Chicken and Mushroom Tagine

This dish started off being named "Chicken Surprise" as I had friends for dinner on a weeknight so threw the ingredients in a pan and prayed ... had no idea how it would turn out.  But, this turned out really well and I would cook it for a dinner party.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

·         2 tbsp olive oil

·         250 ml chicken stock

·         8 x chicken thing cutlets (or could do skinless chicken lovely legs or cutlets trimmed)

·         3 tbs Moroccan spice mix

·         1 brown onion sliced

·         3 garlic cloves

·         1/3 cup sultana's or raisons

·         400g button mushrooms, sliced

·         ½  lemon thinly sliced

·         ¼ cup flaked almonds, toasted

·         Couscous, to serve

Method:

1.       Toss chicken with half the spice mix and set aside for 5 minutes.

2.       Heat a deep large frying pan over high heat until hot. Add half the oil to the hot pan and cook the chicken, in batches, for 2-3 minutes each side or until light golden. Remove to plate.

3.       Reduce heat to medium; add the remaining oil with onion, garlic and remaining spice mix, cook, stirring often for 3 minutes until onion has softened. Add the mushrooms, cook, shaking the pan occasionally for 5 minutes until mushrooms are just tender.

4.       Return the chicken to the pan, add the lemon, sultanas and 250ml of stock to pan, cover and cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes, adding more stock if required or until chicken is cooked through.

5.       Scatter over the almonds and serve with couscous.

Review - Cafe Pavilion Abbotsford

What a great breakfast/brunch find and better still ... parking is so easy! The menu has a decent variety to it so 
whether you're a sweet breakfast person or a savoury you'll find something. I asked if I could make some changes 
to the breakfast I ordered and they were happy to oblige. The service really was very friendly and gave the 
impression that's it's family-run. Only disappointment was the banana milkshake that arrived as a caramel one, 
with massive chunks of semi blended ice cream that made it hard to get liquid up the straw but it wasn't a big deal. 
Check out the pics of what we ordered. We'll be back for sure!

Sent from my iPhone

Review - Kurtosh, Randwick

What a great find! I don't think I've seen this concept in Australia before? What I love is that you can choose exactly what you want of each dessert - no having to have standard sizes, if you want a bite sized amount - just order that. So, the 3 of us sampled 5 sweets as pictured below. This, and a chai tea was $26.00

Peanut Ganache - Nice and rich. More peanut butter than peanut.

Oreo slice - too sweet and sugary for me but the others loved it.

Peanut slice - I loved this one! Simplicity and flavorsome at its finest

Coconut mouse with Raspberry Coulis - I haven't had this elsewhere and it was delicious. Highly Recommend.

Baked Cheesecake - almost as good as mine ;)

http://www.kurtosh.com.au/

Turkey Meatballs in a Tomato Sauce

Turkey Meatballs

-          1 onion

-          ½ stalk celery (optional)

-          500g turkey mince

-          ½ cup bread crumbs

-          1 egg

-          1 ½ tsp soy sauce

-          1 ½ tsp Worsteshire Sauce

-          2 tsp tomato chutney

-          1 tsp tomato paste

-          ½ tsp salt

 

Sauce

-          300mls tomato passata

-          ½ onion

-          2 cloves garlic

-          1 tsp tomato paste

-          1 tsp stock paste

-          ½ bunch parsley

 

Method

1.       Preheat oven and baking dish to 180

2.       Place the peeled onion and celery into a mini food processor and process to very finely chopped

3.       Transfer onion/celery to a bowl, add the remainder of the turkey meatball ingredients and stir to combine. Mix well

4.       Roll into walnut size balls

5.       Add a little oil to the baking tray and add the meatballs. Add to oven and set your timer for 30 minutes

6.       In the meantime, add a little oil to a small saucepan, cook onion and garlic until soft then add the passata. Stir through the remainder of the sauce ingredients and bring to a simmer

7.       10 minutes should have passed so take the meatballs out of the oven (that should be sealed on the outside), pour over sauce and return to oven.

8.       When the timer goes to signify 30 minutes, check the meatballs. They will probably only need 10 mins more. Before returning, them to the oven turn each ball over.

The Perfect Jus

Slight disaster in the house - we have no port. A portless Jus what to do ... what to do ... 

So, here's the jus recipe ive used - it's a Masterchef recipe. Not bad!

Jus

• 1 tablespoonolive oil
• 40gbutter
• 4eschalots, finely diced
• 5garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoonthyme leaves
• 300mlred wine
• 500mlstock

Method

Heat oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, add half the butter, the eschalots, garlic and thyme leaves, sauté for 1-2 minutes until softened, add the red wine and simmer for 10-12 minutes until reduced by half then add the beef stock and simmer for a further 15-20 minutes or until reduced. Strain and return to clean saucepan, whisk in the remaining butter and remove from heat, keep warm.


Review - The Foxtrot - Crows Nest

Finally, a great small bar comes my way! Rumour has its hard to find 28 Falcon St Crows Nest and its true! So, look for an archway and you'll have no problem. Its cosy, it's not pretentious, it has great decor, and the wine selection is great and not crazily priced – what more can you ask for? The menu that offers mainly pizzas looked great too. We went there for pre-dinner drinks as we didn't know about the bar menu and got food envy when the table beside us had their pizza arrive. We didn't have a problem finding somewhere to sit for 4 people when arriving at 6:30pm on a Saturday but by 7pm I couldn't really see other seats free (in saying that there are other rooms so maybe in there). I'd say when word really gets out about this terrific bar you'll need to get in early to get a comfy seat to settle in for the night.