Tuesday 31 July 2012

Carrot and coriander soup with cheddar bay biscuits.

It wasn't that long ago that I couldn't eat soup as an evening meal, as it's lunch food, and well, not very exciting, or substantial.  However, I've come round to loving it, so long as it has an interesting accompaniment.
I had read about cheddar bay biscuits, from the US chain Red Lobster which ironically, is somewhere I'd never go, as chains aren't my thing, but still I fancied the biscuits, I've made plain ones with sausage gravy before, and thought they'd be great with carrot and coriander soup.
They were easy to make, I subbed Cookeen white vegetable fat for the Trex stated in the recipe, and halved the quantaties for the two of us.
They were light, and crumbly and cheesey.
Delicious.  Great for packed lunches too.
Not a boring meal at all!
Red Lobster biscuits

Monday 30 July 2012

Whole sweet and sour chicken.

I stumbled upon this link recently, and thought it a good idea for a tasty meal which could be left all day, with minimal fuss at dinner time.
I adapted this recipe to use my slow cooker, and cooked for 8 hours on low.
Slow cooker chicken tends to collapse and not look great, hence no photo but it is so tender and juicy.  The flavours were really lovely, kids would love the sweetness.
I served it over thin wheat noodles.
Pot roasted chicken with sweet and sour sauce.


Smoked cheese risotto

This is actually Nigella's cheddar cheese risotto, which I've made before, and we loved, but this time I swapped the cheddar for applewood smoked cheese, which is delicious and gives a much stronger flavour.
I adore cheese, the stronger the better so this is great for me.
It is very rich, but so worth it, and great in grotty summer weather, when it's supposed to be warm, but is anything but!



Saturday 21 July 2012

Chicken Parmo

These came up recently in a discussion on a food forum I use.  I had heard of them, being from the north east myself, but had never tasted one before.  I'd also seen them on Jen's blog, and thougnt it was time to give them a go.
Origins of the parmo
I used flattenned chicken breasts, I bashed them with a rolling pin, coated in flour, egg and panko breadcrumbs, and deep fried for arpound 15-20 minutes.
These are then topped with a bechamel sauce, covered in grated cheddar and put in the oven untill the cheese melts.
I made coleslaw to go with these.
I used kale instead of cabbage, as we hadn't tried it before, and then the usual grated carrot and sliced onion.
I also tried a new dressing for it that I'd had bookmarked for sometime.
Buttermilk, garlic salad dressing. It was delicious, I'll make it again, definitely.


Thursday 19 July 2012

Tagliatelle Pietro Antonio

I'm back!
Not that I've been anywhere, just haven't been well so havwn't done much cooking.
I did make a Japanese meal from my new book, Everyday Harumi, but the photos are so bad they are not up for being published!
Last night I made this pasta dish, I got the idea from a Scottish/Italian cafe menu, Corrieri's.
It was reccommended as somewhere to eat whilst in the area, and as we're only an hour away, I looked at the menu with a view to going for lunch.
I loved the sound of this dish, so thought I'd have a go at making a version at home.
For the two of us, I used one tin of chopped tomatoes, 5 chesnut mushrooms, 4 slices of smoked streaky bacon, and half a jar of artichoke hearts.  I added a large splash of cream to finish.
I can't know how it compares to Corrieri's version, since we haven't been yet, but I can say it was one of the best pasta dishes I've ever eaten.
Brilliant.

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Prawn Patia

This was the curry recipe from my new book 50 great curries of India that we were going to try out last night.
We'd also had in mind a green bean dish, and a chutney from the book, but since the humidity is really affecting my asthma, I wasn't up to doing anything today, other than lying on the couch wheezing and sucking on my nebuliser.
I did offer takeaway, or sandwiches, pot noodles etc, but Niamh would rather have homemade food, and was up for trying a new recipe.
My entire input into this, from start to photo taken, was handing her the book.
Please join me in thinking how fantastic she is.
I'm a very proud Mum.


Pad Thai

Since I hadn't been feeling well, I really wanted good old British comfort food, mince and dumplings, however, Niamh wanted curries, from my new book, 50 Great curries of India.
I decided neither of us were winning, so we chose Pad Thai together, from Rick Stein (again!)
It's been blogged here.
The limes are missing in my photo, as I squeezed them over and then left them off the dish, but the flavour was there.
It's really quick to put together and cook, once you've soaked the dried shrimp and noodles.

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic.

This was supposed to go in the slow cooker all day, but due to a slight blip (huge asthma attack at 7am), I ended up sleeping till 2.30pm and there wasn't time, so it went into the oven instead.
It literally takes five minutes to prepare ande tastes amazing.
The garlic is so sweet when roast and the chicken surrounded and stuffed with lemons and garlic is flavoursome and juicy.
I don't bother to carve this, just pull apart in chunks and serve with baguettes and a handful of salad leaves.  It's all it needs.
 Roast chicken with forty cloves of garlic

Jen cooks Gok cooks Chinese!

I'd been watching the series of Gok Wan cooking Chinese family favourites, and really loved it, so had to buy the book.
I was going to do this on Saturday, but erm accidentally phoned for takeaway instead!

Scampi and chips, chicken kebab and salad.
Delicious it was too.

That meant that the Chinese food got pushed to Sunday.
I chose to make Soy glazed chicken, spicy cucumber and spring onion salad and a non Gok recipe, sesame prawn toast.
It was all really simple to prepare and fantastic.  Much better than takeaway! I'll definitely be using more recipes from the book.


Sunday 1 July 2012

Foodie penpals-June

This was forwarded to me by Jen, and she got it from Rock Salt.
It seemed like a really fun thing to take part in, plus I love receiving parcels! I think that's why I have such a huge Amazon habit.
This month, the lovely Christine, over at Diary of a fashionista posted to me.
I got a lovely box of goodies.

It included Malaysian sweets, astronaut ice cream, and all the ingredients, plus cases and recipe to make Tiffany blue choc mint cupcakes, which I will be making with Niamh this week and blogging.
Thank you Christine!