Crunchy Cheesy Chicken

Chicken breasts can be boring. There I've said it. I KNOW they are low fat and a good food when trying to control calories but purlease! It the sauces them make it tolerable in my book - sorry. So I am aways on the lookout for ways to tart up a chicken breast that are, preferably, not loaded with cream and butter - although there is nothing wrong with a nice cream, mushroom and brandy sauce (with maybe a little parmesan in there...).

Anyhow, here is a coating that gives the breast a tasty, crispy coat whilst keeping the meat moist - and best of all this is a baked recipe so no frying involved.

I have only used this on whole breasts but I certainly intend to use this on chicken pieces - maybe thigh meat - the best of both worlds for me!

Crunchy Cheesy Chicken
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS
4 chicken breast (I normally aim for free range chicken as, darnit, it just tastes better.)
Flour
1 egg
1/4 cup of milk
1 finely chopped clove of garlic (or 2 if you're a garlic fan)
1 tspn ground chilli (fresh or dried is fine)
2 cups breadcrumbs (preferably either fresh or Japanese Panko breadcrumbs - not golden though)
1 cup finely grated cheddar
Salt
Pepper

METHOD

1. Ensure chicken breast are clean of any skin etc and dry with kitchen towel
2. Take three bowls.
3. In bowl 1 place enough flour to dredge the breasts
4. In bowl 2 beat the egg and milk together then add garlic, chilli and seasoning
5. In bowl 3 mix cheese and breadcrumbs.
6. Dredge chicken through flour, then egg mix and then coat thoroughly in breadcrumbs.
7. Put on a lightly oiled baking sheet
8. Place in middle of oven, preheated to gas mark 6
9. Cook for 35 mins
10. Serve with buttered noodles and green salad.

Very easy for a summer lunch. I imagine that the chicken pieces version would work well on a buffet - I shall wheel it out at the next opportunity.

Cheviot Pie

Don't know why this is called Cheviot Pie - maybe the original version came from there but that's all I can tell you. If anybody knows more I would love to hear from you.

This is the sort of pie that you need on a cold, damp evening. Yes dear reader, I know it's June but if you have looked outside you will realise that you'll need to take that up with the weather gods.

All the ingredients are items that you will have in the fridge and store cupboard so doesn't require much in the way of shopping - a bonus on a busy work day evening. The pie also has the advantage of being relatively inexpensive; an advantage in these economically trying times. Yet it tastes luxurious. Win, win.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 4

200gm minced beef
1 medium onion
1 celery stalk
1 medium carrot
12 button mushrooms
2oz suet (vegetarian or beef)
4oz self raising flour
2oz strong cheddar, grated
1 Knorr beef stock cube
1 tbspn instant beef gravy granules (Bisto)
salt
pepper
Milk
Cold water


METHOD

1. Place suet, flour, cheese, pinch of salt and pepper in mixing bowl.
2. Add water
3. Mix thoroughly until a ball of pastry is formed
4. Put in fridge until needed (wrap in cling film)
5. Preheat oven to gas mark 5
6. Chop onions, celery, carrots and mushroom
7. Pour a small amount of oil into a medium saucepan and place on medium gas
8. Place onions into pan, season and cook until beginning to become translucent
9. Add carrots and celery and cook for 3 mins
10. Add mushrooms and stir in
11. Add mince and brown
12. Make up stock cube and instant granules with half pint of boiling water and add to pan
13. Cook for two minutes and place mix into medium sized deep pie dish
14. Remove pastry from fridge and roll out - it will be approx 1/4" thick
15. Place onto pie and pat down
16. Trim excess pastry and make small balls
17. Make airhole in centre of pie
18. Arrange balls around airhole and edge of pie
19. Wash pie with milk
20. Bake for 35 mins in middle of oven
21. Serve with selection of green vegetables.
    

As you can tell, the pastry is fundamentally a dumpling mix with cheese added. This means that the finished pastry is fluffy and soft underneath with a brown crispy top. It really doesn't need any further carbohydrates so I don't tend to serve potatoes with it but there is nothing to stop you so doing.

This is real comfort food that doesn't break the bank. And we all have to applaud that.

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Birthday cakes - where to start. Eveybody has a different favourite and to be honest, this would NOT be mine. Whilst I am a massive chocolate fan I like mine in bars. And I like sponge cake with creamy fillings. Even if there is chocolate frosting I would always plump for a vanilla sponge - maybe boring but it's my kind of boring.

Not so others - and as this cake was not for me I went scrumbling around for a chocolate cake that I could perhaps combine with raspberries to cut through some of the sweetness.

I used to have a recipe for a chocolate fudge cake which I could not lay hand on, and one of the favourite all time cakes of the birthday boy is a chocolate/almond/sugar confection normally referred to within the family as a tarantula. Not it's real name and when I lay hands on that recipe I shall post that too.

Anyway, back to todays project: I found a recipe on the BBC Good Food website by Angela Nilsen and decided to give it a go. It had great reviews and it lived up to every one.

For the chocolate I used Willies Supreme Cacao with forest fruits. 100% cacao and 100% delicious. You can get it in Waitrose.

The original recipe calls for a ganache icing but I substituted Betty Crocker's Chocolate Fudge icing - a massive fave of the recipient. I also used whole milk rather than buttermilk as I had forgotten to aquire any - it was of no obvious detriment to the finished product.

The only problem, is that the cake is waaay too big to get into any of my cake boxes but as it's size is diminishing fast I doubt that will be a problem for long

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

INGREDIENTS

200g good quality dark chocolate, about 60% cocoa solids (I used 100% for extra chocolately goodness)

200g butter, cut in pieces

1 tbsp instant coffee granules

85g self-raising flour

85g plain flour

1⁄4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

200g light muscovado sugar

200g golden caster sugar

25g cocoa powder

3 medium eggs

75ml buttermilk (5 tbsp) (I used whole milk)

I tub of Betty Cocker Chocolate Fudge icing

METHOD

1. Butter a 20cm round cake tin (7.5cm deep) and line the base. Preheat the oven to fan 140C/conventional 160C/ gas 3


2. Break the chocolate in pieces into a medium, heavy-based pan. Tip in the butter, then mix the coffee granules into 125ml/4fl oz cold water and pour into the pan. Warm through over a low heat just until everything is melted - don't overheat. Or melt in the microwave on Medium for about 5 minutes, stirring half way through.


3. While the chocolate is melting, mix the two flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugars and cocoa in a big bowl, mixing with your hands to get rid of any lumps.


4. Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir in the milk.


5. Now pour the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until everything is well blended and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency.


6. Pour this into the tin and bake for 1 hour 25- 1 hour 30 minutes - if you push a skewer in the centre it should come out clean and the top should feel firm (don't worry if it cracks a bit). Leave to cool in the tin (don't worry if it dips slightly), then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.


7. When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally and liberally apply raspberry jam - preferably not too sweet.


8. Spread Betty Crocker icing all over top and down the sides


9. Decorate with grated chocolate and fresh raspberries.


10. The cake keeps moist and gooey for 3-4 days.

Birthday candles were also freely applied - couldn't use the right number or I could have burned the hosue to the ground sp they were more symbolic than literal.

This was a very easy recipe to follow and the cake is everything you could ask for in a a gooey chocolate birthday cake. For those who walk on the chocolate side, cross the road to this recipe now. You'll be glad you did. Even I liked it.

Dunkeys

I am certain these must be known to other families by other names - particularly those with armed service backgrounds. This recipe forms part of a 'full English breakfast' and originates with my father-in-law's national service in the 1950s and was carried back to suburban London to nourish his growing brood. It was a great favourite with the sons and has now passed into their families. There was a suggestion that it was a variation on the word donkey, in honour of the poor beast my father-in-law shot in error whilst on guard duty when stationed in Egypt. This is probably untrue but it's a great story!

A dunkey is fundamentally a whole lump of flour-based carbohydrate cooked in the fat from the fried breakfast whose flavours it will absorb. It may not sound the most inviting think in the world, but once you have tried one I doubt you will turn back.

A word on 'full' breakfast for the uninitiated: these are not for the faint hearted. It is not an everyday sort of breakfast, or even weekly for that matter - in fact I suspect nutritionists worldwide weep at the mere whisper of the concept. But once in a while it is a neccessary evil. There are ways to make it healthier but you won't find them here. A typical full English chez moi consists of many, if not all, of the following in varying quantities: Bacon, sausages, eggs, mushrooms, courgettes, tomatoes, toast and dunkeys.

Dunkeys

INGREDIENTS
2 cups self-raising flour
salt
pepper
milk

METHOD

1. Place flour into bowl
2. Season to taste
3. Add enough milk to form a stiff dough
4. Separate into required number of dunkeys (this will make 2 large or small) - do not attempt to shape at this time
5. Once bacon/sausage has been fried, drop dunkeys into same pan
6. When first side has cooked and hardened, flip and press down to make a thick patty shape
7. Cook second side until golden brown then serve

I am not sure there is a better way to soak up the ill effects of an overly enthusiastic 'night before'