NANDO’S PERI PERI CHICKEN

Juicy succulent marinated chicken with that hot punch of Nando’s Portuguese Peri Peri sauce and spices, the flavour is ramped up further with a smokey charr from the cooking, eat with sides of charred corn on the cob, slaw, french fries and a Peri Peri mayonnaise dip, OR stuff into a buttered toasted brioche bun loaded with crispy iceberg lettuce and Peri Peri mayonaise, every bite is heavenly.

Marinating time 1 hr - 24 hrs / Cooking time 20 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 4 + leftovers)

Peri Peri Chicken

4 chicken thighs skin on bone in

4 chicken breasts

1 x 260g bottle Nando’s Peri Peri marinade

Peri Peri Rub

2 tbsp light brown sugar

2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tbsp onion powder

2 tbsp sweet paprika

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tbsp sea salt

1 tbsp dried oregano 

1 tbsp dried parsley

1 tsp smoked paprika 

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cardamom 

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Combine all the ingredients and store in a air tight container.

Rub 2 tablespoons of the Peri Peri spice rub all over the chicken, place in a bowl and pour over the Nando’s marinade, pop a lid on and leave to marinate for minimum of 30 minutes and up to 24 hours in the fridge.

Pre-heat your oven to 180 C /  356 F.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper, lay the chicken skin side up on the tray and pour all the marinade over the chicken.  Pop in the oven for 18 minutes, baste the marinade over the chicken every 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 3 minutes before serving, scoop up and marinade from the tray and spoon over the chicken.

Enjoy.

NASHVILLE SMOKEY BARBECUE BEER BUTT CHICKEN

BIG GREEN EGG 

BARBECUE by Miss Kristi-Lou

Hot smokey spicy super juicy beer butt steamed barbecue chicken, succulently tender and loaded with gorgeous flavours, so simple to cook, just let the barbecue do all the work.

Five minutes to prep and around 1 hour to barbecue and what a glorious winner dinner.

Beer Butt Barbecue Chicken

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

Chicken 

1 can of larger (Coors)

1 large corn feed chicken

1/2 cup sriracha

1 bottle barbecue sauce for serving

The Rub

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp chipotle powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp chipotle dried chilli flakes

1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp sea salt
Combine all the rubs ingredients together well.

Fire up your Big Green Egg or smoker, I only fill the fire bucket 2/3 full with coals, as this chicken will only take a one hour or so to cook at 180 C 375 F.

Rub your chicken all over with the sriracha then with the rub seasoning, open the can of beer and place in the chicken cavity, technically this is not it’s butt!

Place in your barbecue smoker at 180 C / 350 F for one hour, to check if cooked pierce a leg and if juices run clear you good to serve.

I serve with sides of creamed corn or street corn on the cob, slaw, mashed potatoes and a simple salad.

BURNT ENDS SMOKEY BRISKET JACK DANIELS BARBECUE COWBOY BAKED BEANS

BIG GREEN EGG COOKING

Barbecue by Miss Kristi-Lou

8 HOUR SLOW SMOKED BRISKET

Set your smoker indirect heat at 120 C / 250 F.

I used organic charcoal and hickory wood chunks.

Jack Daniels Smokey Barbecue Cowboy Baked Beans

For 10 years now I’ve been confidently cooking with wood fire pits and my wood fired oven, I know my woods and temperatures and how to use direct and indirect heat and air flow to control the cook, but now I’m pushing myself out of my comfort zone to learn low and slow smoking over wood and coals in a big green egg barbecue smoker.

I already know PATIENCE and TLC  is the key to slow barbecue smoking, take care of your fire and air flow, air = heat, take care with your sop, sauce, rub and meat and then the barbecue will take care of itself.

A good practice when cooking on a new barbecue smoker is to fire her up and just play with that fire, do not be tempted to cook the first few times, learn how your smoker works, how much coal and wood chunks are needed in a single load up for a 8-12 hr cook at 120 C and a 3-4 hr cook at 150 C, learn how to use the draft vents to control the temperature inside the smoker, learn the pit falls of stopping the fire going out and how to fluctuate the temperature and to stabilise the temperature.  Most of all enjoy your cooking.

The Big Green Egg

BRISKET

Ingredients 

1 x 4 kg brisket fat cap intact

Trim off any sinew and silver skin

Injection Marinade

500ml Knorr beef jelly stock

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp fine ground black pepper

1 tbsp fine salt

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp soft dark brown sugar

Warm all ingredients in a saucepan to melt the sugar into the stock, leave to cool before injecting your brisket.

For the Texas Crutch

1 large roll of tin foil

1 500ml bottle pale ale

200ml Knorr beef jelly stock

BRISKET RUB

3 tbsp sea salt flakes

3 tbsp fresh course ground black pepper

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp chipotle powder

3 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dried chipotle chilli flakes

Combine all the ingredients together.

Place the brisket on your chopping board or baking tray and rub the spice mix all over.

Now your ready to smoke.  Add the wood chunks and place your brisket into your smoker, close the lid and maintain that 120 C / 250 F temperature for 4 hours at this point check the temperature with a digital probe, you are aiming for 66 C / 150 F.  This is more likely to be around the 6 hrs cooking time, but you don’t want to go over this temp unwrapped.

When your brisket is reading 66 C / 150 F then your ready for the Texas Crutch!  This is a debatable option on should you or should you not!  I do.

Take three one and a half meter lengths of foil, place two on top of each other and along the long edge fold over together a few times to join making one large sheet, open out flat and lay the third length in the center of the big sheet, place the brisket in the center and bring up the sides and ends creating a bowl, add half the beer and beef stock, wrap up, roll and scrunch the top of the foil so it is completely sealed.  Place back in your smoker and cook for a further 2 hrs, the beer stock will keep the brisket juicy until you reach that fork tender cook.

At this point unwrap the brisket reserving all the cooking juices in to a saucepan for your barbecue sauce.  Then wrap the brisket back up in the foil and cover with a tea towel, leave to rest for 1 hour on the side.  When ready to serve un-wrap and leave to dry the bark for 10 minutes before serving.  Slice against the grain.

BRISKET COWBOY BAKED BEANS

Texas Style Barbecue Sauce

1 cup Heinz tomato ketchup 

2/3 cup molasses brown sugar

3 glugs old Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp chipotle powder

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

(reserved brisket juices)

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and gently simmer until thick.

Cowboy Beans

2 cans Heinz or bush baked beans

100g diced pancetta

100g dark brown sugar

1 cup of your homemade barbecue sauce (above)

2 cups of your diced brisket and some burnt ends

75 ml Jack daniels

Fresh ground black pepper

Pan sear the pancetta until just crispy, add to a deep saucepan along with the rest of the ingredients and bring to a gentle simmer cook until piping hot, serve with a spoon!

CHEESE TACO TACO ! GROUND BEEF, PORK, CHORIZO AND ALL THE FIXINGS

CHEESE CHEESE CHEESE

GLUTEN FREE TACOS

I love working on recipes for gluten free that are NOT made with a mix of several gluten free ground rice, potato, tapioca flours and stabilisers.  This is a winner winner taco shell and the bonus is it is all CHEESE CHEESE CHEESE !

A mix of three cheese Mexican nacho cheeses and 15 minutes in the oven makes these crispy cheese taco shells, ready to be stuffed with an awesome ground chuck steak, belly pork and chorizo mince seasoned with taco spices, stuffed in to your cheese cheese taco and loaded with crispy iceberg lettuce, pico de gallo, fresh Serrano chillies, spring onions, sour cream and fresh coriander this is one of those shove it in for a double bite on the first attack!

Bonus is you can make these tacos a super giant size, more taco for your bite!

Ingredients 

(makes 4)

Cheese Taco Shells

600g Mexican mix cheese

(equal grated mild cheddar, red Leicester, mozzarella)

Taco Beef and Chorizo Filling

30ml olive oil

1 small white onion finely chopped

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

250g chuck steak mince

100g belly pork minced

150g pork shoulder minced

2 cooking chorizo sausage crumbled

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp chipotle ground chilli flakes or ancho

1/4 cup tomato purée

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 tbsp Texas BBQ seasoning (recipe below)

Texas BBQ Seasoning

4 tbsp smoked paprika

4 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

4 tsp oregano

4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients together.

The Fixings

1 iceberg lettuce finely shredded and tossed in lemon juice

1 Serrano or jalapeño chilli finely sliced

1 spring onion finely sliced

1 small bunch coriander roughly chopped

1 tub sour cream

1 tub guacamole (optional)

1 lime juiced

Pico de gallo

2 tomatoes deseeded and finely chopped

1 small red onion finely chopped

1 red chilli finely chopped

2 tbsp fresh coriander chopped

1/2 lime juiced

Combine all pico ingredients together.

The Taco Filling

First make the taco beef filling, heat the olive oil medium hot, add the onions and garlic and soften for 5 minutes, add the chorizo and cook for a further 3 minutes, add the ground chuck and pork mince and brown, next add all the spices and cook in for a few minutes then add the tomato purée, stir through and cook out the tomato purée for 5 minutes, season with salt and black pepper, that’s the taco filling done.

The Cheese Taco Shell

Pre heat your oven 200 C / 392 F

Line two baking trays with two 8” circle’s of parchment paper.

Make 6” circle’s with the grated cheese on the parchment paper’s.  Bake for 15 minutes until totally melted with a crispy golden brown crust round the edges, remove from the oven and lay the cheese circle’s still on the parchment paper over a rolling pin to set the taco shell shape as they cool.  These can be made ahead and stored in the fridge where they set more crispy.

Now your ready to STUFF…

I like to start with iceberg lettuce then load up with the taco beef and finish off with pico de gallo, fresh jalapeño, spring onions, sour cream and guacamole finished off with fresh coriander and a hint of lime juice.

Now Get Stuffed!

Enjoy.

SHISH KEBAB BARBECUE COOKING

A beautiful sumptuous meal when done right, fresh marinated chicken with herbs and spices, a simple charred cook over coals adding such depth of flavour to the charred peppers, onions and chicken stuffed in to a fabulous flatbread and loaded with garlic lemon aioli mayonnaise, crisp raw cabbage, red onion, pickled kebab peppers, crunchy iceberg lettuce and for me a hot chilli sauce!  Lip smacking gorgeous.

When I’m cooking this for my family or friends I like to get ahead, I prepare all the accompaniments, marinate the chicken and prepare the to be skewered peppers and onions.  When it comes to cooking, all I have to do is just assemble the chicken, peppers and onions on skewers, start cooking over the coals, place all the salad  and accompaniments on the table along with warmed flat breads and once the chicken is cooked serve family style for everyone to dive in.

If like me you want to make your own flat breads I have a brilliant 2 ingredient recipe that requires no proving and awesomely gorgeous flatbreads in 5 minutes!  It’s TRUE…

Ingredients

(serves 4)

The Marinade 

6 chicken breasts cubed 1”square

150 ml Greek olive oil (the best in the world!)

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dry mixed herbs

1/2 tsp garlic powder or fresh sliced

For the Skewers

2 green pepper in squarechunks

1 red onion in square chunks

4 Store Bought Flatbreads OR 

2 ingredient Flat Breads

2 cups Greek yogurt

2 cups plain flour

1 tsp sea salt

Simply mix the yogurt, salt and flour together to form a dough, divide into 4 balls and roll out to a thin flat bread, cook in a dry pan for around 1 1/2 minutes each side, wrap in a tea towel to keep warm until serving.

To Serve

1 whole lemon in wedges

1 lemon juiced

1 iceberg lettuce finely sliced

1/4 white cabbage finely sliced

1/4 red cabbage finely sliced

1 red onion, halved and finely sliced

Lemon Garlic Aioli 

4 cloves garlic grated

8 tbsp mayonnaise

1 lemon juices and zested

Tomato and Red Onion Salad

4 large tomatoes quartered

Sea salt and black pepper

Olive oil

2 tbsp fresh coriander

1 red onion sliced

Optional

Good drizzle of your favourite hot sauce

First mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl or bag, add the chicken, toss well to coat and leave to marinate for a minimum of one hour or over night.

Next make the accompaniments, in a serving bowl, mix the iceberg, red and white cabbage along with the red onion, season with salt and pepper and the lemon juice, keep in the fridge until serving.

Mix the grated garlic, lemon juice and zest with the mayonnaise, keep in fridge until serving.

Season the tomatoes with salt and black pepper, toss with the olive oil, sprinkle with the fresh coriander and red onion, keep in the fridge until serving.

To assemble the kebab skewers, place the peppers, 2 chunks of chicken and onions alternating on the skewers.  

Fire up your BBQ grill and when your coals or wood is ready, cook the skewers for around 3 minutes each side, turning only once, serve immediately along with all the accompaniments.

BRITISH CORONATION SHEPHERDS PIE

Old Fashioned Best Ever Comfort Spoon Food…4th Generation Recipe

In my house hold the only reason to have slow braised roast lamb on a Sunday is so we can have Shepard’s pie!

 Soft buttery creamy mashed potatoes with crispy baked peaks, bubbling erupting pools of rich caramelised lamb stock red wine gravy giving way to succulent braised lamb in red wine stock gravy, peas and carrots of course, this is truly spoon food of love and comfort.

As a child coming home to the smell of a Shepard’s pie baking in the oven just brings a warm smile and a greedy belly to me.  Ultimate comfort food for me, my Mum’s, Nan’s and Great Grannies family recipe and now mine, I’m sure each generation has tinkered ever so slightly with the recipe, I know my mum added homemade lamb bone stock for the gravy and for me it’s the addition of red wine and left over slow roasted shoulder of lamb instead of mince.

We made this over the coronation of King Charles III and scored the Union Jack flag in the mashed potato topping as a celebration.

Simple and very easy to make with just a few ingredients, a relaxed cooking method letting the oven do all the work infusing such depth of flavours makes this such a great dinner.

Slow braised Sunday roast lamb recipe below.

Ingredients 

(serves 4-6)

Shepard’s Pie

1 whole shoulder or 2 halves of lamb slow braised or from leftovers

(slow braised recipe below)

1 glug olive oil

1 knob of butter

1 white onion finely diced

2 large carrots peeled and finely diced

1 cup petite pois peas (optional)

300ml red wine

500ml lamb stock Knorr jelly pot

left over lamb stock gravy from slow braised lamb

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

100g fresh grated Parmesan

Decedent Mashed Potatoes

1 kg King Edward or Idaho potatoes peeled and halved

250g butter

100ml double cream

1 tbsp malt vinegar

1 pinch saffron (optional)

1 tbsp sea salt

White pepper

Method

Pre heat your oven to 180 C / 350 F

Heat a large skillet medium hot, add the olive oil and butter, add the onions and carrots and soften for around 10 minutes, but keep the onion’s translucent.

Chop the lamb in to pea size chunks, add to the onion mix and pan fry for 5 minutes.

Add the red wine, lamb stock, leftover roast gravy, tomato ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, simmer gently for a hour or so to reduce by half to a medium thick consistency, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile place the peeled halved potatoes in a large pan of cold water with a tbsp of salt and bring to a rolling simmer, cook the potatoes until fork tender, drain and leave to steam dry in a colander for 5 minutes, return the pan back to a low low heat, add the butter and cream, when almost melted add back the potatoes, malt vinegar, saffron, generous pinch sea salt and white pepper, mash until smooth, taste and season further if needed.

In a large casserole dish pour in the lamb shepards pie mix, top with the mashed potatoes and sprinkle over the Parmesan cheese, bake for approx 40 minutes until you have a gorgeous crispy top and the gravy is bubbling out over the edges of the mashed potato creating crispy lamb gravy infused edges of mashed potatoes, that’s my favourite bit.  Serve family style with our favourite Heinz baked beans.

Slow Braised Roast Shoulder of Lamb

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

1 whole or 2 half shoulders lamb

2 leeks sliced

1 carrot chopped

1 celery diced

1 onion sliced

4 cloves garlic bashed

2 large sprigs fresh rosemary

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 bottle good red wine

2 ltr lamb stock

10 whole black pepper corns

100ml masala or port for the gravy

1 generous tsp red current jelly

1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp flour mixed as a (thickener)

To Roast The Lamb
Pre heat your oven to 170C / 356 F season the lamb shoulders with the salt, rub olive all over and sear the skin in a hot roasting pan on the hob, then place all the chopped vegetables and herbs in your roasting tin, move the lamb to on top, season with black pepper, pour in the wine and stock, cover with parchment paper and then foil and slowly braise the lamb for 3-4 hours in the oven until the lamb is falling off the bone, that's it the most gorgeous tender roast lamb, serve with your favourite roast trimmings.

Or even better just make shepards pie…

Best Ever Stock Gravy

Strain off the cooking juices, skin off the fat and reduce by 1/3 - 1/2 depending on the concentrated taste of the stock in a pan with a generous glug of masala or port for the best ever gravy, if you want your gravy a little thicker then just mix a couple of equal tbsp of butter to flour and whisk in to thicken slightly, a generous dollop of red current jelly also enhances the gravy.  The left over gravy really adds to the depth of flavour of the Shepards pie.

Tip if your gluten free like me I blitz some of the stock vegetables, carrot, leek a little onion and garlic in the stock and hey presto a thickened gravy!

SHORT RIBS BRAISED LOW AND SLOW IN RED WINE AND BONE MARROW BEEF STOCK

Comforting Spoon Food…

These are fall of the bone succulent and so deep in flavour, hardly any effort for maximum return, a gorgeous dinner with the oven doing all the work, served with decedent buttery mashed potato and for me a creamy horseradish side.

I served these short ribs with Jack Daniels sweet potato baked mash and a jalapeño creamed corn, a really Sunday feast.

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

Ribs

4 short ribs on the bone

50ml veg oil

2 marrow bones

1 onion roughly chopped

1 whole bulb garlic halved

3 carrots chunky chopped

2 ribs celery roughly chopped

1 leek roughly chopped

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

1/2 small bunch fresh parsley

10 whole black peppercorns

1 Knorr beef jelly stock pot

600ml water

2 bottles red wine

ButteryMashed Potatoes 

1 kg floury potatoes

250g salted butter

1 tsp white wine vinegar

Sea salt

Black pepper

The Ribs

Pre heat your oven to 180 C / 355 F.

In a cast iron skillet heat the oil medium hot and sear the short ribs on all side for a couple of minutes, remove and place in a dutch pan / casserole pan with a lid.

Add the rest of all the ingredients to the pan.  Pop on the lid and place in the oven for 1 hour at 180 C / 355 F, then turn the oven down to 160 C / 310 F for a further 2-3 hours until the bone is falling away from the meat.  Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

Mashed Potatoes 

Place the peeled potatoes in a large pan of seasoned cold water with salt and from bring to a boil, simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, drain, season with salt and pepper and leave to steam dry for 5 minutes.  Place the butter in the pan and over a low heat partially melt, add the potatoes to the butter and mix, then off the heat mash the potatoes, taste for seasoning.

Serving the Ribs

Strain off the stock juice gravy.   Place a short rib on your serving plates, I like to serve some of the braised carrots from the pan along with lots of gravy and of course that buttery mashed potato.  I like to make a well in my mashed potatoes with the bottom of a ladle and fill that well with extra the gravy.

Jack Daniels Mashed Baked Potatoes 

1 kg sweet potatoes peeled and halved

1/4 cup molasses brown sugar

1/2 cup Jack Daniels 

200g butter

1 pinch grated nutmeg

Sea salt and black pepper

Place the potatoes in a pan of cold water and bring to a boil, cook until fork tender, drain and leave to steam for 5 minutes, place back in the pan along with the butter a generous pinch of salt, pepper and the nutmeg, mash well, add the sugar and Jack Daniels, stir to combine.

Tip out in to a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 170 C / 325 F until hot light and fluffy.

For extra fun stir in marshmallows before baking !

Creamed Jalapeño Corn

4 corn on the cobs boiled husks on

1 glug olive oil

1 knob of butter

1 small white onion finely diced

1 clove garlic finely diced

1/2 cup pickled jalapeños roughly chopped

500ml double / heavy cream

4 tbsp freshly chopped coriander 

Fresh black pepper

Sea salt

Bring a large pan of seasoned water with salt to a boil, add the corn on the cob with husks still on, adds more flavour, simmer for 10-15 minutes until tender, drain and peel off the husks, slice off the corn kernel’s and reserve to one side.

Heat the olive oil and butter to a medium heat, add the onion and garlic, soften for 10 minutes next add the corn and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the jalapeños, cream and black pepper, bring to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes or so until the cream has slightly thickened, add the coriander, taste and season with salt if needed.

This can be served hot, warm or cold.

EGG AND BACON CHEESE WRAP BREAKFAST QUESADILLA

Gluten Free

A fun twist on a breakfast quesadilla, melted cheese wrap stuffed with softened bell peppers, onion, avocado, three cheese melty mix, fresh spinach, crispy bacon and a sunny side up egg, a sumptuous breakfast indeed.

Ingredients

(makes 1)

Cheese Wrap

1/3 cup grated cheddar

1/3 cup grated red Leicester 

1/3 cup grated mozzarella

Plus 1 handful extra for the filling

Filling

1/2 red bell pepper finely hopped

1 small onion finely chopped

1 hand ful fresh spinach

1 handful of mixed cheeses  (above)

1/2 avocado diced

1 tsp lemon juice

2 rashers bacon

1 egg

Oil for frying the egg

Salt and black pepper

Heat a non stick pan medium hot add a glug of oil and soften the bell peppers and onions for 5 minutes, add the spinach, stir through and take off the heat and reserve to one side.

Place the pan back on the heat, cook the bacon to your likin, reserve to one side, fry the egg to your likin, reserve to one side.

Place the pan back on a medium heat, add the 3 cheeses and spread out equally, do not stir leave to melt where the cheese will start to crisp up creating your wrap.

On one half of the cheese wrap add the softened peppers, onions and spinach mix, then the avocado drizzled with the lemon juice, next the bacon, a handful of mixed cheese and finally the fried egg, using a spatula fold over the other half of the cheese wrap, cook until the cheese wrap is crispy which will melt the cheese inside, serve immediately.

Salt and pepper is optional as the salt and bacon carry a fair amount of salt, so season to taste.