Chinese Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup

I don't suppose chicken and sweetcorn soup is particularly only a Chinese soup - but here in London, if that's what you want - you'd head to a Chinese restaurant. Thick, comforting, with tender chicken and a lovely sweetness from the corn.

This recipe is pretty much as you would get it from a Chinese takeaway or restaurant - and its ever so easy. You can use any leftover cooked chicken you have; from a roast dinner maybe? Its also cheap as this recipe only uses one chicken breast and serves up to 6 people. The soup takes about 20 minutes to make and is delicious!

Ingredients:             (Serves 4-6)

1 large chicken breast, poached and sliced
400g can creamed corn
400g sweetcorn niblets
1 litre chicken stock (2 cubes & water)
2 tbsp. cornflour
2 spring onions, chopped
1 tsp. sesame oil
2 eggs, beaten


Method:

Make up the stock with the cubes and boiling water and put into a saucepan with the creamed corn, corn niblets and a little pepper (there should be plenty of salt from the stock cubes but taste at the end and you may want to add some). Bring to the boil and then cook for 10 minutes on a medium heat.

Mix the cornflour with a splash of water and mix until liquid. Add to the pan and stir well to combine. Add the chicken to the soup and then add the eggs by stirring the soup in a circular motion with one hand (with a wooden spoon!) - and slowly pouring in the beaten egg in with the other. You want it to form 'ribbons'. The soup will thicken up beautifully.

Finish by adding the sesame oil and the spring onions. Stir through and serve. Delicious!

Aubergine Wrapped Spicy Chicken

This recipe came from the idea of a Turkish Chicken Beyti which is minced chicken wrapped in flatbreads and cooked in a sauce. Here I have omitted the bread, spiced up the chicken and wrapped it in griddled aubergine slices, before coating in a thick tomato and aubergine sauce.

Absolutely delicious served with zucchini couscous and very filling too!

Ingredients:

2 aubergines
a little oil
3 chicken breasts, roughly chopped
1-2 green chillies
2 cloves garlic
100g grated cheese

For the sauce:

1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. paprika
3 tbsp. tomato paste
1 cup water
400g tin tomatoes
salt & pepper

Method:

Slice the aubergines lengthwise. You want the biggest slices for rolling so choose about 12 total slices from the middle of the vegetables. The rest of the aubergine is going in the sauce so no waste.

Brush the aubergine slices with oil and griddle until softened - leave to cool on some kitchen paper. Griddle the leftover offcuts of aubergine and leave to one side. Put the chicken, chillies and garlic into a food processor and process until minced. To assemble the rolls, lay one softened aubergine slice in front of you on a board, with the wider bit towards you. Sprinkle with cheese and take a bit of the minced chicken and place on the wider end. Roll up and secure with a cocktail stick. Put into a roasting tray and continue until all rolled up.

Pop in the oven at 190 C for about 15 minutes, while you make the sauce.

Put the onion and garlic into a small saucepan and cook in a little oil for 5 minutes until softened. Add the paprika and tomato paste and stir in. Add the water and bring to the boil. Add the tomatoes and seasoning and cook for 10 minutes until thickened. Add the cooked leftover aubergine and take off the heat. Use a stick blender to blitz the sauce until smooth. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Take the chicken rolls out of the oven and gently remove the cocktail sticks. Pour the sauce over and around the rolls and pop back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.

Serve with rice or couscous.

Note: for the zucchini couscous, make up some couscous to pack instructions and add one grated courgette and half a small chopped red onion. Re-heat and serve.

Beef Rendang with Garlic Greens

We were watching TV last night and someone mentioned Malaysia. Now, The Bloke used to live in the Far East as an expat and also has done a fair bit of travelling in that area. I knew when he looked at me - that he wanted Malaysian for dinner. I told him.. "you just have to ask". So he did. "Beef Rendang, please".

So tonight, instead of the planned faggots (a favourite of mine) - we are having a flavourful Malaysian curry that is called Beef Rendang. If you haven't tried it yet, I urge you to give it a go. It truly has a flavour of its own.

Rendang can be from Indonesia or Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore. They all have their own ways of cooking it. I'm an Irish lass in London. And this is how I cook it. One of the things is the Malaysian way of adding the 'kerisik' which is the toasted and pounded coconut.

Ingredients:      (Serves 2-3)

For the paste:

5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 inch piece ginger, peeled
1 small onion
6 red birds eye chillies (seeds in if brave - I did!)
1 tsp. turmeric

The rest:

1 tbsp. oil
700g beef, cubed (make your choice - I used a very marbled sirloin)
6 kaffir lime leaves
1 stick lemongrass, bashed with a saucepan
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1 tsp. sugar (palm sugar if you have it)
400ml coconut milk
120g desiccated coconut


Method:

Make the paste by putting all of the paste ingredients into a blender and blitzing. Put the oil into a heavy based pan and heat. Add the paste and cook slowly for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to cook. Add the cinnamon stick, star anise, lime leaves and lemongrass. Stir.

Add 200ml of water, in 50ml at a time, letting the water cook down and evaporate each time. The sauce should reduce to be dry at this stage. Then add the beef and cook until its brown. Add the sugar and then a little of the coconut milk. Cook on a medium heat, adding more coconut milk when it becomes dry. (only add a little at a time). You may not need all of the coconut milk. Its a bit of a labour of love as you stand with it, its worth it - trust me!

For the kerisik, put the desiccated coconut into a dry frying pan and cook until browning. Put into a pestle and mortar and grind to a powder (you can miss out the grinding if you don't have the pestle and mortar).

The oil from the coconut milk in the curry will separate, so tip the pan so one side and spoon off some of the oil and discard. Now add a little water (a splash) and cook on a gentle heat. You want the curry to be thick and rich, with just a little sauce coating the meat. I add about half of the toasted coconut at this stage, as it makes a good body to the sauce.

Remove the lemongrass, star anise and cinnamon from the curry and serve the delicious rendang on a plate with steamed rice. Top the curry with more toasted coconut and add a wedge of lime.

Garlic Greens.

You can use any greens you like for this, but I had some brussel flowers, so I simply stir fried them for 5 minutes and then added loads of thinly sliced garlic and stir fried until the garlic was crisp. Heaven!

Sausage Cheesy Bean Casserole

This is a great way to make one pack of sausages serve 6-8 people. Its a delicious casserole with loads of flavour too. The sausage meat is mixed with Paxo stuffing (see note at bottom of page) and stuffed with a chunk of mozzarella - baked and then put into a tomato, pepper and baked bean casserole.

A cheap and cheerful dish that kids will love as much as the adults; its a proper comfort food too!

Ingredients:     (Serves 6-8)

400g pork sausage meat
80g dried Paxo stuffing (made up with water & cooled)
100g block (cooking) mozzarella, cubed
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. chilli flakes
1 onion, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
400g tin tomatoes
200g baked beans
1 tbsp. tomato puree (paste)
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper


Method:

Set the oven to 220 C. Mix the sausage meat with the Paxo stuffing, garlic powder, chilli flakes and a little salt & pepper until combined. Take a small piece and roll in your hands. Flatten  and put a piece of cubed mozzarella in the centre. Seal the ball and roll well to seal. Place on a baking tray and continue until you have all your meatballs made up. Bake at 220 C for 10 minutes.

In a large casserole dish, fry the onion, garlic and peppers until soft. Add the puree, tomatoes, beans and bay leaves. Cook on a gentle heat for 10 minutes, until thickened and bubbling.

Gently add the meatballs (its okay if some of the cheese has oozed). Spoon over the sauce to cover the meatballs and cook on a medium heat for about 25 minutes. Season to taste with salt & pepper.

Serve with buttered crusty bread, creamy mash or boiled potatoes and enjoy!!

Note: Paxo stuffing is a typically British product. To make yourself - its just dried breadcrumbs, mixed with chopped sage, onion powder and water.

Rosemary Roasted Cauliflower & Smoked Bacon Soup

Three flavours that really hit the mark for me are rosemary, cauliflower and bacon. And I can think of so many ways to eat them, but it is still 'Soup Saturday'. Actually in all honesty, its Sunday, but yesterday I was far too busy being lazy to make soup. I woke up this morning and actually felt that I was missing something - it was guilt from not making soup the day before!

So I grabbed the cauliflower that has been sitting in the fridge for about a week and decided on a creamy soup with bits of bacon running thought it. I went into the garden to get some rosemary - and it has snowed in London. Quickly shutting the back door I set about making the soup. That'll warm us up!

Ingredients:         (Serves 4)

10 rashers smoked streaky bacon
1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
3 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 tbsp. oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 litre vegetable stock (cube is fine)
150ml double cream
1 spring onion, sliced

Method:

Pop the oven on to heat at 180 C. Spread the cauliflower over a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tbsp. oil and sprinkle over the rosemary. Put in the oven to roast for 25-30 minutes.

Grill the bacon, dabbing at the fat as you occasionally turn it over, to make it nice and crispy. Break or slice into pieces and leave to one side.

In a large saucepan, gently fry the onion and garlic in the oil until soft. Add the roasted cauliflower, bay leaves and stock and leave to cook on a low/medium heat for about 15 minutes. Then remove the bay leaves, take off the heat and use a hand blender to blitz the soup until its smooth.

Put the soup back on the heat and add the cream. Warm though and add some black pepper and the bacon.

Serve in a large bowl topped with some more bacon, spring onions and a dash of black pepper. Delicious! 

Ostrich Steak with Blueberry Sauce

I am so happy that more stores seems to be selling the less common meats like ostrich. Its such a healthy meat as it contains hardly any fat, is rich in iron and low in cholesterol.  And on top of that it has a lovely buttery aroma while its cooking and tastes delicious.

It works well simply pan fried, like a beef steak and goes with many different sauces. Here I happened to have a bag of frozen blueberries that were delivered in error, so I thought I'd make a sauce with them.

Ingredients:                (Serves 2)

2 ostrich steaks
1 small shallot, chopped finely
2 tbsp. oil
200g frozen blueberries, defrosted
250ml red wine
2 tbsp. honey
15g butter
salt & pepper

Method:

For the sauce, gently fry the shallot in half the oil. When the onion is soft, add the red wine with a quarter of a cup of water and bring to a boil. Let boil and reduce until you have about half of the amount of liquid left and its slightly thickened.

Add the blueberries and honey and turn to a simmer, with the lid half on. Leave to cook for a further 15 minutes. Stir in the butter and taste for seasoning.

Brush some oil on the ostrich steaks and season with a little salt & pepper. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the steaks for about 2 minutes each side (you can have them a little rare if you like). Then let them rest on a board, under some foil for 2 minutes.

Serve the ostrich sliced with some creamy mashed potatoes, garlic spinach and lashings of blueberry sauce. Lovely!

Steak with Rocket & Asparagus Pasta Salad

This is a nice quick meal, perfect for after work. You can add anything you like to pasta salad and I try so many different flavours. Here I put in peppery rocket with blanched asparagus, pine nuts and a caesar dressing. Simplicity in itself. And a delicious pan fried steak simply seasoned with salt and pepper. It tastes so good sometimes just let the flavours speak for themselves.

Ingredients:

2 fillet steaks (or sirloin if you prefer)
200g pasta
100g asparagus tips
70g fresh rocket
1/2 red pepper, diced
30g pine nuts
70ml caesar salad dressing

Cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente, about 15 minutes. Drain and put into a bowl with the red pepper. Cut the asparagus into 1 inch lengths and steam for 2 minutes. Refresh under cold water to keep its colour bright and fresh. Add to the pasta. Add the rocket & pine nuts and stir through. Then dress the salad with the caesar dressing. Season if needed with salt & pepper.

Lightly brush the steaks with a little oil and season with salt & pepper. Pan fry to your liking and slice. Place over the pasta as serve!

Easy Cream of Tomato Soup

Winter has definitely arrived and its cold in London. It still seems to be Soup Saturday (I have no idea when this started but I'm not bored with it yet - or had to make the same soup twice!). This Saturday, tomato soup. There are so many ways to make this, from roasting tomatoes, to using tinned. Here I done a mixture of both.

Ingredients:

1 onion, peeled & chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled & chopped
1 small carrot, peeled & chopped
1 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. tomato puree
400g tin tomatoes
800ml vegetable stock (cube is fine)
3 large tomatoes, halved
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. sugar
50 ml double cream

Method:

In a saucepan, fry the vegetables in the oil gently for about 10 minutes, until soft. Add the tomato puree and stir in. Now add the tinned tomatoes, stock and large tomatoes and bring to the boil. Pop on the lid and turn the heat to a simmer and leave to cook for about 20 minutes.

Spoon out the tomatoes and remove the skins. Put the tomatoes back in and blitz the soup with a hand blender, until smooth. Put back on a gentle heat and season to taste with the salt, sugar and pepper. Finally stir through the cream and heat through. Serve and enjoy! 

Note: If you have a green stalk with the tomatoes, add it to the soup as its cooking and remove it just before blending. It has so much flavour (see picture below).

 

 

Cabbage and Bacon Soup

I would definitely put this soup under 'Irish Soup'. Cabbage and bacon are the flavours of Ireland to me and here it is simply made as a filling, tasty rustic soup. Simple ingredients you often have already in the fridge and quick to make, its a perfectly weekend lunch when the weather has a nip in the air.

Ingredients:

12 rashers unsmoked streaky bacon
2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
40g butter
1 litre chicken or veg stock (cube is fine)
1/2 small savoy cabbage, chopped
salt & pepper

Method:

Grill the bacon until crisp and set to one side. Melt the butter in a large pan and add the potatoes, onion and garlic. Get a piece of greaseproof paper and make a cartouche - cut the paper a bit larger than the diameter of the pan and screw it into a ball under the tap. Shake off excess water and place over the vegetables, like a blanket. Pop on the lid over the top and cook on a gentle heat for 10 minutes.

Take off the lid and discard the greaseproof paper. Stir the veg and add the stock. Cook for about 5 more minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Take off the heat and use a hand blender to blitz to a smooth, creamy soup. Now put back on the heat and add the cabbage. Leave to cook on medium/low heat for about 7 minutes, or until the cabbage is tender and add the bacon, ripped into pieces.

Check for seasoning, I added pepper but you may not need salt because of the bacon.  Serve with bread and butter and enjoy!

Raspberry & White Chocolate Trifasu

Being the stickler for tradition that I am, every Christmas I always make a trifle. It goes back to being a child and watching my late father make one. It was his contribution to Christmas and a lovely memory. I decided for the first time in years to make something different so came up with a cross between a trifle and a tiramisu.

It not only turned out beautifully but was considerably quicker to put together. Delicious!

Ingredients:

12 sponge fingers
10 cl raspberry liqueur
80ml cherry juice
300g raspberries
250g double cream
250g ready made custard
3 tbsp. icing sugar, sieved
50g white chocolate

Method:

Whip the cream until stiff and stir in the custard and icing sugar. Set to one side. Chop half of the chocolate and 'flake' the rest with a sharp knife or potato peeler.

Pour the juice and liqueur into a bowl and dip the sponger fingers in quickly. You don't want to let the fingers soak in the liquid too much or become saturated.

Place half the sponge fingers into a serving dish and top with half of the raspberries and then the chopped chocolate. Then a layer custard cream. Then more sponge, the rest of the raspberries and then the custard cream - ending with the chocolate shavings. Refrigerate for 3 hours to set. and then serve!