Category Archives: Winter

Low(er) Fat Gingerbread

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Baking is perhaps my favourite way to spend a Sunday afternoon, specially in autumn and winter. I love being able to take my time mixing, baking, filling, icing, decorating. And full baking tins somehow make starting the working week a little bit easier.

I made this gingerbread a few Sundays ago. It didn’t turn out quite as dark as I’d like (I’m still thinking about this black, sticky gingerbread from 101 Cookbooks), but the recipe is definitely a keeper. The demerara sugar gives it a kind of crunchier texture than plain old white or brown sugar, and the ginger sprinkled on top makes for a delicious crusty edge.

I lowered the fat in it by replacing butter with fruit purée and low-fat spread. It’s still high really in sugar, so you couldn’t call it exactly healthy… but it is better than a lot of gingerbread recipes out there. I baked it as a cake, but I’m also thinking about halving the recipe and making it into a loaf.

I recommend it for a grey weekend afternoon. By the way, if Mother’s Day slipped past you this year, it’s not too late! You can make this for an afternoon tea for your mum ;)

Low(er) Fat Gingerbread
Loosely based on a recipe in Food magazine

3½ cups flour
1 Tbsp ground ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp mixed spice
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1¼ cups demerara sugar
75g low fat table spread
½ cup treacle
½ cup golden syrup
100g fruit purée*
½ cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
¼-½ cup crystallised ginger, finely sliced

*either bought apple sauce or pie filling, or I suggest homemade apple purée. You could also try mashed banana.

Preheat the oven to 180°(C). Line the base and sides of a square or round tin – I made this one in a 20cm square tin, but this cake was probably too big for it. I’m planning on using my 23cm round springform next time.

Sift the flour, ground ginger, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre.

Microwave the spread gently until it has JUST melted (it’s fine if there are still a couple of lumps of unmeltedness), and stir in the treacle and golden syrup. Stir in the fruit purée too. Beat in the milk and eggs. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir to make a smooth batter. Pour it into the prepared cake tin and sprinkle the crystallised ginger over the top.

Bake for about 70 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave it in the tin for 20 minutes before turning on to a rack to cool.

Ginger, Carrot & Kumara Soup

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Today was truly miserable weather here in Wellington. Not autumnal. Wintery. It was so dim and grey it felt like it was 5.30pm all day … only when you looked at the clock it kept telling you it wasn’t even lunchtime. And there was sideways rain.

Ugh.

At least I had some cheery soup for lunch and didn’t have to leave the office. So today’s a good day to share the recipe.

I don’t have a lot to add to that short introduction today! Time to make a hot chocolate and turn the electric blanket on. Sometimes it seems a long stretch until September doesn’t it?

Ginger, Carrot & Kumara Soup

1 Tbsp olive or canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cup good quality chicken stock (or vege stock for a vegetarian soup)
1 cup water
1 medium kumara, peeled and chopped
4-6 carrots, chopped
5cm piece of fresh ginger, chopped (or about 1 Tbsp minced ginger)
plain yoghurt and rolls to serve

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Gently cook the onion for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Add the stock and water, and the kumara, carrots and ginger. Bring to the boil and simmer until the vegetables are tender, probably about 20 minutes.

Now to blend the soup – with either a stick blender or a food processor. I don’t have a stick blender so you’re on your own for instruction there! I just spoon my soup into the food processor and puree it in batches. Pop all the blended soup back in the saucepan and let it heat through again. Season to taste.

Serve with a spoonful of plain yoghurt and a grainy roll.

And set spoons on the table so your reflection makes it into the photo. That’s hot.

Casserole for Dossy

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Let me introduce you to Dossy. Dossy has been a much-loved member of our family since we adopted her in 1996, when she looked like this:

Mum and Dad live in the country, and Dossy’s always loved the rural life – coming and going as she pleases, and bringing home all sorts of impressive hunting trophies (well, impressive to her, anyway). She’s a haughty old girl – while she’s cuddly and affectionate, you’re somehow left with the feeling that she sees you as a member of her staff, rather than a respected equal.

Sadly, Dossy’s age caught up with her this year, and she had to be put to sleep a couple of weeks ago. We all wanted to end her suffering, but I have to say it was devastating! Pets like Dossy truly become members of the family and it’s very hard to say goodbye, even long after you’ve “grown up” and left home.

It may seem odd to create a dish in honour of a pet, but hey, this is a cooking blog, and anyway, there are weirder things than this on the interweb. And venison was Dossy’s favourite food.

My dad and brother are hunter-gatherer types so we occasionally get treated to wild venison, and Dossy used to go bananas for it. Even if Dossy was fast asleep in another part of the house, she’d know when Mum was cooking it or even defrosting it in the microwave and nearly have her paws up at the microwave door trying to get to it. So Dossy, this one is for you!

Pets aside, this is the tastiest way of cooking venison I’ve come across. The dark beer makes for a bitter, almost chocolate-y casserole, and the venison cooks to a tender, tasty filling. Dumplings make a nice addition, although they’re still new to me (and they make me think of eating chicken and dumplings when she – of she’ll be coming ’round the mountain – comes).

Venison Casserole with Herb & Mustard Dumplings
loosely based on a recipe from Country Living

800g venison, cut into casserole-size pieces
fresh thyme, if you’ve got it
1 bay leaf
500ml dark ale or stout
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp plain flour
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp ground coriander
250ml beef stock
sprig rosemary
100g  plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
large pinch English mustard powder
pinch salt
1 tsp horseradish cream (or more to your taste)
30g low fat spread
¼-½ cup trim milk

If you’re reading this the day before you want to make this casserole, good news! You can get a head start by marinating your venison in a non-metallic bowl with the thyme, bay leaf and ale in the fridge overnight (or for up to two days).

If you want to eat it tonight, good news! You don’t need the thyme or bay leaf after all.

Whichever way… on the day you want to eat the casserole, start by preheating the oven to 170°(C). If your venison’s been marinating, drain off the marinade, reserving the ale but discarding the herbs. Get a stove-top-proof casserole dish ready.

Pat the meat dry with paper towels, and season well by rubbing with salt and pepper. Heat a dash of oil in the casserole dish and quickly fry the venison in batches to brown it nicely. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat another small dash of oil in the casserole and gently cook the onion and garlic for a few minutes, until softened. Stir in the flour, oregano and coriander, and cook for 1 minute, coating the onion. Gradually add the hot stock and then the ale, ½-1 cup at a time, stirring until it’s thickened before you add the next lot. Do this over med-high heat (not so hot it sizzles and evaporates as soon as you pour it in!). Once all the liquid’s aboard, return the venison to the pan with the rosemary. Season well, cover and bring to the boil. Once it’s at a simmer, move the casserole dish to the preheated oven and cook for 1½ hours.

To make the dumplings, sift the flour, baking powder and mustard powder into a bowl. Add the salt and horseradish cream. Melt the spread and pour this over the top. Mix with a knife, and add just enough milk to make a soft but not-too-sticky dough. You can add more flour if you find you’ve put too much milk in. Using floured hands, shape 10-12 dumplings – I make mine slightly smaller than golf balls. Add these to the casserole, put the lid back on and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes. Take the lid off and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Serve the casserole with simple steamed veges like carrots and green beans.

Mushroom & Barley Soup

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Well, well, well. The last weekend of April already. Two thirds of autumn already gone!

It’s really only started to feel autumnal in the last week or two, I think. We now leave home in the dark and come home in the dark. I put thick black tights on in the morning without worrying that I’m going to look like a dork if the day turns out to be a blaze of glorious and fiercely hot sunshine. Because now I know it’s not going to. It might end up sunny but it will not be warm. Reassuring on one hand, if a little depressing on the other.

The onset of autumn and winter means soup for lunch on Sundays for us. A few months ago, I started making an effort to cook a proper-ish meal for lunch on Sundays, and it’s becoming a nice little tradition. It’s usually soup or quiche or something, but it’s lovely to have something hot, and to sit down at the table with the Sunday paper’s crossword. Wow. I sound old. I mean, it’s great to sit down and listen to my new One Direction CD. That’s better, right?

I made this soup a couple of weeks ago. It really looks from the ingredients like it would be the blandest soup on earth, without any herbs etc, but it’s really tasty – and perfect for autumn. I’ve been putting pearl barley or soup mix in most of my soups lately -super cheap, super healthy, and makes the soup souper filling. If you haven’t come across it before, soup mix is a packet mix of split peas and pearl barley; it’s with the stock and soup stuff at the supermarket.

Enjoy your Sunday… and know it will be improved by soup.

Mushroom & Barley Soup
adapted from a recipe in Mindfood magazine

1 Tbsp olive oil
400g mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 potato, diced
5-6 cups chicken stock
½ cup white wine
½-¾ cup pearl barley or soup mix

Heat the oil in a large pot, and gently cook the mushrooms, onion, carrot, celery and potato until the onion softens. Add the stock and wine and bring to the boil. Add the pearl barley and simmer until the barley is tender (about 25 minutes). Season well and serve with crusty bread, and a dollop of unsweetened yoghurt.

Traditional Christmas Pudding

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I know, I am annoyingly organised, but I made my Plum Pudding a few days ago and it’s tightly wrapped and sitting in the fridge, ready to be re-steamed on Christmas Eve. I made my first Christmas pudding last year, and it really was yummy (even better the next morning). And you do almost all the work long before you eat it, so there’s almost no preparation on the day. Suits me.

I got a pudding basin with a lid last year from Moore Wilson’s for about $25. The lid fastening is a little dodgy so I don’t rely on it solely when lifting the basin in and out of the giant pot of hot water, but other than that, cooking the pudding is a cinch.

However, I’m not really sure how one goes about steaming the pudding without such a basin. I guess you can use any heat-proof bowl and do some serious tin foil work on the top. I know there is also the method of tying the pudding up in calico and suspending it into the hot water from a stick. These look awesome but a leeeeeeetle daunting for me.

I mashed this recipe together from all the recipes I could find in my books, taking the yummiest looking bits out of each recipe. I also refuse to use suet, so this recipe uses butter. It seemed to work ok!

As with Christmas Cake, I think the important thing about a Christmas Pudding is the quality of the fruit. So I buy a mixture of fancy dried fruits from the bulk bin (this time around it was prunes – obviously, so I could call it a plum pudding – strawberries, crystallised ginger, cranberries, cherries, apricots, dates and apple chunks). Then I top the fruit up to the quantity listed in the recipe with bought cake fruit mix. Other possibilities include currants, sultanas, mixed peel, raisins, figs, etc.

Time for a Little Something’s Christmas Pudding
Serves 6-8 at least

2 cups flour
75g butter, softened
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
3½ cups mixed dried fruit (see above), chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp ground ginger
½ cup golden syrup
½ cup trim milk
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 orange, grated rind
1 lemon, grated rind

To get ready, spray a pudding basin and the inside of its lid with cooking spray. You really don’t want to go to all this trouble and have it stick. Get a Very Big Pot (a stockpot is really the only answer) and half fill it with hot water, and get it heating on medium heat so it’s boiling by the time you’re ready to start steaming the pudding. In the bottom of this Very Big Pot, you need a trivet, or something the pudding basin can sit on so it’s not on the floor of the pot. I have a shallow ceramic baking dish which I turn upside down.

Place the flour in a large bowl (I use my cake mixer), and rub the softened butter in using your fingertips. Add the brown sugar, chopped dried fruit and spices, and mix to combine.

Warm the milk in the microwave (just a little – 20 seconds) in a medium bowl, and stir in the baking soda to dissolve it. In another little jug or bowl, warm the golden syrup in the microwave (again, 20-30 seconds), and add that to the milk, along with the eggs and grated lemon and orange rind. Beat with a fork, and pour it onto the dry ingredients.

Stir (or turn the cake mixer on) until the pudding batter is well mixed.

Pour the mixture into your prepared pudding basin, making sure there’s at least an inch or so of room at the top, as the pudding will rise as it steams. Put the lid on tightly and carefully lower into your Very Big Pot of boiling water, sitting it on whatever platform you have devised. When I cooked my pudding, the water came about a third or a half way up the pudding basin. Put the lid on the Very Big Pot and gently boil the pudding for 4 hours. Check back every so often to make sure your Very Big Pot still has enough boiling water in it, and top up if needed.

After 4 hours, carefully remove the pudding basin from the Very Big Pot. Take the lid off and invert the basin over a cooling rack. Fingers crossed, the pudding will slide out nicely and sit smugly cooling on the rack.

When it’s cold, wrap it first in tin foil, and then in a plastic supermarket bag with a knot tied snugly at the top. I’ve put mine at the back of the bottom shelf in my fridge, and there it shall stay until I need it on Christmas Eve. Then, I will unwrap it, poke it a few times with a skewer, pour a couple of tablespoons of brandy over it, put it back in its basin, and repeat the steaming process for another 2-3 hours. Then I’ll turn it out onto a serving plate, pour about ½ cup of brandy over it, set it on fire, and carry it to the table to rapturous applause. When the flames have burned themselves out (and, fingers crossed, not set fire to my hair), I will slice it up and serve it with my husband’s family Rum Sauce.

Now, there is one problem with this blog post. I forgot to take a photo of my steamed pudding before I wrapped it snugly and put it in the fridge. D’oh. But to be honest, a steamed, undecorated pudding is not a thing of beauty.

For your viewing pleasure, I have found an image of a Christmas Pudding online, in case you haven’t seen one before. Obviously, mine looks exactly like this. Exaaaaactly.

(image found here)

Good luck if you decide to try one!

Marmalade Steamed Pudding

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I started getting really into steamed puddings a while ago. They seem a bit of a fiddle first time round, but actually they’re not hard, and they result in a yummy moist cakey dessert that you eat warm with sauce. Mmmmmmmmm. And I even like the anxious moment when the bowl is inverted… will it turn out? won’t it? will it? It did! Yusssssssssssssss.

I made this lime marmalade a few weeks ago and have been looking for new things to do with it. Steamed puddings made with jam or marmalade are nothing new, but I hadn’t made one before. You plonk all the marmalade in the bottom of the pudding steamer, and carefully add the pudding batter on top, so as the pudding steams the marmalade turns to a delicious syrup, and then when you turn it out the syrupy marmalade goodness soaks back into the pudding like a sauce. Genius.

This is a very basic steamed pudding recipe. Like most good basic recipes, it will serve you well and is reliable, but can also be adapted to suit your own tastes. I’d like to try making it with buttermilk sometime, and also to see if reduced-fat spread could replace at least some of the butter (although the recipe is actually relatively light already). Any flavour marmalade would work with this; why not try a grapefruit and orange pudding?

 

Marmalade Steamed Pudding
Serves 4

50g butter
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup self-raising flour
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
½ cup trim milk
½ cup marmalade (see here for my lime marmalade recipe)
yoghurt, cream or ice cream, to serve (I vote Greek yoghurt for this one)

Cream the butter and sugar, until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and lemon rind, and beat again. Stir in the sifted flour and milk. Grease a pudding basin (non-stick spray is your friend here), and spoon the marmalade into the bottom of the basin. Carefully spoon the pudding batter on top and cover the basin. My steamer has a clip on lid, but you could cover a basin with two layers of tin foil tied on tightly. In case you’re new to steaming, this is how I do it – I have a big stockpot that I set on the stove, and put an upturned ceramic heatproof saucer or dish in the bottom, which the pudding basin can sit on top of. Then I half-¾ fill it up with hot water and bring it to the boil while I’m mixing the pudding. Carefully place the pudding basin into the stockpot, on top of the saucer. This pudding is actually quite light so I had to put a plate on top of the pudding basin to weigh it down and stop it rolling around in the stockpot! Bring the water back to the boil, and steam the pudding for an hour.

Take the bowl out of the steamer and remove the lid. Place a plate across the bottom of the bowl and carefully invert the whole arrangement so the pudding turns out nicely. Serve hot or warm with yoghurt, cream or ice cream.

Maple & Pecan Roasted Yams

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I feel sorry for yams. They are cheap as chips, so delicious, and so easy to prepare, but they are so under-used and under-rated.

I think their appearance puts people off. And I’m not arguing, they’re not exactly beautiful. But you have to see past that! Into their soft, tasty souls.

Yams always make me smile at a sweet old story about my great grandfather. My Granddad Cecil had been a sawyer, when he came back from the first world war I think, and had lost three or four fingers (OSH and ACC - not so big a deal back then).  As a little girl, I found this fascinating, and I always used to try and have a good look at his hands without being too obvious. But actually, I think he loved showing the great grand children his injuries!

I have a cousin who recalls going to Granddad Cecil and Nanny Myrtle’s for roasts as a little boy, and Nanny would always have yams on the menu. My cousin tells me that as they sat down to eat, Cecil would give him a nudge, point at the yams with their evenly jointed knuckle-y looking lines, then grin at my cousin and hold his hands up, and wiggling his stumpy jazz hands for my cousin. I don’t think Todd has eaten yams since.

I decided to do something a little different with these yams a couple of weeks ago. Usually I just roast them as they are, but it struck me that yams have that nice sweetness, kind of like pumpkin, that goes well with things like ginger and cinnamon and such. So I cooked these ones with a little maple syrup and pecans, to serve with this farmhouse chicken casserole and roast potatoes. I actually ran out of time and oven space to properly roast them in the oven, so I steamed them in the syrup in the microwave. but I think either method would be equally delicious.

Maple & Pecan Roast (or Steamed) Yams

Mix together 1 Tbsp rice bran oil (I avoid using butter in cooking wherever possible, but you could use butter, or low-fat spread!), and 2 Tbsp maple syrup. Pour over the yams and roast them in the oven or cover and steam in the microwave. Serve drizzled with extra maple syrup and sprinkle with lightly toasted pecans.

And that’s it! So don’t overlook yams next time you need a great vege for your roast. They will serve you well.

Rhubarb & Tamarillo Bread & Butter Pudding

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I’ve been intrigued by bread & butter pudding lately. It’s not something I grew up with so I’ve been trying different recipes to work out how it’s supposed to taste. After a couple of pleasant but unspectacular puddings, I think I’ve found the winner.

I really liked the hot tamarillos in the second pudding attempt, so kept them in but paired them with rhubarb this time. Mmmm. And finally the stars aligned and I got the custard to pudding ratio right. It was the dawning of the age of aquarius, age of aquariuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus. Aquarius.

Rhubarb & Tamarillo Bread and Butter Pudding
Serves 4

1 bunch rhubarb, trimmed and chopped into 5 cm lengths
4-5 tamarillos, quartered
1-2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2-3 Tbsp brown sugar
4-6 slices of fruit bread*
raspberry jam
3 eggs
3 Tbsp caster sugar
1 cup trim milk
icing sugar, to dust
ice cream and/or custard, to serve

*I tried different kinds of fruit bread in all these puddings, including homemade, and Bürgen was the nicest

Preheat oven to 200°(c). Place the rhubarb and tamarillo in lined baking or roasting pans (I used separate brownie tins). Splash the rhubarb with a tablespoon or two of cold water, and drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the tamarillos. Sprinkle both tins with brown sugar and bake until tender (about 10-15 minutes, I think). Leave to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, spread the fruit bread with raspberry jam (one side only), and cut the slices diagonally into quarters. Lightly spray a ceramic baking dish with non-stick spray, and layer half the bread quarters in the bottom of the dish, jam side up. Set aside.

When the tamarillos are cool enough to handle, slip their skins off (should just slide off easily, like capsicums). Layer the tamarillo and rhubarb over the bread. I only used about two thirds of the fruit in the pudding, but didn’t decrease the quantities in the ingredients list above, because you need to put the leftover fruit in a covered container in your fridge, and then you need to eat it on your breakfast cereal or porridge for tomorrow and maybe the next day if there’s enough. Need.

Layer the remaining bread quarters on the top of the pudding, jam side down, so you have a big jammy fruity sandwich.

In a new bowl, whisk together the eggs and caster sugar until frothy, then whisk in the milk. Pour this over the pudding and let it soak in for 5-10 minutes. Then bake at 160° for 30-35 minutes until firm and golden. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve warm/hot with custard or ice cream.

This is also my entry for this month’s Sweet NZ, which Alessandra Zecchini is hosting. Yum! Looking forward to seeing what other bloggers have been making.

Slow Cooked Spicy Lamb with Pearl Barley

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I’m moving on from winter. I’ve seen daffodils and a lamb. I’ve even dried washing outside without needing to put woollen gloves on to hang it out.

So this is the last stew or casserole post for Quite Some Time. It’s a good one to end on. The photos don’t really do it justice, but this casserole was really good. Lamb so tender. Pearl barley so perfect a partner. Flavours so toasty yet fresh due to the lime and coriander.

I adapted this recipe from one in an old Mindfood magazine. I find it’s nicer made in a slow cooker, but you could cook it in the oven if you prefer.

Slow Cooked Spicy Lamb Casserole with Pearl Barley – Serves 2

1 Tbsp olive oil
about 400g diced lamb (e.g. from shoulder chops)
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
½  red capsicum, deseeded and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
½ tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp ground white pepper
½ tsp salt
½ tsp garlic flakes
½ tsp ground paprika
½ tsp dried thyme
400g tin chopped tomatoes
¼ cup beef stock
1 Tbsp olive oil, extra
½ cup pearl barley
1½ cups beef stock
1 lime, grated rind and ¼ cup juice
¼ cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped
extra coriander, to serve

Spray the slow cooker bowl with non-stick spray, and turn the slow cooker on HIGH to pre-heat. Heat half the oil in a large frypan, and cook half the lamb for 4-5 minutes, or until browned on all sides. Put this in the slow cooker bowl. Heat the remaining oil, brown the remaining lamb and add that to the slow cooker bowl too.


Put the frypan back on a medium heat, and gently cook the onion, capsicum and celery for a few minutes, until the onion softens. Stir in the black pepper, white pepper, salt, garlic flakes, paprika and thyme. Cook for 1 minute or until aromatic. It’s a shame this blog isn’t chronological; if it was I would have added a spoonful of my harissa paste at this point. Anyway, add the tomatoes and stock, bring to the boil and then transfer everything to the slow cooker. Put the lid on and cook for four hours on HIGH, or eight hours on LOW.

About 45 minutes before you want to eat, heat the second measure of olive oil in a saucepan. Add the pearl barley and cook for 2-3 minutes until the barley is coated in oil. Add the second measure of beef stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the barley is tender. Stir through the lime rind and juice, and coriander. Season with salt and pepper and spoon into serving dishes. Top with the lamb casserole and garnish with extra coriander (I may have forgotten to garnish so picture may not reflect instruction!). Voila!

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole

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At this time of year, I’m usually over stews and casseroles.

When I first read about “hearty fare”, “winter warmers” and “comfort food” in autumn food magazine editorials, I can’t wait to stock  up on tinned tomatoes and blade steak. But by the end of August, I’m ready to shake the next person that writes about “satisfying and hearty recipes to warm your soul”. Bring on the asparagus and spring salads.

But if there was ever a week for casseroles and stews, this was surely the week. Thick snow falling in Lambton Quay? I never thought I’d see the day.

This is a chicken dish my mum used to make for our family all the time. It’s nothing fancy, but the white wine and honey give the chicken a nice flavour – and the gravy sauce is really yummy over roast potatoes. I really like the frozen vege mix in this recipe (possibly because it’s a childhood favourite!), but you could use other frozen or fresh veges.

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole

6-8 chicken pieces (I used one thigh cutlet and 1 drumstick per person)
few Tbsp flour
1½ Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups chicken stock
¼ cup white wine
2 Tbsp cornflour
1 tsp honey
1 Tbsp chopped Italian parsley
ground black pepper
1½ cups frozen vegetables (I used a pea, carrot and corn mix)

Preheat the oven to 150(c). Pat the chicken pieces dry with a paper towel and coat them lightly in flour. Heat 1 Tbsp of the olive oil in a large frypan and cook the chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side, until it’s nice and goldy brown. Pop it in a greased casserole dish and set aside. Heat the remaining oil and cook the onions and garlic for 4-5 minutes, until the onion is soft. Add the onion and garlic to the chicken in the casserole dish.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, mix together the stock, wine, cornflour (mix it to a paste with a bit of cold water first), parsley and pepper, and heat until the mixture thickens. Put the frozen veges in the casserole with the chicken and onions, and pour the sauce over everything. Cover and cook in the oven for about an hour and a half.

I served my casserole with steamed broccoli, roasted agria potatoes, and some maple and pecan roasted yams (yum, right? post to come on them shortly).

Hope everybody’s keeping warm….