Come Dine with Kirsten

As part of a uni project, I had to create an interactive model of some sort that related to new media and something that interests me. So what interests me? Cooking? Bingo. I decided to host a dinner party, whereby each of the particpants could choose an ingredient of their liking to be included in the meal, and this was done by text messaging (interactive). The participants were:
1) James
2) Karen
3) Tony
4) Jim
5) Kirsten (myself)

I told the first particpant, James, one item that would be included in the meal. This was mozzarella. He then chose an item to match with this - pepperoni. The next particpant, Karen, knew the previous ingredient that James had picked. She texted me the next ingredient - chicken. I could see where this was going - they assumed I'd be making a pizza because of the generic ingredients of pepperoni and mozzarella. Nope, it wasn't over yet. The next particpant, Tony, knew of the chicken. I requested he suggest a vegetable to accompany this - he texted saying green beans. Jim then knew about the green beans, and I suggested he request a type of potato to accompany them - hence a full meal! He asked for mashed potato. As the host, I decided to add a flavouring now that I knew ALL of the ingredients in the meal and started to plan a dinner - paprika.

So - what to make?! I knew they were expecting a pizza of some sort. But that seemed too easy. I've always been good at New York chicken so I made something similar to this. I sliced the chicken breasts down the centre, but not quite all the way through. Then I added sliced of mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. I prayed this was going to taste nice. I chose the paprika because I thought it would complement the spicy chicken well, and not make it too boring. These I then baked in tin foil for around 30 minutes, then removed the tin foil for another 5 minutes to crisp them up. I also like to serve green beans with NYChicken so this was a good match.

Now for the mashed potato, I decided to bring a modern twist on the traditional recipe. I recently went to a restaurant that served "crushed" potatoes - half mashed, half roasted/boiled? I'm not quite sure. But it was yuuuuummy. I thought this would be a good spin on the mashed potatoes, so to make them I boiled about 8 potatoes until they were very fluffy. Then I roasted them in a pre-heated dish for about 10 minutes to get them slightly crispy. Then for good measure, I transferred them to a frying pan and half-mashed them up. Add a little rosemary and garlic for some gooooood flavours!

When serving, I used a metal rings on each plate and spooned heaps of the mash into each ring, then pressed down. When you remove the ring, it gives a restaurant-standard quality of presenting the mash - nifty, huh!?

I chose Vanilla baked cheesecake for dessert, too. This was the majority result of a Facebook (new media) poll in my status - where I simply asked "Chocolate/Cheese/Fruit for dessert?" and six out of 10 friends replied "cheese."

Comments from the participants:
1) James - I really liked the meal. We were all expecting something like Hunter's chicken for dinner because that's what Kirsten always makes - don't get me wrong she does that well, too! So it was a nice change for her to do something different. I admit, when she said mozzarella I thought it was a pizza so that's why I said pepperoni!"
2) Karen - "Tasty, the mozzarella and pepperoni were a good combination with the chicken. Very morish!"
3) Tony - "A unique experience. I had a wonderful time."
4) Jim - "I think the crushed potatoes were amazing. I normally hate mash potato so that's why I challenged Kirsten to try and make me think different - and she definitely did! The chicken was good, too."

So, overall it was a good evening. I initially had doubts that this wouldn't work out well, hence why I chose to have some input in what type of ingredient could be included e.g. a vegetable. But I think the combination of chicken, mozzarella and pepperoni really worked out and I can't wait to try out crushed potatoes again!!!

Any feedback on this post is greatly appreciated and would be included in my final evaluation. I thought it would be an idea to get comments from my followers to see what your reaction to the whole process is, and how it could be improved/changed etc. Again, this is using new media and interactivity, so my tutor will be very happy! Many thanks for anything you say :)

Happy Baking x

Vegetable Pasta Bake

Sorry, pasta again guys... It's so easy! And sorry also for not having a post in so long - it's Easter Break and I've literally just settled down after probably the most hectic month of my life. I had looooads of deadlines for Uni, had to plan my 4 Year Anniversary with my boy, then it was my birthday, and to top it off, my mum was in hospital :( So you understand why I haven't had time to tell you about the wonderful world of cooking...

Anyways,  this is uber yummy AND it's also Weight Watchers approved so very healthy all round, wouldn't you say? Pretty much, if you've tried my Cheesey Pasta recipe - think that with vegetables. Mmmm!

It's so simple, feeds a family, and it's healthy. Perfect meal, huh?

Okay, here we go:

Ingredients:

1tbsp Butter
4 tbsp Plain Flour
As much Cheese as you want
Semi-Skimmed Milk - probably at least 300ml. You'll see why in a bit...
Vegetables - I chose broccoli, peas and carrots for my mixture. Add mushrooms, onions, green beans, potato if you want... It's whatever you fancy - veggies are good for you, go crazy with them.
125g Macaroni Pasta
Half a slice of wholemeal bread

Method:

1) Get 3 saucepans. As per my photo, use one for the Cheese Sauce, one for the Veggies, and one for the Macaroni. Get the kettle going for some water to boil the veg and pasta. Get these going as soon as possible.
2) Meanwhile, melt your butter in your remaining pan, and mix in the flour until you get a doughy mixture.
3) Gradually add small dashes of milk to your dough, mixing the entire time. You don't want dough to stick to the bottom of the pan. Keep doing this, gradually adding milk, until you get a creamy consistency like you would a carbonara sauce. Add in the cheese 'til it melts into the sauce. Hey ho - you've made a Cheese Sauce via the Roux method! Go you!
4) Okay, your sauce is ready. Your veg and pasta most probably is, too, by this point. Remember, if you can run a knife smoothly through the boiling items, it's ready to eat. Drain your veg and pasta.
5) In your largest saucepan, add the pasta, the veg and the cheese sauce altogether. Get a large oven-proof dish and pour your concoction into the dish, spreading evenly.
5) Whizz your bread in a food processor for a few seconds until you have breadcrumbs. Sprinkle these evenly over the pasta/veg/sauce mush.
6) Chuck the whole lot under your grill for 3-5 minutes until the breadcrumbs are golden.
7) Voila! Serve, enjoy, and tell your friends :)

Kirsten x

Traditional English Sunday Roast

Ahh, I feel so full.

I've just made - for the first time! - a full English Roast Chicken with all the trimmings. I don't understand why people think cooking is so hard, it's easy-peasy to make a roast! I just think people can't be bothered with all the peeling, chopping and roasting. Yeah, to be honest, it does take ages. 2 and 1/2 hours for me. That was for three people. I really don't want to bog you down with a recipe for this one, you all should know how to peel vegetables, chop 'em up and whack 'em in a pan of boiling water until you can slide a knife easily through them. (Well, if you didn't, there you go!) We had a medium-sized chicken for roasting, without giblets, so that was easy. Just pop into a deep dish, brush with vegetable oil for crispyness and cook for about an hour or so on 190C. Now Roasties, on the other hand, a lot of people don't know how to make. I'll let you in on the secret for extra-extra-crispy ones:

You will need roasting potatoes.
As many as you want, depending on how many you are serving.

Wash them. Peel them. Chop them down. Boil them. When you can slide a knife easily through one of the potatoes, they are ready to be baked. If you want them crispy, leave them another five minutes. This allows for the potato to become fluffy and break apart on the edges easily. Drain off your 'taters in a colander. Transfer to a deep oven-proof dish and completely cover in cooking oil. Use a cooking brush to really drench the potatoes. If you want, sprinkle some mixed herbs over them to give them a kick. Pop the dish in the oven. Roast for about 30 minutes or until your preferred crispyness. Done!
And here is what I made earlier:

Roast chicken with herby roast potatoes, carrot and swede mash, green beans and sage and onion stuffing. There was a boat of chicken gravy, too. Dessert comes next :)

Kirsten x