Ingredients
1 tlbs olive oil
2 tlbs butter
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 clove garlic, minced
16 ounce package linguini pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 cube chicken bouillon, crumbled
1/2 cup water
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup milk
4 green onions, sliced diagonally into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Method
1. In a large deep-fry pan, heat oil, butter and garlic over medium heat.
2. Add chicken and cook until juices run clear. Remove chicken from pan let cool and slice diagonally into long strips. Reserve oil in pan.
3. In the same time, cook pasta according to directions on package. Drain.
4. Reheat oil in pan, add onion and sauté, stirring often, until onion is soft but still white.
5. Add bullion cube and water; bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for approximately 10 minutes. Stir in cream, milk, green onions and Parmesan cheese.
6. Place pasta in a bowl, layer chicken slices in a decorative pattern over pasta, pour sauce over top of chicken and around pasta.
7. Garnish with parsley or any herbs you desire.
8. Serve immediately.
Ingredients
3 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 tbls chopped fresh parsley
2 tbls chopped fresh chives
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbls minced fresh basil
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. In a medium bowl combine tomatoes, parsley, chives, garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.
2. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, allowing flavors to meld before serving.
Ingredients
1 barbecue chicken
250g baby frozen peas
5 spring onions
1 leamon
4 thawed sheets frozen puff pastry
1 egg
1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic
4 sprigs thyme
250ml (1 cup) double cream
Green salad, to serve
Method
1. Preheat oven to 220C. Boil a kettle of water. Meanwhile, shred chicken meat, discarding skin and bones.
2. Place peas in a bowl, pour over boiling water and stand for 1 minute. Drain. Squash peas with your hands.
3. Roughly chop onions, including most of the green part, and place in a bowl with chicken and peas. Zest lemon over chicken mixture, season with salt and pepper, then toss to combine.
4. Line an oven tray with baking paper. Stack 2 pastry sheets on top.
5. Pack chicken mixture in centre of pastry. Stack remaining 2 pastry sheets over, stretching to cover filling.
6. Lightly brush edges with water and press to join. Trim pie to a 25cm round. Lightly beat egg, then brush over pie. Using a knife, score top, if desired. Cut a 2cm hole in top of pie.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until pastry is dark golden (cover with baking paper if overbrowning).
8. Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Bruise garlic, discard skins, then add to pan.
9. Strip leaves from thyme into pan, then cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant.
10. Add cream and simmer for 2 minutes. Discard garlic.
11. Spoon the cream mixture into pie through the hole. Stand for 5 minutes. Serve pie with green salad.
Serves: 6
Ingredients
200g Chilled unsalted butter
250g Plain flour
125ml Sour Cream
Method
1. Mix butter and flour in a food processor until it looks like breadcrumbs.
2. Add the sour cream and continue to pulse until the dough starts to incorporate into a ball
3. Using your hands, shape pastry in a rectangle. Wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
4. Roll out the sour cream pastry to 3mm thick.
5. Grease a flan tin (23cm x 2.5cm) and line with the pastry, cut off the excess pastry around the edge but allow the pastry to come above the fin tin by 5mm, this is due to the pastry shrinking during blind baking. Place in the fridge for 15 mins to chill.
6. Remove from the fridge and place in the oven for 5 minutes.
7. Decrease oven temperature to 220°C and cook for a further 20-25 minutes or until pastry is golden and cooked through.
8. For an even colouring of the lid, turn the pie half way through cooking, if necessary.
Ingredients
450g mini-marshmallows
2 lb powdered sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tsp corn syrup (optional)
1 tsp lemon extract (optional)
Method
1. Melt marshmallows
2. Empty your bag of marshmallows into a large, microwave-safe bowl, and add water. Microwave until the marshmallows are puffed up and soft looking (about 2 minutes in my microwave).
3. Grease a wooden spoon
4. Add your corn syrup and lemon extract and stir them.
5. The corn syrup seems to help with flexibility of the fondant after it reaches room temperature, and the extract is for added flavor and to help cut the sweetness.
6. The mixture should be kind of soupy as you stir it, and most of the marshmallows should be dissolved.
7. If you want to color this entire batch, you can add color now, rather than trying to knead it in later.
8. Adding powdered sugar Gradually, begin to stir in the powdered sugar.
9. Continue stirring and adding powdered sugar until you have used about 2/3 of the bag. Stop when it becomes difficult to continue to stir with the spoon.
10.Turn out onto greased surface and knead, KEEPING IN MIND THAT IT IS HOT, begin CAREFULLY kneading with your hands, and gradually add in the rest of your bag of powdered sugar. You may not need to use the entire bag! You'll want to stop kneading when the fondant stops absorbing the powdered sugar, and it actually feels like warm fondant (this is where previous experience with fondant comes in handy). You may want to keep your shortening nearby so you can grease your hands as necessary.
* A special note about stand mixers: I know that some people use their stand mixer and hook attachment to mix their MMF. Some people are successful and have never had a problem, but I have read TOO MANY STORIES of people burning out their mixer's motor this way! It's not worth the risk, folks! Your stand mixer wasn't made for this!
11. When you've reached this point, it's time to grease the outside so that it won't dry out, and then put it in a gallon-sized ziploc bag to rest. It should rest for several hours, preferably overnight. Right now it is too warm and soft to use.
12. When you are ready to use your MMF, grease your work surface with shortening and a paper towel. Be sure to cover every spot, there is nothing worse than having your fondant stick to the mat! The two most important things to have on hand when working with marshmallow fondant are shortening and a microwave. Marshmallow fondant does not loosen up with kneading, like traditional fondant.
This is fondant straight from the bag. If it is too hard to roll out, put it in the microwave in 5-second increments until it is kneadable. It's important to not "melt" your MMF! You just want to soften it enough so that you can knead it and roll it out! A liberal coating of shortening on your hands will assist with the kneading process.
13. Roll out as you would for any other kind of fondant, and cover cake as usual.
Yield: 3 lbs fondant
This simple buttercream icing recipe to decorate your cakes. You can add a little food colouring for a splash of colour.
Ingredients
140g butter, softened
280g icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk
few drops food colouring
Method
1. Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
2. Add the remaining icing sugar and one tablespoon of the milk and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Beat in the milk, if necessary, to loosen the mixture.
3. Stir in the food colouring until well combined.
Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 Kg boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 Kg thin asparagus
2 tbls fresh chopped dill
1 tbls honey
1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
8 cups salad greens
4 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and quartered
Method
1. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, salt and black pepper.
2. Break off woody ends of asparagus but leave rest whole. Heat 2 tablespoons of the lemon dressing in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and asparagus. Stir-fry for 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and asparagus is tender.
3. Add dill and honey to the remaining lemon dressing.
4. Add tomatoes and lemon dressing to the skillet; cook about 1 minute or until heated through.
5. To serve, line each plate with 2 cups salad greens.
6. Equally divide chicken mixture and dressing over the greens.
7. Top with quartered hard-cooked eggs and serve.
Ingredients
4 slices turkey bacon
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 of a small red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 large eggs
5 large egg whites
1 cup low-fat milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 - 2 tbls chopped fresh dill
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
2 tbls grated Parmesan cheese
Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Coat a thick pie plate with cooking spray and set aside.
3. Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned. Remove from skillet and dice.
4. Add the oil to the same skillet. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, 2 minutes or until onion is softened. Transfer to a large bowl.
5. Add the eggs, egg whites, milk, flour, dill, salt, and pepper and whisk until smooth.
6. Stir in the diced bacon and mozzarella and pour into prepared pie plate.
7. Top with the tomato slices. Sprinkle tomatoes with the Parmesan.
Ingredients
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tsp milk
2 tsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp almond extract
assorted food coloring
Method
1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth.
2. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
3. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity.
4. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.
Ingredients
125 g butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
Pinch of salt
Icing
3/4 cup icing sugar
5 g butter
1 tbls boiling water
Icing flowers and edible glitter, to decorate
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180⁰C.
2. Grease and flour a 12 x ½ cup capacity cupcake tin.
3. Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat for ten minutes or until smooth.
4. Divide mixture between prepared cake tin and bake for 10-12 minutes or until cakes spring back to the touch.
5. Remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
6. For icing, sieve icing sugar into a bowl, ensuring to remove any lumps.
7. Place butter and boiling water in a small bowl and mix until butter has melted. Pour into icing sugar, a little at a time and stirring well between each addition until icing reached the desired consistency.
8. Spread icing sugar over cupcakes and decorate with icing flowers and edible glitter if desired.
