I recently discovered that my local store does panko breadcrumbs. If your children love chicken nuggets these are a welcome change and the addition of polenta really improves the flavour. You could also just use chicken breasts but I would recommend flattening between the cling film so they cook evenly.  These are baked rather than fried and are ideal for your lunchbox in a wrap or just on the side.  They are also good for finger food if you are entertaining!

Ingredients

• 10 boneless skinless tenders or breast fillets cut into strips
• 1 cup/ 23 millilitres buttermilk
• ¼ cup/ 30 grams flour
• 1 ½ cup/190 grams panko breadcrumbs
• ½ cup/ 60 grams polenta (cornmeal)
• ½ cup/55 grams parmesan cheese grated
• 4 tablespoons/ 57 grams butter
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Method

If using breast fillets flatten between two pieces of cling film and cut into strips. Place all the chicken into a zip lock bag and add the buttermilk. Refrigerate for three to four hours or up to twenty four hours. I put my bag in a bowl in case of leakage!

Combine the flour, panko breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, polenta, and cayenne into a bowl or a zip lock bag.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 200C/400F

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the butter on it. Put it in the oven until butter is melted.

Meanwhile coat the chicken strips with your crumb mixture. If using a bag, place about four pieces of chicken at a time into the bag and shake. Ensure that it is completely coated and place onto the cookie sheet.

Cook until the internal temperature is 83C/181F but turn halfway to ensure both sides are crispy. Approx 15- 20 minutes

Once you taste this homemade pizza you will never again eat a store bought one. This is an easy recipe and you can freeze the dough! My kids love cold pizza in their lunch box but are not very adventurous in their choice of toppings so it’s either ham and pineapple or Marguerita for us! However feel free to use your favourite topping, just make sure you use mozzarella cheese to get that authentic look.

Pizza Base

• 500 grams /4 cups strong bread flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 sachets dried yeast 7 grams/1 ½ teaspoons
• ½ tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 325 millilitres/ 12 fluid ounces lukewarm water

Add all your ingredients to your mixer attached with a dough hook and mix for five minutes. Cover your bowl with cling film and place in a warm room until it has doubled in size. When ready to use place the dough on a floured board and knead it to “knock back” the dough. You can use it immediately or, keep it wrapped in cling film in the fridge or freezer until needed. If using immediately, this amount of dough will make three good sized discs.  Roll out to the size of your tray. I use parchment paper underneath to prevent it sticking but you can just grease the tray if you like. Add with your favourite toppings and cook at 200C/400F for 10-15 minutes until the edges are golden

My simple pizza sauce

• 1 400grams/14ounces can of chopped tomatoes or 1 jar of smooth passata
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over a low heat for 10 minutes. Allow to cool before putting on your pizza base. This sauce will keep in the fridge for three days.

• Garlic Bread – this amount makes 2 servings – use one and freeze one!
• One of your freshly made pizza bases
• 1 clove of garlic finely chopped or crushed
• 55grams /4 tablespoons butter softened
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 1 teaspoon freshly chopped parsley or ½ teaspoon dried parsley if liked

Add all the ingredients together and mix. Cook your pizza base at 200C/400F without any topping for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and spread half the garlic butter over the top. Return to the oven and cook for a further 3-5 minutes until the edges turn golden. You can add grated parmesan cheese before serving if desired. Roll the remainder of the garlic butter in parchment/waxed paper and freeze until needed.

Hot Cross Buns! Hot Cross Buns!

One a penny, two a penny- Hot cross Buns

If you have no daughters give them to your sons

One a penny, two a penny- Hot cross Buns

Hot cross Buns are ubiquitous these days but can be very disappointing. I know that for some people yeast is a taboo subject but this is a straightforward recipe and once you make them you will never again buy them. I have made this as straightforward as possible so that all the novice yeast bakers can try and succeed with this recipe.

• 450 grams /3 ¾ cups strong flour
• ½ teasp salt
• ½ teasp ground mixed spice
• 55 grams  cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 115 grams / ¾ cup dried fruit
• 1 sachet dried yeast
• 114 millilitres / 4 fl. oz water
• 114 millilitres / 4fl. oz milk
• 55grams/ ¼ cup butter – melted
• 1 egg

For the topping

• 2tablsp flour
• ½ tablsp sugar
• 1 small egg beaten

I use my mixer with a dough hook and add all the ingredients together and mix for 5 minutes. If you don’t have a mixer you can also do this by hand:

Mix the flour, salt mixed spice, dried fruit and dried yeast together in a large mixing bowl.

Make a well in the centre.

Heat the milk and water until tepid and add the melted butter. I simply pour cold milk into my measuring jug and add the same amount of freshly boiling water from the kettle. By the time I am ready to add to the recipe it is at the correct temperature, which is 37C/100F (just above blood temperature)If you don’t have a thermometer the water should feel just warm, not hot to the touch – if the temperature is to high it will kill the yeast.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and then add the beaten egg.

Gradually work in the flour to make a soft dough. This can take 10 minutes by hand but 4-5min with a dough hook. The dough should have a smooth texture which can be stretched without tearing. Put into a greased bowl and cover with cling film for 30- 60 min until doubled in size.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 min. This is called “knocking back.” Divide the mixture into 16 child sized portions or 12 adult sized. Allow to sit covered with a clean tea towel in a warm place until doubled in size about 15-20 minutes. Glaze with an egg wash if not doing the topping now.

You can also make this as a loaf. Simply place the dough into a loaf tin and allow it to prove for about 15-20 minutes. Glaze with egg wash and bake for about 35-45 minutes.

If you don’t want to cook these until the next day, after shaping, cover with cling film and place in the refrigerator to prove overnight.  You can then glaze and cook these in the morning for 15-20 minutes and you have a warm tea cake for your lunch box

Topping “The Cross”

Mix all the topping ingredients together to make a thick paste, if too thin it will run off the bun! Spoon paste into an icing bag with plain tube, or simply cut the corner off a freezer bag. With back of knife mark a cross on the top of each bun and then brush with egg wash. Pipe a cross of paste in the indentation on each bun

Place on a greased baking tray and bake at 180 C for 15-20 min until golden brown and hollow when tapped.

I know I posted a version of Chocolate Chip cookies before but these are divine. Unlike the earlier recipe these contain egg. It is recommended that you chill them for 24 hours before baking “This allows the dry ingredients time to soak up the wet ones, which results in a firmer dough. It leads to a marvellously chewy, chocolate-rich cookie.” Francesco Tonelli for The New York Times. I couldn’t wait 24 hours to try these cookies so I cooked a batch immediately and they were still delicious. The advantage of chilling the dough is that you can bake a fresh batch the following day and the day after.  If you have any leftover you can even freeze it. Note that it also tastes good raw! I have tweaked the recipe by reducing the sugar and the chocolate, but I’ll post the original and my amendments.

Ingredients

241 grams / 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons /8 ½ ounces cake flour

241 grams/ 1  cups /8 ½ ounces bread flour    I used a total 482 grams /17 ounces plain flour (all purpose)

1 ¼ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt

2 ½ sticks butter / 250grams unsalted butter     if using salted butter reduce the salt to ½ teaspoon

283 grams /1 ¼ cups /10 ounces light brown sugar

 I reduced brown sugar to 227 grams /8 ounces

227 grams /1 cup plus 2 tablespoons / 8 ounces granulated sugar   I reduced white sugar to 198 grams /7 ounces

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

499grams /1 ¼ pounds pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60% cacao content   I used 350 grams/2 cups: 175grams /1 cup of milk chocolate and 175 grams/ 1 cup of semisweet chocolate

 

Method

Sift flour, baking soda baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In your mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy about 5 minutes.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix. Reduce the speed and add the dry ingredients slowly, mixing until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips. I used the mixer to fold in the chocolate chips

Refrigerate dough for 24-36 hours

When ready to bake preheat oven to 180C/350F (fan assisted) Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough or drop spoonfuls onto a baking sheet at least an inch apart

Bake for 8- 10 minutes until golden brown

My friend Renée makes this as a loaf cake for her Cuidiu Coffee morning. It is her signature cake and is a big success. I tweaked it so I had a muffin that everyone loved for my kids’ lunchboxes. Don’t like blueberries? Replace them with raspberries they work just as well with the lemon. Even as a Gluten Free version this muffin is divine. Impress your friends and serve the muffins warm with a dollop of cream next time they pop around for coffee

250 grams /1 ¾ cups plain flour (all purpose)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

150 grams/ 1 ½ sticks/ ¾ cup butter

230 grams/ 1 cup ricotta cheese

300 grams/ 1 ½ cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

140grams/ 1 ½ cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to 160C/325F and place muffin cases into your muffin pan.

Rinse your blueberries and using a teaspoon of flour from the 250 grams / 1 ¾ cup toss the blueberries to coat them. This will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.

Beat together the butter, ricotta and sugar in your mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time as well as the lemon zest and vanilla. The batter will look curdled but not to worry it isn’t! Add the flour and mix on a low speed to prevent it flying everywhere. Add the blueberries and mix by hand to prevent breaking the berries.

Scoop the batter in to the muffin cases using a muffin scoop   and bake for about 18 minutes until a skewer inserted come out clean.

Alternatively, you can make this as a loaf cake. Use a 9’’x 5’’ pan and line it with baking parchment or a loaf liner. Bake for 70-80 minutes. If you feel it is browning too quickly put a sheet of tinfoil (aluminium foil) over the top of the pan.

I have made this as a gluten free loaf cake and muffins by replacing the flour with a gluten free variety. I used Dove’s Farm Brand. Remember also to use GF baking powder and ¼ teaspoon Xanthan gum to prevent it crumbling.

Cheat by freezing these muffins. Then, they are ready to pop into your lunchbox whenever you need.

Nobody in my house will eat courgettes, so when I first made these muffins I renamed them Zucchini Muffins and they were a big hit as nobody really knew what a zucchini was! It is in fact the American term for courgettes!  I peeled the zucchini so there were no telltale green bits to give me away.  The orange zest is great in this recipe but if you are not a fan you can replace it with lemon zest. You can also add chocolate chips if you are feeling decadent. This can also be made into a loaf! A special thank you to my friend Sandra for the great photo.

• 118 millilitres / ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 225 grams /1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 187grams /1½ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 135 grams /1½ cups loosely packed grated zucchini (peeled first if you want) about 2 zucchini
• 80 grams / ½ cup milk or dark chocolate chips

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
• Line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners. If you are making this as a loaf you will need a 9×5 inch tin which should be lined with baking parchment or a loaf tin liner which is even easier.
• Whisk the oil, eggs, sugar, zest and vanilla together in a large bowl.
• In a separate bowl mix the flour with the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Stir in the grated zucchini and ensure that it is coated with flour.
• Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir until blended. If you are using chocolate chips stir them in now.
• Use an ice cream scoop to evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cases. Alternatively scrape all the batter into your prepared loaf tin.
• Bake the muffins for 15- 18 minutes or the loaf for 50-60 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffin/cake comes out clean.

Cheat: The muffins or loaf can be frozen so all you have to do when preparing lunch boxes is to pop one in straight from the freezer.

Make these muffins gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthum gum to stop it for crumbling.

This chicken is a big hit with my kids. We celebrated 4^th July with this served with mashed potato and green beans  but of course you could serve it with chunky fries or a salad. The buttermilk tenderises the chicken so it literally melts in your mouth. Of course it is ideal for picnics and lunchboxes. My four year old devoured it when we had it for dinner last night and only the bone arrived home from preschool! In our house that means we have a winner as he is my biggest food critic!

• 8 drumsticks and 8 thighs
• or 1 chicken jointed into 8 pieces – your butcher will do this for you
• 1 litre/ 4 ¼ cups buttermilk
• 125 grams/1 cup plain flour (All purpose)
• ½ – 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper depending on your taste buds
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water
• Oil for frying

• In a large pot place chicken and cover with the buttermilk. (You can use whole milk if you have no buttermilk) cover with cling film (Plastic wrap) and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. This will tenderize the meat but is optional. I have cooked this dish without refrigerating and it’s just as good.
• When you are ready to cook, bring the milk to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer until the chicken is cooked. The internal temperature should be 83C/181F
• Remove the chicken from the pan and place on a plate to cool.
• In a large freezer bag, add flour, salt and cayenne pepper and shake to combine.
• In a bowl beat egg and water together.
• Place each piece of chicken into the bag and shake to coat the chicken. Then dip the chicken into the egg mixture and place it back into the bag a second time to coat in flour. Repeat this with all the chicken pieces.
• Heat your oil and using tongs, gently drop each piece of chicken into the oil in batches and cook until it becomes crispy and golden brown in colour. Drain on a paper towel lined plate. Keep warm in the oven until all the chicken is cooked. Set aside some for your lunch box but keep them chilled in the fridge until the morning.

Make this chicken dish gluten free by substituting the flour with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand.

Give your local Chinese a rest and make these crispy chicken balls for dinner but make sure to keep a couple to put in your lunch box! I used 7UP to make the batter but you can also use sparkling water or even milk. The fizz helps the balls to puff up when they hit the hot oil. It is often difficult to find a good sweet and sour sauce,  but this one is delicious and is relatively simple to make. It is also gluten free!

4-5 chicken breast fillets cut up into bite sized pieces

75 grams/½ cup cornflour (Cornstarch)

125 grams /1 cup plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

236 millitres/1 cup of 7UP, sparkling water or milk

Oil for deep frying

Heat the oil in a wok or deep saucepan. You can also use a deep fryer if the element is hidden as the chicken will stick to it otherwise.

Also turn on your oven to 160C/320F to keep the chicken hot as you are frying off each batch.

Sift cornflour, flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Gradually add the liquid, mixing until smooth with a whisk.

Add the chicken and ensure that each piece is well coated.

Deep fry in batches in hot oil until the internal temperature is 83C/181F. You can buy a digital thermometer in Brennans Wholesale shop in Doughcloyne or on Amazon. See link below:

Serve with boiled rice or with the stir fried rice that I posted for Chinese New Year.

Make these gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like the Dove’s Farm brand.

Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce

This homemade sweet and sour sauce is delicious and gluten free but feel free to cheat with a store bought sauce!

150 milliteres chicken stock

2 tablespoons Shaoxing Rice Wine or dry sherry

3 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 teaspoons dark soy sauce

1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste or ketchup

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch) blended with 2 tablespoons water

Add all the ingredients except the cornflour slurry to a sauce pan. Bring to the boil, add the cornflour slurry and turn the heat down and simmer for three minutes. Serve immediately.

Sauce adapted form Ken Hom’s Foolproof Chinese Cookery

 

These mini quiches were a big hit with my kids. I served them for lunch during half term and the girls ate three each! Even Seán who takes a lot of persuading to try something new ate two! This recipe will also make one large quiche and can easily be made Gluten free. Season carefully as you already have salt in the bacon. If you are feeling adventurous try a different filling as listed below or if you are feeling indulgent use half cream, half milk.

Pastry

175 grams / 1    cups plain flour (All Purpose)

85 grams / 6 tablespoons butter

Pinch salt

2-3 tablespoons of cold water

Filling

3 rashers of back bacon chopped or bacon lardons

2 eggs beaten

60 grams/ ½ cup cheddar cheese grated

150 millilitres /  cup milk

Salt and freshly ground pepper if needed

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the butter and rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Sprinkle on the water and stir the mixture with a knife until it comes together. Add more water if necessary. Press the pastry into a ball, the bowl should be clean. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry until it is 3 millimetres / ¼ inch thick. Cut out pastry circles and place in a greased muffin tin with a 98 mm/3 7/8 inch cookie cutter which is approximately the size of a pint glass. The pastry needs to come up the sides of the muffin tin so that it holds the liquid.

Fry the bacon until crisp. Mix together the eggs, cheese, milk, bacon and seasoning.  Spoon the mixture into each pastry case. Bake in to oven until the pastry is golden and the filling is set. Cool slightly in the pans before removing.

Cheat by using a store bought pastry. The results are just the same

Make these quiches gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthan gum. As the discs are small you shouldn’t have a problem with cracking but roll between 2 sheets of cling film if you wish.

Alternative Fillings:

Baby plum tomatoes and Camembert cheese- Just half the tomatoes and slice the cheese

Vegetable Quiche – your families favourite vegetables, precooked firstly of course

Garden vegetable with feta: broccoli, spring onion and baby asparagus. Sauté the spring onion and asparagus firstly

Cheese and onion

Broccoli cheese and tomato- steam the broccoli firstly

Chicken and asparagus- use cooked chicken and sauté the asparagus

Chicken and leek- use cooked chicken and fry off you leeks, consider using baby leeks if making these as mini quiches.

Smoked salmon and broccoli- steam the broccoli firstly

Bacon, leek and mushroom. Fry these off before you add the milk and cheese

Cheese and tomato- Dice the tomato, no need to precook.

Carrot and courgette (zucchini) Grate the vegetable first

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate Chinese New Year with Garlic chicken and Egg Fried Rice. 2015 is the year of the Goat and begins today 19th February and ends on the 5^th March. Add a little fun for your family with chopsticks for your kids. I used these “Rookie Stix” and they were a big hit. If you are making a gluten free version of this dish make sure you use a gluten free soy sauce. I used the Sanchi brand which is available at our local supermarket.

The secret to Chinese cooking is to prepare in advance, so before you start chop your garlic and spring onions reserving some for the final garnish.

Garlic Chicken

2 tablespoons corn flour

Salt and ground white pepper

8-10 boneless and skinless chicken thighs cut into pieces

Oil to shallow fry. A lot of Chinese cookbooks recommend groundnut oil but sunflower or vegetable is fine

6 cloves garlic peeled and chopped

6 spring onions chopped

2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

!-2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

A pinch of sugar

In a large bowl coat the chicken with the corn flour which has been seasoned with a twist of salt and pepper. Heat sufficient oil in your wok to shallow fry your chicken. You will need to do this in batches. Cook for 3-4 minutes until golden and cooked through. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Discard the oil and wipe out your wok. Heat approximately a tablespoon of oil in your wok and heat over a high heat. Add the garlic and spring onion and stir fry until aromatic.

Add the chicken back into the wok and mix it well with the garlic and spring onion. Add the Shaoxing rice wine, soy sauce, sugar and stir. The soy sauce will change the colour of the chicken to a golden brown.  Delicious!

Adapted from Gok Cooks Chinese

Egg Fried Rice

As a rule of thumb, I use 1 ½ cups of water for every 1 cup of rice. More water causes soggy rice. I used Basmati rice for this recipe but feel free to use long grain. Make sure you wash it though!

1 egg beaten

1 ½ cups rice/ 300g

2 ¼ cups/ 532 millilitres water

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Spiring onion to garnish.

Ideally for egg fried rice the rice needs to be cold. I usually cook the rice while I’m preparing the chicken so it’s ready to go when the chicken is done. I use a rice cooker but here is a step by step of how to cook it on the hob.

Firstly wash the rice to remove excess starch. Place rice in a saucepan and cover with the water. Place the pan uncovered onto the hob and bring to the boil. Boil until the water has reduced and is foaming bubbles at the top of the rice. Cover and reduce the heat to its lowest setting and leave to cook for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and leave to cool.

When you are ready to make your egg fried rice. Heat a tablespoon of rice in your wok and add the egg. Stir it as it cooks so you basically have scrambled egg. I found this far more successful than adding the raw egg to the rice as it usually ended in lumpy fried rice! If you want special fried rice like in your local restaurant, add cooked shrimp, chopped ham and peas at this point. Next add the rice and stir so that the egg is evenly mixed through it. Add a teaspoon of soy sauce for a little colour and serve! Garnish with chopped spring onion

What Year were you born in?