Delicious October 2012 - Chorizo, Cumin & Tomato rice

So it took a while to get something made from this issue. Not from lack of choice perhaps too many things to choose from. Plus I went through a loss of cooking mojo and was then away for a few days. 

I decided to make this Bill Granger recipe last night as I had pretty much everything for the dish and could substitute what I didn't have. This one was okay but nothing to rave about really. For the rice portion of the dish I used a new product (or at least new to me) called Rice Plus which is a mix of different rices and grains. It was did like it there was a nice chewyness to it. I didn't have any green beans so used asparagus . When eaten with a bit of chorizo the rice was good but without it was a bit lacking. I had some of the leftovers for lunch today and added a bit of sweet chilli sauce and it was a bit better. Perhaps some chilli would have pepped it up. I use a combination of sweet & hot paprika perhaps all hot would have been better or even just more of the spices. Like most rice dishes half the recipe made more than enough for 3 serves. I wont be rushing to make it again. 

I served it with a fennel, radish & feta salad. 

Chorizo, Cumin & Tomato Rice

1 tbsp oil (everyone uses olive oil these days but at high heat it isn't the best so I used grapeseed)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp each ground cumin, paprika and ground coriander

1 1/2 cups basmati

400g can chopped tomatoes (perhaps some fresh would have added something) 

3 - 4 c chicken stock (I used 3) 

200 g green beans

300 g chorizo, chopped 

200 g marinated red capsicum, drained & sliced 

Heat oil, add garlic & spices cook until fragrant. Add rice and stir to coat in spice mix and then add the tomatoes & stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Add beans in the last 5 minutes of cooking. Meanwhile fry chorizo in another pan until lightly browned.

Serve rice with chorizo and capsicum.

September 2012 - Chicken Paillard with prosciutto

I made the two recipes from this issue very close together. This one wasn't quite as good as the jerk pork belly but it was still good.

Chicken Paillard with Prosciutto (Bill Granger) 

1 tbsp olive oil 

4 x 170 g chicken breast fillets, cut into thirds lengthwise and flatten (I didn't flatten)

1 lemon, sliced 

20 g unsalted butter 

4 thin prosciutto slices, roughly torn

4 green onions, thinly sliced 

1 tbsp capers (these aren't in the original recipe)

300 ml chicken stock

2 tbsp creme fraiche

Heat oil in pan. Season chicken and cook in batches with lemon until cooked and browned. Set aside. 

Reduce heat and add butter cook prosciutto, onion and capers for a few minutes and then add stock. Simmer for 5 minutes to thicken slightly and then stir in creme fraiche and season to taste. 

Spaghetti with crab, lime & chilli

Well, it has been some time since I made something from Bill's Sydney Food. I will admit though that I did make this several months ago and just hadn't gotten around to blogging about it. I had actually made this recipe before but refused to blog about it that time as I made it with canned crab meat and while it tasted okay it was pretty awful looking. The tinned crab meat is not something that I would be buying again. Since that time I discovered that I can buy tubs of fresh crab meat shredded in the supermarket and I was really impressed with it so I was happy to blog about it this time. 

I did really enjoy this so much. Which is probably why I persisted in finding decent crab meat to make it again. It is lovely and tangy with just the right amount of heat but I guess that is dependent on how much chilli you put in. This is definitely one that I would make again. It is wonderfully zesty and reminds me so much of summer.  

Spaghetti With Crab, Lime And Chilli

Serves: 2

Ingredients

150g Crab Meat

Juice & zest of 2 lime

Juice 1 lemon

1 clove Garlic, crushed

1/4 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

1/4 cup finely sliced green onions

1 small chilli, sliced (I used some chilli flakes as I didn't have a fresh chilli)

1 tsp Sea Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive oil

200g Spaghetti, cooked and drained

Place crab, lime and lemon juices, lime zest, garlic, parsley, spring onions , chilli, sea salt and pepper in a bowl and stir in olive oil to combine. Taste to adjust the seasoning. Toss pasta into crab mixture and serve.

Chicken Noodle Soup with Lemon

It has been a long week. It is lateish but I am in the middle of doing the washing. I volunteered to be a venue and cook for a family dinner tomorrow night. Now I am wondering why since I have been extremely lazy about the housework for the past couple of weeks. Oops. So I figured if I got the washing done tonight I could focus on the rest tomorrow morning. I am sure that it will be an enjoyable evening though.

To be honest I am really just filling up some space. This recipe looked nice. Photographed really well but didn't taste very nice at all. It was so disappointing. The stock was bland and really when the only things in it are a chicken, a few slices of ginger, 2 spring onions and black peppercorns how could it be anything but bland. The addition of carrot, onion, more ginger, perhaps some coriander roots might have helped things along. Since the stock was sub-par the soup made from said stock wasn't really anything to write about. I will not be making it again and after searching the 'net hoping to find someone that had already made this or the recipe on some other site I couldn't find it and since I really didn't like it I am not going to post the recipe. I would suggest finding yourself another chicken noodle soup recipe and add a bit of lemon to it and see what you think. 

Chocolate Mousse

Sorry, sorry, sorry I have been absent for so long. I was sick for a while and then was in Sydney for an appointment a visiting friends. Since I came home things have been difficult, depression has been nipping around my heels. Sapping my energy and making me lose interest in doing anything. I have so many things to blog about I hope that I can catch up. 

I doubt that I am going to get through all of the remaining recipes in Sydney Food this year and to be honest I am not really all that worried about it now. I am getting to a point where I have made the majority of the recipes that I really want to and easily can. There are a few things that I just don't want to make, a couple of the seafood dishes. I have already said on numerous occasions that I am not keen on seafood and while I thought it would be good to make myself explore some new things I am now wondering if it is worth spending a bunch of money (seafood is expensive out here) on dishes that I am probably not going to enjoy. There is also one dish in the breakfast chapter that I have no desire to make, the jam doughnuts. I am not keen on doughnuts, I normally find them too fatty for me. I am not keen on the idea of deep frying. So I think I will leave that one as well. 

Now onto this recipe, the chocolate mousse. It was like pretty much any other chocolate mousse. Standard ingredients chocolate, cream, eggs. It was way, way too rich for me and gave me an upset stomach. In the October 2003 issue of Delicious magazine there was a recipe for a lower fat chocolate mousse. I have been making chocolate mousse using that recipe ever since. It is the recipe that I will post here as it is one I would definitely recommend trying as it is easy with a great taste but without all the fat. 

Low-fat Chocolate Mousse

Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients: 

• 200 g dark chocolate (I use Lindt 70%) 
• 2 tsp powdered gelatine 
• 50 ml boiling water
• 100 g low-fat ricotta 
• 300 ml low-fat custard 
• 2 tbsp brandy (I prefer 1 tbsp Kahlua)
• 3 egg whites 

Method: 

• Melt chocolate over simmering water (or in microwave if preferred) 
• Add gelatine to boiling water and whisk until it has melted. Leave to cool slightly.
• Combine ricotta & custard in a processor then add gelatine mixture. 
• Slowly stir in the melted chocolate and the Kahlua. 
• Beat egg whites to soft peaks and fold through chocolate mixture. 
• Divide between serving dishes and refrigerate until required. 

 Low-fat mousse: 

Bill's Chocolate Mousse: 

October 2011 - Vietnamese Steak with Watercress

Finally getting around to posting October's delicious magazine recipe. I made this a week ago but just hadn't gotten around to writing any posts the past week. It was a long week this past one, I hope that the next one will be better. 

There were a number of recipes that I was interested in making from this issue and I hope to go back and get them made over the next little while. The first of these is Ben O'Donoghue's Yoghurt-marinated fish wrapped in zucchini. Such an unusual sounding combination. It says to use firm white fish fillets but I wonder if it could be made with salmon. I might try it out and see what happens. 

I was also interested in two different dishes in the Tuesday Night Cooking feature. The first is a Thai Pork Vermicelli Salad. Made with marinated pork tenderloin and vermicelli noodles it will be a wonderful meal during summer and will be just as good cold as warm I am sure. I have made a number of different salads using vermicelli in the pasta and they are always very light and refreshing. I am sure this one will be also. 

The other recipe in the Tuesday Night Cooking feature was the Middle Eastern Lamb Tart. It is a free form tart using filo spread with hummus and then topped with a spiced lamb mince mixture. It looks like it would be easy to make even though I have never had a lot of luck with filo pastry. Perhaps with something like this it would be okay since I am not having to try and line a dish with it. I think that you could probably do your mince mixture ahead of time to make the final cooking even quicker. 

In the end though I decided to go with Bill Granger's Vietnamese Steak with Watercress. It was a very simple meal to make that had a lot of flavour. It was a tad oily for me so I would probably cut down on that a bit next time but it was definitely very good. I added some blanched halved sugar snap peas as well as the asparagus to up the vegetable content a bit. 

Vietnamese Steak with Watercress

Ingredients: 

• 600 g sirloin steak, cut into 4 cm x 4 cm pieces
• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 
• 2 tsp white sugar 
• 1 1/2 tbsp light olive oil 
• Pinch ground white pepper (I used about 1/4 tsp) 
• 2 bunches asparagus, trimmed, sliced on an angle  (blanched)
• handful sugar snap peas, trimmed, halved on an angle (blanched)
• Large handful watercress
• 1/4 c white wine 
• 2 tbsp soy sauce 
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 20 g softened unsalted butter

Method: 

• Crush garlic with sea salt in a mortar, combine with garlic, sugar, 1 tbsp oil, white pepper, 1 tsp salt and steak. Cover and let marinate for at least an hour. 
• Heat pan over high heat and add remaining oil (I used grapeseed here).
•  Cook beef and marinade, without touching for 1 minuted. Turn beef and cook for a further 1 minute. Shake the pan for 30 seconds to cook the sides. Remove beef from pan, keep warm. 
• Add wine, soy & fish sauces and butter to fry pan and cook until reduced and thickened. 
• Combine asparagus, snap peas and watercress on a plater, top with pieces of steak and then drizzle with the sauce. 

Fish with Lemon-Roasted Potatoes and Fennel Chilli Relish

This is another recipe I made ages ago. Bill's original recipe was for baked snapper. However, I didn't want to cook a whole fish so I just pan-fried a fish fillet. Unfortunately the fish I picked, I can't remember what now, was just awful and I didn't end up eating the whole meal. I guess that my opinion of this recipe has been coloured by inferior ingredients. Perhaps I will give it another go with a whole fish. The potatoes were very good though. 

Fish with Lemon-Roasted Potatoes and Fennel Chilli Relish

Ingredients: 

• 2 fish fillets
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil

Method: 

• Heat olive oil over a medium heat. 
• Season fish with salt & pepper. 
• Pan fry for a few minutes each side or until cooked through. 

Lemon-roasted potatoes

Ingredients: 

• 300g chat potatoes, unpeeled, quartered
• 1/2 lemon, finely sliced 
• 1 bay leaf (optional) 
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper 
• 1 clove garlic, unpeeled, crushed  
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Method: 

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Place all ingredients in a bowl and toss until potatoes are coated in oil. 
• Spread on a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. 
• Remove foil and bake a further 20 minutes or until golden brown. 
• Serve with freshly ground black pepper.

Fennel chilli relish 

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 fennel bulb, finely chopped to 5mm dice
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped 
• juice of 1/2 a lemon   
• 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped 
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• sea salt 
• freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients in a bowl and combine. 

Lemon Souffle Cakes

I made these ages ago. The lemony flavour was great but the batter was difficult to work with. It was really runny and produced a really soft "pancake". I suppose that was the way it was supposed to be given the name soufflé cake. However for me all that meant was that they were really hard to flip while cooking. I think I would prefer to just add some lemon zest and juice to my mum's pancake recipe or to Bill's ricotta hotcake recipe.  

Bill Granger's Lemon Soufflé Cakes

Ingredients :

• 3/4 c buttermilk
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 25g unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 c plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 2 egg whites

Method:

• Combine buttermilk, egg yolks, lemon juice, zest and vanilla essence then add melted butter and mix well.
• Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Make a well in the centre and gradually whisk in the wet ingredients until they are just combined.
• Whip the egg whites to soft peaks then fold them into the buttermilk mixture using a large metal spoon.
• Melt a small amount of butter in a fry pan over a medium heat. Add a couple spoons full of batter and cook until golden brown on the bottom, flip the cake over and cook until golden brown on both sides. Keep warm while cooking the rest. 
• Serve with halved strawberries tossed in a little honey.

Chicken Club with Avocado Mayonnaise, Roast Tomato and Bacon

Urgh, I am so tired. I just can't sleep. So I am here typing up some long over due posts. I made a very, very average birthday cake tonight. I feel really badly about it and wish that I could start over again but it is late and I don't have everything necessary start again nor do I have the time to do it. 

I simplified this recipe a bit. Instead of cooking chicken thighs for it I used some of the chicken from the warm poached chicken from my last post. I just gave it a quick go round in a fry pan to warm it up and brown it a bit. I also didn't make the mayonnaise from scratch. I just used some of Neil Perry's mayonnaise and added some mashed avocado. 

Chicken Club with Avocado Mayonnaise, Roast Tomato and Bacon

Ingredients:

• Chicken meat, left over from poached chicken
• 2 slices bread, per person (I used sourdough)
• Rocket
• Bacon, fried until crispy and drained
• Tomatoes, halved and roasted for 40 minutes in 180 C oven
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise mixed with 1/2 a mashed avocado

Method: 

• Tear chicken into chunks. 
• Heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add chicken and fry until warmed through and browned. 
• Spread bread with avocado mayonnaise top with rocket, chicken, bacon and tomatoes. 

Warm Poached Chicken with Onion Rice & Fresh Ginger Relish

Well, the last couple of weeks have been rather difficult. I am so tired at the moment but not sleeping well. I have had a few other things going on, including one of my cats being badly injured in a fight with another cat. She is improving but it is still worrying. Plus she escaped the house on me several hours ago and has not yet come home. I can only hope that she is not out there fighting again.

I made this dish from Bill's Sydney Food a while ago now. I used a lovely organic chicken that I had in the freezer and the chicken turned out really well. I even used the coriander roots in the poaching liquid, although I didn't use the leaves. I really enjoyed the onion rice and think that I will use it for serving with other dishes. However I wasn't overly impressed with the fresh ginger relish. It just didn't seem to be cooked properly. I doubt I would make the relish again. The poached chicken and the rice I would definitely make again.  I was worried that serving it with just cucumber as a vegetable wasn't really enough so I also steamed some zucchini batons. 

Recipe: Warm Poached Chicken with Onion Rice & Fresh Ginger Relish

Poached Eggs with Wilted Baby Spinach

A slow start to this month again. I was sick for a few days and have had a bit of writers block but for the most part I have just been a bit lazy....oops. 

I love all the different breakfast recipes that are in Bills Sydney Food and I really cannot wait to make those that I haven't already done. There are only two recipes in the breakfast section that I worry about making. The first is the Jam Doughnuts. I am not particularly worried about the yeasted dough more the deep frying part of it. I don't have a deep fryer and I don't really deep fry anything. The second recipe that I have been worried about is this one. 

I think that I have expressed my concern about making poached eggs having never been successful at it before. I am not sure if it was just a fluke or just that Bill's instructions really resonated or that the eggs were fresher than ones I had used before but this time it just worked perfectly. I was so pleased with the results, although I haven't tried them again yet so I am not sure if it was just a fluke. I will definitely try though. I really enjoyed the combination with the spinach as well too. This was definitely my idea of a perfect breakfast. 

Poached Eggs with Wilted Baby Spinach

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 10 g butter 
• 200 g baby spinach 
• 1 tsp lemon juice 
• 1 clove garlic, crushed 
• salt & pepper 
• 2 thick slices of toast, to serve 

Method: 

• Fill a pan, I used my saute pan, with 5 cm of water and bring to the boil. 
• Immediately remove from the heat and add the eggs, cracking just above the surface of the water and letting the egg slide into the water. 
• Cover with a lid and leave for 3 - 5 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs. 
• Meanwhile, melt butter in a pan and saute spinach. Add lemon juice, garlic and season with salt & pepper to taste. 
• Place spinach on toast and remove eggs from the water with a slotted spoon and place on top of spinach. 
• Top with a grind of black pepper just before serving. 

Toasted Coconut Waffles with Mango & Syrup

Well, it has been a little while since I last posted. No I haven't abandoned my little blog. I have been busy at work and then the past few days I have been sick. Sore throat, no voice and headache. I am pleased to say that after some sleep and tlc I am feeling a better. Good enough that I am sitting here waiting for it to be time for me to go out for dinner. In fact, I doubt I will get this finished before I go but at least I will have made a start.

I have seemed to have slowed down a little bit in what I am making from Bills Sydney Food. Plenty of other things have been on the menu including stuff from other books and magazines or just making it up as I go along. I will have to make a concerted effort to get back to it through. There are a few recipes that I want to leave for later in the year as there are some seasonal ingredients required and while I can buy them now they are either imported or not at peak flavour. Plus there is no point making everything at once. The other reason I have started to slow down is that I am getting to a point now where I am closing in on the recipes that don't interest me as much. Instead of spreading them out a bit with the ones that I knew I would definitely like I have been a bit silly and left some things, specifically the seafood dishes until "later". Now I am heading rapidly towards "later" and having to make them and I find the prospect of several seafood dishes in a row not particularly appealing. I do know that seafood is good for me and there are things that I do like but it really isn't something that I sit down and specifically choose a recipe to make. Oh well, I will just have to bite the bullet and get a start on them.

No, I didn't get this finished before I went out last night and it was late when I got home. I had a great night out with my friends. I did mean to get back to this earlier today but have only just gotten the chance now. 

I really enjoy waffles. I have an electric waffle iron that my parents bought years and years ago. It doesn't get a lot of use but I drag it out of the back of the cupboard occasionally for a lovely breakfast. These waffles were different. I am not a huge fan of traditional waffle mixes I find them too light and fluffy with the beaten egg whites folded in. I much prefer to use a pancake mixture in my waffle iron as it is that bit thicker and makes a sturdier waffle that is not only good the first time around but freezes and toasts really well. I had to have two attempts at the toasted coconut for this. It was only in the oven for half the time that Bill suggested before it was burnt so the second time around I made sure to stand and watch it. Given the time of year, I didn't have fresh mango to go with them so I used some canned ones. These might be great for a mango lassi but I wasn't impressed with them as a fruit to eat on these waffles. Instead of the palm syrup I just used some golden syrup. These were nice but I am not in a hurry to make them again. I might try adding toasted coconut to my pancake mix and doing in the waffle iron and see if that is any better. 

Toasted Coconut Waffles with Mango & Syrup

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 3 eggs, separated
• 50 g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup milk 
• 1/2 cup coconut milk 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tsp bicarb soda
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• Fresh mango, sliced (to serve)
• Syrup (to serve)

Method: 

• Heat oven to 180 degrees.
• Spread the coconut on a baking tray and toast for 3 or 4 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
• Combine egg yolks, melted butter, milk, coconut milk, vanilla and toasted coconut. 
• Sift flour, salt, baking soda and sugar then make a well in the centre and then gradually stir in wet ingredients. 
• Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and then fold through batter.
• Cook the waffles in a waffle iron according to the manufacturer's instructions.
• Serve with slices of fresh mango and then drizzle with syrup. 

Blueberry Butter Cake

Sigh...it is late and I have a full day at work tomorrow and here I am doing a blog post. I had gotten a couple of good nights sleep and, of course, now I am here wide awake at midnight when I really need to be sleeping. Oh well I guess it gives me a chance to get another post done. 

I am also sitting here watching old episodes of my favourite show Spicks & Specks, which is kind of a music quiz show. It is finished up at the end of this year and I am going to miss it terribly. I have a number of dvds full of episodes that I have recorded over the years so they should at least keep me happy for a while. 

I made this lovely cake of Bill's last weekend. It was a really nice little cake. I didn't want a full 23 cm cake so I halved the recipe and cooked it in an 18 cm pan. However that pan was still a bit small. I would like to try it again but I would divide the recipe by 3 and try it again. I do know that the reason my blueberries sank is that the tin was too small and the mixture almost rolled over in the tin. I thought for a while that it was going to actually go over the side of the tin, thankfully it didn't. The cake part of it was so nice. Lovely and smooth and dense. It is a perfect dessert cake. I am also looking forward to making it with fresh rather than frozen blueberries. 

Blueberry Butter Cake

For the Topping:

• 1 c brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/4 c plain flour
• 75g unsalted butter, cold

Method:

• Place brown sugar and flour in a bowl, add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Set aside

For the Cake:

• 2 c plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 c caster sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 c sour cream
• 2 c blueberries

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 C.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. 
• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs beating well to incorporated. 
• Add the dry ingredients, alternating with sour cream, mixing well after each addition.
• Pour the cake batter into a greased 23 cm spring form cake tin. Sprinkle with blueberries and topping mixture.
• Bake the cake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
• Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack, top side up.

Cinnamon Snail Scrolls

I have finally managed to get some sleep and am starting to feel a bit more motivated to get things done. Although the weather isn't really co-operating with me at the moment. I had planned on gardening this afternoon but it is very cold and miserable outside although we haven't really had that much rain. However a day doing the stuff inside is a much better option and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. 

Bill's Cinnamon Snail Scrolls looked really good but this recipe had a lot to live up to for me. My Gramma made the best cinnamon buns that I have ever had and I have her recipe and have made it numerous times. So having what I already considered the ultimate cinnamon bun recipe so I was a little bit apprehensive about what these would be like. Well, they were fine, but not as good as my Gramma's recipe. They weren't nearly as light a fluffy as hers, although looking at the picture in Sydney Food I am not sure they were supposed to be but I much prefer a lighter fluffier bun. I didn't put in the currants or sultanas as I am not overly keen on them. I also didn't ice them as I thought that it would be overly sweet. These were fine but I will be continuing to stick with making my Gramma's recipe. 

Cinnamon Snail Scrolls

Ingredients: 

• 14 g dried yeast
• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 cup milk
• 125 g unsalted butter, cubed
• 4 cups plain flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup currants
• 1/3 cup sultanas
• 80 g unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Method: 

• Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a small bowl, and set aside until frothy. 
• Place milk and cubed butter in a saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted, leave to cool slightly.
• Combine flour, salt and white sugar in a mixing bowl. 
• Make a well in the centre, add eggs, milk and yeast mixtures, and stir until combined.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed for 6-8 minutes, adding flour if dough is too sticky. Add the currants and sultanas during the last 2 minutes of kneading. 
• Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. 
• Punch the dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Press out into a 23 x 60 cm rectangle. 
• Brush generously with the melted butter (saving some for later). Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the dough.
• Roll the dough up lengthwise to make a log. Cut into 2 cm thick slices and place on a greased baking tray. Brush the tops with the remaining butter and cover loosely to rise again, until doubled.
• While the rolls are rising pre-heat oven to 180 C. 
• Bake the rolls for 20 - 30 minutes or until nicely golden.  

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Arrrrgh, I can't sleep tonight. Actually, no let me rephrase that, I was asleep and I can't get back to sleep. Normally, once I am asleep I stay that way until a series of alarms wakes me, the first being an alarm clock, the second my alarm on my mobile phone and the third being my hungry kitty cats. If, for some reason, the first two do not wake me I can be assured that my kitties will, although not always in time for things that I am supposed to be doing. What is waking me at the moment is a rather awful recurring dream about being in a car accident. It has been just awful. I told some friends about it after the second time hoping that would stop it coming again. Perhaps by mentioning it on here it will stop now. 

I made this tagine a couple of weeks ago now. I have to admit I was a tad apprehensive about making it as I haven't been overly fond of the tagines that I have had in the past. This was the first one that I had made though. I will admit that there are some ingredients that I would not normally associate with a Moroccan dish but hey, I enjoyed this so much I am not going to object to them. I did make a couple of my own changes to the recipe. Since lamb shanks became trendy and popular the price of them has sky rocketed. My favourite butcher has them for $3.50 each, and I believe most of the others in town have them for around that price too. With the full recipe using 8 small ones it makes for a very expensive meal. I had 1/2 kilo of diced lamb in the freezer so I decided that I would use that instead of the shanks. The recipe had kaffir lime leaves in it, which I didn't have, so I left them out. It was so very good and the meat was wonderfully tender. I will definitely make this again.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine 

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 500g diced lamb 
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cardamom pods
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tbsp grated palm sugar
• 4 teaspoons fish sauce
• 4 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 2 cups chicken stock or water
• 2 potatoes, unpeeled and chopped
• 1 sweet potato, unpeeled and chopped

Method: 

• Preheat oven to 160 C. 
• Heat oil in a flame-proof casserole dish (I used my Emile Henry clay pot) over a medium-high heat. Brown lamb in batches, remove and set aside.
• Reduce the heat to medium and add onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until onion is translucent. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute longer, then add chilli powder, turmeric, cumin, cardamom and cinnamon. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add sugar, fish sauce, chopped tomatoes, lime leaves and stock, bring to the boil. Remove from heat.
• Return lamb to the dish and add potatoes and sweet potato. Cover with lid or foil and bake for 1.5 - 2 hours, or until lamb is very tender and potatoes are cooked.
• Serve with couscous, mezgaldi and cabbage salad (recipes to come) 

Crumpets

It is coming up to the end of financial year here and since part of my job is bookkeeper it is a rather busy time for me and will probably involve a bit of overtime for the next few days. I am also planning on working Wednesday, on what is my usual day off. Although, I do have a few other things that I need to do as well, including a trip to the vet with one of my dear cats for her annual check up. Despite all of this and the extra hours on the computer at work I have really felt like blogging lately and it is so easy to sit down and write a few posts in a row and schedule them to post over 2 or 3 days. I still have a bunch of recipes to blog so hopefully I don't lose my blogging mojo any time soon.

I do love cooking breakfast however yeasty things are usually beyond me for breakfast as, to be completely honest, I am not keen on getting up early enough to make things that involve yeast. I have attempted to make crumpets twice before. The first I used a recipe of Delia's which involved leaving the batter overnight. It was an unmitigated disaster. The second time was a Jamie Oliver recipe, which didn't turn out much better. I had heard that homemade crumpets are so much better than the bought ones so I was keen to see if I could actually get something edible with Bill's recipe. They were edible and not bad but I just don't think that it was worth the effort. I didn't make the blackberry butter to go with them serving instead with butter and honey. I would really like to conquer crumpets but I think it will be a while before I attempt them again.

Crumpets 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c milk
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 7g  sachet of instant yeast
• 375 g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 200 ml water
• pinch of salt

Method:

• Heat milk over a low heat until blood temperature. Pour into a bowl and sprinkle over the sugar and dried yeast and stir. Allow to stand for 10 minutes, until the milk starts to froth and bubble.
• Combine flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the yeast mixture and beat with electric beaters until smooth. 
• Cover in clingfilm and stand in a warm place until doubled in volume (about 1 1/2 hours). 
• Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water. Pour into the batter and beat. 
• Place a pan over a low heat and brush with butter. Grease metal rings and place in the pan.
• Spoon 2 - 3 tablespoons of batter inside each ring and cook over a low heat for 5-6 minutes. Cook the other side. Keep warm while cooking remaining batter. 

Puy Lentil Soup with Parmesan Toasts

I will admit it, I love winter. I am much happier layering up with clothing with the heater going. I also love winter food. All the stews, casseroles, pies and soups. All the lovely winter produce that is available. Such warming and hearty food. I had been looking forward to winter getting here so that I could make this fabulous looking soup recipe. The picture in Sydney Food just looked so warming and delicious. 

Now, this soup was a bit of a conundrum for me. It has all the right things in it to make it full of flavour but tasting it during cooking I was less than impressed. It seemed quite bland to me. I decided not to wait and see and added some extra chilli, a couple of tablespoons of tomato pesto and some dried Italian mixed herbs. I was very pleased with it after those additions and some further cooking. I made the parmesan toasts my way rather than Bill's (mine is easier). 

Puy Lentil Soup with Parmesan Toasts 

Ingredients: 

• 2 tbspn olive oil
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped Spanish onions
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 small red chilli, finely chopped (original recipe had one)
• 2 x 400 g tin chopped Italian tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato pesto (my addition)
• 2 litre vegetable stock, or water
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 tbspn chopped fresh oregano
• 1 tbsp dried Italian mixed herbs (Masterfoods brand) (my addition)
• 1 cup lentils du Puy
• 1 tspn salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Method: 

• Heat oil over medium heat. 
• Add carrots, onions and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add celery, garlic and chilli and cook for a further 5 minutes. 
• Add chopped tomatoes, pesto, stock, bay leaves, herbs and lentils and bring to the boil. 
• Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper. 

Parmesan Toasts (my way) 

sliced bread (I like pasta dura but anything will do really)
Butter one side and toast under a grill. 

Turn over and top with piles of finely grated parmesan and then back under the grill until melted and browned.

Potato & Feta Pancakes

I love long weekends. That one extra day off gives me the opportunity to unwind just that little bit more. The unfortunate part is that you have to head back to work. It is unfortunate that work has to be part of life. Although I do think that I would go stir crazy if I didn't work but there are still times when I think how nice it would be if I didn't have to. I dutifully buy my lottery ticket each week. Although the chances of actually winning it are minuscule and winning a substantial amount of money is even less likely, still people do win and $2.15 a week is not going to break the bank. 

Another reason to love long weekends, well any weekend actually is that it gives me a chance to cook another of Bill's gorgeous breakfast recipes. This, however, ended up being lunch by the time I had decided what to make and actually got it made. I really enjoyed it though. I didn't have quite enough potatoes, not sure how I managed that, so I used some sweet potato as well. I had some dill in the fridge to use and I really like dill with potato so used that in place of the mint in the original recipe. I think next time I would add some grated parmesan to them. Since it was lunch time I served these with a salad of rocket, tomato & avocado. It was so good and I will definitely make these again. If for breakfast I would probably add a side of grilled or roasted tomato and sautéed mushrooms or some bacon. 

Potato & Feta Pancakes

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 kg potatoes, peeled and grated
• 1 small onion, grated
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp chopped dill
• 1/4 cup crumbled Feta cheese
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• salt and pepper
• vegetable oil to fry

Method: 

• Combine grated potato & onion with a little bit of salt and drain in a colander for 20 minutes. 
• Squeeze out excess moisture. 
• Add remaining ingredients and mix to combine, your hands are best for this.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add tablespoons of mixture (depending on the size you like).  
• Squash a little to make flat pancakes.  Cook on both sides until golden brown.

Skewered Chicken with Crispy Coleslaw

So onto the second of the meals that I made while I was away last month. The title of this one is supposed to read Skewered Swordfish with Crispy Coleslaw. I couldn't get swordfish but to be completely honest I was fine with that. I suppose I could have used some other fish but was not sure what else I could use and I didn't really want another seafood meal. So I decided to replace the swordfish with some diced chicken breast. Also, I didn't really want to buy all the individual ingredients for the coleslaw so I grabbed a bag of pre-packaged coleslaw ingredients instead. I did however have everything for the marinade and the dressing. 

Now, with all my changes I wasn't sure whether to actually post this as a separate recipe or if I should wait and actually make it as written. I decided though that, while I really enjoyed it, I wasn't going to do it again with fish. I might do it again with the chicken and make up the coleslaw as per the recipe as it was all very nice however I decided that I would post what I made while I was away. 

Skewered Chicken with Crispy Coleslaw

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp lime juice 
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced 
• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 1/2 tsp sea salt 
• freshly ground black pepper 
• 2 small chicken breasts diced (thigh would also work) 
• 1 bag coleslaw mix (I cannot remember which one I got now) 
• Soy dressing (see recipe below) 

Method: 

• Combine lime juice, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add chicken cubes and marinate of at least an hour. 
• Thread chicken onto skewers (I used metal ones so I didn't have to soak them). 
• Heat frying pan over high heat and cook the skewers for a couple of minutes each side, or until cooked through. 
• Serve with coleslaw and soy dressing.

Soy Dressing 

• 1 tbsp sesame oil 
• 1/2 c soy sauce 
• 1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 
• 2 tbsp sugar 
• 3 tbsp lime juice 
• 2 chillies, finely chopped

Method: 

• Combine all ingredients and let sit to combine.

Grilled Scallops with Curried Noodles

When I decided to have a holiday last at the beginning of last month I really wanted to stay somewhere that was self-contained so that I could cook at least some of my own meals. It just makes things so much cheaper to go away if you don't go out for every meal. So, I sat down with Bills Sydney Food and picked out the recipes that I would make while away and packed a basket with ingredients, my knives and various other bits and pieces. In hindsight I wish I had also taken a fry pan and saucepan with me as the ones where I stayed were pretty awful. 

I will admit that this is one of the few recipes in the book that concerned me. However, I was going to the coast, where seafood is more readily available so thought that I had better try out at least a couple of the seafood dishes. I am going to be blunt, this dish was weird and I didn't like it. Perhaps if it was a hokkinen noodle instead of pasta however, I still don't think I would have enjoyed it. It is not one that I will be repeating. 

Grilled Scallops with Curried Noodles 

Ingredients: 

• 1 tbsp oil 
• 2 tbsp garlic, finely chopped 
• 2 tbsp Indian Madras curry paste (I used Pataks madras paste) 
• 1/2 tsp turmeric 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 tsp sugar 
• 1 c coconut milk 
• 3 tsp lime juice 
• 2 tsp soy sauce 
• 250 g angel hair pasta (I took spaghetti with me)
• 12 scallops 
• vegetable oil, for frying
• Parsley 

Method: 

• Heat oil over a medium heat. 
• Cook garlic for 30 seconds then add curry paste, turmeric, salt, sugar, coconut, lime juice and soy sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. 
• Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente then drain and mix in 2/3 curry sauce. 
• Heat some oil in a pan over high heat and cook scallops. 
• Server with noodles topping each scallop with a little curry sauce and then sprinkle with parsley.