Vegemite Chicken... Anzac Day & Marmite Chicken Tribute (and Bookmarked Recipes submission!)

Finally (after talking it up in one of her far too few posts), A & Sir L took me to Hawkers Cuisine in Northbridge and after all the hype and expectation, it more than lived up to its reputation!

We ordered an array of dishes, including Pineapple Duck, Jellyfish Salad, Patagonian Toothfish and the much talked about, Marmite Chicken. Which I adored. In fact several weeks after the fact, I'm still craving more of it!

So, since I was so in love with it, and knew I wanted it again, I decided to try it out at home.... and went right to the search for a homemade recipe online. And I found several, but this one from Chocolate & Zucchini was the best. The only recipes I could find online all called for Maltrose, which I'm ashamed to say, I have no idea what it is or where to find it in Perth..... so, I opted for the recipe on Chocolate & Zucchini which was quick, easy and totally tasty! I did actually make it with Vegemite, since I didn't have any Marmite.... but it was still ace! It was slightly sweeter than I was hoping for, but that's an easy fix for the next time I make it. I'd perhaps lessen the sugar and increase the Vegemite (I used a teaspoon but could easily have doubled it).

So rather than repeat the recipe, please use the link above for C&Z's very own creation.

But here's a look at the lovely syrupy, simmering sauce:

And the final product.


Tasting Notes:

• Yum! Try it - at home or at Hawkers. It's so worth it. Trust me.

And since this was a bookmarked recipe to try (after tasting it at Hawkers and being desperate to recreate it) I am submitting it to Bookmarked Recipes weekly roundup. It's my very first submission to a roundup (how exciting, yet nervewracking) so I hope I pass muster!

Rather Luscious, Slightly Healthy, Chicken & Veg Pies.... free form style....

Come Monday nights, a funny thing has happened... I’ve been finding myself cooking rather fabulous dinners. I’m not sure if it’s a way of cleansing after the weekend or it’s a way of setting myself up just right for the week. Either way, there’ve been some great snacks created from a Monday evening cook-a-thon, and this Monday was no different. Although, it was a Martha Stewart marathon of a thing. And it was accidental.

See, I’d taken a chicken breast out of the freezer (a nice, plump corn fed one) and all day had no idea what to with it. So, I browsed a few sites like www.taste.com.au and a new favourite discovery at www.cuisine.com.au as well as some real life cookbooks for inspiration.

Then I saw it... a lovely image of a luscious chicken and veg pie, shrouded in crispy buttery pastry and I knew that’s what I wanted. I knew it was what I had to have – and was going to have it no matter what. No matter about having to make the pastry myself, or having to cut up tons of vegies, or having to make a white sauce to bind it all.... and not to mention having to wash a million dishes, all while Underbelly was on!

The other problem was that none of the recipes were quite what I wanted. So in the end I had to make it all up... but it worked and I was happy (although if anyone can give me a few bullet points on the gist of Underbelly, that would be great!).

So, before I forget how it all happened, I thought I’d write it down NOW and post it.

Chicken & Vegetable 'Pot' Pies... Free Form style
(this made 12 mini/med pies)

Pastry

1 Cup Wholemeal Flour
½ Cup Plain Flour
125gm Butter – chilled, chopped
Pinch Salt
Cold water

Sift flour and salt, add to food processor. Dot butter around and whiz until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. With the motor running, slowly add chilled water until the mix comes together in a ball. It should be slightly sticky, like playdough.

Wrap dough in cling wrap, and refrigerate for 30 mins (this will prevent shrinkage when baking).
When ready to use, flatten to a disk, before removing from wrap and rolling out to desired thickness on a floured bench.

Chicken and Vegetable Filling

1 Large Chicken Breast
1 Cup Leek – chopped
1 Cup Sweet Potato – peeled and chopped
½ Cup Carrot - chopped
1 Cup Mushrooms – chopped
1 Cup Zucchini – chopped
½ Cup Frozen Corn Kernels
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1 teaspoon Garlic – minced
½ cup White Wine
½ cup Chicken Stock
Salt, Pepper, Paprika
Olive Oil

Parboil sweet potato (about 10 mins) in lightly salted water. Drain and set aside.
Sauté leek and carrot in olive oil until soft and slightly browned. Add garlic and mustard. Sweat down for a few minutes before raising heat and adding chopped chicken. Brown together, stirring to prevent sticking.

Add stock and wine and bring to a simmer. Add mushrooms and zucchini and cook on a low simmer for a few minutes. Add corn and sweet potato as well as salt and pepper to taste, and a dash of paprika. Stir through and remove from heat.

Add white sauce (recipe below) to bring the mixture together – you may not need all the sauce, the mix should not be too wet, just nicely thickened to bind the filling together.

When combined, assemble pies.

White Sauce

2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Plain Flour
2 Cups Milk (warmed)
Salt & Pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan, when melted, add flour and stir until well combined. Allow the flour to cook for a few minutes, lower heat and then add a splash of milk, stirring briskly to break up lumps. When thickened, slowly add more milk, stirring constantly. Continue adding milk until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble pies – cut round discs of pastry (I used a saucer) place on a greased baking sheet. Add a spoonful of chicken filling. Bring up sides, slightly overlapping the mix, crimping to make the pastry hold up. Alternatively you can also line muffin tins with the pastry, adding the filling.

Bake - in a pre-heated (220’C) oven until pastry is cooked through and filling bubbling (mine took around 35 mins). Allow to rest for a few minutes, before turning onto a wire rack to cool slightly.

Tasting Notes

• The wholemeal pastry took longer than expected and was rather heavy, but I was trying to be healthy! If you don’t want to use wholemeal flour, use 2 cups of plain white flour to the same ratio of butter.



• These can be adapted for any ingredients that you may have in the fridge. The vegies above are what I had to hand...



• You could also make one large pie, you could double the pastry mix so the pie was enclosed



• If you have leftover white sauce, it freezes well so pop it away for another use

Chicken Dinner.... or Swamp.... or Soup....

So I had my very first crock pot failure with George yesterday. It was so bad that George has been shoved to the back of the cupboard as punishment.

I tried to make “Chicken Dinner” – a recipe I found on Recipezaar (a favourite resource of mine when bored at work, for research of course) - and on paper it sounded too good to be true. It was.

It was so bad, it was almost inedible. When cooked, the bird was over 2/3 submerged in liquid and when I tried to remove it, the whole thing imploded. So I ended up with a big bowl of swampy soup-like, chicken scented wrong.

Given I’d only put ¾ cup of liquid in, it was a devastating thing to see –so I promptly went to Google to find out why.... and I stumbled across this site that gives some rather good advice on crockpottery in general. One thing I’ve never got is the liquid thing in a slow cooker –my worst fear is to come home to a burnt, dry mess caked on the bottom of the bowl. It’s never happened. And I will never doubt this theory again after the vision of my drowned chook.

It seems that the steam creates a vacuum – assisting cooking and obviously thus providing more liquid through condensation. On this basis, the roast chicken dinner was clearly never going to be a winner (what WAS I thinking?).

So, instead of sharing the recipe of disaster, or the post-mortem photos, stop by and refresh yourself with this and other handy tips on slow cooking. Go to iVillage’s Cooking How-To Page on Slow Cookers, found here http://food.ivillage.com/cooking/slowcooker/0,,8tgn,00.html

It’s where I should’ve gone before I attempted this sad recipe. It also looks like I’ll be using traditional cooking techniques for a while, while George sits and thinks about what he’s done.... it’s lucky I’ve still got that massive chunk of Chilli Romano cheese, good pasta and a pot!