Honey and Soy Sauce Chicken Recipe

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

A little while ago Cheryl from Madhouse Family Reviews was running a recipe competition. The idea was that you you needed to use the new Amoy Special Selection Soy Sauce to create a recipe. I quickly added an idea to her blog as the first five bloggers to comment received a bottle of the soy sauce. When my bottle of soy sauce arrived I decided I had to use it to create another recipe. My original idea was to marinate chicken breasts in a honey and soy sauce marinade and then grilling them.

Halfway though I decided to chop them into pieces and make more of a stir fry type dish with them. My thinking was that I would like the marinade to cover more of the chicken. It turned out I could have just cooked the chicken breasts without chopping them as the flavour worked really well. I served it with rice but if you grilled the chicken breasts it would be nice served with new potatoes and green beans. If the chicken breasts were left whole it would also work very nicely on a barbecue.

Honey and Soy Sauce Chicken

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts
1 red onion
1 red pepper
4 mushrooms
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons runny honey

Method

Mix the lime juice, lemon juice, soy sauce and runny honey together in a shallow dish.
Place the chicken breasts in the mixture and leave to marinade for at least four hours, but preferably overnight.
Chop the onion, mushrooms and pepper and the chicken into pieces.
Heat some oil in a pan and stir fry the chicken. When nearly done add the onions, mushrooms and pepper with the remaining marinade sauce and cook for a few minutes until it is cooked though.
Serve with rice or noodles.

The result was very nice and my son remarked it was delicious. I will definitely be trying this again.

Warm Mexican Turkey Salad Recipe

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

I love a blogger challenge and when I saw BritMums had a recipe challenge to create a quick and easy turkey recipe for the Summer I had to join in.

I am not sure why I do not cook with turkey more. It is easily available and tasty but it is also good for you. It is high in protein which our bodies use for growth and repair. Cooked turkey contains 34 g of protein per 100g which is ¾ of an adult’s recommended daily allowance. It also has lowest saturated fat level when compared to other meats, at less than 1g per 100g (4oz) portion. I may have to start eating it more.

The idea is that the recipe has to be really quick and easy to prepare. It should take no more than 30 minutes in total. I decided to create a Warm Mexican Turkey Salad. It is the Summer so we should be eating more salad, but given the weather we have been having I thought a warm salad might be appreciated. This took me about 25 minutes to prepare, some of the time was used to take photographs though.

Warm Mexican Turkey Salad

Ingredients

500g (18 oz) turkey breasts or fillets
½ tsp hot chill powder
1 tbsp paprika
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 red onion
300g can cannellini beans
2 tomatoes
125g (4 oz) mixed baby salad leaves
4 oz tortilla chips
150 ml (¼ pint) sour cream

Method

Chop the red onion into small pieces. Chop the tomatoes into wedges. Mix with the cannellini beans, tomatoes and salad leaves in one big bowl.
Mix the chilli powder and paprika in a bowl.
Cut the turkey into strips and toss in the mixture of chilli and paprika
Warm the oil in a pan. Add the turkey to the pan and stir fry until golden, this takes about ten minutes.
Add the turkey and the tortilla chips to the salad and mix well. Serve on individual plates and add the sour cream to the top.

My son was very taken with this salad, when I gave it to him he was delighted that there were tortilla chips included. His plate was soon cleared!

Disclosure: This post is an entry for BritMums’ Summer Turkey Recipe Challenge, You can find more turkey recipes on the LeanOnTurkey website.

Ginger and Pineapple Cake Recipe

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

Yesterday was World Baking Day so I decided I would make a cake. Really it would have been rude not to. The challenge was to Bake Brave and make something out of your comfort zone. In other words try something new. There were loads of recipes to try on the World Baking Day website, which were graded at different levels of difficulty. I didn’t choose a recipe from the site, I decided I would try a Ginger and Pineapple Cake as it sounded a perfect cake for the Summer.

I liked the idea of a sponge cake with a mix of ginger and pineapple and thought I would give it a tropical twist with a lime flavoured butter icing. For the decorations I wanted something with a tropical look and managed to find little butterfly cake decorations which I added between clusters of apricot pieces. I was very pleased with the result and my son loved it, I found him stealing pieces when I wasn’t looking. What do you think? If you want to try it yourself, this is the recipe.

Ginger and Pineapple Cake Recipe

Ingredients

150g (5 oz) butter
125g (4 oz) light brown sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
250g (8 oz) self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsp ground ginger
50 g (2 oz) dessicated coconut
3 eggs (beaten)
200 g (7 oz) can pineapple rings

Method

Grease a18 x 28 cm (7x 11 inch) tin and pre-heat the oven to 180C, 350 F, Gas Mark 4.
Put the butter, syrup and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently until melted.
Mix the flour, baking powder, ginger, and coconut in a mixing bowl and add the melted butter mixture. Beat until smooth
Add the eggs and mix
Drain the can of pineapple and chop the rings into pieces. Stir the pineapple though the mixture.
Pour into the tin and bake for 20 minutes until well risen and springy to touch. A knife passed though the cake should come out clean.
Leave in the tin for ten minutes and turn onto a wire rack to cool.

Once it is cool it is time to make the frosting. I opted for a butter icing with a touch of lime for a tropical taste.

Lime Frosting

Ingredients

100g (3½ oz) butter
200 g (7 oz) icing sugar
grated rind and juice of one lime

Method

Mix the butter, icing sugar and lime juice together until light and fluffy.
Spread over cake and decorate.

Rhubarb Fool Recipe

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

When I was shopping at the weekend I noticed that rhubarb was now available. I love rhubarb so I decided to get some and decide what to do with it later.

My husband said rhubarb was too bitter and my son was not sure he had ever tried it before. I decided that I would make a rhubarb fool as that should be sweet enough to suit them both.

A fool is a light creamy base mixed with a sour fruit like rhubarb or gooseberries to produce a delightful dessert for a summers day. The rhubarb fool went down a treat, both my husband and son loved it and demanded more. It was really simple to make, whilst looking impressive. It would make an ideal end to a summer’s night feast.

Rhubarb Fool Recipe

Ingredients

350g (12 oz) rhubarb
75g (3 oz) light brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp fresh ginger (shredded)
500 ml (18 fl oz) double cream
100g (3½ oz) icing sugar
250 ml (9 fl oz) Greek Yoghurt

Method

Wash the rhubarb and cut into one inch chunks, place in a baking dish.
Add the light brown sugar, honey and ginger and place in a pre-heated oven set to 350F, 180C, Gas 4 and bake for 20-40 minutes until the until the rhubarb is tender.
Drain all but two tablespoons of the juice from the rhubarb and purée it. Set aside to cool.
Pour the double cream into a bowl and whip until the cream forms soft peaks.
Add the icing sugar to the cream and mix until it is all blended in.
Finally fold in the Greek yoghurt and the rhubarb purée.
Spoon the mixture into dessert glasses and set in the fridge until ready to serve.

Don’t expect it to stay around long once it is served.

Mushrooms A La Grecque Recipe

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

Mushrooms A La Grecque is a recipe that brings back memories of holidays in France as a child. We used to stay in rented houses in French villages and loved wandering into the local shops to get our shopping. We used to spend hour practising asking for our shopping in French and it is quite an achievement as a child to ask for a loaf of bread in a different language. I loved the delicatessens with their range of items and one of the side dishes we used to buy was Mushrooms A La Grecque.

It is a cold mushroom dish served in a spicy tomato sauce and is gorgeous in a salad or mopped up with crusty bread. As a mushroom lover I always used to request my mum get this. This is my version of the dish which comes pretty close to the dish I remember.

Mushrooms A La Grecque Recipe

Ingredients

8 oz (220 g) Mushrooms
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
6 peppercorns
2 tbsp dry white wine
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tomato puree
¼ pint chicken stock
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method

Wash and slice the mushrooms though the stems into small slices. Blanch them for two minutes (place in a pan of boiling water).
Peel and slice the onion and garlic
Sauté the garlic onion in the olive oil until soft
Arrange the mushrooms in the casserole dish and add the remaining ingredients
Cover and cook in a pre-heated oven at 325F, 160C Gas Mark 3 for 30-40 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves and peppercorns and leave to cool