Category: recipe

cooking · pies · recipe

Delicious Chicken Pie

JoanneLeave a comment

My family are pie people. Whenever I get the urge to bake a pie, it doesn’t matter want type of pie I choose, it is sure to be a winner.

Not only is this chicken pie absolutely delicious, it is surprisingly easy to make. The taste is far more impressive than the considerably brief amount of time it takes to prepare the filling.

The mixture is a wonderful idea if you are having a party. Just purchase small, ready-made vol-au-vent cases from the supermarket and spoon a little of the warmed filling into the cases. Place in the oven for 5 minutes to heat through the cases and voila! Finger food is ready to be served to your guests.

Chicken Pie

1 kg chicken breast fillets

Chicken Pie
Chicken Pie

60g butter

3 heaped tablespoons plain flour

1 cup cream

Salt & pepper

100g tasty cheese

220g mushrooms

4 shallots

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

3 tablespoons dry sherry

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 sheets puff pastry

Boil or steam chicken until tender, remove from heat and reserve approximately 1 cup of the chicken stock. Cut chicken into bite sized cubes.

Heat butter in a frying pan, add flour and stir until combined. Remove pan from heat, gradually add chicken stock and cream, stirring continually. Stir until well combined.

Return the pan to the heat and stir until the sauce boils and thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes. Add grated cheese, chopped mushrooms, chopped shallots, chopped parsley, sherry and mustard. Stir until cheese melts.

Add chicken pieces to mixture. Allow pie filling to cool.

Line the pie plate with 1 sheet of puff pastry. Place cooled filling in dish. Top with remaining sheet of pastry. Pinch edges of pastry together and decorate the top as you wish.

Bake at 230 degrees C for approximately 40 minutes, or until pie is golden brown.

recipe · Uncategorized

Polenta Cake (With Pine Nuts, Raisins & Figs)

JoanneLeave a comment

Whenever I see a recipe with an unusual twist to it, curiosity gets the better of me. I just have to try it out. This Polenta Cake recipe did not disappoint!

It is, without a doubt, the most unusual cake I have ever tasted. In fact, it seems wrong to call it a cake! It appears to have a rather savoury flavour at first, which is followed by a sudden burst of  “sweet” when biting into the figs & raisins.

Before trying this recipe I would recommend making sure you have the large, 23 cm cake tin required – you will need it.  A spring form tin is the best to use. This is not a small cake & would be an ideal choice for serving a large crowd of friends.

Next time I make the Polenta Cake, I will try adding perhaps just 2 tablespoons of the fennel seeds, as the aniseed flavour is quite overpowering in flavour, even for an aniseed lover like myself!

When eating leftovers, I would also recommend warming the cake slightly again, as the beautiful flavours are brought out by warmth in the cake.

Polenta Cake (With Pine Nuts, Raisins & Figs).
400 g polenta
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
60g butter
2 eggs
100g pine nuts, toasted
150g raisins
150g figs, sliced
3 tablespoons fennel seeds
4 tablespoons raw sugar
250g plain flour

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C and grease & line a 23cm cake tin.

In a large saucepan, bring to the boil 850ml water & gradually pour in the polenta whilst stirring the water constantly. Lower the heat to simmer, add the olive oil & salt. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir the polenta regularly as it will become very thick. Remove the pan from the heat & stir in the butter.

Add beaten eggs & stir the mixture well. Add toasted pine nuts, raisins, figs, raw sugar & fennel seeds & mix thoroughly. Stir the flour into the mixture.

Spoon into the prepared tin & press in firmly. To smooth the top of the cake you may need to use your hands. Decorate the top of the cake with some extra toasted pine nuts, if desired.

Bake for 40 minutes, using a cake tester to make sure it is cooked through. Take out of the cake tin while still warm. Best served warm, when the flavours of the cake are most prominent.

Polenta Cake
Australia · recipe · traditions

Ice-Cream Christmas Pudding

JoanneLeave a comment

Living in a warm climate at Christmas time can have some definite disadvantages, the most obvious for me being that I have never experienced a white Christmas!

However, on the bonus side, how many people in the northern hemisphere would have had the inclination to experience the pure joy of finishing off their Christmas dinner with a sumptuously divine ice cream Christmas Pudding? This is but one of the advantages of life in Australia.

It was only about ten years ago that I first made this summer Christmas pudding. It has become a tradition since then and Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without it. (Mind you, I also make a traditional pudding, which can be eaten with hot custard).

Ice-Cream Christmas Pudding

Ice-Cream Christmas Pudding

1/2 cup chopped raisins

1/2 cup sultanas

1/2 cup currants

1/4 cup glacé cherries, chopped or whole

1/4 cup mixed peel

1/4 cup chopped dried apricots

1/4 cup brandy, rum or fruit juice

1 litre softened chocolate ice-cream

1/2 cup blanched almonds, toasted & chopped

1/2 cup cream

Thickened cream to serve.

Combine all of the dried fruits in a bowl, and add the brandy, rum or fruit juice. Stir the liquid through the fruit & leave to stand, covered, overnight. (Don’t be tempted to add extra alcohol as the pudding will not freeze successfully with any addition to the specified amount.)

The next day, mix together the soaked fruit, softened ice cream, almonds & cream. Stir well to combine, then pour into a 5-litre pudding bowl.

Cover & freeze overnight, or until required.

To remove the pudding from the bowl, immerse the bowl for a few seconds in some hot water. Turn the bowl over onto a serving plate.

Serve with thickened cream or cold custard.

cooking · herbs · Muffins · recipe

Sweet Potato & Herb Muffins

JoanneLeave a comment

On the first day of the school holidays, my 12-year-old son was so happy! With school finally over for the year, summer here and Christmas just around the corner, my boy, like many other school-aged children, has a lot to be thankful for!! 🙂

My boy has his priorities right too. The first day of the holidays had him inviting his best mate since kindergarten over to our place for a sleepover.

These two boys have been partners in crime for years! With their heads together, they concocted their plans for the next 2 days, which included, on day one, swimming and alternating between playing cricket in the back garden and watching it on television. Later that afternoon and with wallets filled with their combined pocket money, they took themselves up to our local service station, returning half an hour later with all the supplies they would need for their planned day of fishing the following day.

When lunchtime arrived on day one, both boys were looking for something light but substantial to eat, so I baked another family favourite for them –

Sweet Potato & Herb Muffins.

You will need 2 mixing bowls.

Combine in the first bowl –

2 cups self-raising flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

200 grams of grated tasty cheese

1  1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

Pepper to taste.

In the second bowl, combine –

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 cup cooked & mashed sweet potato

Beat together well, then pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir to just combine, without over-mixing.

Place about 1/4 cup of the mixture into each cup of a well-greased muffin tin.

Bake in a pre-heated 220-degree oven for approximately 15 minutes. This mixture makes 12 muffins.

Cool the muffins slightly in the tin before turning out. They are absolutely delicious when eaten while still warm, cut in half and with a dollop of fresh butter on top!

Any leftovers, if they aren’t all devoured immediately, can be re-heated to enjoy the next day. 🙂

Note – If you prefer, the sweet potato can be substituted with 1 cup of cooked and mashed pumpkin.

cooking · mangoes · recipe · traditions · Uncategorized

Green Mango Chutney

Joanne8 Comments

Green Mango Chutney
Green Mango Chutney

With my beautiful mango tree producing fruit like crazy this summer, Green Mango Chutney was a certainty. I also knew exactly which recipe I would be using.

For the last goodness-knows-how-many years I have been hearing about my husband’s grandmother’s famous Green Mango Chutney recipe. It has just about become folklore in our family!

I must admit that I have made a couple of variations to the original recipe, but only ever so slight. To change anything too drastically would be sacrilege! Grandma’s recipe uses ground ginger, where I have used fresh. Also, Grandma added salt to all of the other ingredients, whereas I sprinkled salt over the raw mangoes and left them standing overnight.

GREEN MANGO CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS –

1.5 kg green mangoes, peeled & sliced (For 1.5 kg of mango flesh, I used 6 whole mangoes.)

50 g freshly ground sea salt

2 cups white wine vinegar

700 g (approximately 4 1/2 cups) brown sugar

150 g sultanas or raisins

150 g fresh ginger, chopped, or 1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 – 1 teaspoon chilli powder (or 6 dried red chillies, chopped)

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 onion, chopped

METHOD – Toss mango thoroughly with the ground sea salt in a large stainless steel bowl or saucepan and leave to stand, covered, overnight.

Tip mangoes into a colander and drain well.

Place well drained mangoes into a large stainless steel saucepan or stockpot and add all of the other ingredients.

Bring pan to the boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

When pan is boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Bottle immediately in clean, warm, sterilised jars and seal tightly.

This chutney is best left for a month or two to mature, but tastes great immediately if you can’t wait that long!

Enjoy!! 🙂

Green Mangoes
Green Mangoes