Cheap Eats - leftover chicken

Cheap Eats 

Since doing a "feed a family for $5" guest post for SweetLiving Blog I have been thinking more about what I spend on food. Ingrid and I are both on maternity leave and down to one income so the reality is something has to give. Gone are the boozy foodie nights out, random clothes and makeup purchases, the gym membership and expensive bottles of chardonnay. 

Chicken and cannellini bean pate - a great way to use up leftovers...

When I shop I look for things I can stretch further without compromising on taste. For example I would never buy cheap mince but rather bump up the premium mince with beans. I bought 2 cooked chickens the other day for $20. They made a fantastic meal that night and the thighs were the first things to go, the next day I made Ingrid chicken wraps with lettuce, mayo and anchovies. The day after that the left over breast meat (it's never my favourite part) was looking a little sad, and unappetizing but with a little creativity I made this spread/pate. The beans, like with the mince stretch it out further  especially if you don't have that much leftover and the mayo and lemon moisten it up.

Other ways to serve this would be in crusty rolls, on crackers, in lettuce cups, in a tortilla wrap, a rice paper wrap or mixed through shredded lettuce and carrot.
Never throw away leftover chicken again!
Vanessa X

Banana and Weetbix muffins

I love it when you feel like doing a spot of cooking or baking and you have next to nothing in the cupboards, but you pile all the odd bits of this and strange end bits of that and somehow you have a recipe! This is what happened one weekend en route to a mum and bubs coffee group. I didn't have much time, so I always fall back on muffins as they are so easy to make and take only 12 mins to bake. 

Best eaten when still warm, with melting butter.

The only trick to making muffins work (and I'm always learning the hard way) is NOT to over mix them - in fact you bearly mix the ingredients if you want them light enough not to break your molars.

So ripe(ish) bananas it is, and a few weetbix made a very nice combo for our morning tea. The only problem was, clawing my 2 year son away from them (He had four before I realised the crumbs around his mouth and the look of gluttony peering up at me). The pictures show the muffins before I took them to our morning tea, and before a little boy mouse had nibbled little scallop shapes around the top. Enjoy. Ingrid

Banana and Weetbix muffins

Makes 12

What you need

1 cup self raising flour 

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup of sugar (brown, white or raw - whatever you got)

4 weetbix (crushed) or 1 cup bran

1 Tbsp golden syrup

1 Tbsp butter (or margarine)

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

1 egg (beaten)

2 bananas (ripe, mash one)  Slice up one banana for garnishing

Golden syrup for drizzling

How to make

Set oven temp to 220C.

Sift flour and salt into bowl, add sugar and weetbix.

Melt golden syrup and butter together. Dissolve baking soda into the milk, add beaten egg.

Mix wet ingredients together and add to dry ingredients. Mix only to combine. Don't over mix. Add mashed banana. Grease muffin tins and spoon mixture evenly. Add sliced banana to the tops and drizzle golden syrup. Bake in oven for 12 mins or until golden.

Summer Dips

I love dips especially in summer but has anyone noticed how one pot of gourmet dip bought at the supermarket doesn't go far? Its really easy to make your own and you can get creative at the same time and devise your own concoctions...
The first dip came about when I was heading to Ma and Pa's for "Guy Fawkes" night and didn't have a huge amount to contribute. Of course my parents don't mind but I always love taking something new for them to try. There was 3/4 of a tin of beetroot slices leftover from the good old "KIWI" burger (for those who don't know its basically a burger with beetroot, egg, cheese and pineapple as well as the other usual things) and a few gherkins as well as a tub of cream cheese. All I did was blitzed these things together with a touch of lemon juice and some chives from the garden and ended up with a pretty pink dip.

Beetroot and cream cheese dip with crunchy garlic Ciabatta

What you need
300gram tin of beetroot
2 big spoonfuls (tbs) of cream cheese
1 gherkin
Juice of 1 lemon
A few chives or coriander

How to make

Put everything into food processor and blitz until smooth

Serve with anything crunchy!

Hummus - the perfect picnic snack

Hummus is possibly the most popular dip in the chiller at the supermarkets in Auckland. Why? probably because its reasonably healthy as well as delicious. Its between $3.00NZD - $5.00NZD per tub and to be honest a tub doesn't go far if you like dipping. It's so easy to make at home, all you need is a food processor. Traditionally hummus has tahini (sesame paste) in it. I never buy it, never use it so improvised with sesame oil (just a dash) and it worked a treat!

Like with the beetroot and cream cheese dip you can get creative and add your own touch. I love spicy food and had a few jalapenos in the fridge so in they went.

Other ideas could be...
Baked pumpkin or Kumara (sweet potato)
Sun dried tomato
Wilted spinach leaves
Roasted carrot
Avocado

Jalapeno Hummus - addictive!

What you need
300gram tin chickpeas (drained)
Juice of 2 small lemons
2 cloves of garlic
4 tbs olive oil
a splash of sesame oil
4 jalapeno slices (optional)

How to make
Put everything into food processor and blitz until smooth
Serve with anything crunchy!

I ended up making a second batch of this dip because I ate so much of the first batch, there wasn't enough to fill the bowl for the images!
I also forgot the garlic the second time round (DUH) but am please to announce it still tasted great and full of flavour thanks to the lemon and jalapenos.
Get blending and blitzing this summer!
Vanessa x

My giant jam sandwich

Vanessa and I recently decided to stop our fortnightly food fight challenge (choosing the same ingredient, and each posting our own creation every fortnight) as we thought once a fortnight was way too long to wait, the food blogging world moves so quickly, we didn't want anyone to forget about us! So starting from last week's fish post from Vanessa, the plan is to choose seasonal ingredients and do weekly posts, so we have new recipes and inspirations (hopefully) each week to try. That's not to say, the food fight is over, I intend to try and out-cook Vanessa with each post, isn't that what little sisters are for? Ingrid

This week I chose rhubarb, mainly because my neighbour, fellow blogger Johanna Cotter, who is a vege growing superstar, has a garden like an organic supermarket, and being her mate, I'm very privileged to get any fruit and vege that she can't use.

I also photograph her blog and last week she made Rhubarb Crumble Muffins (recipe below), which were duly accepted as a thank you for my hard work (hmmm, it's no hard work on my part, imagine hanging out for a day with a friend, who makes you laugh hard, whilst she cooks up a storm and lets you test all her creations, it's a pretty cushy number!) 

Johanna Cotter's Rhubarb Crumble Muffins  

Preparation Time: 10 minutes  
Serves: 12

This recipe is a lovely combination of dessert and baking, meaning you can enjoy it for both dessert or with a cup of coffee for morning or afternoon tea

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
3/4 C Sugar (I like raw sugar, you could use white or castor)
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 eggs
100g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup milk
Juice and rind of 1 lemon

2 cups stewed rhubarb

1 stalk fresh rhubarb, cut into small pieces

Crumble Topping

½ cup flour

½ cup rolled oats

¼ cup soft brown sugar

Pinch of cinnamon

50g butter, melted

To stew rhubarb

1.Chop rhubarb into small pieces and place in a saucepan with the juice and rind of a lemon and 2 large tablespoons of castor sugar.
2. Cover rhubarb with water and bring to the boil.
3. Cook until the rhubarb breaks up.

4. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve to remove the excess liquid. Add more sugar if still to sour at this point. 

5. Set aside to cool

Heat oven to 180 degrees. Grease 12 muffin tins. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl and add sugar. Stir gently to combine.

In another bowl combine eggs, melted butter, milk, vanilla and lemon juice and rind. Whisk to combine then add wet mixture to dry ingredients. Fold together until they are just combined, then half full muffin tins. Add a teaspoon of the rhubarb to the centre, and top with remaining mixture.

Combine dry topping ingredients and add enough melted butter to combine, then sprinkle over muffins. Add a couple of pieces of leftover rhubarb to the top of each muffin.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden.

Recipe extracted from Johanna's Blog 

  

What about that sandwich?

I liked the idea of making a Jam. I've never ever done it before, I always put it in the same category as making a wedding cake. It's seemed time-consuming, something I don't ever seem to have. But when I was thinking about what I was going to make I really felt like smearing some jam on a doorstopper slice of fresh white bread, (this might be, in part, due to early pregnancy) and I couldn't get it out of my head, so Jam it has to be. So here goes....an amateur jam maker takes her first step.

Rhubarb has inspired a number festivals around the world. The one that took my fancy was the Whoop-Up Days and Rhubarb Festival in Conrad, Montana. You take in a rodeo whilst eating rhubarb pies. Yum!

Normally, I end up having to remake a lot of my recipes or as the experts say, triple test, as I tend to think I can walk before I can crawl. I'm always adding or reducing ingredients, when I haven't even tried out the original. I just can't help myself, and my jam making wasn't any different. Thankfully, it seems to be quite forgiving to my creative experiments.

Making jam was pretty easy, however I did burn my pot, and no amount of scrubbing or hot water seems to be resurrecting it (so don't have your element on high, medium heat is fine as long as its bubbling away). I was also blown away by the amount of sugar - sometimes being ignorant when your smearing jam on your toast for breakfast, is how I want to be. But sugar never-the-less, is what you need to make jam, and lots and lots of it. But I was really impressed with the results, and I plan to try out some more soon, I'm thinking grapefruit marmalade.

Do you remember the children's book The Giant Jam Sandwich?

Rhubarb, Ginger and Lemon Jam

Takes around 40mins 

Makes five to six jars

What you need

800g rhubarb (chop stalk into small chunks, discard leaves as they are toxic)

650ml water - this makes for a sticky thick jam, add more water for thinner consistency.

1.5kg sugar

2Tbsp root ginger (grated or squeezed through a garlic press)

1 lemon (juice and grated rind)

How to make

In a large pot, add rhubarb and water. Boil covered for 10mins until rhubarb softens. Add sugar, stir to dissolve.  Boil on medium heat until setting point. Add ginger and lemon and stir through. My jam took 35mins. I tested it by putting a plate in the freezer for five mins, then adding a spoonful of jam, and putting back in the freezer and seeing if it sets. Skim foam off the top. When cool, pour into jars.

When Vanessa tried this jam, she wanted to put it on crackers with blue cheese, so use this jam for savoury and sweet.

This jam is great added to sweet short pastry parcels, check out http://www.foodopera.blogspot.co.nz/2012/01/stone-fruit.html

Boysenberry and Rhubarb Jam 

Takes 50mins

Makes five to six jars

What you need

800g Rhubarb (chop stalk into small chunks, discard leaves as they are toxic)

500mls water

1 can of boysenberries (425g) 

1.5kg sugar

How to make

In a large pot, add rhubarb and water. Boil covered for 10mins until rhubarb softens. Add boysenberries, and sugar, stir to dissolve.  Boil on medium heat until setting point. My jam took 35mins. I tested it by putting a plate in the freezer for five mins, then adding a spoonful of jam, and putting back in the freezer and seeing if it sets. Skim foam off the top. When cool, pour into jars.

This jam wasn't as thick as the rhubarb, ginger and lemon, I'm guessing because it had more water content with the can of boysenberries, but the berries gave it a beautiful rich crimson colour, and it had the more traditional jam flavour. Enjoy, Ingrid

Autumn Chestnuts Reminds me of London...

Close up of a bowl of chestnuts

Beautiful chestnuts in a bowl

I was at the local Asian market yet again rushing around with Master 3 attempting to get vegetables and meat for dinner that evening, when I spied a bag of chestnuts.

Immediately I remembered my time in London and the novelty of warm chestnuts cooked on what looked like a tin rubbish bin.

My other memory of chestnuts was a friend giving me a tube of French chestnut puree. I can't remember what I did with the beautiful looking tube of puree but knowing I had a bit of French style put a smile on my face. 

I couldn't resist buying the chestnuts, they were only $3.95 per bag and decided I would recreate the nostalgic memory of a winter in London many years ago...

How the looked in the shop - chestnuts $3.95 a bag

My first step was to find out how to roast these babies. It couldn't be easier however the preparation was a bit fiddly. The suggestion is either a cross or slit in the top of the chestnut prior to roasting. I highly suggest the cross so do take the time in preparation - a bit like painting your house really! You will thank yourself for it in the long run! I, however took the shortcut and suffered getting them out of the shells... you live and learn! 

So all you do after the cutting off the skin is put them in a roasting pan or dish, pop them in a medium oven, 180 degrees fan worked for me and roast them for about 15 - 20 minutes. 
I don't remember having them with salt in London but thought something was missing, so after roasting doused them with lots of freshly milled salt.  

Serve in a paper bag and serve them warm!


Now for the disappointing bit, they were quite tricky to get out of the shells and actually the memories came back to me of walking the streets of London spitting bits of shell out. Half a dozen is do-able, any more and you would need to stop in a cosy pub for a beer to wash it down with. 

Chestnut Facts
If you don't slit them they will explode when roasting!
Chestnuts have high water content and are low in calories compared to other nuts and seeds. 
Chestnuts are mostly carbohydrates.   
Chestnuts are called marrons/chataigne in French, castagno in Italian and castanwydd in Welsh.  

Happy roasting and reminiscing

Vanessa

X

Two ways to use Basil

Even though we are sisters, we have a very different approach to food and photography. Each fortnight we are going to choose the same ingredient or theme and post the result. These are results of our second food fight.

Basil facts

• The ancient Greeks and Romans thought basil would only grow if you screamed wild curses and shouted intelligibly while sowing the seeds.
• Basil is Greek for 'royal' or 'kingly'.
• In Italy, basil has always been a token of love.

Vanessa's dish - Pesto pasta

A work colleague arrived today with an armload of fragrant and vibrant basil. My classroom smells like an Italian kitchen and I am itching to get busy creating a dish to photograph, eat and post tonight.

The obvious is pesto so with a few other essentials and a food processor or mortar and pestle that's the plan.

I have some tasty tomatoes straight from the garden however they aren't the best looking as the birds or slugs have been snacking at them.

I would be happy with pesto and tomato however the males in my house may like it jazzed up with "meat" so crispy bacon on top should do the trick...

Wish me luck...

Pesto pasta with roasted tomatoes and pinenuts

Shopping list

Parmesan

Olive oil

Bacon

Pine nuts

Pasta - spaghetti

Bunches of basil

Salt and pepper

Garlic

A few hours later...

I cant believe the price of pine nuts, no wonder bought pesto contains 'other' nuts and vegetable oil.

I choose to go the whole hog and use extra virgin olive oil and expensive pine nuts, here is how I did it.

What you need
Dried pasta - spaghetti
Olive oil - about 300mls
Pine nuts - a hand full
Grated Parmesan - 1 cup
Salt and pepper
Garlic cloves - 1-2
Basil - 2-3 cups packed down (that's quite a bit of basil)
Tomatoes - 6
Bacon 300grams

How to make
In a food processor blitz basil, oil, Parmesan, salt, pepper and garlic. Add the pine nuts at the last minute and pulse for a few seconds.
Set aside.
Boil the salted water and cook the pasta until its al dente - firm to the bite.
Grill the tomatoes and bacon both drizzled with olive oil and salt/pepper.

To assemble
When the pasta is cooked and drained stir pesto into the hot pasta. You may need to add more oil or even some of the hot pasta water to fully coat the pasta. Top with crispy bacon, roasted tomato halves, more pine nuts and Parmesan cheese.

Ultimate comfort food - Pesto pasta

Delizioso
 

Ingrid's dish - Chunky chips with lemon basil aioli

My big plan was to make aioli (Lemon basil) from scratch, I did my research, I stole from the best (Jamie Oliver) and went to work. I had a little helper, Jim, my partner, telling me where I was going wrong, he was hungry and it was getting quite late, I told him its OK, I have Jamie, it can't go wrong.

Lemon basil aioli - The cheats way.  

I hit a curb ball when the recipe called for 500ml of olive oil (half virgin, half normal) to one egg yolk. I was astounded. I just love aioli, mayo, tartare...surely I haven't being dipping my chips in a great big pile of oil all this time. No matter how much I beat, blitzed, or processed, my aioli still looked like oily orange juice.

At 8.30p.m, when the chips were golden, I had to surrender. Thank god for Donna Hay! I grabbed the store-bought mayonnaise, added crushed garlic, my chopped basil, squeezed a little lemon/ lime, gave it a bit of a blitz and lemon basil aioli - the cheats way was born. Enjoy

The paprika adds a little bite to the chips, a squeeze of lemon cools it down

Handmade chunky chips with lemon basil aioli

makes enough for 4 (as a side)

You will need:

Chips

5 large floury baking potatoes

sea salt (to taste)

1-2 tsp paprika (sprinkle)
4 cloves of garlic

pepper (to taste)

olive oil

lemons (wedges or slices)

How to make

Set oven temperature to 180C. Bring to the boil a large pot of half filled water, Leaving the skin on, cut potatoes in 1cm thick slices, and them slice into chips. Boil potatoes for 3-4 mins. Dry on a paper towel and place in an lightly sprayed or oiled baking dish.

Add olive oil, enough to lightly coat, sea salt to taste, sprinkle paprika, cracked pepper, and place whole cloves of garlic in the dish. Bake for 15mins, turn chips, and bake for another 15mins or until golden. Serve with lemon wedges.

Lemon basil aioli - The cheats way!

You will need

4 Tbsp store bought mayonnaise

1 clove of garlic, crushed

bunch of chopped basil

squeeze of lemon or lime

How to make

Blitz in a food processor, (or chop basil finely and mix all ingredients together well) and serve in a bowl with hot chips.

I can't believe its not hummus dip

Butter bean and coriander dip

This is a quick and easy dip that will fool your guests. They will think they are eating hummus.
Its healthy, moreish and delicious.

1-2 tins of butter beans DRAINED
The juice of 2-4 lemons
2-4 garlic cloves
A handful of coriander
salt and pepper to taste
Splash or two of olive oil

Put all ingredients into the food processor and blitz until smooth.
Add as much or as little of the flavours as you desire - I love garlic, lemons and coriander so are quite heavy handed. The olive oil just helps to bind it together.

Other ideas add...
The flesh of a baked pumpkin
The flesh of a baked aubergine
A few jalapenos
Wilted spinach leaves
Sun dried tomatoes
Olives
Capers

Serve with crackers or a good crusty bread.

kids n food

My chubby boy Rhys hanging out on our photo shoot for handcut chips and aioli

When Vanessa and I began foodopera, my son, Rhys was only three months old, and so long as we didn't plan a photoshoot anytime between 4p.m and 7p.m (his witching/ warlock hour) he was quite happy to play along with the fun. He didn't understand food then, and he didn't want a piece of the action, he was perfectly happy just observing us.

But 7 months on, its a different story - he's growing into quite an eater - he seems to have a well rounded palate - pureed and bland are definately out, and roast pork and apple, and meatballs are in. We also found evidence of the cat's biscuits in his mouth as well as coffee granules mixed with rice that had been put in the rubbish bin from the night before. I don't quite know what to say, except that it makes me laugh and cry at the same time.

I have been trying out different recipes on Rhys, ones that I can freeze and have on hand at a minutes notice. My boy isn't one for patience! so I thought I would share a quick and easy recipe I made for him the other day. Ingrid

Creamy corn fritters (9 months and up)

1 cup self-raising flour

2 eggs

1 can of creamed corn (no added sugar - make sure you check the can)

3 tbsp plain yoghurt

bunch of chopped coriander

Method

Whisk eggs in bowl, add flour and yoghurt and mix to form a batter. Fold in corn and coriander.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan on a medium heat, and spoon a heaped tbsp of mixture into pan, and fry until bubbles appear, flip and cook until other side is golden.

Easy to freeze, but defrost naturally - don't microwave, they go really hard and chewy. If you want to heat, do so in oven. My son shovels food in his mouth, so I break these up into bite size portions, basically to slow him down.

Ideas for brunch: If you want to make these for yourself, just add salt and pepper to the batter. These are a great idea for brunch with an avocado salsa, or topped with crispy bacon and sour cream.

I'm trying out an avocado salsa recipe so will post as soon as I get it right! Ingrid