Tutorwood Cooks – Simply Scrumptious Stir Fry

Tonight’s dish is a simple, wholesome tasty meal, which with chopping the vegetables, can be on the table in about 20 minutes. The secret to its rapid preparation is to use a combination of fresh and frozen stir fry vegetables, microwave basmati rice and pre-prepared stir fry shots, which are brilliant flavour filled spice mixes. They take all of the guesswork out of making a tasty Asian meal.

You know the drill, comfy slippers, a glass of wine and let’s get into it.

Ingredients;

Chicken Breast 600 gram finely sliced

Red Onion 1 finely sliced

Red Capsicum 1 finely sliced

Bok Choy 4 loosely chopped (include leaves)

Chillies 2 Red, 1 Green, all finely sliced

Stir Fry shots 3 tubs, I used Vietnamese for this dish

Bean Shoots 1 x 150-gram can

Frozen Stir Fry Vegetables 1 x 500-gram pack

Fresh Ginger 1 tablespoon

Soy Sauce 2 tablespoons

Microwave Basmati Rice 2 x 250-gram packs

Method;

The secret for getting this dish cooked quickly is in the preparation. You want to make sure everything is ready to go before you start cooking. I use stainless steel trays to hold the ingredients when I’ve sliced them. My method is to load the containers with the vegetables in the order I’m going to cook them.

Finely slice the chicken and season with one of the tubs of the spice mix.
Slice the onion and chillies and place in the same tray as the chicken
Open the frozen vegetables and put in another dish ready for cooking
Chop the bok choi and capsicum and place together in another plate with the bean shoots.
Heat the olive oil in a wok and stir fry the chicken in batches for about 3 minutes per batch until all cooked. Put aside and keep warm.
Repeat the process with the frozen vegetables, remove and put with the chicken mix, then cook the bok choi, capsicum and bean shoots.

7. Combine all ingredients back in the wok, add the remaining spice packs, and a generous splash of soy sauce for extra taste. Cover and simmer on low heat while the rice cooks.

8. Cook the rice according to the packet directions, then serve and enjoy when it’s all ready.

As always, play with this recipe to make the taste and flavour your own. You can change the meat and use either pork, beef or seafood; it’ll work equally well with any of these meats.

Your comments and questions are always appreciated.

Have fun and cook on!!

Cheers

Bryan

April 13, 2020 0

Tutorwood Cooks – Epic Chicken, Leek & Tarragon Pie

Today’s recipe is something a bit more special. As it’s Good Friday and everything’s closed and even if there was something open we shouldn’t go there because we’re in Stage 3 lockdown here.

So what better thing to do than bake a pie. This chicken pie is a tasty dish with layers of starting with the bacon and climaxing with the goat cheese and tarragon. Give yourself a good two hours to prepare and cook this dish, but I promise you it’s well worth the effort.

Put your slippers on, pour yourself a wine and let’s get into it.

Ingredients:

Chicken Breast approx 600gram sliced

Bacon 250 gram sliced

Leek 1 large, sliced

Brown Onion 2 medium sliced

Red chilli 2 sliced

Green Chilli 1 sliced

Green beans 200 gram, top and tailed

Continental Cream of

Mushroom Soup 1 x 420 gram can

Continental french

onion soup mix 1/2 pack

Plain Flour 2 Tablespoons

Goat Cheese 2 x 100-gram packs

Master foods Garlic

and Rosemary 2 heaped teaspoon

Tarragon 2 tablespoon – can be fresh or dried

White Wine 2 cups

Puff Pastry 4 to 6 sheets, thawed (depending on the size of your pie dish)

Eggs 2 whisked, (for egg wash)

Butter 2 tablespoons

Olive Oil 3 tablespoon

Method:

Before you start cooking separate six sheets of puff pastry from the pack and put aside to thaw.

Melt one tablespoon of butter, and a splash of olive oil in a large skillet and brown the leek, onion and chillies for about 4 minutes.
Add the chicken and bacon, then brown until golden.
Add the soups, both can and packet, herbs, white wine, garlic and goat cheese, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the flour to the sauce and stir until well mixed and the mix has thickened. Turn off and uncover to cool when completed.
The Cooked Filling
While the filling is simmering, grease your pie dish and using 2 to 3 sheets of puff pastry cover the base of your pie dish. The pie dish featured is a 32cm falcon enamel pie dish which needed three sheet’s of puff pastry to cover. Remember to apply the whisked egg to all the overlapping areas of puff to ensure they stick together.
We’re going to blind bake the pastry crust which helps prevent the dreaded soggy bottom of the pie. You can skip this step is you want, but I think when you’re eating it, a crispy base is preferable to the alternative. To blind bake, give the pastry a spray with some olive oil, then cover completely with aluminium foil. Fill the interior with rice or dried beans and bake for 15 minutes at 200º Celcius. When finished, tip out the rice, (you can still use it) remove the foil and put aside to cool.
Preparing to blind bake the crust.

The Blind Baked Crust.
When the pastry and chicken mix has cooled, ladle a layer of the filling into the pie dish then add the green beans and scoop the rest of the chicken into the pie dish. Use a pastry brush and apply a generous coat of the egg wash to the pastry edge to allow the top to stick to the crust. Cover the dish with the remaining pastry, press down the edges firmly with a fork, then trim off any excess pastry. Go over the top of the pastry top with the egg wash.
The Crust, 1/2 filled and the bean layer.

Filled, with the lid on, and decoration of a leftover sheet of pastry stuffed with parmesan added.
Bake at 200º Celcius for 40 minutes then let it rest for five minutes before serving.
Finished!!!!

Serve direct from the pie dish as there’s a good chance it will collapse if you try to tip it out.

I hope you enjoy this dish and don’t be afraid to play with the ingredients to put your stamp on it.

Have fun and cook on.!!!!

Cheers,

Bryan

April 10, 2020 0

Tutorwood Cooks – Creamy Chicken and Bacon Stroganoff

Today’s feature is another family favourite and, it also falls into the quick and easy after-work category. With plump juicy chicken pieces, the smoky flavour of the bacon and plenty of mushrooms and beans, the tartness of the sour cream and lemon juice this dish, to me, is one of the best comfort food dishes ever. This dish also works exceptionally well with either beef strips, beef mince, pork, pork mince or even chicken mince.

Tonight we’ll be having the dish with spiral pasta, but it works equally well over rice or the Glorious mashed potatoes, I featured earlier this week. Another great idea is to make the dish without adding the chicken or beans and use it as a sauce over a beautiful piece of steak.

Chicken and Bacon with Garlic Scapes – Ready to cook

To me, this dish shines as it’s a prime example of how with a straightforward recipe base, you can create a whole range of different meals.

Now; let’s get cooking:

Ingredients

Chicken Breast 1 kg chopped

Bacon 250 gram

Brown Onion 1 sliced

Red Chilli 1 sliced

Garlic Scapes 6 to 8 or 4 cloves of garlic smashed

Mushrooms 300 gram sliced

Continental French Onion

soup mix 1 pack

Green Beans 250 gram sliced, (either fresh or frozen)

Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon

HP Steak Sauce. 1 tablespoon

Paprika 1 tsp

Cream of Mushroom Soup 2 x 250ml can

Mayonnaise 1/2 cup

Sour Cream 1 small tub

Lemon juice 3 tablespoon

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Black Pepper 1/2 teaspoon

Directions

1. Pan fry chicken bacon and onion garlic and chilli in a large skillet until no longer pink. Drain Oil.

2. Add all other ingredients to skillet and simmer on low for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally

3. Stir through sour cream before serving

4. Serve over pasta, rice or mashed potato

I hope you enjoy this meal and feel free to drop me an email to let me know what you thought and how you made it your own.

Have fun and cook on !!!

Cheers

Bryan

April 9, 2020 0