CHICKEN & HAM PIE

We made HAM & CHICKEN PIE yesterday. There is no exact recipe but this is how I make it.

Ingredients on no particular order
I used 3 chicken breast fillets
1 tin of ham
mushrooms
butter
stock made with Oxo stock concentrate (any will do)
flour
pepper
nutmeg
pouring cream single or double
Pastry - you can either use shortcrust or puff - I did shortcrust on the bottom and puff on the top which is my favourite pie combo.

First of all I cooked the chicken breasts in the grill (just cooked and no more) leave them to cool while you prepare the rest

roll out the shortcrust pastry base and put it on a greased pie dish. At this stage I popped it in the hot oven for a few minutes to give it a head start with the cooking.

I chopped up the ham and chicken and put them in a sandwich bag along with 2 or 3 spoonfulls of flower, plenty of pepper and some nut meg. I gave them a good shake until the ham and chicken were really well coated.

I chopped the mushrooms up small (simply because my kids say they dont like mushrooms - what the eye cant see and all that)

Put the ham chicken mix in the pie dish and sprinkle the mushrooms over.

Melt a good knob of butter and pour it over the chicken and mushrooms on the pie dish.

Then pour on a little cup of stock - you need to just use your judgement here you don't want your dish to over flow nor do you want your pie to dry out either.

Finally I put the pastry lid on the pie. Before you put the pie in the oven make a couple of slits in the top. Glaze what ever way you wish.

When the pie is cooked use a little funnel or jug, using the slits in the pie pour in some cream. Go slowly and carefully tilt the pie in different directions to make sure the cream has spread.

Leave the pie to sit for a few minutes while you dish up your veg and potatoes .... when you cut the pie it will be lovely!

I promise you that if you try my recipe you will never use another recipe for chicken pie again.

RECIPE - CRISPY AROMATIC DUCK

Get yourself a duck. Preferably from the supermarket!

Get a very sharp knife and cut the duck down the middle an flatten it.
Rub salt onto the surfaces of the duck.

Get one of those baking bags and put the duck in it.

Make a marinade
5 star anise broken up
1 tablespoon of peppercorns
1/2 tea spoon of cloves
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
3-4 slices of ginger (I used lazy ginger out of a jar)
a good few glugs of red wine, sherry, or black currant juice.

Pour the marinade into the bag with the duck, shake and seal.
Leave at least 6 hours, better still overnight.

In the morning you wish to eat the duck steam it for 3 hours, you will need to check periodically as mine was ready sooner. It is not pretty at this stage but please don't be put off with how it looks.

leave the duck to cool on a dish (away from the cats)

When its really cool divide the duck up into small pieces and fry in an inch of very hot oil. this is where the duck gets crispy.


Serve with Chinese pancakes or wraps and salad.



I also found a recipe of Chinese pancakes on Video Jug - looks easy enough though I haven't tried them yet. http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-chinese-pancakes

Green Fingers

We have been getting things ready for the summer in the garden. The children especially have been enjoying the whole thing. Between us we have planted peas, tomatoes, lots of herbs, peppers, lettuces, cucumbers, and plenty of flowering plants also. I am not sure that we will be successful in our quest to grow veggies but at least its great fun for the children.

This weeks efforts ...

PHOTOS - TRIP TO THE ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND

Just photos of our day out to the Adventure Playground at Stormont.

Fifth Disease (Slapped Cheek Syndrome)

Our children have all been suffering with the symptoms of Fifth Disease the last few weeks, the common name is Slapped Cheek Syndrome (or Slap Cheek) because it looks like slapped cheeks funnily enough!

Sol has had another flair up, the rash comes and goes ...

It is hard to tell on the photos, the rash in real life is darker than it appears here.

Easter Egg Hunt

We had a little party with a few friends yesterday (Saturday night) and a good time was had by all. I managed to get through the evening without a singe drop of alcohol too - its good as I didn't have a sore head this morning with a hangover. However the night did not end when the party finished at 1am .... at 2.30 am we had an intruder ...
I was laying awake and I was aware of some noises from up the side of the house, I could here a grating sound and people walking up the driveway. I woke Roy up and he went to investigate - he could hear voices too we were worried. He went into Mag's room to switch on the security lights (there is a panel there) and we saw four people outside. I think they were from up the road, one of the houses has had parties the last few nights and they have been pretty noisy.
This morning we found one of our gates had been knocked on the ground and a bottle of buckfast, there was also something on the ground not sure if it was spilled drinks or urine.
We are going to go speak to the family involved.

After a long night the children were awake at daybreak, they were waiting for the Easter Bunny. My neighbour and I snuck out and hid eggs around the two gardens while the children were getting dressed.

Here are the photos ....
READY STEADY


GO..

.

Sol had to get changed half way through the egg hunt in case you noticed and wondered what was going on.

ALL DONE!

Not a good start

Okay I am sat down again! I just cooked the beef for tonight's dinner and the smell is making me so queasy. There is nothing wrong with it but since a pregnancy I had 8 years ago where red meat made me really sick I have struggled with the smell of red meat.

I was trying to make Beef in Peri Peri Sauce to go in the slow cooker .... I am not sure what it is going to be now.