I often use wine when I cook. I dont only drink it, I use it in the dishes too.
Many of my chicken dishes use wine, especially when baking the chicken.
A while back I purchased a bottle of Golan Heights Distillery Whisky. Its the first Israeli whisky and I think its pretty decent.
So I got to thinking, if I can cook with wine why not whisky?
A quick google search showed quite a few whisky chicken recipes so I mashed a few recipes together according to the ingredients I had on hand and O. M. G! I wish the internet allowed you to smell images. This was one of the best roast chickens I have ever made!
Whisky Roasted Chicken
2016-06-26 08:12:23
A dark roast chicken, perfect with rice and roast sweet potato
Shavuot, a celebration of the day the Jewish people received the Torah. As with all Jewish celebrations, we have special food related to the holiday. For Shavuot that means dairy.
Cheese, cheesecakes, pasta with lots of cheese and cream, ice cream, and most importantly (to me anyway), cheese blintzes. Yummy crepes filled with a sweet cream cheese mix and fried. They can also be made as savoury blintzes.
I found a recipe on Tori Avey’s site and modified it slightly. They were delicious!! Recipe below. All the lovely pictures taken by Paul.
batter
Fold over the bottom
Fold sides in
Keep rolling up and tucking the sides in
Cream Cheese Blintzes
2016-06-13 06:33:38
Yields 9
A yummy sweet cream cheese filling wrapped up in a delicious crepe.
1/3 cup sugar (I used cup for cup sugar replacement)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
Nonstick cooking oil spray
Oil
Filling
1 package cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar (I used cup for cup sugar replacement)
1 egg yolk
2 tsp fresh lemon juice (I didnt have any and it was fine)
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
Crepes
Mix all the crepe ingredients together.
Make sure the batter is smooth and there are no lumps.
Transfer your batter to a jug for easy pouring.
Spray a non stick pan with oil spray.
Pour a small amount of batter (about a third of a cup) into the pan and swirl the pan around to spread the batter.
Leave for a minute or two until the crepe is set, the exposed side of the crepe will feel slightly tacky if you touch it but not completely dry.
Do not flip the crepe.
Set aside on a plate and separate each crepe with wax paper or paper towel.
You should get about 9 thin crepes.
Filling
Mix all the filling ingredients together with a fork.
The mix should be thick-ish and slightly lumpy.
Put together
Lay out one crepe.
Place a tablespoon or so of filling onto the bottom half of the crepe.
Roll the crepe up and over the filling and fold in the sides.
Continue rolling (and folding in the sides) until the crepe is sitting, fold side down on your surface.
Set aside.
Continue this process until all the crepes are rolled.
Final Step
Heat a small amount of oil in the pan.
Place 2 or 3 blintzes, fold side down, in the oil and fry for 30-60 seconds.
Carefully turn the blintzes and fry the other side for 30 seconds.
Remove from oil and drain on paper towel.
Repeat this process with the remaining blintzes.
Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.
Notes
The original recipe called for ricotta cheese as well as cream cheese. I didn't use ricotta and the filling was fine.
If your batter is too thick you can add a dash more milk or water to thin it out. Your crepes should not be too thick or you wont be able to roll them up.
You can leave out the sugar in the filling and add mushrooms, spinach or any other savoury filling.
These are best served hot but I ate one that had cooled down and it was just as delicious.
We’ve just seen the end of winter here in the Northern Hemisphere (good riddance!) so no more soup for us. Although chicken soup is always welcome, even in 40°C weather.
This winter I made a few ‘throw everything in the pot’ soups and they all actually turned out really well.
In my opinion there are a few basic steps that MUST happen in order for any soup to be good, regardless of the ingredients.
Onion. Diced finely and fried until golden. Every soup should start with this as a base.
Herbs. Dried or fresh or frozen. You can use whatever you have on hand and don’t be shy, the more the merrier.
Time. You cant rush a good soup. Cook your veggies on a lower heat for longer. If you can, make your soup the day before you need it. Soup always tastes better the next day.
So, here is a basic recipe. You can adapt it depending what veggies you have in your fridge.
'Throw Everything In The Pot' Soup
2016-04-03 07:33:26
A thick, smooth soup, perfect with fresh bread.
The recipe below includes veggies I happen to have in my fridge at the time of writing this.
2 tablespoons olive oil (I use 2 'ice cubes' with chopped herbs from my freezer, very Pinterersty of me)
1 large onion, diced
Herbs such as rosemary, thyme, cilantro, mixed Italian herbs, basically whatever you have on hand
Garlic, either fresh, chopped or garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste
The following veggies are not set, use all or some or add what you have
Potatoes, peeled and cubed
Sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
Carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
Turnips, peeled and cubed
Leeks, leaves chopped off, cut into 1 cm thick slices
Celery, leaves chopped off, cut into 1 cm thick slices
Water to cover chopped veggies
Instructions
Once you have washed, peeled, diced and chopped all the veggies, add your olive oil and onion to a large pot and saute until golden.
Add remaining veggies to the pot and sprinkle with the herbs, salt and pepper.
Stir the veggies until they are all coated in the oil and spices.
Keep stirring the veggies every 5 minutes or so until they are all heated through and starting to soften.
Add enough water to the pot so that all the veggies are covered. I usually add about 1 cm above the veggie line.
Turn down your heat to a simmer, cover the pot, leaving a small gap to allow steam to escape and simmer for an hour or longer until veggies are soft and falling apart when poked with a fork.
Remove soup from heat and allow to cool slightly.
You can leave the soup at this point and have a chunky broth or you can blend the veggies with a stick blender which is what I do.
Reheat the soup when you are ready to eat.
Notes
You can really add any veggies you want to this soup, peppers, squash, pumpkin, you name it you can add it.
Over the last few months, Paul’s blood sugar has started acting up. He’s now on a new medication and I’ve renewed my efforts to cook and bake healthier, more diabetic friendly options.
On Saturday we decided to watch a movie with the kids and I wanted to make a snack of some sort that we could all enjoy.
I cant really remember what made me think of scones but I bought some organic whole wheat flour and decided to do a google search.
The results were divine. The kids went back for 3rds and 4ths and Paul said the scones were excellent.
Last night Paul made a chicken stir fry for dinner. He used carrots, red and green peppers and cucumber.
Cucumber?
At first I couldn’t figure out what it was. I thought it may have been the zucchini I got in the last veggie order but those where yellow and this was green. Eventually Paul told me what it was.
And it was delicious!
I would never, ever have thought about cooking cucumber. To me its a salad veggie. Served sliced and cold. Or a snack with peanut butter to dip it in. Cooking it has never been a thought before.
But it was delicious!
So I Googled and I found a few recipes I want to try out.
Part of my last organic veggie order from Maggie’s Garden was about 15 small brown onions. I immediately thought of making a French onion soup.
Part of what intrigued me about this soup is that it is traditionally served with a piece of toasted crusty bread with cheese melted on top. Ummmm, sourdough bread anyone?
On Friday I roasted a chicken along with potatoes and sweet potatoes and by the end of the meal we had one breast, a leg and a few potatoes left over. Not enough for leftovers for four people the next day but enough to make a chicken pie which can feed 4-6 people depending on portion size and side dishes.
I put everything in the fridge and last night decided it was time for the pie.
The best part about this recipe is that as long as you have the chicken, you can pretty much add any veggies you like and it will taste delicious. I used up the leftover potatoes by chopping them into cubes and I also threw in half a can of corn. You could also add carrots, peas or any other tinned or frozen veggies you have in the cupboard or freezer or just use whatever leftover veggies you have in the fridge.
Whenever I use the heart cutter to decorate food Faith tells me that the food was ‘made in love’.
A few weeks ago Louisa posted that she was making sourdough. I hounded her relentlessly on Twitter about the process and she inspired me to try it myself.
I knew it was going to take time, you have to create a starter (a mix of flour and water that creates a natural yeast) and that it would take at least a week for it to be ready. I didn’t realise that actually making the bread would take almost an entire day (PSA: read the recipe from start to finish before you begin), because the yeast is not instant it takes much longer for the dough to proof (rise) than normal bread.
Starter
So, yup, not only did I learn how to make sourdough, I got a healthy lesson in patience.
I have to say, the time it took was well worth it. My bread was delicious, especially with a big bowl of homemade chicken soup!
Now for the bread recipe.Crispy crust, yummy bread
I wanted something really simple to start with and I found a recipe on BBCGoodFood that looked like it fit the bill. I think my recipe still needs some tweaking but it was delish!
500g flour of your choice, I used plain white flour
225ml warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey (I left this out)
Instructions
Place all ingredients except the salt into a bowl.
Mix with your hands until the dough starts to come together.
Add the salt and continue mixing/kneading the dough.
Add a bit of flour if the dough is too sticky or a bit of water if the dough is too dry.
Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Place in an oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap and a towel, leave in a warm place to rise for about 3 hours or until doubled in size.
Remove from the bowl and knead gently to remove air bubbles.
Gently flour the dough and place it seam side up in a medium sized bowl or proofing bowl to keep it shape.
Cover in cling wrap and a towel again and leave in a warm space to rise for about 6 hours.
Heat your oven to 200C and place a baking tray inside to warm up.
Place a pan with water at the bottom to create steam, this helps form a crispy crust.
Once the tray is heated, lightly dust the tray with flour and gently tip your bread onto the tray.
You can cut lines into the top of the dough at this point.
Bake for 40 minutes.
You can open the oven door 5 - 10 minutes before its done to let the steam escape, prop the door open with a wooden spoon (I forgot this step and my crust burned a bit).
After an awesome day spent with my husband for his #Big40, and eating almost non stop, Paul picked up a pack of chicken schnitzel for supper last night. Which fits in perfectly with the ‘Fry All The Things’ chanukah meal plan.
I love a fresh, home made, schnitzel and its one of the things I never would have made myself before coming to Israel, here it is pretty much one of the most traditional things you can eat. My kids love it too and its one of our favourite meals, even if it takes a bit of time to prepare.