Oregano and Garlic Roasted Lamb

This dish, I was quite 'meh' about. In the end, after cooking, it all seemed very bland and I don't know if I under seasoned it or there was not enough flavour... But the dish all tasted the same after the first mouthful and Hubby and I didn't enjoy it all that much.

I think it might have been the wrong cut of meat too as the lamb leg was nice and pink but there was so much fat left on it that hadn't rendered down. It would have benefited from a long slow cooking more, in my humble opinion.

So a few days later, that's what I did. Cut up all the leftovers, added a crapload of veggies and baked it with some beef stock into a pie. The meat was falling apart on our fork and the stock and rosemary I added gave it a much richer flavour.

Waste not, want not. Was a great second dish.

Scallops!!

One of the things I love about Summer and living in Queensland is the abundance of seafood. Even living two hours inland we're able to buy our weekly fill of fish and other desirable seafood. Including Scallops.

I love scallops. I love their lightness, their subtle flavour and how they'll soak up rich garlic and lemon sauces, or just a few herbs and a light grill and they're ready to eat. And quick! I've been looking forward to trying these recipes as I haven't cooked scallops before and have heard about how easy it is to overcook them, but I'm quietly proud of myself for how well I did.

With the lime, the scallops are cooked in a garlic and butter sauce then a light Wasabi and lime dressing is poured over them, topped with some chopped spring onion. I was quite apprehensive about tasting the Wasabi ones as I don't have a palate for heat in food but they were really nice and not hot at all.

The lemon scallops were cooked in a similar butter and garlic sauce, that some thyme had been pulled into. Once the scallops were cooked (both recipes read 30 sec each side but I found with my not-gas stove top it took a little longer) they were removed from the pan. Some lemon juice and chives were then added to the butter sauce and poured over the cooked scallops. These were awesome. Melt in the mouth.

Love that I've finally cooked these delicacies and can't wait to get my hands on more!

Tomato Salad with Garlic and Anchovy Dressing

Do you have something you don't eat, but don't know why? It's just one of those things then when offered, you automatically turn your nose up at and 'no thanks, I don't eat them' even though you've probably never tried it. I do. I have a few actually. Oysters. Sorry, but they just look like a pile of snot sitting in a shell. How appetizing. Mussels. Brains. And Anchovies.

When I decided to start this challenge I told myself that I would try new food. Probably not everything I cook I'll eat, but I'm hoping to be brave enough to try most of it. This is the first 'new' food thing I have cooked so I was a bit apprehensive.

It was an easy dish to make. It'd be even easier if I had've kept an eye on the oil and garlic cooking the first time, rather then burn it and have to start the dressing again. The ingredients are naturally contemplative of each other. Tomatoes, beans and basil. Oil, garlic, anchovy and sherry vinegar. I didn't have any sherry vinegar so I substituted with Balsamic. Yes, I know it has a different taste but I wasn't going to go out and buy a whole bottle for a few tablespoons. And trust me, balsamic worked. 

Cut up tomatoes and beans and set aside. Heat oil, garlic and anchovy in a pan and cook till the garlic is golden. Now, you know when you're watching a cooking show and the chef puts in anchovy and they always say 'they dissapear, you'll never know they're there, it's just for flavour.' Well, I never believed them. How could it dissapear? Seriously?

I looked. It dissapeared. So sue me.

I think the best part of this dish is what I learnt. Once the garlic is cooked, remove it from the heat and carefully pour in the vinegar. The pan and oil is still so hot that it starts cooking the sugars in the vinegar and the whole dressing becomes this lovely sweet, sticky, garlicy liquid that I could've savored for days. I mean, it was awesome. Once the dressing is ready, pour over the tomatoes and let marinate for half an hour. Add some basil, shavings of pecorino (again, I didn't have this and substituted for Parmesan) and voila! 

As with the last salad it's missing the 'you'll need a big chunk of bread to soak up the remainder of the dressing or you'll end up licking the plate clean' bit at the end of the recipe. Yes, I can see how it's healthy without it, but I think the bread would round it up nicely.

Seriously good food.

Lemon and Garlic Chicken

As it's getting colder it's nice to cook a whole roast and warm the house up with the heat of the oven. As we've all been sick lately I wanted something with lots of healthy garlic and was glad to find a whole roast chicken recipe.

But, this chicken is cooked in stock and wine on the stove top, not in the oven. But, oh well. It'll still taste great.

After stuffing it with fresh lemon, I rubbed the skin with some oil and seasonings. I browned some eschalots and garlic in the bottom of my cast iron pan then removed them and dropped in the chicken, breast down so the skin would start to crisp up. But, I didn't put enough oil in the bottom and all that happened was the skin sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Bugger.

After 5 minutes I turned it, pouring more oil in and browned the bottom of the chook. Another 5 min later and I re-added the garlic and eschalots with some stock and Riesling. Wait, no, I didn't have any Riesling, so I used a wine I have sitting on the bench waiting for me to be not-pregnant so I could drink it. I did the next best thing and cooked with it instead.

Now, the recipe states to simmer it covered for 30 min, then for another 30 min uncovered. I did this, but found that I was always basting the chicken in the stock and wine as I was scared the breast would dry out being out of the liquid. I suppose if the skin hadn't burnt off I wouldn't have worried about it as much, but I did this every 5 minutes.

Pulling the chicken out at the end the beautiful aroma of lemon greets me. I carve it up and we ate it with some polenta and my home grown cherry tomatoes. I loved the subtle hint of lemon through the chicken meat. I squeezed the cooked garlic out of their skins and stirred it through my polenta. Great!

While it didn't cure our colds, it filled our hungry tummies!

Pizza!!!!!!

Just like everyone else, I too love pizza.

Home-made is always better.

We have a take-away night once a week and sometimes instead I'll make home-made pizza's instead of eating the greasy food from the only available take away in the town. Usually I'll use flat bread as a base and top it with all the things we like to eat, but I was excited to make a base from scratch and luckily the Seasons cookbook provides a great base recipe.

A big thing for me is working with yeast, which I haven't done since I was a teenager making pizza bases in my Mum's bread maker (they were always the BEST pizza bases!). I was nervous to try it without the safety of the bread maker, but there's only one way to learn new things hey?

So I activated the yeast by adding it to some water with some sugar to feed it and set it aside until it bubbled at me. Then I mixed it with the dry ingredients gently and set it aside to prove. Once it had doubled in size I cut it into quarters and set it aside again until it had doubled in size.

See? Not as hard as I thought! They were so soft it seemed a shame to flatten and roll them out, but it must be done for a good pizza!

First I made Hubby's pizza. A Meat + Meat + Meat pizza. Just the way he likes it.

Then a little ham and pineapple one for Noah. I must admit, I'm pretty sure I ate more of it than he did.

Then, I made a smaller one with the garlic topping recipe in Seasons. Definitely more garlic next time. I could probably eat it straight from the bulb I love it that much. It was very simple: garlic, cheese and olive oil. Definitely don't forget the olive oil or it's a bit dry.

Then my favorite. Pizza Margherita. The first thing that strikes me about this recipe is that there is no sauce for a base. The tomatoes are squeezed to extract the juice (so it doesn't go soggy) and then lovingly placed on the pizza along side some mozzarella, basil and olive oil. When baked the cheese forms the missing sauce base, but I still found the end result a bit dry. In my opinion, anyway. Next time I'll make a basic tomato sauce base, but still keep the rest of the ingredients the same. Less cheese so my ass doesn't get so big.


 A crack of salt when done baking makes the world of difference. DON'T FORGET IT!

While different to the usual take away version of the Margherita, it was still a great pizza to eat and full of flavor.

Garlic Chicken

I love Garlic. Almost as much as I love Creamed Rice. But Garlic would be my top savoury love. I always use heaps in my cooking (probably why I don't get sick often) and could always use more. I grew up with my Dad eating pickled Garlic, straight from the jar. My poor Mum. I love Garlic a LOT, but not that much.

Pretty close though.

There are quite a few Garlic Chicken variation recipes in Seasons. I am so excited at this. I go through episodes where I just crave garlic, so I just had to try this one out.

Oh wow. It's so simple. Cut up Chicken - check. Cut up some Parsley - check. Crushed Garlic - chec....wait. No. I don't have a garlic crusher.

And I refuse to buy one. I don't mind that chefs use it, I completely understand the easiness of having a garlic crusher and if I'd never had one before, I'd go out and buy one. But I have. All I can say is, it's all well and good for a chef to use a garlic crusher. They don't have to clean the damn thing.

So I finely cut up my garlic instead.

Cook the chicken - check. Add the garlic and parsley - check. Breathe in deeeeeep and absorb the aroma garlic creates in my tiny little kitchen - check! Again, this recipe suggest serving it simply, but again I'm having it for dinner and need my veggies. So I chop up some Leek and Zucchini and after removing the Chicken from the pan, I quickly fry off the veggies in the remaining garlic fumes, with a little splash of Lemon Juice to help get all the yummy garlic flavour off the bottom of the pan. I eat it with the veggies and some polenta. No, I didn't serve it. Hubby was at footy training, so I just ate (inhaled) it myself.

And enjoyed every Garlicy minute of it. Definitely a recipe I will be making again. And again. And again......


And again!

Garlic and Mustard Beef Skewers.

I made these a while ago and just haven't gotten around to blogging about them. I have free time now but am on holiday, so I don't have the photos.

I'll up load them for you all when I get home!

Garlic and Mustard Beef kebabs with Aioli. These were really great. The recipe, I thought would be predictable, but it included Red Wine Vinegar, which I wouldn't have picked. When cooked I really think the vinegar helped mellow out the spiciness (yes, that's a word) of the mustard. I absouletly love mustard seeds though, so I wouldn't have minded anyway, but my 16 month old does mind.

I used some fresh beautiful grain-fed Rib Eye Fillets from out local butcher for this recipe and oh-mi-gosh, they were so so so so good. The meat was marinated in the garlic and vinegar and mustard mix for an hour, while I made the Aioli, before being threaded onto skewers and grilled on my George Foreman. The recipe suggests serving it with Lavish Bread, but as we were having them for dinner I whipped up some mashed Sweet Potato instead. Matched like a dream.

The aioli was a basic mayo recipe, egg yolks, garlic, a few other things, olive oil. It came together in my mixer great and I bottled it and refrigerated it for when the skewers were ready.

We forgot to eat it. But, I did serve it a few nights later with some basic grilled Chicken. Yum.