Beth's Homemade Sausage Rolls

Now I LOVE sausage rolls. Specially ones from our local bakery - they are sooo good! BUT - I hate homemade ones that are made from sausage meat (in Australia sausage is not the same as the american stuff, it's pretty foul and just ground up blergh really). So earlier this year I experimented and made my own recipe up!
They do have a different texture to most sausage rolls as they have real meat not sausage meat in them, so they aren't quite as moist, but they are OH so tasty! I haven't worked out how to get them as moist, but I'd say if you added more of the sauces that would probably help. Or possibly some diced tomato if you wanted.

Ingredients:
500g beef mince (ground beef)
500g pork mince (ground pork)
1 finely grated carrot
2 stalks grated celery
1 diced onion
3 eggs
italian herbs
tomato sauce (ketchup)
worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
Puff pastry sheets - about 6 or 7 - these need to be thawed
1 egg, beaten with a fork for basting



Lightly fry up the onion till it softens and let it cool slightly.
Place the mince, eggs, carrot, onion and celery in your stand mixer (or you can mix by hand but this is much easier!) with the paddle and mix till they are nicely combined. Then add a squirt of ketchup, a slosh of worestershire, a few shakes of italian herbs and some salt and pepper. Mix again till well mixed.

Once they are all mixed in, set this aside.
Get one piece of puff pastry and slice it right down the middle so you have 2 rectangles.
Baste the middle edges with some of the egg and then put some of the meat mixture down the outside edges of the pastry.
Roll up, meat side first so that the egg helps to close and seal the gap. You don't want too much meat mixture or you won't be able to close it up properly.

Place the sausage roll, closed up side down, on a tray with baking paper and slice into as many slices as you want. 2-3 pieces will give you nice big ones, and 6 will give you nice one bite sausage rolls for party food. Baste each with a little egg on the top before you slice them up. You can prick them with a fork if you like.

Continue till all your mixture is used up.

Bake in the oven on around 160c for about 30 mins or so until they are nice and golden brown. I find that the slower oven helps them cook right through without the pastry burning.

Let them cool on a cooling rack to save for later. Can be refrigerated or frozen and then reheated. Otherwise, serve hot with a dollop of tomato ketchup!

YUM!!!

I'll try to post a photo tomorrow.

Nanna's Curry

When I was little and went to visit my nanna, she'd often make a curry. Now, I grew up in a family who had lots of Asian friends, and my parents like HOT food. So - it was nothing like any curry that my mum or dad made as N, butanna's curry was a sweet one.

Today I was sitting at home trying to decide what to do with all the vegies that I bought to make a soup but decided the weather was too hot for that. So I thought - yep, Nanna's curry sounds good, as it's full of vegies and stuff.

I called my Nanna - who told me she was making it for HER dinner tonight too. My Pop said I could have his plateful (I don't think he's a big fan of it lol). So here's the recipe.

Dice up:
1kg blade steak

1 carrot
1 parsnip
3 small celery sticks
2 med onions
½ large capsicum (red or green pepper)
1 apple - eg granny smith

Fry it all up in a bit of oil.

Then add:

Curry powder to taste
2 dessertspoon coconut
1 dessertspoon brown sugar
1 tbsp sultanas/raisins

Fry for a little longer and then add:

1 small tin pineapple (crushed or chopped)
2tbsp soy sauce
1dessertspoon vinegar

1tbsp pickles eg green tomatoes

1tbsp fruit chutney

Simmer for 2 hours or so.

Can add a tiny bit of coconut milk too if needed.

Serve with rice.

I will post a photo when I've made it.

J

cupcakes

Ok so I know I haven't been posting much lately.

But let me tell you now - that KitchenAid mixer is certainly getting a workout! That's for sure. I love it so much. My new little toy.

Anyways, I've recently started a little business - it's JUST started. So if anyone living in Perth wants to buy cupcakes or cookies, I'm your girl. :) I've been making lots of difference cupcakes and mostly they are posted on facebook. I have a facebook fan page here:
Beth Bakes

In the meantime, here's a pic of some cupcakes I made this weekend. Vanilla cake with buttercream frosting and little dummies (pacifiers) on top made of lollies. :)

yumm!

I made these tonight http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/02/thick-chewy-oatmeal-raisin-cookies/

Will update later with exact recipe and hopefully some pics! :)

Better get back to the baking. YUM!

My New Toy!

I would just like to inform my readers that I am now the proud owner of a KitchenAid KM150 Artisan stand mixer.

I am in LOVE!

It's so amazingly fabulous, and I plan to do some more baking really soon.

So far in it, I have made: mashed potatoes, lemon meringue pie - pastry and meringue (the best egg whites I have ever seen!!!), and right now I'm baking a loaf of bread.
It was so easy to mix in the mixer. Wow.

I have also purchased the slicer/grater/shredder attachment, and had some fun with that slicing up some vegies.

I am in love.

This is what I bought:

Caramel slice

I made this the other day, and it was choc-caramel mini cups. You made it and put it in cupcake trays to make little cups of chocolate caramel goodness. However, I decided to make it as a slice! And I've slightly simplified it.

Ingredients:
1 packet Arnott's butternut snap biscuits
1 tin condensed milk
2tbsp golden syrup
75g butter
30g butter
30g copha
200g melting chocolate

Alternatively if you are lazy, cut out the condensed milk, the 30g butter and golden syrup and use a can of Caramel Top N Fill instead. (Or use both and mix together mmmmm!!!)

OK. So throw the biscuits in a blender or food processor and crush them into crumbs. Melt the 75g of butter and pour it in and mix well.
Press it into a lamington tin or cake tin of a similar size. You probably don't need to grease it because of the butter, but lining with baking paper wouldn't hurt.
Then put the condensed milk, golden syrup and 30g butter into a saucepan and heat through. Do it nice and slow, and stir it well. It might go a bit lumpy, but it's ok, it still tastes good. Heat it till it simmers for a few minutes and goes a nice golden brown. If you just use the Top N Fill, heat it so it goes runny. Or, as I did tonight, use both and mix together, mmmmm!

Pour the caramel mix over the biscuit base, and then bake for 20 mins in the oven at 175C.

Take out of the oven and cool.

Heat the copha on the stove till melted, then add the chocolate and melt it all, stirring well.

Pour chocolate over the cooled slice and then refrigerate until set. Cut into nice small pieces as it's quite rich.

I will post photos later, as mine is still setting in the fridge!

This recipe needs to keep refrigerated, and will last a few days, if you can manage not to eat it all!

Chicken Parmigiana

I will admit that I've never been a real fan of the chicken parmigiana. In restaurants it's always oily and has too much cheese, plus they throw it on top of chips/fries, which go soggy! Not my idea of a good meal.

Andrew, my husband, however - loves it. So I thought I'd give it a go.
We had enough for 3 dinner serves, plus some leftovers for Andrew for work tomorrow. Probably if you want enough for 4 full dinner serves, use a bit extra chicken.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
4 slices bread
garlic
1 onion, diced
2 cans diced tomatoes
italian herbs - fresh or dried
sugar or ketchup
jar of plain tomato pasta sauce (eg dolmio)
vegies to serve with
pasta/spaghetti
cheese
2 eggs


Slice the chicken thinly into 2 or 3 slices. Even is good, but no matter if they aren't. Whiz up your bread in the blender to make breadcrumbs and add a bit of garlic at the end. You can also add some parmesan cheese, but I couldn't find mine! Throw your eggs in a bowl and beat them up so they are nicely mixed with a fork.
Dip your chicken into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs. Coat them well.

Put them aside - in the fridge is good here.


In a saucepan, fry up the onion and some garlic. Then add your cans of tomatoes. I also added half a jar of dolmio tomato pasta sauce. This isn't necessary but helped give it a nice round flavour. Let it simmer for a while, and add some mixed Italian herbs. Also add a squirt of ketchup or a teaspoon of sugar. This will help the sauce not be too bitter as it can get from lots of tomatoes.

Once your sauce is cooked and has simmered for a while, get a frying pan and coat it with a decent amount of oil. I used olive oil but vegetable oil is fine. Get it to a good heat so you can shallow fry the chicken. Not too hot so as to burn them though!
Fry the chicken pieces for a few minutes each side. If they aren't fully cooked, that's ok as they will be going in the oven. Place each cooked piece on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle some sauce and a sprinkling of cheese on each one. I used a tiny bit each of parmesan (yeah, I managed to find it), regular cheese and mozzerella. Don't use too much cheese you don't want it oily and icky.

Whack that in the oven at 180C for 15 mins or so.
Cook your spaghetti according to packet directions, which usually takes around 10 mins. Drain it and stir the sauce through.

Serve on a plate with a nice amount of pasta, with the chicken on top and some greens around the side. I used green beans and carrots tonight.

Sorry I forgot to take a photo, but it was delicious!!!!!!!

Then we had chocolate pudding for dessert with fudge sauce and that was awesome!!!

yummy pretty cake

Well I saw this cake here and I was inspired. The original cake was an almond cake with cherry filling but I didn't like the idea of that, so I made it choc/vanilla/choc with the same icing.

I used a packet mix, just a cheap home brand one. 2 x choc and 1 x vanilla. I think any plain cake that isn't too strong a flavour will work well - from scratch or from a packet mix. Vanilla and choc worked well, probably mud - choc and vanilla would work well too but may be a bit strong in flavour. That's why I like the generic brands as they aren't too strong.

Anyway, make 3 cakes of the same size and let them cool.

Trim the top of the cakes so they can stack on top of each other.

Get your cake stand and put 1 choc cake in the middle. Add some Nestle Caramel Top n Fill as the middle layer, then add the vanilla, more caramel and then the 2nd choc cake.
If you can't get Caramel Top n Fill, use a tin of condensed milk , take off the label, and put in a saucepan filled with water. Make sure the tin is covered. Boil this for 4 hours, let it cool and open it. Voila, you have caramel sauce!

Meanwhile you need to make the buttercream icing!

Whip 4 egg whites in a mixer till light and fluffy. Then mix 1 cup sugar with half a cup of water and heat on the stove and stir till it's dissolved. Once dissolved, let it boil for approx 5 mins till it thickens a little and becomes syruppy. I don't have a candy thermometer, so that's how I did it. Otherwise, till it gets to approx 240F.

Turn on the mixer again and whip the eggwhites, while slowly drizzling in the candy mixture. Do it nice and slowly and it should partially cook the egg from the heat! Once it's all mixed in, add 1 1/2 cups of butter (not margarine) at room temperature, 1tbsp at a time. Mix on medium-high till it's all mixed in then put up to high. It may curdle and look a bit like ricotta cheese, but mix it on high and it will go nice and creamy after a few minutes. You will need to be mixing for about 15 mins all up probably - so an electric stand mixer is best!

Once that's done, ice your cake neatly and wipe off any spills from your platter.

Then you decorate it!
I bought some royal/white icing from the shop and coloured it with food colouring and then cut it out with the cookie cutter. I left them overnight in cupcake trays so they could keep their shape. 2 days is better time to dry as overnight had them dry but soft. Still yummy though.

Decorate to your hearts content!!!

Freakin' awesome rainbow layer cake!!!

Well I saw this cake on a blog online and I just couldn't resist, I had to make it! :-)

So I made it my own and this is how I did it.

2 packets of butter cake mix (or vanilla or lemon, or anything that has no colour to it really).
Lots of icing (I made cream cheese icing)
Smarties, m&ms or 100s&1000s to decorate
Red, blue, yellow and green food colouring
Strawberry jam
Whipping cream

Make up your packet cake mix in a bowl, but before you do, weigh the bowl and remember the weight! When made, measure out 1/6 of your mixture into a smaller bowl and add red food colouring.
Pour into a cake tin and bake - there won't be much mixture - I used a 23cm tin and it was just enough mixture to cover the bottom of the tin. It only takes about 15 mins to bake or so.
When cooked, put on a cooling rack and repeat with orange (red and yellow), yellow, green, blue and purple (blue and red) food colouring. You will then have 6 cakes. If you have 2 tins, you can obviously cook 2 at a time - but make sure they are the same size tin!!!

When the cakes are all cooked and cooled, then you layer them. I started with red on the bottom, and spread some warmed strawberry jam on each layer, and then some whipped cream. Be careful how much you use, as it is a VERY sweet cake - less is best. Also don't get the cream too close to the edges as you don't want it to squelch out.



Layer them all up, and then cover the entire thing with icing, and decorate. I used a cream cheese icing, and had it slightly runny, so it just oozed down the sides of the cake - easy! But a thick harder icing will work just as well.

I decorated with some smarties and popped in the fridge.

Warm Chicken Pasta Salad

Found this recipe on taste.com.au and changed it quite a bit.
Here tis!

Cook 375g pasta (spirals, shells, bow ties etc) according to packet and drain.

Chop up 4 spring onions (scallions) and 1 red capsicum (bell pepper).

Lightly fry onions in a bit of olive oil - add 2 cloves minced garlic, and then the capsicum.

Fry for 5 mins till all are tender. Add 1 punnet of sliced grape tomatoes (I sliced each tomato into 4) and 1/2tsp minced red chilli. Cook another 2 mins or so. Add 300ml thickened cream and let it simmer for 3 mins until slightly thickened. Stir occasionally.

Place cooked pasta in a big bowl and add 1/2 a diced bbq chicken (alternatively pan fry 2 chicken breasts and then slice up thinly) and a few cups of baby english spinach, roughly chopped.

Pour cream and onion mixture over the top of the pasta and mix together.

Serve warm.
Serves 4-6 as a main meal.

Amazing salad!

I made this awesome salad tonight.
Ingredients:
Torn up coral (?) lettuce
Torn up baby spinach
1 sliced red capsicum
1 sliced orange (or yellow, or 2 red) capsicum
2 thinly sliced carrots
2 mushrooms thinly sliced
1 lebanese cucumber, sliced
cherry tomatoes
fetta cheese, diced

Throw all the salad together and toss.

Then throw a nice piece of tender steak in a pan or on the bbq and cook to your liking. Medium well is how we had it. When cooked, slice your steak and scatter over the salad.

Serve in pasta bowls with some crispy noodles on top!

Dressing:
Found this amazing recipe on allrecipes.com for this honey balsamic dressing. I changed it a bit so here goes:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 small onion
1tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp white sugar
1 cloves of garlic
3tbsp honey
1inch wide piece of red capsicum
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (evoo)


Chuck everything in a blender and whizz until thick.

YUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

Inspiration

Well I went to see Julie and Julia last night at the movies, and I was inspired!

I have Beef Bourguignon in the oven at the moment!

If it's a success, I will post pics an the recipe. I am using Julia Child's recipe. It's rather time consuming, but man it smells divine!

Corned Beef!

Well I had a request for my recipe for corned beef on facebook - so here goes.

Head on down to your butcher, or supermarket and grab a piece of corned silverside. Make sure it's the corned stuff, not the regular, otherwise it might not taste so nice! Alternatively, I also like corned brisket. This is often a little bit cheaper and just a different cut of beef, and has a more subtle flavour IMO. Both are nice, it just comes to personal preference. The silverside is usually easier to carve though, as the brisket is generally rolled.

Anyways get a piece of the size you want. When you get home, plop it in a nice big pot that is deep enough for you to cover the meat with water. You can rinse the meat if it's a bit gooey. Fill the pot with water so it's just covering the meat, and add the following. An onion, a carrot (both halved is fine), a couple of bayleaves, a swig of vinegar (not too much, just a tablespoon or two) and about the same of brown sugar. Also a couple of cloves don't go astray.
Now you can kinda put whatever you want in the water, but mostly you need the vinegar and the sugar. Don't over vinegar it or your meat will taste just like vinegar. Blech! Most corned beef that you buy already wrapped will have a recipe on the wrapper, so that's just my version of all the ones I've seen.

Alternatively, you can put in a 1.25Litre bottle of ginger beer! Believe me, this is DELICIOUS! If you do the ginger beer, forget all the other ingredients, apart from say the onion and carrot. Chuck in the ginger beer, and then top up with water to how much you need.

Other options to add to your pot include a stick of celery and a potato or two. I don't bother with these though.

So pop the pot on the stove, and bring to the boil. Then turn it down and let it simmer for a few hours. I think the story goes, like 1 hour per kilo plus 30 mins or whatever. Anyways 2-3 hours for a 2ish kilo piece of beef will be fine. Tonight I had 1.5kg and it cooked for just over 2 hours. It's simmering the whole time, so it's going to be totally cooked through nice and early - you want it to get tender and get the flavours from the juices in the pot nice and infused.

If you want to use your slow cooker, this is an easy thing to make - pop it all in, throw it on low or auto for around 8 hours, and voila! Tender corned beef!

Now to serve, slice up your meat in nice chunks, and then I like to steam up some cabbage, mash some potatoes, and throw in a few carrots (you can pop these in the pot at the end if you want, although I don't bother) and serve with white sauce.

White sauce: See my recipe for white sauce. If you like yours with a bit of a bite, add a spoonful of dijon mustard - or your favourite mustard. Easy peasy!

Leftovers are great on sandwiches!

Scones!

My mum always had the knack of making delicious scones. Her recipe has changed over the years, but she never ceases to make good ones! She's also taught me how to make them and people ask for them all the time.
I made some today.
Here is how I did it.

about 2.5 cups self raising flour
about 1 cup lemonade (sprite/7up for any americans who read this)
about 1 cup whipping cream (unwhipped)
a couple of spoonfuls of sugar.

Put everything into a big bowl and slowly stir it around to mix it together. You want a mix that sticks but isn't too sticky. Add flour or liquid to make a good consistency.
When it's reasonably mixed, dump it onto a floured board or bench. Give it a soft knead ensuring the outside is floury and not sticky. Don't press too hard. A soft hand gives light scones!
When that's done, lightly press it out till it's about 1cm high and cut out scone rounds with a scone cutter or a glass.
Put the scones onto an oven tray that has a scattering of flour rubbed across it (no need to grease it, just flour). You want the scones to all be touching, so don't spread them out. When they touch they have to rise up, not out!

Place your tray into a very hot oven - 230C (a bit less for fan forced, maybe 220C). A hot oven is the key, so make sure you do this!

They will cook for 15 mins or so, until they are nice and brown on top. The scones should sound hollow when you tap them.
Wrap in a teatowel and place in a bowl or basket when they come out of the oven. Do this while they're still hot.

Serve with strawberry jam and whipped cream (tip for cream, when beating, add a spoon of icing sugar (powdered sugar) just before you finish and it will help it keep its shape and stay all nice and whipped).

Scones only last a day, so make sure you eat them straight away, otherwise they can be frozen and microwaved to defrost and freshen them up.

Easy chicken casserole

I got this recipe from an old friend and have slightly changed it to suit me!

Anyways, you need:
1kg chicken thighs
4 sticks celery
3 carrots, peeled
1 leek, or 1 onion
1 parsnip
1 zucchini
button mushrooms
1 tin of corn
2 tins tomatoes, diced
1 packet french onion soup mix
1 packet chicken noodle soup mix

Trim the fat off the chicken and cut each thigh into 2. Place into a casserole dish that has a lid. Then chop up the vegies to a size you'd like - chunky dicedish.
Add the vegies to the pot and pour the soup mixes and the tomatoes over it. Give it a little mix around, and then you might want to add a cup of water or so.

Put it in a medium oven - about 170C or so for 2 hours.

If you want to use frozen corn, add it in the last half hour.

For a slightly different version, add some macaroni and a little more water in the last half hour too.

Nanna's Lamb and Vegie soup

Nanna always made this yummy lamb and veg soup so I got the recipe from her.

Boil up a few lamb chops or shanks for a couple of hours so you get some nice stock. (I also added some diced lamb too coz I like it meaty!)

Grate some carrot, celery, onion/leek, parsnip, turnip, and any other veg you like, although the combo of those works great. You can add a potato or two as well (peeled).

Add the vegies to the pot with some more water or liquid vegie stock. Then add some vegie stock cubes/powder per your tasting preference.

After it's simmered away for another couple of hours, pull all the bones out and rip up the meat a bit if it's really chunky.
Let it cool overnight in the fridge, then skim the fat off the top.

Heat through and add 1/2 cup macaroni or pasta to your preference and simmer for half an hour or so until ready to eat. YUM!!!!

Beef Pie

Well I really like meat pies, yet I've never really made a good homemade one. So I tried again. I got a recipe from taste.com.au and tweaked it a bit.

1kg diced beef - I used chuck steak
plain flour
400ml beef stock
dried italian herbs
worcestershire sauce
1 diced onion
2 stalks diced celery
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup frozen peas/corn/carrots (or fresh diced carrot etc)
short crust pastry
salt and pepper

Dust the beef with some flour to coat, then brown in a heavy based pan with a little olive oil for 5-6 mins until brown. Take from the pan, then fry up the onion and celery (and if using fresh carrots, that too) with a little more oil. After a few mins when it's a little softened, add the meat back in, and the beef stock and some italian herbs. Stir and then add the mushrooms. Let it simmer for 1 hour or so. Stir occasionally and don't let it stick. Then add the frozen veg and and worcestershire sauce (a few gloops of it to taste). Let it simmer another 30 mins or so. Add salt and pepper to taste.

By now it should have reduced a bit, but you'll need to thicken it. A bit of flour and water mixed to a paste, then slowly poured in while stirring should do it. Don't under do it, or overdo it so it's a pile of glug!

Get a pie dish or a lasagne dish (I used a square lasagne dish) and spray with cooking spray lightly. Line it with shortcrust pastry including the sides. Pour in the meat mix evenly and put a pastry lid on top. Make sure there's no holes and it's nice and sealed. I folded the sides over the top of the lid and that worked well.

Bake at 180C for approx 40 mins till golden brown.

Serve immediately. YUM!!!!

simple lamb casserole/stew thing

When I was a kid, mum used to make this 'mutton stew' which was the absolute bane of my existance! I hated it with a passion! However, lamb casserole was my favourite dinner ever.
They were the same thing.

So here is my version of my mum's mutton stew, although with lamb!

1kg diced lamb
1 onion, diced
6 potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 carrots, chopped into chunks
3 sticks celery, chopped into chunks
1 tin tomatoes
italian herbs
red wine
frozen peas (optional)

brown onion in pot, add diced lamb and brown. add other vegies, tomatoes, herbs and stir. then put in some red wine (1/2 to 1cup) and simmer for 1hour or so.
this would also work well in the slow cooker on low for 6-8hours.

towards the end, add the peas if you want them, and heat through until peas are cooked.

serve on it's own or with crusty bread or similar.

spicy cous cous and chicken pieces.

this is the cous cous i served with the moroccan chicken, but also a really yummy spicy chicken recipe too.

chicken:
combine
2tsp curry powder
2tsp coriander (dried)
2tsp cumin
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic
2tsp orange zest
2tsp dried ginger

slice chicken breasts into 1inch cubes or so and put in a bag with the spices and get it all mixed together so the chicken is coated.

heat some olive oil in a frying pan so it's about 1/2cm deep. shallow fry the chicken pieces until cooked, but don't let them burn, so turn them regularly. place on paper towel to dry the oil off them. set aside.

cous cous:
in a bowl, put 1 1/2cups cous cous and 2 cups of hot water. stir with a fork and put a lid on and let it sit for 5 mins. fluff it with a fork after this and break up any chunks.

then combine:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil (good oil as this is for a dressing)
1 1/2tsp cumin
3/4tsp paprika
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
salt
1/2 cup toasted pinenuts (heat in a frying pan with a tiny bit of olive oil until browned, stirring)
1/2 cup currants (or more if you really like em!)
1/2 a small red onion, finely chopped (i like to quickly fry this up for 1-2 mins to just take off that raw flavour as red onion is pretty strong)
1/2 red capsicum (red bell pepper)

mix the oil, lemon juice and spices together and pour into the cous cous and mix together. then add the rest of the ingredients and stir together!

easy!!!!


cous cous

moroccan chicken tagine

now i tried this recipe because it said tagine... and i have a tagine but have never used it. but my recipe ended up being too big so i cooked it in the dutch oven!
i got this recipe from here but i did change some of the ingredients etc.
so this is my version:

1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground black pepper
1.5 tbsp paprika
1.5 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp turmeric
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 whole chicken (butterflied) or 10 chicken thighs
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tins chopped tomatoes
200g dried apricots, halved
100g dates, halved
100g currants
1 tsp strands saffron, soaked in cold water
600ml chicken stock
1 tbsp honey


mix the spices in a bowl. using half of the spices, coat the chicken and place in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

fry up the onions and garlic with the olive oil, then add the rest of the
spices - it will become quite pasty so i added some extra oil.

get the chicken and lightly brown each side for a few minutes in a griddle pan or frying pan, then place in a casserole dish. dutch oven or tagine
with a lid.
pour the onion mix over the top, along with the currants, apricots, dates, saffron (and water), chicken stock, honey and
tomatoes. give it a bit of a mix.

bake in the oven with a lid for an hour or so until the chicken is well cooked.


i did both a whole chicken plus some thighs, and took out the whole chook, cut it into 4 and grilled it just to brown it on top.
i put the thighs in a lasagne dish, and simmered the sauce to get rid of some of the juice as it was quite watery by then.
then i poured the sauce over the thighs and placed the chicken pieces on the top to serve.

this was served with spicy cous cous.