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.

Fear of cheats garlic bread FOREVER!

I am back from a dinner last night that makes me gag. No this was not a Jamie dinner or one of my own creations. We thought we'd go the cheats ways and by Coles garlic bread instead of making our own. I could hear Jamie's voice in my head saying...

"Make your own, this is not what Jamie's Ministry of food is about" 

 I should have listened to Jamie because as we started to eat this cheats garlic bread I thought 'hmm this tastes a little funny, maybe its because I'm used to the Woolworth's brand one and Coles brand are a little different. I'm into my 2nd or 3rd piece (I am still trying to block this memory out) and Tristan says "whats that?" I look at the end of my piece of garlic bread to say its just the charcoal bit from the sausages. When I look closer it's MOLD. Bluey-green MOLD. It can't be we both say and look at the whole loaf... Oh yes it was. The 2nd loaf was worse! I actually felt like being sick. The thought of last nights dinner is blur... I feel ill now. How can a store sell moldy garlic bread? If it was on special I can understand maybe... but it wasn't and not they have ruined cheats garlic bread for me forever. EW. 
     The Jamie in my head is reading this and going "told you so, should have made something healthy form my book" and yes I admit I should have and a regret I didn't. 

Use your imagination... fresh cream and fresh strawberries....

A non Jamie dinner tonight but Chocolate chip scones for dessert which Mari and I made on Sunday. We adapted Jamie's fruit scones recipe (recipe #32) and made Chocolate Chip scones as we both are not fan's of fruit scones.

Because we don't have a food processor that hold more then a cup we made them the manual way by rubbing the flour, baking powder, and butter together with our fingers. We added about a tablespoon of cocoa here and took a table spoon of flour out so they would be more decadent. Mari did this while I mixed the Eggs, milk and chocolate chips in a bowl. We made a well in the centre of the crumbly flour mixture and poured the eggy mixture in. Stirred and did a small kneed. Once the dough had come together we cut out our scones and put them in the preheated oven. 


MMM YUM! they were delicious! Not too sweet but just enough to make you want a 2nd but not a 3rd. Would have been delectable with fresh cream and fresh strawberries! Will def be repeating the recipe! 

I'm sorry Jamie.

Recipe's #30 and 31: Dinner tonight was Baked Cod wrapped in Bacon with Rosemary and Baked French Potatoes. Sounds fabulous and restaurant worthy right?


Two words is all tonight gets. YUK and FAIL.


The fish when baked poached... the potatoes also poached in stock that didn't evaporate when it should have. The bacon and rosemary was nice but I'm not a huge fish eater and well cod is a very fishy fish. The thought of food is making me feel ill.


Molly the cat didn't even get the cod that we left uneaten. The bacon was eaten but the cod.... was filed under B for bin.

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!

Definately the "Bring a Salad" salad.

Recipe #26 and 27: Trout with mustard & oats and Evolution Potato Salad.


The potato salad is a revelation! Delicious!
    (The trick is to dress it while to potatoes are still warm.)
Firstly peel your potatoes and then boil them in salted boiling water for 10-15 min until cooked through. Mean while mix extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, pepper, salt natural yoghurt and fresh chive in a jar. Shake!
     While the potatoes are cooking start on the trout. Now I’m not a fish eater and always avoided fish when possible so I am very proud that I not only ate the fish but also cooked it. And you know what!? I’d do it again it was so nice.
     Preheat grill to as high as it goes. Rub a baking tray with olive oil and place washed trough fillets skin side down on the tray. Rub each fillet with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and season with some S&P. In a bowl add one handful of oats for each fillet and drizzle them with olive oil. Pat the oats down on top of the fish and drizzle with more olive oil. I got sick of this patting fish and touching the smelly stuff so I used spray oil and it worked perfectly!
     Put your baking tray under the grill for about 10min or until cooked through and golden on top. By this time your potatoes should be cooked and drained. While still hot dress the hot potatoes with dressing in a bowl.


Serve with a salad (Jamie suggests watercress but we tried this last night and none of us ate the watercress… ew it tasted like someone has spilt their perfume over it.) and enjoy! The only let down was that there was tiny bones in the fish. One of the reasons why as to child I hated fish.

Mum's is better by far!

Receipe #25: So last night we had Jamie's Chilli Con Carne. It was well… lets just say I cannot look at chickpeas again. I LOVE(d) chickpeas but this dish made everything go mushy, watery but also if possible dry. The flavours of chilli, cumin and cinnamon were delicious but the texture was all wrong and I did not need to add the extra can of water which Jamie says to do.


Jamie instructs: Chop garlic, onion, carrot and celery and fry with spices for about 7min. Add a can of chickpeas, kidney beans, 2 cans of tomatoes and then your mince.
When do you brown the meat???...I guess never.
If your reading the recipe in front of you now you’ll notice that I did not include the capsicum. We didn’t have any and as it was raining outside no one was willing enough to go to the shops and buy one.
Next to use a can from the tomatoes and fill it with water. Add it to the mixture. Then chop coriander stalks and add them to the watering uncooked mince stew looking thing on the stove. The only coriander stalks we had were frozen ones… I think they loose their flavour when frozen. Believe it or not you couldn’t taste them at all and there was quite a lot in there.


It takes and hour to cook so thank goodness netball was cancelled from wet weather.
Serve it with rice and sour cream (Jamie says yougart but we have our traditions still).


While everything was cooking I made lumpy guacamole with a hard avocado. I would say it was the highlight of dinner (not being sarcastic).


Fish for dinner tonight but all I can think about is Duck Ragout from MKR. Could I get any more opposite?

Cookies make everything better

Recipe 24: Over the weekend I made Jamie’s chocolate chip cookies with Mari. We were suppose to be at KK’s house to watch the netball at 4pm but the cookies took a lot longer then we thought. We had to freeze the cookie dough before you could mould them. When I read this I thought:  Pft nope it’ll be fine we don’t need to freeze the dough.


    Oh yes we needed to! We found this out once it was made. It was gooey and sticky. It looked a delicious caramel colour and smooth texture. If you like cookie dough raw then this recipe looks like a good one, but I’m not a raw cookie dough eater. I prefer my cookies fresh out of the oven.
    We shaped it into a sausage shape, wrapped in glad wrap and froze it. We got impatient as we were already late to KK’s and got the dough out before the 30min was up. The edges were frozen but the centre was still a sticky mushy mess. We managed to cut 12 cookies out of the sausage shapped cookie dough even though we were meant to get out 15.
    Jamie says they're done when the edges start to brown.      What about the middle?? Is it meant to stay not brown?     We took the cookies out, only a couple looked overdone but they were delicious! A little crumbly round the edges but very yummy. Dad had hoped I would forget to take them with me when we finally got out my front door.


We missed the Sydney Swifts netball game but I think the cookies made up for it

Oops i did it again...

Dinner tonight was Griddled lamb chops with chunky salsa, best new potato's and salad with yoghurt dressing. Recipe's #21,22, and 23.


    Lets start with the chops. Jamie asks you to cut your tomatoes in half, deseed your chilli and pepper, cut your chilli in half and your pepper in quarters. Sounds easy enough don't you think... well not to me. I deseeded the chilli's and diced them. Next thing Jamie asks is to put your fingers in your mouth after chopping the chilli's... no wait. Thats just me who does that.
    Drizzle lamb with olive oil and season. Place upright on a hot griddle pan and add veggies cut side down. Cook for 4-5 min turning in between.
   Meanwhile the potatoes should be boiling as they take 15 min. While everything is left cooking, Chop salad. Warning: Do not try hold cucumber and knife in same hand and unwrap cucumber with the other hand. You will cut your self on very sharp knife. Make dressing (yoghurt, white wine vinegar, olive oil, pepper and salt in a jam jar.) 
    Once the potato's are cooked and the lamb is also cooked and the veggies are tender and juicy turn everything off. Add butter, petter salt and chopped min to the potatoes and serve. Chop basil, the cooked pepper, tomato and chilli (eh! one step ahead of you Jamie)  into a chunky salsa and add a dash of red wine vinegar, olive oil, pepper and salt. Warning: Do not try and pick up the salsa with your fingers and move it to a bowl. This will burn your finger and make them sting for hours after.


Serve chops with salsa on top and potatoes in a bowl for people to serve them selves. Salad is great after as a refreshing finish. It was yum! Mum even liked the dressing better then hers... but I have to disagree. Nothing can beat Mum's dressing.

cookie monster confessions

P.S. Delicious magazine arrived today! woohoo!!


I made the Nigella cookies but had to use hazelnut chocolate because that was all we had. Still quite yum though... probably not the best idea before netball.

Slightly off course.

    I'm back fear not fellow followers!
I have had a lapse and veered off course for a few days. But I have to be back on track asap because I'm so not going to make my dead line at all.


I cooked one recipe last week. Yes only one.
Receipt #20: Sizzling Beef with spring onions and black bean sauce. 


   Firstly you have to cook your rice and let cool. I cooked the rice but did not let it cool. I didn't see the point since I was cooking it again with egg later. Next was to chop the coriander, chilli, garlic, spring onions, ginger and mix in a bowl with sesame oil. Then cook in wok for about 2 min. Keep it moving so it doesn't burn. Add the Black bean sauce and soy sauce, keep tossing. 
   Transfer into a bowl and cover with foil. Add egg to pan with more soy sauce and scramble. Add rice.
   Serve with coriander leave and lime spritz on top. 


It was delicious except it kept we awake all night from the flavour enhancer in the black bean sauce. I was high as a kite all night with heart palpitations. So worth it!

Red Velvet is the new Denim.

Made them ate them and loved them!

I used Jamie Oliver's recipe in his latest magazine (Issue 8: Feb/Mar '10). I know it's off topic but I thought that because it was Jamie still I could get away with it.

Jamie's: Red Velvet Cupcakes

- 375g plain flour

- 50g baking cocoa

- 1tsp baking soda

- 1tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 230g butter, at room temp

- 360g caster sugar

- 5 large eggs

- 250mL buttermilk

- 1tsp vanilla essence

- 1 tsp natural red food colouring (I used colouring paste)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and fill muffin trays with cases (it says it makes 24 but I got 32 out of this recipe). 

2. Combine the flour, cocoa, making powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Sift the mixture 3 times. (YES 3 times!!)

3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time making sure they are mixed in well.

4. Add a quarter if the dry ingredients and 60mL of buttermilk, alternating till it's all used.

5. Mix in the vanilla and food colouring.

6. Fill the muffin cases half full of cake batter. Bake for 15-20min (test with a skewer).

7. Leave to cool for 5 min in pan and move to a cooling rack. The cupcakes must be completely cool before icing.

The icing: Beat together 130g unsalted butter and 250g full fat cream cheese until fluffy. Add 250g of icing sugar gradually and stir through 1tsp of vanilla essence. Ice and eat! delicious!

**sorry there are no pictures... they didn't last long enough for a photo to be taken :)

Is Red Velvet the new denim?

Jamie Magazine arrived Yesterday! Woohoo! 

I haven't had a huge look through yet, only a quick flick. But I have to say that about a week ago I had never heard of Red Velvet cupcakes and they seem to be everywhere at the moment. (I am sure you are all wondering how a foodie has never heard of red velvet cakes right? well my mum was never a cake baker. Her cakes turned out like slices and her slices turned out like cakes. She never attempted cookies.) I went onto deliciousdeliciousdelicious when the Red Velvet Lamington was on the site. Recently he has posted the Red Velvet Cupcake and now in Jamie's magazine this month he has also done a recipe for Red Velvet Cupcakes.

All I can think of is Red Velvet Cupcakes, Red Velvet Cupcakes... Red Velvet Cupcakes. I may have to ease my cravings for them.

Thursday's weather forecast: Mutton done up as lamb.

I spent all of Thursday in my little work cubicle watching the overcast day go past. To me winter had come early as I sit underneath two air con vents and freeze Monday to Friday.  This particular day however, the clouds matched the temperature inside. People were even talking in the kitchen while making tea about winter foods and how they were looking forward to them like pie's and stews and soups. Now this caught my attention. Soup. I have not had soup in months and after hearing the word I couldn't get it out of my head. Soup soup soup!!


When it hit 5:01pm I was out of my chair and in the lift. At about 5:05 I was walking to the bus stop in sweltering muggy heat. Yuk. Even worse for soup eating (do we eat or drink soup?? hmmm a though to think about.) It was lovely and wintering in the office. Outside it was mutton done up as lamb for all I can say. It was horrible.


But my mind was set on soup so soup it was. 


Recipe #19- Potato and Leek soup. 
Jamie asks to chops 2 carrots, 2 medium onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 400g of leek and 2 celery stalks. Add them to a hot pot with 2 tbs of olive oil and cook with the lid on askew for 10min or until the leeks and carrots are tender. Next add your 1.8L of stock and your 400g's of peeled and cubed potatoes. Bring to the boil and cook for 10 min with lid on. Process with a food processor.


All sounds good and easy. I spent about 20min while it was coming to the boil and boiling, fishing out tiny black bits of onion that has caught on the bottom of the pan. I got most of them out before i got to the blending part. After the soup was blended I added about a TBS of salt.


I served it with buttered bread, eating on the balcony, on a  hot summer night. Yum!

Do we have an Egg Queen in the house?!

Recipe #18- Poached eggs (on Mum's style Caesar Salad).


We scavenged everything that was left in the fridge and made a Royal Salad. Which of course included Mum's famous salad dressing. Now this stuff is amazing. If you've had it you'll understand. It is BETTER then Paul Newman's classic dressing. Nothing more needs to be said.


The bf normally cooks the poached eggs to perfection on Sunday mornings. He is the Egg King so I had to execute the eggs perfectly. Sure I'd cooked poached eggs before but when the pressure is on for something like crowning a Royal Salad it's murphy's law that it will stuff up.


I started the eggs as the salad was being assembled. Jamie asks for boiling water, sea salt, eggs and a pinch of pepper to finish.    Where was the vinegar?     I added a little vinegar anyway. Doesn't it do something to keep the eggs from separating? or is it all a myth?? I will have to look into this further but yes I bent the rules and added vinegar when Jamie doesn't ask for it. Maybe it was a typo...


The water was simmering and I added each egg as Jamie asks.

"crack one of your eggs into a cup and gently pour it into the water in one fluid movement" 

Done, done, done and done. 4 eggs in the water. Now... which one went in first?!? Tristannnnn!!!!  The King of Eggs came and inspected and informed me that they needed a little longer. After abiding by the Kings up most important commands I left the eggs simmering for a little longer... then got impatient and took them out.


They crowned the salad and were dressed with some crunchy bacon and shallots.


Our Royal Salad had perfect poached eggs.

Weird and Wonderful

I made just as much mess making Jamie's Chicken Fajitas as eating them. 


Recipe #17- Tonights dinner had to be a quick one as netball season is back on. The worst feeling is being full and then having to run around for two twenty minute halves. Ew.


So I flicked through JMOF and went for one of his 'Twenty-minute Meals'. He quotes 19min for Chicken Fajitas. Don't even ask how I started it cooking 5:30pm and we were eating at 6:30pm. Thank goodness I underestimated myself and allowed enough time. If I had taken Jamie's 19min advice I would still be trying to eat fajitas.


I chopped the chicken, capsicum and onions and put them in a bowl with smoked paprika, cumin, lime juice and olive oil. Next was to start the salsa. I needed 15 cherry tomatoes, a bunch of fresh coriander and one fresh chilli. We had the fresh chilli... normal tomatoes and dried coriander leaves. That will have to do. 


Now Jamie says serve it with a tub of bought guacamole but I thought no. We have fresh avocados at home and i've made guacamole before it will be easy peasy. Yes well its easy peasy when you have more then half an avocado to use. The other one was so hard I could have knocked someone out with it. I attempted to cut through it with a sharp knife to nearly only cut my hand off and not even make the avocado budge. And yes i was using an avocado not some other mysterious fruit.


So in with the half of an avo went some onions, yoghurt, vinegar (weird but wonderful!) and tomato. I made half an avo go round enough! 


The chicken and capsicum mixture then had to be put on a griddle pan and cooked. The smell of the smoked paprika is still hanging around the house. Feeling slightly ill right about now.


I chopped lettuce and cucumber to go with everything even though Jamie doesn't say so. It was served on the balcony with mozzies having just a big of a feast as we were. With no cheese. Yes no cheese Erin!! For some reason it slipped my mind and eyes when reading the recipe.


Maybe I do need to go back to the judgmental optometrist and get new glasses.

True of false? It's not the size that matters, its the way you use it.

It's 5:55am by my mac clock. In other words there is no sane reason why the fuck I am awake right now. And do you want to know the worst reason of all?? All I can think about when I try and get back to sleep is the Chocolate Swirl Croquembouche from Masterchef. Crazy??! mmm I think I am on my way if not already there. 


Anyway, apart from the dreams of toffee and caramel and sinking my teeth into crunchy puff balls with silky custard all night (sounds a little erotic and I assure you it was!) But since I am up nice and early (why do people call it 'nice and early'?? its NOT NICE!!) I thought I'd make the most of my time at home since my work computer has every site that is remotely useful blocked.


Blog note: I cooked this roast dinner one Sunday night a few weeks back before the blog was started but for goodness knows why my mission had. 


Recipes 13, 14, 15, & 16: Perfect roast pork with Roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots, Yorkshire puddings and a consistently good gravy.  (I have been reading Julie Powell's "The Julie/Julia Project" and having all the recipes in French sounds so much more exotic and grand then anything sounds in English).


Firstly the pork goes into the small oven, resting on a bed of veggies and herbs. After this was done I started my roast potatoes, parsnip and carrots. These needed to be part cooked by boiling them first. Low and behold the water took 15 min to boil but I had already peeled them which could have been done while the water was boiling but I didn’t read the recipe all the way through or plan the tiny oven disaster that is my mothers kitchen to a T. 


While I was suppose to put the vegies in the oven 20 min after the meat has gone in, the veggies went in about 50 min after the meat was cooking which meant that everything in the tiny oven was running late. 


Next was getting the Yorkshire pudding batter ready as it has to sit for 30min. This I could do as the veggies still had an hour left to cook and the meat would be done in half an hour. And I still needed to make the gravy and cook to the Yorkshire puddings and carve the meat and make sure that the crackling was crackly. 


The pork was overcooking the veggies weren’t browning and it was about 8pm now. At this point I don't know how you can make a Jamie roast dinner with all the trimmings in one oven. Oh thats right!.... if you have a normal size oven your fine!!!


After a glass of cold water and a lot of goooss-fra-baa I was ready to get back in the game. 


The meat came out and crackly crackling was removed, covered in foil and then the pan which had the meat juices and bed of veggies was put on the hok where flour, wine and stock was added. Everything was mushed with a potato masher and left to simmer. Next the muffin tin was put in the oven to heat, then oil was added in the muffin sections and put back in the oven to heat up further. 


By now I have complaints from mum and Tristan that they're hungry and its getting too late to eat dinner. I had suddenly found men's skill of selective hearing.


The gravy was sieved and put into a jug, the batter poured out into the muffin tin and back in the oven. It is about 8.30pm now and the Yorkshires need to bake for 15min with no disturbing allowed. I carved the meat, served it and the Yorkshires started burning. Shit! By now mum and Tristan were sitting at the table waiting patiently (patiently my arse!). Dad was getting in trouble putting butter on the dinner table in case any one wanted any.

So after disturbed the puddings I got out the veggies and served them with the now cold pork. When the puddings were done everything was sent to the table and dinner was served. 

Cold pork with luke warm gravy and hot veggies with slightly oily Yorkshire puddings. Dinner was eaten at 9pm but apart from late night indigestion I think it was mostly a success. Everyone was v polite and said they enjoyed it.  I think if i had given them dog food they would have said it was nice they were so hungry.

Confession

Fear not my fellow followers, I am still alive! While coming down with a tummy bug and then Australia Day there has been not much chance to cook until now. All I felt like eating was plain pasta with butter on it... I can hear you all saying mmm yum right now. SO for dinner tonight I thought i'd cook again as I have been having a slight freak out. 154 days left in my mission for "Jamie's Ministry of Food" and 148 to go. I know one per day and i'll get it done but that won't happen I know myself. I need to get crackin'!


If you have just been trying to add up the recipes in my blog and the amount left to cook it doesn't make any sense. Thats because I have to admit something... I have cooked more recipes then what is written on my blog. They will be posted but I started cooking before I started writing.


Recipe #12- Classic Tomato Spaghetti. (With added peas and baby spinach)- Cook garlic, basil stalks in olive oil add a can of tomatoes. Add chopped basil leaves (& frozen peas), bring to the boil, add cooked spaghetti and baby spinach. Serve.


It needed a lot more salt but then it could have been just me. I have this mouth ulcer that makes everything taste metallic. fun.