Chicken Filo and Cous Cous

I bought some discounted cheese and spinach chicken filos yesterday so that's what T had for dinner. I wanted a quick side dish so chopped up some zucchini, tomato, capsicum and spring onion to stir through a packet of cous cous. It was served with some chopped lettuce.

I didn't want to deprive T of the filos so I had something else. My dinner was a small tin of chicken mixed through the cous cous.

Poached Chicken and Asparagus Spaghetti

Another Friday arrives and again I am asked to cook a pasta dish. A trend is emerging....I knew I needed to visit the supermarket so I did a quick internet search for a low fat, easy pasta recipe using spaghetti and chicken. I settled on this one because I just happen to have many of the ingredients already, things I don't usually have handy.

Poached chicken & asparagus spaghetti

• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups white wine (I used sauvignon blanc)
• 1 leek, cut into quarters lengthways
• 1 lemon, cut into thin slices
• fresh continental parsley sprigs
• 3 chicken breast fillets
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 tbs chives
• 400g dried thin spaghetti pasta
• 1 bunch asparagus, halved diagonally
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
• Shaved parmesan, to serve

1. Combine the stock, wine, leek, lemon and parsley in a large frying pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Add the chicken and reduce heat to low. Cook for 10 minutes. Set aside for 30 minutes to develop the flavours. Remove the chicken to a clean work surface and coarsely shred.
2. Strain the poaching liquid through a fine sieve over a jug. Discard the leek, lemon and parsley. Return the liquid to the pan over high heat and bring to the boil. Boil for 25-30 minutes or until reduced to 80ml (1/3 cup). Cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the ricotta and chives. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large saucepan. Add the asparagus and peas in the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain. Return to pan.
4. Add the chicken and ricotta mixture to the pasta and toss until well combined. Divide among serving bowls. Top with parmesan to serve.

I had to make a few small changes from the original recipe but I had high expectations because I would never normally put in such a lot of time to create a pasta dish. This was also the first time I have EVER used wine in cooking. Neither T or I drink wine but we happen to have a small collection of wine bottles in the house (they are all gifts which we are yet to re-gift). I decided to follow the recipe and include the wine, I was interested to see the results.

After all the time (+1 hour, rather than the 15mins I usually spend making pasta) and effort I was really unhappy with the final result. Alas, it was my own fault, I must have cooked too much pasta because there wasn't enough sauce to add sufficient flavour to the spaghetti. The chicken was also a little bit dry. Oh well.

Carrot & Cumin Soup

Carrot & Cumin Soup

I found the original recipe after a google search.

• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 medium carrots, chopped 
• olive oil
• +1 tsp cumin seeds
• pinch chilli flakes or powder
• ~600ml vegetable stock
• coriander, chopped

Fry the onion in a little oil until it softens. Add the cumin and chilli and cook for a minute then add the carrot and stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for until the carrot is very soft, then whizz in a blender. Add some more stock or water if the soup is too thick and reheat if you need to. Spoon into bowls, stir through the coriander and season well. Add a spoonful of crème fraîche to each bowl to serve, if you like. 

Pasta Pasta Pasta II

T needed to carb load over the weekend, which means only one thing. Pasta. I made three different dishes and lucky for him, all of them were pretty nice, no flops here.


Pumpkin, Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
Oh the effort! I had to boil the cannelloni shells first and then try to stuff them. I had forgotten why I don't make this more often. I cooked and mashed the pumpkin and mixed it with ricotta, spinach and some finely chopped jalapenos. Unfortunately this mixture turned a bit watery and was hard to stuff into the tubes. After covering the cannelloni with pasta sauce, some cheese and spring onions I baked it in the oven. The stuffing shrunk somewhat but the dish tasted great and T had nothing but praise for it.

Spaghetti with Mushroom Sauce
This was easy. I simply fried some mushrooms, added a jar of creamy mushroom pasta sauce and wilted baby spinach to spaghetti. Yum!

Agnoli
This was another winner. I used Latina Eggplant and Ricotta Agnoli, Heinz spicy tomato soup and some chopped marinated char grilled vegetables. It was tasty served with asparagus on the side and cheese sprinkled on top.

Turkey Mince with Vegies and Rice

I was feeling pretty uninspired about making dinner tonight. While searching through the fridge for inspiration I discovered some turkey mince close to its used by date in need of cooking.
Next I found a recipe for Thai Turkey Mince, however was missing some major ingredients so my turkey was more Thai 'inspired' than authentic Thai.
With the mince I cooked an onion and garlic. I then added some chilli sauce (hot as well as sweet), hoi sin sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar and coriander.
I served it brown rice and steamed vegies; capsicum, broccoli, bok choy and the remainder of a packet of frozen vegies.
It was rather bland so I added a little soy sauce just before serving.

Unfortunately it was a rather unexciting meal. Maybe it will taste better for lunch tomorrow.

My New Favourite Sandwich

I have discovered a new favourite filling combination for rolls or sandwiches. I was being lazy when making my lunch last week and thought, "What can I put between these pieces of bread that will be tasty, nutritious and require zero cutting up?"
This is what I came up with:

• Vegemite spread on one piece of bread
• Avocado spread on the other slice
• Hommus spread on top of the vegemite
• A slice of cheese
• Crunch lettuce
• Baby spinach leaves

The vegemite gives saltiness and tang, the avocado adds a creamyness, these cheese is smooth and the hommus and lettuce add texture. Perfect!

I have eaten this 3 times in the last 4 days!

Indian for Mother's Day Dinner

Although not actually on Mother's Day, on Saturday I served my parents up an Indian feast to celebrate the occasion.
It was Dad's request for Aloo Gobhi (Potato & Cauliflower) that led me to cook Indian.
Aloo Gobhi had to be on the menu of course, plus there was Channa Masala (Chickpeas) in the freezer from the other week. I also made Kheema Matar (Lamb with Peas) because it was so delicious last time and Bindi (Okra).
To accompany the dishes and soothe Mum's sensitive palate, I made some Raita (yoghurt).

Aloo Gobhi
I was very careful not to let this burn itself to the bottom of the frying pan. It wasn't particularly strong in flavour which could be seen as a good or bad thing. The taste of the cauliflower and potatoes was still noticeable. I'd say it was average.

Channa Masala
When we ate this straight after it had been cooked, it wasn't very impressive. This time round, because the spices had plenty of time to strengthen I had higher hopes and I am thankful it was tastier than last time.

Kheema Matar
I followed the same recipe as last time, all apart from adding fresh chillies. The absence of the chillies meant it was unfortunately lacking a 'kick.' It was still tasty, just not as good as last time.

Bindi
I love bindi. I had never tried the ingredient before my mother in-law prepared it. It definitely isn't a common vegetable in Australian households. This was nice.

Raita
I just mixed natural yoghurt, fresh coriander, cucumber, garlic and lemon pepper together.

The spread:

Because the meal was rather heavy and filling, we had fruit and ice-cream (or yoghurt) for dessert.

Happy Mother's Day Mum!