Just dropping in to record some recipes
Sep. 19th, 2021 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angharad_gam Yeah, it's been a while, and a lot has happened - all the crazy business of 2020 (and 2021) and a bunch of stuff at work, and so on. But really I just came by to write down a couple of recipes so I can remember them later.
This was an exercise in 'how can I find something all my picky kids will eat', and it's become a bit of a regular since most of the household will actually eat it. You can use gluten free pasta without any other changes to make this gluten free.
Chicken pasta bake
500 gms reasonably finely diced chicken breast
1 red onion, diced (but not super fine)
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 cup frozen green peas
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 400 gm tin crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine or rose
1/2 cup cream
1 generous handful of grated mozzarella cheese
1 less generous handful of grated cheddar or parmesan cheese
black pepper
dried basil
olive oil
350 gms small shape pasta (shells, spirals, elbows)
optional: 1 large rasher of bacon, roughly diced
Preheat the oven to 180C, and put the pasta on to cook in the usual way.
Take a heavy based roasting tin and put it over a large ring over a high heat (you can do this part in a frying pan if you don't have an ovenproof dish suitable for putting on the stovetop, then transfer to an oven tray later, but this saves washing up and wasting any sauce). Add a generous quantity of olive oil to the bottom of the tin and when it is hot, saute the chicken until it is sealed. If you want bacon, put it in with the chicken and cook them together. Add the onion and carrot and cook until the onion has begun to soften. Then add the garlic.
When the onion is fairly well cooked add the wine and let it bubble down a bit. Then stir in the tomatoes, peas and the cream. Bring back up to a simmer, and let cook until the tomatoes are broken down a bit (this might not be very long if they're very crushed). Then season generously with black pepper and dried basil.
By now your pasta should be cooked. Drain it and add it to the tray with the chicken (or add both the pasta and the chicken mixture to an oven tray) and mix together well. Sprinkle the lot with mozzarella, then with another more strongly flavoured cheese. Put into the oven and bake for about 20 mins or until the cheese is nice and brown on top.
This cheesecake was a bit of an experiment, borrowing from a couple of different sources, including Nigella Lawson's cherry cheesecake (which is excellent and super easy). This is not a baked cheesecake, but not exactly a set one - it relies on the consistency of the dairy products to achieve some measure of solidity, so don't skimp and go for low-fat. You can happily use gluten-free biscuits to make the crust - any plain biscuit will do (I use gluten free milk arrowroot, because you can't get gluten free digestives around here). I should note that cardamom is a flavour that I find a bit overwhelming if present in more than the subtlest way. I probably used a little over 3/4s tsp for this, but you could use more if you enjoy cardamom.
Orange and cardamom cheesecake
500 gms cream cheese
200 mls full fat sour cream
200 mls double cream (at least 48% milk fat, but the higher the better)
100 gms caster sugar
3.5 tblsps Cointreau (or some other orange liqueur)
Zest of 1 orange
1 tsp (scant) of cardamom
200 gms plain biscuits
1 tsp mixed spice (cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg)
100 gms butter
Line a 20-23cm springform cake tin with baking paper. Take the cream cheese out of the fridge to let it soften a bit.
Crush the biscuits thoroughly. You can do this in a food processor, but I usually just put them in a plastic bag and smash them up with a rolling pin. Melt the butter gently (30secs in a microwave then stir until any unmelted lumps have dissolved). Stir the mixed spice into the butter, then add the biscuit crumbs and mix well. Press firmly and evenly over the base of the cake tin, and put this into the fridge.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese with the sugar. It will be hard to stir at first, but gets easier as the sugar gets mixed in. Make sure the sugar and cheese are well combined, then beat in the Cointreau, orange zest and cardamom. Beat in the sour cream, then the double cream very thoroughly, ensuring there are no lumps. If your double cream is not very thick you could whip it lightly first, then fold into the mixture.
Remove the cake tin from the fridge and pour in the cheese mixture (although it should be more like scrape in if you've gotten sufficiently thick dairy products), making sure there are no air bubbles and smoothing it evenly over the base. Return to the fridge and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours before serving. This won't be firm in quite the same way a baked or gelatine set cheesecake would be, but it should thicken up enough that you can cut pieces without it oozing everywhere.
{edited to add the tomatoes in the pasta recipe, which I had forgotten - this is why I try and write these things down}
This was an exercise in 'how can I find something all my picky kids will eat', and it's become a bit of a regular since most of the household will actually eat it. You can use gluten free pasta without any other changes to make this gluten free.
Chicken pasta bake
500 gms reasonably finely diced chicken breast
1 red onion, diced (but not super fine)
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 cup frozen green peas
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 400 gm tin crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine or rose
1/2 cup cream
1 generous handful of grated mozzarella cheese
1 less generous handful of grated cheddar or parmesan cheese
black pepper
dried basil
olive oil
350 gms small shape pasta (shells, spirals, elbows)
optional: 1 large rasher of bacon, roughly diced
Preheat the oven to 180C, and put the pasta on to cook in the usual way.
Take a heavy based roasting tin and put it over a large ring over a high heat (you can do this part in a frying pan if you don't have an ovenproof dish suitable for putting on the stovetop, then transfer to an oven tray later, but this saves washing up and wasting any sauce). Add a generous quantity of olive oil to the bottom of the tin and when it is hot, saute the chicken until it is sealed. If you want bacon, put it in with the chicken and cook them together. Add the onion and carrot and cook until the onion has begun to soften. Then add the garlic.
When the onion is fairly well cooked add the wine and let it bubble down a bit. Then stir in the tomatoes, peas and the cream. Bring back up to a simmer, and let cook until the tomatoes are broken down a bit (this might not be very long if they're very crushed). Then season generously with black pepper and dried basil.
By now your pasta should be cooked. Drain it and add it to the tray with the chicken (or add both the pasta and the chicken mixture to an oven tray) and mix together well. Sprinkle the lot with mozzarella, then with another more strongly flavoured cheese. Put into the oven and bake for about 20 mins or until the cheese is nice and brown on top.
This cheesecake was a bit of an experiment, borrowing from a couple of different sources, including Nigella Lawson's cherry cheesecake (which is excellent and super easy). This is not a baked cheesecake, but not exactly a set one - it relies on the consistency of the dairy products to achieve some measure of solidity, so don't skimp and go for low-fat. You can happily use gluten-free biscuits to make the crust - any plain biscuit will do (I use gluten free milk arrowroot, because you can't get gluten free digestives around here). I should note that cardamom is a flavour that I find a bit overwhelming if present in more than the subtlest way. I probably used a little over 3/4s tsp for this, but you could use more if you enjoy cardamom.
Orange and cardamom cheesecake
500 gms cream cheese
200 mls full fat sour cream
200 mls double cream (at least 48% milk fat, but the higher the better)
100 gms caster sugar
3.5 tblsps Cointreau (or some other orange liqueur)
Zest of 1 orange
1 tsp (scant) of cardamom
200 gms plain biscuits
1 tsp mixed spice (cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg)
100 gms butter
Line a 20-23cm springform cake tin with baking paper. Take the cream cheese out of the fridge to let it soften a bit.
Crush the biscuits thoroughly. You can do this in a food processor, but I usually just put them in a plastic bag and smash them up with a rolling pin. Melt the butter gently (30secs in a microwave then stir until any unmelted lumps have dissolved). Stir the mixed spice into the butter, then add the biscuit crumbs and mix well. Press firmly and evenly over the base of the cake tin, and put this into the fridge.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese with the sugar. It will be hard to stir at first, but gets easier as the sugar gets mixed in. Make sure the sugar and cheese are well combined, then beat in the Cointreau, orange zest and cardamom. Beat in the sour cream, then the double cream very thoroughly, ensuring there are no lumps. If your double cream is not very thick you could whip it lightly first, then fold into the mixture.
Remove the cake tin from the fridge and pour in the cheese mixture (although it should be more like scrape in if you've gotten sufficiently thick dairy products), making sure there are no air bubbles and smoothing it evenly over the base. Return to the fridge and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours before serving. This won't be firm in quite the same way a baked or gelatine set cheesecake would be, but it should thicken up enough that you can cut pieces without it oozing everywhere.
{edited to add the tomatoes in the pasta recipe, which I had forgotten - this is why I try and write these things down}
