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Saturday, 31 October 2009
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Chicken and Tomato Supper
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At home I call it 'That chicken, vegetable and tomato thing' and then I'm asked: 'The thing with the breadcrumbs on?' and I say 'Yes, that's the one'.
It's a very quick and easy meal to make, and you can vary the flavours and vegetables. The original recipe used zucchini, but I only add that (chopped and added with the capsicum) if I happen to have some around. Also the original didn't include the 'bed' of vegetables, but I think they make the whole thing taste really good.
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I cut the chicken up quite small because then the whole thing can be ready quickly and the chicken is less likely to get dry through over-cooking.
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Simmer for 10 mins so that the chicken is cooked through (don't overcook). While this is happening, lightly steam some broccoli (steamed green beans work well too).
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Ingredients:
2 chicken breast fillets, cubed
1 onion, chopped
1 red capsicum, chopped
1 jar passata (around 700 ml)
dried oregano, a couple of tbsp
small handful of fresh basil, or some dried if not available
small handful of fresh parsley if you've got some, otherwise don't bother
salt, pepper, sugar
large head of broccoli, cut into smallish florets
fresh breadcrumbs (approx 1 cup)
grated cheese (approx half a cup)
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Chocolate and Vanilla Biscuits
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I found the recipe in 'Apples for Jam', and although mine don't look quite like the biscuits in the book, they were pretty good anyway.
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Divide the dough into halves and to one half sift and mix in cocoa powder, and to the other half mix in the reserved 20 g of flour.
Flatten out dough into discs, cover and refrigerate for 30 mins to firm up.
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Cook at 180 C for 12 - 15 mins until crisp. (I think I could have cooked mine a bit longer than I did because they were more 'doughy' than crisp - probably because they were quite thick.)
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These were fun and easy to make, and we decided they taste a lot like chocolate cake!
Ingredients:
180 g butter, softened
150 g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
240 g plain flour
20 g cocoa powder
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Oaty Muesli Bars
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Officially they are a cookie recipe, but they are easy to shape into 'bar' shapes, and they don't lose their shape as they cook. I also make a few smaller, round ones for my youngest son.
I usually make double the recipe and put some in the freezer, so they're handy to put straight into lunchboxes every now and then.
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Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until well-mixed. Add egg and vanilla and beat in. Sift in flour, salt, sugar and cinnamon and stir in. Add oats and sultanas, and any other fruit or nuts you like, and mix.
Shape into elongated ovals on a lined baking tray (it helps if you wet your hands as it can get a bit sticky).
Bake at 180 C for 15 mins or so. Don't overcook. Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
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They look pretty much the same after cooking, which is perfect!
Ingredients:
50 g butter, softened
100 g light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
50 g flour
pinch salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
100 g quick cook oats
75 g rolled oats
handful of sultanas, and any other dried fruit you like
Adapted from a Linda McCartney recipe.
Monday, 19 October 2009
Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Icing
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More birthday cakes - my newly 6-year-old had his birthday in the school holidays, so he missed out on taking cakes to share with his classmates.
I'm not a big fan of making (or eating) cupcakes, but I know it's a lot easier for a teacher to share small cakes around the class than to cut slices of a bigger birthday cake.
So this evening I made some cupcakes for him to take tomorrow. I made a simple cake batter from Tessa Kiros's 'Apples For Jam' (the Tiny Cakes recipe) and it produced lots of little cakes....
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Melt butter and milk in a small pan. Sieve cocoa powder into a large bowl. Pour melted butter/milk mixture into the cocoa powder, add vanilla extract and stir together. Sift in icing sugar and mix well.
It starts to set as you are spreading it on the cakes, so stir in a few drops of milk as you go if it's getting too thick to work with.
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There wasn't enough icing to cover all the cakes I made, but double the recipe would have done it easily.
Now I have plenty of chocolate icing and raspberry jelly sweet-topped cakes to send to class KF tomorrow (and I only needed 22!)
Chocolate Icing ingredients:
65 g butter
3 tbsp milk
25 g cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
225 g icing sugar
Friday, 16 October 2009
Chinese Pancakes
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Ingredients:
300 g flour
1 tbsp sugar
240 ml boiling water
sesame oil for brushing (I used olive oil)
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Brownies
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I decided that I would make the simplest (and therefore cheapest) version of the recipe to see how they turned out. No vanilla extract, choc chips or nuts.
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Add butter/cocoa to egg and sugar mixture and mix well. Fold in flour.
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(This time the top of my brownies looked bubbly rather than cracked; the same bubbling happened with my Malteser Cake sponges - I'm not sure why this is happening but luckily it doesn't affect the taste.)
Cool 10 mins in tin before cutting into squares.
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Ingredients:
100 g butter
50 g cocoa powder
2 eggs
200 g caster sugar (I used 150 g because I like things not v sweet)
50 g self-raising flour
*If you want to add the extras: before folding in flour mix in 1 tsp vanilla extract and 50 g chocolate chips or chunks (milk or white choc) or chopped pecans.*
Monday, 12 October 2009
Malteser Cake
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This one takes a little more concentration because you can't just put all the ingredients in the processor. Eggs and sugar are beaten together in a bowl; milk, butter and Horlicks are heated in a pan, and flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarb are mixed together in another bowl.
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(Or you get Birthday Boy to do this bit for you, and also ask him to decorate the cake with Maltesers while he's there.)
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It turned out very well, even with my strange-looking sponges. I can imagine this cake becoming a birthday regular.
Ingredients:
Cake:
150 g soft brown sugar
100 g caster sugar
3 eggs
175 ml milk
15 g butter
2 tbsp Horlicks
175 g plain flour
25 g cocoa, sieved
1 tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarb
Icing and decoration:
250 g icing sugar (sieved or make icing in food processor)
1 tsp cocoa
45 g Horlicks
125 g soft unsalted butter
2 tbsp boiling water
around 80 g Maltesers (I bought a big pack)
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Honey Bee Cake
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Put all the cake ingredients (except hot water) in a food processor if you have one and whizz till smooth. Pour in the hot water while the processor is running. Pour the runny mixture into a springform tin and cook at 180 C for around 1 1/2 hours. Cover with foil after half an hour to avoid the top burning.
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Put the cake on its serving plate and put strips of baking paper under the sides to keep the plate clean - these can be removed before serving.
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As my cake was a little rounded at the top and the icing was runny, our (quite hefty) bees kept sliding down to the sides. Next time I shall probably slice a little off the top of the cake to avoid this problem! And making slightly smaller bees would help too.
Add the bees to the cake - I forgot to take a photo of the cake all alight with candles but it looked really sweet, especially to a newly-six year-old who had helped make the bees!
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Recipe here on the Nigella Website
Friday, 9 October 2009
Meatball Casserole
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In the meantime, soften the onion in a little oil in an ovenproof pan, then add the other vegetables and fry gently for a few minutes.
Blend the cornflour with a little stock and add to the pan with the remaining stock. Bring to the boil, stirring and cook for a minute.
Add meatballs, put a lid on and cook in the oven at 190 C for 30 - 40 mins. I have a big Scanpan casserole and I can reduce the oven temperature to around 120 C once it is all heated through.
When cooked, add a little more salt and pepper if needed. Serve with bread rolls.
Ingredients:
meatballs:500 g lean minced beef
half an onion, finely chopped
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 egg, beaten
handful of porridge oats, breadcrumbs or semolina
good squirt of barbecue sauce
salt and pepper
rest of the casserole:
half an onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 red capsicum, de-seeded and sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
couple of big handfuls of green beans
2 tbsp cornflour
500 ml beef stock