Slow-Cooked Irish Stout Chicken

Looking into my refrigerator and staring at all that I have left that needs to be cleared before I travel in less than a week’s time, I decided to make a chicken dish with whatever else I can combine together and stout or beer chicken came to mind hence  …

You may use just chicken legs cut into thighs & drumsticks pieces … I used one whole chicken which I already have in my fridge … cut into 8 pieces … coat the chicken pieces with 3 Tbsp cup seasoned flour … I put the flour in a zip-lock bag and toss the chicken about in the bag to get it coated with the flour

I used some whole shallots, baby carrots, a sprig of fresh Rosemary and 3 cloves chopped garlic

I have a pack (250g) of these chestnut mushrooms so I used these … you may use white button mushrooms

You will need 1can stout + 500ml chicken stock … I used Guinness Stout 

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a Dutch Oven or a casserole dish and brown the flour coated chicken in batches, lift browned chicken out of pot onto a plate and set aside

Add the shallots & garlic into the pot and cook until slightly brown & fragrant

Return browned chicken pieces into pot then pour in the can of Stout … bring to a simmer

Pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil and transfer, covered, to a 180ºC pre-heated oven and bake for 40 minutes – 1 hour or until chicken is tender and sauce thickens

You may serve up the chicken with mashed potatoes or pasta or even some garlic bread/crusty loaf if you prefer a more complete meal with something more filling… I merely served it up with some mangetouts + cherry tomatoes panfried with some chopped garlic & soy sauce …. it was so tasty

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

This is a very good recipe for a dinner party as it’s easy to carve and serve

Lovely layers … juicy and relish!

RECIPE

Ingredients:

1 pork tenderloin (450g)

3 – 4 rashers streaky bacon, rind removed

10 – 15g butter

for the stuffing:

25g butter

1 med onion, finely chopped

¼tsp  thyme

¼tap aFW

75g mushrooms, finely chopped

110g fresh breadcrumbs

4 Tbsp chopped parsley

grated rind of a lemon

2 tsp lemon juice

1 egg, beaten with 2 Tbsp cream or top of the milk

for the gravy:

1 Tsp brown flour

about 275ml dry white wine or cider

salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

Methods:

• Preheat oven to 180ºC
• With a sharp knife, split pork tenderloin into half lengthwise and using a rolling pin, batter the 2 halves to flatten and widen them slightly and season with salt & freshly ground pepper
• To make the stuffing, melt the butter in a pan and fry the onion and herbs gently for about 10 mins then add the mushrooms and raise the heat slightly …cook for further 3 – 4 minutes or until juices from mushrooms have almost evaporated 
• Spoon contents of pan into a bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients of the stuffing, mix well and season
• Spoon stuffing onto one half of the tenderloin, pat down to firm it slightly then place the other half of the tenderloin on top
• Spread some butter and season with freshly ground pepper then cover the top of the tenderloin with the rinded bacon
• Tie with string at 5cm intervals to keep it neat and tidy then transfer it carefully to a buttered roasting tin
• Bake near the top of the oven for 1 hour then place on the serving dish and keep warm
• To make the gravy, stir the flour into the pan juices, add the wine and some seasoning and let it bubble until syrupy 
• To serve, carve the meat into thick slices and pour over the gravy and serve with vegetable of your choice
• A garnish of fried apple rings would go well with it

Chicken Stroganoff

I broke my wee pinkie so thought I’d make a simple meal which involves least preparation hence I decided on Chicken Stroganoff but I’d tweaked it a bit …. instead of sliced chicken I’d used pieces of whole chicken breasts and added spicy paprika instead of sweet paprika and used Crème fraîche instead of sour cream  … I had contemplated herbed cream cheese … maybe next time ;-)

As always, gather all your ingredients together … salt & pepper, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock, sliced mushroom, sliced onion & crème fraîche

heat pan with oil and brown the chicken breast until golden … 1 piece chicken breast per person so as you can see, I used only 2 pieces as there’re only 2 of us dining (2 wee flllet is for our furbabies)

Transfer chicken breast to a plate, heat rest of oil in pan over medium heat and add garlic, onions & mushroom and cook until onion is soft … then add in the paprika and stir to mix well for a further 1 minute

Add in the Worcestershire sauce and continue to simmer until liquid is reduced to half

Pour in the chicken stock and simmer for a couple minutes more … look at the awesome red paprika color!

Remove pan from heat and stir in the crème fraîche

Return the chicken breasts to the pan, along with any juices and continue cooking in the pre-heated oven for further 30 minutes or until chicken breasts is cooked through

Look at the rich red colour … so unlike the normal creamy look of a usual Chicken Stragonoff … simple yet tasty and I served up with a vegetable fried rice which I had omitted seasoning and left plain for it to soak up the scrumptious stroganoff sauce … (I forgot to garnish with chopped parsley which I did have some ready)!!

RECIPE

Ingredients:

                  2 tablespoons olive oil

            
2 – 4 (180g each) chicken breast, trimmed

            
1 medium brown onion, thinly sliced

            
1 garlic clove, crushed

            
200g cup mushrooms, sliced

            
2 teaspoons sweet/spicy paprika

            
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

            
1 cup chicken stock

            
1 cup light sour cream / crème fraîche

            Steamed white rice, to serve

finely chopped fresh parsley, to garnish (optional)

Methods :

• Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C … heat half the oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add chicken and cook for 2 minutes each side or until light golden…transfer to a plate
  
• Reduce heat to medium….heat remaining oil in pan….add onion, garlic and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until onion is softened then add paprika …cook, stirring, for further 1 minute
• Add worcestershire sauce and simmer for 2 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half then add stock …simmer for 3 minutes … remove  panfrom heat then stir in sour cream and season with pepper
• Return chicken (and any juice) to pan… transfer to oven and bake, turning chicken occasionally, for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through
• Serve up with steamed rice or vegetable fried rice and garnish with chopped parsley, if desired

Gratin of Cod with Wholegrain Mustard

Served up with Brussels Sprouts stir-fried with some lardons … I luuurve this recipe as it is so easy and fast to whip up

Straight outta oven … top a little browned and bubbling and the fish underneathe flaky and tender

RECIPE

Ingredients :

4 cod steaks (approx 175g/6oz each) (I cut mine into 2 steaks only)

200g/7oz/1¾ cups grated Cheddar cheese

15ml/1 Tbsp wholegrain mustard

75ml/5 Tbsp double (heavy) cream

salt and ground black pepper

Methods :

• Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas Mark 6.
• Check the fish for bones …butter the base and sides of an ovenproof dish then place the fish steaks skin side down in the dish and season
• In a small bowl, mix the grated cheese and mustard together with enough cream to form a spreadable but thick paste
• Make sure that the cheese and mustard are thoroughly blended to ensure an even taste … season lightly with salt and ground black pepper
• Spread the cheese mixture thickly and evenly over each fish steak, using it all up
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes
• The top will be browned and bubbling and the fish underneath flaky and tender
• Serve up immediately on warmed plates

Treasures Stuffed Roast Chicken

 

I had wanted to make this dish when I was away in Indy past couple months but couldn’t get the main ingredients which is Pacific Clams and dried scallops as the latter is what would give the gravy the wholesome flavour that this dish needs!  So now that I’m back home, I hastily made it as the mere thought of wanting to make it had me craving for it so bad ;-p

Our *filled-with-goodness* Roast Chicken dinner last night … simply yum-yum-yummeh

In my “jet-lagged” haste, totally slipped my mind to take pics of ingredients I used and managed to just take a pic of the can which the Pacific Clams come in!

I should have de-boned the main body of the chicken but I didn’t and merely filled the bone-in cavity with the stuffing and it still works out well ….no ‘wahala’ as the Nigerians would say

Perfectly stuffed with all the treasures ….now secure the opening …I did so with some toothpicks … and blanch the chick in Condiment B

The beautiful golden Bird straight out of the oven!

The Golden Bird slit opened to reveal all the treasures …. absolutely a *filled-with-goodness* birdie that is simply scrumptious and flavoursome

RECIPE

Ingredients:

A

1 whole chicken (debone main body) 

10 dried scallops, soaked

15 cloves deep fried garlic

B

1 can pacific clams, drained & reserve liquid

6 dried Shitake mushrooms, soaked, drained & sliced and reserve liquid

30g white fungus, soaked

30g black fungus, soaked

Condiments:

A

2 Tbsp oyster sauce

4 tsp chicken stock granules

½ tsp sugar

½ tsp salt 

dark soya sauce, as needed

B

8 cups water

6 Tbsp light soya sauce

4 Tbsp Shaoxing wine

1 Tbsp red rose wine

Methods:

• Pre-heat oven to 180ºC
• Marinade deboned chicken with some salt and Shaoxing wine
• Mix reserved liquid from pacific clams, mushrooms & dried scallops in a pot and braise dried scallops in it until soft
• Drain and set scallops aside and divide liquid into 2 separate portions
• Put a portion of the liquid in a small saucepan over medium flame, mix in condiment A and ingredients B, stir to mix and bring to a boil then add enough cornflour mixed with water to thicken the gravy .. this is the stuffing for the chicken … gravy & all
• Carefully scoop the stuffing into the cavity of the chicken
• Seal opening with a wooden skewer, toothpicks or needle …whichever is your preference
• Bring condiment B to a slow boil and blanch chicken, remove and drain
• Bake chicken in a heat-proof casserole dish in the pre-heated oven for 90 minutes
• While chicken is baking, add some condiment seasoning to the other portion of the liquid set aside earlier and thicken with some cornflour mixed with water to get a nice gravy
• Remove chicken from oven, slit the breast of the chicken down the middle of the bird to reveal all the  stuffed ‘treasures’ and pour prepared gravy all over the bird
• Serve up on a platter surrounded with some stir-fried spinach (latter is optional)

Chicken, Shrimps & Squid Paella

Haven’t been posting for quite a while as I’ve been away from homebase … got home 2 days ago and last night, although knackered from jet-lag, I still managed to dish out this simple yet absolutely awesomely tasty meal

There are so many recipes variations for Paella Valencia or similarly Valencian Arroz al Horno (Oven Baked Rice) that I kinda adapt it to our preference in terms of ingredients, i.e. I used main ingredients that we love …I have both the earthern/ceramic Paella pan and the regular saucepan type and here, I’m using the latter

Look almost way too beautiful to dig in

Don’t you just love the awesome colour of the rice!! The wonders of saffron ….I added a dash of turmeric powder, too to further enhance the colour …. and the nice red paprika added to the richness of this awesome colour too I omitted the red bell pepper because I personally don’t like bell peppers!

The meal served up … it was heavenly even if I may say so and yes, Hubby Dearest enjoyed it lots, too …the dash of extra hot chilly I added along with the other spices certainly rounded off the perfectness of this simple meal for us

RECIPE

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds), skinned

            1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

            1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

            2 teaspoons vegetable oil

           2 Chorizo

            1 cup chopped onion

            1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper, optional

            1 1/2 cups uncooked Valencia rice

            1/2 cup diced plum tomato

            1 teaspoon sweet paprika

            1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed

            1 garlic clove, minced

            3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

            3/4 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

            1 cup (1-inch) diagonally cut asparagus

                        1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed

Methods:

• Preheat oven to 400°
• Sprinkle chicken with rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper … I used 4 whole chicken legs, chopped into 2 pieces each leg = drumstick & thigh and I added squid.
• Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet or a Paella pan over medium-high heat and brown chicken pieces 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned … remove chicken from pan, cover and keep warm
• Remove casings from chorizo … slice or chop it up and  add sausage to pan … cook 1 minute, stirring
• Add onion and bell pepper (if using) and cook 7 minutes, stirring constantly
• Add rice, tomato, paprika, saffron, and garlic and cook a further minute, stirring constantly
• Return chicken to pan then add broth and 1/4 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil
• Cover pan and bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes
• Add in shrimps, asparagus and peas then cover and bake an additional 5 minutes or until shrimp are done

Steamed Pork Ribs with Black Beans

This is a dim sum style steamed spare/pork ribs … marinated with fermented black beans, chopped chillies, chopped garlic and some cornflour for a couple hours and then steam until spare/pork ribs is cooked and tender … it tastes simply heavenly … served with rice to soak up the truly flavoursome sauce!

Goats’ Cheese and Thyme Stuffed Chicken

Stuffed chicken breases/legs is a recipe I often like to make for dinner ….the timing has to be perfect in order for the meat to be succulent and yummy!

I browned the stuffed/wrapped chicken breasts on a heated pan first before I stick the pan into the oven to continue to bake until bacon is crisp & golden

RECIPE

Ingredients:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

100g firm goats’ cheese

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves 

4 rashers streaky bacon, slightly flattened out with back of knife

250g vine cherry tomatoes

1 – 2 Tbsp olive oil

salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method:

• Heat oven to 190°C
• Slit a pocket in the chicken breasts, season with salt & greshly ground black pepper
• Stuff the pockets with half the goats’ cheese & some thyme leaves on each piece of chicken breast … wrap each breast with 2 slices of the bacon
• Heat up a frying pan with half the olive oil, and brown the chicken breasts then add the vine cherry tomatoes to the pan, drizzle with balance of olive oil and place pan in the pre-heated oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until the bacon is crisp and golden
• Serve up vine tomatoes and some mangetouts or sugar snap peas

Stewed Chicken in Rose Wine Soy Sauce

Look at the awesome colour of the chicken legs … again, this is a Chinese stew and normally would be chopped up into bite sized pieces and served up as one of the dishes around the table with rice for dinner/lunch …but here, Hubby & I had it as our main course just the way it is …a tad saltier than I like it so I know better now to use less soy sauce if we are going to dine the Western style than the Chinese style with rice … would have been perfect if it was eaten with rice to soak up the sauce!

The amount of spices used in this dish is unbelievable and it all blended so well and the taste of the sauce and chicken is simply out of this world … definitely a MUST-TRY recipe if you hadn’t made this before

The spices …… top from left to right and clockwise … ‘luo han kuo’ (aka Buddha’s Fruit/Monk’s Fruit); red distilled grains; ‘dan gui’ (aka dong quai/angelica sinensis); ‘gan chao’ (Chinese liquorice roots); cinnamon, ‘chao guo’; cloves; star anise; dried tangerine peel (in the center)

RECIPE

Ingredients:

I whole chicken (I used 6 whole chicken legs instead)

4 Tbsp Chinese rose wine

1 Tbsp red distilled grains

1000 – 1500ml water

500 – 1000ml light soy sauce

Spices:

5 slices “gan chao” (Chinese liquorice)

1pc dried tangerine peel

5 start anise

½ “luo han guo”

1 “chao guo”

10 cloves

1″ cinnamon stick

3 slices “dang gui”

Seasoning:

200ml light soy sauce

200g rock sugar

 Method:

• Blanch chicken in boiling water, drain well and set aside
• Boil seasoning in a pot until sugar is completely dissolved or until the soy sauce is slightly thickened, remove from heat and set aside
• To make the stewing stock, boil the water and light soy sauce in a deep pot until boiling … add in all the spices and red distilled grains and continue to boil for 5 minutes …blend in the thickened seasoning and rose wine and bring stock back to the boil
• Place the chicken in the the stock ….bring to the boil and then continue to stew, covered, over a low heat for 10 minutes
• Remove from heat, leave the chicken to soak in the stock for further 20 minutes or until the flavour has been absorbed and the chicken is cooked through
• Dish up and drained … chop into bit-sized pieces and serve hot with rice

Foolproof Slow Roast Chicken

Don’t it just look yummylicious? … look at that golden Chick

I always luuurve to stuff butter beneath the skin of the chicken …no matter how I’m roasting it … it keeps the meat moist and nice

Place chicken in a oven-proof casserole …tug in the potatoes & garlic ….then pour in the wine & chicken stock

I decided to add some onions as well …. then I drizzled some melted butter all over the chicken skin ..this helps to give the chicken a nice golden colour

RECIPE

Ingredients:

100g butter

1.5kg whole chicken

½ – 1 kg roasting potatoes, halved/quartered if large

2 whole heads of garlic, halved through the middle

2 or 3 onions, halved

100ml white wine

100ml chicken stock

2 stems rosemary, broken into sprigs

6 bay leaves

1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)

Method:

• Heat oven to 160°C … brush a large roasting pan or an ovenproof casserole with butter 
• Loosen skin of chicken then stuff some butter underneath …melt the balance of the butter, set aside
• Place the chicken in the casserole dish/roasting pan and arrange the potatoes, halved heads of garlic, onions (if using) around it then pour the wine & chicken stock over the chicken
• Drizzle the melted butter all over the chicken, cover with foil … place in oven and cook for 1 hour then remove the foil, give the potatoes a shake, add the herbs and lemon wedges then continue to cook, uncovered, for a further 50 minutes
• Turn the heat up to 200°C then cook for another 30 minutes …remove chicken & potatoes (and the onions & garlic – I do because we love the onions & garlic after it’s been roasted & absorbed all the lovely juices from the roast) from the dish, cover loosely with foil an let stand for 10 minutes
• Carve and serve the chicken with the pan juices