Compare and Contrast

Apricots, chicken, sour cream -  a dubious combination but apparently a popular one.  Apricot chicken is still a popular dish today, you can even buy the sauce ready made, like from this well-known brand.  That jingle is permanently burnt into my brain.  Thank you commercial TV.


This dish is very straight forward to make, half the stuff comes in a can or a tub, not tinned sausages or anything like that.  I mean stuff like apricot nectar and sour cream.  Roadtesting the AWW recipes has been a pleasant surprise, time and time again.  Albeit we have been quite conservative with our choices but c'mon do you want to eat tripe in a cream sauce? *shudder*  What I am trying to say is is that the recipe haven't really been that a(w)wful. 

Posh Nosh never fails to amuse me immensely.  If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly recommend you check it out.

Apricot Chicken (adapted from Australian Women's Weekly)
500g chicken thigh pieces
1 medium onion, finely sliced
30g butter
1/2 tablespoon cornflour
half a can of apricot nectar (405mL size)
salt, pepper
60g dried apricots, chopped in half
1 green capsicum, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sour cream

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and brown the chicken pieces.  Remove the chicken and add the onion to the saucepan.  Saute until it becomes transparent.

2. Whisk the cornflour into the apricot nectar.  Add to the pan and stir until the mixture boils.

3. Reduce the heat and add the dried apricots, chicken pieces and simmer until the chicken is nearly cooked, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the capsicum and simmer for another 5-6 minutes or until the capsicum is soft.  Stir in the sour cream, stir until the mixture is hot. 

Sausage cakes with mushroom sauce

To kick things off, I tested sausage cakes with mushroom sauce. The picture on the recipe card looks dubious, but I like sausages and I like mushrooms so it can't go too wrong, can it?

The thing I notice with these AWW recipe cards is the emphasis on crumbed deep fried goodness, meat slathered in sauce and tomatoes. This recipe meets the last two criteria.

This dish was very straightforward and turned out surprisingly well. The ultimate test though: did Princess eat it?  She originally only wanted broccoli (this is a good thing) but in the end conceded to trying the sausage cake with the promise of a candy cane. She ate it.  This recipe gets my thumbs up. 

I like how AWW recipes only require a few ingredients, and thankfully usually use fresh ingredients rather than canned goods. Is using canned and dehydrated goods cooking or convenience? The beauty of this dish is you can make it as cheap as you want. Sometimes sausages go for $4 per kg. This dish could easily come in under $5 to feed four people. Now that is awwful. 

I forgot mushrooms in this shot.

I made a few adjustments to the original recipe. I omitted onion as it's one of those things I eat only if it has been cooked till soft and mushy.I used fresh herbs because that is what I had on hand. For next time, to avoid the lumps (mmm...lumps) in the sauce, I will employ the asian cooking technique of thickening with cornstarch and water at the end of the dish.

Sausage cakes with mushroom sauce (adapted from Australian Women's Weekly)
Ingredients
For the sausage cakes
500g pork sausages
1 egg
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1 tablespoon fresh basil, rosemary and parsley, chopped finely
Butter, for browning

For the mushroom sauce
30g butter
120g mushrooms
2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped finely
1 cup + 1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon cornflour

Method
1. Take the skin off the sausages - I cut a little downward slit in the skin and then the skin can be peeled off.

2. Mix all the ingredients together for the sausage cakes i.e. pork, egg, garlic, and herbs. If the mixture doesn't bind together add in one teaspoon of cornflour. Add more flour if necessary.

3. Now you are ready to form the sausage cakes. Make sure your hands are wet to prevent sticking. Form little patties with your hands. I used a tablespoon as a rough measure. Heat the butter in a non-stick frypan and brown the cakes on both sides. I like to flip the cakes when the sides are starting to look cooked. Set aside and drain unless you like all that greasy goodness.  

4. For the mushroom sauce, first saute the mushrooms in butter. Once soft, add in the tomatoes, soy sauce, vinegar and 1 cup of water (the extra tablespoon of water is for the cornflour - see below).  Bring sauce back up to the boil, then simmer sauce for 2 or 3 minutes.

5. Final step is to mix the cornflour with about one tablespoon of water, just enough water so the flour is not lumpy. Pour cornflour mixture into the sauce while stirring. Stir constantly otherwise the dreaded lumps will appear.  Add in your sausage cakes. Bring it back up to the boil, boil for one minute, then add in the parsley.