August 2014 - Orange & Ginger Jellies

I actually made these last weekend but didn't get around to finishing them off until tonight. I'm not really that fussed about them. I think they could have used a bit more gelatine. The sugar really didn't last long on them. They were too wet. I used blood oranges. The ginger was a bit strong. 

Urgh, I just didn't really like them. 

Orange & Ginger Jellies

250 ml Orange juice

125 ml Lemon juice

1 tbsp finely grated ginger

1/3 c (75g) caster sugar + extra to dust

4 gold-strength gelatine leaves

Oil base 10 x 18 tray. 

Bring orange & lemon juices, sugar & ginger to a boil over medium-low heat. Simmer for 5 min or until sugar dissolved. 

Soak gelatine in cold water until soft. Squeeze out and whisk into hot juice until dissolved. 

Pour in tin, chill until set. 

Cut into squares, roll in caster sugar.

August 2011 - Fish burgers with lentil dip & cucumber yoghurt dressing

I have mentioned before, probably ad nauseam, that I am not overly keen on seafood. I do, however, know that it is good for me. I have also read recently that omega 3 is supposed to be very good for people with bipolar. So I have decided that I really do need to make an effort to get more fish in my diet. So have been starting slowly and incorporating it into my diet more. I hadn't exactly been going for gourmet fare with take away fish and chips and some of those crumbed frozen fish fillet things from the supermarket with vegetables. However it was fish and tasted fine to me.

Then the August issue of Delicious magazine came out with Michael Moore's Fish Burgers with Lentil Dip and Cucumber Yoghurt. The burgers looked so good. It was such a different combination of flavours that I really wanted to try it out. It was also a really big coincidence as I had just purchased his cook book Moore to Food. I had never heard of him before but that book is just incredible. So many amazing dishes in it. Very much a food for entertaining book and I can't wait to do some dishes out of it for my friends. In this issue of Delicious he talks of the new book just out called Blood Sugar full of recipes that he has come up with since being diagnosed with diabetes. I really enjoyed this. I think I will make these burgers regularly. I probably wouldn't bother to do the lentil dip all the time, although it was very good. I really loved the cucumber yoghurt, which I also used as a dressing for the tomato and avocado salad that I served with the burgers. I think I will do it as a dressing more often when the weather warms. Oh, and I found the perfect plate to serve this wonderful meal on at my wonderful local homewares store.

Fish burgers with lentil dip & cucumber yoghurt dressing

Ingredients: 

• 470 g skinless, boneless firm white fish fillets, roughly chopped, (chilled in freezer for 15 minutes)
• 2 egg whites 
• 2 tsp harissa paste (or to taste)
• 1/2 bunch coriander, stalks and leaves chopped (I used parsley) 
• Rolls and mixed leaves to serve

Method: 

• Place fish and harissa in a food processor and process. 
• Add egg whites, parsley and salt & pepper and then pulse to combine. 
• Form into 4 patties and chill in the fridge for 15 - 20 minutes. 
• Heat a fry-pan (non-stick) over a medium-high heat and cook patties for a few minutes each side or until browned and cooked through, be careful as it will not take long to cook. 
• Split rolls, spread with lentil dip, top with leaves, patty and top with cucumber yoghurt and serve with extra salad. 

Lentil Dip  

Ingredients:

• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tsp ground cumin 
• 1 tsp ground coriander 
• pinch ground fennel seeds 
• 400 g can brown lentils 
• 1 tsp brown sugar 
• 1/4 c water

Method: 

• Heat oil in pan over a low heat. 
• Add garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. 
• Add spices and cook until fragrant. 
• Add lentils, sugar and water and cook until thickened. 
• Place in processor and process until smooth. 

Cucumber Yoghurt 

Ingredients:

• 1 small cucumber, coarsely grated and moisture squeezed out
• 1 c non-fat natural yoghurt, (a thick one)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 bunch mint (I added some parsley too) 

Method: 

• Combine all ingredients and set aside for at least 20 - 30 minutes for flavours to combine. 

August 2010 - Oatmeal & Raisin Cookies

Final post for August. This month seems to have gone on for an eternity. For some reason I just haven't been able to get into the swing of it this month and I struggled to get everything made and all these posts done. I have to admit to being slightly frustrated with this issue as there was a lot of recipes in it with gourmet ingredients. There were so many recipes that involved ingredients that, firstly, I didn't already have and, secondly, would be very difficult to source in a regional area. While I have no problem ordering online sometimes it would be nice not to have to find unusual items. It would be nice if they would offer substitute ingredients too. 

To be honest I wasn't overly interested in much in this issue.  While everything looked good there just wasn't that much that I really wanted to make myself. The poached quince & white chocolate trifles on the front cover look really good but I didn't have any quinces and I just didn't feel like making them. 

I ended up making Bill Granger's Oatmeal & Raisin cookies. When I went to the cupboard I didn't have any raisins or sultanas but I did have some dark chocolate chips so I decided to use those instead. These are very easy to make and very tasty, especially with the chocolate in them, although I am sure the raisins would be good too. They were a bit sweet though. I think that 220g of brown sugar was way too much. Probably 170g or 180g would be plenty. 

Oatmeal & Raisin Cookies

Makes 30 (I got 36) 

Ingredients 

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 firmly packed cup (220g) brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1 cup (150g) plain flour
• 200g rolled oats
• 1 cup (190g) raisins 

Method: 

• Preheat oven to 180 C and line 2 large trays with baking paper. 
• Beat butter and sugar until thick and pale. 
• Add vanilla and egg and beat until combined. 
• Add flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt and beat slowly until combined. 
• Stir in oats and raisins. 
• Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place on trays, flattening slightly. 
• Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until golden. 

August 2009 - Lamb Paprikash and Noodle Kugels

Goodness, all of the desserts that have been on the covers of the August issues have looked delectable and issue #85 was no different. The Almond croissant pudding with chocolate sauce looked divine and I am sure that it would taste incredible too. However being essentially a bread and butter pudding made with croissants and almonds and topped with chocolate sauce it would be a bomb of calories. 

Ben O'Donoghue's Pakistani spiced pumpkin sounded really good a nice vegetarian dish, although I a pretty sure that it would need to be served as part of a meal with at least another vegetarian dish or meat curry and rice. I really didn't feel like making that much food. 

I was very interested in Sophie Zalokar's Slow-cooked breast of Twin Lakes lamb with pomegranate molasses. I knew that I would not be able to get Twin Lakes lamb, since the article was a focus on regional Western Australia, however I am sure that I would be able to get a breast of lamb from the butcher. It is an interesting recipe that involves slow-roasting the lamb with various vegetables & herbs and rubbed with the pomegranate molasses. It is then chilled overnight, and then a tray placed on top of the meat and weighed down on it and chilled again. After all this the breast is then cut into wedges and eggwashed, crumbed, browned in a fry pan and then finished off in the oven. After this treatment I am sure that the lamb would be delightfully tasty and wonderfully tender. I have pomegranate molasses in the pantry, I had purchased it quite a while ago to use in a recipe and since then I have use it in vinaigrettes and I found a delightful recipe for Pomegranate cupcakes that used quite a bit of it. I don't have much left, not sure that I would have the full 1/2 cup called for in the recipe. I was considering making this lamb dish on the weekend as I have invited my grandparents for lunch on Sunday since it is father's day here in Australia this coming Sunday.

Ultimately, I decided to make Valli Little's Lamb paprikash and Noodle kugels. I had everything to make the dish with the exception of the lamb shanks. I thought that I had some diced lamb in the freezer that I could use in place of the lamb shanks in the recipe. I guess that I must have used it in something else as I couldn't find it in the freezer when I went looking. So I decided that I would forego the all pantry/freezer items for this recipe and I bought some lamb shanks. Unfortunately when I got them I didn't ask for frenched lamb shanks so they were not trimmed. This wasn't really a problem but they just didn't look very nice. The dish was very tasty. Although I have noticed that I tend to eat a lot of tomato based dishes and I think that it is time to branch out a bit on that. I made the noodle kugels using some spinach fettucine. I wasn't overly impressed with them. They were a bit stodgy and bland. They could, perhaps, be improved by some parmesan added. Although I don't think I would bother making them again. If I make the dish again I would probably serve it with some kind of mash, perhaps celeriac & potato or sweet potato. 

August 2008 - Gypsy Eggs

I meant to get this post done before I went to work this morning but some how it just didn't happen. I was up in plenty of time but I just didn't get around to doing it. 

There were some interesting recipes in issue #74. When first going through the issue again I had two recipes already marked to try. The first was Sumac lamb with carrot rosti. I purchased sumac a while ago to try out another recipe from delicious. At the time it was the first time that I had used it and I was impressed with the citrusy tang to it. I have used it in various other recipes since then, including sprinkling it on potatoes and then drizzling with olive oil before roasting. I was interested with the combination with lamb. The carrot rosti also sounded like a nice side dish, although the recipe looked like it would make a huge amount and might be a bit difficult to reduce, although I am sure that I could if I really tried. 

I decided to go with making Valli Little's Gypsy Eggs for lunch on Saturday as I had everything to make it with the exception of the prosciutto/jamon but I did have bacon so used that instead. It was easy quick and tasty. I served it on some toasted English muffins and it was perfect for lunch. I halved the recipe and made it in a slightly bigger dish with two eggs. I saved the leftovers for Sunday breakfast. The egg didn't reheat all that well, but the tomato/chorizo base was fine.

August 2007 - Cubano Sandwich

Just a quick one so that I can get through all of August's posts before the end of the month. 

Sometimes when you make the choice to go with something unusual and unique it just doesn't work out. I was trying to decide between two recipes. The first was Valli Little's Vanilla-braised beef cheeks. This was a wonderful sounding recipe. I didn't have any beef cheeks but I did have diced beef in the freezer and I thought that I could easily substitute it for the cheeks. 

However, one evening when looking for something quick and simple I change my mind and decided to make the other recipe that I had been considering, April Bloomfield's Cubano sandwich. I had some leftover roast pork in the fridge and decided that it would be a good way of using it up. I was intrigued by the relish combination. Unfortunately, I didn't like it at all. I am a fan of all of the ingredients separately however together I didn't enjoy it. In fact I couldn't even finish half of it. I did eat the oven chips that I served with it though. I really don't think that there was anything that I could have done differently, it just wasn't to my taste. 

Cubano Sandwich 

• 4 crusty French rolls
• 3 cups grated gruyere cheese 
• 3 cups shredded or very thinly sliced roast pork
• 8 slices prosciutto

Jalapeno relish

• 1/3 cup pickled jalapeno chillies 
• 2 tbsp drained capers 
• 1 cup cornichons
• 1/3 cup Dijon mustard

Method 

• For relish: chop jalapenos, capers, cornichons finely and combine with mustard. 
• Slice rolls in half, spread the bases with half of the cheese, prosciutto, pork and top with remaining cheese and 2 tbsp each of relish. 
• Wrap each sandwich tightly in foil and bake in a 190 C oven on a baking tray with another weighted down on top for or in a sandwich press for 15 minutes. 

August 2006 - Brussels Sprouts sautéed with Garlic & Sage

So, I have been unwell again, ugh. I had a dreadful earache and general blahness. The earache lasted for a couple of days and since I don't see the ear, nose & throat specialist for another 5 weeks there is a likelihood of more. I hope that the doctor will be able to help figure out what is going on in there. I am also rather sick of having such dreadful hearing in that ear. That certainly wasn't improved with drops and cotton wool stuffed in there.

Needless to say, all of this has left me not feeling much like doing much of anything. I have at least managed to get some stuff done today. Although really only the washing and cooking lunch. I very much need to clean up the kitchen. I had some mice in some of my cupboards. I think that I have managed to get rid of them now, or at least blocked up where they were coming in. Now I really need to clean out those cupboards because it smells yucky every time that I open the door. :-( 

There were several options that I wanted to make from issue # 52. The first was Jamie Oliver's Chicken with tomatoes, capsicums and couscous. This was a very easy dish and would have been lovely flavoured with chilli and cumin seeds. Jamie used cherry tomatoes (although I am sure you could use quartered regular) and a jar of roasted capsicums. I didn't have a jar of roasted capsicums, nor did I have enough capsicum to roast myself.

The next one that I considered was New Zealand's Natalia Schamroth & Carl Koppenhagen's Salmon fillet with beetroot risotto and fresh horseradish cream. This really sounded terrific. There were two reasons that I didn't makes this. Firstly, I have already done a beetroot risotto from one of the other issues. The second was that I have never found fresh horseradish here. I would love to try it as I have heard that it is so much better than the bottled stuff. I think that I may look into growing it myself. I think that I should be able to. Should I be able to do that I hope to come back to this recipe. 

One night when roasting a small chicken (size 9) I needed a side dish to go with it. I had some brussels sprouts in the crisper and some sad looking sage in the garden so I decided to make Sean Moran's Brussels sprouts sautéed with garlic and sage. I remember as a kid absolutely loathing brussels sprouts. I am not sure what my mother used to do to them but I always remember them being bitter and horrible. However, last year I made a Jamie Oliver dish where the brussels were blanched and then sautéed in butter with garlic and flaked almonds. I had bought some baby brussels and I was very impressed with the dish and I have been eating brussels ever since. This dish sounded really good too. The brussels I had were a bit larger than I would have liked but it turned out that they were fine. 

Brussels Sprouts sautéed with Garlic & Sage 

Ingredients 

• 6 brussels sprouts per person (this will depend on size) 
• Duck fat or olive oil 
• 1 - 2 garlic cloves crushed
• Few sage leaves chopped
• Pancetta diced* (Not in original recipe but a suggested addition)

Method

• Trim base of brussels and remove outer leaves. 
• Finely slice brussels. 
• Melt duck fat in a fry pan over a medium heat. 
• Add everything to the pan and sauté until tender.

August 2005 - Braised Chicken with Lemon and Honey

Mmm...chocolate indeed. I love the look of Valli's warm brownie pudding with chocolate sauce. Wickedly decadent and I am sure divine. As wonderful as it looks though, I have no desire for desserts at the moment. 

When first revisiting issue # 41 there was one recipe already marked. One that I wanted to make when this issue first came out, Gordon Ramsay's Saddle of lamb stuffed with spinach. The whole dish looks and sounds so succulent with a beautifully golden roast saddle of lamb. The stuffing with a combination of mixed mushrooms, spinach, mascarpone and sage (amongst other things) sounds perfectly delectable. There were two things stopping me from making this. The first was the fact that I am trying to do a pantry/freezer/fridge month and I definitely don't have a saddle of lamb in the freezer. However I would have been willing to break that for this recipe but it has a suggested serves of 8 - 10, so even half of that is a huge amount of food and I would be eating left overs for days. So this one will have to wait until I have guests coming for dinner. 

I had Nancy Duran's Pasta with roast pumpkin, feta & basil on my menu plan for the month. When I did the menu plan I was sure that I had pumpkin in the fridge, apparently I didn't so I decided to pass on the pasta dish. I will make it at some stage though. 

I was won over by Bill Granger's recipes for Braised chicken with lemon and honey and served as he suggested with Shepherd's salad with feta. This was a fantastic meal. While it all sounded nice, I was blown away by the combination. I love chicken dishes but this one really wooed me and I am sure that I will make it over and over again. The salad cut through the richness and sweetness of the chicken dish nicely. The lemon added a lovely tang to the dish. I made half the recipe and used 4 chicken cutlets with the skin on rather than a jointed whole chicken. I would highly recommend this one.

August 2004 - Haloumi with Santorini Salad

Two posts in two nights...yay! I may actually get all these post done this month after all. I had hoped to get some cooking done tonight but I will have to wait until tomorrow night now as it is starting to get a bit late to do any baking now since I have to be up early for work tomorrow. Oh well, as long as I get it done tomorrow night it will not be a problem so that I can get cake decorating on Saturday. 

There were plenty of recipes that interested me in issue #30. The first of those was Jamie Oliver's Lamb chops with bay, paprika and chickpeas. A wonderful spiced combination. I had everything but the lamb cutlets. Although it would have meant seriously depleting my bay tree of leaves and since it is still fairly cold here I wasn't all that keen on doing that as I have had one die in the past. 

The next one that I considered was Bill Granger's Glazed salmon with bok choy and brown rice. This is a nice healthy meal. A bit of a healing one really. The salmon is glazed with a combination of ginger, garlic, oyster sauce, sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce. It sounds wonderful. Satisfying but light at the same time. I had it on my menu plan for the month. 

On a Saturday afternoon, after I had been out shopping and doing errands I needed something quick and easy to make for lunch. It was then that I recalled Valli Little's Haloumi with santorini salad. A wonderfully simple salad made from onion, cucumber, tomato capsicum and olives with seasoned fried cubes of haloumi. This was a fantastic lunch dish. I used some parsley and garlic, onion & alfalfa sprouts in it as I didn't have any fresh oregano and I had a big punnet of sprouts to be used. I was so pleased with this. I think the addition of some chickpeas or beans would round it out a bit and make it last a bit longer. The ease would make it the perfect work lunch as it doesn't take long to fry up a bit of haloumi. The other ingredients could already be chopped and mixed together in the fridge just waiting to be eaten. It would also be a wonderful side dish for for a grilled or barbecued steak. 

August 2003 - Beef Stir-fry with Rice Noodles

Well, I haven't managed to make much of a start on posting yet. I have gotten quite a bit of the actual cooking done though. I guess that it is a start. Something I noticed looking through this month's magazines was that on all but two of the covers are some very delicious looking desserts. The Malted chocolate pudding with Mars bar custard looks incredible. There were two reasons that I didn't make it the first being that I didn't have everything needed for the recipe and and second, I really don't need any desserts at the moment. 

The first recipe that I actually considered making was Jill Dupleix's Hokk Bol (Chinese pork noodles). Jill describes it as an Asian version of spaghetti bolognese. I was intrigued by it but at the same time I wasn't convinced that I would actually like it. There were only two things that I didn't have to make it, hoisin sauce (which I normally have) and Shaohsing rice wine, which I know in small quantities can be substituted with sherry. In the end I just decided to not to take the chance with the lovely pork mince I have in the freezer. 

I decided to make something quick one night after work and Valli Little's Beef stir-fry with rice noodles was just the thing.  I didn't have a leek, so just used onion. I had no tamari, so just used light soy sauce and used sherry in place of the shaohsing. The end result was a but gluggy, perhaps I didn't have the heat high enough when cooking. It was also quite salty, water may have been a better option than stock. It was nice though and was very quick and easy to make from store foods. 

 

August 2002 - Bill's Hot Chocolate

Oh dear, I really have made a late start of it this month. I am not really sure what happened. I even got a late start with the actual cooking too. It is amazing that you can put off doing some thing for one night and it snowballs and the next thing you know two weeks have passed and nothing has been done...sigh. Well, I am back on top of it now. 

I had originally decided to make Valli Little's Polenta with Sausage Casserole. I love polenta any way that it is cooked. This was a soft polenta however the left overs normally harden up and it can be cut up and grilled or fried the following night. The casserole a lovely tomato base using sausages. However I really needed something that could be made quickly and, to be honest, I just didn't feel like making this and I really needed to get making something. 

The other thing that I really want to do this month is to use up some of the food that has built up in the freezer, cupboard and fridge so I am hoping that this month, as much as possible, will be a stores month. I am trying to choose recipes based on what I already have. It really isn't that hard as I have so much food in this house. 

Since I was behind and I needed to get started quickly I decided to go with Bill's Hot Chocolate. It was easy and quite tasty, although I used a little bit too much chocolate. I think that one tablespoon of chocolate per glass is plenty. I used Cadbury dark chocolate chips, although I am sure it would have been better with Callebaut, like Bill used. 

Bill's Hot Chocolate

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup good-quality chocolate buttons
• 1 litre (4 cups) (I used 300 ml for 1)

Method: 

• Pour boiling water into 4 heatproof glasses and leave for 30 seconds. Pour out water & dry glass thoroughly. 
• Divide chocolate between glasses and turn glass on side & roll to coat sides in chocolate. 
• Heat milk until warm (but not too hot) and pour into glasses and serve immediately. (I would heat milk first next time as the chocolate melted a bit much on the side of the glass)