Food Friday

A winter warmer - Thai Green Curry (chicken)

This is a favourite in our house.  I used to make it once a week, but I got slack and hadn't made it for a while...until last night...

 

It is so EASY!

You will need this:

Follow the directions on the jar for a very delicious green curry.

I like to make it my own.  This is how I usually make it (I have had to tone down the curry spice for E. For some reason she doesn't like it spicy :) so this is a mild version):

Ingredients

Chicken breast (usually about 300 grams)
1 small onion
1-2 tbspn Valcom green curry paste
2 tbspn fish sauce
2 tspn Castor sugar
2 x 400ml cans light coconut milk/cream
broccoli
green capsicum
zucchini
peas
3 cups basmati rice

Slice the chicken breasts and the onion and chop the vegetables.  I will usually use any green vegetable I have, so don't be scared to use other vegetables.

Cook the rice now.

Heat some olive oil in a pan (about 2 tablespoons).  Cook the onion for 30 seconds and add the curry paste and stir for another 30 seconds or until fragrant.  Don't burn the paste!  Add the chicken and cook until just cooked.  Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and sugar and bring to the boil.  (I use two tins of coconut milk to reduce the spice.  If you like it spicy, and without much sauce, just use one).

Add the vegetables and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

This quantity will feed our family of 3 for two meals with some left over.

Enjoy!

Food Friday

Homemade Pizza! 

Nothing beats your own homemade pizza with your own homemade pizza base!

After many different pizza base recipes over the years I have settled on this one.  It works perfectly every time and tastes great!

This one is from Jamie Oliver (see link here)

Makes 6 to 8 medium-sized thin pizza bases

Ingredients 

 

1 kg white bread flour or '00' flour, or 800g strong white bread flour or Tipo '00' flour, plus 200g finely ground semolina flour (I use the '00' flour and then plain flour for kneading if required) 

1 teaspoon fine sea salt 

2 x 7 g dried yeast sachets 

1 tablespoon golden caster sugar 

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

650 ml lukewarm water

Visit Jamie Oliver's page for the recipe instructions :)  Click here

Top it with your favourite ingredients!

I freeze the left over dough in 2 base lots.  Just put them in a freezer bag and seal!  They thaw easy and still make great pizzas.  I love being able to pull them out of the freezer during the day when I don't feel like cooking dinner.

We use a pizza stone in the oven to cook our pizza, but if you don't have one I am sure a normal tray would work well too.  

Do you have a pizza base recipe that you love?  Please share it!

I think we might have pizza tonight! :)  

Food Friday

Food, glorious food! It's no secret that I love food!   I have a big sweet tooth - that's no secret either :) but I struggle to come up with meal ideas each night, so it seems like we end up having the same old thing over and over again. 

I thought it would be fun to post a recipe each week. I'm calling it "Food Friday".  I am hoping that my lovely readers out there will help me out with some of their recipe ideas as well! Feel free to leave comments and link to other recipes ideas.

This week's recipe is one I made a few nights ago - Spinach and Ricotta lasagne.

It is really a cannelloni recipe that I adapted because I didn't have any cannelloni :)

Ingredients:

250g frozen spinach thawed
500g fresh ricotta
1 egg
1/2 chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
salt & pepper
lasagne sheets
2 tins crushed tomatoes (or equivalent passata)
500ml water
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup oregano chopped
1/2 cup grated cheese

Bechamel Sauce:
60g butter
1/3 cup flour
4 1/2 cups milk (add as needed)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Combine spinach, ricotta, egg, parley, Parmesan, salt and pepper.  Mix well.  Combine tomatoes, water, garlic and oregano.  Alternate layers of tomato mixture, lasagne sheets and spinach filling until mixture has been used.  Top with Bechamel sauce and grated cheese.  Cook for 35-40 minutes or until pasta is cooked through.

To make sauce - melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.  Add flour and stir until combined.  Cook for a minute (do not burn) gradually add milk, stirring constantly, until desired consistency.

And there you have it.  Enjoy!