Recipe

Chicken Pie

January 28, 2013 by Sophia 13 Comments

Happy Australia day weekend everyone! I hope you had a great time basking in the sun, with good food and great company. I had a friend from Sydney staying, so had a great time with her eating and drinking all over Melbourne. We watched a lot of tennis this weekend at federation square, which had such a great atmosphere to cheer on the player of your choice. The mens final had a small interruption as we watched the Australia day fire works over the city, what a beautiful sight. I thought since it was Australia day I would post a good old fashioned Pie.

I came up with this pie as a great way to uses left over chicken, of which I eat way to much (not my fault, I blame it on my cat), I have also been known to use turkey around Christmas time to use it all up.

I spoil my cat, Miss Kitty, rotten because after all she has been through, she deserves it. Every week I buy her a cooked chicken from the supermarket, which we both have for dinner. I give her the skin and I have the meat. As I get sick of having a cooked chicken for dinner every week, this pie recipe is what I do with the leftovers.

Nearly two years ago, I woke up to discover my cat couldn’t walk she had lost the ability to use her hind legs. Her breathing went funny and I though oh no this is it, she is after all 16 or 17. So I drove her to the vet and sent my mum in, I couldn’t go in as I feared the worst. The vet gave her two injections, one to remove the water from her lungs and the other to try and remove the clot that they thought might be causing her inability to walk. And I took her home. Her breathing improved, and I thought her legs seemed to be getting better. The Vet didn’t agree, so they said I should put her down. When the vet said put her down, I took her to another vet and they said the same thing. She said she was amazed she had lived this long, as she has a bad heart and a thyroid problem plus had, had cancer on her ears and nose which I had removed a couple of years previously. So after the second vet said that I said ok put her down.

Somehow though I walked out of that vet, with my Miss Kitty and took her home as I didn’t think she was ready to go. I thought my cat was fighting to live and if she had that much will to live, I should let her. Over the next few weeks her legs did get better and she began to walk. So I’m happy to say two years later she is still here, and is as happy as larry (and larry is very happy).

Chicken & Mushroom Pies

1 tablespoon of Olive oil

1 small onion

Half the meat from a cooked chicken removed and chopped

8-10 medium size mushrooms

1 cup of vegetable stock

1 tablespoon of tomato sauce

1 teaspoon of mild english mustard

2 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce

Salt and Pepper

3 tablespoons cold of water

1 tablespoon of corn flour

2 Sheets of store brought Puff Pastry

Place the onion and oil in a fry pan and cook until the onion has browned. Add the chicken and mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms have softened. Add the stock, tomato sauce, mustard, worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper. To thicken the gravy, mix the water and cornflour together and pour into the chicken mix. Stir until thickened then remove from the heat.

Cut the Puff pasty sheets into four and then line four small pie tins with the pastry, fill the pastry cases with the chicken mixture. Place the remaining puff pastry squares on the top and cut around to remove any excess pasty. Put two little holes in the top of the pies and bush with egg whites. Place in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden.

Serve with lots of tomato sauce like all good pies should!!

Do you do any great left over recipes? If so please share!!

Rainbow Carrots and Pork Chops

January 22, 2013 by Sophia 14 Comments

I went for a drive into the country, to a number of small towns just out side Melbourne the other week, to show my Parents the country side as my dad had been complaining that he never got to see anything outside Melbourne when he visits. So this called for a road trip.

One little town, Woodend, had a farmers market, with local produce, when we were there. Although it was quite a small market in comparison to others I have been to, it had a good variety of produce. You could buy live chickens for $30, which I soooo would have done if I had space for them. However sadly I don’t, thats what you get when you live in the city.

Well my Dad wandered off as he does and he came back with these amazing coloured carrots. He said “here I bought these for you”. Well I had know idea what to do with them as I had never cooked with coloured carrots, so they sat in my fridge for a couple of weeks, until they could sit no more and I really had to find a use for them. I had ideas of amazing colourful salad’s however I think I left them a little to long for that, so I threw them into a roasting dish with some other vegetables and roasted them. To be served with some Sticky Pork Chops.

Sticky Pork Chops

2 pork chops

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

2 teaspoons of lime juice

1 teaspoon garlic

pepper to taste

Place the sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic and pepper into a brown and stir to combine. Spoon over the pork chops and leave to marinade for a couple of hours. Then cook on a griddle iron or on the BBQ, until cooked.

Serve with some roasted veggies.

Passionfruit & White Chocolate Mousse

January 20, 2013 by Sophia 10 Comments

Happy Birthday to my little sister who turns 25 today!!! I hope you have had a great day and enjoyed your weekend. We went to a little restaurant called seamstress on Friday, in Melbourne’s CBD to celebrate. I was running late so unfortunately arrived after dinner, I can highly recommend the water though 🙂

She had made herself a beautiful chocolate cake, I know very slack of me not to make her one. But in my defence, she has been trying out her cake decorating skills so wanted to make a very glamourous cake, which I have absolutely no skill in doing. I have always wanted to do a course in it, however sadly have never really got around to it. Oh well one day. In the mean time a white chocolate and passionfruit mousse will have to do. Enjoy.

Passionfruit & White Chocolate Mousse

150g white chocolate

2 egg whites

40g sugar

100ml cream

2 passionfruit

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave, then set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until stiff, then slowly add the sugar and whisk until the mixture is glossy.

In a separate bowl beat the cream until soft peaks form. Slowly fold half of the cream into the egg whites. Then fold in the chocolate and then the remaining cream and passionfruit. Spoon into a dish and place in the refrigerator for 3 hours