Time to confess

Right, so we're up to 'j' in the #abcmeals challenge. I had Jaffas in my head all week, and then couldn't find any. I even considered going to the cinema in search of them, that's how desperate I was. My plan was to crush some up to put in the Jaffa Cake batter, but because of their scarcity we ended up substituting Darrell Lea 'Chocolate Orange Balls', which weren't red like Jaffas, were larger than Jaffas, but still tasted pretty much the same. I wasn't going to tell you they weren't actually Jaffas, but in the interests of full public disclosure, and because maybe you're a Jaffaholic and you have stashed them all at your house and you noticed in the picture that they didn't look right, I thought I'd better come clean!  If you're hiding all the Jaffas, please send me a pack - express post, please!

Anyway, what else did I rustle up?  Well, Jatz crackers of course.  With a throwback to their heady days in the 70's I came up with a few classic combos - roast beef and horseradish, pizza (salami, sundried tomato, feta, olive and basil) and the standard tomato and cheese.  To add to the 70's style starters I also julienned (because that starts with 'j') some carrots, it wasn't very good julienning - got to have something to work on.

In between those two delectable delights (whoops wrong letter), was a spicy cajun Jambalaya, which is a great one pot wonder. It probably ended up with a touch too much chilli powder, but you can't ever tell till you're about 5 mouthfuls in.  This would freeze well and indeed was delicious the next day for lunch.

To accompany all of this I whipped up some 'jam jar' cocktails - how cool am I?  These were just gin (which starts with a 'j' sound, bit of a stretch there I know), juice of half a lime, lemonade and mint.  Very refreshing on a hot Wednesday evening and helped negate the Jambalaya fire!

Jambalaya (serves 4 - 6)
2 - 3 chicken thighs, chopped into rough pieces
1 - 2 spicy chorizo, sliced
1 - 2 rashers of bacon, roughly chopped
1 brown onion, roughly chopped
1 red capscium, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 - 2 tbsp cajun spice (or make your own, see below)
400g tinned chopped tomatoes
350 - 400mL chicken stock
200 - 250g long grain rice
Parsley, to serve

1. Heat a splash of olive oil in a large fry pan (which has a lid) and add the chicken.  Cook for 5 - 8 minutes until golden.  Remove and set aside.
2. In the same pan, add the chopped chorizo and bacon, and cook through.  Remove and set aside with the chicken.
3. Using a small amount of the bacon and chorizo fat, in the same pan gently saute the onion until beginning to soften.  Then add the capsicum, garlic and cajun seasoning and cook for about 5 minutes.  Stand back when you add the cajun seasoning!
4. Add the chicken, chorizo and bacon back into the pan.  Add the rice and stir to coat it in the juices. 
5. Add the tomatoes and stock.  Stir well. Cover and allow to gently simmer for 20 minutes, until the rice is tender.  Add more stock if necessary.
6. Serve sprinkled with parsley and a flat bread and natural yoghurt in case it's too spicy!

NOTES:

• Cajun spice mix - 2 tsp each of sweet paprika, dried oregano and dried time, 1 tsp cayenne pepper or chilli powder (be careful!)
• Adjust the amount of rice and stock, depending on how many people you are serving.

Jaffa Cake
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups self-raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
zest of an orange

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.  Prepare muffin tins with cases, or grease and flour a cake tin.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and creamy
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between
4. Mix the flour and cocoa together.  Add this alternatively with the orange juice and beat well in between each addition, to ensure it is fully combined.
5. Add the orange zest at the end and mix in.
6. Pour/scoop about 1/2 cup of batter into each of 12 muffin cases or pour mixture into a cake tin and smooth the top.
7. For cupcakes bake for 20 minutes, then lightly touch the to see if they spring back.  If they do then remove to a wire rack to cool.  If they don't spring back, then leave another 5 minutes and re-check.
8. For a large cake: bake for 45 - 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. When cooled, top with jaffa icing (below) and a jaffa.

Jaffa icing
These are rough measures, as I don't usually measure ingredients when making icing
2 tbsp (about 50g) butter, softened
1 - 1 1/2 cups icing sugar (possibly more)
2 tbsp cocoa
juice of an orange (about 1/2 cup or 125mL)

1. Place 1 cup icing sugar and cocoa in a small bowl.  Mix to combine, with a metal spoon.
2. Add softened butter and begin to mix again.  Add a small amount of orange juice and mix.  
3. Keep adding small amounts of orange juice until icing is desired consistency.  If you add too much, then add more icing sugar.

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