Curry to go

Friday night take out.

Nat got Chicken Masala (bottom). It was alright. I got a lamb in spinach gravy (bottom - forgot the name of it). It was alright. I realised I like my curry sweet, because this one was not!

Zinger Burger, Zinger, Zinger Burger

*Blush* Honesty's the best policy, right? I felt like I deserved it.

Chicken Drumsticks

a la Jamie Oliver. Cooked with potatoes, tomatoes (meant to be cherry tomatoes), garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and chili flakes/chopped chili. And there are meant to be basil leaves, I used dried basil. Really you shouldn't make that substitution unless you absolutely have to. So simple and so delicious!

We had some other veges as well but they were freezer veges and didn't look good on the plate, so didn't make it into the photo shoot.

Chicken Nibbles

A recipe we pulled from my in-laws book. I'm not sure where it originates.

Honey Chicken Nibbles

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

3 Tbsp honey

3 Tbsp malt vinegar

3 Tbsp ketchup

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 onion finely chopped

Salt and pepper

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Chicken nibbles

Combine all the ingredients to make the sauce and marinate the chicken nibbles for a while. Cook at 180 degrees Celcius for 30 minutes, then turn and baste. Cook for another 10-30 minutes. If you need it fast(er) up the temperature to 230(ish) and take the early time, or else leave at 180 for the full 30 minutes (or any variant in between).

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The sauce (that's not on the chicken nibbles) reduces down to something really tarry, not good to spoon on the plate. Make things easier for yourself, get that roasting pan soaking as soon as you can, the tar softens right down (and eventually completely dissolves) in water!

Chicken legs

Tonight we had chicken drumsticks with potato, tomato and basil. You're meant to add garlic as well but we're out. Served with rice and salad. It's easy as. Ours was a bit overcooked, so hopefully yours wouldn't turn out as dark (read: charred).

I know you don't need potato and rice in the same meal, but our family (stemming from my husbands side) seems to need it that way.

Chicken legs with potato, tomato and basil

6-8 large chicken legs

olive oil

salt and pepper

a handful of basil

2 big handfuls of cherry tomatoes, halved/4-6 large tomatoes quartered

6 garlic cloves (we use a whole bulb)

chili finely chopped

3-4 large potatoes, chopped

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Season chicken with salt and pepper and put in a large roasting pan. Add chopped potatoes and cherry tomatoes (or chopped large ones like ours) whole peeled garlic cloves, chopped chili to a large roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil. Mix around a bit with your hand. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, turning potatoes and tomatoes and adding basil leaves at halfway.

Pickled Pork, Roast Chicken, Chinese Chicken, Spaghetti Bolognaise

BIG family dinner tonight. Fantastic. Sorry no camera. But check out the spread:

Pickled pork
Roast chicken
Chinese chicken
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Bean salad
Green salad
Roast potato, red kumara and orange kumara
Broccoli
Carrot and celery sticks
Lentil soup

Dessert:
Trifle
Chocolate cake
Brownies

I made the cake. It was a hit. SO good.

Chinese flavoured rice risotto

Tried to make it quick tonight. Cooked up a packet of "Chinese" flavoured Rice Risotto, added a bunch of frozen mixed veges and extra peas, and a can of chicken. It was a tasty, rounded out meal. The kids all loved it.

Homemade Pizza and Leftover Pasta Bake

At my parents place for a few days. Mum made her pizza. Then we filled up on leftover pasta bake and fruit. Not very exciting tonight.

Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake

Easiest. Pasta bake. Ever. If you have leftover Alfabeto and cheese.

Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake

4-5 cups leftover Alfabeto and cheese (or macaroni and cheese, as the case may be)

3 Tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 cup cooked chicken, shredded/chopped/whatever

1/2-3/4 cup sour cream

2 cups cooked broccoli (or other veges)

1 chicken oxo cube, dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water

Grated cheese

Melt butter in a frypan or saucepan. Cook onion, garlic and chicken till it looks good, I had it a little browned for this, maybe 5 minutes on high heat.

Add sour cream and stir to melt. Add cooked veges. I cooked my brocolli cut in to florets in the microwave for 5 minutes. Turned out perfect. You could use whatever you want, mushrooms would be good. And you could use more, I thought it needed a bit more. Add "chicken stock". Stir to combine. Stir sauce through your leftover mac and cheese. I did this in the frypan because mine's big enough to, that worked well because it heated it up as well as mixed things together.

Put in a casserole dish, cover with grated cheese, and bake/grill to heat through and melt the cheese. Since mine was heated in the frypan first, it only took 5 minutes in the oven on 250 celcius, pretty much just as hot as my oven goes.

This turned out really yum! We all loved it and cleaned our plates!

Roast chicken

At the in-laws again tonight. With auntie, uncle and cousins with children visiting. Yay. The menu:

Roast chicken with lemon and thyme (two of them)

Roast potatoes and kumara

Rice (slightly curried)

Gravy

Bean Salad (I LOVE)

Green salad

Carrot and celery sticks with cottage cheese and chives

Potato bake

Another green salad

Corned beef (cold cut)

And for dessert:

Date and apple cake

A MASSIVE fruit salad

Vanilla ice cream

Various chocolate and candy "for the kids"

Creamy Chicken and Bacon Pie

This was one of my "inventions" as Nat calls it. I made the pastry from the MasterChef Australia recipe. It didn't turn out too great as we don't have a food processor, only a blender. And size 5 eggs rather than what looked like 7's or even 8's. Too dry. I thought the filling was tasty though, and the texture of the bottom of the pie was great. I enjoyed it.

Nat said "It's not disgusting" and he had seconds. He said he hates potato cubes like that unless they're roasted.

Because of all of this I'm not going to bother posting a recipe.

Roast lamb and Japanese chicken curry

We had Sunday roast with all the trimmings at Nat's parent's place tonight. One of Nat's cousin's and his wife, three children and Japanese home stayer also came. The enormous spread included:

Roast lamb

Roast potatoes, kumara and shallots

Rice (slightly curried)

Green beans, cooked from fresh

Avocado, cucumber and tomato salad

Gravy

Japanese chicken curry

Carrots, celery and rice crackers with salmon/cream cheese dip

With dessert of:

Homemade apple pie

Ginger and pear self saucing pudding

Ice cream

I didn't have our camera with me so Nat took photos on his parents camera for me, but forgot to email them over. Sorry but you'll just have to imagine how delicious it all was.

Lentil Stew and Leftovers

My mum made a chicken, onion and lentil stew in her slow cooker for dinner today. We had that and leftover pasta salad for dinner.

Chicken and Rice Risotto

I'm at my parents place for the week, so photos might be a bit harder to do. But tonight we had chicken (slow cooked), rice risotto (chinese flavour, from a box), asparagus (steamed), coleslaw and mixed veges.

Chicken Cacciatore

Nat made dinner tonight from a recipe that he got at a cooking class at the Mediterranean Warehouse. The recipe might be copyrighted. So sorry, just a picture today. They recommended the Chicken Cacciatore be served with pasta, but I felt like rice.