Chicken and Chorizo Casserole

I am grateful to my hubby who helps with the cooking especially on weekends. I usually set the menu and he executes it. Recently we bought some delicious smoky chorizo at the local farmers market. Together with some chicken thigh cutlets on the bone, he made a yummy Chicken and Chorizo casserole. His method is based on Maureen's Chicken and Chorizo recipe. He didn't add the mushrooms as our girls are not keen on mushrooms. They did give Daddy two thumbs up for the dish - which means it's a winner in our home. 

He used our new Le Creuset shallow casserole dish (in red). I absolutely love that casserole dish.

Hubby Cooking #14 - Grilled Chicken and Corn Orecchiette

Tasty plate of pasta with corn and peas, topped with grilled chicken breast. PM if you want the recipe.

Hubby Cooking #12 - Capellini with Prawns and Chorizo

My favourite type of pasta is Capellini. It is much thinner than the usual spaghetti. I managed to buy a pack at my local Harris Farm market. Hubby cooked the pasta in a simple olive oil with prawns and chorizo.

Father's Day 2010

A view of the feast (Guess who's ready to start?)

In Australia, we celebrate Father's Day on the 1st Sunday in September, unlike USA, UK and Malaysia (where Father's Day is celebrated in June). This year we decided to have afternoon tea at our place to celebrate with hubby and both grandfathers. 

Ashleigh and I made:

• buttermilk scones - served with cream and strawberry jam
• hazelnut and fruit torte
• yellow glutinous rice (nasi kunyit) and chicken curry - thanks to Sonia from Nasi Lemak Lover for the rice recipe (it uses a mix of glutinous and jasmine rice)
• marble cake
• roast pumpkin and feta cheese pie - this is a tasty vegetarian finger food. Easy to make and taste delicious.

My Mum also bought some sushi. It was quite a feast. We definitely did not need dinner that night. 

Buttermilk scones made by Ashleigh - light and soft

Hazelnut and Fruit Torte

Marble Cake

Yellow Glutinous Rice served with Chicken Curry

Roast Pumpkin and Feta Cheese Pie

Hubby's Birthday 2010

This is a back-dated post. Hub's birthday was in early August.

If you've been reading my blog since last year, you'll know that each birthday, my hubby requests that I make him a pavlova as his birthday cake. Read here.This year, I made him mini pavlovas. I really don't know why he loves pavlovas so much. To me, it's basically egg whites and sugar served with fresh whipped cream and fruits. Strawberries have been particularly these last few weeks and quite cheap too. A$10.00 for 4 punnets of large juicy strawberries.

Hubby Cooking #11 - Rib-Eye Steak

My iron intake for the week.

Hubby Cooking #10 - Chicken Cacciatore

Autumn has arrived in Sydney, my favourite season. It's time to move to slow-cooked dishes like stews. Hubby cooked this for dinner last weekend. He found this recipe by Curtis Stone in the April edition of Delicious magazine. It received two thumbs up from the girls. Ashleigh on her own ate three pieces of chicken drumsticks. Now, if you know my daughter's appetite, this is a big achievement for her. I guess this recipe is a keeper then.

P.S. Apologies for the messy plate.

4 chicken marylands
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
250gm button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup (60ml) red wine
600gm jar tomato passata (sieved tomatoes)
2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
1 thyme sprig
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried oregano (we used fresh oregano from our herb garden)
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus extra to garnish
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup (40gm) kalamata olives, pitted (we left these out)

1. Preheat the oven to 170C.
2. Cut the chicken between the thigh and leg to give 8 portions, then season well.
3. Heat a large flameproof casserole over medium-high heat , and add 1 tbsp olive oi. Sear the chicken, in batches, for 2-3 minutes each side until golden brown. Transfer chicken to a plate.
4. If required, add 1 tbsp olive oil to the pan. Add onion and cook over medium heat, stirring for 3 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and capsicum and cook for 2 minutes, then add in the mushrooms and cook, stirring, for a further 4 minutes until the mushrooms are tender.
5. Add the red wine and simmer for 3-4 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated.
6. Add tomato, stock, herbs, sugar and vinegar. Return the chicken to pan, then cover and bake for 1 hour or until chicken is tender and sauce has thickened slightly.
7. If desired, remove chicken pieces from the casserole, cover chicken with foil to keep warm, then return casserole dish to the stove and simmer over medium heat for 3-4 minutes to reduce a little.
8. Return chicken to the pan, then stir in olives and serve garnished with parsley.
9. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes or crispy baguette.

Hubby Cooking #9 - Spaghetti Vongole

A few weekends ago, we went to the Sydney Fish Markets. There were some vongole, which we bought and cooked in white wine with prawns and spaghetti.

Hubby Cooking #9 - Beef Stroganoff

Hubby cooked Beef Stroganoff for dinner tonight. This time, he made the dish from scratch, whereas I used a packet mix previously.

Hubby Cooking #8 - Creamy Mushroom Pasta with Chicken

One of our girls' favourite meal - creamy mushroom pasta with chicken.

I tenderise the chicken and seasoned with salt and cracked pepper before pan-frying them. Hubby cooked the creamy mushroom pasta sauce. Sorry I can't tell how he cooks it. We have an agreement in the kitchen where only one chef can be in the kitchen, otherwise, it becomes a case of too many cooks spoil the broth, simply because we both have different methods and opinions.

Hubby's Cooking #7 - Mushroom Risotto

Hubby cooked this on Saturday for dinner. He used three types of mushroom - porcini (dried), swiss brown and enoki. This is one of the best mushroom risotto he has cooked. He said he used a different method this time.


Heard of too many cooks spoil the broth? My hubby and I have a policy that we leave each other alone to cook unless help is needed. So, the deal is if one cooks, the other has to wash/clean up after. Sounds fair? Otherwise, the 'heat' in the kitchen will be intolerable.. :D

Hubby's Cooking #6 - Fathers' Day

Today is Fathers' Day in Australia. We celebrate later in the year when compared to other countries like USA, Malaysia, Singapore and UK. We went out for breakfast/brunch at Pilu's Kiosk, Freshwater beach. It was a beautiful spring day, sunny, blue skies and a lovely sea breeze. We bought some food from the Kiosk and sat on the picnic mat by the beach. Relaxing, just the way hubby likes it.

Although it's Fathers' Day, my hubby still cooked. The girls and I did suggest we go out for dinner but he wanted to eat steak and cook it himself. So, the girls and I helped to prep and clean-up after. He made a diane sauce to go with the steak. Here's my portion which I covered with mushrooms (my fav!).

Hubby's Cooking #5

This is a picture of an Asian pork burger that my hubby cooked today for dinner. He marinades the meat with chopped coriander, fish sauce, garlic, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and egg, all combined and left aside (in the fridge) for a few hours. Then he forms the meat patties and pan-fried them. Each of us made our own burger with the other fillings - tomatoes, avocado, mushroom, caramelised onions, cut-chilli, salad leaves and tomato sauce. He said it only took him 30 mins to cook and have dinner on the table. We loved it! The burger was delicious, beats any McD's burger hands down. :)

Hubby's Cooking #4

Another dish by hubby. He had the day off today whilst I had to go into work, which is unusual for a Friday, since it is usually my day off. It was nice to come home to a warm and tasty homemade stew.

see how big is the bone

Beef Wellington

I came across the recipe on the Lifestyle channel website. We've seen Ben O'Donoghue make this dish on "The Best of Australia" show. It is a simple recipe to follow. We replaced the flat field mushrooms with button and swiss brown mushrooms instead. We also did not wrap the meat in the crepe and bacon.


When the meat was resting after taking it out from the oven, the juices seeped through the puff pastry (on the bottom). Next time, we thought we'll try making the crepe to warm around the meat before wrapping the puff pastry. Over all, it was a satisfying meal, definitely one to make again. A bit of time to prep, but a lovely dish to serve for a dinner party.

Hubby's Cooking #3 - Roast Pork Dinner

Fish n Chips and Beef n Vegie Soup

My husband cooked Fish and Chips for dinner last night. He bought some flathead fillets from the Sydney Fish Market the previous weekend. Flathead fillets are one of my favourite fishes to eat. The flesh is thick, white meat and sweet. This fish is only available during summer here in Sydney. The fish is ugly to look at, but taste great. Chris used beer to make the batter. I'll have to ask him for the recipe. I have to say his version of fish and chips taste so much better than the ones you buy.


Ingredients:
Rump steak - cubed
Carrot
Celery
Tomato
Ginger - small knob, sliced

1. Place all the above ingredients into a stockpot of water.
2. Leave on high heat until soup is boiling.
3. Lower the heat and simmer for a couple of hours.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Serve hot.
   

I made some Beef and Vegie soup to go with the Fish n Chips. Winter is coming, and I wanted the children to have extra protection against the flu and colds that inevitably arrive with the colder temperature.

Hubby's Cooking # 2 - Pizza

Saturday night and we are having pizza tonight. Hubby is cooking again. We made the dough by following the ingredients in the Tefal breadmaker booklet.

Toppings - 1st pizza
Salami (gyulai)
Mushrooms
Buffalo mozarella
Rocket leaves
Pizza sauce

2nd Pizza toppings (for the girls)
Ham
Mozarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Pizza sauce

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees. Place the pizza tray into the oven to warm.
   
2. Roll out the pizza dough on a flour-dusted surface to the required thickness (we like our base not too thin or thick). Lift the base on to baking paper.
   
3. Spread the pizza sauce and top with grated cheese.
4. Place toppings and a final topping of grated cheese.
5. Lift the pizza and place onto the warm tray (this makes the base crisp).
6. Bake the pizza in oven for 10 minutes.
7. Remove and serve hot.
   

Yummy!!

Hubby' Cooking #1 - Hamburger

My husband enjoys cooking and is particularly good at Western style meals. He's usually on kitchen duty on the weekends.

Here's something he cooked for us last Saturday. Sorry, no recipe. It was so yummy!!

Pavlova

This recipe is called Fluffy Pavlova from the Family Circle Cookbooks. It was hubby's birthday on Saturday, and he wanted Pavlova. For those who are not familiar with Pavlova, it's basically a meringue dessert topped with cream and fresh fruits. According to Wikipedia, it was named after a Russian ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova.

Fluffy Pavlova



Ingredients
5 egg whites
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vinegar
2 teaspoons cornflour
pinch of baking powder
cream (to be whipped for decoration)
fruits – strawberries, kiwi, passionfruit


Method
Brush 8in or 20cm springform tin with melted butter. Line base and sides with baking paper with paper extending 3cm higher than top of tin. Brush the insides with melted butter and dust with cornflour, remove excess.
Heat oven at low temperature (for my oven about 90oC.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks appear, then add gradually add sugar, make sure that sugar is well beaten.
Add vinegar, cornflour and baking powder.
When stiff white peaks form, pour the mixture into prepared tin.
Bake for 45 minutes.
The pavlova will rise quite dramatically, turn off heat and leave in oven till completely cool.
The pavlova may collapse by this time but it should be OK once you cover with whipped cream and fruits.