Thai Chicken Skewers with Satay Sauce

· 10-12 Chicken Mini-breasts (tenderloins) – aiming for 2 per person
· 10-12 BBQ Skewers
Marinade
· Juice of 1 Lime
· 1 chopped red Chilli
· 1 diced Garlic Clove
· 1 Dessertspoon of Sesame Oil or Ground Nut Oil

- Marinade Chicken for a couple of hours before inserting each breast onto a BBQ Skewer ready for cooking. Note: Soak BBQ Skewers in water (if they are wooden) for about 20 mins this will ensure they do not burn on the BBQ or in the oven.
- Cook for about 5 mins in each side either on BBQ/Grill or in Oven till cooked through
- Serve with Satay Sauce

Satay Sauce
· 1 tablespoon of Vegetable Oil
· 2 Garlic Cloves (crushed)
· 4 Spring Onions (finely chopped)
· 1 Lemon Grass Stalk (the white interior only, finely chopped)
· 1 Tablespoon of Thai Red Curry Paste
· 1 Tablespoon of Tamarind Paste
· 1 cup of Roasted Salted Peanuts (chunkily ground)
· 1 ½ cups of Coconut Milk
· 2 teaspoons of Palm or Light Brown Sugar

- Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan and fry the garlic, spring onions and lemon grass for a minute of so then add the Thai red curry paste and stir together until fragrant
- Add the remaining ingredients to the pan stirring slowly until it comes to the boil. Note: if the sauce is too thick add a little boiling water till it forms the right consistency and simmer for a couple of minute.

Salmon with Hollandaise Sauce

This is a wonderful dish for late spring and early summer as the potatoes and the asparagus are fresh and in season so taste their best.

· 4 Salmon Fillets (pan fried in butter till brown on the outside and pink in the middle
· 12 New Potatoes (cut in half)
· Handful of chopped Spring Onions
· Juice of 1 small Lemon
· 300g Butter
· 3 Egg Yolks
· 2 Bunches Asparagus or roughly 24 stems (boiled or steamed)
· Salt and Pepper to Taste

Crushed Potato Mash Instuctions
* Boil Potatoes (leaving skin on) till soft and tender.
* Gently fry the spring onions in 50g of butter till the onions are all soggy and edges slightly crisp.
* Once potatoes are cooked roughly mash with 100mm of butter then add your butter and Spring Onion combination and stir through.

For the Hollandaise Sauce
* Melt 300g of butter
* Put the Egg Yolks & Lemon juice together and blend with bamix or similar implement
* While blending slowly add the melted butter till the sauce develops into a creamy yellow consistency.

For the Salmon
* Pan fry in a little butter until cooked to your liking, if you like your salmon with skin on I would recommend cooking skin side down in hot butter for about 8 minutes till skin is crispy and then turning over and cooking for another 3 minutes, your salmon should be cooked through but not over done.

And finally
* Place Salmon on top of the Cruched Potatoes with Asparagus to the side and dress with the Hollandaise Sauce. Note: If I was cooking for a dinner party I would garnish with a few baby watercress shoots.

I have made several variation of this dish in the past, for a flash dinner party I made the Hollandaise with 2/3rds Pink Grapefruit Juice and 1/3 Lemon Juice and garnished the Salmon with Baby Watercress Shoot and Pink Grapefruit chunks, I served the Salmon on top of the Asparagus and used Baby New Potatoes as a side dish drizzled in Butter and a good quanity of chopped Spring Onions (see picture below).

Winter Salad

This Salad can stand on it’s own for a Girly Lunch or alternatively but used as an accompaniment to most meat dishes.

· 1 butternut squash or similar (roasted in long thin slices ) you can roast it any size really but presentation wise I think this is the best way
· 1- 2 Avocados (tea-spooned out of their shells)
· 2 broccoli flowers ( cut into pieces then steamed or boiled but better under cooked than over cooked for this recipe)
· 6 roma tomatoes –cut into about 6 wedges per tomato and then sprinkled with herbs, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar on each wedge – then slow roast them in the oven for about an hour


Dressing
· 1 tablespoon of honey
· 100mml Red Wine Vinegar

Combine these together till honey has melted—leave to cool

Garnish
· 180g Roasted Pine Nuts

Stack the salad together; broccoli on the bottom, followed by pumpkin, roma tomatoes and then avocado – dress and sprinkle with pine nuts

Pesto Roast Chicken

· Waitrose easy cook chicken breast (one of these feeds between 2-4 people depending on their hunger).
· Pesto (makes enough to stuff 2 chickens).
- Small tub of semi sundried tomatoes
- 1 packet of grated parmesan cheese (180g)
- 1 large bunch of fresh basil
- 1 packet of pine nuts (200g) (you’ll need to toast them in the pan)
- About 2/3cup of olive oil – you’ll just need to keep adding it until you get a good sticky paste.

To Make the Pesto blend all these ingredients together with a Barmix or in a Magimix till a sticky paste has been created.


Stuff underneath the chicken skin with the pesto – and cook at roasting temp for around an hour and voila!!

The chicken tastes particularly good with Roast Potatoes:
For roast potatoes I use 1-2 bags of baby new potatoes and pre-cook them till they are soft inside, before adding them to the chicken roasting pan about 30-40mins before the end - they taste delicious roasted in the pesto juice!!

I would then serve the above with My Winter Salad as the combination of ingredients works well with the chicken.

Smoked Salmon & Dill Frittatas

For the Frittatas (make approx. 24)
· 3 eggs
· Bunch of Dill (save a little bit to garnish the end product)
· 200ml Single Cream
· Teaspoon of Lemon Zest

Whisk together in a bowl till ingredients have combined, then bake in a mini muffin tray for approx 15min per batch.

Allow to cool.

For the toping
· 1/2 a Spanish Onion cut in half and chopped into thin slices
· 1 tub of cream cheese
· Juice of 1/2 a lemon
· 2 smoked salmon slices cut into quarters (approx.)

Mix the lemon juice and cream cheese together to form a paste.

Place a portion of salmon on each frittata, then top with a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture and a couple of slices of onion.

Present beautifully on plate and then sprinkle with the remaining dill.

Olive Crusted Chicken with Gremolata

This makes a lovely lightish lunch as it is but when I have a hungry Husband to feed and want something more substantial I accompany it with finely diced roasted potatoes cooked with olive oil, garlic cloves and rosemary. It makes a wonderful Italian style meal.

For the Chicken
- 4 Chicken Breasts
- 2 Slices of Stale White Bread ( to make breadcrumbs)
- About 20 Small Pipless Black Olives
- 1 Egg- Dusting of Plain Flour
- Vegetable Oil (for shallow frying)

For the Gremolata
- 2 Punnets of Cherry or Baby Plum Tomatoes (quartered)
- 1 large Garlic Clove (crushed or finely diced)
- the Zest of half a Lemon
- The Juice of half a Lemon
- Drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Bunch of Flat Leaf Parsley (roughly chopped)
- Bunch of Basil (roughly chopped)
- Cracked Pepper and Sea Salt (to taste)

* Combine all the Gremolata ingredients together well mixed and season to taste (set aside until ready to serve)
* Combine bread and olives in Magimix until the particle size is small and consistant (place in large bowl) Flatten out the chicken breasts between Cling Film (Glad Wrap) with a rolling pin or heavy implement till they are nice and thin and doubled in size.
* Whisk one egg in a decent size bowl
* Cover a plate in plain flour
* With each flattened breast, cover in a light dusting of flour, then coat in egg and finally dip in breadcrumb mixture untill all covered then set aside.
* Heat vegetable oil in a large frying pan, you can test it it is ready to add the chicken by placing in the oil some of the left over crumbs and waiting for them to start to sizzle.
* Once hot enough add the chicken breast and cook for about 4 minutes on each side until crumbs are a golden brown. Then place on kitchen towel to remove the excess oil.
* To serve place a chicken breast on the centre of a plate and pile the centre with the Gremolata

St Patrick's Day Feast

A lot of things in this feast need to be prepared in advance but once underway can be left to their on devices - if you plan on making it for St Patrick's day tomorrow and need to work on the day I would advise making the Mousses the night before along with the starting the Stew - this means at all you is heat up the Stew and make the Drop Scones!! So not as complicated as is sounds!!

Feeds 6

* Potato Drop Scones with Smoked Salmon
* Irish Stew
* Stout & Guinness Mousse

Potato Drop Scones with Smoked Salmon

Drop Scones
- 200g of Mashed Potato (cooled)
- 1 egg
- 80g of Self-Raising Flour (sifted)
- 100ml Milk
- Vegetable Oil for frying
- Salt & Pepper to taste

Topping
- About 6 Slices of Smoked Salmon (preferably Irish for authenticity)
- ½ Granny Smith Apple (finely diced)
- ½ Red Onion (finely diced)
- Handful of Chopped Dill
- 150ml Sour Cream

Combine Apple, Dill & Onion and set aside

Mix together Drop Scone ingredients till well combined

Pan fry Drop Scones (make them about bite size) till golden on both sides

Arrange cooked Drop Scones on a plate then place a generous helping of Salmon on each, followed by a dollop of Sour Cream and finally sprinkle with the Apple, Onion and Dill mixture.

Serve as canapés or alternatively give each guest 3-4 on a plate

Beef & Guinness Irish Stew

- 800g Diced Beef (stewing beef or top-rump)
- About 20 mini Chantray Carrots (grated but tops left on)
- About 20 mini Button Mushrooms
- About 20 Shallots (peeled)
- 1 Jar of mini Pickled Onions
- 2 Cans of Guinness
- 1 Tablespoon of Horseradish
- 1 Tablespoon of Wholegrain Mustard
- About 100g of Salted Butter
- Salt and Pepper to taste

Lightly braise beef on all sides in Casserole Dish with a little butter and set aside

Add the remaining butter to the dish along with the Carrots, Shallots and Button Mushrooms and lightly fry till the vegetables start emitting a fragrant and tasty smell

Add beef to pan along with 1 can on Guinness, Horseradish, Mustard and Pickled Onions, cover and reduce heat to that it is lightly simmering or alternatively place in warm oven (about 150 degrees)

Cook for at least 3 hours (until beef and vegetables are falling apart) and add additional Guinness as needed as the juices reduce

The finished product should be dark brown and slightly thick and slightly running and melt in the mouth juicy

Serve with Buttery Mash Potato

Chocolate & Stout Mousse

(This is not my recipe, I found it in House & Garden but thought it was the perfect completion to a St Patrick’s Day Feast – alternatively you could do some kind of apple pudding – Ireland being one of the homes of Cider!!)

Note: it is essential to have all the ingredients at room temperature before starting this recipe

- 150g Plain Chocolate (70% cocoa) copped
- 35g Butter
- 8 tablespoons soft, Dark Brown Sugar
- 3 large Eggs separated
- 6 tablespoons of Stout
- 110ml Double Cream

Melt Chocolate and Butter in a glass bowl set over boiling water, then beat in 5 tablespoons of the sugar and allow to cool slightly

Beat the Egg Yolks into the Chocolate mixture one at a time, incorporating each one well before adding the next

Stir the Stout into the Cream, then using a wooden spoon add this liquid to the Chocolate mixture beating it thoroughly. It won’t come together easily but keep beating hard and it will eventually become smooth

In another bowl, whisk the Egg Whites till they form soft peaks, then add the remaining Sugar and whisk till stiff

Whisk 1/3 of the Egg mixture into the Chocolate mixture and combine really well, then using a rubber spatula fold in the rest, but be sure there are no white streaks

Pour Mousse into 6 glasses (it could be fun to use beer glasses ½ pint)

Cover in cling film and refrigerate for 6 hours till set

Serve, could be nice with a sprinkle of icing sugar or cocoa on top

Happy St Patrick’s Day!!