Sunday, May 26, 2013

Slow Cooker Chicken Brunswick Stew Recipe

Serves 3 - 4

Prep time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 6 - 8 hours
Total time - 6 1/2 to 8 1/2 hours 

You will need
A slow cooker/crock pot

Ingredients
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 chicken stock/bouillon cube (gluten free if you have it)
6 skinless chicken thighs - bone in
1 lb/450g baby new potatoes - unpeeled - halved
1 onion - chopped
18 fl oz/500ml tomato passata
1 tbsp  Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
5oz/140g frozen sweetcorn - defrosted
5oz/140g frozen edamame beans/soya beans OR lima beans - defrosted

Method
  • Place the chicken, potatoes and onion in the slow cooker - sprinkle over all of the herbs, salt, pepper and stock/bouillon cube.
  • Pour the tomato passata and Worcestershire sauce over the top of the chicken and vegetables. Give it all a very gentle stir.
  • Cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.
  • Add the sweetcorn and beans, cover and cook for a further 30 minutes.
  • Remove chicken from the slow cooker with a slotted spoon and gently remove the meat from the bone. It should just slide off. 
  • Cut the chicken into large pieces and return to the pot (discard the chicken bones).
  • Serve with thick slices of home made bread to sop up the sauce.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Leftover Parmesan Mashed Potato Patties


Leftover Parmesan Mashed Potato Patties

Skinnytaste.com

Servings: 4 • Size: 2 patties • Old Points: 3 pt • Points+: 4 pts 
Calories: 147.1 • Fat: 3.9 g • Carbs: 20.5 • Fiber: 1.8 • Protein: 8.7 g • Sugar: 1.3
Sodium: 232.8 mg (without salt)

Ingredients:
  • 2 2/3 cups cold leftover skinny garlic mashed potatoes
  • 2 large egg whites or 1/4 cup egg beaters
  • 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1/3 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
  • cooking spray (I used Smart Balance)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425°. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Fill a small bowl with egg whites, whisking well. Fill another bowl with the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, mix to combine.

Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, form potatoes into 8 patties. Brush patties with egg whites (or you can use your hands to spread egg on), then dip into breadcrumb mixture. Place patties onto the baking sheet and spray the top with more cooking spray.


Bake for 15 minutes, or until the bottom becomes golden brown; flip and cook an additional 10-12 minutes, until golden on both sides.

Makes 8 patties.

Roast Beef


From Simply Recipes

Classic roast beef recipe using rump roast, round roast, or sirloin tip. This slow roasting method at low heat is good for tougher cuts of beef; the lower heat prevents any gristle from getting too tough.
  • Cook time: 3 hours

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 to 3 1/2 lbs (1.3 to 1.6 kg) of Boneless Rump Roast (pick an end cut with a layer of fat if you can)
  • Olive oil
  • 8 slivers of garlic
  • Salt and pepper
You will need a meat thermometer
For the gravy:
  • Red wine, water, and or beef stock
  • corn starch

METHOD

1 Start with the roast at room temperature (remove from refrigerator 1 hour before cooking - keep it wrapped). Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
2 With a sharp knife make 8 small incisions around the roast. Place a sliver of garlic into each incision. Take a tablespoon or so of olive oil and spread all around the roast. Sprinkle around the roast with salt and pepper. Place the roast directly on an oven rack, fatty side up, with a drip pan on a rack beneath the roasting rack. This arrangement creates convection in the oven so that you do not need to turn the roast. The roast is placed fat side up so that as the fat melts it will bathe the entire roast in its juices.

3 Brown the roast at 375°F (190°C) for half an hour. Lower the heat to 225°F (107°C). The roast should take somewhere from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours additionally to cook. The shape of the roast will affect the cooking time, by the way. So if your roast is on the long and narrow side, versus a more round shape, it may take less time to cook. So keep an eye on it. When the roast just starts to drip its juices and it is brown on the outside, check the temperature with a meat thermometer. Pull the roast from the oven when the inside temperature of the roast is 135° to 140°F (57°C to 60°C). Let the roast rest for at least 15 minutes, tented in aluminum foil to keep warm, before carving to serve.
To make the gravy:
Remove the dripping pan from the oven and place on the stove top at medium heat. Note that if you are pulling the roast out early, for rare or a medium rare level of doneness, you may not have a lot of drippings. Hopefully you will have some. If not, you may want to leave the roast in a little longer at even lower heat, 175°F, to ease some more drippings out of it. Add some water, red wine, or beef stock to the drippings to deglaze (loosen the drippings from the pan). Dissolve a tablespoon of cornstarch in a little water and add to the drip pan. Stir quickly while the gravy thickens to avoid lumping. You can add a little butter if there is not a lot of fat in the drippings. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mom adds some fresh thyme too if she has some. (See also How to Make Gravy.)
Yield: Serves 4-6.

From Jamie Oliver
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

  • 1.5 kg quality topside of beef
  • 2 medium onions
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 1 bulb garlic
  • 1 small bunch fresh thyme, rosemary, bay or sage, or a mixture
  • olive oil
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
 

Method

To prepare your beef:
Take your beef out of the fridge 30 minutes before it goes into the oven. Preheat your oven to 240°C/475°F/ gas 9. There's no need to peel the vegetables – just give them a wash and roughly chop them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled.

Pile all the veg, garlic and herbs into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Drizzle the beef with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper, rubbing it all over the meat. Place the beef on top of the vegetables.

To cook your beef:
Place the roasting tray in the preheated oven. Turn the heat down immediately to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and cook for 1 hour for medium beef. If you prefer it medium-rare, take it out 5 to 10 minutes earlier. For well done, leave it in for another 10 to 15 minutes.

If you're doing roast potatoes and veggies, this is the time to crack on with them – get them into the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking. Baste the beef halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them burning.

When the beef is cooked to your liking, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the beef to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so. Cover it with a layer of tinfoil and a tea towel and put aside while you make your gravy, horseradish sauce and Yorkshire puddings.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Bacon Candy

Makes 20 strips

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1.5 tsp chile powder
20 slices of thick-cut bacon (1.5lbs)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with foil. In a small bowl, whisk the brown sugar with the chile powder. Arrange the bacon strips on the foil and coat the tops with the chile sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes until caramelized and almost crisp. **It may be faster depending on your oven and the sugar makes them burn easily so check them after 18min. Transfer the bacon to a rack set over a sheet of foil to cool completely; serve.

The bacon candy can be made earlier in the day; store at room temperature.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Waffle Recipe


INGREDIENTS:
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
DIRECTIONS:
1.Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and vanilla, just until smooth.
2.Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower


Ingredients

  • 4 cups broccoli florets
  • 4 cups cauliflower florets
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the broccoli and cauliflower florets. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Pour the mixture over the broccoli and cauliflower and toss to coat the vegetables.
  3. Place seasoned florets on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet.  Roast for about 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly tender and lightly browned.
  4. Toss the vegetable mixture with balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies

Makes 18 cookies

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 & 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt 
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup Nutella 

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer add both sugars, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and egg and mix until smooth and creamy.  In a separate small bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.  Add the Nutella and using a knife swirl it into the batter.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

While it's in the refrigerator, preheat your oven to 350 and spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray.  When the dough is done chilling, scoop about a 1/4 cup of dough out and roll it into a ball and place on cookie sheet (no more than 12 on a cookie sheet).  With a fork, press down gently on each cookie to flatten it a bit and to give it the cookies a nice pattern on top.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.