Sweet & Sour Chicken

I didn't think home made sweet and sour could be as good as what you get from the take aways, but this recipe was a success in our house, not only with me, but with my fussy hubby who'll only ever order sweet and sour chicken from the Chinese! This one's definitely going on the list of things to make again!

Rob gave me Tana Ramsay's 'Real Family Food' book for Christmas so one of the first things I did was to go through it with the post it tabs and bookmark everything I want to try out. Amongst those that were tabbed was her recipe for Chicken Skewers with Sweet and Sour Sauce. I've used this as a basis for this sweet and sour chicken dish and adapted a bit to make it more of a cantonese style dish instead of skewers with dip.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
Handful of chopped red pepper

Marinade
3 limes, juiced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp plain flour

Sauce
150ml water
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp salt
Handful of pineapple pieces from a tin (with natural juices)
1 tbsp juice from tin of pineapple
2 tsp cornflour mixed in 2 tsp water


Recipe
1. Mix together the marinade ingredients then add the chicken strips. Leave to marinate for 2 hours or overnight.
2. Heat a little oil in a pan and add the chicken and pepper (do not add excess marinade) and cook through for 5-10 minutes stirring often.
3. Mix together the ingredients for the sauce (except the cornflour in water) and bring to the boil. Stir in the cornflour mix and simmer for a few minutes.
4. Stir sauce in with the chicken and peppers and serve immediately.

My Christmassy Terrine

Are you tired of Christmas dinner by now? If not you should give this a go, Even if you are what the heck, try it anyways.

I spotted a recipe in a magazine before Christmas (I think it was Sainsbury's own mag but not entirely sure) which I read and kept the idea in mind for during the Christmas period. The original recipe looked beautiful with dried apricots, nuts and cranberries all mixed in but I had to leave these out of my version of this recipe for husband to be able to enjoy it too.

This was rather tasty and really very easy to make but looks a bit more complicated and impressive - I love things like that!



Ruth's Christmassy Terrine

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 white onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 tsbp olive oil
18 rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon
8 skinned and boned chicken thighs, diced into a mix of small and large pieces
150g pork mince
2 slices of bread, blended into breadcrumbs
1 tbsp brandy
1 tsp sage
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp lemon juice
salt
pepper

Recipe
1. Fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Leave to cool for a bit.
2. Line a loaf tin with the streaky bacon, leaving a few to the side
3. Mix together the rest of the ingredients in a bowl then pour into the bacon lined tin.
4. Cover the top with the overhanging bacon and layering extra bacon over the top.
5. Cover over with tin foil and place in an oven dish. Part fill the dish with hot water and place into the oven at 180˚C for 1 hour.
6. Remove from the oven and carefully drain off any fat. Leave to cool.



This can be served hot or cold, if you want it hot place a few slices in the oven at 180˚C for 5-10 minutes
Great served with some roast root veggies, potatoes and cranberry sauce.

Marmalade Chicken

Sorry!!!!!! I've been such a bad blogger lately but life has just been mental and though I would have had time to blog it would have burned me out so I apologise for not being around much lately - and haven't visited other blogs either so I've that to catch up on too!

I'm getting back into the swing of things with a great quick simple dinner - marmalade chicken. A one dish dinner which everyone will love (except my weird husband lol).



Marmalade Chicken
Source: Tesco Magazine (can't remember the issue)
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 medium sized white potatoes
3 shallots, peeled and cut into 6ths
1 red pepper (I used a mixture of peppers), sliced into strips
2 chicken breasts
4 tbsp marmalade

Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 175˚C
2. Peel the potatoes and cut into 1.5cm cubes. Spread evenly over the base of a baking dish and spray with oil.
3. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
4. Spread the shallots and peppers over the top of the potatoes and spray with oil.
5. Place the chicken breasts on top and place back in the oven for 15 minutes
6. Glaze the chicken with the marmalade and return to the oven for a final 10 minutes.

Voila! Delicious chicken dinner!!!!

Taste and Create: Twice the Spice Chicken

I owe you all a big apology. I haven't been blogging the last fortnight because I've been a little distracted with work and by our second anniversary celebrations!

About a month ago Rob and I decided to plan surprises for each other to celebrate so on Sunday when I got home from work, Rob told me to pack my bags and surprised me with a trip to Paris for a couple of days!



I'm surprising Rob tomorrow, but it won't be anywhere near as exciting as Paris!!!!

For now though I'm cutting it tight on posting this month's Taste and Create entry. I was paired with In the Garden of Eatin' - a fun food blog filled with recipes for every day healthy cooking on a budget.

I decided to make twice the spice chicken. A quick tasty dinner for sure!

Twice the Spice Chicken
Source: In the Garden of Eatin'

Ingredients
1.5 lbs Chicken (I used diced chicken breast)
1/3 cup Canola Oil (I used rapeseed oil)
1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1/4 Tbsp Onion Powder
1/4 Tbsp Season Salt
Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce (I've never heard of this before, so used Jerk/BBQ sauce)



Recipe
1. Heat grill pan (or normal pan) to medium high heat.
2. In a large bowl combine oil, chili powder, onion powder and season salt (this is your first spicy layer). Toss chicken to coat.
3. Transfer chicken to the grill pan and cook through.
4. When the chicken is done cooking stir in the sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Buttermilk Chicken

I'm absolutely loving the Nigella Express book I got in the January sales. I'm pretty sure I've made loads more out of it than any other cook book I have.

I found some chicken drumsticks in the freezer and immediately thought of this recipe and I'm glad I did, because it was beautifully juicy and tender and full of flavour. Thank you again Nigella!!!

Buttermilk Chicken
Source: Nigella Express, Nigella Lawson, p274

Ingredients
12 chicken drumsticks
500ml buttermik
60ml vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, skinned and bruised
1 tbsp crushed peppercorns
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Recipe
1. Mix together the buttermilk, 60ml oil, garlic, pepper, salt, cumin and maple syrup.
2. Place the chicken in a ziplock bag and pour in the mixture. Squish everything around to marinade
3. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes but if possible overnight
4. Preheat oven to 220˚C. Place chicken pieces in a roasting tine lined with foil, shaking off the excess marinade
5. Drizzle the 2 tbsp oil over the chicken and roast for 30 minutes.

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

I had decided that in an effort to make more of the recipes I bookmark that I should do 3 recipes a month from the food magazines I buy. I've done one better and made a fourth - Thai Chicken Noodle Soup



Thai Chicken Noodle Soup
Easy Food Magazine, January 2009, p37
Serves 2

Ingredients
200g chicken breast, diced
1/2 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp red curry paste
1 tsp ginger, grated
120ml chicken stock
400ml coconut milk
1/2 lime, juice
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
300g straight to wok noodles
2 spring onions, finely sliced
fresh coriander, to garnish

Recipe
1. Mix the chicken and cornflour.
2. Heat the oil in a pot and gently fry the curry paste and ginger for 1 minute.
3. Add the chicken and fry til browned.
4. Add the stock and simmer for 3 minutes.
5. Add the coconut milk, lime juice, oyster sauce and soy sauce.
6. Cook the noodles in a pan for a minute or two then stir into the soup.
7. Serve the soup topped with spring onions and coriander.

Maple Syrup and Mustard Chicken

As part of my effort to make at least 3 of the recipes I bookmark in food mags each month this is recipe 2 for January.... maple syrup and mustard chicken.

This was so tasty and VERY easy. I'll definitely be doing this again.



Maple Syrup and Mustard Chicken
Sourced from Easy Food Magazine Jan 09 p 21
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
4 bacon rashers
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsbp wholegrain mustard

Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 190˚C. Mix the maple syrup and mustard together.
2. Wrap each chicken breast with 2 rashers of bacon - one across the width and one lengthways.
3. Place the chicken breasts on a roasting tray and cover by brushing with the maple syrup/mustard mix.
4. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes then serve.


This is my entry for this week's bookmarked recipes.

Fragrant Asian Chicken Curry

I regularly fold pages over in my Easy Food magazines, but so often forget about the recipes. I'm trying to make a bit of a resolution to make at least 3 of the recipes from the magazine for the month that it has been published.

The first one I've made from the January 09 issue is "Fragrant Asian Chicken Curry". It was an easy recipe to put together, with lots of different flavours in it. I couldn't help but add in some of my own additions to the recipe too.



Fragrant Asian Chicken Curry
Easy Food Magazine, January 2009, p 43
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
1" fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 red chilis, deseeded and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 shallots, finely diced
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp hot curry powder my addition to the recipe
4 chicken drumsticks (I used diced chicken breast and reduced the simmering time)
1/2 tin coconut milk
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp fish sauce my addition to the recipe

Recipe
1. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the ginger, chili, garlic and shallots for 3 minutes
2. Stir in the ground spices and sauté for 1-2 minutes
3. Add the chicken and fry for 5-8 minutes until sealed, stirring to coat in the spices
4. Pour the coconut milk in with the lemon juice and fish sauce. Simmer until the liquid has thickened.
5. Season, garnish with fresh coriander and serve with noodles or rice.

Chicken and pea casserole

I was flicking channels one lunch time a few weeks ago when I came across Market Kitchen - I'm a bit of a sucker for cookery shows so I just had to stop and watch. They were making minted gnocchi with chicken and peas when I tuned in so I missed the start of it but the result looked beautiful so I just had to look it up and give it a go.

The next day I was in the kitchen, I had bought all I needed and went for it. All was going well I had been in the kitchen for about 2 hours preparing when all of a sudden I could smell burning - it was the bottom of the pot and it ended up taking the dinner with it. I needed to be a little more attentive to this next time I planned to make it. The gnocchi turned out well though for my first time making it!

I got all the ingredients again and tried it this week, paying closer attention to it all and ended up with a beautiful and delicious meal. I skipped on the gnocchi this time and served with boiled anya potatoes.



Chicken and pea casserole
Adapted from Market Kitchen
Serves 6

Ingredients
3 tbsp Olive oil
1 whole chicken, on the bone, about 900g – 1kg, cut into 10 pieces
1 onion, finely sliced
1 bulb Garlic, cut in half around the middle
1 bunch lemon thyme
1 unwaxed lemon, rind only, peeled into strips
1 large glass White wine
1.4 litres chicken stock
1 tin of drained peas
Dried sage, to serve
100g grated parmesan, to serve

Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C
2. Heat the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole, cook the chicken pieces in batches over a high heat until well browned.
3. Remove the chicken pieces to the side and add the onions, garlic and sage to the casserole. Tie the lemon thyme and lemon peel together with butcher’s twine and add to the pot.
4. Turn down the heat to minimum and slowly sweat the vegetables until the onions are softened but not browned. Turn the heat up to high to steam off any residual vegetable juices.
5. Return the chicken to the pot and add the wine: the liquid should sizzle as it hits the bottom of the pot. Boil until the wine has evaporated, then add the stock to cover the chicken. Bring to a simmer and cover with a lid. Put in the oven to braise until the chicken is still moist but falling off the bone (about 1 hour). Check the level of stock from time to time and top up if a little low.
6. When cooked, transfer the chicken pieces to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes.
7. Lift the garlic and the bouquet of lemon thyme and lemon rind out of the casserole before placing over a medium heat. Simmer the stock until reduced by half and thickened. When nearly there, add the peas and cook for 10 minutes.
8. Strip the chicken from the bones. When the sauce is ready, return the chicken to the casserole. Season to taste.
9. Serve with sage and grated parmesan cheese.






This is my bookmarked recipe for this week.

Garlic and Chili Chicken with Basil

It's been a while since I blogged about something I've cooked or baked so here goes.....

For our first anniversary we were given a cookbook published by one of the local schools. I have had a few recipes from it bookmarked for a while, but forgot I had this book until recently. I decided to make the recipe for garlic and chili chicken with basil because I had all the ingredients to hand and the recipe was also submitted to the book by one of the girls in my youth group whose mum happens to be an awesome cook! How could I resist?

I'm glad I made this, it was delicious and moreish, and was a great way to use up the chili I had. I'm looking forward to making more dishes from this book



Garlic and Chili Chicken with Basil

Ingredients
600g chicken breast, diced
1 small red chilli, deseeded and sliced
1 small green chilli, deseeded and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed2 tsbp olive oil
1" ginger, peeled and finely sliced My addition to the recipe
2 tsbp lemon juice
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
2 onions, diced
2 tsp cornflour
4 spring onions, sliced thinly
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

Recipe
1. Combine chicken, chillies, garlic, lemon juice, oyster sauce and ginger in a bowl and leave to marinade for 3 hours.
2. Heat half the oil in a pan or wok. Stir fry the chicken until browned. Remove from the wok.
3. Heat the remaining oil in the wok and stir fry the onion and pepper until soft.
4. Return the chicken to the wok and add the cornflour and stock. Stir until the mixture thickens slightly.
5. Stir in the basil and spring onion. Serve with rice.

Thai Green Chicken Curry

I've blogged about Thai green curry and Thai red curry before but both of those recipes used a store bought paste and I was really wanting to try making them without a pre made paste someday. I recently bought First Crack Your Egg, a fairly basic cookery book, but I thought it may encourage my hubby with a kitchen phobia to try some simple dishes. While looking through it I found a great recipe for thai green chicken curry and just had to try it.

I had added ginger to the recipe to add a little more flavour and texture to the dish and used only 1 small lime instead of 3 large ones. It was definitely tasty and not as complicated to make as I thought but this recipe tasted a little blander than I'm used to. I'll be trying it again sometime but adapting a little more.

This is my entry for Bookmarked Recipes (20).



Thai Green Chicken Curry

Serves 2

Ingredients
6 spring onions
2 large green chillis, deseeded
3 garlic cloves
1/2" ginger (My addition to the recipe)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 chicken breasts, diced
juice and zest of 1 small lime (original recipe calls for 3 large)
1 tsp ground kaffir lime
1 tsp ground lemongrass
1 tsbp fish sauce
400ml coconut milk
1 tbsp coriander leaf

Recipe
1. Chop the spring onions. Blitz the chilli, garlic and ginger together in a mini blender or crush in a mortar and pestle.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok. Add the spring onion and chili, garlic & ginger paste and stir so as not to burn. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the chicken and cook for 4 minutes or until sealed.
4. Stir in the lime and lemongrass, making sure it is well mixed.
5. Add the fish sauce and coconut milk. Stir well and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Mix in the coriander and cook for a further 2-3 minutes before serving with jasmine rice.

Chicken and Bacon Pie

This week for my bookmarked recipes event I've been brave and made a savoury pie for the first time ever. I've made apple pie and rhubarb pie but today I made a chicken and bacon pie. I took a recipe from a food magazine I love, Easy Food, which was originally chicken and ham but knew that my dear hubby Rob hates ham so I used some cooked bacon instead.




Chicken and Bacon Pie

Serves 4

Ingredients
200g ready-made frozen shortcrust pastry (thawed) (I used 2 ready made round shortcrust pastry portions)
pepper
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
500g cooked chicken breast, cubed
3 bacon rashers, cooked and diced
1 onion, diced
1.5 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup chicken stock
milk, for glazing
70ml single cream (light cream)

Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line your pie dish with half of the pastry
2. Put the pepper, flour, nutemeg and chicken in a ziplock bag and shake until the ingredients are well combined.
3. Layer half the onion in the pie dish, top with half the chicken, then half the ham, then the rest of the onion, then the chicken and ham.
4. Pour the melted butter over the top, then pour in the chicken stock and top the pie with the rest of the pastry.
5. Cut 3 deep slits in the top of the pie (to allow steam to release during cooking and allows access for cream to be added later).
6. Brush some milk over the top to glaze the pie.
7. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown and cooked through.
8. Remove from the oven and stand for 5 minutes. Pour the cream into the pie through the slits (I found this a bit tricky and fiddly). Leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Green chilli chicken

I decided it was high time I experimented again in the kitchen and spotted some green chilli that needed used up and had some chicken and several other things on hand so I threw together this tasty little dish. Rob really loved this too but mainly because I kept the veg to myself and gave him more of the chicken.

I've sent this recipe off to Sangeeth for the Eat Healthy - Protein Rich contest.





Green chilli and cashew chicken

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 green chilli, deseeded and sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 tsp ground ginger (I was going to use fresh but discovered I had run out and not restocked!)
Pinch of sugar
200ml chicken stock
1 tsp cornflour
Handul of cashew nuts
Handful of sliced mushrooms
Handful of broccoli
Handful of cooked sliced bamboo shoots
1 or 2 spring onions cut diagonally

Recipe
1. Mix the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, green chilli, garlic, ginger and sugar in a bowl. Add the chicken and leave to marinade for at least 1 hour.
2. Place a wok on a medium heat and add the marinated chicken. Stir fry for 5 minutes until cooked through.
3. Add the stock, cornflour and cashew nuts and leave to simmer and reduce for 15 minutes.
4. Add the mushrooms, brocolli, bamboo shoots and spring onions and cook for 3/4 minutes.
5. Serve with rice and chopsticks..... enjoy!!!!

Buttered Chicken

This week's bookmarked recipe is from a cookbook called "Simple chicken recipes" that I bought in Tesco quite some time ago for 96p and after looking through it had bookmarked a few then left it to gather dust for a while. I needed a quick and tasty dinner this week, and fancied something different from my usual quick dinners and this was the result: buttered chicken.

Absolutely delicious! I will definitely be doing this again.



Buttered chicken

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Pepper
Flour (about 1/3 cup)
2-3 tbsp butter
1 tsp dried parsley

Recipe
1. Place the chicken in a sandwich bag and flatten by bashing with a rolling pin.
2. Mix the flour, salt and flour on a plate then dredge the chicken through it until it is well covered.
3. Melt the butter in a frying pan on a medium high heat then add the chicken, leave to cook for 5 minutes
4. Turn the chicken over and reduce the heat. Sprinkle the parsley over the top and leave to cook for 5-8 minutes until cooked through.

Yeung's Chinese Curry Mix

If you've been reading this blog for a couple of months now you'll know that I was at Enjoy the Taste of Scotland at the end of April and got given lots of goodies! I've finally got round to using something else I received that day: Yeung's chinese curry mix. I wasn't too keen on the look of it and prefer making my own curry sauce from scratch anyways but I had a go at it to see and save it going to waste. Before reading the instructions on how to make the sauce I had decided to make chicken curry and add peas and onion, then I looked at the instructions and found they recommended adding peas and onion for chicken curry! So that's what I did - made up the sauce with the chicken, peas and onion, served it with rice and ate. I have to say I was a bit apprehensive while making this because when I mixed the curry mix with the water before adding to the chicken etc it was really rather lumpy and not at all appetising to look at, however when it was left to simmer for a few minutes it came out good. I think marks out of 10 for this product would be about a 7 because although it tasted good and was easy to throw together I don't think it was as tasty as my usual home made chicken curry sauce, but very handy if ever you're in a big rush for dinner!

RFJ 5: Apricot and Cranberry Chicken Kiev

It's Royal Foodie Joust time again! This month the ingredients were picked by Erin (The Skinny Gourmet) and were apricot, ginger and butter. Now these just scream dessert to me but I'm trying to avoid too many desserts at the minute so the thinking cap went on for a dinner dish - I actually fell asleep one night thinking through lots of ideas and woke up knowing exactly what I was going to do! Weird huh? I don't know how exactly I decided to make an apricot and cranberry chicken kiev but I have to say it was delicious. I made it for dinner tonight and loved it! (I left out the apricot and cranberry filling for hubby though - have I mentioned that he's picky? lol). My photos don't show the filling too well unfortunately but trust me it's there.



Apricot and cranberry chicken kiev

Serves 1

Ingredients
1 skinless chicken breast

Filling
1 garlic clove
10g peeled ginger
1 rounded tsp cranberry sauce
1 tsp butter
1 peeled apricot

Coating
2 slices of white bread
10g ginger
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

Also needed
flour
egg

Recipe
1. Blend together all the ingredients for the filling
2. Cut a pocket in the chicken breast and fill with the filling.
3. Blend together the coating ingredients
4. Roll the chicken breast in the flour, dip in the egg then roll in the coating
5. Bake in a preheated oven of 180˚C for 30 minutes then serve

Chicken with peppercorns and shredded ginger for 200 posts and Bookmarked Recipes

I can't believe it!!!!! This is my 200th post on Ruth's Kitchen Experiments!!! I was hoping to make a special treat for this occasion however I have a few things to get done for various food events, as well as a big clear out of our house for getting some new furniture and things in and on top of that I'm going to be away from Thursday evening until Tuesday morning at Summer Madness. Don't worry Bookmarked Recipes will still go ahead with a special guest host and I'll also have a couple of scheduled posts to keep you all reading! But back to what I was saying, I was hoping to make a special treat like a cake, or cookies or something, but I'm posting this delicious dinner we had tonight instead.

It's from Anjum Anand's "Indian Food Made Easy" cookbook. The original recipe is for 6 so again I had to reduce the recipe for just the 2 of us and also used chicken breasts instead of joints because it's what I had on hand. I made the marinade for 6 servings for ease with the stock then adjusted the rest of the ingredients.



Chicken with peppercorns and shredded ginger

Serves 2

Ingredients
Marinade
9 or 10 cloves of garlic, peeled
10g fresh ginger peeled
1 tsp garam masala
1 chicken stock cube, dissolved in 3 tbsp hot water

Other ingredients
2 chicken breasts, skinned
1 tbsp vegetable oil rapeseed oil
1/3 small onion 1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped
1 green chilli
5g fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into shreds
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp amchur powder (mango powder) - an addition of mine to this recipe and an ingredient I recently bought in a new Indian food shop
salt, to taste
2/3 cup water This is actually double the reduced quantity but in order for the chicken to cook through properly you need this
1 tsp coarse ground black peppercorns
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp lemon juice
1 handful of fresh chopped coriander

Recipe
1. Blend the garlic, ginger, garam masala and stock together to make a paste. Then cover the chicken with it and leave in the fridge for at least an hour. Bring the meat back to room temperature before cooking.
2. Heat oil in pan and add the onion shallot and sauté for 6-8 minutes until brown. Add the chilli, ginger, ground coriander, amchur powder and salt, leave to cook for about a minute.
3. Add the chicken to the pan and brown each side. Pour in the water and pepper, bring to the boil then lower heat, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
4. Turn up the heat and leave for 3-4 minutes to reduce the sauce.
5. Stir in the garam masala, lemon juice and coriander and serve.


This is my entry for Bookmarked Recipes this week.

Taste and Create: Sweet Bacon Chicken Bites

I really love the blog event Taste and Create. This is my 3rd time taking part now and I just love the idea of being paired up with a fellow food blogger and trying a recipe from their blog. This month I was paired with Phe MOM enon and I had a great time looking through this blog and in fact had about 5 or 6 recipes I really wanted to recreate. This one won me though, because although Phemom had made them before with some adaptations (which sounded delicious to me anyways) she gave the recipe another go but stuck to what she was told and discovered they were tastier by going with the recipe. But I also picked this for the fact that it was something my carnivorous simple eating hubby would eat too. I loved it, he loved it and Stewie loved the one that dropped on the floor! The sweetness of the sugar, the spice of the chili and the crispiness of the bacon. A really delicious dish and it worked great for a weeknight meal too - simple and quick to put together.

The original source is Paula Deen via the Food Network - I've reduced the portions for 2 people and used a little less chili for personal preferences, so here's the recipe as I did it.



Sweet Bacon Chicken Bites

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, cubed into 1" pieces
5 slices of back bacon cut into strips
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp chili powder

Recipe
1. Wrap a bacon strip round each cube of chicken securing with a toothpick.
2. Mix the sugar and chili powder together in a bowl and roll the chicken/bacon in it.
3. Spread on a baking tray and cook in the oven at 170˚C for about 30 minutes.



Thanks for this great recipe PheMOMenon! It was great to be paired with you.

Chicken with Kidney Beans

While hubby's away, Ruth will play. And play I did. I decided for dinner tonight to make a dish that he wouldn't have in a million years. It's a recipe for my Bookmarked Recipes event from Easy Food Magazine (yes I'm back to sharing recipes from it). This actually came at a good time because I had some chicken and kidney beans to use up. I thought the recipe sounded like it was going to taste a little bland so I added some balsamic vinegar, a pinch of cumin, ground coriander and garlic powder to add a little extra to it, however upon tasting I'm sure it would still be delicious without my additions.

The original recipe was for 6 but I obviously had to change that to 1 serving for myself, so the recipe below is for 1 serving.



Chicken with kidney beans

Serves 1

Ingredients
1 skinless chicken breast
salt
pepper
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
olive oil
1 shallot, diced
1 tsp tomato puree
1/3 cup / 80ml chopped tomatoes
Pinch of sugar
1/3 cup / 80ml kidney beans, drained and rinsed.
Pinch of ground cumin
Pinch of ground coriander
Pinch of garlic powder

Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 180˚C
2. Season chicken breast with salt, pepper and pour on the balsamic vinegar. Heat a little olive oil in a pan then brown the chicken on each side. Remove to an oven dish.
3. Fry the onion until soft, add the tomato puree, chopped tomatoes, sugar, garlic powder, coriander and cumin and leave to simmer for a couple of minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then stir in the kidney beans. Pour over the chicken and cover the dish (tin foil works great if you don't have a lid)
5. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes and serve.

Jamican Jerk

Over the past few months I've noticed lots of blogs and tv shows that have been making Jamaican Jerk Chicken, with rice & peas and fried plantain. Anytime I've had jerk chicken I've loved it so it only seemed right to try this complete dish, so I set about trying to find plantain. I hunted and hunted for about 3 or 4 weeks and gave up, just when I did I happened to spot them! The lesson - give up searching sooner and you'll get what you're looking for.

I had bookmarked a recipe from We are never full when I had seen it a while ago so looked it up straight away and got cooking.

Cooking everything was all very straightforward and kept me busy in the kitchen for a bit while Rob was playing some xbox and it all came together at the same time. It was very tasty however the jerk may just have been a little too spicy for my tastes but that's easily fixed in future.



Jamaican Jerk Chicken

SERVES 2-3

Ingredients
2 breasts of chicken, skin on
2 legs of chicken, skin on
2 tbsp. allspice
1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 teaspoon hot paprika
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 scotch bonnet pepper (or other spicy hot pepper)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup of cilantro (you can substitute 1 teaspoon coriander seed)
juice of 1 lime
splash of orange juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 scallions
1 teaspoon soy sauce
pinch of salt and pepper

Recipe
1. Grind the spices down with a spice grinder. Then blend all the ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Adjust the amount of oil to make it a thick paste.
2. Rub this on your chicken and leave to marinate for at least an hour.
3. Cook your chicken pieces at 200˚C for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until juices run clear. For the last minute, crisp it up on a hot frying pan.

Rice and Peas

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
1 cup white rice
1 can red kidney beans
1 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic
1 scallion, sliced
chicken stock OR 1 can coconut milk and water

Recipe
1. Sauté the onion and garlic on medium heat for a few minutes then add the rice, scallions and beans and stir together.
2. Pour enough chicken stock/coconut milk & water over your rice that it comes up the width of 2 fingers above the level of the uncooked rice.
3. Bring to the boil and allow to cook down until it reaches the level of the rice, stir ONCE, turn your heat to low and cover. Cook on low for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes your rice will be perfect, give it a stir and enjoy.

Tostones (Fried Green Plantain)

Ingredients
2 Green Plantain
Vegetable oil
salt

Recipe
1. Heat the oil in a pan. It needs to be about 1/2-3/4" deep.
2. Peel plantains and cut on the diagonal, about 3/4" thick.
3. Fry the plantain once for about 2-3 minutes. Dry on paper towels, then give each a smash with a mallet. Return to pan and fry for another 2 minutes.
4. Drain and serve seasoned with a little salt.

Thanks to We are never full for this recipe.

I've used this as my entry for my Bookmarked Recipes food blog event for this week.