Now the weather is gradually but finally getting colder, winter type meals are starting to become more common in the household. Soups, stews, curries, casseroles, roasts and pies. The sort of meals that felt far to hot and heavy to eat weeks ago are now desired to chase the chill away.
These pot pies are one of the most simple meals of the bunch. They don't require any pastry knowledge or blind baking so they're perfect for anyone intimidated by making pie crusts.
This curry is one of my all-time favourite recipes. It's rich and flavour-full, but the addition of peanuts takes it to an extra level of taste and texture. I made this one for the family a few weeks back and wanted to share it with you guys.
While I typically use chicken for this recipe, like most curries you can swap the meat for whatever your preferred meat is. Chicken is such a cheap meat here that it makes a delicious budget meal, but if you live in a country where poultry is more expensive, feel free to sub in whatever cut of meat you like.
Let’s get started…
Every so often, Philly have one of those deals where if you buy so many products you get a recipe book for free. Unlike most of the freebies you get in supermarkets, these books are actually amazing and usually cost $35-45 each to buy on their own. Each is filled with 75 recipes, most of which I'm keen to try out at some point.
A while ago I picked up volume 2 at the supermarket. My dad found the first volume at the op shop. On last week's grocery shop I noticed volume three was out, and eagerly snatched it up. Flicking through the newest copy reminded me of how fantastic these books are, so I decided to dig them out for the cook book challenge. This week begins with the first volume.
I've got a lot of baking on over the next couple weeks, what with the Daring Baker's Challenge, a couple of other challenges, as well as a personal project you guys will find out about soon, so I steered away from the desserts section for once. While there were a bunch of savoury options begging to be tried, I decided to go with something that involved a technique I've always been too intimidated to try.
This weeks recipe comes from the second book mentioned in my CBC post last week that was full of epicness:
I've cooked several times out of this book already. I love it.
The one I am choosing to share for the cook book challenge is Chicken and Banana Squares.
Does that sound as repulsive to you as it did to me what I first saw it? Couple with the fact I hate cooked banana – why would anyone want to eat that with chicken?
It sounded so gross it made me insanely curious. I just had to try this.
The result was surprising.
Honey chicken and lemon chicken are both one of my favourite Chinese dishes. I often order them when I go out, but I make it much less often. Making this reminded of why I should make the effort more often.
I'm not really a believer in New Years resolutions. But if I came close to having one, it was that I was definitely going to keep up to date with the Cook Book Challenge. Well, it's nearly the end of Feb and I'm yet to do it once.
I guess the reason there is that I basically haven't been home to cook. I've been so flat out that I pretty much skipped dinner in favour of sleep. My now my schedule is starting to slow down (i.e. working from home rather than doing 16 hour days on top of a 3 hour commute) so I've been able to return to cooking over the last week.
This coincided with my dad giving me yet another two books from the op-shop. Both these books had so many appetising recipes inside it really got the desire to cook returning.
If you have a list of sauces in your repertoire, you can turn any basic meal into something a little more special. This satay sauce recipe the The Australia Woman's Weekly's "The great chicken cookbook" serves that purpose. This sauce is made with common pantry ingredients and is <i>far</i> from traditional – served with marinated chicken shaslicks, it's perfect for those nights of zero inspiration.
Wow. It did not take me long to fall off the band wagon with this one. Lately, finding time to cook anything that isn't 2-minute noodles is an achievement within itself.
But here's one to fire this challenge up again. This one comes from Mary-Lou Arnold’s “The All Occasion Chicken Cookbook”.
A move from the sweet and to the savory: though you probably won't be surprised to hear that it involves pastry.
I mean, how many times have you heard me say I love pastry?
Cakecrumbs 