Chicken sandwiches

Hello everyone, today I went on one of Maeve O'Meara's fabulous Gourmet Safaris http://www.gourmetsafaris.com.au/ which was an amazing lunch at Azuma Japanese restaurant. We were entertained and informed by Maeve and a gorgeous Japanese woman called Miko, and were fed what seemed to be a never ending supply of delightfully flavoured and delicately presented morsels. We started with a tasting plate of six different items in various dressings and sauces, then progressed to the biggest bento box I have ever seen. It was so hard to decide in what order to try each section as they all looked and sounded delicious from the description we had on our special menus. I think if pressed I would plump for the wagyu beef as my favourite bite, but it was all outstanding. Dessert was home made vanilla icecream, fresh fruit and these amazing starchy dumplings, which you drowned in a black sauce, which was described as a Japanese sugar syrup and tasted like molasses. It was amazing, generous and a lot of fun. If you haven't tried a Gourmet Safari before I really recommend them and you can choose from a huge array of banquets, walking tours and even gourmet holidays!

This week's recipe is something that is very simple but when done well, with very good ingredients, is just the best. It's a recipe from Good Living, and I feel safe in saying the best chicken sandwich recipe I have ever tried.

Have a good week. Love from Jane xx

Chicken sandwiches

Serves four, easily

What you need:

• 1 roast or BBQ chicken
• 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon freshly chopped tarragon
• 1 tablespoon seeded mustard
• 2 sticks celery, washed and finely chopped
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 8 slices sourdough bread
• 2 large handfuls of watercress or rocket, washed and dried

What you do:

1. Remove the chicken meat from the carcass and shred finely.
2. Mix the chicken in a bowl with all the other ingredients except the bread and leaves.
3. Lay out the slices of bread and spoon the chicken filling onto four slices.
4. Top with watercress or rocket and the remaining bread slices.
5. Cut in half and serve.

Pan fried chicken with lemon

Hello everyone, it's such a gorgeous day today in Sydney! You would think it was summer time.

My neighbours who live in the house behind me are selling their house and had the first open house today. What a half hour of entertainment that provided for Bellatrix! Although she couldn't see anyone, she set herself up in a shady spot in the back yard and followed the sound of everyone who came to look. Her ears twitched continuously - it made me wonder if she was listening to each person and deciding if they would be welcome as our new neighbours or not. Clearly I have a huge stickybeak of a cat.

This week's recipe is from the December 2009/January 2010 issue of delicious and really is delicious! It is lovely and lemony and makes a great dinner, either just for you, the family or guests.

I have one more dinner with my friend Chris, tonight. I am (generously) letting him select the restaurant and am yet to hear his choice. I'm sure it will be a good one...

Have a great week. Love from Jane xx

Pan fried chicken with lemon

Serves two

What you need:

• 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 20g unsalted butter
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
• 2 x 200g chicken breast fillets, cut into 5mm strips
• 100ml dry white wine
• 100ml chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons roughly chopped marjoram
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley

What you do:

1. Use a zester to make thin strips of lemon rind, then peel the lemon and thinly slice the flesh. Set zest and flesh aside.
2. Heat half of the oil and half of the butter in a large non stick frying pan over a medium heat.
3. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes until softened. Remove the onion from the heat and set aside.
4. Toss the chicken in the flour to coat, shaking off the excess.
5. Return the pan to a medium high heat and add the remaining oil and butter.
6. In batches, cook the chicken for one minute, turning, until golden.
7. Return the onion and all of the chicken to the pan, and add the wine, simmering for a couple of minutes until almost evaporated.
8. Add the lemon zest, lemon segments, sugar and enough stock to almost cover the chicken.
9. Bring to the boil, then simmer for a few minutes until the chicken is cooked and the liquid has reduced by half.
10. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then toss through the marjoram and parsley.

Grilled piri piri drumettes with coleslaw

Hello everyone and happy Christmas! I hope that you had a lovely day and enjoyed some good food. My family had an enormous feast, the highlights being Jamie's whole stuffed snapper that he did on the barbie and Greg's Balmain bugs, which we also barbecued, served with a luscious lime butter. Mmmmmmmmmmm, it was all so good. I contributed a potato salad, and some lemon curd ice cream and a chocolate royal torte for dessert. It is a relief to be on the other side of all that food now. I am contemplating a very simple rice salad for dinner tonight! (Although wondering what am I going to do with the piles of cheese and cream in my fridge - I can think of things I could do with them, but none are very sensible ideas really so hot on the heels of all the Christmas excess).

This week's recipe is yet another for which I had lower expectations but was really happily surprised. I loved the flavour of the sauce and the mint gives the coleslaw a real freshness. It comes from my Women's Weekly Main Course Salads book which has provided a number of winners over the years. This one is great for casual entertaining in summer and easy for kids to eat. If you can't find drumettes you could use wings or drumsticks or a mix of both.

Have a great holiday time week and a happy new year. Love from Jane xxx

Grilled piri piri drumettes with coleslaw

Serves four

What you need:

• 16 chicken drumettes


• 1/2 cup piri piri sauce (you can buy at the supermarket)


• 5 cups finely shredded red cabbage


• 5 cups finely shredded white cabbage


• 1 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint

Piri piri dressing

• 1 tablespoon piri piri sauce


• 1/2 cup peanut oil


• 1/4 cup lemon juice

What you do:

1. Combine the chicken and the sauce in a large bowl; cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.


2. Combine the ingredients for the piri piri dressing and mix well.


3. Cook the chicken in the sauce on the barbecue (or in the oven) until browned and cooked through.


4. To make the salad, place the cabbages and the mint in a large bowl with the dressing. Toss well to combine and serve with the chicken.

Coconut chicken strips with saffron aioli

Hello everyone, I have just returned from taking my niece to see Angelina Ballerina by The English National Ballet. It was fantastic! But my goodness, talk about little girl heaven. The theatre was a sea of pink, with truck loads of tulle, sequins and glitter. No wonder the few dads that came along looked bewildered.

This week's recipe is hot off the press as it was in this week's Good Living, which featured some recipes from a new book called Party: The Complete Guide To Food And Drinks. (I might have to buy it myself I so enjoyed both of the recipes from it that were featured). I had offered to prepare a few nibblies for drinks before the same niece's own ballet concert last night, and this recipe caught my eye. It is simple and sooooo delicious. The aioli makes a nice big quantity, so you can use the left overs with prawns or any seafood...it's also delicious with home made potato wedges!

Have a great week. Love, Jane xx

Coconut chicken strips with saffron aioli
Makes about 12-14 strips

What you need:

• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup soft fresh breadcrumbs (bap rolls are good)
• 1 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 500g chicken tenderloins
• Light olive oil or sunflower oil for deep frying

Saffron aioli

• Generous pinch of saffron threads
• 1 tablespoon boiling water
• 1 cup good quality mayonnaise (I use Thomy which you can buy in supermarkets)
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice

What you do:

1. To make the saffron aioli, pour the boiling water over the saffron threads; stir and leave for ten minutes.
2. Whisk the saffron liquid into the mayonnaise, then stir through the garlic and lemon juice.
3. Cover the aioli and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before serving.
4. Put the flour and the beaten eggs into separate bowls
5. Mix together the flour and coconut in a third bowl.
6. Dip the tenderloins in the flour, then the egg, then coat in the coconut crumb mix.
7. Place the tenderloins on a baking dish, cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
8. Heat a pan on top of the stove until it's very hot, then add the oil to a good depth for frying and heat until it's very hot.
9. Deep fry the tenderloins in batches (don't crowd the pan, space them out), turning once when golden on the first side, and drain as you cook them on paper towels.
10. Serve either immediately or when they have cooled with the saffron aioli.
    

Chicken Koftas

Hello everyone, earlier this morning I was listening to a segment on Simon Marnie's program in which he had three food bloggers in talking about their experiences with the Sydney International Food Fair which has just concluded. I didn't go to anything this year, largely because I just didn't have the time or the energy to plan anything, but listening to these three definitely fired me up to immerse in it next year. I think for me there was an element of "overwhelmia" as there were so many events. It sounds like they were a lot of fun and those who went learned a lot too, so it is definitely in my diary for next year.


Also this morning I made the lemon curd ice-cream in this month's edition of delicious. It looks beautiful - a gorgeous delicate creamy yellow. I can't wait to try it!

And just as it is ice-cream weather, so too I have been firing up the barbecue and cooking all sorts of things. Just recently I made these chicken koftas which were really lovely. They are the easiest thing in the world to make and can be served with all sorts of accompaniments - whatever you have to hand. The recipe comes from my fabulous Backyard Barbecue Cookbook - one of the best cook books I have ever been given. I have been cooking from it regularly for ten years now and there are still heaps of recipes to try! I hope you like this one.


Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx


Chicken Koftas


Serves eight (or maybe four, depending on how hungry everone is)


(If you use wooden skewers, soak them in water for about an hour before using so that they don't burn).


What you need:

• 500g minced chicken
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander or mint, whichever you prefer
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cornflakes, crushed
• 2 teaspoons chilli sauce

What you do:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together and form into eight long koftas on flat metal or bamboo skewers.
2. Place on a rack on a heated barbecue.
3. Cook for about eight minutes, turning regularly to avoid charring, until golden brown and cooked through.
4. Serve with bread rolls, salad and a good tomato sauce (or any other nice sauces you might have to hand).

Chicken and vegetable pot pie

Hello everyone, we had planned a picnic today to celebrate Mothers Day. A day out in the fresh air and sunshine, under a beautiful blue autumn sky...just like yesterday in Sydney! But today it rained. In fact it was pouring down this morning so we ended up bringing all our picnic food to my sister's home and having a more traditional lunch at the table. We ate well, though, with the hostess outdoing everyone with individual chicken and potato pies for the kids, a divine chicken and tarragon pie for the adults and a tomato, basil and prosciutto quiche as well! We did eat quite sumptuously.

Funnily enough I had decided to add this recipe for a chicken pie to the blog this week. It's certainly much more thrown together than my sister's masterpiece, and despite all the bad memories of '70s food that the name might bring to mind, it really is very yummy. You can add whatever vegetables you have to hand, and it's made with a BBQ chicken, so quick and easy as well! It comes from the ever inspirational "3 Ways With..." book.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Chicken and vegetable pot pie

Easily serves six

1. Have your oven hot and ready at 220C.
2. Heat 60g butter in a frying pan and when it is sizzling, add 1 chopped carrot and 2 chopped stalks of celery and stir around for a few minutes.
3. Add 2 tablespoons plain flour and cook for 2 minutes - it should thickly coat the vegetables, but don't let the flour burn.
4. Add the chopped meat from half a BBQ chicken, 80g peas (or corn) and a handful of flat leaf parsley. (You could also add some chopped capsicum if you have it handy).
5. Stir the vegetables for a minute then add 500ml chicken stock and 250ml thin cream.
6. Season well and slowly bring the mix to the boil, stirring constantly, until it's slightly thickened.
7. Spoon the mixture into a pie dish and top with either some puff pastry, trimmed to fit the dish, or a layer of potato mash.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry/potato is golden.

Chicken sausage and couscous salad

Hello everyone, I had fun today. I had arranged to take out my nieces for a few hours during the day. Being such a cold and wet day my thoughts turned to pizza, so I thought I'd take them to Rosso Pomodoro at Balmain. No go - they don't like pizza anymore. They did last time I looked, but there was no interest in going out for pizza. As they do currently love sushi, I took them to a sushi train instead. Emma, the nearly ten year old managed two pieces of sushi and decided she was full. But Rachael, the seven year old, completely embraced the whole sushi train concept. She loved it! She matched me plate for plate, studied the menu to confirm what she thought she was grabbing from the conveyor belt, and commented a couple of times "I could stay here all afternoon watching all these dishes go around!" So there is now an expectation that she and I are going to try out every sushi train we can find in Sydney. Only the good ones of course!

This week's recipe is a great cold dish which early subscribers to my email recipe service might remember seeing. It is great for entertaining as it makes a huge quantity, and with the chicken sausages kids love it. It certainly has all my favourite flavours in it with the lemon and mint and green olives. The recipe comes from my Womens Weekly Salads cookbook, which has been the source of many good, substantial salads for me. I have a note to myself with the recipe that the Womens Weekly test kitchen must have invited in people to try out this salad who had ENORMOUS appetites as according to them it serves four, and by my reckoning it easily serves eight very generously. See what you think.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xxx

Chicken sausage and couscous salad

Serves between four and eight, or maybe more, you be the judge

What you need:
· 8 thick chicken sausages
· 1 ½ cups chicken stock
· 1 ½ cups couscous
· 1/3 cup finely chopped preserved lemon rind
· 1 medium red capsicum, sliced thinly (or chopped, your preference)
· 300g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
· 1 cup seeded large green olives, halved lengthways
· 1 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, chopped
· 1/3 cup lemon juice
· 1/3 cup olive oil

What you do:
1. Cook the sausages however you like – I usually stick them in the oven for half an hour and they come up beautifully. When cooked, slice them thinly.
2. Meanwhile, bring stock to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat, stir in the couscous and cover. Stand for about five minutes or until the stock is absorbed, then fluff up the couscous with a fork.
3. Place the sausages and couscous in a large bowl with the remaining ingredients and toss gently to combine.

Paprika lemon chicken wings

Hello everyone, I cooked this recipe for dinner last night and it made me think a lot about old and new and how things change. I don't even know the providence of this recipe - it is a handwritten one out of my own little book of recipes. I suspect that it's one I might have picked up when my mother sent me off to the very popular cooking schools AGL used to run for children and teenagers in the school holidays. I gathered quite a few good recipes from that course which have come in handy over the years.

This dish is something that I used to cook regularly at home, particularly when I was left in charge of my sisters when Mum and Dad went out to dinner. In a sign of changing times, I note in my cook book that I amended the recipe for cooking in the microwave! Weren't they exciting times when microwaves entered our kitchens. I remember that Mum went off to TAFE with a bunch of her friends and they did a whole course in microwave cooking! Suddenly we were cooking everything this new, super-fast way, using the broadband of the kitchen. Of course, now most of us have abandoned our microwaves and only use them for defrosting food and warming up wheat packs to put in bed in winter.

And so it is with these chicken wings. I have gone back to baking them in the oven. I did them last night in a beautiful claypot that I have had for years and pulled out from the back of a cupboard the night before. It cooks beautifully. Another reason why I like making this recipe is the coating of the wings in flour - it reminds me of how my Nana used to cook. And in another sign of the times, I reduced the amount of butter in the recipe quite dramatically. I don't know what they were thinking in the late 70s using the quantities they did!

Have a happy week, love from Jane xx

Paprika lemon chicken wings

Serves four

What you need:

• 12 chicken wings
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 20g butter, melted

Lemon sauce

• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• Pepper
• 2 tablespoons light olive oil
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

What you do:

1. Combine flour, salt, pepper and paprika in a large bowl.
2. Toss the wings in the flour to coat evenly.
3. Arrange wings in a claypot if you have one (soaked in cold water for a few minutes first), or arrange in a flat baking dish.
4. Pour the melted butter over the wings.
5. Bake, uncovered, in a 200 oven for 30 minutes.
6. While the wings are baking combine the ingredients for the lemon sauce. Make sure you zest the lemon while it's still whole as it will be a lot easier that way.
7. After the first 30 minutes of baking spoon the lemon sauce over the wings and return to the oven for about another 20 minutes, or until cooked through and the tips are nice and crisp.
8. Serve with boiled rice and a green salad. Or whatever you like really, that is just a suggestion.

Chicken breasts stuffed with cheese

Hello everyone, in the office where I work I sit with four men who all love food and really appreciate any cooking I bring in. I made some chocolate brownies for one of them this week for his birthday and just glowed when they all exclaimed about my cooking! It is so nice to have an appreciative audience; it makes me want to bring in something freshly baked every day. Of course I would have to be up at 4.00 am to fit in all this baking, so it's not really something I'm going to do. Still, it does make me feel good!

This week's recipe is something I made during the week for dinner and it was scrumptious! It is from a beautiful book that I have cited before called "Heart Of The Home". The book is really American and I was puzzled about the instruction to use "jack cheese" - I asked a few of my American friends what this was and none of them could tell me, so I just used a cheese that melts well and it was fine. I'm usually not big on big pieces of chicken type dishes, but the blend of flavours in this one was so yummy that I loved it.

Have a wonderful week - hopefully for us in Sydney there will be a return to blue skies during the week! Love from Jane xx

Chicken breasts stuffed with cheese

Serves six

What you need:

• 3 double chicken breasts, halved
• 500g of a cheese that you like that will melt
• 4 eggs
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• Juice of half a lemon

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 190.
2. Carefully cut a slit in the side of each single chicken breast with a sharp knife.
3. Fill with as many slices of cheese as you can fit. Fasten tightly with toothpicks to stop the cheese oozing out while cooking.
4. Mix together the eggs, Parmesan cheese and parsley.
5. Dip the chicken pieces in the flour, coating well, then the egg mix.
6. Heat the oil in a large pan over a moderately high heat.
7. Add the chicken pieces to the pan (you might have to do a few at a time - don't overcrowd the pan) and pour the rest of the egg mix over the chicken pieces. Fry very lightly to just brown the coating.
8. Place the chicken pieces in an oiled baking dish and if you have any cheese left, layer it on top of the chicken.
9. Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through.
10. Remove the toothpicks, squeeze over the lemon juice, sprinkle on a little more chopped parsley and serve.

Chicken rice

Hello everyone, I was in Melbourne for a few days this week and had the enormous joy of visiting the Queen Victoria Markets early one morning. They are amazing! (Of course I am talking about the food part of the markets). As well as a number of different fishmongers and butchers with so much amazing seafood and meat, to say nothing of the gorgeous fruit and vegies on display (just the colours were amazing), there were so many specialty food stores as well! I don't think I have ever seen so much cheese for sale under one roof! The deli items were many and varied, and even for someone like me who prefers to make everything from scratch, I did think that if I lived there I would probably buy a lot of ready made food for entertaining. It was all truly spectacular and made me wonder why we don't have food markets like that in Sydney. It would be great to be able to shop for such fresh food nearly every day of the week!

Anyway, back to normal life very quickly. Now the recipe I have for you this week was another one I dredged up out of the memory bank recently. I had someone coming for dinner the day after Chinese new year, so in a salute to that calendar event, I put together what must be one of the easiest meals there is. It is another one I found in Simply Lite magazine, the Winter 1999 version, and once I had done it the first time it featured on my menu quite frequently for a while. You will find cooking the rice in the stock gives it a luscious flavour. You will find this one is equally good for cooking just for yourself for a quiet night in, or for feeding the hordes.

Have a happy week.

Love from Jane xx

Chicken rice

What you need:

• One half breast of chicken per person
• Whole garlic cloves
• Piece of fresh ginger
• A quarter cup of rice per person
• Sauces for serving - whatever you have in your cupboard: soy sauce (mixed with mirin if you have it); sweet and sour sauce, hoi sin, sweet chilli sauce

What you do:

1. Place the chicken breasts in a saucepan and cover with water.
2. Add a couple of peeled whole garlic cloves and a lump of fresh ginger.
3. Simmer the lot on a medium heat for about twelve minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
4. Remove the chicken and keep in a warm oven.
5. Bring the water in which you have cooked the chicken to the boil, retaining the garlic and ginger if you wish. You may need to top up the water. Add the rice and cook as usual, then remove the garlic and ginger before serving.
6. While the rice is cooking prepare your sauces in little bowls.
7. To serve, put the rice in a big bowl, cut up the chicken pieces and place on top of the rice.
8. Everyone can serve themselves and dip the chicken in their favourite sauces.

Chicken with lemon and honey

Hello everyone,

Hands up everyone who is glad the election campaign is finally over? At long last we can return to our lives without being besieged by “vote for me” messages. Mind you, I spent a couple of hours today at a polling booth helping out a friend who is running (I’m confident unsuccessfully) and do you think I saw any candidates? Not one.

Anyway, the more important things in life are cooking and I think you will really like this week’s recipe for chicken in a lemon honey sauce. I can personally attest to its popularity with children as I have trialled it on a real live child and it was very popular – even spoken about the next day with great relish. It might be a good one for the summer holidays, which aren’t too far away for those who have a break in January.

Have a great week.

Love from Jane xx

Chicken with lemon and honey

Serves four; children love it

What you need:
· 1 tablespoon olive oil
· 8 pieces of chicken (it’s great with wings; you might want to use 12)
· 1 red onion, sliced
· 12 whole garlic cloves, peeled
· 1 lemon, cut into chunks
· ¾ cup chicken stock
· ½ cup honey
· Small handful of fresh oregano leaves

What you do:
1. Heat a large, deep frypan over a high heat, add the oil and chicken and cook for 5 to 8 minutes (turning once) until golden. Remove and set aside.
2. Reduce heat to medium, add onion and cook for one minute. Add garlic and cook for a further minute.
3. Return chicken to the pan with the chopped up lemon (yes with the peel on), chicken stock and honey (I find this quantity of honey a wee bit too much so I use a little less).
4. Reduce heat to medium low, cover the pan and simmer for twenty minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
5. Lift out the chicken and place on a baking tray.
6. Increase the heat of the sauce to medium and simmer, uncovered, for 5 to 8 minutes until thickened.
7. Place the chicken pieces under a hot grill for 3 to 4 minutes until crisp.
8. Arrange the chicken pieces on a platter, pour over the sauce and sprinkle with chopped oregano.

Minted chicken and pine nut salad

Hello everyone,

For those of you who have a long weekend this weekend I hope you are doing something that makes the most of this gorgeous warm sunny weather we are having. Like making this very summery salad with chicken, mint and pine nuts. It’s super easy to throw together (you can cook the chicken ahead of time) and is perfect for a light lunch with friends.

Don’t forget that if you have a friend who you think would like to join this email service, just send me their email address and I’ll happily add them to the list.

Have a great week.

Love from Jane xx

Minted chicken and pine nut salad

Serves six

What you need:
· 4 chicken breast fillets
· Chicken stock
· ¼ cup lemon infused olive oil (you can substitute just a light olive oil if you don’t have lemon infused)
· ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
· 2-3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
· 1-2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
· Freshly ground pepper and sea salt
· ½ cup pine nuts, either roasted in the oven for 7-8 minutes or toasted in a dry pan on top of the stove
· Leaves from one bunch of mint

What you do:
1. Gently poach the chicken in a pan with stock to cover just until cooked.
2. Drain and cut the chicken into chunks.
3. Whisk together the oils, vinegar and mustard and season.
4. Place the chicken and pine nuts in a bowl.
5. Add the mint and dressing and toss gently to combine before serving.