Chicken Satay Salad

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

While we're still in the early months of 2025, what better recipe to share than this light Chicken Satay Salad. It's perfect as a fakeaway as well as perfect in those summer months too.

Let's get cooking!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp tamari

1 tsp medium curry powder

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 garlic clove, finely grated

1 tsp clear honey

2 skinless chicken breast fillets

1 tbsp crunchy peanut butter

1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp lime juice

Sunflower oil

2 little gem lettuce, cut into wedges

1/4 cucumber, halved and sliced

1 banana shallot, halved and thinly sliced

coriander, chopped

Pomegranate seeds

In a large bowl, pour in the tamari. Then stir in the curry powder, cumin, garlic and honey. Mix together.

Slice the chicken in half horizontally to make 4 fillets.

Add the chicken to the marinade and mix well to coat. Set this aside in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or overnight, to allow the flavours to penetrate the chicken.

Mix the peanut butter, with the chilli sauce, lime juice, and 1 tbsp water to make a spoonable sauce.

When ready, wipe a large non-stick frying pan with sunflower oil. Add the chicken and cook, covered with a lid, for 5-6 minutes on a medium heat. Turn the fillets over for the final minute, until cooked but still moist. Set aside, covered, to rest for a few minutes.

While the chicken rests, toss the lettuce wedges with the cucumber, shallot, coriander and pomegranate, and pile onto plates.

Spoon over a little sauce.

Slice the chicken, pile on top of the salad  and spoon over the remaining sauce.

Enjoy while the chicken is still warm.

This was really nice and really easy and simple to make. I didn't add some of the ingredients, but I definitely want to give this dish another go and add the ingredients I didn't the first time round.

I think I'd make a little more for the satay dressing as I don't think it made quite enough, but it still worked really well with all the ingredients.

If you would like to follow the original recipe, then head over to the BBC Good Food Chicken Satay Salad recipe page.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye

Pistachio & Cranberry Pork Pie

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こんにちは

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你好

(Ni Hao)

I was looking for a recipe for some leftover pork mince that I had, when I came across this recipe that I'd thought would be perfect for Sunday lunch, it's also a good recipe for during the festive period too.

Let's get cooking!

Ingredients:

300g cranberry

3 tbsp caster sugar

juice 1/2 orange

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

4 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

thyme

sage

500g pork mince

75g pistachio's

nutmeg

Pastry:

450g plain flour

100g lard

4 tbsp milk

1 egg, beaten

Put the cranberries in a pan with the sugar and orange juice.

Bring to a simmer, then cook until the berries start to burst and sauce thickens.

Set aside to cool.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the onion until soft.

Add the bacon and garlic, and cook until the bacon starts to brown. The stir through the thyme, sage and seasoning. I used 1 tsp each of both the thyme and sage.

Allow to cool slightly, then mix with the pork and pistachios.

Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Then set aside.

Heat your oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas Mark 6.

Tip the flour into a bowl with 2 tsp salt.

Put the lard and the milk into a small pan with 150ml of water, then heat until the lard has completely melted.

Pour the mixture into the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until a ball of dough is formed.

Knead briefly on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

Take two-thirds of the pastry and roll out between two sheets of parchment paper into a circle large enough to line the base and sides of a 20cm cake tin.

Press the pastry into the tin making sure to push it into the corners.

Pile half of the filling into the pastry and flatten into an even layer.

Spread over two-thirds of the cranberry sauce, then finish with the remaining pork and roughly smooth the top.

Roll out the remaining pastry between parchment paper and cut to a 20cm round. Place onto the pie and glaze the edge with some beaten egg.

Fold up the overhanging pastry and press down to seal.

Make a steam hole with the tip of a knife, the glaze the pie with more beaten egg.

Cook in the oven for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C/160C Fan/Gas Mark 4, and continue cooking for a further 40 minutes until the pastry is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre of the pie and left for 10 seconds feels very hot.

Cool on a wire rack.

Serve with the reserved cranberry sauce.

This recipe calls for fresher cranberries than the ones I used, but I couldn't get my hands on any. While they tasted okay in the pie, I definitely would recommend getting the right cranberries as they'll be both juicier and softer. Mine went hard and stuck to the pan while they were set aside.

I've never made pastry this way, and I have to say I find it so much easier and quicker to make it as in the recipe.

The overall flavours were delicious and I really enjoyed it, it went perfectly with mashed potatoes.

I think this is going to be one of the dishes I cook for the New Years Day dinner that I make every year and hopefully it will go down a treat.

If you would like to follow the original recipe, then head over to the BBC Good Food Pistachio & Cranberry Pork Pie recipe page.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye

Plain Scones

Hello

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(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

I don't think I've baked scones since food technology at school, like with pastry, I've always been deterred from baking them because I hate it getting stuck to my fingers, but the more I bake them, the more I get used to it.

So when I came across a Mary Berry scones recipe, I thought it was time to give it a go.

Let's get baking!

Ingredients:

450g Self-raising flour

2 level tsp Baking powder

50g Caster sugar

100g Butter, softened

2 Eggs

A little Milk

Start off by pre-heating your oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas Mark 7.

Lightly grease two baking trays.

In a large bowl, put the flour, baking powder and caster sugar.

Add the butter and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Crack the eggs into a measuring jug, then add enough milk to make the total liquid to 300ml.

Stir the egg and milk mixture into the flour -  you may not need all the mixture -  and mix to a soft, sticky dough.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly.

Roll out the dough.

Cut into as many rounds a possible with a fluted 5cm cutter and place them on the prepared baking trays.

Brush the tops with a little extra milk, or any egg and milk left in the jug.

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the scones are well risen and a pale, golden-brown colour.

Once baked, lift onto a wire rack to cool.

Server them however you like, I had mine with raspberry jam and clotted cream.

Some of mine didn't have a good rise on them, but they still tasted really nice, but practice makes perfect.

Even Skye seemed to enjoy them too.

The recipe is really easy to follow and isn't too time consuming.

If you would like to follow the original recipe, then head over to Mary Berry's Scones recipe over on the BBC Food website.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye