Buttermilk chicken drumsticks with pecan coleslaw

Great for taking on picnic

12 chicken drumsticks
500 ml buttermilk
1 tablespoon of coarse salt
1 tablespoon of coarse pepper
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
2 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Put all of the above in dish or freezer bag. Marinate overnight or for a couple of hours if thats all the time you have.

After marinading

take out chicken drumsticks. Put in oven dish. Pour over olive oil or vegetable oil over the top to help bronze.

Cook according to instructions on chicken.

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Pecan coleslaw

2 spring onions chopped
2 carrots peeled and grated
celery
head of cabbage chopped.

(alternatively the dry coleslaw at Aldi's is very good if you dont have enough time to chop)

dressing::

200 g good mayonnaise
4 tablespoons of buttermilk
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
2 teaspoons of cider vinegar
salt
pepper.

Mix dressing ingredients together, then pour
over coleslaw mix

Roughly chop 100g pecans

Strew across coleslaw

Delicious

Pork chops with cider, mustard and cream sauce

Throw a bit of oil in the pan

Put in pork chops 5 minutes each side

take out pork chops

pour glass of cider into pan

tablespoon of seeded mustard

and cream

stir till nice sauce

- gnocchi to go with the sauce

- cook gnochhi/or other pasta in boiling water till ready

Put pork chops on plate

drizze mustard cider sauce on top

put your gnocchi or pasta in the sauce leftover
\and serve


It is gorgeous and very quick and simple

cheers

lesley

Brandied chicken - to die for and very easy

1 chicken (free range or organic)
4 tablespoons of brandy
2 bacon rashers
garlic oil

- put garlic oil in fry pan
- cook bacon rashers
- put cooked bacon rashers in cavity of chicken
- pour 4 tablespoons of brandy in the fry pan along with the oil and juice from bacon rashers. Let it bubble.
Put chicken in roasting pan
Pour over the brandy "sauce"
put in oven at 220 for 1 hour to 1hr and half

I also sliced up some sweet potato and placed around the chicken

so easy

and absolutely lovely
I served with green salad with dijon dressing \\\

Afters - vanilla icecream with homemade chocolate and peanut sauce ....

Easy Chocolate Pear Pudding

2 tins of pears in juice, drained
lay pears on bottom of square pie dish (23cm sq) or similar


chocolate sponge

125 g plain flour
125 g sugar
25g cocoa
teaspoon baking powder
quarter teaspoon bicarb
150g of soft unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Put all ingredients in food processor

When mixed scrape cake mixture over pears. Put in bottom shelf oven 220 for 25 to 30minutes.

Notes - my new food processor did not work so I had to sieve the dry ingredients then add wet ingredients. Still tasted good.
Serve with icecream or cream.

Neil and Keon enjoyed

Roast chicken, with cinnamon, cumin and sweet potato

Well I have been a bit busy and have not done much Nigella cooking for a few days.

However on Sunday I made this lovely roast chicken with sweet potato.

Very easy

One chicken
olive oil
half teaspoon cinnamon
half teaspoon cumin
sweet potato or kumera chopped.

Place chicken in oven dish with sliced kumera
Pour olive oil over chicken
Sprinkle half teaspoon of cinnamon over chicken
then half teaspoon of cumin

Roast in oven for 1 hour or according to instructions on chicken

I served this with roast potatoes and a lovely green salad with Nigella's dijon dressing

It was beautiful

Express rocky road

Today is Rocky Road day

very easy recipe

not easy to muck up

300 g best dark chocolate
125 g of soft unsalted butter
3 tablespoons if golden syrup
200 g rich tea biscuits bashed
100g mini marshmallows

anyway melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup together in pan, then take out 2 small ladles of the chocolate mixture and preserve. go to town bashing the biscuits then add them in mixture with the marshmallows. then pour into a square tin, then pour over reserved chocolate mixture and put in fridge overnight

then voila you have express rocky road

Jumble bee crumble; watercress sugar snap peas with wasabi dressing

Watercress sugar snap peas with wasabi - Nigella recipe was 3 tblespoon of lime j; uice, I used the real thing, 4 tablespoons of veg oil; and 1 tablespoon of wasabi paste and half teaspoon of salt. shake and put in fridge.

I got the watercress and the sugar snap peas. I had never had the watercress before. Neil was a bit reluctant about the wasabi paste, however he liked it. Keon liked the salad which was a surprise since he is only 3.

Anyway I may use this recipe again.

Jumble bee berry crumble - Also we made the jumble bee berry crumble which was a hit.

200g flour, teaspoon of baking powder; 100 g of unsalted butter 6tablespoons of demerara (raw) sugar.

Keon and mum had fun rubbing the b utter into flour. I took photo very cute.

anyway, for the berries - packet of frozen berries from Aldi - $6.95. 2 teaspoons of cornflour; 4 teaspoons of vanilla sugar.

Put in oven. We put in for 30 minutes on 200 as it does not say in nigella's dvd.

anyway whatever happened the crumble seemed to disappear. but the berries were beautiful.

it was a hit with Neil, Keon, Isobel and George. I served it with icecream and it was delicous.

bye for now

ps. I never get time to put my red lipstick on like Nigella.

cheers

Lesley

my first try at coq au riesling then yummy berry dessert

Since last night I realised it would be a good idea to keep a written account of how my attempt at Nigella's recipe went, and also how much it cost. It has been suggested I should keep an eye on my weight too.

so

Coq au riesling made by Lesley following Nigella on the dvd

2 tblesp0oons of garlic oil (which I bought at Woolies) great invention

150 g of bacon; 1 leek washed and chopped (I did this myself, Nigella buys hers prepared)

12 boned skinned chicken thighs (they were $7.99 a kilo and cheaper than the breast)

3 bay leaves

300 g of oyster mushrooms ( I did not have them so I used ordinary chopped mushrooms)

1 whole bottle of riesling (I got mine on special for $6)

salt, pepper.

Basically, I watched Nigella on the dvd, with many pauses. Fry the garlic oil, bacon, leek, add chicken and bay leaves then mushrooms. Pour in the whole bottle of riesling and bring to bubble, then simmer with lid on for 40 minutes.

The smell was beautiful, only problem was Neil was about an hour late. Whilst waiting I gave Keon a bath, did a quote on the US and Las Vegas for some friends and had a couple of glasses of sauvignon blanc.

Anyway when Neil arrived, I served the coq au riesling over a bed of fettucine with some fresh dill.

He liked it but said it needed more salt. what???

We have plenty left over so Mum and George will have some.

Dessert

for dessert I am going to have a go at Nigella's fruit crumble. I've been to Aldi and stocked up.

Good evening fellow masterchefs lol

Hi and welcome to my first blog. I loved the movie Julie and Julia, so much so that I decided to look out for the Julia Childs book. However on reading the book, whilst in Borders, I thought who am I kidding? If I buy this book, it will end up on the shelf or in the pile for the garage sale - too hard...

However I still want to improve my cooking skills, and being so rubbish at it, I realised I do actually enjoy watching Nigella Lawson on the tv. She is so glamorous, very likable and she makes cooking seem easy, and perhaps even I can cook like her.

So here goes, my tribute to Nigella and to the movie Julie and Julia. Lets hope it makes me a better cook.

The first creation I made today was Coq au Riesling following Nigella's Express dvd

Ingredients - chicken, leek, mushrooms, garlic oil, bacon, pepper, salt and a bottle of riesling, no joke

and it was a success ... actually I have missed out some crucial ingredients - gold star to those who can advise

My husband, though about an hour late for dinner, noticed the wonderful smell coming from the kitchen and had second helpings.

What is next? n

Tune in and find out .....