General Chat

I have been promising for a few days now to add some more recipies so here is the first.

Cathy's Chicken Thing.

4 Small chicken breasts
1. large onion
1 box of button mushrooms or add according to your own tatse
8 Large size potatoes chopped.to your own taste
6 oz of grated mature Cheddar Cheese/
2 Tins of plum tomatoes
3 Small Bay leaves.
chilli powder to taste or fesh chilli if available.
2 Cloves of Garlic
A good pinch of Oregano
one or two teaspoons of Basil according to your own taste.
I Veg stock Cube
1 Chicken Stock Cube
Salt to personal taste.

Process.

Peel cook and drain the Potatoes whilst they are cooking cut the Chicken into bite size peices and fry in olive oil until brown. Remove the Chicken and keep to one side.
Using the same pan fry the Onions,Mushrooms and Garlic until cooked. Add the salt (if using it), Chilli powder or fresh Chilli if available , the Oregano and the Basil.
Add the chopped Tomatoes, Crumble in the Stock Cubes, the Bay Leaves and mix well.
Add the Chicken and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to gas matk 5 or if electric oven to 200,

Put the chicken in a large oven proof dish, slice the potatoes and place them evenly over the mixture and then cover the potatoes with the gratted cheese. Place on the middle shelf to Cook until all the Cheese has melted and to your own prefered finish.

This sounds far more onerous than it actually is

More recipies to follow,

21.23 hrs Spain

Almond and Orange Cake requiring a 20cm or 8 inch cake tin.

200g or 7 0z of peeled carrots
4 large eggs, seperate the yolks.
a few drops of pure Vanilla extract.

1 large Orange
150g or 5&1/2 oz of Caster Sugar
1 Tablespoon of of Or ornge or Almand Liquier
150g or 5 1/2 oz of ground Almonds
Rapberries to garnish
Icing sugar for dusting over the cake.

Method

1. Pre Heat the oven to 160c or 325 Farenhieght (not sure that I have spelt that right!) Line cake tine with Grease proof paper
2. Cook the carrots in a little water until tender then drain, cool slightkly and then blend to a puree with the orange juice.
3. Whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl with Vanilla and the orange zezt. Gradually add the sugar, whisk until it becomes thick and pale. Fold in the carrot puree and the ground almonds
4. In a clean and dry bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the mixture.
5. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for one hour OR until a skewer comes out clean
6. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then transfer the cake to a wire rack and leave to cool completely/
7. Cover with the Rasberries and sieve the icing sugar over the top.


Alternative toppings I have done include:
Blackberries, Redcurrants, and Strawberries.
I have then offered Greek Yogurt or Whipped Cream.

I have made one today ready for tommorow.

More still to come.
If I have made any spelling mistakes I apologies.

21.48 hrs Spain






:-D

As promised another recipies

Banana Bread

1. 2 medium Bown Bananas (Peeled and mashed with a fork)
2. 1 Large free range egg
3. 130 g of self raising flour
4. 1 tsp of baking powder
5. 55g of butter (softened)
6. 100g Castor SugarSqueeze of Honey
7. Light brown sugar amount according to taste.

A) Pre heat the oven to 180c / 160c fan oven/ gas number 4
B) Grease loaf tin which is about 22cms x 12 cms with butter
C) In a large bowl mix everything together combining well with a fork
D) you may need to add a drop of milk if the Banana is not quite ripe enough. The point is to achieve a loose dropping consistency
E) Pour into the prepared tin Sprinkle on the top the brown sugar and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
F) Leave to cool and then turn onto a wire rack

This can be served as a slice of cake for afternoon tea or served warm with custard.


hope that you enjoy it.

Does anyone make their own biscuits and if so please will you post some including savory biscuits.
Many thanks

Nudge :-D

OK Bridget. You asked for it. An easy one but not recommended by Weight Watchers!! lol

Chicken & Bacon Casserole

Ingredients:
12 crumbed chicken pieces (or nuggets)
12 strips of bacon – same size as nuggets
2 med onions cut into rings
S & P
300ml Cream

The long way: Fry or microwave crumbed chicken, bacon & onion until all are half-cooked.
Or
The short way: Throw them all in together!

Place half of the chicken pieces in dish. Do NOT touch walls of dish with ingredients and leave space between pieces.
Layer half of the bacon on top of chicken in the same way. Then, add half of the onion rings on top of bacon.
Repeat process so that there are two layers of each ingredient. Add S & P to taste.
Pour cream over to drizzle through spaces and down the walls of the dish.

Bake in moderate oven about 40 minutes – less if partly cooked first.
Serves 2.

Note: The cream should drizzle through and come up to the top layer. Use more than 300ml if required. It depends on the size and shape of the dish. I use a loaf dish for the above.
Also, the amounts are only a guide for you to adapt to your own needs.

Berona, you are right, I asked for it, and it, sounds delicious!

Still haven't had any recipies for Indian, Chinese, African food
/ meals yet. As I only have the European versions of some of these I think I will try to google some and see what turns up.

I wonder if we will see any new postings today?

Take care Berona and have a good day.

Just had a silly thought. (not unusual for me).

What is the worst meal we have had and why was it so bad?

Looking forward to replies.

:-D

Being brought up to the age of 16 in east London we had many Jewish friends. Whilst sorting out some books etc I came across a piece of paper with this recipe written on it by a friend named Ruth. Sadly I did not write down her surname.

This is an approved Kosher dish.

Ingredients:

2 roasting chickens, cut-up, bone-in, with skin, fat trimmed
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. ground ginger, optional (replace ginger with pinch of cinnamon, if desired)
3 tbsp. oil or pareve margarine
3 large oranges, peeled, thinly sliced into rounds or sections, it’s your choice
2 tbsp. brown sugar
Liquid: approximately ¾ - 1 cup of water, broth, wine or orange juice, or a combination, just enough to surround chicken with about 1/2" of liquid
Optional: fresh rosemary, tarragon, chives or parsley, to sprinkle over top as garnish

Rub salt, pepper and ginger (if using) all over pieces of chicken.

Heat oil or margarine in large skillet and lightly brown chicken on all sides. Arrange chicken in a large roasting pan, in a single layer, covering the first layer of chicken with orange slices and a tablespoon of brown sugar sprinkled over the top. Continue with a second layer of chicken and repeat process ending with brown sugar. Add liquid as indicated above, just enough to make it about 1/2" inch deep.

Cover roasting pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes; reduce heat to 325 degrees F and bake for an additional hour; baste occasionally.

Garnish chicken with fresh herbs, if desired.


I hope you enjoy it. :-)

Nudge :-D

The kosher chicken dish sounds nice Bridget but is a large quantity of chicken. How many do you think that would feed?

AnninGlos

Well, I suspect that this was intended for a large family and my mum used to cook for 4 adults and two hungry children. My father also worked night shifts and took food with him. I used to cook it for four adults and four hungry boys.
Hope that helps, if I made it now I would freeze some of it, I know it freezes well.

Hope that helps.

Bridget

Spain :-D :-D

Thanks, I guess I'd halve the ingredients for two of us.

Recipe pickled sweet and sour cucumber

Cucumber
Tsp salt
2tsp caster sugar
1 tsp rice vinegar
Half tsp red chilli oil
Few drops sesame oil (optional)

Halve unpeeled cucumber lengthways, scrape out seeds and cut into chunks.
In a bowl, sprinkle chunks with the salt and mix well. Leave for at least 20 minutes, longer if possible, then pour juice away
Mix cucumber with the sugar, vinegar and oil. Sprinkle with sesame oil (if using0 just before serving

Am trying a new sausage dish tonight so if its good I will post tommorrow

to you all.
Unfortunately we have been without a telephone or internet connection for about 5 days!!!
We realy need the internet to stay in touch with our family who were all worrying about us and what to do if it had gone on for another few days.
Well as you can all see, we are now back online and the phone is working. Cost us about 200 euros , with a tip that was generous for the telephonica engineer who found out our problem with the phone, 90 euros for a new Belkin and then paymnet for the Internet Wizard. All I can say is that we have the fastest internet that we have had since we arrived here nearly 8 years ago.

I will be back posting in the next few hrs.
Bset wishes

Bridget
Spain 19.01 hrs/

Rustic Sausage Casserole

Serves 4

Six sausages of choice browned only in a pan

I then put the rest in a slow cooker at medium..................1 chopped onion, 1 tsp garlic crushed, 1 tin cannelline beans drained, 1 tin kidney beans drained, 4 slices bacon chopped up 3/4 pt beef stock, 1 tin chopped tomatoes ( I drained some of the juice from this). I put the bean mix in first and stirred well, then put sausages on top...cooked till onions soft and rest ready to eat...we had it with ciabatta bread...delicious.

Jan, you say cooked in the slow cooker on medium, do you mean you added the sausages to the slow cooker as well? and how long was it all cooked for? Or did I miss that?

I added the sausages on the top after they were browned in a pan, then I did not stir so I didn't spoil the sausages...the only thing I missed out was 2 TBsps of Tomato sauce. As all slow cookers are different I cooked mine until it tasted right and the onion was soft....probably about 4 hours, you can eat with whatever bread you like. Hope thats helpful Ann

thanks Jan, that is fine.

I used to have a slow cooker when I lived in the UK. I am thinking of buying one when I go back to the UK in October albeit only for a few days. any advice on which one is best would be much appreciated. Although there is only my husband and self we do have a lot of visitors here, mainly because of our large pool and fantastic views, so a decent size would be worthwhile, also I could then do batch cooking as well.

Jan, I shall try this recipe so thanks for posting.

I made a banana cake a few days ago and for the life of me I cannot work out why it was not as good as it should have been, J+Has anyone tried it and if so please let me know, how it turned out,Thanks, if it is not right I will delete it.

Good news and I am excited.. My eldest stepson phoned from Holland yesterday to say that he, his partner and Roberta are visiting again in October and !!!!!!!!! the friends who came with them earlier in the year have just moved house and do not want the almost new electric cooker.and have offered to give it to me! My cooker is a very well known German make but it is nearly 30 years old and sometimes lets' me know, but I cannot afford a new one, the prices here are amazingly high.

Bye bye for now sorry no new recipe, will ask some friends if they have any I could post on here,

07.29 hrs Spain



:-)

Bridget mine is a morphy Richards 3.5 litre and it cooks very quickly, and does not need heating up before hand . They cost between 25 -35 pounds Tescos had the best price last year...so shop around when you come home. I would not be without mine