Chicken, Preserved Lemon and Pea Pasta

After 40 long days of preserving my lemon, today was the day I opened up the jar to use it in a dish I had been waiting to cook ever since. Upon opening the jar I discovered a beautiful lemon aroma like no other, as I pulled out half the lemon to use.

The actual lemon was slightly greasy, yet waxy, and the concentrated taste was so fresh and pungent. I was so pleased with the outcome and I'm now looking forward to preserving many more citrus fruits in the future! The meal was a success, measured in that everyone came back for seconds.

Unfortunately there were no chives available, so I substituted for parsley. When I make this dish again I would not use parsley as it was too overpowering. It would be best to leave the chives out, rather than add a different herb to compensate.

 Frangipani candle...nothing like some good wine and candlelight to help me get in the mood for cooking!

The preserved lemon out of the jar....

 Preserved lemon rind, diced.

Preserved lemon vs fresh lemon.

 A handful of parsley....

Served with parmesan cheese.

Serves 4 - 6

• 1/2 barbecued chicken
• 500g tagliatelle, spaghetti or fettucine
• 1 cup frozen peas 
• Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
• 1/4 cup (125ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, finely grated 
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 2 tbs chopped preserved lemon rind (white pith and flesh discarded)
• 80g pine nuts
• Chives (I had to use parsley)
• Grated parmesan, to serve

1. Shred the barbecued chicken meat, discarding the skin and bones. Set aside.
2. Cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water according to packet instructions,adding the peas for the final 2 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, add lemon juice, preserved lemon, oil and garlic to a large pan. Stir over heat for 30 seconds. Add chicken, pine nuts and wine and cook down for 2 minutes.
4. Drain the pasta and peas and add to the pan along with the parsely, tossing until well combined. Serve with parmesan.

Chinese Plum Chicken Stir Fry with Noodles (of course!)

Some might serve this dish as the Plum Chicken alone, by just adding some extra vegetables and omitting the noodles. Some might serve it with rice, and others on top the noodles.

This is my first attempt at a Plum Chicken stir fry. As you may have guessed I am going stir fry it with noodles as well (what's new?). I'm not sure whether that might be going too far, as this is quite a sweet dish, and adding the noodles may be somewhat of a 'carb overload' for some, yet I'm still going to give it a crack.

I have browsed a few different websites to come up with my own version of Plum Chicken.

Marinating chicken.

Thicker pak choy, chopped.

Thinner, leafy parts of pak choy, divided from thicker stem.

My fav chopsticks at the moment...ceramic.

Stir frying the chicken.

Pak choy with sambal oelek.

Eggs added.

Chicken added.

Rest of pak choy....almost done!

Add the noodles and sauces and mix.

4 servings noodles of your choice
1 Tbs vegetable oil (sesame oil would have been preferable)
1 large chicken breast, thinly sliced
1 bunch pak choy
3 eggs, slightly whisked
sesame seeds, to serve

Marinade
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp ginger, minced
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs sweet chilli sauce

Stir Fry Sauce
1 tsp sambal oelek
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs sweet chilli sauce
1 Tbs rice wine vinegar
1/4 - 1/2 cup Asian-style plum sauce (eg. Ayam brand)

Place chicken in a glass or ceramic bowl, add marinade ingrediants and combine well. Marinate for no less than 30 minutes. Prepare noodles as per packet directions, set aside.

Heat wok or large frying pan, fry chicken until just browned, place on a plate and set aside. Add more oil to the wok, stir fry thicker ends of pak choy with sambal oelek for 1 minute. Push to one side of the wok and add eggs. Stir to create a rough omelette.

When eggs are almost set yet slightly runny, add chicken and rest of pak choy. Stir fry for 30 seconds, then add sauces and combine. Add noodles simply to heat through, serve with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Noodles

Yep, noodles again. This recipe wasn't so much a recipe...more of a mixture of my favourite stir-fry ingredients thrown together. This was much like a Char Kway Teow crossed with a Drunken Noodles recipe:

Vegetable Oil
Sliced chicken breast
Organic Tofu
Garlic
Noodles
Eggs
Sliced onion
Sherry
Choy Sum
Soy Sauce
Fish Sauce
Kecap Manis
Pepper
Sesame Seeds, for garnish

Cream of Celery Soup

I've never tried, or even cooked, Cream of Celery Soup. Considering I'm going through a 'left-overs' phase at the moment, I thought I'd give the recipe a go. My fridge was full of unused celery.

Belief it or not, this tasted absolutely beautiful, and perfectly seasoned. Would be in my Top Five Fav Soups for sure, along with Vietnamese Beef Pho and Chinese Chicken & Corn Soup .

After 5 minutes of gentle cooking.

After adding stock, cream, milk and bay leaves.

Blended and ready to freeze.

Cream of Celery Soup

1 Tbs vegetable oil

1/2 celery head, chopped

2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 onions, chopped

700 ml vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

350 ml low-fat milk

salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Creamy tomato and tofu soup
• Cream of Leek and Potato Soup
• Irish Leek and Potato Soup
• Creamy pumpkin and thyme soup
• Autumn root vegetable soup

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1.		Melt oil in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add the celery, potatoes and onion and cook gently for 5 minutes.
2.		Pour the stock and milk  into the pan, add the bay leaves. Season. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Remove the bay leaves.
3.		Cool slightly. Using a ladle, lift the vegetables into a blender with some of the cooking liquid. Whizz to a purée, and do this in two batches.
4.		Ladle into warm bowls and grind a little more pepper over the top. Scatter with some crumbled blue cheese, if you like.
5.		Alternatively, freeze after cooling.