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Tag Archives: Donna Hay
I have been on the road, traveling for work and have not had a chance to post our small but delicious round-up for this round of HHDD #35. This recipe is really simple to make and very tasty – easy for a mid-week dinner.
As well with the holidays around the corner and everyone’s busy schedules, the next round of HHDD will be announced after the Thanksgiving holiday in the states. It will be sweet!
Sally from My Custard Pie, made a vegetarian version of this recipe. Instead of chicken breasts she used yellow and red peppers and stuffed them with the rice. I loved the color of her dish – so fresh and inviting. Thanks Sally for making this veggie friendly version of a flavorful recipe.
Jan of Kitchens Heal Soul heard about HHDD from her friend Laura, after she posted another Donna recipe. She followed this recipe to a T. Her dish looks so inviting and elegant. Jan is a fan of Donna’s simple and flavorful recipes as well and she looks forward to participating every month and hopefully she can get Laura to do the same!
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We made this dish last night for dinner and the the next round of HHDD (Hay Hay it’s Donna Day). I won’t make this a long and wordy post …. you know how I love Donna Hay recipes already. Well, this dish was equally as good as all the others I have tried. Easy. Delicious. Quick. I did make some changes to the orginial recipe; used kabocha squash instead of pumpkin and I used rice vinegar instead of white. The combination of roasted chicken, squash, basil, and chilis is really fantastic, the vinegar really brought it all together by adding a little “tang”. It is the perfect one dish meal.
You still have time to make this recipe and to get your entry in for this round of HHDD! Vegetarians I would love to see your take on the recipe??? I have some ideas of my own!
Recipe
Hay Hay it’s Donna Day is back after a short but sweet summer break. The past couple weeks I have been tweeting and asking, what do you want. Sweet? Savory? Everyone came back with savory. Savory it is. I picked an easy and delicious spicy chicken dish with pumpkin. Vegetarians – let’s see your take on this recipe, maybe a little tofu or just an extra dose of pumpkin? Don’t have pumpkin available in your part of the world, maybe add some butternut squash or kabocha?
* photo courtesy of Donna Hay
Please have your entries in to me by midnight of the 31st of October. Complete rules can be found here. Please keep in mind: Participants may make that exact same recipe as is, or put their own spin on the same recipe by altering an ingredient or two, while remaining within the theme.
Recipe: Spicy Chicken, Pumpkin and Roasted Garlic Rice
- 2 x 200g chicken breast fillets, skin on
- 350g pumpkin, peeled and chopped
- 1 head garlic, cloves separated
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 2cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup torn basil leaves
- ¼ cup (60ml) white wine vinegar
- 2tablespoons olive oil, extra
Preheat oven to 220ºC (425ºF). Place the chicken, pumpkin, garlic, olive oil and chilli on a baking tray and toss to combine. Roast for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Squeeze the garlic from the skins and place in a bowl with the pumpkin, rice, basil, vinegar and extra olive oil. Mix well to combine. Slice the chicken and serve with the rice. Serves 4.
I am sure you have heard the rumor by now that Mardi of Eat. Live. Travel. Write is hosting this round of Hay Hay it’s Donna Day. I was really excited that she said she had the time as I had to beg her to get her entry in last month – sorry about that “gentle” nudge!
Mardi decided to sweeten up HHDD this month with Blackberry Cheesecake Pots. I made this recipe last Saturday – it did not last long enough to photograph it. So, I made it again on Sunday, snap some pictures and we shoveled it into our big mouths! Easy. Delicious. Basically cheesecake filling in a cup. This is one of those fall-on recipes to have when you need a quick dessert for guests. It has cream cheese, sugar, a little cream and fruit. Simple, right! I did add a little more cream cheese then the recipe called for as well I cut the sugar down a bit and added vanilla bean paste. Really lovely! Thank you Mardi for hosting this month’s HHDD and for picking a winning recipe!
What are you waiting for? Time to get cooking …
Recipe: Blackberry Cheesecake Pots
- 250g cream cheese
- ¼ cup (55g) caster (superfine) sugar
- ¼ cup (60ml) pouring (single) cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 120g fresh blackberries
Process the cream cheese, sugar, cream and vanilla in a food processor until smooth. Add half the blackberries and process until just crushed. Spoon into 4 x ½ cup-capacity (125ml) dishes and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Serve with the biscotti and the remaining blackberries. Serves 4.
Announcement
I am pleased to announce that the votes are in and our hostess for HHDD #31 will be ……. Mardi of Eat. Live. Travel. Write. Keep our eyes open as Mardi has something delicious picked out for the next round (it is sweet). She will be announcing it next week!
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I am embarrassed; this is 4 days over due. I made the rules and then I let it slip. I had a bit of a situation come up last week and it pretty much consumed all my time, that is the honest truth and all I can say is, “I am sorry!”
Being a regular reader you are definitely aware of my love for the Donna Hay cookbooks. As well you are probably aware of the event Hay Hay it’s Donna Day (HHDD), which was originally started by Barbara and then passed onto Bron. I took over the event last year and have finally brought it back to life.
I kicked off the re-birth of the event with the anniversary of the 50th issue of Donna Hay. The recipe I picked was for Chili and Kaffir Lime Beef Skewers. I had hoped for a bigger turn-out but like all good things it does take time to get the word out there. I had two exceptional entries for this month’s HHDD event and I am thrilled to tell you all about them.
What I love about these events is that people from everywhere participate which exposes us to so many new sites and talent. The first entry I received was from Zaira with La Cocina de Zaira. Zaira took the dish and put a complete spin on it by marinading the beef in a yogurt that was seasoned with salt, pepper, hot paprika and tomato paste. The beef was grilled with green and red peppers and served along side a dipping sauce who base ingredient as cola. Very creative spin on the Donna recipe.
 
Our next entry was from Mardi of Eat. Live. Travel. Write. I felt bad as I kind of pressured her to get her entry in. *smile* She had been talking about participating and I would not let her get out of it and I am glad she came through with her dish. Mardi followed the recipe almost exactly. I liked her twist as she decided to stir fry it with the addition of peppers and broccoli. She served the beef and veggies over the noodles with the spicy sauce. Her verdict was that she thought it could be a bit more spicy. I am hoping she will decide to make this dish with her students of Le Petite Chefs someday!
Thank you to both Zaira and Mardi – we appreciate you playing along in HHDD # 30! Please email me (denise@chezus.com) who your favorite entry was for HHDD #30. One lucky person will get a signed copy of Donna’s new cookbook Seasons!
I have said it over and over again, we are big Donna Hay fans. Her recipes are fresh, seasonal and very simple. For the current (and the relaunch) round of HHDD, we picked this fresh beef skewer recipe.
This is a great recipe to have on hand for those evenings when you want a good meal but don’t want to spend a lot of time making it. I had dinner on the table within 60 minutes. The combination of cool rice noodles and slightly spicy beef is fantastic. The beef is marinated in half of the dressing which was made with fresh lime juice, a little peanut oil and fresh red chilies. Making rice noodles is one of the easiest things …. put them in a bowl, pour over boiling water and let sit for 8 minutes. After they were cooked and drained well (I even patted them dry, just a little), I tossed them with kaffir leaves, cilantro, basil, snowpeas and the left over dressing. This would have been great even on it’s own; but, the caramelized grilled beef skewers were a perfect partner for the cool crisp salad. We loved this recipe!
Now, get out there, pick up the ingredients and join us in this round of HHDD (Hay Hay it’s Donna Day). Get your entries to me by midnight on the 30th of April 2010. All the delicious details can be found here.
Recipe: Chili and Kaffir Lime Beef Skewers
*photo was taken by our good friend & dinner guest, photographer extraordinaire Bryan Alberstat
I was excited when Jo picked this Donna Hay recipe for this month’s HHDD event. I have been eyeing it on and off ever since I saw the recipe. I love garlic so the fact that the recipe called for a whole head of roasted garlic did not scare me away. In fact I decided to roast the garlic in the frying pan that I intended to use while making the dish as I wanted every last drop.
The sauce is very easy as well; you cook some pancetta until golden and then stir in the roasted garlic, some heavy cream, chili flakes and fresh parsley. Despite the rich ingredients the dish was very light and very flavorful. This recipe is very easy to make and you can have dinner on the table fairly quickly once the garlic is roasted.
Warning don’t plan on a lot of kissing afterwards and no worries as the vampires will stay away for at least a full day.
Recipe: Creamy pancetta and roasted garlic pasta
- donna hay magazine issue 38
roasted garlic 2 heads of garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 180C/fan 160C/355F. Cut off the tops of the garlic heads so the cloves are just showing. Drizzle the garlic with olive oil and wrap in aluminium foil. Place on a baking tray and cook for 45 minutes or until soft. Set aside to cool slightly before peeling off the skins*. Place cloves in a bowl and mash with the back of a fork.
*The garlic will be so soft and jammy that you’ll be able to press the flesh out by gently squeezing the cloves between your fingers, or gently lift each clove out with a skewer.
Donna assures us we can make a batch of roasted garlic and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. My experience of roasted garlic is the aromatic pungency that lingers, as lovely as it is I don’t really want it to pervade my breakfast, so make sure your pre-roasted garlic is tightly sealed – unless of course you do have a problem with vampires!
400g dried or fresh pappardelle pasta
2 teaspoons olive oil
300g piece mild pancetta, chopped
1 head roasted garlic, mashed
½ teaspoon dried chili flakes
125ml pouring cream
sea salt and cracked black pepper
1 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
finely grated parmesan, to serve
Cook the pasta in a saucepan of salted, boiling water until al dente (10-12 minutes for dried or 3-5 minutes for fresh pasta). Drain and keep warm. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook for 2-3 minutes or until browned. Remove from the heat and add garlic, chili, cream, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Add the warm pasta* with the parsley and parmesan and toss to coat. Serve 4
*the heat from the pasta will thicken the sauce
Hay Hay it’s Donna Day and Jo of Have Fork Will Travel was the winner of last month’s HHDD Challenge. Jo will be our hostess for this month’s challenge and she has picked the perfect dish to help keep those Halloween Vampires away, a creamy pasta recipe. To read more about this dish and to get the recipe please visit Have Fork Will Travel.
To read learn about this Donna Hay event (HHDD) as well as a list of the rules for this challenge, please click here. The deadline for getting your entry in for this challenge is October 31st.
Looking forward to seeing your ghoulish dishes.
Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness is the hostess for this month’s Hay Hay its Donna Day and she picked a Polenta and Parmesan Chicken recipe. I have had this bookmarked for sometime, so I was very excited that Stephanie picked something savory for us.
I had all intentions of making this at the beginning of the week, when the spinach I had purchased was very fresh. By the time I got around to making it, it was Friday and we were in the middle of getting ready to head to Baltimore for a few days; the spinach had gone bad! Since the spinach was not good I used baby red butter lettuce with the fresh basil as well I added some vine ripe tomatoes we had laying around. I loved the breading of parmesan and polenta which we crusted some organic, cage-free chicken breasts with. I gently pan fried the breast in grape seed oil. Grape seed oil is great to use for frying or even quickly roasting chicken breasts, as it can handle high heat, which in turn gives the chicken a nice crispy crust and very moist flesh. We were commenting throughout the meal how plump and juicy these breasts were …. yum! Half way through the cooking process, I had this feeling I was not going to like this dish, I am not sure why, just this feeling. Pleasantly surprised when we sat down and took the first bite. The honey mustard based dressing really brought the greens and the crispy but moist chicken together, it was very flavorful. This is a wonderfully light and easy dinner to make, we had it on the table in 30 minutes. We don’t have kids but I imagine it would be very kid-friendly as well.
Stephanie, thank you for picking a great recipe and for being our hostess for this month’s HHDD! Be sure to check out Stephanie’s site for the round-up of HHDD # 28 entries, I am sure there will be some great dishes from some fantastic cooks!
Recipe: Parmesan and Polenta Chicken
2 cobs corn, husks and silks removed
olive oil for brushing
2 x 200g (7oz) chicken breasts
flour for dusting
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1/2 cup(100g/3 1/2 oz) polenta
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
100g (3 1/2 oz) baby spinach leaves
1/2 basil leaves
grated parmesan cheese, extra to serve
dressing
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons honey
sea salt and cracked black pepper
To make the dressing, place the mustard, lemon juice, garlic, oil, honey, salt & pepper in a bowl & whisk to combine. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 220 C (425 F. Brush the corn with oil, place in a baking dish & roast for 25 minutes or until golden. Slice the kernels from the corn & set aside. Slice the chicken in half horizontally, dust with the flour, dip into the egg & press into the combined parmesan & polenta to coat. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat & cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes each side or until golden & cooked through. Arrange the chicken, corn, spinach & basil on plates & spoon over the dressing & grated parmesan to serve. Serve. Eat.
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