Chicken Tagine with Dates and Almonds

 

Why, hello :) It’s been a while, I hope you’ve been keeping well over the past year and a half?

I thought I’d dust off the keypad and update my repository of recipes by giving you one that worked well for a pot luck dinner just this week. This chicken, date and almond tagine was originally cooked for me by my friends A&E. I then nicked the recipe off them and have been cooking it for dinner parties, many of my own meals - and a pot luck dinner.

As is my way, I made a few tweaks to the original recipe which called for prunes and green olives - I didn't have either of those so substituted the prunes for dates and left out the olives - the saltiness of these would balance out the sweetness of the prunes.

And contrary to popular belief, you don't need a traditional tagine to make this - just a large pot. The preparation involves putting in the uncooked chicken (no pre-searing required, yeah!) and layering the other ingredients on top - so easy. The cooking time of an hour and a half braises the chicken to super tender and reduces down the liquid to make a rich, tasty sauce. I cooked mine in about an
hour and it still turned out well. I made couscous to go with it and jazzed it up a little by making it with chicken stock, lemon zest and a dash of parsley.

Tagine of Chicken with Dates and Almonds

Adapted from Julie Le Clerc’s book, Made in Morocco, via Milly’s Kitchen

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs, cut into good sized chunks

1 large onion,thickly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, ginger, cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 cup dates
1/2 cup blanched almonds
1/4 cup white wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar which I think made it too sweet)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
Sea salt and freshly

ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Place chicken portions in a medium-large pot. Scatter over remaining ingredients in the order listed, except the parsley, and season with salt and pepper.

2. Cover the pot and bring the liquid to the boil, then turn down the heat to simmer for 1½ hours, turning the chicken pieces once or twice, until the chicken tests cooked and the liquid is much reduced. The cooking can alternatively be done in an oven heated to 180°C.

3. Adjust seasoning of sauce if necessary before serving. Serve scattered with parsley.

Serves 4

Wholemeal Pizzas (no yeast)

Pizza ready to go into the oven

Delicious, crisp pizza fresh out of the oven

I've been looking for a wholemeal pizza base without yeast for ages but finally came across this one the day that I made those yummy rocky road cupcakes - double success! It was exactly what I was looking for.

It's perfect because it's healthier with the wholemeal flour but also because I made the dough in 5-10 minutes after work - no waiting for yeast to rise and it still resulted in a nice light, crunchy base without being soggy.

I didn't have any tomato paste on hand so I took half a tin of canned, chopped tomatoes, added a clove of minced garlic, chucked in a bit of dried oregano and seasoned with salt and pepper. I reduced the tomatoes down until it became a good consistency for the base of my pizza - not too runny.

My toppings were zucchini, mushrooms, onion, tomato, ham and tasty cheddar cheese. My first pizza was a bit bland so I took a tip from my local pizza shop and sprinkled my second pizza with the same toppings but added extra zing with a bit more dried oregano, minced garlic and a few chili flakes - it turned out as tasty as store-bought pizza! And pretty good washed down with a glass of beer too.

Wholemeal Pizzas Without Yeast
Adapted from Family Oven

2 cups self-raising wholemeal flour (note the original recipe called for plain wholemeal flour but turned out okay with self-raising flour)
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
50g butter
2/3 cup milk
Tomato paste or puree
Pizza toppings of your choice plus minced garlic, dried oregano and chili flakes if desired

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Grease tray lightly.
2. Put flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and rub in butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add enough milk to form a soft dough. Knead lightly.
4. Place the dough on the baking tray and pat out into desired shape and thickness (I like mine thin), pinch up edges to make a rim. Spread tomato puree on base and add sliced toppings, finishing with the cheese.
5. Bake for 25-30 min until cooked and golden brown. Serve hot or cold in slices. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Quinoa Crusted Chicken Bites

Two of my biggest downfalls when it comes to food is 1) anything with pastry and 2) anything fried - chips, crisps, croquettes, spring rolls, schnitzels, fried chicken - the list goes on. It's not only the amount of fat in these foods that make them amazing, it's also the texture of having something crunch when you bite down on it.

So if you take a healthy ingredient such as quinoa, use it like breadcrumbs on some chicken pieces and then shallow fry it in oil, does that make it healthy or not? Hmm... well I found this recipe for quinoa crusted chicken fingers on a site called "Skinny Chef - Healthier Living, One Step at a Time" so decided it couldn't be that bad for you!

These come out incredibly crunchy which I love! Kinda like a healthier version of my favourite, fried chicken. I didn't flavour them up with garlic powder like the original recipe but might have to buy some just to try it, although I wish I could add the Colonel's 11 secret herbs and spices and I might never have to eat fried chicken again....

Qunioa Crusted Chicken Bites

From Skinny Chef

2 pound chicken tenders or skinless boneless breasts, sliced into 3-inch long tenders

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

2 cups cooked red or white quinoa

1/2 cup whole wheat or seasoned breadcrumbs

2 egg whites

2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions
1. Spread out the quinoa on a piece of wax paper or aluminum foil.
2. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the quinoa.
3. With your fingers tips, squeeze the quinoa and breadcrumbs together until the moisture of the quinoa is absorbed
4. Place the egg whites in a shallow bowl.
5. Sprinkle the chicken with salt, garlic powder, pepper, and paprika.
6. Place the egg whites in a shallow bowl. Dip the chicken in the egg and then into the quinoa mixture. Place onto a plate.
7. Warm the oil in a large skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and reduce the heat to medium. Cook each side 4-5 minutes, turning once, until the crust begins to brown, and the chicken is not longer translucent.

Dutch Beef Croquettes

Lately I’ve been looking for and making recipes from my childhood in New Zealand. One of the things we used to get from our local bakery were delicious, crunchy croquettes filled with a mystery meat (I didn’t have a very sophisticated palate back then). We’d polish off a couple of those then move onto simple puff pastry cookies topped with a shiny glaze of sugar and cinnamon. When I moved to Sydney, I found a stall called Dutchies Delight in Darling Harbour which sold those delicious meat croquettes! They were exactly like the ones from NZ and it turns out the mystery meat was beef. Sadly, on a recent visit, I found the stall had shut down due to reconstruction of the area - my only option was to now find the recipe and make them for myself.

I had bookmarked this page for ages and by chance found this recipe just last week when researching the food of New Orleans – it was a sign it was time to make these treats! Both recipes use a roux that is refrigerated then shaped into croquettes which sounds a bit daunting but it’s relatively easy if you’ve made white sauce or choux pastry before. Impressively, these turned out very close to what I remember. The other ingredient that gives these the flavour from my childhood memory is nutmeg – they give a nice lemony taste to the beef, so if you want authentic Dutch croquettes, don’t miss that out.

Dutch Beef Croquettes
Adapted from Recipes Wiki and Nola Cuisine

200 g inexpensive cut of beef (or veal shoulder, I used the cheap option)
400 ml beef stock
Bay leaf (or a bouquet garni)
30 g butter
30 g flour
Salt and pepper
Nutmeg
2 eggs
100 g breadcrumbs
Canola oil
French mustard

Directions
1. In a pan, put meat, bay leaf and beef stock and slowly to the boil and simmer for about 1 hour until meat is tender. (Note - make sure the stock simmers slowly – mine was on a fast simmer and I ended up not having enough stock and was very salty as well - I topped up with water, which helped both problems!)
2. Shred the beef using two forks.
3. Strain off 200 ml stock into a measuring jug.
4. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour.
5. Add the stock, while stirring, and continue stirring until the sauce is thick and smooth.
6. Leave the sauce to cook gently for about 2 minutes.
7. Stir in the meat and add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.
8. Pour the ragout onto a flat plate and refrigerate until firm – either 3 hours or overnight.
9. In a deep plate beat the eggs with one tablespoon of water.
10. Shape the ragout into croquettes and roll in the breadcrumbs.
11. Then roll in the beaten eggs and breadcrumbs again.
12. Repeat until well coated.
13. Shallow fry in med-hot oiled until golden brown and crisp.
14. Drain on paper towel.
15. Serve warm with a serving of mustard next to it.

Zucchini Slice

A lot of my “go to” recipes are meals made by friends which I really like. My friend T has made a yummy zucchini slice a couple of times which tastes really good and looks easy to make. While in negotiations to get T's recipe, I happened to be flipping through a booklet that I received from Sanitarium - it had a recipe that was very similar to T’s so decided to make it for dinner. This recipe was great – I liked that it had wholemeal flour in it and it turned out very light and tasty. Plus the most work involved dicing and sautéing the onions and grating the cheese and zucchinis – too easy!

I think I would make this once or twice a month as the ingredients are readily available and it’s perfect for both lunch and dinners, served with a simple green salad. The original recipe included carrot and corn which I’ll try next time. T also added bacon to her mix which you can dice and cook at the same time as the onion.

Zucchini Slice
Adapted from Sanitarium’s Mini Vegetable Frittatas

2 tsp oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 large zucchinis, grated
1 spring onion, chopped
½ cup tasty cheese, grated and TBSP of grated parmesan
½ cup wholemeal self raising flour
½ tsp salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup oil (I used canola oil)
Seed mix of pepitas, sunflower kernels, pinenuts and sesame seeds to sprinkle on top

Directions
1. Heat oil in a frypan and sauté onion until soft. Place in a large bowl.
2. Add zucchini, spring onion, cheese, flour and salt to the bowl.
3. Combine eggs and oil and stir into vegetable mixture.
4. Spoon mixture into lightly greased baking pan. Sprinkle with seeds and bake in a moderate oven, 180ºC, for 40 mins or until golden brown and cooked all the way through.