Tag Archives: basil

chicken, Fingerfood

Crumbed Chicken Balls with cream cheese & bacon

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These crumb chicken meatballs stuffed with cream cheese and bacon are ‘ball number two’ that has evolved from the idea of a ‘crumbed-ball-off’. Number one of the crumbed balls was Turkey Balls with Camembert and Cranberry Red Wine Sauce.

To recap where this idea came from – after Christmas this year, while sailing down Australia’s east coast, we decided to have a ‘crumbed-ball-off’. My son, Jedd, kick-started the idea by saying he would make a turkey and camembert crumbed meatball. Dwayne then piped up that he was going to make a crumbed meatball also.

It soon became known as the “crumbed-ball-off”. All three of us were going to make a crumbed meatball and pick the best one. The winner was not going to have to cook for a week. The “crumbed-ball-off” never happened as Jedd flew back to Adelaide sooner than expected. This crumbed chicken ball was my creation which I came up with by simply using ingredients already in my fridge that I needed to use up. It is super tasty, though.

four chicken meatballs served with salad

Ingredients

For filling
1 rasher of bacon, rind removed and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon of finely chopped sun-dried tomato
1 Tablespoon of finely chopped fresh basil
150ml cream cheese

For chicken meatball
1kg chicken mince
100ml fine bread crumbs
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

For coating the chicken ball
1 Cup of fine bread crumbs

Method

To make the cream cheese filling. Mix all ingredients well. Put the mixture into a container or wrap it in foil. Refrigerate until firm (about 1 hour).

Mix the ingredient for the meatballs well using your hands.

Place a large tablespoon of chicken on your palm and flatten. Using a melon scoop or a teaspoon, scoop about 1 tsp of cream cheese mix and place in the middle of the flattened chicken.

Shape chicken around the cheese and roll into a ball. Coat the chicken ball with crumbs and place it on a plate. Repeat with the remaining chicken mince.

Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour (or longer).

Cook the chicken balls

Heat the oil in a deep fryer or a saucepan, and heat oil to 190c. When the oil is at the correct temperature, add the balls in batches. Deep fry for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Remove the chicken balls from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

Serve with salad or vegetables. I served mine with a simple salad of capsicum, cucumber, tomato, olives and sun-dried tomato.

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Shell Fish

Mussels with Garlic, White Wine, Tomato & Basil

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This recipe comes from a time in Langkawi, Malaysia, when we visited a nearby island to smoke some fish. Deciding that a big bowl of mussels and some crusty bread would be the perfect thing to accompany our crisp white wine, we sailed to Pulau Singar Besar. There, there is a small shelter with a table and a fireplace. We lit a fire to cook on, and as our fish smoked away, I cooked up the yummy mussels.

We love these days, cooking on the fire, the beach to ourselves, wine and entertaining ourselves with a game of cards. Yes, some days, you do feel you are in paradise.

Mussels3

Ingredients

2 Tbs olive oil
6 Large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2-3 large chillies, sliced
1 1/2 cups of white wine
2 cups of fish stock
1 cup of small grape tomatoes, halved
salt and pepper to taste
1kg of New Zealand green-lip mussels
6-8 spring onion, finely sliced
1/2 cup basil leaves, finely shredded

Mussels2

Method

Wash the mussels, scrub the shell and remove the bearding if still present. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the garlic and chilli, cook for a couple of minutes. Add the wine and simmer to reduce a little. Then add the fish stock. At this stage, I add a few of the tomatoes to allow that to help flavour the broth and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for five minutes.

Add the mussels cover and cook for about three minutes.

Add the spring onions and tomatoes, toss well to incorporate, cover and cook for a couple of minutes.

Then add the basil, toss well, cover and cook for another minute or two.

Divide mussel and tomatoes between two large bowls, pour over the broth and serve with crusty bread. Yummo!

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Mussels with White Wine, Garlic, Tomato and Basil #recipe #chilli #tomato #wine #mussels

 
TourRadar

Cooking with Local Ingredients, Duck, From the galley

Tea Smoked Duck with Asian Style Salad

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I love duck! Love it! Whenever I want to make something special I will often think of duck. This was my first attempt at smoking duck and it turned out delicious… if I do say so myself!

Smoking mix

1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1 clove
1 cup of uncooked rice
1/2 cup of tea
1/4 cup sugar

Tea smoked duck

And this is how I made it….

In a mortar, with pestle, I crushed the cinnamon stick, star anise and clove (crushed but not powdered) and then I combined this spice mix with the rice, tea and sugar.

I lined a wok with a couple of layers of foil and added the tea mix. I heated this over high heat until it was smoking hot. On a trivet, over the smoking tea, I placed the duck breast, skin side up.

I covered the top of the wok with foil, put the lid on and turned the heat down to low. Then I let it smoke for 20-25 minutes.

If you want crispy skin duck (as we did), take the duck out of the wok a little earlier. Heat a frying pan (no oil needed), add duck skin down and cook for a few minutes until crispy.

Tea smoked duck

My Salad

Shredded cabbage, thinly sliced large red chilli, thinly sliced beans, bean sprouts, finely chopped small red chilli, chopped coriander, mint and basil, grated carrot and grated green apple (apple tossed with the juice of 1/2 lime).

For the dressing – I used the same dressing I made for my green mango salad.

I served the duck with salad and lontong which is a compressed rice cake.

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Tea smoked duck with Asian style salad #recipe #duck #salad #smoked #teasmoked

Tea smoked duck with Asian style salad #recipe #duck #salad #smoked #teasmoked smoked duck with Asian style salad


Tourradar

Duck, From the galley, Salad

Spiced Roast Duck Breast with Mango Salad

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We love duck, and although it is not terribly good for you (it contains a lot of fat between the skin and the meat), it is not as bad as you think. In fact, without skin and visible fat, duck meat has less fat than roasted skinless chicken breasts. But seriously who can resist the crispy delicious skin of roast duck? Not me! Furthermore, duck meat is surprisingly nutrient dense, provides high-quality protein and contains essential amino acids.

Cooking on a boat

Ingredients
2 duck breast, pat dry and score the duck breast

Spice mix

1cm cinnamon stick
4 petals of star anise
1 tsp peppercorns
1 clove

Salad

1 green mango, shredded or grated
2-3 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 Asian shallots, thinly sliced
1 long red chilli, julienned or diced.
basil, mint, coriander, chopped

Salad Dressing

Salad dressing is the same I use for the Cambodian Green Mango Salad

3 Tbs fish sauce
The juice of two limes
2 Tbs of sweet chilli sauce
1/2 tsp brown sugar

cooking on a boat

Method

For the duck…

Using a mortar and pestle, crush the spices until well ground (or use five spice powder if you prefer).

Rub the spice mix all over the duck breast.

Heat a frypan until hot (do not add oil). Place duck skin side down and cook for a few minutes, on moderate heat, until fat renders.

Then place the duck into a preheated oven, set at 210c, for 15 minutes. Remove the duck from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

For the salad…

Put all the ingredients for the dressing in a jar and give it a good shake. Refrigerate until needed.

Combine all the salad ingredients and dress the salad at the time of serving.

Serve the sliced duck with the mango salad for a fresh zesty treat.

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Spiced Duck Breast with Mango salad #crispyduck #zestysalad #mango #mint #recipe #dinner #luncg #easyrecipe

Cambodian, Cooking with Local Ingredients, Salad

Green Mango Salad

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This was one of our favourite Cambodian street foods. Often made in roadside stalls; we watch these salads being made with tiny whole crushed crabs and sampled many others that incorporated small dried shrimp. I opted to make my mango salad with the dried shrimp* which is readily available in S E Asia where we are currently located.

Ingredients

2 green mangos, peeled and shredded/grated
1/2 a small carrot, grated (I used the carrot to add a bit of colour)
3 Tbs dried shrimp
1 small hot chilli, finely chopped
1 Tbs of finely chopped garlic
3 small Asian shallots, finely sliced
A handful each of holy** basil and mint, finely chopped
2 Tbs crushed peanuts

For the dressing
3 Tbs fish sauce
The juice of two limes
2 Tbs of sweet chilli sauce
1/2 tsp brown sugar

Mangosalad1

This is how I made the salad….

I put all the ingredients for the dressing in a jar and gave it a good shake and set aside until needed (this made enough salad dressing to save half to use the next day!)

Then in a bowl, I placed the shredded mango, carrot, shrimp, chilli, garlic, shallots, basil, mint and one tablespoon of the peanuts. I gave the salad a really good mix, then added the dressing and mixed it through well.

To serve I place a good portion on individual plates and sprinkle with more peanuts.

Just bloody delicious!

Mangosalad5

Notes:

*leave out the shrimp if you can’t find any or if you do not like them.

**use normal basil if you can’t get holy basil

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Green Mango Salad #mango #mint #basil #redonion #shrimp #nuts #chilli #recipe #lunch #dinner #asian #cambodia