Individual Banana Loaves

Sadie and I love bananas! I like mine sliced served on hot buttery toast and Sadie likes her peeled and served straight up! Unfortunately the Middle East does not produce their own fruit or vegetables so we have to import everything. I buy my tomatoes from Holland, my oranges from the USA and my potatoes from Australia....and pay dearly for them! Bananas are imported from the Philippines and my house keeper back in the UAE once told me that bananas are the Philippines biggest export and she was very proud of the fact! Unfortunately because the bananas have to travel a long distance, by the time they get to us they basically have a days' shelf life before they are too ripe and bruised to eat. This means that I pretty much buy bananas on a daily basis! 

I had 2 bananas that were bordering on dodgy so instead of wasting them I decided to bake! I searched through some of my cooking magazines and came across the following recipe from Taste Magazine. These mini loaves are delicious, very moist and sweet enough to have without the icing. I used icing just for the beauty shot. They can be stored in an airtight container for 4-5 days however, I have frozen mine so that Sadie can enjoy them in her lunch box!

Ingredients

Butter, to grease

1 1/4 cups self-raising flour

1/2 cup castor sugar

125g butter, melted, cooled

2 eggs

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup pure icing sugar (this is optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease mini loaf pans. (The recipe called for 8 x 1/2 cup pans, mine were slightly bigger and made 6). Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl.

Whisk the butter and eggs together. 

Add to the flour mixture with the banana and mix until well combined.

Spoon the cake batter evenly among the greased pans. Use the back of a spoon to smooth surface. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled completely, mix the icing sugar with enough water to make and icing thin enough to pour. Drizzle the icing over the cakes and set aside to set. 

Matt's Penne Pasta

Well, it's been a CRAZY week! My daughter turned 2 on Tuesday and we've had a birthday extravaganza since then! I have tried a couple of times this week to post an entry on my blog but to no avail. It started Tuesday with me trying to bake a cake in my shocking gas oven, only to have it burn to a crisp. After the cake incident, I thought I'd whip up some cupcakes which were OK but not great. And we've eaten out every night this week that there was nothing else for me to post!

However, today I set my mind to it! I was going to write my blog! Matt has been begging me for ages to cook him his favourite pasta meal. A meal that when I first came up with the recipe (yes I created this dish!) Matt turned his nose up at it but within 15 minutes he was singing its praises!

I came up with this recipe about 4 years ago when we first moved from Sydney to Melbourne. I remember feeling like a pasta dish but was over the stock standard Spaghetti Bolognese that I was cooking on a weekly basis. I flicked through a few cook books and magazines and I think I used some recipes for inspiration and truthfully whatever was in the fridge!

This pasta dish turned out to be a huge success! Such a success that Matt started requesting his penne pasta almost every week and it got to the point where I was sick of it! I actually haven't cooked this pasta in over a year so it's fitting it made its return tonight for my blog.

Lastly, for any vegetarians reading, this pasta sauce tastes great without the chicken and even staunch meat eaters won't miss the omission of chicken!

Enjoy

Ingredients

500g chicken breasts, diced
2 x zucchini, thinly sliced in circles
2 tbl spoons olive oil
zest and juice of 1 lemon
150g feta, crumbled
300g penne pasta
200ml light pouring cream
chili flakes to your liking
salt & pepper to season

Method


Cook pasta according to packet directions. Meanwhile heat oil in a large hot pan and add chicken. Saute chicken until the meat is no longer pink.

Add the zucchini and cook until tender.

Once the zucchini is cooked through, add the lemon zest and juice and the chilli flakes. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Drain the pasta and toss through the sauce, making sure to combine the ingredients well together. Stir through the cream. Turn off the heat and add the feta cheese, combining all ingredients together gently.

Serve immediately.

Chicken Balls with Couscous Salad

Matt and I are feeling a little tender today to say the least. Last night we went to a friends house for dinner and drinks and indulged a little too much in the drinks side of things! We were supposed to spend the day by the pool and even though it was quite hot today it was too windy to venture outside (with wind comes sand storms). So we decided to have a relaxing day at home with Sadie and recover from our silly hang over!


Tonight for dinner, I wanted something light, fresh and most of all easy. I found this recipe on the internet and had it saved for quite sometime and tonight felt like the perfect moment to roll it out. Supper tonight felt very summery and mediterranean, I could have easily been transported to an al fresco restaurant on the Greek Islands!


I really love couscous as it's very good for you and is a great alternative to rice or potatoes.


I have changed the recipe and method slightly by using panko breadcrumbs instead of a soggy piece of bread. I added lemon zest to the couscous and whenever making any type of ball or rissole I think it's always best to refrigerate for at least 1/2 an hour to firm the mixture which then makes it easier when cooking in the pan. I also omitted the cumin seeds from the salad as I'm not a fan but it's entirely up to you!


This recipe is really healthy, light and fresh and I actually think it would taste just as great cold being served at a picnic.


Enjoy
x


Ingredients


Chicken Balls
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs (these are Japanese breadcrumbs and have a great texture and crunchy bite)
250g chicken mince
2 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped coriander
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil
lemon wedges to serve


Couscous Salad
1 cup boiling water
1 cup couscous
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
1 lebanese cucumber, quartered lengthways, sliced (I also remove the seeds)
2 green onions, finely sliced
The zest of 1lemon and it's juice
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted


Method

 

 

Place in a large bowl chicken mince, breadcrumbs, green onion, half of coriander and egg. Mix thoroughly and season with salt and pepper. Using wet hands, shape into about 16 small balls and refrigerate for at least 1/2 an hour. 

Heat half of oil in a large frying pan on medium. Cook meatballs in batches for 5-7  minutes, tossing frequently, until browned and cooked through. Drain on paper towel and set aside.

To make the couscous salad. Combine boiling water and remaining oil in a bowl. Stir in couscous, cover and set aside for 5 minutes. Fluff up with a fork to separate grains. Toss through remaining salad ingredients and remaining coriander. 


I plan on having the leftovers tomorrow cold for lunch!!

Easy Peasy Chicken Pies

Living in the Middle East, I obviously eat a lot of Middle Eastern food which is delish! However, sometimes I crave comfort food that feels very Australian. Growing up we would almost always have a pie at some stage over the weekend. I love a good meat pie or a potato pie but every now and then I'd go all out and have a chicken pie! My local bakery growing up was called Hill Top Bakery and to this day I have never found a place that does doughnuts, slices, pies or meringues as good as Hill Top! I think the bakery has since closed down but I will always have fond memories of that place. I wish I could take Sadie there for a lamington after school.... I digress!

I found this recipe on line and it really appealed to me because it seemed so comforting and cosy but best of all it seemed like a healthy pie! These individual chicken pies are full of chicken (obviously!) and lots of vegies and best of all they don't have a fattening creamy sauce. I was worried that the pies would taste dry without the creamy goodness, but they were absolutely scrumptious and not once did I feel guilty! The pies only require a little disc of golden puff pastry on top and I think serving the pies alongside some green leaves cancels out the pastry... doesn't it?!?!

The recipe below serves 4 however, I halved the ingredients so as not to temp myself with seconds! The recipe called for chicken thighs which I'm not a huge fan of so I used chicken breast.

If you do not have individual pie dishes you can easily make one large pie in an oven safe dish and the cooking time remains the same.

I think this dish would be perfect for a Sunday lunch with friends. Or in my case a Friday lunch with friends as here in the Middle East our weekends are Fridays/Saturday with Fridays feeling more like a Sunday... confused yet?!

Enjoy
x

Ingredients
4 chicken breasts cut into 2cm pieces
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
300g mushrooms, chopped
4 green onions (shallots), thinly sliced
1/2 cup frozen peas (I actually used a mix of frozen vegies to give the dish more colour and taste)
1/4 cup grated tasty cheese
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed cut into four 15cm circles
1 egg, lightly beaten
salad to serve (optional)

Method

Toss chicken pieces in flour, shaking off excess. Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium. Cook chicken in batches, until golden. Remove from pan. Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, until mushrooms soften and liquid evaporates.

Preheat oven to 220C. Combine chicken, mushrooms, green onion, peas and cheese in a bowl. Season to taste (don't be shy with the salt, this dish needs a fair amount!). Divide chicken mixture between four 11cm pie dishes or individual ramekins.

Brush edge of pie dishes with water. Cover with pastry and press around edge of each ramekin to seal. Brush tops with egg. Bake pies for 20 minutes, or until pastry is golden.

Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce

I absolutely love Italian food! When Matt, Sadie and I moved to Abu Dhabi we were excited to try out all the different Italian restaurants. One that became a firm favourite was an eatery called Biella. They served good fast Italian cuisine and at a great price so it was a place we frequented often. When we moved to Doha in November I was pleasantly surprised to find that Biella had 2 restaurants in town!


My favourite dish at Biella is Spagehtti Al Pomodoro, basically a fresh tomato sauce tossed in with some spaghetti. However, the Biella here in Doha doesn't use fresh tomatoes (canned only) and it is was a true disspointment to discover. So yesterday while I was wondering what to cook for dinner I decided to make my own version and let me tell you I will never be ordering that dish from Biella again! The sauce is really easy to make and is a nice light healthy dish for supper.


I think Matt was slightly concerned that he wasn't receiving any kind of meat with his meal last night but once he finished my pasta dish he said it was amazing and would definitely recommend me serving at our next dinner party! I could not have asked for a better compliment from my carnivore husband!


Ingredients


6 Roma Tomatoes (I used 10 as the tomatoes at the supermarket yesterday were tiny!)
10 basil leaves (I had to make do with dried basil as there was no fresh basil available)
1 garlic clove
2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
400g fresh pasta (fresh pasta is best used here rather than dried)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees (400 F). Put the tomatoes on a baking tray and roast until the skins are beginning to blacken all over. This took approximately 1 hour in my oven.

Put the whole tomatoes including the charred skin and any juices into a food processor or blender with basil, oil, garlic, sugar & balsamic vinegar. Blend to form a thick sauce, thinning the mixture with a little warm water if necessary. Toss the sauce through warm fresh pasta and serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Matt's Birthday Cake!

Tomorrow is my gorgeous husband’s birthday and I promised him that I would make him a chocolate cake from scratch! The reason it has to be from scratch and not from a box or a bakery is due to the following:

In a few days Matt and I will have been together for 5 years. We met at a friend’s wedding in Vanuatu and the instant I met him I knew he was the man I was going to marry. There was no other option for me than to make sure that he felt the same way! As they say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach! So this weekend marks the anniversary of my infamous BBQ! My friend Gaby (the Bride whose wedding we met at) and I decided that we were going to host a BBQ at my house and invite Matt along. Gaby’s and Matt's respective birthday are 2 days apart so I decided what a nice idea it would be to bake a chocolate cake! Truth be told I just couldn't be bothered making it from scratch so made one from a packet however, Matt was none the wiser...or so I thought. And there I was trying to win this man over by taking full credit for the moist, rich chocolate cake when all I did was serve him a plate full of delicious lies. It wasn't until about a year later that Matt told me that he had seen the empty cake box in the rubbish bin and knew full well I hadn't made it from scratch!!

Since that day I haven't made Matt a birthday cake as we have always gone out to celebrate. However, this year I did it! I made a birthday cake from scratch! And I have been so selfless in this act because I haven't even been able to eat any of the cake. I have made this cake for Matt to take to work tomorrow to share with his staff. If this is not the act of a Domestic Goddess then I don't know what is!

So in honor of the world’s most amazing husband and father...I give you my Chocolate Cake!

Happy Birthday Matt, I love being your wife and being the mother of our beautiful Lady Sadie and I hope to make hundreds more birthday cakes for you...all from scratch!

Ingredients

250g softened unsalted butter

225g (1 cup) caster sugar

3 lightly beaten eggs

125ml (1/2 cup) milk

1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract (the best you can afford)

4 tablespoons dark cocoa powder

150g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Grease and line a 23cm (9 in) spring-form tin. Beat butter and caster sugar in a mixing bowl or electric mixer. Add the eggs, milk and vanilla. Continue mixing and gradually fold in the cocoa and self-raising flour. 

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

 Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool. When the cake has cooled, transfer it to a serving plate and decorate with icing.

Chocolate Butter Cream Icing

250g unsalted, softened butter

3 cups icing sugar, sifted

1/3 cup milk

1 cup dark cocoa powder

Using an electric beater, beat the butter until white as possible. Beat in the sugar and milk alternately, beginning and ending with sugar. Fold in the icing sugar and cocoa and beat until smooth and creamy.

The result, a rich, moist chocolate cake made from scratch but most importantly made from love!

Chicken Sang Choy Bow

I grew up on Chinese food as my Dad is addicted to it! We would have both types of chinese food  every week; either eat in or take away. Our favourite Chinese restaurant is Lee's Fortuna Court for those who live in Sydney. Everyone knows my Dad at Lee's. He has ordered pretty much the same dishes for as long as I can remember. 

My parents have travelled extensively throughout China a number of times. I remember my Dad calling me on his first visit to tell me that even though the food in China was good it was never as good as Lee's. My husband and I have lived in Melbourne, Abu Dhabi and now Doha and we have tried to find a restaurant as good as Lee's but unfortunately never have! Although that has never deterred my Dad from trying different Chinese restaurants wherever he travels! 

So tonight in honor of the man I adore I decided to make Chicken Sang Choy Bow. It is very easy to make and takes no time at all. It is also a great light meal for those summer nights when you never feel like anything too heavy. This obviously would also be a great appetizer option for a dinner party especially an Asian themed dinner party.

The meal was delicious and definitely something that I will make again and again. I'm not quite sure if it's up to Lee's standards but it will hold up well in the Derrig household!

Ingredients
1 large iceberg lettuce
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 green onions (spring onions, scallions, shallots) finely sliced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
500g chicken mince (you could also use duck, pork or mince)
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
230g can water chestnuts, drained & chopped
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves




Method


Select six lettuce leaves and trim if necessary with scissors to make large cups. Place in a large bowl filled with iced water to crispin.

Heal oil in a wok on high. Stir-fry green onion and ginger for 1-2 minutes.

Add chicken mince and cook for about 5 minutes, until colour changes. Add hoisin, soy sauce, sesame oil and water chestnuts and continue to stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes. Finally stir through coriander and serve immediately.

And the result...

Apologies for the poor quality of photos. These were taken with my iPhone as my SLR needed to be recharged!