Rice Paper Rolls

I tried to come up with a fancy name for these but I couldn't think of anything. Some times you will see then listed in restaurants as Spring Rolls or Fresh Rolls. I've been making them for years, with a variety of fillings. It doesn't really matter what you put in them, I like tend to use some or all of the following : avocado, shrimp, green onion, parsley, basil, chicken, lettuce, rice noodles, snow peas and cucumber. How ever you fill it it will taste good. I dip mine in hosin sauce, sometimes I'll add chopped peanuts to the hosin or I'll take it plan. Really it all depends on your taste. In total I would think that this recipe would take about 20 minutes or so. Once again it depends on what you are putting in it and how much prep you will be doing.

You will need for 4 rolls

50g rice noodles
1 green onion diced
1 avocado sliced
1/2 cup cold chicken shredded
4 rice paper sheets

1) Place the rice noodles in a bowl or warm water. Let soften, drain and set aside
2) Fill a dish with about 1 inch of warm water. Place one rice paper sheet in the water, allow to soften and become transparent.
3) Remove the sheet from the water and place on a dry towel.
4) Place 1/4 of the noodles, avocado, green onions and chicken in the center of the sheet.

5) Roll the rice paper sheets like you are rolling a burrito. Fold one end over the top of the filling making sure to keep everything tight.Then fold the two side over and roll the sheet over onto itself.
6) Repeat until all the sheets are used
Enjoy

Roast chicken steeped with Port wine, cream and mushrooms

I've been cooking a lot recently but not posting anything, so now I have a bit of a backlog of stuff. About 2 weeks ago my friend Boris came over for dinner. I've know Boris since I was 12 and we have lived together twice because of school and what not. It was the first time he had been to my apartment since Adam and I moved in together so I decided to make him something yummy. When we lived together he loved it when I made risotto, I also introduced him to asparagus....and goat cheese. Now I didn't make anything with goat cheese but I did make risotto and roasted asparagus. I also decided that it was a good time to try another Julia Child recipe. I made Poulet au Porto or in English  roast chicken steeped with port wine, cream and mushrooms. It was very yummy, so here it is Poulet au Porto!

You will need

For the brine(optional)
1/8 cup salt
2 tablespoon sugar
1 quart ( more maybe needed depending on the amount of chicken being brine and the size of your bowl)
3-4 Bay leaves
1 tablespoon juniper berries
1/2 tablespoon pepper corns
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1/2 medium onion, cut in half
2-3 pound raw whole chicken

1) Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl or a pot, add the chicken and let sit in the fridge overnight.

For the Chicken
2-3 pound chicken brined1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoon butter

1) Remove the chicken from the brine and dry with paper towel
2) Heat a oven proof skillet (I used a cast iron pan), melt 2 tablespoon butter
3) Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken and add to the hot pan, breast side down
4) Cook for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned, turn over and cook another 2-3 minutes. Place in the oven for 1 hour or until juices run clear.
5) When chicken is cooked and out of the oven let rest.  Remove chicken from saute pan and allow it to rest on a board or plate.

For the Sauce
1lb fresh mushrooms sliced
1/4 cup water
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 tablespoon corn starch mixed together with 1 tablespoon cream
1 green onion diced
1/ 3 cup medium-dry port or a red wine of your choice
1/4 cup cognac (optional)

1) When the chicken is almost done, bring water, lemon juice, salt and butter to a boil. Add the mushrooms, cover and boil for 8 minutes. Drain the mushrooms, reserve the cooking liquid. Place the mushroom back into the sauce pan, add the cream and the cornstarch mixture. Simmer for 2 minutes, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
2) Remove all but 2 tablespoon of the fat and juices from the saute pan used to cook the chicken. Re-heat pan.
3) Saute green onions for 1 minute, add the port and the mushrooms cooking liquid. Boil the sauce down till there is about 1/4 cup of liquid left. Add the cream and mushrooms, cook for 2-3 minutes more. Salt and pepper to taste, add a few drops of lemon juice.

4) Carve the chicken in to serving pieces, place in a buttered casserole dish. Pour the cognac over top and place on the stove top. *When the cognac starts to sizzle light the cognac on fire using a match (be care not to burn yourself, have water or a fire extinguisher near by in case fire gets out of hand). When flame has gone out* pour the mushroom sauce over top, baste the chicken with the sauce. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
5) Serve

*optional, if you wish to skip this step just pour the sauce over the chicken and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

ENJOY!


Adam and I made sandwhiches out of the leftovers.

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

SOOO! I'm back. I haven't posted since November for 2 reasons. 1) My sister sent me a virus and my laptop is all funny and I'm being cheap and lazy so I'm using Adam's computer till I fix it. 2) Adam and I didn't know how to upload pictures to his computer, but I have figured it out. So now I'm back with a ton of stuff to share. There is a lot of Christmas foods (plum pudding, fruit cake, cookies!), some more Nigella and some Julia Child. I'm very excited about the Julia Child ones. My sister got me Mastering the Art of French Cooking  for Christmas. I love it! for that matter I loved Christmas this year. I got soooo much cookery. Beside Julia I also got a cast iron pot ( very exciting!) and a blow torch. I think those are the three things that I was most excited about. Oh no I lie, my mom got me the 101 piece Wilton cake decorating set. I haven't made to many cakes yet, but I do have one in mind of Valentines day.

I decided that my first post back should be a Nigella recipe. More specifically a Nigella Kitchen recipe. Mostly because it is quickly becoming my favorite Nigella Lawson cookbook. I know may of you might be thinking " Dana I thought you where a vegetarian" but I am...really. It is just that recently with the addition of Kitchen and now Mastering the Art of French cooking there are so many recipes that I want to try that I may have eaten the odd chicken, duck or pork product. I admit it. I'm awful. I know.

K, so here we go. This is a super yummy recipe and it isn't hard to make. Honestly I think the hardest part is peeling all that garlic. The recipe call for 40 cloves but really if it's 39 or 41 it doesn't really matter, it will taste amazing either way.

You will need:
2 tablespoon olive oil
8 pieces of chicken ( Nigella calls for thighs but use whatever you like)
1 bunch of green onions
small bunch of thyme
40 cloves of garlic ( 3 or 4 bulbs)
2 tablespoon white wine or vermouth
salt and pepper to taste

1) Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. In a oven and stove proof pan heat the olive oil
2) When hot, add the chicken skin side down and sear ( about 3-4 minutes)
3) Remove chicken and place in a bowl. Add the spring onions to the pan on the stove and saute for 1 minute, add the thyme.
4) Spread 20 unpeeled cloves of garlic on the bottom of the pan. Place the chicken on top of the garlic. Then cover with the remaining garlic.
5) Add the wine/ vermouth to the chicken. Season with salt and pepper and place in the oven lid on ( or carefully cover with foil) for 1 1/2 hours.

Enjoy!

Tips
Nigella has a tip for using the leftover chicken juices and leftover chicken. She says to add water or stock to the juices and simmer until hot then add shredded chicken that it is nice to have the day after. Go ahead try it, I also don't see why you couldn't add some of the garlic. I would remove the paper and mash it then add it to the soup.

Avocado Chicken

I remember years ago going to a Caribbean restaurant that a friend of my moms owns and having chicken stuffed with avocado and poppy seeds (at least I think it was poppy seeds, also this was way before I was a vegetarian.) for some reason this popped into my head yesterday, so I made it. At least I made my own version of it. I looked online to see if I could find a decent recipe for avocado stuffed chicken, I ended up finding one ok recipe repeated on several different sites. Sometimes the Internet can be useless. I ended up making a sort of chunky guacamole, minus the nachos of course. I went to put poppy seeds in it but I forgot to add it, you can add it if you like. But really after making this I don't really see the point. I'm also not entirely sure if that was really poppy seeds in it the first time I had it. Adam really enjoyed this, hopefully you will to. Also I forgot to take pictures while I was making it so I plan on making this again soon. The only one I managed to snap was after I had put it on the plate with some pasta, odd pairing I know.

You will need for 1
1 skinless chicken breast flattened
1 ripe avocado diced
1/3 cup tomato diced
1/2 green onion
squeeze of lime or lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
Oil
Pinch of Sage

1) In a bowl combine the avocados, tomato, green onion, lime juice and salt and pepper. Gently mix.
2) Place the mixture on one end of the flattened chicken breast. Roll into a cigar shape.
3) Place on a pan, lightly salt and pepper the top of the chicken, add a pinch of sage and a slight drizzle of oil.
4) Place in a pre-heated oven (350 degrees) for 15 to 20 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breast.
5) Done!

Notes
1) You can get you chicken flattened at the market or you can do it at home. Place the chicken in a plastic sandwhich bag or place it between two piece of wax paper, hit the chicken with a meat tenderizer ( or a rolling pin like I did).

2) Instead of a flattened piece of chicken you can use a piece that had been butterflied. You can also do this at home. Cut the chicken breast in half width ways, making sure to stop before you cut all the way through.

Roti and Curry

So before go on about my latest food experience, I just wanted to say that I completed my cheese challenge. I had wanted to blog everyday about it but I didn't. Either work or my own laziness got in the way.

Roti and Curry is the one dish that up until recently I have only had when my mother would cook it. I don't know why, it isn't very hard to make. But with that said  I have always disliked paying for Guyanese/ Indian food when I could just as well go home and have my mom make it for me. I was having a curry craving Saturday night, so I decided that I would try and make it for myself.....and Adam. Adam.....the boy who hate curry, who cringes every time someone even says the word. I have made it my mission to make him a convert... wish me luck.

I also must say that although it looks very unappealing (something along the lines of body fluids, gross I know) it taste very good. I made this curry with chicken and potatoes. But you can just as easily add whatever you want. Curried egg anyone?

You will need for the Curry
2 medium sized potato ( or 1 large) diced
1 whole onion
4 cloves garlic
1 5cm piece ginger cut into two pieces
2 chicken drumsticks
2 chicken thighs
2 cups water
3 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon coriander
oil- to cook with
Salt and pepper to taste

1) Place 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves and 1 piece of ginger into a food processor and chop. If you do not have a food processor  mince the above ingredients. Place in a mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon curry powder, stir to combine. Place the chicken pieces in the mixing bowl and stir to coat the chicken in the curry and onion mixture. Let sit for 30 mins.

2) In the food processor place the rest of the ginger, garlic and onion, chop. Heat a pot with a little oil. Add the chopped onion mixture. Saute for 3-4 minutes.
3) Add the coriander and 2 tablespoons curry powder. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.

4) Add the chicken pieces and the potatoes. Stir to coat them with the curry mixture.  Cook for 5 minutes

5) Add the 2 cups water and salt and pepper. Stir, cover and cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally

6) Uncover and cook until the liquid is thickened. About 15-20 minutes, stir occasionally.
 Done

Roti
Saturday night I made Roti for the first time. It didn't really work out. So I called my mom and she told me how she makes it. I made it today and......it came out! I was very pleased with myself.

You will need
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp oil
1/3 cup warm water
pinch salt

1) In a bowl place the flour and salt, pour in the oil.
2) Pour half of the water and mix with your hands. The dough should be slightly sticky but all the flour should be incorporated. If not add more water. Do not knead, squeeze the dough. Let rest for 15 minutes
3) Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Once rolled, push the center into itself. This is very hard to explain, hopefully the pictures below will give you a better idea.

  Roll out into a circle. Pour over 1 tsp oil and rub over dough. Cut one corner of the dough. Roll the dough together.

4) Let the dough rest for 30 minutes
5) Roll the dough out.
6) Heat a pan or a tava( roti pan), lightly oil. Place the roti on the pan and cook for 2 minutes, you will know when it is cooked when the dough starts to bubble and browns slightly. Flip over and cook a further minute.

7) Carefully remove the roti from the pan and clap right away. But clap I mean take the roti in you hand and clap it to let the air out. If you don't so this it will dry out, be careful it is hot.
8) Enjoy!!!!