Cookbook 197: Tonight’s Dinner

Tonight’s Dinner: Home cooking for every day by Adam Liaw was a Christmas present… in 2022 if my memory serves me correctly. At the end of last year (2023) I received a crate of mangoes as part of a fundraiser for a local school (yes I know I’m behind on updating this blog), and suddenly I needed to cook a lot of dishes with mangoes in them. So I made one of the most magical dishes ever from this cookbook, as well as two main courses. I can’t wait to tell you about the last dish, because it is going to be a thing when mangoes are cheap because OMG it was amazing and definitely a way to win at dinner parties. Five stars.

Chicken paprikash (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 50g butter, plus 25g extra for the pasta
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 green capsicum, diced
• 5 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1kg boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 10cm pieces
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp sweet paprika
• 2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
• 150g sour cream
• 500g dried orecchiette or other short pasta
• 1 tbsp finely shredded parsley
• black pepper, to serve

Method:

1. Heat a large, flameproof casserole dish over a medium heat. Add the butter, onion, and capsicum and fry for about 5 minutes until the onion has softened. Add the garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes until fragrant. Stir in the tomato paste to combine.
2. Toss the chicken in the flour and add to the pan, along with the paprika, stirring to coat the chicken in the capsicum mixture.
3. Stir in the stock and bring to a simmer, then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thickened. Stir the sour cream through.
4. While the chicken is simmering, cook the pasta according to the packet directions, but test for doneness about 2 minutes before it says it will be ready. When the pasta is al dente, drain and toss the extra butter through.
5. Serve the chicken alongside the pasta, sprinkled with the parsley and a grinding of black pepper.

Notes on this recipe:

• Yum, I have always loved paprikash and will make it when I have a recipe book that contains it as a recipe.
• Nice and simple, easy to make. I would recommend tossing the chicken in the flour using a plastic freezer bag, because it is easier to coat the chicken that way. Put the flour and chicken in the bag. Leave a lot of air in the bag so you can shake everything but twist off the top so that everything (including the air) is trapped inside, then shake.

Umami bolognase (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tbsp shio bombu or nutritional yeast (optional)
• 60ml olive oil, plus extra to finish
• 1 brown onion, finely diced
• 2 carrots, 1 grated and 1 finely diced
• 1 celery stalk, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 500g button mushrooms, finely diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp Vegemite or other yeast-extract spread
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 125ml red wine
• 1 Litre tomato passata
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• 500g dried spaghetti
• parsley leaves, to serve

Method:

1. Soak 5 of the dried shiitake mushrooms in 500ml hot water for about 15 minutes. Whey they are soaking, transfer the remaining dried shiitake to a spice grinder and grind to a powder with the shiuo kombu (if using). Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the onion, carrot and celery. Fry for about 5 minutes until fragrant, then add the garlic and fry for a further 3 minutes.
3. Remove the shiitake from the soaking liquid, reserving the liquid, dice them and add to the saucepan along with the button mushrooms. Fry for about 10 minutes until the button mushrooms have softened. Stir in the shiitake soaking liquid, tomato paste, Vegemite, soy sauce, red wine, passata, bay leaf and oregano.
4. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes until the sauce is reduced and thick. Season with salt and black pepper.
5. When the sauce is nearly ready, bring a large pot of water to the boil and salt it well. Add the spaghetti and cook according to the packet instructions, but start to test for doneness about 2 minutes before it says it will be ready. Once al dente, drain the pasta, but reserve about 60ml of the pasta water.
6. Add the drained pasta to a large frying pan, along with the reserved pasta water, an extra 3 tablespoons of olive oil and as much bolognese sauce as you like. Toss it all together and transfer to a serving platter. Serve scattered with the mushroom powder and parsley leaves.

Notes on this recipe:

• This was quite mushroomy, but very nice. The leftovers froze well and we used them another time
• Overall pretty easy. I didn’t have/couldn’t find any shio bombu or nutritional yeast, so we went without that and the dish was good. So when I make it again, I will be making it without this again.

Mango and coconut kulfi (serves 8)

Ingredients:

• 600ml thickened (whipping) cream
• 395g tin condensed milk
• 200ml coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp natural coconut extract
• large pinch of saffron threads, soaked in 2 tbsp hot water until the water is cool
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 2 mangoes, flesh pureed
• 1/2 cup pistachio kernels, coarsely crushed

Method:

1. Whip the cream to firm peaks. Add the condensed milk and continue to beat until combined
2. Remove on-third of the mixture and combine with the coconut milk and coconut extract, folding through until well combined. Transfer to a loaf tin lined with plastic wrap and freeze for about 30 minutes until slightly set.
3. While the coconut layer is freezing, fold the saffron (and soaking water) through the remaining cream mixture, along with the cardamom and pureed mango. Chill until the coconut mixture is set, then pour over the coconut layer.
4. Freeze for at least 4 hours until firmly set.
5. When ready to serve, remove the kulfi from the tin and place on a serving plate, coconut side up. Scatter with the pistachios and slice to serve.

Notes on this recipe:

• Absolutely magical. It was like eating the most decadent Weiss bar ever and was SO nice to eat on a hot day.
• The plastic layering of the loaf tin was tricky, do recommend using pegs and extra sets of hands to hold it in place.
• Refreeze any of the left-overs (if you have any) but ensure that it’s all eaten pretty quickly.