Herb Crusted Baked Chicken

This is Chicken Schnitzel to die for. Not fried, baked, with an incredible flavour and texture that is a sensation every time I eat this! The first time I had this was last summer at beach house holiday, a group of 20 year olds stayed overnight and the girls set out in the morning to make lunch for everyone, which was a real treat.  The recipe is designed for fish, but every time I've had it with chicken fillet, but use fish is you prefer.  So I owe a big thank you to Erica R for introducing this dish to me;  I've made some slight adjustments, let me know what you think.

4 Chicken Fillets
1 bunch flat leaf Parsley
3 cloves Garlic
1 - 3 fresh Chillies
2 -3 slices Bread, crumbed
100g grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Lemon grated rind
2 tabs Almonds finely chopped
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt and Black Pepper


1. Finely chop Parsley, Chilli, Garlic
2. Combine with Bread crumbs, cheese, almonds and enough olive oil to bind the mixture
3. Slice each Chicken fillet into 3 pieces of equal thickness and lay in a single layer in lightly oiled baking dish
4. Spread the topping over the chicken or fish fillets if preferred
5. Sprinkle with Sea Salt and cracked Black Pepper
6. Bake in hot oven 190ºC for 15 minutes

If you like to use a food processer then just throw in all the ingredients except the chicken!! and the olive oil.  Master Chef has caused a revival of this kitchen toy at my place... so chop everything, mix in some olive oil and the spread over the meat, easy and YUM!

Beef Guide for Slow Cooking

With so much meat being bought from the supermarket it is more difficult to work out the best cut for cooking with, I find it confusing and I worked in a butcher shop at some point in my food career!

I have been thinking more about which beef cut I’ll use as I make my way through Mum’s recipe book. Her book re-introduces me to beef cuts that I rarely use so I thought I would write a short beef guide for slow cooking.

In general people seem to find it difficult to work out the best cut for cooking with, I find it confusing too and I worked in a butcher shop at some point in my food career!

Perhaps it is because we eat less red meat these days.  We have easy access to a wide range of fresh fruit and vegetables, seafood and chicken, and beef has slipped down the ranking in my kitchen and I’m sure in yours too!  I never do a Roast Beef it is almost always a Roast Organic Chicken, weighing in just under 2kg, smothered in garlic, herbs and seasonings (details another day).  So I have become less experienced with beef buying and today I had some questions to ponder:

Which cut of beef is suitable for various cooking methods? 

When the label says casserole meat, what cut is it?

What part of the beast did it come from?

What did that beast feed on?

Looking at meat in a supermarket display, lined up on trays under plastic film and bright lights it is hard to even think about the animal it came from.  I prefer to talk to the local butcher, get a feel for some honest and sustainable supply chains. The butcher makes me think that the meat is fresher, he knows where the meat comes from and if they are grain fed, I feel closer to the farmyard.  Of course buying our meat at the Wayville Farmers Market on Sundays is a better option.  I never feel very organized when I am there to buy meat up for too many meals… I should think about that really.

Beef Guide for Slow Cooking

The Braising/Casserole meats have lots of connective tissues that will melt to tenderness when braised in a flavoursome stock, with herbs and vegetables and perhaps wine, cook slowly and carefully

Chuck Steak      can be a little fatty but good flavour      cook 2-3 hours

Gravy Beef       melts in the mouth easy to use      cook 2-3 hours

Boneless Shin      flavoursome and tender, my favourite    cook 2-3 hours

Osso Bucco (shin, bone-in)      lovely flavour, bone keeps the structure   cook 2-3 hours

Topside      not my choice for a slow cook, too dry     cook 1½- 2 hours

Round**        lean, clean flavour, can be expensive   cook 1½- 2 hours

Blade (Oyster Blade)      similar to shin, great flavour   cook 1½- 2 hours

Skirt Steak                     easy to cut, lean and tasty  cook    1½- 2 hours

Casserole Steak              never too sure what it is, I avoid unspecific labelled meat

** On display at my butcher they have lovely “round” round steaks for $23.99/kg sold as BBQ steaks. And other braising steaks are available at around $17/kg, maybe as low as $12/kg in the supermarket. To cook the Danish Beef Steak I wanted to cook it just like Mum would.  So I asked my butcher if he could find me some regular, old fashioned round steaks. He sliced 1.5 kg straight off the round part of beef from out the back of the shop, and he reduced the price to $18/kg for his trouble, which was much appreciated. The round steak had an intense beefy flavour and was very tender.

To clarify and avoid confusion over the correct terminology I have referred to one of my favourite cook books to check some terminology: Stephanie Alexander (1996), The Cooks Companion (Viking/Penguin).

1. Braising is to cook meat, slowly in the oven with aromatic vegetables, herbs and stock

2. Meat cooked on the stovetop it is called a Stew, it usually has more liquid.
3. Cooking meat slowly in liquids is also called a Casserole, but actually it is the container, heavy based and with and with tightly fitted lid that is the Casserole.

             

Glad to have that cleared up!

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When I was in Japan recently beef was selling for around $80/kg. Very expensive and really the only beef they have has all those fatty sections through it, (see above) called Kobe or Hida beef.  So for these reasons I ate lots of seafood, chicken and vegetables in Japan. 

Aubergine Parmigiana

I've eaten several versions of Aubergine Parmigiana here and in Italy and they have all been amazing.  I am an aubergine/eggplant fan, anytime it is on a menu I will order it, Indians and Japanese also do incredible dishes with this versatile and 'to die for' vegetable. Tonight, start of the week I usually cook something simple, that may give us some leftovers for Al's lunch tomorrow, something gluten free of course and it is cold so we are looking for warming nourishing meals. My favourite classical Italian cookbooks are "Jamie's Italy" and Marcella Hazan's "Classical Italian Cooking" (for details see my page on "Great Recipe Books"). The version I cooked tonight is a cross over with the classic and a version that an Italian girl Nadia shared with me. Her mother slices the aubergine paper thin and then drops it into a cheesy eggy batter to fry up and then layer upon layer with tomato salsa and cheese on top.  Mine is a combination of these recipes I hope you like it!

AUBERGINE PARMIGIANA

2 large Aubergines (make sure they are high quality glossy black)
cooking salt
3/4 cup grated Cheese (use Mozzarella, Parmesan or Cheddar, your choice)
Batter
3 Eggs
3 tabs Water
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
2 tabs Rice crumbs/Bread crumbs
Olive Oil
Tomato Salsa
2 Onions finely chopped
2 cloves Garlic finely chopped
2 tins chopped Tomatoes
1 sm tub Tomato Paste
ground Black Pepper
chopped Fresh Herbs

1. Slice the Aubergine thickly, layer into a colander with a generous sprinkle of salt, leave for 30 mins
2. Rinse Aubergine well and pat dry
3. Break eggs into a medium bowl, whisk and stir in other batter ingredients, mix well
4. Heat heavy based frying pan, add a good cover of oil and when hot, but not smoking add pieces of  Aubergine that has been dredged through the batter, coat well before adding to hot oil

5. Fry all of the pieces, keeping the pan topped up with oil. So that they don't get too greasy keep the oil pretty hot, without letting it burn.
6. Meanwhile make the Tomato Salsa by cooking Onions and Garlic in a little oil until soft and golden
7. Add Tomato paste and stir over heat for 2 mins and then add Tomatoes and Herbs and Spices, cook gently 10 minutes
8. Layer fried Aubergine slices, Tomato Salsa and grated Cheeses, ending with Salsa and Cheese.
9. Bake in moderate oven 180˚C

Serve as a side dish, or with a simple green salad.

White Fish with Currants

Delicious and simple, this dish can be made in advance and is excellent for a crowd, I love food that can be served at room temperature as it takes the pressure off the cook when entertaining. This is a classic Maggie Beer creation that I have taken from her recent extravaganza book "Maggie's Harvest" p80, in the Summer section. We used Tommy Ruffs just like Maggie suggests. They are pretty common here in SA, their name was recently officially changed to Australian herrings, tasty small oily fish.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! Serve with salads or roast garlicky potatoes.

White Fish with Currants
130g dried Currants
1 cup Verjuice (Maggie Beer's)
Butter for cooking
1 cup extra virgin Olive Oil
500g Tommy Ruff fillets (Australian Herring)
Plain Flour seasoned with salt & pepper
3 large Red Onions
rind and juice of 3 Lemons
3 sprigs Thyme

Soak currants in verjuice overnight or heat on defrost in microwave for 5 minutes.  Heat a knob of butter with a little olive oil in a heavy-based fry pan over medium heat until nut brown.  Dust each fillet with seasoned flour just before adding it to the pan and seal for 30 seconds on each side.  Add more butter as needed.
Arrange the fillets in a serving dish in a single layer.  Toss the onions in a little of the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat until softened, then add the lemon juice, lemon rind, thyme, and currants. Add equal amounts of the verjuice and olive oil, taste, and add more of each as required to make a balanced vinaigrette, then heat gently.  Pour the hot vinaigrette over the fish in the serving dish where the "cooking" will be completed.  The fish can be eaten 15 minutes after the dressing has been added or left at room temperature for a few hours (as along as it isn't too hot). If refrigerating, bring back to room temperature before serving.

Pumpkin, Tomato and White Bean Soup

In this section of the blog I starting a food diary of what I am cooking in my home when I'm not cooking from Mum's recipe book.  

Often the best meals come when I am just looking in the pantry creating a meal out of what is available.  Tonight there was a pot of pumpkin soup that I had quickly made on Sunday morning, I had made some lovely fresh Chicken stock and added a piece of sauteed pumpkin, ginger, garlic.  I didn't really have enough pumpkin for the amount of stock, so I put this unfinished soup in the fridge for "later on".  It was only 13'C today in Adelaide and soup was what we needed.  
I reheated the pumpkin broth (watery soup) and added a tub of left over tomato salsa (tinned tomato, fresh tomato, garlic, basil leaves) that I had made for bruschetta on the weekend.  Then I added a generous amount of ground coriander, a can of white cannellini beans and a dollop of cream.  A quick zap with the bamix, a grind of black pepper and it is done.