March 2014 - Mint & yoghurt ice cream

Okay, so I said that I was going to blog about Jamie Oliver's rhubarb sorbet. I don't know what happened. I did everything just as the recipe but Jamie's was a perfect pink colour and was almost translucent. Even allowing for photo retouching it looked awesome. Well, mine turned into a hideous purple/grey/dark red mass. It was so thick that it didn't really churn and it didn't really taste all that good. I mean if something tastes good, like really good, you can forgive the aesthetics of it but when the taste isn't there well, yes it is just a mass. I have no idea what went wrong. I am rather unhappy about the whole thing as rhubarb is expensive and there are so many other things I could have done with it that I would have loved. 

Anyway, at the same time that I was mixing up the rhubarb sorbet I also did the mix for Debbie Major's Mint & yoghurt ice cream and it was awesome. I basically did the whole thing in the thermomix, which yay me for using it more. I couldn't wait to serve it up so it is still rather soft. I used my cookie scoop to dish it up. It was so refreshing. I had never really thought of using either fresh mint or yoghurt in an ice cream but it was really very good. I have found that after further freezer it that it seems to be a little crumbly it doesn't want to scoop nicely. However, it still tastes wonderful so I am forgive the crumbliness. It still has a lovely mouth feel so I am happy. 

March 2014 - Lamb & Mint meatball tagine with chermoula

The last couple of issues I have struggled to find something that I have really wanted to make from the issues. Initially I wondered if it was because of changes with delicious magazine however I realised it was more about my apathy for cooking. I have mainly been doing sustenance cooking, mainly pretty boring food that keeps me going. There has also been quite a bit of snackish meals and take away. All in all I had lost my desire to cook. Not surprisingly it has happened at a time when I am quite anxious and stressed in life. The stress and anxiety are still hanging around but I decided that I need to start doing the good things that will make it all easier, eat/sleep/exercise. So, I have been swimming again over the past week. I finally cooked a good meal tonight. Sleep...well... it is usually my downfall but I am trying. 

When looking at this delicious magazine I decided to focus exactly on what was in it. To focus on stuff that is full of flavour and colour or something a bit different. A number of recipes really caught my eye. The first is Jamie Oliver's Rhurbarb sorbet with pistachio brittle. It is just such an unusual combination. I have the mix for the sorbet chilling in the fridge to be churned tomorrow. I am not going to make the brittle. I really hate making toffee things I always burn myself with the bloody stuff. Plus pistachios are insanely expensive. 

I am also really keen on making the Pork belly with caramelised pears and pickled kohlrabi. Now when I first saw this recipe I thought that it would be awesome to make but didn't think that I had any chance of getting kohlrabi here so had pretty much decided that I wouldn't get to make that one. However I walked into the supermarket the other day and there was some kohlrabi and I grabbed on and will make this one on the weekend. 

I decided to start with making the Lamb & mint meatball tagine with chermoula. It was very easy and so very good. It was such a complex meld of flavours but it was just balanced perfectly. I did manage to cook the meatballs a bit long as I didn't get the rice on soon enough but there was enough sauce that it didn't matter. My lamb mince was very lean so I think that they may have been a little dry from that as well. I used my thermomix to make the chermoula. I really haven't been using it very much. Perhaps getting back into cooking can also mean starting to use my thermomix more. I am finding myself forgetting just how easily it can do things and that it is easy to clean. So time to start doing more with it. 

Delicious - March 2011 - Five-spice Chicken & Cucumber Banh Mi

Oh dear, I cannot believe how long it has been since I have updated my lovely little blog. Spend some time in the doldrums and the sprinkle liberally with spending time with a new friend and other things seem to fall by the way side. I have even been doing a lot of cooking. At least not stuff for my blog, to don't want to be blogging about spaghetti with grated parmesan, garlic olive oil and shredded basil... **oops** Oh and there have been plenty of sandwiches and a few convenience meals from the supermarket freezer section, none of which have been very nice. 


It hasn't all been bad though. This month's Delicious. magazine had some fantastic recipes in it. The first that I wanted to make was Rachel Allen's Slow-roasted Ginger & Citrus Shoulder of Pork. The recipe is a sweet citrusy marinade with ground star anise in there. It is marinaded overnight and then roasted for 12 hours. Instead of a bone-in shoulder, I used boneless and cooked for 10 hours. The flavour was fabulous but it was over cooked. Next time I would probably reduce the temperature further and probably reduce the cooking time a bit more. The crackling didn't crackly but I never seem to have any luck with crackling if the skin has been marinaded. It was find the way it was though. 


From this issue I also made David Prior's Five-spice Chicken & Cucumber Banh Mi. I followed the recipe almost exactly. The only thing I did differently was to marinade the chicken overnight, oh and I pan fried rather than grilled the chicken. This meal was so wonderful. Just perfect for a special lunch time meal. There was so much flavour in the chicken and it all combined perfectly. Don't skimp on the mayonnaise though. I used Neil Perry's mayo, my go to for bought mayonnaise now. I highly recommend this. It is easy to make. It is flavoursome just a little bit fancy. Oh and the left over chicken meat was fabulous in salads. 

Five-spice chicken & cucumber banh mi 

Serves 6

• 3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar 
• 3/4 cup (185ml) white vinegar 
• 3 carrots, cut into thin matchsticks or grated 
• 900g skinless chicken thigh fillets 
• 1/2 cup (150g) whole-egg mayonnaise 
• 2 baguettes, cut into thirds, split 
• 2 long red chillies, seeds removed, cut into thin strips 
• 1 telegraph cucumber, thinly sliced into ribbons
• 1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced 
• Baby rocket, or other salad greens

Marinade 

• 1/4 cup (60ml) soy sauce 
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
• 4 eschalots, finely chopped 
• 2 tbs fish sauce 
• 1 tbs caster sugar 
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp five-spice powder

Method: 

• Combine sugar, vinegar and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl, stirring until sugar and salt dissolve. Add carrots and toss to coat. Stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or overnight. Drain. 
• Combine all the marinade ingredients together in a large bow. Add chicken, turning to coat. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 1 1/2 hours or overnight. 
• Preheat frying pan to medium-high. Remove chicken from marinade and pan-fry, in batches, for 6-8 minutes, turning, until cooked through. Slice on an angle and keep warm. 
• Spread mayonnaise on bottom half of baguettes, then fill with carrot, chilli, cucumber, chicken, onion and rocket. Serve immediately.

March 2010 - Paprika Chicken with Quinoa Tabouleh

On to the last issue for March. I changed my mind a lot on what to make from this issue. On my menu plan for the month I was going to make Jill Dupleix's Larb Gai with mint & basil, which is a Thai-inspired dish that looked to be light and tasty. However come the end of the month there were some bills that needed paying so there wasn't a lot left for groceries and I had to be a bit frugal.

Jamie Oliver's Kumara Pyramid Salad was another possibility. I had most of the ingredients, or things that could be substituted. However I had made a salad using kumara from the last issue so I decided that, as nice as it sounds, something different would be better this time around.

There is a feature on Noosa in this issue with recipes from executive chef at Berardo's, Shane Bailey. His Spatchcock with Corn & Herb Couscous, using Israeli (or pearl) couscous looked so good. However I didn't manage to get to the butcher on Saturday before they closed so I wasn't able to get a spatchcock and the chickens at the supermarket were all quite big. I think that it would have been very nice though.

In the end I chose another recipe from Jill Dupleix's Lighten Up feature, Paprika Chicken with Quinoa Tabbouleh. I had all the ingredients on hand so it made for a cheap and very tasty stores meal. The recipe did not state what type of paprika to use. I have smoked and sweet in my cupboard so I used smoked on the chicken breast and sweet for the quinoa dressing. The smoked paprika was nice on the chicken however I think that I need to get something with a bit more spice to it. I think it would have been better with a bit of a kick to it, perhaps I didn't add enough cayenne pepper. I enjoyed the meal and it was a good way to use some of the quinoa that I seem to have built up in the cupboard.

Paprika Chicken with Quinoa Tabouleh

Ingredients

• 1 c quinoa
• 600 ml water or vegetable stock
  
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp mint, finely chopped
• 8 cherry tomatoes, quartered (I used extra)
  
• 3 spring (green) onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
  
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
  
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 100 g greek yoghurt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
  
• 4 x 180 g chicken breast fillets

Method

• Combine 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp paprika and chicken breasts in a bowl and marinade for at least 20 minutes.
  
• Simmer quinoa in water for 10 minutes or until cooked and then drain. Cool and then add herbs, tomatoes and onions.
  
• Mix 1/4c oil, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp paprika, cumin, cayenne and sugar. Reserve 2 tsps and then mix the rest through the quinoa.
  
• Cook chicken under the a medium-high grill for 7-8 minutes each side or until cooked.
  
• Slice chicken breast and serve on a bed of quinoa then top with yoghurt and a drizzle of the reserved dressing.
  

March 2009 - Chorizo, Asparagus & Kumara Salad with Green Chilli Dressing

My first choice in the penultimate issue for March was a recipe that I quite clearly remember Maggie Beer making on The Cook and The Chef. It is a Leek & Aubergine (Eggplant) Tarte Tatin and it looks so good. I was keen to make it with my own home grown eggplants. I did manage to harvest some from them this year. Although I accidentally planted the finger eggplants instead of the regular kind. The plants were loaded with little ones but I guess that I should have thinned them out because it all got too heavy and the branches broke off and that was the end of the eggplants. I would have bought an eggplant but on the day I went looking the were all a bit overripe, soft and sad looking.

I then planned on making the cover recipe, Thai Salmon Noodle Salad by Jill Dupleix. Salmon is one variety of fish that I do quite like. However the only portions of salmon that were available were very large so I decided that I would leave it for another day when I could get something a bit smaller (and therefore cheaper). At the same time as deciding to make the Thai Salmon Noodle Salad I also chose another salad recipe to make for a nice weekend lunch. So I ended up making Chorizo, Asparagus & Kumara Salad with Green Chilli Dressing by Tom Kime. I had most of the ingredients already. I almost always have chorizo in the fridge as it comes in so handy and is very tasty. I also keep kumara (or sweet potato) on hand as I just love it both roasted and mashed. It is very nice roasted with a balsamic and sweet chilli glaze. I didn't have any green chillis but had some red chillis so I used them instead. I didn't use as much as suggested in the recipe, next time I will. It was so good that I will definitely be making it again.

Chorizo, Asparagus & Kumara Salad with Green Chilli Dressing

Ingredients:

• 2 kumara, peeled, cut into 3 cm chunks
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed, cut into 3 cm lengths
• Juice 1/2 lemon
• 2 chorizo sausages, halved lengthways, sliced on an angle
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 c chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 c rocket, roughly chopped (I used salad mix)
  

Green Chilli dressing:

• 2 green chillis, seeded, finely sliced
  
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 tsp caster sugar
• 1/4 c (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil (I would recommend using less, it was quite oily)
  

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients for the dressing and then set aside until required.
  
• Mix kumara and half the oil, season and bake in a 200 C oven until cooked, approximately 25 - 30 minutes.
  
• Heat the rest of the oil in a pan and quickly fry asparagus until lightly golden, season and add lemon juice then remove to a bowl.
  
• Fry chorizo in the pan until browned and then drain.
  
• Cool kumara slightly and then add all salad ingredients to the bowl with the asparagus.
  
• Add dressing, toss quickly and serve.

March 2008 - Chocolate Caramel Tart

I will play the game here and make a fuss about the lovely recipes in issue #69 and what I would have loved to have made and then I will move on to what, in reality, was going to be the only option for this blog post. There are a lot of lovely recipes in the issue, in fact I had marked a lot more recipes in this issue than I had in any of the others this month.

Jamie Oliver's recipes this month had a Mexican flavour to them. The Mexican-style barbecued corn in particular looked terrific. It was basically just corn cobs first boiled and then browned on barbecue and then sprinkled with paprika, cheese and lime juice. I think that they would have been very nice as part of a Mexican feast.

Every month there is a regular feature of Chef's Secrets. This month was Melbourne chef and writer Greg Malouf. His recipe was Grilled green-chilli quail with Turkish spoon salad. As part of the step by step Greg shows how to butterfly quails, which might come in handy if I can ever get some. The Turkish spoon salad is interesting. All the ingredients a cut up very finely and dressed with a combination of pomegranate molasses, red wine vinegar, olive oil and Turkish red pepper paste. It sounds very good. I have pomegranate molasses so if I can get some of the red pepper paste I might give the salad a try at some stage.

There is a feature on Tobie Puttock before a new television series that he was making in Tuscany with wine-expert Matt Skinner. It features two great recipes. One for Pappa al Pomodoro (tomato & bread soup). I love tomato and bread soup. Although Tobie's recipe used canned tomatoes. When making tomato soups I much prefer to use fresh tomato as it is the star and I prefer to use the best I can get. Also canned tomatoes can taste slightly (just slightly) metallic at times. Although that could just be psychological. The other wonderful recipe was Porchetta with Salsa Verde. The picture accompanying the recipe looks terrific. However the recipe says that it will feed 10 - 12 people. I know that the recipe could probably be halved successfully but that would still make way too much for one person. I will have to leave it for some time when I am entertaining and try it out then.

Now that I have done my duty and pointed out all the wonderful recipes that I could have made, I will move on to the recipe that I did make. It was really the only recipe that I could make in all honesty. When you see something like Valli Little's Chocolate Caramel Tart staring out from the page at you I don't see how anyone wouldn't be compelled to make it.

It involved boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk to make the wonderful dulce de leche. The recipe gave instructions for boiling the can but, I guess for safety reasons, it wasn't the directions for the way I normally do it. It was suggested to put two small holes in the tin and put it in a pot with water to within a centimetre of the top of the tin. I remember trying to make it this way once in the past and it was a bit of a disaster. The water boiled up a couple of times and of course went in the holes in the can. Also since the water didn't cover the can completely the top portion of the milk in the can wasn't cooked so you had to scoop off a layer of watery milk to get to the caramel, yuck. So instead of following the recipe I just submerged the can in a large pot and simmered for 3 hours, topping up with water as necessary to keep it well covered. After the 3 hours I removed it from the pot and let it cool until it was able to be handled, then I opened it up and was rewarded with the most wonderful rich and thick dulce de leche.

I was unable to get the dark chocolate pastry that was recommended in the recipe. Valli did suggest that regular shortcrust pastry could be used but I thought that it would look much better with the dark chocolate so I googled and found a recipe from the wonderful Maggie Beer here. It was a bit hard to work with and I ended up pressing it into the tin as I couldn't roll it and move it without it breaking up but I was very pleased with the resultant pastry case.

I really enjoyed making this. It is incredibly rich and decadent and only very small pieces can be eaten at a time. I dusted it with cocoa and served it with cream mixed through the remaining caramel and strawberries. The strawberries really helped to cut through the richness and I would definitely recommend having them with it. I would highly recommend this as a dinner party dessert. It is easy to make ahead of time, just refrigerate and then remove before serving to bring back up to room temperature. It is also quite impressive looking but while it takes a bit of time to get all the parts made it is quite easy to make. The dulce de leche could be made several days ahead to make it even easier.

March 2003 - Orange Hotcakes

Well it took me another week to actually make another recipe, oh dear, I will have to speed up my cooking if I am going to get through my recipes this month.

I sort of struggled to find something to make out of this issue as well. There was a recipe for a cold tomato & basil pasta by Maggie Beer that sounded really good but I had made something very similar recently. I was going to make Valli Little's Chicken Breasts in Orange Sauce on Saturday night but I didn't read the recipe properly before hand and missed that they needed to marinate for 2 hours. It was already late so I couldn't make that. The chicken had already been in the fridge for a couple of days so I had to use it for something else. Another recipe that I had considered in the orange special was Orange Hotcakes, so I decided to make those on Sunday morning for breakfast.

Like most hotcakes/pancakes recipes they were quick and easy to make. I love pancakes for Sunday breakfast. My parents used to make pancakes every Sunday for breakfast which was something that my grandparents in Canada used to do too. I don't do it every Sunday any more but they are nice for a treat. The addition of the orange zest and juice made a lovely change from my regular plain pancakes. Plus serving them with fruit and yoghurt is a bit of a change (and healthier) than my usual fried egg, bacon and lots off maple syrup or golden syrup. I would thoroughly recommend them for a lovely breakfast.

Orange Hotcakes

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients

• 300g (2 cups) self-raising flour
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
  
• 2 eggs
• 250 ml (1 cup) buttermilk
  
• 3 oranges
  
• 40 g (2 tbsp) melted butter
  
• Thick Greek yoghurt, to serve (I used passionfruit yoghurt & some maple syrup)

Method:

• Combine flour & sugar in a bowl with a whisk
• In a jug combine eggs, buttermilk, zest and juice of one orange.
  
• Combine wet & dry ingredients until smooth. Set aside.
  
• Peel other 2 oranges and slice thinly.
  
• Heat a non-stick pan over a medium heat, grease lightly and then pour batter into pan in whatever size you prefer.
  
• Keep warm while you cook them all.
  
• Serve with slices of orange and yoghurt.
  

March 2002 - Individual Beef Wellington

Well it has taken me a while to get started on the recipes for March. I have been wanting to get in and get everything done but the days just seem to fly by and I keep putting things off. I was even late going through all of the magazines for the month and picking out recipes. I did, however, borrow the scanner from work last weekend and scanned all the magazine covers for the month rather than having some rather dodgy photographs of them.

Hopefully after today my photography will improve a bit too as I finally got my new camera, the Panasonic Lumix FZ35. I decided to go with one of the super zoom cameras rather than a DSLR as there is so much more involved in being a DSLR owner, like all the lenses, flashes etc that go with it. After a month of stuffing around from the place that I bought it, it finally arrived today and after only using it to take about 20 pictures this evening I am already in love with it. I cannot wait to get started photographing some food with it. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow.

I have to admit that I struggled to find something that I really wanted to make from this issue. I am not really sure why, initially I thought it was the mood I was in when looking through it but I looked through it a number of times. There is some wonderful looking food in it but nothing jumped out and grabbed me and screamed "make me, make me now". The scones with jam and cream on the cover look really nice but it is a recipe that involves rubbing in butter but since I have been converted to making them with cream and lemonade I will never make them any other way. When all you have to do is mix 3 cups of flour, 6 tsp baking powder, 1 cup of cream and 1 cup of lemonade and press out, cut out and bake for 15 - 20 minutes why would you bother rubbing in butter and all the mess that involves? Jill Dupleix's Crash Hot Potatoes are very good. I make them regularly and really this is all about going back and making different things.

There is a feature on the delicious staff's favourite Nigella recipes. The Anglicised Involtini sounds really nice but it seemed to be one that would be a bit difficult to cut back. I came very close to making Jill Dupleix's Hash Browns with Bacon Rolls, as it just sounds so good and the picture of it looks divine. However, in the end I decided to go with the very last recipe in the magazine as recipe by Ian Parmenter. Aussies might remember Ian Parmenter from that wonderful little show on the ABC called Consuming Passions. It was only a short show, before the news if I remember correctly, and he was a colourful character. He made interesting food and he made an good impression on me. I count him as on of the foodie influences on me.

The recipe is Individual Beef Wellington. I had never made Beef Wellington but I was quite interested, I mean meat and pastry in one meal. I decided that to make it properly I would have to have some really good meat. I am quite spoilt for choice where I live for butchers, there are quite a lot and most of them are very good. There is one however who is extra special (and not just because they used to purchase pigs from my family when we had a pig farm). Their meat is always wonderful. About 6 weeks ago the building where their shop was burnt down. It was one of the oldest buildings in our town and housed 6 business and 13 people in the flats upstairs. It was and continues to be a sad and sorry site.

The butcher shop was on the very corner and there has been a butcher in that shop for the past 60 or so years. The latest one having taken over the business a number of years ago now but he had worked there for the previous owner. A couple of weeks ago, they reopened their business in a new temporary location so I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to support them and get some great meat. I got two of the biggest and best looking pieces of eye fillet, 300g each. The recipe only asked for 150 g pieces so I cut the both in half and now I have some wonderful eye fillet in the freezer for use at a later date. The recipe also called for pate. I was hesitant to use this and in the end only used a tiny little bit as the smell was very off-putting and I was worried about ruining such a wonderful piece of meat. I did quite enjoy the meal but to be honest I think that the eye fillet didn't really need the flavourings and it would have been just as good (if not better) seasoned and pan-fried until medium rare. Oh, and I overcooked it, it was still nice and tender but not as good as if it had been medium rare.

Individual Beef Wellington

• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 4 generous pieces of beef fillet (about 150 g each)
  
• 2 tbsp brandy
  
• 150 g mushrooms, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped spring onions
• 4 sheets puff pastry
• 4 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
• 50 g chicken liver pate
• 1 egg yolk, beaten

Method

• Sear fillets on all sides using half the oil. Pour over brandy and ignite. Once extinguished set aside.
  
• Fry mushrooms and onion in remaining oil but do not allow to sweat.
• Pre-heat oven to 200 C.
  
• Sprinkle some breadcrumbs in the middle of the pastry sheets. Top with beef, pate and mushrooms.
  
• Fold pastry up and seal to enclose, trim and garnish with trimmings and brush with egg yolk.
  
• Bake on a tray for 20 - 25 minutes.

I served it with peas and steamed spaghetti squash.