Tuesday, October 30, 2007

0 Quick Garlic Chicken Kebab Recipe


Here is my quick and easy recipe for a juicy garlic kebab.

Jeenas Garlic Chicken Kebabs are great to eat on there own or with bread, potatoes or an accompaniment of your choice.

I do not use any spices in this recipe, just garlic to give it a true garlic chicken flavour.

We love these kebabs and I am sure you will enjoy them too !





Ingredients
Boneless Chicken Thigh Pieces
Zucchinis/Courgettes
1 Red Onion
1 Green Capsicum/Pepper
1 Sweet Red Capsicum/Pepper
2 Tomatoes
3-4 Cloves Garlic
Olive Oil
Salt


Getting Started...

First chop all your vegetables into chunks and drizzle a little olive oil onto a baking tray. Grind your garlic into a paste with a little water. Pour your garlic onto your chicken.

Take four metal kebab skewers and gently place on your vegetables and chicken onto them (be sure to wash your hands after touching the chicken). Sprinkle your kebabs with some salt then place your tomatoes on your tray in between your kebabs.



Pour a tiny drop of water into your tray then cover with tin foil. You only need little water to steam your chicken moist, too much with turn it into a stew!

Place into a pre-heated oven at approx 180C cook for 20 minutes or until your chicken is hot and cooked all the way through.



Your delicious garlic chicken kebabs are ready. The metal in the skewer helps to cook the kebab as it heats up in the oven.

Always check that is cooked through still.

Serve as they are or with an accompaniment, pita bread is a lovely choice.


Enjoy Jeena's Quick Garlic Chicken Kebabs.




Saturday, October 27, 2007

0 Coming Up ....Jeena's Winter Warmer Recipes

Hi everyone, I have some great Autumn and Winter recipes coming up so stay tuned. Soups are a big favourite this year for my family I have been making lots of tasty varieties. Check out my Carrot and Coriander Soup Recipe below, there is lots more to come too! I will be making lots of Winter Warmers to post for those cool days and evenings coming up.

There is great scenery around at this time of year and it is fantastic inspiration to get that real winter warmer feeling. The crispness of the cool air outside as the leaves start to change on the trees makes you just want to curl up with a bowl of fresh hot soup, an open fire place would be nice but relaxing in front of the TV will do just fine for me.

Donald and me went for a walk in the woods last week and I took the camera to take some snaps, see below for the beautiful scenery here in Maine. :)

Love Jeena x
Pictures from the Woods

Reminds me of a rustic log fire place. :)

When the leaves change colour you can almost smell the home made bread cooking on a autumn afternoon. :)


The dark green winter leaves of Fir and Ivy get you excited about the winter season coming. :)



See Below for Jeena's Carrot and Coriander Soup Recipe :)

0 Carrot and Coriander Soup Recipe

This is the quickest, easiest carrot and coriander soup recipe you will ever make.

It tastes so very delicious and you will love it too !

It is very low in fat and dairy free which means it is a real guilt free treat.

Soups do not need cream, milk and unlimited herbs to make them taste nice, the great thing about home made soup is that at the most, with a pinch of salt, spice maybe and the odd herb, soup can taste wonderful and be so very healthy.

The best flavour comes from the vegetable itself, if you get yourself a good blender you will not believe how you can turn a cooked vegetable into such a fantastic dish.

I use few ingredients in this recipe and the taste is wonderful.

I use dried coriander instead of fresh because as much as I love fresh coriander the whole point of it being carrot and coriander soup is that you can taste the carrots.

Using fresh coriander leaves over powers it too much, So I use dried which is a nice balance of the flavours.

I am sure you will love this soup recipe as much as we did and it is a great winter warmer and so very healthy.



Ingredients
10 Medium Carrots (diced small)
1 Small Onion (diced small)
Large Pinch Dried Coriander
Salt and Pepper
Drizzle Olive Oil



(I use a pressure cooker but if you don't have one you can boil your carrots and onion instead but make sure they are cooked until soft enough to blend into a smooth soup)



Getting Started

In your pressure cooker bottom(without the lid) gently fry your onions in some olive oil until golden brown. Turn the heat off and add your carrots, stir well.


Take your tomato and put 3-4 slits down each side, you do not want to chop it up but do them a little deep.

Place this on top of your carrots. Add enough water so that you can just see the water trying to come through the carrots.




Place the lid of your pressure cooker on, make sure it is secure and safe. Turn the heat back on and bring to the full pressure, now turn the heat down to the lowest you can and let it cook for 7 minutes.

Turn off the heat gently place your cooker under your cold tap, when pressure is released open your lid off.

Your carrots , onion and tomato should be soft now. With a spoon you can take the tomato skin out of the pan and discard it.



Using a blender pulp it all into a soup. Place it into a different pan, add salt and pepper to taste with a large pinch of dried coriander leaves. Simmer for a minute or two then serve.

Enjoy Jeenas Carrot and Coriander Soup as the taste is wonderful.





Enjoy my Carrot and Coriander Soup Recipe, it is wonderful !

Why not check out my other home made tasty soup recipes below:

Click here for Butternut Squash Soup Recipe


Click here for Chunky Mediterranean Soup Recipe


Friday, October 26, 2007

0 Easy egg custard recipe


With Chef Jeena an egg custard recipe never has to be difficult ever again.

Here is one of Chefs favourite delicious tasting sweets of all time, the humble egg custard.

Egg custards taste absolutely wonderful, if you have ever bought an egg custard from a shop and thought it tasted good, then I promise that once you taste thias recipe you will never buy another custard again.

These egg custards are the real deal.

It is the kind of recipe that reminds you of how they tasted when you were a kid, if you have never tried an egg custard before then try this recipe it is a must.

It is really simple to make, you may think it is hard to bake something that has to set but I assure you there is nothing complicated about this recipe.

You do not have to blind bake(blind bake is where you pre-cook pastry so the bottom does not go soggy when the filling is added) the pastry for this recipe.

These egg custards are so tasty and the custards are a fantastic dish to pre make before you have visitors round.

Go ahead give Chefs egg custard recipe a try and see for yourself that you can really bake those lovely foods you never thought to make for yourself.





Pastry ingredients

8oz Plain Flour
4oz Butter/Margarine
approx 1 oz White Sugar
Pinch Salt (optional)
Little Cold Water

Egg custard filling

1/2 Pint/300ml Milk (full fat)
2 Tbsp White Sugar
2 Medium Eggs
Grated Nutmeg


How to make pastry

Mix flour, sugar and salt(optional) together in a bowl.

Add margarine to the bowl and start to rub it all together using your thumbs and fingertips, keep doing this until your mixture looks like bread crumbs.



Keep adding a little cold water to your mixture until it forms a dough.

Make sure only a tiny amount of water is added at a time - mix well between adding each drop of water - pastry needs very little liquid.




On a floured top divide the pastry into four even pieces.

Grease and flour 4 small ramekin oven pots.

Roll each piece out to be larger than the oven pots in size, do not roll it out too thick but be sure it is not too thin.

Approximately one centimetre in thickness but use your own judgment for your sized oven dishes.




Place each rolled out pastry into the oven pots.

Gently push the pastry down into the middle and make the pastry as even as possible up the sides.

The pastry will over flow the oven pots.




Gently and loosely wrap each one up in plastic wrap and place into your fridge while you cook the egg custard filling.




For the egg custard filling

Place two eggs into a bowl/jug and whisk, an electric whisk is not necessary.

Preferably in a heavy based pan bring the 1/2 pint of milk and sugar to the boil then switch off.

Gently add milk to the eggs stiring all the time to stop the egg curdling.

You should be left with an almost runny type custard.



Leave the custard to cool a little the temperature should be neither hot nor cold.

If you pour the custard into a flat dish this helps it cool a lot quicker.




When egg custard filing is cooled enough take the pastry pots out of the fridge and discard the plastic wrap.



If the egg custard filling is not already in a jug, pour it into a jug here.

Pour an even amount of custard into each pastry case.




Take a small knife and gently cut off the excess pastry from the egg custards.

It is easier if you gently lean your knife edge onto the outer oven pot as you do it.




Grate fresh nutmeg on top of the egg custards , this helps them to set - only a little nutmeg is needed.

You can use the powdered nutmeg also.




The egg custards are ready for the oven.



Place the egg custards ont o the middle shelt of a hot oven at 170-180C.

Bake for 30-40 minutes.



To check if the egg custards are ready use the back of a spoon or your finger(only if your used to the hot touch) if they feel firm they are ready.

The pastry should be pale golden/golden brown, the egg custard filling can go a little golden brown on top this is normal, sometimes it doesn't this also is fine.




Take the custards out of the oven and place onto a cooling rack.




Once cooled a little you should be able to quickly tip the custards out of the oven pot, if still hot use a tea towel.

Place onto your cooling rack.



You can try eating them warm if you like, but the true way to eat an egg custard is to leave them to cool down and then place them in the fridge to go cold.

Make sure you wrap them in plastic wrap or cover them when they are in your fridge.

Egg custards are a great dessert to eat, they can be made the night before.




Enjoy Chefs egg custard recipe.




 
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