Category: cooking
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Chicken Livers
I think it is very important that if you eat meat you should be trying to use as much of the animal as you can for human consumption or utility.
To that end I have started (very recently because I was possibly like you are now turned off by the thought) sourcing and cooking with offal. A terrible sounding word for, as it turns out, a useful and versatile cooking ingredient.
Fair call, looking at/working with raw liver, chicken in this case, is not for everyone but please give it a chance:
Chicken livers are full of essential vitamins and minerals. You can bake, boil, and fry them and they pair perfectly with many other ingredients such as onions, garlic, spinach and potatoes.
They are famously used to make pâté.
Enjoy,
PK
Here are some more posts about some common and not so common meat cuts:
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Pasta: Mezzi Tubetti Lisci (short smooth tubes)
These smooth short pasta tubes are perfect for soups, salads and pasta bakes. I often use them in place of risoni (called orzo in the USA).
It is primarily sold dried (pasta secca) and is available everywhere.
Here I used it in my minestrone soup:
It also makes for a great vegetarian one pot pasta dish:
Enjoy,
PK
Here are some more pasta shape and pasta recipe posts.
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Cheese: Rosso Di Pienza
Tuscany rosso (red) di Pienza is a firm sheep milk cheese that hails from central Italy.
Famous for its red rind, the cheese has a short ageing process where the rind was traditionally rubbed with tomato paste.
Milk
Sheep
Origin
Italy
Aged
Yes, 30 days
Aroma
Pungent and slightly sweet.
Taste
Sharp yet slight sheep milk bite and some sweetness.
Texture
Firm with very slight flakiness. Red rind that in artisanal cheeses is edible.
Look
White smooth interior, with no openness.
Serving
Perfect by itself or on a tasting plate or cheese board. Pairs well with cold meats
Wine
Bold red wines.
Here are some more posts about cheese:
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Cheese: Percorino Al Tartufo
Pecorino al Tartufo (truffles) is a semi-firm, smooth sheep milk cheese that hails from central Italy.
Like its cows milk cousin Sottocenere al Tartufo (truffle) it is a visual sensation. The pale white colouring contrasts perfectly with the specks of black truffle. It is a must try experience despite the price!
Milk
Sheep
Origin
Italy
Aged
Yes, 30 days
Aroma
Pungent and savoury.
Taste
Salty with that sheep milk bite and lots of savoury goodness.
Texture
This cheese has a smooth but firm bite.
Look
White smooth interior, flecked with truffle shavings, with no openness.
Serving
By itself or with other cheeses. Also perfect for grating on pasta especially those with a white sauce.
Wine
No wine required except your favourite.
Here are some more posts about cheese:
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Slow Cooked 8 Garlic Clove Chicken
8 hours in your oven on low heat sees a few simple ingredients turn into this aromatic and moist roast chicken.
Bring on Sunday. 🙂
As a bonus, you even get a tasty broth that you can turn into gravy or make a soup with the next day.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 lemon
- 2 brown onions
- Small potatoes, as many as you want
- Steamed vegetables (I used carrot and broccoli)
- 8 garlic cloves (mine are from local producer Markali Estate in Jurien, WA)
- Dried herbs and spices (I used tarragon, black pepper and salt)
- Water
Simply
Start by juicing the lemon and disposing the seeds. Put the juice in a casserole dish and the rest of the lemon inside the chicken cavity along with 2 garlic cloves. I use a bamboo skewer to keep the cavity closed.
Preheat your fan-forced oven to 110C.
Place the chicken (breast up) in the casserole dish along with the onions, potatoes and 6 garlic cloves. Add water until it is about halfway up the chicken and sprinkle everything with herbs and spices.
Note: I add steamed vegetables at the end because I don’t want them to be overly soft and mushy. Place them around the chicken now if you want though.
Cover the casserole dish with the lid or aluminium foil so the chicken doesn’t dry out.
Cook for about 8 hours or so and use a meat thermometer to confirm the meat is at least 83C. You can pop the casserole dish under the grill for a few minutes to brown the top.
Mix a teaspoon or two of cornflour to some of the broth if you want to make a gravy. Gently boil the gravy for a few minutes to thicken it to your desired consistency.
Serving
By now the tender meat is falling off the bone so I simply put the dish in the middle of the table and let people serve themselves.
If you are lucky enough to have leftovers you can make a great soup by mixing them with the broth,
Enjoy,
PK
P.S. I have a slow cooker variant of this recipe here.
And here are some more chicken dishes and more easy to make meals:
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Spaghetti Al Limone
Spaghetti, lemons, olive oil, some herbs and parmigiano-reggiano cheese is all you need to make this simple southern Italian dish. We are going to be making a lemon and olive oil emulsion, adding cheese and then folding al-dente pasta through it.
Simply
Whisk the zest and juice of a lemon in a bowl with several good slugs of garlic infused olive oil. Keep whisking until the sauce has emulsified. Whisk in at least 1/2 cup of grated parmigiano-reggiano (or any hard aged cheese really).
Tip: Balance the lemon flavour by whisking in cracked black pepper to taste.
Cook your pasta al-dente (reserve a bit of pasta water) and then fold it through the sauce until you have an even coating.
If your sauce is too clingy/thick and you can’t get an even coating, mix in a tiny bit of the reserve pasta water.
Serving
I topped the spaghetti with some squid ink fettuccine (fettuccine al Nero di seppia) and basil leaves:
Enjoy,
PK
Here are some more pasta recipes and Italian cuisine ideas:
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Chinese Five Spice Fried Snapper Wings
Fish wings are a cut from a fish starting just after the gills and extending back to the pectoral fin. Also known as fish throats they contain a surprising amount of meat and are a real delicacy.
I was given these snapper wings recently and just had to deep-fry them after marinating them in a Chinese 5 spice and caramel sauce marinade.
SImply
Make a marinade of:
- 1 Tbsp Chinese 5 spice (see my blend here)
- 1 Tbsp caramel cooking sauce (use dark soy if you don’t have any)
- 1 tsp ginger, minced
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup garlic-infused olive oil
Then thoroughly coat the wings (inside and out) with the marinade. Pop them in the fridge overnight if possible or for at least a few hours.
Get your choice of oil nice and hot and deep-fry for about 15 – 20 minutes.
Drain well and serve hot.
Serving
Look at that flaky goodness:
Enjoy,
PK
Here are some more seafood recipes and Asian fusion posts:
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Cheese: Italian Piave
The most famous of all Italian cheeses, Parmigiano-Reggiano, has a little brother called Piave. Named naturally enough after the river and region of northern Italy where it is made.
It is every bit as versatile and tasty but because it is aged for less time the flavours are milder and easier on the bank account.
Milk
Cow
Origin
Italy
Aged
Yes, 6 to 18 months
Aroma
Nutty and savoury.
Taste
Nutty with a distinct savoury bite.
Texture
Hard and a little crumbly.
Look
Flaky pale yellow interior. Hard rind stamped with the name of the cheese in large indented letters.
Serving
It is a handy addition to any cheese board and I think it goes great with fruit and berries.
You can munch it by the handful and it excels as a cooking cheese. Add it to your next risotto 🙂
Wine
Your favourite red or white will go well. I like to pair it with a New Zealand or South Australian Sauvignon Blanc.
Related
Here are some more posts about cheese:
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Cheese: Sottocenere al Tartufo (truffle)
Sottocenere al Tartufo is a semi-firm, smooth vaccino (cow milk cheese) that hails from northern Italy.
As you can see it is studded with black truffle shavings and is coated in an inedible ash rind infused with herbs so as to flavour the cheese pate.
This cheese is full of flavour with a creamy umami finish. As you can guess it is not the cheapest of imported cheeses but it is well worth the price. As soon as I put it out it gets munched by my family. I feel lucky if I even get to eat some!
Milk
Cow
Origin
Italy
Aged
Yes, slightly.
Aroma
Spicy and savoury.
Taste
Mildly spicy with savoury goodness.
Texture
This cheese has a smooth but firm bite.
Look
Yellow smooth interior, flecked with truffle shavings, with no openness.
Serving
By itself or with other cheeses. Lots and lots of it!
Wine
No wine required except your favourite.
Here are some more posts about cheese:
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How To Make Chinese 5 Spice Mix
Chinese 5 spice is a must-have blend of sweet, sour and umami flavours. It imparts a red colouring when used as a dry rub, marinade and basting sauce. The perfect example of this is a roast duck or chicken basted with the 5 spice mix, soy and caramel cooking sauce.
I couldn’t find it in my local grocery stores. That’s OK as I prefer to make my own spice mixes from bulk bought ingredients.
Most recipes call for a mix of cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds, star anise and Sichuan peppercorns but there are many variants.
Note: I had to substitute the Sichuan peppercorns for a mix of coriander seeds and black peppercorns (an established substitute).
Simply
Add this list of spices to a herb blender and mix until you get a rough but even consistency:
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp coriander (cilantro) seeds
- 1 tsp cloves, whole
- 1 tsp cinnamon, ground
- 0.5 tsp black pepper, ground
- 2 star anise seed pods, whole
Storing
Use any airtight container.
Enjoy,
PK
Here is some more Chinese cooking content and a wide range of spice blends :
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