Recipe: Chicken, Prawn and Chorizo Paella

Very excited that I got a Paella pan, only problem was that I have an induction hob so the base of the pan was far larger than the ring so I finished my Paella off in the the oven for 30 mins

Ingredients:
Serves 6
800g of chicken (I used breast but if you used thigh or leg with bone in it will obviously take longer to cook but will be tastier)
800g Paella Rice (I used Bomba)
12 prawns (shells on or off its your preference)
200g chorizo
1 cup peas
12-16 cherry tomatoes
3 litres hot chicken stock
Pinch of saffron
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 red pepper (better to roast them and peel skin before but not essential)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil
salt
sprig of rosemary (i used dried rosemary but onlyused a small pinch  )
1 lemon (cut into wedges for garnish)

Method:
1. Heat a few tablespoons of the olive oil in your Paella pan and part cook the chicken pieces (longer if you use thighs or legs), take off the heat and set aside.
2. Make up your stock in a seperate pot and add a good pinch of your saffron and let them infuse for 10-15minutes
3. Now add some oil to your Paella pan and sweat the onion until soft but do not colour, then add the tomatoes and fry over a high heat, as the mixture reduces it will turn a darker colour.









4. Add the chorizo, paprika and half the pepper. Mix around and continue to fry for 4-5 minutes.








5. Now add the hot stock to the Paella pan and taste for seasoning.
6. Now add the rice, give it all a good stir for 30 seconds, and even the rice out around the pan.








7. ensure the rice is under the liquid and now DO NOT STIR THE DISH AGAIN AFTER THIS

8. leave to simmer for about 10 minutes and the rice should apper through liquid 9. add par cooked chicken, and peas now ensuring that both are mostly under stock too. 10. cover pan with tinfoil and put in a fan oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees celcius. 11. After 20 minutes in the oven add your prawns.
12. the rice should caramalise to the edge of the pan and to the bottom of the pan which is exactly what you want
13. to check if the rice is ready use a fork and stick it into the Paella and push the rice back a little to see if the rice underneath has absorbed the liquid, the rice on the bottom should be a bit sticky. 14.When the rice is ready sprinkle remaining peppers and lemon wedges on top, along with your sprig of rosemary and serve immediately

Recipe: Lucy's Chicken, Chorizo and broccoli bake

Serves 6

Ingredients:
At least two floury potatoes(I used Marris pipers) per person
head of brocolli
Cup of frozen peas
6 chicken breasts
seasoning - salt, pepper and nutmeg
2 TBSP of flour
2 TBSP of butter (plus some for mashed potato)
parmesan shavings
chorizo sausage sliced into disks
pint of milk ( and some extra for mash)
250ml cream
Chicken stock cube
Bay leaf


Method:
peel and cut spuds into even sizes and either steam or boil them
when theyre cooked, mash them with salt, pepper, butter and some milk.

make a roux by melting your butter in a pan and adding your flour, whisking the mixture while cooking out the flour, when done leave to side.

In a large pot add chicken stock cube to boiling water bring to the boil and add in the diced chicken breast.
Boil chicken in stock until it is white and cooked through.
Take chicken out but retain stock. Leave chicken on a plate.

Chop broccoli into bitesized florets and blanch in the same stock for a few minutes.
Remove brocolii and set aside on plate.
Retain the stock.

Meanwhile, Make the white sauce by adding cream, stock (i used about 200ml) and milk to the roux. (Quantities vary for size of pie)
Add salt, pepper,nutmeg (to taste) and the bay leaf.
Simmer the sauce on a low heat until it is the right consistency. It should be thick but not too thick.

Chop chorizo and add the chorizo, chicken, peas and brocolli to the white sauce making sure everything is coated in the sauce.

Pour mixture in to a dish and top with the mashed potato and sprinkle over parmesan shavings.

Put in oven for about 30 minutes at 180 degrees!

Enjoy

Recipe: Fisherman's Pie

This recipe is from the Masterchef KITCHEN BIBLE
Serves4

Ingredients:
500g of floury potatoes (I used Maris Pipers)
450ml of milk
100g butter plus a little extra for topping
salt and freshly ground black pepper
300g prawns shells on
400g fresh haddock
200g un-dyed smoked haddock
4 black peppercorns, lightly crushed.
1 bay leaf
several sprigs of flat leaf parsley
4 TBSP plain flour
squeeze of lemon juice
2 TBSP double cream
4 TBSP chopped flat leaf parsley
pinch of cayenne pepper

Method:
Place the potatoes in a large saucepan with cold salted water. Boil for 10-15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife; drain well. Mash until smooth then beat in 150ml of milk and 60g of butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile remove the prawn heads and shells and reserve the shells. De-vein the prawns and set aside.
Put the fresh and smoked haddock in a frying pan with the remaining milk. Bring to a gentle simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes or until fish flajes easily. Use a slotted spoon to remove the fish from the pan and set aside. Add the prawn shells, peppercorns, bay leaf and parsley sprigs to the milk and simmer over a very low heat for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220 degrees celcius.
Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Strain the milk and gradually stir into the butter mixture. Return to the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, stirring all the time. Stir in the lemon juice and cream and season it to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the chopped parsley, cayenne and prawns and flake in the fish discarding any skin and bone.
Spoon the fish mixture into the pie dish, top with the mashed potatoes and dot with a little extra butter. Place the dish on a baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the topping is golden and the filling is hot when you test the centre withn a knife.
Remove pie from the oven and serve immediately.

Recipe: Pad Thai

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 TBSP chopped coriander
1 red Thai chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
4 TBSP sunflower oil
250g raw tiger prawns peeled
4 shallots, finely chopped
1 TBSP palm or light brown sugar
4 large eggs, beaten
6 TBSP oyster sauce(original recipe uses 2 tbsp)
3 TBSP fish sauce (original recipe uses 2 tbsp)
Juice of one lime
350g flat rice noodes (cooking according to pack instructions)
250g Beansprouts
4 Spring onions
115g unsalted roasted peanuts coarsely chopped
1 lime cut into 4 wedges to serve

Method:
Mix together the coriander, chilli and sunflower oil. Heat half the mixture in a wok, add the prawns and stir-fry for 1 minute. Remove and set aside.
Add the remaining flavoured oil to the wok and stir-fry the shallots for 1 minute.
Add the sugar and the eggs and cook for 1 minute, stiriing frequently to scramble the eggs as they begin to set.
Stir in the oyster sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, noodles and beansprouts and eturn the prawns to the wok.
Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add the spring onions and half the peanuts. Toss everything together for 1-2 minutes or until piping hot.
Divide between 4 bowl scatter remainging peanuts o top and add a lime wedge.


*Note: follow pack instructions for cooking noodles very closely as they can easily over-cook. Ensure you seperate noddles as they go into water as they tend to stick together.

Recipe: Cinnamon Pull apart bread

I found this recipe on Pinterest which was pinned from this link

http://iheartfoodandsocanyou.blogspot.com/2011/11/cinnamon-sugar-pull-apart-bread.html

Ingredients:

Dough
2 Cups plain flour
3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoon plain flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (1 packet)
1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbls. butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup water
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Filling
1 Cup Sugar
2 Tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
4 tbls. butter, melted until brown

Method:
In a large mixing bowl, mix 2 cups of flour, sugar, yeast and salt. set aside.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter and milk.
 

Once the butter has completely melted, set aside and let ot cool for 5 minutes.
Pour the milk mixture into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well. 

Whisk together the eggs and add to the batter. 

Keep mixing. 

Add 3/4 cups of flour and mix well. (I needed to add more flour about 1/4 cup here because my dough was still liquid)

The mixture will be very sticky which means it's perfect. 

Place the dough in a medium greased bowl. 

Cover with wrap and let it sit in a warm place to rise for about 30-45 minutes. Once the dough has doubled its size, knead in 2 Tbls of flour. Cover the dough again for another 5-10 minutes.

While the dough is rising you can start on the filling. Mix together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl. Set aside.

Brown the butter in a small saucepan. Should take about 5-8 minutes. Once browned, take off heat and set aside.

Once the dough is ready, 

Roll it out on a floured surface and put flour on your roller.

Roll it to a rectangular shape as seen in pictures.

Brush the butter on the the dough and add the sugar mixture. 

Make sure everything is covered. 

Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into six equal strips. 

Stack the strips onto of each other

 and cut six equal squares. 

Place squares side by side in a bread pan, 

Cover the dough for another 10-15 minutes to rise. 

Pre-heat the over to 180 degrees celcius. 

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes. 

The outside of the bread will be a dark golden brown. 

This bread is delicious served warm, if you wanted to make it more like a dessert serve warm with icing drizzled over the top with whipped cream.

Recipe: Spicy breadcrumb sesame chicken

Serves 4

These are delicious....no very healthy but yum!!

Ingredients:
4 Chicken  breasts
3 Eggs
5 cups (approx) Breadcrumbs
2 1/2 cups (approx) Flour
Chilli flakes (depending on your preference)
1 cup Sesame seeds
Salt & Pepper

Method:
Chicken fillets need to be cut as through the middle (butterfly), if you have a meat mallet use that if not use the bottom of a frying pan covered in cling film to 'bash' the chicken so it becomes flatter.
Turn on your deep fat fryer to the suitable temperature for poultry and turn on your oven to 100 degrees celcius to keep chicken hot while you cook the rest.
You need to put flour and chilli flakes, slat & pepper on a plate together and set aside.
Whisk eggs in a bowl and set aside.
Mix breadcrumbs and sesame seeds together and put on a different plate and set aside.
You now need to coat chicken breast pieces in flour.
When they are coated in flour they now need to be coated with egg.
Now that they are coated inegg they need to be coated in the breadcrumb & sesame seeds.
Your chicken is now ready to be cooked.
Place the chicken into fryer in batches, it should only take 2-3 minutes to cook.
Transfer into a oven tray and place in the oven to keep it hot until you finish cooking the rest of the chicken.
This chicken is great on its own or with salad.

*Note I usually put the chilli flakes in with the breadcrumbs but as they go a black colour when cooked the chicken looks nicer if you can't see spots of black on the outside so that why I advise to mix them with the flour instead so that you cant see them.


                                           
                                         Chicken breasts

                                             
                                          Meat mallet

                                          Flour with Salt and pepper

                                          Eggs

                                          Breadcrumbs, chilli flakes & sesame seeds

                                           

                                          Floured Chicken breast

                                          Chicken breats coated in egg

                                          Breadcrumbed chicken

                                          Cooked chicken

                                           Yum!

Review: Bluebar Skerries

I have been meaning to review this place for ages! I have eaten here soooo many times and every single time it has been consistent. The staff seem to all love their jobs, I often see the owners serving tables too. The food is always top notch and delicious.
I mostly order the chicken wings which are the best in Dublin, their bang bang shrimp is also amazing, quite expensive, I think its €11 and you only get 6 prawns on a bed of lettuce but it's yum! I have also had the pork belly which is exactly what you want when you order pork belly, crispy on the outside but tender and succulent meat. Trust me if you are ever out in Skerries, you HAVE to visit this place....you will not be disappointed!!

http://www.bluebar.ie/