Monthly Archives: May 2013

13/05/2013 · 9:13 pm

Celebrating 100 recipes!

Pop the champagne cork! I’ve cooked 100 recipes!

Actually, I’ve officially cooked 107 recipes (if you count tonight’s dinner).

The 100th happened a few weeks ago, on the second of May, and honestly, I didn’t even realise until just a few days ago. Things have been a bit crazy lately.

So who wants to know what the 100th recipe was?

It was Roast lemon chicken with Sicilian olives, the cover recipe from May 2008.

I’ve made it before, back in May 2008 probably. It was yummy then and it was still yummy now.

There is something about the smell and taste of slow-cooked onions. Add thyme to the equation and I am in heaven.

Keeping with this month’s Italian theme, I served the roast lemon chicken on spaghetti which had been lightly tossed in butter. A little bit extravagant, but indeed delicious.

If there is one piece of advice I can give you when making this recipe, it’s make double. You’re gonna want to eat this meal again!

Enjoy!

X Bree

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Roast lemon chicken with Sicilian olives 

Serves 4

delicious. magazine, (May 2008, p. 125) – Cover recipe

1/3 cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil
4 large onions, halved, thinly sliced
4 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 heaped tbs fresh thyme leaves, plus 8 small thyme sprigs
8 skinless chicken thigh cutlets
Plain flour, to dust
1 – 2 lemons, scrubbed, thinly sliced, seeds removed
1 1/2 cups (375ml) chicken stock
1 tbs chopped preserved lemon rind* (white pith and flesh discarded), optional
24 Sicilian olives or other large green olives

Heat 2 tbs of the oil in a large frypan over medium-low heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 20-25 minutes until soft and pale golden. Season, then stir in thyme leaves. Spread onion over the base of a roasting pan that will fit the chicken snugly in a single layer. Sprinkle over the thyme sprigs, then set aside.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celcius. Heat remaining oil in the same frypan over medium-high heat. Dust chicken in flour, shaking off excess, then cook in 2 batches for 3-4 minutes each side until golden-brown. Arrange chicken over onion, then overlap 2 lemon slices on each. Squeeze over the juice from any remaining lemon slices.

Meanwhile, bring stock to the boil in a saucepan, stir in the preserved lemon rind if using, then pour around the chicken. Cook in the oven, uncovered, for 45-50 minutes – adding olives after 30 minutes and basting with stock 2-3 times – until chicken is golden and cooked. Stand in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer chicken, onion, olives and juices to a deep platter to serve.

* From delis and gourmet food shops.

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13/05/2013 · 1:59 pm

May cook-a-long: Wrap-up

This month, first of all, I owe you an apology. Last week was one of the busiest weeks I have had in a long time, which meant I wasn’t around much on cook-a-long day. I am so sorry. As it turned out, you didn’t seem to need me much. You all did such a great job!

After nearly five years of staying at home with my kids, I have recently returned to work three days a week. I am absolutely loving it, but it means I am out of the house at 5:30am each morning, and only get home in time to pick the kids up at three o’clock. Then I was out three nights, which is completely unlike me. I am such a homebody, especially at night. Needless to say, by Saturday I was a zombie…

Being so busy this week has meant that I have hardly had  a moment spare to keep in touch with the Facebook page. This has been so disappointing, especially as it has been my favourite time of the month – cook-a-long! There is always such a buzz around when people are busy creating their meals. I just love it!

Because of that crazy little presentation I had to make on Wednesday night at Pecha Kucha Night, I ended up making my cook-a-long recipe on Tuesday and eating it Tuesday night. Mr Picky Palette was out for work, so it was just me and B2 and B4 for dinner.

I think I had my meal prepared and ready in the slow cooker by about ten o’clock as I had to duck out and do a few errands in the morning.  By the time I got home, the smell coming from my house was AMAZING! I hope my neighbours were jealous!

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Once the meat was all soft and tender, I removed it from the sauce. In the interests of increasing my chances of getting the kiddies to eat their dinner, I then pulsed the sauce in my blender to break up any big pieces of vegetables. Once I had removed all the meat from the bone, I mixed it with the now blended sauce. At this point, I stood at the stove with that 100 grams of unsalted butter and hesitated. I just could not bring myself to add all that butter to the sauce. It seemed like a lot! In the end I added about half. And yes. It made the sauce shiny and rich, but I think the full 100 grams was excessive.

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I’m not going to bore you with my usual “make your own pasta” rant! But what I will say is that, making your own pasta is so easy that my friend Carolyn and her five year old managed to whip up a batch with their bare hands and a rolling pin. In her words, she “tasted the love”. So very awesome!

I love that the cook-a-long has become more than just one day. I love that you all feel comfortable enough to just go with the flow, give it a go, and cook it when you have the time. I love that you feel comfortable enough to adjust the recipe to suit the tastes and dietary needs of your family and friends. I’m so happy to be amongst such an enthusiastic, encouraging and supportive bunch of people!

Thank you once again to those who had the courage to share your dinner with us on the Facebook page. What a great effort! In honour of braving the social media critics, I wanted to share a summary of some of the pictures and feedback shared.

Delicious! Absolutely loved the flavours… Will have to make again as our leftover’s won’t last long! By the way, I unintentionally cooked this with diced lamb (was frozen so didn’t notice) and the flavour was great! – Melissa E

Yum, yum!!! I didn’t do the sauce but added peas. – Denica

Well after preparing everything yesterday so I could just pour it into my slow cooker this morning before work, my pregnancy brain forgot to turn the slow cooker on!!!! So after some damage control and dinner a little later than normal, here is my dish and it is yummo!!! I was a little worried about the butter but it really made the sauce very smooth!! Will do again for sure but will remember to turn the slow cooker on next time ;)) – Leah

Here is my version – the whole family loved it! – Kara

So here is my efforts – with pasta I made myself, with a rolling pin & a 5yr old… Tasted the love.
Only thing I would do different is use meat on a bone, diced beef was a bit meh… Definitely will do again, thanks for the inspiration Brigitte xx – Carolyn

Here’s mine attempt (a bit slap-dash!). Was pretty happy with it the end. All bowls looked clean in our house! So I guess that’s a pretty good sign. – Jacinta

No alterations here, and it was Yum!! Oops, I lied. I did omit the butter. – Melissa O

Added pumpkin, broccoli and lentils- no pasta….so kinda a casserole in the end with a dollop of natural yoghurt. Eating as I type! – Sherry

Yum! Used lactose free cheddar for the sauce not quiet the effect it was after but was still yum!!! – Rebecca

I also wanted to take a moment and thank you all for sharing the event with your friends and getting them involved. I was thrilled to see so many new names amongst the group this month.

Now that May’s cook-a-long is over, it is time to start thinking about next month. The date for the June cook-a-long will be Wednesday 12 June. Lock it in your diaries.

Next month I have a little surprise for those who participate. So make sure you sign-up to the June event on the the My Delicious Year Facebook page.

Don’t forget that the cook-a-long will always remain affordable, achievable and delicious!

Until next time,

X Bree

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06/05/2013 · 12:12 pm

Sufferin’ succotash, we’re eating succotash!

When I saw the recipe for Bacon-wrapped chicken with succotash I immediately thought of watching Looney Tunes as a child and Sylvester spluttering all over the place “Sufferin’ Succotash”.

Succotash is no meal to suffer over though.

It’s a frugal combination of beans, corn and bacon brought together with a dash of cream.

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For a quick, tasty, mid-week dinner you can’t go past this recipe. And if you’re like me, you’ll probably find most of the ingredients already in your pantry or fridge.

Enjoy!

X Bree

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02/05/2013 · 9:10 pm

Good riddance April!

Oh me, oh my. Thank goodness April is over. What a month.

I have to confess. I really struggled to stay motivated this month. REALLY struggled. Fussy kids and unappreciative husbands nearly made me want to quit. It made me think “why? why? why?”

The other thing that I was overwhelmed by was my need to cook every single cover recipe. What was I thinking when I set that as a ground rule? This month I was good – I didn’t leave them all to the last two days. But I was totally overwhelmed by all the chocolate. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE chocolate as much as the next person. But out of the twelve April cover recipes to cook, nine were sweets and eight of those included chocolate (the other one was caramel). Blah!

Here’s a little secret. I’ve taken to halving the dessert recipes. Why? Because the cover recipes are often so decadent (cream, chocolate, sugar etc) and I am very conscious of only consuming these types of things in small quantities. Otherwise my hips and my health can’t handle it! They also often have a very short shelf life and as a family, we just can’t get through them quick enough, even after sharing the leftovers with our extended family.

And here’s a confession. I actually didn’t cook all twelve covers this month! I know. I know. What a disappointment. But I really couldn’t bring myself to do it. (I only skipped one) Please forgive me? It won’t happen again…

Here's the cover I skipped this month...

Here’s the cover I skipped this month…

On to the fussy kid saga…

Pretty much every night B4 asks me “what’s for dinner?” His usual response is either tears, or hysteria, or running screaming from the room, or a combination of the three. It turns out he’s more of a meat and no veg kind of guy. Like that is ok… Yes, there are nights that he goes to bed hungry.

After more than my fair share of these shenanigans this month, I took him aside one night and asked him what he really wanted to have for dinner. Turns out it was lasagna. A simple request, and one that I will fulfil sometime in May. Until then, he has to keep trying the new stuff I am making.

On another occasion, after a week of very poor dinner eating on B4’s behalf, I was driving to my parent’s house where B2 and B4 were to have dinner and a sleepover. Around the corner from my parents house B4 piped up with “I wonder if grandma is going to make me something yummy for dinner?” I replied with something like “well of course honey. Grandma always cooks yummy dinner.” B4 then replied “yes and I will love it and eat it all up!” (Because I never cook anything you love. And breathe…)

Sure enough, grandma produced the trifecta – roasted chicken, roasted lamb and roasted potatoes. The boys proceeded to inhale their dinner like they hadn’t eaten for a week. (sigh)

So, in honour of the sh#ttiest month ever, I present you with my high’s and low’s – what I loved to eat, what I didn’t and what I’d make again:

The High’s

  1. The cook-a-long. How freaking awesome was it? I was completely overwhelmed by how much people really got into it. I can’t wait for May. Thank you so much, everyone!
  2. Meat-free Monday – I have really enjoyed going meat-free on a Monday and have found that it is a pleasure to create delicious, flavoursome, meat-free meals. My children may disagree!
  3. Huevos Rancheros (Apr 2008, p. 86) – definitely recipe of the month. Simple. Tasty. Delicious. A great Saturday morning brekky. Give it a go.

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The Low’s

  1. Chocolate fondants – COVER (Apr 2008, p. 74) or as someone so politely commented on Facebook “steaming poo”. Thanks Paul. LOL. Something went terribly wrong. Not sure I care enough to try to correct it and make them again.
  2. Pear & ginger crisp (Apr 2002, p. 114). Another dessert disaster. Curdled, eggy, grossness.  May we never speak of it again.
  3. Pearl barley risotto with roast pumpkin, capsicum & rocket (Apr 2009, p. 126). There was a huge uproar in the house when I served this up for meat-free Monday. I think the concept is good, but the execution was not so good.

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More please…

  1. Mascarpone, prosciutto & rocket pizza – COVER (Apr 2007, p. 12). Homemade pizza. Yum!
  2. Roast pork steaks with tomatoes and pine nuts (Apr 2005, p. 139). A few simple ingredients packed with flavour. It was a winner.
  3. Mushroom carbonara (Apr 2012, p. 84). Another recipe with a few simple ingredients that translated to a delicious, easy, weeknight dinner.

Did I mention that neither B2 nor B4 ever complain when offered dessert, or pizza?

Here’s a link to the full list of what I cooked in April.

And to end the month of April, here is the most memorable piece of feedback I got from Mr Picky Palette during April, which pretty much sums up the month:

Me: How was your dinner honey?
Mr Picky Palette: I ate it didn’t I?

The end.

X Bree

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01/05/2013 · 6:00 am

May cook-a-long: Recipe reveal

Hello friends,

This month we are stepping back a gear and putting on our slow shoes.

Autumn is here. The nights are getting cooler, the sun is setting sooner, and our tummies are looking for something warm and comforting to fill the void.

This month I have chosen a Jamie Oliver recipe for Pappardelle with amazing slow-cooked meat. It’s clearly a winner. In fact, one of the downsides to immersing yourself in ten years of delicious. Magazine’s is that you come across certain recipes that have popped up on more than one occasion. This is one of those. It was first printed in the May 2004 magazine and again reproduced (word for word!) in the May 2006 magazine. Worth cooking don’t you think?

I have included a whole bunch of “tips” in the recipe and shopping list this month including instructions for preparing this recipe with your slow cooker.

All the details for the May cook-a-long can be found here.

Don’t forget to mark Wednesday 8 May in your calendar.

Once you are finished cooking, take a moment and capture a photo of your meal. Post your picture and comments on the My Delicious Year Facebook page or share it on instagram using the hashtag #cookalong and tag @mydeliciousyear.

I had so much fun with the April cook-a-long and was thrilled by how many people joined in. May is going to be even better. I can’t wait to see what sort of creations you all come up with.

Get cooking!

X Bree

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