Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Crushed Raspberry Tart

Did you see my Crushed Raspberry Tart post over on my main blog The Strands of Me?

It was awesome. And yummy. And so easy! So I featured it as my Tuesday Treat.

Hop on over and check it out.

Go. Now. So you can make it for dessert tonight....




Monday, March 25, 2013

Pan Fried Salmon with Fennel Salad


I'm a Salmon convert. I now love it and can't believe I've lived for so long without eating this wonderful fish. What a shame! So after trying the Salmon with Lemon-Cream sauce, I started going through and looking for more Salmon dishes and found this one.

Yum! I already knew that fennel went well with fish so it was no surprise that this dish worked really well. And the mustard dressing (lemon juice, mustard, crushed garlic, caster sugar, olive oil and S&P) brought it together perfectly. I made the dressing in my pestle and mortar as I don't have a garlic crusher and I find this the best way to mix it into dressings. Love the crispyness of the pan fried salmon too. I think I made this again the next day for lunch as well.

Converted. Try it. 


Thursday, March 21, 2013

Poached Chicken and Spring Onion Salad

With Summer ending I'm in a mad rush to make all the 'Summer' dishes before we just don't feel like eating salads and cold shakes in the middle of a cool day. Today we went out for lunch and I had Beef Bourguignon with Parmesan Mash and sautaed Red Cabbage. Totally hit the spot. But today is overcast and cool. Last Friday wasn't. It was a lovely warm day. So I made salad.

A few months ago I'd never poached chicken, but now having done it a few times I can see how wonderful and easy it is. And so healthy! This recipe is lovely and light, including poached spring onions (in stock before poaching the chicken), celery that's thinly peeled with a vegetable peeler, butter lettuce (I didn't have any and used Iceberg instead. Had a lovely crunch that the salad might have otherwise missed), poached chicken and a lovely light citirusy lemon infused oil dressing.

In all honesty, I stuffed the dressing having made it first and set aside as the recipe suggests then just before serving I thought I'd heat it through again so it's nice and warm and absorbs into the chicken. Bad move. Burnt the lemon rind and I had to 'wash' it off the chicken in the warm stock. Oh well. I improvised and made a lemon juice and olive oil whisked dressing which worked just as well.

As we were having this dish for dinner I added a poached egg to the top to make it a little more filling. This is HUGE for me as I don't generally eat eggs on their own at all. But I felt it needed a little more and the egg worked really nicely. Not that I'm converted to eating crap loads of eggs now. Just one a blue moon I can probably handle.

Was a lovely light meal and would make a fantastic entree! 


Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Striped Milkshakes

I think this will be my first real big criticism of a recipe in this book - this is not a recipe. At all. Reading it, I don't know why its included in a cookbook. Yes, I get that it's in the summer section and they might have needed to add the numbers, but I honestly think it would have been better left out.

Striped Milkshakes - buy some strawberry or lime syrup. Pour down the sides of a cup. Add milk. Drink.

Not a recipe.

So I changed it a little. I'm not for buying pre-made syrups full of sugar and nothing good, so I made a Strawberry coulis and used that instead. No lime. Milk should never be green.

If I was being picky I would've strained the coulis to get the strawberry seeds out, but I wasn't. Still tasted just as good. Noah loved it either way.

So did I.


Nice and summery and refreshing. Without all the syrup additives. Better.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Minestrone Soup (with a few adjustments)

I love a good soup. Personally, I'm over this hot hot weather and can't wait till it's cold so I can snuggle down under a blanket and enjoy a good soup, hot chocolate and some crappy TV.

A girlfriend of mine and I have been having cooking days where our kids will run ragged for a few hours while we each cook one big meal then divide it between us so we can stock pile it in our freezers to give ourselves a night off cooking. Last time we did she made a lovely big batch of bolognese sauce. I made Donna's Minestrone Soup. 

The soup itself is quite simple and lovely. Core ingredients like tomatoes and veggies. I was surprised that there was no pasta or rice to bulk it out a little, but I did leave out the beans as we don't eat them and they'd go to waste. Waste not, want not.

As I made it to share and wanted something a little more substantial, I added some Quinoa for bulk. Worked so well. Then for dinner one night I added some leftover BBQ chicken I had, heated it through and ate it all with some yummy gluten free bread. Worked really well.

I think that's the greatest thing about recipes. You can view them as a base and personalise them how you like. I wanted a little more than the simple Minestrone recipe, I could do that easily without much fuss.


Saturday, March 16, 2013

Herb-Crusted Veal (...Lamb) Loin

I'm now getting into the dishes with ingredients that are completely foregin to me. Like Veal. We don't eat veal at all. Not for any reason in particular, but because it's just not something I go out to buy and eat.

That's one of the things I'm loving about this challenge, is that I'm pushed a little out of my comfort zone. I'm leaning new techniques and eating things I wouldn't generally try. And loving it all.

But, when I went to look for a Veal loin here to cook I couldn't find one. So settled on Lamb instead. I understand that the flavour is different, but I'm working with what I have available to me.



This dish I love. I'm already planning on cooking it again this weekend for guests. It was so so so easy too. Brown the loin in the pan. Cover in the mustard and lemon combo. Oven bake for 10 min. Rest for 10 min. Roll in the chopped herbs. Easy. The meat was so well rested and just blushing when I cut it, just the way it should be.

The actual recipe is just for the Veal Loin alone, so I added pureed carrots and steamed beans and asparagus to the dish for dinner. Married so well together.

And just to top it off I cooked the juices from the Lamb in a sauce pan and thickened them with some Arrowroot flour for a jus to top the lamb off. The icing on the cake. Perfection.


Friday, March 15, 2013

Salmon with Lemon Cream Sauce


Would you believe that this is the first time I have ever cooked and eaten a Salmon steak? No kidding. And I love fish, just wasn't all that turned on by Salmon before...but now I love it!

I've seen enough salmon cooked to know that they're best done a little under, which is what I aimed for. Personally I think I got it just right. Was so excited to tuck into this beautiful piece of fish once I'd cooked it. I even ate it all!!

I had a problem with the lemon cream sauce though. I followed the recipe to a tee (cook stock over a high heat, stirring for 1 min. Add lemon juice and cream and cook for 3 min or till thickened slightly) and the cream would separate. Three times. In the end I was a bit frustrated at it not working and the fish was cooling too much so I heated some cream and added lemon zest and juice (a little at a time to prevent separating), salt and pepper and that tasted great.

If anyone can tell me how to make it as above without it separating, I'm open to suggestions.

Other than that, it was a lovely dish. Since then I've bought more salmon and eaten it once a week. Loving it!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Strawberry and Ricotta Tart with Hazelnut Pastry

Did you see my post on making the Strawberry and Ricotta Tart with Hazelnut Pastry over on my main blog?

No?

Go check it out here. It was awesome. And aren't I nice that I included the recipe so you can make it yourself?

You're welcome.


Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Chicken Sandwich with Rocket Mayonnaise

Who doesn't love a good sandwich?

Well, me actually. But that's because I eat a Gluten Free diet and finding decent bread for a sandwich is pretty damn hard. But thankfully, Coles have a new Gluten Free range and I've been enjoying a few more sandwiches lately.

So I thought I'd try this one out.

Its a simple recipe. Using ready made whole egg mayo. Which I cheated and bought from the store. Which I later discovered has gluten in it. Go me.

This recipe just involves cooking chicken breast with some seasoning then enjoying them in a sandwich with the yummy rocket mayo - which is made by processing mayo, rocket, lemon juice and S&P. Not really much of a recipe, but still, it's in the book so I had to make it.

And enjoyed it. Bonus!


Saturday, March 2, 2013

Feta and Eggplant Meatballs with Tzatziki

I loved, loved, loved this dish!

I love meatballs because they're a quick and easy dinner for kids, not that my fussy kids always eat them, but if I offer meatballs to my kids I feel like I've made a good effort at getting decent food into them. I usually grate carrot and zucchini into my meatballs and cook them in a Tuscan sauce with rosemary and oregano and tomatoes. Not so that's its rich, but flavoursome.

Usually having a tomato based sauce with meatballs, I was excited to try these as I wanted to know how the creamy Tzatziki would go with them. And I love eggplant. I love anything with eggplant in it. And Feta. So I already knew these would be a win.

Make sure you use young eggplant or you'll need to salt (degorge) them before cooking to draw out the excess moisture and stop them from being bitter.

A friend asked for the recipe for these after I posted a photo on my Instagram account, so here it is:

Feta and Eggplant Meatballs
 
You'll need:
400g eggplant, finely chopped
2 tbs Olive Oil
500g Beef mince
1/3 cup chopped Flat-Leaf Parsley
1/3 cup chopped Mint
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
1 tbs finely grated Lemon Rind
200g Feta, crumbled
Sea Salt and fresh cracked Black Pepper
1 tbs Olive Oil, extra
Lemon Wedges, to serve

Method:
Prehead the oven to 180C. Place the eggplant and oil on a baking tray and toll to coat. Roast for 30 Min or till golden. Remove and allow to cool.
Place the eggplant, mince, parsley, mint, garlic, lemon rind, feta, salt and pepper in a bowl and stir until well combined. Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls. Place the extra oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the balls and cook for 3 - 4 minutes or till browned. Place on a baking tray and cook for 5 - 6 minutes or until cooked through. Serve with Tzatziki and lemon wedges.

I halved this recipe and it still made heaps of meatballs. 

 Tzatziki

What you'll need:
 2 cups (560g) thick Greek-style natural yoghurt (I just used Natural Yoghurt as that's what I had in the fridge)
1 Lebanese Cucumber, grated
2 tbs chopped Mint
1 clove Garlic, crushed
1 tbs Honey
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Sea Salt and cracked White Pepper

Method:
Place the yoghurt, cucumber, mint, garlic, honey, cumin, salt and pepper in a bowl and stir to combine.

I made half of the Tzatziki recipe also, and it was great and so refreshing. Went soooooo well with the meatballs. I grated the cucumber with a really fine grater and squeezed the excess liquid out of them before adding them to the yoghurt or the dish would've been really runny. For a first Tzatziki, it tasted awesome.

This would make great party food too. A toothpick in the meatballs for individual serves. Easy peasy and so tasty!!