Chicken, asparagus and mushroom risotto

Ingredients:

550 mL chicken stock, warmed
185 mL white wine or vermouth
200 g aborio rice
2 cooked chicken breasts, sliced (or just use left over roast chicken)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch of asparagus
1 onion, diced
1 stick of celery, diced
1/2 handful mushrooms, sliced
2 knobs of butter
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Heat a knob of butter and a splash of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Fry onion, garlic and celery for 10-15 minutes or until soft. Crank the heat. Add the rice and fry for a minute, stirring frequently. Add the wine and reduce. When it's almost gone, drop the heat and add a ladle of stock and asparagus. Season with salt and pepper. Add the stock ladle by ladle--you might not need all of it, so don't add it all at once--letting each ladleful reduce considerably before adding the next. After 15 minutes, stir in the mushrooms and chicken. It'll probably be 5 minutes or so before the rice is cooked--you can tell it's done when it has just a little bit of bite left to it. Risotto is a creamy dish, but that's not to say the rice should be cooked until its goo. When the rice is cooked, add the final knob of butter, stir in, cut the heat and clamp the lid down. Steam for a couple of minutes and then serve, seasoning with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and a glug of extra virgin olive oil.

Duck and mushroom pie

This recipe will make for two single serve pies, although it can easily be expanded to make one large pie. Too, a word on stock. I didn't have time to make duck stock and I certainly wasn't going to fork over near $10 for it, so I used a watered down beef stock. Obviously duck stock would make for a superior end product, but it's not disastrous if you don't have any handy.

Ingredients:

300 g diced duck meat (I used various off-cuts from the duck I'd bought the other day)
300 mL duck stock or watered down beef stock
30 mL port
1 small onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 mushrooms, diced
2 tbs fresh thyme, chopped
2 tbs tomato paste
a pinch of flour
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
2 sheets puff pastry
2 sheets short crust pastry
1 egg, beaten
a splash of milk
a pinch of poppy seeds
oil

Fry the onion and garlic in oil in a saucepan over a low flame until soft. Stir in the tomato paste. Add the duck meat and seal for just a few seconds, before adding the port. Follow with the stock and thyme. Season with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. Add a pinch of flour. Simmer, with the lid on, for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the diced mushrooms. Simmer, with the lid on, for a further 30 minutes. Take off the heat and remove lid. The gravy will thicken considerably as it cools.

Once cool, pre-heat the oven to 190*C.

Line two ramekins with the short crust pastry. Be gentle. Cut away the excess. Spoon in the cooled filling until it is level with the top of the ramekin. Brush the edge of the pastry with a little beaten egg, then lay the puff pastry on top. Prick four holes in the puff pastry. Add the milk to the remaining egg and lightly brush it over the puff pastry. Sprinkle a few poppy seeds on top; Bake until puff pastry is golden and, well, puffy. About 30-40 minutes.

Duck breasts seasoned with juniper berries and Sichuan peppercorns, served in sourdough with a summer salsa

Ingredients:

2 boneless duck breasts, skin-on
4 slices sour dough, rubbed with a little extra virgin olive oil and lightly toasted
4 vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, diced
1 small red onion, diced
1/2 Lebanese cucumber, peeled, de-seeded and diced
1/4 orange, juiced
1 tbs finely chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tsp juniper berries, freshly ground
2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, freshly ground
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil

Season the duck breasts with the juniper berries, Sichuan peppercorns and sea salt. Drizzle with a little oil.

Pre-heat oven to 220*C.

Pre-heat a fry pan over a high heat. When hot, add the duck breasts, skin side down. Seal for just a minute, then flip over. After a minute, transfer pan to the oven and roast for 7-8 minutes. Take duck breasts out of pan and rest for at least five minutes.

Prepare the salsa by tossing the vegetables together. Sprinkle them with a little salt and mix in the orange juice.

Spoon salsa onto two slices of bread. Add duck breasts on top.

Emu fan fillet sandwiches

I really like emu. It has a magnificent, meaty flavour. Not as strong as kangaroo or venison, even, but still very nice. I bought a kilogram of fan fillet the other day, so twice over the next few weeks you'll see emu recipes appear. I had the butcher cut the piece into three. I'll have to try a curry with one of the pieces. The other piece? No idea at this stage. A thought that occured just now, though, is a sort of 'coat of arms' pie. That'd be a whole lot of fun. Particularly if I could season it with native stuff like mountain pepper. Stay tuned, kids.

Anyway, this sandwich. It's essentially a steak sandwich, only with emu instead of beef. You could make this with beef. You could make this with buffalo. With ostrich. With kangaroo. You could add a bit more vegetable matter. Maybe take those lovely pieces of onion that have absorbed the flavour of the red wine and lay them on top of the fan fillet. Go crazy. I mean, it's meat in bread, you can't really ruin it.

Ingredients:

4 slices of sour dough or other good quality bread
4 slices beetroot
2 150-175 g pieces of emu fan fillet
1 quantity thick red wine and garlic sauce
a small handful of baby spinach leaves (could use rocket here, I guess)
a little olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt

A half hour before cooking, remove the emu from the fridge to get it up to room temperature. Season generously with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle a little olive oil on top, too.

Pre-heat the fry pan to smoking hot. You could use a barbecue, of course. Could even toast the bread over the grill. Just be careful not to burn it. When hot, add the emu fan fillet pieces. Cook for two minutes on each side and then transfer to a plate. Wrap in foil and let rest for five minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the bread. Rub a little olive oil into it and toast it lightly. When toasted, top two of the slices with the baby spinach leaves and beetroot slices. When the fan fillet has rested enough, add to the sandwich. Then pour over the sauce. Now, you might've figured this is the kind of steak sandwich you eat with a knife and fork. You'd be right, there. So maybe sex it up a bit with a garnish. Preferably something more interesting than the very 90s sprig of continental parsley, mind.

Barbecue chicken burgers

I didn't barbecue these burgers, so perhaps they shouldn't be really be called 'barbecue' anything. No, it was a bit too hot for me to be up for wandering down to the local park to gather the necessary wood. In an attempt to give them a barbecue flavour, though, I added a few drips of liquid smoke, a product my house mate picked up from USAFoods, to both the sauce and the burger patties during cooking. It's nowhere near as good as the real deal, of course, but when one is lazy one can't be fussy. Too, the secret behind making burger patties that don't fall apart in the pan or on the barbecue is to form the patties the night before and refrigerate them and then to cook them gently. There's absolutely no need to add egg, onion or bread crumbs to a burger patty.

Ingredients:

500 g chicken mince
4 burger buns, opened and lightly toasted under the broiler or on the grill
4 slices pineapple (well-drained if from a can)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tomato, sliced and seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 onion, sliced
a handful of rocket leaves, washed and drained
1/4 cup tomato ketchup
a shot of whisk(e)y
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp smoked paprika, plus extra to season
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
hot sauce of your choice (I recommend a chipotle sauce, for its smoky flavour)
oil

A few hours, but preferably a day, before cooking the burgers, add a few drops of hot sauce, a pinch of paprika and a generous dose of freshly ground black pepper to the mince. Form the mince into patties. Don't make them too thin--if you're even close to McDonald's-style patties, you've overdone it. A good patty is just about 2 centimetres thick. Place the patties on a plate. Use the back of a teaspoon or the tip of your thumb to make a shallow indentation in the centre of each patty. Cover and refrigerate.

A half hour before cooking, take the patties out of the fridge and let them come up to room temperature. It's always important to do this when cooking meat, no matter your plans for it--roasting, barbecuing, frying, steaming--as it'll make for more even and marginally quicker cooking.

To make the sauce, fry the onions in a little oil for five minutes. Add the garlic. Fry until the onions are nicely caramelised, then add the shot of whisk(e)y. Once reduced, add the tomato ketchup, Dijon mustard, paprika and apple cider vinegar. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for ten minutes over a low heat.

Fry the chicken patties in a little oil. Keep the heat low. Don't move them more than necessary. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper as they cook. When cooked, add the patties to the lightly toasted buns with the rocket leaves, pineapple, tomato and sauce.

Doro wot

Doro wot is an Ethiopian dish. The name translates to 'chicken stew', but rest assured this is quite different to the stews you're used of. With its thick, heavily-spiced gravy, doro wot has earned its place in the curries category of this blog, even though it's technically not a curry.

Ingredients:

2 chicken marylands (legs), skinned and cut into a few pieces, seasoned with salt
400 mL chicken stock, plus extra to liquify berbere paste
140 g tomato paste
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 shallots, cut into chunks
1 onion, finely sliced
1 small piece of ginger, peeled
1 tbs berbere spice mix
sea salt
ghee or oil
steamed rice, to serve

Blitz the berbere spice mix in a food processor with the shallots, garlic and ginger. Add a little chicken stock so a thick paste forms.

Fry the onion in a large saucepan over a low flame. Don't use any oil or ghee. Keep stirring to prevent sticking and/or burning. After five minutes, you can add the ghee. Too, add the berbere paste. Stir and stir and stir. Fry for five minutes more, then add the tomato paste. Stir and stir and stir again. After five minutes, add the stock. Let the gravy cook for a couple of minutes and then add the chicken pieces. Cover and cook for one hour, stirring occasionally. Serve with steamed rice.

Chicken and cashew nut curry

This is a relatively mild curry that includes, yes, chicken and cashew nuts. Buy the freshest cashew nuts you can. I'm lucky enough to have a grocer near my house that sells a wide range nuts, dried beans and dried fruits at a reasonable price. His produce is always very fresh due to a high turnover. Only buy nuts from retailers that have a high turnover. The nuts sold in supermarkets are often of questionable freshness.

Too, a word on ghee. You can buy ghee in Indian grocers and some supermarkets. What I use technically isn't ghee--it's a vegetarian product from Ethiopia that's far healthier. Ethiopian 'ghee', whether it's the vegetarian stuff I have or nitter kebbeh (made in the same way as Indian ghee), contains spices so as it melts it emits the most wonderful aroma and imparts flavour into the onions, garlic and ginger. Apologies for your not being able to tell you what this stuff is called. The writing on the packaging is entirely in Amharic.

Ingredients:

2 chicken marylands (legs), separated into thighs and drumsticks, skin removed
400 mL coconut cream
100 g unsalted cashew nuts
10 curry leaves
10 dried Kashmiri chillies
6 cardamom pods, ground
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cloves, ground
1 onion, diced
1 tomato, diced
a piece of ginger, diced
a piece of a cinnamon quill, ground
2 tbs hot curry powder
1 tbs ghee (substitute the Ethiopian stuff I use or regular oil)
1/4 tsp tandoori colouring
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
steamed rice, to serve

Season the chicken pieces with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Melt some ghee in a large saucepan. Fry the onion, garlic, ginger and dried chillies over a low heat for five minutes. Add the curry powder, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Stir and fry for five minutes. Add a little more ghee if it looks like it's going to dry out. Add the tomato. Fry for another five minutes and add the chicken. Stir so the chicken is well covered by the spiced tomato and onion. Fry for a further five minutes. Add coconut cream and tandoori colouring. Cover pan and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and simmer for five minutes before adding the curry leaves. Simmer for ten more minutes and serve.

Chicken vindaloo

Real vindaloo is traditionally made with pork or duck. I've previously provided a recipe that uses pork's wild cousin. It was significantly milder than this one is, so you can use the spices from that recipe in this recipe if you're not too keen on feeling the heat. And yes, you can substitute the chicken for duck.

Ingredients:
2 chicken marylands (legs), split into thighs and drumsticks, skinned
10 dried Kashmiri chillies
10 curry leaves
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
3 cloves
1 onion, sliced
1 small lump of ginger, peeled
1 small shard snapped from a cinnamon quill
1 star anise pod
1 tomato, diced
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
apple cider vinegar, as necessary
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
oil
steamed rice, to serve

Soak the dried chillies in water to soften them. Season the chicken pieces with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt and set aside until needed.

Heat a generous splash oil in a saucepan. Fry the onion over low heat for ten minutes or until soft. Meanwhile, grind the cumin, star anise, cinnamon, and cloves in a mortar and pestle. Transfer the ground spices to a food processor and blitz along with the garlic, ginger, poppy seeds, paprika, mustard seeds and softened chillies. Gradually add the the apple cider vinegar, stopping when a thick paste forms.

When the onions are soft, add the tomato and the paste to the saucepan and fry for five minutes, stirring constantly. If the paste seems like it's drying out, add a splash of apple cider vinegar. Add the chicken and cook for five minutes. Add 600 mL water and the brown sugar and cover the saucepan. Simmer for 55 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and add the curry leaves. Simmer for a further 5 minutes and serve.

Rice is obviously a nice accompaniment, as are Indian breads and yoghurt.

Mild curry of chicken wings

This is a very mild curry using my favourite cut of chicken, the wing, as the primary ingredient. If you want, you can add a little fire to this curry by adding either some more fresh chilli or a teaspoon of chilli powder to the paste. Too, if you're not a fan of wings, you could always use drumsticks or chops. Anything with a bone is good.



Ingredients:

1 kg chicken wings, halved at the joint and tips removed
800 mL coconut milk
8 whole black peppercorns
4 garlic cloves, peeled
3 small chillies, stems removed
2 tomatoes, diced
1 large onion, cut into chunks
1 small lump of ginger, peeled
1/2 cinnamon stick, snapped into small pieces (this is very important or you'll trash your food processor)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar, plus extra to form curry paste
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp cardamon powder
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp hot curry powder
1/4 tsp tandoori colouring
sea salt
oil
steamed rice, to serve

Place the chillies, garlic, ginger, onion, cardamon, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, sesame seeds, curry powder and tandoori colouring in a food processor. Blitz, slowly adding apple cider vinegar until a paste forms.

Season the tomatoes generously with salt.

Heat a generous splash of of oil in a large saucepan over a medium flame. When hot, add the paste and fry for five minutes. Add the chicken wings and cook for five minutes, stirring constantly to ensure the wings get an even coating of paste. Add the tomatoes and stir. Cook for a further five minutes. Add the coconut milk, apple cider vinegar and garam masala and bring to a simmer. Cook for 25-30 minutes. You may not want to serve all the gravy.

Crispy Cajun wings

I love chicken wings. A lot of flavour in them, with all that bone. They're fun to eat. And, yeah, they're cheap. A major selling point for a student. With all of the marinades I use, the wings themselves are prepared in exactly the same way. I use my chef's knife to lop off the wing tips, then I cut the wings in half at the joint. You can, of course, buy wingettes--wings that have already been portioned like that--but they're more expensive. The wings are cooked on the middle rack of the broiler for ten minutes aside on a medium-high heat. Ensure the bars of the grill are clean, to prevent sticking. You can also barbecue the wings.

This isn't a liquid marinade, obviously. Rather, it's a dry rub that comes out all crunchy. I only made this recently and, at present, I'm not 100% happy with it. I reckon turning the mix into a paste with rum or even halving the amount of mix and combining it with flour or quality bread crumbs would improve things greatly.

Take 2 tbs smoked paprika, 2 tbs sweet paprika, 3 tbs dried basil flakes, 2 tbs garlic powder, 2 tbs onion flakes, 2 tbs salt, 2 tbs freshly ground black pepper, 2 tbs ground fennel seeds, 3 tsp dried parsley, 3 tsp ground cinnamon, 3 tsp dried thyme, 2 tsp ground white pepper and 1 tsp chilli powder and combine. Rub into the wings.

Garlic, lemon and parsley wings

I love chicken wings. A lot of flavour in them, with all that bone. They're fun to eat. And, yeah, they're cheap. A major selling point for a student. With all of the marinades I use, the wings themselves are prepared in exactly the same way. I use my chef's knife to lop off the wing tips, then I cut the wings in half at the joint. You can, of course, buy wingettes--wings that have already been portioned like that--but they're more expensive. The wings are cooked on the middle rack of the broiler for ten minutes aside on a medium-high heat. Ensure the bars of the grill are clean, to prevent sticking. You can also barbecue the wings.

Take some fresh, flat leaf parsley and chop it finely. Combine it, some minced garlic and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Mix with olive oil.

Peri peri wings

I love chicken wings. A lot of flavour in them, with all that bone. They're fun to eat. And, yeah, they're cheap. A major selling point for a student. With all of the marinades I use, the wings themselves are prepared in exactly the same way. I use my chef's knife to lop off the wing tips, then I cut the wings in half at the joint. You can, of course, buy wingettes--wings that have already been portioned like that--but they're more expensive. The wings are cooked on the middle rack of the broiler for ten minutes aside on a medium-high heat. Ensure the bars of the grill are clean, to prevent sticking. You can also barbecue the wings.

In a food processor, blitz a few fresh chillies, a little chilli powder and some garlic. Add lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix with olive oil.

Tip: you could also add some semi-dried tomato or use rice wine vinegar in place of olive oil.

Louisiana chilli wings

I love chicken wings. A lot of flavour in them, with all that bone. They're fun to eat. And, yeah, they're cheap. A major selling point for a student. With all of the marinades I use, the wings themselves are prepared in exactly the same way. I use my chef's knife to lop off the wing tips, then I cut the wings in half at the joint. You can, of course, buy wingettes--wings that have already been portioned like that--but they're more expensive. The wings are cooked on the middle rack of the broiler for ten minutes aside on a medium-high heat. Ensure the bars of the grill are clean, to prevent sticking. You can also barbecue the wings.

A while ago I ordered a six pack of Louisiana-brand hot sauces from the online store USA Foods. They're all really nice and, yeah, I've done the natural thing of using them to marinate chicken wings. I combine equal parts red chilli hot sauce, chipotle hot sauce and roasted garlic hot sauce. The jalapeno one is nice too.

Smokey Tabasco wings

With all of the marinades I use, the wings themselves are prepared in exactly the same way. I use my chef's knife to lop off the wing tips, then I cut the wings in half at the joint. You can, of course, buy wingettes--wings that have already been portioned like that--but they're more expensive. The wings are cooked on the middle rack of the broiler for ten minutes aside on a medium-high heat. Ensure the bars of the grill are clean, to prevent sticking. You can also barbecue the wings.

Cover the wings in maybe three or four tablespoons of Tabasco per kilogram, along with a teaspoon of chilli powder, a teaspoon of smoked paprika, a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper and some sea salt. Rub everything into the wings. Allow to sit in the fridge, covered, for a couple of hours.

Tip: if you have a Middle Eastern, East African or South Asian grocery store nearby, duck in to see if they sell Rana brand chilli sauce. It's a Saudi-made sauce and tastes similar to Tabasco. The large bottles are about half the price of large bottles of Tabasco.

Crispy paprika chicken wings with a garlic and sherry sauce

There's a strong Spanish influence driving this recipe, as demonstrated by the garlic, the paprika and the sherry. I guess you could call it a tapas dish, even.

Ingredients:

1 kilogram chicken wings
200 mL dry sherry
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large shallot, diced
1 tbs salt
1 tbs smoked paprika
1 tbs sweet paprika
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp freshly ground white pepper
olive oil



Prepare the chicken wings. Cut the tips off at the joint. Cut the wings into two 'wingettes' at the joint. Place in a bowl with the salt, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, chilli powder, black pepper and white pepper. Cover bowl with a couple of layers of cling film and shake vigourously to distribute the spices evenly. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

Pre-heat the broiler to high. Ensure grill bars are clean. Cook chicken 'wingettes' under the broiler for twenty minutes, turning half way through.

Meanwhile, prepare the garlic and sherry sauce. In a small saucepan, heat some olive oil over a medium flame. Fry the garlic and shallot for ten minutes or until soft, stirring frequently. Add the sherry and stir. Bring to boil. reduce heat slightly and simmer for five minutes.

Roast quail with lime and black pepper

The marinade for this was inspired by a potato chip, of all things. Turns out, lime and pepper go just as well together as lemon and pepper do. This is a very simple, mild-flavoured marinade. You get a hint of lime, but mostly you can taste the quail flesh for what it is.

1 quail, wings and neck removed
2 limes, juiced with a single wedge retained
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt



Place the quail in a bowl. Grind some black pepper and sea salt all over it. Rub some into the cavity, too. Squeeze lime juice all over the bird. Turn it breast down, so the breasts--where most of the meat is--are soaking in the lime juice. Cover with cling film and keep in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C. Place the quail on a lightly oiled baking tray and roast for 20 minutes.

Chinese five spice quail with a honey-soy glaze

The recipe below is enough to season a single quail.

Ingredients:

1 quail, wings and neck removed
3 cloves
2 star anise pods
1 cinnamon stick, snapped into shards
1 tbs whole Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 tsp ginger powder
2 tbs honey
1 tsp soy sauce

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C.



Using a mortar and pestle, grind up two of the cloves, one of the star anise pods, the Sichuan peppercorns, the ginger powder and all but one of the cinnamon shards. Rub this spice mix all over the quail. Stuff the cavity with the remaining clove, star anise pod and cinnamon shard. Place quail on a lightly oiled oven tray and roast for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine honey and soy sauce. Remove quail from the oven and baste generously in with the honey-soy glaze, before returning to the oven for a further ten minutes. Serve with steamed rice.

Quail Kiev

There are those who don't enjoy quail, claiming that eating quail is a bit like eating matchsticks. It's so small and bony, offering too little meat for them to feel that quail is worth the price butchers and poultry stores charge for it. I'm not one of those people. I adore quail. Grilled or stewed, roasted or deep-fried, I regard it as one of the most wonderful birds.

This dish was, of course, inspired by the popular Chicken Kiev--a flattened chicken breast which is rolled, filled with a garlic and herb butter and then coated in a batter. Typically, Kiev is deep-fried. My Kiev is roasted and, of course, uses quail in place of chicken.

I've allowed three quail per diner, but by all means, reduce that figure to two if you are worried your diners don't have such a large appetite.

Ingredients:

3 quail
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used tempura bread crumbs, but you could make your own bread crumbs by blitzing some stale, but good quality bread in a food processor)
3 tbs fresh dill leaves
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste
olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 180*C.

Prepare the butter filling by playing the butter, dill leaves and garlic cloves in a food processor. Add a generous pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper before blitzing. Set the butter filling aside while you prepare the quail.



Wash quail inside and out under running water and pat dry. Using your chef's knife, remove the neck and the wings. Stuff cavity with the butter mixture. Be careful not to overfill--you're going to have to close the cavity in a minute and you don't want the stuff oozing out.



To close the cavity, carefully tie a length of kitchen string around the end of one of the legs. Then, gently pull both legs back so they're resting on the stumps where the wings used to be. Notice that the cavity is now closed, except for a small gap. Don't worry too much about that. Bind the tips of the legs together with the string.



Season the bread crumbs with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Coat the quail in the beaten egg and then dredge through the bread crumbs, ensuring the whole quail is covered. Place the quail in a lightly greased oven tray. Ensure that the side with the gap is facing up, otherwise the butter filling will leak out during cooking.



Roast for 20-25 minutes or until quail is cooked through.

Portuguese chicken pizza

Following on from yesterday's post about making the perfect pizza base in a domestic oven, I figured I'd provide a suggestion for a topping combination. Remember that pizza has few rules. Once you perfect the base, you're free to experiment with the toppings. I mean, just because the local takeaway doesn't put a particular ingredient on a pizza doesn't mean you can't.
The recipe for the perfect pizza, along with the associated 'rules' for pizza making, can be found here.

Ingredients:

1 ball of pizza dough (see original article)
75 mL tomato passata (aka sugo)
5 balls of boccocini cheese, sliced
4 anchovies, cut into pieces
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 chicken thigh, cubed
1 onion, sliced
1 lemon, juiced
1 fresh chilli, diced with seeds removed
1 tbs chilli powder
handful sun-dried tomatoes
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Marinate the chicken cubes overnight or at least for a few hours in the chilli powder, lemon juice, sea salt and black pepper. Fry until cooked through and set aside to cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 230*C for a good twenty minutes, as per usual. When ready to cook, remove stone slab/oven tray from oven and drop the oven temperature to 200*C. Roll the base out directly onto the slab/tray, dusting the slab/tray with corn flour if you feel it necessary. Roll the pizza base about 7 millimetres thick. If you roll it too thin, it won't come out as well as it should.

Combine tomato passata, diced chilli minced garlic. Spread the passata over the pizza. Distribute the sliced boccocini cheese evenly across the base. Top pizza with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, anchovies and onion. Bake pizza for 20 minutes or until base is crispy and golden.

Chicken and pineapple pizza

Following on from yesterday's post about making the perfect pizza base in a domestic oven, I figured I'd provide a suggestion for a topping combination. Remember that pizza has few rules. Once you perfect the base, you're free to experiment with the toppings. I mean, just because the local takeaway doesn't put a particular ingredient on a pizza doesn't mean you can't.
The recipe for the perfect pizza, along with the associated 'rules' for pizza making, can be found here: .

Ingredients:

1 ball of pizza dough (see: )
75 mL tomato passata (aka sugo)
5 balls of boccocini cheese
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 chicken thigh, cubed, preferably free-range, corn-fed or organic
1 capsicum, cut into short strips
1 small onion, finely sliced
1/2 pineapple, cut into cubes
1 tbs brown sugar
black pepper
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil (optional)
a few drips of Tabasco or other chilli sauce sauce (optional)


Combine the pineapple cubes and brown sugar in a bowl. Toss to combine and set aside.

Grind some black pepper and sea salt over the cubed chicken thigh. Fry in a fry pan over medium heat until cooked through. It's important to fully cook meats such as chicken, pork and beef before putting them on pizza. Allow to cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 230*C for a good twenty minutes, as per usual. When ready to cook, remove stone slab/oven tray from oven and drop the oven temperature to 200*C. Roll the base out directly onto the slab/tray, dusting the slab/tray with corn flour if you feel it necessary. Roll the pizza base about 7 millimetres thick. If you roll it too thin, it won't come out as well as it should.

Combine tomato passata, minced garlic and, if you're up for it, a few drops of Tabasco or another chilli sauce. Spread the passata over the pizza. Distribute the sliced boccocini cheese evenly across the base. Next, top the pizza with the chicken, capsicum, pineapple and onion.

Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until the base is crispy and golden. Drizzle pizza with a little extra virgin olive oil before serving, if you're so inclined. Alternatively, you could sprinkle a little more Tabasco sauce over the pizza.