted a little instict, kept it simple and did it alone!

Chicken and Courgettes with a Tarragon Sauce

What you will need (serves 2):

2 chicken breast fillets
1 medium leek (chopped)
1 medium courgette (thinly chopped)
30g butter
1 glass white wine
handful tarragon (leaves loosely picked and chopped)
double cream
salt and pepper

First soften the leeks in the butter over a medium heat
Then add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes
Then add the chopped courgettes and cook till softened (add a splash of water if dry)
Next add the wine and allow to bubble for a couple of minutes
Finally add the cream and Tarragon and stir through, allow to warm slowly infusing the dish with the Tarragon and add a little seasoning to taste.

We had it with home grown beans and mash and managed to make it stretch to 4 servings! It would work well with rice too.

The Tarragon flavour took me right back to the meal we had at The Lamb Inn and will definitely be a herb we use again soon.  It sits perfectly with a cream sauce and this simple recipe gives the impression of a much more defined dish that is still surprisingly quick and easy to make.

Enjoy

Cafe Rouge, Deansgate, Manchester

When a friend came up to visit Manchester for the weekend, our choice of eatery was dictated plainly and simply by the vouchers we had! We're not proud of this, well actually, maybe a bit, something for nothing is always a good thing, but I would generally try to eat at independant places, or at least smaller chains, who don't necessarily offer discounts all the time. Although when a voucher presents itself, it would be rude not to use it. The voucher in question was free birthday champagne. You now see why we chose to use this! Anyway, I digress.

We'd booked Cafe Rouge on Deansgate for 4 people for 8 o'clock. There were some small concerns from my friend over this, as their website (or at least their voucher website) didn't seem to say there was a branch there. However, after checking the reservation was OK by telephone, the manager for the night introduced himself and promised that we would be looked after when we arrived.

We arrived to join the rest of the party, who had already ordered a bottle of wine for the table. We chatted for a while, and were given menus. I requested the gluten-free menu, which we were told was just being printed out. It was then delivered to the wrong table. After it finding its way into the right hands I was delighted to see that the dishes I had spotted from the main menu were also on the gluten-free menu, with hardly any adjustments. The gluten-free menu print out was also a print out of the lactose-free options. Something I've not seen before, but then again, I've never had the need to ask for this! Further reading of the menu, and I was a little disappointed. The steaks were listed as gluten-free, but not with every sauce. Only the mushroom sauce (I think, don't quote me) was fine, but not the others. To me, that sounds like all the sauces are bought in, as surely it doesn't take that much effort to substitute the flour (or in fact thicken with reduction) when making it fresh.

Our party ordered the baked camembert to share (with celery and carrots for me instead of bread) and the Goats Cheese Crouton salad for starters. And then two portions of mussels, a steak and the Poulet Breton. We did cause a bit of confusion with the side orders and which was going with which, and who was swapping with who, but the waitress coped fine, and knew exactly what we wanted.
The starter came, and was nice. I thought the size of the camembert was a little small, but it was meant for 2, and there were 3 of us eating it and I do love my baked camembert. So to be fair, that is just me. No-one else seemed left wanting more.

Then the confusion started.

The starter plates were cleared away and the mussels were brought. We sat waiting. And waiting. And waited some more. There were quite a few waiting staff - not waiting, but busying around. Doing what exactly, we're not sure. Our waitress spotted us and scooted off to find out what was going on. She came back to explain that mussels are often ordered as a starter so they came out before the other mains.
When the remaining mains came out, they were fine. My main dish was quite a large portion, and rather nice. The flavour of the tarragon and parsley coming through the sauce. The mash was creamy, and again, there was loads of it.

The side orders of fries that were supposed to accompany the mussels arrived half way through our mains.


We did order deserts. I had the "gluten-free" creme brulee as it was described as placed in front of me. But I suspect that it was actually identical to the "other" creme brulee we ordered. And the Tart Tatin seemed to be appreciated.

All this led to a discussion about service. My friend used to work at a restaurant where the waiting staff were responsible for making sure all the people at the table were served together, whereas here, that seemed not to be the case. We felt the timing of our meals was not acceptable, but the way our waitress explained how things had gone wrong, and the way she was very apologetic seemed to diffuse the situation. She dealt with us all night, and was faultless, even when we couldn't decide on who was eating what. The amount of staff around the restaurant, which wasn't actually very busy, shouldn't have led to the delay and the mix up, but the service from that one member of staff was very good. We were in two minds whether to leave a tip. We may not go back again given our experience, but the food was good enough (would be even better with a buy one get one voucher), but was the actual "service" received, the bad enough to not leave a tip?

Oh, and the Champagne? Not a branded bottle, but the bubbles did go down well!

Chantra Thai Red Curry Kit

We were sent a Thai curry kit from Chantra Thai to test and review. It was on offer through another blog from the company, and being lovers of oriental food, we thought why not. We emailed off, and the Red Curry Kit arrived.

The kit comes with all you need, minus the meat and veg, to make an authentic Thai curry. The all important paste, coconut milk powder - which was a new one on us, dried herbs and chillis and a small sachet of fish sauce. We made a chicken curry, even though the Chantra Thai website recommends Red Curry for beef, pork or prawns, so all we needed to buy was the chicken and the green beans.

The whole idea of the coconut milk powder seemed a bit odd to me, but it did work well, and cooked through nicely. The pack said you could vary the amount of paste used in accordance with how spicy you wanted the curry. We generally like spicy food (although I have had a yellow curry in Thailand which was so hot I couldn't eat it), and we wanted to try exactly what the curry kit had to offer, so we used it all. With the addition of the chillis, herbs and fish sauce, it smelt divine! We served the curry with some plain rice.

We thought the curry was lovely. Very tasty. It had a different depth of flavour which you don't always get with the standard Thai curry pastes you can buy in the supermarket. Perhaps it was the addition of the herbs and a different mix of spices which gave it the more authentic taste. The idea behind the kits we think is very good. Especially for the occasional cook. Having the right amount of all the ingredients certainly is an excellent idea if you aren't into cooking oriental food often so you don't have to seek out and buy a bottle of fish sauce which you might only need for a Thai curry, for example. Also the coconut milk powder is a good idea for similar reasons. We've recently been making a few recipes which call for a small amount of coconut milk, and opening a tin just for that, seems such a waste if you're not in a position to use it the next day.

The kits are priced at £3.29 on the Chantra Thai shop website, but the delivery charges seem rather high to make it worth buying one or two packets. A bit of poking around their website, and it seems their products can be ordered from a number of sources, including Amazon, but in varying package sizes. They do have a stockists locator via their main homepage, and their products seem to be available in quite a few local places. So I think we will be keeping an eye out for them as we shop, rather than ordering online.

Chinese Food

Happy Chinese New Year (Kung Hei Fat Choi apparently), and Spring Festival - if you celebrate it.

For those people who follow us on facebook you may be aware that a while ago we tried to make some homemade Chinese dumplings. The reasons for this were three-fold. One, it seems most Chinese dumplings and most dim sum options are made from wheat flour, two, I'd found a recipe for the dough which contained no gluten, and three, we have been given some gluten free* wheat starch to try, just to see if it is gluten or wheat that I have a reaction to. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the dumplings were a disaster. More like a pile of gloop. But we will not give in. Watch this space. And, by the way, I definitely have a reaction to wheat, no doubt there. Still seem to have a reaction to gluten though, but less-so.

So, homemade Chinese food for the Chinese New Year. In the past we have tried the Ken Hom Chicken with Chilli Peppers and Basil which was lovely, so we wanted to try something different. I have been reading Hollow Legs for a while now, with special interest in the homemade Chinese recipes, especially the various dim sum, looking for ways to adapt them. We have looked at this recipe for General Tso's Chicken before but never tried it, until now! We thought on this occasion, we'd leave the dumplings alone and go for a safer option.

After slight confusion over mixing the marinade ingredients, the recipe worked well and we loved the sour taste of the vinegar in the sauce. We didn't use skin-on chicken thighs, and had to use just the one type of soy sauce - the gluten free kind, but the dish was delicious. The level of chilli spiciness was just right, and as a sauce lover the amount of sauce for me was great. The dish, however, did test our chopstick skills as the chicken did threaten to ping across the table at various points! Yes, its been a while since the chopsticks were out. More practice I say.
We served it with egg fried rice and stir fried mixed veg. Lovely.

 * I believe that the Codex standard for gluten free food was previously set at lower than 200ppm, meaning foods with containing gluten at this level or lower would be considered safe for people with Ceoliac disease, but since last year this has changed to 20ppm. (Hence why many foods now show the disclaimer that they may contain traces) The wheat starch I used was 50ppm and therefore, technically, it was gluten free, well at least up until last year.

Mixed Tapas

January is generally a month of frugality (is that a word?), both money-wise and food-wise. I'm not going to say diet, as we never diet, but occasionally we take stock of what we're eating.
This post is not really about sensible eating, more like watching what we spend.

One of our favourite restaurants is The Orange Tree Tapas and Grill, and we have come to love several dishes on the menu. Since we are trying to watch what we spend at the moment (home improvements and credit card bills pressing) I decided to try and re-create some of our favourite tapas dishes rather than going out.

The dishes I tried were the Chicken in Paprika and Cream and the Beef in Peppercorn sauce from the restaurant. I also did a dish based on their Chicken with Mushrooms in Cream but with the addition of some cured ham. And also a dish of chorizo and prawns in a tomato and garlic sauce which I had seen some time ago on Market Kitchen.
The paprika cream sauce was simple to make, just a couple of lightly fried shallots with the chicken, then a splash of white wine and then the cream. And then enough paprkia to get the right flavour.
The mushroom sauce was similar, but I slowly cooked a couple of sliced mushrooms with the shallots. I wanted the flavour of the mushrooms throughout the sauce which seemed to work well. In both cases the chicken was finely sliced so it cooked quickly.

The chorizo and prawn dish was very simple, and the most tasty of the lot. I cooked two finely sliced cloves of garlic very gently in quite a bit of olive oil, so that the garlic softened but didn't brown and the oil was infused with the garlic flavour. I then added chucks of chorizo to the pan so that the lovely oils would mix together. Then came a good helping of passata and then the cooked king prawns just to warm through.

The dish I really wanted to get close to what we eat at The Orange Tree was the Beef in Peppercorn sauce. The sauce at the restaurant is lovely and rich, with a dark colour and is almost chocolately in flavour and texture. I've been searching for a recipe for something similar for a while now and came across a discussion on the BBC food messageboard about how to acheive this chocolatey-ness in peppercorn sauces. Several people thought it was to do with the use of brandy or madeira to de-glaze the pan, and the length of time cooking. One contributor posted a link to this recipe as a recommended version of steak in peppercorn sauce which could lead to the chocolately texture and flavour. So it was on this that I based my attempt to re-create our favourite dish.

Here is my adapted recipe:

1 steak (sirloin or rump, or any quick frying steak) cut into strips
1 shallot, finely chopped
a splash of brandy
crushed black peppercorns
double cream
beef stock

1. First fry the shallot gently in a little olive oil (or butter).
2. Cover the steak strips in loads of crushed black peper then add to the pan and cook very quickly.
3. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside.
4. De-glaze with a splash of brandy making sure all the bits left from the meat are scraped up. Heating so the brandy reduces. I didn't heat it til it ignites as the original recipe suggests, as I am a wuss!
5. Add about 50ml of beef stock to the pan, and enough cream to give the consistency you want and heat through.
6. Return the meat to the pan, stir through and then serve.

Sorry that the amounts are vague, but I generally cook by eye and taste, if anyone would like more precise measurements, please let me know, as I will be trying this again!

This dish didn't turn out chocolatey, but was very tasty. I think next time I will cook down the sauce longer to reduce it, intensify the flavours and to darken the colour. I also think I added too much pepper to make it comparable to the sauce we have had at the restaurant. It was more like a standard peppercorn sauce that you have with steak rather than something that bit more special. Does anyone have any idea if cooking the sauce for longer will work?

Morale of the story: maybe it is best to eat your favourite foods at the place where they became your favourite! We will return to the Orange Tree, but maybe not this month!

Chicken Liver Pate and other Festive Food

After looking at all the ingredients of the full range of festive pates in the supermarket I was rather disappointed to see that only one contained no wheat or rusk and therefore was fine for me to eat. Huh!
So to satisfy the craving I turned to a Christmas recipe book that I've had for a while now.

The recipe is for Chicken Liver Pate, and in the past I have had trouble finding chicken livers. Perhaps it was because I wasn't looking in the freezer section, or maybe because they are only on the shelves near Christmas. I have tried it with lambs liver and pigs liver, but both were nowhere near as nice. So after finding a tub of frozen chicken livers in Morrisons for a few pence I was happy. Not only would this be gluten free but also far cheaper than pre-packed pates and actually far more tasty and luxurious.

Here is the recipe:
200g butter
225g trimmed chicken livers
2 tbsp Marsala or brandy
1.5 tsp chopped fresh sage
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
150ml double cream
Salt and pepper

1. Melt 40g of butter in a frying pan and fry the chicken livers over a medium heat for about 4 mins each side. They should be browned but still a bit pink in the middle.  Then chop finely in a food processor.
2. Stir the Marsala or brandy (brandy in our case) into the pan, mixing in any bits left over, then add this to the food processor. The recipe in the book didn't actually indicated if the alcohol should be cooked or not but I thought it was best to let it bubble a bit.
3. Add the sage, garlic and 100g of the butter and whizz until smooth.
4. Spoon the pate into ramekins and let it cool. Once completely cooled, melt the remaining butter and spoon it over the surface and garnish with a sage leaf if you want.



Chicken Liver Pate

This pate formed our late breakfast on Christmas day, together with a glass of chilled Camel Valley Sparkling Rose which we bought from the vineyard on our Cornwall trip last summer.



Camel Valley Sparkling Rose



We ate Christmas dinner around 4pm this year following Tim's night shift, but it did mean no early get-up to start the preparations. Plus it was just the two of us so no massive turkey to put in the oven at stupid o'clock.

Now anyone who knows me would know that to me, stuffing is the main event for Christmas dinner, closely followed by gravy. And for our Christmas dinner I made 4 different types of stuffing. All homemade, and all with gluten free breadcrumbs - made from the stale crusts of Genius bread and other rolls that I had saved up in the freezer. The star of the stuffing show is the lovely sausagemeat stuffing. This is based on a recipe that my Mum always makes from the fantastic Dairy Book of Home Cookery (1968 version!) and uses around 500g of sausagemeat, the same amount of breadcrumbs, "some" mixed dried herbs and an egg to bind. I like a lot of herbs, but my Mum would put her absolute maximum in of about one teaspoon. I use about 1-1.5 tablespoons! This was made with the sausagemeat from 500g of sausages that we had bought from a butcher on our trip to Ambleside.

The next stuffings were the classic Sage and Onion, and two lots of Chestnut stuffing. For the sage and onion, I used both dried and fresh sage, but added the dried to the pan as I was sweating the finely chopped onion. The quantities of breadcrumbs I use for  these stuffings is vague, and I apologise, but I just used enough until it looked right. Plus in the past I have followed recipes for these stuffings, but breadcrumbs from gluten free bread seem to act differently and dry the whole mixture out so I tend to use less than stated in recipes. This sage and onion, again, was bound with an egg.

The first lot of Chestnut stuffing came from the Dairy Book of Home Cookery again, and was their recipe for Chestnut cream stuffing. The mixture consisting off cooked (home roasted and peeled) chestnuts, parsley, nutmeg and cream to bind.

After a brief survey of facebook friends I decided that this year I should try a chestnut stuffing recipe with meat too and plus I had found this recipe which looked quite interesting (and didn't contain sausagemeat).

The rest of our Christmas dinner included a butter basted turkey breast joint, which was rather surprisingly moist and tasty, honey roasted parsnips (which were going to be Nigella's Maple  roasted parsnips, but after seeing the crazy price of maple syrup in Morrisons, we decided on honey), sprouts for me, carrots, broccoli, M&S chipolatas in bacon (we were going to make our own, but the novelty of finding gluten free sausages as standard was too much to pass up!), Delia's bread sauce (with extra cloves) and shop bought cranberry sauce. And gravy.



Christmas Dinner



In the past I have made Delia's giblet stock with the turkey giblets and I was going to try this again this year. However, after calling most of the butchers in the area, and further afield it seemed that this idea was doomed as no-one could guarantee they would have any giblets in. So, back to chicken livers again. I did make a stock for the gravy with chicken liver, thyme, rosemary, parsley, onion, carrot and celery which smelled divine bubbling away for a few hours on the stove. Alternatively I had bought in some Bisto Best gravy granules in case all had gone wrong, as they are surprisingly gluten free.

To start we had a classic prawn cocktail, and we do admit to buying the sauce. We had intended to make Simon Rimmer's sauce but after needing to buy practically everything on the ingredient list we just bought a jar of sauce! And we finished with homemade sherry trifle. This was made with gluten free cake bars, and the shortcut option of Birds instant custard powder again gluten free, and far easier than the constant stirring and pouring combination of making homemade custard.

P.S. The silver balls were only on half the trifle as it seems their main ingredient is somehow wheat flour. Odd.

It does seem that if you have to eat gluten free or cater for someone who needs gluten free, even Christmas dinner isn't that difficult. Especially if you enjoy cooking and are able to cook most parts of the meal. As described there are some standard branded items which are perfectly safe and are not found on the free from

shelf. To me it is not all about the products that are available for special diets, (as some are not that great anyway), but being able to make a few small adjustments to still enjoy my favourite Christmas foods.

Anyway, yes there is a lot of stuffing, and I say is, because there is still some in the fridge now, but what is Christmas dinner without the leftovers being eaten for so long afterwards?

Malaysian Curry

Every now and again we like to get food from the Chinese Chippy, and when we do we often choose the Chicken Malaysian Curry.  Now I know it isn't Chinese and I don't even know if it is any way near authentic either as we have never really experimented with Malaysian food but it is delicious. But, disappointingly it is most likely that it is not Gluten-free from the takeaway.  From time to time it dawns on is to try and re-create the dish but we really didn't know where to start so we hoped to stumble over a ready made paste that really delivered the flavours we had come to love.

Well, we found it!! This is definitely a cheat recipe.  In fact it is even a recipe but it is so good we needed to share the discovery with you.  On a quest to make our Cambodian dishes more authentic we recently visited Wingyip in Manchester to buy shrimp paste etc.  While we were there we found a few ready made sauces and pastes that looked interesting which (thankfully) did not contain wheat flour or gluten.  One of the pastes we bought was A1 Malaysian Curry Instant Paste:

For about £1.30 I think, we seem to have found the closest thing to the dish we buy from the chippy.  In fact I wouldn't be surprised if it is the sauce they use.

Here is what we did with it:

First, we stir-fried some chopped chicken thighs for about 10 minutes. 

Then we added chopped onion and peppers. 

To this we added the paste and cooked for about 5 minutes longer.

Then we added 120ml of coconut milk and 200 ml of water and let this simmer for about half an hour till it thickened a little.  Before serving we stirred through some frozen peas and cooked for about 5 minutes.

Here it is (with peas) and served on a bed of egg fried rice.  I can honestly say that this instant paste is fantastic.  It would be great if it was available in general supermarkets but maybe that is the charm.  It packs quite a punch though so wouldn't be tempted into adding any extra chillies to it unless you really like hot food!  When you need a quick and easy solution for a great curry then this definitely hits the spot.  In fact, due to me working late on New Years Eve, I have decided to make a big vat of this for my friends to eat before going out, fantastic!!

Chicken and Broccoli with Pesto

I promised you another idea for what to do with chicken thighs and half a broccoli so here it is.  As is often the case I went to the BBC Goodfood website again for ideas and this seemed perfect.  The original recipe had some great reviews and I was intrigued by the use of Pesto at the end.  The recipe has been (slightly) adapted from the original in that I replaced the spring greens with leek and reduced the quantities to serve 2.  As it is October I felt I couldn't call it "Spring Chicken in a Pot" so I put my creative hat on and came up with this inspired title: Chicken and Broccoli with Pesto



Chicken and Broccoli with Pesto

 Now I admit it doesn't look particularly attractive but it was very tasty indeed.  The pesto gave an unusual twist to an otherwise light stew and the amount of pesto you use can determine how rich you want it.  Personally I used 2 tablespoons as per the recipe despite it serving only 2.  In hindsight maybe slightly less would be better perhaps by following the exact proportions.  It is, however, easy to add a little to taste and take it from there as it is the last ingredient.

What you will need (what we used for 2):

A small onion
1 leek (finely sliced)
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (chopped)
300 ml of veg stock (we used gluten free)
Half a medium broccoli (cut into small florets)
8 baby new potatoes
100g frozen peas
3 spring onions (finely chopped)
1 or 2 Tablespoons of green pesto
Olive Oil

Method:

First fry the onion and leek in a large, heavy pan in the olive oil for 5 minutes
Then add the chicken and cook till browned

Add the potatoes, stock and a little pepper and bring to a simmer
Cover and cook for 30 minutes
Add the broccoli, peas and spring onion, bring to the boil and cook for a further 5-10 minutes

Stir through the pesto, heat through and serve








So give it a go.  Its nice and healthy, great for the freezer and you can even pretend it is still spring!!

Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake

Well, it has been a little while since we have posted and a lot of food has been consumed!  A lot of very good food in fact which is why some posts are going to take some planning.  On Tuesday evening we returned from a short holiday in Switzerland and the food we had was wonderful (albeit often very expensive).  While we plan how to share these experiences with you I thought I would show you a couple of recipes we tried before we left.  These were basically to use up whatever food we had in the fridge so it didn't go to waste (we are good like that!).

The dish I will share today is a Chicken and Broccoli Bake:




Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake

 It is taken from the bbc goodfood website and the original recipe can be found HERE.  The only changes I made was to use chicken thighs (so needed to cook for a little longer), tomato puree instead of sundried tomato paste and I missed off the almonds.  All in a bid to save money for our trip I guess and I do not imagine it took a great deal away from the dish as it was still very tasty.

What you need (for 2)

200g of Pasta (we used gluten-free)
Half a medium Broccoli cut into florets
3 skinless, boneless Chicken Thighs (cut into pieces)
About 4 mushrooms
2 Tablespoons of tomato puree
1 Tablespoon of Boursin Garlic and Herb soft cheese
150 ml single cream
Olive Oil
3 spring onions and a small bowl of grated Cheddar (for the topping)

Pre-heat oven to 190c
Cook the pasta for 5 mins in a pan of salted boiling water
Then add the broccoli for 5 mins more and drain
In a large pan cook the chicken pieces (for 5 mins if using thighs)
Then add the mushrooms and cook for a minute longer
Add tomato puree, Boursin and cream
Simmer till the cheese melts and season
Pour the sauce over the pasta and broccoli and level the top
Mix the Cheddar and spring onion and sprinkle over the pasta
Bake for 20-30 minutes

And you should see something like this









A surprisingly light dish considering how much cheese went in.  It is also very versatile and the idea could be used for all manner of combinations.  A good way of using up whats left in your fridge.  I will post again tomorrow to show you what else you can do with 3 chicken thighs and half a broccoli.

Orange Tree Tapas and Grill, Denton

On Sunday evening, since earlier plans had been cancelled, we decided to try the Orange Tree Tapas restaurant in Denton. We'd often looked at the menu but decided to stick with original plans of a takeaway or the Italian, but this time we stuck to it, and went in.

Being a Sunday night, the restaurant was empty, but we were warmly greeted by what appeared to be the owner.

The restaurant looked lovely, and we guess could have a great atmosphere when busy. The owner seemed determined to make us laugh and proved to be a character, chatting to us and making jokes throughout the night - perhaps a little too much at times.

We asked him how many dishes we should order after being told that the portions were quite big, and he recommended 3 each, and he also pointed out a couple of dishes to try (which we didn't actually! But will next time).

We ordered some house wine, and he gave us pretty much a full glass to try, and if we didn't like it, he'd get us something different. But it was very nice, so bonus glass of wine!

Eventually we ordered a mixture of dishes, and some chips as the side. The owner was quite keen that we wouldn't order too much and kept saying that if we wanted more throughout the meal we could order as and when. He also said that one portion of chips would be more than enough for us both with what we'd ordered. Something which we were impressed with.

 

We ordered the (1) Chicken, Mushrooms, Cream and Garlic, (2) Lightly Spiced Lamb Stew, (3) Sticky and Spicy Rice, (4) Chicken, Paprika and Cream, (5) Fillet Steak in Garlic and Chilli, and the (6) Chorizo sauteed with Parsley and Lemon.  All were very tasty indeed, and we wondered why we'd never been in before. The owner pointed out the blackboards which displayed the specials as well as the mid-week offers. The offers seemed to be so good value it was untrue, so next time, we're going to try a week night and see what we get. The bill game to around £38 with a bottle of wine, so very good value.

Brodsky and Bizarre



Cage Performance



Cage Performance

Last night saw me at the familiar place that is the RNCM. Although it seems that much has changed since the last time I was there, but that's another story. There was Jazz and CAMRA Beer Festival on it seemed, but I don't drink beer and have mixed views about what some call Jazz, but last night's performance was no ordinary Jazz. I won't go on about this too much, as this is a food blog after all, but I'd just like to mention a few bits.
There was a performance of John Cage Uncaged, which was a performance of his Song Books. If anyone who doesn't know who I mean - yes he is the 4'33" guy. It really was a bizarre and random night, and intentionally so. Performances happened across all the RNCM's public spaces including in the middle of the coffee shop - most notably for me, the one performance of the chef cooking mushrooms which he handed out. More like a cooking demonstration than a musical performance, but that's Cage for you. All performances happened at random times, and in random orders, and the whole idea was that everyone could wander round it all, each getting a different combination and therefore experience of the night. Kind of like a bizarre interactive museum. Anyway, more about the performance here.

Towards the end of the performance The Brother and I decided to eat at the newly redeveloped Brodsky restaurant which is part of the RNCM. I saw some ongoing building work to the side of the restaurant and I believe that the plans are to be able to run the restaurant as a self-contained establishment which doesn't rely on the events at the college for opening times. Earlier in the day enquiries had been made about the gluten free dishes and it seemed there was quite a good selection.
When we arrived, the lady who seemed to be in charge presented us with a menu on which the gluten free options had been labelled. (not pictured) Excellent service!

Brodsky's main courses

The prices didn't seem to be as expensive as expected, but there was a limited choice. I think that the menu offered changes as per what type of event is running, to cater for special pre-show 3-course meals, festivals, and multiple events. I chose the Tex Mex Chicken and The Brother chose the Tuna Steak with garlic and herb butter which was on the fish bit of the menu.
Brodsky's now run table service which was efficient, and the whole lay out and decor of the room was rather pleasant. Lots of white walls, and dark fittings.
When the food arrived however, I was a little disappointed. My food was OK, nothing special at all. My chicken dish looked like it was canteen food, and maybe a big pot had been kept bubbling. It didn't really seem to be Tex Mex either. It was a "generic" tomato sauce with added peppers and chilli. The side of veg seemed not to be too fresh, although they had treated it to a knob of butter, and it wasn't overdone.

Tex Mex Chicken

The Tuna was good. I haven't really eaten much Tuna and it looked a bit overcooked to me, but according to The Brother, who has been eating lots of it recently, it was fine. I did try some and it wasn't dry, and it was quite tasty. The butter was good too, although if you look closely at the picture, you can see that they had left the cling film on! Nevermind.

Tuna Steak with Garlic and Herb Butter

I'm not sure if I was expecting too much from the new restaurant, as it does serve a college as well as the general public, but I think it could have potential. Once it has established its own identity it could be great. I may consider eating there again next time I'm up Oxford Road and at the RNCM, but this time choose something that would have been cooked fresh rather than maybe sat over a burner for a while.
I should have grabbed at the mushroom giveaway earlier to see what they were like.

Back, briefly, to the Cage thing. The night was very odd, funny, crazy and different, so that got me thinking about trying to re-create a dish which I had some time ago that produced a similar reaction in me. A few different flavours and textures that are not normally put together producing an unusual mix and a smile to the face. I'm not trying to be Heston or anything, but watch this space for something a bit different soon!

P.S. I know at least 3 readers will know who it is in the first picture - just shows how bizarre the night was really!

Sticky Lemon Chicken

Since starting this blog 2 of our favourite dishes have been the Caramel Lime Chicken and the Chicken and Basil stir-fry so I got to thinking about a bit of a fusion dish.  I loved the way the chicken was cooked in sugar in the Levi Root's recipe and wanted to use this method but get a more oriental taste.

We decided that rather than using lime we would use lemon (and more of it as we like sauce) so it became sticky lemon chicken.   The oriental flavours came from stir-frying garlic and shallots in fish sauce and soy sauce then adding it to the lemon juice and chicken.

Sticky Lemon Chicken

Here is what we did:

You will need: (for 2)

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons of Granulated Sugar
4 Chicken Thighs
4 Cloves of Garlic
Handful of small shallots
1 Tablespoon of Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce (we use Gluten-Free)
2 Tablespoons Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Salt
Juice of 2 lemons

Serve on:

Stir fry veg and beansprouts

Method:

Roll Chicken thighs in the black pepper and a little salt.
In a heavy based pan, heat the oil over a medium heat and sprinkle the sugar evenly.
Leave to brown for about 5 minutes without stirring but do not let burn.
Put chicken in the pan skin down (upside down if skinless) and cover.
Cook for 10 minutes, turn chicken and add the lemon juice, re-cover and cover for a further 10 minutes.



Meanwhile in a hot wok, stir-fry the shallots and garlic in fish sauce and soy sauce for 5 minutes.

Add the garlic mix to the main pan and mix a little - leave for a further 5 mins.
Remove the chicken and keep warm.
Increase the heat and cook the sauce and juices till it thickens.
Meanwhile stir-fry the veg to serve the chicken on.

Build the dish with veg followed by chicken and spoon over the sauce, mmmmm








For us the sweet and sour flavours really worked.  If we were to improve it we would add a little chilli to the garlic and use boneless thighs.

Chicken with Chilli Peppers and Basil

Last night for us saw the return of a book we haven't really used very much: Ken Hom's top 100 Stir-Fry Recipes.  Not really sure why we haven't made more use of it as we love Chinese food - or anything of that elk - having visited Vietnam and Cambodia we are certainly fans of Asian food.  We wanted to find something simple, preferably with ingredients we already had in and this one ticked all the boxes for us. Plus, generally, chinese food (and by that we mean from the local takeaway!) isn't gluten free, so the only way to satisfy the craving is to cook it at home.

Chicken with Chilli Peppers and Basil

It was deliciously rich and spicy and has a good quantity of Garlic - in fact equal measure of garlic to the shallots which surprised me a little.  But then again I think it is easy to be too cautious with proportions and Mr Hom obviously knows best.  We trusted him and tried to use the exact quantities he suggested, albeit scaled down for 2 servings.

The Basil at the end adds a wonderful freshness that I rarely get when stir frying but brought back memories of our South East Asia Soiree of last year.  The only flavour missing for me really was ginger - but it is one of the only recipes in the book that doesn't have ginger so perhaps that was a conscious effort on Ken's part.

Here is how we did it:

You will need:

2 Tablespoons Groundnut Oil
2 Chicken Breasts - cut into chunks.  (Ken said to use thighs but we only had breast so we reduced the initial cooking time accordingly)
1.5 Tablespoons finely sliced shallot
1.5 Tablespoons chopped garlic
1 hot red chilli (use bird eye if you have it)
1 Tablespoon of fish sauce
1 Teaspoon of soy sauce (we used gluten free)
1 teaspoon of sugar
Handful of basil leaves

Heat the wok to high temp and add oil. Stir fry the chicken for a few minutes and remove with a slotted spoon.

Re-heat the wok and stir-fry the shallots and garlic for 3 mins.

Return the chicken to the wok and add the chilli, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar - cook for 5 mins or so.

To accompany the dish we stir-fried some more veg in a little soy and fish sauce

Stir through the basil leaves at the end and serve with steamed rice and the veg.







We really enjoyed the intense flavours and it has inspired us to dig out our Vietnamese and Cambodian Cooking Book again.  This time for some more challenging dishes or even try and recreate some of the dishes we had there.  We will undoubtedly blog whether its successful or not.