Spicy Toad in the Hole

Start with cooked Vindalloo beef sausages

Make the pastry mix
2 cups of flour
2 cups milk
3 eggs

Mix and allow to stand for a few minutes

Place the sausages in a creased baking dish pour batter over the top

Place some sliced tomato on the top, with some anchovies, chillies and grated cheese.

Slow Cooked Osso Bucco

On a bed of chopped onion, celery and carrot
Place the osso bucco on top of the vegetables
Pour 400gm can of diced tomato on top
1 tbs tomato paste and 2 cups beef stock
2 diced garlic cloves
Cover with white wine

Slow cook for 6 hours

Serve with mash and sour cream.

Spicy pork and Noodles Sichuan Style

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 knobs ginger, peeled
2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 to 1 tbsp of chilli oil or paste
3 tbsp sesame paste
3-4 tbsp soy sauce
50ml peanut or corn oil
600g pork mince
100-150ml water
4 spring onions, finely sliced

400g fresh rice noodles or Shanghai noodles, or serve with steamed jasmine rice

Method

Crush the ginger and garlic in a mortar and pestle. Roast the Sichuan peppercorns in a hot dry wok, stirring all the time for 1-2 minutes, or until they start to crackle, become fragrant and darken. Remove from wok and grind in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle.

Mix in a bowl the chilli oil, sesame paste and soy. Have a pot of hot water to heat the noodles and everything else ready to go.

Heat a wok until very hot. Add oil then the ginger-garlic paste, stirring all the time and cook for just a moment before adding the garlic chives. Cook until a little wilted then add the pork mince. Keep the heat high and keep stirring. Once the pork mince is cooked add the pepper, sesame/soy sauce mixture and sugar. Mix well and add some water to thin the sauce. Taste and correct the seasoning - you may want more chilli or soy, but if the flavour is too strong, add more water. Now stir in the spring onions, the hot rice noodles and serve.

Stuffed Potatoes

Boil several large potatoes and allow to cool
Cut in half and scoop out the cooked flesh and mash

Cook some bacon and mince
Finely diced onion, shallots and red capsicum  add the mash
Stir 4oomls of pasata through the mix

Oil a baking tray and lay out the potato shells
Fill with meat mixture and top with cheese

Oven bake

Slow Cooker Oxtail Stew

Ingredients

1.5 kg beef tail
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 x 400 g tin diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon HP sauce
4 beef stock cubes, crushed
2-3 cups water or wine
Method
 Heat butter or oil in large pan, brown ox tail, place into baking dish.
Place ingredients into slow cooker on low for 8 hours

Turkey Meatballs

I love spaghetti and meatballs and these were really nice.

500gms of turkey mince
1 diced onion
bread crumbs
1tsp sambal olek (or chilli)
1tsp crushed garlic
2 eggs

Mix the ingredients in a bowl  and form them into meatballs.

Hollow each one with your thumb and place a quantity of soft cheese inside.

Leave for 30 minutes in the fridge and oven bake until cooked at 180c.

Serve with spaghetti and pasta sauce.

Slow Cooker Beef Cheeks

I love a slow cooked winter meal. So grabbing some beef cheeks at the butchers was a highlight for Saturday night.

In a slow cooker place onion, carrot and garlic with the diced beef cheeks.

Season with salt and pepper.

Cover with red wine and cook on low for 7 hours.

Serve with a potato and celeriac mash, and assorted vegetables.

Beef Pie

This is the recipe that I go to when I have left over roast beef.

Start with onion,carrot and celery finely diced and simmer in olive oil.

Add to this some diced garlic and whatever vege you have on hand.

For this dish I used pumpkin, daikon radish and chilli.

Dice the leftover beef combine with red wine and beef stock.

Place in a pie dish cover with puff pastry and oven bake.