Fish Pie

Whilst planning out our weekly meal planner - before we go to the supermarket, me and Kenny decided we fancy eating more fish, and maybe one night have something different than rice.  So this fish pie recipe (from channel4.com delicious magazine) caught my eye - so wrote it in for this week.
So today here my kitchen adventure - of another comforting food, and very popular english dish. 

Serves 4
Time: 40mins to make, 30 mins to bake

Ingredients:

1.25kg potatoes, cut into even-sized pieces
50g Butter
Small bag of fresh baby spinach
2 shallots, very finely chopped
2 bay leaves
Splash of extra virgin olive oil
284ml carton double cream
125g Parmesan (i used Cheddar)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 handful of flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped ( i used dried parsley)
450g cod/haddock fillet, skinned and boned (i used a fish pie mix from supermarket - great!)
250g large shelled tiger prawns (i used cooked small prawns)

Method

1) Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Cook the potatoes in boiling, salted water for 10-12minutes until tender. Drain well and return to the pan over the heat ad dry out for about 1 minute, shaking the pan well. Mash with plenty of seasoning and half the butter and put aside
2)Meanwhile, wash the spinach and cook it in a clean pan with just the water that clings to the leaves until just wilted. Then drain well and squeeze out any excess moisture.
3)In a separate pan, gently cook the shallots and bay leaves in the oil for 6-8minutes until softened. Add cream and bring just to the boil. Remove from the heat. Stir in the Parmesan, lemon juice and parsley.
4)Cut the fish into bite-sized pieces (omit this if you like me bought a fish pie mix already chopped in pieces), put it into a buttered 1.8 litres ovenproof dish with the prawns. Break up the spinach with a knife and toss together with the fish. Remove the bay leaves from the sauce and pour into the dish, shaking it so it all distributes evenly. Spoon over the mash and dot with the remaining butter. Put on a tray and bake for 25-30minutes, until golden brown and bubbling.

Tip: You can use any firm white fish, unsmoked or smoked. If you want you can also add a handful of clams or mussels - be a good treat!

Happy Cooking!

Chicken & Leek pie

Chicken & Leek pie is another very popular dish and can be found in most pubs.  Another one of those comfort food that you do not get bored with. Since it was St Patrick's day few days ago, i thought i might give it a try out with this Irish Recipe. Recipe found on Channel4.com - delicious magazine.

Serves 4
Time: 1 1/2 hrs approx

Ingredients:

2 Tbspn Veg Oil
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 medium leeks, washed, trimmed and thickly sliced
4 skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 clove garlic, crushed
150ml white wine
150ml chicken stock, hot
142ml carton double cream
fresh tarragon, leave picked and roughly chopped
1 Pack ready rolled puff pastry (or shortcrust pastry - like me use what i got in the fridge)
1 medium egg.

Method

1) Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and leeks and cook for 4-5 minutes until softened.
2) Add the chicken pieces and cook, stirring for another 4-5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, add the wine and bubble away until reduced by two-thirds. Pour in the stock and simmer until reduced by half. Add the cream and tarragon, bring to the boil, then simmer for 5-6 minutes until thickened. Seasone, then spoon into a 2.5litre pie dish (or 4 x 300ml ovenproof dishes). Set aside to cool.
3)Brush a little water along the edge of the pie dish, Unroll the pastry and cut out a pice large enought to cover the dish or dishes. Press down the edges and trim off the excess. Snip a small hole in the centre of the pastry to let the steam escape. Put on a baking tray and chill for 15mins.
4) Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 220C/gas 7. Beat the egg witha  little salt, then brush over the pastry. Bake for 40-45mins (or 20-25mins if you are making individual pies) until pastry is golden.

Happy Cooking!

Banana & Milk Choc chip Muffins

I had 4 remaining bananas, and was very ripe.... and normally will end up in the bin, but this time i really do not want to waste food, so with a little research on the internet, i found a recipe for banana cake.

I slightly adapted it by adding some milk chocolate chips - as my other half love chocolate.  Anyway, this is very simple and result is fantastic - so now why go to Starbucks, when i can make home-made ;)

Time: 1hr
Make 10 muffin cases.

Ingredients:

4 Bananas (very ripe)
170g Self-Raising Flour
170g Caster Sugar
170g Soft Margarine
1tspn Vanilla Essence
3 Eggs

Milk chocolate chips.

Method

1) Peel bananas, and mash it up in a bowl.
2) Mix sift flour, sugar, margarine, vanilla essence & eggs in with banana. Blitz well with a electric mixer, until all ingredients into a smooth mixture. Stir in a handful of chocolate chip.
3) In a muffin baking tray, line it was paper cases, and careful spoon mixture into each cases. Add some more chocolate.
4)Preheat oven 180C, and bake for 40-45mins.

Banana Muffin was crunchy on the outside, but when bite into it the inside is soft & moist, and banana is very subtle.  Happy Baking!

Paper-lined Spongecake 紙包蛋糕

My grandma loves spongecake from the chinese bakery - she says its soft like cottonwool, and is not too sweet and goes perfect when she have her coffee.   So when i saw this recipe, i thought....ooooh got to give it a try.

I did make it once and failed with the cake completely collapsed, the reason was not beating the egg whites to stiff & foamy!  I was soo disappointed, that i had to remake it the next day. So the second attempt, i really concentrated, followed the recipe and it produce good results!

Ingredients:

A)
5 Egg Yolks
40g Caster Sugar
80g Vegetable Oil
70g Warm Milk
1tspn Vanilla Extract

B)
5 Egg White
40g Caster Sugar
1/4 tspn Cream of Tartar Powder

C)
100g Plain Flour
20g Corn Flour

D)
50g Melted Butter

Method:


1) With an electric handmixer, beat egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar powder (B) for approx 5mins until very stiff or 3 times its original volume.
2) In a separate bowl, mix and fold all ingredients A for approx 2mins to form a smooth batter
3) Pour A into the B container and fold evenly & quickly for approx 2mins
4) Sieve Plain flour and corn flour (C) into the cake mixture
5) Melt the butter (D) in the microwave. Then pour into the cake mixture from around the edge and fold quickly for approx 2mins
6) Transfer mixture to the cup cases lined with grease-proof paper.
7) Preheat oven at 180C and bake for approx 25mins.

Happy Baking!

Japanese Chicken Katsu Curry with Rice

i love japanese food, so going to japanese restaurant with my other half or with my friends either for sushi, teppanyaki - its a dear treat to me. Chicken katsu curry is my favourite main meal choice if sushi is not all i'm eating.  So finding this recipe give me the challenge to recreate it and have it at home.
It is a lot of work making the curry from scratch, but it was well worth the experience!

Serves 4
Preparation time: 30min
Cooking time: 50mins

Ingredients:

4 large skinless chicken breasts
200g plain flour
4 eggs, beaten
300g panko breadcrumbs (use ordinary breadcrumb if panko can not be found)
500ml groundnut oil
Steamed rice to serve.

for the vegetable curry
2Tbspn butter
1/2 large onion, chopped
110g carrots, boiled & chopped
110g potatoes, boiled & chopped

for the katsu curry sauce:
2Tbspn butter
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 granny smith apples, chopped
300ml boiling water
2 bananas, sliced
2Tbspn honey
1Tbspn tumeric powder
1/2 tspn hot Madras curry powder
2tspn Tomato ketchup
450ml Chicken stock
500ml boiling water
2tspn cornflour (blended with a little cold water)
1Tbspn Salt
1Tbspn Ground black pepper


Method:

Curry sauce

1)First make the katsu curry sauce. In a large saucepan, heat together the butter, garlic, onion and apple, mix together and fry briefly.
2)Add in boiling water, then the banana, honey, turmeric, Madras powder and ketchup. Bring the sauce to boil.
3) Add in the stock. Mix together the remaining water with the cornflour. Add to the curry mixture with the salt and black pepper.
4)Cook for 20 minutes, stirring now and then.
5)Strain the sauce into a bowl. Cover with foil and keep warm in the oven.

Chicken
6) Cut slashes in each chicken breast fillet.
7)Coat the chicken breast fillets first in flour, then beaten egg then breadcrumbs.
8)Heat the vegetable oil for deep-frying in a wok or deep fat-fryer.
9)Deep-fry the chicken breast fillets one at a time in the vegetable oil for 3-4 minutes until golden and crisp. Remove the chicken breast fillets with a slotted spoon or frying basket and drain on kitchen paper and keep warm in a warm oven.

Combine everything
10) Meanwhile, prepare the vegetable curry. Heat the butter in a heavy-based saucepan. Add in the onion, carrot and potatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes until the onion has softened.
11) Pour in the reserved katsu curry sauce and cook for 4-5 minutes, bringing to the boil.
12)Slice the chicken into even strips and serve with the vegetable curry and steamed rice.


Happy Cooking!