Almonds, Bowling, Chicken in Foil.

Churchill nailed it when he said "two nations divided by a common language". I posted a recipe for salmon last week which called for slivered almonds so I used slivered almonds and they burned. I then ran out and asked Matt to get me some more when he shopped. I got slivered almonds but to me they were chopped. I checked it out and what I call slivered almonds are actually what North Americans call sliced almonds so maybe this is why the almonds got burned. I now will have to remember what name to use. The one's on the left are American slivered, and on the right American sliced or what I mean when I say slivered. After all this, I still need some sliced almonds anyway. I keep nuts in the freezer. They last forever.

Whoopee, I actually had a really good game on Wednesday bowling league for a change. So often it I only bow well on Thursdays lately. But today I did well. Our team is still in 3rd place though. We don't seem to be able to pull up any higher.

Wednesday night I kind of amalgamated a bunch of recipes I have been getting lately. The idea was cooking in foil which always appeals, less cleanup. What I did was peel and slice a large carrot, sprinkling it over the bottom of each piece of foil, then some sliced onion, and some tiny peas. Everything was seasoned. I also added the zest of a lemon to the packets. I then took a chicken breast for each of us which I slathered with a mixture of Dijon mustard, olive oil and salt covering both sides. After that I placed lemon slices on top of the chicken and closed up the packets. I cooked them in a 375°F oven for 25 minutes. Not long enough. I think 35 would have been better. I had to microwave them to finish them off as the chicken was quite pink. However, the end result was delicious. Me being me, I forgot to take a picture. This kind of looks similar.

I could make a mess of these brownies right now. I have really gone overboard for the salted chocolate salted caramel stuff going the rounds at the moment, I think it is delicious. There are a lot more recipes where this came from.

Salted Caramel Brownies

Take indulgent, fudgy chocolate brownies to the next level with a layer of salted caramel running through the centre of each bite


BBC Good Food Show

Makes 16 larger or 32 bite-sized brownies

Ingredients

200g (7 oz) unsalted butter, plus a little extra for greasing
100g (3 1/2 oz) chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
100g (3 1/2 oz) chocolate, 50% cocoa solids
397g (14 oz) can Carnation caramel
1 tsp flaky sea salt, plus a little extra for the top
200g (7 oz) golden caster sugar (just regular sugar for us)
4 medium eggs, at room temperature
130g (4 1/2 oz) plain flour
50g (1.8 oz) cocoa powder

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease then line a 23cm square tray/bake tin with baking parchment. Melt the butter in a medium pan, break in all the chocolate, then remove the pan from the
heat and wait for the cubes to melt.
2. In a small bowl, mix 175g of the caramel with 1 tsp sea salt – it will loosen up. Put the rest of the caramel in a large bowl with the sugar and eggs, and beat with an electric hand mixer or balloon whisk until even.
3. Whisk in the chocolate and butter. In another bowl, combine the flour, cocoa and a good pinch of table salt, then sift this on top of the chocolate mix. Beat briefly until smooth.


Have a great day
 

Pork Chop

As I have nothing much to write about today, I am just going to post the other recipe we picked up from the local paper yesterday. We spent the morning shopping as Thursday is our usual day and bought some fish, halibut and arctic char. The char we are going to eat tonight, it is probably one of my favourite fish. So here's the pork recipe for you.

Almond-Crusted Pork with Quick Cabbage & Pears

1 (2 oz) bag ground almonds or 2/3 cup chopped whole natural almonds 1 tsp fresh thyme 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper 4 boneless pork chops (about 1 1/2 lbs in total) 4 Tbs almond or canola oil 2 Anjou pears, cored and sliced 1 cup shredded red cabbage or radiccio 1/4 cup chicken broth, white wine or water 1 Preheat oven to 350 F. 2 Combine almonds with thyme, salt and pepper in a shallow pan or bowl. Roll each pork chop in crumb mixture, coating all over. Heat oil in a large skillet and add pork chops; fry on medium heat 5 mins without touching. Turn, using tongs instead of a spatula to avoid splattering oil. Cook for 5 mins more or until golden brown. 3 Transfer to a lined baking sheet and place in oven to finish cooking, 20 to 20 mins depending on thickness. Juices should run clear and no pink should remain. 4 Scrape brown bits from skillet and discard. Add pear slices and brown on medium heat. Lower heat to medium-low and add cabbage and chosen liquid. Cover and cook until cabbage wilts and pork chops are done. Sever chops on top of cabbage and pears. Servings: 4 Source: Live It

Have a great day.