Quick, quick, you must be quick.

You know when you’re just having one of those weeks? That’s the kind of week I’m having, so last night, I went home via the DVD shop, got two chick flicks requiring no thinking to be done and browsed Jamie for something easy. It helped that I already had all the ingredients.

Asparagus, Mint and Lemon Risotto

There’s not much to say about this one. It was quick and easy and allowed me to lie on the couch shortly after getting home.

I will say though, that it appears to me that Jamie loves lemon rind. I think I’ve used it in almost every recipe so far. Not that I’m complaining, I love citrus, but it’s made me realise how versatile and flavoursome it is.

Anyways, I think this recipe will actually become part of my staple list. I’m always trying to find easy and tasty vego recipes for when the non-meat-eaters come for dinner. This will be it.

Xx

PS – Easy Virtue is a really good movie. New in Town is not.

Pa-Pa-Pa, Pa-Pappardelle. The longest pasta.

I had fun tonight. It might have been messy, a little precarious at times, but lots of fun.

Pappardelle with a Ragu of Tiny Meatballs

I was feeling a little pressure. I had Ween coming for dinner, I’d been at work all day, I’d never made pasta before and worst of all, I hadn’t pre-read the recipe, so had no real idea what I was in for.

I’d warned Ween that we might be eating late (who knows how long pasta-making might take), so she pulled up a seat and kept me company while I set to work.

Did you know that pasta is just egg and 00 flour? So simple. Work it into a dough. And then knead it until it turns silky. Jamie says that the reason Italian mamas have such impressive guns (of the bicep variety) is because they make pasta and after tonight, I concur. Unseasonably warm weather or not, I worked up quite a sweat. Once you’ve got your silky pasta dough, the fun really starts. I cleared my bench, attached the pasta maker and started rolling. Again and again and again. And again.



Meanwhile Ween is enjoying Dancing with the Stars and beginning to think I’m a total weirdo for putting myself through this.

And still I’m putting the pasta through the rollers again. And again.

Finally, after a few almost breakages, some “quick Ween, help help!” moments and a hell of a lot of flour spread about my kitchen, we had some pretty nifty looking pappardelle. Belissimo. I was happy.



So while the pasta chilled in the fridge, I made the meatballs. The meatballs are meant to be tiny, the size of marbles. Well I’m sorry Jamie, but by this point in the evening I was sort of starting to lose my marbles and time was beginning to slip away, so not so tiny on the meatballs tonight. I whipped up the ragu (really easy and really tasty), cooked the chilled pasta for about two minutes then tossed it together.



It was absolutely delicious. I think Ween was impressed. And it was seriously good fun. I would’ve said good clean fun, but that would just be lying. For all the huffing and muttering and floured brow – call me an Italian mama perhaps? – the end result was worth every long minute spent rolling and kneading. And my guns are looking pretty svelte…

Xx

Not quite pretty as a picture.

But tasty for sure.

Jools’ Favourite Saturday Afternoon Pasta

Jamie says it’s an easy weekend meal, so I figured I could whip it up for a quick mid-week one.

Red onion, basil, chilli, cinnamon (who would have thunk?), tuna, tomato, lemon zest and juice and grated parmesan all tossed through al dente rigatoni.


I slightly overcooked the pasta, but other than that, it was simply delish.

Success – quick, easy and yum.

Unfortunately I seem to struggle with my plating up and presentation and the photo of mine doesn’t quite match the one in the book, but it’s the old saying, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover!

Perhaps by the end of my experiment, this can be something I have improved upon. A new skill. Yep, that can be added to the plan.

Xx

PS – All this semi-forced cookbook cooking has made me browse my other cookbooks even more, even though I’m locked in to COOK with Jamie for the remainder of the experiment. I like it though, this new feeling of being able to do all the hard things I’ve always liked the look of when browsing, but have been too chicken to try. Now I’m feeling more and more ready to take on some of the trickier recipes in Jamie, which include ingredients and meals that I’ve stepped away from previously. It’s fun to be planning ahead and I’ve asked friends to look through the book and choose what they want to have served up for them next. Some have even dealt out a three course challenge!

PPS – I’ve borrowed a pasta maker from my friend Tils (she and her beau have two!), so I’m aiming to make pasta this weekend. Eek!

Outside My Kitchen # 2 – Uccello

Tonight I stepped out of the kitchen and enjoyed another Winter Feast. This time with BFF Ween, at The Ivy’s Uccello.

I’ve been wanting to go to Uccello since The Ivy opened, so when I was told about Winter Feasts, I immediately checked out the deal for Uccello and then asked Ween along for the ride. The food is southern Italian, the décor is fresh and summery and the view is of the pool bar (out of control extravagant, but amazing!). We had three courses and a glass of wine for $45.

http://www.merivalewinterfeasts.com/

For entrée Ween had the antipasto plate and I had a bean stew with Romano sausage. Incredibly simple, but incredibly tasty. For main I had the wagyu beef stew with polenta and Ween had a spicy prawn stew with fregola pasta. What is fregola I hear you ask? Well, as did we. It’s a sort of pasta/cous cous combo. Small balls of pasta thingies… You know what I mean right? By all accounts, quite a tasty little surprise. And I can say that the wagyu was tender, the polenta cheesy. Very tidy thanks. For dessert, Ween had the apple pie (it was pretty much a galette, but seeing as we were at Italian, they’re hardly going to use a French name are they?). Ween loved it and when I snuck a taste, I was pretty happy too. I had the tiramisu. I never order tiramisu at restaurants, because the only tiramisu I like is the one I make myself (I’m simply being honest and would you believe it’s only an AWW recipe!), but I jumped outside the box tonight and thought why not? It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t as good as my home made one, but still not bad!

After dinner (which was huge and very satisfying) we popped downstairs to the Ivy Bar for a few bevvies and a bit of people watching. There was a great jazz band playing some tunes which we endeavoured to talk over the top of.

Fab night. I felt very grown up.

Xx

PS – I have to cook polenta at some stage.

PPS – My cupcakes went down a treat at work yesterday. Woop woop.

Mouli mouli mouli mouli…

Phew. What a night. I pulled off my first ever gnocchi and made a batch of cupcakes.

Herby Gnocchi with Rocket and Butter Sauce

I’ve never made gnocchi before. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten gnocchi before. So my first gnocchi experience was always going to be a challenge and one I decided to take without any witnesses! Cowardly perhaps, but less risky. And probably the right decision considering I didn’t eat dinner until after 9pm!

It’s a lengthy process – simmer the potatoes (Jamie told me to bake them, but I had another recipe that said to simmer them and seeing as though my oven can be a little temperamental…), let them sit for a while, scoop out the flesh and put it through a mouli, then add the extras – egg, salt & pepper, 00 flour, some finely chopped rocket – and knead into a dough.

I don’t have a mouli, so used the old school masher. Not quite the same, but it did the job for my test run. I tried to get a mouli at the supermarket on the way home (you know I love a last-minute dash!) but no such luck.

Knead the dough, roll into sausages and chop into sections, then pop them in the fridge for a while.

See what I mean. Lengthy.

So along the way, I made the cupcakes – lemon ones in yellow cases.

Back to the gnocchi – I dropped them into the boiling water and crossed fingers that they didn’t fall apart on impact and hooray, success! While they bubbled away and slowly floated to the surface, I made the sauce which was amazingly good. Butter, a bit of stock, some lemon rind and parmesan all caramelised together. Toss through the cooked gnocchi. Absolutely delish. I am seriously excited by how well it turned out.


I now feel confident enough to make gnocchi for my willing taste testers. And I will definitely get a mouli for the gnocchi cause. It will make a big difference. Plus, I just like saying it – mouli mouli mouli mouli (to the tune of Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs). Oh oh, now it’s in my head…

Xx

PS – iced the cupcakes with lemon icing and sprinkled with some lemon rind. All rather lemony. I hope the gals at work like them.

What’s up Pork Chop?

Tonight was a good night on two levels – I had a long overdue catch up with my BF Becko and I enjoyed a meal that I had written off as being, well, boring. Shame on me, I hear you say. Well, I agree with you – how wrong I was.

What was the so-called boring meal? Pork chops and cabbage. But done by Jamie, not so boring.

Old-School Pork Chops with Apples & Sage, Savoy Cabbage with Worcestershire Sauce (plus my own potato & kumera bake).

I chose the pork chop recipe (I never cook pork, so thought I’d yet again step outside the comfort zone) and Jamie recommended the combo with the cabbage, so it was a cinch. He describes the cabbage as “proper cabbage with attitude” – that made me laugh.

The other thing about the pork chop choice was sort of, just a little bit about the butcher – he’s a bit cute. He told me they were the tenderest pork chops. Is that so Mr-Cute-Butcher? One thing they were, was big. And that was even when I asked for the smallest ones. Lucky we were hungry.

Quick rundown on the prep – potato & kumera bake in the oven (cream & parmesan included), briefly pan-fried the chops, seared apple wedges, a few sage leaves and a chunk of blue cheese on top, whack it in the oven while we sautéed the cabbage then sprinkle with the Lea & Perrins. Et voila – dinner is served.

We were both suitably humbled by the pork chop.

Xx

Meat & Potatoes – sort of…

Just a quick one tonight – I made the Amazing Potato and Horseradish Salad with Fine Herbs & Bresaola.

You’d be forgiven for asking what in the hell is bresaola? I had to google it myself, just to be sure. It’s air-dried, salted beef. It’s the beef version of prosciutto. Jamie says you can substitute with cold roast beef for this salad, but I wanted to suss the bresaola out so popped down to the deli after work. They have a great cold meats section and sure enough they had the bresaola. It’s hard and dark red, almost purple in colour. It’s very nearly jerky, which I’m not so sure is a good thing…

But… combine it with the horseradish potato salad, crunchy with celery and it’s not a bad combo. It’s very salty, but it works. And I’m taking the leftovers for lunch.

Xx

PS – Who knew tarragon had such a strong anise flavour? Oh, you did?
PPS – I went a little crazy at the deli – so much yummy cheese.

Outside My Kitchen # 1 - Teppanyaki

I’m going take a bit of a liberty here and not actually write about something I’ve cooked as part of the experiment. I figure that seeing as the blog is a story about food and cooking, then why not make some comparisons to the food I eat Outside My Kitchen.

Tonight I headed out into the rain with my friend Sarah for a Merivale Winter Feast at Teppanyaki. We had three courses plus a glass of wine for $35 and the chance to eat at one of The Ivy’s restaurants. I’d like to try them all if I could!

I had the pork & prawn dumplings as a starter and Sarah had the mini wagyu burgers (so cute!) We both had the pork belly as a main with star anise, shaved fennel and apple. It was absolutely delicious. The pork was sweet and tender and I love fresh fennel shaved thinly, adding some crunch. And would you believe that when I checked the cookbook, the pork belly recipe in COOK with Jamie is PB with braised fennel. Looking forward to whipping that one up!

For dessert we shared tempura banana with sake chocolate sauce. I’ve never had banana fritters before and I’ll say right here right now that I think I’ve been deprived. Where was the banana fritter in my childhood?? Perhaps I’ll need to make up for lost time and start a fritter frenzy. Or not… Though it did bring back memories of another banana dessert from my childhood which I’m going to ask Mum about and jump into the kitchen for that.

I recommend the Winter Feasts – it’s a great value way to try some quality restaurants and have sticky at the Ivy crowd. And a good excuse to eat out with a friend, even if it ended with a dash into the rain.

http://www.merivale.com/#/ivy/teppanyaki

I’m flipping through the book right now, trying to find the next recipe. I’ve a willing taste tester coming for dinner on Thursday. I’m thinking something in the risotto section…

Xx

Shattering lentil illusions...

One down, the rest of the book to go!

The recipe for day one was pan-fried scallops with lentils, crispy pancetta and lemon crème fraiche.

My Sunday was spent sleeping in, reading a book and going to the movies with Dad pre-dinner. Unfortunately I left my shopping spree a little late in the d ay and found myself on the wrong side of a locked door at my local fish shop, quickly followed by a distinct lack of scallops in the seafood section of the supermarket. A quick call to Dad – have you left home (yes), have you gone past your fish shop (yes) where the hell am I going to get scallops (why did you leave it so late in the day)??? He kindly offered to duck into the supermarket on his way to the cinema and when I called back to ask for sage as well (yes, yes, very unorganised!), Dad hadn’t managed to get scallops, but had got some green prawns instead. As grateful as I was that he’d made the effort to substitute, there was no way I was going to cook the first recipe in my experiment with the key ingredient missing. So I quickly jumped back in my car, heading in the opposite direction to the cinema, on a mad dash for scallops. Skipping ahead, I had success on sourcing scallops and we both enjoyed the movie!

As far as the meal itself, I’ll be honest and say I’ve never really been a fan of lentils – I’m OK with beans but lentils not so much – which I think contributed to my choosing this recipe to start on. Get the lentils out of the way early on, y’know. But when you simmer lentils with a bay leaf, whole garlic cloves and a few other tasty ingredients, the y are actually a very pleasant legume. Even Dad was impressed. The scallops, with their sweetness (I’ve always liked that about scallops) combined with the tartness of crème fraiche with lemon all combined to be a very surprising taste sensation. OK, maybe not so surprising, he is Jamie Oliver after all. And just as an aside, the asparagus were also pan fried and I am definitely going to use that method of cooking asparagus again – amazing.

I’m happy to say, day one was a success. And I’m happy to have brought Dad along for the ride. You can check out his top photography here as well.

Xx

PS – did I mention that we enjoyed the prawns as a tasty starter? Pan-fried with garlic & soy sauce. Yum.

A Year In My Kitchen - the night before the first day.

I’ve been inspired. Not in the weepy, life-changing way, but by a good book and an honest friend.

The book I read for bookclub. The friend I usually try to ignore! The result: A Year in My Kitchen.

By the time I’d finished reading Julie & Julia by Julie Powell, I’d decided to follow in Julie’s footsteps and choose a cookbook and cook every recipe in it. But I stalled, got caught up in life and it took my friend Marcus, who suggested I need a distraction from the everyday – a hobby, so to speak – to resurface the cooking experiment. Finally it was my very own Julia, who as a member of bookclub had read Julie & Julia and knows my love of food and cooking, who gave me the final push I needed. And convinced me to write about it!

So here I am. Cookbook at the ready (COOK with Jamie), kitchen clean, shiny, tidy and prepped and my first blog post on the go.

I’m not setting out to change my life, or anyone else’s, I simply want to combine two things that I love – cooking and writing – and have some fun along the way. I’ve never blogged before, so that side of things will be a bit of trial and error. I’ll try to keep things as entertaining and as honest as possible. I’ve never cooked from a Jamie Oliver cookbook either, but I’m a big fan of his, so after much consideration and browsing my bookshelves, I’ve settled on COOK with Jamie. It’s got 164 recipes, so should be pretty easy to wrap it up in one year – fingers crossed.

I’m hoping my friends and family won’t object to being used as part of my experiment – I need them to be willing to eat!

So, it all starts tomorrow. Dad is coming over for dinner. I’m yet to decide exactly what I’ll cook, but have narrowed it down to something from the seafood section.

One last thing before I sign off on day one – big thanks to Jules for giving me the push I needed and allowing me to harass her all week, looking for reassurance and most importantly a name for this whole experiment. I am hugely grateful.

Xx