Southern Fried Chicken 'Slaw & Pecan Pie!!

Phew - my first attempt at American food was ok!!

My Mum was visiting & I needed an excuse to cook. She's a fussy eater so I had to be careful. I'd offered her some of my curried goat at the market earlier in the day & I thought she was going to pass out! Surely Southern Fried Chicken was safe??!!

Recipe: Free range chicken thighs & drumsticks

Enough buttermilk to cover chicken

Plain flour (3 cups -oh yeah, American measurements baby!)

Paprika (2 tbl sp)

Salt & pepper

Ground nut oil (1/2 cup)

Marinade chicken in buttermilk overnight (if you can't buy it, sour some whole milk with lemon juice - same thing!!)

Shake together chicken & mix in a plastic bag. Bake in 180 c/gas 4/350 f for 45 mins.

Recipe: No exact measurements here, best to do it by eye.

Green Cabbage.

Red Cabbage (can be bitter so optional).

Carrott.

Mayo.

Cider Vinegar (to taste).

Salt.

Just shred & mix.

I served it with 2 types of potato wedge (sweet & regular pots), sweetcorn, BBQ sauce & ketchup! YUM!

I am a desserts kind o' gal - I really am. I not only LOVE to cook pies & cake but I LOVE to eat them too ..... and Pecan Pie is a revelation!!!!!!!

Recipe: Shortcrust Pastry (I bought mine)

200g Caster Sugar

250ml Dark Corn Syrup (nothing else will do, buy it off the internet if you must)

A pinch of salt

3 medium eggs

60g Unsalted Butter

1/4 tsp of Vanilla Extract

100g chopped, shelled pecans.

Handful of whole pecans to decorate

Roll out pastry & place onto a 23cm pie dish. Press gently into the dish. Put in the fridge to get cold (this avoids shrinking in the oven).

Heat sugar, salt & corn syrup. Bring to the boil then leave to cool slightly. Like this:

In a medium bowl whisk the eggs until mixed. Pour the WARM syrup into the eggs stirring like your life depended on it (sweet scrambled egg? No thanks). Add the cubed butter & vanilla extract. Mix until melted.

Put the chopped pecans into the pastry, then pour the filling on top. It will look odd - all liquidy with floating nuts. Don't worry, just arrange some pecans nicely on the top.

Bake in a 170 c/gas 3-4/325 f for about an hour. Keep an eye on it & cover with foil if it browns too much. It will be wobbly when you get it out & may look like an earthquake just occurred on the top, again don't worry it will level off as it cools, just make sure it is brown with a slight crust to it. Like this:

My punters (Mam & the Boss) were happy & actually - can you ask for any more than that??!