Chicken Cacciatore

I made this at the beginning of November, but as I had my university exams around then, I decided to prioritise, and study for those instead of writing a blog post.  Wise choice, because I passed all my classes!

This recipe comes from a recipe book my family has had forever, and I decided I wanted to make this because I felt like pasta, and we had chicken leg pieces to use.  Sometimes it's a matter of finding a recipe that suits what you have in the pantry to use up, instead of going out to buy stuff new and fresh specifically for a recipe, which can end up quite expensive!!

INGREDIENTS

4 chicken leg portions (or 8 drums/thighs, or 4 thighs + 4 drums)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced into thin wedge
1 garlic clove
sprig of fresh thyme (I only had dried, so I used a tsp)
sprig of fresh rosemary
150ml dry white wine
200ml chicken stock
400g can chopped tomatoes
40g black olives, pitted (we didn't have any olives, so I just left them out)
15g capers, drained (again, we didn't have these either, so left them out)
salt and pepper
freshly cooked fettuccine, linguine or pasta shells

METHOD

• Heat 2 tsp oil and lightly brown the chicken pieces for 2 - 3 mins each side
• Remove from pan and set aside
• Add remaining 1 tsp oil to juices in the pan
• Add red onion and gently cook for 5 mins, stirring occasionally
• Add garlic and cook for a further 5 mins until beginning to brown
• Return chicken to the pan
• Add herbs, then pour in wine and allow to bubble for 1 - 2 minutes
• Add stock and tomatoes, then gently simmer for 15 mins
• Stir in olives and capers (if you have them!)
• Cook uncovered  for a further 5 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thickened
• Remove (fresh) herbs and season with salt and pepper
• Serve over freshly cooked pasta (500g dry pasta)

This was WAY yummier than I expected and I really loved the chicken with the tomato!  It was a lot easier to make than I thought as well, so that was a bonus!  Definitely one I shall make again in the future, because you all know how much I love pasta.

Recipe Inspiration: Everyday Cookbook: Low Fat (2006), edited by Gina Steer, p114

Satay Chicken

Most of the time, I follow the recipes I find.  But sometimes, I find several recipes, and then use bits from all of them!  This is what I did tonight, and it turned out well.  Felt like satay chicken but didn't have a jar of the sauce I normally use, so decided to try to make it from scratch. 

INGREDIENTS
500g chicken breast, sliced
1 onion, sliced
peas 
1 pack vermicelli
1 can of coconut milk (or cream)
3 tbsp peanut butter
sweet chilli sauce (to taste)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 or 3 tbsp of sugar
1/2 cup water
salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp crushed ginger

METHOD

• Set some salted water to boil, for the vermicelli.  Once it boils, add the vermicelli then turn off the heat.
• Meanwhile, brown chicken and onion in oil, in a fry pan
• Add ginger and garlic, cook for 2 min
• Add coconut cream, peanut butter, chilli sauce, soy sauce, sugar, white vinegar, and salt
• Stir and bring to a simmer
• Reduce heat and simmer until thickens
• Add peas and cook until tender
• Serve on drained vermicelli noodles, or rice

So this was kind of an ad-libbed recipe, but it tasted good, and photographed terribly.  I think I'll make it again in future, but on rice.

 

"Honey" Pork & Vegetable Stir-Fry w Noodles

We had a tonne of fresh veges that needed using, including mung beans and an almost ridiculous amount of broccoli (if you read this blog a lot, you'll know about my love of this vegetable, seriously can't get enough!) - this led me to the decision that dinner would be a stir fry of some variation.

So with type-of-dinner sorted, I set about finding a stir fry sauce I could make from scratch, because I'm too scared to make it up completely yet.  Google, my dear friend.  Found a recipe for "Honey Pork Noodle Stir-Fry".  Sounded interesting, and we had all the listed ingredients, so away I went! :)  However, I did think before I started cooking, that having peanut butter in the ingredients list would make it more satay flavoured than honey, but I was willing to try.  (I was right by the way!)

INGREDIENTS

300g pork (diced)

3 packets of chicken 2 minute noodles (I like Maggi, but you can use whatever)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon crushed ginger

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce

2 tablespoons honey

3/4 cup chicken stock (I used 2 of the noodle flavour sachets mixed with 3/4 cup hot water - just as good!  And it means you're only left with 1 flavour sachet to wonder what to do with!)

assorted vegetables

- carrots

- capsicum (yellow and red)

- onion

- mung beans

- butter beans

- cabbage

- broccoli

METHOD

• Heat sesame oil, and add the onion, garlic and ginger, cooking until tender
• Add the pork and brown
• Add the soy sauce, honey, chilli sauce, peanut butter and stock (the stock can make it a little runny but meh, just simmer until it thickens haha!)
• Toss in the vegetables, and mix well - I tend to add the veges that are take longest to cook first, like capsicum and carrots, adding the cabbage, and broccoli almost last
• Add in 1 uncooked packet of 2 minute noodles (minus the flavour sachet obviously)
• While that simmers, cook the remaining 2 packets of noodles in the microwave
• Serve the stir fry veges on a bed of the unflavoured 2 minute noodles

I thought this was going to be a bit disastrous because when I added the stock, the sauce it made was super runny, and to me, stir-frys are not really supposed to be swimming in soupy stuff.  I tasted the sauce, and it was yum (although very much resembling satay sauce... not honey!) so I figured it would at least taste nice, if not being the normal stir-fry.  

As for adding the noodles to the mixture as well as serving it on noodles; well heck.  I LOVE 2 minute noodles.  I can't lie to you.  They were a staple of my childhood after school snack diet haha.  They're awesome.  So I'm glad they went so well with this stir-fry, as I didn't fancy rice again (having eaten it for lunch!).

Now that I've tried this, I'm going to be a little more game next time to try my own version.  :)

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/recipes/2006/january/honey-pork-noodle-stir-fry

Chicken Noodle Soup

You know how in movies and TV shows, whenever someone gets sick with a cold or flu, they always talk about having chicken noodle soup and that it makes you feel better?  

Well Mum came home the other day complaining of a sore throat, and that she might be coming down with something.  I then looked up the recipe for chicken noodle soup I had pinned on my "Recipes to Try" board on Pinterest, and decided I wanted to make it for her, since I've never had it before, it might help her feel better, and I love egg noodles.  

The recipe looked so easy too!  And super fast!  And I could finally use the chopped celery that's been in the freezer forever!  So it was a win all around.  I didn't realise quite how much it would make!!!  So guess what we're having for lunch the rest of the week?!  I don't think egg noodles would freeze so well, so we won't be freezing the leftovers haha.

Serves 4 - 6 (dependent on serving size)

Time: about 20 minutes! :)

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons oil

1 onion (I used 2, cos I love onion)

2 tsp crushed garlic

2 medium carrots, sliced thinly

frozen corn kernels

diced celery (optional)

2 tsp dried thyme (or 4 fresh sprigs)

1 bay leaf

2 quarts (8 cups) chicken stock

8 oz (230g) egg noodles

1 & 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 tsp salt

METHOD

• Heat oil in a soup pot, and cook onion, garlic, carrot, celery, thyme and bay leaf until tender/softened (but not brown) - about 6 minutes
• Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil
• Add the egg noodles and simmer for another 5 minutes, until noodles are cooked
• Fold in the chicken and simmer for a few more minutes, until heated through
• Taste-test and season with salt as needed
• Stir through frozen corn and stand for a few minutes.
• Serve immediately!

It was pretty tasty, although I cringed when I saw how much stock was used - it reduced down as it cooked, and thickened a little.  The celery could have done with a bit more cooking, and in future I'll probably leave it out.  However, I'm glad I decided to add the corn kernels, it was a nice extra addition, sweet and juicy.  And I LOVED the egg noodles.  Delicious, and I enjoyed how they were cooked in the chicken stock, so they absorbed the flavour.

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-noodle-soup-recipe/index.html