Chicken with Creamy Bacon Mushroom Thyme Sauce

I did this without the bacon as I was doing bacon wrapped green beans - very tasty

·         4 chicken thighs or breasts

·         1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·         salt and pepper

·         1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning (dried thyme, oregano)

Mushroom sauce

·         6 oz white mushrooms

·         5 slices bacon, cooked, chopped

·         1 cup heavy cream

·         1/8 teaspoon salt

·         5 sprigs snipped fresh thyme

1.      Preheat oven to 350 F.

2.      Season both sides of chicken thighs generously with salt and pepper and Italian herb seasoning mix (usually a combination of dried thyme, oregano and other herbs). Heat vegetable oil on medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add chicken thighs skin-side down. Cook for about 5 minutes, on the skin side until nicely browned.

3.      Transfer chicken thighs, skin side up, to the foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes or until chicken thighs are completely cooked through and no longer pink in the center. Breasts may take longer depending on their thickness.

4.      In the mean time, make the mushrooms sauce:

5.      Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms (without salting - to ensure the mushrooms get caramelized) and cook on medium heat for about 3 minutes flipping once.

6.      Add chopped cooked bacon to the skillet.

7.      Add heavy creamy, 1/8 teaspoon salt and snipped fresh thyme, bring to boil, stir, immediately reduce to simmer and simmer for about 2 minutes on very low heat for flavors to blend and sauce to reduce a bit. Taste and add more salt if needed.

8.      When chicken is done baking and chicken thighs are completely cooked through, add cooked chicken thighs to the skillet and spoon the sauce and the mushrooms on top of chicken thighs.

Apple Sponge Pudding with Custard Ice Cream

This was lovely with home made Custard Powder Ice Cream; I used a mix of cooking and eating apples and this amount served 4.

4 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
4 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
70g self-raising flour

4 tbsp water
1 tsp mixed spice

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4 and grease a 1.5-litre baking dish. Place the apples in a pan with 2 tbsp of the sugar and the water. Cover and cook, stirring now and then, for 8 minutes until the apple breaks down. Spoon into your dish, leaving the excess liquid in the pan. 

2. Beat the eggs with the remaining sugar until fluffy. Sift in the flour and spice and fold in. Pour the batter over the apple and bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean from the sponge. Dust with icing sugar and serve hot with ice cream or custard.

For the Custard Ice Cream
2 1/2 cups milk

1 tbsp vanilla flavoured custard powder

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup  fresh cream

Dissolve the custard powder and sugar in ½ cup cold milk and keep aside.

In a non-stick pan bring the milk to a boil.

Add the custard powder mixture and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes till the custard is thick. 

Strain the mixture if it appears lumpy.

Cool completely, add the cream and mix well.

Pour into an ice cream maker and beat for 20 minutes

Transfer into a shallow container. Cover and freeze till firm.

Stuffed Pork Chops

Found this recipe on Facebook and it was delicious - did a plain one for Ricky

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ tablespoons garlic powder
¼ cup chives, chopped or 4 spring onions
½  cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
4 strips cooked streaky bacon, crumbled
4 boneless pork chops
Salt
Pepper
1 cups flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons oil

Preheat oven to Gas 5 / Fan 160.

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, pepper, garlic powder, chives, mozzarella and bacon, stirring until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.

Season all sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper. Carefully cut a pocket through the side of the pork chop in order to create a cavity. Stuff the cavity with a generous spoonful of the cream cheese mixture and press around the edges of the pork to seal it in. Repeat with the remaining pork chops.

Dip the stuffed pork chops in the flour, shaking off excess, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Repeat with the remaining pork chops.

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Fry the pork chops for about 4-5 minutes, then flip. Remove from heat and bake for 20 minutes, until cheese is bubbly starting to brown. Serve!