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Penne with Smoked Chicken, Bacon, Peas and Mustard Sauce

Posted in Cook, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 26, 2012| 4 Comments »

Penne Pasta with Chicken, Bacon and Mustard Sauce

Penne Pasta with Chicken, Bacon and Mustard Sauce

This pasta dish makes regular appearances in our home.  It was given to me by my Aunt Jenni – who has a reputation for dishing some of the most delicious yet simple to prepare meals.  I have a feeling she may have adapted it from a Jamie Oliver but I’m not entirely sure.  In any case, this is our adaptation.  The original recipe uses roast chicken, but we’ve substituted smoked chicken instead.  The addition of mustard is something unusual but it does provides some oomph.  In any case, this can be prepared in 30 minutes or less and is great for a quick weeknight meal.

Penne Pasta with Smoked Chicken, Bacon, Peas and Mustard Sauce

Serves 4

  • 500 grams penne
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 2 rashers bacon (around 175 grams), rind removed, cut into 1 cm pieces
  • 2 smoked chicken drumsticks (around 450 grams), cut into 1 cm pieces
  • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
  • 100 grams parmesan cheese
  • 75 grams frozen baby peas
  • 200 ml cream
  1. Bring a pot of water to the boil for the pasta.
  2. Heat the olive oil and add the diced onions and garlic, cook out until translucent, around 5 minutes over a medium heat.
  3. Add the bacon rashers and cook for about 5 minutes, add the chicken, mustard and finally the cream. Allow the sauce to simmer around 10 minutes to thicken.
  4. In the meantime, salt the water and add the pasta once the water comes to a boil. Cook as per the directions on the box.
  5. Once the pasta sauce has simmered, add the parmesan cheese and peas.
  6. When the pasta has cooked, drain and add to the sauce. Serve immediately.

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The Cooking Basics: Savoury Cakes (Bacon, Carrot and Cheese Cake)

Posted in Bake, tagged , , , , , , , on November 30, 2010| 42 Comments »

Bacon, Carrot and Cheese Cake

Bacon, Carrot and Cheese Cake

On my last trip to New York I stumbled upon a book called Cakes and Loaves by Ilona Chovancova.  It’s been seven months since I managed to use a recipe from it!  I remembered the other day that the book had a basic savoury cake recipe that I wanted to share for The Cooking Basics series.   This is a fantastic and delicious basic recipe from which you can vary ingredients depending on what you feel like eating, what’s available or what’s in season.   Making the cake is effortless – no need for multiple bowls, no need for a mixer (a grater and wooden spoon will do) and I promise it would probably take you less than ten minutes to put together.  These cakes can be eaten any time of the day – great for breakfast on the go, for lunch, an afternoon snack or even a light dinner with a salad.

Some tips should you choose to make your own savoury cake:

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The Cooking Basics: Biscuits (Bacon & Cheese)

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 4, 2010| 26 Comments »

Bacon and Cheese Biscuits

Bacon and Cheese Biscuits

As part of “The Cooking Basics” series, I thought I’d share with you one of the books I consider to be an invaluable resource for creating your own recipes.  Michael Ruhlman’s “Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking” is slowly turning out to be pretty handy in the kitchen.

Essentially, the author refers to a culinary ratio as a fixed proportion of one ingredient relative to another.  He says that these proportions for the backbone of the craft of cooking.  The book contains ratios for doughs, stocks, sausages, sauces and custards and once you know the basics, you are really only limited by your imagination.  For example, the ratio for bread is 5 parts flour : 3 parts water.  So combining 500 grams of flour plus 300 grams of water plus a small amount of yeast will give you the basic bread dough.  Now, once you know how to mix this properly, comes the fun part!  Looking for a savoury bread?  Add bacon, caramelized onions, or cheese.  In a nutty mood?  Add walnuts, olives, and raisins.

I must caution, if you are looking for a “cooking bible” or “the best bread recipe, best custard recipe etc” this is probably not what you are looking for.  Think of this more as a guide to help you understand how certain ingredients work together to give you different results (for example, pizza dough and bread are made up of the same ingredients but why are they so different?)

This book enables you to rely less on cookbooks and more on your creativity and as the author says  “When you know a ratio, it’s not like knowing a single recipe, it’s instantly knowing a thousand.”

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