Chicken | Vegie Smugglers

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Suddenly ‘Better homes and gardens’ seems relevant

September 13, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, News · Tagged chicken, feeding the family, parenting, recipe, vegetables

Once upon a time, Friday nights were all about cool bars and cocktails.

Remember when Friday nights were spent getting drunk at after work drinks? Tequila shots, inappropriate pashing and queues to use stinky blocked toilets? Aaaahhhh, the good old days.

These days I generally find myself spending Friday nights at home and Facebooking about wine. Gosh what an alco I must seem like (truly, I’m not, it’s just that by the end of the week, I am often very THIRSTY). Happily for a few months I can fill my nights with a Masterchef Masterclass and watch George and Gary make pretty piles of edible flowers, but with that gone, and Collectors a bit tainted after the whole kiddie-porn allegations, I find myself watching Better Homes and Gardens.

I can, of course, watch food being cooked until the cows come home, but all the other happy, cheery segments about making boat shaped bunk beds and fixing gout in canaries have glided over my head which is slightly addled after two glasses of wine. Last Friday night, however, there was a segment that had me all at attention… lawncare, that most riveting of subjects. But you see, for the first time, I have a lawn, and I was suddenly obsessively paying attention to the finer details of aeration and top dressing. You’ll be pleased to know that on Sunday morning I spent a good 10 minutes raking vigilantly until I got bored and wandered off for a cup of tea.

And who said the suburbs were dull?

Anyway, back to cooking and Karen Martini whipped up some chicken skewers that only required 47 ingredients and took 24 hours to prepare. They looked delicious. Although I think I’ll stick to my yakitori skewers, which (of course) include vegies. Serve them over a nice rice salad (you can find the recipe for that in the new Vegie Smugglers 2 cookbook – which is now on sale here) and voila!

Anyway, must dash, off to make a sensational chandelier out of corks and long-forgotten kitchen utensils. Thanks Friday night TV.

Food on sticks is always a winner.

Yakitori skewers

500g chicken thigh fillets, trimmed
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp mirin
1 tsp brown sugar
½ tsp minced ginger
1 small red onion, halved, quartered
1 red capsicum, seeded, cut into 2–3cm squares
1 zucchini, halved lengthwise, cut into 1–2cm half-moons

Soak 10 bamboo skewers in cold water for at least 10 minutes. Cut the chicken into small, even pieces. Place in a bowl with the soy sauce, mirin, sugar and ginger. Mix well.

Add the onion, capsicum and zucchini to the chicken and mix (hands work best). Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour (if you have time).

Thread the chicken and vegies alternately onto the skewers. Break the onion up a little so that it will cook through.

Heat a large frying pan (or barbecue hot plate) over low–medium heat. Cook the skewers for 15–20 minutes, turning regularly to cook on all sides. The low heat allows the chicken to cook through without burning.

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Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES

June 5, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, News · Tagged chicken, dinner, feeding the family, parenting, pasta, recipe, vegetables

It’s officially winter, so a ‘winter warmer’ must be in order. And since in winter I am generally grouchy and irritable, I need a dish that can please me on many levels. Perhaps you are the same, so I offer you this chicken & tarragon one-pot recipe to try.

Here are some of the reasons it makes me happy…
Chicken and pasta (kids favourites, so will be eaten without any objection at all), one pot (mummy’s favourite), vegie smuggled zucchini, carrot, onion and peas (for an uber-mummy moment), suits everyone (you can even blend it up for baby food), freezes well (for up to 2 months).

It contains wine too. I tell you not as a warning (since it cooks away for 20 minutes before serving, so you’re unlikely to intoxicate your kiddies), but to give you permission to open a bottle on a mid-week night when you wouldn’t normally feel it justified.

chicken and tarragon one pot winter warmer by vegie smuggers

Chicken, tick; pasta, tick; vegies, tick; one pot, tick.

Chicken & tarragon one-pot

1 tbsp olive oil
500g chicken thigh fillets, trimmed, cut into 2-3 even pieces
1 red onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled, chopped
1 large zucchini, chopped (peeled first, if your kids hate green)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup white wine
2x10cm peelings of orange zest (use a vegetable peeler to do this)
1 tbsp chopped tarragon
1 cup rissoni
¾ cup frozen peas

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken and brown for 2–3 minutes on each side to get golden patches. Remove and set aside.

Reheat the pan over medium heat and cook the onion and carrot for 2 minutes then add the zucchini. Cook for another couple of minutes until the vegies are softening then add the garlic for another minute.

Add the stock, wine, orange zest and tarragon. Season with black pepper. Bring to the boil, return the chicken to the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the pasta and peas and cook until the pasta is tender and the chicken is cooked through (about 8 minutes).

Remove and discard the orange zest before serving. Cut the chicken into pieces to suit your kids.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS.

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January 4. Time to put the chocolate DOWN

January 4, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, News, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged chicken, Christmas, feeding the family, recipe, vegetables

How much chocolate, how many chips and how many glasses of wine have you had since mid-December? I’ve no idea either, but I do know that it’s been A LOT. Daily, in fact. Whilst I’ve still been getting good quantities of fruit into the kids, and some vegies, a large amount of sugar, salt and fat has been passing their lips too. And now, with the work year back underway, it’s time to stop.

The first few days back on track are difficult. I know at 4pm today, my fingers will be itching for chips and my thirst for wine will be difficult to ignore. After dinner I’ll be digging through the cupboards to see if maybe there’s just one piece of something a bit naughty left… (there’s not)

Best news is that within a few days I’ll be starting to feel much, much better. My energy will return, the kids will settle down, and the world will be a shinier, happier place. And I’ll remember why it is that I love eating well and why I bother trying to get so many vegetables into my children.

Start your detox gently, with this chicken & pasta soup. It’s satisfying enough to fill our overstretched tummies, but the flavours are clean and there’s a good hit of vegies. Best of all, it works well for the whole family. Blend it up for baby food, drain off most of the liquid for the smaller kids. Leave as is for the rest of the kids and the adults can add generous amounts of parsley, pepper and parmesan.

vegie smugglers chicken pasta and vegetable soup

My kind of detox – pasta, chicken and bacon amongst the vegies…

Chicken, vegie & pasta soup

1 tbsp olive oil
500g chicken thigh fillets, fat trimmed, sliced into thin pieces
100g bacon, diced
1 onion, finely diced
1 potato, peeled, finely diced
1 swede, peeled, finely diced
1 large carrot, peeled, finely diced
1 zucchini, finely diced
½ cup finely diced celery
3 tbsp chopped herbs of your choice (choose any combination of basil, parsley, oregano and chives)
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup frozen peas
¾ cup risoni
Salt & black pepper

Crusty bread, to serve

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken for 4-5 minutes until browned. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the same saucepan, cook the bacon and onion, stirring often, for 5 minutes until onion is soft.

Add the diced vegies and cook for another 7-8 minutes, stirring often to avoid sticking.
Mix through the herbs, then add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chicken, peas and pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes until pasta is cooked. Season to taste.

Serve in bowls with crusty bread. Try topping soup with chopped parsley and grated parmesan.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

Like this recipe? Check out my cookbooks to find a bunch more meals that your family will love.

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What the kids eat in… China

November 9, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, Food experiences, What the kids eat in... · Tagged chicken, Chinese, cooking techniques, dinner, family, feeding the family, mealtime, vegetables, vegies

Actually, I suspect more folks outside of China might actually eat this dish. But let’s not worry about pesky facts and just enjoy this delicious messy mass of tasty goodness. I did try to research the origins, but perhaps it’s one of those ‘from everywhere’ dishes with no particular source, although I did see claims of origin from Thai to Cantonese to the good ol’ USA. One cute internet fact (and maybe even true) is that the name translates as ‘lettuce delights’, which sounds so lovely!

I got thinking about this dish after my 14-year-old niece whipped up a version at a recent family get-together. At 14 I could melt cheese onto corn chips in the microwave, she can whip up a meal for 12 people. Very impressive stuff. The kids LOVED having her cook for them and ate up every little morsel. So I’m naming this dish in her honour.

Apparently teenagers aren’t necessarily too fussed on vegies either, so I’ve built on her recipe quite a bit, smuggling in a stack load more vegies. Use iceberg lettuce to wrap the mixture up as tightly as possible. The result is hot/cold/crunchy and absolutely delicious. Just keep a washer handy and lettuce delight indeed…

Lettuce delights for your munching pleasure

Sarah’s sang choy bao

Sauce
2 tbsp shao hsing wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp corn flour

Lettuce leaves (iceberg or cos both work well)
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 onion, finely diced
500g chicken mince
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
4 green onions, finely sliced
225g tin water chestnuts, drained, finely diced
1 cup mushrooms, finely diced
1 carrot, peeled, grated
125g can corn kernels

Combine all of the sauce ingredients together and set aside. Carefully remove whole lettuce leaves, wash and drain on clean tea towels.

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium/high heat. Add the onion and stirfry for 3-4 minutes until translucent and turning golden.

Add the chicken mince and stirfry until it changes from pink to white. Break up lumps as you go to ensure there are no hidden raw bits.

Add the garlic, ginger, green onions, water chestnuts, mushrooms, carrot and corn. Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes until the green onions are tender and the mushrooms are nice and soft. Pour the sauce over the top and stir-fry for another minute or two until everything is piping hot and cooked thoroughly. (NOTE: if you are making this to reheat later, leave everything slightly undercooked)

Spoon -1 cup quantities of mixture into the lettuce leaves, wrap up carefully and enjoy!

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That’s not a sausage roll Gary, THIS is a sausage roll

May 11, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, News · Tagged chicken, dinner, family, feeding the family, food, ideas, kids, pastry, recipe, sausage roll, vegetables, veggies, vegies

Anyone in Australia watching the current series of Masterchef last Friday night (about 1.5 million of us according to www.mumbrella.com.au) might have seen Gary whip up a ‘healthy’ kid’s sausage roll.

Looked gorgeous and apparently tasted ok but I wasn’t impressed. Calling it healthy’ was a bit of a stretch.

True. There were carrots in it. But to get them there, they were grated, slowly sauted, mashed, mixed with the meat and then baked. It’s a pretty popular way to smuggle vegetables into kids and one that I can’t quite get my head around.

According to this method, at some stage during the day when I’m not doing the washing, cleaning, school runs, freelance work, buying the new undies because the old one were pooed in, unstacking the dishwasher, watering the plants that are gasping their last breaths and helping build the lego bird for ‘b’ homework, I’m supposed to cook vegetables to death and mash them.

Some helpful books such as Jessica Seinfield’s ‘Deceptively Delicious’ recommend doing mashed vegies in large batches and freezing them in small portions ready to drop into tasty treats.

So to successfully smuggle vegies I’m supposed to boil, mash, freeze, thaw and cook again. And will there be any ounce of nutrition left at the end of all that? Maybe you’re a nutritionist or food scientist and can let me know, but I’m suspecting not much.

In the mean time, I can’t be bothered with all that. Here’s my sausage roll recipe complete with four vegies and lentils…

THIS is a sausage roll! Complete with carrots, zucchini and lentils.

CHICKEN SAUSAGE ROLLS

5 sheets frozen puff pastry
500g chicken mince
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1 zucchini, grated
1 onion, grated (or you can whizz these 3 ingredients to save time, but avoid pulping out all the texture)
3 medium mushrooms, finely diced
125g can brown lentils, rinsed, drained
1 egg
2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (basil and chives are good)
Salt & black pepper
1 egg, whisked, for glazing

Preheat oven to 200C. Lay out your pastry sheets on a bench. Cut each in half to make 2 rectangles.

Mix together all the remaining ingredients until combined.

Spread the mixture lengthwise along the middle of the rectangles. Ease pastry over from one edge, brush egg along top side then roll other edge over to seal.

If cooking immediately, cut each stick into 4 pieces, place on an oven tray lined with baking paper, brush with egg and cook in middle of the oven for 25 minutes until golden and cooked through.

MAKES 10 STICKS (40 PIECES)

Cut potatoes into fries, toss in oil and cook at the same time.

FREEZING & DEFROSTING INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare these quickly. Wrap uncooked sticks of sausage rolls in plastic wrap. Freeze immediately on oven trays to maintain their shape before transferring to plastic bags for an extra layer of protection. Defrost in the fridge (still wrapped in plastic) for 24 hours before cooking. Ensure they are completely thawed before cooking. Cut into four, brush with egg and cook for 25 minutes until steaming hot in the centre.
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Want more?
Also check out these pastry recipes
Beef Triangles…YUM!
And for a sweet pastry idea, try these apple & pear squares.

And try these lentil recipes…
Delicious Lentil Burgers
Pumpkin, corn and lentil soup
Seriously good Beef & lentil fajitas

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