Prosciutto wrapped chicken with sage, rainbow chard and pine nuts

This recipe is just so simple and incredibly delicious. 

It is from Tobie Puttock's Cook like an Italian. 

And if this is how you cook like an Italian I am one happy girl!

The boneless chicken thigh is rolled in prosciutto with sage in the middle.

You then just pop it in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile warm some garlic and orange zest in olive oil.

Then pop in some rainbow chard or silverbeet and cook for about 5 minutes.

Next pop in your chicken and its cooking juices, orange juice and some pinenuts.

You then just allow this to cook so all the flavours meld together until the chicken is cooked through.

It really is a beautiful dish to eat and one that will frequent the dinner table in the muppy house!

Mushroom Ragu on Polenta

Well this is the first recipe I have tried from Tobie Puttocks book Cook Like An Italian  and I am very happy, it was delicious.

I love buying mushrooms at the farmers markets, they have so much flavour and the textures are perfect (nothing like what you find in the supermarket). So when we saw the recipe for mushroom ragu I knew it was a must.

You start by melting butter and cooking prosciutto (can easily be left out) with the mushrooms which are chopped into large pieces. I used a mixture of mushroom types. Once this has cooked for 5 minutes or so you put it in a bowl to rest before returning to the pan with all the juices and adding garlic and shallot. Finally add some vegetable stock and fresh oregano and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes. When serving mix through butter and parsley.

We served with a polenta and semolina mix that I cooked on the stove top for about 40 minutes, adding some parmesan and butter right at the end.

I also roasted some carrots and steamed some beans to serve.

I adore mushrooms and this is the perfect way to eat them. It was so delicious and all about the mushroom.

Tobie's Chicken cooked in milk

Another of the recipes that Tobie Puttock cooked at the Good Food and Wine Show was a chicken cooked in milk. Sounded interesting and looked delicious.

The whole chicken is seasoned and browned. Some lemon peel, garlic and sage is then added to the hot pan before putting the chicken back in and then the milk. 

The lid is put on and then it goes in to the oven to cook.

We prepared some polenta to serve with the chicken and also roasted some carrot and parsnip. Just yesterday the gorgeous Maria over at ScandiFoodie posted a recipe for roasted vegetables and so I tried her dressing of lemon and orange juice, honey, verjus and nutmeg to bake my vegetables in.

What a delicious meal, in fact my daughter declared it was the best dinner ever! The chicken was soft and tasty, the polenta was really tasty. But to be honest the vegetables were the star. They were so delicious with their sweet coating.

Some great recipes, I am looking forward to trying some of them out.

Tobie's Apple Strudel

On the weekend we went to the Good Food and Wine Show and were fortunate enough to see Tobie Puttock cook in the celebrity theatre. He is such an inspiring chef, and shares similar passions to me in regards to using fresh local organic produce.

 He demonstrated three dishes and I do plan to try them all! Last night I made his apple strudel.

We bought Tobie's book Cook Like an Italian

For the strudel you knead a dough from flour, egg, olive oil and water to make it smooth and elastic.

The apples are prepared with some almonds, raisins (i left these out), almonds, cinnamon, sugar and lemon juice.

The dough is then rolled out and stretched using the back of your hand until it is almost see through.

The apples and dough are sprinkled with bread crumbs before you roll it up. Tobie used this interesting method where he didn't actually touch the dough but used a table cloth to roll it up, by picking up the cloth he gently forced the strudel to roll over itself. I recruited my husband to help as he was able to see what Tobie was doing better then me. 

The strudel is covered with an egg wash and baked.

It was delicious. The pastry tasted very familiar when I tasted it, reminded of something similar I have eaten in the past. It was kind of chewy but not in a bad way. It works perfectly with the apple filling. 

We served with some homemade vanilla custard, yum!

My daughter enjoyed herself, especially as her Uncle was there to spoil her!