Spicy coriander chicken with udon noodles

This recipe is what you call a "speedy dinner" in one of my Donna Hay bibles and she is right! If you're after a midweek meal that is fast and full of flavour and most importantly can be clasified as being good for you I think you should try this one. One word of warning though.....remove the chilli seeds if you're wanting the kids to try it or you don't want the "kick". I left the seeds in and even though it was pretty spicy No 1 and 2 gave it a go but No 3 was sipping water after every mouth full!! It was so easy and I will remove the chilli seeds next time just to compare but if you're a chilli junkie like I'm a chocolate junkie just leave those seeds in.

You will need:
3 cups coriander (cilantro) leaves, plus extra, to serve
2 long red chillies, chopped
1/2 cup (70g) unsalted peanuts
1/2 cup (125ml) lime juice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon caster (superfine) sugar
3 x 200g chicken breast fillets, cut into strips
2 x 440g packets udon noodles, blanched
200g green beans, thinly sliced and blanched

Place the coriander, chilli, peanuts, lime juice, oil, mirin and sugar in the bowl of a small food processor and process until roughly chopped.

Place half the coriander mixture in a bowl with chicken and toss to coat.

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and cook the chicken for 12 - 14 minutes or until cooked through.
The udon noodles need to be blanched in boiling water as per packet instructions and I also blanched my beans at this point in the same saucepan of boiling water.

Place the noodles, beans and remaining coriander mixture in a bowl and mix to combine.

Top the noodles with the chicken and extra coriander leaves to serve.

Enjoy! M x

Ham, leek and cheddar impossible pie

The word "impossible" is definitely the opposite for this pie. If you're looking for one of those quick and easy mid-week meals or perhaps like we were on this particular day, a lazy Sunday afternoon late lunch. We don't usually go all out and make hot lunches every weekend but the kids were sick of the same old ham and cheese sandwiches and with the weather being a little chilly here in Oz, this warm pie filled that empty spot (I think the kids have endless bottomless pits in their stomachs).

A great little recipe for all that extra ham at Christmas time also and I guess you could add some extra's to accommodate your own tastes. It was very easy and quick and I actually came across this one in one of my Donna Hay Kids issues. Of course I told my number 1, 2 and 3 that it was from a 'kids' recipe book and in their minds that already ticked a major box!! My three cherubs tend to try things if they can see the ingredients before it goes into the actual dish and a big plus about it being from a kids issue is that in their minds it must be okay because other kids eat it!!! (If only they knew). I can happily say all 3 tried this one and 2 out of 3 thumbs up (can't expect much from Miss newly turned 6 at the moment).

Does anyone else have that one little fussy eater residing in their house?

You will need:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
sea salt and cracked black pepper
3 eggs
1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups (375ml) milk
150g double smoked ham, shredded
1 cup (100g) grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 200 degrees (400F). Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over high heat. Add the leek and garlic and cook for 5 - 7 minutes or until golden and softened.

  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.  Place the eggs and flour in a bowl and whisk well to combine.

 Gradually add the milk and whisk to combine.  Place the leek, ham and cheese in a lightly greased 24cm-round (1.5 litre-capacity) ovenproof baking dish.

 Pour over the milk mixture, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover loosely with aluminium foil.  Cook for 30 minutes.

 Uncover, and cook for further 30-35 minutes or until cooked through.

 Allow to stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with a simple green salad.

Serves 4  M x

Butterfly jam tarts

August is a birthday bonanza at our house and I wanted to share a few different things I made for Miss 6's official party, though you don't need a party to make these beautiful jam tarts! You could also make any shape really - butterflies, fairies and ballerinas featured at this party so the butterfly was a perfect fit. These were a great hit with adults so maybe I don't really need a party for an excuse after all!!!

I had a butterfly cookie cutter and some tiny love heart shaped ones which is what was asked for in this recipe but I don't think my actual butterfly was the exact size that was recommended as I was only able to cut 2 love hearts instead of the required 4 but it still worked fine. I found them easy to make and I loved how the jam mixture, even though exposed through the cut out hearts, didn't ooze out all over the shortcrust pastry and it held it's shape. It really was a novel idea that I spotted in the latest Donna Hay Kids issue and just had to try of course. Who doesn't like eating jam tarts off a stick!

You will need:
1/2 cup (65g) sweetened dried cranberries
1/4 cup (80g) raspberry jam
1 tablespoon caster sugar
4 sheets store-bought shortcrust pastry, thawed
1 egg, lightly beaten
18 wooden sticks (paddle pop sticks I used)
white sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place the cranberries, jam and sugar in a small food processor and process until a rough paste forms.

 Using a 5cm x 7cm butterfly-shaped cookie cutter, cut 36 shapes from the pastry. Using a 1cm x 1.5cm heart shaped cookie cutter, cut 4 heart shapes or 2 like I have above from half the butterflies. Place the whole butterflies on lightly greased baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the jam mixture into the centre of each whole butterfly and brush the edges with egg. Lightly press a wooden stick onto the base of each butterfly and top with the remaining butterfly shapes.

 Press the edges to seal, brush with egg, and sprinkle with white sugar. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until light and golden. Allow to cool on the trays before serving.

Enjoy! Mx

Melt and Mix Chocolate Coconut Cake - My Birthday Girl!

It was one of those weeks in our household where I needed an easy option for a birthday cake as I think I have mentioned before that birthdays in the M household are all extremely close together. In fact, Miss 11 and Miss 6 are only one day apart from each other!! This year Miss 6 was having her first official party with her little friends from school, but over the last few years, Miss 11 has had to share one or two cakes with her younger sister. With that in mind I set about trying to find something fast and simple that Miss 11 could take to school and feel special with. This particular cake was from two different books both being Donna Hay ones. The Kit Kats and the M and M's caught my attention for the "simple" part I was after and I can't actually recall which of my many books this came from but the actual cake under all those yummy chocolates was from a very well used Donna Hay book that I use often, called "Donna Hay - Modern Classics - Book 2". The cake itself was a first for me and just as simple as the decorations but extremely yummy (Miss 11 brought home one remaining piece that I was allowed to sample). It tasted like a Golden Rough and the combination of chocolate and coconut was down right delicious (even if I do say so myself).

The cake tin I used was a 24cm round cake tin but the beauty of this cake is that you could make it as big or small as you want and yes you could do something that I personally would NEVER do and use a packet mix for your actual cake (not mentioning any names but you know who you all are - packet queen peeps!!). In saying that the bigger the cake the more KitKats you will need, I had to buy 3 packets of the snack size Kitkats as it took 24 of them and there is only 11 in each packet (I most probably needed 3 packets regardless as you all know my fetish for chocolate). You only need one packet of the mini mm's but it's the large packet that I bought.

You will need:
250g melted butter
3/4 cup sifted cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup of milk

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and grease your 24 cm round cake tin. Melt your butter and place it a large bowl.

Add your sifted cocoa powder, caster sugar, eggs, desiccated coconut, plain flour, baking powder and milk to your melted butter and whisk until smooth.

Pour into your greased tin and bake for 50 minutes.

After your cake is cool,  ice and serve or if you don't want to put all those decorations on it you can dust with cocoa powder and serve warm or cold with thick cream!
I don't have a recipe for the icing I have made as I tend to make most of my icing just from my head and a way that I was taught by my Mother which just involves icing sugar, a knob of butter and some milk to combine it together (for chocolate just add cocoa powder).

YUM!! M x

Brioche

Do you ever flick through your cook books and make mental pictures or notes in your head of those particular pages that you really want to try but get filed either in the "too hard basket" or the "maybe one day basket"? I actually feel a little lost if I haven't at least, once a week, pressed that little red button on my oven to ignite the gas and either whipped up an old favourite (taking the easy route!) or like this brioche, searched through my mental "too hard basket" and have a crack at something a little out of my comfort zone.

I have made a few recipes that have asked for brioche and of course I have just bought some from my local supermarket or bakery but have always wanted to have a go at making it myself. It is not the type of recipe that can be made on the spur of the moment, it requires a little planning and sometimes for me that can be quite difficult because I tend to wake up and want it straight away.

Well I was a good girl and made a date with my brioche and what a date it was.....rich, decadent, soft and buttery. I think I'm moving to Paris now, just haven't told Mr M yet!! It was well worth all the proving time, probably a good thing it takes so long as it's not something you could eat every single day (well not great for my thighs) but something I would HIGHLY recommend and if you want to impress someone. Even my little ones were extremely impressed!
If you do manage to have any left overs don't forget to use it in a bread and butter pudding or even some french toast for breakfast. I happened to pick a particular chilly day (well for Brissy it was cold) to make this brioche and throughout the recipe you need to rest it in a warm spot. I had to turn my heater on to heat up the room a little as the sun wasn't even shining.....the things we do for brioche!!!

You will need:  This particular recipe was found in "a cooks guide" by Donna Hay
1 x 8g sachet dry yeast
1 tablespoon lukewarm water
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt flakes
2 tablespoons lukewarm milk
1 2/3 cups (250g) 00 flour (This flour was just in my local supermarket, it's used for pasta, breads etc)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
225g butter, chopped and softened
1 egg, extra, lightly beaten

Place the yeast and water in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface.

Combine the sugar, salt and milk in a separate bowl.

 Place the flour, yeast mixture and egg in a bowl of an electric mixer and, using a dough hook, beat on low for 1 minute.

 Increase speed to high, add the milk mixture and beat for 10 minutes or until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.

While the motor is running, gradually add the butter and beat for 6 - 7 minutes or until glossy and elastic.

Place the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place for 2 - 3 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

At this point you will notice it quite buttery around the edges don't worry it's quite normal.
Divide the dough into 4 equal size balls and kneed on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a 22cm x 8cm lightly greased loaf tin, cover with a clean, damp cloth and set aside for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (350F). Make a cut in the centre of each ball, brush with the extra egg and bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until golden.  Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

 YUM YUM YUM!!!