Thai Whole Chicken Soup

Here's one that I'd been gathering ingredients for for a while but didn't know what I was making.

1) boiled a small whole chicken in about 2 litres of chicken stock with shallots and garlic for 1.25hrs.
Sieved the resulting broth and scooped some oil off the top. separated the meat from the bones and garbage and put back with sieved liquid. discarded everything else.

2) added 2 lrge lemongrass stalks, 4 kaffir leaves, 2 chilis, and a large piece of grated galangal, brought to boil then turned down and added 4 tbsp fish sauce, 1 can coconut milk, and a bunch of sugar snap peas.
turned down some more and added the juice of half a lime, and some sugar and cayenne pepper to taste.
garnished with coriander and basil leaves.
served with wholegrain noodles.

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take 2.
didn't put the chicken meat straight back in as it got too shredded from being boiled about. left it to last step when adding lime juice.
didn't use store bought coconut milk, used my own homemade coconut milk, much more delicate and not overwhelming at all, also a bit more coconuty taste.
consequently needed less fish sauce and no cayenne pepper, but added 3 dried chillis and a whole lime.

water into wine (making my cooking wine palatable)

was drinkin yellow tail shiraz today -lovely. i drank it all. had t resort t drinking the venison wine after all booze was gone and i went home (i live in ireland and it was well after 10pm). the €4 cooking wine was shiiiiitee!!! this made it quite palatable and was done bit by bit experimentally.. ground up well; ground coriander -goes well with vinegar sugar (well ground) -a good antidote to sourness sparing amount of MSG -just good! this got it tasting just OK, then added cinnamon -small bit for that xmas taste, relative perfection! nutmeg did not add anything so i stopped there at quite palatable! i think this is a good generic mixture for any wino trying t drink his cooking wine. i will surely refine this recipe again!

crusty coriander pork chops

crusty coriander pork chops: Made paste to spread on 3 pork chops; 2 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp cumin 2 tbsp dijon mustard 2 tbsp honey Salt +pepper Oven n pan hot. Spread mixture on pork chops. Seared for 2 mins on each side in pan. Into oven for 10mins ...most of it was really lovely. Was a little bit too much towards the end though, too much coriander and cumin maybe.

smoked mackerel and konnyaku salad

Salad: half cucumber bunch scallions balsamic olive oil coriander garlic pepper finely chopped large red chilli Peppered smoked mackarel flaked into chunks and put on top. Ripped a block of konnyaku into chunks n boiled for 1 minute. Drained washed in cold water and added to salad.

Sesame Chicken & Spicey Salad

Chopped up 4 chicken breasts (400g) into thin 3cm long slices.
made a marinade for chicken with:
at least 6 tbsp soy sauce
about the same of balsamic vinegar
roughly 4 tbsp sesame oil
and a 2inch by 1 inch piece of ginger finely chopped

stirred up well and left to marinate for about 50mins.

Meanwhile made the salad with:
1 head iceberg lettuce shredded (kept 4 whole outer leaves to use as bowls for the chicken)
3 bell peppers chopped
1 cucumber chopped in slices then divided further
5 tomatoes cut into 6 slices each (threw away any juice and seed bits that came loose)
a handful of bluberries
last but not least 2 very large red chilli peppers deseeded and finely chopped.
tossed well in a large bowl

made a salad dressing with:
soy sauce
sesame oil
balsamic vinegar
2 or 3tsp ground coriander
juice of 1 lime

Cooked the chicken in a hot pan for a few minutes with all the marinade until the chicken had coloured and just cooked but no longer. chicken was very tender and succulent.

Served on a plate by putting out the salad and dressing it, then propped up a lettuce bowl in the salad and put 1/4 of the chicken in the leaf bowl with some of the cooked marinade. This kept the marinade sauce and the dressing separate.

Yum!

Baked Ham, Roast Beetroot, & Mash

So I haven't been cooking in a whiles, I'm still waiting to buy a freezer for my new flat, so it kinda makes everything difficult for me.

Making 3 things; mash, boiled n baked ham, & roasted beetroots.

Mash:
1kg regular potatoes + .75kg sweet potatoes, skin on and boiled well.
Sauteed 4 shallots + 4 cloves in a knob of butter and extra virgin olive oil in small pan.
Drained potatoes well, and added contents of small pan to the potatoes. Added plenty of pepper, milk (1/3 pint), and a nice sploosh of soy sauce for saltiness.
Mashed the shit out of all that tilll creamy.

Roasted beetroots:
chopped some whole cooked beetroots into 4/6 pieces each.
Tossed well in -
4 tsp thyme
4 tsp balsamic
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp honey
put into roasting dish for 25mins


Ham:
boiled a .75kg ham fillet for 40mins, changing the water after 25mins. drained and cut off plastic.
Scored and generally rolled around in some baste in a casserole bowl.
baste -
2tsp thyme
2tsp balsamic
2tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
+ground up some cloves & cinnamon
baked for 25mins with lid on.

made em. all feckin delicious. hopefully they keep in my fridge.

Caesar Salad

Finally got around to making this classic from scratch. Well almost from scratch, I used mayonaisse, but then again I didn't make the Worcestershire sauce from scratch either.

Followed the dressing recipe from here:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/caesar-salad-supreme/

Ingredients

• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 5 anchovy fillets, minced
• 6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cups day-old bread, cubed
• 1 head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces

Directions

1. Mince 3 cloves of garlic, and combine in a small bowl with mayonnaise, anchovies, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

worked out pretty good!

tried to make croutons in a pan like suggested in the article. didn't really work out for me. went back t my trusty oven for them. ground up salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil in my pestle n mortar put into large bowl with 2 slices o bread cubed. tossed around for a while to cover em, then fecked em all in oven for about 12 - 13 mins. worked a treat.
tossed the lot up with cos lettuce n more grated parmesan. Not sure that much extra parmesan is required really as the dressing is incredibly pungent.