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Author Archives: Fabric of Madness

Chicken Thighs – yet another….

21 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by Fabric of Madness in chicken, Dinner, Uncategorized, Vegetables

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Tags

beans, chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, vegetables

Ok so I must ‘fess up.  We eat a lot of chicken thighs in the MWCED household.  Preferably boneless and skinless, though sometimes a bit of bone and skin is ok.   The problem with skinless is that you just don’t get that lovely colouring – but better that than far too many calories I figure.   You can see what I mean with the picture from last night’s dinner.  The meal was very  yummy,  but doesn’t win any prizes for looks.   Still,  if you want a tasty, quick and flavoursome dinner, this is one to keep going back to.   Surprisingly there is no garlic in this recipe, yowser, what was I thinking!

As for the veges,  I felt like potatoes.  And we had some beans – a bit different from courgettes 100 ways – due to them being in season and in our garden.    We also have a lovely crop of tomatoes and just happened to have these wee ones – which went great with the beans.

IMG_2319IMG_2321

Here we go:

INGREDIENTS – for 2 to 4 (depends how hungry you are)

  • 3 slices bacon, chopped into smallish pieces
  • ½ cup flour
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 teaspoon mixed fresh herbs from the garden (I used oregano, thyme and parsley) – or use dried (but only about 1 teaspoon if dried)
  • 4 chicken thighs – one each was enough for us, but if you are hungry and there are four people then perhaps use 2 thighs each
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • one onion, finely sliced (shallots would work nicely here if you have them, sigh, I didn’t)
  • ½ cup dry white wine – well I use whatever happens to be open – usually in our household it is Chardonnay
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • chopped parsley

 

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. Fry the bacon for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the hot bacon grease in the pan (turn down the heat while prepping the chicken).   You might need to help the bacon along with a little of the olive oil.
  2. Mix the flour with salt and pepper and the herbs. Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour mixture and transfer to the hot pan. (Add olive oil if needed). Pan-fry the chicken for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown (but not cooked through). Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside on plate.
  3. Add the onions to the pan with the rest of the olive oil. Saute for 5-10 minutes, until softened and fragrant and golden brown. Add the wine slowly, stirring to get all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock and let everything cook until it reduces slightly, about 5-10 minutes.
  4. Add the chicken and bacon back to the pan and then transfer to an oven proof dish and bake for 40 minutes, basting the chicken every 10 minutes or so with the pan sauce.. Skim the oil off the top of the sauce if you want.   You could also serve with bread to soak up all those juices.

 

 

vegetables

Use enough potatoes for the number of people. Mine happened to be quite large so I cut into smaller pieces. Boil until just tender.   Then put onto an oven tray with some olive oil, salt and a little pepper.   Cook in oven with chicken until done. Add a bit of butter to top of potatoes and cook under the grill until browned and crisped.

Meanwhile put green beans into boiling water for a few minutes. Take off heat and strain. Add beans back to hot pot with baby tomatoes. Add a teaspoon of pesto – add pot lid and let heat from pot/beans warm through tomatoes.

Enjoy!

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Christmas, almost gone…

29 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by Fabric of Madness in chicken, Christmas, Pork, Prawns, Uncategorized, Vegetables, Walnuts

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

deboned chicken, ham, jamie oliver, moet, nga waka, prawns, walnuts

I won’t plague you with Christmas recipes, for by now you will have had your fill, literally and figuratively I am sure.   But how wonderful for a few weeks to indulge in recipe hunting, dreaming of the perfect menu, hoping for the perfect day.   I love all of it.   Unfortunately for me, this year I managed to dose myself with food poisoning a week before, so by the time Christmas Day came around, I wasn’t too enamoured with eating, or, (maybe worse) partaking of a bubbles or two.  But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do 🙂

The day’s work fell to Mr MWCED, who to his credit did a lot of prep the day before.  I did glaze the ham, albeit a small one – as the table this year was set for 3.   Still,  for 3 people we did good.

We started with Prawns, with a coriander and chilli sauce, set on a bed of freshly picked rocket.  Mmmmmmm.

IMG_2123

 

MoetRose
A Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial went well with this, it had light berry flavours, was crisp and reasonably dry.

Following the first course we had a small break and launched into the mains.    There was a deboned and stuffed chicken, sticky glazed roast ham with mustard sauces, new potatoes and roasted asparagus, plus a freshly picked lettuce, rocket and snow pea salad.     Just a perfect combination.

IMG_2124 2

The chicken had an Italian pork sausage, cranberry and walnut stuffing.  A total favourite combination of flavours.  Mr MWCED used a number of recipes to come up with just the right stuffing mix.

IMG_2121.JPG

The ham was from a Jamie Oliver recipe out of the December 2015 Issue 116 Woolworths Fresh magazine (recipe here).   It had ginger, hoisin sauce, soy, five spice, sesame oil, nutmeg and much more.   Our piece of ham was about half the size that the recipe called for,  though I made about the same amount of glaze.   It was Very Delicious.

To complement our lunch, we opened a bottle of Nga Waka Home Block Chardonnay 2014.  I was given some bottles of this local wine as a gift.  Yoweeee,  what a wonderful gift!   It was superb.   (ngawaka)

IMG_2122

Nga Waka Home Block Chardonnay 2014

And then, do you know,  we were so full that the thought of dessert just didn’t tempt us.   So the Raspberry Parfait just had to wait until another day.

Now of course it has been ham sandwiches all the way!  Who can complain though,  wonderful weather,  great people, tasty food and good wine.  Roll on 2016!

A Merry Christmas and Best New Year Wishes to All.

 

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Zucchini and Ricotta Galettte

08 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by Fabric of Madness in Dinner, Pies

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

pastry, ricotta, zucchini

Sunday afternoon.   A wonderful lazy weekend, warm weather and lots of time to sew and chill out.   Thinking of a swim but know that I need to organise dinner at some stage too.   So tired of meat, even chicken.   Looking for inspiration on the net,  and plug in potatoes, zucchini into Google (because that is what i have plenty of).   Some of the sites that come up have recipes that sound interesting but the pictures just don’t do it for me.  Not getting the taste buds going at all.   Then scroll through a few more pages and find Smitten Kitchen’s Galette “link“.  This was posted in 2010!  OMG,  where have I been all this time – why haven’t I made this before!   Oh yes, that definitely hits the spot.   Decide to get the pastry underway before I go for a swim/exercise so that once I get home I can relax with a glass of wine before having to get dinner underway.

Here is the tart before it went into the oven:

IMG_2029

Zucchini and Ricotta Galette
Serves 6

Pastry:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons) cold butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup ice water

Filling:
1 large or 2 small zucchinis, sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
3 medium garlic clove3, minced
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated mozzarella
1 tablespoon basil leaves

Glaze:
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Make dough: Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Sprinkle bits of butter over dough, tip into the blender and whizz until the pastry looks like crumbs. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add this to the butter-flour mixture. With your fingertips or a wooden spoon, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Make filling: Spread the zucchini out over several layers of paper towels. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and let drain for 30 minutes; gently blot the tops of the zucchini dry with paper towels before using. In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil and the garlic together; set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella, and 1 teaspoon of the garlicky olive oil together and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare galette: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet (though if you line it with parchment paper, it will be easier to transfer it to a plate later). Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the bottom of the galette dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Shingle the zucchini attractively on top of the ricotta in rows, starting at the outside edge. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon of the garlic and olive oil mixture evenly over the zucchini. Fold the border over the filling, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open. Brush crust with egg yolk glaze.

Bake the galette until the cheese is puffed, the zucchini is slightly wilted and the galette is golden brown, 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with torn basil leaves, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

And here is it when it came out:

Galette 2

This was MAGIC!   The pastry was delicious.  Mr MWCED thought it looked wonderful and enjoyed his slice, in fact he had two.   The recipe says it serves 6.   Four might be a more realistic number, if you are hungry and haven’t had any starters.  See next photo for how much was left over after the two of us had our share:

Galette3

 We added a green salad, with fresh, out of the garden, lettuce, rocket, chives, parsley, oregano and tomatoes.   Mmmmm, will definitely repeat this.

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