Windy’s Food Corner

Escalope of Chicken

From Gordon Ramsay ‘The F word’

I’ve been trying out making a variety of interesting food lately and it took me ages to decide which one I should post on my blog this week. I keep hearing people saying that chicken is the favourite meat in the UK, so I chose Gordon’s Escalope of Chicken for this week’s post.

I used to think eating white meat (especially chicken) should be a healthier choice. However, some TV programmes here keep revealing that because supermarkets want to sell cheap chicken to their customers, some farmers here are forced to raise their chicken in bad conditions. I was disgusted by that. Also, when my husband and I ate one of those cheap chickens, we found that there was a lot of fat and it tasted like eating string instead! We decided to pay a little bit more to have better quality meat and enjoy the meal more.

Back to the recipe, here is what I think:

• Make sure you cut the chicken breast thinly, otherwise it would be very hard to cook.

• The coating was absolutely superb, and the meat itself was moist and tender.

• The tomato sauce was full of favour, and the garlic did not overpower the basil and the tomato.

• The recipe said to put into the oven for 8 minutes. However, I would put it a bit longer as I found that the mozzarella cheese didn’t melt enough.

• The dish was quite easy to make and is quite healthy (OK, except the mozzarella cheese). However, I left out the parmesan as I think it was good enough even without it.

Beef & Oyster Sauce

I seldom cook Chinese food. I guess it is because I didn’t learn from my mom when I had a chance (silly me). Sometimes, I do feel that Chinese cooking is a bit more complicated than Western. However, I think this oyster beef is one of the easy Chinese dishes to make:

300g steak (should be enough for 2 people)
4-5 Chinese mushrooms
½ onion
1 carrot
2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of soy sauce (optional)
Some broccoli (optional)

Marinade (for beef)
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
Salt and pepper

Firstly, slice the steak into small pieces, then marinate it for at least 30 mins.

Thinly slice the onion, carrot and Chinese mushrooms. Cut the broccoli into small pieces, then microwave it with a bit of salted water for 4 minutes.

Heat the wok with some cooking oil. Stir-fry the onion until it softens, then add the beef for a few minutes. When the beef is almost cooked, add the carrot and Chinese mushrooms with the rest of the seasoning, and continue cooking for a few minutes.

As you can see from the picture, I used the broccoli mainly for decoration. I was really amazed how beautiful it was, so I would like to share this recipe to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Briciole blog.

Rhubarb Pie

I don’t remember how, but I’ve been away form my blog and the blogosphere for a few weeks. So first of all, I’m sorry that I have not been reading any blogs for a while…

I thought I might have a chance to go to the PYO strawberries this weekend. However, the weather was a bit unpredictable, even the weathermen hasn’t given an accurate prediction for a week now. What’s the point of them really?

Anyway, back to the food. Today, I would like to share another rhubarb dish that I’ve made recently as I had some leftover rhubarb from my father-in-law. Let’s go straight to the recipe:

7-8 sticks of rhubarb
6-8 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 egg
Some grated orange rind

Pastry:
125g flour plus extra
20g caster sugar
1 small egg
85g soft butter
Some grated lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 220 C

To make the pastry, sift the flour in a big bowl. Break up the soft butter and add it into the bowl with the sugar. Rub them all together until the mixture becomes breadcrumb-like. Then add the egg and lemon zest into the bowl, and mix them a little. Press the mixture together to form a dough, then use some cling film to wrap it, and chill for at least 30 minutes.

For the filling, cut the rhubarb into big chunks and place it into a bowl. Sprinkle with the cornflour, sugar, a beaten egg and orange rind and mix them well together.

Grease a pie dish, roll out the chilled dough and cover the base of the dish. Then spoon the rhubarb mixture into the pie dish. As I didn’t want to waste the pastry, I just fold them over the top. Egg wash the pastry then put it into the oven at 220 C for 10 minutes or until the crust has turned brown, then turn down the oven to 180 C for further 20-25 minutes. Serve it with cream.

Because I have put a bit less sugar in mine, I could taste the sourness from the orange!? But I like sour food, so I found that it was nice. I think I’m just in time to join this week Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Sidewalk Shoes.

Lost Momentum

Well, how should I begin…

As mentioned here and here, we are trying to sell our house with no success so far. Our estate agent phoned us yesterday and basically reported that the housing market was not good lately. But she asked us to hold on and did not give up. My next hope is to get a better paid job. I’ve been searching for a new job within my organisation for some time; however, not much has come up. I have applied for a few and so far I have not been shortlisted. Those two points alone have already made me feel a bit depressed at the moment, and somehow affects my creativity in cooking. I am still trying to eat healthy food and get the good quality meat where possible. However, I just didn’t give much thought on what to cook lately.

Anyway, at least the summer is coming, seems. I know that the PYO strawberries will be available soon, something that I’ve been looking forward to. Once I have them, I would like to try Jamie Oliver’s strawberry jam, Peter G’s Strawberry and Mascarpone Tarts and Fruit Pizza Mini Tarts from Kristen.

Although I have a big ugly “for sale” sign in my front garden, at least the weatherman has given the wrong prediction again: the sun has come out today and there has been no rain!

Feel like having a Tart?

Tarts: of course, I don’t mean girls who are always available to men. The tarts that I’m after are some lovely edible tarts which are not much effort to make.

I’ve met a new friend recently at work; we see each other sometimes during our lunch break. In the beginning, she brought her lunch with her, which looked very tasty. Then, she suggested to take turns to make lunch for each other. I really like the idea; it’s not just because I don’t need to spend too much money on the boring sandwiches, but I can let my creative juice flow when it’s my turn. Hence, when it was my turn, I made some savoury tarts for both of us.

The main ingredient you need for the tarts is the individual puff pastry round. I used the frozen one – just make sure it is fully defrosted. Then you can mix and match with any veg/meat you like. For example, for one, I used a big flat mushroom with Spanish chorizo sausage, and for another, I cooked and mashed some cauliflower and mixed with bacon. Make sure the cauliflower mixture is completely cool before transferring onto the puff pastry, then pinch and seal the folds.

All you need to do next is to place the tarts on a greased baking tray and put the tray into the oven, preheated to 200C. The tarts will be ready in 20 minutes. When they are cooked, there may be a lot of water in the mushroom one; however, the mushroom will absorb the water as it cools. They are especially nice while still warm, but they also made a lovely lunch for my friend and me.

(PS I would like to submit this lunch idea to the ‘Wholesome Lunchbox Event’, hosted by Margot.)

Rhubarb and Apple Crumble

Last weekend my husband and I went to visit his family. His dad loves gardening and grows veg in his back garden. Every time I go to his house, I would take a look at his garden. I saw some rhubarb laying on the ground, and he has kindly given me some.

Rhubarb – I’m still not sure it is a veg or fruit, but I know it is a plant. Also, the leaves are toxic and people eat just the stem. In the UK, people normally use it to make a crumble dessert or pie. So after we got home, I bought a couple of cooking apples and made the rhubarb and apple crumble:

5-6 sticks of rhubarb
2 cooking apples
1 lemon
2-3 teaspoons sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder (optional)

Crumble:
200g flour
100g cold butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 190C

To make the crumble, rub the flour, baking powder, and butter (cut in small cubes) in a bowl using your fingers. When the texture becomes sand-like, add the brown sugar and mix quickly.

Cut the apple and rhubarb into small chunks and put it into a pie dish. Drizzle some lemon juice and add a bit of the lemon zest and sugar on top of the fruit. Then put the crumble mixture on top, and put the dish into the oven for 40-45 minutes. Serve with cream or warm custard.

The picture above was with some warm cinnamon custard. Basically I’ve forgotten to add the cinnamon into the crumble, so we added a bit of the cinnamon into the custard instead. I would like to enter this to the Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Wandering Chopsticks this week.