Soy Chicken

I love Asian food, of all varieties, and almost invariably if we decide to dine out we will opt for something Asian ... Thai, Indian, Japanese.  Vietnamese or Malaysian would feature on that list too if such cuisines were available where I live, but sadly that isn't the case.

When I'm at home too, and need to turn out dinner in a hurry, I will often look for a bit of Asian inspiration.  I adore the way Asian dishes seem to really wake-up jaded taste buds with their bright, vibrant flavours;  I love that most often Asian dishes deliver maximum flavour with minimal time and effort applied;  my dishpan hands (actually I don't have dishpan hands because I use a dishwasher, but you get my drift) love the fact that Asian dishes (apart from maybe a pot to boil some rice or noodles) are usually "one-pot wonders";   and my wallet is happy that Asian food is usually very budget-friendly to produce.

This week, at I Heart Cooking Clubs, our theme is "Passport to Asia" - a theme I've been eagerly looking forward to for ages.  Our current chef, Donna Hay, has literally dozens of fresh, simple Asian-inspired dishes in every one of her books - the hardest part of this challenge was narrowing it down to just one dish to cook.  In the end I thought I would share this Soy Chicken dish from Donna's book "Seasons".  It's one of my favourite dishes, and one I've made several times, so it seemed only fair to share it with you.

A whole chicken is firstly poached in a mixture of Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, garlic and orange, then transferred to a hot oven to crisp up the skin.  This is absolutely delicious served straight out of the oven, with some steamed rice, and a drizzle of the poaching liquid over the top - some steamed broccoli or bok choy would make a great side.  My other favourite way to serve this is to simply shred the chicken, and serve on a large platter with some carrot and cucumber juliennes, maybe some crisp iceberg lettuce and avocado, some rice vermicelli noodles, even boiled egg wedges and radishes are good too - alongside serve some rice paper wrappers and a bowl of water and let everyone dig in and make their own fresh spring rolls.

Soy Chicken Recipe

Adapted (very slightly) from recipe by Donna Hay

from Seasons

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

640ml Chinese cooking wine

8 cups water

3/4 cup dark soy sauce

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick cinnamon

4 star anise

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

5cm (2 inch) piece of ginger, sliced

4 strips pink grapefruit peel (or orange peel)

1.6kg whole organic, free-range chicken

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F).

Meanwhile, put the Chinese cooking wine, water, soy sauce and sugar into a large pot.  Set the pan over high heat and stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from the heat and add the cinnamon, star anise, garlic, ginger, citrus peels, and chicken.  Return the pan to the heat and bring to the boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the poaching liquid, place on a rack in a baking dish, and cook in the preheated oven until the skin is golden and crispy - about 15 to 20 minutes.

Cut into pieces and served with steamed rice.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the fabulous Asian-inspired dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, at Cook your Books hosted by Joyce at Kitchen Flavours, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

              

Tea Cup Steamed Ginger Coconut Cakes

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs our theme is "Time for Tea" - creating Donna Hay recipes which are perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea, are inspired by tea drinking, or even use tea as an ingredient.

I have to say that Donna has literally dozens and dozens of recipes that would fit the bill, so narrowing the choice down was by far the hardest part of this challenge.

Leafing through my copy of "Dining" (which is now published as "Entertaining"), I came across these Tea Cup Steamed Coconut Cakes.  Donna prepared hers in little Chinese tea cups, but I chose to use a selection of these gorgeous little demi-tasse cups which used to belong to my mother.

I made a few minor changes to the recipe:  I replaced the 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of palm sugar called for in the original recipe with 1/2 cup of coconut sugar, and I added some ground ginger for a little extra flavour.

The coconut sugar brought beautiful caramel flavours to these little cakes, which were very easy to put together (even for a non-baker like me), and they made a delicious afternoon treat with a cup of jasmine tea.  I also loved that, by virtue of these little cakes being steamed, I didn't need to use the oven on a hot and sunny afternoon.

Tea Cup Steamed Ginger & Coconut Cakes Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Donna Hay

from Entertaining

Makes 6-8 (depending on size of your cups)

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

4x free range eggs

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1-1/4 cups self raising flour

3 tablespoons dessicated coconut

Place eggs and sugar in a medium sized bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat mixture until it is light and thick - about 8-10 minutes.

Gently fold the sifted flour and ginger, along with the coconut, into the mixture.

Spoon the mixture into lightly greased small tea cups, and place cups in a steamer over boiling water.

Cover and steam until the cakes are puffed and firm - 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your cups.

Serve with jasmine tea.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the fabulous tea-inspired dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.  This month, the event is also hosted by Alessandra.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, at Cook your Books hosted by Joyce at Kitchen Flavours, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

              

Crispy-Skin Miso-Glazed Salmon with Radish & Rocket Salad

They say that pride comes before a fall, and I have to say that I'm forced to agree after a recent bout of illness completely knocked me for six, despite my usual smug declarations that "I never get sick".  It was a humbling reminder that even I can succumb when I let what I like to think of as a healthy "work-life balance" get out of balance ... not enough time spent on the yoga mat, too much work and not enough relaxation, and a little too much over-indulgence in "festive fare".  It all took its toll and I hit the wall in a big way.

Thankfully I'm now on the mend, and while a week (or even a day) at the spa would be a wonderful treat right now, that's realistically not an option.  I can however give myself the spa treatment at home - plenty of restorative yoga, a good night's sleep on a regular basis, and plenty of fresh healthy food.

As luck would have it our theme this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs is "Suitable for the Spa!" - Donna Hay dishes which are light and lovely, and healthy too.  In Fast, Fresh, Simple I came across a recipe for Crispy Skin Trout with Watercress & Radish Salad and on the Donna Hay website a recipe for Miso Salmon with Sesame Salt.  Miso and salmon are two of my absolute favourite healthy foods and, with both having the immune system fortifying properties I need right now, I decided on a dish which was a "mix-up" of both recipes.

This was healthy and delicious, and made me feel better just looking at it.  I hope you'll give it a try.

Crispy-Skin Miso-Glazed Salmon

with Radish & Rocket Salad

Adapted from recipes by Donna Hay

Serves 2

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

500g salmon fillet, skin on, pin bones removed, & cut into "fingers"

1 tablespoon miso paste (I used locally grown Urban Hippie miso)

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

sesame seeds

1 tablespoon olive oil

For salad:

large handful (or two) of rocket leaves (arugula)

6x radishes, sliced very thinly (I used a mandoline)

handful of pomegranate seeds

For dressing:

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon mirin

2cm (3/4 inch) piece of fresh ginger, finely grated

In a shallow dish, mix together the miso paste and rice wine vinegar.  Add the salmon, turning to coat well with the marinade.

Set aside to marinate for a few minutes while you prepare the salad dressing.  Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat oil in frying pan set over medium heat.  Add salmon to the pan, skin side down, and cook for several minutes until the skin is golden and crispy.  Turn and cook for a further minute or two until cooked to your liking.  Remove from the pan and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

While salmon is cooking combine salad ingredients and arrange on serving plates.

Place cooked salmon on plates beside the salad, and drizzle dressing over both salad and fish.  Serve immediately.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the wonderful "spa treatment" food my friends have been cooking up, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

          

How to Make Gravlax & Cured Salmon Galettes

'Tis The Season, and don't we all know it.  The festive season can be a wonderful time of the year - a time to spend time with family and friends, share some celebratory food (and a drink or two), but it can also be a highly stressful time of year.  Many of us take on too much ... trying to keep up with busy jobs, be the perfect hostess, stay on top of children's end of year activities, get the Christmas shopping done without blowing the budget ... the list goes on and on.  Not to mention all the over-indulgence on so many levels.

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs we are all about food and drink for holiday parties and entertaining, and thankfully our current guest chef, Donna Hay, has plenty of great ideas to make entertaining for the festive season a breeze.

These little salmon pastries, adapted from a recipe from the Donna Hay website are perfect for a holiday party.  They are elegant, delectable and ridiculously easy to put together.  The original recipe uses smoked salmon, and that would certainly be delicious, but since gravlax is also incredibly easy to make and a great stand-by ingredient to have on hand at this time of year, I thought I would also share my recipe.

Wishing you all much joy for what remains of the festive season, and a happy and fulfilling year ahead.

Gravlax Recipe

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

45g (1-1/2 oz) sugar

60g (2 oz) brown sugar

60g (2oz) coarse sea salt

6 to 8 juniper berries

ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

2 tablespoons gin, optional

600-700g piece of salmon fillet, skin on, pin bones removed

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, brown sugar and salt, combining well.

Lay a large sheet of tinfoil (at least twice the length of the piece of salmon) on your kitchen bench, and sprinkle half the sugar/salt mixture over the centre of the foil.  Place the salmon on top of the sugar/salt mixture, and cover the fish completely with the remaining mixture.  Sprinkle juniper berries, ground pepper and fennel seeds over the top, and drizzle over the gin if using.

Note:  You could also at this time top the salmon with any of the following optional ingredients:  a fennel bulb, thinly sliced;  a large bunch of chopped dill;  zest of a lemon or 1/2 of a chopped preserved lemon;  vodka instead of gin - I imagine even tequila would work well.

Wrap the tinfoil closely around the fish and seal all edges well.

Place the package in a dish, just big enough to hold it, and weight it down.  Refrigerate for two to three days, turning it over each day.

Fish will be ready when it feels firm to touch.

Slice thinly and serve with buckwheat blini, bagels, in salads, as an addition to an appetiser platter, or atop these little galettes - even tossed through pasta is great.

Cured Salmon Galettes Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Donna Hay

Makes 8

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1x sheet ready rolled flaky pastry

1x egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley

pinch dried tarragon flakes

1 heaped teaspoon capers

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

8x slices of gravlax

handful of rocket leaves

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F).

Cut the pastry square into four equal squares, then cut each square in half - you will end up with four rectangles.  Brush the pastry rectangles with the beaten egg, and prick each one in several places with a fork.  Place the prepared pastry on a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven until puffed and golden - about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the sour cream, vinegar, parsley, tarragon, capers, salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust any of the flavourings as necessary.

Remove the baked pastry from the oven.   Top each one with a dollop of the sour cream mixture, a slice of salmon and a rocket leaf.

Serve immediately or at room temperature.

This is a great appetiser to serve for any festive occasion, or would also make a delicious, light lunch served with a fresh salad.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the wonderful festive fare my friends have been cooking up, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

          

Christmas Round-up

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs is our December Pot Luck week - an opportunity to choose any recipe we like from our current chef (the fabulous Donna Hay), or from any one of previous eight IHCC chefs.

Turns out, time has been a bit precious for me this week, and cooking, photographing and writing about a new dish just didn't happen.  So instead I thought I would share with you a round-up of my favourite dishes from each of our chefs.

My very first post for I Heart Cooking Clubs was just as the group was winding up a six month spell with Nigella Lawson, and I shared these Chocolate Caramel Crispy Cakes ...

Despite the fact that these might seem like "kiddy" food, I can promise you that grown-ups love them too, and to this day this is one of the most viewed posts on the blog.  On a recent trip to San Francisco I made a batch of these for my 4 year old granddaughter - poor wee dot only got one of them, and the adults downed the rest!

This dish of Sauteed Chicken with Green Olives and White Wine from Mark Bittman is probably my "go-to" chicken dish.

I said it back then, and I'll say it again - this is probably the best chicken dish I've ever made.  It has great flavour, colour and texture;  is very easy to put together from ingredients you most likely already have on hand;  requires minimal preparation;  and would be a great dish to feed a crowd.

I loved so many of the dishes I made with Giada de Laurentiis, but these Espresso Caramel Bars were a real favourite.

These were pretty easy for even a reluctant baker to make - crispy, biscuit crumb base;  ooey, gooey, slightly chewy caramel centre;  fudgy, espresso, chocolate topping;  finished with a sprinkling of smoked sea salt ... I defy anyone to stop at just one!

For a variety of reasons, I didn't get to cook along with Jamie Oliver too often ...

... but this warm Salad of Cannelini Beans, Chorizo & Tomatoes is one that I've returned to over and over again.

Of all the chefs we've cooked with at IHCC, one of my absolute favourites (second only to Yotam Ottolenghi) was Tessa Kiros.  I loved so many of Tessa's dishes that picking a favourite was quite a challenge ...

but I think this Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Olives, Lemon & Yoghurt might be it.  This was one of the first recipes I bookmarked when I bought her book Falling Cloudberries, and with its thick, velvety texture, and bold, robust flavour it certainly didn't disappoint.  Lots of opportunity here to change up the toppings on this one too.

I didn't get a chance to cook too many dishes with Rick Bayless, but I know he was a big favourite with many of our other participants.

Choosing a favourite from the dishes I did make was easy ... it was hands down this Nieve de Limon (Lemon-Lime Sorbet).  I couldn't tell you how often I've made this now.  The bright, tangy citrus flavours are a refreshing treat any time of year.

Madhur Jaffrey has long been a favourite chef of mine, and a spell of cooking with her gave me the opportunity to dip into some of those cookbooks which had been gathering dust on the shelf for quite a while.  For many of our participants, exploring Indian food was a totally new experience, and I know that Madhur proved to be very popular with so many in the group.

This dish of Prawns in a Dark Sauce was simple to make, and the flavours rekindled so many childhood memories for me that I've since revisited this dish several times.

Those of you who visit here regularly won't be surprised to learn that my absolute favourite chef was Yotam Ottolenghi - I don't think I've cooked an Ottolenghi dish that I didn't like, and I find his food truly inspirational.  Trying to choose a "favourite" from the Ottolenghi dishes I've made is virtually impossible - I've loved every single one of them ...

... but I figured this Shakshuka should take first place, since it is by far one of the most frequently cooked dishes in my kitchen.

And, lastly, we come to our current chef - Donna Hay.  Our journey with Donna is still young, but this dish of Green Tea Soba Noodles with Soy-Roasted Salmon and Broad Bean & Radish Salad is already a favourite.

Quick, simple, healthy and absolutely delicious - this is definitely going to be a perennial favourite in my house.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the wonderful Pot Luck dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

Lastly, I want to thank each and every one of you for your visits, lovely comments, and most of all your friendship over the year, and I wish you and all your loved ones a very happy Christmas.  xo

Salted Caramel Coconut Macaroons

When my brother and I were kids, a popular summer outing for our family was a day trip to Hamilton for a picnic at the lake.  Although the drive between Auckland and Hamilton these days is pretty much motorway all the way, and probably takes about 45 minutes, back in the day it was mostly a single lane (in each direction) highway and the journey took the best part of an hour and a half.

Now any of you who are parents will know that 90 minutes in a hot car (there was no air-con in cars back then) with a couple of kids in the back (who are either intent on murdering each other before reaching the destination, or driving you insane with the incessant "are we nearly there yet?" whine), is no fun ... no fun at all.

As luck would have it though, round about the half-way point in the journey (that stage where tempers are running so high, I suspect that if my brother and I hadn't killed each other first, one of our parents might have been tempted to finish the job), Shands Bakery would appear on the horizon.  Without hesitation, Dad would swerve off the highway into the bakery car park, whereupon we would all pile out of the car and collect fresh bread for the picnic and a large bag of coconut macaroons.

Now we would never normally be allowed to indulge in such a treat so close to lunchtime, but parents are wise creatures ... those coconut macaroons were so moist and chewy, and so big (each one about the size of a small child's fist) that one of those babies could be guaranteed to keep an annoying child quiet for the remaining 45 minutes of the journey!!  Of course, there were always a couple kept in reserve for the return journey.

In adult years, I often think of those macaroons (not to be confused with macarons) - little mounds of egg white, coconut and sugar, baked until golden on the outside but still moist and chewy on the inside - and thought I'd like to make them.  So when our theme this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs turned out to be "Fill The Tins" (baked treats to fill the tins for the holiday season or to give as gifts), I was reminded of those macaroons and felt sure that Donna Hay would be able to help me out.  In Fast, Fresh, Simple I came across Donna's recipe for Coconut Macroon Ice Cream Sandwiches.  The macaroons sounded like they would fit the bill, but filled with ice cream probably wasn't going to work in the biscuit tin!  That was when I got to thinking that a salted caramel filling would be perfect with the chewy coconut biscuits, and would make a delightfully indulgent treat.

I hope you enjoy these as a treat to spoil yourself with a decent cup of coffee, or as gift to spoil someone else.

Salted Caramel Coconut Macaroons Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Donna Hay

from Fast, Fresh, Simple

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

For coconut macaroons:

2 egg whites

2 cups dessicated coconut

1/2 cup sugar

For salted caramel filling:

1/2 cup sugar

70g (2-1/2 oz) butter

1/4 cup cream

generous pinch flaky sea salt

Begin by making the macaroons.  Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (320 degrees F).

In a medium sized bowl, very lightly whisk egg whites just until slightly "loosened".  Stir in coconut and sugar, and mix well until everything is thoroughly combined.

Scoop up heaped tablespoons of the mixture, and using your hands press the mixture together into a small disc.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, and once all the mixture has been used, place baking sheet in the preheated oven.

Bake until golden, about 10-12 minutes.  Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

Now to make the filling.  Place sugar in a medium-sized heavy bottomed saucepan, set over medium heat, and without stirring allow the sugar to dissolve and take on a caramel colour.  Remove from the heat and carefully stir in the cream - it will bubble up vigorously, so be careful.  Return pan to the heat and keep stirring for about a minute, until completely smooth.  Add the butter and salt, turn off heat, and keep stirring for another minute again until completely smooth and butter is fully integrated.  Pour into a small bowl or jug and refrigerate until cold and spreadable.

To assemble, spread a spoonful of caramel on the underside of one macaroon, and press another macaroon on top.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the wonderful treats my friends have been filling the tins with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.  This month, Sweet New Zealand is hosted by Alice at Alice in Bakingland.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, at Cook Your Books hosted by Joyce at Kitchen Flavours, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.