Apologies, viewers, for the very long interruption to your foodporn viewing.
You'll be pleased to know I have been marinating ideas to blog about in my brain and I've also been marinating, as well as actually cooking, in the kitchen. As you know I luv a duck, but I'm concerned I may be turning into a one-hit wonder with my glass noodle salad. Here's a view of the devious plans I've been hatching and scheming in relation to duck. Mwahahahaha...
Duck Red Curry
If you've ever lived in Alice Springs, you'll know how great the local market garden and Vietnamese restaurant out by the airport is for a lifetime of happy memories. Tinh & Lan's is to blame for my weird duck curry addiction. Sadly, I've never had the dish live up to their high standards, so I've decided to experiment in the coming months to find the perfect do-at-home version. Hope you get to go there one day. Just don't miss the turn!
Some ideas:
Margaret Fulton, by way of SBS Food.
Luv-a-Duck's take on how to curry their fabulous Peking Duck product is probably reliable. If you're ever in Port Melbourne, swing by and say hi for me. Duckalicious warehouse of awesomeness makes me think of "Daemon and the Duckolate Factory". I may have burst into song last time I was there.
taste.com.au have a lovely looking version too.
Duck as the protein topping on soup noodles
I usually only have ham if I'm down to soup noodles at home but this looks nice, thanks SBS.
Braised Duck with Long Pasta
You know my love of Ragu/Ragout/Ragoo with Roo and long fat pasta - so this Pappardelle Duck recipe looks soo appealing.
This looks great too, love a good braise and slather...
I hope winter lasts long enough to get through all these hearty ducky ideas!
(I do have one more idea but I can't seem to find any decent recipes online for this, it must be too traditional. You know that delicious course you get at a full Peking duck banquet, where they use the lower layers of meat in a fine dice to serve either as dry fried rice, on white deep fried "polystyrene" noodles or in sang choi bau (or all or both or a combo)? Does anyone have any ideas on this one? I might have to ask my parents for their opinion too! Old skool!)
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
04 July 2014
18 October 2013
It was Fish'n'Chip Friday and I had Rainbow Chard to harvest
A photo had popped up on Jamie Oliver's Facebook account of delicious looking Italian style greens (Ricetta tipica per verdure verdi), just as the "Silverbeet/Rainbow Chard" mix in my vegie patch was starting to mature.
I decided to give the olive oil & acid treatment to it for my usual "bring vegies" duties for Friday night dinner at my sis and bro-in-lo's:
They are fantastically good-looking vegies!
I split the stems from the leaves as they would take more time to cook.
Aren't the colours appealing?
Then tossed in a wok (stems first, then leaves) with olive oil and lemon plus a little splash of balsamic for some sweetness (but no garlic as sis don't like it). Heavenly!
(I did make a second version for my parents the other day when they came over to help me demolish a ginormous frittata I'd baked to use up the dozen eggs rattling around the back of the fridge that I'd forgotten about. Instead of chopping into such fine pieces I just had half-lengths of stems and far bigger leaf pieces which was somehow tastier. I must report that this dish definitely tastes more nommy with garlic! Yay for two-second dishes!)
I decided to give the olive oil & acid treatment to it for my usual "bring vegies" duties for Friday night dinner at my sis and bro-in-lo's:
(I did make a second version for my parents the other day when they came over to help me demolish a ginormous frittata I'd baked to use up the dozen eggs rattling around the back of the fridge that I'd forgotten about. Instead of chopping into such fine pieces I just had half-lengths of stems and far bigger leaf pieces which was somehow tastier. I must report that this dish definitely tastes more nommy with garlic! Yay for two-second dishes!)
17 October 2013
Honey soy duck leg
I've had a really lovely day, but it did involve a fair bit of racing around. Racing home in my car, I pulled in at the local grocer's to pick up a specific item and, I thought, some instant dinner (they make roast dinners in a box) as I had absolutely no "actual food" in the house. In the end I went with semi-instant real food; so here is how you make a stupid-easy-quickie dinner that I guarantee will make you even happier than you were before. (I do luv duck, and I certainly luv Luv-A-Duck!)
Here's how you do it:
Screech home, pull out the rice cooker, plug it in, pour about a cupful (or what's left in a bag in the back of the pantry shelf) of rice, fill with water until the waterline above the rice is up to your first knuckle (distal PIP joint for the technicals amongst you) - this is the ancient measuring system I was taught by my Mum. Push the button from 'warm' to 'cook'.
Turn the oven onto 180∘c.
Race out the door to walk the dog around the block. If you don't have a dog, you may omit this step. Don't go out of your way to source a pet just to follow the recipe, that would be daft. You can do something else whilst the oven pre-heats, honest.
Race back in the door, open the duck pack and place the honey soy duck legs onto a baking paper-lined backing tray and plonk it in the oven.
Save the duck pack as it will have rendered then re-solidified fat in it (which will look disturbingly like atheroma, just ignore that. Stop being so technical!). Scrape a spatula-endful out and splat it into a wok on high heat. Chop up the bunch of broccolini you bought - stems chopped, chuck them in the wok first; then the florets; then a tray of mixed mushrooms in order of cooking lenghth. (King oyster, shimeji, oyster, enoki.) The rice will have cooked and the duck will be crisp and perfect.
Layer:
(and don't forget the sprinkle of fresh chives off the windowsill)
Then eat. Watching Jamie Oliver on the telly. He would be proud. Fast food but not too naughty!
P.S. Watching Jimmy and Gwyneth Paltrow play chubby bunny was just too funny!
Here's how you do it:
Screech home, pull out the rice cooker, plug it in, pour about a cupful (or what's left in a bag in the back of the pantry shelf) of rice, fill with water until the waterline above the rice is up to your first knuckle (distal PIP joint for the technicals amongst you) - this is the ancient measuring system I was taught by my Mum. Push the button from 'warm' to 'cook'.
Turn the oven onto 180∘c.
Race out the door to walk the dog around the block. If you don't have a dog, you may omit this step. Don't go out of your way to source a pet just to follow the recipe, that would be daft. You can do something else whilst the oven pre-heats, honest.
Race back in the door, open the duck pack and place the honey soy duck legs onto a baking paper-lined backing tray and plonk it in the oven.
Save the duck pack as it will have rendered then re-solidified fat in it (which will look disturbingly like atheroma, just ignore that. Stop being so technical!). Scrape a spatula-endful out and splat it into a wok on high heat. Chop up the bunch of broccolini you bought - stems chopped, chuck them in the wok first; then the florets; then a tray of mixed mushrooms in order of cooking lenghth. (King oyster, shimeji, oyster, enoki.) The rice will have cooked and the duck will be crisp and perfect.
Layer:
(and don't forget the sprinkle of fresh chives off the windowsill)
Then eat. Watching Jamie Oliver on the telly. He would be proud. Fast food but not too naughty!
P.S. Watching Jimmy and Gwyneth Paltrow play chubby bunny was just too funny!
08 May 2013
"Wow!" Factor Wednesday
...or, Rock out with your Wok out Hump day.
So I've gotten into the habit of cooking up a big batch of somethin' somethin' the day before a round of shifts, boxing it up into generous serves and feeling super prepared for the energy drain of the work week.
In related news, I've also been working on my new vegie and herb garden now that I have access to ground floor dirt. The perennial basil has been going off like a frog in a sock, with fat, tart leaves and huge long stems of edible flowers.
So I decided to come up with my take on the legendary Thai takeaway staple of Beef with Basil.
The first round was for when Mumsy and Dadsy came over unexpectedly for dinner one night, and it's had many new versions inventified since then.
The last batch brought into work made me happy due to nomming, yes; but also quite chuffed because every time a new person would walk into the tea room they'd say one or all of these things, in this order:
"Wow! Something smelllls amaazing!"
"What are you eating? That looks amaazing!"
"You made that? Wow! Amaaazing!"
Which isn't too shabby for a leftover stirfry!
BEEF WITH BASIL, experimental cooking style:
Have a weird habit of buying budget/on sale beef steak, and filling your freezer full of it. Despite this, have no recollection of your past self already doing this, and end up with lots of steak to use up. For this recipe it's best to use budget lean steak with no fancy marbling to confuse the beefy issue. Pull a tray of said steak out of the freezer and allow to thaw whilst you attend to vegies.
Harvest a metric shit-tonne of perennial basil. Wash, pick off caterpillars, then strip the flowers and leaves off the stems - separate into three piles.
Slice and dice some vegies to add to your stirfry. I still haven't nailed exactly which vegies I like best in here, or whether I should just be a purist and leave them out altogether. So far my favourite has been cauliflower, as shown above. There is something quite intense about getting those nice nutty charred bits of cauli to add a bit of oomph, but it also is neutral and flavour absorbing enough to not detract too much from the star players. I've tried field mushrooms (the large fleshy flat cups) and celery pieces (stalks and leaves all in), which have both worked well as well. If you can think of a more traditional, green leafy that would work well, please let me know.
Finely slice an onion.
Finely dice some garlic (no such thing as too much) and sliver up a generous (1-2cm) chunk of ginger lengthways.
Now back to the beef. My Mum would constantly moan and groan about how butchers in Oz can't seem to understand that 'stir fry meat pieces' are NOT in fact those big, long, 'with the grain' beef strips that will work so well in stroganoffs and such love-you-long-time simmer stews. Essentially, stir frying is a flash fry attack, where you literally chuck in the meat at the end just as long as you would to brown something then agitate with one or two stirs as the pieces are so thin and tender that that is actually all they should need. I never used to realise what all the fuss was about until I started to Wok out myself. So unless you have an Asian butcher nearby, which I'd like but is not the case in these particular burbs, use semi frozen slabs of meat to cut into bite sized chunks then slice across the grain into thin (3-5mm) slices of happiness. You can attempt this with a mega sharp knife and unfrozen meat, but sadly I am just not that talented!
As you go, place slices in a bowl. Apply the following Mum-approved marinade (all at once or in splashes for each layer if you are doing a huge amount:
Light soya sauce - a generous splash to coat the pieces
Dry sherry or rice wine - ditto
Lots of pepper (ground black or powdered white); dried powdered garlic and ginger
A pinch/half a teaspoon/2cm length of a chopstick end-full of sugar.
I also add a tiny bit of chili flakes to this marinade now.
I decided to be brave and use dark (or mushroom-style dark) soya sauce to really coat and gloss up the beef (brave as Mum used to only ever reserve this strong stuff for the soya sauce chicken, it was never really vetted for general stirfry use!)
Assemble each ingredient near your stovetop in little bowls, plates or generic receptacles within arm's reach. Once your start the stirfry, it needs to be done all in a flash so none of the elements overcooks.
You ready? Start the Wok!
Place your wok over high heat.
Pour in a drizzle of neutral tasting oil. I use olive oil. Vegetable, canola etc are all good.
Plop the garlic and ginger pieces and the basil stems into the oil they'll start to sizzle and infuse the oil and the house with delicious aromas.
Then the onion pieces. I also add cashew pieces here sometimes.
Stir stir stir sizzle. Fish out the basil stems.
Now add the cauliflower/vegie pieces. Allow to contact the wok freely to add some small charred areas then stir stir stir.
Now the beef, marinade and all. If it's too dry, add a splash of water. If it's too soggy, Dad taught me a trick of gently sprinkling over some cornflour to thicken the sauce up - but be ready to go stir-crazy or you'll end up with unfortunate lumps.
So. Stir sizzle stir add the basil leaves stir add the basil flowers stir sizzle, and you're done! Delicious stirfry fit for a feast or a week's worth of workday dinners! Wow!
So I've gotten into the habit of cooking up a big batch of somethin' somethin' the day before a round of shifts, boxing it up into generous serves and feeling super prepared for the energy drain of the work week.
In related news, I've also been working on my new vegie and herb garden now that I have access to ground floor dirt. The perennial basil has been going off like a frog in a sock, with fat, tart leaves and huge long stems of edible flowers.
So I decided to come up with my take on the legendary Thai takeaway staple of Beef with Basil.
The first round was for when Mumsy and Dadsy came over unexpectedly for dinner one night, and it's had many new versions inventified since then.
The last batch brought into work made me happy due to nomming, yes; but also quite chuffed because every time a new person would walk into the tea room they'd say one or all of these things, in this order:
"Wow! Something smelllls amaazing!"
"What are you eating? That looks amaazing!"
"You made that? Wow! Amaaazing!"
Which isn't too shabby for a leftover stirfry!
BEEF WITH BASIL, experimental cooking style:
Have a weird habit of buying budget/on sale beef steak, and filling your freezer full of it. Despite this, have no recollection of your past self already doing this, and end up with lots of steak to use up. For this recipe it's best to use budget lean steak with no fancy marbling to confuse the beefy issue. Pull a tray of said steak out of the freezer and allow to thaw whilst you attend to vegies.
Harvest a metric shit-tonne of perennial basil. Wash, pick off caterpillars, then strip the flowers and leaves off the stems - separate into three piles.
Slice and dice some vegies to add to your stirfry. I still haven't nailed exactly which vegies I like best in here, or whether I should just be a purist and leave them out altogether. So far my favourite has been cauliflower, as shown above. There is something quite intense about getting those nice nutty charred bits of cauli to add a bit of oomph, but it also is neutral and flavour absorbing enough to not detract too much from the star players. I've tried field mushrooms (the large fleshy flat cups) and celery pieces (stalks and leaves all in), which have both worked well as well. If you can think of a more traditional, green leafy that would work well, please let me know.
Finely slice an onion.
Finely dice some garlic (no such thing as too much) and sliver up a generous (1-2cm) chunk of ginger lengthways.
Now back to the beef. My Mum would constantly moan and groan about how butchers in Oz can't seem to understand that 'stir fry meat pieces' are NOT in fact those big, long, 'with the grain' beef strips that will work so well in stroganoffs and such love-you-long-time simmer stews. Essentially, stir frying is a flash fry attack, where you literally chuck in the meat at the end just as long as you would to brown something then agitate with one or two stirs as the pieces are so thin and tender that that is actually all they should need. I never used to realise what all the fuss was about until I started to Wok out myself. So unless you have an Asian butcher nearby, which I'd like but is not the case in these particular burbs, use semi frozen slabs of meat to cut into bite sized chunks then slice across the grain into thin (3-5mm) slices of happiness. You can attempt this with a mega sharp knife and unfrozen meat, but sadly I am just not that talented!
As you go, place slices in a bowl. Apply the following Mum-approved marinade (all at once or in splashes for each layer if you are doing a huge amount:
Light soya sauce - a generous splash to coat the pieces
Dry sherry or rice wine - ditto
Lots of pepper (ground black or powdered white); dried powdered garlic and ginger
A pinch/half a teaspoon/2cm length of a chopstick end-full of sugar.
I also add a tiny bit of chili flakes to this marinade now.
I decided to be brave and use dark (or mushroom-style dark) soya sauce to really coat and gloss up the beef (brave as Mum used to only ever reserve this strong stuff for the soya sauce chicken, it was never really vetted for general stirfry use!)
Assemble each ingredient near your stovetop in little bowls, plates or generic receptacles within arm's reach. Once your start the stirfry, it needs to be done all in a flash so none of the elements overcooks.
You ready? Start the Wok!
Place your wok over high heat.
Pour in a drizzle of neutral tasting oil. I use olive oil. Vegetable, canola etc are all good.
Plop the garlic and ginger pieces and the basil stems into the oil they'll start to sizzle and infuse the oil and the house with delicious aromas.
Then the onion pieces. I also add cashew pieces here sometimes.
Stir stir stir sizzle. Fish out the basil stems.
Now add the cauliflower/vegie pieces. Allow to contact the wok freely to add some small charred areas then stir stir stir.
Now the beef, marinade and all. If it's too dry, add a splash of water. If it's too soggy, Dad taught me a trick of gently sprinkling over some cornflour to thicken the sauce up - but be ready to go stir-crazy or you'll end up with unfortunate lumps.
So. Stir sizzle stir add the basil leaves stir add the basil flowers stir sizzle, and you're done! Delicious stirfry fit for a feast or a week's worth of workday dinners! Wow!
19 March 2013
Christmas Dinner Soup! - fantabulous guest post by Jen
I recently saw on my F*(&book feed that my very clever friend Jen had made an amazing invention with her enticing Christmas Dinner Soup to warm up her Northern hemisphere home - As I've been a weensy bit slack on here, I asked her if she would mind doing a guest post on here for all us luckyducks (or is that luckyturkeys?) and she said yes! Here we go.....
Christmas Dinner Soup:
(Serves 4 as a main, probably 6-8 as an entree)
This is a hearty, meaty, wintery soup inspired by all the flavours I love at Christmas. The roast potatoes, the oniony, sagey stuffing and the turkey and ham. It was a complete experiment that totally works.
The fixings:
- 1.5 - 2L vegetable or chicken stock
- turkey breast ( approx 400g), diced
- 1 gammon steak or 4-6 rashers of thick cut bacon, diced
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 1 leek, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2-3 sticks celery, chopped
- 1 small sweet potato or 1/2 a medium sweet potato, chopped
- 1 small potato, chopped
- good handful of fresh sage, roughly chopped
- good handful of parsley, roughly chopped
- quarter of an apple, finely chopped (a dollop of apple sauce will probably work too)
- pepper to taste (salt as well if needed, but I find between the stock and the bacon, it's not needed)
- a good dollop of butter (I used lurpak spreadable, a butter/olive oil combo, around a heaped tablespoon
The makings:
In a large pot over medium heat, fry turkey, bacon and onion until the onions are soft, the bacon.and turkey are sealed and the house smells fantastic.
Add the stock, seasonings and apple and bring to the boil.
Turn heat down to simmer and leave it be until approx 1/2 an hour before you want to eat. Then add the other veggies so they don't go too mushy.
Keep simmering until all the veggies are soft and your mouth is watering a lot.
Take off the heat, put some in a bowl. Nom. Burn mouth. Curse. Wait a little bit, then nom again with gusto.
Thanks gorgeous for being such a great friend even if we are internationally challenged. I really miss our many lovely dinner funs that we have had over the years! Thanks for being a food inspiration for me, and the blogosphere... I'll totally kickstart the bignomslittlenoms posting back to action soon!
Christmas Dinner Soup:
(Serves 4 as a main, probably 6-8 as an entree)
This is a hearty, meaty, wintery soup inspired by all the flavours I love at Christmas. The roast potatoes, the oniony, sagey stuffing and the turkey and ham. It was a complete experiment that totally works.
The fixings:
- 1.5 - 2L vegetable or chicken stock
- turkey breast ( approx 400g), diced
- 1 gammon steak or 4-6 rashers of thick cut bacon, diced
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 1 leek, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2-3 sticks celery, chopped
- 1 small sweet potato or 1/2 a medium sweet potato, chopped
- 1 small potato, chopped
- good handful of fresh sage, roughly chopped
- good handful of parsley, roughly chopped
- quarter of an apple, finely chopped (a dollop of apple sauce will probably work too)
- pepper to taste (salt as well if needed, but I find between the stock and the bacon, it's not needed)
- a good dollop of butter (I used lurpak spreadable, a butter/olive oil combo, around a heaped tablespoon
The makings:
In a large pot over medium heat, fry turkey, bacon and onion until the onions are soft, the bacon.and turkey are sealed and the house smells fantastic.
Add the stock, seasonings and apple and bring to the boil.
Turn heat down to simmer and leave it be until approx 1/2 an hour before you want to eat. Then add the other veggies so they don't go too mushy.
Keep simmering until all the veggies are soft and your mouth is watering a lot.
Take off the heat, put some in a bowl. Nom. Burn mouth. Curse. Wait a little bit, then nom again with gusto.
Thanks gorgeous for being such a great friend even if we are internationally challenged. I really miss our many lovely dinner funs that we have had over the years! Thanks for being a food inspiration for me, and the blogosphere... I'll totally kickstart the bignomslittlenoms posting back to action soon!
06 June 2012
Macauliflower Cheese
A blog post in honour of my friend Emma who is fearlessly blogging her cooking adventures here, the first two of which have been care of Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals (please click this link to see Jamie's very very helpful tips and techniques videos and search recipes).
Recently in Oz we were treated to the TV series Jamie's 30 minute meals, which was conveniently aired on Channel Ten at early tea-time so I would have it on while I was cooking (by which you now know I mean "throwing random ingredients at cookware and hoping something turned into food") dinner.
I was inspired by his great idea to combine two old favourites, Macaroni Cheese and Cauliflower Cheese into one big cheesy easy love-in.
Now the first time I made this, I followed the recipe from the book fairly precisely (it just looked so delicious on the telly that I thought for once I'd give the recipe some obedience)
- which was awesome, except for the fact that Jamie obviously has a kitchen made for GIANTS and I ended up needing to use TWO baking dishes 
and, like Emma, had leftover pasta for days on end. Not that that's a bad thing, but I was a tad overwhelmed! I don't have a food processor for "waz"ing up food, but I do have a blender which, with a bit of persistence and jiggling, works just fine for the breadcrumb mix.
The second time dosen't really count as I "made" this, I was actually a little bit unwell and staying at a lovely mate's house and she was very kindly babysitting me (watching rubbish daytime TV with me and feeding me - for which I later was able to return the favour, thank goodness). She also had a copy of Jamie's 30 Minute Meals, and an even unholier love of Mac and Cheese than me, so she cooked up a lovely batch of this dish for us to eat for dinner. Even though she reduced the amount, there was still HEAPS left!
Third time was the other night I decided to do a half-amount... turned out pretty well. Although this time I couldn't be bothered with the bread/crumbs and blender, so I just hand crumbled the prosciutto and grated some Gruyere on top... Big nom!
So, here's the sort-of recipe:
Macauliflower Cheese
4 rashers of pancetta or prosciutto
1/2 a large head of cauliflower
250g dried macaroni
125g of grated cheese
(I used Gruyere leftover from the Eurovision wine & cheese viewing that just kept on giving; Jamie suggests mature Cheddar)
2 thick slices of country bread or a large handful of breadcrumbs
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary (or a sprinkle of dried is fine)
1-2 cloves of garlic
Most of a 200g tub of crème fraîche
Salt, pepper
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese to serve (optional)
Lay the pancetta/prosciutto in a baking paper lined roasting dish and put on top shelf of oven set to 220°
Tear off any dried out outer leaves from the cauliflower, trim off the tough end of the stalk. Then cut the half-head in half or thirds. Chuck it into a large saucepan core down, with the pasta, onto stove set to high heat. Cover these with boiling water from the kettle (you may need a 2nd boiled kettleful to cover). Season with a generous pinch of salt, a splash of olive oil, then stir and cook for the amount of time on the macaroni packet instructions (mine was 13 minutes - this makes for soggy cauli, if you want al dente cauli maybe withhold it until the pasta's really bubbling away then add it 2nd?) leave the saucepan lid on half-on-half-off or wedge open with a wooden spoon to prevent volcanic eruptions.
Remove the pancetta/prosciutto from the oven (leave the oven on), pop it into the food processor/blender with the bread, rosemary, a drizzle of olive oil and pepper and "waz" it up until it is a coarse breadcrumb consistency.
Strain the cauli/pasta mix over a bowl or jug to collect the cooking water.
Tip the strained cauli & pasta into the roasting tray that had the porky rashers in it. Add 200mL/a small mugful of the cooking water, crush in the garlic cloves, mix in the crème fraîche and the grated cheese, gently stirring and smooshing up the cauliflower with your tongs or spoon or implement. Season to taste. If the mix is not nice and loose when you give the dish a shake, add another splash of the cooking water until it is. Give it a shake/spread it evenly in the dish; then scatter over the breadcrumb mix.
Put the dish in the top shelf of the oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
Shave or grate parmesan over the top once cooked/upon removing from oven to serve. Omnomnomnom.
Recently in Oz we were treated to the TV series Jamie's 30 minute meals, which was conveniently aired on Channel Ten at early tea-time so I would have it on while I was cooking (by which you now know I mean "throwing random ingredients at cookware and hoping something turned into food") dinner.
I was inspired by his great idea to combine two old favourites, Macaroni Cheese and Cauliflower Cheese into one big cheesy easy love-in.
Now the first time I made this, I followed the recipe from the book fairly precisely (it just looked so delicious on the telly that I thought for once I'd give the recipe some obedience)
and, like Emma, had leftover pasta for days on end. Not that that's a bad thing, but I was a tad overwhelmed! I don't have a food processor for "waz"ing up food, but I do have a blender which, with a bit of persistence and jiggling, works just fine for the breadcrumb mix.
The second time dosen't really count as I "made" this, I was actually a little bit unwell and staying at a lovely mate's house and she was very kindly babysitting me (watching rubbish daytime TV with me and feeding me - for which I later was able to return the favour, thank goodness). She also had a copy of Jamie's 30 Minute Meals, and an even unholier love of Mac and Cheese than me, so she cooked up a lovely batch of this dish for us to eat for dinner. Even though she reduced the amount, there was still HEAPS left!
Third time was the other night I decided to do a half-amount... turned out pretty well. Although this time I couldn't be bothered with the bread/crumbs and blender, so I just hand crumbled the prosciutto and grated some Gruyere on top... Big nom!
So, here's the sort-of recipe:
Macauliflower Cheese
4 rashers of pancetta or prosciutto
1/2 a large head of cauliflower
250g dried macaroni
125g of grated cheese
(I used Gruyere leftover from the Eurovision wine & cheese viewing that just kept on giving; Jamie suggests mature Cheddar)
2 thick slices of country bread or a large handful of breadcrumbs
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary (or a sprinkle of dried is fine)
1-2 cloves of garlic
Most of a 200g tub of crème fraîche
Salt, pepper
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese to serve (optional)
Lay the pancetta/prosciutto in a baking paper lined roasting dish and put on top shelf of oven set to 220°
Tear off any dried out outer leaves from the cauliflower, trim off the tough end of the stalk. Then cut the half-head in half or thirds. Chuck it into a large saucepan core down, with the pasta, onto stove set to high heat. Cover these with boiling water from the kettle (you may need a 2nd boiled kettleful to cover). Season with a generous pinch of salt, a splash of olive oil, then stir and cook for the amount of time on the macaroni packet instructions (mine was 13 minutes - this makes for soggy cauli, if you want al dente cauli maybe withhold it until the pasta's really bubbling away then add it 2nd?) leave the saucepan lid on half-on-half-off or wedge open with a wooden spoon to prevent volcanic eruptions.
Remove the pancetta/prosciutto from the oven (leave the oven on), pop it into the food processor/blender with the bread, rosemary, a drizzle of olive oil and pepper and "waz" it up until it is a coarse breadcrumb consistency.
Strain the cauli/pasta mix over a bowl or jug to collect the cooking water.
Tip the strained cauli & pasta into the roasting tray that had the porky rashers in it. Add 200mL/a small mugful of the cooking water, crush in the garlic cloves, mix in the crème fraîche and the grated cheese, gently stirring and smooshing up the cauliflower with your tongs or spoon or implement. Season to taste. If the mix is not nice and loose when you give the dish a shake, add another splash of the cooking water until it is. Give it a shake/spread it evenly in the dish; then scatter over the breadcrumb mix.
Put the dish in the top shelf of the oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
Shave or grate parmesan over the top once cooked/upon removing from oven to serve. Omnomnomnom.
04 June 2012
Zucchini and corn fritters
So I had one of those "THERE'S NO FOOD IN THE HOUSE!" panics yesterday, but the inertia of the pyjamas and the disconcerting cold outside (of the slap-me-in-the-cheeks-with-a-frozen-fish-and-I'd-feel-warmer) led me to scrounge around and find some great stuff kicking around in the fridge and pantry, namely zucchini, a tin of corn and some out of date flour. A quick look in my friendly recipe file (in my early twenties, trying to get fancy with the cooking living out of home for the first time I religiously collected recipes and cut and pasted them into it, which has paid off in spades... well dishes...). It was about that time that I was a little bit obsessed with fritters and patties. So after some recipe melding and inventionation (my love of crêpes has given me some clues about batter consistency), I give you:
Zucchini and Corn Fritters:
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Half teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk or olive oil
420g can corn kernels, drained
300g (2 medium or 3 small) zucchini, coarsely grated
Half an onion, finely grated
Salt & pepper
Olive oil for frying
Sift flour, baking powder & cayenne into a bowl. Whisk eggs with milk/olive oil then add to flour mixture - stir to form a thick pancake-like batter. Add corn, zucchini, onions and season with salt & pepper. Stir until just combined (I used a fork, it helps).
Pour a thin layer of oil into a large non-stick frying pan and place on medium to high heat.
Add large spoonfuls of mixture to pan, flattening slightly to form shapely, even fritters. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through.
Drain on a paper towel on a ceramic plate, which you can rest on top of a bowl of boiling water to keep them warm whilst you continue cooking (also an excellent crêpe trick).
I was eating them for dinner, so I decided to bulk it up with some meat - Coppa was on special for $4.99 for 100g last time I was out shopping so I have a stockpile in the back of the fridge. A perfect dinner and happy to avoid a supermarket dash in my jarmies in the dark for another night!
Zucchini and Corn Fritters:
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Half teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk or olive oil
420g can corn kernels, drained
300g (2 medium or 3 small) zucchini, coarsely grated
Half an onion, finely grated
Salt & pepper
Olive oil for frying
Sift flour, baking powder & cayenne into a bowl. Whisk eggs with milk/olive oil then add to flour mixture - stir to form a thick pancake-like batter. Add corn, zucchini, onions and season with salt & pepper. Stir until just combined (I used a fork, it helps).
Pour a thin layer of oil into a large non-stick frying pan and place on medium to high heat.
Add large spoonfuls of mixture to pan, flattening slightly to form shapely, even fritters. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through.
Drain on a paper towel on a ceramic plate, which you can rest on top of a bowl of boiling water to keep them warm whilst you continue cooking (also an excellent crêpe trick).
I was eating them for dinner, so I decided to bulk it up with some meat - Coppa was on special for $4.99 for 100g last time I was out shopping so I have a stockpile in the back of the fridge. A perfect dinner and happy to avoid a supermarket dash in my jarmies in the dark for another night!
01 June 2012
Fuztastic Fennel
...and a handsome fellow he is too...
So, it's only in recent history that I've discovered how much I like fennel. The first time I cooked it was an absolute disaster. To this day I still have no idea if it was hideously undercooked or a bad specimen. I had had such delicious fennel dishes (or usually as a side salad, often with orange) that I persisted with trial and error.
I now know it is delicious both raw (snap off some of the smaller inner pieces as a pretty and delicious fingerfood addition to an antipasto plate; or shave/slice thinly and dress for a fast and delicious salad) or roasted. You can eat all the parts - the fluffy leafies can be used as a very similar replacement for dill; the stalks and bulbs are crunchalicious and the seeds are (as Simon on The Cook and The Chef reminds us) the cause of the distinctive Italian pork and fennel sausages.
After lots of trial and error, my preferred method for roasting is as follows:
Roasted Fennel / Warm Fennel Salad
Line a large roasting pan with baking paper; and spray some olive oil on. Preheat oven.
Wash two large fennel bulbs (usually sold with about 3 inches of stalks and leaves poking out in a very mohawky style). Tear off the fluffy leaves and place into the roasting pan. Slice off the stalks from the bulb, slice off and discard top dried out portion, then slice stalks thinly and chuck into roasting pan. Cut the bulbs in half and slice very thinly. Try not to nibble on ALL the inner "petals" as chef's privileges whilst doing so, I challenge you! Place slices into roasting pan.
Drain (and -optional- cut in half) a small jar (or half a large jar) of pitted kalamata olives.
Mix fennel, a splash or spray of olive oil and a splash of white wine (or if you're detoxing water will do).
Cut a whole dwarf meyer lemon (or if you don't grow these on your balcony, half a regular lemon) in half lengthways, squeeze juice over contents of roasting pan then very very exquisitely (but don't cut yourself - lemon juice! ouchie!) thinly slice the lemon rind/flesh and put into the roasting pan on top (so people can opt to pick it off if they can't hack it).
Basically I tailor this to whatever else is in the oven. For al dente - if you want a quick cook go for 200° and 30-45 minutes (consider adding aluminium foil cover to prevent burning; if doing a roast or bake at 180° at the same time it will take you 45-75 minutes; slow roasting meat as well at 160°, will take approx 90 minutes - just keep checking back and taste for consistency, and mix occasionally to avoid too many top burnt bits.
Serve as a side dish or a large salad. Goes particularly well with the roast chicken a la Mediterranean that I have previously described.
To be honest, I hadn't blogged sooner about this mainstay of my vegie repertoire because it all seemed too simple. However, the simple things in life are often the most delicious. The other day I had heaps of this dish leftover, and a huge bag of Imperial mandarins - all good things to take advantage of in winter - and I had an epiphany - reheat this dish and top with thin (half a centimetre) slices of mandarin and hey presto - heaven is a place on earth in winter! Enjoy!
So, it's only in recent history that I've discovered how much I like fennel. The first time I cooked it was an absolute disaster. To this day I still have no idea if it was hideously undercooked or a bad specimen. I had had such delicious fennel dishes (or usually as a side salad, often with orange) that I persisted with trial and error.
I now know it is delicious both raw (snap off some of the smaller inner pieces as a pretty and delicious fingerfood addition to an antipasto plate; or shave/slice thinly and dress for a fast and delicious salad) or roasted. You can eat all the parts - the fluffy leafies can be used as a very similar replacement for dill; the stalks and bulbs are crunchalicious and the seeds are (as Simon on The Cook and The Chef reminds us) the cause of the distinctive Italian pork and fennel sausages.
After lots of trial and error, my preferred method for roasting is as follows:
Roasted Fennel / Warm Fennel Salad
Line a large roasting pan with baking paper; and spray some olive oil on. Preheat oven.
Wash two large fennel bulbs (usually sold with about 3 inches of stalks and leaves poking out in a very mohawky style). Tear off the fluffy leaves and place into the roasting pan. Slice off the stalks from the bulb, slice off and discard top dried out portion, then slice stalks thinly and chuck into roasting pan. Cut the bulbs in half and slice very thinly. Try not to nibble on ALL the inner "petals" as chef's privileges whilst doing so, I challenge you! Place slices into roasting pan.
Drain (and -optional- cut in half) a small jar (or half a large jar) of pitted kalamata olives.
Mix fennel, a splash or spray of olive oil and a splash of white wine (or if you're detoxing water will do).
Cut a whole dwarf meyer lemon (or if you don't grow these on your balcony, half a regular lemon) in half lengthways, squeeze juice over contents of roasting pan then very very exquisitely (but don't cut yourself - lemon juice! ouchie!) thinly slice the lemon rind/flesh and put into the roasting pan on top (so people can opt to pick it off if they can't hack it).
Basically I tailor this to whatever else is in the oven. For al dente - if you want a quick cook go for 200° and 30-45 minutes (consider adding aluminium foil cover to prevent burning; if doing a roast or bake at 180° at the same time it will take you 45-75 minutes; slow roasting meat as well at 160°, will take approx 90 minutes - just keep checking back and taste for consistency, and mix occasionally to avoid too many top burnt bits.
Serve as a side dish or a large salad. Goes particularly well with the roast chicken a la Mediterranean that I have previously described.
To be honest, I hadn't blogged sooner about this mainstay of my vegie repertoire because it all seemed too simple. However, the simple things in life are often the most delicious. The other day I had heaps of this dish leftover, and a huge bag of Imperial mandarins - all good things to take advantage of in winter - and I had an epiphany - reheat this dish and top with thin (half a centimetre) slices of mandarin and hey presto - heaven is a place on earth in winter! Enjoy!
29 May 2012
Glass noodles come with a warning, but no sharp implements
This evening was a bit of a slow TV night, nothing to watch, grumpy grumpy grumpy. The fridge is also looking a bit sad and sorry tonight. Just the remains of a massive wine/cheese/antipasto platter I had for Eurovision (crud, all my chopping boards and knives are all filthily strewn about the apartment), a bottle of tomato juice and some leftover takeaway Chinese roast duck. Oh yeah, some random vegies rattling around in there too. Hmm, glass noodles in pantry. A-ha!
Wok on, ingredients in (in this order):
Shredded duck meat and skin by hand
A splash of olive oil
Green beans snapped into pieces
A bunch of watercress torn into short segments
Soy sauce
Dry sherry
Black pepper
Glass noodles (which I soaked in cold water at the start of the wokking)
Enoki mushrooms
The remainder of the takeaway plum sauce (I seem to have no sugar at all in my apartment at the moment)
Heat off, stir stir stir
Mmmmmmmm
Except I could not for the life of me convince myself to not have a third helping, even thought I KNOW that glass noodles swell up in my stomach and render me incapacitated with a mild bellyache for the rest of the night.
Ah, it was worth it. Yum yum yum!
Wok on, ingredients in (in this order):
Shredded duck meat and skin by hand
A splash of olive oil
Green beans snapped into pieces
A bunch of watercress torn into short segments
Soy sauce
Dry sherry
Black pepper
Glass noodles (which I soaked in cold water at the start of the wokking)
Enoki mushrooms
The remainder of the takeaway plum sauce (I seem to have no sugar at all in my apartment at the moment)
Heat off, stir stir stir
Mmmmmmmm
Except I could not for the life of me convince myself to not have a third helping, even thought I KNOW that glass noodles swell up in my stomach and render me incapacitated with a mild bellyache for the rest of the night.
Ah, it was worth it. Yum yum yum!
18 May 2012
Ultimate comfort food - Sweetcorn Soup
A friend of mine was feeling a bit under the weather, and I remembered we had had a conversation about how much she used to love Sweetcorn Soup as a child when she was unwell. Luckily, I also remembered that my Mumsy had recently told me about how ridiculously quick and easy it is to make it. So on my way out to visit my friend, it was onto the parental bat-phone and a quick recap of the recipe. Here's what she told me:
Mumsy's Sweetcorn Soup
Empty one 420g tin/canful of creamed corn into a small saucepan.
Using the conveniently empty tin, add a 1:1 amount of water (ie one tinful).
{Add meat* if required at this stage}
Bring to the boil. {If using meat, wait until meat is cooked/heated through}
Meanwhile beat an egg.
Once saucepan contents are cooked/boiling, turn off heat and immediately vigorously stir in the beaten egg, it should cook and flake up instantaneously.
Add salt and/or pepper to taste.
Serve piping hot to patient on couch, preferably with some rubbish daytime television to watch on the side.
*Meat variations (Mum reckons no more than 10g/a couple of tablespoonsful):
1 - Shred some cooked chicken (eg store-bought BBQ chicken breast or leftover cooked chicken)
2 - Buy a small tin of pre-cooked crab meat
3 - Marinate some pork or beef mince/dice with a splash of soy sauce, a pinch of sugar & powdered garlic (and some dry white or sherry)
[Bonus recipe:
Mumsy's "Diced Pork and Sweetcorn Rice"
Mum also says this recipe can easily be made into a delicious casserole-y type sauce to serve on rice.
Simply omit the water, brown diced or minced marinated pork or beef first in a tiny touch of oil then add the can of creamed corn and finish with egg as above.
The resulting consistency should be "kind of like bolognaise sauce".]
I remember having this a lot as a kid. Who knew two dishes for which I have such fond memories could be so easy to reproduce!?
Mumsy's Sweetcorn Soup
Using the conveniently empty tin, add a 1:1 amount of water (ie one tinful).
{Add meat* if required at this stage}
Bring to the boil. {If using meat, wait until meat is cooked/heated through}
Meanwhile beat an egg.
Once saucepan contents are cooked/boiling, turn off heat and immediately vigorously stir in the beaten egg, it should cook and flake up instantaneously.
Add salt and/or pepper to taste.
Serve piping hot to patient on couch, preferably with some rubbish daytime television to watch on the side.
*Meat variations (Mum reckons no more than 10g/a couple of tablespoonsful):
1 - Shred some cooked chicken (eg store-bought BBQ chicken breast or leftover cooked chicken)
2 - Buy a small tin of pre-cooked crab meat
3 - Marinate some pork or beef mince/dice with a splash of soy sauce, a pinch of sugar & powdered garlic (and some dry white or sherry)
[Bonus recipe:
Mumsy's "Diced Pork and Sweetcorn Rice"
Mum also says this recipe can easily be made into a delicious casserole-y type sauce to serve on rice.
Simply omit the water, brown diced or minced marinated pork or beef first in a tiny touch of oil then add the can of creamed corn and finish with egg as above.
The resulting consistency should be "kind of like bolognaise sauce".]
I remember having this a lot as a kid. Who knew two dishes for which I have such fond memories could be so easy to reproduce!?
13 May 2012
Apple and Pear Pudding or "Fruity toad in the hole"
17 April 2012
Vongole (or let's be honest, any shellfish) Linguine (or let's be honest, any long pasta)
Here's a time-travelling one for you. I recently had a conversation with my lovely bestie Woffles. I'm not entirely sure how we gave her that name between today and all those years ago in Year 5, but it is definitely spelled with an "o" as in the Woffles, the talking rabbit in the Enid Blyton books - not with an "a" as in the foodstuff; and it certainly suits her.
Anyhow, I was out walking with her by the river and we were talking about my love of molluscs, in particular bivalves - I often go to the markets and buy the freshest live mussels or clams that I can find and work my dinner plans around them. A very useful recipe I have tucked away in my recipe file is this gem for Spaghetti Vongole - yet another Neil Perry / Qantas Magazine recipe. My preferred long pasta is Linguine with Vongole but Fettucine (good with mussels) or Spaghetti or otherwise works just as well. I also refer to this recipe when cooking shellfish and just use the first part of the recipe as a reminder of cooking times and accoutrements.
I can't seem to find my picture of the first attempt (and thus most faithful to recipe version) but will look through my other computer just in case. In the meantime here's an adjusted, musselicious & pastaless version of the recipe:
I believe these were live Mornington Peninsula mussels purchased that day from South Melbourne Markets in honour of a parental visit... and quite delicious, if memory serves...
19 January 2012
Free food Lamb Ragout
I'm living in employer-provided accommodation, and remembering how flaky and unreliable electric cooktops and ovens are!
The kind person who lived here before me left me a bunch of food on our contract changeover, including vac-packed gnocchi (which I had never cooked with before) and a frozen tray of leg lamb steaks.
Having recently eaten a modest/shared serve of very delicious ragout at a Tapas-style hipster caf on a short holiday, I had a hankering for more and was happy to use up the mysterious free food in the flat on my return as it was all too hard to go to the grocery shop.
Ragout is so yummy and restaurant-y, but I have worked out (see also Roo Ragoo) it is basically a case of:
brown the meat in olive oil in a hot pan (seasoned with flour/salt/pepper or not) & remove from pan;
add new oil and onion/garlic/herbs/spices to the pan, then vegies & re-add the meat;
then smother with a tin of tomatoes, tomato paste, stock (chicken, beef or vegie) & wine; bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for at least 2 but ideally 3 hours.
There is a flurry of activity at the start, but then you can just sit back, enjoy the soothing sounds & smells of simmering whilst watching TV/drinking/socialising etc...
I had the leg lamb steaks (mostly thawed), which I browned. I left them in the pan due to a minimalist accompaniment of half a large jar of kalamata olives (drained and rinsed) which I then added over the lamb. I seasoned with HEAPS of black cracked pepper, dried thyme, dried oregano, some wilted rosemary sprigs found in the back of the fridge, powdered garlic, powdered ginger and a sprinkle of chili flakes and salt. Then in went a tin of diced tomatoes, 2x 50g sachets of tomato paste and a 250mL box of pre-made chicken stock. I added a small dash of balsamic vinegar and a splash of worchestershire sauce (another freebie) to add some oomph. I sadly did not have any wine or onions, which made me nervous as these have always been a mainstay in the past (of my pantry and my ragout). It was all brought to the boil (the high setting on the stove is like HADES! bubbling cauldron of doom!), then down to a happy simmer, lid half on.
I watched telly, unpacked my suitcase, did a load of laundry, watched more telly, played on the internet, watched more telly... I think in total I had simmered it for almost two hours when I realised the whole steaks, maybe from being frozen prior, were not really flaking and falling apart as I had expected. I took the meat out of the pan and cut it into chunks then flaked/shredded with a fork and returned it to the liquid to continue. I think just before the three hour mark I got hungry, so I boiled up the gnocchi, which was quite a fun experience - add to boiling water then skim them off as they float to the top like a triumphant "ta da! I'm done!".
It was actually quite delicious, if not a tad light on vegetable matter. I pre-made serves in takeaway boxes of gnocchi plus ragout and I am pleased to say it lasts well and microwaves well too. My only problem was that that first night when it was fresh made I was hungry, it was yummy and I ate two HUGE serves, so didn't quite have enough left to last my next stretch of shifts. Not really a negative, a positive for taste I suppose. I'm very happy at being introduced to this instant gnocchi concept. I'll definitely try another version again!
The kind person who lived here before me left me a bunch of food on our contract changeover, including vac-packed gnocchi (which I had never cooked with before) and a frozen tray of leg lamb steaks.
Having recently eaten a modest/shared serve of very delicious ragout at a Tapas-style hipster caf on a short holiday, I had a hankering for more and was happy to use up the mysterious free food in the flat on my return as it was all too hard to go to the grocery shop.
Ragout is so yummy and restaurant-y, but I have worked out (see also Roo Ragoo) it is basically a case of:
brown the meat in olive oil in a hot pan (seasoned with flour/salt/pepper or not) & remove from pan;
add new oil and onion/garlic/herbs/spices to the pan, then vegies & re-add the meat;
then smother with a tin of tomatoes, tomato paste, stock (chicken, beef or vegie) & wine; bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for at least 2 but ideally 3 hours.
There is a flurry of activity at the start, but then you can just sit back, enjoy the soothing sounds & smells of simmering whilst watching TV/drinking/socialising etc...
I had the leg lamb steaks (mostly thawed), which I browned. I left them in the pan due to a minimalist accompaniment of half a large jar of kalamata olives (drained and rinsed) which I then added over the lamb. I seasoned with HEAPS of black cracked pepper, dried thyme, dried oregano, some wilted rosemary sprigs found in the back of the fridge, powdered garlic, powdered ginger and a sprinkle of chili flakes and salt. Then in went a tin of diced tomatoes, 2x 50g sachets of tomato paste and a 250mL box of pre-made chicken stock. I added a small dash of balsamic vinegar and a splash of worchestershire sauce (another freebie) to add some oomph. I sadly did not have any wine or onions, which made me nervous as these have always been a mainstay in the past (of my pantry and my ragout). It was all brought to the boil (the high setting on the stove is like HADES! bubbling cauldron of doom!), then down to a happy simmer, lid half on.
I watched telly, unpacked my suitcase, did a load of laundry, watched more telly, played on the internet, watched more telly... I think in total I had simmered it for almost two hours when I realised the whole steaks, maybe from being frozen prior, were not really flaking and falling apart as I had expected. I took the meat out of the pan and cut it into chunks then flaked/shredded with a fork and returned it to the liquid to continue. I think just before the three hour mark I got hungry, so I boiled up the gnocchi, which was quite a fun experience - add to boiling water then skim them off as they float to the top like a triumphant "ta da! I'm done!".
It was actually quite delicious, if not a tad light on vegetable matter. I pre-made serves in takeaway boxes of gnocchi plus ragout and I am pleased to say it lasts well and microwaves well too. My only problem was that that first night when it was fresh made I was hungry, it was yummy and I ate two HUGE serves, so didn't quite have enough left to last my next stretch of shifts. Not really a negative, a positive for taste I suppose. I'm very happy at being introduced to this instant gnocchi concept. I'll definitely try another version again!
11 January 2012
Making friends with ovens with chicken
It was the turn of the century (sounds classier than "entering the noughties"). I was watching TV and channel surfing ("you're worse than a man!" was one of my ex-boyfriend's exasperated cry once) as I do. My puny ADHD brain managed to pause just long enough on the lovely Stefano's Gondola on the Murray TV show (at least I think that's what it was) to see a lovely family picnic dish of moist, tomatoey chicken with crispy parmesan and oregano crust surrounding by a loving nest of potato wedges. That image has burned itself into the "comfort food" lobe of my brain, and I have made this dish (in many Impressionist brushstrokes incarnations) more times than I can count as a go-to for dinner parties, a nice treat for myself or comfort food in times of disquiet.
As I am currently living in employer-provided accommodation in the desert, and was a teensy bit unwell and homesick, here is the latest version to prove yes, you can make friends with ovens, no matter how basic and crochetty they may be, and even if you are cooking with disposable tinfoil trays for want of an actual roasting pan:
For comparison, here is an earlier study of the same work ("Chicken descending staircase with pyrex frame, real oven method #2" I like to call it):
"Enough painterly analogies!" I hear you cry. So here is the (or my version of a sort-of) recipe (idealised, open to intrepation, and I do):
MEDITERRANEAN ROASTED CHICKEN AND POTATO WEDGES IN ONE PAN
Ingredients:
Ideally 8 skinless chicken thighs (or 500g to a kilo of chicken, depending on shop tray sizes)
6 medium potatoes or equivalent
Tub or sachet of tomato paste
Similar amount of water
Similar amount of white wine
A squeeze of lemon juice
- or, a jar of pre-made tomatoey pasta sauce (as in picture #1)
Olive oil spray or neat
Dried oregano (or marjoram; or twice as much fresh, or a mixture of both)
Parmesan cheese (powdered is fine)
Cracked black pepper
A touch of salt
An optional handful of kalamata olives and/or halved cherry or grape tomatoes.
Method:
Use a generous sized roasting pan (or tinfoil BBQ tray).
Preheat oven to 180-200 degrees.
Cut potatoes into wedges, peeling optional. Microwave or parboil them before or after wedging until just cooked. Coat with a light sheen of olive oil, salt lightly, pepper heavily, generously apply oregano and parmesan. Arrange around the edge of the roasting pan.
Cut the chicken thighs in halves or if using other chicken parts cut into manageable and/or uniform sizes (I prefer thighs, then drumsticks, then wings, less so breast meat for this dish). Place pieces and drained olives in centre of roasting pan surrounded by potato fortress. Apply tomato paste + water + wine/instapastasauce and lemon juice, and mix until chicken is coated well. Some staining of nearby potatoes is encouraged. Over entire pan apply liberal amounts of cracked pepper, oregano and parmesan which will form crispy crust of deliciousness.
Place entire pan into oven. The dish will take roughly 45 minutes to 90 minutes to cook depending on how much you have put in the pan and how crap your (albeit rent free) oven is. Have tinfoil to cover the dish for the first 15-30 minutes of cooking then uncover to allow to crisp up the crust.
Serve with a salad of cos and avocado with lemon/olive oil/thyme dressing; or a roasted fennel salad depending on the season.
Best enjoyed with a big group of friends at a dinner party (chuck it all in the oven, then drink with your friends while the place fills up with the awesome aroma) or picnic (just carry the whole big dish to the rug or table) - who will ooh, aah then say nothing at all as they stuff their faces. Surprisingly, this dish is also good as a simple "keeps well" dish for sectioning off into take-away boxes for a week's worth of work food that you definitely won't get sick of!
As I am currently living in employer-provided accommodation in the desert, and was a teensy bit unwell and homesick, here is the latest version to prove yes, you can make friends with ovens, no matter how basic and crochetty they may be, and even if you are cooking with disposable tinfoil trays for want of an actual roasting pan:
For comparison, here is an earlier study of the same work ("Chicken descending staircase with pyrex frame, real oven method #2" I like to call it):
"Enough painterly analogies!" I hear you cry. So here is the (or my version of a sort-of) recipe (idealised, open to intrepation, and I do):
MEDITERRANEAN ROASTED CHICKEN AND POTATO WEDGES IN ONE PAN
Ingredients:
Ideally 8 skinless chicken thighs (or 500g to a kilo of chicken, depending on shop tray sizes)
6 medium potatoes or equivalent
Tub or sachet of tomato paste
Similar amount of water
Similar amount of white wine
A squeeze of lemon juice
- or, a jar of pre-made tomatoey pasta sauce (as in picture #1)
Olive oil spray or neat
Dried oregano (or marjoram; or twice as much fresh, or a mixture of both)
Parmesan cheese (powdered is fine)
Cracked black pepper
A touch of salt
An optional handful of kalamata olives and/or halved cherry or grape tomatoes.
Method:
Use a generous sized roasting pan (or tinfoil BBQ tray).
Preheat oven to 180-200 degrees.
Cut potatoes into wedges, peeling optional. Microwave or parboil them before or after wedging until just cooked. Coat with a light sheen of olive oil, salt lightly, pepper heavily, generously apply oregano and parmesan. Arrange around the edge of the roasting pan.
Cut the chicken thighs in halves or if using other chicken parts cut into manageable and/or uniform sizes (I prefer thighs, then drumsticks, then wings, less so breast meat for this dish). Place pieces and drained olives in centre of roasting pan surrounded by potato fortress. Apply tomato paste + water + wine/instapastasauce and lemon juice, and mix until chicken is coated well. Some staining of nearby potatoes is encouraged. Over entire pan apply liberal amounts of cracked pepper, oregano and parmesan which will form crispy crust of deliciousness.
Place entire pan into oven. The dish will take roughly 45 minutes to 90 minutes to cook depending on how much you have put in the pan and how crap your (albeit rent free) oven is. Have tinfoil to cover the dish for the first 15-30 minutes of cooking then uncover to allow to crisp up the crust.
Serve with a salad of cos and avocado with lemon/olive oil/thyme dressing; or a roasted fennel salad depending on the season.
Best enjoyed with a big group of friends at a dinner party (chuck it all in the oven, then drink with your friends while the place fills up with the awesome aroma) or picnic (just carry the whole big dish to the rug or table) - who will ooh, aah then say nothing at all as they stuff their faces. Surprisingly, this dish is also good as a simple "keeps well" dish for sectioning off into take-away boxes for a week's worth of work food that you definitely won't get sick of!
19 September 2011
Coffee and Hazelnut Yorkshire Puddings
I had every intention of baking some mini-muffins the night before the picnic, both to inaugurate the long-forgotten brand new mini-muffin tray bought on a panic eyed grocery store late nighter, and to have, you know, mini-muffins to bring to the picnic.
Time got away from me during the (first) day (off I've had in ages), although I did get a chance to spot a nice recipe on page 26 of The Australian Women's Weekly mini-book aptly named "muffins" (reprinted by popular demand) for coffee hazelnut muffins - which had too many ingredients, including TWO types of flour AND hazelnut meal (pfft, guffaw). The hazelnut frosting - more ingredients! how?! - looked divine but I was struck with a case of the afternoon catnaps. I have way too many of those TAWW mini-books from aforementioned late night grocery store antics. They made a good nesty pillow. Groggy but determined, I managed to narrow down an internet search later that evening to a few recipe ideas, particularly liking the four-ingredient recipe at this very cool baking blog. I then fell asleep and didn't wake up until picnic o'clock the next day.
Blast!
So in true style, half breakfasting/espresso machining and half baking/inventing I set about destroying a perfectly good egg by mixing it with (a large) half of a jar of nutella & an innocently tepid shot of espresso and creating cold fusion, erm, "caffeinated mixing bowl scrambled egg". With that revelation and an internal monologue deal to forfeit coiffing and making upping, I set about inventing and baking:
Coffee and Hazelnut Yorkshire Puddings
(or, Coffee and Hazelnut Mini-Muffin attempt #2)
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.
Beat an egg until light and fluffy.
Mix in an unmeasured (blast!) amount of nutella - say, two generous dessertspoonfuls with additional teaspoon/dessertspoon scrapings from the small nutella jar insides - until well combined and glossy.
In said residualated nutella jar, mix a teaspoon of instant coffee with a splish splosh (please, say it in a Flight of the Conchords voice) of tap water - re-lid and shake it, shake it (like a polaroid picture, ooh ooh) to dissolve all the jar-wall nutella into the liquid. Add this to the above mix and stir in well.
Ponder about the difference between imperial vs metric teaspoons (?) and then add one (metric) level teaspoonful after another of plain flour to the mix, mixing until you have added roughly 6 and a half metric teaspoons of flour or until you have what you think could possibly be muffin mix.
Add a handful of chocolate chips to taste.
Spray your mini-muffin tin with olive oil spray.
Put a generous tablespoon of the mix into each mini-muffin port, then top with whole coffee beans (I left some without in an attempt to be kid-friendly).
Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees for most, 185-190 for mine) for ten to fifteen minutes, or until you are dressed, have found your picnic rug and assembled some cheese, crackers and plastic plates in a bag.
Remove from oven and marvel at how you have unintentionally created coffee and hazelnut miniature yorkshire puddings, turn them out onto some kitchen paper on a rack and taste-test them, with validation from your significant other (who is employing some fine duck-and-cover in the other room, away from the "baking"). Find your sunnies, grab a water bottle then put the c-a-h yp's into a box, bring them to the park and enjoy sharing them with your friends in the impossible sunshine. Remark at how adorably bouncy your friend's 2-year-old angel becomes upon discovering her previously unrequited love of roasted whole coffee beans! Seriously cute!
Perhaps in future I will take the time to add another egg, tinker with self-raising flour, bother to chill a real espresso shot and consider adding milk to the mix. Experimental cooking is bliss! Bring on attempt #3...after I try some other new things out first...
ADDIT: Here's batch #3... getting better...
Time got away from me during the (first) day (off I've had in ages), although I did get a chance to spot a nice recipe on page 26 of The Australian Women's Weekly mini-book aptly named "muffins" (reprinted by popular demand) for coffee hazelnut muffins - which had too many ingredients, including TWO types of flour AND hazelnut meal (pfft, guffaw). The hazelnut frosting - more ingredients! how?! - looked divine but I was struck with a case of the afternoon catnaps. I have way too many of those TAWW mini-books from aforementioned late night grocery store antics. They made a good nesty pillow. Groggy but determined, I managed to narrow down an internet search later that evening to a few recipe ideas, particularly liking the four-ingredient recipe at this very cool baking blog. I then fell asleep and didn't wake up until picnic o'clock the next day.
Blast!
So in true style, half breakfasting/espresso machining and half baking/inventing I set about destroying a perfectly good egg by mixing it with (a large) half of a jar of nutella & an innocently tepid shot of espresso and creating cold fusion, erm, "caffeinated mixing bowl scrambled egg". With that revelation and an internal monologue deal to forfeit coiffing and making upping, I set about inventing and baking:
Coffee and Hazelnut Yorkshire Puddings
(or, Coffee and Hazelnut Mini-Muffin attempt #2)
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.
Beat an egg until light and fluffy.
Mix in an unmeasured (blast!) amount of nutella - say, two generous dessertspoonfuls with additional teaspoon/dessertspoon scrapings from the small nutella jar insides - until well combined and glossy.
In said residualated nutella jar, mix a teaspoon of instant coffee with a splish splosh (please, say it in a Flight of the Conchords voice) of tap water - re-lid and shake it, shake it (like a polaroid picture, ooh ooh) to dissolve all the jar-wall nutella into the liquid. Add this to the above mix and stir in well.
Ponder about the difference between imperial vs metric teaspoons (?) and then add one (metric) level teaspoonful after another of plain flour to the mix, mixing until you have added roughly 6 and a half metric teaspoons of flour or until you have what you think could possibly be muffin mix.
Add a handful of chocolate chips to taste.
Spray your mini-muffin tin with olive oil spray.
Put a generous tablespoon of the mix into each mini-muffin port, then top with whole coffee beans (I left some without in an attempt to be kid-friendly).
Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees for most, 185-190 for mine) for ten to fifteen minutes, or until you are dressed, have found your picnic rug and assembled some cheese, crackers and plastic plates in a bag.
Remove from oven and marvel at how you have unintentionally created coffee and hazelnut miniature yorkshire puddings, turn them out onto some kitchen paper on a rack and taste-test them, with validation from your significant other (who is employing some fine duck-and-cover in the other room, away from the "baking"). Find your sunnies, grab a water bottle then put the c-a-h yp's into a box, bring them to the park and enjoy sharing them with your friends in the impossible sunshine. Remark at how adorably bouncy your friend's 2-year-old angel becomes upon discovering her previously unrequited love of roasted whole coffee beans! Seriously cute!
Perhaps in future I will take the time to add another egg, tinker with self-raising flour, bother to chill a real espresso shot and consider adding milk to the mix. Experimental cooking is bliss! Bring on attempt #3...after I try some other new things out first...
ADDIT: Here's batch #3... getting better...
17 August 2011
Last night's Lamb dinner
We've been watching a lot of The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain DVDs lately. Yesterday, we watched them in Wales(?) and they did a delicious trio of lamb, one of which was herb-crusted rack of lamb. I've never done a rack of lamb (I usually just do a mini-roast or leg roast), so here's what they inspired me to do...
Herb-crust Rack of Lamb
Sautéed Brussel Sprouts
Roast Potatoes
& a simple side of Cauliflower
Herb-crust Rack of Lamb:
The herb-crust I made in my trusty blender and it consisted of: a big handful of chopped up baguette to make the breadcrumbs; then a handful each of fresh rosemary & mint, a generous handful of flat/continental parsley; a dozen pistachios; a pinch each of salt, pepper; a small mound of grated parmesan and a splash of olive oil when my blender started making noises like it was about to blow up. I think next time I will need a higher breadcrumb to herb ratio. And remind me to add more salt.
I bought a supermarket frenched rack of lamb, let it rest at room temp then browned all the surfaces on a frying pan with some heated olive oil. Once browned I popped it on a board and made diagonal scores across the fatty surface on top, then smeared with some (mild) Australian-blend mustard.
I then spooned and hand-smooshed the crumby crust mixture all over and around the lamb rack, and it stuck to the mustard quite easily. Then a bit of foil around the bones and I put it in the oven at 190 degrees for 20 minutes. Whilst Mme Fulton's Encyclopaedia of Food assured me this was the perfect way to do a rack, this brought it to "blue", and fuelled suspicions that my oven is a tad under-calibrated, so a turn-up to 200 degrees, and another 10-15 minutes and it was then perfectly medium-rare.
Roast potatoes:
I started this well before the rack of lamb - just put three whole potatoes in the microwave and set "jacket potato x3", once cooked chopped into quarters, put them in a freezer bag and poured in some olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper and then "bashed" them around for a bit to make rough surfaces for better browning. That went into the 190 degree oven just after the making of the herb crust but before the handling of the lamb.
Brussel sprouts:
I boiled these in very salted water until soft. Whilst boiling I put the lamb-browning pan back on the heat and added a knob of butter then whatever was left of the breadcrumb/herb-crust mix from the blender and a handful of thinly sliced ham (didn't have any bacon, apparently) until these had browned, then tossed in the drained brussel sprouts until they were coated and golden.
The cauliflower was just boiled in the brussel sprout pot.
Et voila! A delicious lamb dinner, inspired by those cheeky Hairy Bikers. Wa-hey!
Herb-crust Rack of Lamb
Sautéed Brussel Sprouts
Roast Potatoes
& a simple side of Cauliflower
Herb-crust Rack of Lamb:
The herb-crust I made in my trusty blender and it consisted of: a big handful of chopped up baguette to make the breadcrumbs; then a handful each of fresh rosemary & mint, a generous handful of flat/continental parsley; a dozen pistachios; a pinch each of salt, pepper; a small mound of grated parmesan and a splash of olive oil when my blender started making noises like it was about to blow up. I think next time I will need a higher breadcrumb to herb ratio. And remind me to add more salt.
I bought a supermarket frenched rack of lamb, let it rest at room temp then browned all the surfaces on a frying pan with some heated olive oil. Once browned I popped it on a board and made diagonal scores across the fatty surface on top, then smeared with some (mild) Australian-blend mustard.
I then spooned and hand-smooshed the crumby crust mixture all over and around the lamb rack, and it stuck to the mustard quite easily. Then a bit of foil around the bones and I put it in the oven at 190 degrees for 20 minutes. Whilst Mme Fulton's Encyclopaedia of Food assured me this was the perfect way to do a rack, this brought it to "blue", and fuelled suspicions that my oven is a tad under-calibrated, so a turn-up to 200 degrees, and another 10-15 minutes and it was then perfectly medium-rare.
Roast potatoes:
I started this well before the rack of lamb - just put three whole potatoes in the microwave and set "jacket potato x3", once cooked chopped into quarters, put them in a freezer bag and poured in some olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper and then "bashed" them around for a bit to make rough surfaces for better browning. That went into the 190 degree oven just after the making of the herb crust but before the handling of the lamb.
Brussel sprouts:
I boiled these in very salted water until soft. Whilst boiling I put the lamb-browning pan back on the heat and added a knob of butter then whatever was left of the breadcrumb/herb-crust mix from the blender and a handful of thinly sliced ham (didn't have any bacon, apparently) until these had browned, then tossed in the drained brussel sprouts until they were coated and golden.
The cauliflower was just boiled in the brussel sprout pot.
Et voila! A delicious lamb dinner, inspired by those cheeky Hairy Bikers. Wa-hey!
17 July 2011
Osso Bucco / braised shanks
I always love love loved Osso Bucco when eating out but had no idea how to even approach the idea... until the day I saw a recipe for Braised Veal Shanks by Neil Perry in one of those free Qantas inflight magazines (those recipes are amazing, remind me to show you my version of his Spaghetti Vongole too one day). I've searched and searched online for a link but I can't find it, so hopefully they won't mind me popping a quick pic of the clipping (which lives in my little recipe clipping folder on top of the fridge) on here as the original inspiration (you know me, I never truly follow a recipe):
The first time I made this, it was "four for ten dollars" lamb shank season at my local markets, so I made the recipe with lamb shanks, which I asked the butcher to slice into halves or thirds to resemble the classic "Osso Bucco" veal shank cut. Works a treat! This time I did it the proper way with the correct cut.
So basically I use "some shanks", toss in plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper, then brown all over in a heavy based pan in olive oil. I use an onion, half a garlic clove, three carrots and three celery sticks as I love all the trimmings just as much as the meat. Once cooked and softened I then add Kalamata olives, pitted and halved lengthways; a squeeze portion of tomato paste (you know you get those four to a box tinfoil jobbies from the supermarket?); 2 cups of wine & 2 cups of chicken stock from a box. I still use bay leaves and thyme and sometimes I add greek oregano/marjoram/parsley or rosemary in case of lamb, just depending on what's growing riot on the balcony. I usually forget to get the citrus fruits proper but I always have that bottle lemon juice in the fridge so I just squirt in some of that (and definitely leave out the orange if you're using lamb) and add back the shank slices. I must admit the lemon zest definitely gives the dish a great kick, as does a snifter of chili if you are so inclined. Then for the simmering uncovered, to be honest I have gotten away with 20-30 mins of a "generous" simmer (ie boil down) in a rush, but 45-60 mins of a gentle simmer is ideal for that perfect melt in your mouth meat heaven with bonus goopy bone marrow joy - as well as a helping to fragrance the house for the next day or two!
I serve on top of herbed (yes more herbs) cous cous - I just use the dry box stuff and pour over 1:1 boiling water with lots of chopped herbs, a tiny squeeze of lemon and fluff it with a fork. I don't personally love polenta that much, and I find the cous cous soaks up the flavour really well. Just remember though it seems to keep swelling up in your tummy, so be careful not to scarf down too much in the first go!
If you happen to have some nice olive sourdough or crusty bread for on the side, then so be it! Best comfort food ever for a nice snuggle on the couch on a cold winter's day...
...and if you don't have any cous cous, pasta is pretty good too!
The first time I made this, it was "four for ten dollars" lamb shank season at my local markets, so I made the recipe with lamb shanks, which I asked the butcher to slice into halves or thirds to resemble the classic "Osso Bucco" veal shank cut. Works a treat! This time I did it the proper way with the correct cut.
So basically I use "some shanks", toss in plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper, then brown all over in a heavy based pan in olive oil. I use an onion, half a garlic clove, three carrots and three celery sticks as I love all the trimmings just as much as the meat. Once cooked and softened I then add Kalamata olives, pitted and halved lengthways; a squeeze portion of tomato paste (you know you get those four to a box tinfoil jobbies from the supermarket?); 2 cups of wine & 2 cups of chicken stock from a box. I still use bay leaves and thyme and sometimes I add greek oregano/marjoram/parsley or rosemary in case of lamb, just depending on what's growing riot on the balcony. I usually forget to get the citrus fruits proper but I always have that bottle lemon juice in the fridge so I just squirt in some of that (and definitely leave out the orange if you're using lamb) and add back the shank slices. I must admit the lemon zest definitely gives the dish a great kick, as does a snifter of chili if you are so inclined. Then for the simmering uncovered, to be honest I have gotten away with 20-30 mins of a "generous" simmer (ie boil down) in a rush, but 45-60 mins of a gentle simmer is ideal for that perfect melt in your mouth meat heaven with bonus goopy bone marrow joy - as well as a helping to fragrance the house for the next day or two!
I serve on top of herbed (yes more herbs) cous cous - I just use the dry box stuff and pour over 1:1 boiling water with lots of chopped herbs, a tiny squeeze of lemon and fluff it with a fork. I don't personally love polenta that much, and I find the cous cous soaks up the flavour really well. Just remember though it seems to keep swelling up in your tummy, so be careful not to scarf down too much in the first go!
If you happen to have some nice olive sourdough or crusty bread for on the side, then so be it! Best comfort food ever for a nice snuggle on the couch on a cold winter's day...
...and if you don't have any cous cous, pasta is pretty good too!
16 July 2011
Watercress... it's the best!
(Backdated entry)
I've been going to the exact same fruit'n'veg stall at the markets since forever. A scavenge and a scrounge recently unearthed the fact that they don't stock watercress! Disaster. My balcony used to be my sole supplier of watercress for my many salads, soups and sandwiches cravings... in fact, I need to get my Dadsy's Chinese Watercress Soup, that reminds me...
Anyway, a walk across the way and I suddenly discovered the neighbouring stall, previously overlooked, has watercress in abundance! At only 1.99 per large box!
If you've never used watercress before, it's a peppery, crunchy treat raw in salads and sandwiches - in particular the tender baby leaves; or a beautiful, tender treat in soups and stews with a milder, robust "Chinese vegie" nommage to its stems and base leaves.
The markets that day had the most luscious looking rare roast beef I've ever seen just down "meat alley" as the other half calls it, as well as the standard olive bread, so here's what became of that (slathered with Philly cream cheese):
My all-time favourite is smoked trout, watercress, boiled potato & goat cheese salad. Here was my first attempt, well before the great balcony aphid plague of 2010:
Let me know if you have any other inspired watercress recipes!
I've been going to the exact same fruit'n'veg stall at the markets since forever. A scavenge and a scrounge recently unearthed the fact that they don't stock watercress! Disaster. My balcony used to be my sole supplier of watercress for my many salads, soups and sandwiches cravings... in fact, I need to get my Dadsy's Chinese Watercress Soup, that reminds me...
Anyway, a walk across the way and I suddenly discovered the neighbouring stall, previously overlooked, has watercress in abundance! At only 1.99 per large box!
If you've never used watercress before, it's a peppery, crunchy treat raw in salads and sandwiches - in particular the tender baby leaves; or a beautiful, tender treat in soups and stews with a milder, robust "Chinese vegie" nommage to its stems and base leaves.
The markets that day had the most luscious looking rare roast beef I've ever seen just down "meat alley" as the other half calls it, as well as the standard olive bread, so here's what became of that (slathered with Philly cream cheese):
My all-time favourite is smoked trout, watercress, boiled potato & goat cheese salad. Here was my first attempt, well before the great balcony aphid plague of 2010:
Let me know if you have any other inspired watercress recipes!
10 July 2011
Kangaroo Ragoo
{First official bignomslittlenoms blogpost}
I learnt something new with this one, namely that Ragu is Italian for Ragout (French, from ragoûter). Given that I was using Kanga Bangas (yes, that is what they are called), I've decided that it's Roo Ragoo.
Loosely based on my first port of call for most ideas, a quick search on taste.com.au, and the fact that I am on 13 hour shifts and only had some Kanga Bangas in the fridge to start with, I decided to construct my late night dinner (after Iron Chef of course).
The process went something like this:
Pull kanga bangas out of fridge (500g packet) to rest.
Boil water in kettle, pour into saucepan, salt liberally, chuck saucepan on stove on high heat.
Wash and finely chop broccoli - I quartered the florets and diced the stalk to 1cm cubes. Pop in microwave, set for "fresh vegetables 0.3kg".
(Sing along to Kasey Chambers and hubby's country-banjo infused duet version of Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out of My Head).
Put handful of dried pasta into saucepan - I used wide curly fettucine, because there was an open packet of it in a jar in the pantry. Note time, sort of, and mentally remind self what the time will be in 14 minutes - because that is what the packet told me was the "cooks in..." time.
Get another larger pan, pour olive oil in.
(Be grateful nowhere near as large and emotionally distressed as US Biggest Loser contestants).
Roughly chop garlic and chuck onto olive oil. Wonder why there are no onions anywhere in the house. Separate kanga banga sausage meat from skins (slice lengthways, unwrap) and smoosh with hands into oil in big bits. Best to wet hands first so meat doesn't stick. Meh. Wash hands.
(Tsk tsk at the Black Team for using their luxury prize to booze with its thousands of calories, and get on the gaspers!!!)
Liberally apply dried thyme, oregano, chili flakes, black pepper and then also freshly grind on fresh black pepper. Go nuts with the wooden spoon to break up all the bits of meat into little chunks. Give up on wooden spoon and switch to mega-spatula, which does the trick nicely. Splash some light soy sauce and balsamic vinegar over the mix.
Suddenly remember to attend to pasta which is boiling over, stir and unlid.
Open microwave because it is shouting at me regards the broccoli.
Back to the mix. Meat is browned, add a sort of cupful of water from the still-hot kettle, add a beef stock cube. Mix for a bit, allow to simmer while wrestling with pasta sauce jar lid (chunky tomato and herb a la that was the brand on discount du jour). Plop whole jar of pasta sauce in, with extra hot water into jar (quarter jarful-ish) to shake out all the claggy bits stuck to the insides of the jar and add that to the mix. Chuck in the broccoli bits, stir well, put lid on.
It's probably been 14 minutes and the pasta seems done, so turn gas burner off, pour into strainer. Curse self for forgetting to keep some of the starchy water to add to mix a la Jamie Oliver - next time. Keep warm over saucepan with lid on. Live in fear of bacillus cereus spores popping open at room temperature in grain foods.
Mix is boiling and looks a bit pale. Decide to add tinned tomatoes, same trick with hot water to get all the gooey goodness out of can. Pop out to balcony, freeze tits off, pluck a handful of flat leaf parsley, consider marjoram but hands are numb so back inside and shut the door! Wash and chop parsley, sprinkle some on pasta, some on mix. Be glad stirring boiling mix is warming my hands up. Grab jar of olives, rinse about half the jarful. Halve some, bivalve some and leave the rest intact and add to mix. Add a heap of grated parmesan (like, two big handfuls) and watch mix start to take form.
Give up on perfect consistency of "Ragoo" and decide to eat now as "Pasta Sauce" consistency. Refresh pasta with a pour of boiling water through the strainer. Serve pasta with generous spoonfuls of Roogoo atop, toss to serve and sit on couch to watch next segment of Biggest Loser. Decide to put rest of pasta in fridge, and get more black pepper for my bowl whilst I am up. Leave mix on stove on simmer to further consolidate into "Ragoo". Pop that into separate box in fridge after having finished my delicious dinner. Nom.
(Be glad I have had a balanced healthy meal that is hearty and delicious without whining or being SHOUTIER THAN A MICROWAVE AT A CELEBRITY PERSONAL TRAINER WHO IS REALLY JUST THERE TO HELP or concerned about my Blue or Black top or being weighed on national television).
Time for bed.
- There were requests on fbook for a picture, but despite being delicious it is not really a pretty sort of meal! I am reheating some today for lunch at work, if I can make it presentable I will take a photo for you...
I learnt something new with this one, namely that Ragu is Italian for Ragout (French, from ragoûter). Given that I was using Kanga Bangas (yes, that is what they are called), I've decided that it's Roo Ragoo.
Loosely based on my first port of call for most ideas, a quick search on taste.com.au, and the fact that I am on 13 hour shifts and only had some Kanga Bangas in the fridge to start with, I decided to construct my late night dinner (after Iron Chef of course).
The process went something like this:
Pull kanga bangas out of fridge (500g packet) to rest.
Boil water in kettle, pour into saucepan, salt liberally, chuck saucepan on stove on high heat.
Wash and finely chop broccoli - I quartered the florets and diced the stalk to 1cm cubes. Pop in microwave, set for "fresh vegetables 0.3kg".
(Sing along to Kasey Chambers and hubby's country-banjo infused duet version of Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out of My Head).
Put handful of dried pasta into saucepan - I used wide curly fettucine, because there was an open packet of it in a jar in the pantry. Note time, sort of, and mentally remind self what the time will be in 14 minutes - because that is what the packet told me was the "cooks in..." time.
Get another larger pan, pour olive oil in.
(Be grateful nowhere near as large and emotionally distressed as US Biggest Loser contestants).
Roughly chop garlic and chuck onto olive oil. Wonder why there are no onions anywhere in the house. Separate kanga banga sausage meat from skins (slice lengthways, unwrap) and smoosh with hands into oil in big bits. Best to wet hands first so meat doesn't stick. Meh. Wash hands.
(Tsk tsk at the Black Team for using their luxury prize to booze with its thousands of calories, and get on the gaspers!!!)
Liberally apply dried thyme, oregano, chili flakes, black pepper and then also freshly grind on fresh black pepper. Go nuts with the wooden spoon to break up all the bits of meat into little chunks. Give up on wooden spoon and switch to mega-spatula, which does the trick nicely. Splash some light soy sauce and balsamic vinegar over the mix.
Suddenly remember to attend to pasta which is boiling over, stir and unlid.
Open microwave because it is shouting at me regards the broccoli.
Back to the mix. Meat is browned, add a sort of cupful of water from the still-hot kettle, add a beef stock cube. Mix for a bit, allow to simmer while wrestling with pasta sauce jar lid (chunky tomato and herb a la that was the brand on discount du jour). Plop whole jar of pasta sauce in, with extra hot water into jar (quarter jarful-ish) to shake out all the claggy bits stuck to the insides of the jar and add that to the mix. Chuck in the broccoli bits, stir well, put lid on.
It's probably been 14 minutes and the pasta seems done, so turn gas burner off, pour into strainer. Curse self for forgetting to keep some of the starchy water to add to mix a la Jamie Oliver - next time. Keep warm over saucepan with lid on. Live in fear of bacillus cereus spores popping open at room temperature in grain foods.
Mix is boiling and looks a bit pale. Decide to add tinned tomatoes, same trick with hot water to get all the gooey goodness out of can. Pop out to balcony, freeze tits off, pluck a handful of flat leaf parsley, consider marjoram but hands are numb so back inside and shut the door! Wash and chop parsley, sprinkle some on pasta, some on mix. Be glad stirring boiling mix is warming my hands up. Grab jar of olives, rinse about half the jarful. Halve some, bivalve some and leave the rest intact and add to mix. Add a heap of grated parmesan (like, two big handfuls) and watch mix start to take form.
Give up on perfect consistency of "Ragoo" and decide to eat now as "Pasta Sauce" consistency. Refresh pasta with a pour of boiling water through the strainer. Serve pasta with generous spoonfuls of Roogoo atop, toss to serve and sit on couch to watch next segment of Biggest Loser. Decide to put rest of pasta in fridge, and get more black pepper for my bowl whilst I am up. Leave mix on stove on simmer to further consolidate into "Ragoo". Pop that into separate box in fridge after having finished my delicious dinner. Nom.
(Be glad I have had a balanced healthy meal that is hearty and delicious without whining or being SHOUTIER THAN A MICROWAVE AT A CELEBRITY PERSONAL TRAINER WHO IS REALLY JUST THERE TO HELP or concerned about my Blue or Black top or being weighed on national television).
Time for bed.
- There were requests on fbook for a picture, but despite being delicious it is not really a pretty sort of meal! I am reheating some today for lunch at work, if I can make it presentable I will take a photo for you...
17 January 2011
Creamy broccoli pasta: the photo that launched a thousand blog posts
**backdated post
This is the photo that started it all. Prior to the Kangaroo Ragout, this humble photo of my crazy-eyed, hunger-fuelled, put-it-all-in-a-wok experimentation for dinner was posted on F&c^book and someone asked for the "recipe" at work and I didn't really have one. In fact I then commented on the photo with: "Papardelle with (Latina fresh/cheat's) creamy carbonara sauce with shredded butter & lemon burnt chicken, smooshy broccoli, chili, pine nuts, pancetta strips and approx half a block of Parmesan. In a wok."
A similar (blurry, hypoglycaemically framed) photo was also greeted with enthusiasm by friends and workmates:
I've always loved a creamy broccoli pasta dish, inspired by my very beautiful local Italian restaurant which is a blink-and-you-miss-it hole in the wall which just so happens to be in the Good Food Guide, and was the site of my very beautiful thirtieth birthday party. Their dish is usually long pasta or orecchiette with creamy broccoli sauce or just a simple olive oil, chilli and broccholi quilt for the pasta. (They don't have a set menu, just specials for the day that update throughout the day according to freshness and the chef's creativity.)
So here we go, a beautiful but basic broccoli bite for a home cooked dinner:
Boil broccoli pieces and pasta (wide long and flat is good eg papardelle, fettucini, linguine or even use lasagne sheets and slice them into extra wide noodley strips) in a big pot of salted water.
Meanwhile heat up another pan (or wok) - toast some pine nuts on the surface as it heats up. Then add a generous amount of butter and/or olive oil with lots of lemon juice and dried chilli flakes & cracked pepper. In this mix, brown some chopped up chicken, with optional chopped onion. By now the broccoli and pasta should be cooked - drain and add them to the chicken pan. Pour over some store-bought creamy sauce (eg Latina Fresh or jar-fresh) over and mix. Grate or slice over a huge mountain of Parmesan. Top with optional roasted crispy pancetta (or proscuitto) strips. Fresh herbs on top as you wish and hey presto, a substantial almost-one-pot wonder (if you cooked in serial instead of parallel you could just use one pot). For vego just omit the chicken (and pancetta).
Enjoy!
A similar (blurry, hypoglycaemically framed) photo was also greeted with enthusiasm by friends and workmates:
I've always loved a creamy broccoli pasta dish, inspired by my very beautiful local Italian restaurant which is a blink-and-you-miss-it hole in the wall which just so happens to be in the Good Food Guide, and was the site of my very beautiful thirtieth birthday party. Their dish is usually long pasta or orecchiette with creamy broccoli sauce or just a simple olive oil, chilli and broccholi quilt for the pasta. (They don't have a set menu, just specials for the day that update throughout the day according to freshness and the chef's creativity.)
So here we go, a beautiful but basic broccoli bite for a home cooked dinner:
Boil broccoli pieces and pasta (wide long and flat is good eg papardelle, fettucini, linguine or even use lasagne sheets and slice them into extra wide noodley strips) in a big pot of salted water.
Meanwhile heat up another pan (or wok) - toast some pine nuts on the surface as it heats up. Then add a generous amount of butter and/or olive oil with lots of lemon juice and dried chilli flakes & cracked pepper. In this mix, brown some chopped up chicken, with optional chopped onion. By now the broccoli and pasta should be cooked - drain and add them to the chicken pan. Pour over some store-bought creamy sauce (eg Latina Fresh or jar-fresh) over and mix. Grate or slice over a huge mountain of Parmesan. Top with optional roasted crispy pancetta (or proscuitto) strips. Fresh herbs on top as you wish and hey presto, a substantial almost-one-pot wonder (if you cooked in serial instead of parallel you could just use one pot). For vego just omit the chicken (and pancetta).
Enjoy!
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