Fantastic & Easy- Jamie Oliver's Roast Chicken

按這裡連結中文食譜

As a beginner of cooking, I have to say this is one of the dish that makes you have the courage to keep going. Especially when you have guests over for supper, you can count on the result of this recipe and enjoy the can't be easier procedure then have more time to chat and relax with your guests.

The medium temperature allows the chicken to be cooked through slowly but the crispy skin will protect the juice inside to be evaporated. Also the tomato will be cooked through and left the juice in the bottom of the pan not only for the flavour but provide enough moisture for the meal in result. My other favourite of this meal is the garlic, it turned out soft inside and melted. It really is an excellent meal that nobody would say no to it!

I think I'll dig in to try more Jamie Oliver's recipes now~

Recipe from Jamie's Dinners

Ingredients you'll need:

4 chicken legs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a big bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped
2 big handfuls of red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved, and ripe plum tomatoes, quartered
1 whole bulb of garlic, broken up into cloves
1 fresh red chili, finely chopped
olive oil

Optional

1 x 410g tin of cannellini beans, drained
2 handfuls of new potatoes, scrubbed

Steps:

-Preheat the oven to 350 degree F (180 degree C)

-Season the chicken and put them into a snug-fitting pan

-Throw in all the basil, tomatoes, garlic cloves, chopped chili

-Drizzle some oliver oil (about 1 tsp, not too much.)

-Mix around a bit and stuff the tomatoes underneath the chicken

-Put the potatoes on the top

-Place the pan in the oven for 1.5 hrs

*You may need to turn the tomatoes halfway through in case they're burned

靠腰簡單的烤雞腿

Click here to see the recipe in English

這道超簡易的烤雞，原出自Jamie Oliver的食譜 Jamie's Dinners

廚房裡的人類學家也有這篇食譜，還附上原理講解，很棒~

上禮拜試了一次，真的很棒，雞肉被烤的很軟、皮脆脆的，馬鈴薯也是皮脆心軟且不乾...大部分的番茄都在底部成茄汁，蒜頭也是入口即化，實在非常滿意!!

首先備好材料

雞腿4支

辣椒一支切碎 (我沒有辣椒所以用Dried Red Chili flakes代替，如圖)

羅勒葉or九層塔 一把

番茄2顆，切大塊

蒜頭一整顆(如上圖)，將每辦分開，但不用剝皮

馬鈴薯兩杯量(若用大顆的馬鈴薯可切成大塊，迷你馬鈴薯整個帶皮放進去烤)

橄欖油少許

(optional，不一定要)可以在烤前放入迷迭香一小支，增加風味

步驟：

-烤箱預熱350F/180C

-將雞鋪在烤盤中，將切好的番茄、大蒜、羅勒葉、辣椒塞在雞腿的下方 （我將乾辣椒片灑在雞的上方）

-淋上少許橄欖油，放進烤箱(由不要太多，因為雞腿皮受熱後會有油，若用太多會太油)

-烤1.5hrs後即可

備註：我是用烤蛋糕的9" 正方形non-stick烤盤（因為食譜說要挑大小差不多的將雞擠緊一點的），中間可能要注意一下番茄是否需要翻攪....

芒果咖哩雞

Mango Curry Chicken

Click here to see the recipe in English

印象中在深圳的泰式料理店，有吃過一道很棒的芒果蝦，但是網上找不到食譜，也回想不起來裡面有什麼食材（除了蝦&芒果外），外加這裡難買到新鮮的泰國蝦，於是決定將就一下做芒果咖哩，結果是出乎意料的甜美和速配! 於是這道菜就成了我固定菜單之一了~ :)

材料:

1.雞胸肉2塊

2.紅椒＆青椒 個半顆(大顆)

3.蒜頭 2-3小顆

4.薑 2-3塊(同蒜頭大小)

5.芒果1顆(約兩巴掌長的芒果，重點是要熟了但是還有些硬度的芒果，太軟沒口感)

6.椰奶一罐(400ml)

7.咖哩塊12.5g (我的最愛是S&B，常見的包裝是100g，裡面有兩塊正方形，所以如果用椰奶的話只要1/4塊正方形就會有濃稠感了 如果用水就要一整塊正方形才會有濃稠度、且水不能加過多)

8.植物油、咖哩粉、魚露少許（炒肉、調味用）

9.一手抓的羅勒葉or九層塔

前置作業:

-雞胸肉切入口大小加少許鹽和咖哩粉醃15mins

-甜椒切長條狀如圖

-將椰奶開罐倒入大鍋內，加入一半量的薑和蒜頭，開小火燉煮

步驟:

-在炒鍋內加入少許植物油，中大火，熱鍋

-油熱後(1-2mins)，加入剩下一半的薑和蒜頭爆香，再加入雞胸肉番炒(讓表面焦黃)

-焦黃後不要等到熟透，即起鍋備用

-將甜椒倒入已熱（冒蒸汽）的椰奶中悶煮3-4mins （也可再此時加入咖哩塊讓他融化後再攪拌）

-最後加入咖哩塊、雞胸肉、芒果，再煮3-5mins 直到材料都恰巧熟透（可用叉子試叉肉、甜椒看容不容易穿刺過去），過程需適度翻攪拌，好讓咖哩塊融的均勻

-試看味道，如果不夠鹹的話可以加一點魚露調味

-起鍋，要上桌前再灑上洗淨的羅勒葉or九層塔(太早放入的話會變黑)

Beef Bourguignon (加後記)

Adapted from Julia Child's recipe

Best with rice/pasta/potato and a glass of red wine!!

既然買了個鑄鐵鍋，就上網找一下到底有什麼菜色可以發揮這個鍋的功用，看了搖擺狗的部落格，決定也來發落做個紅酒燉牛肉吧～

於是我參照搖擺狗的部落格圖片和另一個標榜Julia Child的食譜

既然名號這麼響亮，想當然耳是不容易做，除了食材的選擇和調味料的拿捏，時間和經驗都還是一樣不可或缺，既然如此，第一次做當然不可能最完美嘛～ 呵呵...

不過為了記錄這個難得的過程(認識我的人聽到我下廚已經勞ㄟ還，更何況還是做耗時六七個小時的菜？) 特地架好我的Manfrotto腳架和Canon，圖解這對不久前的我來說不可能的任務... :)

準備好所有的食材

(材料list轉貼自搖擺狗的部落格)

1.培根6盎司(大約是170克)

2.橄欖油少許(煎培根用的)

3.牛臀肉3磅(1.36公斤)，切成5公分大塊

4.紅蘿蔔1根切片

5.洋蔥1個切片

6.鹽1小匙

7.黑胡椒粉1/4小匙

8.麵粉2大匙

9.紅酒3杯

10.牛肉高湯2~3杯

11.番茄糊1大匙

12.大蒜末2瓣

13.百里香1/2小匙

14.月桂葉1葉撕碎

15.珍珠洋蔥18~24個

16.奶油3大匙

17.蘑菇1磅(450克)

18.香料包(4株巴西利，1/2月桂葉，1/4小匙百里香)

最好要有可以進烤箱的鍋子。

在爐上開中火，熱鍋，放入培根(雖然食譜裡說要加1tbs olive oil可我覺得這樣真的很油ㄟ...不過Julia Child的食譜裡說要先把培根的粗皮去掉放到水裡，這個部分我沒做...不知道會不會跟這個有關...可能還需要大廚解說一下...)

...烤箱預熱450度F/230度C...

接下來，將培根撈起，用剩下的油（如果很多的話請先倒入其他容器 只要薄薄一層就好），煎用廚房紙巾吸乾的牛肉（要吸很乾喔～這樣放下去才可以馬上達到表面焦焦，肉汁還在裡面的效果），還有，溫度要夠，先放一個進去如果還不行，就在等一下，等鍋子在熱一些 ...

(照片非完美示範...自己承認...)

全部的肉都處理完（表面焦焦後），撈起來，放入洋蔥和胡蘿蔔炒一炒約5mins

然後再將煎好的培根和牛肉到回去鍋裡... 加入鹽、胡椒和麵粉，攪拌均勻。放入預熱好450F/230C烤箱內烤4 mins...

烤了4mins後從烤箱拿出，將溫度轉低至325F/160C，放在爐火上（小火），加入蒜末、番茄糊、1/2 tsp巴西利和1葉月桂葉撕碎

攪拌之後（我忘了）再加入3杯的紅酒(薄酒萊是Julia Child推薦的紅酒之一)、2-3杯的牛肉高湯，放入烤箱(325F/160C)，烤3-4hrs (我的紅酒不夠,只有2.5杯，高湯加了2.5杯，可烤了三個小時湯汁比肉低，我想這是為什麼後來吃的時候覺得有一些肉比較乾的原因)，所以可能降個50度C或是多一點紅酒or高湯或好一點...

烤箱再烤的同時，還需要準備下列... (我這時候是已經偷懶去打電腦了啦...過了2hrs才回到廚房...)

將小粒洋蔥去皮，蘑菇切成1/4，製作香料包（濾網布內放4株新鮮巴西利+1/2月桂葉+1/4 tsp 百里香），綁起。

在炒鍋中，放入1.5 大匙奶油加0.5匙橄欖油，炒洋蔥約10mins(或短於10mins)，直到表面有一點焦黃的棕色，加入0.5杯的牛肉高湯，放入香料包，關小火煮約30-40 mins，直到洋蔥變得很軟（可用叉子是否可以叉過判斷）但形狀仍然保持的程度，即可撈起。

接著在同一個鍋中，加入1.5大匙的奶油和0.5匙橄欖油，加入蘑菇清炒（個人覺得這樣太油，建議炒這兩樣蔬菜加的油都減半即可，或是蔬菜部分都要增量），蘑菇有顏色及熟了之後即可撈起備用。

烤箱裡的燉肉，應該不時看一下，如果湯汁少於肉水平面了，應該適當攪拌一下，這樣軟度才會均勻（我沒這樣做 但是事後覺得應該要將），如果肉已經到了燉肉很軟的程度了（我的case是3hrs10mins...）就可以拿出，將肉汁濾到另一個鍋中，如果時間允許，我基本上鼓勵將肉汁冰起來，之後將表面凝固的油撈起，不過剛過濾完的時候"看起來"不怎麼油，所以沒有撈油撈的很起勁，只隨便交代一下撈個幾匙... 食譜裡是說，要將油撈起，如果不夠濃就在開小火燉一下，如果過濃，就加點高湯燉一下...

肉汁分離後，將洋蔥/蘑菇倒到肉鍋裡，用小火加熱，並將撈完油的肉汁倒到加熱的肉鍋裡，不時的將肉汁刷在蘑菇上讓他入味（我就給它倒進去 將而已 家裡沒刷子...）

終於，大功告成，可以坐下了....乎....

這時候，當然要開一瓶紅酒慶祝一下啦~ 吃的時候也要配紅酒的啦～ ^^

深夜貼完圖很開心忘了交代味道如何...

晚上11點多，第一次試吃的時候，大喜，原來焢肉飯的焢肉就是這樣燉出來的呀！肉很軟，紅酒的酒味轉成了香氣濃郁的牛肉汁，胡蘿蔔真的是我的最愛，超入味、超綿密！口感真的很讚，隔天配麵包或配飯都非常的夠味，我從來沒有吃飯配這麼多肉汁的，但是這次無法自拔一直'續汁' :)

這一整鍋可以說讓我家哈你大喜和讓Coca狂喜(不過只要我烤箱有烤東西他都是這個狀態就是了)，既然要認真一次，硬逼本來吃什麼都說"讚"(很假~有一次明明麵包就沒熟還說不錯=_=)的哈你給評語，所以他貢獻了下列no.3點...

1.蔬菜應該多一點，下次要再多加1-2支胡蘿蔔

我是那種家裡媽媽很少煮肉，幾年前出國後飲食才比較多肉的那種人，所以這次我只能說，肉太多、蔬菜太少，食譜裡的"one carrot, one onion"是有點含糊，所以就看個人口味發揮囉~

2.有點油膩和鹹（雖然哈你說不覺得太鹹）

食譜裡寫說要將整鍋燉好的肉與汁倒入另一鍋過濾出肉汁，在將肉和蘿蔔洋蔥撈出，將燉鍋洗一洗，是有它的原因的，因為鍋底部有一些渣渣，很鹹的渣渣，但是因為考慮到鑄鐵鍋的熱度還在，也不能用冷水沖、會傷鍋，所以我就用paper towel將殘渣擦一擦而已，之後肉汁也沒有特別再處理，但是依我肉與汁的比例（因為汁真的很好吃，所以吃到最後一portion的時候已經沒汁了，只剩肉），應該可以將肉汁再用稀釋過的牛肉高湯再燉煮一段時間...至於油膩的部份，我媽媽燉牛肉都是放冰箱過夜後將表面凝固的油撈起丟掉，也許這個會有幫助，不過這樣用肉汁刷蘑菇小洋蔥的動作就要等到隔天... 另外我覺得蘑菇挺吸油的，既然之後要再上層肉汁燉煮，鍋炒時的奶油和橄欖油可以減少，只要有風味即可，因為到後來我覺得蘑菇有點膩，可小洋蔥ok不會覺得膩...

另外吃的時候，配上大量水煮or蒸熟的花椰菜，也可以去油解膩又健康喔~

3.肉的鬆軟度不均，有些入口即化，有些比較乾，我覺得可能原因有兩個，在上面有提到了...

下次一定要改進~ （>_<)

Be in love again- Valentine's day

There are always those moments that you'd feel like you are in love again... And tonight is one of that night. No other reason, just simply because a movie which is that kind of movie will make you feel loved and to love again. It's the night I watched the movie 'Valentine's Day'.

It's kinda an ironic movie to tease about the Valentine's day but still give in at the last moment of the movie that people should feel loves on Valentine's day and it's such a beautiful day to provide you a good chance to show your love that how much you love her/him.

Why do I say it's an ironic movie? Because the man purposed in the first beginning of movie didn't get married, instead he got dumped on that day. The girl who is in love with this perfect successful, handsome man didn't got to surprise him on that day because he is celebrating his 15th anniversary with his WIFE, a successful PR woman didn't get anyone RSVP for attending her 'I hate Valentine's day' party but got herself more work to do and accidentally fall in love with someone approached her because of her job... Things like that happens a lot in the movie on the Valentine's day. But the good part is, they all have their happy ending in the end. (I love happy endings)

So it's a movie to entertain, to remind you of loves, to crash you with the most horrible things that could happen to you on the Valentine's day but... Everything will be okay when you realize how to love and be loved...

Happy Valentine's Day even it's not here yet everyone. :)

p.s. the worst part of the movie is... how could they make Bradley Cooper gay????!!!! He is too hot to be gay~ for women anyways...

p.s.2 not as hot as my baby though ;)

Muffin...again~ (Blueberry&Cherry muffin)

馬份第二波! 黑櫻桃+藍莓 Muffin

Since last time the muffin I made didn't turn out very well, I decided to switch a recipe and give it another try.

This time I tried this Recipe, instead of 1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, I used 1 cup frozen blueberries and 1/2 cup fresh black cherries.

Ingredients you'll need:

1 cup blue berries

1/2 cup black cherries

1 cup milk

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp lemon zest (I love lemon zest ^^ you may use orange as well, to add fruity flavour to the batter)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 tsp salt

Steps:

-Preheat the oven to 400 degree F

- Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners

- In a small saucepan, combine the milk, butter, lemon zest and vanilla extract

- Stir over medium heat until the butter melts (What I did is microwave the whole thing for 1mins then take it out to stir)

- Cool until the mixture is is warm to touch, beat in the eggs

- Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl

- Add the milk mixture and stir just until blended

- Fold in the blueberries

- Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups

- Bake the muffins for about 15-20 mins (until golden and the tester comes out clean) (But if you use mini muffin cups, then baking time would be much shorter about 10mins)

After tasting...

My husband think the taste is so so and suggest me to switch...

The reason is the top texture doesn't taste like muffin and the berries/cherries are all over the muffin inside. I think it could be the reason I messed it up with the cherries or because the muffin pan we use is like much bigger than the normal one (12 in one tray). I think I may go to get a 12 muffin tray or quit making muffins forever... :P

Sweet bean sauce pork 京醬肉絲

Ever since the short visit to China town, I have this craving of this dish for unknown reasons. I don't think (maybe just don't remember) my mom ever made this dish at home and it's not something you'd order when you eat out in Taiwan. I think my memory about this dish started from the three years in China. We fell in love with North-east food in China(東北菜). And the first time, I tried wrap this dish in Tofu skin and it tasted yummy! Instead of searching this dish in restaurants in China town, I decided to give it a try to make it at home.

To represent the dish by only memories wouldn't be a wise idea. So I searched the 1300 recipes website from Taiwan and went to T&T supermarket to find the most similar materials & tofu skin. I found the sauce I need and tofu skin but the problem is the meat. Usually they use the ground pork that is in long shape but not totally grounded as hamburger meat. I couldn't find it in the supermarket nearby so instead I used pork tenderloin to cut it into small pieces. (not small enough though)

Ingredients you'll need:

Pork 400g

Spring Onion 200g (about 3-4)

1 tbs vegetable oil (backing spray will do, too. Save the amount of oil you're using)

Tofu skin (optional, you can use rice or plain chinese noodles to go with it)

Sauce(A)

Soy sause 2 tbs

Rice wine 2 tsp

Egg white 2 tbs

Potato powder 2 tbs

Sauce(B)

Sweet bean sauce 4 tbs

Catchup 2 tbs

Soy sause 2tsp

Sugar a pinch

Steps:

-Cut the pork to thin stick shape about 2.5 inches long

-Add the Sauce(A) in the pork sticks, mix well and put it in the fridge for 15 mins

(During the 15mins)

-Cut the spring onion into small stick size (as thin as you could, refer to the picture) and spread them around on a large plate equally for later use

-Boil the tofu skin in boiling water for 5mins, get it out of the water and cool it aside for later use

(15mins later)

-In a frying pan, add vegetable oil, medium high fire to warm up the oil

-Pour the pork sticks in when the oil is warm enough (about 1-2mins)

-Frying till the surface is white (90% done is okay for this moment)

-Remove the pork from the frying pan & turn down the fire to medium-small(Or you may use another frying pan)

-Pour Sauce(B) in the frying pan, fry it till the smell comes out (not long, about 2-3mins, main idea is not burn the sauce but warm it up and fry a bit to add flavour)

-Then add the pork sticks back in, mix well with the sauce and till the pork is cooked

-Place the pork on the large plate on top of the spring onion

-Serve with the tofu skin

Way to eat:

-Put 1 tofu skin on palm, put some spring onion on then pork, wrap it around

Blueberry muffin trial

It is blueberry's season here. It's hard to not buy something you see all the time and looks so yum.

Last weekend while we went to the

country for our nephew's birthday. I decided to stop by the side of road to get some blueberries from the farmer.

So here we go, in order to digest the bunch blueberries, I gave blueberry muffin a try this week.

There are plenty recipes of blueberry recipe on internet.

Today I tried this one

I found the batter is really thick and hard to stir. But that's what they said about this recipe. The batter is thicker than usual.

Other than that, I didn't know the time should be adjusted when the size of muffin is smaller!!

I made double portions of the recipe but still couldn't fill up the big muffin tray we bought in Mexico. It only filled up 5 and got a little bit left. So I poured them to the mini muffin tray for 4 muffins (really burned muffins 20 mins later...). Anyways, I think 10mins should be good enough... for next time reference ;)

For the big ones, they weren't ready yet after 20mins(it's still moist in the middle). So I put in for another 15mins then it turned out a bit too dried. I'd say total 30mins should be good enough for the big muffin tray. And DON'T fill in the tray fully. Maybe just 80% full then the crumb topping on top after. Otherwise, the batter will all stand up in the tray shaking hands...

The taste is not bad but I think to mix half thawed frozen blueberries will add more flavour to the muffin to more blueberrie~

Mango curry chicken

When I lived in China. I remember a delicious dish in a Thai restaurant in ShenZhen. It's called Mango Shrimp. Basically, it's mango with Thai-shrimp as well as the sweet mango sauce.

After trying mango, avocado & raspberry salad, I still have one mango left. So I thought about that Thai dish we had in China!

After browsing a long time, I couldn't find the right recipe I want. But I saw another great idea- Mango Curry! So I decide to make my own mango curry with chicken for dinner with guest.

Ingredients you'll need:

1 middle size mango (ripped but still firm. Cut it into one-bite size)

1/2 red pepper (Cut it in long skinny shape as the picture)

1/2 green pepper or other colour pepper (I used orange pepper here, cut it the same size as red peppers)

2 middle size chicken breast (cut in one-bite pieces)

12.5g curry paste brick (My favourite is S&B. The standard package is 100g.)

400ml Coconut milk (1 can)

1 handle full basil leaves

1 tbs size chunk of ginger

3 gloves garlic

2 tsp vegetable oil

Sugar & Fish sauce (Optional)

Steps:

1. Cut the ginger to three pieces.

2. Mashed the ginger pieces & garlic slightly then put it aside for later use.

3. In a large pot, add half can of coconut milk, 1 piece mashed ginger and 1 mashed garlic glove. Cooked with small fire for 5-7mins. Add red and other colour peppers in the pot, put the pot cover on top. Let it boiling with small fire while you do the next step.

4. In a frying pan, add vegetable oil and heat with medium-high fire for 2-3mins. Then add the rest of garlic & ginger, frying it a bit till the smell comes out. Then add chicken, fry it till the meat is 80% cooked.

5. Check the condition of the pot, add curry brick and stir till it's melted. Then add the chicken and the rest of coconut milk till it's boiled and all ingredients are cooked. (let it boiled on small fire for 3-5mins should be ok)

* Use a fork to check if the chicken is done. Notice the timing to avoid pepper over cooked.

If you are not familiar with Asian cooking and worried about to cook the peppers for too long. Suggest you to put the peppers in after step4.

6. Taste it and if you want sweeter, add sugar. If you want it more salty, add some fish sauce or salt.

7. Spread the basil leaves on top of the curry while serving.