I found this recipe in the most recent Cuisine magazine. What appealed to me was the fact that it was pretty easy and used only one pan to make.

I had picked up an amazingly big bunch of fresh coriander from the Tauranga Farmer Market this weekend so the final deciding factor was the fact that it had lots of fresh coriander in it.

The combination of spices smelled amazing while this was cooking. It was easy and pretty quick. I did the first few steps then left it until closer to when we were going to eat.

I made a couple substitutions - peas instead of broad beans and mandarin instead of orange. I also served Isabella's before sprinkling on the coriander which I used a lot of - more like a cup than 1/4 of a cup.
I didn't have almonds so left them out but I'd get them for next time because I think the crunch would give a nice contrast. I think there could easily be a few changes to this dish and it would still be great.

This dish got rave reviews - even from Isabella (5 years). 

The coriander added great flavour and the greek yoghurt gave it a really nice zing.

I'd happily make this for guests.We will be having this again soon!

Persian Chicken Pilaf

SERVES: 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
600g skinned and boned free-range chicken thighs, cut into 3cm pieces
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup basmati rice, rinsed
1 1⁄2 cups (375ml) gluten-free chicken stock
zest and juice of 1 orange
4 silverbeet leaves, thinly sliced
2 cups frozen broad beans
1⁄4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1⁄2 cup Greek-style natural yoghurt
1⁄4 cup coriander leaves

Heat half the oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add half the chicken and fry, turning, for 3 minutes or until lightly browned all over. Remove to a plate then repeat with the remaining chicken, adding more oil if necessary.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the saucepan then add the onion and fry, stirring, for 2 minutes. 
Return the chicken to the pan, along with the cumin, turmeric, cinnamon and ginger. Cook, stirring, for 
1 minute or until fragrant. 

Add the rice, stock and orange juice to the pan. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, for 12 minutes or until the rice is tender. Remove from the heat. Top the rice mix with the silverbeet leaves then cover and set aside for 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, cook the broad beans in a large saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Peel the broad beans, discarding the grey outer pods, so you are left with the bright green inner beans.

Use a fork to gently toss the silverbeet through the rice mix, along with the broad beans and almonds. 

Divide the pilaf among serving plates then serve topped with a dollop of yoghurt and sprinkled with the orange zest and coriander. 

Caramelised Apple Tart

My Ooooby boxes over the last few weeks have contained a lot of apples. We eat quite a few but the fruit bowl seems to be overflowing with them at the moment. I needed a dessert for dinner because a family member was coming (any excuse for dessert is a good one) and found this one.
I think it originated from a Martha Stewart recipe, so decided it would probably be quite good.

I really liked that the pastry was made in the food processor (it was so quick) and could be made in advance.
I also prepared the first two steps of the apple in advance which meant I only had to add the pasty and bake it as the final preparation.

It was pretty easy but from memory my feijoa tart tartan recipe was super easy too and these two are very similar.

Caramelised Apple Tart

INGREDIENTS

• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• Pie Dough (see below)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6  Rome Beauty or McIntosh apples, peeled, cored, and each cut into 8 wedges

1. Directions
   
   STEP 1
   
   Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a floured work surface, roll out pie dough to a 1/8-inch thickness (or unfold store-bought dough). Invert a 25cm plate on top of dough; trim dough around plate with a sharp paring knife to form a round (discard scraps, or save for another use). Refrigerate until needed.
2. STEP 2
   
   Assemble the tart in a 20-25cm
   
   
   
   
   
   cast-iron skillet. Press softened butter evenly into the bottom of the skillet, then sprinkle with the sugar. Arrange apple wedges in a circle around edge, then fill in the center with remaining wedges. Place skillet over medium heat, and cook until sugar mixture is light amber in color and bubbly, 8 to 10 minutes (syrup might brown unevenly).
3. STEP 3
   
   Transfer to oven; cook until apples have softened, about 30 minutes. Carefully place dough round on top; bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes more.
4. STEP 4
   
   Let cool, about 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of skillet; invert tart onto a serving platter. Replace any apples that may have stuck to bottom of skillet; drizzle with any remaining pan juices. Serve warm or at room temperature
   
   

   
   

   Pie Dough 

   INGREDIENTS

   • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
   • 1/2 teaspoon salt
   • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
   • 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

   DIRECTIONS

   1. STEP 1
      
      In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, and sugar several times to combine. Add butter.
   2. STEP 2
      
      Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces remaining.
   3. STEP 3
      
      Add 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if needed, add up to 2 more tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time). Do not overmix.
   4. STEP 4
      
      Turn out onto a floured work surface; knead once or twice, until dough comes together. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Greek Yoghurt Pancakes

The little person in our house loves pancakes. We have tried a few different recipes and the ones that have butter milk or some kind of dairy ingredient seem to be the best.

I found this recipe on Pintrest and am really glad we gave it a try.
The greek yoghurt was made in our yoghurt maker so was quite cheap.

The batter is really think and needs quite a long time to cook. The end result is a soft fluffy pancake.
I made some with frozen berries and some plain which we ate with Maple syrup.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

Ingredients

• 350ml of  Greek yogurt
• 2 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. Open the yogurt container and stir the yogurt until it’s smooth and creamy. Crack an egg over the yogurt and stir to combine leaving. The resulting mixture should be pale yellow in color and have a few lumps here and there.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda.
3. Pour yogurt/egg mixture into the bowl with the flour and baking soda. Stir to combine. The batter will be extremely thick.
4. Spoon the batter onto a sprayed griddle or pan heated to medium-high. I usually make four big pancakes, but you could also make 8 smaller ones.
5. Flip the pancakes when they start to bubble a bit on the surface. Cook until golden brown on both sides and serve with butter, syrup, fruit, Nutella….anything! Enjoy!

Cheese and Garlic Scrolls

These were a bit of an experiment but they disappeared from the lunch table really quickly.

I used my basic bread recipe in the bread maker.

I rolled the mixture out in a large rectangle until it was quite thin, then sprinkled a lot of crushed garlic and grated edam cheese over the rectangle.

I then rolled it up into a scroll, sliced each piece off and laid it on baking paper to cook. They cooked for about 15 minutes.

Warm Lemon Tart

My latest Cuisine magazine had lots of recipes I wanted to try and this Lemon tart looked great. I really liked the fact that it was warm rather than cold since we are in the middle of winter.

My blind baked pastry was not fantastic. I used rice instead of baking beans (I'm buying baking beans asap!) and the sides slipped down quite a bit making my tart base more shallow than it should have been. The good side of this was that I got to try the filling on its own as the recipe suggested a
s another option. It was really nice.

I'd make this again - with or without the pastry

Warm Lemon Tart

Short pastry
180g flour
pinch of salt
135g unsalted butter, chilled, diced

Put the flour and salt in a food processor. Pulse once to distribute the salt evenly then add the butter and pulse until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 3 tablespoons chilled water and pulse once or twice, but don’t allow the mix to form a ball. 

Turn out on a clean bench and knead lightly to bring the pastry together. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 4mm thick. Place in a 25cm round tart tin and trim. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before baking. 

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prick the tart base with a fork then cover with baking paper and fill with dried beans, rice or ceramic beans. Blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Cool on a rack before filling. This tart base can be made a day ahead and kept in an airtight container. 

For the tart
75g unsalted softened butter
150g caster sugar
5 eggs, separated
4 tablespoons flour, sifted
zest and juice of 4-5 lemons (you will need 150ml juice)
icing sugar to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the butter and sugar in a food processor and process until well combined. Add the egg yolks and process to combine. Add the flour and blitz briefly to combine then add the lemon zest and juice and process to combine.

Transfer the mix to a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until light and fluffy then fold gently through the lemon mix. Spoon into the pastry case and smooth the top then bake for 35-40 minutes until golden on top. 

Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Lemon and Olive Chicken - Slow Cooker

This is yet another from Pintrest and adds to my growing slow cooker repertoire.
The dish was nice. A positive verdict from all who ate it.

The cumin added an interesting flavour and I loved the olives with the lemon.
My slow cooker is a quite fast - I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not?
The meat was cooked is about 3-4 hours on slow.
The sauce was a quite thick (maybe because I added it to the slow cooker while it was hot)  I so I added more chicken stock to it.


Lemon Chicken Thighs with Olives Recipe

 

Ingredients

• 12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon pepper, divided
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¾ cup pitted green olives

Instructions

1. Sprinkle chicken thighs evenly with salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add half of chicken.
3. Cook about 3 minutes per side, or until browned.
4. Transfer to a slow cooker.
5. Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to skillet, and repeat procedure with remaining chicken.
6. Transfer to slow cooker, and add lemon slices.
7. Combine broth, juice, flour and cumin, stirring with a whisk.
8. Pour broth mixture over chicken.
9. Top with olives and remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper.
10. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 hours.

Coconut Macaroons

I made these a few years ago for Christmas presents. At the time I was amazed at how easy they are and how quick to make. With a birthday 'morning tea shout' looming I needed a few ideas to make over the weekend. These seemed like a good idea. They were as easy as I remembered and my colleagues enjoyed them.

They are best when they are fresh and a bit crispy but still pretty good after a few days.

This recipe makes about 60.




Coconut Macaroons

 400g shredded coconut (not fine coconut)
1 tin sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 150 degrees C

Mix coconut, condensed milk and vanilla together.

Whisk egg whites and salt until they are soft medium peaks. If you can turn the bowl upside down and nothing falls out they are done.

Fold egg whites into coconut mix. It will end up looking a bit wet.

I put them on a baking sheet using a heaped teaspoon to measure them out. Press down so they are not a ball.
Bake for about 13 minutes.

Once cooked, allow to cool then drizzle chocolate over them.