Phad Thai - Alex

There are a million versions of this, this is just here for my reference... What I can thoroughly recommend from this recipe however is covering the rice stick noodles in cold tap water to soak instead of hot water. When you drain them they maintain their integrity so much better and do not break apart after being added to the wok and cooked.


3 bulbs lemon grass bashed then finely sliced
3 cloves garlic
1 thumb ginger
2 stalks spring onion
1 handful mint leaves
1 bunch coriander
1 tsp shrimp paste
1/2 a mild chilli sliced, seeds removed
1 chilli sliced
1 tbs tamarind pulp
1 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs fish sauce
2 limes
Sesame oil
Extra light olive oil
1 kg chicken thigh
Salt
2 eggs
1 onion in wedges
1 pack bean sprouts
1 pack rice stick noodle
1 handful peanuts chopped
Fried dried onions (optional)

Cover the rice stick noodles in cold tap water for 30 minutes.
In a small bowl cover the tamarind pulp in warm water (about 1 cup) to steep.
Season the chicken with a little salt and dress in the olive oil and a little sesame oil.
Using a pestle and mortar make a paste from the lemon grass, chilli, ginger, garlic, one sliced spring onion, shrimp paste, half of the mint and the stalks from the coriander.
Pass the tamarind water through a sieve into another bowl and push as much of the paste through the sieve as you can into the water. Discard the pulp. Add the sugar, 1 tbs fish stock and the juice of one lime to the tamarind water and whisk to combine. Check for seasoning and add more sugar or lime or fish sauce as necessary. Set aside.
Drain the noodles.
Heat 1 tbs olive oil (or vegetable oil) in a wok over a medium high heat and cook the chicken batches getting some nice colour in the process then set it aside. Crack the eggs into the wok and scramble, remove to a clean plate. If necessary add some more oil then stir fry the onions until tender and with a little colour, remove and set aside. Take the wok off of the heat and slice the chicken thinly. Return the wok to the heat, cook the ginger/garlic paste for a couple minutes, throw in the chicken pieces and coat in the cooked paste mixture, add the onion doing the same, followed by the bean sprouts and noodle. Deglaze the wok with the tamarind sauce and toss the noodle and chicken through. Add the onion, egg and some chopped coriander and combine.
Spoon into bowls and top with peanuts, more chopped coriander, chilli, some sliced mint leaves, sliced spring onion, fried onions if using, a drizzle of sesame oil and squeeze of lime.

Chicken Mushroom and Kale Pasta with Lemon Herbed Bread Crumbs

This is the first time I have used fried bread crumbs with a pasta and it made feel silly I'd never done it before. So much flavour and crunch for so little effort. Quick and easy and another excuse for me to bung some kale into something else - I love that stuff.

500 gms chicken thighs fillets
2 handfuls mushroom roughly chopped
3 big kale leaves chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 cloves garlic finely minced
2 rashers of bacon in dice
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil (may need more)
1/2 cup white wine or bubbles
1/2 cup chicken stock
Juice of half a lemon
Rind of half a lemon
2 thick slices of nice bread (I used sour dough)
1 tbs of basil leaves minced
1 handful of minced parsley
1 knob of butter
Parmessan cheese
Chilli flakes
1 packet of spaghetti
Salt and pepper

Blitz the bread, mix with the minced basil, lemon rind and minced garlic. Pour in a little extra virgin olive oil and combine well. Roast spread out on a tray at 180C for about 10 minutes, keep your eye on it. Remove from the heat when done.
Have your pasta water boiling and ready.
Season the chicken with salt and fry in most of the extra virgin olive oil over a medium high heat, remove to a clean plate when you have great colour. Fry the bacon until you have great colour then add in the chopped garlic, throw in the mushroom and some salt and pepper, get some nice colour.
Cook the pasta.
Add the kale to the mushroom/bacon mixture and toss through the flavoured concoction. Chop the chicken then add back to the pan along with any juices. Deglaze the pan with the wine and reduce for a minute or two. Pour in the stock, lemon juice, half a cup of the pasta water and half of the parsley and continue reducing. Add in the knob of butter and toss/shake about to emulsify the sauce. Drain the pasta and combine with the sauce.
Spoon into bowls, top with parsley, a little salt and pepper, a good helping of bread crumbs and chilli flakes and a little extra virgin olive oil.

Golden Syrup and Rosemary Wingettes

I didn't have honey but the syrup was an excellent substitute.


Chicken wingettes
2 tsp garlic oil
1/2 sprig rosemary roughly chopped
Salt
1 tbs seeded mustard
Pepper


Combine them all, marinade for a bit then roast at 170C until they have nice colour (about 30 minutes).

Crispy Spanish Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

This was outstanding. Do it. Only bummer is I didn't take a photo of the cous cous I made to go with it, it was brilliant.

6 chicken thighs skin on
2 chorizo
3 potato in wedges
2 small sweet potato in chunks
1/2 a fennel bulb sliced
4 cloves garlic sliced
2 tsp paprika
1 bunch coriander
1 tbs coriander seeds crushed
1 tbs red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
2 tbs olive oil
1 cup cider
1 cup water
1 handful cherry tomatoes chopped
Natural yoghurt
1 cup cous cous

Remove the stalks from the coriander and chop. Combine the paprika, coriander stalks, garlic, coriander seed, salt and pepper and the red wine vinegar. Pass the chicken through the paprika oil then set aside. Pass the veg though the paprika oil and set aside. Fry the chorizo in a large frying pan then remove. Fry the chicken in batches skin side down first  in the same pan then remove when it has nice colour. Arrange the veg in a roasting dish along with most of the coriander leaves (reserve some) then place the chicken on top, slice the chorizo and place around the chicken. Deglaze the frying pan with the cider. Pour the cider into the roasting dish along with the water. Pour any remain paprika oil over the top then roast for about 30 minutes at 180C with
the last 10 at 220C for a blast.
Remove from the oven, set the meat aside to rest, set the veg aside. Place the cous cous into a large bowl, pour in the water/cider, mix through the remaining coriander and the chopped tomato. If necessary place it in the microwave oven for 1 minute to cook if the liquid has cooled too much.
Slice the meat. Spoon some cous cous into bowls, add some veg, top with some chicken and chorizo and blob on some yoghurt.
Very very nice.

Prawn and Chicken Satay Patties

10 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking, heaps ace.



400gms chicken mince
200 gms green prawns shelled
2 tbs cashew and macadamia satay paste
1 shallot finely diced
1/2 bunch coriander chopped
1 tbs teriyaki sauce
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup rice flour
Oil for semi-deep frying


Mince the prawns well with a knife. Combine the chicken mince, prawn mince, satay paste, shallot, coriander, teriyaki sauce, half of the bread crumbs and the egg for a couple of minutes to work the proteins. If the mixture is too wet, add more bread crumb until it holds together. Wet your hands and form the mixture into patties of whatever size you like. Set them aside until required.
Pour about 1cm of oil into a large frying pan and heat to medium high. Dust the patties in the rice flour. Fry on both sides until golden.

I served this with a ginger and coriander teriyaki dipping sauce and some srirachi chilli sauce. Unreal.

Honey Chicken Souffle

Nom nom nom.
There are a couple of processes here but they are simple and the result is good. I essentially made a double batch of Cheese Souffle with Crab and Prosciutto but stuck sausage meat in it. These were helped by the fact that the butcher over the road, does awesome everything - particularly sausages. Hooray! Happy kids!



8 eggs, separated
1 small onion in small dice
2 cloves garlic minced
100 gms butter
6 tbs flour
2 cups milk
4 tbs parmesan
1 tbs blue cheese
3 tbs Tasty or other grated cheese
3 honey chicken sausages


Preheat an oven to 180C. Grease 8 ramekins with a little of the butter. Remove the skins from the sausages and fry the minced met in a frying pan, breaking them up as finely as you can as you go. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Make a white sauce by sautéing the onion and garlic with the remaining butter over a medium low heat until translucent. Strain the butter through a fine sieve to remove the onions then return the butter to the pan, discard the onion. Add the flour to the butter and cook, stirring for 4 or 5 minutes. Pour in the milk. Continue cooking until it thickens like thickened cream. Stir the white sauce and cheese together until the cheese melts then mix through the egg yolks and chicken. Semi-carefully stir through half of the egg white. Carefully stir though the remaining egg white then spoon into the ramekins until 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden on top.
Served with a salad.

Cashew and Macadamia Nut Satay

I watched a TV chef recently smash together a satay sauce in about 2 minutes and I thought well I want to do that too. My recipe differs quite a bit from his but as my research after the fact discovered, it don't matter. I think satay is one of those 'satays are like opinions' scenarios. They can be simple or complicated. In any case, what I have done here is very very good and I can thoroughly recommend trying it. My bother in law who doesn't like satay had two helpings and was kind with his review. There is enough satay to marinade 1 - 2 kg of the meat of your choice, have enough left for being a sauce and, an additional purpose like making satay and coconut milk rice for the kids.


2 handfuls salted cashew/macadamia nuts
2 heaped tbs crunchy peanut butter
Rind of 1 lime
Juice of 2 limes (maybe more)
2 cloves garlic
1 thumb ginger roughly chopped
1/2 bunch coriander, roots and all
200 ml of coconut milk (or to taste)
1 long red chilli
1 tbs palm sugar (or brown)
2 tbs light olive oil or peanut oil
1/2 cup water


Leaving out the water, blitz the lot until it is in a smooth paste. Check for flavours and add more lime juice, coconut milk or sugar until you reach a tasty result (there should be enough salt from the nuts). Aim for a good balance of nut, sweet and importantly, lime. Pour in half of the water, blitz, check the consistency and add the remaining and more if required.

Rolled Turducken with Cranberry and Artichoke

It's made and ready I just gotta cook it now. I am hoping that a) it tastes brilliant and b) that when sliced it looks better than it did when I first rolled it... This is a simple enough process but it does take time to get together (I sectioned the duck and chicken for confit). Initially I was going to use 2 large turkey drumsticks but I found a butterflied whole turkey. While it was more expensive it meant wayyyyy less work and tendons. When I make this again I will roll it out onto overlapping streaky bacon (the prosciutto I used here was a stop gap to contain the filling) - I had tried to acquire caul but was unsuccessful. Alternatively if you don't want to go through the anguish of aesthetic rolling, squish it down in layers in a smallish baking dish with a brick or something. The bones I should say, made the best, best stock.

1 butterflied turkey (2 kg)
2 skin on chicken boobs
2 skin on duck boobs
12+ prosciutto/bacon slices (I had 6)
3/4 bottle cranberry sauce
2 tbs oven roasted cherry tomatoes
1 handful chopped basil
1 tin artichoke hearts
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
4 cloves garlic
1 handful pistachio nuts
1 tbs Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
Kitchen string and cling film

Mix the cranberry, oven tomatoes and basil in a bowl and refrigerate until ready. Blend the artichoke, lemon juice, garlic, Dijon and pistachios with some salt and pepper - refrigerate until ready. Slightly overlap two sheets of cling film on a bench, layer down a grid of vertical and horizontal kitchen string. Slightly overlap and layer down enough prosciutto/streaky bacon slices to completely cover your turkey once rolled. Lay down the turkey on the prosciutto area. Paint with the cranberry mixture. Lay down the duck breast at the narrow end with the chick breast above those. Paint with the artichoke gear. With the help of a friend carefully and as tightly as possible roll that bad boy. While someone holds, the other ties. I have frozen mine and will defrost the day prior to Xmas and then bring to room temp when ready .
I will be roasting this for 25 minutes per 450 gms plus 20 minutes at 180C (last 20 at 220C) so it works out at about 3 hours. When done, I will make gravy in the normal manner. Finished product to follow.
God speed and best of luck....

Concept and reality differ greatly sometimes...

Chicken Vegetable Pesto Bake with Wine and Blue Cheese Sauce

Unreal and simple. All left overs were mixed together and were even more awesome. The roasted lemon smells great but I wouldn't recommend eating it...




6 chicken thighs, bone in
1 or 2 tbs pesto
1 capsicum in chunks
1 medium sweet potato in chunks
5 mushrooms torn
1 lemon quartered
3 rashers bacon in chunks
5 cloves garlic skin on
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs blue cheese
1/2 cup sparkling white wine
Parsley chopped
1 chilli thinly sliced
Natural yoghurt
Cous cous
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper




Combine the vegetables,lemon wedges, garlic cloves, bacon, chicken, pesto, extra virgin, salt and pepper in a roasting dish. Roast for 30 minutes at 180C or until cooked through. Remove the chicken to a clean bowl, remove the veg to a clean bowl and cover the lot. Place the roasting tray onto the stove and bring to a simmer. Stir in the sparkling wine and continue to simmer until the alcohol smell is gone. Stir in the blue cheese until melted and then remove from the heat. Pour in any resting juice from the chicken and veg bowls, skimming off the oil if necessary. Cook the cous cous  by covering with boiling water and leaving for 5 minutes, stir through the lemon juice.
Serve on top of the cous cous, top with parsley, chilli (if having) and dobs of yoghurt on the veg. Spoon some sauce over the chicken bits.

Green Thai Chicken, Cashew and Bean Sprout Spring Rolls

Not long ago I made a heap of Thai Green Curry paste and almost everything I have cooked since has been with it. I love having a surplus of stuff because it makes you think of ways to use it. We had prawn and avo manwhiches today with Thai green mayo for example. Anywho, this recipe was really easy. Having never made spring rolls I was expecting it to be fiddly but it was really simple. Heaps of room to move in this recipe too. I used 50/50 oil here as I didn't want the peanut flavour to dominate.

500 gms chicken mince
2 tbs Thai green curry paste
1 carrot grated
1/2 a capsicum in halved matchsticks
1 handful bean sprouts
1 handful mint chopped
2 handfuls cashews chopped
Rind of half a lemon
1 tbs kecap manis
1 handful snow peas in matchsticks
10 or water chestnuts chopped
10 or so spring roll sheets
500 ml peanut oil
500 ml light olive oil

Combine all ingredients (except the oils and spring roll sheets) in a large bowl. Lay 1 sheet of spring roll wrapper down with a corner pointing toward you, spoon in 2 tbs of the mixture into the middle and form a log. Roll up the spring roll, folding in the side as you go, sealing with a dab of water at the end. Place on a clean tray and cover. Repeat until finished. (Each time cover the remaining spring roll sheets with some moist kitchen paper to stop it from drying out, refreeze whatever is left over). Place in the fridge covered until ready.
Heat the oils in a medium saucepan until a small piece of bread fries golden in 30 seconds. Place the spring rolls in in batches and cook until golden.
I served this on coconut rice with fried shallots, more kecap manis and some sriracha (a hot chilli sauce). Unreal.

Warmed Pesto and Yoghurt Sauce for Chicken Breast

This was brilliant and so so easy. It is a very similar recipe to my Crispy Skinned Chicken Boob with Lemon and Oregano recipe but damn it was good. I will definitely be using this concept whenever I have excess pesto. Thankfully, excess pesto season is just around the corner.



Chicken breast with skin on
Garlic sliced thickly
Salt
Pepper
Fresh Thyme
4 tbs pesto
4 tbs natural Greek yoghurt
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil


Pre-heat an oven to 180 C. Salt and pepper the chicken boobs with 1 tbs of the extra virgin olive oil and the garlic slices. Heat the remaining 1 tbs of oil to medium high. When hot, add in the chicken skin side down. Turn after 5 minutes and place in the oven. Turn again after 5 minutes and return to the oven and repeat once more. Remove from the oven and place the chicken on a clean plate. Place the frying pan back onto the stove top at medium high, when hot again, spoon in the pesto and yoghurt and stir for a couple of minutes. Spoon over you chicken boobs. So so nice.

Crispy Skinned Chicken Boobs with Lemon and Oregano

Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom.


Skin on chicken boobs
Lemon rind
1 handful fresh oregano roughly chopped
Porcini salt
2 cloves garlic thickly sliced
Pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Pat each chicken boob dry. Generously salt each boob, grind on some pepper, add the lemon rind and some extra virgin olive oil then carefully rub in. Allow to infuse and come up to room temperature. Heat some extra virgin to medium high in a large non-stick pan, take the garlic slices off the skin then add in the chicken, skin side down. Spoon all remaining oil/garlic on top while it cooks. Fry until crispy (about 5 minutes), turn and fry on the other side for about 5 minutes, turn back on the skin again, reduce the meat to medium and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Poke it with your finger to test if it is done, it should feel firm but with a little bit of bounce - if it is really soft, keep going until it is cooked. Allow to rest covered for about five minutes while you finish of whatever veg you are having. I served this some roasted herbed potatoes, steamed greens, topped with Cherry Tomato Jam and Tomato Bread V 3.0

Chicken Beer Pies with Chilli Tomato Sauce and Pearl Barley

Mmmmm pie. Nice but its not going to stop me from buying pies from my local by any means. Pies are pretty straight forward really, cook some meat, sauté some veg, make a sauce, stick it under some pastry and bake.

500gms chick thighs
1 tbs garlic oil
1 handful sage leaves roughly chopped
A few sage leaves whole
3 large mushrooms in big chunks
4 spring onion roughly chopped
1 cup good beer (I used Coopers Pale Ale)
1 leek trimmed and thinly sliced
2 handfuls baby spinach
3 tbs chilli tomato sauce
1 cup pearl barley
2 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
2 sheets defrosted puff pastry
Butter
Egg or milk wash
Sesame seeds


Cut the chicken into bite sized chunks and combine with the sage leaves, garlic oil and some salt and pepper. Fry the chicken in batches a little olive oil until it has nice colour but is not cooked through, removing to a clean plate when ready. Fry the mushroom until well coloured then add in the leek to sauté. When soft add in the chicken, spring onion, pearl barley and when the pan is hot again, pour in the beer, bring to the boil then add in the tomato chilli sauce and stock. Return to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. If it needs more liquid, top up a little at a time with stock. Check for seasoning then mix through the baby spinach. Preheat an oven to 180C. Grease the top of 5 or 6 ramekins with the butter. Spoon in the chicken mixture to about 1cm under the lip of each ramekin. Place over a pastry lid and squish down over the edges. Paint each with an egg or milk wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds, cut small steam holes, and place an oiled sage leaf or two on top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden. Any left over pastry can be pricked with a fork and baked at the same time.
Serve with more chilli tomato sauce.

Chicken and Brattwurst Risoni with Corn, Fennel and Mushroom

I love slow cooked stuff - its cheap and the kids smash it to bits.

500gms chicken thigh fillets
3 Bratwurst sausages (or pork)
1/2 bulb fennel in small dice
1/2 bunch spring onion in small dice
1/2 a capsicum in small dice
300 gms mushrooms in small dice
1 handful fresh oregano chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1/3 bunch parsley minced
1 cup sparkling white wine
2 cobs corn, kernels sliced off
2/3 cup risoni
Salt and pepper
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan and chilli flakes to serve

Chop the chicken into chunks. Mix the chicken with salt and pepper, oregano and garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Heat a large non stick pan to medium high. Half cook the sausages, remove to a clean plate. Sear the chicken chunks in batches until they have nice colour then remove the a clean plate. Slice the sausage. Pour any remaining oil from the chicken marinade to the pan and saute the mushroom and fennel. When they have nice colour add in the chicken, capsicum, sausage, spring onion, risoni and wine. Toss about. If you have kept the corn cob and stems from the fennel, add them to the top. Bring to the boil, reduce to the lowest setting, add a lid and braise for an hour.
Remove the lid, remove the corn cob and fennel stalks, add in the corn kernels, Parmesan and mix through and mix. Add the lid and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Check for seasoning and add more salt and pepper or even a squeeze of lemon if it needs it. Spoon into bowls and top with grated Parmesan and chilli flakes.

Chicken Breast with Salsa Verde and Blue Cheese Pockets

First time salsa verde maker longer time admirer of the idea. Awesome sauce concept, get a whole bunch of green herbs and blitz them with some capers and citrus. I have listed here what I used but my understanding is anything green is applicable with heavier leans toward parsley and mint. If you grow your own herbs this will be cheap if not, find a friend who does. I served this with a spicy tomato pasta. Certainly hit the spot. Experiment with the flavours and adjust the salsa to suit your tastes.

1 handful basil leaves

1 handful parsley leaves

1/2 handful sage leaves

1 handful mint leaves

1/2 handful oregano leaves

1 handful thyme leaves

1/2 a lime juiced

2 garlic cloves

1 or 2 tbs capers

1 chicken boob per person

Plain flour

1 tsp paprika

2 cups Panko bread crumbs

Egg wash

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil for frying

Lemon wedges to serve

Blue cheese slices of your choice

Combine the herbs with the lime juice, garlic, some salt, 2 tbs extra virgin and 1 tbs of capers in a food processor. Check for seasoning and add more of whatever is missing eg capers or lime. Refrigerate the salsa verde until ready.

Make a small incision into the thickest part of each chicken breast with a paring knife and slice gently about inside to make a pocket without breaking the skin. Place a small slice of cheese inside each pocket with a heaped teaspoon of salsa verde. Seal with a toothpick.

Preheat an oven to 180C. Season the flour with salt and pepper and the paprika. Dust each chicken breast in the flour, dip in the egg and coat in the bread crumbs. Heat some extra virgin about 1cm deep in a frying pan over medium high. Add in the chicken breasts. Colour on one side, turn then place in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, season with salt and a squeeze of lemon and drain on absorbent paper. Add to your serving plate and top with more salsa verde.

Sticky Chicken Drumettes with Coriander and Nori

Sticky Asian chicken drumettes have been done before I know but these were tasty and the addition of chopped nori and coriander was really, really good. I was in a rush to cook these so they didn't marinade for more than about 5 minutes but I think that they would benefit from some time hanging out in the liquid. The danger there though is that the nori may take over so, I wouldn't recommend any longer than 1 hour.

1 kg chicken drumettes

3 tbs honey (more if you like)

3 tbs teriyaki sauce

1 thumb ginger grated

1 sheet nori

1/3 bunch coriander

2 cloves garlic minced

Juice of half a lime

1 tbs sesame oil

2 tbs olive oil

1 or 2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice

Process the nori sheet in a blender (its difficult to do with a knife). Mince the coriander and blitzed nori together with a knife until quite fine. Combine all of the ingredients except for the the chicken in a large bowl with a whisk. Mix the chicken through and allow to marinade for an hour in the fridge. Pour onto a baking paper lined baking tray (less washing up) and roast in a preheated 180C oven for 40 minutes or until golden, basting as you go. My daughter smashed 4 of these into herself after her own dinner.

Boned Leg of Lamb with Chicken, Mushroom and Blue Cheese Stuffing

I love this concept. Bone - stuff - secure - roast - over eat. Once you have boned the lamb, look for the extra thick bits and where appropriate - butterfly them out. This will hopefully give you a more even roll, particularly if you fan them out in to the gaps.

1 boned lamb leg (mine was 3 kg)

10 or 12 mushrooms chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1/2 sprig rosemary stripped

1 honey flavoured chicken sausage

1/2 tbs blue cheese (or more)

1 handful baby spinach

6 slices prosicutto

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Remove the chicken meat from the sausage and discard the skin. Saute the mushrooms, garlic, rosemary and chicken in about 1 tbs of extra virgin (will depend on how thirsty your mushrooms are) with a fair bit of salt and pepper. Remove from the pan and mix through the blue cheese. Check for seasoning.

Line the inside of the boned lamb leg with prosciutto slices, top with baby spinach leaves, evenly spread out the chicken mixture, roll the meat tightly and secure with kitchen string at about 2cm intervals. Season the outside well with salt and pepper and rub in with some oil. Refrigerate until ready, mine was over night. Cook at 180C with 20 mins per 450 gms plus 20 minutes. I used the barbecue and had to do some guess work, if it bleeds when you stab it, cook it some more. As the chicken is already cooked though it shouldn't matter if the meat is medium however.

I made a sauce from the pan juices, resting juices, sugar, red wine and passatta.

Awesome the next day on rolls with some blue cheese flavoured gravy...

Oregano, Corriander and Beer Marinated Chicken

I was aiming for a Portugeezer style chicken combo and actually meant to put in some paprika but forgot. Almost no effort for heaps of tasty flavour. I will add photos very soon as I plan on making this again.

1/3 bunch coriander finely minced
4 tbs fresh oregano finely minced
2 tbs garlic oil
Juice of half a lime
Juice of half a lemon
Salt (a fair whack)
Pepper
1/2 cup nice beer
Chicken thighs

Combine well all of the ingredients except the chicken in a large bowl. If you feel it needs more oil to stop from burning, add some olive oil. Add the chicken and allow to marinade at room temperature for 15 minutes. (Marinading for too much longer will make the lemon/lime juice cook the chicken and the salt will extract too much). Preheat a barbecue to medium high and cook until well coloured and just cooked through. Baste during the cooking and finish with an extra squeeze of lemon and lime juice.
I used this on pizza...

Money Bags with Prawn

Money bags are little deep fried bags of super tasty goodness. You should eat these. Ignore the chicken skin in the ingredient picture though, that was a failed wonton wraper alternative...

1 chicken thigh

350 gms shelled prawns

2 cloves garlic

1/2 a thumb of ginger

1 handful almonds (or other nuts)

1/2 a handful corriander

1 handful basil leaves

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tbs teriyaki sauce

1 tbs rice wine vinegar

Wanton wrappers
Oil for deep frying (eg canola)
Sweet chilli sauce

Process the almonds in a food processor and remove. Roughly chop the chicken. Add all of the ingredients except the frying oil, sweet chilli sauce and wonton wrappers into a food processor. Blend them. Spoon 1 tsp onto each wonton wrapper, seal it up. Deep fry them in batches. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Chicken Pie with Tarragon, Chorizo and Asparagus

This sounds difficult and expensive but it was neither. Again I am using tarragon as I have some presently but I think most anything herb wise would work. If you would like an aniseed hit and don't have it, use thinly sliced fennel and some fronds. If not try sage - different taste but would suit. As I only used half a chorizo it was far from overpowering but enough to add just the right amount of depth and porki-ness. The left over puff pastry from the lid I egg washed and sprinkled with more sesame seeds and it was great, sort of like the pie equivalent of extra crackling.

4 chicken thigh fillets in small pieces

1/2 a chorizo in smallish pieces

5 mushrooms quartered and sliced

1/3 head broccoli in small florets

1/3 head cauliflower in small florets

2 cloves garlic roughly minced

1/2 handful fresh tarragon

1/2 sprig rosemary roughly chopped

2 celery stalks finely diced

Good splash of white wine

1 cup stock (I had left over turkey)

1/3 red onion finely sliced

1 bunch asparagus sliced

Salt and pepper

1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs plain flower
2 tbs sour cream
2 sheets puff pastry
1 egg beaten
Sesame seeds for sprinkling

Preheat an oven to 220C. Add half the oil to a frying pan with the chorizo to a large frying pan and turn up to medium. Fry the chorizo until it has rendered a little and has a little colour then remove to a clean bowl. Increase the temperature to medium high. Add the chicken in 2 batches with some salt and pepper and fry until they have some colour (not completely cooked) then remove to the chorizo bowl. Add the remaining oil to the pan along with the celery and garlic and saute until soft and with no colour. Add in the mushroom, some more salt and pepper and the rosemary (more oil if necessary) and continue to cook until soft and with a little colour. Return the chicken and chorizo and their juice to the pan along with the flour and toss to combine. Continue cooking for 2 or 3 minutes, tossing then deglaze with the white wine. Allow the alcohol to cook out for a couple of minutes then add in the stock, broccoli and cauliflower. The liquid should come up about half way - if not, add more. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add in the asparagus, onion, tarragon and sour cream. Turn off the heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Check for seasoning.
Pour the contents into a large enough casserole dish to fit. Butter the rim, place on and crimp the puff pastry, cutting away any excess. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle liberally with sesame seeds. If using the cut off pastry, repeat with it and place on some baking paper on a tray and stab all over with a fork. Place in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it, when the pie or the extra bits are golden, remove and allow to cool.