Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Cajun Chicken Pasta Bake

This dish ends wars....well kind of, it ended a fight I was having at the time.  The first time I cooked it for T he said it was his new favourite so here it is:

Cajun Chicken Pasta Bake

Serves: 2
Time: 40 mins

Equipment
  • Saucepan
  • Frying Pan
  • Spatula
  • Spoon
  • Oven Proof Dish
  • Wooden Spoon
  • Chopping Board
  • Chopping Knife
Ingredients
  • Fusilli Pasta
  • Chicken Breasts (chopped into small strips)
  • Oil
  • White Sauce
  • Milk
  • Cheese
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Cajun Seasoning
  • Season All
  • Paprika
  • Mixed Herbs
  • A Clove of Garlic
  • Red Pepper
  • Tomatoes
  • Mushrooms
  • Scallions (spring onions)
Method

1. Boil the water in a saucepan for the pasta, add some olive oil and salt to the water.  Then heat some oil in the frying pan.  Next chop/crush 1 clove of garlic add to the pan, chop the chicken breasts into small stips, season with salt and pepper and add to the hot pan and cook for about 3-5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile chop the peppers, tomatoes, scallions and mushrooms. 
3. Once the water has boiled add the pasta, use 100g per person for 10-12 minutes.
4. Once the chicken has been cooked through, add 2 tbsp of cajun seasoning, add a little bit of water so that the seasoning can spread around the chicken.  Add 1 tbsp of paprika, 1 tbsp mixed herbs, 1 tbsp of season all.
4. Then add the chopped veg to the pan and cook on a low heat.
 5. Drain the pasta when its ready and keep to the side in the pan.  For the white sauce I used a sachet of Colmans white sauce, you can also make some from scratch.  Add about 200g of cheese to the sauce, or as much/little as you prefer. Once ready comine the chicken, the pasta and white sauce and stir.



6. Grease the oven proof dish with butter and add the pasta.  Make sure the chicken and veg are evenly distributed, and then flatten down the pasta.





7.  Now top with cheese, breadcrumbs and mixed herbs.  Place in a pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes and serve.






P.S. There is no picture of when it came out of the oven, because I served it up so quickly and forgot, oopsie!!

xx

Monday, March 21, 2011

Fairy Cakes


I <3 fairy cakes!  My mam made them for us when we were little (and still does), then we started helping, and look at me now, I'm making them all on my own, proud of me mam?  Haha!  Here's the recipe:

Fairy Cakes

Equipment
  • Weighing scales
  • Whisk
  • Paper cases
  • Bowl
  • Sive 
  • Baking tray
Ingredients
  • 100g (4oz) butter
  • 100g (4oz) caster sugar
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 100g (4oz) self raising flour

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy in other words, mush them together with your hands.  This is easier when the butter is cut up into small pieces and at room temperature.





2. Gradually beat  in the egg, a little at a time, beating well after each addition






3.  Fold in the flour gradually. 







4.  You should end up with something like this, with a smooth but thick consistency






5. Place the paper cases onto a tray.  Fill them half way with a spoon







6.  Bake at 190C/ gas mark 5/ 375F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.  Leave to cool on a wire rack.






7.  I used icing to top my cakes, or you can use chocolate either!







8. Et voila!




Mojito

Bacardi Orange Mojito
The Mojito, my one true love!!  If you're new to the mojito, you're in for a treat, if you have only had the Bacardi pre-mix or in bars, you will never look back!

My first Mojito was in Frankie and Benny's restaurant, I love anything strawberry and they had a strawberry version so I had to try it, I L-O-V-E-D it!  I then had the taste for them and bought the Bacardi Mojito cocktail mix from the supermarket, it was nice, not the best and so expensive!! I started to buy the Sainsbury's own brand of Mojito, which I have to say tastes an awful lot better than the Bacardi version, funnily enough.  If you are buying the pre-mixes, I would advise adding a drop or two of soda water, they are about 14% vol and I'd be conked out after a bottle of the stuff!

After moving back home to Ireland for the summer, and running out of my Sainsbury's Mojito stash, I started to think I would probably be able to make my own Mojito, somehow. I looked into a few recipes online, I noticed a lot of them used sugar cane syrup, whatever that was?  My mam told me we could make our own sugar syrup by heating up sugar and water in a pan, it didn't exactly work out for us, so that was the end of that.  A few weeks later my Mam came home with a surprise...sugar cane syrup!!  So we started muddling and mixing, and OMG, the sexiest Mojito ever!!  Here's the recipe:

Mojito
serves: 1/4 (I have included the recipe for 1 drink and a pitcher containing 4 drinks)
prep time: 5 minutes

 Equipment
  • Muddler (improvise with the top of a bottle/pestle/rolling pin)
  • Jug
  • Straws 
  • Glasses
Ingredients
  • Half a lime per drink (2 limes for a pitcher of 4)
  • 8 mint leaves per drink (32 for a pitcher of 4)
  • Sugar cane syrup / caster sugar
  • Soda water
  • Ice (the more, the better)
  • Bacardi (you can use supermarket own brand if you want, but Bacardi tastes the best)
Method
  1. Chop the halved lime/2 limes into quaters and place in glass/jug
  2. Add 8/32 mint leaves
  3. Muddle them together so that you extract the lime juice.  You should not be too forceful and 'mash' the ingredients, use a twisting motion as you gently press down on the mint and limes.  If you do not have sugar cane syrup muddle the sugar in with the lime and mint, use about a tablespoon of sugar.
  4. Add 40ml/160ml of Bacardi. (The UK single spirit measure is 25ml and 35.5ml in Ireland, so keep this in mind and alter the measurements if you wish to, this is the measurement I prefer to use.)
  5. Then add 20ml/80ml of sugar cane syrup or 1 tbsp/4 tbsp of sugar.
  6. Now add 60ml/240ml of soda water.
  7. Stir and serve with ice and a straw.

    P.S.  I get my sugar cane syrup in Sainsburys (can't find it anywhere else) it's kept with the spirits and you will get asked for ID, ridiculous, I know. its £2 for a 250ml bottle, but its worth it if you have the cash.  Or if you are in Ireland I get a big bottle of it in Superquinn for about €4/€5.

    I will add more pics when I make some at the weekend :)

    Enjoy

    xx