This is the first recipe we tried from Ching-He Huang’s new book Chinese Food Made Easy.
Apparently General Tso’s Chicken is a very popular dish in the USA, this is a fiery dish with deep flavours. I really enjoyed it and it was very quick to prepare and make. Proper fast food!
General Tso's Chicken
Yesterday my newest cookbook arrived and I’ve really been looking forward to getting my hands on it. It is a copy of the new book from Ching-He Huang – Chinese Food Made Easy. Thumbing through the pages last night I couldn’t wait for today to arrive so that I could make a trip to our local asian supermarket to stock up on ingredients to allow me to test drive some of Ching’s recipes.
When I got home I was ravenous and decided to whip up a quick treat and that took the guise of some Chinese style Special Egg Fried Rice using the contents of the fridge.
Special Egg Fried Rice
As a working mum my time in the kitchen is very limited during the week and so I’m always on the look out for recipes which I can make in my slow cooker.
I came across this wonderful recipe on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe and it was exactly what I was looking for!
Take a look at Mel’s site, it’s excellent. She has lots of other helpful goodies in addition to her wonderful recipes.
Mel calls this recipe classic and simple and it really is that. Flavorsome and perfect for the slow cooker (or on the stove top). Minimum effort for maximum flavor!!
This is a modified version of the original from Mel’s site.
Spicy Black Bean Hotpot
It has been quite some time since my last post here and in that time we’ve become parents once again. I’m now the proud mother of a 4 year old boy and a 6 month old girl and we couldn’t be happier.
I’m currently still off on maternity leave for another 4 weeks so I really will try and keep blogging as once I’m back at work time may be at a premium.
So, on to the food…
I ADORE Mexican food and am constantly searching for new recipes. This one was dreamt up this afternoon just basically based on my favorite flavors which I associate with Mexico. I used my slow cooker but it could be cooked just as easily on the stove-top.
Hope you like it.
Mexican Style Chicken with Coriander and Lime
I spent yesterday morning at a Guy Demarle presentation at a friends house in France. During the course of a couple of hours the woman demonstrating the products baked bread, made the most amazing chocolate cake, beautiful little almond shells in which she served a really tasty raspberry sorbet and then some little Goats cheese and tomato tartlets.
I was really blown away by the tartlets, they were really quick and simple to make and tasted wonderful.
I didn’t have the actual recipe but thought I’d give it a try today and I was delighted with the results!
Tomato and goats cheese tartlet
Since we’re all still in the hold of this Global recession everywhere you look there are recipes for using up leftovers and ideas and tips on how to get the most for your money.
A new show which has been very popular on the BBC recently is Economy Gastronomy. It features money saving ideas to allow families to cook tasty, healthy and nutritious food on a budget.
One of the main cornerstones of Econonmy Gastronomy is to have a bedrock recipe which you use as the basis to create multiple meals for the week.
Our bedrock recipe this week was a roast chicken and in order to use up the leftover roast chicken Arruzo con Pollo was the next recipe in the chain. The recipe said it serves 4 but it’s 4 huge portions so I would say it feeds 6.
Here’s the recipe, enjoy! We certainly did.
Arrozo con Pollo
This is another rather unorthodox recipe from Sue Style and her great book Eat and Two Veg. I must apologize to the purests among you but I’m no food snob and I like to experiment so I thought I would give this a try.. and what do you know, we loved it!!
See what you think..
Green Chilli Risotto
This recipe is based on one from Eat and Two Veg by Sue Style. Sue is originally from England but has lived in Spain, France, Switzerland and Mexico and this is really reflected in the her cookery. The choice of ingredients and combinations are refreshingly innovative.
Spicy Chipotle Mushroom and Courgette Burritos
It’s grill season and so it’s time for me to dust off my favourite summer cookbook – The Great Big Burger Book!
For anyone who loves BBQ’s this is an essential piece of kit.
This recipe is based upon one from the Great Big Burger Book but it’s not exactly the same so I give you my version:
Tex Mex Chedder Chicken Burgers with Caramelized Onions
I’ve never made Mince Pies before but this year I thought I would make some to give as a gift and to enjoy at home. When I tried to get the right size cutters I drew a blank so they’re not as neat as I’d hoped they would be but I guess that just adds to the rustic homemade charm.
I looked at several different recipes and this is the one which I liked the sound of the best, it’s from Ainsley Harriot and I found it on the BBC food website. It’s a little bit cheaty since it uses shop bought mincemeat, but I decided that conquering the shortcrust pastry was enough of a challenge for this year so maybe next time I’ll try making the mincemeat too!
According to Ainsley this makes 18 but I think my muffin tray must be much deeper than his as I only got 12. I also refridgerated the pastry overnight in a zip lock bag and that may have contributed to my pastry cracking quite alot. All in all though I thought it was a pretty sucessful first try. Give them a try and see what you think.
Mince pies