Chilli Chicken Wraps

I always enjoy the recipes from our Wednesdays with Donna Hay blogging group. Memorably, we have made feta and eggplant meatballs (the best meal I have ever cooked) and spinach with sesame dressing (the recipe with the fastest cooking time on this blog). This week's recipe is from a book I don't own: Off the Shelf by Donna Hay. My fellow blogging friends kindly offered to send me details, but I decided to take a gamble this week and make it up!

Mushroom, Broccoli, and Chicken Risotto

I don't eat a lot of carbs anymore, so when I do, I make sure they are the tastiest I can create. Hence we had creamy, satisfying risotto for dinner recently. I find cooking risotto helps me relax and puts me in a more patient frame of mind.

Risotto calms me down because I am tied to the spatula, stirring gently for about twenty minutes. While my arm slowly circles, I am imagining the first warm, toothsome bite. I know the rice will be soft on the outside with a little resistance inside. The first forkful of rice will be sticky with parmesan cheese and punctuated by vegetables. There will be a few grindings of fresh black pepper on top.

Girl Hunter by Georgia Pellegrini - and Turkey Meatballs with Gravy

Georgia Pellegrini's book, Girl Hunter, chronicles her journey to hunt her own meat. It was our Kitchen Reader book club pick this month, chosen by Julie of Savvy Eats. Pellegrini says that hunting helped her enjoy her food more because of "the pleasures of knowing what occurred on the journey from the field to the table". She eloquently describes the craft of hunting and preparing game meat. Her book covers many different (North American) hunted animals, including wild turkey, dove, partridge, elk, pheasant, duck, boar, and many more.

bang bang chicken

This recipe was the star of the show at my Chinese New Year dinner. Backstage in the kitchen, Bang Bang Chicken is an affable companion: easy-going in that it can be ready long before dinner since it doesn't need to be hot, and prompt in that it can be ready quickly. It's street food (from the Szechuan region of China)--hence the simplicity of the preparation. I can imagine shovelling this into my mouth on street corners--but it will be equally at home on your much more refined dinner table.

Persian chicken with saffron rice pilaf

I accidentally bought chicken thighs recently when I was expecting chicken breasts. But no matter, lots of chicken recipes can be made with either kind. Lots of recipes are actually better with thighs, since they are juicier. This Persian chicken recipe was a tasty dinner, and we ate it with peas with yogurt and crunchy bits.

curried potatoes

Sometimes it's time for comfort food. For Anthony, my husband, potatoes are the best comfort food. He grew up in a "meat and two veg" household where potatoes were a daily enjoyment. I saw this recipe on Simply Recipes and knew that it would be a happy night when I made it for dinner for him.

Vietnamese-inspired salad with cabbage and chicken

This is not a bread-baking blog. Or a desserts blog. Or even a food reading blog (though you may be forgiven for thinking so at times). Lately I have been thinking about the mission behind this blog and what I really want to share with you. My main desire to to make healthy, plant-based eating more tasty and desirable.

I realised that over the last few months I have been writing a lot about bread--it's been quite a kitchen experiment for me recently, since Ant and I decided that if we wanted to eat healthy bread in a shape we were used to, we would have to make it ourselves. In the sidebar, where the post labels are listed, I noticed that bread posts were now equal in number to salad posts--something I never thought would happen. Salad is the best meal on earth!

turkey and peanut stew

I was really inspired by Em's West African Peanut Stew recently. A hearty tomato based stew with peanut butter seems like the perfect hearty, healthy dinner dish. Em's is vegetarian, but I love cooking with turkey for a couple of reasons. We find it more flavourful than chicken, but just as easy. And it's a bit cheaper. I made this easy stew one evening to serve over the last of my black rice. (Actually, the rice here is only one part black rice and two parts brown rice. Look how dark it still is!)

Turkey and Peanut Stew
serves 3

2 T mild oil
2 small or 1 large onion(s), chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
200 g turkey breast, chopped into bite-size pieces
1 red pepper, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
2 c (1/4 head) cabbage, sliced
1/2 t crushed chilli flakes
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 c (250 ml) apple juice
1/2 c (90 g) peanut butter

in a large frying pan, heat the oil and then gently sautee the onion and garlic over a medium low heat.
Add the turkey pieces and cook over medium heat until no longer pink (five to eight minutes, based on the size of the pieces).
Add the red pepper and carrots and cook for a further five minutes.
Add the cabbage, chilli flakes, tomatoes and their juice, and apple juice, and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the peanut butter and stir to combine. Heat through and then serve over rice.

fragrant spinach and turkey

Nigel Slater's distinctive handwriting adorns the top of my new cookbook: The 30-Minute Cook: The Best of the World's Quick Cooking. I was so happy to receive it as a gift from Sonya for my birthday: Nigel is my new favourite, friendly writer. I was watching him on TV recently. "I'm a cook, not a chef," he says. This cookbook is full of practical ideas for the home cook. I can't wait to try out loads of them, like Turkish Carrots (with mint and yoghurt).

The first small green sticky note landed on a recipe for fragrant spinach. I adapted the side dish recipe by adding onions and turkey pieces and served it as a main with bulgur wheat. As always, the current contents of the fridge meant that a few substitutions had to be made. And a hungry husband with a love of non-vegetarian food is my other eater, so he had to be satisfied.

The recipe includes a technique which is new for me. At the very end of the recipe, Nigel directed me to melt some butter in a pan and add garam masala for a short time, until it foamed (as pictured below). Then I poured this onto the main part of the dish. This adds a deep, nutty spice to the earthy spinach.

Fragrant Spinach with Turkey
adapted from The 30-Minute Cook
serves 2

1 onion, thinly sliced
1 T olive oil
1 turkey or chicken breast, diced
4 large double handfuls of spinach (about 400 g), washed, and sliced if large
1/2 t harissa paste
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t mustard powder
1/2 t fennel seeds
2 T butter
1/2 t garam masala
juice of 1 lemon

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and gently sautee the onions.
Add the diced turkey or chicken and cook until it is no loner pink.
Meanwhile, boil a pan of water and plunge the spinach into the pan for 30 seconds. Drain.
Add the harissa paste, cumin, mustard, and fennel to the onions and turkey. Cook until their fragrance rises and then add the spinach. Cook for a minute.
In another pan, melt the butter over low heat and add the garam masala. Let it foam. Pour the foaming butter over the spinach mixture. Top with a squeeze of lemon juice to serve.

roast duck dinner

Sonya, you will be proud! I roasted my first duck. Sonya has been telling me for years that it is easy to roast a whole bird, and over the last few months I have done quite a few chickens. And my first duck was a success. I used some advice from How to Cook Everything and pricked the skin all over before I put it in and every 15 minutes thereafter. I made some roast potatoes and broccoli on the side--Ant was a very happy man. Meat, potatoes, veg, and lots of gravy is his idea of heaven.


After the roasting, I poured off the duck fat. I am told (by Jamie Oliver, and my friend Geary!) that duck fat makes the best roast potatoes. So I have this little jar to use for our next roast dinner. Bittman said that I needed to pour off the fat but not the juices--I have no idea if I did this correctly! I just poured in everything in the pan. I suppose that later the fat and juices will separate more convincingly and I'll know if I managed it.

superfood salad

Here's a recipe from the Leon cookbook, which I love. Ant and Kirbie and I enjoyed this salad a few weeks ago when we were eating leftover roast chicken one day. I just happened to have the key items on hand: broccoli, cucumber, seeds (to be toasted) and peas. It was super tasty. I made some aioli to use in the dressing, but messed it up a bit by not reading the instructions through--we were in a hurry!

Below is the original Leon recipe, complete with instructions for marinading the chicken overnight. But I think it's a perfect salad for using up leftover chicken (or any protein item) you have on hand. Also, the recipe calls for very little quinoa. Since you're boiling the water anyway, cook a larger amount and use it to make your lunch salad.

Chicken Superfood Salad
serves 2
from Leon: Ingredients and Recipes

2 T quinoa
1/2 a head of broccoli
300 g chicken thighs, marinated overnight (see below)
2 handfuls of rocket
2 handfuls of baby spinach
2 tomatoes, chopped
120 g frozen peas
1 lemon
2 T extra virgin olive oil
alfalfa sprouts
3 T aioli
2 T toasted seeds (pumpkin, sesame, and pine nuts, for example)
chopped mint and parsley

Cook quinoa according to package directions.
Heat a griddle pan and grill the chicken.
Steam or boil the broccoli.
Pour boiling water over the peas to thaw them, then drain.
Build the salad on two plates: layer leaves, tomatoes, broccoli, peas, the juice of half the lemon, olive oil.
Put the chicken on top, and sprinkle with quinoa, sprouts, aioli, seeds, and herbs. Serve with the other half of the lemon cut as wedges.

Chicken Marinade

Cut each thigh into four portions and marinade overnight with 2 T olive oil, 3 T lemon juice, and 1 or 2 garlic cloves.

turkey lentil pilaf

Do you think this is a bit over organised? I laid out the spices with the spoons for measuring them as I was cooking today. Everything in my life seems to depend on organisation at the moment. In fact, being a teacher often seems primarily about staying organised. Maybe that's why I like my job!

In the end, Ant and I thought this pilaf was a little bit boring, despite having an interesting spice combination. Next time I would add some chopped spring onions and a squeeze of lemon juice to liven things up.

Turkey Lentil Pilaf
serves 6
from Simply in Season

500 g ground turkey or chopped chicken
1 c chopped onion
2 or 3 garlic cloves
3 T fresh mint, chopped, or 1 T dried mint
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t peppercorns, crushed, or 1/4 t pepper
1 c dried lentils
3/4 c brown rice
2 c broth or water
1 large tomato, chopped, or 1/2 c tomato sauce

Cook the turkey or chicken in a large pan until it is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender.
Add the mint, cinnamon, and pepper and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients and cover. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, and simmer until rice is cooked, 45 to 50 minutes. You may need to add water as the rice and lentils absorb water.

roasting chicken

A cooking discovery: a small chicken fits in my slow cooker! I thought I would try this out one day and amazingly it worked really well. It took about three hours on high, and was very tasty. I didn't bother with any seasoning or anything--just threw the chicken in there and walked away! Talk about a lazy way to cook. And there was lovely roast chicken as a result. It is worth trying again soon!

lunch salad

Another salad recipe, this time by request. :) I made this cauliflower and chicken salad at lunch today, from the Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special cookbook.

Roasted Red Pepper & Cauliflower Salad
adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special

1 roasted red pepper, sliced
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 large russet potato, sliced into rounds
2 T olive oil
dash of salt

4 c spinach or salad leaves
2 T chopped parsley
8 olives

Dressing
2 T vegetable oil
2 T olive oil
1 T fresh lemon juice
2 T cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 t fennel seeds
1/4 t salt
pepper

Roast the cauliflower and potato slices, tossed with olive oil and salt (about 20 minutes). Whisk together the dressing ingredients. Arrange the salad leaves on plates or a platter. Mix the red pepper and roasted vegetables and place on the salad leaves. Drizzle the dressing on top, sprinkle with parsley and olives.

When I made this salad today I increased the quantities of cauliflower to a whole head and used several potatoes. I omitted the olives since Ant is not a big fan (and hence we never have any in the house). And I added grilled chicken on top to make this into a meal. I cooked the chicken on our new, bigger George Foreman grill.

new kitchen item

In a very exciting event, Matt and Ant and I have inherited a small George Foreman grill. Woo hoo! I used it for the first time today, grilling some marinated chicken breasts to serve to some friends from church. I marinated them with half soy sauce and half maple syrup with added garlic and ginger. Wonderful! I am looking forward to learning about how to use it properly.

shape magazine recipes

I love Shape magazine. You may have already realised this from the links bar. It's their 25th anniversary and they've published a list of their twenty-five best recipes. I may try the yogurt mint marinated chicken this weekend since I have a pot of plain yogurt in the fridge at the moment. And also the roasted herb salmon sounds within my ability range as well.

thanksgiving

Ant and I managed to pull off a little Thanksgiving dinner last night. Ant was the impetus for it, buying us a little roasting chicken with sage stuffing. We made roast potatoes, roast parsnips, boiled potatoes, honey glazed carrots, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and gravy. With the help of a store-bought pastry I made a pumpkin pie. We were so pleased about having pulled it all off! This was the first Thanksgiving that I have managed to celebrate away from home. It was well worth the trouble. And I took leftovers and pie to school today. Everyone in the staffroom who tried some pie liked it.

roast chicken for beginners

When I found this recipe, I thought it was perfect for people like me, who just are not sure how to tell when poultry is thoroughly cooked, but not dried out. Give this a try!

6-7 lb. chicken
1 cup melted butter
1 cup stuffing
1 cup uncooked popcorn
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Brush chicken well with melted butter, salt, and pepper.
Fill cavity with stuffing and popcorn. Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the back of the oven. Listen for popping sounds. When the chicken's backside blows the oven door open and the chicken flies across the room... it's done!

new recipe

I'm trying out a new recipe today. I got it from Sonya's preferred site: epicurious. One problem with the recipe is that I can't pronouce one of the words in the title! The other problem is that skinning chicken pieces is definitely not one of my favourite things to do. Blech. But it smells great and looks good.

dinner party

Last night I cooked for eight in our first dinner party in ages. It was awesome to have Matt and April (our perpetual guests), Matt and Bree, and Andrew and Naomi visiting for a meal. And I have found a foolproof company dish that is easy and tasty every time. Yay!

Maple Hoisin Chicken
Make a marinade with:
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 T soy sauce
2 T rice vinegar
2 T ketchup
1 T minced garlic
1 T minced ginger root
Mix with eight chicken breasts and marinate for 2-8 hours.
Bake for 30-40 minutes at 200/400 degrees.

This is a wonderful dish that takes no time during the evening you are serving it. I made a couscous side dish and a fresh salad with rocket and that's it. Delicious and easy.