Spaghetti Carbonara

One of the things I really miss since finding out about my food intolerances is dairy... Thankfully it's only mild intolerance so I can tolerate having a small amount of dairy on occasion.  You can make this recipe dairy free by substituting the cream with non-dairy milk but I saw some Barambah organic cream at my local health food store, so decided to make this recipe with dairy cream and have my once in a blue moon dose of dairy!

Ingredients (serves 4):
- 1 onion  
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 rashers nitrate free bacon
- 2 tbsp ghee (or other cooking fat)
- 300g free range chicken thigh fillets, cubed
- 2 tbsp gluten free cornflour
- 100g mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 cup preservative free white wine (I used Happs brand)
- 1/2 cup water or stock (I used chicken bone broth)
- 1 cup cream or milk of choice
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- Sea salt and pepper to taste

To serve: cooked spaghetti (we used wholemeal spelt) and cheese (we used Blue River sheep's milk cheddar)

Method:
1. Melt cooking fat in a pot on medium heat.  Add finely chopped garlic, diced onion and diced bacon.  Cook stirring for a few minutes until starting to brown a little.

(Thermomix: add garlic, onion and bacon to bowl.  Chop 3sec/sp5.  Add cooking fat and cook 2min/100deg/sp1)

2.  Add chicken and cornflour and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes.

(Thermomix: add chicken and cornflour and cook 3min/100deg/rev+sp1)

3.  Add mushrooms, wine, stock/water, cream/milk and stir to combine.  Turn down the heat to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every now and then.

(Thermomix: add mushrooms, wine, stock/water, cream/milk and cook 10min/100deg/rev+sp1)

4.  Season with salt and pepper and stir through parsley.  Serve.

Creamy Salsa Chicken with Brown Rice

I recently joined a Facebook page for slow-cooker obsessed people!  There are some good recipes on there, but I was pretty surprised that so many of the recipes call for packets or jars of this, that and everything.  One of the more popular recipes seems to be salsa chicken which calls for some chicken fillets, a jar of salsa, a packet of taco seasoning and a tub of sour cream - all mixed together and slow cooked!  As delicious as the flavour combination sounded, I thought I would make up a recipe that is a lot healthier and I can guarantee tastes a lot better too without all the nasties from those packets.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 6):
- 500g chicken thigh fillets, sliced
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 large diced tomatoes or 400g can of diced tomatoes
- 1/2 red capsicum, diced
- 1 medium red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp raw or rapadura sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 cup water
- Squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice
- Sea salt, pepper and Herbamare to taste
- 200g creme fraiche or sour cream or natural yoghurt
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- Brown rice, soaked for at least 6 hours and then drained and rinsed
- Avocado slices to serve

Method:
1.  Into your slow cooker, add all the ingredients except the rice, creme fraiche and parsley.  Stir to combine.  Cook on "low" for around 5 hours, stirring every now and then.  When finished, stir through the parsley and creme fraiche.

If not using a slow cooker, preheat oven to 150 degrees, add the above ingredients to a casserole dish, stir, cover and bake for around 2 hours, stirring every now and then.  When finished, stir through parsley and creme fraiche.

2.  About half an hour before the chicken is ready, cook your brown rice as per the packet instructions (if using Thermomix, I added 1 litre of water into the TM bowl and cooked 300g of soaked/drained/rinsed brown rice for 30min/Varoma/sp4).

3.  Serve the brown rice topped with creamy salsa chicken and avocado slices on top. Yum!

Chicken & Vegetable Pie

What a great wintery dish.  Very warming on a cold winter day!  You can really use whatever veggies you like in this pie.  The more the merrier!

Ingredients:
Pie filling:
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp cooking fat
500g free range chicken fillets, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
1/2 capsicum, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 cup chicken broth (OR 1 cup water + 1 tsp TM veggie stock concentrate OR 1 cup Campbell's veggie stock)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp tamari sauce
1 tsp dried basil (or 1 tbsp fresh)
1 tsp dried parsley (or 1 tbsp fresh)
Sea salt, pepper and Herbamare to taste
2 tbsp gluten-free cornflour in 1/4 cup water

Pastry:
2.5 cups spelt flour
80g butter
1 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup water

Method:
1. Make the pie filling: cook the diced onion, crushed garlic, diced chicken and cooking fat for a few minutes on medium heat.

(TM: add halved onion and garlic cloves.  Chop 5sec/sp7.  Add cooking fat and chicken.  Cook 3min/100deg/rev+sp1)

2.  Add diced veggies, stock/broth, vinegar, tamari, herbs and seasonings.  Turn down the heat and simmer, stirring every now and then, for 10 minutes.

(TM: add diced veggies, stock/broth, vinegar, tamari, herbs and seasonings and cook 10min/100deg/rev+sp1)

3.  Add the cornflour dissolved in water and stir in.  Simmer for a few more minutes until the liquid has thickened.  Cool the pie filling while you make the pastry.

(TM: add cornflour dissolved in water.  Cook 3min/100deg/rev+sp1.  Allow the filling to cool while you make pastry)

4.  To make the pastry, in a food processor, process the flour, butter and salt until breadcrumb consistency.  Add the water and process a few more seconds.  Take the pastry out and knead until smooth.  Split into 2 equal portions and put into the fridge for around 15 minutes.

(TM: into clean and dry bowl, add flour, butter and salt.  Mix 6sec/sp6.  Add water and knead 30 seconds on interval setting.  Take the pastry out and split in half, then refrigerate for 15 minutes)

5.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and grease a pie dish with butter.  Take out one portion of pastry and roll out.  Place into greased pie dish and prick with a fork.  Blind bake for around 10 minutes.

6.  Turn down the oven to 180 degrees.  Pour the pie filling into pastry shell.  Roll out the remaining pastry and place on top of the pie, pressing down all along the edge to secure.  Prick the top a few times to allow for air vents.  Bake for around 20 minutes or until the pastry on top is golden.
 
   

Chicken & Chickpea Burgers

With all the study I've been doing for uni lately and as the semester is drawing to an end, I find myself coming home and lacking motivation!  Some nights I just do not feel like spending too much time cooking so this recipe is perfect for nights like that (ie tonight!).  Hubby and the kids had these with bread rolls, salad and homemade tomato sauce.  I passed on the bread rolls!  You could use fresh coriander in place of parsley but as I don't like the flavour of fresh coriander, I use parsley instead!

Ingredients (makes 6 patties):
500g free range chicken mince
1/2 cup besan (chickpea) flour or 3/4 cup tinned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 onion
1 garlic clove
Thumb of fresh turmeric (or 2 tsp ground turmeric)
1/2 capsicum, deseeded
1 carrot, peeled
1/2 cup broccoli florets
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp onion powder
1 free range egg
Sea salt and pepper

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line 2 baking trays with baking paper

2.  In a food processor or Thermomix (5sec/sp7), process the chickpeas (if using tinned chickpeas), onion, garlic, fresh turmeric (if using), carrot, broccoli and capsicum until finely chopped.  Tip into a large bowl.

3.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix with your hands until combined.  Shape into patties.

4.  Bake for around 20 minutes or until patties are golden and cooked through.

Chicken & Vegetable Soup

Well the cooler weather is definitely upon us now in Perth and in the past week we have also had a crazy amount of rain (until now, I have barely seen any rain in Perth since we moved here in January!) and some strong winds - the winds reminded me a bit of the September winds in the Hunter Valley! Anyway, back to the topic at hand... so this cooler weather definitely calls for more soups for dinner.  The chicken broth that I used to make this soup takes some time to make but it is well worth it (and the broth recipe makes a nice big batch if made in a slow cooker, I had enough left to freeze a batch for another recipe), and gives the soup extra nutrients as well as a depth of flavour... though as per the recipe below, you can substitute this broth with stock. 

Ingredients (serves 4):
1 onion, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp duck fat (or other cooking fat)
1/2 zucchini, peeled
1/2 carrot, peeled
1/2 cup broccoli florets
Corn kernels from 1 cob of corn 
1L vegetable stock (Campbell's)
OR 1L water + 1 tbsp Thermomix vegetable stock concentrate
OR 1L chicken broth (this is what I used, made as per Quirky Cooking's linked recipe)
300g free range chicken thigh fillets, thinly sliced
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Sea salt, pepper and Herbamare to taste

Method:
1.  Into a saucepan on medium heat, add the cooking fat, diced onion and minced garlic.  Cook, stirring, until onion has softened.

(Into Thermomix add halved onion and peeled garlic cloves.  Chop 5sec/sp5.  Add cooking fat and cook 2min/100deg/sp1)

2.  Grate or process the zucchini, carrot and broccoli.  Add to saucepan along with corn kernels and sliced chicken.  Cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes.

(Into Thermomix add zucchini, carrot and broccoli.  Chop 5sec/sp6.  Add sliced chicken and corn kernels.  Cook 3min/100deg/rev+sp1)

3.  Add broth/stock, apple cider vinegar and parsley.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer for around 10 minutes.

(Into Thermomix, add broth/stock, apple cider vinegar and parsley.  Cook 10min/90deg/rev+sp1)

4.  Season with sea salt, pepper and Herbamare.  Serve. 

Marinated Chicken Skewers

Years ago, I used to love the marinated chicken skewers that you can get from the supermarket deli's.  Though since become more aware of what I put into my body, I stopped buying the pre-prepared skewers and started making my own - and they are so easy to make.  The marinade is my hubby's recipe and it is one of my fave marinades.  

Ingredients (makes 12 skewers):
You will need 12 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for approximately 20 minutes
600g free range chicken thigh fillets, cubed
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 small chilli's, deseeded, finely chopped
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp pure honey
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp tamari (wheat free soy sauce)
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Method:
1.  Thread the cubed chicken onto the soaked bamboo skewers and place into a large glass dish

2.  To make the marinade, combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl and stir together until the honey is dissolved

3.  Pour the marinade over the chicken skewers, cover and put into the fridge to marinate for at least 6 hours.  Turn the skewers every couple of hours if possible.

4.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees and bake the chicken skewers for around 25 minutes or until cooked through.  Serve with stir-fried vegetables.

(To stirfry veggies in the Thermomix, I did this: add a clove of garlic, a thumb of ginger and if you can find it a thumb of fresh turmeric root to the bowl.  Chop 5sec/sp9.  Add 3tbsp of cooking fat and cook 2min/Varoma/sp2.  Add 4 cups of chopped veggies, placing harder veggies at the bottom of the bowl, and cook 5min/Varoma/rev+sp1).

Pesto Pasta with Chicken, Tomato & Avocado

This can be a very quick weeknight meal to throw together, especially if you have baked your chicken and made the pesto ahead of time.  As a rare treat for the family, I bought some wheat pasta to make this with.  Usually I use pasta made from gluten free or low gluten grains.   

Ingredients (serves 4-6):
500g spaghetti
2 chicken fillets, baked with a sprinkle of Herbamare, diced
2 avocadoes, diced
2 tomatoes, diced

Basil pesto:
50g parmesan, cubed
2 garlic cloves
Leaves from 1 bunch of basil
2 handfuls cashews
2 handfuls pinenuts
Sea salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Method:
1.  Cook the pasta as per the packet directions, drain, rinse and set aside.

2.  To make the basil pesto: add parmesan and garlic to food processor or Thermomix.  Process until finely chopped (5sec/sp7 in Thermomix).  Add basil, nuts and season with salt and pepper.  Process again for a few seconds or until finely chopped (5sec/sp7 in Thermomix).  Then with the blades running (speed 3 in Thermomix), add the olive oil in a thin stream through the hole in the lid.

3.  In a large bowl, combine the cooked pasta, chicken, avocado, tomato and pesto.  Toss to combine.  Serve with a drizzle of extra olive oil. 

Honey Mustard Chicken

Honey mustard chicken is something that I used to make all the time back in my additive-loving days... back then I used jars of sauce from the supermarket (cringe!)... Not sure why, because it is so easy to make this dish with very simple ingredients.  So here is my version of it, which I have also made dairy-free using some of my homemade nut milk.   

Ingredients (serves 4-6)
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp duck fat (or other cooking fat)
500g free-range chicken fillets, cubed
2 carrots, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
500mL milk of choice (I used my homemade cashew milk)
2 tbsp pure honey
1.5 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp Herbamare
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp cornflour (gluten-free)

Rice, to serve

Method:
1.  Melt the cooking fat in a pot over medium heat.  Add the diced onion and minced garlic.  Cook until softened.

(In Thermomix, add halved onion and garlic clove.  Chop 5sec/sp6.  Add cooking fat and cook 2min/100deg/sp1).

2.  Add cubed chicken and diced veggies.  Cook, stirring, for a few minutes or until chicken is mostly cooked through.

(In Thermomix, add chicken and veggies and cook 5min/100deg/rev+speed soft)

3.  Add milk, honey, mustard, Herbamare and season with salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring, for a few minutes.    

(In Thermomix, add milk, honey, mustard, Herbamare and salt and pepper.  Cook 7min/90deg/rev+sp1)

4.  Mix cornflour with 1/4 cup of water (make sure it's smooth) and add to pot, with the chopped fresh parsley.  Cook, stirring, for a few minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.

(In Thermomix, add cornflour mixed with 1/4 cup water and also add the parsley.  Cook 3min/90deg/rev+sp1).

Pesto Stuffed Chicken Rolls with Tomato Mushroom Sauce

These chicken rolls are a great weeknight dinner, especially if you have pre-prepared the pesto. I made a dairy free pesto by using nutritional yeast flakes (available from health food stores) but you could also use parmesan in place of these if you are OK with dairy.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)
6 free range chicken thigh fillets

Basil & Spinach Pesto:
1/2 bunch basil, leaves only
2 large handfuls baby spinach leaves
1 cup macadamias
3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Mushroom & tomato sauce:
20g butter or ghee
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
350g pasata
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley and basil
Herbamare, salt & pepper to taste

Method
1. Make pesto.  Add garlic (and parmesan, if using) to food processor or Thermomix.  Process for a few seconds until finely chopped (speed 9 in Thermomix).  Add basil, spinach, macadamias, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and garlic powder.  Pulse a few times.  Season well with salt and pepper, then with the blades running (speed 3 in Thermomix), add the oil in a slow stream through the hole in the lid.

2.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper.  Flatten the chicken fillets slightly with a mallet.  Spread a tablespoon of pesto on top of each fillet, roll up and secure with toothpicks.  Arrange chicken rolls on baking tray and season with Herbamare.  Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until chicken is golden brown on the surface and cooked through.

3.  While the chicken is baking, make the sauce.  Add butter to a saucepan and melt on low-medium heat heat.  Dice onion and mince garlic.  Add to saucepan and cook, stirring, for a few minutes until softened.  Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for a few minutes or until mushrooms are cooked through.

(In Thermomix, add halved onion and garlic cloves.  Chop 5sec/sp5.  Add butter and cook 2min/100deg/sp1.  Add remaining ingredients and cook 5min/100deg/rev+sp1). 

4.  Once chicken is cooked, remove the toothpicks.  Cut each roll into 3-4 slices, pour over the sauce and serve with a salad or veggies on the side.