in my studio | archives

Archive for August, 2011

Aug
20
2011

leftover chicken turned sandwich

Roast chicken is what they call ‘a meal for today and tomorrow’. That is why I love making it. You can make so many things with leftover roast chicken. The easiest is a sandwich since you’d probably have all the ingredients sitting in your fridge to whip up this very quick and healthy lunch. This makes one tasty sandwich because the flavours from the chicken were just popping in my mouth with every bite I took. Not to mention, the sauces just oozes with yumminess. I think without the them, it would be a little dry. Drizzle with a bit of mayo, or thousand island or sweet chili, or anything else…oohh yummo! Other meal ideas using leftover roast would be, chicken pies, chicken salad, chicken couscous, bbq chicken pizza, chicken fried rice, chicken baked pasta, chicken wraps, chicken soup, chicken nachos, chicken fritters, chicken and vegetable lasagne…hmmm the ideas just keep on rolling.

LEFTOVER ROAST CHICKEN TURNED SANDWICH
Roast chicken from this recipe

Makes: 1 sandwich
Prep time: 5mins
Cook time: none!

Ingredients

Handful of shredded chicken (leftover roast chicken)
Handful of shredded carrots
2 slices bread (I used soft Rye bread)
2 slices cut tomatoes
1 slice cheese
1 large lettuce leaf, cut
pinch of salt and pepper
drizzle with any sauce you like (I used mayo and sweet chilli)

*There’s no particular way of assembling a sandwich. Just do it the way you like it. And then put it in the grill/sandwich maker.

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Category: bread, chicken, in my kitchen

Aug
19
2011

chocolate ripple bites

I’ve been attending Aussie Muslims (forum) iftaar for 3 years consecutively now. And at every single iftaar, a sister (May Allah reward her) never fails to make these super cute bite size dessert. Though, she puts a bit more effort into them by drizzling over some chocolate for that finishing touch. I just topped mine with a slice of strawberry. Now these are on their way to my sister in laws house, for iftaar. Impressive much?

RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE RIPPLE BITES

Makes: 25
Prep time: 20mins
Chill time: min 6 hours (recommended overnight)

Ingredients

400g Arnotts chocolate ripple biscuit (1.5 packets)
600ml thickened cream
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
5 strawberries, sliced

Method

1. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream sugar and vanilla essence until thickened.

2. Lay 25 biscuits on a tray and put a dollop of cream mixture then sandwich it with another biscuit on top. Do this for the remaining 24 biscuits.

3. Using a star nozzle, put some mixture into the nozzle bag and squeeze the cream to form a nice shape.

4. Top with a strawberry slice and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, but I recommend refrigerating overnight.

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Category: cake, cookies, desserts, in my kitchen

Aug
17
2011

wordless wednesday // tea leaves sassafrass

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Category: Galaxy S II, in my world, photography

Aug
15
2011

roast chicken with garlic, thyme and lemon

A good’ol roast chicken is a family favourite in our home. So easy and yummy. Literally all you have to do is just clean and season it, then chuck it in the oven. Its so simple that I make this quite often especially when my dad gives us his home grown organic purple carrots!

*The above photo was added on 18th March 2014*

The secret for creating fresh recipes is using fresh ingredients. Thyme from our garden. I just leave them like that.

The best part about roast chicken is, when you have leftovers, you can make a chicken salad sandwich for your lunch the next day! I will blog about this sandwich in my next entry, so stay tune. Here it is. For now, this is the recipe. Nothing fancy, just really simple. But yummy of course.

RECIPE FOR ROAST WHOLE CHICKEN WITH GARLIC, THYME AND LEMON

Serves: 2
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 kg chicken (small-medium size)
8 cloves garlic (for paste), pound in mortar and pestle
5 cloves garlic, whole unpeeled (optional)
3 medium potatoes, quartered
3 carrots, halved longways
1/4 cup olive oil
6 sprigs of thyme (or 3 tsp dried thyme)
1/4 cup vegetable stock paste (I use homemade)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp black pepper
3 tsp salt
10cm long cotton twine string (to tie the legs)

Method

1. Clean and rinse the chicken inside out and pat dry. Do not remove the chicken skin.

2. Marinate the whole chicken with garlic paste, vegetable stock paste thyme, salt and pepper. Rub it thoroughly and put the stuffing in the cavity. Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil then tie the legs together with a cotton twine string. Refrigerate overnight or at least 2 hours.

3. Heat oven to 200 degrees. Lightly grease a roasting pan, place a roasting rack and put the chicken on top.

4. Bake for 30minutes then swap the chicken the opposite way. Add in the cut vegetables and unpeeled garlic underneath the chicken rack. Bake for another 30minutes until golden brown (you can see the crunchy skin).

5. Stand chicken for 5 minutes before serving and don’t forget to remove the string.

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Category: chicken, in my kitchen

Aug
13
2011

Dining 101

This is our 40 year old house, well part of it. It used to be a small family area but we have transformed it into a dining space. The original interior decor is a typical 60’s style, retro modern (thats not too bad) but it was so gloomy (perhaps because it was a deceased property? Just kidding).

Now this house is speaking “I need to fit in the new era”.

So fast forward to 2011 with some new paint, stripped the old flooring, change of artwork and some furniture…ahh what a bright and fresh new look! Notice the pendant light? I didn’t change that one though. I thought I’d leave that hanging, the antique lamp that adds a sentimental value to the space. But the truth is, we just couldn’t afford an electrician with all the other reno expenses we had to cover. Maybe one day. Someday. It’ll be replaced.