Chicken Tikka Tonight

30 August 2011 - Chicken Tikka Masala

After the hectic few weeks I’ve had, I was looking forward to a slightly quieter week this week and was excited to be cooking a curry on one of the last days of winter. I invited Alex around for dinner and was going to cook her Jamie Oliver’s Chicken Tikka Masala.

This recipe asks for the chicken to be marinated the day before. As I’m super organised and efficient, I had the chicken marinating over night and had all the ingredients ready to go for the next day. I had to call Dad when I was doing the shopping as I didn’t know if I could use whole peeled tomatoes instead of plum tomatoes (turns out they’re the same thing) and thickened cream instead of double cream (Dad didn’t believe me there was no double cream in Coles, but said I could make this switch if I wanted to).

I was all prepped and ready, only problem was, I had no one to eat with. Alex got a sore throat and dogged it, Sian was going out and Cam (who I called as my second chance offer – sorry Cam!) was in Melbourne... Jo lives alone. But I persevered! Although I don’t really eat curry, wasn’t sure what Chicken Tikka Masala is meant to taste like and really wanted to (and did) just eat the scraps of Sian and Ange’s lunch, I soldiered on and cooked my god damn curry!

It was all pretty simple, combine all the ingredients, cook the rice, wait for the chicken to cook and serve. Easy peasy. I was pretty excited because I didn’t have to buy any spices as I already had them all. I’ve been waiting for this to happen!

I think the chicken was slightly overcooked by the time I was eating it, but I’m not sure why this happened. Firstly, I didn’t cut the chicken as small as the recipe said, secondly I didn’t cook it for as long as the recipe said and thirdly... there is not thirdly, but it shouldn’t be over cooked!

Anyway, I sat down (alone) and ate (alone) and had no one to ask if it tasted how it should. I figure since I followed the recipe it probably tasted the way it was meant to. It was nice anyway, it’s not about to become my favourite meal of all time, but it was nice and relatively easy so I’m sure I’d cook it again. I froze the leftovers (to eat another night when everyone abandons me), watched a movie and went to bed ridiculously early as I wasn’t sure how to entertain myself after the movie I was watching finished.

What a fascinating insight into my life this has been!

Tips: Watch the chicken as it overcooked quite quickly

Music: Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/chicken-tikka-masala

Taking a Leek

I knew I had been a bit slack lately (slash unbelievably busy), but it wasn't until I finally cooked that I realised just how long it had been! Last night I was back in the kitchen and ready to make fresh pasta and cook Leeky Streaky Cheeky Freaky for Naomi to do my August review!

I was pretty excited about this for two reasons:

1. Naomi is a trained journalist so I feel I can trust her review and;

2. I had intended to cook this exact meal for Belle two weeks ago but we decided to get drunk and order pizza instead!

This recipe is one that Sian stole from Jamie Oliver (Jay as Sian has now started referring to him) and it seemed pretty interesting. I was nervous to go to the shop on my own as I wasn't entirely convinced I knew what a leek was but I did and it was all OK (and Sian came anyway).

Since Naomi was coming over, Sian and I bought some biscuits and dip to have out for when she arrived – only problem was, we’d finished it all before Naomi even got there and did not feel good about ourselves. This is the sort of royal treatment you receive when dining at The Fort!

I was making the pasta from scratch which was really fun as I had wanted to try this for some time but never had. Sian's basic theory is one egg for every 100g of flour. This didn't really work for me for some reason, so we added another yolk and a bit of oil to the mixture to help it stay together.

The Leek mixture wasn’t too complicated. We adjusted the amounts slightly, and couldn’t find parma ham so just used bacon, but I don’t think that matters. The recipe called for white wine, so I used some out of a goon bag we had on the balcony (I can only assume this was Ange’s).

By the time the leek mixture was simmering on the stove, the pasta had rested and I was ready to start rolling it through the machine. This was really fun. Sian had to show me how to do it, but it was really simple and fun to play with the dough and watch it change texture. Naomi got to experience just how bad I am at talking about one thing and concentrating on another – and the story that should have taken me five minutes to tell, quite literally took me maybe 45 minutes!

After we'd slow cooked the leeks with the bacon blanket on top, the next step is to cut up the bacon and put it back in the mixture with the cheese and stir it all up. Instead of chopping the bacon, I decided to chop my thumb. It was one of those weird ones where I literally watched the knife slicing my thumb. It’s a pretty deep cut and I’ve even managed to cut the nail which is not great. So, unfortunately I had to stand back and try to stop the insane amount of blood, while Sian finished cutting the bacon and served it all up. Naomi was not impressed with Sian’s serving skills, but it all looked and smelt really good to me.

The first bite I had I thought it was really salty (something I never think!) but after that I thought it was totally amazingly delicious. My pasta was so yum and totally different to dried pasta. I ate a shit load and then we had ice-cream and I ended up feeling sick (a good indication of how much I ate is that I put on a kilo in 24 hours)!

It was a nice night. Sian forgot how to make an inappropriate joke, Naomi got to have a go at rolling the pasta and we talked about farting and burping and dating and everyone we know (while Sian played Farkle – she’s obsessed and pathetic).

Tips: Have a go at making the pasta – it wasn’t hard and was really fun and so much more delicious than dried pasta.

Music: Gnarles barkley, Gorillaz, Gotye

The Long and the Shortbread of it

9th August 2011 - Margaret Young's Shortbread

Back in the kitchen again and decided to give Margaret Young’s Shortbread a go. This was one of the first recipes that Dad gave me and I’ve been putting off trying it for ages (partly because the concept of Berry Sugar and Rice Flour was just weird).

Anyway, it wasn’t too difficult really. Berry Sugar is apparently just Caster Sugar so once I found the right size bowl and got the mixer sorted out, it was essentially just chucking everything together and watching it mix. That was until I realised I had to knead the mixture for 20 minutes!

Firstly, I have no idea what the point of this was, secondly it was a really sticky mixture so it wasn’t the easiest kneading I’ve ever done and thirdly 20 minutes is a long time to be kneading! I noticed that in the ingredients list that it says ‘3 cups flour + extra to knead into dough’ so I kept chucking in chunks of flour trying to see if it was going to change texture or look like a biscuit mixture in any way. It didn’t really change at all. It was seriously strange since I had no idea what it was meant to look like so had no concept of whether it was good or not.

I lay the mixture out on the bench and cut it into rectangles and then put them on the trays and into the oven. They were really hard to shape! It wasn’t a doughy texture so I’d put it into shape and then try to move it and they’d just sort of blob everywhere. Oh well, I won’t worry about presentation!

(The only photo I have is this one of the piece I was halfway through eating when I realised it was the last piece and I’d forgotten to take pictures)

The other slight issue I faced is that the oven needs to be on 135 degrees, and then increased to 150. Seems reasonable enough, except that our oven doesn’t have any numbers lower than 200. We can pretty much assume where 180 is, but don’t have much to go off apart from that. So whether or not the oven was at the right temperature I would not have a clue, but I trust my guessing skills! Luckily I’m an impatient s.o.b so I continually checked them and was able to move the trays so the ones at the back of the oven wouldn’t go too brown.

When they came out of the oven I was slightly confused about the texture, I think I forgot what shortbread was, but they weren’t really solid even after they’d been in the oven for an hour. They looked like they were the right colour so I took them out and just had to hope that they would firm up as they cooled down.

I had been pigging out all night, but couldn’t resist it any longer so had a sneaky taste of one straight off the tray. When I put it in my mouth, I heard this weird sizzling noise and was looking around trying to figure out what I’d sat the trays on that was burning – before realising that I could hear the shortbread burning my tongue! Such an idiot. I didn’t know what to do so just swallowed it so it would stop burning! Haha.

There was a shit load so I took it all to work and people seemed to go crazy for them. I saw number of people coming back for seconds and thirds (one person told me she had five!) so I’d say it was a pretty good attempt. I got some really great compliments which was nice – some people even preferred the slightly burnt ones so that worked out well. My boss was telling me that she tried it. She said she hates Shortbread so didn’t want to try it, but did after everyone was raving about it. I figured the end of the story was going to be “but it was really good, well done”. Turns out the end was “it tasted like shortbread and I don’t like shortbread” oh well, that’s something I guess!?

Tips: Wait for them to cool before eating them.

Music: Lowrider, Round the World

Since I’m such a cooking genius these days, I decided that I’d cook Pan Fried Perch with Tomato Olive and Caper Salsa (not a catchy name!) at the same time. This wasn’t particularly interesting or difficult, but was OK tasting. Here’s the recipe: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14520/pan+fried+perch+with+tomato+olive+caper+salsa

They Call Me Caramelo

1 August 2011 - Keely's Show Winning Caramel Slice

I finally saw Keely last weekend and was able to get some recipes off her. Although I don't really eat much dessert I was super excited to have some 'show winning' recipes from a real life Kiama Show Girl (contestant)! So I was ready to attempt my second version of Caramel Slice - Keely's Show Winning Caramel Slice.

Conveniently, I had all the ingredients for this one, bar the condensed milk, so I sent Sian to the shops to get that while I got a massage (now writing it I realise I should have felt like some weird upper-class snob having people pamper me and do my shopping, but I actually felt really good about it at the time).

After a dinner of leftovers (Sian had PJ's burgers which she gave a big thumbs up) I got started on cooking my slice. Sian complained about everything, the cold, the music, the fact that she ate too much condensed milk and felt sick... everything! We soon started gossiping about everyone we know and we were much happier for it!

It all seemed pretty easy. I was kind of rough with my measurements as usual, but everything appeared to go to plan. After each stage it needed 15 minutes in the oven so in these blocks of time Sian and I sat down to play Yahtzee. The chocolate was slightly disastrous as the bowl was too hot to hold, so I was pouring it while holding the bowl in a tea towel. The tea towel then dragged in the chocolate I'd already poured. It was not my most coordinated effort ever! Needless to say both my pyjama top and the tea towel were covered in food and had to be thrown into the wash (not before I misplaced the hand towel and instead used my pyjama top for a replacement).

Anyway, it was all ok. I couldn't find my slice tin (potentially never had one) so cooked it in other dishes instead. It didn't make much difference, except that it was kind of hard to get out at the end. I of course took it to work and everyone scoffed it in seconds! What pigs! I got lots of compliments on it (partly because I asked for them, but also because it was delicious) and everyone seemed happy.

For my comparison of the two Caramel Slices, I was going to say this one wins out! However, I just looked at the recipes and they're almost identical, apart from about 20 grams of butter and 5 minutes in the oven. I think the reasons I liked this one better are as follows:

1. I forgot what the other one tasted like

2. Last time I cooked it in Mum and Dad’s oven and I think the caramel overcooked (although that recipe has it cooking 5 minutes less so I'm not sure how that works)

3. People at work will eat anything I bring them so their compliments made me think it was better than it was.

Tips: Don’t play Yahtzee with Sian, she's annoyingly good at it.

Music: Gotye (was totes uninspiring and boring)

Royale With Cheese

27th July - PJ's Hamburger Patties

After the massive week of cooking that was last week, it was time to get back into it. As Sian had what she described as “the worst hangover of my life”, I decided that it was the perfect time to cook PJ's Hamburger Patties.

When I got home, Sian did not look good. She was lying on the lounge with a bucket of spew in front of her. Hot! Not only did she look like shit, but she didn't even want my hamburgers! (“Hamburgers! The corner stone of any nutritious breakfast”) She decided that chicken nuggets and chips would be a much better dinner. Oh well, I was committed to the hamburger cause, so just cooked them anyway.

I was very excited to get to use sausage mince again as I love squeezing that out of its plastic wrapper! It really was quite simple, I essentially just combined it all up and cooked it. I didn’t use a glass bowl, as the recipe requested, as we don't have one, but I don't think it mattered. It was way too cold to go outside and use the BBQ, but a pan worked fine.

I also cooked caramelised onions. The best decision I've ever made. I was super happy with myself! I found some (stale) bread rolls in the freezer (lucky I was toasting them anyway) and topped the burgers with pineapple, beetroot, lettuce, tomato, cheese and my onion. Since Sian didn't eat any and I only had one there are now 9 hamburgers lying around which I'll probably forget about and never eat. Oh well. They were real good anyway.

I said I'd do a comparison if I got two of the same recipe in my book, so here it is. PJ's burgers stayed together much better than Alex's so were more ascetically pleasing, and honestly, I think I might have preferred the taste as well. HOWEVER, Alex's can be made from ingredients that you may have lying around in your house so this is an advantage.

Honestly though, I was just loving life sick when I ate this one which may also be due to the fact that it had caramelised onion, and also that I felt great while Sian felt shit. Hard to tell.

Caramalised Onion: Thinly slice 2 medium white onion. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan. Cook onion, stiring until soft. Add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons of water. Cook, stiring until onion is caramalised.

Tips: Have a housemate that will use the leftover mince to make a yummy pasta with meatballs dish like Sian did for me.

Music: Due to Sian's state, I just left Seinfeld on and watched that while I cooked.

Do you know the muffin man?

Very Very Easy Muffins - Emily - 20 July 2011

I apparently can't stop cooking at the moment so after another walk in the rain I decided to give Emily's Very VeryEasy Muffins a go.

I was seriously multitasking while making these muffins. All at once I was making a quiche for dinner (no pastry, easy, delicious), making the batch of banana and coconut muffins, putting the apples in to bake for the apple and cinnamon muffins and icing my face after waxing (I've got seriously sensitive skin). It was quite the production!

Needless to say, the kitchen had never seen such a mess! The muffins were as easy as Em had said. The bananas (although practically rotten) cost me $6 which was a total rip off but it really was as easy as combining all the ingredients and putting the mixture in a muffin tin (which I had to buy especially). I made 9 out of this batch and they cooked perfectly after 20 minutes.

I cut the apples up into the right size, tipped a load of brown sugar mixed in water over them and added some cinnamon to the top to bake them. They cooked in about 10 minutes and tasted really yum. I forgot to mix the butter in until the very last minute so the mixture was really runny and buttery. I added a bit more flour until it was the right texture and tipped it into the tin. They also made 9, cooked in 20 minutes and were amazing.

I of course took them to work for everyone to try and they seemed to disappear pretty quickly which is always a good sign! Very easy and something I'm sure I'll make again! The apple ones in particular were a hit!

Tips: When creating a mess in the kitchen, don't leave the container of flour in the sink with its lid off as when you turn the tap on, it could be a disaster!
Music: Sian had Friends on so I watched that - the Barbados episodes – amazing!

and the quiche just FYI

There's nothing funny about chickpeas.

Lauren's Vegetarian - no bacon - Yummy Chickpea Curry - 19 July 2011

Lauren had been bugging me and bugging me to cook her recipe so I finally manned up and decided to cook Lauren's, vegetarian, no bacon, yummy chickpea curry.

Even after the great description she wrote at the top of the recipe (“This chickpea and tomato based curry with a blend of fragrant spices is warming and healthy. Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt, a sprig of coriander and a warm naan”), I was slightly skeptical for three reasons

1. My favourite vegetarian recipes are the ones that include bacon

2. I don't really like the texture of chickpeas

3. I don't really eat curry.

It was a bold move to say the least. Sian and I went for a walk in the pouring rain and froze to death which was an interesting decision so a nice warm curry was just what we wanted.

As much as I enjoy a recipe that includes product placement, Coles didn't stock the right type of chickpeas so I used a different one instead. I'd never used chickpeas before so wasn't sure if I needed to drain them, but luckily I did or it would have been disastrous.

I didn't put chilli in, even though the recipe called for it because we didn't have any and I don't like chilli. I did have to buy some more spices though to add to the insane amount I have that take up half of the top shelf of our cupboard! Soon I’ll have every spice they sell in Coles and cooking won’t be so insanely expensive all the time!

Lauren suggested I eat it with some baked sweet potato. We all know I can't say no to sweet potato, so I popped that in the oven with some paprika on it to season. Yum.

It was really simple, Sian bitched and moaned about it not being ready when she was hungry, but I didn't give in and left it to simmer for the right amount of time. I played around with the presentation of the rice which didn't really pay off, but was good fun regardless.

The overall result was really nice. The combination of the sweet potato and the curry was amazing and I was quite impressed. The texture wasn't too bad, and after I added a fair bit of salt to it all I couldn't stop eating it. Sian was loving it sick and had it for lunch again the next day too. Success.

Tips: Definitely have it with sweet potato

Music: The Fratellis