Chicken Rogan Josh, with Mashed Potato - How Very English!

Lunch today was another delicious meal cooked by Mr.R.
A seriously tasty chicken Rogan Josh, served with sweet potato mash; with lots of lovely creme fraiche, cabbage, carrots, and an aubergine, onion, and garlic concoction.

See, I can keep it short. Unlike the blog post I uploaded a little while ago (the post before this post), which was also a food post. Chicken, in fact.

That just goes to show you can't judge by first impressions, or you can, but maybe you'll misinterpret the facts.

We do not eat a lot of chicken. We do not eat a lot of meat. Actually a lot of our meals contain no meat at all, not that we're vegetarians, or vegans, we just like to have variety in our diet - it's the spice of life.

Spice! That's one thing we do eat a lot of.

Oops, I'm starting to rambling, and now as is pretty evident, this is no longer the first two sentences that I originally intended to write.
I'd written them in my head, and honestly thought I'd sit down type them, add the photo and that would be it. That would be the shortest blog post I've ever written. Ha!
Oh well, this is still pretty short, and it is probably the shortest one ever anyway.
Unless of course, I just keep typing.......
Arghhh!
I'm finished!
Other than to ask -
Do you eat a lot of chicken? Or any other meat?
What about spicy food, do you love it?
What's your favourite chicken dish? 
And finally, have you ever eaten chicken Rogan Josh with mashed potato? ;)

Tugg Plus Dental Chew Bone - Review

This morning when I got up Mr.R was busy in the kitchen baking some tasty treats for Barley, our wonderful Lurcher.
We usually give homemade treats to Barley, but occasionally he gets a shop bought dog treat as well.
Mr.R likes to make treats for Barley because a lot of the shop bought one are full of bad ingredients, it's usually only me that buys pre-made dog treats; because I like spoiling him - despite knowing deep-down that shop bought treats are never as good as home-made.

When we visited the Quayside Sunday Market in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne a couple of weeks ago I'd purchased him a dog bone from one of the stalls.
The young lady working on the market stall said the treat, called Tugg Plus Dental Chew Bone, was from a company called Husse, and that it was made using all natural ingredients, made with chicken and green tea, and would be good for his teeth, so I thought I'd give it a try. Or rather, Barley would enjoy trying it.

From the label -
Dental chew bone with green tea. 100% digestible & natural. 
Contributes to healthy teeth and gums. Eliminates pigment deposits on teeth, removes plaque, reduces tartar build-up and massages gums. Contains antioxidants.
INGREDIENTS: chicken, corn flour, bone collagen, green tea, multi-vitamins, sodium carbonate, potassium sorbate.
Guaranteed analysis: crude protein 10%, crude fat 2.5%, crude fiber 2.5%, crude ash 2.5%, moisture 10%. 

I'd forgotten that I'd bought the Tugg Plus treat until this morning; it was Mr.R baking dog treats that reminded me, and as the treats were still in the oven and would be too hot for Barley to eat for quite a while, I opened up the dental chew bone.

I couldn't smell any particular aromas, but Barley was very interested in the bone, so I guess it must have smelt good to him.
Barley took the Tugg Plus Dental Chew Bone outside and eagerly began gnawing one end of it.
It didn't take long before small pieces of the bone were breaking off and Barley was scoffing them, in fact the bone only lasted about 5 minutes, which considering it cost a fiver, well, £4.95 to be exact, I had hoped it would last for a while.

Five pound for a five minute chew!
Oh well, Barley didn't seem to care that the chew bone didn't last for long at all, he seemed to enjoy the taste.
And as yet he hasn't pooped all over the place - too much information maybe, but he has a quite a sensitive stomach, and it's not unusual for dog treats to give him diarrhea. Hopefully as this dog chew bone is 'all natural' it won't have any nasty side effects.

As I said, Barley did enjoy chewing the chicken and green tea Tugg Plus Dental Chew Bone, but I doubt I'd buy it ever again - five quid for a five minute chew - it could develop into a very expensive habit. Hahaha!
Also having read the ingredients to copy them for this blog post, I wouldn't have bought this chew bone if I'd had my reading glasses with me at the market; despite it being marketed as 'all natural' there are still a couple of ingredients in it that I would prefer not to give to Barley.
Has your dog tried the Tugg Plus Dental Chew Bone?
Did they enjoy it?

Chicken and Leek Pie Recipe

My memory is not good, which no doubt explains why I decided to cook lunch for us. 

Quite how I forgot I don't like cooking is a mystery. 

Anyway, I'd been fancying pie for a couple of days, so I made one. 

I chose to make a chicken and leek pie. 

As I've said before I don't really bother following recipes exactly, but here's the recipe I used - roughly. 

Ingredients 

For the Pie Filling ~

3 Large Chicken Breasts

3 Leeks

4 Onions

5 Cloves of Garlic

Mushrooms, I used just one huge field mushroom, chopped in to tiny pieces 

Ingredients

For the White Sauce ~

Butter, lots ;) I know that's not all that helpful, but just use as much as you like, it's what I do

Flour, not a lot :) 

Milk, as much as needed to produce a thick, but not too thick, white sauce

Ingredients 

For the Pastry ~

4oz, 125g Plain Flour 

2oz, 55g Butter

Pinch of Salt

Cold Water, the amount will depend on many things, so just add a dessert spoon at a time

Method 

For the Pie Filling ~ 

1. Chop onions and garlic, and sauté until soft

2. Slice the leeks, sauté until soft

3. Dice the chicken breasts in to bite size pieces

4. Sauté the chicken until all sides of the pieces are sealed, it will be raw in the middle, but will cook through once it's in the oven and will be nice and moist

Method 

For the white sauce ~

1. Melt butter in a saucepan

2. Add small amounts of plain flour to the melted butter and stir until it forms a roux

3. Keep the roux moving for a couple of minutes until it's cooked

4. Slowly add milk, while constantly whisking

5. By this stage you should have a lovely lump-free white sauce

6. Simmer the sauce on a low heat for a few minutes

Now it's time to combine the white sauce with the pie filling; chicken, leeks, onions, garlic, and mushrooms. 

Once it's all mixed thoroughly, transfer it to a greased ovenproof dish, and set aside while you make the pastry. 

Now for the pastry, which is seriously easy, and it's the quickest part of this recipe.

Method

For the Pastry ~

1. Weigh 4oz of plain flour

2. Then add 2oz of butter

3. Add a pinch of salt

I used the bowl of the scales as my mixing bowl

4. Chop the butter in to small pieces 

5. Add the butter to the plain flour

6. Use your fingers to gently rub the butter in to the flour, try to work quite quickly so it doesn't become too greasy

7. When the flour and butter resemble breadcrumbs, and there's no large lumps of butter visible, it's done

8. Gradually add dessert spoons of cold water, just enough to bind the dough 

9. Wrap the dough in cling-film and chill for 10-15 minutes before using 

I didn't bother to chill my pastry, I used it as soon as I'd made it

10. Flour a work surface

11. Place the dough on floured work surface, and squash flat with your hand

12. Sprinkle dough with flour, and start rolling flat

13. When the pastry is large enough to cover the dish you intend to cook your pie in, stop rolling

14. Top pie with pastry, crimping the edges with your fingers to form a perfect seal around the edges of the dish

15. Brush the pie with milk, olive oil, a beaten egg, of whatever you fancy

16. Cook at 180c for about 35-45 minutes 

17. Serve, and enjoy! :)

Using white wine, and a good home-made stock instead of the white sauce also makes a tasty pie. That's what I usually do, but this time I fancied a creamier filling. 

Alternatively you can use yogurt, or cream in the filling. 

That's the good thing about pies, you can make them in so many different ways. Oh, and the taste, that's anther good thing about pies - the taste, they're seriously delicious! 

I served our chicken and leek pie with steamed potatoes, Brussels sprout, broccoli, carrots, and peas. 

Well, that's what we had the first day. The pie was massive, so it lasted for more than just the one meal. We also ate it with rice and plum tomatoes another day, and, oh so many other meals...........

Despite my lack of love for cooking, my chicken and leek pie was successful, Mr.R enjoyed it, and no doubt he enjoyed the novelty of not having to cook for us. 

Now, if only I could remember that I don't like cooking, and stay out of the kitchen. 

The nest time I fancy a pie, to anything else I'll ask Mr.R to make it. He won't mind, he enjoys cooking, which is good because he cooks for us every day, often several times a day. 

As I always say the kitchen is no place for a woman - especially not me. ;) 

What's your favourite pie?

Savoury or sweet?