Vietnamese Pork Noodle Soup

It's Potluck Week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). We get to select any recipe, from any of IHCC featured chefs (past or present), and once again, I've cooked with Nigella. I like her recipes and her books are the most frequent ones I go to, for our Potluck week. I've made Vietnamese Pork Noodle Soup, for one of our weekday lunch.

Quick and easy to cook, and tastes great! For the noodles, instead of ramen noodles, I've used fresh yellow noodles, which just need a quick blanch in hot boiling water. I did not use baby bok choy, but have replaced with Chinese Choy Sum, the last batch of  choy sum harvest, from my container garden. They are tender and delicious!

I've made this for lunch, but it would be great as a one-dish meal for dinner, or even breakfast. We, Asians, love having noodles for breakfast!

Vietnamese Pork Noodle Soup
(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen", Nigella Lawson, or here)
Serves 2-4
10 ounces pork tenderloin, cut into thin discs and then fine strips
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons fish sauce
8 ounces ramen noodles
1 tablespoon garlic flavoured oil
6 thin or 3 fat scallions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh (or frozen) gingerroot
1 quart chicken broth (good-quality carton, can or cube is fine), preferably organic
3 cups (10 ounces) bean sprouts
2 small baby bok choy, torn into pieces
2 teaspoons chopped red or green chiles

1. Put the strips of pork tenderloin into a bowl and add the lime juice, soy sauce, paprika and fish sauce, but don't let this stand for more than 15 minutes.
2. Cook the noodles following the package instructions and then refresh in cold water. Heat the chicken broth until almost boiling.
3. Heat a wok or a deep, heavy-based frying pan, then add the garlic flavoured oil and fry the scallions and ginger for a minute or so. Add the pork and its liquid to the wok, stirring as you go.
4. Cook the meat in the pan for another 2 minutes, then add the hot chicken broth to the pan and bring to a boil.
5. Check that the pork is cooked through, then add the bean sprouts and baby bok choy. Add water if the soupy base has evaporated too much - about 1/2 cup of freshly boiled water should do the trick, but you may not need it.
6. Arrange the drained noodles equally in 2 large or 4 small warmed bowls, ladle over them the pork and vegetables, and finally the soupy stock. Scatter the chopped chiles on top and serve.

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week,

April Potluck

and 

Souper Sundays @ Kahakai Kitchen

Pigs In Blanket

"February Potluck", theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). For our potluck week, I've made a simple snack that I'm sure everyone is familiar with, Pigs In Blanket. The name is rather cute! I've made Pigs In Blanket before which I would usually serve with a combination of mayo and chilli or tomato sauce. This time, I've decided to make Nigella Lawson's version, served with mustard sauce.

 

I'm sure everyone knows how straightforward easy it is to make Pigs In Blanket. To save time, use store-bought frozen puff pastry. The mustard sauce is a mixture of Dijon mustard, whole-grain mustard and sour cream.

Roll out the pastry a little to make it a little bit thinner, cut to size, brush each pastry section with egg wash, place a frankfurter one side, and roll it up snugly, pressing the seams to seal. Cut the rolled frank to your desired length, place seam side down, on parchment lined baking sheet,  glaze with egg wash and ready to go into the oven. I've baked them for 22 minutes to get them all golden brown at 200C. 

These are the perfect snack, the adults would enjoy these as much as the kids! A great idea to stock up some frozen puff pastry and frankfurters in the freezer, and these can be made in a jiffy. Just make sure you thaw the frozen pastry and frankfurters first! These little "piggies" can be assembled, cut and keep covered in a tray in the fridge, to be baked later. Brush them with egg wash just before baking. These may be served with your favourite chili or tomato sauce, or my kids' favourite; a mixture of mayo, mustard and tomato/chilli sauce! Serve a plateful of these little Pigs In Blanket with the dipping sauce in the centre, and I'm sure everyone would reach out for them! Who can resist pastry and frankfurters!

You don't really need a recipe to make Pigs In Blanket, (it's just puff pastry and frankfurters!) But then, since I did make the mustard sauce from Nigella's book, so here it is :


Pigs In Blanket
(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen", Nigella Lawson)

1 x approx. 17.3-ounce package ready-rolled puff-pastry sheets
     (gives 2 sheets, each approx. 10x9-1/2 inches), thawed if frozen
1 egg
3 x 12 ounce packages frankfurters or hot dogs (gives 21, but you only need 16)

for the mustard dipping sauce :
scant 1/2 cup wholegrain mustard
scant 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons sour cream

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Roll out one of the rectangular puff-pastry sheets to make it just a little bit thinner, stretching the long side rather than the short side as you roll. Cut the rectangle into quarters, then cut each rectangle in half lengthwise, to give 8 small pastry strips in total. You may need to roll each strip of pastry a little more to make sure it wraps snugly around your frankfurter.
2. Beat the egg in a small bowl and paint each pastry section with the egg wash. Sit a frankfurter horizontally on the left-hand side of one of the pieces of pastry and roll it up until it just seals. Then do the same with the remaining 7 small pastry strips.
3. Cut each rolled frank into 4 small pieces, pressing the pastry back around the sausage if it comes loose. Then place on a parchment paper-lined lipped baking sheet with the sealed bit down to prevent it springing open.
4. Paint the franks in blankets with the egg wash, and put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes. The pastry should have puffed up a little and turned golden. You can get on with the other sheet of pastry while the first lot of franks are cooking and repeat the process with the remaining franks.
5. Mix together the mustards and sour cream and put in little bowls.
6. Put the cooked franks in blanks onto a plate and serve warm with the dipping sauce in the little bowls (for ease of eating and passing) on the side.

Make Ahead Note : The frankfurters in their pastry can be assembled 1 day in advance. Put cut-up pigs in blankets on lined lipped baking sheets but do not glaze the outside. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed; store egg wash in a separate, covered container in the refrigerator. Glaze and bake, following instructions in recipe.

I'm linking this post to I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week "February Potluck"

Korean Keema

"May Potluck", the theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). We may cook with any of IHCC's past and present featured chefs, and once again, I've chosen to cook with Nigella Lawson's recipe. 

Keema is usually cooked with ground lamb, but Nigella has made her version of using ground turkey and the flavours come from the Korean chilli paste, gochujang. Ground turkey is not an ingredient that can be found easily over here, so I have used ground chicken instead. 

This is a really easy and simple dish to cook. For the peas, I simply thaw them before cooking, did not pour any hot boiling water over them as instructed in the recipe.  The ground chicken is marinated for 5 minutes or so (though I left mine in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes), with gochujang paste, honey, rice wine and soy sauce. Stir-fry the peas and scallions for 3-4 minutes, then add in the ground chicken with all of it's sauce, stir-fry for 5-7 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Add some rice wine, water and continue to stir-fry for about a minute.  Serve over white rice, with a generous scattering of chopped cilantro.

This dish is a nice dish for a quick meal, though I find it a little too sweet, maybe because of the honey. But that is easily adjusted, by either omitting the honey or just use a lesser amount, to taste. 

Korean Keema
(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen", Nigella Lawson or here)
serves 2, generously
1 cup basmati or sushi rice
8 ounces ground turkey (ground chicken)
6 thin or 3 fat scallions, chopped
1 cup frozen petits pois or peas
1 teaspoon vegetable or peanut oil
2 tablespoons rice wine
1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

for the sauce :
2 tablespoons gochujang
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon rice wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce

1. Cook the rice following the package instructions, or in a rice cooker following the manufacturer's instructions. And put a kettle on to boil for the peas later.
2. Whisk together the sauce ingredients, and stir in the ground turkey. Leave to steep for about 5 minutes, or while you are getting on with your  next tasks, such as chopping the scallions and blanching the peas.
3. Heat a wok or heavy-based frying pan on the hob. While this is heating up, pour boiling water from kettle over the frozen peas in a strainer or colander, letting the hot water drain away, thereby thawing the peas. When the wok is hot, add the oil, then the thawed peas and chopped scallions. Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add the turkey and its sauce, and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes until cooked.
5. Add the 2 tablespoons rice wine with 1/4 cup water to swill out the residue of the sauce from the meat-steeping bowl (so that nothing is wasted) and scrape and pour this into the pan, and stir-fry for about 30 seconds until it's all piping hot.
6. Serve over rice, and with a good scattering of chopped cilantro.

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week 

"May Potluck"

and 

Cook-Your-Books #23 @ kitchen flavours

Crisp Chicken Cutlets

"April Potluck", the theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). Free and easy theme, we get to cook and select any recipes from any of IHCC's past and present chefs. I've decided to cook one of Nigella Lawson's chicken recipes for our Sunday night dinner. One thing I like about Nigella's recipes are her chicken recipes!

Chicken breast fillet is first flattened (I use a meat mallet) between two sheets of plastic, to a thin piece, then soaked in a mixture of buttermilk and Worcestershire sauce. I did not have any buttermilk, so I've used milk mixed with 1 tablespoon lime juice, stir and let sit for 5 minutes before use. I soaked the chicken breast fillet for about 4 hours, keeping them covered in a shallow container in the fridge.

Just before frying the cutlets, prepare the crumb mixture by mixing breadcrumbs (which I've used Panko), grated Parmesan cheese, celery salt, cayenne powder and dried thyme in a large shallow plate. I fry the cutlets just before serving time. Lift the chicken pieces out of the buttermilk mixture and place them on the crumb mixture, coating both sides of the cutlet. Heat some oil, about 1/4 inch, in a large saucepan, and fry the chicken cutlets on both sides over medium-low heat, until brown and cooked. Drain on absorbent paper towels and serve immediately.

I fried a small piece of the cutlet to test on the seasoning before frying the rest of the cutlets, and find that I needed to add a little bit more of celery salt and the dried thymes, to the crumb mixture, to taste.

I thought that the Crisp Chicken Cutlet from the photo above looks like a piece of toasted bread! LOL!

I served these cutlets with a simple green salad and some potato salad.

Sprinkle some fresh thyme over the cutlets, as I did not have any parsley.

This meal is a total winner! The chicken cutlet is crispy on the outside, with moist and tender meat after soaking in the buttermilk for a few hours. Tasty and delicious! We enjoyed this meal and I would make this again!

Crisp Chicken Cutlets
(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen", Nigella Lawson)
Serves 4
4 chicken breast fillets, skinless and boneless
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (such as Lea & Perrins)
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (I use Panko breacrumbs)
1 teaspoon celery salt, or 1/2 teaspoon for younger children (I used about 1-1/2 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme (I used 2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
oil for frying, such as peanut
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (replaced with fresh thyme)

1. Unroll a piece of plastic wrap, then open out the chicken breasts and lay them on the plastic. Cover the fanned-out chicken breasts with another piece of plastic wrap, and bash with a rolling pin until they are thin, but still whole. (if the underside sections come away, don't worry).
2. Whisk the buttermilk with the Worcestershire sauce in a shallow bowl, or put it into a resealable bag and squish to mix. Then add the flattened chicken pieces to the bowl or bag and leave out for about 30 minutes - or refrigerate overnight if you've got time - to marinate.
3. Preheat the oven to 300F, if you're using a smaller frying pan and want to keep the cutlets warm as you fry them. Mix the breadcrumbs, celery salt, cayenne, thyme, and Parmesan in a wide, shallow dish. Then, once the chicken has had its steeping, lift out the buttermilky pieces and press into the breadcrumbs mixture one at a time.
4. Coat the chicken on both sides with the seasoned crumbs and then lay them on a wire rack, the sort you'd use for cooling cakes.
5. Heat the oil in a frying pan - using just enought to coat the base with about 1/4 inch of oil.
6. Once the oil is hot, fry the bigger pieces of chicken for about 3 minutes per side, and the smaller bits from the underside of the breast for about 2 minutes per side. As you remove the cooked pieces of chicken, blot them on paper towels and, if you wish, keep them warm in a low oven (on a cookie sheet) as indicated above, or serve them as you go. However you choose to dish up, serve these crisp chicken cutlets sprinkled with chopped parsley. 

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week "April Potluck"

and

Little Thumbs Up : Chicken, organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

and 

Cook-Your-Books #22 @ kitchen flavours

Roasted Chicken Legs with Potatoes

"December Potluck" the theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). I've made one of Nigella Lawson's roasted duck legs recipe, but used chicken legs instead. And instead of thyme leaves, I've used fresh rosemary leaves from my garden pot. 

This is just a simple roast that do not require lots of ingredients, but the end result is just delicious. I've used chicken legs which I jointed. Using the technique from Diana Henry when I made one of her chicken recipes months ago, I rubbed the salt on the chicken skin to crisp up the skin during roasting. I've skipped the searing part on the stove. And I've used a mixture of chad potatoes and russet potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, scatter the rosemary and baked for about an hour until the chicken is cooked and the skin is golden brown and crispy. If duck legs is used, recipe instructs to roast it for about 2 hours.

Simple and yummy!

Roasted Duck Legs and Potatoes
(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen", Nigella Lawson)
2 duck legs (chicken legs)
2 baking potatoes or 1 pound other large white-skinned potatoes
few sprigs fresh thyme
salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. On the stove, heat a small roasting pan (Nigella uses a slightly oversized tarte tatin pan) and sear the duck legs, skin-side down, over medium heat until the skin turns golden and gives out some oil.
2. Turn the legs over, and take the pan off the heat while you cut the potatoes into 1-inch slices across, then cut each slice into 4. Arrange these potato pieces around the duck legs, then let a few sprigs of thyme fall over the duck and potatoes, and season with salt and pepper, before putting into the preheated oven.
3. Cook for 2 hours, occasionally turning the potatoes, for optimal outcome, which is tender duck legs and crispy potatoes, though both will be ready to eat after 1-/2 hours.

(I've skipped the searing of the chicken legs, simply rubbed the skin with salt and roast as per recipe).

*************************************

I'm linking this post to I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week "December Potluck"

and :

Cook-Your-Books #19 @ kitchen flavours

*************************

I would like to wish everyone

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A BLESSED NEW YEAR!

(I am on a short blogging break, see you when I get back!)

Spaghetti with Marmite : Cook Like A Star - Mar/Apr

The combination of spaghetti with Marmite sounds interesting to me. I found this recipe in "Nigella Kitchen", one of my favourite cookbook of Nigella's. This recipe uses only three ingredients, butter, Marmite, parmesan cheese and of course the spaghetti. I'm not sure whether will my kids like it as it is kinda plain, and since I'm cooking this for their after school lunch, I've added in a couple of ingredients to make the dish more appealing to my kids.

According to Nigella, this recipe is taken from Anna Del Conte's memoirs, Risotto with Nettles, who describes this recipe as "hardly a recipe, but I wanted to include it because I haven't as yet found a child who doesn't like it". 

 Spaghetti with Marmite, as per the book's version.

Really easy and quick to make. Cook the spaghetti as per package instructions. Drain. Melt some butter in a saucepan and add in the Marmite, adding a little of the pasta water and let come to a bubble. Pour over the drained pasta and toss to combine. Serve with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese.

I have however added a few more ingredients, chopped ham bits, chopped chives and coarse chilli flakes. I find that 1 teaspoon of Marmite is not enough and have used about 1-1/2 tablespoons in total.

Firstly I heated some oil in a saucepan and stir-fry the chopped ham until they are lightly browned, remove to a plate. In the same saucepan, melt the butter, Marmite and about 1/3 cup of the pasta water, mix well and let it come to a bubble. Pour over drained pasta, and toss to combine.

 Sprinkled with some fried chopped ham and chopped chives ....

.... and spice it up with some coarse chilli flakes.

Overall, this is a very nice pasta dish. I do not have any Parmesan cheese at hand, and have skipped it, perhaps it will taste much better eating the original version with the Parmesan cheese. On the other hand, the addition of the ham, chives and chilli flakes certainly makes it yummier! Stamp of approval from both my kids!

(note my changes in blue)
Spaghetti with Marmite
(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen", Nigella Lawson)
Serves 4-6
12 ounces dried spaghetti
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon Marmite, or more to taste
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve
300gm chopped ham
minced chives, for sprinkling over
coarse chilli flakes

1. Cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water, following the package instructions.
2. When the pasta is almost cooked, melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the Marmite and 1 tablespoons of the pasta water, mixing thoroughly to dissolve. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water ; then drain the pasta and pour the Marmite mixture over the drained spaghetti. adding a little reserved pasta water to amalgamate if required. Serve with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese. (I stir-fry the chopped ham in a little oil, remove and drain. Use the same pan to melt the butter and the marmite as stated in the recipe).
3. Serve the spaghetti with some fried chopped ham sprinkled over and garnish with chopped chives, and some coarse chilli flakes if desired.

***************************

Cook Like A Star is entering it's third year this March! How time flies! To celebrate Cook Like A Star's 2nd anniversary, for the months of March and April, Cook Like A Star is having an All Star Anniversary Party! Isn't this exciting? Cook or bake from any of the previous featured chefs' recipes, and they are :

Ina Garten

Jamie Oliver

Nigella Lawson

Curtis Stone

Ree Drummond

Bill Granger

Masterchefs

Martha Steward

Delia Smith

Donna Hay

The hosts for All-Stars Anniversary Party are, Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids, Mich of Piece of Cake and Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

Everyone is welcome to join us, cook or bake from any of the above chefs' recipes and link your posts to the linky below or from any of the hosts' page. Your post must be current. Feel free to use the above logo in your blog post. Please mention the following :

I'm linking this post to Cook Like A Star, All-Stars Anniversary Party, hosted by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids, Mich of Piece of Cake and Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

See you at the Party!

From 1st March to 30th April!

An InLinkz Link-up

Chicken Teriyaki : IHCC (October Potluck)

"October Potluck", is this week's theme at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), where we are a given a choice to select from any of our previous featured chefs recipes or the current featured chef, Donna Hay. This week, I'm sharing one of Nigella Lawson's chicken recipe.

This is a simple and quick dish to cook, great for a weekday night if you are rushing for time.

Chicken fillet pieces are marinated with sake (I have replaced with Chinese rice wine), mirin, soy sauce, sugar, ginger and sesame oil. The chicken pieces are then fried in a little oil, and the marinating liquid is then poured over the chicken. Once the chicken are cooked, they are taken out and the sauce is boiled down to a thick syrup. The chicken pieces are stirred in so that they are coated with the syrup. Serve with  rice and some veggies.

A dish suitable for kids, eaten with rice.

Chicken Teriyaki

(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen" by Nigella Lawson)
serves 4-6
2 tablespoons sake (Japanese rice wine) (I use Chinese rice wine)
1/4 cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp black soy sauce (my addition)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons grated fresh gingerroot
splash of sesame oil
1-3/4 pounds chicken thigh fillets (no skin or bones), preferably organic, cut or scissored into bite-sized pieces
1 teaspoon peanut oil
1-3/4 to 2-1/2 cups sushi rice, cooked following package instructions

1. Mix the sake, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, ginger and sesame oil in a dish that you can steep the chicken in. I use an 8-inch square Pyrex, but anything similar would do.
2. Add the prepared chicken pieces and leave for 15 minutes.
3. Heat the peanut oil in a large, shallow frying pan or Dutch oven (that has a lid) and, using a perforate spoon, transfer the chicken pieces from their dark marinating liquid to the pan, and saute until they look cooked on the outside.
4. Pour the marinade over the chicken pieces in the pan and bring to a bubble, then turn down the heat to a gentle simmer, put the lid on and cook for about 5 minutes - cut into a piece of chicken to make sure it's cooked through.
5. Remove the cooked pieces with a perforated spoon (you could keep them warm in a bowl covered in aluminium foil) and turn the heat up under the pan to let the liquid boil down to a thick, dark syrup.
6. Return the chicken pieces to the pan, stir well so that they are all coated in the sticky, savory syrup, then serve with a comforting pile of sushi rice and perhaps some steamed baby bok choy or green veggies of your choice.

#104/100

This post is linked to I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), for the theme of this week "October Potluck". 

And I'm sharing this post with :
This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post.

Ingredient for this month is Soy Beans

Cook-Your-Books #5 hosted by Kitchen Flavours




See Ya In The Gumbo @ Ms. enPlace

African Drumstick (Nigella)

You must be thinking, another Nigella's chicken recipe? :o)  As I've mentioned before, when Nigella comes to mind, I always think of delicious roasted chicken recipes. I was smiling to myself when I was reading my baking buddy Zoe's post today, a delicious moist Quadruple Chocolate Cake. Zoe is really into Nigella's chocolate recipes, and I'm with Nigella's chicken recipes. This is the fifth chicken recipe of Nigella's that I've posted this month, and actually, I have a couple more! No, I did not cook all of the chicken recipes this month, in case you are wondering, some of it I have tried during the last two months. Though I may not have enough of time to post all of them in August, I would in the coming months!

Today's chicken recipe is "African Drumstick", a recipe adapted by Nigella, which she got from a friend of hers. Nigella tweaked the recipe by using chicken drumstick, which originally was made with pork, and to reduce the amount of sweetness by lessening the amount of apricot jam.

The only changes I made was to replace the English mustard with Dijon, as that was what I had and orange marmalade for the apricot jam. Nigella's recipe does not mention any salt, I have however added some salt to taste when I mixed the marinade. 

This is a very easy dish to make, the drumsticks are marinated with all the ingredients, and I have placed the marinated drumsticks in the refrigerator, covered, for three hours, and then bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until cooked through, basting twice in-between.

Lian from Whatever You Do has made this dish too, check out her post!

The drumsticks are really tender, moist and the marinating sauce has slightly thickened to a salty and slightly sweet gravy. Kids would love this dish. I served these drumsticks with some couscous and cherry tomatoes, which I will be sharing in next post. 

African Drumstick

(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen", Nigella Lawson)
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons English mustard, or to taste (I use Dijon mustard)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon apricot jam (I use orange marmalade)
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
8 chicken drumsticks, preferably organic
1 tablespoon garlic flavoured oil
salt to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Mix the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, mustard, ground ginger, apricot jam, and chopped onion in a shallow dish.
2. Dunk the drumsticks in this marinade to coat them all over. (If it helps, you could at this stage leave them to marinate, covered, in the refrigerator overnight). Put the oil into a smallish roasting pan or ovenproof dish, in which the drumsticks will fit snugly, and tip the pan about so that the oil more or less covers the base. Arrange the drumsticks in the pan and pour over them any remaining marinade.
3. Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, basting once or twice; the deeper the dish, the longer the drumsticks will take to colour and cook through.

Make Ahead Note :

The chicken can be marinated overnight in a covered bowl in the refrigerator.

Freeze Note :

The chicken can be frozen in the marinade in a resealable bag for up to 3 monhts. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator (put bag in a bowl to catch drips) and cook following directions in recipe.

#80/100

I'm linking this post to Cook Like A Star, where the featured chef for this month is NIGELLA LAWSON. Cook Like A Star is an event organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and the co-hosts for this month are Anuja from Simple Baking and me, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours. Cook or bake any of Nigella Lawson's recipes and link your posts to any of the hosts' linky which will stay open for the whole month of August. All submissions to this event must be current posts, published within the current month of this event, any older posts will be deleted. Please mention and link Cook Like A Star somewhere in your post. Do join us, everyone is welcome!

Cook Like A Star featuring Nigella Lawson, from 1st August to 31st August 2013

And I'm sharing this with :
Cook-Your-Books #3 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic (Nigella)

I'm sharing this post with two events, firstly at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), where the theme for this week is "Potluck" and we can select any recipes from any of our previous featured chefs, and I have chosen to cook from Nigella's recipe.
The second event is Cook-Like-A Star, and the featured star for this month is Nigella Lawson, co-hosted by me, Kitchen Flavours together with Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Anjua from Simple Baking.

To submit to these two events, I've cooked "Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic". Ever since I've got the book "Nigella Kitchen", I've been meaning to make this dish. We love garlic in my house, my kids love eating chopped raw garlic with some soy sauce, a condiment that we never fail to request when we eat out at Chinese restaurants.

There are other versions of Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, if you google for it, dozens of recipes would appear on the screen. I have not tried other versions, but this recipe of Nigella is a total winner.

The chicken pieces are first pan-fried until the skin are brown. Since I do not have a dutch oven, I have used a roasting pan to place the pan-fried chicken pieces and cover it tightly with a large piece of foil when it goes into the oven. The scallions, thyme and garlic are quickly stir-fried in the frying pan that I used to fry the chicken pieces. I actually counted the number of garlic cloves and when I reached 40, I can't help adding more! In the end I probably used about 50! What can I say, we are one garlic-loving family!

I then placed half the garlic in the roasting pan, top with the chicken pieces and the balance of the garlic on top. Add the white wine to the frying pan (I have used more white wine than the recipe calls for), swish it around to mix in the flavours and oil left in the frying pan, and pour over the chicken pieces. Season with a generous amount of black pepper and salt, with some sprigs of fresh thymes. Cover with foil tightly and bake for 1-1/2 hours.

It smells really good while the chicken is baking in the oven, so garlicky delicious. The chicken is so, so tender and moist. Very delicious. There's a fair amount of gravy collected in the roasting pan, and all the flavours from the chicken, the scallions, thymes, garlic and the white wine comes together in one delicious gravy. And the garlic, wow! So velvety soft and creamy, both the hubby and kids, keep digging for the garlic! Me too!  :)

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen", Nigella Lawson)
Serves 4-6
2 tablespoons regular olive oil
8 chicken thighs (with skin on and bone in), preferably organic
1 bunch or 6 scallions
8-10 sprigs fresh thyme
40 cloves garlic (approx 3-4 heads), unpeeled
2 tablespoons dry white vermouth or white wine (I use 1/3 cup)
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon table salt
good grinding pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Heat the oil on the stove top in a wide, shallow ovenproof and flameproof Dutch oven (that will ultimately fit all the chicken in one layer, and that has a lid), and sear the chicken over a high heat, skin-side down. This may take 2 batches, so transfer the browned pieces to a bowl as you go.
2. Once the chicken pieces are seared, transfer them all to the bowl. Finely slice the scallions, put them into the Dutch oven, and quickly stir-fry them with the leaves torn from a few sprigs of thyme.
3. Put 20 of the unpeeled cloves of garlic (papery excess removed) into the pan, top with the chicken pieces skin-side up, then cover with the remaining 20 cloves of garlic.
4. Add the vermouth (or white wine) to any oily, chickeny juices left in the bowl. Swish it around and pour this into the pan too.
5. Sprinkle with the salt, grind over the pepper, and add a few more sprigs of thyme. Put on the lid and cook in the oven for 1-1/2 hours.

#79/100

Please stop by I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) to view what my friends have made for this week's theme, "Potluck", and if you are interested to join us, please find out more details from IHCC.

I'm linking this post to Cook Like A Star, where the featured chef for this month is NIGELLA LAWSON. Cook Like A Star is an event organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and the co-hosts for this month are Anuja from Simple Baking and me, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours. Cook or bake any of Nigella Lawson's recipes and link your posts to any of the hosts' linky which will stay open for the whole month of August. All submissions to this event must be current posts, published within the current month of this event, any older posts will be deleted. Please mention and link Cook Like A Star somewhere in your post. Do join us, everyone is welcome!

Cook Like A Star featuring Nigella Lawson, from 1st August to 31st August 2013

And I'm sharing this with Cook-Your-Books #3 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

and ... See Ya In The Gumbo hosted by Ms. enPlace

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup (Nigella)

I had a bad sore-throat a few weeks ago, and have been staying away from spicy food. So much so, that I was craving for a bowl of curry laksa, one of our local noodles with rich coconut broth, spicy and delicious, especially with the side condiment of sambal belacan and a squeeze of lime. Of course I would be torturing my throat if I have that, so I'll just settle for this mild noddle soup, recipe from Nigella Kitchen.

This noddle soup was made a few weeks ago, for lunch, and the kids were both happy when they were served with this bowl of noddle soup when they were back from school.

Nigella uses chicken stock for this, and those of us who are staying over here in Malaysia would know how difficult it is to get ready-packed chicken stock, which can only be found in Cold Storage, Village Grocer, the supermarkets that carry mostly imported food items. I have not made any chicken stock ever since my homemade chicken stock went down to zero. Gotta get my lazy butt going for another round of chicken stock soon! Well, as soon as I clear my almost full freezer!!! 

Since this recipe uses cooked shredded chicken, I have boiled a large piece of chicken breast and used the stock for the soup, which I have added in another 2 teaspoons of chicken stock powder.

The chicken breast is then shredded to pieces. This dish is really simple, for the soup, it only uses chicken stock, turmeric powder, fish sauce, sugar and tamarind paste. I have omitted the lime juice since the taste is just right with the tamarind paste. You may however squeeze the lime juice over your own bowl of noodles, as we Malaysians love to do that! :)

I have used glass noodles (tung fun) for this dish. Instead of cooking the noodles in the soup, I have soaked the glass noodles until softened and boiled briefly in salted boiling water. Glass noodles cooks rather fast, just place them in the boiling water for a minute, drain and divide into serving bowls, with the hot soup poured over just before serving. 

Do not expect this bowl of noodle dish to be chock-full of spices and spicy flavour, like the ones we are used to in Malaysia, this is rather mild, what we would call "masak lemak" without the usage of chillies. Overall, I'm very happy with this bowl of noodles, especially the kids, they love it, mild enough for them to enjoy and very tasty too. Though I would advise to add on some prawns and fishballs like I did! I would not mind cooking this again, though the next time, I'll make some sambal belachan (a chili condiment paste) to go along with it, with a squeeze of lime! Enjoy!

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup
(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen", Nigella Lawson)
1 quart chicken broth
6 ounces thin rice noodles or glass or cellophane noodles (made from mung beans)
scant 1 cup coconut milk
1x1-1/2 inch piece fresh gingerroot, peeled and sliced thinly, then cut into skinny strips
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 fresh red or green chile, seeded and cut into strips
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
8 ounces tender-shoot, stir-fry, or other assorted vegetables
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, to serve

Put the chicken broth in a good-sized saucepan to heat up.

Put the noodles in a bowl and pour boiling water over or cook following the instructions on the package.

Add the remaining ingredients, except the vegetables, to the pan and bring to a boil.

When the chicken is piping hot, add the vegetables and when they are tender - a minute or two should be plenty if you're using the tender shoots - add the drained noodles. Or simply divide the noodles between bowls and pour the soup over them.

Serve sprinkled with chopped fresh cilantro.

#74/100

I'm linking this post to Cook Like A Star, where the featured chef for this month is NIGELLA LAWSON. Cook Like A Star is an event organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and the co-hosts for this month are Anuja from Simple Baking and me, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours. Cook or bake any of Nigella Lawson's recipes and link your posts to any of the hosts' linky which will stay open for the whole month of August. All submissions to this event must be current posts, published within the current month of this event, any older posts will be deleted. Please mention and link Cook Like A Star somewhere in your post. Do join us, everyone is welcome!

Cook Like A Star featuring Nigella Lawson, from 1st August to 31st August 2013

And I'm sharing this with Cook-Your-Books #3 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

and..

Souper Sundays hosted by Kahakai Kitchen
See Ya In The Gumbo hosted my Ms. enPlace

Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake

It has been several months since I last baked a chocolate cake! The crave for a simple chocolate cake leads me to this delightful light and orangy fragrant cake from Nigella Lawson, recipe taken from her book Nigella Kitchen. I have four of her books and the Kitchen makes it my top favourite.

This is the kinda cake that is wonderful as a breakfast treat. A slice or two would be lovely for tea-time snack. And this is just the type of cake that while sitting on the kitchen counter or dining table would mysteriously missing a few slices now and then. :) Even though I did not slice the whole loaf when I store it in the container, and when I took a peek much later in the day, it mysteriously was all neatly sliced, of course with missing pieces! And that does not happen very often! 

A very easy cake to make, everything comes together in just minutes. Nigella says to use a 2-pound loaf pan, but I have used a slightly smaller loaf  pan of 8-1/2" x 4-1/2" and the cake came out perfect. As usual, I reduced the sugar slightly, though I think that it can still be reduced slightly more, as it was still a little sweet for me.

I was expecting the cake to fall down slightly in the centre, as the photo from the book, but mine bakes up rather evenly at the top. This cake uses the zest of two oranges and the juice of one orange. I used two large oranges and they were very juicy, the juice of one orange gave me 1/3 cup of juice.

Can you see the bits of orange zest on the piece of cake? The lovely zest are all over throughout the cake. It makes the cake very orangy, both in taste and fragrance. The cake is very moist and soft. Don't expect a very strong chocolaty taste but the chocolate taste is definitely there, with the delightful orangy flavour and yet at the same time, light enough that you would reach out for a second piece.

Delicious cake, a definite keeper recipe! Bake one today!

Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake
(adapted from "Nigella Kitchen" by Nigella Lawson)
Cuts into 10-12 slices
1-1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing (160gm)
dab flavorless vegetable oil, for greasing syrup spoon
2 tablespoons golden syrup (such as Lyle's), or dark corn syrup
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar (I use scant 3/4 cup light brown sugar)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons best-quality unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
2 eggs
zest of 2 regular orange and juice of 1 (1/3 cup)

1x 2-pound loaf pan (I use 8-1/2"x4-1/2" loaf pan)

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and line your loaf pan with parchment paper and grease the sides, or line with a paper loaf-pan liner.
2. Beat the already soft butter with the syrup - if you dab a little oil on your tablespoon measure with a sheet of paper towel, the syrup shouldn't stick to the spoon - and the sugar until you have a fairly smooth caffe Americano cream, though the sugar will have a bit of grit about it.
3. Mix the flour, baking soda, and cocoa powder together, and beat into the syrup mixture 1 tablespoonful of these dry ingredients before beating in 1 egg. Then add another couple of spoonfuls of the dry ingredients before beating in the second egg.
4. Carry on beating in the remaining dry ingredients and then add, still beating, the orange zest and finally, gradually, the juice. At this stage, the batter may suddenly look dimpled, as if slightly curdled. No need to panic!
5. Pour and scrape into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes, though check 5 minutes before and be prepared to keep it in the oven 5 minutes longer if need be. A cake tester won't come out entirely clean, as the point of this cake, light though it may be, is to have just a hint of inner stickiness. Let cool a little in its pan on a wire rack, then turn out with care and leave on the rack to cool.

Make Ahead Note : 

The cake can be baked up to 3 days ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in airtight container. Will keep for 5 days total.

Freeze Note :

The cake can be frozen, tightly wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap and a layer of aluminium foil, for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight at room temperature.

#71/100

I'm linking this post to Cook Like A Star, where the featured chef for this month is NIGELLA LAWSON. Cook Like A Star is an event organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and the co-hosts for this month are Anuja from Simple Baking and me, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours. Cook or bake any of Nigella Lawson's recipes and link your posts to any of the hosts' linky which will stay open for the whole month of August. All submissions to this event must be current posts, published within the current month of this event, any older posts will be deleted. Please mention and link Cook Like A Star somewhere in your post. Do join us, everyone is welcome!

Cook Like A Star featuring Nigella Lawson, from 1st August to 31st August 2013

And I'm sharing this with Cook-Your-Books #3 hosted by Kitchen Flavours