Cheesy Prosciutto Chicken and Asparagus

Modified from a recipe in Jamie's Ministry of Food cookbook. (one of my all time favorites !) I don't have any real measurements for this recipe but you don't need them.

4 chicken breasts
pecorino romano cheese block
fresh thyme
fresh ground black pepper
1 lemon
8 slices of prosciutto
olive oil

Score the bottom side of the chicken breasts. Sprinkle with thyme leaves, pepper and lemon zest. Grate cheese on top of that. Put two pieces of prosciutto on top of that. (so, two pieces per breast) Cover with glad wrap (saran wrap) and them bang them with the frying pan to flatten them.  

Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan.  Put chicken in, prosciutto side down.  Cook til chicken is cooked through.  Serve with lemon (that you zested) on the side.

I served this with asparagus and slivered garlic sauteed in olive oil and topped with toasted almonds ! Soooo good.

We had leftovers and I put them in a salad the next day. Amazing.

**

Ps ... sorry about the photo ! I'm making a lightbox this week so that I can take photos in the poor evening light !!

Jamie's Rogan Josh

i was given Jamie's Ministry of Food for Christmas. I've had this cookbook from the library a couple of times and I love it ! I love the concept behind it ... If you haven't read it, you should see if your library has it and check it out ...

Anyway ... I decided to try the Lamb Rogan Josh the other night ... only I did it with chicken. You can buy a Rogan Josh paste or you can make Jamie's paste. I made Jamie's. I had a bit of an issue though. I went to my favorite fruit and veg shop to get fresh coriander and the shop was closed ! So ... I went to the grocery store and they were OUT ! By the time I discovered it, the store was closing (early since it's the holidays) so I couldn't even run out to another grocery store to get it. So ... that was missing. Bummer. I thought I had some of the dried stuff at home which I was going to substitute but it turned out I didn't ... I will for sure have to use that next time.

The ingredients for the paste are :
2 cloves of garlic ... I used 4
fresh ginger, about an inch
75g roasted peppers - Jamie says from a jar but I just roasted my own
1 TBLS paprika
1 TBLS smoked paprika
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 TBLS peanut oil
2 TBLS tomato puree
1 fresh red chilli
small bunch of fresh coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns

Toast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black pepercorns over med/high heat til fragrant. Throw them in the pestle and mortar and grind until fine. At this point, Jamie says to transfer to a food processor but I just kept adding the ingredients to the pestle and mortar til I had a nice paste.

For the curry: (As I made it ... )

800g chicken breast, chunks
1 big onion
1 red chilli
fresh ginger, 1 inch
peanut oil
spoonful of butter
4 bay leaves
salt and pepper
2 TBLS balsamic vinegar
400g tin chopped tomatoes
800g chicken stock (I used a litre and it was too much)
paste (see above)
2 handfuls of red lentils
There should also have been a small bunch of fresh coriander but I didn't have it ...

Chop the onion, slice the chilli, peel and chop the ginger, chop coriander. Heat a heavy bottomed pan on med/high heat. Add butter and oil Add onion, chilli, ginger and coriander. Cook 10 minutes til onions are softened and golden. Add the chicken. Salt and pepper. Cook until lightly brown. Add balsamic vinegar. Cook 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, stock and curry paste. Stir in lentils. Bring to the boil. Turn down heat and simmer with the lid on ... about an hour.

Serve with rice. And greek yoghurt. And naan. Oh ... and coriander on top ... but again, didn't have it.

The naan was good the first night but today when we had it again ... using the dough I made the other night that had been in the fridge for two days, it was even better. Look how much it puffed up under the grill !

Yummmy Yummmmy Almondy Tart !!

So, a while back, when we were still trying to eat totally unprocessed, I made this.
It's a combination of a few recipes ...

I started by making a pastry base that I had made for the ganache. I did it in a quiche dish so it was a bit 'taller' than the base you see pictured (that's from the ganache !)

For the pastry base:
240g good whole wheat flour, I sift mine
160g butter
Pinch of salt

To make the dough ... this was so easy !! Put the flour, butter and a pinch of salt in a food processor and blend until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add 1-2 teaspoons cold water and blend again until the dough just comes together. Tip out onto a lightly floured board or clean bench and form dough into a disc, enclose in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (if you do it too much longer than that it gets really hard to roll out ...) Roll pastry out to the size of whatever tart pan (or pans) you are using ~ I used a glass quiche dish ... actually, I used a tart pan but then the bottom popped out and the side of the pan burned me and I dropped it and lost the sides of my pastry so I transferred the half cooked pastry to a quiche dish !! ....poke the base with a fork, then place back in the fridge to rest for about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F ... bake pastry for about 15 minutes (until golden). Remove from oven and reduce the heat ... 170C/325F

For the inside of the tart:
350g almond meal (or you could process almonds to make your own)
300g butter
100g brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten

6 TBLS strawberry jam. Make sure it is a nice one ! I use St. Dalfour exclusively. It's more expensive than normal jam but we don't eat it very often so I think it balances out in the end !

For the topping:
Sliced almonds to sprinkle on the top
500ml creme fraiche

Mix butter and sugar til light and creamy. Add almond meal and eggs and fold until completely combined. It should be smooth. Stick it in the fridge to firm up. Cover the bottom of the pastry with jam. Pour in your almond mixture. Sprinkle your sliced almonds on the top.

Bake for about 40 minutes. It should be firm on the outside but soft in the middle.

Let cool and serve with creme fraiche.

Last Menu Plan for 2010 !

Wow ... Can you believe Christmas has come and gone ? What a year ! We've been a bit all over the place with our planning ... and our eating for that matter ... it's been a busy month !! We're both on holidays now. I've been feeling a bit off in the guts and I suspect it has a lot to do with how we've been eating. I'm feeling awfully keen to get back to something more normal ...

The weather has been a bit funny this summer. It's supposed to be boiling hot this time of year but for the most part it has been rainy, dreary and a bit on the cooler side. Not cold. Not really even cool. Just cooler ... and definately not boiling hot. Not that I'm complaining, it just makes it tricky to plan because tomorrow could be anything !

Since it is holidays and we don't have to work this week ... I'm doing ALL NEW recipes !! I'm super excited about it !! All JAMIE OLIVER recipes too ... I was given Jamie's Ministry of Food for Christmas. And I just got Jamie's 30 Minute Meals not too long ago. Both of these cookbooks are AMAZING ! I've also got a stack of Jamie magazines that I've been reading ... Here's what we'll be having ....

I can't wait !!

Monday ~ 27 Dec 2010
From Jamie's Ministry of Food ...
Chicken Rogan Josh (pg 81)
Naan (I'm so excited to make this again since we got our grill/broiler fixed this week !!)

Tuesday ~ 28 Dec 2010
From Jamie's 30 minute meals ...
Spaghetti All Puttanesca, Crunchy Salad, Garlic Bread and Silky Chocolate Ganache (pg 54)

Wednesday ~ 29 Dec 2010
From Issue 13 of the Jamie magazine
Chicken In Salt Crust (pg 85) I've wanted to try chicken this way for some time !
Avocado & Slow Roasted Tomatoes on Toast (pg 33)
From Issue 12 of the Jamie magazine
Sweet Potato Wedges with Salsa (pg 122)

Thursday ~ 30 Dec 2010
From Jamie's 30 Minute Meals
Tasty Crusted Cod, My Mashy Peas, Tartare Sauce, Warm Garden Salad (pg 140)

Friday ~ 31 Dec 2010
I'm not going to plan for Friday yet ...
it's New Years Eve and who knows what we'll end up doing !?

Saturday ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 ~
I'm going to leave this day open for leftovers, something out of the freezer or SPONTANEITY !

Sunday ~ 2 Jan 2011
From Jamie's 30 Minute Meals
Killer Jerk Chicken, Rice & Beans, Refreshing Chopped Salad, Chargrilled Corn (pg 106)

**

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

jamie plan

oh ... hello ... jamie and i are just planning this week's menu !

Jamie's Potato Salad

I tried this a while back and loved it. Such a fresh fresh salad. And simple. This is in Jamie's "Jamie at Home" cookbook. I changed it just a little bit ...

Boil a couple of potatoes til just cooked. I was serving four so I imagine I did four potatoes and one for the pot ! I didn't bother peeling them.

Mix the zest of one lemon and 1/2 of it's juice with a splash of vinegar. He suggested red wine but I used cider vinegar ... or maybe I used rice wine vinegar. I can't remember now. It won't matter. Just use a splash of the vinegar of your choice ! Add three splashes of olive oil. Taste it. Need more ? Add it. Add 2 tablespoons capers and salt/pepper to taste.

Pour the dressing onto the potatoes, toss to coat and top with a small bunch of fresh dill or fennel tops ...

Jamie and Julia ~ Steak and Mash

When Jamie Oliver was on Masterchef the other night, he talked about dressing the board. Basically, you just put a bunch of herbs and oil and some sort of acid and a bunch of garlic onto your cutting board. Once you've cooked your steak, we did our on the Weber, put it on the board and just massage the flavors into it a bit. I am not a big steak person ... I had seconds of this !!

I didn't write down what I used but just go with flavors you like ! I know I did olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, thyme, parsley, greek basil and garlic. I may have used other things pero no recuerdo !!

I also tried Julia Childs' Garlic Mashed Potatoes. I didn't, at the time, but I do now, have a potato ricer so don't know if it would have made a difference. And maybe I'll try these again just to see. But, to me, they weren't worth the absolute mountain of effort they took to make.

Jamie and Jaffrey

... I recently posted this on my other blog and thought I'd share it here too ...

... some cookbooks I've recently checked out of the library ...

... this first one is Cook with Jamie ...

... Jamie Oliver ...

... you know him ? you love him ? yeah, me too ! ...



... his cookbooks are so informative ...



... so inspirational ...



... so practical ...



... so pretty ...



...so colorful ...



... not to mention yummy ...



... this cookbook is a one of my favorites ...

... i have checked it out a number of times & one day will probably buy it ...

... the funny thing is, there is not ONE picture inside of it ...

... usually i don't even look at cookbooks if there are no pictures ...

... but this one ...

... read some of the recipe titles and tell me you don't get a picture in your head ...




... drool ...



... salivate ...



... a bit more drool ...

... seriously ! ...

... i love this cookbook ...

**

What is your all time favorite cookbook ?

Can you even choose ?

How about your favorite cookbook author ?

Is that easier ?

Jamie

My brother in law posted this video to my facebook page earlier today. I couldn't watch it until just now and WOW (!) I'm so inspired ! It is a 22 minute video so make sure you have some time ... ideally 22 minutes ... before you start it ! But ... if you don't have time now, do come back later. I think this is a message that needs to get out.

And really ... it so lines up with what I am trying to do with this whole unprocessed thing. One huge motivation is my kids. I want them to know how to eat and feed their families food that will keep them well ... not kill them.

Have a look ... I'll be surprised if you come away uninspired ...