Quinces

Hello...hello....hello. It's probably an echo chamber in here. Such an incredibly long time since I even looked at my blog let alone posted anything.

There has been lots of changes here. The biggest being I moved to the city! No more country life for me. I do miss my friends but there are other options to see them then living there. I've been here in the city for 18 months now! It's amazes me when I think about it. Seems like just yesterday that I packed everything up and moved on down. People ask me if I'll ever go back...my answer is a rapid "no". I love living in the city. So much to do and so many places to go. If I do get to a point where I decide that city life isn't for me there is a whole world to places to go, although backwards isn't one of them.

Besides all the places to go and things to do I so love the access that I have to ingredients down here. All those recipes I used to pour over and think "if only I could get the ingredients", well I can now. So many options. Near where I work there is a most wonderful fruit, veg and deli place. I will rave over it regularly. Such a wide range of produce and other things. Some cheap, some not so. I do have access to some other cheap fruit & veg places plus butchers nearer to where I live. Although I admit to thinking the other night that with the meat in these butchers being so cheap, and it really is, how much are the farmers getting screwed down. We are in the midst of a dreadful drought and having grown up on the land it suddenly occurred to me that cheap meat, whilst good for my pocket, effects those down the line. I'm not sure what the answer is though. Now I'm on a stricter budget every little saving helps. Plus it does mean that I am still eating meat reasonably regularly. If I was relying on other butchers or the supermarket there would not be much of it on my table. Not that that would be a terrible thing.

I have no idea if I've mentioned quinces here on the blog before. I love quince. When I was a kid we lived on a farm that had some old quince trees. We had to compete with the codling moth for the fruit so we didn't always get a lot of it. I don't really remember what I mum used to do with them either. I know there was jam, perhaps pie. I do remember them being really good. Not that you can eat them uncooked. Perhaps you could...I wouldn't recommend it though. I had bought them at supermarkets occasionally but they were expensive. I found them here, first at Harris Farmm market where I have also bought a lot of produce but mainly from the deli. I've made a number of things from them.

First I used this Stephanie Alexander recipe for Baked Quinces. It was excellent. So very delicious with some yoghurt as a dessert. I also added them as a sweetener to my morning porridge. They would probably be fabulous with an oozy rice pudding. I will admit to not being overly keen on the skin being left on. Whilst you can eat it, I found it didn't soften too much. I guess that was part of the idea to hold the quince halves together but I'd most likely peel them if doing the recipe again. They were sweet and delicious though.




My next foray with quince was Roast Pork with Quinces, Honey & Red Wine. Now, this was good but I'd definitely make some changes to the process if making again. All of the elements were wonderful, although I replaced the parsnips with carrots and chokos. I found that the quince and vegetables ended up a tad over cooked and, s you can see in my picture, almost black with the sauce having excessively reduced down I will admit that I have a very big roasting pan and it would probably been beneficial to be in something smaller. However, I think it would have been best do the pork at high heat and then add the quince and liquid following that. I would also wait a little longer before adding the other veg. Although parsnips are quite a bit more dense than carrot and chokos so that could be one of the reasons for the slight over cooking. It was delicious but there are definitely changes that could be made to make it better.




My pièce de résistance with my quinces, although I do have one left, was this Quince Upside Down cake. O.M.G. Amazing. It is a long process. I mean there is the poaching of the quince. The only change I made to the poaching process was that I added a cartouche over the fruit before adding the plate to the top and putting the lid on for part of the cooking too. I didn't like that the cores were left in. I would remove them next time. They were just a pain trying to remove them after they had been poached & cooled. Sometimes quince cores can be difficult to remove and have a hard surrounding to them that really needs to be removed and it was hard since the rest of the fruit was softened. I was very concerned when I was putting the cake batter in the tin and throughout baking that there was too much of the syrup in the pan. I mean it was coming up around the cake batter. However it turned out perfectly. I was surprised but very pleased. I hate to waste ingredients. I work in a larger office now and they are very grateful for any baking contributions that I make to the office. I am happy because I get to bake and I don't have to eat it. Most people were convince there was ginger in the cake. Perhaps the combination of fresh grated nutmeg and the cloves threw them off. I'm not sure. I got some raves for it. Plus I have some left over poached quince. I had some one night with a drizzle of cream for dessert. It was lovely. I'm not exactly sure what I will do with the rest of the left overs...ice cream maybe, rice pudding perhaps. I would highly recommend making this if you can get your hands on some quinces.

Good Taste - Sweet & Sour Eggs

Hmm, I was going to post a recipe from every Good Taste magazine since I started my subscription, you may have noticed that I haven't done that. I actually hadn't realised that I wasn't cooking from them until I was going through the stack of magazines building up on my coffee table. They are filled with good food and I have good intentions of making things but just never seem to get them made, exactly what I was doing with delicious magazine before I started my blog. I admit to being rather lazy with cooking lately or should I say that I have been making rather boring things, nothing worth photographing and blogging about. 

I have marked several things that I would like to make from this issue. The first is Cauliflower steaks with olive and herb salsa. The cauliflower is cut into thick slices, browned in a pan and then finished off in the oven. The salsa is made from green olives, oil, lemon juice, capers, parsley and oregano. I would make with kalamata olives but that is only because I really don't like green olives. I think this would be perfect with roast chicken. 

A nice quick lunch or dinner could be made from the Baked spinach & cheese mushrooms. They look to be quick, easy and tasty. They are a bit light on the vegetables, just the mushroom and spinach, so serving with salad or some extra veg would be a good idea. Another quick meal would be the African vegetable stew with sweet potato & peanuts, using curry powder and coconut milk for the flavour and creaminess. Again it is a bit light on the vegetables although it does include carrot, celery & spinach as well as the pumpkin. I am sure that I could pack a few extras in there. 

What I ended up making was the Sweet & sour eggs. I wasn't exactly sure about the combination but wow, it was so good. There was a nice hit of heat, I was a bit on the conservative side but could have added more, The sour of the tamarind and the sweet of the sugar were just perfect. Pairing all of that with fried eggs was fabulous. I made it for breakfast yesterday but I easily could have made it for lunch or dinner. I just had it on its own but if I was to have it for lunch or dinner it would probably need to be served with something else, I am not sure what that would be though. It might go well with some sort of rice thing. I will definitely be making these again. 

Sweet & Sour Eggs

125 ml peanut oil (I used grapeseed) 

6 eggs 

1 brown onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp sambal oelek

1/2 c water

1 tbsp brown sugar 

1 tsp tamarind puree

2 dried bay leaves 

White pepper 

Heat oil in wok. Crack in egg and fry until starting to brown and turn cooking for 30 sec, remove and cook remaining eggs. 

Add onion, cook stirring until colouring then add garlic and sambal and stir to combine. Add water, sugar, tamarind and bay leaves and boil. Return eggs to the wok and simmer until it starts to thicken. Season. 

Pumpkin Leek & Chorizo Risotto

So encouraged by a friend I have started on a bit of an exercise kick. Today was the beginning of week three of swimming four days a week (actually considering going to 5 days). I am now up to swimming 30 x 25 metre laps. Today it took me about 40 minutes. I have to admit that I am really enjoying it and am pleased to have been pushed into it. I have also managed to lose some weight. Since the start of this year I have lost a total of 5.5 kg. Not a huge amount but it is certainly a start. Losing is definitely better than gaining or even just staying still. I hope that with the swimming that the weight will come off quickly to start with. 

Now, I know that risotto isn't exactly diet food, however I did make this quite some time ago plus it is absolutely to die for (oh and I don't really do diet food... lol). I just love pumpkin risotto so much. In fact I really am a fan of almost any kind of risotto. I like to make my pumpkin risotto with raw pumpkin that has been fairly finely diced and let it cook in the stock as the rice cooks. Some of the smaller pieces start to disintegrate and provide a lovely orange colour while the bigger pieces stay whole and add a different texture even when fully cooked. For this one I had a leek in the fridge that needed using up so used that in place of onion and I also had some chorizo so finely diced it and fried until nicely coloured. I don't normally add the chorizo to this but it was so, so good in it and I will definitely add it in again. 

Pumpkin, leek & chorizo risotto

Ingredients: 

• 1 chorizo, finely chopped
• 1 leek, halved & finely sliced
• Wedge pumpkin, finely diced (I am not sure how big it was, there was probably 1.5 cups of diced pumpkin)
• 1 c arborio rice
• 1/2 c white wine (or extra stock)
• 3 - 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• grated parmesan (about a cup maybe)
• rocket, to serve

Method:

• Heat saucepan (I used my swiss diamond sauté pan) over a medium heat. 
•  Place chorizo in and let cook. Remove from pan leaving as much oil in the pan as possible. 
• Add leek and cook until soft. Add rice and stir for a minute. Add pumpkin and stir.
• Add wine and cook, stirring, until it is absorbed. 
• Add stock slowly, stirring after each addition until absorbed, continue adding stock until rice and pumpkin are cooked. 
• Add parmesan and stir. Season if necessary. 
• Serve on a bed of rocket.

Delicious: July 2011 - Pea, Ham & Lemon Soup

I really should be in bed at the moment but isn't it always the way when you think that you are going to get some early nights other things get in the way. I was ready to go to bed over an hour ago now but have had non-stop phone calls. Strange how the phone never rings when I am sitting up until all hours but when I think that I will get an early night it just doesn't stop. I really shouldn't be complaining though,  it is good to hear from people. 

There is some wonderful recipes in issue #106 of Delicious magazine. In fact I have made several of them already this month. I will be posting all the ones that I have made. There is even more that I would like to make. Jamie Oliver has a feature on doing a roast chicken and what you can make with the leftovers. There are some wonderful ideas especially the chicken & pumpkin salad. The pumpkin is roasted with ground coriander seeds & dried chilli. There are toasted chickpeas & pumpkin seeds along with left over chicken and stuffing with leaves. It would make a perfect lunch time meal. 

I am also keen to make Jill Dupleix's Hot & Sour Noodle Soup with Minced Chicken. It just sounds like I wonderful revitalising soup full of all those wonderful Thai ingredients. It should be easy to halve the recipe as it is probably one of those soups that wouldn't keep as well as some. What I would be really worried about is how well the prawns would reheat. Better just to reduce it then risk having rubbery reheated prawns. 

The first meal that I decided to make out of this issue was Matthew Evans' Pea, Ham & Lemon Soup. Matthew said 'that it would be brilliant to enliven pea & ham soup with lemon to make it lighter and brighter'. I am not really sure how much it lightened the soup up, perhaps I needed to add a bit more liquid to make a thinner soup. Although the lemony flavour did come through and it was very good. I had the ham bone left over from my ham at Christmas time still in the freezer so I used that in place of the ham hock. I did go to the trouble of making the ham stock first before making the soup and I do think that it did make a difference. Although the problem with using the ham bone was that it was too long for my stock pot and it was mid afternoon on a weekend when I started so couldn't take it down to my butcher to cut in half for me so I had to use my giant braising pan instead. There was some meat left on the bone (on purpose) but I also had a small chunk in the freezer that I cut up and put in the actual soup after making the stock. I would definitely go with using a hock next time. I did really enjoy this soup and it has made for good lunches with some in the freezer for a later date. The recipe claims to serve 8, I have at least 10 or 12 servings from it. 

Pea, Ham & Lemon Soup 

Ham Stock Ingredients: 

• 1 kg ham hock
• 2 bay leaves 
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 2 onions, chopped 
• 2 carrots, chopped

Method: 

• Place all ingredients in a large stockpot with 4 L water and bring the the boil. 
• Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours or until meat pulls away from bone easily. 
• Strain the stock, reserve the hock but discard the rest of the solids. 
• Shred meat discarding skin & bones, set meat aside. 

Soup Ingredients: 

• 40 g unsalted butter 
• 2 large onions, roughly chopped 
• 1 carrot, roughly chopped 
• 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
• 1/4 c parsley chopped 
• 500 g split green peas 
• 1 lemon, sliced

Method: 

• Place onions, carrot & celery into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, alternatively very finely chop. 
• Heat butter in clean stockpot over medium heat. Add vegetables and cook, stirring until just starting to colour. 
• Add parsley & cook 1 minute. 
• Add peas and ham stock and simmer, stirring occasionally for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until peas fall apart. 
• Add shredded ham and lemon and simmer a few more minutes. 
• Taste and then season to taste with pepper. 

It was recommended to serve with crusty bread, I served mine with chilli & cheese cornbread muffins (recipe to come). 

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) 

Camembert-stuffed Turkey Meatloaf with Cranberry, Mustard & Balsamic Glaze

I know that I have already posted a meatloaf recipe this week. I hadn't really intended on posting another one so soon but this is just so good that I have to share it. In fact it was posting about the lovely meatloaf with red quinoa that inspired me to try it out again. I was really keen to use some more of the lovely red quinoa and another meatloaf seemed like a good choice. 

This time however, I wanted to try out making a meatloaf with turkey mince. This was mainly because I had some in the freezer that needed to be used up. I decided that the logical topping for a turkey meatloaf is cranberry sauce. Although I pepped it up a bit using frozen cranberries, wholegrain mustard and balsamic vinegar. It was wonderfully tangy and was the perfect accompaniment for turkey. I decided to knock it up a notch further by putting some wonderfully rich and creamy camembert cheese in the middle of the meatloaf. There is a local cafe that does a turkey, cranberry and camembert grilled sandwich that I know is fabulous so I just knew that the camembert would pair perfectly with a turkey meatloaf. The whole combination was just fabulous and I will definitely be making this one again. I didn't write this recipe down as I was going, nor did I measure anything so I am hoping that my estimates are right.

Camembert-stuffed Turkey Meatloaf with Cranberry, Mustard & Balsamic Glaze

Ingredients:

• 500 g turkey mince
• 1/3 c quinoa (soaked for 30 minutes in water) (I used red quinoa)
• 1 onion, very finely diced 
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 - 2 tbsp dried mixed herb (I just put some in, then added a little bit more)
• 1 tsp (or so) dried ground sage 
• handful craisins 
• 1/4 can diced tomatoes (I get Annalisa which is quite thick, diced fresh tomato would probably be better)
• couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce 
• 200 g camembert cheese (there are leftovers for snacking. )

Method:

• Mix all ingredients together very well. It will get a bit sticky.
• Spread half the mixture in a loaf tin. Top with thickly sliced pieces of camembert and then top with the remaining meat mixture. 
• Bake at 170 C for 40 minutes. Top with glaze and then bake for a further 10 minutes.

Cranberry, Mustard & Balsamic Glaze

Ingredients:

• Handful frozen cranberries (maybe about 100 g)
• 1/4 c redcurrant jelly (cranberry jelly would work best but I didn't have any)
• 1 - 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard (I used Maille) or to taste 
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I have an aged one at the moment that is rather thick & syrupy)

Method:

• Put cranberries in saucepan over a medium heat, I did this while they were still frozen, stir then occasionally until they are squashable. 
• Add redcurrant jelly and stir until melted. Then stir in mustard and balsamic. 
• Cook over a medium heat until thickened slightly. (I cooked mine a bit long so had to add a bit of water)

Meatloaf with Red Quinoa & Mushroom Sauce

It is a bit late to be starting a new blog post now but my bedroom is freezing cold and I need to let the heater in there do its job for a little while before going to bed. It is probably not as cold as it could be tonight but still cold enough that I don't want to be trying to sleep in a cold room. I did finally succumb last night and pulled out my heavy wool doona for the first time this winter. I was definitely warmer last night than I had been the night before and it was definitely colder last night. 

This is a recipe that I have been meaning to post for over a month now. It was the first thing that I made with my purchase of red quinoa. When I first purchased it I did a google search to see what I could come up with to make with it and I came across this meatloaf recipe over at Simple Recipes. It definitely sounded like a good way to start testing the red quinoa out. I do love meat loaf especially that you end up with a bunch of left overs that can be used to make meatloaf sandwiches for lunch during the coming week. I decided to make a few changes to the recipe. My mum almost always did a mushroom sauce with meatloaf. Hers usually involved a tin of cream of mushroom soup which is fine for family size but too much for a smaller one. I have done it with a sachet of mushroom cup-a-soup. However for this one I just sautéed a handful of mushrooms in some garlic olive oil and added some cream, a little bit of dijon mustard and some salt and pepper. It was just perfect with the meatloaf. I served this with harvard beets & carrots, peas and mash. It was a wonderful meal. I think next time I will do it in my mini loaf pans. I had intended on adding in the tomatoes, I forgot but next time would add them for a bit of extra moisture.

Meatloaf with Read Quinoa

Ingredients

• 450 g lean beef mince
• 450 g lean pork mince
• 1 cup red quinoa, rinsed and pre-soaked in water for about 30 minutes
• 1 small onion finely chopped and sautéed in some oil until soft
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp chilli paste, or to taste
• 2 tsp mixed herbs
• Dash worcestershire sauce
• ½ bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients together. 
• Place in a oven safe dish and bake for 40 minutes at 175 C.

 

Spiced Orange Pork Chops

What is your favourite recipe that your mum made or you when you were a child? Do you know how to make it? Do you have the recipe memorised or written down somewhere? Perhaps this weekend is a good time to ask your mum to show you how to make it. My family owned a piggery when I was younger so our diet always involved a lot of pork. I have a number of recipes that I made up when I was younger using the large amounts of pork that was always in our freezer. 

This recipe is one of my mum's. No, actually, that is not quite right. This is a version of my mother's recipe that I came up with after she had passed away. As far as I know she had made the recipe up as I couldn't find anything similar in any of her cookbooks or her many recipes cut out of magazines. I was also unable to find it amongst her hand written recipes. It took a bit of trial and error to get this right. I am not sure that it is 100% correct but I have been making it this way for about 8 years now so it is difficult remember it any other way now. I would normally use smaller pork chops than the one I used on the night I made this but some times you just have to use what you can get at the time. I don't eat near as much pork now since the piggery is long since sold. It has turned into a rather expensive meat. Although maybe it always has been and I just never realised it before. What I do know, is if I want some comfort food there is nothing that is a bigger comfort to me than this recipe. 

Spiced Orange Pork Chops

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of orange juice
• 1/2 tsp onion powder 
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder 
• 1/2 tsp chinese five spice 
• 2 tsp brown sugar 
• 1 tbsp olive oil 
• 2 or 3 dashes of worchestershire sauce 
• 4 small pork chops 
• 1 red (or brown) onion sliced

Method:

• Mix first 7 ingredients together and pour over pork chops and onions. Marinade for at least 30 minutes.
• Drain chops, reserving marinade.
• Fry the chops until lightly browned on both sides.
• Pour the reserved marinade over chops including onion slices.
• Simmer until the sauces is reduced and slightly thickened and onions are soft. 
• Serve with steamed vegetables and rice or mashed potatoes. 

Red Quinoa, Turtle Bean & Carrot Taco Bowl

On my recent holidays I was able to go to the physical stores of two of my favourite online places to buy food. Living in a smallish, rural town means that for a lot of recipes I want to make I either have to substitute or buy ingredients online. When it comes to perishable items substitution is, really, the only why to go but for non-perishables I have found a large number of Australian online stores from which to get my various needs wants. Two of my favourites are Essential Ingredients Online, which has physical stores in Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie, and Kombu Wholefoods, whose physical store is in Bellingen. After trawling these websites on countless numbers of occasions and having placed a number of orders I was pleased to be able to spend time in the actual stores. I wasn't disappointed with either of them and will make a point to head to both of them again any time I am in the area. 

Amongst the numerous items that I bought from the above stores were red quinoa and turtle beans (or black beans depending on where you live). I had a few ideas on what I wanted to do with them but also googled and food blog searched to see what I could make with them. I came up with a number of recipes for each separately but I decided to make something using both of them. I had a bit of a hankering for some tacos and remembering that when I was a kid mum used to make tacos with lentils and kidney beans I decided to see if I could make a taco filling using red quinoa and turtle beans. To add a bit of bulk to it I threw in some carrot, capsicum and as I had some mushrooms slowly dying a slow death in the crisper I chopped them and and threw them in too. I used some of my homemade taco seasoning, although you could use one of those packets from the supermarket, and canned tomatoes. It made an amazing filling. I felt so satisfied after eating the tacos. They really hit the spot so I think I will be making these regularly. The first night I used some warmed tortillas and just had soft tacos.  For lunch the next day I draped a tortilla over a mould and put it in the oven and formed a bowl. I really enjoyed it that way, kind of a combinations between a taco and nachos. I have also had some with some rice with a bit tomato juice added in when re-heating for a kind of faux chilli. 

Red Quinoa, Turtle Bean & Carrot Tacos 

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 c dried black turtle beans (soaked for at least 6 hours)
• 1/2 c red quinoa (soaked for 30 minutes and drained thoroughly) 
• 1 tbsp grapeseed oil (any neutral oil will be fine)
• 1 onion, finely chopped 
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 medium carrots, grated 
• 1 capsicum, finely diced 
• 250 g mushrooms, finely diced 
• 1 packet taco seasoning, or homemade mix to taste (see recipe below) 
• 400 g can diced tomatoes 
• 1/2 can water 
• salt & pepper to taste

Method: 

• Drain beans and place in a saucepan with clean water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 - 30 minutes or until they still have a bit of bite. Try not to cook until too soft as they will be cooking further later on. Drain and set aside.
• Heat oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened but not browned. Add garlic and cook for a further minute. 
• Add carrot, capsicum and mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes then add quinoa and beans. 
• Add taco seasoning and stir to coat everything. 
• Add tomatoes & water, bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook until liquid has been absorbed and quinoa and beans are cooked adding more water if necessary.
• Taste, adjust seasonings and serve with warmed tortillas, shredded lettuce, sliced tomato, grated cheese, guacamole and sour cream (or yoghurt). 

Taco Seasoning

Ingredients: 

• 6 tsp Chilli Powder
• 5 tsp Paprika
• 4 ½ tsp Cumin
• 3 tsp Onion Powder
• 2 ½ tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper

In storage container with tight-fitting lid, combine all ingredients and mix well.  Seal tightly. Store in cool, dry place for up to 6 months.  

Seven teaspoons of mix equal a pkg of purchased taco seasoning mix. (This will vary depending on the heat rating of you chilli powder so I suggest starting out with less and adding more if needed)

Roast Chicken with Yoghurt Garlic Sauce

I am not feeling very chatty at the moment, so another post of just a recipe. This is a good one too. 

Roast Chicken with Yoghurt Garlic Sauce 

Ingredients

• 1 x 1.5 kg chicken (backbone removed & flattened out) 
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 
• 1 onion, finely sliced 
• 2 lemons (one finely sliced)
• 1 tbsp chopped oregano (I used dried) 
• 5 tbsp olive oil

Method: 

• Season chicken on both sides with salt & pepper. 
• Spread onion on the bottom of a roasting tray, place chicken on top of onions (skin-side up).
• Top with slices of lemon, sprinkle with oregano and drizzle with 2 tbsp oil. Cover, refrigerate for 4 hours. 
• Pre-heat oven to 250C. Remove chicken from marinade and place on a clean baking tray and place under a very hot grill for 10 minutes or until chicken is golden brown. Turn chicken over, drizzle with another tbsp of oil and cook on the other side until golden brown. 
• Return chicken, skin-side up, to the tray with the onions and drizzle with remaining oil. Bake for 15 minutes. 
• Squeeze juice of remaining lemon over the chicken and cook for a further 10 minutes or until cooked.

Yoghurt Garlic Sauce

Ingredients: 

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup yoghurt 

Method: 

• Mix all ingredients together.  
• Leave for at least 1 hour for flavours to combine. 

I am so tired and I am heading off to bed very shortly but I just wanted to get something posted. I was looking through things last night and realised that I have so many things that I have made from Sydney Food that I haven't yet blogged about. I also have a number of other things that I want to post too. It has been hard to go back to work after a couple of weeks off. Haven't been feeling well or sleeping well either so it is all just a bit of a "perfect storm" of blah at the moment. 

I made this a while ago now. I couldn't get any veal at the time but my wonderful butcher gave me some wonderfully tender beef although I can't remember exactly which cut he gave me now. ***oops*** I would definitely make this again. The left overs were very good too. I served with spicy roast sweet potato and steamed broccoli & cauliflower. 

Parmesan veal schnitzel with creamed potatoes

Ingredients: 

• 8 veal escallops
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I made them from wholemeal bread)
• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup parsley 
• 2 tbsp finely chopped thyme 
• 1 teaspoon sea salt 
• freshly ground black pepper 
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour 
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Method:

• Place veal escallops on a board and flatten with a mallet. Place breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Place milk and eggs in a bowl and beat lightly together. Place flour in a bowl.
• Dip veal first in the flour, then egg wash and finally in breadcrumb mixture. Continue until all veal is coated.
• Heat olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Place veal in frying pan in a single layer, being careful not to crowd, and cook for two minutes until golden brown on one side. Turn veal and cook for a further two minutes. Remove from pan and keep warm until all the veal escallops are cooked. Serve with creamed potatoes.

Creamed potatoes 

Ingredients

• 800g potatoes suitable for mashing
• 1 cup cream (I used natural yoghurt)
• 75g butter 
• 1 tsp sea salt

Method:  

• Place potatoes in boiling water and cook until tender. 
• Remove from heat, drain and mash potatoes in saucepan. 
• Beat yoghurt & butter into potatoes with a wooden spoon until smooth. Season with salt to taste. 

Bill's Ricotta and Tomato Tart

I woke up one morning 5 days ago with a large red mark on my face. It looked rather strange so I got squeezed in at the doctor. She wasn't really sure what it was but thought probably some kind of infection so put me on antibiotics. I ended up having to go home from work early that day. Luckily the next day was Wednesday and my day off work. I was okay in the morning but slept most of the afternoon away. I did manage to work the next day but it looked like it was spreading so I toddled off to the doctor again but she didn't want me to change anything but to come back the next day. By the end of the work day I was completely wrecked and my boss told me not to come in the next day. It was a relief not to have to get up and go to work yesterday. I went back to the doctor. Some of the redness had gone down and there was a clear lump so she thought that perhaps I had been bitten by a spider during the night. No change to the medication, just keep on with it and I should be okay. I, again, slept most of the afternoon away. It has been an unpleasant experience and I am still feeling pretty awful. I hope I am okay by Monday.

This is one of my catching up on things long past made. Part of what I love so much about this cook book is that it is divided up into breakfast, lunch and dinner. Although most of the lunch & dinner recipes can be flipped around easily. I was in the supermarket one day and came across a 1 kg package of fresh ricotta reduced in price and remembering Bill's fabulous looking Ricotta and Tomato Tart I decided to get it and make it. Bill gives a recipe for a rough puff pastry but being short of time and tired on the day I really didn't feel like making pastry so I used some frozen sheets of puff pastry. Since I was using these I decided that it was best to put it all in a pie dish rather than attempting a free-form pie. I really enjoyed this. It was a lot lighter than a traditional quiche but still substantial enough to make a main meal. It would be rather plain without the tomato, I think that the addition of some sautéed onion to the mix would make a real difference. I did actually use the rocket, I decided to put aside my normal aversion to it as I knew that the peppery taste would help. It was lovely hot for dinner but just as good cold for lunch the next day. This one will definitely be going into the rotation for lunches. 

Ricotta and Tomato Tart 

Ingredients 

• 2 medium ripe tomatoes, finely sliced
• 2 c ricotta
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 c cream
• 1/4 c finely grated Parmesan
• 1 c rocket, finely shredded

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 200 C. 
• Line greased pie dish with two sheets of thawed puff pastry, overlapping so completely cover the dish. 
• Mix together ricotta, eggs, cream, parmasean and season with salt and black pepper.
• Fold in the rocket and then spoon mixture into prepared pie shell. 
• Layer the thinly sliced tomatoes over the cheese mixture, overlapping them slightly. 
• Bake for 35-40 minutes (or until crust is golden and middle is set).
• Allow to rest for about 15 minutes before slicing.
• Serve with a green salad. 

Jamie Oliver's Mechoui Lamb & Moorish Crunch Salad

Well, that post scheduling works well. I will have to keep that in mind for when I get the urge to do some posts and I can do a couple at a time. I have quite a few things that I have made from Bill's Sydney Food that I haven't blogged about yet and I really should get those cleared so that I can start posting as I make things again. Although I suppose I could just post the older ones in between new stuff. 

I promised myself that I would at least get one new post done today. Yesterday I woke up with a rash on my face and feeling like I had been hit by a truck. I went to the doctor and was prescribed some heavy duty antibiotics as the doctor thinks it is an "infection", no idea what kind or why. I ended up coming home from work early yesterday as I was feeling so awful. I normally have Wednesdays off work so today is okay. I was feeling okay this morning as I got up and got my nails done and did a couple of other things however I have crashed since lunch time. I had a nap but not sure that it really helped. Perhaps I should have turned the air conditioning on before I laid down on the lounge as I woke up all hot and achy.

At the same time as cooking every single recipe from Bill's Sydney Food. I have also been trying to use more of the rest of my cookbook collection. I have a large number of them that just seem to sit there and look pretty. I had purchased Jamie Does... after watching a couple of episodes of the show and was pushed over the edge by the recipe for the Sexy Swedish Buns (which everyone should make by the way). There were also a couple of other recipes from the show that caught my attention. I was particularly taken with the episode that he did in Morocco. The lovely combinations of spices. His enthusiasm in the markets and showing us all about it. His excitement at actually making the recipes. Now, of course, there are going to be ingredients that I cannot get. Although for his Mechoui Lamb the only thing that I was unable to get was the smen which I understand is some kind of fermented butter. This dish was so lovely. When I went to purchase a shoulder of lamb my butcher asked what I was making. When I told him he suggested trying it with a boned out leg next time. I think I will give that a try, although it will be more expensive, it will be less fatty and less wastage. The only thing that I would then have to watch for is that it doesn't dry out. All the fat on the shoulder would have contributed to keeping the meat as moist as it was. It also would have helped with the way that the meat just fell apart after cooking. However I think that I lost some of the spice flavour with it being removed from the meat with the large amount of fat before serving. It was still amazing though and made some incredible lunches over the week afterwards with some more in the freezer for use at a later date. Definitely a nice change from a traditional roast dinner on a Sunday night.

I wanted to make something a bit more substantial than the carrot and orange salad to go with it so went with Jamie Oliver's Moorish Crunch Salad which I had made previously. It went perfectly with the lamb and was also excellent inside wraps and pitas for lunches. In fact I have made this salad a couple of times since I first made it in November last year. It really is a great side. 

December 2008 - Chicken Parcels with basil, tomato & bocconcini

Nice quite day here. I telephoned my family overseas for Christmas. They were all gathering at my Uncle's house today for their Christmas meal so I took advantage of that and rang in one hit. It was so good to talk to them all, I wish I could have been there myself though. Hopefully I will get over for there again for Christmas one of these years, I just need to do a better job at saving money. Perhaps that should be my new year's resolution...do better at saving. Actually, that probably isn't such a bad idea.

I really wanted to make the cover recipe from this issue, Valli Little's Chicken salad with Spiced Figs and Buffalo Mozzarella. It really looks so very delicious. The spiced figs are actually kind of like mulled figs as they are poached in a red wine and spice mix that reminded me very much of mulled wine, except for the inclusion of 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar which would give a wonderful richness and tang to the poaching liquid. This liquid is then reduced down to be a dressing for the salad. The chicken is browned in a fry pan and then finished off in the oven. I would probably add some extra greens but I think that this would make a wonderful lunch. I didn't get to make it as figs aren't in season here yet so I will have to wait to give it a try. 

I considered two recipes for my Christmas eve (well day at the time) meal. Ham with red wine & cinnamon glaze. It sounded really good but I found a different recipe that I wanted to make more. The Cranberry Meringue tarts also looked really, really good. Although the meringue on top was actually little meringue kisses that were cooked separately. If I had made it I probably would have done it more like a lemon meringue pie/tart and spread with a regular meringue and brown it either with a blast in the oven or with a blow torch. In the end I went with something different, which didn't even end up being ready on the night but that was okay because I had already eaten more than enough. 

One night I found myself with a chicken breast that really needed to be used up so I went through the December issues and came across Louise Pickford's Chicken Parcels with Basil, Tomato and Bocconcini. This was really, really easy and quick to make. I only used the bambini bocconcini so I probably should have used a bit more than I did as it pretty much disappeared. The chicken was lovely a moist though. I used some of the lemon basil that I have growing to add a little citrus tang to it and it was delicious. I will admit that I forgot the balsamic glaze when I plated up but it was still very nice without it. I ended up serving with asparagus and carrots. It was all very good. 

November 2001 - Launch Issue - Crispy Pork Belly with Spiced Lentils

I have finally arrived at the launch issue of Delicious magazine. Delicious arrived on the magazine landscape when there was little else in the way of cooking magazines. At least I don't remember there being much. I think that Vogue Entertaining and Living was around and probably Gourmet Traveller but there wasn't much in the mid-range of magazines. that had meals that could easily be made after work with ingredients that could, mostly, be found locally. There do seem to be more recipes now that require ingredients that I cannot get then there used to be.  I fell in love with the magazine right from this first issue and I have never really lost that passion for it. I did go through a small period in 2007 when I lost a bit of interest but I quickly regained my interest. I am so pleased that I did and that I have had the opportunity to go through each of the back issues and discover new and wonderful things. I cannot believe that I only have a few issues to go.

I have been busy making a lot of recipes from the November issues but it has taken me a while to get this first post done as I needed a weekend to do the recipe from this issue. I really wanted to make something special out of here since it was the launch issue and all. There were some recipes out of Jamie Oliver's Happy Days book, it would have to be one of my favourite of Jamie's books. Although that is being tested by his new one, Jamie Does..., which I love. I had already made most of the recipes featured so I moved on. 

There was a lovely recipe for Hummus with Ground Lamb and Pinenuts from Moro: The Cookbook which looked incredible. I love hummus and the addition of a spiced ground lamb on top sounded fabulous. I am not overly keen on pinenuts although I think that is because they are such a volatile nut and they go rancid so quickly. You really need to be able to get them fresh if possible unfortunately I can only get them from the supermarket here. I would really like to try this dish at some stage, perhaps with some flaked almonds instead of the pinenuts. I think that it would make a really good lunch dish as part of a tapas.

I wanted to make something a bit special and there was really only one recipe that fit the bill for me. It was Jacques Reymond's Crispy Pork Belly with Spiced Lentils. Since using pork belly for the first time earlier this year I have now used it quite a lot. It is a relatively cheap cut of meat to buy and is lovely to do a nice slow roast with. It is certainly becoming quite popular now but back in 2001 it would have been pretty unusual. This is a fantastic recipe and I really enjoyed making it. The lentils are the perfect accompaniment to the rich full-flavoured pork dish. There was only one thing I did that wasn't in the recipe, I made a gravy from the cooking liquid in the pan, which I had strained into a small saucepan and thickened slightly with a flour and water slurry. The crackling was fantastic. I wasn't sure that it was going to crisp up but it did wonderfully. I highly recommend making this one and I plan on making it again for friends soon.

Crispy Pork Belly with Spiced Lentils

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 kg fresh pork belly on the bone 
• 1 tbsp Maldon sea salt 
• 1 tbsp honey 
• 2 star anise 
• 5 juniper berries 
• 4 cloves 
• 12 whole black peppercorns 
• 45 g butter 
• 1 onion, diced 
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed 
• 1 carrot, diced 
• 2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
• 100 ml white wine
• 3 fresh bay leaves, 2 sprigs fresh thyme and parsley stems tied with kitchen twine (bouquet garni) 

Method:

•  Pre-heat oven to 160 C.
• Pat skin of pork with paper towel to make sure it is dry, rub with the salt. 
• Heat a large oven-proof saucepan or casserole dish over medium heat. (I used my 28 cm Swiss Diamond sauté pan)
• Add honey and spices and caramelise slightly. Add 30 g of the butter and the pork belly, skin side down, to the pan. Cook over a low heat for 8 - 10 minutes or until crisp and golden. 
• Transfer pork to a plate, add vegetables to pan with rest of the butter. Place pork on top skin side up.
• Pour vinegar over the top and cook until completely absorbed. Add the wine and bouquet garni. Reduce liquid by half and then add water, up to 1/3 thickness of the pork. 
• Cover and roast in the oven for 3 hours adding extra water as necessary. (I uncovered it for the last hour)
• Slice and serve with the lentils. 

Jacques' Spiced Lentils 

Ingredients: 

• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed 
• 1 celery stick, sliced
• 2 small red chillies, deseeded (I left the seeds in one of them)
• 4 curry leaves 
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 250 g green lentils (I used "French-style" lentils) 
• Zest of 1 orange 
• 400 ml chicken stock

Method: 

• Heat oil in saucepan and add garlic, celery, chillies, curry leaves and cinnamon. Stir to allow the flavours to develop. 
• Add lentils, orange zest and stock. Season with salt & pepper and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes or until lentils are soft. 
• Can be served hot or cold. 

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.