Pea Risotto and Thyme Chicken with Parsnip chips

Elements of the dish was inspired from Maggie Beer's Maggie's Harvest cookbook. It's not as complicated as it sounds either.

I bought some parsnips from the farmer's markets last week but being a novice at cooking parsnips had no idea. What is the best way to cook it? With what herbs? Best served with? I tried roasting but it made it bitter - perhaps I didn't roast it long enough? At the right temperature? Time? Reading about parsnip chips reminds me of sweet potato chips, served in many Sydney cafes, restaurants and pubs (I think the trend started several years ago).

To make parsnip chips I peel the skin and using the vegetable peeler made long strips of parsnip. I patted dry the parsnip strips and heated some oil in a small saucepan to about 185c. Remember to test a small piece in the oil. Fry in small batches until golden, drain on paper towels and sprinkle with plenty of salt. I think you can fry any root vegetables this way.

Pea risotto is just your normal risotto with peas, chicken stock, splash of white wine and a bit of parmesan.

Maggie used this marinade on rabbit but I had chicken. The chicken is marinaded in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and thyme for 1 hour before browning the chicken in a pan, into a baking dish covered with foil and baked in a moderate oven. Double breast takes around 20mins. Covering with foil prevents the chicken from drying out. Don't forget to spoon some of the chicken juices into the risotto while cooking.

Cranberry, Fig and Almond Cookies

Cranberry, Fig and Almond Cookies



Ingredients
125g butter
1/2 caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 handful each of almond, dried cranberry and dried figs

Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 180c. Roughly chop the almonds, cranberries and figs then set aside.

2. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add the egg and continue beating until smooth.

3. Add to the mixture flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Slowly add in the milk. The mixture should be very thick but not dry.

4. Stir in the almonds, cranberries and figs.

5. Using teaspoons, roughly shape the mixture into balls. Place on a baking tray for approx. 23-25mins.

Pyrmont Grower's Market

Got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday (well 7am) to go to the much anticipated Pyrmont Grower's Market. I've never found the time to go since it's on the 1st Saturday of every month from 7am-11am. There were stalls selling meats, fish, vegetables, cakes, breads ... that's if you can get to it after navigating through prams, dogs, toddlers, more dogs. I exercised some self control by trying to not buy everything and settled on the best ever zucchini flowers (flowers were big enough for stuffing and it tasted so sweet), hazelnuts from Mudgee, mixed mushrooms (got caught up and bought these even though you can find them at the vegetable shop), chocolate berry and pineapple gluten free cakes from the much heard about Manna from Heaven and a crusty white loaf.



By the time we left at 9.40am the crowd started to get bigger and noticed there were no street parking left, I recommend getting there at around 8am. There's parking in Star City and metered street parking.


the best ever zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta and almonds

The bodum empire

Bodum makes such cool products. Especially the double wall glasses. They can take cold or hot drinks but what's really cool is when you have a hot drink you can touch the sides without ending up with third degree burns. The drink is hot, while the sides are cool - awesome!


Earl Grey tea pot



Can't remember the name of this one



Pavina double wall glasses



More awesome stuff can be found on their website http://www.bodum.com

Sunday Lunch

One of my favourite thing to do is Sunday lunch. People are relaxed, there's no 'I've got to do something/go somewhere after' and it gives me Saturday to prepare.








Roast Chicken

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
1 bunch rosemary
1 bunch thyme
1 head of garlic
1/2 a lemon
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200c. Make a slit where the legs start from the body and where the wings start. Put the chicken into a roasting pan.

2. Break the garlic into cloves, there's no need to peel. Take the leaves off 2 springs of the rosemary and thyme.

3. Stuff the cavity with lemon, rosemary, thyme and garlic, reserving a few garlic cloves. Rub salt, pepper, rosemary leaves and thyme leaves onto the chicken. Brush with olive oil.

4. Bake for 1 1/2 - 2hrs. Checking and basting with the juices from the pan every 30mins.

5. In the last 20mins of baking, brush the chicken with balsamic vinegar - this will give it colour. Brush again in the last 10mins.

Velvet Cupcakes

This cake is very dense but not sweet. Due to the high cocoa powder content if you can, use high quality cocoa powder as you can taste the difference. To paraphrase my colleague when I told her I bought 300g of cocoa powder for $15, "The normal stuff is gritty. You can taste this is good quality.". I hope she wasn't trying to make me feel better but I'll have to agree because this stuff gave more of a 'cocoa' flavour than the supermarket stuff. I've tasted this stuff and sadly for my wallet I can never go back. The chili powder gives it an extra something and the red colouring (using cake decorating gels) enhances the cocoa colour.

Unfortunately there are no pictures as the ones on the camera turned out really crappy.

Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup caster sugar
8 tbsp cocoa powder
3 eggs
1 cup milk
150g butter
1 tsp vanilla essence/extract
1/2 tsp chili powder (optional)
1 tsp red food colouring (optional)

Method
1. Cream butter and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Beat until smooth.

2. Add the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

3. Dissolve the colouring into the milk. Add in milk a bit at a time. Mix until smooth.

4. Bake for 20mins. The result should be dense and has a velvety texture.

Icing
75g dark cooking chocolate
2 tsp icing sugar
sprinkle of chili powder (optional)
1 tsp red gel colouring*
Hot water, as needed

Melt the chocolate then add the colouring and chili powder. Add hot water, a teaspoon at a time until runny and smooth. Mix in icing sugar. If it is too runny add more sugar, if it is too hard add more hot water.

*You can get gel colouring from speciality food stores and cake decorating shops. If you use basic good colouring it will be very runny. If you omit to use the gel colouring, omit the water as well.

Chicken, Mushroom and Pea Pie

It's cold, it's rainy and I want pie! Hmm .. I wonder what's in the fridge.

Mmm ... the warm glow of the TV

Chicken, Mushroom and Pea Pie

Ingredients

1 chicken breast diced

1 cup peas

1 cup button mushroom, quartered

1/2 an onion, chopped finely

1 sprig rosemary

2 tbsp plain flour

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

1 cup chicken stock

1 small can of light evaporated milk

25g butter

salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. In a large pot, brown the chicken. Set aside.

2. In the same pot on a low heat, add butter and onion. When the onion is transparent (don't brown them) very quickly add flour and stir vigorously until the mixture forms a ball. Cook, stirring for another 2 mins. Add the chicken stock little by little stirring quickly each time and until the flour mixture is Incorporated in each addition. You will notice the mixture will become thick (that's what you want). Stir in the evaporated milk and add rosemary. Turn the heat to medium and simmer for 5 mins.

Err side on view..

3. Add mushrooms, peas and chicken. Keep on stirring until to boil and it thickens (approx 10mins). Season to taste and remove rosemary.

4. Pour mixture into a baking dish and cover with puff pastry ensure you prick the pastry with a fork. Trim the edges and decorate as desired. Bake in a 180c oven for 30-40mins or until pastry is golden.