I love recipes like this one I am showing you today.  Recipes that are composed pretty much from what you have on hand, using up a bit of this and a bit of that. 

My mother always said that I had the ability to make anything taste good.  I don't know about that, but I do know that this is delicious!

 

It was a great way of using up some leftover roast chicken from yesterday.  I just like to tear it into bite sized pieces.  

I think that tearing it up like that adds interest and texture.

 

I also had some Brussels sprouts in the vegetable bin that needed using up. I love sprouts any way I can get them.  Here today they are finely shredded. 

 I think lightly sauteed shredded sprouts can convert any sprout hater into a sprout lover.  They have an almost nutty taste and a buttery texture.

 

Slivered garlic, cooked just until golden brown in a bit of oil.  Take care not to burn it.  Always remove any green sprouts if they are present.  

These can be bitter.  You can still use the rest of the garlic, just get rid of the green.

 

Plenty of rich and salty Parmesan Cheese and black pepper, with a bit of chicken stock and you have a dish fit for a Queen.

  The King in this house doesn't like pasta, so he had something else, but . . .

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this today.  I don't think you could make leftovers taste much better than this.  

I did cut the quantities down by 2/3 so that there was just enough for me, myself and . . .  I!

 

*Spaghetti with Roasted Chicken and Shredded Brussels*
Serves 4

Printable Recipe 

Leftover roast chicken tossed together with buttery soft shredded Brussels sprouts, whole wheat spaghetti, garlic and cheese.  Amazingly delicious! A great way to use up what's left of your Christmas sprouts and any leftover chicken you might have languishing in the refrigerator. (or a rotisserie chicken) 

A large pot of lightly salted water on the boil
1 1/4 pounds fresh Brussels sprouts, bad leaves discarded, stems intact
2 TBS butter
6 TBS olive oil
2 fat fresh cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (remove and discard any green shoot if present)
1 pound spaghetti (preferably whole wheat and good quality)
240ml hot good chicken stock (1 cup)
200g cooked chicken (about 1 1/2 cups)
(I like to tear it into chunks)
200g freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to serve (7 ounces)
flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
 

Holding your sprouts by the stem end, carefully cut into thin slices crosswise. The thinner you can cut them the sweeter they will be.  Melt the butter in a large saucepan with 2 TBS of the oil.  When the butter begins to foam, add the sprouts.  Season generously with some flaky sea salt.  Toss to coat with the butter, cover and cook over very low heat, stirring frequently, for about five minutes. Add 60ml (1/4 cup) water and cook overlow heat for a further 10 minutes, just until the sprouts are crispy tender. Remove from the heat and set aside. 

Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet.  Add the sliced garlic and cook until the garlic is golden.   Drain off all but about 1 TBS of the oil and discard.  Stir in the sprouts, and torn chicken and keep warm. 

Cook the pasta until al dente in the boiling salted water.  Using tongs remove the spaghetti to the skillet, tossing to coat it with the sprouts and garlic and oil.  Stir in the grated Parmesan cheese and enough of the hot stock to moisten.  Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper and more salt if required.  Serve hot with more Parmesan cheese for sprinkling over top.

 

I love it when dishes come together like this.  You could use leftover roast chicken, or a bit of chicken left from a Rotisserie Chicken.  I think it is something you are sure to enjoy!  Bon Appetit! 

  

This recipe today is for a recipe I saw via video on my daughter's facebook page.  Most of the time what you cook doesn't end up looking like the video at all, but happy to say that this time it worked really well.  Not only that it was really simple to do and very delicious!

 

The recipe involves the use of a bundt cake tin, some aluminum foil, a good roasting chicken (I use cornfed free range) a lemon, some herbs, fresh veg and salt and black pepper  . . .  oh and some olive oil.  You just toss the veg with some herbs and olive oil and pop the into the bottom of the cake tin (after covering the hole with some foil) and then the chicken, well seasoned and stuffed with garlic and lemon gets placed on top, with the post of the bundt pan acting as a trivet of sorts.

 

It works really well!  All the juices from the chicken's neck and heiny pouring down from the chicken on top of those roasting vegetables and flavouring them, rendering them rich and succulent and basting the chicken at the same time . . .

 

I was a bit worried it might fall over in the oven . . .  but thankfully it didn't. (I put my cake tin on a baking sheet just in case.)  It looks a bit odd and unorthodox, but it works perfectly well.  I would tell you if you are using a chicken from over here, do remove and discard that last joint from the drumsticks before roasting and any trussing. 

 

Beautifully crisped skin and perfectly cooked, moist & well flavoured chicken  . . .  I like it!

 

The vegetables were beautifully cooked as well . . .  with a bit of stickiness from the chicken juices, and there was plenty juice from the chicken to spoon over the meat when I went to serve it.

 

And it cooks in a lot less time.  I think having that metal post shoved up inside helps it to cook a bit faster which keeps it nice and moist!  You get lovely crisp skin if you are into that sort of thing.  I haven't eaten chicken skin in years.

 

And beautifully glazed and perfectly cooked veg.  You can't ask for much more than that.  Only one pan to wash (the cake tin).  I did use a few more for presentation and serving, but they are a doddle to clean. Nothing stuck on there!

 

 

My chicken loving husband really enjoyed this, and I have pleny of leftovers to make another meal or sandwiches, and a carcass to make soup with.  Ahhh  . . .  such tastiness and thrift.  I love it! what a great way to start the new year!  Bon Appetit and Happy New Year! 

  

This is a recipe which I have had printed out and in my "To Bake Someday" folder, for about two years now.  It is a recipe I found on a little blog called Chef In Training, and I remember it looking really, really tasty.  I often spy things on the net which catch my eye, and I think  I would like to try baking sometime.  I print them out and stick them in a file . . .  and sometimes . . .  I actually DO get around to baking them!

 

I had bought a HUGE jar of Nutella a few months back.  What was I thinking???   There is no way I could ever hope to use it all up, unless I use it for extra things like baking.   It tastes really good spread onto malt biscuits . . . but that would be an awful lot of Malt Biscuits . . . it's a 750g jar! (That's over a pound in weight!)

 

So the other day I dug through my recipes and pulled out this banana bread recipe to try out.  It worked out well because I also had a bunch of brown bananas that I had bought before Christmas that just didn't get eaten . . . there is nothing better to do with brown bananas than to bake a banana bread!

 

My bread didn't come out of the oven near as tasty looking as Chef In Trainings did . . . it actually looked rather ugly and I did have to add about 15 minutes time to the baking . . . but wow, cut it open and it more than makes up for it's ugly surface. 

 

That's kind of like people don't you think???  Some of the prettiest ones are the ones who aren't much to look at on the outsides . . . but dig a bit deeper and you've found a gem!  Anyways, it was rather, RATHER tasty sliced and eaten plain . . . but then again, we quite, QUITE like it sliced and spread with softened butter because . . . that's just how we roll around here.

 

*Nutella Banana Bread*
Makes one medium loaf

Printable Recipe  

Your favorite bread swirled with your favorite spread.  What's not to like about this one? 

280g plain flour (2 cups)
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 TBS unsalted butter, softened
190g caster sugar (1 cup)
2 large free range eggs
287g of mashed bananas (1 1/4 cups)
1 tsp vanilla paste
80ml of whole milk (1/3 cup)
145g of nutella (heaped 3/4 cup) 

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 5.  Butter an 8 by 4 inch loaf tin and line with baking paper.  Butter the paper.  Set aside 

Whisk the flour, soda and salt together in a beaker.  Set aside. 

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly amalgamated.  Beat in the bananas, milk and vanilla.   Stir in the flour mixture just to moisten.   

Soften the nutella in the microwave for about 20 seconds.   Stir in 1/3 of the batter until well blended. 

Alternate the banana and nutella batters in the prepared baking tin.  Swirl together with a chopstick or knife.   Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until well risen and done.  It may seem a bit underdone in the centre, but that's how it should be.  Allow to cool at least 15 minutes in the pan before tipping out onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely. 

 

In for a penny, in for  pound I guess.  Yum!  This is very good.  Bon Appetit and a very Happy New Year! 

 

 

 

If you are looking for something a lot different from the Christmas Cakes, puddings and mince pies that you have been enjoying over the past week or so, look no further.  Today I have a fabulous Lemon Bread Pudding to share with you!

 

This pudding is very different than my usual Lemon Curd Bread and Butter Pudding that I make.

 

This is light and custardy, almost soufflee-like  . . .

 

It puffs up nice and light in the oven, but will sink upon standing, so you will want to serve as soon as possible.  But don't worry, it tastes fabulous even when it sinks  . . .

 

It is filled with lovely lemon flavour . . .  from thefresh juice and lemon zest used, along with a small amount of  Limencello which is totally optional, but if you have it, do use it!

 

Even Todd who is not overly fond of lemon anything (I know very strange indeed) enjoyed this  . . .

  

There is also a lovely Lemon and Cardamom sauce to serve . . . . warm and spooned over the warm pudding  . . . . lashings of cream could also be a nice addition, although we did not avail ourselves of it on the day.

 

This is seriously delicious. Cardamom and lemon are such beautiful partners  . . .

 

Sweet, tangy and moreish.  You cannot ask for much better than that! 

 

 

Preheat the oven to 170*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.  Butter the bottom only of a 2 litre/quart baking dish.

Heat the cream, milk, sugar and butter together to melt the butter.  Set aside.  Put the bread into a large bowl along with the lemon zest.  Toss to coat the bread with the zest.  Pour in the milk mixture and set aside to cool.  Whisk together the egg yolks, lemon juice and lemincello if using.  Add this to the bread mixture in the bowl and combine.  Whisk together the egg whites until stiff. Fold gently into the bread mixture and then pour into the prepared dish.

Bake for one hour, or until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean.

While the pudding is baking make the sauce.  Whisk together the sugar and corn flour in the top of a double boiler.  Whisk in the hot water, lemon juice and Limencello, if using.  Cook, whisking constantly until the mixture bubbles and thickens.  Whisk in the butter and cardamom.  Keep warm.

Serve the pudding spooned out into bowls with some of the sauce drizzled over top.

 

I think a scoop of vanilla ice cream served on top of the warm pudding would also not go amiss!  Happy New Year and Bon Appetit!  

 

 

I was recently asked if I would like to try some of the new range of fresh pork raised without anti-biotics from The Black Farmer. Leading the way in being the first mainstream brand to introduce the produces, The Black Farmer has worked closely with partner farms to establish farming and production methods in response to the rising resistance to antibiotics. The selection of fresh British pork cuts from RSPCA assured pork can be easily identified by the blue Antibiotic Free swing tag.   

 

 

For the whole week before Christmas I was craving cabbage rolls, and not just any cabbage rolls, but the ones that my ex BIL used to get at a German Butcher's he frequented in  Windsor, Ontario.  

They were probably the best cabbage rolls I have ever eaten.  I am also mighty fond of the M&M ones . . .  but I have to admit my homemade ones are also very, very good!  

It is an old, old recipe which I have been making for many, many years and always the first thing to disappear at a buffet table.

 

Last week when I was craving the ones from Windsor however and the M&M ones, I got to thinking to myself, and we all know what happens then.   

I decided to adapt my own recipe to what I felt the difference was between theirs and mine.

 

And I have to say I was well pleased with the end result!  It was a simple change really . . .  I decided to use pork sausage meat instead of beef.  

That's it.  And they were very, very close to what I was craving . . .  very close.

 

 

My mother used to make cabbage rolls when I was growing up, but hers were very different than mine.  She did not use any rice at all, and she only covered them with a tin of chopped tomatoes, there was no sauce per se.  

She also added peeled potatoes an carrots to the pot. They were pretty good.  I was never fond of the meat part, but I did like the cabbage. 

 

My father was never fond of the cabbage.  We had a deal between us.  I gave him the meat from mine, and he gave me his cabbage. We both felt like winners.  

My mother also cooked hers entirely on top of the stove, in her old Wearever aluminum dutch oven.  I do mine totally in the oven. 

 

 

Generally speaking I like to use a white cabbage, or ordinary cabbage . . .  Nothing fancy here. No Savoy or any other kind.  Just ordinary cabbage.  

This time I tried a sweetheart cabbage, which is just like a white cabbage except it has fewer leaves, looser leaves and they are rather elongated.  It worked very well.  I was quite pleased with the results.

 

The sauce for mine is a really simple sauce.  Passata (tomato sauce), lemon juice and brown sugar.  I used the Cirio Passata, again because it is my favourite kind, with a lovely rich tomato flavour.  

There is nothing there except for sieved tomatoes.  Thick and rich, never bitter or sharp, quite pleasant . . . you can almost taste that Italian sunshine.

 

I have to say I totally ADORED them made with sausage meat.  TOTALLY!  These were soooooo tasty.  

I made them on the eve of Christmas Eve, meaning the night before Christmas Eve.

 

The recipe makes exactly one dozen cabbage rolls.  We each had two and then I froze the remainder in 4 roll lots to take out later on this winter on a day when I am over busy or feel like treating myself.

 

I don't know what is normal to serve with cabbage rolls, but I served them with rice and some peas and carrots.  It really was a fabulous dinner.   

I think it is safe to say I will be making my cabbage rolls with sausage meat from now on!

 

 

 

These were as close to perfect as any cabbage roll could be.  I don't know why people think that making cabbage rolls is really fiddly.  It isn't really.  Well, not for me anyways.

 

I hope you will try these and make them with sausage meat when you do!  I think you will agree with me when I say these are Da Bomb! Bon Appetit!