Chicken Cacciatore

 

This recipe came originally from Gary Rhodes across Italy.  Sadly Gary Rhodes died just after he completed the series, where he was able to get Italian chefs to show him the 'root' recipes of classic dishes.  

The recipe has no tomatoes in it, and it is important to use chicken on the bone.  I usually make this with chicken legs.  I keep an herb jar with the mixture of dried herbs, with salt and chilli added and use it for lots of recipes.  I also usually add some black kalamata olives to the dish before the end as well as at the end.  Use a dry white wine, not a sweet one.

A Healthy Fruit Cake

 My friend Rea gave me this recipe and made it for morning tea at aqua.  It's delicious and one of the moistest fruit cakes I have ever tasted.  I think you could add in extra nuts to your liking, and substitute sherry for any alcohol you enjoy.  It's essentially a boiled fruitcake, cooked in a traditional low oven but with a very untraditional ingredient!

Ingredients

1 kilo mixed fruit
1 cup apricot nectar

1 teaspooon honey

1 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin (400 grams) - I use butternut pumpkin as its sweeter.

1-1/2 cups self raising flour

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

walnuts to decorate

1 tablespoon sherry

Method

Preheat oven to 150C.  (a slow oven)

Place fruit, nectar and honey in a saucepan, bring to the boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Allow to cool.

Stir in pumpkin.

Fold in sifted flour, spice and bi-carb.

Pour into a greased and lined 18cm square or round cake tin.

Bake for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours, or until cooked when tested with a skewer - it should come out clean and dry.

Pour sherry over the cake while hot, and allow to stand at least 10 minutes before turning out to cool.

Store in an airtight container.

 This cake is a combination of a recipe I had plus some additions of my own.  I usually only make marmalade once a year, give lots to my friends and keep some for us.  I make it out of blood oranges which have a lovely sweet and tart taste.  The secret is to boil it for a lot longer that you think it needs.  This year I made 3 kilos worth of oranges into marmalade and it took a total of 4 hours!  As a result I made this cake without the orange rind or essence as it did not need any more than the marmalade.  (Which was delicious, as was the cake!)

Marmalade Cake

Ingredients

125 g butter

2 teasp grated orange rind

1/4 teasp orange blossom essence

2 eggs

1/2 cup orange marmalade  + extra

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1-1/2 cup SR flour

1/2 cup milk

Method

Pre heat oven 160C fan forced.  Grease and line a loaf pan.

Beat butter, rind and sugar until light and fluffy.  

Beat in eggs.

Fold in marmalade, pean then coconut, flour and milk.   Spread in loaf pan and bake for aprox 45 mins.

Spread with a little marmalade while hot. Cool on a rack.