Barbecue chicken

Attempting to make an American style barbecue sauce. Not a perfect one yet, but hubby didn't mind the end result at all. It is really difficult to try something non-veg and new when one is a vegetarian!!!! Anyway here goes...

For the BBQ sauce:
1tbsp honey
1 small onion roughly chopped
3-4 cloves garlic chopped
1 Bay leaf
2-3 fresh red chilli chopped
2 tsp red chilli paste
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1-1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
8 tbsp Italian sieved tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

• Heat oil in a pan. Add the bay leaf to the hot oil and sauté for a few seconds.
• Add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté till the onions have softened.
• Next add the vinegar and keep stirring till it has cooked off.
• Add the sieved tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, honey, chilli and chilli paste, salt and pepper and cook till the sauce has thickened. 
• Cool and grind till smooth.

For the chicken:

1 kg chicken pieces (I tried with skinless thighs, but think legs or wings might be better)

• Pre-heat oven to 200C.
• Clean, score the chicken and coat with the sauce. Hold back about a tablespoon worth to coat again half way through the cooking time.
• Place on a roasting pan and cook in the oven. Half way through, turn the chicken over and coat with the remaining sauce. It will take between 35-50 minutes to cook depending on the size of the chicken pieces. The oven can be cranked up to 220C towards the end to encourage some charring.

Breakfast spinach quesadilla

1 small onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1-1/2 cups of spinach ( I used frozen, adjust equivalent fresh spinach. Remember spinach reduces to about less than half the quantity when cooked!)
1 or 2 egg whites ( enough to bind the mixture)
3 tbsp crumbled feta cheese
2 flour tortillas
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

• Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic to the hot oil and allow it to flavour the oil for a short time.
• Add the chopped onions and sauté till they are soft and translucent.
• Add the fresh and dried herbs, chilli, spinach and season to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce the salt that you add as the feta cheese is quite salty and will compensate for it. Cook the spinach uncovered and ensure the water in the spinach gets cooked out as much as possible. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
• Transfer the spinach to a bowl and mix in the egg white(s). The mixture should be such that it just drops from a spoon and should not be very runny.
• Spray or brush a pan that is large enough to hold the tortilla flat with oil and place it over low heat.
• Place a portion of the feta cheese on one half of the tortilla and allow it to melt slightly.
• Increase the heat to medium and add half the spinach and egg mixture over the feta layer. Fold the tortilla in half and allow the egg to firm up inside. Flip the tortilla and do the same to the other side.
• Cut into wedges (I found a pizza slicer does this very nicely) and server hot.

Bread with tomatoes, basil and parmesan

Caught an episode of the Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network this weekend where Ina Garten made this gratin of bread and tomatoes with basil, garlic and parmesan cheese. It looked really appetising and I thought it might be lovely even without the time in the oven. So out I went to buy the necessary ingredients and made it for breakfast this morning. I had it with a fried egg while hubby liked it better with scrambled egg. It was rather heavy for breakfast and would probably be ideal for a brunch instead. But the end result was quite good. The only problem I had was than I had to use a lot more fat that I normally do to get the bread to crisp up. I'll try it as a gratin some other time.

 A small baguette or ciabatta roll cut into bite size chunks
4-5 medium sized tomatoes cut into chunks
2-3 roasted red bell pepper chopped (optional)
2 pods of garlic chopped
Small bunch (10-12) basil leaves chopped
3 tbsp Olive oil
1tsp Butter (optional)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Chilli flakes (optional)

• Heat the oil and butter in a pan. When it is hot, add the bread pieces and allow them to crisp up on all sides.
• When the bread is toasted, add the tomatoes,  garlic, chilli flakes, salt and  pepper  and cook for 4-5 minutes until the tomatoes just start to disintegrate in the pan. The bread will soak up the liquid and soften slightly. You can also optionally add chopped roasted bell pepper if you like it. I found it needed the chilli flakes to compensate for the sweetness from the peppers.
• Take off the heat and toss with the basil and parmesan cheese (according to your taste) while still hot. Sprinkle with more parmesan before serving.

A 6 inch baguette will feed 2 people generously.