Quickie blog: Pressure Cooker Lemon Chicken Stew

Pressure Cooker Lemon Chicken Stew-serves 4 quite hungry people
I only have experience with an electric pressure cooker so I'm not game to give instruction for a stovetop pressure cooker. If you're more of a veteran than I (not hard), adapt to your needs.
Otherwise, just cook it in a skillet.

8 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, diced
500g mushrooms, quartered (if the stems are nice, I leave them on- even easier!)
1 red capsicum/bell pepper, sliced
350g pitted Spanish olives
1 tsp each of rosemary, thyme and organo
1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup lemon juice
zest of a lemon (optional)
100g feta cheese (the best kind is Danish) (yes, definitively)
250g frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed out (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
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Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Set pressure cooker to browning setting and brown thighs in batches. Remove and set aside.

Add onion and garlic to pressure cooker and sautee until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add mushrooms and capsicum and sautee a minute or two until slightly softened.

Add all other ingredients except spinach and feta to the pressure cooker and season to tastes. Stir well and add chicken thighs back in.

Put lid on and cook for 10 minutes at high pressure. Once the time is up, turn pressure cooker off to stop it switching to Keep Warm (unless of couse you want it to Keep Warm) and quick release pressure.

If using spinach, add it to pressure cooker and stir to combine.

Serve over couscous, rice, pasta etc. with feta crumbled over the top.

If you don't have a pressure cooker: Brown everything in a large skillet using the same instructions as above. Add all the other ingredients (again, except spinach and feta), bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Place lid on skillet and leave to simmer for 25 minutes until chicken is tender and cooked through. Follow the rest of the recipe as above.

Come back soon to read all about giardiniera (I'm working on it, I promise!)
If you're interested in listening to Michael and my podcasts, try It's A Duck Blur (all about DuckTales) or Pop Quiz Hot Shot (a hilarious movie trivia show) both on iTunes and wherever cool podcasts are found. Language warning though!

Quickie blog: Ham and Kimchi Omelette

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Ham and Kimchi Omellete- serves 1 quite hungry/greedy person

50g ham, diced/sliced- I used some deli slices but you could use whatever
2/3 cup kimchi- if using store bought kimchi, squeeze most of the liquid out of it
2 eggs
salt & pepper
corriander (cilantro) to garnish, optional
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Take a small frying pan with short sides and preheat over medium high.

Add the kimchi and ham and fry for 2-3 minutes to 1) take the chill off and 2) let the flavours meld together. Set kimchi-ham mixture aside and wipe out the frying pan (unless you want a bright red omelette).

In a bowl, combine eggs, 1 tablespoon of water and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk well with a fork until the eggs are foamy.

Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil into the frying pan and place on medium heat.

Once pan is hot, add eggs and swirl to coat the pan. As the edges set, lift them and let the uncooked egg on top run underneath.

Once it almost cooked (still slightly runny on top; it'll continue to cook on the plate) scatter the kimchi and ham over half the omelette. Turn off the heat.

Now the tricky part: take a plate and set on the bench. Using a forward-and-back motion, shimmy the omelette, filling half first, out of the frying pan and onto the plate. Once the filling half of the omelette is on the plate, gradually tilt the frying pan so that the other half lands on top of the filling.

Garnish with corriander and enjoy!

A note on kimchi: store-bought is delicious but if you're feeling daring you should give making your own a go. I use my mum's recipe found here but instead of chunks of carrots and daikon, I use cabbage and julienned carrots and I omit the garlic scapes. It's all a matter of preference, just make sure you have 2kg of vegetables to start with.

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Come back soon to read all about how I went making pierogi ruskie.

Parmesan & Walnut Waffles With Creamy Basil Sauce

Adapted from Waffles: From Morning To Midnight by Dorie Greenspan

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup grated Parmesan (pro tip: don't do what I did and grate the cheese over the cup measure at the last minute)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup EVOO
300ml sour cream
bunch of basil, leaves picked off the stalks
100g baby spinach
2 cloves garlic
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1. Preheat your waffle iron as per its instructions. Preheat oven to 100°C (200°F) if you want to serve all the waffles at once.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the milk and eggs and stir to combine. Fold in the Parmesan, walnuts and then, lastly, the oil.

3. Cook waffles according to the iron's instructions (mine yielded 8 square waffles), stashing them in the oven as the cook if that's how you're rolling.

4. MEANWHILE make the sauce. Finely chop (by hand or by food processor) the basil, spinach and garlic together. In a bowl, combine the basil stuff and the sour cream and season with S&P to taste.

5. Serve waffles with the sauce and an awesome salad. YUUUUUM!! (I also made a side of those beans from last week's blog to go with.) 

Egg and Lemon Soup

 

Adapted from The Really Useful Ultimate Student Cookbook by Silvana Franco 

Serves 2

750ml vegetable stock (3 cups)

60g long grain rice

2 eggs, beaten until a litte fluffy

juice of a lemon

100g baby spinach, torn or chopped into large-ish pieces (optional)

1 cup frozen peas (honestly, I didn't measure), (optional)

1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped

S&P to taste

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1. Put stock in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add rice, cover and cook about 15-20 minutes until the rice is just about cooked.

2. Meanwhile, add the lemon juice to the eggs.

3. Once the rice is almost done cooking, add the peas (if using) to the saucepan, bring back to the boil and cook for a minute until the peas are no longer frozen.

4. Turn the heat to low and slowly add the egg mixture to the pot, stirring as you go so it thickens the soup. Add a litte boiling water if it's too thick.

5. Add the spinach, if using, and the parsley to the soup. Stir around for a minute until the spinach is wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Serve, topped with some grated (or powdery) Parmesan.

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*If you live in the Melbourne area, check out Michael's comedy festival show. It's on at 8:30pm every night until 20th and I'll totally give you a discount on the door if you tell me you read my blog. LANGUAGE WARNING THOUGH! And cartoon violence, so not for kids or people offended by these things.

Saloomi Poosta

 

 adapted from Nigella Kitchen by Nigella Lawson

300g small pasta

400g tin chopped tomatoes

400g tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

250g salami, cut into 2cm pieces

2 sprigs each of fresh rosemary and thyme

1. Cook the pasta as per package instructions and meanwhile...

2. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add the salami (no oil needed!) and herbs, frying until the salami is a little coloured.

3. Add the tin of tomatoes and enough water to half fill the tomato tin to the salami. Stir, then add the cannellini beans and stir again. 

4. Simmer the sauce until the pasta is cooked. If the sauce needs it, season with S&P. 

5. Drain the pasta and pour it into the frying pan and toss everything together.

Serve topped with the cheese of your choice (powdered, real, there's no judgement here) and eat, perhaps with a spoon (hey, it's my comfort food).

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P.S. Thank you to all my new Facebook likers. I'm seriously a little giddy over all the love you've given me. Thank you thank you thank you!

Pea and Mint Pasta

Adapted from this blog.

3 cups frozen peas, defrosted
handful of mint leaves
2 cloves garlic, grated
50g toasted pine nuts (plus a little extra for garni--...oh no, I'm a hypocrite!)
1 scant cup of finely grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
500g long pasta of your choice

1.  Put the first seven ingredients in the food processor and blitz until you have a chunky sauce.

2. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Note: you'll want to salt the water really well or this dish turns out a little bland.

3. Before you drain the pasta reserve a mug-ful of the pasta water.

4. Once drained, return the pasta to the pot and add the pea sauce, thinning down with as much pasta water as needed. Toss everything together.

5. Serve topped with more Parmesan, pine nuts and, if you can be bothered, a spring of mint.

No, Ruprecht, it's not pesto.

Celebrate Valentine's Day All Year With Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake Things

 

Don't remember where I got this recipe from. If it's yours let me know so I can credit you.

85g dark cooking chocolate, chopped

95g unsalted butter

2 eggs

85g sugar

30g flour

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

icing sugar for dusting (optional)

ice-cream or cream for serving (optional

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F). Grease two ramekins. Fill a baking tray with enough water to come half way up the sides of the ramekins.

2. Melt butter and chocolate together in the microwave, stirring at 30 second intervals.

3. In another bowl, combine eggs and sugar, whisking for about a minute. Add flour and vanilla and stir to combine. 

4. Add chocolate mixture to flour mixture and stir to combine.

5. Divide mixture evenly between the two ramekins. Place ramekins in tray with water and bake for 15-25 minutes until top is set and edges are crustly but middle is still gooey.

Serve dusted with icing sugar and with some cream or ice-cream.

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For my valentine.

One-Pot Pasta

 

Adapted from She's Leaving Home by Monica Trapaga

500g spiral pasta

1/4 cup olive oil

220g tub bocconcini, drained and sliced

7 Roma tomatoes, diced (I cleaned out the seeds and gunk first coz the tomatoes don't get cooked)

3 cloves of garlic, finely grated (I SWEAR I'm not a plant from Microplane, I just love it)

large handful basil, torn or cut into chiffonade

salt and pepper to taste

splash of balsamic.

1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook the pasta as per package instructions, drain and set aside

2. In a bowl large enough to hold everything, combine the tomatoes, bocconcini, garlic, basil, olive oil and season to taste.

3. Add the pasta to the tomatoes, add the glug of balsamic and toss. Sprinkle Parmesan over the pasta and toss again. 

4. Check seasoning and serve, sprinkled with a little more Parmesan.

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