Parmesan Crusted Chicken & Spicy Wedges

Now these chicken and wedges are quite simple to make but the results are quite scrumptious.

The topping for the chicken is only 2 ingredients panko crumbs and grated fresh Parmesan cheese and the coating for the wedges is oil with spices added.

They both cook in the oven for the same amount of time, so can be popped in the oven and only touched half way through cooking to turn the wedges.

I served this with my honey and mustard dressing.

Parmesan Chicken
3 chicken breasts cut into strips a bit bigger than tenderloin size, 2 eggs , 2 cups panko crumbs, 1/4 cup grated parmesan


Preheat oven to 200.c. Line  a baking tray with tin foil or baking paper, put a cake rack on top this will allow the heat to flow around the chicken to crisp both sides.

In a small bowl using a fork beat together the eggs, on a plate mix together the crumbs and cheese.

Dip the chicken pieces in the egg, making sure you wipe off excess egg, roll in the crumbs and place onto the rack.

Place into the oven on the top rack. Cook 45 mins.

Spicy Wedges
4 - 5 large potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges, 3 tbsps olive oil, 2 tsps paprika sweet. hot or smoked, 2 tsps ground cumin, 2 tsps celery salt, 1/2 - 1 tsp chilli powder

Line a tray with baking paper. Spread out wedges. In a small bowl mix together oil and spices, pour over wedges, using your hands mix them together making sure that all wedges are covered spread out in 1 layer.

Bake 45 minutes - 1 hour, turning once halfway through cooking.

Duchess Potatoes

Now after my blog the other day about not cooking mash potato very often, it got me to thinking about ways to use mash potato.

Now I must admit these really are only mash potato piped into rosettes, but for some reason when you bite into them they are crunchy on the outside and very soft and creamy on the inside.

This is a dish you can get ready earlier in the day then pop into the oven closer to your meal time.

Also you can make a smaller amount of mash potato go a long way.

I do try to pipe these while the potato is hot as it will pipe much easier, if your piping bag is too hot for you to handle wrap a tea towel around it.

The only real trick in making these is when you mash your potato make it stiffer than you normally would so that it can be piped, to do this you will need to add less milk.

Now there is now real recipe quantities you boil your potatoes drain them add butter, season with salt and pepper, then mash. Once you have mashed in you butter check if it has formed a cohesive mash, by that I mean all the potato has come together and there isn't any lumps it needs to be smooth but firm enough to pipe, if not add about 1- 2 tbsps of milk then mash again.

You pipe using a 1cm wide star nozzle, and make your rosettes about 3 cm high.

Pipe them onto a baking paper lined tray.

Now to get the crispy outer coating you will need to spray them with a little oil or melt some butter and drizzle it onto them.

Bake at 180.c for about 15 - 20 minutes , or until they are crispy and browned.

Guide to quantities

2 large potatoes, salt and pepper, 2 tbsps butter, if needed 1 - 2 tbsps milk

oil or butter for topping

Following Yesterday's Theme Today it's Different Ways with Vegies

After yesterdays theme of 5 ways with Fish, and as I didn't cook anything exciting yesterday I thought I might give you some ideas for vegetables.

Sometimes vegetables can be boooring ! and difficult to think of new ways to cook them, so here are my suggestions.

These ideas cover the foodie globe.

Italian Idea - Asparagus. Toss in olive oil and grated garlic. Griddle on a hot griddle pan till griddle marks appear. Squeeze over then juice of 1 lemon. Remove from pan and serve immediately. You can also do this with whole mushrooms.

Asian style beans - Top and tail fresh beans. Blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove from water and drain. Heat 1 -2 tbsps peanut oil in a wok or frypan till hot add the beans and 2 -3 peeled and flattened cloves of garlic.

Stir fry for 1 - 2 minutes or until the beans start to brown, add 1 tbsp oyster sauce, stir to coat. Remove from wok and serve.

Italian Grilled Vegetables - Thickly slice - about 1 cm - capsicum, zucchini, red onion, eggplant and mushrooms. drizzle with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp of chopped herbs, like oregano, parsley or rosemary and a grated clove of garlic.

Heat your griddle pan or BBQ till hot add the vegetables cook till grill marks appear on both sides and the vegetables are tender.

If some of the vegetables cook before the others remove to a serving platter.

When the vegies are cooked and on the platter drizzle with a little more oil and the juice of a lemon.

These vegetables are good even at room temperature.

Indonesia - Gado Gado.

Arrange on a large platter

- steamed 1 cm slices of potato, hard boil eggs, peeled and sliced into 1/4's, strips of capsicum red or yellow, fresh beans topped and tailed, snow peas, string removed, slices of cucumber

To serve make a satay/peanut sauce

http://cooklikeina.blogspot.com/2011/11/satay-chicken-my-all-time-favourite.html

I hope this has given you some ideas next time you are faced with a fridge full of vegies and no ideas how to cook them.

Inspiration in the Kitchen

I must admit there are days that I don't have much enthusiasm to cook, this is usually when I don't want to cook the same old meals. I need some inspiration.

How do you get inspired when you have days like this, what I usually do is think of what meat or vegetable I want to cook for a meal, then get the cookbooks out, especially the ones that you haven't cooked from very often, if that fails hit the Internet.

For instance tonight I have a chicken to cook I don't want to do the same old roast, so I browsed my recipe books and saw a picture of a spatchcocked chicken, this gave me an idea of making a spice rub using limes from tree, there juice and rind. I will also add garlic ground cumin and coriander, perhaps a little bit of smoked paprika, and for a little bit of heat some Tabasco sauce.

I will let the chicken hang about in its marinade in the fridge this afternoon. Before cooking on high to crisp the skin then I will turn the temperature down to cook the chicken through.

What to serve with it, I have lots of little potatoes Miss fish found in our vegie bed the other week, I also have some feta and olives. I think I will make a warm salad with a balsamic dressing.

The dressing is easy 1/3 balsamic, 2/3's a good olive oil + 2 tsps dijon mustard, you just need to whisk or shake it together.

When the potatoes are hot I will drizzle them with some of the dressing. Then when the have cooled to room temp I will add the other ingredients, toss with more dressing and serve.

Right there you go just writing about inspiration has given me ideas for tonight's tea.

So I hope I have inspired you to think of other ways to cook the same ingredients.

Happy cooking

Pasta Frittata

This is an idea I have had for a while, but I usually don't have a lot of pasta leftovers to make it. I suppose I could cook pasta especially for it, but as most frittatas are based on using leftovers it doesn't seem quite right some how.

Now if you would like a more eggy frittata you could add more eggs, but I found that 6 was enough to set all the ingredients together.

You can use what ever vegetables that you want, I just used what I had in the fridge. You could also add more bacon or even use ham. If you what a vegetarian one you could leave it out all together.

Pasta Frittata

4 cups cooked pasta, 2 cups chopped vegetables - I used a bunch of asparagus, 1/2 red capsicum & frozen peas - 1/2 cup grated parmeson, 1/2 grated tasty cheese. - plus extra grated cheese for the top - 6 eggs. salt & pepper to taste. 4 rashers bacon

Preheat the the oven 220.c

In a bowl mix together the eggs, 2 cheeses, salt & pepper, using a fork.

Remove the rind if any, then cut the bacon into 2cm pieces, place into a frypan that can go into the oven, add about 1 tbsp oil, when the bacon starts sizzling add the vegies stir 1- 3 minutes or until they start to soften. Add the pasta toss around to distribute the vegies and bacon evenly. Remove from the heat pour over the egg mixture.

Lower the heat and return the frypan, leave on the heat until the edges start to sizzle and you can smell the egg on the base starting to cook, this takes about one minute.

Remove from the heat sprinkle with the extra cheese place into the oven check after 10 minutes, mine took 15 minutes to cook. The egg should be set and the cheese should be melted and golden.

Remove from oven carefully, don't forget that the handle will be hot. Slice and serve.

You could serve this with some crusty bread or a salad. It is also a good dish eaten lukewarm, also it is terrific to take on a picnic.

Quinoa Burgers - Greek Style

Why Greek Style, because I served them with a deconstructed Greek salad on Turkish bread.

What is quinoa (pronounced keen-wah ) it is a grain like crop that is very good for you containing essential amino acids like lysine and and good quantities of calcium, phosphorus and iron. Also it tastes very nice, with a slight nutty flavour.

I got the original idea from a Martha Stewart recipe, then adapted it to my taste and the ingredients I had to hand. Note the recipe stated that you need 3/4 cup of water to cook the quinoa, it actually needed 1 cup to cook the quinoa properly.

http://www.wholeliving.com/recipe/greek-style-quinoa-burgers-recipe?backto=true

The recipe was enough for 8 decent sized patties. You could even serve the burgers without the turkish bread, but with a large sized greek salad.

Quinoa Burgers

1 cup water, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/2 medium or 1 small carrot, peeled, 3 small spring onions, with dark ends removed, 1egg, 1/4 cup plain flour or breadcrumbs, 6 button mushrooms, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground pepper, 1 tbsps ground cumin, 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, 1 400gm tin beans, drained - any sort I actually used chickpeas, 1 very small can corn kernels, drained

To serve - Turkish bread, ciabatta bread, rolls or even thick slices of country bread.

Greek salad - lettuce, thin slices of cucumber, thin slices of tomato, feta, crumbled, thin slices of red onion

Dressing - enough for 2 burgers - 2 tbsps yoghurt , 2 cloves garlic, grated, 1 tbsp lemon juice

Mix together.

Bring the water to the boil, add the quinoa, reduce heat and simmer 10 12 minutes or until cooked. Remove from heat and let cool, about 2o minutes.

Cooked quinoa

Chop the carrot in half lengthwise then into 2 cm pieces, chop the spring onions into 5 cm lengths. While the food processor is running drop in the carrot and spring onions, process until finely chopped. Turn of the processor and add remaining ingredients Pulse until all the ingredients are combined. Form patties and place into the fridge to set.

Finished mixture, it doesn't look good, but is was very tasty.

Heat 3 - 4 tbsps olive oil in a frypan, brown patties on both sides and until centre is hot. Approximately 4 minutes per side. Remove and place onto paper towel.

While the patties are cooking slice the turkish bread in half then layer lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion, then the patties - 2 per serve - drizzle some dressing on top.

Pop on the lid then eat and enjoy. Note Mr CLI found it easier to eat using a knife and fork, because I had made them so high.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Now I have a saying in our house "I have had this (cookbook/ornament/kitchen utensil etc) longer than you. Now this statement is generally directed at Mr CLI. That statement goes for the cookbook that the spring roll recipe comes from.

I believe I purchased it not long after I started work, when I was about 17 or 18. Now I have cooked many things from it, but the spring roll recipe is one that I keep coming back to, time and again.

I have made many variations of springrolls over the years, ones with fine vermicelli noodles and raw vegetables. Ones with chow mein/chop suey meat and cabbage fillings. Also ones with meat and vegetables fillings, but I always go back to this recipe. All you have to do is slice/chop the vegies, spend about 7 minutes cooking them, then let them hang about in a colander to drain while cooling.

I always make my spring rolls, dim sums & wontons the day before I need them, not that it makes them taste any better, but so that I am not doing everything on the one day. I have done this before and by the time I sit down to eat the food I have no interest in eating.

This recipe is very flexible, you can delete an item, but you do need to replace it with another item, to keep the filling the same amount.

Now this filling has mushrooms and spring onions, both of which Miss Fish won't eat, but in these spring rolls she is happy to chomp them up.

I only make small spring rolls, enough for 2 mouth fulls. They cook quickly and are easy to eat.

Spring Rolls

1 packet spring roll wrappers, 1 x 250gm bag bean shoots, 1 bunch spring onions, 1 x 450 can bamboo shoot slices, 1 large carrot, 1 small punnet of pre sliced button mushrooms, 2 tsps brown sugar, 2 tbsps light soy sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp shao xing wine/dry sherry

Slice the carrots, spring onions & bamboo shoots into thin julienne approx 5 - 7 cm long.

Vegetables all ready

Now I must admit that I julienne my carrots on a mandoline slicer - picture below, other wise slice them very thin then julienne the slices

In a wok or frypan heat 2 tbsps oil, add the carrots, spring onions & bamboo shoots. Stir fry approx 2 - 3 minutes or until starting to wilt, then add the mushrooms & bean shoots, stir 1 minute. Add soy sauce, salt, sugar & wine. Stir fry for 2 - 3 minutes or until the vegetables have started to soften.

Remove from heat and put into a colander placed over a large bowl, leave till cool. I give them a stir 2 or 3 times to ensure as much of the liquid drains as possible. I also leave the vegies in the colander while making the spring rolls. Soggy vegies = soggy spring rolls.

To make the spring rolls cut the spring roll wrappers in half in the diagonal, kitchen scissors are good for this.

With the cut side of the triangle facing you, place about 1 tbsp of the mixture in the middle along the edge.

Fold the long edge over the filling, away from you. Then fold over each side, tucking in the points.

The roll into a cigar shape rolling away from you. dip the point into water and fold over to secure. Place onto a baking/parchment paper lined tray/plate. Continue making spring rolls, I had enough filling to use all but 1 spring roll wrapper.

To cook, I shallow fry them in a frypan using about 1 cm of vegetable or peanut oil. Drain them on kitchen paper.

I serve them with a dipping sauce made from 1 tsp chilli sauce & 1/4 cup light soy sauce mixed together.

Scallop Potatoes - The easy way

Now scallop potatoes are one of Winters comfort foods. Warm, filling, cheesy and very delectable, but it can take a long time to cook if done by the traditional method with lots of layers of thinly sliced potato.

I can't be bothered waiting for up to an hour for my scallop potatoes to cook, so I do an easy version.

I first saw Nigella cook scallop potatoes in a similar way, many years ago and have tinkered with her idea until I have made it an easy version of the traditional scallop potatoes.

Now it only requires some peeling and slicing of potatoes, grating of cheese and garlic and grinding of salt & pepper. What could be more easier. Instead of 1 hour in the oven if you assemble and cook the scallop potatoes when the potato is hot it only takes 15 - 20 minutes in the oven, basically long enough to brown the top and make the potatoes bubble.

Scallop Potatoes

Enough potatoes when sliced in 1 - 1 1/2 cm slices and layered to fill you baking dish, now the potatoes are boiled in milk first - you can use a combination of half milk & half water or all milk or half milk & half homemade chicken stock the choice is yours. grated tasty cheese, for 4 layers of potatoes 3 -4 garlic cloves, salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 220c.

Peel and slice the potatoes place into a large saucepan, pour over enough liquid to cover the potatoes by at least 2 cms. Bring to the boil, simmer uncovered until the potatoes are just tender when tested with a knife point. Keep an eye of the potatoes as the milk has a tendency of evaporating quicker than water.

When cooked remove entire saucepan from the heat - DO NOT DRAIN - you need the liquid for the scallop potatoes.

Using a slotted spoon layer some potatoes in the base of you dish season with salt & pepper, grate some garlic over and sprinkle with grated cheese. Continue layering until all the potatoes are used, don't put garlic on the top layer.

Pour enough of the cooking liquid carefully over the potatoes to fill 3/4 of the baking dish. Cover generously with cheese. Place dish on a baking tray as sometimes it can bubble over. Bake in the oven until most of the liquid has evaporated and the cheese on top is brown and bubbly.

Remove from the oven serve and enjoy.

So next time you are trying to think of something warm and comforting think scallop potatoes. They only need a bit of looking after, then they are in the oven warming and crisping, getting ready for you to eat.

Mashed Potato made using a Potato Ricer

Now I must admit that I have very few if any pieces of kitchen equipment that I don't use, but the potato ricer I bought 3 years was one.

I had bought it to make gnocchi, but buying the right potatoes turned out to be a nightmare, by the time I had consulted all the gnocchi recipes and worked out what were the right potatoes. Then visited the local supermarkets, only to find that the bags were labelled good for mashing. roasting. chips etc, but not by their type so I gave up on that endeavour.

Now they are mostly labelled by type, so I might try again.

Anyway back to the mashed potato, I pulled out my bag of potatoes only to find that they were quite small, too small to peel. so what was I going to do, ahh the light bulb went on why don't I user the potato ricer.

So I cut them small and boiled the pieces until soft, I then drained them and pressed them through the ricer. One thing to be aware when using a ricer hold it down and facing the bottom of the saucepan/bowl that you are using otherwise you will end up like I did with worms of potato all over the workbench and kitchen floor.

After all the potato had been pressed I put the saucepan back on the cooktop on low added a big lump of butter, which I slowly stirred into the potato as it melted.

I then added some milk, as it warmed I stirred it into the potato, I then added salt and pepper.

What was the result like, it was much more glutinous than normal mashed potato also very dense, but incredibly creamy and would make a lovely bed for a rich beef casserole or the moroccan meatballs that I make.

So if you have a piece of kitchen equipment that you haven't used perhaps think of another use for it and try to use it, so that you can then buy another piece of equipment with a clear conscience.

Vegetable Biryani

We don't eat a lot of meat, I try to cook meals with the bulk of the contents are vegetables. So I am always on the lookout for recipes that have a lot of flavour, but are also healthy.

So I went to India to look for inspiration. This vegetable biryani is a recipe that is very tasty yet quite easy to cook. A bit of chopping beforehand, then a bit of stirring, then into the oven to cook. What couldn't be easier.

I cooked it in a corningware dish in the oven. I have a double oven the smaller oven is 2/3 the size of the large oven which is great for single dishes. As it gets hotter quicker it also saves time and energy. This cooked in 15 minutes, if you where to use a normal sized oven I would check it after 15 minutes, it may need more liquid or time if it isn't cooked, possibly another 5 - 10 minutes.

This is the dish that I use.

This recipe comes from - Meena Pathak's Flavours of India - she married into the Pataks Indian sauce and spice business.

I have altered the recipe a bit as I was time short when I made this so I cooked this for shorter time periods at certain stages, but I don't believe this altered the flavour at all, in fact Mr CLI went back for seconds and said I could cook the dish again any time, as it was flavourful and filling as well as being good for him.

Vegetable Biryani

3 cups vegetables - I used 1 medium carrot cut into thin julienne, florets of brocolli & cauli cut quite small so that they would cook, 250 gm basmati rice, 1/4 - 1/2 onion finely sliced, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 3 cloves, 3 whole cardamom pods, 5 tbsps olive oil, 4 garlic cloves grated, 1 peive ginger 2 x 5 cms grated, 1/4 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 1/2 tsp salt, boiling water to cover rice, fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Preheat the oven 200.c.

On the stove top heat the oil in your ovenproof casserole dish/frypan, add the cloves & cardamom, when popping/sizzling, add the onions stir until they are starting to soften, if sliced thinly this should only take 1 - 2 minutes.

Add garlic, ginger and remaining spices, stir. Add 2tbsps water, let bubble for 1 minute, add the tomato paste stir to combine, then add the vegetables and rice stir to cover with tomato/spice mix. Add enough boiling water to cover the rice by 1cm, stir in the salt. Bring to the boil, remove from heat.

Cover tightly with a double layer of tin foil, put on lid it you have one. Place into the oven cook for 15 minutes. Check if rice is tender, if is isn't you may need more time another 5 - 10 minutes. If the liquid has evaporated but the rice isn't cooked and another 1/2 - 1 cup.

When cooked check the seasoning it may need more salt. Serve with a dollop of greek yoghurt and pappodoms or naan bread.

I hope you try this recipe as it is quite easy, and you can alter the vegetables to suit your tastes.

Eat more greens !

Vegetables now we all know we must eat more fresh fruit and vegetables a day, but some vegetables are a bit challenging to eat or even like the taste of.

Now not only did my Nana teach me to cook, my Pa grew most of their vegetables in their backyard. Now this wasn't in a country town, but right in the suburbs of Melbourne, where most people had a vegie bed or two and quite often a chook or two.

Luckily my Nana was not of the boil vegetables until they are unrecognisable then add a pinch of sugar, to try to add flavour back in, brigade. She would only cook her vegies until done, then serve them with most of the color and flavour still retained.

One of the vegetables that my Pa grew was brussel sprouts, he would pick them we they were small and my Nana would boil them till just tender, then serve them with a little dob of butter.

I still love them, but unless you grow them most of the time the ones you buy in the shop are large and old, which gives them that strong flavour and smell when cooked.

So how best to cook them, so they are tasty and people will enjoy them. This recipe I got from a TV show Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen that I watched many years ago. It is from Lidia Bastianich, who has several restaurants in USA and has down several cooking shows. It can be modified for your taste, if you don't have or like garlic leave it out. If you don't want the sharp taste of vinegar leave it out or put less in. I didn't have any red wine vinegar, so last night I put a small splash of champagne vinegar, it didn't give it the real tang of red wine vinegar, but a more mellow flavour.

This recipe is so simple and easy, the only part that takes time is preparing the sprouts, you could also cook this recipe with cabbage, broccoli or really any green vegetable.

Brussel Sprouts Braised with Vinegar

500 grams brussel sprouts, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 cup chicken stock or water, 3 cloves garlic, salt & freshly ground black pepper, 2 tbsps red wine vinegar

Preparing the brussel sprouts. Working over a big bowl with a sharp paring knife, cut off (and discard) a 1/4-inch or so of the base of each sprout, freeing the outer leaves. Now stick the point of the knife into what's left of the base and slice out the tiny core, in one cone-shaped piece - just as you would cut out the bigger core of a cabbage or cauliflower. This loosens the inner leaves. Discard the small core.

Begin peeling off the outermost leaves: discard only wilted or blemished leaves; drop all the fresh dark green leaves, even thick ones, into the bowl. Keep peeling off the leaves until you reach the tiny ones that can't be pulled apart. Cut this bundle in slivers and drop them into the bowl. When all are done you will have a large fluffy pile of leaves.

Put the oil and the garlic in the skillet and set over medium heat.(Now I quite often grate the garlic over the sprouts just before I add the vinegar so that it has a fresher flavour) Let the garlic cook and caramelize lightly for 4 minutes or so, shaking the pan now and then. Dump in the sprout leaves, shake the pan to spread them out, and then sprinkle the salt all over.

Add the stock/water. Cover the skillet and let the leaves cook and wilt for 4 to 5 minutes, giving the pan an occasional shake, then uncover and turn them well with a big spoon or tongs. The leaves should be sizzling but not browning - lower the heat if necessary. Cover again. Cook another 4 to 5 minutes until the leaves are soft, greatly reduced in volume but still green and glistening.If all the liquid evaporates, before the sprouts are cooked. add more about 1/4 at a time. Sprinkle over the vinegar and black pepper, stir. Serve the Brussels sprouts hot right from the frypan or turn them onto a warm platter.

Lidia's website

http://lidiasitaly.com/

Now I hope you give the humble sprout a try, you will be amazed at how tasty they actually are when cooked like this.