Coconut Chicken

We eat a lot of chicken.
It's cheap, versatile and just plain yummy. I use it for catering as it has got to be the least inoffensive meat around. Most cultures approve and chickens can scratch a living for themselves just about anywhere

I love chicken thighs. The flavour is so much better than chicken breasts. The thigh muscle works harder and develops more flavour. They may require a bit of trimming, but as the cost is significantly less than for breasts, you still come out way ahead.

Tonight we're having Coconut Chicken.

This is kinda, sorta my take on a schnitzel.

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I got this yummy chutney at the Food and Wine show, along with a selection of other Spring Gully gluten free goodies. I used their Worcestershire sauce in my post on Oysters Kilpatrick.

Start off with some chicken thighs. Clean or trim them up however you like them.

Have ready a plate with gfree flour and another with the shredded coconut. You could use dessicated, but I like the texture and as it's not so fine it won't burn as quickly.

Dip the chicken into the gfree flour and then dust off the excess. If you don't it can get a bit gluggy.

Smear chicken all over with the chutney, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies.

Now dip the chicken into the shredded coconut and pat it on firmly. Make sure all the chutney is covered so it doesn't stick to the pan when the sugars caramelize. (or burn!)

Pop the little lovelies into the fridge for a bit to firm up and set the coating.

Now, you can either pan fry or bake. I prefer to bake as the direct heat of a pan can brown the coconut before the chicken is cooked, but if you want to stand at the stove checking and turning constantly instead of having a relaxed glass of wine, be my guest. If you opt for the glass of wine, or GnT, place them in a preheated 200* oven for 20ish minutes. Make sure you turn them about halfway through.

Serve these with a nice salad, and maybe another glass of wine- a big one!
So Readers, what do you like to drink with dinner?

Oysters Kilpatrick

BigJ and I are children of the 70's.

My family were never big seafood eaters, and the only oysters I ever really had were smoked ones that came in a tin and were covered in orange tinted oil. We ate them on crackers surrounded by chunks of cabanossi and tasty cheese. We thought they tasted pretty good actually!

BigJ didn't do much better, but his family ate oysters, ala Kilpatrick and Mornay. The slimy little suckers usually came in bottles, so shells were carefully washed and reused each time to make them look more authentic.

I have to admit I was slow to approach an oyster. They looked ugly. They're surrounded by sharp shell. To chew or not to chew, that is the question. I didn't understand why you wouldn't, but opinions seemed divided on this issue. Raw or cooked? Again, there was no consensus.

When BigJ first introduced me to these little molluscs, I was glad they were so well disguised under a blanket of crispy bacon and tangy sauce. This way I could pretend they weren't there at all! I held my breath, scooped the whole lot in, and started to chew. I breathed in and.... my eyes started to water, I couldn't stop coughing, I thought I was going to choke. I needn't have worried about oyster, all I could taste was the tangy, acidic hit of Worcestershire sauce that overpowered all in its wake. I was not a fan. Eventually, BigJ and I reached a compromise, he could eat the oysterie bit and I would pinch a bit of bacon off the top. It worked for me.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and I'm working in a Fish market for a year. One of my designated jobs every couple of days was to sort the oysters. We had a little Thai man whose only job was to open fresh oysters, dozen after dozen, full time. To make it a bit easier for him, the oysters were tumbled in a (clean) cement mixer to knock off the sharp edges. My job was to take these lovely fresh babies and to submerge them in sink full of water, therefore washing away all the natural juices and sea freshness, rendering them nearly tasteless. The idea was to wash off any shards of shell and 'refresh' the look of the oyster. It was a privileged job, for some reason, and only trusted employees were allowed to do it. I never knew why, I just knew it meant I was up to my elbows in smelly cold, water for hours. All oysters had to be accounted for, and if there were ever any left over shells in the box, there was Big Trouble. I soon learnt to hide them buried under fish carcasses in the bin.

None of this endeared the oyster to me.

I do love pearls though. They are my favourite gem. They are lustrous and full of life. And anything that annoyed an oyster that much must be good!

Fast forward another couple of years and I finally got to use some really nice, top quality, fresh oysters. They look beautiful. They smell really nice-they haven't been washed. They are plump and pretty (like me!) I began to warm to the oyster.

Nowadays, I don't mind the odd oyster. Even littlej will have one or two. They're certainly not my favourite bit of fishiness, but the oyster and I have reconciled our differences and taste buds.

In honour of the noble oyster and the 70's, I have decided to post about Oysters Kilpatrick. I hope your experience with them was better than mine.

Step 1. Find some oysters. Please use fresh, plump, nice ones. Not bottled, tinned or soaked ones.

Step 2. Make the sauce.
I don't like thin, stringy, acidic tasting Worcestershire sauce that just drips off oyster and masks the flavour. I wanted something that would be a bit sweeter and stick the bacon and oyster together a bit more into more of a cohesive unit.
I used a whole bottle of gluten free Worcestershire sauce. Check the lable. I added in a tablespoon each of gfree tomato sauce and bbq sauce. This was reduced down on the stovetop until thick and syrupy

Step 3. Finely slice some streaky bacon. You need some fat for this as it carries and smooths out the flavour. I pre-cook my bacon as this means you don't risk overcooking the oyster under the grill later.

Step 4. Assemble. Traditionally the oyster is placed attractively nestled onto a pile of rocksalt. This balances them and keeps them straight so the saucey stuff doesn't run off. I didn't have any, so I just had to cope.
Place a pile of bacon on the oyster and top with a spoonful of sauce.

Step 5. Place under a preheated grill or in a hot oven, until bacon is crisp and sauce is hot and bubbly. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and enjoy!

So Reader, have you had any unpleasant experiences with an oyster?

Winter Solstice

This week marks the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice. Also know as Mid-Winter.

"In the bleak mid-winter, Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron,Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, Snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-winter, Long ago"

Christina Rosetti 1872

There is an old saying that goes 'when the day begins to lengthen, the cold begins to strengthen.' So even though the nights are getting shorter and the hours of sunlight are longer, we have several months of winter ahead of us still.

This means snuggling up and feasting on fat things to ward off mid-winter blues. In ancient times they would sacrifice animals to ensure the return of the sun and rebirth of spring. I have decided to sacrifice my calorie count to ensure the release of warmth and happiness to my families tummies!

What would be the ultimate comforting winter food? Hmmmm.... I think there needs to be sugar, heat, warmth - as opposed to heat, fat, and of course, chocolate. And it needs to be squishy. Comfort food is rarely tough and solid. Chocolate starts out that way, but melts in the mouth quick enough so you don't notice!

I decided on a Chocolate Gingerbread Self Saucing Pudding.

There is the tummy warming spice from the ginger, the sugar rush, the smoothness of the rich chocolate sauce and the just-out-the-oven heat to put rosies on your cheeks. Perfect.

On second thought, I just might freshen it up a wee bit and add some fruit. That may appease my guilt some over the decadence, I mean deliciousness, of the pudding. Now fresh fruit is beyond compare, but I do love tinned pears. They're smooth and moist and luscious, and just perfect for this desert. Just pop them in at the last minute as all they need to do is heat through. If you don't have any fruit, don't worry, just pretend.

Hot Chocolate Ginger Pear Pudding

1 1/2 cups SR GF Flour
2/3 cup Treacle
2 tabs oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup liquid - you can use milk substitute, pear juice or even water
2 tabs Ginger
1 tab Cinnamon
1 tsp salt
Pears, if using

Sauce:
2 cups boiling water

2 tabs cocoa

1/4 cup sugar

1. Once you have mixed up the pudding ingredients into a smooth batter, pop into a greased casserole dish.

2. Put the pears around the dish and push under the surface a bit so they don't float away

3. Mix sauce ingredients together and then pour over the back of a spoon while moving it around the dish. This is so there are no divots made into the pudding and the sauce layer is even.

4. Cook in a 200* oven for about 50 minutes. The puddingy cakey layer on top should look nice and baked, but be floating on top of the sauce when you shake it around.

5. Spoon up and enjoy!

So readers, what warms you up on a bleak mid-winters night?