Review: Jamie Oliver's Chilli, Garlic & Rosemary Smashin' chicken fillets

So, Jamie Oliver now has an association with one of the major supermarket chains here in Australia. I have seen the various pasta sauces, pesto, relish and similar items scattered through the supermarket. I don't often buy meat at the supermarket preferring to support my local butcher. However one night it was late and I wanted something to eat so I did a spin through the meat section. To my surprise I found a number of different meat products with the Jamie Oliver name attached. I do love his recipes and I don't normally buy pre-marinated meat but they were a reduced in price due to being close to the use by date so I thought I would give them a try. I am so pleased that I did and they will be something that I will buy again. 

There is an amazing amount of flavour. The combination goes together perfectly and has a real kick from the chilli. If you don't like spicy food definitely avoid these. There was 4 pieces of chicken in the packet, two breast fillets that have been sliced in half horizontally and covered with the spice paste. I think that a family would want more than one packet which given the full price of the product would probably make an expensive meal. It was more than enough for me. I used the leftovers shredded on wraps for lunch and it was just as good cold as it was hot. The ingredients list doesn't include any additional colours or other additives which is certainly something that I am quite keen to keep to a minimum these days. 

I would highly recommend these. There are a number of different Jamie Oliver meat products available and I will definitely be trying some of the others. Given how good these are, and how much I enjoy Jamie's recipes, I can only hope that the rest of them will be just as good. 

July 2013 - Chocolate Chilli Tart

I am not going to pfaff about with what is on the inside of the front cover. There are other things to make, and I may get to those later, but to start with I just could not go past the cover recipe. I have often lamented about the glorious cover recipes with desserts on the front and wanting to make them but no one to cook for. It hasn't changed but this time around I didn't care I decided that I would just make it. I have frozen a few slices to see if that will work. I have some to go to the office and finally some to go to a friend. Although, my friend isn't keen on chilli so I am not sure how she is going to go I guess her hubby will get it all if it is too strong for her. I will suggest freezing if it has too much of a kick for her. I had thought about reducing the amount of chilli in the recipe but I really wanted to make it as it. 

Talking about that, I didn't make it completely according to the recipe as I didn't make the chilli syrup to drizzle over it. Well, that is not exactly true. I did try to make the syrup but something went horribly wrong. I wasn't really sure what it was initially. I had a jar of glucose syrup in the cupboard, which I admit, had been there a while. After I ended up with a weird lumpy mess I had a look at the jar and it was use by 1996! I knew it had been around a while but not quite that long. After tasting the tart I don't think that the syrup was really necessary anyway.

I made this recipe over two days starting with the dulce de leche ice cream that goes with this and finishing with the tart. It wasn't difficult it was just a bit time consuming. I made everything from scratch, so it added a bit to the time. I will post the ice cream recipe in a different post.

I will start out with my recipe for the dark chocolate pastry I used. I cannot get the recommended Careme pastry so I made my own.

Dark Chocolate pastry

1 1/4 c flour

1/3 c dark cocoa (I used Plaistowe from the supermarket)

1/4 c caster sugar

125 g cold butter, chopped

1 egg

1 tsp vinegar

1 - 2 tbsp water

Add flour, cocoa and sugar to Thermomix bowl (or food processor) mix 5 sec on sp 4.

Add butter 10 sec on sp 4 or until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Whisk together egg, vinegar and 1 tbsp water. Add to flour mixture, knead closed lid position for 30 sec, checking to see if further liquid required. I did add the extra 1 tbsp water.

Wrap in plastic, set aside. If hot place in fridge, if cold on the counter will be fine.

Line 23cm tart tin, place in freezer for 10 min. Remove and fill with baking paper and pie weights (or rice) and bake for 10 minutes at 180 C, then remove weights and bake for a further 10 minutes. 

Chocolate Chilli Tart

adapted from Valli Little

300 ml thickened cream

150 ml pure cream 

2 tbsp caster sugar

200 g dark chocolate, finely chopped

100 g milk chocolate, finely chopped 

Seeds of 10 cardamom pods, ground

1/2 tsp chilli powder

3 eggs, lightly beaten

Bring creams & sugar to a simmer then remove from heat and add chocolate, cardamom & chilli and stir until smooth. Cool a bit and then add eggs. Pour into tart case and bake for 20 -25 min. Cool in pan. 

I had enough chocolate custard for two ramekins and baked them too. The hit of chilli seemed stronger in them than the tart. 

Smoky Beef Chilli Con Carne

For Sylvia, hope that you enjoy this. 

Smoky Beef Chilli Con Carne 

by Katie Quinn

from Delicious magazine June 2013

2 large dried ancho chillies 

1 kg beef chuck steak, cut into 3 cm pieces 

2 tbsp plain flour, seasoned 

2 tbsp olive oil (I would use grapeseed)

1 onion, finely chopped 

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped 

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp smoked paprika 

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 

2 chipotle chillies in abodo sauce, chopped, 1 tbsp sauce reserved 

1/3 c bourbon

1 bay leaf 

1 L (4 c) beef stock 

2 red capsicums, seeds removed and chopped 

2 x 400 g cans chopped tomatoes 

2 tbsp tomato paste 

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder
425 g can black beans, rinsed and drained

425 g can red kidney beads, rinsed and drained 

Steamed rice, sour cream, grated cheese and flat leaf parsley, to serve. 

Cover ancho with boiling water and leave for 30 min, drain remove seeds and slice finely. 

Coat beef with flour and brown using 1 tbsp oil in batches, remove and set aside. 

In remaining oil cook onion and garlic until soft, add cumin, paprika, oregano, cinnamon and cayenne and cook for 1 minute. Return beef to the pan. 

Add all the remaining ingredients except for the beans. Bring to boil then simmer, with lid ajar for 2.5 hours. Add beans and simmer for a further 30 min or until thickened. Season as required and serve. 

A long list of ingredients for what is actually a fairly easy recipe. I hope to get it made one day.

Sweet Chilli Sauce

This is another Thermomix recipe. Again I made it some time ago and just haven't posted until now. I wanted to try as many sauces and pastes as I could with the Thermomix. It was so easy to make but was rather expensive. If you had your own chillies it would be fine but I had to buy chillies to make it. The long red chillies are $15/kg. I did get 3 bottles and a jar about it so I suppose that when you compare the prices when what you pay in stores then it probably isn't that expensive. It has a wonderful taste to it. A nice bit of heat but not too much. If you wanted more you could leave the seeds in more of the chillies or you could add a few birdseye chillies. It has just the right amount of sweetness as well. So far I have used it on hamburgers and included in a glaze for some pork. I will definitely make it again. I have given some away and all think it is wonderful too. 

Sweet Chilli Sauce

100 grams whole long red chillies stems trimmed
3 cloves garlic peeled
750 grams white vinegar
645 grams castor sugar
400 grams de-seeded long red chillies 

Blend chillies, garlic, sugar and 250 g vinegar on speed 8 for 20 seconds. Scrap down the sides if necessary and add remaining 500 g vinegar.

Cook 15 minutes on varoma on speed 2.

Scrape sides and then cook 40 - 45 minutes or until it has reached the consistency that you want at 100 degrees on speed 3.

Pour into hot, sterilised bottles and/or jars.