Capsicum Pesto BBQ Chicken Pizza with Caramelized Onions

Time once again for Taste & Create. Past time actually, this post was due by last night, but my ankle was playing up from an injury from ten years ago, and we ended up having Hungry Jacks for dinner instead. Which was not nearly as nice as this pizza from My Year on the Grill.

Mmmm, rustic!

We used my most recent regular pizza dough, instead of his recipe, and I didn't use bbq sauce on the chopped chicken, but other than that I followed his steps. Oh, and I had pine nuts in the pantry already, so I used them in the pesto and I subbed one of the 'peppers' for a package of fire roasted capsicum strips, to give it a slightly more depth. And I forgot to get tomatoes, so I added some baby spinach leaves under the cheese.

I made mine pretty much upside down, both from how I would usually make a pizza, and from what is written on My Year on the Grill, but he did mention that the pesto could go top or bottom, and putting it on the top would have changed the flavour of the pesto. My pesto had a very sharp flavour from the garlic, so I thought I'd put it on the top. Here are my assembly photos - I didn't take a photo of the onions by themselves, as dark onions in a black pan wouldn't have photographed well. Plus, I forgot. ;)

Just spinach


Add a little tasty cheese


Some shredded roast chicken


Those crazy onions (so sweet!)


The capsicum pesto layer


A touch more cheese because I can't help myself

I even had leftover chicken and pesto, so I mixed the two together and froze them for a pasta sauce someday down the track. (The chicken will be fine as long as I thaw it properly and cook it through again)

This pizza was nice, though I'm not sure if I'd make it again. Miss Four reaffirmed my position as "The Best Cooker Ever" but it was far too sweet for my liking. The sugar on the onions is probably what tipped the scales for me. Still, if you want a gourmet pizza, that passes muster by children, this'll do it. Plus, you know, the vegie thing!

Go and visit My Year on the Grill, he has some crazy awesome recipes, especially these Cashew Butter Truffles that would have been this Taste & Create entry, only I knew if I made them, I'd eat the whole batch myself.

Argentine Beef Stroganoff Alfredo Risotto

Just something I whipped up as I went along. Ended up being quite tasty.

Argentine Beef Stroganoff Alfredo Risotto
1/2 cup butter
2 raw argentine hamburger patties
130g fire roasted capsicum strips
1 1/2 cup aborio rice
1 pkt Xtra Full Beef Stroganoff Cup-a-soup
1 pkt Alfredo pasta and sauce
1 carrot, diced
1 cup frozen corn kernels
as much boiling water as needed, one kettleful will do

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Put the patties in the pan, over high heat, breaking up with a wooden spoon while browning. Add the capsicum, and the rice. Fry until the rice is toasty and golden. Throw in the soup mix, the carrot, and the contents of the pasta packet. Pour in boiling water, enough to cover everything in the pot, and cook on a low simmer until absorbed. Keep adding, and cooking off, water until the rice is tender. Throw in the corn and cook for a minute or two more, just to defrost the corn.

Serve with a sprinkle of grated cheese, and a grind of freshly cracked pepper.

It got the blurry stamp of approval!

Antipasto Mac n Cheese

This is very loosely based on a pasta bake recipe from Taste.com.au. I've made this before, as the original incarnation - learning from this experience, this time I used regular pasta, and just doubled the amount I'd use to feed my family. (Which is a full pack per meal!) This recipe will make 2 pasta bakes, or one pasta bake, and 4 1/2 bowls of pasta. (I couldn't be bothered with the bake bit tonight lol)

Antipasto Mac n Cheese
1kg pasta
120g butter
1/2 cup plain flour
4 cups milk
3 cups grated cheddar cheese
250g rindless bacon, diced
250g fire roasted capsicum
1 stick celery, sliced thinly
150g semi dried tomato strips, drained
100g baby spinach
3 tsp mustard

Preheat oven to 180°C. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water, following packet directions until tender.

Meanwhile, fry bacon and celery in a saucepan, until golden. Add the capsicum and tomato strips and stir for a few more minutes. Put into a covered bowl and set aside.

Melt butter in the same saucepan over medium heat. When foaming, add flour. Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Add half the milk SLOWLY while whisking until smooth. Add remaining milk and whisk to combine. Return pan to high heat. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 3 minutes or until sauce comes to the boil and thickens. (it's probably longer because there is more sauce) Remove from heat.

Stir in 2 cups cheese and mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Tip in bacon mixture. If mixture has liquid pooling in the bottom of the bowl, strain that off first. Mix gently through the sauce, then fold in spinach. The heat will wilt down the spinach, so just be patient with it.

Drain pasta and return to pot. Add sauce. Stir to combine. Spoon into 2 7-cup capacity baking dishes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden. Serve.

Uncooked (or cooked) pasta bakes can be frozen in a baking dish if covered. Allow to defrost thoroughly before cooking as directed.

Mt kids are such foodies. Here is Master One picking out his semi dried tomatoes, so he can eat them first!

Traffic Light Pork Kebobs

I caught a lucky break today with mark downs and clearance items. I got enough pork for two meals for the price of half what one would normally cost, plus a heap of discounted 'packaged' things, that I wouldn't normally buy, like pre-chopped stir fry vegetables, and a tricolour pack of capsicums. We haven't had kebobs in what feels like forever, so Miss Three and I put these together. Red, Orange and Green Capsicum chunks, alternating with onion and diced pork, and then basted with sweet and sour sauce (discounted to 99 cents! Another bargain)

Master Five informed me they weren't really traffic lights though, because it had other colours because of the pork and onion. Next time he's getting sauteed capsicum strips dumped on his bed of rice. Although I'm sure then I'll get complaints about their shape!

Miss Three thought they were tasty. So did Master Five actually, as long as I didn't call them that "wrong" name.

Don't forget to think (and cook!) pink for the Virtual Night In, raising money and awareness for Breast Cancer Research.

Beef, Pepper and Mushroom Casserole

This made the house smell like pizza all day. I was tempted to add tomato paste and some pineapple. lol
Adapted from "Margaret Fulton's Book of Family Meals"

1kg braising steak, roughly cubed
3 tbsp flour
salt & pepper
3 tbsp oil
3 onions, chopped
1 large green capsicum, deseeded and chopped
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine
150g button mushrooms, quartered

Mix the seasonings with the flour. Of course, you could really use any seasonings you want, but don't go overboard, or you'll drown out the other flavours. Coat the meat pieces in flour. Heat oil in a frypan, and quickly brown meat on all sides, frying in small batches. Place meat in slow cooker, and turn slow cooker on low. (I always turn my slow cooker on once I've started putting ingredients in, to keep them warm while I do the rest of the prep)

Fry capsicum and onion in leftover oil. Add to slow cooker. Dry fry mushrooms to add a little colour if you like, or can be bothered. Otherwise just add straight to slow cooker. Mix stock and wine together. This may be too much liquid, I'll let you know once it's finished cooking ;). You of course can use any combination of stock and wine measures to make up 2 1/2 cups, I used 1 1/2 cups of stock because that is the smallest size my stock comes in. (I use alcohol removed wine for cooking btw, just in case you thought I was trying to make Master 4 a booze hound!)Use your liquid to deglaze the frypan, by added slowly at high heat. Once it is all in the pan, add any remaining flour and cook for a minute. Pour all this lovely gravy into the slow cooker, and put the lid on. Leave for as long as you usually leave a casserole on low, or turn it up to high, and leave it as long as you would on that. It's up to you really. I'm not a recipe nazi. After all, if it doesn't work, it's your family who has to eat it! ;)

This was nice, but not anything special. We arrived home from shopping five minutes before our regular dinner time, so I threw some two minutes noodles in with it. I don't recommend doing that btw. Take the extra 10 minutes to microwave some potatoes please.