Browsing tag: food

Sometimes bad things happen when you take liberties with a recipe. Occasionally, however, they turn out brilliantly.

Starting from a base point of this soy lime cornmeal chicken, I promptly proceeded to substitute almost everything in sight and haphazardly make up ratios.

I crushed up some soggy cornflakes that needed to be used, and coated a chicken breast in the crumbs.

I fried them in a dash of oil until cooked through, then removed to a plate.

I dumped about half a cup of chicken stock into a mug, added a splash of soy sauce, some garlic salt and the juice of half a lemon, and poured the mixture into the still hot pan. I let that deglaze for about a minute, then poured the slightly thickened sauce over the chicken and topped it off with some chopped up spring onion.

Voila! Must remember this for the future.

Frugal factor: high. Just a handful of ingredients, most of which are inexpensive household staples.

 

It’s been awhile since we had an Adventures in the Kitchen post, huh?

I’ve been in a total food rut; it’s been weeks since I tried a new recipe, months since I last baked (a string of fails shook me badly) and the general winter doldrums took their toll. I’ve been eating too much butter, not enough greens, and finding grocery shopping a real chore.

In the meantime, enjoy today’s very, very Kiwi dinner from the boy – lamb and mashed taters.

One lamb rack. Lots of salt. Lots of coriander. Lots of red onion. Lots of crushed garlic. Some quality time in the oven. Fluffy, creamy mashed potatoes on the side.

In the first edition of things my boyfriend cooks, I brought you stuffed pork and butternut mash.

This time around, I present pork butterfly, rolled up around thin prosciutto, butter, garlic and herbs.

It’s served up with fried caramelised onions, and red cabbage coleslaw with a hint of fresh chili to give it a kick.

Today, you get a trio of sugar-laden treats. Look away now.

Or carry on…

Caramel slice

Hungry and Frozen brought this Cuisine recipe to my attention (it’s originally by Fiona Smith, who I met not that long ago, but because I don’t read food mags, I had no idea who she was). I ran with Laura’s version, but skipped the sea salt (she sprinkled 2 teaspoons over the top before baking). Seriously, it’s dead easy – and the caramelised top layer over the not-too-firm, not-too-crumbly base is to die for.

• 115g brown sugar
• 100g fine cornmeal
• 100g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 150g butter
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• 395g can of sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 180 C. Butter and line an average sized slice tin.

In a bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, baking powder and cornmeal.

In a pot, melt 120g of the butter. Mix this into the dry ingredients, then press the mixture into the bottom of the tin and flatten. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

In that same pot, melt the remaining butter, then add condensed milk and golden syrup. Over low heat, cook for about five minutes, stirring constantly, until it thickens and darkens slightly.

Remove the tin from the oven. Spread caramel mixture over the biscuity base, then return to oven for another 10 or so minutes until top layer is set and golden.

Frugal factor: reasonably high. Household basics plus a few extra ingredients won’t break the bank.

Chocolate peanut butter cups

This one is an Iowa Girl Eats special! In all honesty, I was low on chocolate, so I simply filled nine muffin cups with chocolate bases, and then made up the amounts to match from there. The original also called for vanilla extract, which I didn’t have on hand.

• 1 1/4 cups peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
• 1 3/4 cups milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line the bottom of mini muffin cups with a base of chocolate chips. Melt in the oven at 180 C until softened (5-8 minutes, roughly).

Remove, then smooth the chocolate while still warm (flattening them with a spoon only served to lift the chocolate off the bottom, so if you do have nonstick spray I recommend greasing the muffin tray lightly as suggested! I ended up squishing the chocolate down with my fingers).

In a bowl, mix peanut butter (I used crunchy) and butter. Add icing sugar and blend in, then add rice krispies and combine.

Drop spoonfuls of the peanut mixture into each muffin cup. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, then go for your life.

Frugal factor: reasonably high. Household basics plus a few extra ingredients won’t break the bank.

 

Peanut butter ice cream

I had been hearing rumours of a peanut butter flavoured chocolate from Whittakers. Alas, as I shop at the budget Pak n Save in Mt Albert, I had yet to confirm its existence myself. In the end, I ventured to Countdown to obtain a block. I made it part of my run that day, if that makes things any better. Yes, I ran to the supermarket to buy chocolate, then came home and turned it into ice cream. Thanks again to Hungry and Frozen.

• 200g Whittakers Peanut Butter Chocolate
• 1 cup milk
• 100ml cream
• Salt

Over low heat, melt the chocolate, milk, and a generous pinch of salt, stirring until smooth.

Pop this into the freezer (I used a 1L container from a fancy ice cream brand. It seemed suited to the occasion). Meanwhile, whip up the cream until thickened.

Once the chocolate mixture has been chillled to the point of thickening, whisk it together with the cream to make a lovely soft chocolatey mixture. Pop it back into the freezer and leave for at least a few hours so it can harden into ice cream consistency. It will become rather hard, so plan ahead and bring it out to defrost for a bit before you plan to eat it.

Frugal factor: middling. The chocolate block and cream won’t be the cheapest considering the final output, but it’s not a budget buster.

 

This one ‘ere’s loosely based on a dish I spotted over on Hungry and Frozen (who has a cookbook deal in the works, hurrah!)

1 large chicken breast / 2 small
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon sambal oelek (or something else chilli-ish)
1 onion, sliced
1 capsicum, sliced
1 handful of desiccated coconut
Juice and zest of a lime (about 2 tablespoons juice)
Vegetable oil

Mix up all the spices, lime juice and a dash of vegetable oil in a bowl. Toss the chicken in the mixture until coated.

Fry the sliced onion and capsicum in a little oil for a couple of minutes.

Add the chicken and more oil as needed. Cook through, then mix in the coconut.

Serve over a bowl of white rice.

Frugal factor: reasonable. Really depends on what kind of pantry staples you keep. I basically already had everything I needed.

Mmm, pasta!

I’ll be honest. I wasn’t blown away. I dutifully spooned it into my mouth and it made a perfectly adequate dinner that evening.

The next day, however? Like so many tomato sauce based dishes, it shone a day later. Overnight, all the flavours soaked in.

Liberally adapted from a Dish recipe…

A bunch of silverbeet leaves
3 pork sausages
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tin tomatoes
1 cup stock
Spaghetti
Cheese (Parmesan is recommended, but I’m not a big fan of parm – I think we used gruyere)

De-skin sausages and slice up. Cook in some olive oil until done.

Remove and set aside. DO NOT clean pan.

Add onion and garlic to pan and cook till soft.

Add shredded silverbeet, tomatoes and stock, simmer until silverbeet is cooked, then return sausages to pan and heat through. Season to taste.

Mix in cooked spaghetti. Top with grated cheese.

Frugal factor: high. This is a lot plainer than the original, however.

Sometimes T outdoes himself in the kitchen, and it seems a shame not to share.

Up there is creamy butternut flesh mixed with sour cream and sweet chili sauce.

There’s pork butterfly, wrapped in slices of streaky bacon, and stuffed with the real star of the show: a moist, delectable vegetable concoction consisting of (to his best recall today) coriander and sliced courgette with some extra virgin olive oil that make the whole meal pop.

Like me, he’s not big on measurements, so trust your tastebuds and have fun.

Who knows – there may well be more future editions of Things My Boyfriend Cooks…

You will always find – along with the usual suspects like EVOO, canned tomatoes, butter, onions, and flour – various curry pastes in my kitchen.

My current favourite is a new discovery: Penta brand green curry.

Ingredients:
One capsicum
A handful of mushrooms
Beef sliced into strips
Two tablespoons of curry paste
One can of coconut milk

Garnish:
Cashew
Coriander
Radish
Olive oil
Spring onion

Cook the sliced capsicum/mushrooms in a little oil for a couple of minutes over high heat.

Add the curry paste, followed by the coconut milk. Mix to combine, then add the beef strips.

Simmer until meat is cooked through.

Serve over a bed of fluffy white rice.

That stuff on top? If your partner doesn’t swoop in with a brilliant idea for a topping, then by all means feel free to blend up some cashews, coriander, radishes, spring onion and a dash of EVOO and plonk a spoonful over the bowl.

Frugal factor: high. Especially without the random garnishing.