Chicken Fettuccine a la Creme

The name sounds exotic and delicious - and it is!! Although much easier than it sounds. It is a combination between Chicken a la King and Fettuccine Al Fredo, and it is soft and creamy and just perfect. Do try this at home!!

Preparation Time: 20min
Cooking time: 3 hours
Difficulty Level: Very easy
Serves: 6

Ingredients

4 pieces of chicken breast or thigh
2 star anise
2 bay leaves
1/2t freshly ground black pepper
1/2t salt
1/4cup red wine vinegar
water
2tbs butter
1 onion, chopped
1 punnet mushrooms, sliced
250ml cream
25g grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup peas
500g Fettuccine

Method

Place the chicken pieces, star anise, bay leaves, pepper, salt and red wine vinegar in a pot. 

  
 Add some water, I would recommend starting off with half a cup. You need to check as the chicken cooks, if the water is still enough so that the chicken doesn't burn. Not only does this cooking cook the chicken and flavour it, it makes a little stock that will be added to the dish later (and it is super delicious as a chicken stock!!) This needs to cook for about 2 hours until the chicken is cooked through. You don't want a watery stock, so try not to add too much water without burning the chicken of course. If you did add too much water, you can just cook it down until you have about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of stock. 

Melt the butter and fry the onion and the mushrooms until lightly browned. 

Remove from heat and add the cream and parmesan. 

Mix. Place back on heat to thoroughly melt and combine the cream and parmesan, but don't let it cook down too much. Remove from heat. 

Now, my husband knows me so well!! He bought me a wonderful Pasta Maker for Christmas. Not just the machine the rolls it out, this one mixes the dough and then gives you what you want: spaghetti, macaroni, fettuccine... So I made my own pasta for this dish, and it was about 500g of uncooked, shop fettuccine. 

If you can, I would highly recommend getting your own pasta machine. Home made pasta is much more filling than shop bought pasta and just tastes better!! Cook the Fettuccine in salted water until al dente. Add the peas (I used from frozen) and cook till done.

Remove the skin from the chicken pieces and remove the meat from the bones. Cut the chicken meat into strips and add to the mushroom mixture. 

Reheat if necessary. Mix the mushroom mixture with the chicken and the fettuccine together.

And Serve!! 

Goes very well with a glass of light white wine...

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Cauliflower Bake

Now, I saw a recipe on Facebook, posted by Kris Quartermus, for Loaded Cauliflower. I made a couple of changes, which is why I also changed the name of the dish, and I have to thank Kris Quatermus for this wonderful inspiration!! We had it last night with our braai instead of a usual potato side, and it goes very well!! It is also much more filling than you would expect.

Preparation Time: 30min
Cooking Time: 30min
Difficulty Level: Very easy
Serves: 8

Ingredients

3 heads cauliflower
250g bacon, cubed
50g butter
1 onion, chopped
1 punnet mushrooms, sliced
3tbs mayonnaise
2tbs cottage cheese
2t parsley
250ml sour cream
salt & pepper to taste
cayenne pepper

Method

Cook the cauliflower in very little water and some salt, until just done. Add pepper to taste. 

Melt the butter and fry the onions, bacon and mushrooms until slightly browned. 

Combine the mayonnaise, cottage cheese, cream and parsley well. I used my stick blender. 

Mix the mayonnaise mixture, the mushroom mixture, salt to taste and 3/4 of the cheese well. and scoop into a baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and lightly dust with cayenne pepper. 

Bake in the oven at 160degrees C for about 30 minutes, until the cheese starts to brown. 

Enjoy with a tjoppie and a salad!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch