This Week: Persian Saffron Chicken & Home-made Pizza Loaf

Am a big fan of long weekends… the chance for a lie in on at least one of the days, which is not a normal occurrence on any given weekend.

I’ve been trying out some Persian recipes from my new cookery book ‘Pomegranates and Roses‘ by Ariana Bundy, and doing some experimental bread baking this last week. So here is this weeks’ meal plan with a few success stories. I’ll add recipes for the Saffron Chicken (by Ariana Bundy) and my delicious Pizza Bread in the next few days.

Saffron Chicken cooked by Elaine. Recipe by Ariana Bundy ‘Pomegranates & Roses’.

 

 

Day one – Coriander, Coconut & Lime Sea Bass (the sauce can be used for chicken or fish)
Day two – Pizza Bread; Black Olive, sun-dried Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil
Day three – Saffron Chicken with French Beans and Basmati Rice
Day four – Jacket Potato with Bolognese
Day five – Creamy Garlic Chicken Pasta Bake

Coriander, Coconut & Lime Bass

Superhero Diaper Mom… boldly goes where no man dares (plus meal plan ideas!)

“Code Red” is called quite a lot in our house when making diaper changes amusing for our two-year old boy. Adam insists on “code brown” which is probably more appropriate on reflection. An afternoon spent at home chilling today – which has become a bit of a necessity with the kids starting pre-school and infant school now. It doesn’t take much to trigger an afternoon’s meltdown born of exhaustion (and that’s just me). I remember cheering as an 18-year-old that I would never again have to get up for school – how naive I was! So the weekdays and weekends have that familiar distinction again for us, but somehow the weekend lie in hasn’t quite returned. So steering my ramblings back to food, I have noticed that enough (or not enough!) sleep, food and water to drink (especially in Singapore) have a huge role to play in keeping the kids balanced physically and emotionally. There still aren’t enough hours in the day to always keep on top of all three but I’m trying!

So this week’s meal plan…

Roasted Sea bass, vegetables with pasta in tomato and oregano sauce
Pancakes (breakfast) and, Lemon Chicken, rice and green leafy veggies
Damn tasty burgers, oven wedges followed by chocolate ice cream – it’s my birthday!
Stuffed Cannelloni with Spinach and Cottage Cheese
Chicken Nonya Curry

Move over Boys…it’s the Fabulous Baker Girl

Michelle doing what she does best…

So whilst I may not rock the red velvet dress like Michelle, I can say with some confidence that my baked baps are the bees knees!! Beautifully risen, with a crunchy crust, wonderfully fragrant and oh so delicious warm out of the oven smeared in butter and jam. Literally, scoff, scoff.

There are 3 main benefits I can think of to baking your own bread in Singapore.

Firstly, it tastes great.

Secondly it is healthier than pre-packaged sliced bread from the supermarket and you can decide what goes into it…less sugar, less preservative chemicals and so on….

Third and final it’s cheaper than buying freshly baked bread in Singapore – approximately $7-10 for a similar loaf at Chef & Baker, and similar outlets….

It took me an hour and 15 minutes prep and cooking time today to do a batch of 4 loaves, enough for the week. Eat 2 fresh, freeze 2. easy lah.

Based on a recipe from my baking bible, my recipe for Basic White Bread (click here) has been tweaked slightly to fit my store cupboard and taste…

My home-baked baps (loaves technically speaking but not so funny)

And here they are in the making…

Monkeys waiting for first ‘proving’ of the dough…

Kneading the dough ready for making into loaves and 2nd proving… that’s the last time hubby helps with the photography.                 But let’s see if my website stats improve – hah!

Voila! Freshly baked bread.