Chicken, Sage and Pumpkin Pie

When I think of winter dishes I think of hearty soups and casseroles and of course pies!! This pie is really quick and easy and is packed with flavour.

 This recipe makes a medium pie (for 2)
What you will need:
200g pumpkin, cut into 2cm pieces
3/4 chicken breast or roast chicken, cut into 2cm pieces
Olive Oil
Garlic clove, crushed
1/2 brown onion, chopped
25g plain flour
25g butter
200g chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped sage leaves
1 sheet puff pastry
egg/milk to brush pastry

How to create:
- Oven to 180 degrees
- Place pumpkin onto a tray and drizzle with oil 
- In a frying pan, add some oil then cook chicken until cooked through, remove from pan
- Add butter to pan and melt, add onion and garlic, cook until soft 
- In a small bowl, make a paste with the flour and some of the chicken stock, add this to the onion mixture, cook for a couple of mins
- Add the rest of the stock to the pan, stir well and make sure there are no lumps, bring to the boil then remove from heat
- Put chicken in a bowl with pumpkin and sage, season and then add to the stock mixture
- Pour pie mixture into pie dish and cover with pastry, trim sides if you want or leave them if you want a bit more pastry to have with your filling
- Brush with egg or milk and prick a few holes in the top 
- Bake in the oven for about 30-40 mins or until pastry is cooked and golden
- Serve with roasted veggies

Pad Thai

I am such a huge fan of Pad Thai, such strong bold flavours packed into a dish. A perfect dinner really. I decided to try making it from scratch, sauce and all and I was pretty proud of the result. 

 















What you'll need:
1 chicken breast, cut into strips
5 prawns
1 tsp corn flour
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 spring onions, chopped
Pad Thai noodles 
1 egg, lightly beaten
Peanut oil
optional to serve: 
red chilli, finely chopped
bean sprouts
crushed peanuts
lemon/lime wedge


Sauce:
1 1/2 tbsp tamarind paste, dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
3-4 tbsp fish sauce
1-3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
3 dessert spoon brown sugar


(You can adapt each of these flavours to taste, remember it's better to add less and slowly add a little more to get it right)


How to create:
- Place noodles in a bowl and pour over boiling water, leave for about 8 mins. The noodles should soften but they will still have some resistance, they will soften when you cook them in the sauce though, so don't panic. Once they are done, drain and rinse with cold water.
- Now combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a small jug or bowl, now the quantities I have given make a fair bit but I just slowly added it until there is enough.
- Combine the corn flour and soy sauce, make sure there are no lumps, now add the strips of chicken and stir through to coat it well.
- In a wok or large frying pan, heat 1-2 tbsp of oil, then add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant, now add the spring onion and fry for a couple of mins. 
- Push the garlic and onion to the side and add the egg, stir it to break it up, then mix in the onion mix, then remove from wok.
- Add a dash more oil if the pan is dry, add the chicken, stir until cooked through, add the prawns here is you are using them.
- Add the noodles now and about 1/2 of the sauce mix, toss gently so that you don't break the noodles. If the mix is getting too dry just add a little more sauce, cook until noodle have softened.
- Stir through the sprouts once the noodles are done.
- Taste it and alter flavours if necessary.
 - serve topped with more bean spouts, fresh coriander, crushed peanuts and a lemon/lime wedge.

Mum's Green Chicken Curry

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, cut into 2cm pieces
1 handful green beans, cut into 3cm pieces
1/2 eggplant, cut into 2cm cubes
Basmati rice, as much as required
1-2 tbsp green curry paste (I like it spicy so I go for about 2)
2x 165ml cans of coconut milk (I find these make it creamier)
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 a brown onion, finely diced
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp grated palm sugar
1/2 lime, juiced
coriander, roughly torn
Optional: red chilli, finely chopped

Method:
- Cook rice
- Heat oil, add onion then garlic and fry off
- Add the curry paste and cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant
- Add the chicken and cook until brown and pretty much cooked through
- Add the coconut milk and stir, then add the fish sauce and palm sugar
- Taste it to make sure the flavours are balanced, add lime juice here if you want 
- Add beans and eggplant and cook for a few minutes to take off the crunch
- Serve on a bed of rice with fresh coriander and red chilli 


Enjoy. This is super easy and it tastes amazing.

Chicken Tortillas

I always find Monday night's, the first night after the weekend always call for an easy dinner, something you can whip up quickly but still tastes amazing. This Monday, Nat and I decided to make Chicken Tortillas, taking a stab at making the actual tortillas as well.

Let me just say- this is definitely going to be a regular dinner of ours, it was delicious.

Such a fresh flavoursome dinner

This is super easy, and the result is absolutely worth it!

Tortillas (makes about 10)

2 cups plain flour

25g butter, cold

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1/4 tsp salt

In a bowl, combine the flour and salt then rub the butter into the flour until it resembles a fine crumb

Then using a wooden spoon stir in the boiling water and combine until a dough forms

Place dough onto a well floured bench and make about 10 balls of the dough

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out is it is about 5mm thick

Cook with a dash of oil in a pan for about 2 mins per side

Crispy Chicken

1 chicken breast, cut into about 4 strips

good handful of bread crumbs, we used panko breadcrumbs which are lighter

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper

1 egg, lightly beaten

olive oil

1 lime, halved

Combine all ingredients except egg and chicken in a bowl and combine

Dip the chicken into the egg and then into the crumb mixture

Cook the chicken in a pan with a dash of oil until crumb is nice and golden and chicken is cooked through, whilst cooking the chicken place the lime halves in the pan cut side facing down so it caramelises and lightly flavours the chicken

Filling

bocconcini, halved

baby spinach or rocket

grated carrot

coriander leaves, roughly ripped 

optional: you could have cucumber, capsicum, any other cheese etc

natural yoghurt/ aioli to serve with

Chicken Roast... it's actually quite easy and did I mention delicious!

An easy chicken roast, on a cold day (even if it's the middle of spring!)


I rubbed the chicken with smoked salt (purchased at the Prarahn Market), pepper and finely chopped garlic. I placed a lemon- cut in half in the middle of the chicken which gently infused the chicken and baked it at 190 degrees for a little over an hour. Too easy.


Served on a bed of creamy mash and steamed broccolini.