Its getting cold . . . . must be Curry Time!

In foodie terms, winter is my favourite time of year. You get to bake pies, make stews, roast roasts, and make curries. I know you can do it at any other time of year too . . . . it just feels better in winter!

One curry I have always had an aversion to is the seafood variety. The idea of curry & seafood was on the same page as pizza & seafood to me. But then one night recently, at an Indian restaurant with friends, someone ordered the Southern Indian Prawn curry. It was so good! So, so good! I am so glad I tried it!

So, after a little google-ing, I found this recipe by Jamie Oliver, and it is exactly what you would expect from him: simple, and delicious! Tip - ensure you have everything cut up in advance, as you need to add things quickly.

And no, this isn't outrageously hot: it has a nice warmth too it, and would only taste 'too hot' to someone who had refused to try chili ever before in their lives . . . . in which case, why are you friends with them?

Jamie Oliver's Keralan Fish Curry

• peanut oil

• 1 tsp mustard seeds

• 20 curry leaves
• Chopped coriander
• 6 shallots, finely sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 1 x 2.5cm piece of ginger, finely sliced
• 1 green chilli, finely sliced
• 1 tsp chilli powder (or more to taste)
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 750g firm white fish cut into chunks
• 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

Firstly,  heat a lug of groundnut oil in a large pan and fry the mustard seeds with the curry leaves till the seeds start to pop. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli, and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes, till softened. 

Mix together the chilli powder and turmeric with a splash of water, no more than a quarter of a cup's worth, and then stir into the pan. Fry for a minute, then add the fish, coconut milk and tomatoes. Season w/ S&P.

Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, or until the fish is cooked and sauce reduced. Serve sprinkled with chopped coriander, with rice (I used brown b/c I prefer it - basmati is also perfect).

Steak Dinner!

Steak w/  a mushroom red wine 'sauce' kind of thing. This isn't from a recipe, just something I pulled together, but it was very yummy, and quite easy to do.

The weather last night in Sydney was just foul - its been a while since we had that kind of storm hit, almost tropical, and I don't think it is usual to have thunder & lightening in September! Storms in summer are pretty normal.

So I felt like cooking up a comforting meal, and this is what I came up with. You can pick all the bits up on your way home, and have dinner on the table pretty quickly.

1 steak per person
3 - 4 baby (cocktail) potatoes per person
3 mushrooms per person (I used flat mushies)
olive oil
red wine
salt + pepper
I also had some steamed carrot & beans & served them on the side.

Season the steaks w/ salt & pepper, and allow to sit at room temperature whilst you get on with the next step.

Par boil the baby potatoes. Whilst they are boiling, slice the mushrooms into strips. When the potatoes are ready (don't tip out the water!) slice into chunks. Heat some olive oil in a pan, then add a knob of butter (med-high heat). As the butter begins to 'foam' add the potatoes to the pan & cook until golden, then turn & cook the other side. Once golden all over (shouldn't take too long), remove from the pan & cover with foil (or put in a warm oven).

Return the reserved pot of water from cooking potatoes to the boil, and add the beans & carrot, if using.

Return the same pan (don't clean it) to med-high heat & add the steaks, and cook to your preferred level (I like my steaks rare).

Remove the steaks from the pan & let rest.

Still using the same pan, tip in the sliced mushrooms & stir around until coated in the jus. Stir until starting to soften, then increase the heat to high and pour in a good glug (maybe half a cup or so) of red wine. Stir well, scrapping up any bits stuck to the pan.

Place the steak on a plate, top w/ the mushrooms, and w/ the potatoes, beans & carrots on the side.

Have a glass of the red wine too :)

Enjoy!

Home Made Pasta!

OK, so this may seem extreme, even by my standards, but seriously: pasta has 2 ingredients: flour & eggs. It takes about 3 minutes to make, then 30 mins to rest, then 10 mins to roll.

And you don't necessarily need the flash machine (though thank you brother! He bought me the ice-cream maker too . . . he is a good birthday appliance purchaser!). You can just use a rolling pin, or even a wine bottle dusted w/ flour!

This very basic recipe is by Jamie Oliver, who I've noted previously I used to be a little indifferent about, but I am now a mild convert: his stuff just works!

I also have a fresh pasta recipe in a wonderful River Cafe cookbook, but it is more fussy, so I think I'll work up to that one. I looked at their ice-cream recipe book once, and it had said to use 18 eggs! 18!!!

I prefer to keep things simpler, hence Mr Oliver prevails.

For this you will need 600g of '00' flour. The flour is very important - do not use regular plain, and certainly not self raising. The results will be unappetising at best, disastrous at worse. Thankfully many deli's & grocers now sell "Tipo 00" flour. Mine was purchased from Fratelli Fresh for only $3.50.

Sift the 600g of flour into a large bowl, and make a well in the centre. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk 6 eggs together (ideally organic - when a recipe is as simple as this, you need the freshest, best ingredients possible).

Pour the whisked eggs into the 'well' in the centre of the flour, and using the tips of your fingers, incorporate the flour, a little at a time, until it is all combined. Once combined, turn out on to a lightly floured surface to knead it. You need to knead the dough to release the gluten within the flour so that you will have lovely & spring 'al dente' pasta, and not a soggy mess. Pasta is the opposite to pastry - you DO want the gluten to activate when you make pasta.

So roll up your sleeves & get kneading! There is no trick to kneading: smooch the dough over the counter with your hands, pull it apart, roll back together, then throw it down onto the counter top, then pull it all back together again. Then repeat. And repeat. Roll it out, weave it back together again. Any which way you fancy, all you need to do is just keep working the dough until it starts to feel silky & smooth, instead of rough. This took me about 5 minutes, but I had had a G&T & was chatting, so it almost certainly can be done in less time!

Wrap your now smooth dough in clingwrap & pop it into the fridge for 30 minutes.

Clear your countertop. You want the largest, uninterrupted counter space possible. If you don't have a pasta maker, don't fear! Cut off a small-ish amount from the dough (something the size of your palm), and place it on the flour-dusted (tipo 00) countertop. Use a rolling pin (or wine bottle) and start rolling it out. Turn the dough itself every few rolls so it doesn't stick the the countertop. When you have the dough to the desired consistency, cut it into the shape you want, dust it with flower, and then hang it.  A clean coathanger is fine, but make sure the strands are separate;  don't do it like I did in this picture. It will all clump together, and you'll be standing over a pot of boiling water frantically trying to detangle it before dropping it into the pot!

If using a pasta maker, dust it with the 00 flour, cut a lump of pasta, the size of your palm, and flatten it with your hands. Set the pasta machine to the widest setting, and roll the dough through. Take the machine up a setting, and pass the dough through again. Fold the pasta in half (either by length, or width, whatever you think best), click the machine back to the widest setting, and roll it through again. Repeat this process another 5 times. It may seem like alot of work, but it only takes a few seconds, and the end result is a very silky pasta!

Now I stopped here, though Mr Oliver recommends continuing on until you have worked the pasta through each setting. My pasta was going with a very thick sauce, so I was happy keeping it thicker. Plus I was tired & wanted to get eating!

Heat a large saucepan of water until boiling, salt it well, then cook the pasta until al dente, around 5 minutes.

I served this with a sauce made of left overs and it was really lovely.             Saute 1 onion & a few cloves of garlic in a pan over low heat, until soft, but try not to give them too much colour. I then added the 1 rasher of smoked bacon I had in the fridge (diced). I then added the left over roast pork (diced). Next I threw in around 15 - 20 baby tomatoes (halved). Mix to incorporate, turn the heat to very low, pop the lid on. After half an hour I added half a bottle of passata. Put the lid back on, and let it cook down for an hour or so, stirring occasionally. Add some red wine if you fancy, and then 10 minutes before serving, throw in some rosemary.

Bread & Butter Pudding . . . . The Sticky Date version!

As I have posted many, many times, I hate waste. The amount of food that gets thrown out by many homes is ridiculous. I'm not fantastic either, but i do try and use everything that I can (make stocks from roasts, or meringues with the eggwhites not needed for making ice-cream etc).

Its winter which makes it prime sticky date making time! I made one last weekend, but as it was just for one friend & I, there was quite a bit left over, which was clingwrapped & placed in the fridge. 

I am not a fan of regular bread & butter pudding, which is no doubt a hangover from school days, where it was insipid white bread soaked in batter & served as a steaming congealed mess. My Mum made a brilliant version though with some croissants that were a day or so old. 

Bread & butter pudding is traditionally made with sultanas. I didn't have any, but I did have some dates. You are meant to soak them in brandy, but I didn't have any, so I used the port instead.

So I thought . . .  . . what would a sticky date / bread & butter pudding be like? The answer: Freaking Awesome! This is one of the best puddings I have made this year!

85g dates, chopped

2 tbsp port, warmed

5 eggs

300ml pouring cream

300ml milk

40g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

8 x 1.5cm thick slices of white bread

(or old sticky pud, or croissants, or brioche)

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Soak dates in the port. 

Combine eggs, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla & cinnamon in a jug & whisk to combine. Butter an oven-proof dish, and lay the slices of whatever you are using in the dish, scatter over the dates & the port, then pour over the batter, and let stand for as long as you can (an hour is great) so that the slices absorb some of the batter. 

Scatter some sugar over the top, and then bake for 30-40 mins until golden. Serve with vanilla ice-cream or thick cream. 

Sticky Date Pudding!

I think I can honestly say I have never met anyone who doesn't like Sticky Date Pudding. And before you correct me, please note that I don't care to know anyone who doesn't like Sticky Date Pudding. So there!

I made this pudding for a family dinner recently, and it was so yummy. It was quite easy to put together (the recipe is from Stephanie Alexander's 'The Cook's Companion'). And it really is the perfect dessert for those cold winter evenings.

Serve w/ thick cream, or my preference, vanilla ice-cream.

Yummmmmmmmm!

Ingredients

Pudding

170g dates, stoned & chopped

1 tsp bi-carb soda

300ml boiling water

60g unsalted butter

3/4 cup caster or brown sugar

2 eggs

170g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp pure vanilla

Sauce

400g brown sugar

1 cup thick cream

250g unsalted butter

1 tsp pure vanilla

(or 1 bean, split)

Preheat the oven to 180'c and butter an 1 litre oven-proof dish (or a cake tin is fine). Mix the dates & bi-carb soda together in a bowl, then pour over the boiling water & leave to stand.

Cream butter & sugar, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Fold the flour in gently, then stir in the date mixture & vanilla. Pour into the prepared dish & bake in the centre of the oven for 30-40 mins, or until it passes the skewer test (that is, if you poke a skewer in it comes out clean).

Do not turn the oven off.
To make the sauce, bring all the ingredients to a boil in a saucepan, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. If you used the vanilla bean, remove it, then pour a little of the warm sauce over the pudding and return it to the oven for 2-3 minutes, allowing the sauce to soak in.

Remove, and serve w/ extra sauce!

Thanksgiving Turkey

Hello!

Ain't it a beauty?

This is the turkey that graced the table at my 4th annual Thanksgiving Dinner. All 9kg of it.

It started because I had an American flatmate, who didn't cook much (and was vego), and because I love an excuse to cook a MASSIVE feast for friends!

Having persevered for the last 3 years with the traditional date (the last weekend of November), memories of last year's near heat stroke conditions were enough to prompt a change to June. Definitely an excellent move! this year's dinner was by far the best one thus far.

Unfortunately my spacial awareness continues to be, ummm, limited, so it was quite a cosy affair fitting 25 people in to my living room & then feeding them 3 courses!

The menu this year was:

Entree: Butternut Pumpkin & Vanilla Soup
Main: Maple Roast Turkey w/ Cornbread Sourdough Stuffing
Sides: Roast Parsnips & Dutch Carrots, Mashed Potato, Green Beans
Dessert: Peanut Butter Pie, Triple-Choc Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, Mixed Berry, Cherry & Almond Pie
Ice-Creams: Ginger Ice-Cream, Vanilla Ice-cream, Chocolate Ice-cream, and Praline Ice-cream.

All made from scratch. Yes, really.

Why?

Because I am a crazy foodie lady!

Maple Roast Turkey w/ Sourdough & Cornbread Stuffing

1 turkey (mine was 9kg, and it fed 25 people, but then they may have held back extra space for dessert)
Cornbread Sourdough Stuffing
6 tbs unsalted butter
1 tbs freshly grated ginger
1/4 cup pure maple syrup



Place an oven rack in the lowest third of the oven, and preheat the to 220'c. Wash the turkey inside & out w/ cold running water, and pat dry w/ paper towels. Generously season the neck, body & cavities, and the underside too. Tuck the wing tips under the body.

Loosely fill the neck cavity with the stuffing. Use wooden skewers or toothpicks to secure the flap. My attempt at this was crude, to say the least, so don't stress about it too much.

Holding the turkey upright, fill the cavity w/ the stuffing. The recipe says loosely, but I really did stuff that thing! Pull the legs together, and tie w/ kitchen twine. Heap on additional stuffing so that it is bulging out of the cavity (a la the picture up top). Generously sprinkle more salt & pepper over the bird, and set in a roasting pan (ideally, put a roasting rack inside the pan, and the turkey on the rack).

The recipe then says to take 4tbs of butter, melt it, and soak a large piece of muslin (large enough to cover the top of the turkey when folded in half), in the butter, before "draping" over the turkey.

I don't tend to keep muslin on hand. Call me strange. So what I did instead was took the butter, and rubbed it all over the outside of the turkey, and then lifted the skin away, and placed knobs of butter between the skin & the meat (the same as I did for the roast chicken). I then put a piece of baking paper over the top of the turkey.

Put the big bird into the oven, and roast for 30 minutes, then baste w/ the juices (hell, its mostly butter!) that have formed in the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to 180'c, loosely cover the whole bird in alfoil (I removed the baking paper at this point). Roast for a further 30 minutes before basting again. Continue roasting, basting once an hour until juices run clear.

During the final half hour of roasting, place grated ginger in a small saucepan, and add the maple syrup & butter. Heat until melted & bubbling, then remove from the heat. Remove (& discard) the alfoil tent, and brush the maple mix (I just used the baster) over the bird.

For my 9kg bird, I gave it about 4 hours or so. You could also use a meat thermometer to test the 'done-ness' (85'C for the leg, 75'C for the breast).

This turkey truly turned out better than I could have hoped.

I think one of the reasons why it turned out so well was I rested the bird for what turned out to be well over an hour (with an alfoil tent back over it). The length of time wasn't intentional, its just time got away from us. The longer any piece of meat rests, the more it has time to settle, and the moisture that remains has a chance to evenly distribute itself throughout whatever it is you've just pulled from the oven. In this case the result was just fantastic.

Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks w/ Baharat

Hello again!

This recipe comes from one of the more unique cookbooks that I own, 'Spice Notes & Recipes' by Ian Hemphill, the owner & operator of Herbie's Spices in Rozelle.

Herbies is the best foodie shop in Sydney. It has every conceivable spice. Literally. You walk in & it is floor to ceiling herbs & spices, row upon row.

http://www.herbies.com.au/

This definitely qualifies as 'slow cooking'. It takes about 4 or so hours, though is very quick to bring together.

To make this dish you need baharat. You can by it already prepared from Herbies (it is $4.40, and they will post it to you if that is easier), or you can make it yourself - let me know if you want the recipe to do this.

You will likely need to go to a specialist butcher to get beef (or 'ox' - they are the same thing) cheeks. They are relatively inexpensive, and are a wonderful stewing meat. They really take on the flavours of everything in the pot.

2 Tbs Baharat spice mix

1 Tbs flour

2 or 3 large carrots, peeled & cut into fingers

2 parsnips, peeled & cut into fingers

1 kg beef cheeks

1 cup dry white wine

mashed potato to serve

Preheat the oven to 150'c.

Combine the Baharat & the flour in a bowl, mixing well, then use this mix to coat the beef cheeks. In the oven-proof dish you intend to use, heat some olive oil, and then seal the cheeks on both sides. You may need to do this in batches.

Put all of the vegetables in to the pot, place the sealed beef cheeks on top, then add the cup of red wine. You may need to add enough cold water so that everything is (just) covered by liquid; I usually add about another cup. Bring everything to a gentle boil on the stove top before placing the lid on the pot, and putting it in the oven, reducing the temperature to 100'c. My oven is a gas oven, and it won't go lower than 120'c, and this is fine.

Cook for around 4 hours, or until the meat is easily pulls away when pressed. This should serve between 4 - 6 people.

Taste, season w/ S&P and serve atop mashed potatoes. The ultimate cold-weather-comfort food!

Wine Match!

This, obviously, is a red wine dish! Ideally serve it with the wine you used in the cooking, or failing that the same varietal.

Polenta, of the softer variety

I had never made polenta before in my life, but when making the chicken dish, I didn't want to just serve it w/ mashed potatoes. I wanted something a little more special. Also my friend I was making it for (shout out YK!) can't eat gluten, so polenta was an obvious choice.

It is very simple, though the stirring required is labour intensive, the end result is great. I found the version in Maggie Beer's 'Harvest' cook book.

Polenta

125g soft polenta (not the instant stuff!)

1 cup chicken stock

2 cups milk

100g butter

salt & pepper

Combine the stock, milk & butter in a saucepan and bring to scalding point. Reduce the heat, and add the polenta, whisking to incorporate.

Keep whisking / stirring for 30 minutes. Season & serve.

Now, to be fair, I sure as you-know-what didn't want to stand there stirring for 30 mins. I did stir it very frequently, once ever minute or so.

When we sat down to eat our entree, it did stiffen up a little, so I just added a little bit more milk, stirred it through, and it came back beautifully.

Spiced Apple Mergingue: oh my!

I made a new friend on the weekend! How exciting is that!

This dessert was the final course of lunch w/ my new friend, who happens to be gluten intolerant.

As I have previously posted, I am not a fan of gluten free flours etc, they just don't work as well, and frankly I don't see the point of 'imitation'. Either go whole hog, or don't bother.

So what could I do w/ winter fruit, and no flour?

Stew some apples w/ cinnamon & cloves (am reluctant to call it 'stewed apples', but that, effectively, is what it is), pop stiff eggwhites on top, and put the whole thing in the oven.

Spiced Apple Meringue

 4 apples, peeled & cored (I used Granny Smiths)

1 cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp of ground cinnamon)
4 whole cloves (or 1/4 tsp ground cloves)
4 eggwhites
50g + 3tbs sugar

Grease an 1.5ltr oven proof dish w/ butter & set aside. Preheat your oven  to 150'c.

Put the apples, 50g of sugar in a saucepan w/ 2 tbs of cold water, and gently cook, stirring ti dssolve the sugar, at which point you add add the cinnamon & cloves. Keep the heat on med-low, and pop the lid on the pot.

Whisk your eggwhites until peaks form, then, w/ the motor still running, add the 3 tbs of sugar, one tablespoon at a time, making sure each tablespoon is well incorporated in between. Keep beating until stiff peaks form, and the eggwhites are glossy.

  

 I left my apples to infuse overnight, but this isn't really necessary (though it did give them a wonderful flavour). If using the cinnamon stick & whole cloves, pick them out, then line the base of your ovenproof dish w/ the apples, then spoon the stiff eggwhites on top.

Pop into the oven, and bake for 25 - 30 mins, or until the meringue is puffed up & golden.

Serve immediately, as the meringue will deflate when removed from the oven.

I served it w/ thick cream, though vanilla ice-cream, or even custard, would work very well too.