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 :)