Buffalo Hot Sauce Chicken Pasta Bake

 There are various recipes that we come back to time and time again and this is one of them. It's a recipe from Slimming Eats which is a diety kind of recipe but it's really delicious served with a nice salad and there's no need to be dieting to enjoy it. 

It's dead easy to prepare and the quantities here serve 4 

Ingredients

400g Chicken thigh or breast meat chopped into bite size pieces

1 Large Onion Diced

1 Clove Garlic Minced or chopped finely

1 Teaspoon Paprika ( I used sweet )

1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes

2 Large Tablespoons Tomato Paste

100mls Franks Hot Sauce ( or any that you like ) 

350g Fresh sliced tomatoes

249g Dried pasta ( penne is good )

Little olive oil ( spray if dieting )

Salt and pepper

For The Topping

100g Light cream cheese

240mls Chicken stock

1 Tablespoon Cornflour

1/2 Teaspoon Onion powder

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Granules

1 Teaspoon Dried mixed herbs

30g Strong cheddar grated

50g Mozzarella grated ( or finely chopped )

2 Spring onions finely chopped 

Spray a frying pan with cooking oil spray ( or add a little to a pan ) 

Add the onion and fry until lightly golden and softened
Spray with a little more spray oil
Add in the chicken, paprika, garlic and a good pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper and fry until the chicken is browned and has a lovely colour from the paprika.
Add in a little splash of water just to deglaze the pan of anything stuck to the bottom.
Then add in the tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, hot sauce and diced fresh tomatoes and stir to combine, just simmering for a few minutes until the tomatoes are slightly softened.
Cook pasta in boiling salting water until al dente. 

Add this into the sauce and mix to combine, then add to a oven proof dish.
Preheat oven to 200c/ 180c/ 400f or gas mark 6
In a saucepan or frying pan, add the cream cheese, garlic and onion powder, plus dried herbs along with the stock and heat whisking as you do until the cream cheese is all melted and you have no lumps visible.
Mix the cornflour with a little water a couple of tablespoons of water to make a slurry. Then add this to the sauce and allow to bubble stirring every now and then until the sauce thickens.

Once thickened spread this over the top of the pasta bake (kind of like you would with a lasagne).
Scatter the grated cheeses on top and then place in the oven baking for approx 20 minutes just until the cheese has melted and is lightly golden on top.

Sprinkle with the spring onions and serve. 

Freezing Fresh Basil

 It's a rare occasion that I can successfully actually grow any meaningful basil but I was gifted a couple of little plants early in the year and randomly popped them into a bare pot - hey presto, loads of basil. 

I really don't know what was different this year, it was a very warm summer but honestly these little plants have thrived on neglect. Next thing I knew I had loads and loads of basil to use up. I read somewhere that you could freeze it in ice cube trays so that's what I did - dead easy!

Basil freshly washed and dried a bit 

Nice quality Olive Oil

The kitchen smells amazing..... Just chop until really fine.....

Then mix with olive oil and spoon into ice cube tray .....

Pop into the freezer until completely frozen. I then put two cubes per bag back into the freezer ready to be used. 

Allotment Early Autumn

 

Getting late in the season now. Soo many tomatoes this year and a great harvest of onions. Not going to grow garlic except for elephant garlic next year as it got quite rusty. This entire front bed is going to be onions again as we eat so many ! 

I'll be sad to put the allotment to bed until the spring but I'm already looking forward to next years planting plan.

Vegan Chicken Butter Ramen

 I don't remember quite how and when I came across this recipe page but I've tried two recipes now ( thinking maybe three ) and they are amazing!! Sam has been vegan for a good many years so I'm always on the lookout for interesting recipes for him - all these sound delicious so I started with this one.

This recipe will feed four but I found that it was a bit too noodly, I would definitely use a few less noodles next time as I really enjoy the broth .....sooo tasty! 

Ingredients

For the spicy Tofu

8oz Extra Firm Tofu squeezed and dried and cut into chunks

1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce

2 Teaspoons Lime Juice

1/2 Teaspoon Garam Masala

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Granules ( powder )

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Paprika

1/2 Teaspoon Kashmiri Chilli Powder ( Optional )

For The Butter Ramen

Splash Olive Oil

1/4 Cup Chopped or Sliced Onions ( I used a whole onion )

6oz Thinly Sliced Mushrooms

1/2 Thinly Sliced Bell Pepper

2 Tablespoons Garlic/Ginger Paste

2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

1 Teaspoon Garam Masala ( I used 2 )

1 Tin Full Fat Coconut Milk

4 - 41/2 Cups Vegetable Stock

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

6 oz Ramen

1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper

1/4 Teaspoon Kashmiri Chilli Powder

For The garnish

Chopped Fresh Coriander

Lime Wedges

Sliced Red Onion

Chopped Green Chillies

Add all the ingredients for the tofu apart from the cornflour into a bowl, mix well and leave to marinate for 30 minutes. 

Heat the oil in a large wok or frying pan, coat the tofu with the cornflour and fry until crispy. Be careful here as it can catch quite quickly.

Drain if necessary and put to one side.

In the same pan add a little oil and fry the onions and mushrooms salt and pepper for approx 4- 5 minutes.

Add the bell pepper, ginger/garlic paste and black pepper and stir around for a few seconds. Add the tomato paste, spices and coconut milk. Stir so that there are no lumps.

Add the stock salt and maple syrup

Bring to a rolling boil and add in the noodles.

Cook for approx 3-4 minutes.

Do NOT overcook at this stage as the noodles still cook a little in the hot broth. Check the seasoning, I added a little more of the spices and maple syrup and lime juice at this stage at it wasn't terribly tasty.

Pour lovely noodle mix into bowls, top with the crispy tofu and serve.

Blackberry Jam

 I was gifted an unexpected bowl of blackberries a couple of weeks ago and immediately thought of blackberry jam - hold your horses insisted no 1 - could I have a blackberry tart please?

Well, there were quite  few blackberries so I cleaned them all ( few little worms etc in there ) out and saved enough for a large tart and whatever I had left over made the jam, I figured I probably had enough fruit to make 2 large jars and so it was ......kind of.......

Ingredients

400gms Fresh Thoroughly Washed Blackberries

400gms Jam Sugar

Place washed jam jars and lids onto a baking tray and place in a warm oven  - 150c / 300f / gas mark 2 - for 20 minutes to sterilize. I leave mine in the oven until it'e time to fill with jam as they are still nice and warm.

In a large flameproof pan, gently heat the fruit and sugar together until all the sugar is dissolved. Don't rush this bit, as soon as you can see no crystals on the back of a wooden spoon its ready to turn up the heat.

Turn up the heat to a nice boil without it burning and let it boil for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Now, I could put a little bit onto a cold plate to see if it wrinkles but honestly I find it just as easy to coat the back of a wooden spoon, leave it for a few seconds and just gently push it with a clean finger, if it wrinkles its ready.

Pour into sterilized warm jars right to the top and seal immediately . No need for wax discs if its completely to the top and lidded straight away.

Maybe don't do this, don't wash sticky jars under a cool tap - yes I did do this !! One jar just shattered ( of course ) leaving me with one jar of jam.

Tomato Bean and Bacon Stew

 This is a recipe that I've made so many times but can no longer find the original anywhere. It's taken from Nigel Slater many years ago and it's a lovely healthy gorgeous winter warmer of a recipe. Nowadays I kind of make it up as I go along and try and remember what is actually in it :)

Anyway - this is my take on this recipe, to be changed at will given how I remember it!

Ingredients

3 Large Carrots Roughly Chopped

3 Sticks Celery Roughly Chopped

2 Large Onions Roughly Chopped

4 Fat Cloves Garlic Minced

200gms Smoked Bacon Lardons ( or Smoked Streaky Bacon )

Half  a Savoy  Cabbage Deveined and Chopped

Half a Tube Tomato Puree

1 Tin Tomatoes ( 400gms ) 

3 Tins Beans - any type really, I used Borlotti, Canellini and Butter Beans

1 Green Chilli Finely Chopped

1 Teaspoon Dried Mixed Herbs

2 Large Bay Leaves

2 vegetable Stock pots / Cubes

Olive Oil

Good Handful Chopped Flat Leaf Parsley

Couple of Ounces Grated Parmesan to Finish

In a large flameproof pan ( with a lid if possible ), heat a good splash of olive oil and fry onions and garlic for a few minutes but not until brown,  add bacon and stir for a couple of minutes. Add chilli and celery and stir for a couple of minutes.

Add carrots and stir for a couple of minutes, add tomato puree, stock pots, herbs, tinned tomatoes, bay leaves and drained and cleaned beans. 

Give it all a good stir and cover with water.

Bring to the boil and put on the lid. Lower the Temperature to a gentle simmer and cook for about an hour or until the carrots are cooked through.

At this point the stew can be turned off until it's needed.

Half an hour or so before serving, bring the stew up to temperature and add the cabbage.

Pop the lid on and cook through for about 10 minutes or until the cabbage is tender. Add Parsley

Serve with crusty bread and grated Parmesan cheese - delicious!

Thanks Nigel Slater whatever this recipe actually started out as :) 

Homemade Tomato Puree ?? ......

 Yes !!! This really has been the summer of the tomato, I'll stop banging on about them soon as they're nearly all gone ( one more harvest this week should do it ). In the meantime there is a never ending supply of them and you can realistically only eat so many.

A thought crossed my mind - can I make tomato puree- I use it a lot in recipes and I really hate to waste food, why not ?? 

Ingredients

Tomatoes

I didn't even weigh my tomatoes as it doesn't matter as it's the only ingredient, I gave mine a thorough wash and chopped them up into my slow cooker. 

I didn't de skin or de seed as I knew that I was going to sieve after cooking.

So far so easy - I cooked these in the slow cooker for 6 hours on a low setting, I then put them through the blender and sieved until smooth. Back into a saucepan and cooked to reduce.

Now this I would change next time, it took a while to reduce and towards the end it got pretty spattery,  floopin tomato paste everywhere, while the end product was amazing, next time I'd pop the mixture back into the slow cooker and let that reduce it all down - much cheaper too!!

This tastes absolutely delicious - is it worth the faff - I think so, especially if you have a glut of tomatoes. Honestly you can buy tomato puree in a tube for a quid but homemade is great right !