Cookbook Challenge: Caramel Popcorn [Week 4, Love]

Wow another late post. Not that I haven't made anything under the theme during the past fortnight, just that I haven't actually followed a recipe lately and I've forgotten to take a photo of whatever I have made. I attempted to make macaRONS for K仔 for Valentines Day. But having not made them in about 6 months and totally winging it I was destined to fail. Ended up with very dry and sweet sandwich flying disks. Luckily K仔 being the awesome boyfriend he is still ate them all up, giving him many sugar rushes during the day.

Which brings me to Caramel Popcorn. How does this reflect the theme? Let me set the scene. The sun is setting, the stars are coming out, sitting on a picnic rug with your boyfriend at the park, massive screen in front of you, movie is about to start and munching caramel popcorn. (Minus the mozzies constantly attacking you like there's no tomorrow)
There was one problem though, I don't have a recipe for Caramel Popcorn. Therefore I googled one.
Got this recipe off www.taste.com.au and it's actually from Super Food Ideas Magazine, August 2004.
Be warned, you'll probably be shocked at the amount of butter in this, but trust me it tastes amazing.


Caramel Popcorn

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used a popcorn machine so no oil, shocking how much fat is in this)
• 1/2 cup popping corn

• Caramel

• 125g butter, chopped
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey (I skipped this)
• 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped (Also left this out, not a fan of nuts)

Method

1. Line a tray with baking paper. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 pieces of popping corn. If corn slowly turns around in a circle then oil is hot enough. (Or use popcorn machine according to instruction manual.)
2. Add remaining popping corn. Cover with a tight-fitting lid. When corn starts popping, shake saucepan gently. Remove from heat when corn stops popping. Transfer to a large bowl, discarding any unpopped corn. (POPCORN MACHINE)
3. Make caramel: Combine butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 to 7 minutes or until sugar has dissolved. Bring mixture to the boil. Boil, uncovered, without stirring, for 5 to 8 minutes or until light golden.
4. Remove from heat. Stir in pecans. Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and stir until popcorn is coated. Spread over prepared tray. Set aside to cool. Break into pieces. Serve.

Makes 14 cups, trust me they'll disappear in no time.

YUMMY

Best night I've had for while I think. Keep in mind I have the worst memory ever so I have trouble recalling things.

Cookbook Challenge: Lemon and thyme roasted chicken with baby potatoes [Week 2, Citrus]

I substituted some of the potato part for some other vegies because variety is good. Overall this was a pretty tasty dinner except I believe I blasted the juices out of the chicken by roasting it at 200 degrees in a fan forced oven, but dinner was already running late, I couldn't care less at the time. I will work on sticking to the recipe word for word next time. It didn't take too long to prepare, just shoved everything up the chicken's backside and chucked it in the oven.

Donna Hay's Lemon and thyme roasted chicken with baby potatoes

(anything in brackets is not written in the recipe but I believe should be added)

Ingredients: 1 head of garlic, halved. 5 sprigs thyme. 1 lemon halved. 1.6kg whole chicken. 30g butter, softened. 1kg baby potatoes. 2 tbsp lemon juice. 2 tbsp olive oil. salt & pepper. 1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley leaves. 1 garlic clove crushed (it says extra but it won't make a difference if you just take one from the bulb of garlic before u shove it into the chicken). 1 tbsp finely grated lemon rind (you want to do this before you cut any lemons up for shoving into the chicken or juice).

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees (probably 20 degrees less if fan forced).

2. Place the garlic, thyme and lemon inside the chicken cavity and tie the legs together with kitchen string. (next time I think i would probably stab the lemon a few times, squash each clove of garlic and shove a bigger bunch of thyme up the chicken as the flavour didn't really come out very well)

3. Gently loosen the breast skin and push the butter underneath.

4. Place the chicken in a roasting pan with the potatoes. 

5. Place half the lemon juice half the oil and salt and pepper in a bowl and stir to combine. Spoon over chicken and roast for 1h 15mins or until chicken is cooked through the the potatoes are tender.

6. Place the parsley, extra garlic, lemon rind and the remaining lemon juice and oil in a bowl, stir to combine and potatoes to serve. (I found that this sauce wasn't really a sauce, just like a salad of parsley so I added the chicken juices and fat from the bottom of the pan into it, it was delicious!)

Roast chicken, veggies and a beer for dinner =] Should I be advocating teenage drinking? It's just one beer and I'm legal. And hey it was the night before Australia Day. Celebrate in true aussie spirit *cough cough*

The recipe is supposed to serve 4 but I bought a smaller chicken as it was just my brother and I eating dinner that night. And like we always do we ate in front of the tv. This time we watched man vs food, do NOT watch this show when you're eating, it is gross. 

Cookbook Challenge: Sweet Couscous with Apricot Compote and Honey Pistachios [Week 1, Stonefruits]

I've decided to do the Cookbook Challenge this year to try out some recipes I probably won't consider normally. And also to cook more. So pretty much the cookbook challenge is to cook something every fortnight from a cookbook that relates to the theme of the fortnight and post it. Check out http://myfoodtrail.blogspot.com/2011/01/2011-cookbook-challenge-update.html for more details.

I do have one problem with doing this challenge which is I don't have many cookbooks. My cookbook collection consists of:

1. Momofuku (18th present from my friends) 

2. Masterchef Cookbook Vol. 2 (gift from family friend)

3. The free version of Jamie Does from the Herald Sun a few months ago

4. Whatever cookbooks/magazines I have borrowed from the library at the time. (right now it is Kylie Kwong's My China)

However, I have cut out about 80% of the recipes in the Herald Sun and The Age in the past year or two and I am in the process of sorting them all into manageable catergories. The includes:

- HS Mon-Fri Daily Recipes after the comics+puzzle section

- HS Taste Liftout

- TA Epicure

- HS Weekend food section by Jamie Oliver

- TA Good Weekend food section by various chefs

- HS Sunday Donna Hay section

- HS Sunday Food section at the back near the baby+pets+wedding photos

- TA Life Karen Martini section  

I know you probably think I'm insane but that's what happens when you can't afford cookbooks.

I know this is a few days late =S Not a good start

I chose this recipe because the idea of sweet couscous was new to me, however I have never liked couscous and even after trying this I still don't like it. Also I found the combination of couscous, apricot and pistachios very weird, it really needed something else but I can't seem to think of what. But do try it, it is an interesting texture. The amount of compote made is more than enough for the couscous, now I have a takeaway container full sitting in the fridge. What to do with it?

Sweet Couscous from Jamie Does (serves 4)

Ingredients: 200g dried apricots, roughly chopped. 1 orange. 200g couscous. 550ml full fat milk. 3 tbsp runny honey. Handful of pistachios, shelled. Pinch of cinnamon (which I forgot)

Method:

1. Put apricots in a bowl with the zest from the orange and pour just enough boiling water to cover, put to one side. Once softened pour it all into a blender, add the juice of the orange and blend away. I added some honey as my apricot compote was really sour. 

2. Heat milk and 2 tbsp of honey in a saucepan.(I found that it needed more honey as the couscous didn't even turn out to be sweet). Once simmering put in couscous and stir. Let it cook for 5-7 mins. Stir occasionally and add more milk or water if it looks dry. You want to take the couscous off the heat when it still looks extremely runny as it will continue to soak up the liquid as you assemble the dish.

3. Whilst you are making the couscous toast the pistachios and don't burn them. Then add a tbsp of honey  at the end and mix. 

Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon =]