Garlicky Tarragon Chicken Goujons

Let's not kid ourselves.. this is just chicken nuggets! Pardon my attempt at pretence, I only wanted to distance this from what everyone now accepts as chicken nuggets. Those 'gems' made of ground-up unnameable chicken parts and peppered with 'E' flavourings and preservatives have scarily become staple offerings as part of 'children's menus'. Why? It is so easy to batter up some real pieces of chicken and bake them in the oven, there's really no excuse to enjoy anything other than home-made chicken nuggets.

Here's my version. I used tarragon as I realised that I simply have not cooked much using this herb. It really is lovely with chicken but I think, it works best as part of a creamy sauce. Nevertheless, it still added an interesting dimension to a simple mid-week dish. Serve with a simple green salad.

Garlicky Tarragon Chicken Goujons

400g chicken tenderloins (sliced up chicken breast can be substituted)

2Tbsp sour cream

2 Tbsp chopped up tarragon

1 c garlic croutons (for crumbing)

Oil for frying

In a bowl, marinate the chicken pieces in the sour cream for a couple of hours.

Make the croutons by baking cubes of stale bread, tossed in oil and garlic, in an oven until dry and crunchy. When cool, roughly grind up into crumbs by running a rolling pin over it a few times. Mix the tarragon leaves in with the crumbs.

Coat the chicken pieces in the crumb and herb mixture. Fry in oil until golden. These can also be cooked in a 200deg C oven for approximately 20mins or until golden brown.

Sweet Potato and Raisin Muffins

More healthy stuff. You have been warned. And this is the worst kind - eggless, butterless and no cow's milk. Shock, horror with an extra gasp for good measure!

There was a time when I used to chide a friend whenever she ordered a 'decaf-lite-soymilk cappucino'. A 'triple-no-fun' I used to refer to her beverage of choice. My, how my tune has changed. Well, when it comes to the matter of health (especially of my kids), I would like to think that I have reasonably learned to compromise, but not on taste. Decaf coffee (there are some good blends out there) I've had to accept since I started getting heart palpitations even when David Beckham is not on the television screen. Then my gorgeous little boy was found to be allergic to eggs and dairy. My heart went out to the poor little mite, envisioning his lifetime deprived of calorie-laden, rich and creamy treats. But that's just me and my tendency for drama. Firstly, he is expected to grow out of his allergies. And in the meantime, I can try and be creative with the 'treats' I make at home so he can also enjoy them.

Enter my 'triple-no-fun' muffins. Made with mashed sweet potatoes,part-wholemeal flour, olive oil and soymilk, these are good for everday guilt-free munching. They turned out absolutely moist but light and springy to the touch. The texture turned out better than my normal muffins which have a tendency to fall into crumbs when eaten. These are not overly sweet, with minimum sugar enhanced by the natural sweetness of the raisins and sweet potato.
As the ads say, 'Try them and you might be pleasantly surprised' :-)

I am sending this over to this week's edition of Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Vani of Batasari. It was fun finding another use for sweet potato, which I normally only use roasted in salads. Varieties of this humble root crop has been cultivated in the Americas for thousands of years and is now popular in most parst of the world especially south east Asia and Polynesia.
Being a reliable and relatively easy crop to grow, it has become a staple in many cultures. Nutritionally, it is high in fiber, vitamins (Vit A specifically), minerals and is low in sodium.


Sweet Potato and Raisin Muffins
makes 12

1 c wholemeal flour
3/4 c self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c castor sugar
2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 c raisins/ sultanas
3/4 c pureed sweet potato (steam potato pieces and then whizz in a food processor)
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 c soy milk


Preheat oven to 180deg Celsius.

Sift together the wholemeal flour, self-raising flour and baking powder. Add the sugar and cinnamon, mixing to combine ingredients well. Add the raisins and mix to ensure that the fruit pieces are dredged in flour.

In a bowl, mix together the sweet potato puree, olive oil and soy milk.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix but do not overdo it.

Spoon the mixture onto muffin trays lined with muffin paper cups. Bake for 20 mins or until an inserted skewer comes off clean.

Creamy Pumpkin Penne with Bacon

We have seen some dramatic weather in Sydney lately. Warm humid mornings gave in to dramatic lightning storms in the evenings. Hailstones the size of golf balls came raining down upon us on the weekend. Debris everywhere and it looks like there'd be more to come.

The electric storms definitely brought some restlesness in the air or is it just Christmas already making its presence felt? So much running around to do, cooking, visiting and shopping to get out of the way. Would I love Christmas without all these frantic activities? Probably not.
Amidst all the Christmas baking, jamming and cooking that's beein going on, it's good to have some simple fare during the week. This pasta dish fits the bill perfectly. Simple, easy to make and comforting on a stormy night.

Having small children in the house, we always have pureed vegetables in the freezer for adding to pasta sauces, using as a base for soups and to make into simple dips (My daughter is going thru a 'dips' phase. She likes to have something on the side to dunk her pieces of meat and vegetables in). This recipe makes use of puréed pumpkin but I've also made it before with puréed cauliflower (see smaller photo). Both versions have been a hit with the little girl.

To purée vegetables, cut into small cubes and steam until
very soft. Use a masher or hand blender to get a thick mush.





Creamy Pumpkin Penne with Bacon
serves 2

100 g bacon, cut into small pieces

200g Penne or other pasta

25g butter
1Tbsp plain flour
1 c milk
1/2 c grated Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
1 c pureed pumpkin

1Tbsp chopped parsley


Fry the bacon until browned. Keep warm.

Cook the pasta in a generous amount of salted, boiling water.

In the meantime, melt the butter in a pot. Add the flour, stirring vigorously until a paste forms and comes off the sides of the pot easily.

Slowly add the milk while still stirring with a wire whisk. Cook very gently until smooth and thick but do not let it boil.

Take the pot off the heat, add the grated cheese and mix until all the cheese has melted. Return to heat on low and add the pureed pumpkin while stirring. Heat up until bubbling gently.

Take off the heat and season with salt and pepper.

Strain the cooked pasta and transfer into a bowl. Top with the pumpkin sauce and bacon. Garnish with parsley.

I'm sharing this for Presto Pasta night over at Once Upon a Feast.
This is the first time I've been participating although I've been keeping an eye on the wonderful weekly round up by Ruth for some time now. Be sure to visit!

Cinnamon-Spiced Beef Phyllo Rolls

Flicking thru a finger-food recipe book the other day (still dreaming that we can go back to hosting regular cocktail/drinks parties once again-maybe when the kids move out in 20years!), I came across a scrumptious sounding recipe for phyllo pastry pillows filled with beef and dried figs. This presented a mini-mission: adapt the recipe for tonight's dinner.

Ok, that means something filling enough to have with just a bowl of salad for hubby and myself, and healthy and interesting enough for little girl L. As usual, the vegetable components started off as ingredients for baby A's dinner-grated zucchini and sweet potato that I was going to boil and puree.

I also wanted to keep the sweet/savoury combo that was in the original recipe so I used some pitted dates, which I already had in the cupboard, instead of the dried figs.

The result was quite delicious and we found the rolls very more-ish. I can see how the mini versions would be great with drinks. L absolutely loved them and I was pleased that she got her quota of vegies in, albeit with a bit of cheating and disguising.
This recipe makes around 12 x 5-inch rolls.

3Tbsp olive oil
500g lean beef mince
1 clove garlic, minced
1tsp ginger, minced
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2c chopped dates
1/2c grated zucchini
1/2c grated sweet potato
Salt and pepper

8 phyllo pastry sheets
cooking oil spray


To make the filling, heat the oil in a pan and add garlic, ginger,onion and cinnamon.
Stir around until the onion becomes transluscent. Add the beef and continue cooking until browned. Stir in the dates, zucchini and sweet potato. Season with salt and pepper. Let cook for a further 2 minutes.
Allow the filling to cool completely before wrapping.

When ready to wrap, preheat the oven to 200deg C and line trays withs baking paper.

Take 2 sheets of phyllo pastry. Spray one with cooking oil spray, top with the second sheet and spray again with oil. Cut crossways into 3 even strips.

Take one strip and place 2Tbsp of the beef mixture along the bottom of one narrow edge. Roll the end of the pastry over the filling until covered. Fold in the long sides to enclose the beef mixture and continue rolling until your reach the end of the strip.
Repeat the process with the rest of the filling.

Place the rolls on the lined trays and spray lightly with oil. Bake in the oven until golden (around 15 minutes).


Changes I will try next time:
*Add pistachio nuts and chopped mint in the filling.
*Serve with a yogurt dip