PIRI PIRI SAUCE HOMEMADE

Succulent moist tender piri piri spiced and sauced roasted chicken, this is a winning dinner you can serve it as a roast, shred it and stuff tacos or build a salad bowl and any left overs for sandwiches and wraps (but there is never any left overs)!

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 50 minutes / Resting time 20 minutes

Ingredients

(serves family 4)

1 organic or free range chicken 1.5kg 

(I find this bird goes further than the cheaper alternative and higher welfare)

1 bottle nandos hot Piri Piri sauce (homemade recipe below)

1 tbsp sea salt

1 tsp white pepper

2 tbsp Piri Piri dry spice (recipe below)

Piri Piri Dry Spice Mix

Blitz everything in a processor 

6 fresh chillies 

2tbsp dried chillies

4 cloves of garlic grated

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp paprika

So simple, take your whole chicken, un-teather and squash flat ish, sprinkle with salt, pepper and the piri piri dry rub spice mix then pour all over with your hot sauce the pop in the oven 200 degrees C / 385 F for 20 minutes then reduce the oven temperature 180 C / 350 F, cook for a further 30 minutes, remove from the oven, cover and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes but more like 20 minutes, it really does make a huge difference to the juicy, moist succulent tenderness of the chicken.  That's is...below my family's favourite tacos.

Homemade Piri Piri Sauce

2 red peppers roasted 

1 red onion charred

4 cloves garlic chopped

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 lemon zested

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

1 habanero or scotch bonnet chilli (more for hotter)

1 tsp smoked sweet paprika

11/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1 tsp black pepper

1 bay leaf

Finishing ingredients 

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 lemon zested 

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

1/2 cup olive oil

Roast the peppers and onions on a plancher flat top or skillet, charring all over, deseed the peppers, in a blender purée the charred peppers and onion, add the garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, apple cider vinegar, habanero, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper, purée to a smooth sauce.  Pour the puréed sauce in to a saucepan add the bay leaf and gently simmer for half an hour, remove from the heat and leave to cool, transfer the sauce back to the blender, add the remaining finishing ingredients the lemon juice, lemon zest, apple cider vinegar, purée and finally drizzle in the olive oil while the blender is still running.  That's it, adjust the seasoning if needed and keep any left over in the fridge.

ICE BOX COOKIES

How cool are these ice box cookies always ready to cook from a minutes notice straight from the ice box (how cool is that!)

Prep time 15 minutes / Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients 

(Makes 50)

345g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

200g caster sugar

1 lrg eggs

225g butter

150g cherries or mixed peel

1tsp vanilla paste

Executive Chef Oscar

I just love to cook, food is a gift that makes your friends and family know they are thought of and loved.  

Method

In a large bowl cream the butter until soft and smooth, add the sugar and cream until light and fluffy, add the egg, salt and vanilla and mix to combine, mix the baking powder and salt with the flour and slowly fold in to the creamed butter.

Divide the biscuit dough in half and using parchment paper form the dough in to two rectangle logs.  Wrap in the parchment paper and place in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days, or place in the ice box for up to a month.  If cooking from frozen leave the biscuit dough to come up to temperature for 15 minutes before slicing of your biscuits.

To Cook

Pre heat your oven 180 degrees C, baking biscuits from the fridge slice off as many biscuits as you want, place in a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes until lightly brown, once cooked place on a cooling rack and leave to cool, if you can! 

Ta da the gorgeous finished biscuits, this batch for my nan.

CORN CHEESE

I stumbled across this brilliant Korean spin off from Mac n Cheese, one spoonful in and it was a winner dinner with my gang!  Gorgeous creamy cheese sauce, peppered with crispy sweetcure bacon, fresh red Serrano jalapeños and grilled corn off the cob with the ultimate cheese pull!

Prep time 20 minutes / Cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

4 corns on the cob

4 rashers sweetcure bacon unsmoked

1 red Serrano chilli fine diced

50g butter

50g flour

400ml - 600ml full fat creamy milk

100ml double cream

1 pinch Himalayan sea salt 

1 pinch white pepper

200g cheddar grated

100g Parmesan Reggiano finely grated

100g mozzarella grated

50g fontina optional

Bring a pan of water to a rolling simmer, season the water with sea salt, add the corn on the cobs and simmer for around 15 minutes until the corn is tender, drain and remove the cobs, leave to once side to slightly cool, then carve off the corn from the kernel and reserve to one side while you make the bechamel sauce.

In a cast iron skillet or hob to oven casserole dish melt the butter then add the flour and stir to combine, add 400ml of the milk and whisk until smooth, add the cream and leave to gently bubble away meanwhile heat a skillet medium hot add a glug of olive oil then the chopped bacon and sear until crispy, add the chopped Serrano chilli and the corn stir to combine.

Back to the bechamel sauce, add all the cheeses but only half of the Parmesan, stir in until melted, if the sauce is too thick add a little of the reserved milk to loosen, next add the sweet corn mixture and mix, top the dish with the remaining Parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for 15 minutes until bubbling and browned off, serve immediately. 

SWAMP SOUP

I love the swamp, I love gators and I love Cajun!  This good for you green soup is really tasty but very swamp looking which is super cool too, no alligators were harmed in the making of this soup!  A good soup for Halloween fun.

Cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 2)

1kg petite pois peas

1ltr chicken stock

Himalayan sea salt 

White pepper

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer, add the peas and simmer for 10 minutes, blitz with a stick blender, taste and season with salt and pepper.  Leave to stand for 5 minutes and the peas will separate and sink to the bottom off the stock!  Stir to combine before eating...

SALTED CARAMEL TRIPLE CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

OSCAR STYLE

WoW what a show stopper of a cake, as usual I like to go big!  This recipe came from one of my Birthday presents and what a gorgeous first cake to bake for my friends and family, there is going to be NO dieting around me this year 😆

Allow yourself a couple of chilled me time hours

3 x 20 cm sandwich cake tins lined

Ingredients 

(Serves 8-10)

The Cake

400g plain flour

640g caster sugar

180g 75% cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

1.5 tsp baking powder 

1.5 tsp sea salt

4 lrg eggs 

2 tsp vanilla extract

120 ml vegetable oil

410 ml buttermilk

250 ml water

Shaved chocolate to decorate

Salted Caramel

290g caster sugar

35g golden syrup 

20 ml water

160 ml double cream

1 tsp sea salt

80g unsalted butter room temp

Chocolate Frosting 

I00g icing sugar

200g cocoa powder

320g unsalted butter room temp

150 ml whole milk

First make the salted caramel, this was super exciting as I have never made this before and it acts up like a bubbling volcano, really exciting.  Follow the method to the letter otherwise you can end up with a lumpy separated sauce.  In a pan put the sugar, golden syrup and water, do not stir at all on a medium heat let all the ingredients melt together, when there has been a slight colour change to a light brown, take off the heat and slowly pour in the cream whisking all the time until smooth.  Then put the caramel back on the heat for a couple of minutes and boil until 115 C, remove from the heat immediately add the salt and transfer to a bowl, pop in the fridge to cool and set.

 

Now to make the cake batter, pre heat your oven to 175 C, in a large bowl place the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarbonate soda, baking powder and salt, beat to a smooth mix, in a large jug whisk the eggs, vanilla, oil, buttermilk and water.  Slowly pour this to the dry ingredients whisking in until just combined then beat the mixture for one minute.  Pour equally in to your three tins, pop in the oven and bake for around 30 minutes until light and springy.  Turn out on to a wire cooling rack and leave to cool.

While the cake is cooling make the chocolate icing, this sometime just goes wrong for me and separates, but today it did not Ya!  In a large bowl place the icing sugar, cocoa powder and butter, whisk until sandy in texture, slowly add the milk then keep whisking for about five minutes until light and fluffy.

Now to layer the cakes, you can cut the cakes in half for a more dramatic layered look like I did or just stack them, place the first layer on your cake stand and spread a third or sixth of the caramel depending on how many layers, repeat, I also like to spread some chocolate fudge over the layers too!  Once all layers loaded cover the whole cake in the chocolate fudge icing and finish off with shavings of chocolate and enjoy.

HALLOWEEN SCARY MUFFINS

Great fun making these scary chocolate muffins for friends this Halloween.

Making / Cooking time 1 hour

Ingredients 

(makes 8)

4oz butter room temperature 

4oz golden castor sugar 

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla paste

3.5oz self raising flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder 

Decoration

Coloured icing

Icing sugar

Pre heat your oven 180 C.  Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth, add the eggs one at a time and beat in until smooth, then stir in the vanilla paste..  Fold in the flour and cocoa powder.  Place your muffin cases in your baking tin and fill the muffin cases 2/3 with the cake batter.  

Place in the oven to cook for approx 18 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.  Place on a wire rack to cool.  To decorate roll out your coloured icing, cut and form in to Halloween shapes and decorate the cooled cup cakes.

WOOD FIRED SAN MANZANO PIZZA

Wood Fired Pizza's 

There is nothing more satisfying than making your own SAN Manzano Pizza and cooking it in your own wood fired pizza oven.  My mum built this pizza oven herself and is very proud of it.  Check out her blog Flower pot kitchen build your own wood fired oven.  

The secret to the most amazing pizza dough is in the ingredients and proving method, the professionals make their dough using the very best Italian 00 flour and leaving the dough to slowly prove in the fridge, YES the fridge over 24hrs, this is actually a easy method giving you more control over time.

Ingredients 

(Makes 6 pizza's)

The Dough

500g 00 flour

15g dried yeast

10g sea salt

50ml olive oil

320g water room temperature

Toppings 

San manzano tomatoes 

Di Campaina Buffalo mozzarella 

Fresh basil leaves 

First make your dough, you can once made leave to prove in a warm kitchen for around one hour tomprove, then your dough is ready to go the difference in proving your dough slowly in the fridge for 24 hrs is the improved texture in the dough when cooked as the slow proving gives you a crispier base.  Also the added bonus of being ahead on the day!

BONUS

Once your dough has proved you can now FREEZE the dough in portion balls so that all you have to do to be ready to go I whip out the dough, leave to defrost and come up to room temperature for about one hour and your a pizza a go go!

Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, in the measuring jug of water add the yeast and leave for a couple of minutes, its woth noting that if salt comes in contact with dried yeast before mixing it can de activate the yeast which will result in a low proven heavy dough.

Add the oil to the mixing bowl along with the water and yeast, mix bringing together to form a dough ball, either by hand or with a dough hook on a mixer knead the dough for seven minutes until smooth and elastic.  

Prove how you want to, when ready to use roll out on a slightly 00 floured work top and top with your favourite toppings and cook, these take a couple of minutes in a wood fired oven or if using a pizza stone in your oven around 8-10 minutes.  Enjoy.