Chicken Tenderloins with Coriander Salad

Chicken Tenderloins with Coriander Salad

Strange..I cook this pretty often but I manage to miss out on blogging. Anyway, better be late than never. (Gosh, don't you hate cliche?)

This quick and easy recipe:

Serves 4

Prep time 10 mins

Cooking time 10 mins

KJ 1115 Fat 16g Sat fat 3 g

1 bunch of coriander, leaves plucked

4 green onions (shallots), chopped

1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce

1 teaspoon fish sauce

500g chicken tenderloins

1. Place coriander, green onion and tomatoes in a large bowl. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, chilli sauce and fish sauce in a jug and set aside.
2. Preheat a lightly greased chargill or barbecue on high. Cook chicken for 3 mins on each side, until golden and cooked through.
3. Pour dressing over coriander mixtures and toss to combine. Divide chicken between serving plates and top with salad, season and serve.

Steamed Fish with Asian Vegetables

Steamed Fish with Asian Vegetables

Typical Chinese meal consists of 3 dishes+1 soup, a standard family requirement. You can cut down on variety for just 2 people, but you know you are not meeting the standard, that's how I feel anyway. I got to hand it to our Ang Moh friends, they always manage to design cooking 2 dishes at one go, in this case, fish and vegetables in the same dish. Very clever lor.

This recipe:

Serves 4
Prep time 5 mins (okay, it took me longer than that, you shouldn't trust this anyway)
Cooking time 5 minutes (again you shouldn't trust this, for me I always steam my fish for 8~10 minutes)

Here what you need:

6 green onions (shallots)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine) or dry sherry
4 baby bok choy, trimmed, quartered
4 firm white fish fillets, such as trevalla or flathead fillets (I use Cod fish)
125g shiitake or oyster mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled, cut into julienne
Steam rice, to serve

1. Finely slice 4 green onions. Combine with garlic, oil, soy sauce and shaoxing wine in a small bowl. Season well and set aside.
2. Line a steamer with baking paper. (My bamboo steamer peed chia already, so I just use an oval plate coated with oil) Top with bok choy, then fish. Scatter with mushrooms and carrot and spoon over soy sauce mixture. (You can add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil if you like a nutty flavour)
3. Cover and steam for 5~7mins, over a pan or wok with simmering water, until the fish is cooked through. (In my experience, its best to leave it for 8~10mins)
4. Meanwhile, cut remaining green onions into thin slices. Divide dish and vegetable stacks between serving plates and top with green onion. Serve with steamed rice.

Celery Stir-Fry with Barramundi

Celery Stir-Fry with Barramundi

Sometimes I just got to be brave. Its not easy posting recipes you know, especially when it makes me crave for food. I am doing this for you and after this, I will go buy some fish for tonight. hehe.

left desk

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and half hour later

Uh-hum...I am back. From the supermarket actually. hehe, I was really tempted and I really wanted to cook this dish tonight, so I got to dashed out to make sure I've got the main ingredients. I haven't got barramundi but heh, good old snapper won't go wrong. Another reason why I needed to do this right away; it was disastrous the last time I cooked this. I used the wrong fish - Cod fish. It didn't taste good and it left a stank many days after. So you see, I am very motivated to make it right this time.

According to Table Magazine June 2007, celery makes a splendid cooked vegetables, especially when its lightly stir-fried with crispy fresh snow peas, garlic and plenty of flat leaf parsley.

Serves 4
Prep time 15 mins
Cooking time 5 mins

2 tablespoons oil
½ bunch celery, trimmed, cut into 8cm lengths
150g snow peas, trimmed
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 cup flat leaf parsley (e.g. Italian parsey)
½ cup (125ml) chicken stock
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 x 100g pieces barramundi (I would use snapper, or any frying pan friendly fish fillets in absence of barramundi)

1. Heat half of oil in a large frying pan or wok on high. Add celery, snow peas and garlic and stir-fry for 2 mins. Add parsley and cook for 1 min. Add stock and sesame oil and simmer for 2 mins, until celery is just tender.
2. Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in a non stick frying pan on high. Cook fish for 2 mins each side, until flesh flakes. Serve with celery stir-fry.

The magazine also suggest Yalumba's 2006 Oxford Landing Sauvignon Blanc as a matching wine.

Chicken with Lemon & Capers

Chicken with Lemon & Capers

Yet another simple dish I fancied. I love chicken tenderloins because they are juicier and have no fat. They aren't as tough as chicken breast. Actually, I have replaced chicken breast with either tenderloins or thighs in many recipes because I think they taste better.

Serves 4
Prep time 5 mins
Cooking time 10 mins

15g butter
12 (about 750g) chicken tenderloins
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup (50g) capers
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1. Steamed chat potatoes, green beans, to serve (I substituted with broccolini because I felt like it)
2. Heat butter in a frying pan on medium. Cook chicken in batches for 3~5mins, turning once, until golden. Remove and keep warm. Add lemon rind and juice to pan with ½ cup water, scraping base of pan. Cook until mixture reduces by half. Stir in capers and parsley.
3. Return chicken to pan and cook 1~2 mints, until heated through. Season to taste and serve with potatoes and green beans. (In my case, broccolini)

Tips: For thicker sauce, dust chicken tenderloins in a little seasoned flour first.
The flavours in this recipe works equally well with fish.

Storecupboard Suppers - Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

I caught myself swallowing my saliva while I started writing this post because the topic I am writing about is yet again food but this is really yummy and you can scavenge what's in your cupboard to make up this dish. I took this recipe from "The quick and easy cookbook" a Christmas present from my mother-in-law, I love it! Turning to the page, there is a lot of marks on it, evidence of frequent usage, otherwise a messy kitchen hand, indeed I cook this a lot, because I am loving it. :D

Serves 4

Prep 10 mins

Cook 25 mins

Cals per portion 590

Fat per portion 14g

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 garlic cloves, crushed

2 small red chillies, seeded and finely chopped

2 x 50g (2 oz) cans anchovies, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons capers

100g (3½ oz) pitted black olives, halves

2 x 400g (14 oz) cans plum tomatoes

500g (1 lb 2 oz) packet dried spaghetti

1 bunch of fresh basil, roughly torn (grow them yourself, so you have endless supply of your favorite herb)

1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over a moderate heat. Ad the garlic and chillies and cook for 1 min until the garlic is just golden. Add the anchovies, capers, olives and canned tomatoes with their juice and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20~25mins until the sauce is thick.
2. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a saucepan of boiling, salted water according to packet instructions. To serve, drain the cooked pasta and toss with the tomato sauce. Add basil and season with salt and ground black pepper.

Cheat with BBQ Pork Ribs with Stirfried Choy Sum

Remember BBQ Pork Ribs with Stirfried Choy Sum from my previous post?

Seems like a lot of work marinating the pork ribs but hey, I bought them pre-marinated and packed from the supermarket. All I did was following instructions written on the package. I roasted them in the oven at 200 degree C for 40mins, or until I am satisfied of the "charness". I then took out the rack and cut/saw them into singulars with a steak knife, push them back into the oven, making sure all surfaces are nicely charred.

While the ribs were going through their final touch up in the oven, I cooked the choy sum. Stirfries are quick affairs, 2 mins tops. Great thing with roasting is that you can walk away, get busy with other things e.g. collect laundry from the clothes line, watch the news, read emails etc then come back later and your food is cooked ready for you.