My blog. My mission. My rules.

Thats right faithful readers. Since this is my blog I will be re-writing my rules of my 'book of the year'. I am cutting, dismissing, skipping, even tearing out the page on porridge. I'm not Julie... I'm Danielle and I am not interested in cooking four types of porridge. This is my version of aspic & I'm manning up and putting my foot down. I HATE porridge.

I also don't like baked apples or sultanas but alas I am not completely destroying my cook book. I will make the baked apples with sultanas. I feel one for one is a good motto!

And one more thing... 10 min until the last day of 2010 and I still have over 50 recipes to cook! So here is the deal... I can take as long as I like :) plus i'm holiday-ing soon and will be eating my way through New York, Whistler and Vancouver!

Even after my Christmas belly I can still think of food. And they say it is the way to a man's stomach... What's my excuse?

I will try and post pics of lovely and probably some hideous foods on here but need to also find a local maccas while I'm away to use free wifi.

A belated Merry Christmas to my readers where ever you are out there, I hope Santa was kind and you all ate your selves silly during the silly season!

Happy New year everyone!

Lots of love x

The best thing about Summer: Tomatoes.

Woke up and had breakie which was greek yoghurt, oats, honey and strawberries. No this is not a diet breakfast as I had full fat delicious creamy greek yoghurt :) My diet lasted about 2 weeks which I think is pretty good for me. I did loose a little weight but over the past couple of weeks I've eaten and drank my fair share at Christmas events that its all back on... hopefully not all but I'm too scared to attempt any scales unless their kitchen scales. 

I'm a bit of a Nigel no friends today. Everyone is busy so I got out my trusty friend the mix master and baked a cake. I chose a Karen Martini recipe from her new book 'Feasting'. I have to say that this book would probably be one of my favourites at the moment. I chose the coconut butter cake with passionfruit icing out of the 'High Tea' chapter. I want to cook everything out of this book and have platters and platters of food! Everything looks so delicious. 


I cannot wait to move out of home purely to have dinner parties and weekend feasts! note: house (haha I'm dreaming! More like studio apartment) must have a good outdoor area for entertaining :) If its got a good oven and a working stove thats a start.


Probably fish and chips at the beach tonight with the bf. Yay Nigel has at least one friend.


You want to know something extra exciting? I am going to MasterchefLive tomorrow! Wahooo! Thanks Clo :) I am pumped! don't really know what to expect but still soooo excited! 

Weekend fail.

Failed epically over the weekend. Started really well on Saturday and made Mari and I breakie beans which were delish and then packed us tuna tabbouleh salad for the beach. Dinner came and I had every sort of deep fried finger food available!

Wedges, samosas, spring rolls, fried fish, hot chips... And a few too many champagnes!

Sunday morning and breakfast included bacon, corn fritters and hashbrowns.

I have started again with a positive attitude as I felt really good on sat morning. Today is a brand new day to start again & why not? :)

Had my cereal for breakie and now eating a tuna, bean and potato salad (yum). Chilli con carne for dinner.

Fell off the band wagon.

Yes 2 days gone and I've already fallen guiltily into taco's and dessert.

That was last night, today is a new day and I am feeling motivated again! I had my delicious cereal with dried cranberries for breakie and for lunch I had a celery, dill & tuna sandwich. I went by all the measurements and there was seriously soooo much of the filling. I am full and sufficed but yes still thinking of dinner.

Ok maybe having a slight sugar craving but it's breast cancer cupcake day today so I am surrounded my sugar but I resisted in the cupcakes and just donated instead!

Day three and fingers crossed I can hold out this afternoon before breaking into my sugar stash in my draw.

Wish me luck!

New found appreciation

Day two on the 21 DWD. Just had breakfast and YUM! I was very hesitant about the cereal mix your meant to make as it has dried cranberries in it. Just to note I dislike dried fruit ALOT but I was pleasantly surprised this morning.

I poured my serving out into a bowl and it looked way to many craisans so I picked a few out and put them back into the jar. After the first mouthful I had my hand in the jar fishing them back out!

So far so good :)

Everything crossed!

I have to apologise to my huge fan base that Mr Oliver will be MIA for the next 21 days... well I hope I can last that long. I have recently put on a few unwanted kilo's and since its summer here in Sunny Sydney (Ok well it’s been rainy and stormy the past few days but I am still motivated to look good in swimmers) I am doing the AWW 21 Day Wonder Diet. 

I was going to give the Dukan Diet ago but the book was $29.95 in Borders and to be honest the novel kind of scared me with all its stages. I love reading don’t get me wrong but reading about foods you can't eat gets me down in the dumps. All I do is think about the foods I want to eat which are big no no's and 2 hours into that sort of diet I lapse & gorge myself on melted cheese, breads thick with salty butter and bowls and bowls of pasta. So when I walked over to the AWW book it caught my eye straight away. I loved the look of the pictures and food, loved the look of how the diet was planned out and LOVED that they based the diet on foods you can eat and don’t go heavy on foods you can't. 


They give you lots of options and snack of foods which ARE allowed. This looks like my kind of diet book. The give you a different breakfast, lunch and dinner for the 21 days...love the recipes. Plus it was only $12.95 so I saved money too and probably my boyfriend’s sanity in the process. 


I tried the French Women don’t get Fat book, read half way through and the croissant and chocolate soufflé caught my eyes but I know my self all too well and it is all portion size and that is my weakness. 2nd's! Oh how I love 2nds of everything. Plus one of the soups in the book I made and it left me so hungry I gave in and ate like a pig for dinner. This undid all the good work I had done. Plus it made me pee constantly and feel weak.


So here I am, Day 1 of my 21 day Wonder Diet. 6 hours in and going strong. I fell motivated, excited and already have the next few meals planned out. I did have my own breakfast today as I have yet to go to the shops. Plus this Diet kind of fits my blog... it is a book on my bookshelf and that’s what I do; Bookshelf Cook.


You can go through the book from day 1 to day 21 but I picked a day in the middle somewhere and am doing that today. Its a little hard when I’ve began mid week and we have some things in the cupboard and not other things. So I will try and go through them in order but they say you don’t have to as long as you stick to their lunch and dinner on the same day and your fine to have their cereal mix everyday if you are lazy like me and can't get out of bed every morning to make a full breakfast of corn fritters etc. I might save those days for the weekend.


Sesame Stir-Fry for dinner. Looking forward to it :)


I also have to make my sandwich filling tonight for tomorrow and mix up my cereal mix. There are dried cranberries in it which I am not sure about but am going to give it a go as I know they are very good for you.


Fingers, arms, toes and legs are crossed that I stick to this for 21 the days.

A day with my ladies.

I'm a bit late in posting this but couldn't help myself and had to. Last Tuesday was Melbourne Cup; The race that stops the nation. I took the day off from work as naturally my options weighed each other out. A glass of warm white wine watching the race for 15min on a tiny TV in a under-airconditioned or a day out with my girls eating and drinking and watching the race. Hmmm I took the later option for very good reasons I think we can all agree on.

My ladies and I went to one of the local pubs who were putting on an event where you got a three course meal, dressed to impress, placed a bet and watched the races. I wore a huge white flower in my hair and bet on the horse that had the highest amount to win per $ in place. Some pay think its silly but to be honest I had about 10 people telling me who to choose so I decided to go with how old I was and I guess I lost. Maybe I should have a next birthday, maybe number 22 will be lucky next year.

Our meals for the day were a seafood plate for entree which consisted of smoked salmon, Balmain bug, prawns with aioli and bloody mary oysters. For main it was a choice between chicken wrapped in bacon with a mushroom and cream sauce with mash potatoes or beef fillet with beef cheek ravioli, truffle oil mash and broccoli. I tried both but had the chicken, yum. For dessert there was chocolate mouse in between slices of chocolate mud cake in a box of tempered chocolate or lemon tart with vanilla ice cream. The chocolate was very very rich, maybe a little too rich after a entrée, main and lots of sparkling wine. I loved the tart though, still am craving the delicious taste of it. Mmmm maybe I'll make one this arvo.

The night ended with plenty of water and panadol. Overall the day was delicious and I had a lovely day with my ladies. Already thinking of where to go next year.

Not a first timer.

Christmas Count down: 2 months.


Tonight was Recipe #62: Mini Shell Pasta with a Creamy Smoked Bacon & Pea Sauce. I think a very fitting dish since its nearly Christmas and it makes a great left over dish. 


I do have to admit this was not the first time I have made this pasta dish. I love it! The first time I made it was at the beginning of this year with Christmas ham left overs instead of bacon. A very versatile dish. Leave out the parmesan for a lighter dinner which suited greedy me tonight or keep it in for a heavier dinner when you haven't finished of the weekends leftovers for afternoon tea.


So here it is. Very simple and scrumptious.
I finely sliced the bacon and chopped the fresh mint. Add a little olive oil because the bacon was not very fatty and fried it until golden and crispy. My pasta water was boiling and the pasta was added while the bacon was frying and spitting and popping all over mums kitchen top. I used bow-ties instead of little shells as we had them already at home. Next I added a large handful of peas, a dash of light cream (you are meant to use creme fraiche but all we had was light cream which worked well and made me feel like my bum might stay the same size tonight and not enlarge itself after eating) and some of the mint. Cooked the peas for a couple of min, drained the pasta, added the cream to the peas, added the pasta to the pea and bacon sauce reserving some of the cooking water and squeezed in half a lemon. Served it with a sprinkle of parmesan and dug in. 


Mmmm YUM! 
Mum had seconds :)

Quick, Easy and Tasty...

What more can you ask for?


Recipe #61: Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle

First things first, I hate jared pesto and when I saw that this recipe asked for jared pesto I immediately turned my nose up and thought Ew!! but knew I had to give it a go. Now a few weeks ago my friend Katie had the girls over for dinner and a movie and called me to tell me what she wanted to cook for dinner and if it sounded ok, it sounded delicious apart from the pesto she mentioned that she was not going to make from scratch but buy jared. I instantly held my tongue well aware it gets me in trouble at the best of times and said it still sounded delicious even with my silent fears of jared pesto ringing in my head. But as I helped her cook the dinner I sampled the jared pesto and there must have been a revolution in jared pesto world since the last time I tried it because this one was delicious. I instantly took a shine to this jared pesto and would say its the only one to buy. EVER. Its doesn't tastes the same as home made as it lacks the potent punch home made pesto has but with a but of extra cheese, garlic butter and S&P it was so yummy it has made an appearance at home a couple of weeks later. I have named it 'Katie's Pasta'.


But on to the dish I cooked the other night; Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle. It was yum but I do prefer Katie's Pasta... I think I over cooked the pasta slightly and under cooked the potatoes. I didn't have a choice though... either cooked pasta and slightly underdone potatoes or cooked potatoes and mushy pasta. I couldn't win.

So to start with Jamie asks you to cut the florets off your broccoli then slice the stalk in half (discarding the  very end bit) and finely slice. I used two small bits of broccoli but I think one would have been plenty like he says but I got greedy as usual and slice your potato using a speed peeler. The pasta (I used spaghetti as we didn't have tagliatelle at home) goes into salted boiling water with the sliced broccoli stalks. 2min before the pasta is done you are meant to add the broccoli florets and the shaved potato and cook for 2 min. Drain it all, reserving some of the cooking water and return everything to the pan. Stir through the pesto and halved baby cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes are my little touch as I know they go well with this jared pesto. Add a little extra parmesan cheese, a good amount of seasoning of S&P and a slosh of the reserved pasta water if it looks to dry. 

We served this with fresh sourdough bread smothered in butter. Mmm I love real salty butter :)

Converted.

You know when somebody finds out that there is anchovies in the dish you can see their noses turn up? well I used to be one of those people. I was even worse. When I read a recipe and saw anchovies in it I would quickly turn the page and never read the recipe again and pretty much skip over the page when I flicked through the book. Hmmm how things can change with a little trust. 


I was watching an episode of 'The Naked Chef' and Jamie mentions anchovies and how he never really liked them but now does. How you have to try them in dishes even if just a small bit the first time and that they are not fishy (like they smell...ew). So that is exactly what I did. I tried them, didn't dodge on them and you know what. I loved it. It gave the dish a subtle flavour with a different kind of salty-ness. Delicious!

I cooked them in one of Jamie's new recipes in his new book. I know I should be sticking to the book I chose to cook all the way through but I just couldn't help my self when I just walked... yes, I say just walked its because thats all I went to Borders for in my lunch break but before I knew it I was at the cash register with my shiny blue credit card in one hand and Jamie's 30 Minute meals in the other. I call it fate :)


Naturally, I was keen to see if his method of cooking in this new book was really revolutionary as he claims it to be. I had one problem... to complete these recipes you require a food processor, you all know that the only food processor my mum owns is tiny Oscar which doesn't slice and dice, only blends one cup at a time. Pft! I thought as I requested all the ingredients I required to make 'Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, crunchy salad and garlic bread'; a whole meal in 30 minutes (minus the dessert because I am getting fat as it is and don't need to add Silky Chocolate ganache to my already expanding bum). I got home after a sweltering day wearing way to many clothes for what the weather asked for and striped off into Tristan's sexy Hawaiian board shorts. I looked a tread in the kitchen I can tell you that much, unfortunately no pictures to show you though.


First things first, Jamie asks you to pre-heat your oven and get some water on the boil for your pasta. Done and Done, So far so good. Remember that I bailed on dessert so this probably should have taken me a little quicker but I blame the lack of food processor and the fact I had to use a crappy slicer which totally didn't work for me so I had the lovely boy do some manual labor in the kitchen and get it to work.


Half a loaf of half sliced thought ciabatta was smothered in extra virgin olive oil, garlic, parsley and S&P and wrapped up in baking paper. It then went into the oven (no butter in the recipe so I think it should be rename as Cholesterol healthy GB) almost to be forgotten about, the best kind of recipe so far. The pasta went in the salted water and then the goodies for the pasta sauce went in a frying pan. The ten minutes it takes the pasta to cook completely disappeared and suddenly the pasta was done but I was still trying to get the stupid slicer to work. Stuff it, overcooked pasta tastes like shit so the fennel salad could wait. (This is when my lovely boy came and took over)


The pasta was mixed with the sauce and directed to the table, the fennel and radish salad was dressed and seasoned and also directed to the table and finally the almost forgotten garlic bread came out of the oven looking delicious and golden. 


A total success, Thank-you Jamie!


I cannot wait to try the other meal plans in this new book, maybe even with a dessert if my jeans allow it :)

Guilty as charged.

I've been lazy lazy lazy!

love LOVE cooking with white wine

The aroma of white wine cooking gets my taste buds going. There is something about it that I know when its cooked delicately that the meal is going to taste fabulous. I've cooked this recipe of Jamie's about 4 or five times by now but never posted it, why? I have no idea but now its time as I made it again last night and it was scrumptious. White wine, leek, chicken, cream... mmm what a fantastic marriage. 

Recipe #60 :Chicken and Leek Stroganoff


I've added an onion in the mix to make more sauce and changed the way its cooked slightly. Making it better and better with each time its done and making it more mine. I feel I'm an expert at cooking this now. 


Splosh of Extra Virgin Olive oil
nobb of butter
1 large leek (cleaned, quartered and chopped)
1 large onion (sliced in half moons)
2 classes of dry white wine (plus extra if needed)
4 small chicken breasts (sliced into finger sized pieces)
4 handfuls of sliced mushrooms
bunch of parsley (finely chopped)
200mL single or low fat cream
1/2 lemon


1- Heat olive oil and butter in a large frying pan and add the onions, leeks, wine and season with S&P and loosely cover with a lid or piece of foil and cook on medium heat for about 5 min. 
2- Add the chicken pieces and cook until the outside of the chicken is no longer pink. (You can add more wine here if it starts looking dry)
3- Sprinkle the mushrooms over the top so it covers the chicken (the mushrooms act as like a lid so the chicken steams a little as well as the mushrooms) then sprinkle the parsley over the top.
4- Stir everything up then add the cream. Bring to a simmer and right before you serve it sprinkle the lemon juice over the top. Season to taste.
5- Serve it with plain rice.

Another Roast in the tiny...tiny oven

Recipe #59: Perfect Roast Chicken with baked potatoes and spicy greens.

I had been craving Roast Chicken for weeks now and finally FINALLY I got it. The frozen chook spent the day in the fridge but didn’t defrost one bit so it was stuck in the microwave. I know, I know... please don't judge. It came out with bits cooked and ewww it looked hideous. But we we're not going to have hideous chicken for dinner, no not at all. We were having Perfect Roast Chicken. I microwaved two tiny lemons after stabbing them a good few times then stuffed them up its bum with some fresh rosemary, covered the chook in olive oil and lots of S&P. Placed it on top of 3 carrots, an onion and a bulb of garlic which was roughly chopped.

It was then time to go into the oven and cook for 1 hour and 20min. I part boiled the peeled potatoes and scrapped the outsides to make them crunchy, covered them in olive oil and threw them into a foiled tray with a good dowsing of S&P and a handful of garlic cloves. They were then bunged in the oven after the chicken had had about 40min cooking.

This is how I did the next bit because I have a small small oven at home but if your lucky and have a normal sized one or even a large one (oh so jealous!) you can do it your way. Once the chicken is nearly cooked, I swapped the potatoes and chicken around so the potatoes can crunch up and got all my ingredients ready for the greens. Once the potatoes have crunched up; the chicken came out to rest while the gravy was simmering and the spicy greens were steaming. I served it up steamng hot and all that was left to do was... Eat, Laugh and Love.

Spicy greens.
- About a tbs of extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch of chilli flakes
- A handful of frozen peas
- 2 zucchini’s chopped into rough large-ish chunks
- A good handful of green beans
- Small bunch of fresh parsley
(Really you can use any greens you like; this is what we had in the fridge and freezer)
- A glass of white wine
- S&P
- Nob of butter
- squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

How To: Heat up a frying pan on medium heat and add some extra virgin olive oil. Add the chilli flakes for about a min or until you can smell them then add the greens (all of them inc parsley) and white wine. Give it a good stir and S&P-ing then add a nob of butter and place a lid on it to steam. Turn the heat down to a low simmer here until the wine has nearly cooked away and the butter has melted. Quick taste and add more seasoning (you can add the lemon juice here) and enjoy.

Jamie's Gravy How To: Take your chicken out of the pan it cooked in and spoon out some of the fat if there is too much. Stick the tray over the hob and start to squash all the goodies that the chicken was sitting on into a mush. Add 2 tbs of plain flour and stir until all cooked away. A splash of white wine and cook the liquid off then add some water. Keep on the hob for about 5-10 min until thickened and tasting amazing. Season to taste.

mmm yum :)

Just give me Mac & Cheese Pleeease!

Recipe #58: Macaroni Cauliflower Cheese Bake


This looks delicious in the cookbook and looked delicious when it came out of the oven all bubbly and golden but I'm just not a fan of cauliflower. I don't mind a bit but all through mac & cheese... please just mac & cheese with NO cauliflower next time.


On the bright side, my mum who likes cauliflower LOVED it!


This is what went in it:
- 1/2 a head of cauliflower (I put a whole one in because I only just realised then I read the recipe wrong so maybe thats why it was too cauliflower-ee)
- 200g cheddar cheese (we only had low fat grated cheese)
- 100g parmesan cheese (grated)
- a bunch of fresh parsley
- S&P
- 400g dried macaroni (I used elbow pasta)
- 200g creme fraiche (I used 100g sour cream & 100g of pouring cream because we didn't have any creme fancy delicious-ness at home)
- pinch of chilli flakes (this was my touch as I felt for a little spice tonight)

I chopped the cauliflower up breaking small florets off and finely slicing the stalks of the larger florets. The cheeses when in a large heatproof bowl and the parsley finely chopped and kept to the side. I brought a large pot of salted water to boil and threw in the pasta and then placed the bowl of cheeses over the boiling pasta. The creams went into the cheeses and attempted to melt... I say attempted because it all glooped up to start with and the pasta water started to over flow onto the stove top. But once that was under control and the sauce stirred, it started to melt I regained my faith in Mr Oliver.  After 5 min I threw in the cauliflower and let cook for a further 3-4 min. 

Parsley and S&P went in the melted cheese and cream while the pasta and cauliflower drained. Everything was then combined and poured into a baking dish. I then topped this with a bit more cheese and grilled it in a preheated oven for about 20min until golden and oozy on top.


I made a variation of my favourite salad to go with this and I needed a fresh taste after the creaminess of cauliflower. The salad had rocket, ripe tomatoes, red onion and avo; dressed with the usual white wine and balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.


Sorry Jamie but wont be making it again...

Osca Thai basil Pesto

Recipe #57: Chopped Pesto... (ok I cheated and used Osca)

We picked up basil from the Asian supermarket on the way home for 99c but I think we picked up thai basil instead of normal basil as the smell reminded all of us of Chilli Basil Beef not Italian food. It still worked but maybe thats why mum's tastes different Jamie's but it also could be that she adds parsley.

The recipe says chopped pesto but everyone was so hungry, Osca the tiny food processor was much more efficient then me with a knife. Here is what went in Osca:

- One and a half garlic cloves (Jamies says one but Tristan LOVES garlic so how can I not add a little more?)
- A bunch of Basil (leaves, tiny flowers and thin stalks only)
- A handful of pine nuts
- A couple of hunks of parmesan
- S&P
- Juice of half a lemon
- Olive oil
How to: Wizz until it becomes a fragrant green paste.

We had the pesto over gnocci (store bought but good... would of loved to make gnocci from scratch but I didn't trust myself among the starving family) and my favourite tomato salad.

[The picture is of me eating the leftovers for lunch at my desk. I didn't have time to take a quick snap before we devoured our plates.]

My tomato salad doesn't really have mesurements but here is what I do; Thickly slice a few ripe tomatoes and overlap on a serving dish. Slice half moons of red onion and even spread over the tomatoes. Next sprinkle a pinch of dried oregano (fresh is better if you have it) and some S&P. You can't eat it naked so dress it with some delicious green extra virgin olive oil and a splash of a combination of white wine and balsamic vinegar. I love the colours of this salad.

I always think with a heavy rich dish like Pesto Gnocci you need a refreshing finish and this tomato salad gives you that crisp clean you are craving -dont forget the crusty bread to mop up the pesto and dressing. mmm Enjoy! and always Eat, Love and Laugh.

Cheap-ee-Cheap Cheap!

Mmmm Yum.

Recipe #55 and #56 : Spicy Chilli Rice and Salmon Fishcakes with my 'On the Spot' sauce.

The Salmon Cakes I have to admit now I did on the cheap because fresh salmon can get quite expensive and I feel the recipe could be adapted for canned salmon. I gave it a go and it was FABULOUSLY DELICIOUS!

So here's Jamie's Salmon Fishcakes with canned salmon instead of fresh Salmon (which I can imagine would only make this taste even better). First things first: Peel and boil 600g of potato's and cook you rice (I used 3 cups of rice). While the potato's are boiling chop a small bunch of parsley and throw it in a large bowl with one egg, a tbs of flour, S&P and zest of 2 lemons (I used zest of one lemon and juice of half a lemon because the zester is crap). Mix in a large (415g) can of salmon; removing any large bones and the cooled potatoes. Smash and mash with a potato masher or fork until combined and potato has mashed and broken up.

Roll mixture into about 8-10 patties and cover with flour. I would advise putting on gloves here if you don't want your hands to smell like cat food after. We ran out of gloves so I used two freezer bags instead which worked like a charm. (I promise a photo of me wearing my plastic bags later). Stick the patties in the freezer for 20min or in the fridge for an hour.

Next chop your 2 fresh chilli's for the rice and add it to a hot pan with olive oil, butter, a tbs of tomato paste, 4 cardamon seeds and 2 cloves (Jamie says 4 but i thought with my sauce it might be too many flavours)and of course S&P. This is where the trick is... put the rice into the pan and coat then transfer the rice back into the rice cooker to keep warm while you heat the same frying pan up with oil to cook the fishcakes. I'm a girl who hates washing up :)

Now make the 'On the Spot' sauce in a old Vegemite jar. 6 tbs of extra virgin olive oil, 4 tbs of soy sauce, 2 small cloves of garlic crushed, 1/2 a tsp of grated ginger, half a red onion finely diced and the juice of 1 and 1/2 lemons. SHAKE and your done. easy or what??

While the rice is keeping warm stick some green beans and broccolini on fresh veggies (don't diss the microwave, it can be your best friend and your extra set of hands in the kitchen) and cook the patties in 2 batches. 

Serve the Salmon fishcakes on a bed of the Chilli rice (find the cloves before serving... nasty when you bite on them) and drape the green beans and broccolini over the patties then pour the dressing over to give the dish that mouthwatering smile we all love.
EAT, LAUGH  and LOVE it.


I promised a picture and here it is :)

How far away until Valentines day?

Last night I cooked Chicken Rogan Josh. It should have been with lamb but the only lamb we have was lamb chops and I couldn’t be bothered to cut the meat off the bone. Jamie says it would be ok with chicken so I trusted him and even though it was delish I think Lamb would have made it even better. You need a stronger meat then chicken for this curry.

Recipe #53 and #54: Chicken Rogan Josh (with home made curry paste)

I had a helper in the kitchen last night who ground the toasted spices into a powder for me with the tiny tiny mortar and pestle. (I love the mortar and pestle from the movie Julie and Julia; the one Paul Child gives Julia on Valentines day. Hmmm I love that movie and Julia Child. She had such romance with Paul, I love that he sat in the kitchen while she cooked away. Sorry back on track...) Rogan Josh curry paste. The recipe for this past can be found at Jamie's website.

First I toasted coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black peppercorns and gave them to my handy helper for the night; Tris, who ground them into a fine powder for me. They went in the blender with: roasted capsicums, ginger, garlic, coriander, paprika, smoked paprika, turmeric, fresh red chilli (seeds and all), garam marsala, salt, peanut oil and tomato paste and whizzed until it formed a paste.

Next was to get on with the actual curry. Sauté onions, fresh red chilli (seeds and all), fresh ginger, bay leaves and coriander stalks in peanut oil with a nob of butter until the onions are translucent. Add the chicken (or lamb which I would advise) and cook until slightly browned, add some balsamic vinegar, S&P, can of diced tomatoes then the curry paste and cook for about 2 min until fragrant. Next add 800mL of chicken stock (or water) and a couple of handfuls of red lentils and cook for about 40 min for chicken and split lentils or an hour for lamb and whole lentils. Tase to see if more salt is needed.

Serve with basmati rice and home made condiments of yoghurt and cucumber. Mmmm EAT, LAUGH and LOVE it.
**Heads up: Even better the next day!

RSPCA Cupcake Day

Last week on the 17th of the August I hosted cupcake day at work to support the RSPCA. We raised $154.15 which will help our furry friends find homes and have a better life. This was the 2nd year in which I have hosted cupcake day and love the idea that we have made a difference, even if only small. Even my fat cat Molly enjoyed the cupcakes this year which my dad shared with her.

I cooked the usual Red Velvet Cupcakes and also Mini Cheese Cakes which turned out like individual slices. The Mini Cheese Cakes/Slice were a test which I made only a few of but they were loved by all (including Molly). I got a recipe request which I have been terribly lazy and not passed on yet. So here I am sharing my recipe which is slightly adapted from the famous Nigella Laswon's recipe (love her cheese cakes!! they never fail me on flavour and texture... yum) with a little touch of Dani and also pictures finally of my Red Velvet cupcakes which have always been demolished before I can find my camera.


Mini Cheese Cakes/Slice

100g unsalted butter
250g digestive biscuits
400g cream cheese
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
4 tbs sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla paste)
4 tsp lemon juice


1- Line 18 muffin tins with muffin cases.
2- Melt butter (in pan or microwave), smash digestives with with a mallet or food processor (heads up- mallet is VERY satisfying). Combine the butter and crumbled digestives together; it will look like wet sand then evenly distribute amongst the muffin cases. 
3- Refrigerate while you get on with the cheese filling.
4- Beat cream cheese until smooth and then add the caster sugar gradually.
5- Add the eggs, beating well then add the sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice. Beat until everything is combine and smooth.
6- Fill each muffin case with the filling and bake at a moderate oven for about 40min or until set (remember ovens vary, you might need to bake them longer or for less time). Let cool for 5 min in the tins before removing them.
7- Cool in refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.
8- Devour with greedy pleasure.

"Amore and Amaretto" by Victoria Crosford

10 pages in and I already want to move to Italy and work in an Italian kitchen! Even after eating lunch, this book makes me hungry for more. Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca ... Mm yum!

For Fizz.

When I was leaving Fizzy and Vancity she asked me to give her the recipe for the carrot cake we made but my bag was so tightly packed I could not find my notebook let alone a matching pair of socks. So this is for you Fizzy. Missing you so much already.


Carrot Cake
3 eggs
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup Vegetable oil
3 cups of grated carrot
1 cup of roughly chopped walnuts
2 1/2 cups of self raising flour (or 5 tsp of baking powder plus 2 1/2 cups of plain flour)
1 tsp of Bi-carb soda (add even if adding baking powder and plain flour)
1 tsp mixed spice


How to:
1. Beat eggs, sugar and oil till pale and creamy.
2. Stir in carrots and walnuts. Sift in dry ingredients.
3. Pour mixture into lined 22cm round cake tin. 
4. Bake for 1 1/4 hours in a 180 degrees Celsius oven. (Note that all ovens vary and to check 10min before the cake is due out of the oven. Test with a skewer or cake tester. If it comes out clean, it's done.)
5. Let cake stand in tin for 5min then turn top side up and cool on rack.


Cream cheese icing:
Beat 30g of softened butter with 80g of cream cheese and 1 tsp of lemon rind until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in 1 1/4 cups of sifted icing sugar.


Ice cake when completely cooled and enjoy with good company and a good cuppa.

Back in Syd.

I'm back home now but really wishing I was still away. My Molly is keeping me company while I mope in my bedroom listening to Jay Z. It's funny when you come back from somewhere you love and then everything suddenly reminds you of being away... music, foods, smells... hmmm. It's a bit woe me at the moment but when I get back into the swing of normal life I'll snap out of it. Thats the worse thing about holidays... coming home from them.

Thinking of things that remind me of Vancouver. Maple Syrup is a biggie and of course I brought some back with me. Who was I to go to Canada and not bring some back!?


I made Jamie's One-Cup pancakes to go with the delicious syrup. It more made me wish I was back living in my best friends lounge room not sitting at my kitchen bench in winter Pj's cooking for mum and dad.


Recipe #52  One-Cup Pancakes with Canadian Maple Syrup.


Its a very simple and delicious recipe. In a large bowl whisk 1 large egg, 1 cup of self-raising flour (you know you can't get this in Canada... don't know why but you can add baking powder to normal flour and get the same result), 1 cup of milk and a pinch of salt. Whisk batter until smooth then add butter to a frying pan (medium-low heat) and cook. The trick I use is once the batter starts to bubble on the first side and the bubbles pop, flip the pancakes over and cook for about 4 seconds on the next side and they're cooked perfect. I then keep warm in the oven if I'm making a big batch but they are best straight out of the pan.


All that was missing was slow cooked bacon :)


I also brought back with me Awesome Sauce which I got from Moss Street markets (Vancouver Island) and Beetroot and Horseradish relish (we had this with Lamb chops last night...Yum and Yum!) The awesome sauce is like a hot sauce but better and much more flavour. I am going to have to see if they will ship internationally as I can see we are going to g through it sooo quickly.  Or I'll just have to go back and pick some up personally :) such a shame hey?

Hello from Vancouver.

No I have not dropped off the planet... just taken a trip to Vancouver. 


I discovered the best bookshop while being here which is around the corner from where we are currently staying (at the beautiful Fizz, Duncan and Page's place). Its called:


Books to Cooks


Its a whole shop of just cook books and it has a kitchen at the back and they do cooking lessons. It's owned by a lady who I was very fortunate to meet; Barbara-Jo who also signed a copy of her latest cookbook. Cooking for me and Sometimes You. I am in the middle of reading it and love it. It's a book about how she moved to Paris for a month... How much better can that get???


I haven't done much cooking while I'm here but Mari and I cooked a roast chicken the other night. We smothered it in a Sage, lemon, garlic and butter. It's turned out pretty good I think. No one complained so it was a successful dinner (unless they were all too polite) I will defiantly make it again back home but I think it will always hold the memory of Vancouver and thinking the chicken shop lady made us buy way too much chicken. Just the right amount it turned out to be.


The Fish taco's here are fantastic. I cannot believe we don't get them in Australia! I am going to have to test out some recipes back home and try and replicate this delicious Salmon one I had here from a small fish and chip shop near Granville Island. Oh and I love Granville island. Its fantastic with all the fresh food and smoked meats and deli goods. I have definately put on weight over here :)


Its our last day tomorrow. Its going to be a sad day leaving Fizz... again. It doesn't help that we're going from a lovely sunny country where we have seen not a drop of rain back to winter... cold and raining where most of our friends are overseas somewhere exotic.


I best be off to bed now.... Nearly finished packing... grr I hate packing. 


p.s. The 30th of June came and whooshed past me. My new aim is to cook, laugh and enjoy life. 

Does anyone know the trick to get chilli off your fingers?

Tonight for dinner I cooked (recipe #50 and #51) Mexican-style corn and Parmesan Chicken Breasts with Crispy Posh Ham. It was an incredibly easy dinner.


You slice the chicken but not all the way through, just to make scores on one side then you sprinkle over pepper, fresh thyme, lemon zest and parmesan cheese. Top with prosciutto and olive oil. Cover with glad and smash with a hammer/mallet till the chicken is 1cm thick. Heat a frying pan and add the chicken prosciutto side down and cook for 3min. the turn and cook until cooked through.


While the chicken is cooking, cook your corn (I used the microwave- mum style). Chop your chilli finely, grate your parmesan and spread both over a large plate and sprinkle with pepper and salt. When the corn is cooked add butter to it and make sure it melts and overs the corn. Roll the buttered corn in the cheese and chilli.


Serve Chicken and corn on a hot plate (we also had a baked potato with dinner) and ENJOY! Dinner was delish I just wish I didn't have crackers and cheese when I got home.


**do not add salt to the chicken as the posh ham is very salty. 

Not a Stew but a Stroganoff

Recipes #48 and #49.


Tonight I am cooking Beef and Ale Basic Stew. Mum hates the word stew... so we'll call it Beef and Ale Basic Stroganoff with lovely dumplings. It was easy to cook, I chose to cook it in the oven rather then the stove so I could sit and relax. 


I chopped 2 carrots, 2 onions and 2 celery sticks. Threw them in a oven proof dish with some olive oil and butter (butter was my touch... I've been reading too much julia Child lately and couldn't stop myself.) through in a couple of bay leaves and cook it for 10 min or until soft. I added pre-chopped beef, a can of Guinness, pepper, salt and a can of chopped tomatoes. Brought it to the boil and bunged it in the oven for 3 hours. (It's in there atm). 


For the dumplings a rubbed butter and self-raising flour together to get breadcrumbs and then added some chilled water to make a dough. Divided it in to 12 and rolled them in to dumplings. 


I added them to the stew.. sorry stroganoff for the last 30min and there is 5 min left on the cooking. I am hoping this fix's my headache :)


Fingers crossed!

Never fear, I have returned.

I cooked recipe #47 a few weeks ago and yes I have been extremely lazy, apologies to my faithful readers. 

Moroccan Lamb with couscous.

First things first. I hate cooked fruit especially in savoury things. I’d have to say that its one of the only things I really hate when it comes to food! This recipe has apricots in it. (Gag) EW! They were evicted from the recipe.

    I chopped the onions, tomatoes, chilli and parsley as Jamie asks. Next was to heat oil in a large pan cook onions and garlic till tender. Add 2 tsp of cumin, pepper and salt. Next add tomatoes, parsley, pine nuts and chickpeas. Cook for about 5 min.

    Meanwhile cut Lamb; I used lamb back-strap, into 2.5cm pieces. Season with salt, pepper and a sprinkling of ground cumin. Put a pan on high heat and cook lamb for about 2-3 min on each side. My Lamb was still a little frozen so it didn’t go as crispy as what Jamie’s looked like.

    I had Julia Child’s voice going through my head. (Well actually Meryl Streep’s voice) telling me that “wet meat does not brown properly” and she’s right! My lamb cooked in a puddle of water that came out of the lamb during the cooking. It did not brown nicely and I overcooked it waiting for the couscous to cook which ended up being a big bowl of glug.

     Yes Glug.

What is Glug? It is couscous that does not separate and sticks together as one big disgusting patty. How can you stuff up couscous?? I have no idea what I did wrong. Every time I cook couscous not following a recipe it works, when I use a recipe it glugs. If someone knows what I might have done wrong please comment and let me know because I failed at making it this time.

    You are meant to squash the sauce with the back of a spoon and add a tbs of balsamic vinegar before serving to make it saucier. It was nice though but not enough chilli.

    All I kept thinking was that if Pete and Manu were in my kitchen last night I would have been so embarrassed. Overcooked Lamb and Glug.

FAIL.

Brushetta, Julie & Julia... does it get any better?

Over the weekend I attempted to make Granola (Recipe #45) for the 3rd time. First time I added currants which made it a little too sweet, the 2nd time I didn't add fruit and it was delicious over greek yoghurt so I thought I would make again since I had eaten the 2nd batch and was craving more. Yes well it sounded a great idea until the over powerful oven decided to burn the buggerey out of it. So I'd say that this third time lucky did  not work. The kitchen smelt like burnt-ness to I thought I would leave it for another weekend and make brushetta and watch Julie and Julia. (Fantastic afternoon may I say!)

For dinner I cooked the Perfect Roast Beef (Recipe #46). I placed the veggies in the bottom of the pan, placed the beef on top and cooked it for 1 hour while I went to basketball. Worked out perfectly.

We had roast veggies, yorkshire pudding and gravy. YUM.

Crumble hides reality.

Recipe #44- Stewed fruit.


We had a going away dinner tonight for 2 friends that will be leaving us for four and a half months. I don't think it's hit me yet that there actually going so I made dessert instead of thinking about it.


Rhubarb and apple crumble. Goodness knows how much rhubarb I used but I had to cook for 10-11 people I was told so in my lunch break today I went to the fruit shop in Westfield where I found a bunch of rhubarb which was about a metre tall. Very embarrassing taking it back to the office where I got looks like "is that a tree??" "no its rhubarb!" I stared them back.


I also bought 1kg of apples with my rhubarb and when I got to the counter I realised I had no cash on me so I took out my bank card. "Minimum of ten dollar" the checkout chick said. So I grabbed a bag of nuts that were on the counter to make up the extra $2 that I need to spend. "15 dollar thank you" I bought the most expensive nuts in Chatswood which I didn't even want.


Back to the crumble.


Mum helped me peel and chop the apples as I has half an hour to make a crumble and be at someone's house where I ended up getting lost anyway. The rhubarb and apples went in with some water and sugar and stewed for a bit. Yes some of this and a bit of that. I didn't really measure... naughty naught naughty I know. My rhubarb wasn't as pink as I had hoped for. But then I'd never cooked or eaten rhubarb until. It all cooked nicely and went that awful shade of pink that nanna's wear. I tipped the crumble filling into an oven proof dish and let cool before I covered it with foil for the car trip. 


Next was the crumble topping. I used flour and butter and rubbed it together with my finger tips ( and added some oats). Yes again a little bit of this and a little bit of that. When I started measuring the flour on top of the butter the scales turned off. Helpful that I couldn't take the flour out and re-measure it.


The car trip went well and I did not spill and in mum's car even though I did get lost alone with only a crumble to swear at in the car.


The Girls cooked the main which was delish, thank you my lovely's. 


I preheated the oven and spooned over the crumble filling and some demerera sugar. I thought that would give it good crunch but it didn't really work. I had way to much crumble topping for my stewed fruits. And although I was warned that rhubarb can get too excited and bubble over I didn't think it would happen in the oven but yes the rhubarb got excited, so I took the crumble out a little to early because I didn't want to mess the oven that was not mine up. So no crunchy crunchy topping. Maybe I put too much on... and the centre went very mooshy. I think less cooking on the stove next time and more time in the oven or under the grill so get nice and crunchy on top. Everyone said they enjoyed it so I will take that as a dessert accomplished :)

Chickpea free

Dinner tonight was Pot Roast Meatloaf (Recipe #43). 


You start with cooking onions off in a frying pan with cumin and coriander till soft then leaving them to cool (I got impatient and didn't leave them to cool). Smash sayos up (I used Oscar) add them to a bowl with the cool onion, mince, dijon mustard, dried oregano, pepper, salt and 1 egg. Moosh with hands till combined and make a rugby ball out of the mince and place in a baking tray. Cook for 30min in a preheated oven at 200 degrees (I had the oven at 180 because we have a small oven that compensates by being too hot).


Chope your 2nd onion into 1cm pieces with 2 cloves of garlic and a chilli. Fry in a pan with smoked paprika (I cannot stand the smell of Smoked Paprika for some reason, but I did add it) When the onions are soft add the tins of tomatoes and chickpeas. Now we have had enough chickpeas for the moment. Everything Jamie can put chickpeas in he does so we decided to leave them out. I asked the family and it was a flat 'no chickpeas'. Add balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce and being to the boil and simmer for 10min.


Once the meatloaf had had it's 30min transfer it to a baking dish and pour sauce around it. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary and lay prosciutto over and around it. Put it back in the oven for another 15 min until prosciutto is crispy.  


We served this with couscous (that worked this time). Yum. It will be a meatloaf sandwich for work tomorrow!!