As promised, here is the link to the biscuits my daughter nags me to bake. They are sinfully perfect for the hungers of the Scorpio Full Moon.

I post all foodie & travel stuff to my non astro blog now- here is the link to and anyways…

We haven’t had a recipe for a while, so, with the Moon in the last couple of degrees of Cancer, here is one- ideal for a Sunday evening in.

This is one of those classic recipes that you can posh up a bit by serving the chicken and sauce separately, with some fresh pasta and a salad. Naturally you would then call it L’estragon poulet. Or you can do it as we will be tonight- in bowls as a soupy thing with lots of fresh crusty bread to dunk.

I have been cooking this recipe for years. It originally came from Scottish chef, Nick Nairns’ Wild Harvest. I re-discovered this book (which used to be one of my favourites) the other day when I was searching for inspiration and a potato scone recipe. I needed to replenish my brownie point bank account with my Scottish hubby & given that I refuse to prepare haggis (and yes I have hunted one of those wee beasties down in the past) or black pudding (eeeeeuw) potato scones are the most palatable of the culinary options available to score major points quickly. If you’ve never tried one, potato scones, that is, they work a treat with smoked salmon & a drop of sour cream for brekky. As an aside, I am of the opinion that whisky was invented to allow the swallowing of the haggis…with all due respects to my Scottish readers of course, och aye.

Anyways, I now complete this recipe in the slow cooker, which gives a different, but just as satisfying result.

Ingredients

Chicken- preferably free-range. I use a combination of thighs and drumsticks. I prefer the skin off as it keeps the fat down, but keeping the skin on gives you a moister and more luxurious result.

2 tablespoons oil for frying (I use rice bran, but sunflower is fine)

50g unsalted butter

1 large Spanish (ie purple) onion, peeled and sliced into gorgeous little half moons

1 garlic clove crushed (I usually throw another couple of unpeeled cloves into the pot for a tad more flavour)

15g tarragon leaves (you will need the stalks, so don’t throw them away)

165g button mushrooms, cut in half

300ml white wine

600ml chicken stock (I always make my own and have it in the freezer. Any good commercial stock is fine, but please not powdered stocks for this recipe.)

few drops of lemon juice

salt, pepper

What you do with it:

Heat a large pan until hot & add the oil.  Fry the chicken until golden. (Note, I use the slow cooker and remove the skin, so only sear my chook). Keep aside. If you are using a slow cooker, pop the chicken in.

Heat a large saucepan or stove top friendly casserole pan. Add the butter, then garlic, onions & tarragon stalks (the ones I told you to hang onto). Cook for about 5-10 minutes until they start to colour. Add the wine & reduce the liquid by about 3/4 .

If you are finishing on the stovetop, add the chook, mushies and the stock. If it needs it, add just enough water to make sure the chicken is covered in liquid. Add a few drops of lemon juice. Bring to the boil and immediately lower the heat. Simmer gently with a lid on for an hour- skimming & stirring occasionally.

If you are finishing this in the slow cooker, do the same, but with the slow cooker & let it do its thing while you enjoy Sunday afternoon. I let it wallow for a few hours.

Remove the chicken and set aside. Increase the heat & reduce the cooking liquid by half. Remove the tarragon stalks (and any stray garlic cloves which you threw in), pop the chicken back in & add the tarragon leaves- that you have had the foresight to chop up.

Naturally if you are doing this as a soupy in the bowl with lots of juices thing, don’t stress too much over the reducing.

Plonk it in the middle of the table with mash or pasta or whatever it is you are using, and let people help themselves. Too easy.

I write this on a lazy holiday Monday here in Sydney where Spring visited early and has retreated again…as has my voice- retreated, that is.

After two days with barely a squeak, I can now at least make myself heard (albeit in a very husky 1800 type of way)…and am making up for the break in transmission. I feel like this cold has been hanging around for ever and it has been over 2 weeks since I was able to train effectively. Never the most patient of people, I am now officially Over It. Naturally, according to Scorpio hubby, it is my own fault because I didn’t stop properly when I first got it and persisted with training for the race I had entered. Whatever.

Anyways, I think the worst is past and all should all be back to normal soon.

For now, a run down of the week that was and a brief look ahead at the week to be.

On the blogs

Banishing the Banishable- a post for the New Moon in Libra

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps…and a little buyers remorse- all about Venus in Libra

Shameless Self Promotion- this years Wellbeing Astrology & where to get your copy

I’m Too Sexy For This Post- Mars in Leo…of course…and I’m pretty proud of the peacock pic

Chains- Saturn opposite Venus transits- ouchy do

And yes, there are no links to astrology.com because…well, because I have been too busy at work to actually write about work.

Looking ahead?

The big aspects today are Mars squaring off against a retrograde Jupiter and the Moon squaring Uranus. Given that it is Labour Day here in parts of Australia, perhaps the best spot is on the lounge catching up on telly (personally, I have the day set aside for last seasons East West 101 and the ironing board). Mars in Leo, though, wants to shine and wants to move. With pressure between the Moon and Uranus and then the monthly standoff against Pluto, anything can happen.

The squares continue from la Luna into Tuesday with battles against the Sun, Saturn and Venus all marking her progress through Capricorn.

The big event will be next weekend with Venus moving into the sign of her fall- deepest, darkest, kinkiest Scorpio. Bring. It. On!

Anyways, I have a Chilli Caramel Pork Belly that is demanding my attention….exotically Asian enough for the tail end Sagittarius Moon with the chilli heat just right (I hope) to get this throat and this voice happening again- a big week ahead at work.

To make this dish work well, the pork belly needs to simmer in a master stock for 3 hours, before cooling in the stock and then being refrigerated until it is firm enough to slice- preferably overnight, but I don’t plan that far in advance.

Master stock is one of those things like mother yeasts- it just keeps getting better. I keep one in the freezer for chicken and one for pork, and as long as you skim and strain it through muslin before re-freezing, topping up with water as required, the flavour continues to intensify.

The recipe, if you are interested, is below. It comes from Neil Perry’s Simply Asian, but as I am not great with following instructions, we deviate a little from the original. This sauce works well with chicken too and, I would imagine, with prawns…in fact, I am thinking a bowl of king prawns tossed in this sauce and some cold beer…next weekend maybe.

Ingredients:

500g belly pork

master stock (I keep some always in the freezer, but essentially it is 6 cups water, 1 cup light soy sauce, 1 cup shao xing, ½ cup yellow rock sugar, 1 large knob sliced ginger, 3 cloves sliced garlic, 4 star anise, 2 cinnamon sticks, 3 pieces dried tangerine peel. Boil it up and strain it out, then store in the freezer. It just keeps getting better)

vegetable oil for frying the pork

For the sauce:

1 cup palm sugar

½ cup water

8 green birds eye chillis & 4 long red chillis (both de-seeded & julienned)

2 tablespoons of ginger, julienned (that’s a posh word for slicing super fine)

¼ cup fish sauce

¼ cup lime juice

How to make it:

Simmer the pork belly in the master stock for 3 hours, skimming as required. Allow it to cool in the broth & then refrigerate overnight (if you can). Drain the pork & cut into thin strips.

For the sauce, pop the sugar and ¼ cup of water into a saucepan and simmer until the sugar dissolves and it turns to caramel. This should take about 10mins, but watch it as once it turns it goes from sugary to caramel to burned mess in the bottom of the pan super quick.

Take it off the heat and add the remaining water (1/4 cup), the julienned chilli and ginger and stir like crazy to stop it catching. Now you can add the remaining ingredients. Bring it back to the boil and then just keep warm while you deal with the pork.

The original recipe calls for the pork to be deep fried & the sauce poured over at the end. We usually stir fry it with some other veg eg capsicum, snow peas, carrot, shallots and toss in some cashews and then the sauce. This adds a lovely caramel chilli glaze to the dish. Serve with rice, beer and (depending on the heat of your chillis) tissues!