Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Hello



Until now no one would knows  I exist. He cooks all this stuff and i get none of them. Follow me on Facebook for more wisdom. Oh I am Gina the good dog!

Duck Breast Risotto with Blueberry Sauce











Start by preparing the sauce, combine 1 cup of chicken stock, 1 glass of wine, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tbs honey and 125 gms blueberries, reduce to form a rich sauce.

Now combine garlic, spring onion, chilli and tomato stir fry add risotto rice, lightly fry then add chicken stock to make the risotto.

Cook the boccolini.

Cook the duck breast.

Plate up.

Sorry about the square plate fashion changes.

Pesto Roasted Quail with Asparagus











First stuff two quail with a mixture of mozzarella and crushed garlic
Then rub the skin with pesto and wrap with bacon, I pinned the quail with a metal skewer
Oven bake at 180c for 40 mins

Season and oil some potatoes and bake with the quail

I drizzled some olive oil on some truss grown tomatoes and baked for 10 minutes.

Toward the end of the cooking time cook some asparagus and poach and egg

Serve up placing the egg on top of the asparagus, it will sauce the vegetable

Now season to taste and enjoy.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Pan Fried Barramundi


Bake some potatoes after dressing with olive oil and seasoning

When potatoes are ready pan fry your fish fillet

Dressing with spring onion and sliced chilli after turning

Steam your asparagus

Serve

This is included because i was asked for some simple food ideas for children to put together.

Seafood Risotto













This is a simple entree

Place 1/2 cup aborio rice in a saucepan with olive oil, coat and lightly cook

Preprepared stock
1.5 cups fish stock
2tbs light soy
1tbs fish sauce
Fill to 2 cups with rice wine

Add 1 cup of stock to the rice and cook until it all absorbs and the rice is tender

Meanwhile reduce the rest of the stock until it thickens.

Prepare the seafood you could use pre cooked lobster, prawns, crab or bugs. In this case I used a japanese style lobster flavoured fish.

Serve the rice using a mold top with your seafood and cover with your reduced sauce.

Vegetarian Aussie Curry











Start with some olive oil heat
Add 4 diced potatoes
2 Diced carrots
1 Diced onion
3 tbs curry powder
Cover with water and simmer until all vegetables are tender

(You can add whatever vegetables you have left in the fridge)
Then add 2 tins of TVP (I used sanitarium nut meat)
2 Diced tomatoes
1 can pineapple pieces

Reduce until it thickens and serve on rice.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Pesto Salmon on Roast Potato


Bake your potato with olive oil and parmesan cheese
Pan Roast the salmon until the skin is crispy
Lightly cook the asparagus

Crush potatoes, place salmon on top and dress with pesto
Place asparagus with butter on top

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Luke Mangan's Autobiography


The Making of a Chef
Luke Mangan

An interesting autobiography that gives a real insight into the cooking industry,  the writer describes himself as not so much as a culinary genius but as a hard worker dedicated to succeed.  For those of us outside the industry the glamour that the current celebrity chef movement needs to be tempered by realistic exposure to the reality of cooking professionally.

The last thing this book does is glamorise the industry. On the other hand it does show what can be achieved with hard work and dedication. More than anything Mangan underlines that no matter what goes wrong you need to continue to try for the things you really want in life.

We follow the young man who likes to cook but doesn’t really know what he wants to do. Mangan eventually does his apprenticeship as an alternative to staying on at school. He travels to the UK and talks himself into a number of top kitchens. His experiences and interest set him on the path to run his own business.

The stories of his business ventures are interesting, certainly showing that cooking good food is not the same as running a successful restaurant. Certainly if you are a fan of Luke Mangan’s food, or curious to find out about a well known Australian food figure. Of course recipes for some of his more well known recipes are included.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Roast Chicken with Pancetta and Mustard Cream Sauce











Take one chicken season and rub with olive oil
Bake for 1 hour 180c
Then place several slices of pancetta in oven along with par boiled potatoes

For sauce take low fat thickened cream, add lemon thyme, and 2tsp of seeded mustard
Simmer until reduced and combined.

Cut chicken into pieces serve with potatoes and appropriate vege, dress with sauce.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Miguel's Tapas

Miguel Maestre is a flamboyant over the top chef who has a passion and enthusiasm for Spanish inspired food. Whilst he has a range of restaurant experience its his appearances on television that most Australians will remember. His style is the opposite to laid back, he is a high energy enthusiastic cook.

The recipes in this book are a mixture of traditional tapas dishes, which many will readily recognise but there are also some of the chefs own creation inspired by Australian styles and food preferences. He stresses in his introduction that he feels the laid back Australian life style is ideally suited to tapas.

This book is organised a little differently to other tapas cookbooks I have in that its organised around the time of day. So we have breakfast, morning tea, lunch all the way through to late night snacks. The very last section of the book contains detailed explanations of basics and saucing. In all the book contains around 75 different dishes to experiment with.

Myself I could not go past the crispy potato and Chorizo Egg for breakfast.

Crispy potato and Chorizo Egg

Heat olive oil in a non stick pan
Spoon 1 small grated potato into 2 creased egg rings
Top with sliced chorizo
Cook until potato is crisp
Crack an egg on top of mix cook until egg is just done
Remove rings serve with bread and lemon.

I just loved this first thing in the morning filling and just so simple. Many of the dishes throughout this book are simple and straightforward. These are ideal dishes for a lazy summers day. Here in Australia we are just moving into summer and a few 30c days are a reminder of the real heat still to come. Where we will want tasty food that is quickly prepared and ideal fro eating in a casual setting.

Some of the dishes are very modern and provide a chance to use contemporary favourite ingredients. One that looks great and is certainly next on my list to try is a softshell crab and sauté of edamme. If desert is more your thing how about a bread and butter pudding made with leftover sourdough and Pedro Ximenz. There is something I am sure that will appeal to every one in this book.

Its not all positive however and although every dish is pictured on a full page the illustrations do dominate the recipes. If you love lots of colour pictures in your cookbook you will love them in this book. However I feel there needs to be a  balance between pictures and recipes and I feel this book has gone too far with its pictures.

Chorizo Cider Style

Boil in 250ml water, 250mls white wine vinegar, 2tbs castor sugar four peeled eschallots until soft
Meanwhile fry 3 sliced chorizo in a hot pan
Add eschallots (after draining)
1 tbsp of chopped parsley
Deglaze with Apple cider (50ml)
Serve with parsley garnish



I hope these 2 recipes give a feel for the book as a whole. It is well and thoughtfully laid out. The recipes are well explained and easy to reproduce. The techniques are also well explained and easy to follow. I know I will be cooking from this book for some time a worthy first book.

Garlic Octopus with Chorizo


Marinate baby octopus in olive oil, 2tsp smoked paprika and crushed garlic

Dice 1 spanish onion
Slice 2 chorizo sausages
Slice one red chilli
Drain 1 can white beans
Dice 2 tbs flat leaf parsley

Fry the sausage until crispy remove and drain
Fry remaining ingredients in oil from the sausage.

In a separate frypan cook the octopus mixture
Combine the two return sausage to and heat

Serve with crusty bread and lemon juice

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Tomato and Spinach tart

Heat oven to 180c line a pastry tin with short crust pastry, blind bake.
Heat a saucepan and add olive oil add one diced onion and 1 cup baby spinach chopped
Layer onto base of tart
Whisk together 3 eggs, 1/3 cup milk, 1/3 cup tasty cheese
Pour into case
Top with sliced cherry tomatoes
Bake until set about 20 mins

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Chessy potatos


Another tapas.

Par boil 3 baby potatoes
Then cut in half drizzle with olive oil and oven bake until browned.
Cover with grated parmesan cheese and gently melt.

Roasted Octopus

Another form of tapas.

Fry until tender 6 baby octopus in plenty of olive oil and season with salt, pepper and paprika.
Add 10 flat parsley leaves fry until crisp
Serve with a wedge of fresh lemon

Chorizo Cider Style

This is  a form of tapas

Boil in 250ml water, 250mls white wine vinegar, 2tbs castor sugar four peeled eschallots until soft
Meanwhile fry 3 sliced chorizo in a hot pan
Add eschallots (after draining)
1 tbsp of chopped parsley
Deglaze with Apple cider (50ml)
Serve with parsley garnish

Food from Northern Laos – The Boat Landing cookbook



Traveling With Your stomach

Sometimes the closest thing to travel we can experience is food. There is nothing quite like tasting a new cuisine, that first moment of surprise and hopefully of delight as we sample for the first time a raft of new and different flavour combinations. Australians love to travel and I as I asked around none of my friends had actually been to Northern Laos close to the Chinese and Burmese borders. So this book was really going to show me something new.
Culloty has taken the time to not only research the regions food but to delve into the ingredients and explain them in detail. The book begins by explaining the diverse ethic cultures that form up this part of the world and the copious illustrations help to create the feeling that the reader is there. When you add to this photos and descriptions of the unique local ingredients we can start to get a sense of how different and new this cuisine is.
At this point I was starting to think I would be unable to sauce many of the ingredients, due to there exotic and unusual nature. Culloty has thought this through and has painstakingly listed with each recipe alternate (more readily available) substitutions for those had to find items. Of the 5 dishes I cooked I was easily able to sauce the ingredients from the local Vietnamese supermarket.
The food itself is fresh and vibrant. Did I say FRESH, well I will say it again. I cooked a fish curry which I thought would taste something like a Vietnamese or Thai dish, it did not. It had a gentleness and subtlety of flavour that was all its own.  Smoked Fish Boiled Jeow, was real delight, fresh and spicy but subtle with its heat. What did surprise me is the leftovers in the fridge, which I wanted to have for lunch, were so disappointing. The subtle and delicate flavours went and I was reminded of the writers warning FRESH is best with Laotian food.

The food itself is a blending of Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese influences but to only see it as a blend is to miss the originality and uniqueness of the food.  The Spicy Pork salad could easily have been Chinese and I have no doubts it started there, but the flavours are so different to the Chinese equivalent that you could not mistake the two.  There is a range of dishes here ranging from meat and fish to fried and noodle based. If you like South East Asian food then this book will give you a new take on that part of the world.
My favourite food is soup; I love it in all its varieties. This fish soup is lovely, light yet spicy and full of delicate flavours.
 Sour Fish Soup
Bring 2 cups of Water to the boil
Add 1 cup of loosely packed sour wind leaf (or tamarind leaves or tamarind paste or kaffir lime leaves and 1 tabs vinegar)
Add 1tsp salt, I diced chilli, and 1 bruised lemon grass stalk.
Add 1 cup of chopped fish pieces
Finish with diced spring onion, 1 stem of basil, 1 tsp. fish sauce
Serve
This made a delightful light lunch.
This book is certainly going into my bookshelf; it offers a fresh authentic look into a very different Asian cuisine.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Hummus

Combine in a food processor
1 can of chick peas
1 can of white beans
Add lemon juice
1/2 cup of tahini

Artichoke Dip

Blend in a food processor
280gms marinated artichokes
400gms of white beans drained
1/2 cup of grated parmesan
Juice of 1 lemon
Once blended drizzle in olive oil until smooth paste is formed

Beetroot Dip

Combine 2 400gm tins of baby beetroot
1 400gms tub of Greek yogurt
Lemon Juice
Ground cummun and corriander

Process till a smooth paste

Malaysian Snack Anchovies and Peanuts

Fry Ikban Bilis until golden brown
Mix Ikan Bilis with roasted peanuts
Take one coarsely chopped onion and two chopped red chillies blend until they form a paste
Combine everything in a fry pan cook until fragrant seasoning with salt and sugar to taste

Cool to serve.

Daryl's Special Nibbles

I have enjoyed this for the last 30 years, it is really nice but sounds rather odd.

Mix in a large bowl
1pkt french onion soup
1pkt cream of chicken soup
2tbsp mustard powder
Add
300gms nutra grain
add 200gms peanuts or mixed nuts
mix all together
Slowly pour 1/2 cup of warmed oil mixing as you pour until everything is coated.

Creamy Potato Bake

This is a simple recipe warming and tasty.
 Thinly slice two or three potatoes depending on size.
Grease a baking dish and cover base with potatoes
Sprinkle with a mixture of cheese (I used tasty, parmesan, mozzarella)
Add sautéed onion and mushroom
Cover with more potato
Cover with cheese
Add thickened low fat cooking
Oven bake until golden brown 180c

Chicken Lasagne

Take a baking dish grease and cover with fresh lasagne sheets
Create a layer of cooked chicken with mushroom and lightly cooked onion
Add grated parmesan 1/3 cup and boccoccini
Cover with fresh lasagne sheets
Pour 2 400gms tins of diced toms on top
Cover with grated cheese
Oven bake 180c for 45 mins

Tomato Soup with Sambal

This is one of Bill Granger's recipes.

In a baking dish add Roma tomatoes, 1 red capsicum, 6 cloves of garlic
Drizzle with olive oil
Oven bake 200c 1 hour covered 30 mins uncovered

Blend with 2tsp ground coriander and cumin
1ltr vegetable stock
Chilli flakes
Reheat

For the sambal
Grind together 1/2 cup cashews and 1/2 cup of grated coconut
 Place sambal on top of soup and garnish with coriander leaf.

Cheesy Vegetable Pie


Sorry it's been so long since I updated this blog, hope today makes up for that.

Grease a large baking dish and place sheets of fresh lasagne sheets to form a base.

Cover with 1 jar char grilled eggplant strips and 1 jar cheese stuffed bell peppers

Dice 1 red chilli and sprinkle on top add a third of a cup of parmesan cheese

Cover the mixture with fresh lasagne sheets

Pour 1 can diced italian tomatoes and 1 jar of passata over the whole lot

Sprinkle generously with tasty cheese

Oven bake at 180c for about 40 mins

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Vegetable Pie



This was going to be Andy Bunn's Baked Eggplant Pie from this months Delicious. I sought of improvised a bit.

Reduce 1 jar passata, a tip for the unwary it sputters every where use a lid.

Char grill in a pan three eggplants cut into 1 cm thick pieces lengthways.

Char grill in a pan two zucchini  cut length ways.

Grill two carrots cut into ribbons until soft.

Start with a buttered pie of Quiche dish place a layer of eggplant

Top with reduced passata and sprinkle with grated tasty cheese

Add a layer of zucchini Top with goats cheese and mozzarella .

Top with remaining eggplant, cover with sauce and then be generous with the mozzarella.

Finally sprinkle with pepper and cayenne pepper and dress with spring onion.

Oven bake for 20 mins at 180c.

Allow to rest and refrigerate before serving.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Vegetarian Red Curry


It's always hard cooking for a someone special never quite sure if you understand their like and dislikes properly. I have never cooked for a vegetarian before so for a first attempt this turned out really well. What surprised me was how filling this was. One question i have is why do Thai cookbooks suggest using fish sauce in vegetarian dishes?

I started with cutting a butternut squash into cubes and partially cooking in the microwave, making sure they are still firm.

Started with peanut oil and fried off my red curry paste before adding 400mls of coconut cream
Into this mixture was added:
Chopped Thai eggplants
the butternut squash
baby corn
a mixture of asian mushrooms
1 can water chestnuts
cherry tomatoes
1 block cubed of firm tofu
add 1 can coconut cream and a splash of tamarind concentrate
Finish cooking with palm sugar to taste


Garnish with peanuts or cashews and serve on jasmine rice

Breakfast of Champions


or why do I have heartburn at 9.00am....

Take 2 sourdough rolls split and toast

Grill 2 slices of halumi and several pieces of hot salami
Fry 2 eggs

Combine and garnish with coriander and tabasco sauce

Yes it was too much for one person, I was a pig!

Prawn Curry


This astounded me with how much it created.

Cut 4 thigh fillets of chicken into bite size pieces

Dice one red onion
Fry onion and fillets in peanut oil
Add curry paste, I used a spicy Malaysian blend I picked up at the supermarket.
Add 1 tin bamboo shoots
Add one tin coconut cream
Stir through Hokkien noodles
Add desired quantities of you favourite prawns, in this case Crystal Bay
I finished mine off with broccolini and baby corn

Spicy Noodle Soup











This is a warming winter soup.

Shred 1 chicken breast
Bring to the boil 4 litres of chicken stock
Add 1 tbsp ginger, grated
2 finely diced red chillies
Dash Shaoshing wine
2tbsp dark Soy
1 tin bamboo shoots
assorted diced and whole mushrooms
1 tin water chestnuts
3 tbsp Black Rice Vinegar
5 diced cornichons
1 beaten egg
your favourite noodles

When cooked through garnish with corriander

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Quick and easy Pizza

For those lunches when you have a load of marking and just want to eat.

You will need a pizza oven.

Take 2 slices of lebanese bread

Cover one with olive oil
Shred smoked salmon
Break up some boccocini
Cook
Sprinkle with dill
Add some sour cream











Cover the other with tomato ketchup
Shred smoked salmon
Break up some boccocini
Sprinkle with dill
Add sour cream

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Vegetarian

http://lovelunch.com.au

I am not one but would recommend Kurma Dasa's books and anything by the Holsts if your looking for a cookbook.

This blog comes highly recommended.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Pizza Night



I love home made Pizza and this week i picked up an electronic pizza oven from Coles and at $69 it was a bargain.

Firstly I make up the dough in the bread machine
200mls water
1tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
375gms bakers flour
1.75 tsps of yeast

Divide dough into three and let rise
Roll into pizza shapes, again let sit

Spicy
Tomato paste
Hot Spanish salami
Boccocini


Mild
Tomato paste
Salami
Goats cheese

Vege
Tomato paste
Chilli sauce
Marinated Artichoke hearts
Boccocini & goats cheese

Cheats Beef Bulgolgi


500 gms of thinly sliced beef marinate in Bulgolgi sauce (bought from asian grocer)

Fry beef in marinate and set aside.
Thinly slice a carrot and cook in a mixture of sesame oil and honey

Serve beef on rice and top with carrot cover with sesame seeds.

Spicy Pork Mince











1 bunch of Bok sliced thinly
500gms pork mince
80mls peanut oil
2 sliced chillies
4cm sliced ginger
1 cup chicken stock
Shaoxing rice wine
Black Vinegar Choy
2 tsp ground Sichuan Pepper
Fried shallots
Peanuts
Sliced spring onions
Palm sugar

Stir fry onion, chillies, ginger, Bok Choy stems in peanut oil

Add and brown Pork mince

Add in vinegar, wine and sichuan pepper.

Stir rice through and garnish with spring onions, shallots and peanuts.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Welsh Rarebit











This is my take on this classic supper dish.

I know some will say this is more like a either a hot brown or buck, but I don't care its just quick and tasty.

Cook two pieces of toast
Fry 2 pieces of lean bacon
Place the bacon on the toast
Top with generous slices of cheddar
Grill until cheese melts
Top with a fried or poached egg

Kumara and Lentil Soup


Cut 2 kg of kumara in half, drizzle olive and bake at 180c for approx. 30 mins
Dice 4 onions and saute in olive oil
Add 5-6 sliced garlic cloves
Add 3 finely sliced stems of celery
When the vegetables have softened add 2 tbs Thai red curry paste
When the paste becomes fragrant add 2 ltrs chicken stock 400 mls coconut cream
Remove the baked kumara and scoop out the flesh either blend or mash and add to the pot
At this point I add legumes to the dish I use 1 cup yellow split peas and red lentils
Add palm sugar (or brown sugar) 2tbs fish sauce and 400mls more of coconut cream

When serving you can dress the soup with:
*Crispy bacon
*Cooked prawns
*Coriander
*Chopped fresh chilli


This makes about 3 ltrs of soup

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Lamb Shank Navarin


A classic slow cooked winter dish.

Flour and Brown 2 lamb shanks

Add 2 sliced brown onion
2 Sliced garlic cloves
Deglaze with 1 glass of white wine
Add 500mls chicken consume
700mls passata
3 sprigs of rosemary
2 bay leaves
6 diced potatoes
2 bunches of Dutch carrots
1 peeled and cubed turnip

Simmer for 2 1/2 hours serve with crunchy bread

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Masterchef

What is about Masterchef? I watched the U.K original and I still enjoy it a lot. New series just around the corner. A group of people cooking off against each other to find who is the best amateur cook.

I would never have predicted the huge success a version of this show would have here in Australia. The first season in 2009 was good, it certainly got better as it went along. This second series has done the unthinkable, it has improved on the ratings over the entire series.

Partly it is because they have listened to feedback and adjusted the program to develop the format. Why in a country where Four Ingredients was a best seller? If you don't know it basically makes putting food on the table a thing to be done by taking every short cut in the book. Have we changed so much so quickly?
Certainly sales of the ingredients for the recipes from the show have been used for the sponsoring supermarket.

Now I hear that Gordon Ramsay has presented a version of the program in the US.

I really want to know why this show has such appeal, what do you the readers think?

Anyway good luck to Adam and yes I am hanging out for next years program.

Wrapped Chicken in Mascarpone Sauce


Rub 2 chicken Maryland with olive oil and pepper, wrap in prosciutto
Oven bake for 40 mins

I also roasted assorted vegetables as an accompaniment.

For the sauce slice up some prosciutto
Dice 1 shallot
Dice 2 cloves of garlic
Saute until translucent
Add one class white wine
250 gms mascarpone

Serve covering the chicken with the sauce and two sage leaves

NB: I did not add salt as prosciutto is a very salty meat.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Middle Eastern Lamb Pizza


I miss masterchef after the final last week it's like what do I watch now? This recipe comes in the latest addition of the masterchef magazine and made a very nice meal.

I make my own pizza bases in my bread machine because they are better tasting than bought ones.

I cover the base with tomato sauce.

Simmer a finely diced onion, 2 finely diced cloves of garlic and 500gms minced lamb

Add to this mix 2 tsps of ground cumin and 2 tsps ground cinnamon

Place the mixture atop your pizza base and top with cooked chickpeas

Oven bake at 180c for 15 mins or until the crust is cooked.

Serve with a dollop of greek yogurt and coriander leaf.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

How did I get interested in food and cooking?


I guess I grew up in a typical Australian home of the 1960s. Mum cooked mainly meat and three vege. Our vegetables were cooked in a pressure cooker so they usually tasted the same. Mondays we had sausages, Tuesdays I think was rissoles and then a roast dinner on Sundays. Don't get me wrong while her mains were ordinary my mum had a real skill with cakes, slices and biscuits; a skill at baking I have never been able to match.

I might have gone on like this till this day except for a TV program that turned all of this around. It was Keith Floyd's Far flung Floyd series. He visited many asian countries and I was stunned, here was a range of food and cooking techniques that I had never even dreamed of. The most exotic food I had ever eaten came from the local chinese and was mostly deep fried. I don't know why but I longed to try these unusual and exotic foods.

I discovered the local supermarket didn't stock any of the ingredients I needed, where do you buy a wok? Of course today I could have walked into that same local supermarket and buy all the ingredients I needed. I did manage to find all the ingredients I needed and began a cooking adventure that continues to this day. Along the way i watched a number of TV programs that inspired my adventures, discovered some great cookbooks by writers like Charmaine Solomon and Dorindar Hafner ( a really amazing lady by the way).

While asian food was my first love and I love shopping in an asian grocery store I also love European food and have spent a lot of time learning about Greek and Italian food. I just love cooking and of course eating. I am a bit of a cookbook addict and have quiet a collection (so people tell me) but it is far from complete. I dine out when i can and like everyone i guess i have my favourite restaurants. Lately I have become interested in the history of food its origins and development. So I have begun exploring earlier recipes and looking at techniques and flavour matching which is so different from the way we cook today.

I have decided to do some professional training and maybe work a little in a professional kitchen, just for the experience. I must admit the job of cooking professionally is a tough one and at 50 I am too old to take it on full time.

I hope to keep learning and eating for many years to come.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

White Wine and Herb Roast Chicken


Thanks to Paula for pointing out this really nice dish in this months issue of Delicious. Well worth subscribing to.

2 chicken marylands skin on
4 kipfler potatoes peeled and sliced in two
1 garlic bulb sliced in half
sage and majorum leaves
rosemary leaves
6 thyme sprigs
1 cup white wine
Juice and zest of a lemon
olive oil

Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl and marinate for at least and hour

Line a baling pan with cooking paper put the mixture on top and cover with foil

Place in a 180c oven for 30 mins

Increase temperature to 200c and remove foil cook until chicken is golden and juices are clear.

Yum!

Sautéed Chicken with chilli and lemon grass



250gms diced chicken

Marinade
1 tbsp shrimp paste
1 tbsp tamarind paste
2 diced chillies
1 stalk sliced lemon grass
1 tsp brown sugar

Combine ingredients either in a blender or with a mortar and pestle
Marinate chicken for 30 mins

Heat the wok and cook the paste until fragrant toss in the chicken and stir through

When cooked toss in your choice of fresh vege, in this case I used sliced red cabbage, carrot and green beans

At 100gms chicken stock to steam the vege

When ready serve either with noodles or on rice

Garnish with coriander, fried shallots or nuts

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Lamb and Kumara Stew



500 gms diced lamb brown in oil and set aside
Slice one onion finely and saute with 3 sliced cloves of garlic
Return the Lamb to the dish cover with 2 cups of red wine
Add salt and pepper and 2 bay leaves
Add 1 peeled and cubed Kumara and one roughly chopped carrot
Simmer until lamb is soft and tender approx 1 hour


Roasted Quail with mushroom asparagus risotto



Firstly rub the quail with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
Oven bake at 220c for 25 minutes remove and allow to cool
When cooled strip the meat and break into small pieces

Combine olive oil and butter in a saucepan
When butter is melted add 2 sliced shallots, 2 diced garlic cloves and saute until clear
Then stir through 100gms of sliced oyster mushrooms and 50gms sliced swiss brown mushrooms
Stir until coated 1 cup arboria rice
Add 1 cup red wine simmer until liquid is almost gone
Then add hot chicken stock (1ltr) a ladleful at a time stirring until rice is tender
Then add in chopped and cooked asparagus and quail pieces
Lastly stir through parmesan cheese until melted

Serve topped with fried shallots.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Karen Martini - Cooking at Home





This is a review I wrote for the website cheftalk.

Cooking at Home - Karen Martini
Modern Australian

Given so many of you on ChefTalk seemed to have heard little of our antipodean cook books I thought I would write a review of one of my most used cook books. Karen Martini is a chef and owner of two restaurants, as well as writing a weekly column and appearing on a couple of lifestyle programs. Her food is what we call modern Australian, a term which covers the many nationalities that we have here and the eclectic mix of food Australians enjoy. Some recipes remain authentic to their roots while others reflect a mingling of many influences. Usually all are reflected with a range of fresh produce.

In Australia because of our size its possible to buy most produce fresh all year round. In the North we have no summer or winter but a wet and a dry season, while in the South it is not unknown for snow to fall on Christmas day (N.B The equivalent of a northern hemisphere July day.). If we add to that range of produce a vast array of different nationalities and cuisines there is much to draw on and to expand anyone’s cooking repertoire.

The recipes in this book are based around Martini’s weekly recipes in a lifestyle insert in the Sunday paper. My favourite recipe is the lamb and eggplant Karhi curry. The taste is wonderful but I love it because it introduced me to a way of making a curry sauce without using any fat! This was a revelation as I was dieting at the time and was looking for low fat recipes, fortunately I am over that and would add full fat yogurt for the extra taste these days. The sauce is a blend of besan (chickpea) flour and water whisked together and then yogurt is whisked in to finish it off. It makes a rich velvety sauce that smells divine. Serving this slow cooked lamb curry with a fresh chutney beautiful.

This book also contains one of my all time favourite chicken recipes. Syrian Chicken with ginger, lemon and saffron, just thinking about it brings back fond memories. It is an ideal winter dish (southern hemisphere winter right now) and again the smell of the braise fills the kitchen. Essentially it is the subtle blend of spices cumin, turmeric and cinnamon with a pinch of saffron that just seems to complement the chicken perfectly. Served on rice or couscous it is a real family favourite.

Some of the other recipes and ideas in the book really grab attention, a delightful sauce for seafood made from a mixture of bread crumbs fresh herbs and capers blended with yogurt is a must to try. The kibbeh style ocean trout is also lovely, basically the raw fish is blended to a fine paste and mixed with burghul, sumac allspice and served with triangles of crusty bread. A lovely classic cheesecake is enhanced with fresh blue berries poached in red wine, a like it so much I experimented with a few different berries until my partner told me to cut it out. She was right some of my mixtures were odd.
In addition to these types of recipes there is a range of well-tested traditional recipes, Coq au vin, pot au feu, churros, caponata the list goes on. In short it is a really great collection of recipes that introduce some new elements but also provides traditional recipes to help the home cook who may not have ever tackled these dishes before. The book really reflects the range of cuisines and cooking styles in Australia it also highlights the Australian habit of mixing different styles and using local ingredients to make delicious food.

Beef Stifado


1 kilo cubed beef
1 kilo small or chopped onion ( i use shallots)
4 garlic cloves sliced
5tbsp red wine vinegar
3 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
1 star anise or 1 tsp ground coriander
2 x 400 gm tins diced toms
1 cup red wine
juice of 1 lemon

Start with olive oil
Brown the meat in batches
Add shallots and garlic caramelise
Add other ingredients

Simmer gently for 2 hours until meat falls apart and you have a rich thick sauce.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Veal and cauliflower mash


Season and cook the veal putting aside to rest in a warm place.

Take 3 coarsely mashed potatoes and add about half as much cooked and mashed cauliflower, stir in sour cream

For the sauce combine lemon rind, lemon juice butter and about 2 tbs of capers

Serve with green beans and a nice red.

Year 11 Girls Treat



The other week my year 11 students were doing the weirdest thing they were putting lemon juice on potato crisps. They assured me it was best with chicken flavoured crinkle cuts but that salt and vinegar were also ok. I tried it, I liked it. Give it a go and see what you think.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Kiwi Kitchen

Sorry thats its been a while since my last post. My ex has just moved out and I have been sorting a lot of things out. Recipes coming very soon.



Kiwi Kitchen Richard Till

This is not a particularly new book having been published in New Zealand in 2008 to go with the TV series of the same name. As an Australian I will confess, as many of my fellow Australians would agree, we tend to ignore our New Zealand neighbours and take little interest in what happens in their country unless it involves rugby league or union, cricket or netball. So when I first caught this show on pay TV I was very pleasantly surprised.

Richard seems an affable man with a casual and evenhanded approach to cooking. He has run a couple of successful restaurants in Christchurch as well as making appearances on radio and in newspapers discussing all manner of food related issues. This book follows his journeys around New Zealand cooking with locals and adding twists of his own. The food is based on fresh produce, traditional family recipes and eating well.

My favourite recipe from the book is Spencer’s Battered Oysters. Now in Spencers defence he went to pains to point out that oysters are best eaten fresh and raw with a dash of lemon if you must. I agree but the recipe brings back memories of my childhood in Southern Sydney where oysters were cheap, plentiful and delicious. So easily obtainable that battering and frying them was a viable option. Bottles of oysters were part of my growing up. Any way the recipe is simple, flour, eggs, seasoning. Deep fry until golden. Really nice and great with a chilli dipping sauce. I had forgotten how good this dish was.
One recipe that stood out to me because I am always looking for new ways to serve snails. In this case the recipe dates back to “trendy” New Zealand restaurant food of the 80s where this little dish was a big money spinner. The dish itself consists of sautéed snails served in a spicy vodka jelly, garnished with micro herbs and a subtle sauce. Does it taste good? I guess you would have to be the judge of that, but it certainly makes a great talking point at a dinner party.

The book contains a lot of recipes that add spice to traditional dishes like meat pies, things to do with mince. I had somehow forgotten the simple pleasure of savoury mince on toast. Used to have it many a cold Sunday night. As well as these old recipes getting a run Richard also features a number of Maori family foods. Many of these recipes need specific ingredients but one that took my eye burnt sugar pudding. It did come with a warning, so I cooked it outdoors on the BBQ, this as it turned out was a wise move. Its basically a boiled pudding, but with a big difference. Apart from the usual sugar, flour, butter, egg. It includes burnt sugar water. To make this you melt some sugar in a saucepan, let it burn and at the right moment add boiling water. This mixture when cooled is used to moisten the dry ingredients. First two attempts I made resulted in a lot of cleaning up in the kitchen, ever smelled badly burnt sugar? The third attempt it did not burn enough and with the fourth I fluked it. The flavour it gave the pudding was very unusual. I don’t really know what was different about that last attempt, but luck was on my side.

This is not a book full of complex recipes but it is good fun. It brought back many memories of the simple food I grew up on and had basically never thought of cooking myself. It served as a timely reminder that family recipes are passed down because people actually like eating them. The book is available online at fishpond.nz. If you have an interest in family or traditional recipes its well worth a look. If nothing else it will provide an insight into the cooking of New Zealand.


Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Medium Raw

This is the follow up to Kitchen Confidential it is every bit as funny but thankfully lacks the angst that made the first book at times so depressing. As you might expect he does not pull his punches or hold back when it comes to expressing his opinions. He has said "Ten years after (Kitchen Confidential), looking at how my life has changed and more importantly how the industry has changed and the role of the chef has changed, which is to say a lot."

I loved his strategies to keep his daughter from falling into the hands of multinational junk food companies and his frank assessment of many contemporary chefs. I think its telling that he has to explain why being a heroin and coke addict was not a good thing. Its also interesting when he shares the reality of working in a kitchen, its for the young and fit. I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Thai Style Butternut Squash Soup


Cut squash in 1/2 and butter well bake at 180c until golden brown and soft
Scoop out with a spoon
Saute 1diced onion and 2 diced spring onions, drain

Combine mixture and blend using chicken stock

In a small amount of oil cook some red chilli paste add in the mixture when fragrant
Combine with one 400ml can of coconut cream

Heat through and just prior to serving add in some peeled and deveined king Prawns

Serve with a coriander garnish.

Osso Buco With home made Foccacia


Take 2 pieces of Osso Buco, flour and brown in olive oil remove and set aside
Roughly dice 1 onion, carrot and leek and celery stick
Add to oil and saute until just turning golden

Add 2 sprigs thyme, 2 bay leaves, 2 chopped tomatoes
Cut one garlic bulb in half and add

Place the meat on top of the vegetables
Season with salt and pepper
Add 1 cup white wine reduce by 1/2
Add enough chicken stock to cover the meat
Place a pice of baking paper over the food and place lid on pot

Simmer for 2-3 hours checking to make sure it has not dried out

Serve when meat falling off the bone and with fresh bread

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Pasta sauce with Capsicum


Once again I have been surprised at how easy it is to make gnocchi. This pasta sauce goes with it beautifully.
Cat supervision is vital.

Saute 1 sliced Spanish onion
Add 1 sliced red and yellow capsicum
3 sliced cloves of garlic
1 sprig of lemon thyme
400gm can of diced Italian tomatoes
1 cup white wine
Simmer till it produces a thick sauce
Season and serve on top of homemade gnocchi.

Of course it never hurts to crumble some goats cheese over the top and 
A nice glass of red wine, Petersons being one of my favourite Australian labels.