Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Chicken Vegie Wellington


This one is super easy!
Serves 2 -4

Ingredients
Chicken Tenderloins (500g)
One red capsicum (sliced into strips)
1 packet Tasmanian Feta (cubed)
I bunch English Spinach (washed and remove stalks)
200g Swiss Brown mushrooms (optional - chopped into quarters)
1 packet puff pastry - 2 sheets

Method
* Lightly fry the tenderloins till browned, but not cooked through. Fry in butter.
* Set chicken aside to cool.
* Line puff pastry with Spinach, leaving a 1-2cm border.
* Layer on the chicken, feta, capsicum and/or mushroom.
* grab 2 opposite sides of the pastry and fold up and press together. Then fold it over so you have a roll with a line down the middle.
* press each end together with its partner using a fork, then fold it again and fork it again : )
* Brush with egg yolk and place in pre-heated oven (180 deg C/ 160 deg C fan forced).
* Cook for 1/2 hour.
* Cut in half to Serve.

NB: It is probably best if you also make a sage crepes to line the base of the roll, as that will absorb the excess moisture and keep the pastry crispy. Just use any crepe recipe and add shredded fresh sage (not too much!).

Broccolini, Bacon and Lemon Pasta

We used plain old Broccoli for this photographed. It was also a tad overcooked (thanks hubby!) so was mushy.
DON'T overcook it!
Serves 4
Ingredients
400g Rigatoni (ridged tube shaped pasta)
2 bunches of Broccolini (400g), trimmed and sliced
1/4 cup olive oil (good quality)
4-6 rashers of bacon, remove rind, chopped.
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon of lemon zest (or zest of one lemon)
1/2 cup of finely grated parmesan (I use Romano instead). Get proper parmesan from a deli.
Sea Salt
Method
* Place large saucepan of salted water on to boil. Once rolling boil is achieved, add pasta.
* 1 minutes before pasta is cooked (refer to the packet you bought), add the Broccolini. Cook for further one minute. Drain and keep warm - in the large saucepan.
* Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in frypan. Add bacon and cook for 3-5 minutes or until crispy.
* Add garlic and lemon zest and cook for one minute or until fragrant.
* Add to pasta and stir through, adding remaining oil and sea salt to taste.
* Add parmesan andtoss to combine.