Wednesday 27 March 2024

MEXICAN CHICKEN

I was asked if I could come up with a Mexican dish for a friend . This is the dish I came up with , but I shared it with my family . I will share the recipe with my friend and I hope she will enjoy making and sharing this Mexican dish as I did . Ingredients .....55gm of plain flour , 2 chicken breast fillets , 3 tbs of canola oil ,1 onion thinly sliced , 1 red capsicum , deseeded and thinly sliced , 300ml of chicken stock, 25 gm of raisins , 1 x 400gm can of diced tomatoes , 1 tsp of chilli powder ,1 tsp of ground cinnamon ,1/2 tsp of ground cumin , 25gm of plain chocolate finely chopped . Sprigs of fresh coriander to serve . Preheat your oven to 160 deg C. Spread the flour on a plate and season with black pepper . Coat the chicken fillets in the seasoned flour , shaking off any excess flour , reserving any remaining seasoned flour. Heat the oil in an ovenproof dish . ( Dutch oven , terrine ) Add the chicken fillets and cook over a medium heat , turning occasionally for about 5 minutes . Now transfer the fillets to a plate . Add the onion and capsicum to the dish , cook over a low heat until tender . Sprinkle over the remaining seasoned flour , stirring constantly for 1 minute . Gradually stir in the stock , then add the raisins , diced tomatoes , , chilli powder , cinnamon , cumin and chocolate . Season with black pepper , bring to a simmer , stirring constantly . Return the chicken fillets to the ovenproof dish , cover and cook in the preheated oven for 45 minutes . Serve from the oven , garnished with coriander .

Tuesday 26 March 2024

CHICKEN TERIYAKI

This is a family favourite at The Manor . The ingredients you will need .....1 tbs of canola oil , 60 ml of soy sauce , 60 ml of Worcestershire sauce , 2 tbs of red wine vinegar , 185 ml of dry sherry ,2 tbs of soft brown sugar ,2 tbs of minced garlic , 1 red capsicum ,cut into thin strips ,4 chicken breasts sliced into thin strips . YOGHURT SAUCE , 100gm of Greek yoghurt , 1 tbs of lime juice , 1/2tsp of sambel oelek (chilli paste ). Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat . Stir in the soy sauce , Worcestershire sauce ,vinegar , sherry ,sugar and minced garlic . Cook stirring for 2 minutes . Now stir in the chicken strips and sliced capsicum . Cook , stirring until the chicken strips are cooked through and the sauce reduces and thickens slightly . For the sauce combine the Greek yoghurt , lime juice and chilli paste , serve with the chicken . Stir fry vegies and steamed brown or white rice go well with this dish .

Sunday 24 March 2024

ZUCCHINI PESTO SOUP

INGREDIENTS .. 1 tbs of canola oil ,1 large onion , peeled and finely chopped ,2 tbs of minced garlic ,3 cups of chicken stock ,750 gm of thinly sliced zucchini , 60 ml / 1/4 cup of cream ,toasted ciabatta or sourdough bread to serve . THE PESTO .... 50 gm /1 cup of fresh basil,25gm / 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese ,2 tbs of pine nuts , 2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil . To prepare the soup , heat the oil in a medium /large saucepan , add the onion and garlic and cook over a medium heat for 5minutes , or until the onion is tender . Add the stock and bring to a slow simmer , then add the zucchini and bring the mixture to a slow simmer again and simmer until the zucchini is very soft . Now to make the pesto .... Place the basil , Parmesan , pine nuts in your blender / processor until finely chopped . Then add the olive oil and process until smooth . Spoon into a small bowl . Let's go back to the zucchini mixture and add it to your blender / processor and blend until smooth. Now pour the mixture back into the pot and stir in the cream and 2 tbs of the pesto. Reheat the soup over a medium / low heat until hot. Season with cracked black pepper and drizzle with a little remaining pesto between bowls . Excess pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for 10 days.

Saturday 23 March 2024

PASSIONFRUIT BUTTER CAKE ROLL

The ingredients you need for this butter cake roll are all pantry staples apart from the passionfruit pulp ( thanks to Maureen and Roel I used the pulp of 6 fresh passionfruit ) . 125gm of butter/ marg ( room temp) ,3/4 cup of castor sugar ,2 eggs ( lightly beaten ),2 cups of self raising flour ,1/2 cup of milk ,1/2 cup of passionfruit pulp . Preheat your oven to 180 deg C . I chose to use roll pans , you can use a loaf pan , whatever you choose make sure the pan/s are well greased . So let's get started , combine the butter , castor sugar , eggs , flour and milk in the bowl of your electric mixer and mix until all the ingredients are combined . Add the passionfruit to the mixture and beat for 5 minutes until the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into the prepared pan or divide the batter between 2 prepared roll pans . Bake in the preheated oven 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean . Turn onto a wire rack to cool . If you baked your cake in a loaf pan , you may want to ice it .. ICING .. Place 1 and 1/2 cups of icing sugar into a bowl with 1 tsp of softened marg / butter and 2 tbs of milk . Stir into a smooth paste and add the pulp of 1 passionfruit . When mixture is smooth enough , spread over the cold cake .

MOCK BRAINS ....a recipe from 1945 .

The ingredients required for this long forgotten recipe ...4 ozs "three bears"rolled oats , 8 ozs water ,1 ozs of chopped onions , 1 ozs of butter or margarine , pinch of chopped parsley ,pepper and salt to taste . The Method .... Put all ingredients into a double boiler saucepan , cook slowly for about an hour . Allow to cool, spoon into irregular shapes . Dip in beaten egg , roll in bread crumbs and fry to a golden brown . Decorate with parsley and serve with bacon . Please note this is how the recipe is written and just saying a double boiler is NOT a steamer . Just saying ' thank goodness for google '.

Friday 22 March 2024

PLANNING MEAT RATION MEALS

This is a booklet that was published by the Australian Government of the time during World War 2. The Prime minister at the time was John Curtin,(1941 -1945 ). I want to thank Bev Zygicki, a long time Churchill resident and volunteer worker for giving me her mother's copy of the paper booklet that was distributed to every household during World War 2 , introducing purchase coupons and meal suggestions for rationing which were put in place to share the meat produced in Australia and sent to feed our soldiers and allies . Which meant our home supply was rationed but workable with coupons . Many thanks Bev Zyglicki ....A piece of history resurfaced .

Thursday 21 March 2024

A CHEESY BROWN RICE PIE .

Ingredients required...170 gm of cooked brown rice or a grain combination of your choice . If you are short of time it is okay to use the pre cooked rice combinations ( make sure you measure it out .), 250 gm of grated tasty cheese ,4tbs of grated parmesan cheese ,2 spring onions chopped ,2 zucchini grated , 1 red pepper diced , 1 x 315 gm can of asparagus, cut and drained , 3 tbs of pine nuts , 3 eggs beaten , 200gm of Greek yghurt . Preheat your oven to 180 deg C . Grease a 23 cm /9" spring form pan . All you have to do now is combine the rice , Cheddar cheese , Parmesan cheese ,, spring onions , zucchini and red pepper , asparagus , pine nuts , eggs and yoghurt . Season to taste with minced garlic and sweet paprika . Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan . Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven or until the pie is firm . Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes before removing from the pan . To serve slice into wedges .