One-pot Thai chicken noodle soup

Mostly courtesy of Carlsbad Cravings. Do be careful with the spice. It is very nice, though - very recommend.

Ingredients:
500g chicken fillet, sliced to make very thin fillets
2-3 onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
2-4 tbsp Thai red curry paste (to taste)
2cm piece fresh ginger, minced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
2 chillies, minced (optional)
1l chicken stock
2 400ml tins coconut milk
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
5-6 lime leaves
1 tsp basil or Provencal mix
Pepper to taste
250 g mushrooms, sliced
2 red peppers, sliced
150 g rice noodles, broken up into manageable pieces
handful roughly chopped coriander, plus extra to serve
juice of 2-3 limes, plus extra to serve

Brown the chicken in a big soup pot and then remove and put on a plate. Add in the onions and carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the curry paste, ginger, garlic and chilli and cook for 2-3 minutes. Return the chicken to the pot, then add the stock, coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, lime leaves, basil and pepper. Bring to the boil then simmer for around 15 minutes or until the chicken is tender enough to shred. Remove the chicken from the pot and leave to cool until it can be shredded. In the meantime, add the mushrooms and peppers, bring to the boil again, add the (uncooked) noodles to the pot and simmer for around 4 minutes. Add the chicken, coriander and lime juice. Mix and serve with bread and wine on the side.

Pepper steak pie

A lovely South African specialty. I've adapted a couple of other recipes I found online, and added some of my own ideas. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

1kg stewing beef, diced (I used rump meat)
1/2 cup or so flour seasoned with salt, pepper and cayenne
1-2 red peppers, chopped small
2-3 onions, chopped small
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 chillies or to taste (everything is better with chilli)
Splash or 3 of brandy
1 1/2 cups beer (ale is good, but lager works as well)
1 cup beef/chicken stock
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
Finely chopped thyme to taste (but around 1 tbsp)
1-2 tbsp freshly ground peppercorns (or to taste)

500-800 g pre-made puff pastry (or make your own)
flour
1 egg, beaten
1 round pie dish, around 25 cm or so in diameter usually works

Coat the beef in the flour mixture. Brown in a large pot (cast-iron works best), then add in the onions, garlic, chillies, and red peppers. Add the brandy to deglaze the pot, then add the beer, stock, tomatoes, thyme and pepper. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 60-90 minutes or until the meat is good and tender (depends on the cut of meat you've using, really). If necessary, add more liquid (stock works, although you could sacrifice some beer). Also if necessary, add in corn starch or flour to soak up excess liquid. You need to keep an eye on the filling in any event.

While this is cooking, heat your oven to 180 or so and roll out the pastry. It's up to you whether you want both a bottom layer and a lid, but the lid is kind of essential, so if you're lacking pastry, make sure you have enough for the lid. In any event, grease the pie dish, add a layer of pastry to the pie (if desired), then, once the filling is ready, add in the filling. Don't overfill the pie, though. Brush the edge of the lid with the beaten egg, put the lid on top, and seal the pastry around the edges. Brush the remainder of the egg over the top of the pie. Cut a cross in the middle of the pie to allow steam to escape.

Shove it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Serve and enjoy.

Top tip: the filling can be frozen, so if you don't use it all, shove in the freezer for later.

Peri-peri chicken

Last night's dinner, with small changes. The original source can be found here.

Should serve 4 people

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
700g of potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt
Thyme (dried or fresh)
2 or 3 onions, sliced thickly
For the peri-peri sauce:
3 or so tsp chilli paste
1-2 tsp harissa paste
1 or 2 fresh chillis (bird's eye if you can get them)
1 tsp dried chilli (or to taste)
2 tbsp smoked paprika
5 cloves garlic
2 cm ginger
1/4 cup wine vinegar (white or red, but I used white)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
Juice from 1 lemon
Limes to serve (optional)

Heat the oven to 200. Soak the potatoes in cool salted water until needed. Cut along both sides of  the spine of the chicken using a sharp knife or scissors to remove it, then press flat. Rinse and dry the chicken (probably not needed, but it seemed to work). Throw all the ingredients for the sauce into a blender. Once it's ready, taste to see if you need more chilli (the answer is probably yes). Remove the potatoes from the water and pat dry.

Take a fairly deep roasting pan, oil it, and spread a layer of sauce on the bottom. Put the potatoes in the bottom, season with salt, pepper and thyme, add the onions on top of the potatoes, then use about half of the remaining peri-peri to cover the chicken all over, inside and out, then place it skin down on top of the potatoes and put in the oven for 15 minutes. Then, flip the chicken over (skin up), cover it again with half the peri-peri, and put back in the oven for 15 minutes. Finally, brush the last bit of peri-peri over the chicken and return to the oven for 20 minutes, or until the juice flows clear when you pierce the thigh (when it's ready). When it's ready, remove the chicken from the oven and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes. While it's doing this, put the potatoes back into the oven to cook for another 10 minutes or so.

Very nice, very recommend.