This is my new favourite curry for winter.
The flavours are sensational and it truly is worth making.
Ignore the long ingredient list, most of them are pantry staples.
If you don’t want to use fish sauce then just make sure you add salt.
I use Valcom curry pastes as like their fresh flavour.
This creamy mellow curry is a family favourite, I make it so often that I think I could make it with my eyes shut.
Add in potatoes, pumpkin, carrots if you like.
I also often add sliced green beans and other vegetables for about the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Chicken pie is really the ultimate of winter comfort food.
With crisp golden pastry encasing tender chunks of meat in a flavoursome gravy, a good chicken pie is a firm family favourite.
While there are of course exceptions to every generalisation, on the whole a homemade chicken pie is going to taste better than a commercial pie. You can pack your homemade pie with quality meat and vegetables and also know that you have used really good pastry.
You can of course use leftover roast chicken but we prefer chicken that has been gently cooked in water with a few flavours (carrot, onion, celery, parsley etc…), as this ensures the meat remains moist and tender.
Once the meat has been picked from the bones, the remaining carcass can then be simmered and reduced in the cooking liquid to make a rich, flavoursome stock.
Vegetables not only bulk out the meat but they add interesting flavour and texture. Onion, garlic, celery and carrot are the base to a classic pie although leek with chicken is also a perfect marriage.
Whatever your vegetable base is, make sure that you cook them long and slow to ensure they are well and truly tender before going into the pie.
A traditional pie is usually made with a butter puff pastry. Making your own puff pastry does take time and for that reason most of us buy it, just make sure you read the labels and look for pastry that uses butter, I think the taste is better than the vegetable shortening alternatives. On days where time is available then do try making your own puff pastry or for a quicker result try sour cream rough puff, made famous by Australian cook Maggie Beer.
The gravy/sauce is vital for being thick enough not to run everywhere but not gluggy.. Homemade or fresh purchased stocks (e.g. Federation pouches) will always taste better than stocks out of a packet.
Chicken Pie Making Tips:
1. Ceramic, glass and Pyrex dishes are all good for achieving crisp pastry.
2. Cooking meat on the bone first ie cooking a whole chicken, will give a richer flavour and better texture to the pie.
3. Slowly sweat your base vegetables and ensure they are thoroughly cooked before going into the pie.
4. Try and leave enough time to chill your filling before making the pie, pastry is at its best if kept as cold as possible until it goes into the oven.
5. Pastry should be kept as cold as possible until it gets into the oven. This will assist pastry becoming crisp, light and puffed..
6. Brush the pie with egg wash (egg yolk mixed with a little water) to give a lovely golden hue, if eggs are a problem then you can use milk.
7. Cook pies on fan bake and in the lower part of the oven.
8. The quicker the pastry heats the crisper and lighter the pastry will be. Heating an oven tray in the oven and then sitting your pie dish on this can be a good way to get a good crisp pastry base.
Our Favourite Chicken Pies
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken Pot Pie is a fabulous pie for weeknights when timing is a bit tight. Cook your chicken the night before and then you can quickly make the filling, pop on the lid and bake.
Feed a Crowd Smoked Chicken Pie
This pie is a real show stopper, I have been stopped on the street by people who love this pie and we understand why!
Chicken, Mushroom and Bacon Pie
This filling is rich, hearty and honest.
A great winter pie.
Moroccan Chicken Pie
With aromatic spices, chunks of pumpkin and red onion, this chicken pie is a feast for the senses.
Butter Chicken Party Pies
Pies and parties go hand in hand and these little bites of
flavoursome butter chicken are just perfect to serve with drinks or make them into bigger pies for dinner!
Smoked Chicken and Kumara Filo Parcels
Easy for week night dinner, these parcels rely on pantry/fridge staples and are great reheated for lunch the next day.
Chicken Empanadas
With chopped green olives, herbs and spices, these empanadas are very moreish.
Great for lunches, dinner or make tiny parcels to serve with drinks.
Chicken and Mustard Pie
This was my go to chicken pie for many years and always served with a rocket salad and balsamic dressing…
Bran muffins are quick and easy to make and delicious with the addition of fruit such as feijoa.
They are best on the day of making and always good with a spread of butter.
Cauliflower is enjoying some time in the limelight and not before time too.
This often maligned and traditionally mishandled vegetable must be the most versatile vegetable, it is full of flavour and of course t it is good for you with vitamins such as A and C.
Those trying to eschew refined carbohydrates love it due to the ease in which cauliflower can be blitzed into cous cous like grains that can also emulate rice.
The perfect side dish for casseroles and other saucy dishes.
Cauliflower is also great for gluten free crusts for tarts and pizzas.
There are so many things going for it, whats not to love?
Our Favourite Cauliflower Recipes include;
Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Dressing
This replaces the boiled cauli and cheese sauce with so much flavour and style that once tried you will never go back!
Whether you call it couscous or cauliflower rice, it is essentially one in the same.
Scatter nuts, seeds and herbs through it or keep it simple and serve as a side dish.
Roasted Cauliflower with Brussels Sprouts and Red Onions
Roasted vegetables are of course delicious and these are particularly tasty.
Roast Pumpkin and Feta Tarts with Cauliflower Crust
Not just for those who are grain or gluten free, cauliflower crust adds and interesting flavour and texture to tarts.
Roasted Vegetable, Goats’ Cheese and Pesto Pizza with a Cauliflower Base
Pan Fried Fish with Cauliflower Agrodolce
A classic flavour combination in Italy, the savoury sweet flavours work so well with both the fish and the cauliflower.
One of our favourite Indian appetisers with cauliflower as well as the usual onion.
Our no-bake slices are easily made and they are super popular. Think lolly cake, hedgehog slice, citrus slice and more.
This Snickers Slice was passed on to me by a Swedish friend. Of course it is simple to make and the flavour is really good – if you like peanut butter and chocolate that is.
I can’t go past Allsorts Slice, it is just so perfectly pretty and the chopped licorice allsorts are great for texture and flavour.
Lolly Cake is always popular, it can be rolled into a log such as this one or pressed into a slice pan. Super sweet and tasty it is not just the kids who like it!
There is nothing economical about this Chocolate Slice but it does pack a punch in terms of flavour and texture. You only need small pieces and it is lovely as an after dinner treat with coffee.
Rocky Road is one of my all time favourite slices, I think its the contrast of the soft sweet marshmallows with crunchy nuts, crisp biscuits and creamy chocolate that all bind together to give texture and lots of flavour.
Chocolate Rock is a sophisticated version of Hedgehog Slice. It uses shortbread as opposed to regular sweet biscuits and the golden syrup and melted chocolate make for a deliciously decadent slice.
Unbaked Citrus Slice is a change from the many chocolate recipes about.
Use orange or lemons or a combination of both.
Our vegan unbaked Chocolate Peanut Slice ticks most boxes in terms of being super delicious. We keep it in the fridge in a plastic container and I have been known to justify more than just a small piece with my afternoon cup of tea.
Known by so many names, our Broken Biscuit Chocolate Slice is one of those slices that the kids make repeatedly. Despite what ever else I make they seem to default back to this one.
What are some of your favourite unbaked slices?
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Anyone who knows me knows how much I love to travel and it is at this time of year that the planning begins. Usually I host one trip a year but this time I have agreed to two as the thought of adding in Croatia in September was too exciting to turn down.
Those who are spontaneous travellers can still join our Mexico trip at the end of April and A Taste of Croatia is also open for bookings. Numbers are kept small and we always have an amazing time.
Listeners to the Home and Garden Show on Radio Live will find us now on Magic Talk Radio. Tony has reclaimed his weekends so my partner is currently a work in progress.
Happy Cooking!
With the days being hot enough to almost cook an egg on the patio, most of us are choosing to cook and eat outside in the evening cool rather than face the heat of the kitchen.
With tongs in our hands the steak and sausages are well under control but what else are we going to barbecue?
We have some great ideas on what to eat and also how to keep yourself healthy this summer.
Firstly though, did you know half of all food poisoning occurs in the home? Make sure your food preparation and food hygiene is top notch so you don’t make your guests or yourself ill this summer. To do this just follow the three simple C’s – clean, cook, chill.
Clean – Wash hands, chopping boards, utensils and surfaces before and after handling raw meat.
Cook – Cook meat and poultry thoroughly, until juices run clear.
Chill – Cover, separate cooked and raw meat, and chill in the fridge. Don’t leave food out for more than two hours. If in doubt – chuck it out.
Following the three C’s will keep you and your family safe and reduce the chances of food poisoning this summer.
Check out foodsafety.govt.nz/ccc for more details
This Fragrant Spiced Chicken is our favourite chicken dishes of summer. While I often cook it in the oven, it is also a good one for the barbecue. Cook it on the hotplate at a medium heat until thoroughly cooked. The flavours are amazing.
I like to serve it with warm Roti bread which is heated on the barbecue as well and then an Asian style coleslaw. Try wrapping the chicken and slaw up in the roti…
Another favourite barbecue chicken dish is Korean Barbecue Chicken.
Our teens love this as it is has so much flavour but is not too spicy.
Chicken thigh fillets are a great barbecue option, they have enough fat to stay moist and they don’t take too long to cook.
Eggplant is an ideal barbecue vegetable, we like to cut it lengthways, brush with oil, cook until tender and then top with a yoghurt, mint, dill and garlic sauce and then sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and fresh parsley or coriander.
How pretty does this look?
You can also start the popular vegetable dish ratatouille on the barbecue by cooking off the eggplant, capsicum, courgettes and then transferring to a pan. The barbecue flavour really makes a difference to the end dish.
Prawns on the barbie is an Australian favourite and one that is gaining popularity here. Tossed with oil, garlic, salt and a touch of chilli there is little better.
Serve with lime wedges and green leaves.
Butterflied Lamb Legs barbecue easily and while lamb is of course delicious as is, we also like it with these Mediterranean flavours of herbs, garlic, lemon and anchovies. The anchovies melt into the meat and provide a glorious rich flavour.
Lamb cutlets are a great barbecue choice as well, these we love with garlic, salt and pepper and then sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, mint and served with a garlic, yoghurt sauce.
Actually we think pomegranate seeds go well with so many barbecue meats due to their pretty colour and burst of fresh flavour.
Juicy cobs of sweetcorn are ideal for barbecue cooking. The flavour seems to intensify being cooked this way and they cook quickly. Some choose to cook the corn within the husk whereas we like the barbecue effect and the caramelised kernels.
Simply brush the corn with a little oil before cooking and for a Mexican zing try sprinkling the corn with a mixture of smoked paprika and sea salt and then serve with lime wedges.
And while this has nothing to do with the actual barbecue, this juicy fresh Watermelon Salad is truly delicious to accompany barbecued prawns, lamb or chicken.
And as the perfect barbecue dessert, how about trying our Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich. This dessert is made hours ahead of time and is able to be eaten by hand if you like.
This recipe is based on the bbq chicken and lime leaf from Taste Vietnam, The Morning Glory Cookbook.
In the original version the chicken is cooked on skewers.
I have modified the ingredient quantities to suit my flavour preferences. I have also swapped out lime leaf for kaffir lime leaves.
With long summer days ahead of us it is time to relax, unwind and enjoy some fabulous easy recipes that also have a little zing to make them interesting.
This feature is brought to you by Valcom, makers of quality Thai Ingredients.
While you may think that spicy food is more suited to cooler winter months, it is no coincidence that most of our spicy food comes from around the tropics. Food with spice can cause you to warm internally which in turn makes you perspire and that sweat is our bodies mechanism to cool us down. So essentially a good hot curry may be just the thing for keeping cool this summer!
Check out some of our favourite summer dishes, made with Valcom curry pastes.
Wondering what to do with fish offcuts after a day out fishing?
Thai fish cakes are always popular and this recipe is a particular favourite of ours.
Quick and Easy Thai Chicken Curry
Stir fry 1/2 jar Valcom green curry paste with 2 tablespoons oil for 3-5 minutes in a saucepan over a low heat.
Add 2 cans (880ml total) of coconut milk, 3 tablespoons fish sauce. 1 teaspoon palm sugar and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add 500g sliced chicken (breast or thigh) and continue to gently cook until the chicken is cooked through.
Lastly add 1/2 jar Valcom Kaffir Lime leaves.
Serve garnished with fresh basil and coriander leaves
Pad Thai is not necessarily known for its heat but this simple dish is a summer staple. Made with chicken, prawns or both, it is so easy and so super tasty.
Fragrant Spiced Chicken is my absolute go to recipe this summer. The kids love it in steamed bao buns (bought frozen at the supermarket) or wrapped in a crisp fried roti bread with slaw (my favourite too).
Fish in Red Curry In a frying pan over a low heat stir fry 1/2 jar Valcom Red Curry Paste with 2 tablespoons of oil until fragrant – around 3-5 minutes.
Add 1 can coconut milk, 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 1 tablespoons palm sugar and 1/2 jar Valcom Kaffir Lime Leaves. Simmer for 5 minutes before adding 500g chopped firm white flesh fish. Cook a further 5 minutes until the fish is just cooked through.
Serve with steamed rice and garnish with basil and coriander leaves.
Summer time is all about fish, either caught ourselves or direct from our local supermarket or fishmonger. Spicy Basil Fish is quick to make and tastes amazing.
For those of us trying to shed some of the excess of the festive season then Tom Yum Soup is an obvious choice. Full of flavour, it is ideal when you feel like something light yet tasty.
Almost everyone loves a good satay. For a quick and easy satay sauce combine 1 1/4 cups coconut milk with 2 tablespoons Valcom Massaman Curry Paste in a small saucepan, heat until it reaches the boil and then add 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter, 2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate, 1-2 teaspoons sugar and salt to taste. Heat, stirring and add more coconut milk if the sauce is too thick.
To enter into the draw to win one of 5 hampers of Valcom products enter your details below.
(Prize couriered to NZ postal addresses only (sorry can’t deliver to RD addresses).
Prize may vary from photograph.
This is certainly the drink for summer. Cool and delicious it is just the thing for entertaining on hot summer days.
Frose is a good way of using up less than perfect berries and can also be made with frozen berries.
Lasagne is a great family dish being popular with kids and adults alike.
*I often pour any leftover red wine (up to about 1/2 a bottle) into the frying pan once the vegetables are finished. This then bubbles and reduces and is then poured into the saucepan with the rest of the ingredients.
*Adding a few slices of chopped bacon or prosciutto to the pan with the meat will add a richness of flavour.
Meat & Three – Kathy Paterson
Kathy Paterson needs little introduction, originally a teacher at Cordon Bleu cooking school in London and Auckland, followed by running a highly successful catering business in Auckland, Kathy is now a prominent NZ food writer. Kathy can be found in Bite (NZ Herald) and works closely writing recipes for Beef & Lamb NZ.
Kathy Paterson (KP) was a guest on the Radio Live Home & Garden show with Helen Jackson (HJ) and Tony Murrell (TM).
HJ– Kathy your whole life has been about appreciating and understanding meat with your background being rural.
KP– Yes totally, our farm was sheep mainly and a bit of beef so definitely I love lamb.
HJ– Inspiration for the cookbook? Meat & Three, great title btw.
KP– Yes it is isn’t it, a play on meat and three veg.
TM– Isn’t that how we used to eat?
KP– Yes it is and I am trying to change it back, I want us to go back eating that way.
HJ – So you think we should go back to eating meat and three? Explain what you mean by that?
KP– When we were growing up we had a whole plate full of vegetables, we always had three vegetables and they had to be colourful. I don’t think mum was really thinking about nutritional facts but she just had it there and she liked the plate to be full of colourful vegetables. Say if we had a leg of lamb then we would have about 3 slices each, and thin slices. The next day it would be cold meat with hot vegetables and then the next it would be fritters or rissoles.
HJ– In our house it was the same but always Shepherds’ Pie. We always expected a leg of lamb to last for quite a few meals.
KP– These lamb fillets that I have bought for you to try are about 90g and for me that is a perfect portion size of meat.
HJ– With Meat & Three we are not talking about boiling 3 vegetables and putting them with a piece of meat as our mothers might have done are we?
KP– They are still straight forward recipes but I try to go to farmers markets and buy vegetables and then go and choose my meat. Actually I often get meat directly from farms. I like to buy off the farmer and will buy a whole lamb and then share it with the family.
I do think of the vegetables first and then work out what meat to have with them.
HJ– When we are talking NZ beef and lamb, we are very lucky in this country with quality and the life that the animals have lived.
KP– Totally, they are pretty much all grass fed which is of course what we are looking for and what we need to keep promoting. We should appreciate it and I think the demand in the future for our beef and lamb is going to be massive.
HJ– You spent time visiting farms and have featured 4 in the book, tell us about them.
KP– We started in the Bay of Islands at Wairoa Station which is Waitangi Angus and then we visited Stonyhurst in North Canterbury. In the early years, this farm supplied meat to all of Christchurch.
Bracepeth and Dome Hills were the other two farms which gave us equal distribution between north and south island.
It was great to visit the farms and see the size of them and the fact that most people wouldn’t realise that on these enormous farms you can travel for ages not seeing any animals and when you do they are happily grazing on grass.
Featuring the farms was a way of working on the growing disconnect between urban and rural.
HJ– You have a strong connection with the seasons and that is how you have set the book out.
KP– I am strong on eating seasonally. It is really important, it is when vegetables are at their best, they taste great and the price is right. I can remember when we were growing up and dad coming home with the first of the new season asparagus and when the Bluff oyster season started he would be straight into town to buy oysters. I was lucky from that point of view. We had interesting food and always seasonal.
HJ– So then does the cut of meat that you choose at the time depend on the seasons, depending on what vegetables you are having with it?
KP– Yes it does, in summer I tend to like the quicker cuts like a BBQ steak.
I do like quite quick cooking myself so I do like pan fry cuts like lamb fillets. People might say that they are expensive but the thing is there is no waste and you only need a small portion.
HJ– When you say you like quick cooking is that what you have in mind with the recipes in Meat & Three so that while they may need to be slow cooked they are not too complicated and don’t require too much effort?
KP– They are not too time consuming although there are a few things in there like a retro beetroot jelly that does take a little bit of time but you certainly don’t have to make this part of the recipe if you don’t want to.
TM– I am stuck on page 109 with the beautiful Beef & Vegetable Pasties, I can’t get over that page.
HJ – One of the things too that I like about the book is the education, your butcher style illustrations of animals that show where all the different cuts come from. This is something that years ago home cooks would have all known but no so now. It is relevant for the cooking method.
KP– Yes I wanted to do that and also add in things like a gravy recipe. Lots of friends of mine are frightened to make a gravy yet that was just part of our lives growing up.
We threw in the potato water and pea water and it was delicious.
HJ– It isn’t all savoury either, there are delicious looking desserts with a couple of standouts being Oven Roasted Black Boy Peaches with Vanilla Custard and Lemon Syrup Cake with Mascarpone Elderflower Icing.
TM – I want the Ice Cream with Butterscotch Sauce and I think for lunch today are the Lamb Fritters. You can’t beat a tasty fritter.
HJ– The paper is a beautiful quality, it is hard cover and it is a smart and lovely book.
TM – Ingredients are easy to find, fab photos by Tam West.
HJ– retail at just under $50
Spring Lamb Fillets & Tomato Salad on Line Hart’s Crackerbread
Lamb fillets pan-fried until they have rose pink juicy meat with a golden crust are small bites of pure joy.
Makes 20 pieces
Strained yoghurt
400g natural, unsweetened yoghurt
1 clove new season’s garlic, peeled and crushed
sea salt
1 tablespoon chopped dill
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Tomato salad
250g mixed coloured cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
a small handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped
a few fresh chives, snipped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil sea salt
Spring lamb
2 spring lamb fillets, trimmed of silver skin, at room temperature
olive oil for rubbing
sea salt
To serve
10 pieces of store-bought crackerbread, broken in half, or homemade crackerbread (see recipe below)
a few fresh chives
1 lemon
Strained yoghurt
Line a non-metallic sieve with cheesecloth (muslin) and set over a bowl. Mix together the yoghurt, garlic and a good pinch of salt and place in the cheesecloth. Fold over the edges to enclose the yoghurt, cover with a clean tea towel and place in the fridge overnight or for up to 24 hours. Place the thickened yoghurt in a small bowl and mix through the chopped dill and lemon zest. Cover and return to the fridge until ready to use.
Tomato salad
Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and season with salt. Cover and set aside to allow the flavours to mingle.
Spring lamb
Rub the lamb fillets with olive oil. Place a large frying pan over medium-high heat and when hot, place in the lamb fillets. Cook for 5 minutes, turning during cooking to brown all sides. Remove to a warmed plate and season lightly with salt. Cover loosely with foil and a clean tea towel and leave to rest for 5 minutes.
To serve
Slice the lamb fillets across the grain of the meat. You should get 10 slices from each fillet. Spread a little of the strained yoghurt mixture on each piece of crackerbread, top with the tomato salad and finish with a slice of lamb. Arrange on a serving plate and snip over some fresh chives. Finely grate over the lemon zest.
Note
You will need to start the yoghurt straining the day before.
The whey that collects in the bottom of the bowl from straining the yoghurt can be used as part of the liquid in bread making or can be added to soups.
Line Hart’s Crackerbread
Line Hart makes and sells her delicious hand-rolled crackerbread throughout the country and has kindly developed this recipe for home cooks. The secret is to roll the crackerbread mixture very thinly and bake until well-coloured. You can roll the mixture in two batches, but for the first time you make it I suggest doing it in three batches to ensure you roll thinly and evenly. Line uses a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the uncooked crackerbread mixture before baking, to ensure even-sized pieces. For extra saltiness sprinkle crackerbread with a little sea salt before baking.
Makes 50–60 pieces
40g (½ cup) rolled oats
50g (½ cup) sesame seeds
50g (½ cup) whole flaxseed (linseed)
50g (½ cup) sunflower seeds
50g (½ cup) pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, preferably toasted (optional)
150g (1½ cups) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine salt
180ml (¾ cup) cold water
125ml (½ cup) olive oil
sea salt (optional)
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a large, flat baking tray with baking paper.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the water and oil and mix. The mixture will be wet, have an oily coating and will come together into a large ball.
Divide the mixture into 2 or 3 even-sized pieces. Place 1 piece of the mixture on the baking paper-lined tray and cover with another piece of baking paper. Flatten the mixture using your hands, then with a rolling pin to form a large rectangle. Roll until you get the mixture as thin as possible.
Remove the top layer of paper and set it aside for the next piece of mixture. Sprinkle over a little sea salt, if desired, for extra flavour.
Place in the oven and bake for 20–25 minutes until the crackerbread is golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. Break the crackerbread into rustic pieces before it cools and hardens further.
Repeat with the remaining mixture.
Store the crackerbread in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
To enter into the draw to win a copy of Kathy Paterson Meat & Three simply fill in your details below.
