Lemon Chicken with Lemon Sauce - Blueberry Cottage Cheese Cakes

Receita em Português AQUI

Recipe Ingredients: (feeds 4-5)

• 4 medium chicken breasts (each breast cut length ways to for two steaks)
  
• 2 lemons (one of which is to be cut in slices) *
• 2 soup spoons of butter
  
• 1 glass of white wine
  
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
  
• 2 bay leaves
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• a little olive oil
  
• parsley bunch (finely chopped)

After you made the chicken breasts into steaks, put them marinating in "vinha de alhos" roughly translates to Garlic Winery, which means you cut a couple of garlic into slithers, put them in the chicken in a bowl fill it with half white wine until it just covers the chicken, and add the juice of one lemon plus a couple of bay leaves and a little salt(these ingredients are not part of the recipes list, so these are extra), let these marinate for minimum 30 minutes best if over an hour.

Now place a pan on the stove on high, put a couple of glugs of olive oil enough to cover the bottom of the pan, once hot add the chicken steaks one by one, and turn them around as soon as they sealed, at that stages ad the remaining contents of the marinading bowl, also add the juice of one lemon, cut the remaining into slithers and throw it in also and add on as well the garlic, lemon slices, the butter, white wine, bay leaves + salt and pepper to taste, bring these to the boil, then ad a lid to the pan and reduce it to min. Let it simmer for 30 minutes, stir occasionally, and check if it does get low on liquid (it shouldn't) add a little more White wine.

*(tip this chicken will get quite zesty and lemony, if you don't want that zesty after taste (a little bitter) just remove the yellow part of the skin of the lemon before you juice it and/or cut into slices and ad it to the food. One more thing if you want the slices of lemon to remain more intact, only add these 10 minutes before it is all done)*

Now that the 30 minutes passed add a tea spoon of flour to a little water mix well than pour it in the pan as well as the parsley, swirl it around and that will form the nicest lemony wine sauce, really great, and if you not afraid of you stomach lol add a little cream (optional, for a more smooth cream).

Serve the chickens steaks on the plates top them with a little sauce, and place a slice or two of lemon from the sauce on top. Serve with that your roasted/boiled vegetables, mine were roasted potatoes, parsnips, butter steamed red cabbage, and some boiled Brussels Sprouts with garlic butter.

Recipe Ingredients: (enough for 6 ramekins)

• 300grs Cottage cheese.
  
• 150grs self raising flour
  
• 1 large egg (separate yolk to one side, white to other and beat the with to peak)
  
• 250grs blueberries (any other berries will do: strawberry, raspberry etc etc)
  
• 6 spoons of sugar (2 to one side) (4 to another side)
  
• a little water and lemon juice.
• 200ml whipping cream
  

On a little pan you put the 2 soup spoons of sugar, 2 soup spoons of water and the fruit. Take this to the stove high temp and let it start to boil, once it reaches boiling point reduce it to minimum temp, and let it simmer until the fruit is cooked about 3-4 minutes, mash it with a potato masher let it cook for a further 2-3 minutes (if it starts getting to dry add a little more water) you want a consistency of runny jam.

For the cake, in a bowl put the cheese, egg yolk, 4 soup spoons of sugar and two thirds of the fruit jam, mix this very very well, once that is done mix in the flour bit by bit fold it in, it will get quite tough and sticky, so now add the beaten egg white and fold this one in too, now you should have a more caky mixture, spoon it into ramekins (that have been previously greased and floured) up to two thirds full, them add a tea spoon of the fruit mix into the centre of the dough, now add one more soup spoon of the dough to completely cover the jam you just put in and goes in the oven at 200c for 20 minutes depending on oven so check at 15. You want a golden brown top see picture. Once cooked let it cool down a little and serve it warm topped with icing sugar a dollop of whipped cream and the remaining jam add a little lemon juice heat it up and pour a spoon over the cake and cream see picture,,,,,is delicious....have fun!!!

Mascarpone and Creme Fraiche Mousse with Blueberries

This was made when I received the day before yesterday all my family in my house for diner (they had come from Portugal) so I wanted to impress a little, and may I say with a big head I didn't disappoint them ...according to their comments.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 8 digestives
• 1 soup spoon of butter
  
• 1 pkt of mascarpone (about 200grs)
• 1 pkt of crème fraiche (about 250grs)
• 1 punnet blueberries (about 250grs)
• 4 soup spoons of sugar (+ a little extra)
• 1/2 lemon (just the juice)
• 1 lid of vanilla essence

Just put a the lemon juice the sugar and the berries in a little pan and take it to the stove medium heat, after about 3 minutes the berries start bursting (you know this as the liquid starts to gain the berries colour) squish them with a potato masher, and then let them cook for a further about 5 minutes. Set it aside ready to mix with the mousse.

Prior to making the mousse, you need to line the base of the ramekins with the digestive, so to prepare the digestive for this, in a bowl with your hands crush the digestives until they nothing but powder, then put the butter and the vanilla essence in and still with your hands mix it in until it resembles crumbs, at this stage divide them equally through the ramekins and flatten it down with the base of a glass that fits into the ramekin. They are now ready for the mousse.

On a bowl mix the mascarpone and the crème fraiche and a little sugar (about one heaped then spoon) with a whisk until a smooth paste achieved , pouring in a bit at time of the blueberries compote keep whisking and add it till all is in, than spoon them evenly to the ramekins and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes before serving and that is it.