Tortilla sabroso

Leftover roast chicken.  Not a bad thing now, is it?  There are a million and one things you can do with leftover roast meat, especially chook.  We typically have a day or two of roast chicken sandwiches for lunch, a curry and perhaps a stir-fry or fettucine too (depending on the quantity left over).  I also love to use shredded roast chicken for lasagne, instead of mince.  The other day though, none of our usual go-to meals got me amped up for gastronomic greatness.  So I called on Dr Google.  

Google search - leftover roast chicken recipes.  A myriad of responses.  One page with 21 ideas.  And one of those ideas was for tortilla stack.  Yum.  And we had everything needed.  

1 cups roast chicken

1/2 tin red kidney beans (black-eyed peas would also be amazing!)

1 tin diced tomatoes

fresh herbs (I used basil and marjoram)

a few teaspoons sour cream, to dollop between layers

4 tortillas 

handful chopped capsicum and mushrooms

6 bok choi or pak choi leaves, sliced into strips 

packet of taco/burrito seasoning (or fresh garlic, onion and cumin powder with a little chili)

1/2 cup grated cheese

1 cup grated cheese

2 eggs

50 ml milk

salt and pepper

guacamole, to serve 

1. Grease casserole dish (one that will fit the tortillas laid flat) with butter or oil.    
2. Place chicken in frypan with a little butter.  Stir in seasoning.  Add beans, tomatoes, herbs and vegetables and heat through.  Stir through the bok choi.    
3. Place a tortilla in casserole dish.  Spoon chicken onto it and spread evenly to edge of tortilla.  Place a few dollops of sour cream and sprinkle with some of the cup of cheese.  Place another tortilla on top.  Continue this until chicken/tortillas finished.  
4. Beat eggs, salt and pepper, and milk together.  Pour over tortilla layers.  Cover with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours, to let the egg mix soak in.  
5. Preheat over to 180 degrees celcius.  Remove foil, sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over tortillas.  Replace foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for further 5-10 minutes, until egg is set and cheese is melted and browned.  
6. Serve with guacamole and a salad.  Sabroso!

Got milk?

It's about time I got a new post out.  Have been a bit slack lately, though in my defence I had my wisdom teeth out last month, so wasn't eating for a while, therefore not really much fodder (ha ha, pun) for bloggery.  This one's not a recipe, but a discovery of a fantastic local product which I think is worth sharing.

Anyhoo...  Last weekend we went and stayed with brother- and sister-in-law.  They buy raw milk from a guy just out of town.  Organic, raw milk.  That will either sound heavenly or horrible, but OMG if it's the latter, give it a try.  Amazing!  I would have expected it to taste great, but also to come with a great price tag.  Nope, same price as the supermarket for a 2L ($3.50).  So, I went online and found a place near to us which sells the same.  There's a list on Cottage Crafts of numerous places around NZ who sell raw milk.  Our guy, just out of Pirongia, is certified organic and the litre I bought this morning was milked this morning.  Can't beat that, really.  And it's soooo yum.  Up here it cost me $4 for two litres, so a fraction more costly (plus the cost of the drive to get it, I suppose), but totally worth it.  

So, if you're keen to find some kick ass milk in your area, check out the website.  You may be surprised how many places there are.  Good, local tastiness.  

chia oat pudding brekkie

Chia seeds are great.  I've waxed lyrical about their awesomeness before (Chia bro, too much), and love finding different ways to use them.  I can't remember whether I got this idea from Katie, aka Wellness Mama, or from my sister-in-law, Tessa, but it is soooooo good!  Good tasty and bonus, good for you.  I made some up for me and baby Frankie to try for breakfast, and it got the thumbs up from both of us.  It would be nice warmed up, but I enjoyed it cold.  Easy as too, which is essential in the mornings.  

2 tbsp chia seeds

1/3 cup rolled oats

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup almond milk (normal milk, rice milk, soy milk, coconut milk...)

drizzle of syrup (optional - I used agave nectar 'cause was for Frankie too, but maple would've been really yum!)

1. Mix together in bowl. 
2. Place in fridge overnight. 
3. Serve in the morning with fruit and/or yoghurt, or simply as is.  

Limey-coconut madness - aka You put da Lime in da Coconut 2

I saw a thing on Facebook yesterday about palusami and ota ika, using coconut cream.  I didn't have any taro leaves, nor any fresh fish with which to make ota ika, but it got me thinking.  Coconut cream eh?  Yep, we can do something with that.  Now, what would really make that coconut pop?  Peanut satay, I though.  But then I remembered that we've had satay quite a lot lately.  Suddenly it hit me - you put da lime in da coconut and drink 'em bode up...  Limes.  Poptastic.  

So, into our ninja (a food processor would have worked fine too, or just some good ol' fine chopping) went the ingredients for a kick ass marinade.  I used chicken drumsticks, but thighs would've been great too.  This marinade, which then got cooked with the chicken, made the most amazing sauce.  We had kumara mash and it tasted awesome - the limes were strong enough to come through the coconut's flavour, but didn't take over.  

While we're talking about limes - they're in season now, so can be found on backyard trees the country-wide, and in supermarkets relatively cheap.  Come summer, which is when we desperately NEED lime juice - think mojitos, soda and lime, gin and tonic (I know it's usually lemon, but I like lime), salads, fresh fish, fish tacos, salsa... - they go for about $35/kg.  Which is CRIMINAL.  So, please please please - go out into your backyard, or your neighbour's, or down to your local fruiterer, and stock up.  Bring them home, juice the suckers and freeze in ice cube trays.  Bam, you have a supply for later.  It freezes brilliantly, and once frozen, you can transfer into a zip-lock bag.  Easy peasy, lime squeezey.  

Ok, now on with the show...  

6 chicken drumsticks

1/2 cup coconut cream (I used half a tin)

1/2 cup lime juice

2 tbsp honey

pinch or two cayenne pepper (omit, or use paprika, if cayenne is too hot)

2 cloves garlic 

2 tbsp finely chopped/grated ginger

1/2 onion, or 1/2 cup spring onion

as much coriander as you can rustle up - I only had a tsp, but a half cup would've been good!

1. Blitz everything (except chicken) to make marinade.  
2. Pour marinade over chicken and place in the fridge for at least an hour.  Several hours would be great.  Turn drums every now and again.  
3. Bake for 20-30 minutes.  We threw in some whole mushrooms here too - they really soaked up the flavours. 
4. Serve with mash and steamed vege (or maybe rice and a salad in summer?), with sauce drizzled over.  

NB: Hold onto any leftover sauce, 'cause it'll make a brilliant curry - add in the rest of the tin of coconut cream, a dollop or two of green curry paste and you're away.  A stalk of lemongrass too, if you have any.  

Pad Thai, part deux

Last year I came across a fantastic recipe for pad thai. We rocked it out again last night and it was AMAZING! The only difference between the original and last night's creation was that I used a little sweet chilli and harissa in place of fresh chilli. And fresh squeezed lime was a real winner, much more flavoursome than lemon, if you can get it. Enjoy!!

Save a little bit o' summer

We love our summer vege garden.  We love our winter one too, but there's just something extra-special about the fresh produce in summer - masses of tomatoes, fragrant herbs of all types and stripes, and random rogue potatoes cropping up here and there.  We've always frozen bags of excess tomatoes, for use throughout the winter months, but have been left with a surfeit of other veges (there's only so much we can palm off to others!).  

So, this year we froze even more - some bags had just tomatoes, but others had a combo of pre-cut veges, ready for a winter stirfry, casserole, mac cheese, whatever.  For example, we cut up all our excess capsicums, zucchini, spring onions and stacks of herbs, added them into the freezer bags with smooshed up tomatoes, and lay flat in the freezer.  When we want some we either defrost and use the whole bag, or snap off how much we need.  

KB used some on the weekend, to make a hot salsa to go with our salmon.  So it was the tomato-capsicum-spring onion-herb mix, to which he added a little soy sauce, some crushed garlic and a few capers.  This was all left simmering on low while the rest of our meal came together.  

So yeah, I love our vege garden.  I love being able to share the produce with friends and family too.  But I also really love knowing that some of the excess can be saved, for us to use when the weather has turned down the fresh vege machine for a bit.  'Cause there's nothing like sitting down to a meal and going, yum - this all came from just out the back door :) 

Just call 'em tasty

 Empanadas.  Cornish pasties.  Half moon pies.  Call them what you will, they're tasty.  As Shakespeare's Juliet famously said, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.  

I first came across empanadas a few years ago from my friend Kush's Mum, Clara (thanks Clara!!).  I've brought them out a few times since, sampling different fillings and sizes (chicken and blue cheese is a tasty inner, and mini bite size ones with bolognese filling are a winner for picnics, or birthday parties).  But it's been a while.  So, when I saw Rachel Khoo's posting yesterday, I thought YEAH, let's get amongst it.  I had some sheets of pre-rolled flaky puff pastry in the freezer (which, frankly, was getting freezer burnt and desperately needed a reason to be moved on!), so here we go... 

Makes 8 

8 sheets pastry (feel free to make your own if you wish, good on you - Rachel Khoo has a recipe for that if you click on the link above)

350 g potato - I used agria, nice and firm when cooked

1 chorizo, cubed

2-3 pieces of middle bacon, cut into cm pieces

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

200 g cheese, cut into cm chunks (I used edam) 

1 egg

dash milk

oil/butter for frying

1. Par-boil your potato and saute the meats with the onion and garlic.  
2. Mix potato, meats etc and cheese with plenty of black pepper in a large bowl and sit aside, to allow it to cool.  
3. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees (fan-bake, probably 200 degrees if not).  Prepare baking sheet by either spraying with oil, using baking paper, or both.  
4. Beat egg and milk together in small bowl. 
5. Cut out 21 cm circles from your pastry sheets (quite a lot gets wasted, you can roll these pieces back out if you want).  I used a cereal bowl, which was roughly the size circle I wanted).  
6. Place as much of the filling onto the circles as you can - this won't be as much as you think - making sure you can fold them in half and press closed.  Brush half the circle's edge with egg wash, fold over and press closed around that edge.  
7. Pierce some holes in the tops, brush tops with egg and sprinkle with some dried herbs or salt/pepper.  
8. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown.  

NB: Next time I make them I'll also add a dollop or two of relish inside them.