Recipe: Deconstructed Chicken and Mushroom Pie

I cook all the time, more than often things don't come out as how I thought they would but when they do, I blog about it. I love chicken and mushroom pies, its probably my favourite pie and having tried out the pot pie version of it a while back recently I decided to add a twist to it and modernise it a bit. Thus creating, the deconstructed chicken and mushroom pie! I thought I'd make it since it wouldn't require a lot of work but it was, though worth the effort. 

Ingredients:

• 2 Skinless Chicken Fillets (marinated with garlic, green chili and spices)
• 6 Button Mushrooms
• 1 Large Potato (mashed  until creamy and smooth with butter and milk)
• 5 Tbsp of Flour
• 2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
• 1 Onion Chopped
• 1 Green pepper Chopped
• 2 Cups Milk
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 1 sheet puff pastry (10cm x 10cm)

Method:

After marinating your fillets, coat them with the flour and shallow fry them until golden and crispy, you can leave them in a preheated oven to crispen more and remove excess oil. 

To a pot, add your onion, green pepper, mushrooms and oil. Fry only the onions become limp and mushrooms become dark in colour. Add your 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of flour. mix continuously until the paste is brown in colour, then add the milk. You can add some seasoning to the milk. Stir on high heat until the sauce thickens. 

Cut your sheet of puff pastry to a suitable size that will fit your plate. For added effect, I brushed the top of mine with milk and sprinkled some sesame seeds on top. Bake in the oven until puffed up and golden brown in colour. 

Boil large potato, peel and mash, whilst adding butter and milk to get a creamy texture,  

Plating:

First spread the mash at the bottom of the plate, give it good height as you want it to be a generous element on the plate. There after place your chicken breasts on top of the mash then pour the mushroom sauce over the fillets. Lastly add the puff pastry top to the dish. It's not that hard to make, just uses a lot of dishes but damn tasty!

Recipe: Seared Tuna

I don't consider myself to be a Masterchef but there are times I like to be fancy in the kitchen and my recent acquisition of new bigger and better George Foreman Grill has spurred this allowing me try out idea's of meals my brain has thought up. I eat far from healthily and my cooking is just about the same but seeing that this was a "health grill" my inner #fitfam wanted to break free when using it, so hence today's recipe came about. It's my take on Seared Tuna, its served with grilled green beans on a bed of mash and lemon butter sauce.

Ingredients

Fish:

• 2 Tuna Steaks (weight can vary)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 part fresh ginger
• 1 green chili
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 soft cooking potatoes
• handful of green beans
• salt
• black pepper

Mash:

• 2 or 3 soft cooking potatoes
• cup of milk
• pinch of salt and black pepper

Lemon sauce:

• 2 tablepoons butter
• 1 teaspoon cream
• 1 table spoon lemon juice

The Fish

Mince the garlic, ginger, green chili into a paste, add to a bowl with the olive oil and soy sauce, salt and black pepper and mix to form the marinade. After washing and draining the tuna steaks, rub the marinade into each of the steaks and allow to rest in a covered bowl in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour. I also added the green beans to the bowl so it can marinate with the fish as both of this will be going on the grill. Pre-heat the pan or grill, making sure its hot enough to sear the outside and not cook the fish right through as this will over cook it. Sear each side of the fish for about a minute and allow the green beans to grill on the side.

The Mash

Boil the potatoes in pot of water until they become soft, then drain the water and allow them to rest and cool. Peel off the skin and add the potato into a mixing bowl, using a flat spoon, begin to mash the potato while adding the milk. Using a flat spoon ensures that you get a smoother mash and the milk makes it fluffy and creamy, add some salt and pepper to taste

The Sauce

In a pot, melt the butter on the low heat as we are not cooking it, rather just wanting to melt it. Stir in the cream and lemon juice till it mixes together, you can add some spices or herbs to taste. I added some dried Italian herbs.

The Plating

In a deep plate, mold the mash into a bed type shape, place the grilled green beans lengthwise on top of the mash. Place the steaks on top of the green beans and then pour the sauce over the fish and serve.

Monday Choon: Armin van Buuren ft.Fiora vs Chris Schweizer - Waiting for the reflections (AvB Mashup)

Mashup's are becoming more and more popular in the EDM scene and we've heard quite a few of them this year and there were some damn good ones featured on the blog. Today we've found another one, mixed by the world number DJ himself, Armin van Buuren. Before his set at Tomorrowland, he announced to the crowd that he had just become a father, it was the inspiration for his set and I might I add it was one of the best sets I've heard from the man. This song was featured during it and I just loved it!

Recipe: Roasted Ostrich Fillet

Well I got into the kitchen recently and made something different. There's only one type of bird I'm used to eating and that is chicken, I've tasted duck once or twice but never took a liking to it and the same goes for turkey but this time I decided to tackle a bigger bird. Ostrich, now its not like any bird meat you've seen, to start off its red and the package it comes with puts me off because it looks like its soaked in blood but I decided to go ahead and try it anyway. They say the meat is pretty healthy for you, its lean and doesn't have much fat. Here's how I went about cooking it.

Ingredients.

Ostrich fillet (200-400g)
1tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp English mustard
1 tsp golden syrup
thyme

1 tsp Robertsons Italian herbs

Extras

1 carrot, cut into strips
green beans, cut into long strips
1 large potato
half cup of milk
salt and pepper

Method

Mix ingredients in a bowl (besides the fillet), once everything is mix, massage it into the fillet. Once done, cover with cling film and pop it into the fridge. I let mine marinate over night so the flavour soaked in. Now to cook it, heat up a frying pan with some olive oil, make sure its nice and hot. We're not going to cook it, just seal it, so fry on one side for about 1 minute, then turn and seal for 1 minute. Once you're done, put the fillet in an oven tray along with what ever juice was left in the pan and from the dish it was marinated in. add your strips of carrots and green beans and cover with foil. Pop it into a preheated oven at 220 degrees. Allow to cook how you desire, I let mine get well done, it wasn't as dry as I expected and it still retained load of moisture.

I also made a smooth mash potato, boil the potato till its cooked. Mash in a bowl, add the milk and salt and pepper to taste. Keep on mixing till its nice and smooth.

I also made a quick cheese and spinach sauce, equal quantities butter and flour in a hot pan. Wait for the mixture to brown, add some milk while keep on stirring. add some cheddar cheese (I think this is the best cheese to use in a sauce). Once its thicken, take off the stove and add some chopped spinach and stir it in. Pour the sauce over the fillet while eating, it really is an awesome side! Enjoy.