Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Hmmm, sounds fishy.

It was another quickie tonight, after I got home from netball (which I don’t want to talk about – I had a shocker).


Pan-roasted Salmon with Purple Sprouting Broccoli & Anchovy-Rosemary Sauce

Simple Crunchy Side Salad

Lemon Oil Dressing


Who would have thought that the salmon – pan fried on one side then finished off in the oven – would need a sauce with fish in it? But I must trust Jamie (and usually do!), so the sauce was made in the pestle and mortar with rosemary, anchovies, oil, pepper and lemon juice. It didn’t exactly look the part, a sort of browny curdled looking thing…


I’m not exactly sure where one finds purple sprouting broccoli but it’s not at either of my local fruit and vegetable shops, so as funky and cool as it sounds, it was not broccoli of the purple and sprouting kind that was on my plate tonight, just the stock-standard green trees.




And in an effort to stock up on some greenery this week (as opposed to pasta, cream and butter like my last few weeks!), reduce the overstocks in my fridge’s crisper and also get ahead in the recipe count, I thought I’d make the crunchy side salad.


Well, as fishy as it might sound (sorry, I couldn’t help myself!), the meal was actually fantastic and the fish-on-fish worked perfectly. Good one Jamie. And the crunchy side salad? Fresh, crunchy and delicious – just what the doctor ordered. Now if only he could order a win on the netty court…


Xx


Sunday, September 27, 2009

Heart-Stopper Express with cabbage.

I had the best intentions for dinner tonight, but a late night last night, followed by the exhausting wind blowing us all about today, meant that by the time I had to start thinking about dinner, I was actually already thinking about bed. Not ideal conditions for pasta making, so I flipped forward from the fresh pasta section to the dry pasta section.


Macaroni Cheese

My Favourite Coleslaw


Jamie’s mac and cheese is free of béchamel sauce, which brings down the prep time, but certainly doesn’t affect the flavour. It’s a triple cheese recipe – taleggio, parmesan & mascarpone – so the fat and cholestoral levels are sky high, which you know means that the flavour levels will be too. I had to do some substitutions on the cheese front, but I made sure that choices for the replacement cheeses were equally as tasty as the originals. It does frustrate me though, that at any Tesco in London, taleggio cheese sat neatly amongst the cheddars and bries – cheap and cheerful – but in Australia you have to search far & wide to find taleggio and pay through the nose for it. Why is that?


It’s the easiest and tastiest macaroni cheese I’ve ever made – cook the pasta, stir through butter, oregano and three cheeses. Put in a baking dish, sprinkle more cheese on top. Bake for 10 minutes, then put under the grill to brown it.



In the meantime, I made the coleslaw, using finely sliced cabbage, red onion, carrot, apple and parsley plus lemon juice and some of my homemade mayo. Crunchy and fresh. The perfect compliment to the cheesy mac. Now I’m off to bed.



Xx


PS – We got a little mention on the radio today. Hooray for A Year In My Kitchen!


Thursday, September 24, 2009

Single Bird – first chicken off the rank.

All praise to Jamie for having a few dinner-for-one options in the book and praise be to me for having the foresight to choose a simple & quick one, on a night where I ended up being stuck at work late.


Roasted Chicken Breast with Cherry Tomatoes & Asparagus

Steamed Broccoli with Soy & Ginger


I ducked into the supermarket on my way home, then through the front door, turned the oven on to preheat, put single chicken breast, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, rosemary, S&P, oil and white wine into a baking dish and into the oven for 25 minutes.



Too easy. And if I didn’t have some broccoli left over from Sunday night, I would have left it at that, but the broccoli in the crisper needed using, so I browsed the book, browsed my pantry to double-check ingredients and decided to go ahead. Broccoli on the boil, finely sliced garlic fried in some oil, then soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice and sesame seeds for the sauce. Yum.



Dinner for one in half an hour and a helluva lot tastier than two minute noodles. I use the noodles as a comparison only because I’ve had them for dinner already this week… After two massive weekends in the kitchen, I needed a short break. Tonight was a fresh start and also my first foray into the chicken chapter. Happy days on both accounts. I am reinvigorated and ready to surge on. I’m thinking it might be time to whip out the pasta maker again this weekend. Better start doing some bicep curls…


Xx


PS – How about the dust storm? Forget all the jokes about fake tan & the Kanye rip-offs, it was an amazingly eerie phenomenon. Itchy eyes aside, it was fascinating to see. The clean up though, less of an exciting phenomenon…


PPS – Is anyone else excited about Celebrity MasterChef starting next week? Celebrities + cooking = two of my favourite things. There are sure to be a few kitchen tanties as the celebs take to the kitchen – how entertaining!


Monday, September 21, 2009

Great Expectations

Last night’s dinner had been locked in – food and guests – for a few weeks and I had been seriously looking forward to it. Lamb shanks and best friends, why wouldn’t I be excited?


Lovely Lamb Shank Pie

The Best Whole-Baked Carrots

Steamed Broccoli with Beurre Blanc


I probably shouldn’t admit this, but lamb shanks are yet another food that up until this point, I had never cooked before. I’d certainly eaten them many times and talked about cooking them, but for one reason or another, I’d never quite gotten around to it. So this was my shank debut.


I’d thought that it would be an all day cooking session, but it was a really simple recipe – chopped veg, a bottle of red wine and the browned shanks, in a pot on the stove and simmering for 1.5 hours.



While the shanks were simmering and wafting some amazing smells through my flat, I put the carrots in the oven – whole baby carrots, oil, vinegar, carrots, S&P. After the 1.5 hours of simmering, it was time to turn the shanks into a pie, which though it looked fantastic in Jamie’s book, proved not to be quite so easy with many factors contributing to the not-so-picturesque finished product – pot size, pastry length, shank bones, indecisive chef – but I got there in the end and popped the pie in oven for 20 minutes and started on the beurre blanc, which was yet another heart stopper – SO much butter.



The finished product was not too shabby. Very tasty and very tender shanks (just as they should be and for only 2 hours cooking – love that!), the baby carrots were fantastic (though we were fire-breathing garlic) and the beurre blanc broccoli was buttery goodness. I should mention the pastry as well – crispy, puffed and plenty of it, my tasters were a happy bunch.


There was a big build up to this dinner (by which I mean my own childish excitement about the challenge, but also just about lamb shanks – yum!), but I think the expectations were justified and suitably met. I’m not sure I’ll ever turn lamb shanks into a pie again, but will I cook shanks again, you bet I will.


Xx


PS – My fridge is finally sugar free… All my leftover desserts are gone, so no more dessert for breakfast. I’m actually quite relieved.





Thursday, September 17, 2009

What will become of the rich & famous?

Yesterday was jam-packed. I ate pavlova for breakfast, we had a record-breaking day at work, I made pastry, I played netball and I made my dad a birthday dessert.


Fifteen Chocolate Tart


I would never have thought I’d eat pavlova for breakfast, but there was so much leftover and not much else on offer in my fridge… Desperate times. Or happy days. I guess it depends who you ask.


At work, we had the release of the highly anticipated new Dan Brown book. It all went smoothly and day one sales were bumper.


Home from work, I made the chocolate pastry (with orange zest – boy does Jamie LOVE citrus zesting!) and put it in the fridge while I headed out to netball. Not a lot of success on the netty court, but a good laugh. By the end of the season, we’ll be firing! Back from netty, rolling out the pastry and would you believe, not a single crack, a perfect tart case. This never happens to me! Pastry is my nemesis. But last night I conquered my pastry demons. I think I might have forgiven Jamie for the weekend mayo disaster too – he’s redeemed himself.


For the filling, you’ll be surprised to hear it was cream, milk, cream, sugar, cream, chocolate, cream and eggs. Into the tart case and into the oven for 20 minutes. It looked pretty impressive when it came out of the oven, it looked even better after resting all day today. The filling was shiny!




I think Dad was pretty happy with his birthday dessert. I served it with some more cointreau strawberries and sprinkling of icing sugar. The texture of the filling was sensational. Rich, chocolatey goodness. No wonder it’s famous at Jamie’s restaurant Fifteen.


Xx


PS – We both know I’m having chocolate tart for breakfast tomorrow. Oh the shame.




Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Tangy Pavlova and Lovelorn Farmers

I rebelled against Jamie tonight, because I was bit ticked off at him after a weekend of minor ingredient mishaps.


Coconut, Banana and Passionfruit Pavlova


I’m not really a fan of coconut and even though whilst I was searching the fruit and veg section at the supermarket for passionfruit, I noticed the fresh coconuts, it was all too much after a huge weekend in the kitchen to contemplate the not-so-simple task of grating fresh coconut. So rather than that, tonight’s pav had strawberries (soaked in cointreau mind you) scattered on top rather than the coconut shavings. No complaints. Rebellious though. Yikes.




Other than that, the Farmer Finale was a success – we had a delicious BBQ and some salads (not cooked by me, which made them even better in my opinion!) followed by the pav, which with lime zest folded into the whipped cream and the thinly sliced banana, was fluffy, tangy and really good. Though in my haste to use up all my egg-whites, I may have over-catered. Guilty about pavlova for breakfast? Don’t be silly.



I do have to apologise to my friend Dave – he is the world’s biggest pavlova fan and I promised him I would include him in all pavlova sessions during the experiment. So I’m sorry you missed this one Dave, but there are two more pav recipes in the book and I promise you can be a taster for those!


Xx


PS – How cute are Brad and Stacey? Made for each other. They’ll live happily ever after in the green paddocks of Lithgow.


PPS – Bring on the next season of Farmer. Best show on tele.



Sunday, September 13, 2009

Triple Decker Sunday Session

Amazing weather, amazing weekend and amazing dinner. That could be the triple part, but actually it’s the triple course meal on a Sunday night that really did me in.


1. Courgette Fritters

2. Delicious Roasted White Fish Wrapped in Smoked Bacon with Lemon Mayonnaise & Asparagus

3. Rhubarb and Custard


It all started yesterday, when I made mayonnaise from scratch, followed by making custard from scratch. I won’t go into detail, but I have declared never to make mayonnaise again – partly because now that I know what’s actually in it (oil and egg yolk & very little else except my elbow grease), I’m not sure I’ll ever eat mayonnaise again, let alone make it! I do also have to criticise Jamie here and say that he got his quantities all wrong – if I didn’t have Mum around to offer advice, the mayo at tonight’s dinner would have been more like an oily eggy mess. It wasn’t pretty, but we got there in the end. Once the mayo was bottled and in the fridge, I made the custard - again, now knowing what goes into custard (cream, milk, cream, sugar, cream, vanilla, cream) you realise why it tastes so good, but also why it’s never on the list for diet menus… Such tasty creamy goodness though!


After a morning spent in the kitchen, I spent the better part of my Saturday at my friends Jen and James’ wedding. It was a spectacular day, a beautiful wedding and a incredibly fun night.


And today I woke up to a perfect Spring Sunday. Ideal.


I baked the rhubarb according to Jamie’s instruction (I would usually stew rhubarb, but the baking was a new and different method and one that left my house smelling pretty damn fine) and then headed out for the day – time by the beach followed by a few beer garden bevvies. Man, I love the Spring.


Eventually I headed home with the crew, to make a start on the three courses.


The courgette fritters ended up not so much being fritters (again, I have to partly criticise Jamie on his slightly inaccurate instructions) as being “fries”, which wasn’t a bad thing, especially coupled with some of the home-made mayo made into aoli – yum. We got so excited about eating them, that we forgot to take photos – sorry about that – but I promise you, they were suitably fantastic and I think my tasters would agree.


The delicious roasted white fish, really was delicious – can’t fault Jamie on that one – with lemon, rosemary and prosciutto for flavour and asparagus and lemon mayo to complement, it could be, I think, the best fish recipe in the book.








And finally, the rhubarb and custard combo. Sweet and creamy with zesty orange. The perfect end to a triple-Sunday-special.




Xx


PS – With loads of egg whites left over from the mayo/custard-a-thon, I’ve whipped up some meringue ready for tomorrow night’s Farmer finale dinner. A double-decker pav ought to keep the crowds happy as they watch the farmers make the big choices. Can’t wait.



Thursday, September 10, 2009

Heavy duty – machinery & dining

There were a couple of hiccups on the way to tonight’s dinner…


Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Dolce


Firstly, I couldn’t put the new mouli together. Trust me, it was tricky. In the end I had to ask for assistance from Mum – who called around in the afternoon to deal with the heavy machinery. She is definitely more practical than me when it comes to putting things together.


Home from work, I set the potatoes to boil and marvelled at the put-together mouli, but when it actually came to mouli-ing the cooked potatoes, it wasn’t as easy as I thought. It gave the pasta-making a run for its money in the fitness stakes, that’s for sure. I actually really struggled (there may be bruising – I’m not kidding!), but after trying different angles, swapping hands, using fingers and the odd expletive, I finally had a bowl of moulied potatoes. The fun part is the next bit, where you turn potatoes into dough. I am still quite fascinated by this. It’s really cool. A bit of kneading and rolling and slicing and you’ve got your gnocchi.


Then came the heavy duty bit – the sauce. Gorgonzola, double cream and butter. That’s it. It’s high cholesterol in a single pan. But tasty? Oh, you wouldn’t believe.



Ween and I couldn’t talk, we were so enthralled by this cheesy potato concoction. If you’re not on any sort of diet, I highly recommend!


Xx


PS – My next meal is a three course number, for Sunday night dinner, at the request of my friend Sarah. I’ll be ticking off three recipes, which will finally bring me up to speed. I think she chose some tricky ones on purpose, but I accept the challenge.


Wednesday, September 9, 2009

One thing leads to a monkfish…

I always knew it would happen, that there would be recipes in the book that are just a little too English and today I faced it for the first time.


What is monkfish when it’s at home?


Grilled Monkfish with Black Olive Sauce & Lemon Mash


I hit the net – not the fishing kind but the world wide web kind – and asked the question: can you get monkfish in Australia? Answer: no. Well, I pretty much knew that, but good to get confirmation right... So I asked the next question: what do you substitute for monkfish in Australia? And there, on an old Q&A session with the one and only seafood king Rick Stein, was my answer: leatherjacket, John Dory or swordfish. Thanks Rick!


End of the day, jumped off the bus and into my local fish monger, where I put the question to him as well, just to be sure. Well, I’m not sure Rick would appreciate the exact response I got, but let’s just say I didn’t walk out with any of his recommended substitutes, but with a fillet of hapuku.


What the hell is hapuku when it’s at home?


I hear you. Good question. And in summary it’s an ocean delicacy found all around the Australian coastline. Works for me.



Back in the kitchen and preparation under way, I realise I may perhaps be following the recipe too literally – something to do with monkfish being watery and using salt to dry it out, but as I didn’t actually have monkfish, probably best not to dry out the hapuku. Oops! Quick, scrape off the salt!


Grilled fish, olive salsa (olive, chilli, parsley, garlic, celery etc) and lemon mash (potato, milk, olive oil, lemon juice – and by the way, using olive oil instead of butter in the mash was genius. Nice one Jamie). Great dinner. And luckily solo – the garlic in the salsa, phew…


Xx


PS – I have to comment on it being 09.09.09. And it's not just that. It's the 252nd day of the year and the total sum of those three numbers is 9. Plus it's a Wednesday in September, both of which are 9 letter words. Spooky. Cool. Nerdy. You name it, this is it.