We're currently going through something of a heatwave here in the U.K. - June 2017 - and salads are definitely in. However, because I wanted to try and make salad eating something good as opposed to something yawn-inducing (oh come on, you know it can be!), I've been experimenting with some rather out of the box kinds of salads and this one is by far the best we've tried (so far!).
The original inspiration came from the good old BBC Good Food website, as very often happens. Their version of the salad can be found here and from that you'll be able to see that I've added a little and taken away a little from the original, but it is still very close.
Yes, it requires a little bit of work before time with marinating the chicken but I also recommend that you wash your lettuce and put it in an inflated freezer bag in the fridge to crisp up. Doing this makes all the difference to a crisp, crunchy salad.
When you get down to preparing dinner, it really is just a matter of chopping and building the salad, then spending a moment or two grilling the chicken, slicing, garnishing and hey presto - dinner is on the plate. It really is as easy as that.
I've divided the recipe up into three sections, to make it easier to see what should be used for what. I hope that proves helpful.
As for Cook's Tips, the only recommendation I have for you is that you chop up the salad before cooking the chicken. You can always put the salad back into the fridge while the chicken is cooking, so as to keep everything fresh and crunchy. Then, once the chicken is done it can rest and cool a little while you quickly plate up the salad items.
I can see that this is going to be a regular fall-back salad for blisteringly hot days. My menfolk thought it was delicious and professed themselves keen to see it again very soon!
CHICKEN SATAY SALAD (serves 3)
Ingredients :
For the chicken
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp curry powder of your choice (I used a medium)
half a tsp of ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
2 tsp runny honey.
For the sauce
1.5 tbsp peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, it's up to you, but a sugar free version is good)
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
juice of 1 lime
cold water, as required.
For the salad
a selection of salad leaves (I used Romaine and Iceberg lettuces)
a large vine tomato, halved and sliced
cucumber, sliced thickly and halved (two slices/four halves per person)
small seedless green grapes (5-6 per person)
half a red onion, sliced finely
cooked beetroot wedges (four per person)
mustard & cress
fresh parsley, chopped
3 tbsp dry roasted peanuts.
Method :
At least one hour before you are due to begin cooking, marinate the chicken.
Place the soy sauce, curry powder, cumin, garlic and honey into a large bowl and mix well.
Taking each chicken breast, run your knife horizontally through from the thickest end to the thinnest, creating two thin fillets. Plate the fillets into the marinade and stir well, to ensure every little bit is coated. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until required.
When it is time to cook, begin by mixing up the satay sauce. In a medium sized bowl, add the peanut butter, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice and stir together. Continue to stir, adding small amounts of cold water, until you have a dropping consistency. Set aside.
Next, build each salad onto the plate starting with the salad leaves. Create a small mound of these in the centre of the plate.
Divide the slices of tomato between the three plates, placing the tomato around the outside of the leaves.
Dot the salad leaves with cucumber half slices, then the grapes, then sprinkle the red onion over.
Add the beetroot wedges to the side of the plate.
Sprinkle everything with the mustard & cress.
Next, lay each fillet of chicken onto a foil lined baking sheet and cook under a hot grill (or broiler, if you're in the USA) until just cooked. Turn the chicken over and cook the other side the same way. This should only take 6-7 minutes each side. Check the chicken is cooked through, by cutting into the thickest part and if you can see any sign of pinkness in the juices, put it back under the grill until the pinkness is gone.
Slice the chicken and lay it on top of the salad, while the chicken is still warm.
Drizzle spoonfuls of the satay sauce over the chicken and into the salad - be generous, as the sauce is divine.
Garnish with a sprinkle of fresh parsley and the dry roasted peanuts.
Settle down somewhere cool - and tuck in!
Printable version
Well, this one worked out well!
I think I shall call it a Malay style chicken & peanut curry as the basis of it was the recipe as below, but I halved the Thai curry paste and added the other half in Indian curry paste (a Korma paste) - so it wound up being a fusion of the two. Knowing what a fusion of races now call Malaysia home, I think that represents Malaysia quite well.
Original recipe : http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2838670/thai-pork-and-peanut-curry
I deviated from the original recipe in several different ways, the first being the addition of the Korma paste as I've already mentioned. I added a red pepper, chopped into smallish dice, for colour and interest and a white sweet onion cut into eighths, the sweetness of which meant I could leave the soft brown sugar specified in the recipe, out. I'm always keen, where I can, to reduce the amount of added sugar in dishes. The sweet red pepper, the sweet onion, the baby sweetcorn, the coconut milk all have an inherent sweetness and I felt that the soft brown sugar would just take it too far.
It was mildly spiced so easy to pep up if you like it hotter and was jolly tasty. Everyone said they'd be happy to have it again, only with rather less coriander, next time! LOL (I'm a bit heavy handed with the coriander, because I like it so much. I forget that others aren't as keen!).
I've reproduced the recipe with my alterations below, but feel free to cook the original if you prefer the look of that! I'm not precious about my recipes - they're there for you to use, change, adjust and develop as much or as little as you wish.
MALAY STYLE CHICKEN & PEANUT CURRY (serves 3-4)
Ingredients :
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 skinless & boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
ground black pepper
1 sweet white onion, cut into eighths
bunch spring onions, sliced
small bunch coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves chopped
1 red pepper, cored and cut into dice
130g baby sweetcorn, halved lengthways
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
2 tbsp Korma curry paste
2 tbsp peanut butter
400ml can coconut milk
1 tbsp soy sauce
juice 1 lime.
Method :
Heat the oil in a large and deep frying pan until very hot and carefully add the chicken chunks. Fry them until lightly golden on at least two sides and season with black pepper. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the sweet onion, spring onions, coriander stalks, red pepper and baby sweetcorn to the pan and stir fry (adding a little more oil if necessary) until softened.
Return the chicken to the pan and reduce the heat slightly.
Add the Thai curry paste, the Korma curry paste and peanut butter and stir to combine. Cook over a moderate heat for some 3 minutes or so, until well combined.
Add the coconut milk and soy sauce and stir gently. Simmer for some 10 minutes or so until the sauce thickens to your preference.
Just prior to serving, add the lime juice (Half a lime at a time, then taste. If necessary, add more) and stir in the chopped coriander leaves.
Serve with plain white rice, or jasmine rice.
Printable version
I blame this one on hubby. Of course, he'll say that I blame everything on him, but that's not exactly true. In reality, it's just most things. *chuckle* However, this one is all his fault, because he's been swerving my lovely pork steaks in mushroom sauce meal for weeks, eventually coming up with the suggestion that "you know what I'd really like? Pork done in a Satay style sauce". So I did some research and came up with this recipe, which worked very nicely.
In the course of my research, I discovered that there are three styles of satay sauce and each style harks from a different part of the world. One is the thick style that you would dip marinated and grilled chicken or pork on a stick into, another is a thinner, less robust but fiercely hotter version. I went for the Thai version, which seemed to suit my plans for the pork, better than any of the others.
For varying reasons that I won't bore you by going into here, I needed to poach or otherwise cook in liquid, the pork steaks so as to render them tender and ensure they weren't in any way dry. Now it made sense - in my mind if nobody else's - to capitalise on the meaty flavours by cooking the pork in the satay sauce. However, I knew that once the peanut butter is included, you have a very short time before it starts to catch on the bottom of the pan - and nobody likes a burned satay sauce.
So I could have seared the pork, cooked the onion and then poached the meat in stock - but then how would I have included the red Thai curry paste? The obvious answer was to sear the pork, cook the onion, add the curry paste, the stock (for which I used the beautiful chicken stock powder from Essential Cuisine) and coconut milk - and then poach the pork in the lovely curried coconut flavours. Basically, create a pork red Thai curry, then add the ingredients to turn it Satay.
Would you believe it, it worked. The poaching liquor, of onion, red Thai curry paste, chicken stock and coconut milk tasted divine and the pork steaks simmered away very happily until they were cooked through, staying moist and tender. I realised that, even with the Thai curry paste, the chilli heat wasn't going to survive the not-very-tender mercies of being hammered by a great dollop of peanut butter, so quickly added a teaspoonful of dried red chilli flakes to bolster the chilli ratio. After that, it was a simple matter of adding the peanut butter and the all-important cider vinegar.
Now, if you make this recipe, don't ever be tempted to leave the cider vinegar out. It is essential and changes your sauce from being a chilli/peanut combo, into a Satay sauce. It provides that sweet/sour thing that so many oriental dishes have. The coriander is optional, in that if you don't like it, it won't hurt the dish to leave it out. I have heard that sweet Thai basil would be good instead, but never having tried it can't recommend it. However, it's worth a go if you really dislike coriander.
One more thing, from the cook's perspective, is to make sure that you don't continue cooking and trying to reduce the sauce, once you've put the peanut butter in. As I've said up there ^^^ somewhere, it will burn easily but not only that the peanut butter releases its oil and you'll wind up with a pan full of oil with the over reduced, thickened sauce hiding somewhere underneath. At that point, all you can do is retrieve the meat and throw the sauce away. So, be sure that your meat is ready, before you add the peanut butter.
All the family were very happy with this recipe. Son & heir declared it to be "meaty, very very meaty!" (which is always a good thing in his book, as he's a young caveman in training). Hubby wasn't too struck on the pork, but loved the sauce and ventured the opinion that it would be as good if not better, with chicken or large prawns. By jingo, I think he's right, too! I loved the pork (predictably) and really enjoyed the sauce's relationship with the meat. I felt the flavours complemented each other very well. The sauce was also really good with the rice and I had designs upon decanting the leftovers of both into a bowl for lunch today, right up until I discovered that the remains of the sauce had done the releasing its oil thing and was unusable. Hey ho. I'll have to remember to cool it quickly the next time.
I also enjoyed the sugar snap peas with the pork and sauce. The rice is there to bulk out the meal, but the peas just added that light and refreshing crunch with accompanying sweetness, making them a perfect palate cleanser between mouthfuls. Now, where sugar snap peas are concerned, can I make a plea? Can everyone - restaurants included - please make an effort to remove the strings from either side of the pea pod? Please? It really only takes a second to do - and makes such a difference to the eating experience. Thanks. Appreciated. *wink*
So anyway, all in all, I'll be doing this one again!
PORK STEAKS IN SATAY STYLE SAUCE (serves 3)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp sunflower oil
6 pork steaks, trimmed of 95% of their fat (assuming 2 each)
1 onion, chopped finely
3 dessertspoonfuls of red Thai curry paste
400ml tin of coconut milk
200ml chicken stock
1 teaspoonful of dried red chilli flakes (to taste)
2 dessertspoonfuls of peanut butter
2 dessertspoonfuls of cider vinegar
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander.
Method :
1. In a deep frying pan or wok, heat the oil until really quite hot, then sear the pork steaks on both sides. Once the steaks are golden brown, remove and reserve to keep warm.
2. Add the onion to the pan and cook on a moderate heat until softened and golden brown.
3. Add the Thai curry paste and stir to combine. Cook for some 3-4 minutes until the oil is separating from the paste.
4. Add the coconut milk and stir well to combine. Make sure you get all the bits from the bottom of the pan, as these are all flavour.
5. Add the chicken stock and stir to combine.
6. Once the sauce is bubbling, return the pork steaks to the pan and simmer - uncovered - for some 10-15 minutes, or until the pork is cooked through. It is at this stage that you can taste the sauce and decide whether or not to add the dried red chilli flakes, but just remember that the peanut butter will do its best to wipe out every other flavour, so be brave!
7. Add the peanut butter and stir gently to combine. The sauce will thicken at this stage, so take care to stir regularly to prevent it catching on the bottom of the pan.
8. Add the cider vinegar, stir to combine. Give the vinegar 5 minutes or so to simmer and amalgamate with the other flavours, then taste for seasoning and adjust. I found the dish required a fair amount of salt, to bring out the flavours of the peanuts.
9. Just before serving, add the chopped coriander, saving a little back to sprinkle over the plated up dish.
Serve with plain white rice (basmati is good) and a light, green vegetable such as sugar snap peas.
Printable version
You all must know, by now, just how much I like a recipe that is easy to make.
Well let me tell you, it doesn't get a lot easier to make, than your own home-made peanut butter!
The comparable prices aren't that different, to be honest. A 340g pot of Sun-Pat Peanut Butter is, ordinarily (without special offers) £1.78. 400g of Dry Roasted Peanuts cost just £1.60, plus the electricity I used.
However, what IS worthwhile about making your own, firstly is that you know what is in it. In this case, it's the peanuts and 2 teaspoonfuls of vegetable oil. No emulsifiers, no preservatives, no sugar. Secondly, it means that you can make peanut butter from Dry Roasted peanuts, or Wasabi peanuts, or Chilli peanuts - or any flavour of nut or seed that you want! The possibilities are endless.
I've half an eye on making some Peanut & Chocolate Butter when this pot is empty - and I don't think that's going to be very long!
To make the butter, you need the peanuts, a food processor, some oil (obviously peanut oil would be good, but vegetable oil works just as well), a spoon and a jar to put the final product in. Oh, and you also need a little patience!
So, pour the peanuts into the food processor and switch it on. Sit back and watch the peanuts turn into a nutty grit, then sand and then bung up the processor. At this stage, you need to break up the nuts with the spoon, then add a teaspoonful of oil just to grease the wheels. Switch it back on again and off it goes. This time, the peanuts change from sand to dust and onwards to putty as the oils begin to be released.
The next phase is a gradual transformation from putty to a thick clay - at which point you're really really close to it becoming butter. You may have to add another teaspoonful of oil somewhere along the line if the peanuts continue to clog and prevent the processor from spinning - but be sparing as you don't want your end result to be awash with unnecessary oil.
You know when it's done, as the mixture begins to turn glossy and the processor moves freely.
Switch it off and have a taste. At this point you should be beginning to feel really very pleased with yourself. Spread a little onto some bread and take it around the family to taste. Bask in the glory and amazement.
Once the family are done being amazed, decant your peanut butter into a pot and retire to an armchair with a big grin on your face.
It really IS as easy as that. :)
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What can I say about Devilled Sausages?
They have been one of my few recipes that I have carried forward over the years. They date back to childhood, when my Mum would make a much less interesting version - but no less tasty - which was always greeted well.
When I moved out from home and went to live on the boat, they became a staple there too.
I can remember making them once I'd moved back to dry land, in a shared house in Kingston Upon Thames. I used to accompany them with an enormous home-made coleslaw with sultanas, or a big old salad - sometimes involving banana! Enough for everyone.
When I moved to my own place in Oxshott in Surrey, I can remember coming home from a day at work, then an evening with the horses, then walking the dogs and finishing by whipping up eight devilled sausages. I'd eat four that night, then keep four more for the next day which I'd eat cold with the home-made coleslaw. Yummy!
I doubt there will ever come a moment when Devilled Sausages are suggested and rejected. I hope not, anyway! As good hot as they are cold, they can be packed into lunchboxes or even - as I did - packed into boxes to accompany a picnic dinner whilst watching Gilbert & Sullivan at Polesdon Lacey.
You can tinker about with the devilling mixture, but this is the one that hits the spot after all these years.
DEVILLED SAUSAGES (makes 8)
Ingredients :
1 pack of 8 pork sausages, Cumberland are good, but plain old Pork are best.
1 tablespoon of Branston pickle (Brown pickle)
2 teaspoons of Dark Orange Marmalade
1 tablespoon of smooth Peanut Butter
2 teaspoons of Madras Curry Powder
1 teaspoon of English mustard powder
Optional ingredients include a teaspoon of mango chutney and however much hot sauce you prefer!
Method :
1. Pre-heat your oven to 180deg C.
2. Take each sausage and cut a slit into it, along the long side. Open the slit out until you have made the sausage boat-shaped.
3. Place it on a baking tray and fill with a teaspoonful of the devilling mixture. Ensure the mix is spread from end to end.
4. When all sausages are complete, put into the oven for 25-30 minutes (depending on the size of your sausages).
5. They are done when the sausages are well coloured and the devilling mix has melted into the sausage and browned.
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Calming my quavering nerves, I sallied forth last night to make the above noodle dish. Now I'd been craving noodles for days and had managed to soothe the craving somewhat by purchasing a pack of Mi Goreng noodles (complete with flavouring and seasoning) from the local Supermarket. Add a one-egg omelette and you've got lunch in under 5 minutes. Brilliant.
However, I was still keen for a whopping great pile of steaming, fragrant noodles to cross my path. Son had had a large lunch at school and had opted not to join in the noodle bonanza, so it was just myself and hubby. Re-reading the recipe again, it just seemed too easy to be THAT nice, but I put my trust in the BBC's Good Food recipes and got cracking.
You can find the original recipe at www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/6175 however, you'll see that my version of it changed a bit, owing to the fact that mange tout were in excess of £1 in the supermarket, whereas they did a fresh stir-fry mix which contained mange tout along with butternut squash and beanshoots (amongst a whole host of other veg) for £1. I also had a yellow pepper going bukshee in the fridge, so that got pressganged into use.
A word of warning - when I mixed the "dressing" together, it behaved somewhat unexpectedly in that it whisked together well but then suddenly set to a very stiff consistency. I couldn't help but think that it was supposed to be looser than that, but I noticed that the frozen prawns - which I'd just put into the pan with the veggies - had released a lot of water and everything was in danger of going very soupy. So, I added the "dressing", which combined beautifully with the liquid that was already in the pan and the situation was saved. *phew* This turned out to be a delicious combination, which I'd be very happy to serve again - and I'd simply add more noodles, vegetables and perhaps an omelette, to feed 3.
PEANUT & PRAWN NOODLE STIR-FRY (serves 2)
Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp chilli sauce
100g egg noodles
200g cooked peeled prawns, defrosted and drained if frozen
A stir-fry pack of vegetables of your choice
2 spring onions, shredded, if not in the vegetable pack
a quarter of a bell pepper, sliced finely, if not in the vegetable pack.
Method :
1. Put a pot of salted water on to boil.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and add all the vegetables, leaving them to colour slightly, then turning.
3. When the water boils, add the noodles and cook as pack instructions.
4. When the vegetables are almost cooked, add the prawns and heat through.
5. Whisk together the peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce and chilli sauce with 2 tbsp boiling water, season with salt and add to the vegetables & prawns. Mix through.
6. Add the noodles and stir to combine.
7. Serve.
Well I couldn't let Halloween go by without at least a cursory nod towards it, now could I?
These clever little biscuits are loved by children of all ages, not least because they contain peanut butter. They are a little bit fiddly to create, but if you've got a garlic press, making the brush part becomes a whole lot easier. Oh, and I'd definitely use a hand whisk!
With thanks to DesertWind in the USA, who introduced me to the recipe.
WITCHES' BROOMSTICKS (biscuits) makes approx 16
Ingredients :
1 cup self-raising flour
a quarter tsp baking powder
1 cup smooth peanut butter
a quarter cup butter or baking margarine
a half cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
16 pretzel rods
Method :
1. Preheat oven to 190 deg C (fan).
2. Combine flour and baking powder in a medium bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat peanut butter, butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add the egg and egg yolk.
4. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until blended.
5. Separate small balls of dough and pass each ball through a garlic press, to make the bristles of the broom.
6. Gather enough "bristles" together, carefully so as to not disturb the "bristle" effect, and press together one end around a pretzel stick.
7. Make each broom directly on the baking sheet, then bake for 12 minutes or until brown. Do not disturb them until cool, then very gently tease them from the baking sheet.
You can either ice them, or leave them natural.
Be prepared for them to disappear very quickly.
