'Chicken breast with carrot puree over a bed of rosemary salted mash potatoes and sauteed mushrooms'

I wish I could have been in my mum's kitchen when i started this as I titled this blog 'Aunt Tam's Kitchen'.
It actually represents my mother, who is a popular figure for her hospitality in a small Asian community in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

In respect to her I dedicate this page for my passion for food that I found through my mother's cooking and would like to share some of her recipes as well as a my own personal twist to them, my dinning experiences (good or bad) and just some of the inspirations that I have to share.

Although I'm currently living in Tokyo while admiring the hi-tech world where everyone seems like they're heading somewhere important, ramen 'Egg Noodles' shops next to train stations filled with busy businessmen looking for a quick bite, super-efficient transportation, innovative restaurants and the local delicacies the country have to offer.

However, today I have been feeling a little home sick and wanting some old-English flavours that I used to dabble in mum's kitchen with my younger sister on a Sunday afternoon.




Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken Breast
• 2 White Potatoes (Peeled and chopped)
• 1 Carrot Stick (Peeled and chopped)
• 1 Handful of Mushrooms (I used button mushrooms)
• 1 Clove of Garlic (sliced)
• 1 Tbs of Salt
• 1 tsp of Pepper
• 3 pinch of dried Rosemary
• 2 pinch of dried Thyme
• 1 Stick of Curly Parsley (to garnish)
• 2 Tbs of Butter
• 2 TBS of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of milk
  

Prep Work:

• Marinate the chicken breast by rubbing a pinch of salt, pinch of thyme, a pinch of rosemary, garlic and olive oil on both side of the breast. Then wrapped the chicken with a foil/or cling Wrap (more popularly named as Glad wrap in Australia) and let it sit in the fridge for 45min - 1hour.

Let's COOK!

1. Cook potatoes and carrots under hot boiling water for 30-45 minutes until they are starchy ready for mashing.
2. Drained and separate the potatoes and carrots.
3. Mash potatoes under a pot with low heat using either a folk or a masher (if you have one), allow the a little of the starch stock to absorb the water. Add some milk, butter, a pinch of Rosemary and a pinch of salt while mashing the potatoes.
4. Place carrots in a blender and add 2 or 3 Tbs of water to help it blend into a smooth puree.
5. In a hot (oiled) pan, place the skin side of the chicken on the heat, cooking for 10 minutes @ Medium-high heat then flip the chicken over and cook the breast for 15 minutes at medium-low heat.
6. While the chicken is cooking, on a separate hot pan, throw in your mushrooms ( sprinkling some salt on it) and let it cook for 5 minutes. The volume and size of the mushrooms decrease and juices will be very visible on the pan.
7. Drizzle some olive oil on the mushrooms and let it simmer and absorb the oil and juice for a further 5 minutes @ low heat.
8. Flip the chicken over once more and place the remaining butter on the pan @ medium-low heat (til the pan and let the chicken absorb the butter while using a table spoon to bath the skin with it's oil and juices). Cook for a further 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
   

Serve it the chicken with your rosemary mashed-potatoes over puree carrots and sauteed mushrooms.

"Bonn Ape-tit"