Jerk spiced chicken

I must declare my love for the ever enduring slow cooker!  Apart from some browning of meat (which I've been known to forgo many a time), you simply throw your ingredients in, whack it on and leave it alone for hours to simmer away ever so slowly.  In fact, even lifting the lid to give said dish a stir is not recommended as this breaks the seal of the lid and cooking time needs to be increased.

I knew that anything requiring such little effort, that could produce such succulent and delicious results after a bit of neglect would be a staple in my kitchen.  And indeed the slow cooker comes out at The Shady Pine as soon as the cold weather announces itself.

I've had fun experimenting with slow cooker recipes for a while now.  However this recipe for Jerk spiced chicken drumsticks in a newly purchased slow cooker book won me over initially because of the name.  It continued to win me over because even though there is a long list of ingredients, everything except the chicken , is whizzed up into a paste in the processor so there is no lengthy prep.

You simply pour the paste over the chicken and let it cook away.  Ultimately, what really won me over was the fantastic taste.  The flavour from the paste is perfectly balanced.  The initial recipe called for 2 chillies, hower after tasting the chilli I had bought I decided to only use one.  This proved to be a good decision as one chilli was more than enough to impart some heat without taking over.  So I'd recommend checking the heat of the chilli to be used and adjust according to your heat tolerance.

I also decided to add the juice of a whole orange instead of the two tablespoons the recipe called for to make a larger quantity of sauce.  This also worked and I poured extra sauce over the steamed rice that I served with the chicken.  In fact, this sauce is so delicious, I'd be happy to eat it with steamed rice in its own right!

Jerk spiced chicken drumsticks

Adapted from recipe in Women’s Weekly Slow Cooker 2, pg54

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Olive oil spray

8 chicken drumsticks

4 spring onions, roughly chopped

2 inch piece of ginger, finely sliced

2 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 fresh green chilli, chopped

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt flakes

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tsp mixed herbs (I used Italian brand, Ariosto mixed herbs for chicken.  This is a really lovely mixture of herbs including basil, marjoram, sage and more)

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

2 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

Juice of 1 orange

A slow cooker and food processor are required for this recipe; I used a 4.5L capacity slow cooker.

1.       Heat a pan over high heat.  Spray pan with oil and brown the chicken drumstick in batches.

2.       Place chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker.

3.       In a food processor place spring onions, ginger, garlic, spices, herbs, pepper, salt, sugar, vinegar and orange juice.  Process this to a fine paste.

4.       Pour the paste over the chicken in the slow cooker and mix well.  Place on the lid and cook on slow setting for 2.5 hours.  After this time, increase the heat setting to high and cook for another 1 hour.

5.       Serve chicken with rice and steamed vegetables with extra sauce if desired.

Chicken rice

Jambalaya, a dish originating from Louisiana has a host of ingredients from spices, chicken, seafood and rice. My chicken rice is inspired by jambalaya but in fact it's nothing like the original. In fact, with the chorizo in this dish it makes it more a cross between a jambalaya and a Spanish paella.

This dish started life as simple chicken rice. Some nice chicken breast cooked with some spices, rice and chicken stock. Lid on and left to simmer undisturbed for 20 minutes. The result, a quick and healthy meal. Not to mention only one pot to wash....bonus!


The important things about this recipe are the quantities of rice to liquid as well as the technique of effectively steaming the rice, allowing all the liquid to absorb. In terms of the other ingredients, they can be adapted to your taste. Over time, I've tried using prawns, squid, grilled Italian sausages or just different combinations of vegetables with a veg stock.


Mr Shady Pine is very fond of chorizo and suggested this as the latest addition. Given the spices in this smoked sausage, it really is the perfect addition but I had waited until now to try it. And boy was it worth the wait...it really lifted this entire dish and I don't think I'll make it again without the chorizo. This is a really tasty one pot meal and the quantity is easily adapted for a crowd.
So tell me, do you have a favourite standby one pot meal?

Chicken chorizo rice
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 red capsicum, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs smoked paprika
1 tsp chilli powder or chilli flakes
1 large chicken breast, diced
1 tsp raw caster sugar
1 chorizo sausage, sliced
400g can diced Italian tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
S&P to taste
1 ½ cups rice (I used basmati)
1 ½ cups chicken stock
¼ cup finely chopped parsley

1. In a large deep frying pan or pot with a lid, heat the olive oil. Add the chorizo and onion and fry until chorizo is golden brown.
2. Add the chicken, capsicum and garlic. Fry for a few minutes until the chicken is sealed.
3. Add the paprika, chilli and rice and fry for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, stock, sugar and S&P. Stir well and place the lid on. Leave to simmer for 20 minutes on low heat, stirring halfway through. The rice is cooked when all the liquid has been absorbed. Stir through the parsley and serve.

Do it yourself rice paper rolls

Last week I posted about midweek dinners and how my enthusiasm for cooking wanes somewhat come the middle of the week when the demands of the day to day start to pile up. I vowed to do a series of mid week meal posts in an attempt to get cooking mid week and not resort to toast. These meals had to be ready in around 30 minutes and use only readily available ingredients.

I was discussing this idea with my long time friend Ms Lazy Foodie recently and she suggested we get together and make some rice paper rolls...what could be easier than rolling a few fresh ingredients in rice paper she asked? I had to agree.


Ms Lazy Foodie made the drive out to The Shady Pine armed with a whole bunch of ingredients and we set about making these. In her goodie basket was a rotisserie chicken, fresh herbs, vegetables, a not too ripe mango and a killer salmon xo sauce.


For an extra element of laziness (see a common theme here?), we decided to prepare all the filling ingredients and the dipping sauce and serve it at the table so each person could make their own rolls. We even put out a large bowl of warm water for soaking the rice paper sheets. Too easy! It was a great way to get involved and share the food without a lot of fuss and preparation. We all thoroughly enjoyed these rice paper rolls and had a fun time making them at the dinner table.
Chicken and mango rice paper rolls
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
20 small rice paper sheets
4 spring onions (green part only), cut into approx. 4cm batons
1 large carrot, cut into approx. 4cm batons
1 cucumber, cut into approx 4cm batons
½ cup coriander leaves
½ cup mint leaves
1 mango, cut into slithers
Salmon XO sauce (optional)

Dipping sauce:
Juice of 1 lemon or lime
1 tbs rice wine vinegar
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs soy sauce
½ long red chilli, finely sliced

1. Place all ingredients on a serving platter
2. For the dipping sauce, combine sauce all ingredients and mix well ensuring that the sugar is fully dissolved.
3. To assemble the rice paper rolls, dip a sheet of the rice paper into a bowl of warm water for about 20 seconds. Drip all water off the rice paper and place it on a flat plate or board. Arrange each of the filling ingredients and roll.

Midweek meals - Ricotta stuffed chicken

Mid week dinners is where my enthusiasm for cooking can sometimes wane a little bit (only a little mind you). It's about mid week that the gruelling work week starts to take its toll and I am tempted to crack open a wine bottle and order a takeaway. There's no home delivery where I live, a small but not insignificant side effect of living in a semi rural location, so a delivered takeaway is not an option. Mr Shady Pine and I love to eat out, especially when we can try somewhere new but we tend to leave eating out to a Friday or Saturday night when we can relax and take our time at a restaurant.

On the up side, because of our location, I always have a well stocked fridge and pantry and know that I can whip up a wholesome meal quickly.
The thought of getting back into a car to go and pick up some takeaway loses appeal when I know that in far less time I can pull something together. Sometimes I'm lazy and dinner ends up being a boiled egg and toast or when I really couldn't be bothered it might be a good old toastie.


So in the spirit of drumming up more enthusiasm to cook something more inspired than during the working week, I intend to have a series of mid week meal posts. The guidelines to what I cook will be 1) to use readily available ingredients and 2)to prepare the meal in about 30 minutes (not including any photography time so I can share the results with you back here).


With this in mind, this week's mid week dinner was a stuffed chicken breast with ricotta, spinach,pinenuts and lemon. I liked the fact that I could throw the sealed chicken into the oven and let it do the work from there without a lot of other fussing around.


At any other time of the week, I might take the cooked chicken and slice it on the angle prettily. This was a mid week meal people. Time was short. So instead it was cut in half and served with leftover roast pumpkin and spinach salad made here. It made for a tasty, delicious and quick meal.

What do you do for mid week dinners? Do you rely on takeaway, go out to eat or do you cook at home every night?

Stuffed chicken breast with ricotta, spinach, pine nuts and lemon
Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 small chicken breasts (preferably free range with the tenderloin removed)
Large handful of baby spinach leaves
2 Tbs pine nuts (toasted in a non stick pan until golden)
100gm ricotta
Zest from 1 lemon
S&P to taste
1 Tbs olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 180C fan forced or 190C.
2. Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthways taking care not to cut all the way through. Open up each chicken breast and lay flat out.
3. On each chicken breast, place half the ricotta, spinach and pine nuts and S&P.
4. Roll each chicken breast carefully and secure with toothpicks
5. Heat olive oil in a non stick pan on high heat. Seal the chicken in the pan turning to seal all sides.
6. Place chicken on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked.
7. Allow the chicken to rest for a few minutes prior to slicing. Serve with a side salad.

Shredded chicken Asian salad

Meal worthy salads are one of the staples at the Shady Pine. A tasty salad that is substantial enough to eat as a meal and also one that can be made in larger quantities to be eaten later is a winner in my book.


I made this salad using leftover rotisserie chicken but feel free to replace this with a home roasted chicken or even a slowly poached chicken breast in some chicken stock and maybe a few aromats like ginger, coriander roots, lemongrass or the like.

I added vegetables I had; carrots, red cabbage and spring onions. I also intended to use finely sliced red capsicum but forgot. Again, what you use here can easily be adapted. Replace the red cabbage for wombok, add some bean sprouts or shredded snow peas or both.


This salad can be an easy mid week meal or it can be made in a larger quantity, served on a beautiful platter, sprinkled with toasted peanuts and served at an al fresco luncheon on a warm day (with a glass of chilled sauvignon blanc or perhaps).



Shredded chicken Asian salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 cup of cooked chicken, shredded
1 carrot, grated
3 spring onions, white and green parts chopped
1 cup red cabbage, finely shredded
½ cup coriander leaves

Dressing:
½ long red chilli, finely diced
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 Tbs rice wine vinegar
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
2tsp raw caster sugar
2 Tbs olive oil

1. Combine chicken and all salad vegetables into a bowl
2. Combine all the dressing ingredients and mix well. Pour dressing over the salad vegetables and mix through the salad. (Sprinkle with toasted peanuts or sesame seeds if desired).

Individual orange almond syrup cakes

In yesterday's post I wrote that Mr Shady Pine and I were to celebrate Australia Day with our lovely friends Peter and Maria and a barbecue lunch at their place.

I mentioned that I made a batch of these orange almond syrup cakes without dairy for my lactose intolerant friend. Having recently baked with macadamia oil, I decided to use this again in place of butter. I'd never made these before yesterday, so once they were out of the oven, Mr Shady Pine and I had to test one out just in case they weren't up to scratch....luckily they were delicious.


The texture of these cakes is quite dense but moist at the same. And the addition of the orange syrup makes these little cakes sing! You can read the recipe below.

Before arriving at Peter and Maria's place, Peter and I had an email conversation that went a little something like this:

Me: 'You know Peter that all the food these days gets photogrphed for the blog. Are you ok if I take photos?'

Peter: 'Yes that's fine'

Me: 'Do you want me to use real names or aliases?'

Peter: 'Simple equation. If food is good=real names. If food is bad=aliases.'

Peter and Maria are their real names.

Being foodies themselves, Peter and Maria laid on a wonderful spread so while the meat was cooked on a barbecue, the rest of the meal was way more upmarket than an everyday backyard barbecue.


We started with some prepared nibblies which were really moorish. Baked walnut filled prunes wrapped in bacon, spiced olives, and smoked salmon and dill. While I went back for more of each of these, my favourite were the bacon wrpped prunes with the walnut filling resulting in a crunchy, sweet and salty appetiser.


Next came the main meal of marinated lamb and chicken kebabs, rosemary potatoes and big colourful salad. The chicken kebabs were Peter's creation; moroccan marinade while the lamb kebabs were inspired by Maria. These were marinated in the most intriguing marinade I had ever heard of and the recipe comes from her Russian father. This marinade consisted of mayonnaise and mineral water! The result was really delicious lamb with no hint of mayonnaise which had tenderised the meat.


To finish, Peter took out of the oven his famous chocolate puddings drizzled with rasberry sauce. These are not as sickly sweet as a fondant which is a very good thing after a full meal. They are light in texture but still choclatey and rich enough to be perfect with a coffee.

By the end of the day we were thoroughly full and satisfied from this wonderful shared feast our friends had put on....ahhh bliss!

Individual orange syrup almond cakes
Makes 12

Ingredients:
½ cup macadamia oil
¾ cup raw caster sugar
2 eggs
1 ¼ cups self raising flour
1 cup almond meal
Zest from 1 orange

Orange Syrup
Zest & juice from 1 orange
½ cup raw caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. Prepare a 12 hole muffin tin.
2. In a mixing bowl, add sugar and macadamia oil and beat with a wooden spoon until sugar starts to dissolve. Add one egg at a time and beat until creamy and the sugar is fully dissolved.
3. Mix in the flour, almond meal and orange zest.
4. Distribute the cake mixture in the muffin tin.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, testing if ready with a wooden skewer. When cooked take out of the oven and leave the cakes in the pan ready for the syrup topping.
6. For the syrup, add the orange juice, zest and sugar to a small saucepan over low heat. Allow the sugar to dissolve and bring the syrup to a simmer. Simmer and do not stir the mixture for about 5 minutes until the syrup has thickened slightly.
7. Using a wooden skewer, pierce through a few holes in each cake.
8. Pour over each cake in the muffin tin the hot orange syrup.
9. Leave for 10 minutes for the syrup to be absorbed before removing the cakes from the tin and letting cool on a cake rack.

Almost chicken cacciatore

I call this my almost chicken cacciatore, firstly because it is really just my twist on a chicken cacciatore and secondly because the original dish usually has olives added which I didn't have on hand.



I find one pot dishes like this to be really quick and delicious dinners. It has all the protein and vegetables in it already so you only need the addition of steamed rice or crusty bread for a complete meal.


I also like using chicken drumsticks because I think that we have gone away from using meat on the bone a lot of the time yet it has so much more flavour. If the skin bothers you, it's easy enough to remove. This is also a recipe that can be made in large quatities to feed a crowd if needed.

The majority of the time I am just cooking for Mr Shady Pine and I, so I cook up a big batch of this and freeze it into portions for evenings when I don't have the time or inclination to cook dinner. In fact I've often been saved by dishes I had cooked and stashed away in the freezer for later.

What is your favourite one pot dish?



Almost Chicken Cacciatore
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 Tbs olive oil
8 chicken drumsticks
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbs white wine vinegar
1 small onion, diced
3 sticks celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
½ red capsicum, sliced
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
1 Tbs raw sugar
400 gm can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
¼ cup chopped parsley

1. In a heavy bottomed pot or pan, heat the olive oil and brown the chicken drumsticks in batches if necessary. Remove chicken from the pan.
2. Add onions, garlic, celery, carrots and capsicum and sauté over medium heat until onions are transparent. Stir in the white wine vinegar.
3. Add dried herbs and tomato paste and fry for 1 minute.
4. Return the chicken and any juices back to the pan.
5. Add chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, sugar and S&P to taste.
6. Cover and simmer over low heat for approx 40 minutes until chicken is tender. At the end of the cooking time, stir in the parsley.
7. Serve with steamed rice.