Chicken Tikka

One of my favourite questions asked each day from my Miss 10 soon to be 11 is "What is for dinner?" (actually probably her favourite, my least favourite). This happens the moment she opens the car door each afternoon when I pick her up from school. Some days I have an immediate answer for her and other days I'd like to pull over on the side of the road and be a crazy lady screaming into the mythical cone of silence!! I now know exactly how my own mum would feel each afternoon arriving home from school and ringing her at work and asking the same question and either getting the answer I want to hear, deathly silence or she would say 'bread and spit'.

I often ask myself why do they bother asking if they know it's going to upset the chef, or if they aren't exactly going to like what they hear. There are a couple of meals that I hear all three kids groan at the mere mention of and they happen to be favourites of mine and ones that I learned from my own Mum. I'm sure B will agree the good old crumbed rissoles were a winner when we were growing up but my three haven't developed the same love for them as Mr M and I have. I will continue making them and continue hearing their cries of disgust each time! (I will win them over one day, make no mistake about that kids).

As most of you know the one particular cuisine that this whole family enjoys is Indian. I'm sure you have all seen and hopefully tried for yourself the "butter chicken" in a previous post. Another chicken dish that has become a regular is one I found in one of my favourite books from Janelle Bloom - "Fab Food for Family and Friends". It has similar flavours and spices and I think that's why kids 1, 2 & 3 all squeal with delight when I mention we are having it for dinner. It really is one of the easiest meals to prepare and the end results are delightfully tasty!

I did everything in the food processor and I have removed the chilli seeds once when I made it but have also left them in (well actually forgot to take them out for the little people but they still ate everything!).

You will need:   Serves 4
4 chicken breasts or 8 thigh fillets (I used chicken breasts)
2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
steamed basmati rice and lime wedges to serve

Marinade
1 red chilli, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon grpound coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 lime, rind finely grated, juiced
1 cup Greek yoghurt - Greek is best for cooking as it won't separate and curdle when heated.

Yoghurt sauce
3/4 cup Greek yoghurt
1 cup mint leaves, chopped
1/4 cup coriander leaves, chopped
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, finely grated

For the marinade, combine the chilli, garlic and ginger in a small food processor and process until finely chopped.

Add all the spices, lime rind, 2 tablespoons of lime juice and the yoghurt and pulse until just combined.

Arrange the chicken in a single layer in a ceramic dish. Spoon over the marinade and turn to coat all the pieces evenly. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight if time permits.

Meanwhile, for the yoghurt sauce, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Remove the chicken from the fridge 15-20 minutes before cooking. Melt the ghee in a large, heavy based non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat. Don't be tempted to increase the heat, or the yoghurt and spices will burn and stick to the pan, Add the chicken and cook for 15 minutes (don't be tempted to turn it early). Turn the chicken for a further 5 - 10 minutes, or until it is cooked through.

Spoon rice onto serving plates, top with chicken and serve with yoghurt sauce and lime wedges.

M x

Roast beetroot salad

In the past, we have always followed family tradition and make the same salads each year at Christmas time. Over the last few years we have branched out of our comfort zone and made different salads. This has applied to desserts also as we always have trifle at Christmas and only ever at Christmas!!! It is funny how we only ever make certain things for certain times of the year but it's time to break tradition I feel.

This salad is one of those that broke the Maude and Betty family Christmas tradition mould last year. We've also started including it our family BBQ rotation as it has been an absolute winner. However, as said, the first time it was trotted out was last year's Chrismas and though my personal salad critic wasn't actually present (B was busy producing her own little bundle to add to our growing family functions) the Mother of M & B was the official taste tester that day and I received the thumbs up from her. My little people weren't so in love with it as a whole but do love digging through for the bits they do like. You could easily make it the night before like I have done as the flavours of the orange and horseradish dressing still shine through without the lettuce wilting too much.

Do you have any family favourite dishes for certain celebration events?

You will need: (adapted from Janelle Bloom "My favourite food for all seasons")
1 bunch medium (about 700g) beetroot, peeled
1 bunch baby carrots, scrubbed
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon horseradish cream
1/2 orange, juiced
2 oranges, peeled, segmented
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped
100g salad leaves - depends on the beetroot you buy, but there may be enough fresh leaves to use or rocket or mixed leaves will do.
50g goats cheese

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Remove the leaves from the beetroot and set any small leaves aside. Trim the roots and stems of the beets, leaving about 2cm of each stem (I forgot to do this the first time I made this salad as you can see by the pictures) Cut into quarters or eighths depending on their size. Place in a large greased roasting pan and add the carrots.

Combine the olive oil, brown sugar, horseradish cream, 2 tablespoons orange juice and salt and pepper in a screw-top jar and shake well to combine. Pour half the dressing over the beetroots and carrots and toss to coat. Roast for 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes

Add the orange segments, walnuts, salad leaves and any reserved beetroot leaves to the pan. Crumble over the goats cheese and pour over remaining dressing. Toss gently to combine. Pile onto a platter.

Enjoy! X

Beef Hotpot

You know it's getting cooler when the casserole dishes start making an appearance and Mr M is walking around the house with his long socks pulled up!!!! Mind you, I am still in summer dresses as I don't seem to feel the cold like some of us. Betty however has her bed socks out and even our new addition to the family, Billy the cat, is hiding under the oven when it's turned on!

Life gets pretty busy and hearty casseroles and soups might seem time consuming and too hard BUT I can assure you they are very easy, and once you have all your goodies in your pot, the oven does the rest for you.

This Beef Hotpot was extremely tasty on the tastebuds and reminded me of my Indian cooking nights as most of the spices are from the butter chicken that is a staple in our household. My 3 darlings (well darlings they were tonight but devils by day!) were willing to "try" the casserole for $1.....Yes one dollar! Think I have my dad for teaching them these evil negotiation skills! Master 8 didn't need a payment offerered to him as he will try anything and he has eaten casseroles plenty of other times, but for Miss 5 and 10 the temptation of a gold coin got the better of them and they were keen to grab their forks for a taste. I struck gold with Miss 10 as she brought her plate over for a bigger spoonful and as for Miss 5 she was so chuffed at eating one mouthful and recieving her gold coin that she thought she would not be out done by the older one and brought over her plate also. As she sat down to eat her tiny portion Miss 5 proceeded to tell us that it didn't taste nice after all and that her first mouthful (for the gold coin) tasted much better than what was in front of her!! (It all came from the same casserole dish). Well it was worth seeing Mr M reach for his wallet and take out his only gold coins.....then I think I saw a few moths follow!

I found this recipe in one of my favourite books at the moment, "My favourite food for all seasons" by Janelle Bloom. I will be posting a few from this particular book so I hope you enjoy them as much as we have.

You will need
2 tablespoons plain flour
3 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 kg beef (blade, chuck or gravy beef), trimmed, cubed
1/4 cup olive oil
4 rashers bacon, chopped
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 fresh (or 1 dried) bay leaves
400g can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1/2 cup frozen peas or fresh ones

potato dumplings
350g Desiree or red rascal potatoes
50g butter, chopped
2/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cups self raising flour, sifted
1 1/4 cups grated tasty cheese
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley

Pre-heat the oven to 130 degrees. Combine the flour, cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric and salt and pepper in a large snap lock bag. Add the beef and shake the bag to coat the beef.

Heat an 8-10 cup capacity ovenproof, stovetop casserole dish (if you don't have a casserole dish that can go on the stovetop and the oven you can use a frying pan for the first 3 steps then transfer to an ovenproof dish) Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and half the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until browned all over.  Transfer the beef to a bowl. Repeat with oil and remaining beef, adding any left-over flour and spice mixture.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the remaining oil and bacon to the hot pan and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes until bacon starts to colour. Add the onion, carrots, celery and bay leaves and cook a further 5 minutes until the onion is soft.

 Add the tomatoes and stock, return the beef and any juices in the bowl, then bring to a gentle simmer. Press a piece of baking paper right down onto the surface of the beef - this helps keep it submerged - and cover the dish tightly with a lid or foil. Place into the oven and cook for around 3 hours until tender.

With 30 minutes left to cook, prepare the potato dumplings. Peel and cut the potatoes into large pieces. Place into a shallow microwave-safe dish (I just boiled my potatoes in water in a saucepan) Cover with damp paper towel and microwave for 6-7 minutes on high until tender. Drain and transfer the potato to a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and use a potato masher to roughly mash. Add the flour, cheese and parsley and stir until well combined. Season well with salt and pepper.

Remove the hotpot from the oven. Increase the oven temperature to 200 degrees. Remove the lid, discard the baking paper and bay leaves and stir the peas into the hotpot. Divide the dumplings into even sized portions depending on how wide your dish is and roll them into balls. Drop the dumplings evenly over the hotpot. Bake uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until the dumplings are golden and cooked through.

Enjoy! M x

Lamb, spinach & feta sausage rolls

I have been known to make the odd sausage roll here and there over the years and have tried many sausage rolls also. B has been fortunate to sample some sausage rolls from Bourke Street Bakery in Sydney and has lent me her Bourke Street cook book for a while. Actually it has just come to my attention as to why I have been so lucky that B has actually parted with one of her most prized possessions! No I haven't made those ginger brulee tarts that you suggested! (Just in case she is reading my post today!)

Back to the task at hand - sausage rolls! I am a little partial to the good old homemade ones I'm afraid and you can really add anything you like to make your own creations and using different minces, lamb, beef, chicken or chickpeas for the vegetarians out there.

My little beasts love them and over the years I have managed to hide all kinds of healthy vegetables in the mince (if only they knew!). I was a little scared of them turning their noses up at these ones as the word "spinach" sent alarm bells ringing in my head as it meant the texture could have a slight green colour appearance once they took their first bite. I was very wrong.....they LOVED them and you could barely tell there was anything healthy hiding inside the sausage roll.

I had never tried using lamb mince in a sausage roll before but I found the flavour with the feta and spinach to excite my taste buds. This recipe makes quite a few and I was able to freeze some and give to B (I do share sometimes!) and I'm sure Mr B enjoyed every last crumb.

This recipe was found in what is turning out to be one of my kitchen must-have books - "My favourite food for all seasons" by Janelle Bloom.

You will need:
1kg lamb mince
6 green onions, finely chopped
2 cups finely shredded English spinach or silverbeet
1 cup soft white breadcrumbs
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted, chopped
2 eggs
150g marinated feta, well drained
frozen ready-rolled puff pastry, partially thawed
tomato chutney, to serve

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. Line 2 large flat baking trays with baking paper.

Process your breadcrumbs in the food processor.

Combine the mince, green onions, spinach, breadcrumbs, parsley, pine nuts and 1 egg in a large bowl.
Mix with clean hands until well combined.

Crumble over the feta and stir gently to combine. Season with a little salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Cut 1 pastry sheet in half. Beat the remaining egg with a fork. Spoon the filling in a sausage shape along the long edge closest to you. Brush the opposite long edge lightly with beaten egg. Roll up and press the pastry edges together to seal.

Repeat with remaining filling and pastry. Cut each roll into smaller ones. Brush the top of each sausage roll with egg. Place seam side down onto trays, allowing room for spreading. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and puffed. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature with tomato chutney.

Enjoy! M