Chicken Veronique

 

Thanks to the Chicken Bible by ATK I tried this recipe out.  It isn't as spicy as a lot of the stuff we like but was lush.

 

Ingredients:

 

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Salt & pepper

Small box of chicken stock

1 teaspoon cornflour (cornstarch)

2 tablespoons butter

Sprinkle of crispy fried onions (I didn't have any brown onions)

¾ cup of dry white wine (chardonnay)

¾ cup of cream (I used tinned reduced cream)

Handful of green grapes (from my freezer)

1 teaspoon of dried tarragon (1tblsp of fresh would have been better)

1 tsp lemon juice

Garnish with basil

 

Method:

 

Pound your chicken till it's an even thickness.  I do this with a pestle after putting the chicken between sheets of cling film.  Season with salt and pepper on both sides.

 

Melt butter in pan and fry chicken on a moderate heat for 4 minutes.  Take the chicken out and put on a plate.

 

Add your fresh onion if you have it now and soften in the butter.  I just chucked in some of the crispy stuff.  Add wine and boil away for 3 minutes.  Then put the chicken back in along with the chicken stock.  Reduce the heat and cover and simmer for 6 minutes.

 

Transfer the chicken to your serving platter and tent it with foil.

 

Increase heat and add the cream and the cornflour (made into a slurry with a little liquid).  Cook for another 7 minutes.

 

Stir in the grapes (halved lengthwise), tarragon and lemon juice.  Test for seasoning.

 

Pour your sauce over the chicken and serve with a tiny sprinkle of fresh basil for colour.

 

Sorry about the quality of the photo – winter and artificial light doesn't help.

Spicy Pineapple Sauce

 
 

I had half a can of pineapple pieces left over so I decided to come up with something to use it up.  I ended up making a Spicy Pineapple Sauce to go with a lamb rack.

 

Ingredients:

 

Pineapple pieces

Red capsicum/bell pepper

Yellow capsicum/bell pepper

Zucchini

Red Onion

Dill

Red chile

Lemon juice

Piece of Ginger grated or ground

Pepper

Fish sauce (or salt)

½ tsp cumin (not too much0

Olive oil

Soy sauce

Teriyaki sauce

Sugar

Passata (or crushed tomatoes0

Water.

 

Method:

 

Heat a pan so it's nice and hot.  Grill your vegetables and pineapple in a little oil.  Take out of the pan and allow them to cool a bit.

 

Deglaze the pan with some of the pineapple juice and fish sauce – ie just stir it round the pan so all the sticky bits on the bottom are incorporated.

 

Cut up the vegetables into smaller pieces.

 

Make the sauce with the rest of the ingredients and when it is nice and gloopy add back the grilled ingredients.  After about 5 minutes it should be ready.

 

I haven't given you quantities because these ingredients are pretty forgiving – except for the cumin which can overwhelm everything if you are not careful.

Mustard Chive Sauce

 
 

Now this mustard chive sauce is not the sort of sauce we should have often.  It is laden with cream.  But as a special treat with thinly sliced corned beef it was spectacular.  And it was good cold the next day on sandwiches as well.

 

So you take half a strained cupful of the liquid you have cooked your corned beef in.  (This has had cloves, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, bay leaf, golden syrup, mustard powder and white wine as well as the water).  I would usually add carrots and baby onion as well which would make the sauce even better.

 

Put it in a pot with a cup of cream (full strength runny cream – the sort you can whip).  Bring it to a boil and then simmer until it has reduced by about one third.  I found this took about 10 minutes or so.  And even then it felt runny – but the next day was quite thick.  I think some of the fat from the corned beef gets into the stock and gives the sauce that extra flavour oomph.

 

Stir in to your sauce 4 tablespoons of Dijon mustard and 3 tablespoons of finely sliced chives.  Simmer for one minute more and then taste to see how much salt and pepper, if any, is needed.

Lemon Mint Cream Sauce

 

 

I was cooking some lamb and wanted to make a different sauce.  This one went magnificently with lamb and was also great as a salad dressing.  And on a sandwich with leftover lamb the next day.

 

Ingredients:

1 pottle of sour cream

2-3 tablespoons of cream

Zest and juice of a lemon (I used home dried zest)

4 tablespoons in total of finely chopped fresh mint and parsley

Salt and pepper

 

Just mix it all up  with a spoon and then taste it to see if it needs a little more salt, pepper or lemon juice.

 

Delightful, fragrant and delicious.

Mustard and parsley sauce using Greek Yoghurt

As you know I often use crème fraiche in my sauces etc instead of cream.  I wanted to see what I could do with Greek yoghurt.  A little googling suggested that it would split in a sauce unless you stabilised it.

I lightly whisked together the Greek yoghurt (plain) with an egg white, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and a ¼ teaspoon of cornflour (corn-starch). 

This was then heated very gently and Dijon mustard was added.  Right at the end I added chopped parsley.  It was an ok sauce (and I guess, healthier) but a bit more fussy to make than I would like.

Creamy Shrimp Sauce

This Creamy Shrimp Sauce turned out to be just perfect – the right consistency, great taste and it went so very well with our tuna steaks.

Ingredients:

Butter

Onion/spring onion (scallions)

Capsicum (bell pepper)

Cream

Shrimp or prawns, cooked

Parsley

Lemon juice

Pepper

Grated cheese

Method:

Get your shrimp and veggies ready.  I had to defrost the shrimp and then chop them.  I diced the onion and capsicum.

Heat a big knob of butter in a pot and then fry off your onion in it.  Add the capsicum after a minute or two and let it keep frying for another couple of minutes.

Add in the shrimp, the cream (about ¼ cup), a squirt of lemon juice and the pepper.

When it is all combined and is nice and thick and glossy, turn the heat down (or off if your burners are vicious like mine) and gradually add a handful of grated cheese (I used a Colby but any cheese will do and cream cheese would have been great).  Make sure the sauce is not still around boiling point because the cheese won't incorporate properly.

Season with pepper.  Check whether it needs salt – mine didn't. The cheese provided enough.  Stir through the chopped parsley and you are done.

This sauce was just fabulous with the tuna.  It was also good the next day with some pork sausages.

Rack of Lamb with Mustard Sauce

The inspiration for this Rack of Lamb with Mustard Sauce came from a Martha Steward recipe I found online – but I'm 'channelling' her because, of course, I didn't do it as per her recipe.

What you'll need:

Rack of lamb – preferably spring lamb

Oil for searing

Salt and pepper

For the sauce:

White wine – I used a sauvignon blanc

Chicken stock – I used a concentrated pase

Dijon Mustard

Hot English Mustard

Maple Syrup

Pomegranate juice

Salt/pepper

Cream

Martha's recipe called for pomegranate molasses – which I didn't have but I substituted the pomegranate juice and the maple syrup.

The first step in cooking the lamb is what will make the most difference to the outcome – let it come to room temperature before cooking – if your fridge is really cold like mine this could take over an hour.

Heat your oven to a moderate to low temperature.

Then heat a pan up til it is smoking, add the oil and sear the lamb on both sides until it has a nice colour – about 1 minute on each side should do it.  Make sure you've got your extractor on or your smoke alarms will go off!

Pop the lamb into a roasting pan with a smidgen of the wine, cover loosely with foil and cook it in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes depending how pink you like it. 

While this is cooking, pour any excess oil out of your pan and put it back on the heat (moderate this time) and add your white wine – about a quarter of a cup.  Stir with a wooden spoon so all the brown bits stuck on the bottom come off into the sauce.

Add in your chicken stock and mustard.  Whisk it while adding so that there are no lumps.  Add a couple of teaspoons of maple syrup and about ½ a small box of pomegranate juice (be careful to taste as you go because it is quite sour).  Then simmer it quite quickly so that the sauce reduces to a thick glossiness.  Take it off the heat, taste to see what salt and pepper is needed.  If it's too sour add more maple syrup.  If it's too sweet add more pomegranate juice.  Finish with a good splash of cream and stir through.

The resulting lamb was gloriously tender and the sauce was unctuous – tasting not of mustard or of pomegranates but as something in its own right.