Quick Mandarin Cheesecake

This is one of those desserts that you can make in literally 10 minutes. Its also good because it was totally unplanned, yet the ingredients are often found in the fridge! This is a non baked cheesecake and is made as individual servings which make it look cute and like it has taken a lot longer to prepare than it did!!

You can use any biscuits you have as the base. I used digestives as I had some but other types work just as well. You can also use any fruit.

If you don't have any chefs rings I recommend you have a couple in a cupboard somewhere - they can be so useful in many, many ways. Here they were a godsend. Quick, no fuss mandarin cheesecakes.

Ingredients:    (makes 2)

50g biscuits, crushed
40g butter, melted
200g soft cheese (Philadelphia)
50ml double cream
3 tbsp. icing sugar
295g tin mandarin segments

Method:

Sit the chefs rings onto a board (that will fit in the fridge) covered with greaseproof paper. Stir the melted butter into the crushed biscuits in a bowl and use to cover the base inside the rings. Pop in the fridge for 2 minutes to set.

Drain the mandarin segments and remove 6 pieces, set to one side for garnish. Chop the rest and gently press some kitchen roll on top to remove excess juice.

In a bowl mix the cream cheese, sugar and cream until smooth. Stir in the chopped mandarins and put on top of the biscuit bases. Level with a knife and decorate with the mandarin slices. Pop in the fridge to set for about 30 minutes.

Lift the cheesecake rings onto a serving plate using a fish slice or palette knife. Then, run a sharp knife around the edges of the cheesecake and lift off the metal ring. Serve dusted with a little icing sugar and enjoy!!

Country Chicken Pie

After having a bbq at the weekend, full of marinated spicy chicken and Thai pork burgers, come Monday night we were craving comfort food. After a busy day, I picked up some chicken breasts on the way home from meetings and pondered on what to make.

As far as I am aware, Shepherds Pie is lamb mince with mashed potatoes. And Cottage Pie is with beef. I realised that I had never had one in that style make with chicken. I think its because you rarely see minced chicken that these thoughts don't occur - its a bit like my Spaghetti Chickenase (recipe here) - so why not? So here is my version which I have called Country Chicken Pie.

Ingredients:

2 large (or 3 medium) chicken breasts, chopped finely
1 tbsp. oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 chicken stock cube
3 tbsp. flour
3 cups chicken stock (about
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tbsp. dried parsley
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
100g frozen peas
salt & pepper
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
3-4 white potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
knob of butter


Method:

Boil the potatoes in boiling water for about 15 minutes until soft. Drain and mash with a knob of butter and season with salt & pepper. Set to one side.

In a large pan, fry the onion until translucent and then add the garlic. Cook for another few minutes and add the chicken. Cook on a high heat, stirring, until cooked through. Turn down the heat to medium and crumble in the stock cube and the flour, stirring to incorporate. Then add the stock a cup at a time to get a thick sauce consistency. Add the peas, herbs, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and some salt & pepper and let cook on a low heat for five minutes. Pour into a pie dish and top with the mashed potatoes.

Cook in the oven (180 C) for 30 minutes, or until bubbling and the top is nicely browning. Serve with vegetables.  Delicious!