Chicken Paprikash with dumplings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon Oil

Chicken thighs

1 large red onion sliced

1 green pepper sliced

1 tin tomatoes

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt & Pepper

Dumplings

4 oz SR flour

2 oz suet

Salt & Pepper

Water

Method

Preheat oven Gas 5

Heat oil in frying pan and brown the chicken pieces. Place in casserole dish temporarily, sprinkle over half of the paprika onto the skin.

Soften onions, then add peppers and continue to fry for 1 minute. Add remaining paprika and fry for another minute. Put chicken pieces back into frying pan add tomatoes and oregano, season well. Transfer mixture back into casserole, put on lid and place in oven for 2 hours.

30 minutes before finished cooking. Mix flour and suet and seasoning. Add water to make a thick dough. Roll into small balls the size of walnuts.

Remove casserole from oven, stir well and then pop the dumplings on the surface. Cover and put back in oven for a further 30 minutes.

Serve with wilted spinach.

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14th June - Summer Box

Well I've been so busy, I haven't been popping on my box contents for ages. So I've decided it's high time I started again.

This week I decided on a Summer Box, it looks great:-

Cos Lettuce
2 Red peppers
Box Mushrooms
4 large Tomatoes
Spring cabbage
2 x Wet garlic
Aubergine
Purple kohlrabi
3 x Courgettes

Just managed to get some crayfish tails reduced at ASDA (only £1 a pack), so mixed some of the wonderful tomato sauce I bought today from a new farm shop locally with some mayo. Shredded some of the cos lettuce and piled on the crayfish tails, dolloped some marie rose sauce on the top and served with a wedge of lemon, really scrummy.

Need to think of some ideas with the rest. Haven't had kohl rabi for ages.

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VERY BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE

I saw this on This Morning and thought it looked scrummy and I didn't want to lose the recipe, so here it is with a link back to the original article.

Recipe for Success - Mary Berry - This Morning

14/03/2007

Mary Berry is cookery writer, TV cook and baking master. Having spent nearly 40 years in the industry, she has written 60 cookery books to date with her recipe books are a fixture on the shelves of every family home. Whether it’s cakes or good honest family food, Mary Berry truly is the original domestic goddess!

VERY BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE

2 oz (50g) cocoa
6 tablespoons boiling water
3 eggs
4 tablespoons milk
6 oz (175g) Self raising flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
4 oz (100g) soft butter
10 oz (275g) Natural caster sugar

For the icing and filling

5oz (150g) Bournville chocolate broken into small pieces
5 floz pouring double cream
3 tablespoons apricot jam

Pre heat the oven to 180C/160 fan/Gas 4

Grease two 8” sandwich tins and base line with baking parchment

First measure the cocoa and boiling water into a large bowl, and mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and beat again until combined. This can also be made in processor but be careful not to over whisk. Divide the cake mixture between the prepared tins. Bake in a pre heated oven for about 25 – 30 minutes until well risen and shrinking away from the sides of the tin.

For the icing and filling measure the chocolate and cream together in a bowl and stand the bowl over a pan of simmering water for approx 10 minutes until melted – stirring from time to time. Set aside and allow to become cold and almost set.

When baked, remove cakes and allow to cool completely. Spread the tops of each cake with apricot jam. Fill the cakes with half the icing and spread the remainder on top. Take the small palette knife and draw large “S” shapes to give a swirl effect – dust with icing sugar and enjoy!

AGA

Bake on the grid shelf on the floor of the roasting oven with the cold sheet on the 2nd set of runners for about 25 minutes.

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Latest box

Yummy, box arrived at 9.30 and love the contents.

estima potatoes
shallots
carrots
sweet mama squash
January King cabbage
purple sprouting broccoli
Jerusalem artichokes
swiss chard
beetroot

I adore purple sprouting broccoli, first time in the box this year, I must admit to adoring it steamed with either some white sauce over or hollandaise sauce.

I also saw a recipe recently for jerusalem artichokes dauphinois, simply replace the potatoes with slices of artichoke. I think that would be a great accompaniment to a roast at the weekend. I suppose it would also work alternating layers of potato and artichokes.

The swiss chard looks more like pak choi, it is in bunches, actually I think it is bok or pak choi. I need to look it up on the web and check, but can be used very similarly.

Last night I cooked some red cabbage, sliced it and braised it with some unsalted butter, sherry vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. I also added a little water and cooked gently for about 30 minutes. A really subtle sweet and sour flavour.

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How do you get kids interested in healthy food

A thread on UKScrappers has just inspired me to write this.

How do you get kids interested in eating healthy food?

Get them helping make pizzas. If you have a breadmaker, use the dough setting, chuck in the ingredients on timer if necessary so the dough is ready when they come home from school. Let them make the tomato sauce, really easy, onion finely chopped, fry until golden, add tinned chopped tomatoes salt & pepper to taste. Provide lots of lovely toppings and get them to make their own pizza. If you want to make the tomato sauce yourself, you can blitz in some carrots etc so they don't see them.

Involve the children in the cooking, when they are chopping the veg, steal and eat bits of raw carrot, celery, cucumber etc, core from cauliflower/cabbage, celeriac, swede.

Get them growing some of their own food, radishes, carrots, lettuce, they will love growing then eating them fresh. Pop in some peas, I never expected to get a meal, I let my DD graze on the produce in the garden, there's nothing like seeing them think they are being naughty picking a pod of peas and eating them straight from the pod.

How many times were we caught nicking chocolate, icecream etc, and felt wicked doing it, do the same with veg, my DD eats anything now. Nick the healthy stuff and they will too, hee hee, easy way to get the good stuff into them.

Also how about getting a children's cookery book, or simple cookery book, let them pick a new recipe each week, they take it in turns and cook together, they make the shopping list, help you shop for the ingredients choosing what they need, then cook it themselves, with your help. Let them make a mess, it doesn't matter, but boost their confidence in the kitchen, can't make the same dish twice, the good ones get added to your like list and can go into the normal cooking during the week. I used to do this with my mum and it was brilliant fun.

I used to make a lovely English curry from a 101 recipe book by Good Housekeeping, that involved onion, chopped apple, sultanas.

If you see an offer for cheap fruit get them making jam with you, great to have on some bread. No preservatives and so easy.

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Middle Eastern Tabbouleh Salad

Ingredients

8 oz (225 g) cracked wheat (bulghar) (available from health food shops)

2 oz (50 g) parsley, finely chopped

8 spring onions, finely chopped (including the green parts)

4 tablespoons lemon juice

2 large beef tomatoes, about 1 lb (450 g)

4 inches (10 cm) cucumber, very finely chopped

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly milled black pepper

Start off by measuring the cracked wheat into a bowl. Cover it with plenty of cold water and leave for approximately 20 minutes or until the grains soften and lose their crunchiness (which means, of course, you'll have to bite a few to find out how they're going).

Then have ready a large sieve. When the cracked wheat has softened, pour the contents of the bowl into the sieve, drain well to extract as much water as possible. Shake the wheat into a deep bowl and stir in the parsley and spring onions followed by the lemon juice and 1½ teaspoons of salt to combine thoroughly.

Meanwhile, finely chop the tomatoes quite small and add to the bowl containing the wheat. Next, add the cucumber and olive oil to the salad and mix to combine everything. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Pasted from <http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/middle-eastern-tabbouleh-salad,731,RC.html>

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Thai Green or Red Chicken Curry

Green Thai chicken curry with coriander garnish

Thai green or red curry with chicken and vegetables

There is nothing like the aroma of Thai curry to activate your taste buds and I frequently get lots of comments and visitors for tasters on holiday when the smell wafts across the campsite. 

This is a very simple recipe to make and tastes amazing, it can be ready in 10 minutes if you grab a hot roast chicken from a supermarket, it will take longer using fresh chicken. 

I normally buy the Mae Ploy brand from the Chinese supermarket and it is a hotter version.

The Thai Taste is milder and available from most supermarkets.

If you like a hot curry (madras heat), then use a red Thai paste. For a milder curry, use green. This still depends on the brand though, some are hotter than others. We normally buy our paste from the local Chinese supermarket.

One of the best purchases we ever made was our Tefal rice cooker, it has simplified the cooking of rice, stopped us needing to add salt and guarantees perfectly cooked rice that keeps warm when it's finished cooking. My trick is to use 1/3 cup of rice per person. Wash the rice well and cook according to the instructions. I normally set the rice going as I start cooking the curry, it will be perfectly ready by the time the curry has finished cooking. It will be light a fluffy.

Ingredients (serves 4 people)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 onion, sliced
2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste or red curry paste
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
1 tin coconut milk 

6 fresh lime leaves (optional for the green curry)

1 stalk lemongrass (optional)
2 large chicken breasts (raw or ready cooked) cut into 1inch pieces - alternative a normal pack of chicken thighs/drumsticks

A selection of fresh vegetables, (3 of the following) Pak Choi, baby sweetcorn, mangetout, courgette. For a red curry you could add sliced red pepper.

1 cup of Thai fragrant rice or basmati rice
cold water to cover by half an inch

Method

Add rice to a saucepan and wash under the cold tap a couple of times. The water will turn cloudy, this is the starch in the rice which would make it sticky when cooked. Cover the rice with enough cold water to reach half an inch above the level of the rice. Bring to the boil, stir once, cover with a tight-fitting saucepan lid and turn heat to the lowest simmer possible. Don't be tempted to look at the rice, leave it for 10 minutes then turn off the heat. Leave rice until you are ready to serve the curry. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

In a wok or large frying pan, heat the oil of a medium heat, add the curry paste and fry for about 1 minute stirring continuously, be careful it does spit.

Add the coconut milk and fish sauce, stir and simmer for about 1 minute. Add the lime leaves and bash the lemongrass with the back of a large knife, then add to the sauce.

Add the chicken to the sauce and turn heat to a simmer. Stir occasionally. If raw cook for about 15 minutes, if using chicken pieces then about 30 minutes. If using ready-cooked, for about 5 minutes. 

Add the sliced vegetables, stir and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Serve

Tip

When you buy the traditional green or red pastes which come in plastic tubs, I normally add the paste to a small bowl and mix in some water to rehydrate the paste. Be warned, use only 2 teaspoons of this paste unless you love a vindaloo level of heat.

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Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

1 onion, sliced

125g button mushrooms, sliced

50g butter

250g sirloin steak

25g plain flour

Salt & pepper

1 tablespoon tomato puree

125ml pot sour cream

Method

Fry the onions in the 25g of the butter until soft add the mushrooms and fry together until soft. Spoon the onions and mushrooms onto a separate plate, keep the remaining butter in the pan, add the rest of the butter and melt.

Slice the beef into thin strips and then toss in seasoned flour. Remove excess flour and then fry the beef until golden brown. Return the onions and mushrooms to the pan with any juices. Add the sour cream and tomato puree, stir carefully over a gentle heat, season to taste.

Serve with boiled rice or noodles.

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Courgette fritters

Just had to dream up something for daughter's breakfast and then I remembered a conversation we had on Friday evening about the vegetables she would like to grow in the garden this year. She remembered picking one of her courgettes and then having courgette fritters last year for breakfast. Then I realised that courgettes had arrived this week in my organic box.

Courgette Fritters

1 courgette - grated on large holes
1 egg
self raising flour
salt and pepper

Grate the courgette and put in a bowl, season with salt and pepper add the egg straight into the bowl with the courgette, mix well then add enough self-raising flour to make a dropable batter.
Heat some sunflower oil in a frying pan, spoon in tablespoons of the batter then shallow fry until golden brown, turn and fry the other side.
Serve with some tomato ketchup.

If you want to add some additional flavour, I've added some chopped spring onions, chopped chilli. Also 25g grated cheddar cheese changes it up too.

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