Chicken Sheperd's Pie



Yummy homey comfort food!



Chicken Sheperd's Pie for dinner, anyone?  Most recipes I've seen call for tinned condensed soup for the sauce, leftover chicken for the filling and leftover mashed potatoes for the topping. This recipe here however is my very own self concocted version from scratch. It's easy to make and is very versatile, you can change the recipe around to suit  your family. Chuck in whatever and however much meat or vegetable or herb or spice or cheese you fancy. Play around with it, I'm sure the end result will still be yummy.  Do try and have fun making your very own pie. 

Chicken Sheperd's Pie

Ingredients:

3 to 4 large Potatoes
1  Tbs Butter
1 to 2 Tbs Milk or Cream
Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper, to taste

600 g Chicken Thighs, deboned, skin removed & cubed

1 Tbs Oyster Sauce

1 Tbs Soy Sauce

Ginger Juice

1 Tbs Garlic
1 Tbs cooking wine

pinch of Salt &  ground white pepper

1 tsp Dried Tarragon

2- 4 Leeks
1 Carrot (diced, steamed)
1 Cup Broccoli (steamed)
1 Tbs Garlic
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs plain flour
1 1/2 - 2 cups Chicken Stock
2 Tbs to1/4 cup Whipping Cream (half & half or single cream)
Salt & Freshly ground Black Pepper, to taste


How to cook:

Mashed Potatoes: Peel skin off potatoes, wash then steam for 15 minutes or till cooked & soft. Transfer to a bowl, mash up adding butter (add more if u don't mind your waistline!) and milk or cream (add enough to your desired consistency). Season with salt & pepper.

Chicken: Marinade chicken thighs with oyster sauce, soy sauce, ginger juice, garlic, salt & pepper for at least 2 hours or overnight. Drizzle some olive oil in a pan, pan fry the chicken. When the chicken is half cooked, add the tarragon and continue cooking  till golden fully cooked. Set aside.

Filling & Sauce & Assembly: When the chicken has been removed from the pan, add a little more olive oil and saute the garlic and leeks. Push to one side of the pan, add butter. When the butter has melted, add the flour and cook a couple minutes, stirring. Add chicken stock (add more if you prefer more sauce) and stir until smooth. Stir in cream (add more if you prefer a creamier & richer sauce). Season with salt & pepper.  Tumble in the carrot and broccoli. Simmer until veggies are soft and sauce has thicken, add the cooked chicken thighs, mix well. Remove from stove and pour into baking dish. Top with mashed potatoes. Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for about 20 minutes or until mashed potatoes are golden. Done!





Dig in!



Almond Crunch Cookies

I have been eyeing this Almond Crunch Cookies recipe from one of my many favorite cookbooks, 'Baking Code' of the Alex Goh Baking Class series, but never got around to trying it. Well, honestly, cookies are not my forte .... too much repetitive work to handle for a lazy cook like me!



Baking time.

 Anyway, this month's Apiring Bakers Challenge hosted by Jess of 'j3ss kitch3n' is themed "My Favorite Chinese New Year Cookies". Good reason for me to pull myself out from my comfort zone and try out the recipe at last!



Hot out from the oven!


I divided the dough into 2 portions and added nibbed almonds to one and left out the other, as some like it crunchy & nutty and some don't!  As the name suggest, the cookies turned out very crunchy and crisp. I couldn't stop munching at just one. They taste somewhat like 'Hup Toh Soh'. Maybe I should rename them 'Almond Soh'!  

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011), details can be found here. If you're interested please feel free to join. Happy baking all! 
 

Almond Crunch Cookies

(recipe taken from 'Baking Code' by Alex Goh)

Ingredients

100 g butter

130 g sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ammonia

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

230 g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

20 g ground almond

60 g nibbed almond

Note: I suggest toasting the nibbed almonds first prior to folding in, for better aroma.

Method:

1) Beat together butter, sugar, salt and ammonia till light and fluffy.

2) Add in eggs and vanilla essence, combine well.

3) Sift together plain flour, baking soda and ground almonds. Then mix with butter mixture.Fold in nibbed almond.

4) Pinch a small piece of dough about 10 g and shape into a ball. Place it onto a greased baking pan and flatten lightly. Do this again until you finish the whole batch of dough. Then, lightly brush the cookies with egg wash and decorate with whole shelled almonds on top.  

5) Bake at  170°C for 20 minutes or until lightly golden.

'3 Cups Chicken' Inspired Dish

3 cups WHAT?  '3 Cups Chicken' is a direct English translation of  'Sanbeiji', a Chinese dish that is so called because it requires 3 key sauce ingredients in equal proportions and they are soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil.

Read here in wikipaedia if u are interested to read more on the origin & background of  '3 Cups Chicken'.

This chicken  dish I made is an 'accidental' one. I had some ready marinaded chicken thigh pieces which had to be consumed soon, and just when I was contemplating on how to cook them for dinner, I saw a timely blog post on 3 Cups Chicken. So, 3 Cups it was! I don't know if this dish can be  considered or qualify as '3 Cups Chicken' but it's nevertheless an inspired one.  I've added some lovely yellow & red bell peppers and some leeks too. The outcome was rather good and received praises from my dear Hubby. He kept saying how fragrant this dish was and he loves the combination of the bell peppers and leeks.


3 Cups Inspired Chicken 

Ingredients:

about 600 g Chicken Thighs (cut to bite size pieces and marinate with 1 Tbs minced garlic, 1 Tbs ginger juice, 1 Tbs oyster sauce, 1 Tbs soy sauce, dash of salt & white pepper)
2 Leeks, chopped
2 Bell Peppers (1 red & 1 yellow, dice roughly)
1 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Tshao Shing Cooking Wine
1/2 Tbs Sesame oil (Note: Ok I cheated a little. I was afraid the sesame oil might be too overpowering, so I didn't follow the 1:1:1 proportion)
Salt & Pepper to taste


Method:

1) In a pan or wok, stir fry chicken until golden. Set aside.
2) In the same pan, add the sesame oil, dump in the leeks and bell pepper. Stir fry until half cooked. Tumble in the chicken and drizzle in the soy sauce and cooking wine. Continue stir frying until fully cooked and sauce has reduced and slightly thickened. Season with salt & pepper. Done!

I scream, U scream, We all scream for Green Tea Ice Cream!

This is my first time making green tea ice cream and it is the best ice cream I've ever made. It's so creamy, it beats those from Japanese Restaurants hands down! Yup, HANDS DOWN!

My Daughter agrees with me too. I didn't need to offer or serve the ice cream to her. She just helped herself  to the ice cream and finished the whole batch within a couple of days. Heck, I got to enjoy only a couple mouthfuls.

'YUMMERS!' was what my Daughter said everytime she had her fill of this.

Found the recipe here as  I was trawling the net looking for a good green tea ice cream recipe to finish off the green tea powder leftover from the Green Tea Tiramisu I made. Now, instead of needing to finish of my stash of green tea powder, I need to buy more to make more of this delicious ice cream!

Green Tea Ice Cream
(yields 6 small scoops)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons green tea powder (matcha)
2/3 cup granulated sugar (Reduced to 1/3 Cup and I used caster sugar)
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup heavy cream

Method:
1. In a small bow, mix the green tea powder with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg yolks and remaining sugar.

3. Pour the milk into a small pan and gently heat until it's just about to boil (You'll see some bubbles appearing on the edges. Do not let it boil). Remove the from the heat and mix a few spoonfuls of the warm milk with the green tea powder/sugar mixture in a small bowl. When you have a smooth paste, add it to the remaining milk in the pan, then gradually combine with the egg yolk/sugar mixture.

4. Return mixture to the stove and heat gently over low heat (taking care to not let the mixture boil), until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat, strain through a fine sieve, and allow to cool completely.

5. Lightly whip the cream and then add it to the cold green tea custard.

6. Transfer the mixture to a large container and chill for an hour or two in the refrigerator.

7. Put the chilled mixture in the freezer and freeze until half frozen about 1 hour (you'll see the mixture is frozen around the edges but the middle is not). Remove from freezer and mix well with a spoon or fork (stir very vigorously) to break up the ice crystals, return the mixture to the freezer. Repeat this 3 more times as it freezes every 30 minutes (you'll find the ice cream gets stiffer) to ensure that the ice cream is smooth.

Note: If u have an ice cream maker, skip Step 7, churn the mixture according to your ice cream maker's instruction after chilling the mixture in Step 6.

Green Tea Tiramisu

When I first saw this recipe here, I thought 'How ingenious! How come I've never thought of that?' I've eaten green tea ice cream, green tea mochi, green tea chiffon cake, green tea butter cake but GREEN TEA TIRAMISU? How interesting! I knew instantly I had to make it ... and I made it just in time for a family reunion potluck dinner.

I was afraid the cake would not hold up well and fall apart after unmoulding (it would've been a total disaster!), so I brought the cake to the potluck still in its tin.

Ta-daaa! Just before serving, I removed the tin with the help of  2 or maybe 3 other persons, I couldn't exactly remember, my mind was fuzzy as I concentrated hard not to ruin the cake whilst unmoulding. Phew! It was intense! LOL! I must admit the cake looked pretty good except for the icky green which my Daughter said looked like algae!.

This was how it looked like inside. It tasted very light and the green tea flavour was refreshing and very mild. I just wish I had sprinkled green tea powder on every layer of the sponge fingers for a stronger green tea taste.

Green Tea Tiramisu

(Recipe adapted from the blog "The Scent of Green Bananas" here)

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks

1/3 cup white caster sugar (I've reduced the sugar by 2 tablespoons)
8oz mascarpone cheese
1 cup dairy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
cointreau, or any orange flavoured liqueur (I've omitted this and replaced with the juice of half a lemon)
green tea powder
1-2 c brewed strong green tea, cooled
3 egg whites
savoiardi (sponge fingers)

Note:

1) I used an 8 inch round removable base cake tin as the mould. There was about 1/3 cup leftover filling. I used about 36 pieces of sponge fingers.

2) To the 1 cup dairy whipping cream, I've added 2 Tbs icing sugar and 2 Tbs piping gel during whipping. This is to stabilize the whipped cream.

3) To tone down the bitterness of the green tea powder, I've mixed  in some icing sugar prior to dusting the top of the cake. Due to condensation (hot humid weather here), the mixture melted .... and became 'icky green algae'! LOL!

Method:

1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl set over pan of simmering water, until pale yellow. Remove from heat and add the mascarpone cheese and beat until smooth and creamy. Do not overbeat!

2. In a separate bowl, whip the cream. Add vanilla and orange liqueur, then fold into the mascarpone mixture and blend well.
3. In yet another bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold gently into creamy mascarpone mixture. 
4. Dip sponge fingers into the brewed green tea, then layer them on the bottom of a serving dish. Spread the creamy mascarpone mixture top, and repeat layers.
7. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours or overnight.
8. Dust with green tea  powder just before serving.

Christmas Day Feast 2010

Our Christmas Day Feast.

Mom roasted the turkey, and I with the help of my Daughter (my Daughter insisted that I gave her credit and made known to everyone that she helped with peeling the asparagus! LOL!)  made the accompanying side dishes and dessert.

The star dish of the day, Mom's Roasted Turkey.

Believe it or not this turkey (between 6 - 6.5 kilos) took only 1 1/2 hours to cook in the microwave!  The turkey was moist and very tasty.  I asked Mom what she had used to marinate the turkey and she said "Pounded ginger and garlic, LOTS of garlic ... soy sauce, salt & pepper and a little bbq sauce".

Mom's recipe for Turkey Gravy

Ingredients:

Turkey Neck & Giblet

2 large Onions, chopped

Shitake Mushrooms, sliced and the stems removed and kept aside

Soy Sauce to taste

Salt & Pepper to taste

Drippings from roasted turkey, remove the fat first

Cornflour mixed with a little water

Method:

In a pot, put in turkey neck & giblet, chopped onions, mushroom stems and soy sauce. Scrape in the drippings from the roasted turkey. Pour in water enough to cover the ingredients in the pot. Boil away on medium heat until mushrooms have disintegrated. Add more water during cooking as necessary. Discard turkey neck & giblet. Add in the sliced mushrooms. Boil further until mushrooms are just cooked. Season well with salt & pepper. Add in  cornflour solution and cook further until gravy has thicken.

Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roast Potatoes

(with butter, garlic & rosemary)

(Recipe here)

This was the best side dish amongst all. It was very fragrant and flavourful with the rosemary and garlic. My dear Hubby who has been avoiding carbs couldn't resist eating this and even requested the lefovers for dinner. 

Cranberry Asparagus & Prosciutto 

(Recipe here . I've added prosciutto and omitted the pine nuts as I didn't have them on hand. I would suggest adding lightly sauteed garlic for more flavour). 

Insalata Caprese

(Recipe here)

To end our Christmas feast with a sweet note, Gordon Ramsay's Easy Tiramisu!
(Recipe here)

Christmas Eve Dinner 2010

Our simple Scandinavian-esque Christmas Eve Dinner.

For the past few years, we had dined out and spent a small fortune on Christmas Eve Dinners. This year I'm glad to have stayed at home and avoided the crowds and the overpriced dinners offered at most restaurants in town. It was enjoyable preparing the food and celebrating with my nearest and dearest ... right here at home.

 

Smoked Salmon Carpaccio

(Recipe here. I've added sliced onions and black olives and garnished with fresh dill instead of parsley.)

My Daughter loves this dish so much.

Bacon and Cream Cheese stuffed Mushrooms.

(Recipe here)

Very cheesy & rich! Reading back the recipe, I think I might have overstuffed the mushrooms.  The Bacon and Cream Cheese filling was meant for 25 mushrooms but I crammed all into 12 mushrooms only. LOL!Anyway, they were good eaten with toasted crusty garlic bread.

 

Butterhead Lettuce, Grape & Tomato Salad with Raspberry Dressing

(Recipe for Raspberry Dressing here)

 

 Nigella Lawson's Molten Chocolate Babycake.

(Recipe here)

We ended the meal with Nigella Lawsons's Molten Chocolate Babycake with Strawberries & Whipped Cream. It was plate licking good ... I really meant it literally! Yum!