Thursday, July 31, 2014

Chicken Wings

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/around-the-world-chicken-wings-recipes-2.html

Love these recipes some great ideas.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Chicken Casserole


In a cast iron ceramic baking pan saute in olive oil

Chicken thigh fillets when browned remove

Saute 2 sliced brown onions
2 finely diced carrots
2 celery ribs finely chopped
2 red capsicum finely sliced
150 gms sliced mushrooms
1 400gm tin of butter beans

When the vegetables have softened declaze with 1 cup of brandy and add 2 cups of chicken stock.

Return the chicken to the dish place the lid on and oven bake at 150c for 40 minutes.

Serve on a bed of cous cous.

Asian style savoury mince

This is one I put together from what I had in the fridge and cupboard. I dont have a picture but it was really nice.

Slice 2 brown onions and saute
Add 2 sliced red peppers

As they soften add a small amount of beef mince and brown

Flavour with a generous amount of chilli bean paste and stir through

To add some volume I put in a 400ml tin of coconut cream.

Serve on a bed of rice.  YUM!!!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Wayne's Curried Sausages


Obviously a great dish to serve using up lots of leftovers.

Cook 8 beef sausages and cut into pieces and set aside.

In a little oil saute
2 brown onions, thinly sliced
1 leek thinly sliced
1 capsicum sliced thinly
1 finely diced carrot

When softened add 2 generous tablespoons of curry powder
2 cups of chicken stock
1 tsp chilli powder
Return the sausage pieces

Simmer and thicken with corn flour

Serve on a bed of white rice

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Vegetarian Food

As I have said before Brenda is a vegetarian, so from time to time we eat out at vegetarian places. Today we ate at a vegetarian cafe. It was not good.

It had nothing to do with it being vegetarian it had to do with the flavour .

We ordered two burgers with chips and side salad. (For non Australians chips are often called french fries in other parts of the world).

This is what we got!






The dried items on the right, unseasoned and unflavoured were a deal breaker for me. Do not encourage me to think I'm getting fried chips and then not deliver.

The burger was bland and that is a massive fail for meatless food.

The sauce itself had not the vaguest hint of tomato which matched perfectly the total lack of tomato on the burger.

The burger had cheese and an aioli, neither of which had any discernible creamy taste to add so naturally I assumed they must be vegan (they were not). Not easy to do really. The beetroot relish managed to have no real beetroot flavour. So the burger itself was bland and needed a touch of sharpness or variety which the included ingredients lacked. The pattie itself was fine but simply fell into a paste when you are eating it. The buns were not worth mentioning and well side salad; still wondering about that.

In short we won't be back!

Flora Bean Gallery Cafe.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Slow Cooker Stifado




1kg Sliced onion
1kg braising beef cut in cubes
3 garlic cloves, crushed
400 g can chopped tomatoes (use fresh tomatoes if you prefer)
200 ml red wine
30 ml red wine vinegar or 30 ml balsamic vinegar
1tbs tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground cloves
pinch dried oregano
splash of brandy
salt and pepper

Cook on low for about 8 hours.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Pork belly and flavoured rice


This was a meal for a cold July evening.

Start by scoring your pork belly and salting
Cover with foil and place on a rack in a baking tray with a little water to prevent drying out.
Oven bake at 200c for 2 hours, uncover for the last 30 minutes.

Meanwhile cook a mixture of red, black and jasmine rice in some miso flavoured rice.

Serve with a mixture of steamed vegetables with oyster sauce.

Chicken Cacciatore

  •  chicken pieces, cut into serving sizes,bone in
  • Salt
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 red capsicuum sliced
  •  mushrooms, thickly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1/3 cup red wine
  • 400gms tinned tomatos
  • 1 cup passata
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dry thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dry oregano 
  Working in batches so that you don't crowd the pan, place the chicken pieces skin side down in the pan.  Cook until nicely browned, about 5 minutes, then turn over and lightly brown the other side. Remove chicken to a plate, set aside.

 Add the sliced onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms to the pan. Increase the heat to medium high. Cook until the onions are translucent, and the mushrooms have given up most of their moisture, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic to the pan and cook a minute more.

 Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Simmer until the wine is reduced by half. Add the tomatoes. Stir in the pepper, thyme, oregano, and about a teaspoon of salt. Test and taste to adjust. Simmer uncovered for another 5 minutes. Place the chicken pieces on top of the tomatoes and onions, skin side up.  Lower the heat and cover.

Simmer until chicken is cooked and serve on a bed of pasta.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Minestrone

  •  
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup diced celery (3 stalks)
  • 1 cup diced carrots (2 carrots)
  • 1 cup diced onion (1 small)
  • 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 1/3 cups shell pasta
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1  can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 can cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 cups slightly packed chopped fresh spinach
  • Finely shredded Parmeson cheese, for serving (Parmesan works too)