Sunday, June 7, 2009

2 Little Piggies went to Market

Welcome to new blog followers. I'm interested to hear what you think and happy to answer questions. Actually I'm really keen to answer questions so please feel obliged to ask one.

School lunches for Phoebe at the moment consist of a wrap filled with shredded lettuce, grated carrot & cheese & shredded chicken. If you buy shredded chicken at the supermarket it is probably not free range but we have found a delicious & simple way to produce shredded chicken at home. You don't always have left over roast chicken to shred but if you buy a breast you can poach it with herbs & spices which produces a delicious moist result. In a saucepan, well cover the breast with cold water, add flavourings (e.g. 1/2 lemon sliced, 2 bay leaves, sprig of thyme, peppercorns), cover pan & bring to the boil. As soon as it boils take it off the heat & leave covered for at least a hour & a half. Shred & refrigerate. Use the poaching liquid as stock. This is about 30% cheaper than buying shredded. It's probably better quality chicken and it is delicious. Poaching chicken like this is also great for salads.

We made delicious quesadillas for lunch today using the wraps. Makes a nice change from a toasted sandwich. We spread a generous layer of green tomato chutney (home made) then a dollop of drained kidney beans, a layer of washed (& dried), shredded spinach, grated Gruyere, a sprinkling of thinly sliced spring onions, a grinding of black pepper. Fold them in half (or quarters if you think the tortilla won't hold the weight), then toast in a ridged sandwich press, or a ridged pan or grill. If you don't have any of those I would grill in the oven until crisp. They do need to be toasted on both sides.

We went to the market this morning and what a feast! Tamarillos at $3.99 instead of the $8.99 in the supermarket so I have a batch of tamarillo chutney on the stove. Mum's recipe which cannot be equalled. Simmer the following for 2 hours. Makes roughly 9 jars depending on size.

2 doz tamarillos, peeled
2lbs brown sugar
1 pint vinegar
1lb apples
1lb onions
1tbsp salt
1tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp pickling spice

Back to the market. Apples at $1.29 ($2.99 in supermarket). Used for chutney, made an apple cake & juiced a batch. We have a Wai-ora Farm lamb roasting in the oven. Gravy. I have always made the gravy in our house but while I was writing this Peter took over this evening & added Maria Pia's Vinocotto. It was truly delicious - really flavourful. I may never make gravy again.

We also bought some Heritage Meat Co. pork & apple sausages. They sell grilled sausages in ficelle at the market. A kind of up market piggy in a blanket, & the Romanian spiced sausage with chutney is hard to resist on a cold morning.

And this morning's find has to be the ceramic grater - a grate plate. This is amazing. Used it to grate nutmeg & ginger for the cake with great success.

And speaking of the apple cake. As well as apples this recipe had raisins and I had just bought this very exciting fruit mix at the supermarket - raisins, sultanas, cranberries, goji berries - so I used them. I think it moves the cake from a "sometimes food" to health food.

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