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 :)

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.

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 :)

Lesson number 1 learnt. Tick.

Recipe # 35 and 36. Last Night we had Creamy Bacon and Mushroom Sauce served over hot pasta and Mediterranean Chopped Salad.

Crème Fraiche. The dictionary meaning should be 'Devouring Delicious-ness'... although you do pay for the DD.

First I deseeded and chopped the (home grown) chilli, then the bacon and mushrooms. I heated the oil in a pan and forgot about it until it started smoking.

I added the bacon and gave the kitchen a oil shower of oil and bacon fat.... mmm mum loves me :) While the bacon was frying I had put the water on to start boiling for the hot pasta. I started chopping the Mediterranean Chopped Salad. Again I started with a home grown chilli which I deseeded and chopped along with tomatoes, onion, olives, lettuce and some wilted home grown basil. I made the dressing in a jar and DID NOT pour it over the salad yet as I have learnt my lesson with 'Soggy Salad'.


I added the tube pasta to the water and put the timer on so I wouldn't forget about it like I had forgotten about the oil. Next the mushrooms, chilli and fresh thyme was added to the now crispy bacon. Stirred until the mushrooms were coated in the bacon juices and then 4 tablespoons of Devouring Delicious Crème fraiche was added till bubbling.


Pasta is done and drained and poured into the pan of bubbling creamy bacon stirred through and seasoned with salt and pepper. Served straight away and sprinkled with some parmesan cheese.

Pasta and crème fraiche... Do I need to say anymore??


Salad was nice but the wilted basil made it bitter. Will leave it out or add fresh oregano next time.

A little bit of inventing.

We had our ritual girl’s dinner the Wednesday that just past and we devoured a Lemon Meringue Pie that the host prepared for us along with minestrone soup. Was it as good as it sounds...? Hell Yes it was!! :)


But I couldn’t resist myself and had to make something and bring it along with me. I have the cooking bug at the moment and sorry Jamie but it’s not for your fish recipes... I did the wrong thing and cooked everything I was dying to cook to start with now I’m left with baked apples... 4 types of porridge... and more cod. Ah well, I will get through and be gastronomically wiser after.

Anyway back onto last Wednesday night I made a Baked Artichoke dip. I tried a similar dip to the one I made at a friends house and thought it was delicious so while looking through a few recipes online I took initiative and made my own version. It's very simple and very decadent. It's almost like a creamy artichoke fondue.
-- If you are cooking to the dip straight away- Preheat your oven to about 190 degrees Celsius. --
1. Add 6 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 6 tablespoons of sour cream, 1 teaspoon of dried marjoram and 8 tablespoons of grated vintage cheese in a bowl along with 2 clove of fresh garlic minced.
2. Mix everything together and season well with salt and freshly grated black pepper (be careful not to over salt at this point).
3. Dice a 400g can of Artichoke hearts to the size you like. (I diced mine into little squares to give the dip some texture.) Add the chopped artichokes to the cheese mixture and mix well.
4. Test to see if it needs more pepper or salt. WARNING. It will taste VERY garlic-ee at the moment but do not be alarmed the hot-ness of the garlic does calm down when it’s baked. Pour the dip into an oven prove dish- I use an oval shaped one (very retro!)
* -- If you are making the dip a day in advanced stop now and cover with cling and refrigerate until required.--
5. Top with grated Parmesan Cheese and bake for about 20 min or until heated through. Move the dish up in the oven to let the cheese bubble on top. You may need to dab a bit of the oil from the top with kitchen paper so that guests don't feel too guilty indulging and Serve with crusty baguette pieces and carrot fingers. The carrot gives a lovely refreshing change to the satisfying rich-ness of the dip its self.

Mmmm mm

Congrats Veronica and Shadi!

Recipe # 33: Cracking Burgers.
Hamburgers for dinner last night, obviously not made with ham... why do they get the name hamburgers?? If anyone out there in the endless void who actually reads this knows, please share this bit of trivia.
Cracking Burgers starts with Jamie asking you to bash 12 Jacob cream crackers in a tea towel and add them to 500g's of beef mince in a mixing bowl. We didn't have any crackers like Jamie uses (Auzzie version is sayo's) so I used store bought bread crumbs. My opinion is if your going to use store bought crackers you may as well use store bought crumbs. If your using fresh breadcrumbs on the other hand that is completely different.
Next went in 2 heaped teaspoons of Dijon mustard. Mmm I love the colour of Dijon mustard when it’s heaped out on a spoon. It almost looks gold.


Pepper and salt was next, along with fresh chopped parsley. You’re meant to add an egg next but I did a typical Danielle and read the recipe once over and thought I new better then Jamie and forgot to add the egg. I think this was why they were a little dry and didn't stick together well.

I shaped the mince into 4 patties and put them in the fridge while I watched my backed up TV of MKR. (p.s. SO pumped that Shadi and Veronica won!!!)


We had salad fillers such as avo, baby spinach, truss tomatoes, cucumber and gherkins to go with the burgers which were being served with hot Tommy mustard, tomato sauce and focaccia bread instead of burger buns as that was all we had at home.
I oiled the patties with Mum's trusty garlic spray oil (Love it!) and placed them on a hot griddle pan. No idea how long I cooked them for but I cooked them until they were cooked through and the cheese was melted on top. We had frozen wedges with our burgers -left over’s from my 21st that were still in the freezer :) probably not the healthiest choice but it was easy and quick since the grand finale of MKR was on TV last night and nothing was getting in the way of me watching that :)


A delicious meal in all.

Fuss Free delicious-ness!!

Recipe #28 & 29: Lasagne (+Bolognese sauce). This recipe was made back in January for our double dater couple. Chloe and I go on dates while our lovely boys have there bro-mance time together. 


First things first: I LOVE Lasagne! My mum never makes it enough and only makes it when we're having a dinner party and thats not very often at all. I have to beg and plead for Lasagne so I decided to make my own.. well Jamie's. 


You start with making the Bolognese sauce which takes 45 min to cook once everything is in the pot. Once that is cooked and looking delicious don't be tempted to give up and boil spaghetti. Keep going... keep going! It's worth it let me tell you!! 
    Preheat the oven and grate parmesan into the bolognese sauce. Tear and stir in any large basil leaves, keeping the smaller ones aside for later. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Soften your lasagne sheets by pouring hot water over the top and draining. 
    Spoon a third of the bolognese sauce in the bottom of an oven proof pan followed by a  lasagne sheet. Dollop a third of your creme fraiche and smooth it over to cover the lasagne sheets. Sprinkle with pepper, salt and a parmesan cheese. Repeat until you have no ingredients left and making the finishing layer of creme fraiche and parmesan. To make it look pretty add sliced tomato on top and the smaller basil leaves. 
    Cover with foil and bake for 20min in preheated oven. Remove foil and cook for a further 35min until bubbling and delicious.


One word. YUM!


I will make this again and again and again once this mission is over! The creme fraiche makes the sauce delicious and rich but with no fuss!  Just remember to keep on track after the bolognese is made because it is worth it!