hello. is it meat you're lookin' for?

Hello. So tonight's dish is perhaps a little extravagant for the average student cook, but we thought we'd get a little excessive and splurge out on this dish. We pretty much created our own recipe for this meal, and it turned out pretty darn spectacular. The oxtail will take time to reach optimum deliciousness, but persevere, it is well worth the wait.

I think we can go as far as to describe this meaty wonder as sublime. 

Feast your soul on this luscious wonder. 

hearty oxtail stew

slow-cooked with carrots & button mushrooms, nestled in a bed of cauli-rice

[feeds four]

1kg oxtail 

4 small onions, halved

4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunky blocks

4 leeks, cut into chucky blocks

3 stalks celery, cut into chunky blocks

125g mushrooms

1 teaspoon garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups beef stock

2 cups red wine

1 can chopped tomato

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1 1/2 heads cauliflower, grated 

6 small onions, grated or chopped finely

1/2 teaspoon garlic

butter 

place the baking dish with the olive oil into the oven and preheat to 200 degrees celsius

once the oven has reached temperature, place the oxtail, onions and garlic into the baking dish

leave the meat to brown for about 20 minutes 

while the meat is browning, combine the beef stock, red wine, chopped tomato and thyme in mixing jug

 once the meat has browned, add the carrots, leeks, celery, mushrooms and liquid mixture to the oxtail

cover the baking dish with tinfoil - sealing the oxtail as well as you can

reduce the oven temperature to 150 degrees celcius and bake for a further 4 hours

check the meat every 30 minutes from this point onwards

the oxtail is perfectly cooked once the meat is falling from the bone

for the cauli-rice, fry the garlic in the butter on a high heat

add the onions and fry until they begin to brown

add the grated cauliflower, and fry for a further 10 minutes until soft but not squishy

remove from the heat and serve with your oxtail

devour. 

happy fooding!

chicken à la us

Hello. This is our take on the classic Chicken à la King. Upon discovering the lack of green peppers in our fridge, we 'made do' with our disastrously overpriced red pepper. The result was spectacular. 

Do yourself a favour and use a food processor for the cauli-rice - it will save you a lot of time (and dishes). 

chicken à la king
with red pepper and mushrooms, served with a side of cauli-rice

1/2 chopped onion

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips

1/2 red or green pepper, sliced

125g sliced mushrooms

250 ml cream

chicken spice 

butter for frying

1/2 onion, chopped (we used the food processor to get it super fine)

1 head of cauliflower grated or processed in the food processor

heat the butter in a pan and fry the onion until brown

add the red pepper and mushrooms and fry until cooked through

add the chicken and continue to fry on medium heat 

add the cream, allowing the food to simmer for about 5 minutes

season to taste

for the cauli-rice, fry the onion on medium heat until brown

add the cauliflower and fry for about 10 minutes until cooked through (taste a little, checking that it is soft but not mushy)

season to taste

happy fooding!

stuffed.

Hello. So these are Carmie's chicken delights. They're relatively simple to make - only calling on 5 key ingredients (butter included). As usual, we ate them on their own, because we're students. But for those of you looking for something a little more well-balanced, we'd suggest you throw together a side salad of sort to accompany this savoury treat. 

bacon-wrapped chicken breasts

stuffed with danish feta and basil pesto

2 large chicken breasts

75g danish feta, crumbled

2 teaspoons basil pesto

200g streaky bacon

butter for frying

string for tying 

turn the breast onto its side and using a knife, cut into the centre of the breast, creating a pocket and being careful not to cut through the breast

smooth 1 teaspoon of pesto throughout the pocket of each breast

evenly place half of the feta into each breast 

separate the bacon into two portions and lay the two sets of strips of bacon out on a clean surface

place each chicken breast in the middle of a set of bacon strips 

fold the bacon edges over (towards the centre of the chicken breast)

tightly wrap the chicken breasts with string to ensure the bacon holds throughout the cooking

season with salt and pepper

preheat the oven to 150 degrees celcius 

pan fry the breasts in butter on a high heat until golden brown on both sides

remove the breasts from the pan, and place the both the breasts and cooking juices into a baking dish 

place the breasts in the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through but still moist

remember to remove the string before attempting to eat this delicious meal!

happy fooding!