Mmmm....curry!

I decided not to plan a menu this week and therefore took no list with me on my food shopping trip; I wanted to stay within the budget and see what I could make with the ingredients I found.   A leg of lamb, reduced to approx. £4-£5 per kilo was tossed into the basket as was braising beef at £6 for 4 huge steaks.   A few trays of free range chicken breasts were added too, along with fresh coriander, chillies, ginger, potatoes, pasta, yoghurt and other substance and sundries.

The chicken was made into a tasty Green, Creamy Chicken Curry which I served to my friends on Thursday night with some home made flaky pan bread.   I was rather pleased with how it had turned out; a good bit of spice but not too hot, the coriander and lime juice coming through the creamy sauce and mixing pleasantly with the rice.   I had had a very busy day baking cupcakes for a launch night which I attended with Anne before our other friends arrived at my house; add to that, making the curry as well as painting decorations for the school fair and, in my rush, I forgot to have dinner.   On arriving home, the curry, which was meant for a late supper was instead heated right away, the rice cooked and the bread re-warmed in the pan and served with no photograph as my stomach couldn't stand to wait.   We all enjoyed it.

We had leftovers tonight along with a quickly prepared lamb curry using the leftover leg of lamb we had on Sunday, rice and pan bread.

 Slow roast leg of lamb...

rubbed with a paste made from garlic cloves, fresh thyme, olive oil, soft butter, ground cumin, sea salt, black pepper and smoked paprika.   Rub all over lamb.  Put oven to 180 degrees, gas mark 3.5 for 20 minutes, then turned down to150 degrees for 2.5 - 3 hours; at this point, pour a cupful of stock and white wine into roasting dish.   Check every hour to ensure stock/wine gravy doesn't burn away.   Add some water if needed.   Throw in potatoes, carrots and a quartered onion as well as garlic cloves in the skin for the last 45 minutes-hour.   Let the meat rest for at least 20 minutes.  If veg not ready, turn up oven and keep cooking during the rest period.

Served with peas cooked in stock and leftover mash.

 Green, Creamy Chicken Curry

 Ok, so one thing you should always, always do when you are making up a recipe is take notes.   Me, I like to think my brain is the size of a planet when actually a pea is more accurate so the retention of information will stay with me until I get to a computer, right?   Wrong.   I remember all the ingredients but since I tend to work in 'dods', especially the first time, all these measurements are approximate.   Stick with the basic guidelines, and ye cannae go wrong!

Ingredients:
 For the chicken:
8 chicken breasts....half the amount or use whatever is required
Marinade the chicken in the following mix:
Small tub creamy yoghurt
2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 teaspoons curry powder
Lemon juice (toss the lemon in there too, once juice extracted)
Sprinkling of turmeric
Grinding of black pepper

Once marinated...overnight or at least 4 hours....place onto a baking tray and bake in oven, 180 degrees (medium) for 20 minutes.   No need to turn.   Remove from oven and add to sauce when ready.

For the sauce:
1 25g packets/ 2 large handfuls coriander...if you dinnae like the green stuff, ye'll no' like this curry!!
Juice of 2 limes and zest from 1 lime
2 garlic cloves
Approx. teaspoon of cumin, half teaspoon coriander,quarter teaspoon fenugreek seeds, 2 cardamom pods, half cinammon stick, 1 clove, a few black pepper corns, ground turmeric all ground together in a pestle and mortar
Big dod of ginger....i.e. approx. 3 inches
2 green chillies, deseeded plus one whole chilli, slit a little down the middle
Small tub double cream
Thick Greek style yoghurt, approx. same amount as double cream
3 tablespoons coconut milk
2 good handfuls ground almonds
1 red chilli, deseeded and very thinly sliced into strips

Blend together: the ginger, garlic, chillies (not the whole one) and coriander.   Add the spices, blend and then the lime juice.   This should make a nice paste.

Melt some ghee or a mix of butter and oil in a deep pan over a medium heat.   Add the paste and cook for 10 minutes, making sure it doesn't burn.  You may want to turn the heat down after the first five minutes and add a few drops of water if necessary to stop the mix catching.

Add the cream and stir into the mix.   Then add the yoghurt and the coconut milk.   Add the whole chilli.   If you want the sauce a bit thinner, add a little stock.   A teaspoon of sugar and a good sprinkling of salt should be added although you could omit this.   Leave the sauce to simmer with a lid partially on.   Add the chicken when ready.   Thrown in the thinly sliced red chilli and the almonds.

Simmer gently together with the chicken for at least 20 minutes; the chicken should be cooked through (obviously) and will be tender.   Add the juice from a lime or lemon if you prefer and another good handful or two of finely chopped coriander.   Taste, season if necessary and serve.

Boiled rice, lamb and potato curry, green, creamy chicken curry and quick pan bread

 Curry close up!

The Lemon Madeira Cupcakes for the new product launch were frosted with a mix of pale pink and pink vanilla butter icing and topped with flowers, leaves and butterflies.   They tasted yummy.

Ingredients:

250g softened unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 large eggs

210g self-raising flour

90g plain flour

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale, light and fluffy.

Grate the lemon zest into the bowl.

I made a double batch so I grated the first lemon and used a zester for the second to give longer strips.

Add a tablespoon of flour with one egg and mix together; repeat until all eggs are incorporated and add the remaining flour.

Add the lemon juice and mix until combined.

Place paper cases into a cake or muffin tray.

Add approx. a large tablespoon of cake batter to each paper case.

Bake in oven 170, gas mark 3 for approx. 20-25 minutes or until golden; use a skewer inserted into a cake to check they are cooked; it should come out clean.

Make frosting by mixing sieved icing sugar with soft butter, a little at a time until fully incorporated and creamy, adding colour of choice and vanilla to taste....a few drops at a time!

Frost cakes and decorate.

Enjoy.

I made thai fishcakes;
Disaster!
The Thai green sauce was delicious but I totally mucked up the cake; it tasted nice but not great, far too greasy and in need of much simplification.   Back to the drawing board; I'll keep you updated.

Aww...except look at the expression on Lucy's face.....*shiver*

Hunter's Chicken Stew and Apple Pie

My latest food shopping bill came to £32. I decided to buy a meagre week's worth as we have a few things planned over the last week of the holidays and I don't want any food going to waste. Plus, I have a huge batch of tomato sauce amongst other leftovers to be used up. I was very frugal today, going to three different shops to get their bargains. At Somerfield, I got a Large Boneless Pork Leg for half price; at Asda, I got a British Beef Roasting Joint for less than half price. You get the idea. I figured I've saved approx. £25 this morning so it was worth trailing the shops-I did check online first so I knew what I was going for.

Today, I made Hunter's Stew. This is Jamie Oliver's version and it looks pretty darn good. I've made two dishes, one with the olives and anchovies and one without...no point antagonising the children. I've made many different versions of this stew, also known as chicken cacciatore and this is a version I wanted to try for a while. It looks lovely but like all stews, I let it get cool and reheat it for later as it tastes oh so much better that way. This is a brilliant dish to make for a big party-just double/triple up on the ingredients.

Hunter's Chicken Stew

1 x 2kg chicken, jointed, or use the equivalent amount of chicken pieces-I buy free-range chicken pieces, around 1-2 per person.
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 cloves of garlic, peeled (1 crushed, 2 sliced)
½ a bottle of Chianti
flour, for dusting
Extra virgin olive oil
6 anchovy fillets
Handful of green or black olives, stoned
2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes

Season the chicken pieces with salt and freshly ground black pepper and put them into a bowl. Add the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs and the crushed clove of garlic and cover with the wine. Leave to marinate for at least an hour, but preferably overnight in the fridge.

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade, and pat dry with kitchen paper. Dust the chicken pieces with flour and shake off any excess. Heat an ovenproof pan, add a splash of olive oil and a little butter, fry the chicken pieces until browned lightly all over and put to one side.

Place the pan back on the heat and add the sliced garlic. Fry gently until golden brown, then add the anchovies, olives, tomatoes (broken up with a wooden spoon) and the chicken pieces with their reserved marinade. I used two pans, one with the anchovies and olives, one without for the kids. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid or a double thickness layer of foil and bake in the preheated oven for 1½ hours.

Skim off any oil that’s collected on top of the sauce, then stir, taste and add a little salt and pepper if necessary. Remove the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs.

Jamie recommends that this is served with a salad, or some cannellini beans, and plenty of Chianti. I serve it with mashed potatoes & pureed, spicy cannellini beans...boiled in mild stock with a pinch of chilli flakes until soft enough to mash with a little butter and cream, salt and pepper....and crusty bread. Mmmmmm.

For afters, I made a classic apple pie dish. this will be served with home-made vanilla ice-cream.

Apple Pie
Ingredients
For the pastry:
255g/9oz plain flour
Pinch of salt
140g/5oz hard margarine or butter
6 tsp cold water

For the filling:
3 large Bramley cooking apples, chopped, stewed in simmering water until soft and cooled
A tablespoon of sugar or more to taste
Caster sugar, to serve

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Rub in the margarine or butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the cold water to the flour mixture. Using a knife, mix the water into the flour, using your hand to firm up the mixture. The pastry should be of a suitable consistency for rolling.
Divide the pastry into two halves. Take one half and roll it out so that it is big enough to cover an 20cm/8in enamel or aluminium plate. Trim the edges with a knife using the edge of the plate as your guide. Cover the pastry with the stewed apples and sprinkle with sugar to taste.
Roll out the other half of the pastry. Moisten the edge of the bottom layer of pastry and place the second piece on top. Press down on the pastry edges, making sure that they are properly sealed. Trim off any excess pastry with a knife in a downward motion, again using the plate as your guide. Flute the edges with a pinching action using your fingers and thumb.
Prick the surface of the pastry lightly or make a few holes, decorating with any leftover pastry, i.e. leaves, before placing the pie in the oven. Cook for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.
Dust with caster sugar and serve.

Penne Pasta with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

We were in the mood for some tasty pasta after an afternoon spent in the park. This dish took 10 minutes to make and was really rather tasty...mild, unassuming but tasty. The basic sauce...condensed milk, paprika and tomato puree goes very well with mushrooms but this sauce would work just as well on its own and very well with chicken. There was enough for 6 adults so some has been put aside in the fridge for a snack on another day. The cost for the entire pasta including a contribution towards the paprika and butter etc. plus half packet penne is £2.90 so that's approx. 48 pence per adult person. Not bad at all!

Penne Pasta or pasta of choice
Parmesan Cheese
Vegetable Oil (Tablespoon)
Knob Butter
1 Onion, chopped
350g Mushrooms, selection, to taste, sliced
1 teaspoon Paprika
2 tablespoons Tomato Puree
250ml/8 fl oz Evaporated Milk
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Cook pasta as per instructions.
Gently fry onions for a few minutes in oil and butter, then add mushrooms. Cook over a low heat until soft.

In a measuring jug, measure out the milk and add the tomato puree and paprika. Mix well. Add to mushroom mix. Season to taste and let it simmer, stirring every minute or so, for five minutes. Add to cooked pasta and serve with freshly grated parmesan.