The Condemned Ate A Hearty Dinner

Dr. Dumpling or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Wonton

2011-07-18T18:50:00.000+10:00

I love dumplings. Wontons, gyoza or potstickers, boiled, steamed or fried, I love them all. Luckily, dumplings are neither expensive, nor difficult to get...unless you live in Melbourne's northern suburbs like I do. There's no dumpling houses, there's no Asian grocers. For a suburb of such diversity, the lack of culinary choice is frankly astounding and not a little annoying. The solution? Make my own dumplings so that I can stock up the freezer and always have some on hand. It may sound like a daunting task but once you get into a rhythm it's really easy. Just put on a DVD or some music and plough on through.

I happened to be in the city the other day so I picked up some wonton wrappers. The first time I made dumplings I followed Adam Liaw's advice and made my own dough. True to his word, the dough is incredibly easy but the monotony of rolling out each individual wrapper and trying to make them the same size made me want to bash my brains out against a brick wall.
I read a few different recipes for filling and came up with one that tastes pretty damn good:

1kg minced pork
1 bunch of chives, snipped with scissors into little pieces
1/4 of a green cabbage, finely chopped and blanched

100g rice vermicelli/cellophane noodles, cooked in boiling water, snipped with scissors into short lengths and well drained
4-5cm piece ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, grated
3 tbs. cornflour (corn starch)
1 tbs. white vinegar
2 tbs. mirin
2 tbs. soy sauce
Tabasco or chili paste (opt.)
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients and stir to combine for about 8 minutes. It sounds like a long time but don't cop out half way through. All the authentic-looking recipes I've seen say you should only ever stir in one direction. This ensures a juicy filling and helps everything to bind. Once the filling's done let it rest for 15 minutes and then it's ready to go.
At this point I like to fry a little of the filling to taste and make sure that the seasonings are all okay.

Start filling your wrappers with one teaspoon of filling each . If you don't know how to fold dumplings I found this youtube video to be really helpful because it has instructions for folding square and round wrappers.
If you plan on freezing them, freeze them on a tray first before popping them into freezer baggies or else they stick together. I know this from experience.

As for cooking I have two favourite methods: frying and boiling. Both can be done with the fresh dumplings or straight from frozen. Don't defrost them before cooking.

To fry, pour a little oil in the bottom of a frying pan and swirl around to distribute evenly. Lay the dumplings in a single layer, flattest side down. Pour boiling water into the pan to half-cover the dumplings, cover and cook over high heat until the water is all evaporated. Uncover and fry for a minute or two until they're golden brown on the bottom and serve.

To boil, add the frozen dumplings to boiling water and stir a little so they don't stick together. When the water returns to a rolling boil, add 1/2 cup cold water. Once again, when it returns to the boil, add another half cup of water. When it returns to the boil a third time, they're ready to serve.

Serve with your favourite sauce. I'm quite partial to chili sesame oil.

Get it down 'ya!

Ham and Tomato Chutney Pinwheels

2011-03-05T22:24:00.008+11:00

If I had to pick a favourite seed I would pick the erroneously named caraway seed. Oh crafty caraway seed, you aren't a seed at all! They're actually the fruits of the caraway plant (twist!) but that doesn't make them any less awesome. They are so aniseedy and good and they make bread taste delicious, especially rye. When I was growing up my grandma used to buy Atlantic Rye With Caraway Seeds and nothing says home to me now like a big slice slathered with cream cheese. Caraway seeds also star in the old English seed-cake which appears in one of the happier scenes in Jane Eyre, one of my favourite books.

[Miss Temple] got up, and unlocked a drawer, and taking from it a parcel wrapped up in paper, disclosed presently to our eyes a good-sized seed-cake.

“I meant to give each of you some of this to take with you,” said she; “but as there is so little toast you must have it now” and she proceeded to cut slices with a generous hand.

We feasted that evening as on nectar and ambrosia; and not the least delight of the entertainment was the smile of gratification with which our hostess regarded us, as we satisfied our famished appetites on delicate fare she liberally supplied.

Caraway seeds are also used to make a number of cheeses and liqueurs and in the olden days caraway see tea was given to treat colic, loss of appetite and indigestion. What versatility!!
If you've never cooked with these amazing seeds (or 'flavour explosions') before, I highly recommend giving them a go.
One of the things that goes really well with caraway seeds is ham so I thought it would be jolly to make some ham and tomato chutney pinwheels with caraway seeds in the dough.

Make one batch of my basic bread dough, adding two tablespoons of caraway seeds to the flour before combining it with the other ingredients. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it's doubled in size and punch it down.
Flour the bench, briefly knead the dough again and then roll it out into a large rectangle (sorry, I forgot to measure).
First spread the dough with three tablespoons of mayonnaise leaving a one inch edge on the long side furthest from you. On top of the mayo spread a scant cup of tomato chutney. It sounds like a lot but there were a lot of chunks in my chutney. Chunky chutney....
Sprinkle some shredded tasty or mozzarella cheese over the dough then cover the surface with slices of ham.
Post cheese, pre ham.

Now comes the tricky part. Beginning with the edge closest to you begin to roll up the dough, trying to keep it as tight as you can. I failed at keeping it tight as I've never really made a rolled anything before. If anyone has tips on tight rolling I'd be glad to hear them.
Dab the furthest edge with a little water and seal the roll up, then place it seam side down on the bench.
Taking a very sharp knife cut one inch wide slices and place them lying down on a non-stick or baking paper-lined tray. I got 17 pinwheels in total.
Place the trays in the cold oven and turn it on to 180o C (355o F). Bake them for 30 minutes, flipping them around and swapping racks halfway through if your oven has hot and cold spots.
Eat them straight away. There's no need for hesitation, they get Michael's thumbs up of approval.
Get 'em down 'ya!

Chicken With [51] Cloves of Garlic

2011-01-16T22:48:00.008+11:00

Each and every day I count myself lucky that I have a boyfriend who doesn't have a problem with garlic breath. Obviously one has to stay on top of breath freshness in public but I can't honestly say that I have the wherewithal to carry gum on my person around the house and cutting down isn't an option. On this earth is there anything as delicious and versatile as garlic?
Forget about the fact that almost every meal begins with sautéing it and think about all the amazing dishes that focus on it as a main ingredient: garlic prawns, garlic bread, garlic mushrooms, garlic butter, aioli, garlic soup, hummus, bruschetta and, my personal favourite, roasted garlic.
That's why when I heard about chicken with 40 cloves of garlic I knew I had to make it.
I followed the recipe from Nigella's new book Kitchen; maximum deliciousness for minimum effort.
I browned some chicken thighs skin side down and put them in a roasting tray with some fried spring onions, thyme, a splash of white wine, the chicken browning juices and, of course, the garlic. The recipe said that about 4 bulbs would yield 40 cloves but I ended up with 51 and I couldn't really see the harm in using them all.
Cover the tin and roast at 180 degrees Celsius for 1 1/2 hours.
When I announced on Facebook what I had going in the oven a friend commented "I have done the maths, and the probable result is that you will create a garlic singularity so intense as to doom us all."
This amount of garlic can seem intimidating; a lot of people consider 4 cloves to be dancing on the cliff over the abyss of insanity but cooking the garlic in their skins makes them so sweet and melt-in-your-mouth. I could leave the chicken entirely and just go to town on them by themselves.
While the chicken was cooking Michael and I watched Home Alone and I thought about what we were going to have to go with the chicken. I thought about making some mashed potatoes but I couldn't really be bothered. I still had a bit of arborio rice left over from the other day so I decided to make a second helping of oven risotto.
You might remember my thumb-bite at the ceramic ovenware manufacturers of the world earlier this week when I sauteéd onions directly on the stove in a dish didn't say that it was stove safe.
Well, still riding the high I decided to do it again but this time using my older, slightly cracked blue casserole dish. I had turned my back to do something else when I heard a big clunk and turned around to see that a chunk of the dish had just fallen off it. The stove broke my dish!
I'm afraid to touch it because as you can clearly see it's ready to fall apart in other places too. Just call me rebel without a casserole.
So I transferred my sauteéd onions to the red dish and chucked the risotto in the oven and half an hour later everything was ready.
This was seriously one of the most delicious things I've ever, ever eaten! The garlic was bursting out of its skin and it was amazingly sweet and delicious. Oh and the chicken was incredible too; tender and falling off the bone. Too, too good.
Poor Michael didn't know you were meant to squeeze the innards out and discard the garlic skins but he tells me the skins were delicious as well.The French are definitely onto something. Get it down 'ya!

Oven risotto - the provenzal saga continues

2011-01-12T21:31:00.007+11:00

Ever since I made that giant batch of provenzal I've been trying to use it as much as I can so that it doesn't go to waste. So far we've had the scalloped potatoes, we've had garlic mushrooms, garlic prawns, it's gone into salad dressing and so many other things that I can't remember them all to write them down.

Yesterday Michael and I were visiting our friends Donna and Moose for dinner and boardgames (yes, we're totally couplesy) and I made up some garlic butter to have with our steak but it also ended up adorning the pumpkin, green beans, mashed potatoes and even the bread.
Today Moose texted me to tell me that Donna had made the rest of the garlic butter into risotto and I thought that was definitely something I should do to get towards my goal of using all that darn provenzal.
For some time I've been feeling enticed by the idea of oven risotto. I love risotto and Michael is mad for the stuff but at times the idea of standing there stirring and stirring is just as exhausting as actually doing it. Plus if I want the risotto as a side for some other main feature I don't feel like I can coordinate the stirring and the cooking of whatever else.
So with pork chops to use and a new bag of Arborio, my path was clear: pork chops and garlicky risotto.
In an act of unprecedented bravery I sauteed some onions in a dish which stated it was "oven safe, microwave safe and dishwasher safe" but not stove safe. I'm a rebel like that.
Once the onions were soft I added two cups of rice, stirred it around a little to get the good flavours going and added a splash of white wine.

I was a little unsure about how much liquid to add because with normal risotto you just have a bunch of stock standing by and if you don't need it all you don't use it. One recipe I read said to use 4 1/2 cups stock for 1 1/2 cups rice. Seeing as that was 3 more cups stock than rice and I was using 2 cups rice I put in 5 cups of vegetable stock. That's the kind of dubious "science" that typifies my particular cooking style.

Not pictured: confidence

I stuck it in the oven at 175oC for 40 minutes, stirring once and at the end it was cooked perfectly. I added butter, Parmesan, provenzal, salt, pepper and a splash of lemon juice. The only problem was trying to stir everything in such a shallow dish. Some of the rice grains got quite squashed in the process but it turned out alright in the end.
Plus, I was able to concentrate almost completely on cooking my chops.

Sadly it wasn't as creamy as real risotto because that's what the stirring does. Still, it was pretty damn tasty and it got rave reviews from Michael so I will definitely keep this method in mind in the future.
Get it down ya!

PCJ- A tradition in deliciousness

2011-01-07T23:39:00.005+11:00

I've talked before about the tradition my cousin Nerea and I share of getting together to share the holy trinity: potatoes, bok choy and jelly/o or The PCJ. It's something we really en-choy and I'm sure you're all jelly-ous, something-something-[potato pun].
In the old days the potatoes were always scalloped but on recent PCJ dates we've been dabbling in various other potato-based fare. There were potato salads, hashbrowns, baked potatoes with all the fixin's and I don't doubt that in the future we'll delve deeper into potato experimentation, especially seeing as we each have a different cook book devoted solely to the delicious tubers. Still, I keep coming back to the creamy, melting comfort that can only be found in a big ol' bowl of scalloped potatoes. I decided that tonight was the night to revisit the old favourite.
Nerea always favours a sort of white sauce-based scallop coz it uses milk and is healthier but as we only eat them 2 or 3 times a year I don't mind using cream. Plus, a healthy serving of choy on the side completely balances those calories out, right? RIGHT?!
This is the method that I've come up with:
Layer thinly sliced potatoes in an oven dish. Over each layer sprinkle a mixture of salt, pepper, mozzarella and Parmesan. Usually, once the oven dish is full I just pour a 300ml pot of cream over the top, letting it seep down the layers and bake at 220oC for 1 1/2 hours (it takes a seriously long time to cook through if you're not parboiling first.)
Today, though, I did something a little different. Yesterday, spurned on by my mum both via her blog and in person, I decided to make a batch of provenzal (garlic and parsley). I went a bit overboard though, and made a HUGE batch so now the clock is ticking for me to use it all before it goes bad. After just one and a bit days I've used it in four meals.
So I took the cream for the potatoes and poured it into a measuring jug. I rinsed out the cream container with half as much milk and added that to the jug too. To that I added 4 tablespoons of the provenzal and a generous sprinkling of paprika. Mix together well and pour evenly over the layered potatoes. Bake the same as above until potatoes are tender.
You may need to cover the dish loosely with foil if the top browns too much as you go along.
I think this would have to be in my top 3 favourite scalloped potatoes of all time! They were so garlicky, I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven!
I also took care of the jelly. Nerea and I love our jelly to be really really firm, like those cubes of jelly you get at Pizza Hut all-you-can-eats. We used to make up our jelly with less water than stated on the packet instructions but then you get less for your buck. My new strategy is to add extra powdered gelatin to get the perfect al dente dessert. The rule is one tablespoon powdered gelatin to each 85gm pack of jelly crystals. And you know how jelly crystals never quite dissolve completely, there's always floaties on the bottom when you pour the mixture into moulds? Nerea recommends microwaving the jug for a few seconds to dissolve perfectly every time!
Nerea took care of the choy today (always with sesame oil and fish/oyster sauce) but for the first time we got to serve it in the choy-shaped serving dish she got me for Christmas. Eating a food off a dish shaped like that food? Awesome!
Couple that with a glass of icy cold cola and Ferris Bueller and you've got one enchanted evening.
Even our kitten Grover was trying to stick her face in our bowls to lick up the cheesy remnants. Are you dumber than a cat? I didn't think so. Get it down 'ya.

Jambalaya!

2010-11-10T22:30:00.006+11:00

This is what we're all thinking about, right?

I've been thinking about making jambalaya for a looong, long time ever since I read a book on Creole cooking a friend loaned to me but it was only today that I decided that it was finally time to make it. I found this blog called I Made That! which is brimming with recipes I'm dying (ie. drowning in my own drool) to try. So I've bookmarked a bunch of things to try soon but the jambalaya could not wait. I called Michael straight away and told him that we were definitely having it for dinner tonight.
I'm not going to copy the recipe over because it would involve translating from ounces to grams and crap like that so if you want to read it follow the link. I followed it pretty much exactly with a few necessary changes: I didn't get pork sausages (because payday isn't 'til tomorrow and I'm a little broke), I couldn't find Andouille sausages (because Epping is a cultural wasteland) so I used chorizo instead, I upped the chicken thighs to five and I used one of those three-packs of capsicums with the red, yellow and green for extra colour.

Look how pretty!

Also, I'd just like to say "FOR SHAME, EPPING SAFEWAY!" for already having closed their deli at 6:30pm. What is this, the middle ages? I had to buy pre-packaged Don chorizo.

So, a word to the wise, don't make this if you're in a rush. It's very easy to put together but chopping all the ingredients took an eternity.
The great thing about this recipe though, is that it smells and looks delicious from the very, very beginning. I could've eaten it at the bacon and chorizo stage, I could've eaten it immediately after adding the capsicum and I was just about ready to chow down on a pan of raw rice towards the end.

Comin' along nicely.

On an impulse Michael went ran out to rent The Princess and The Frog (which was actually really good) to go with dinner and when he came home he was almost floored by the amazing smells that'd filled the whole house.

It was amazingly delicious, so meaty and spicy and paprika-y. I wish I could eat it forever! I've never had jambalaya before so I don't have anything to compare it to but if this is what New Orleans is like then "I want to go to there!"

"New Or-le-uns! Home of pirates, drunks and whores..."

Michael's already gone to bed so he can't give his final word but I think the way he was too busy inhaling it to tell me what he thought speaks for itself.
Seriously, make this. You will not regret it.

The Elvis Burger

2010-10-02T20:28:00.012+10:00

There's a 50s diner at Epping Plaza that Michael and I have been to a couple of times called The Juke Joint that has an 'Authentic Elvis Burger'. Having never actually met Mr. Presley, I can't speak for how authentic this burger is. As far as I can tell, all that makes it Elvisy is a bit of peanut butter spread on the bun. Other than that it's just your standard lettuce-pickle-tomato deal. Nothing overly amazing.
Still, there's something great about putting peanut butter in a savoury context.
Staying in the Juke Joint vein, I thought I'd knock it up a notch by making patties with peanut butter in them and top them off with loads of crispy bacon. Mmm-mmm! I'm sure Elvis would approve.

Little Elvis, starving for my burgers, courtesy of my brother, Jeremy.

Here's how you do it:
In a big bowl combine 1kg beef mince (you can use lean mince, the fat in the peanut butter will hold everything together and keep it nice and juicy), 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter, 1 egg, a grated onion, a few shakes of cumin, 1/2 tsp. chili powder, pepper and a little salt (but remember, the peanut butter's already kinda salty) and squish it all together with your hands 'til it's nice and mixed up. Gradually add breadcrumbs until the meat is less sticky and a nice consistency.
Shape your patties, wrap each in Gladwrap and chill in the fridge for about half an hour.
Meanwhile, cook some bacon (I did two short cut rashers per burger). I decided to try doing mine in the oven as I'm told that's the best way to get it nice and crispy. Plus, I cooked it on an oven tray with a little rack in it so the fat drains off (and let's face it, we need all the fat-cutting help we can get here, ha-ha!)
Like so.

Cook the bacon for about 15 minutes at 200oC (400oF) or 20 minutes if you want it nice and crispy. When it's done, turn the oven right down to keep the bacon warm.
Fry the patties, laying some cheese right on top after flipping them and once done to your liking, load onto a bun with lettuce, mayo, ketchup and lots of bacon. Enjoy with a glass of cleansing grapefruit juice!
I really loved how this turned out. The peanut butter is there, but it doesn't overpower the taste of beef. Everything works together. The only thing I'd add is some golden sauteed onions, but honestly, what dish doesn't benefit from the addition of onions?
Definitely a meal fit for the King.

Most importantly, this burger get the Michael seal of approval.

Quickie Blog: The Peppermint Martin

2010-09-22T23:39:00.004+10:00

So my cousin Martin and his wife Fiona both just turned 30 and on Friday we are having a family dinner to celebrate! I have been given cookie duty and I spent a long time today thinking about what kind of cookies to make. I'd almost completely settled on peanut butter cookies when I made the mistake of actually texting my cousin and asking him what kind of cookies he and Fiona liked.
He said "I like 100s and 1000s cookies and Mint Slice and Fiona likes anything with berries."
Sooo....you want peppermint with berries and sprinkles? Yeah, that ain't gonna happen.
But I thought it'd be a cool idea to invent a choco-mint cookie just for Martin as an awesome 30th birthday present.
This is what I came up with:

The Peppermint Martin
Combine 2 cups of plain flour, 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/4 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, beat together 180g cubed, unsalted butter and 1/3 cup each of caster sugar and brown sugar until creamy. Add 1 egg and 2 tsp. peppermint essence and stir 'til well combined.
Melt 150g of milk chocolate chips in the microwave and stir into the butter mixture, then gradually begin adding the flour 'n' cocoa and stir well to combine.
Finally, add 100g milk chocolate chips and 4 coarsly crushed Peppermint Crisp bars and give your arms a workout stirring them through the dough.
Tip the dough out onto a large piece of baking paper and form into a log shape. Roll dough up in the paper and roll like a Play-Doh snake until it's an nice even log, about 6-7cm in diameter. Wrap the log up in a big piece of aluminium foil over the baking paper and twist the ends nice 'n' tight to make a giant bonbon.
Stash the log in the freezer for 40 minutes to firm up and you're ready to bake those suckers!
Preheat the oven to 150oC. Cut slices just under 1cm thick from the cookie dough log and place of a lined baking tray about 2cm apart.
Bake for 20 minutes. They'll be fairly soft when you pull them out of the oven but they'll firm up heaps. Cool them on the tray for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

These cookies are absolutely delicious! There's a perfect balance between the chocolate and mint flavours and the Peppermint Crisp bits stay deliciously chewy. I can't wait to make more and eat more! In the words of the Dilmah man, "do try it."

Pickles, Burgers and Why I May Never Eat Pork Again

2010-09-05T13:50:00.005+10:00

The story of how I came to have one of the best burgers of my life goes back about a week.
I can never leave the house without at least one book in my bag to read. Having just finished Sense and Sensibility and in a rush to leave the house for work I grabbed the first thing I lay my hands on: Lord Of The Flies.
I hadn't read it in several years and I forgot how legitimately disturbing it was. Still I finished it fairly quickly and after the initial feelings of dread that usually follow the conclusion of such a book, I thought nothing more of it.
Fast forward to Friday night when Michael and I were doing our fortnightly shop. We were walking past the butcher when I saw a giant hunk of pork rind for a mere $3. "BARGAIN!," thought I. Pork rind meant pork crackling. Michael was as excited as I was and a few minutes later we were walking back to the car with the delicious rind tucked safely in amongst our other groceries.
The very next day I began extensive research into how the best cracking was made and then, armed with a few ideas, I went and unwrapped the pork.
Much to my horror and disgust it was covered in thick, black pig hairs. I considered trying to remove the hairs with tweezers but there were too many hairs, too close to the skin and the smell was fast making me feel sick. Please don't think I'm squeamish, I'm not, but memories of the book came flooding back and it was all too much for me to handle. I quickly threw it away.
Still, no matter how hard I scrubbed my hands, I couldn't get rid of the smell. I don't know whether the smell actually lingered or whether it was all in my mind but I had to make something even more potent-smelling to override it.
The best thing I could think to make was pickled onions. The last time I made them you could smell them through the whole house. I found the recipe here a few weeks ago via Tastespotting.
I've adapted it slightly to taste and then increased the amounts because there's no ways that one onion's worth of pickles would satisfy me and my pickle-loving brother who demanded a jar or two.
In a large saucepan combine:
3 2/3 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups water
a little under a cup of white sugar
4-5 dried bay leaves
20 each of whole cloves, allspice and peppercorns
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp. coriander seeds
1 tbs. dried chilli flakes and
salt to taste.

Bring these to the boil and then add 5 thinly sliced red onions. Stir them around in the vinegar mixture and cook over the heat for 30 seconds to a minute. Then turn off heat and cool before putting the onions in jars.
They're dead easy and dead delicious, plus they look beautiful too.
I decided that for dinner that night we were going to have burgers as a vehicle for the delicious onions and somehow ended up making the most delicious burger patties ever!
I whisked together 2 eggs, a generous amount of garlic paste, salt, pepper, paprika, oregano and cumin and then combined this with 1 kg beef mince. Add breadcrumbs 'til the mince mixture has reached your desired consistency. Form into patties and firm them up in the fridge for about half an hour before cooking them.
The best bit of the cooking was putting the cheese straight on the patty to melt after the first side had cooked, just like I'd always seen at my favourite burger places.Once the burgers were cooked I loaded them onto toasted buns with lettuce, the pickles and some homemade chilli jam. They were absolutely to die for!

Bread and Pizza

2010-08-13T13:37:00.011+10:00

The frightening thing about yeast is that usually you only cook with dead things. Yeast is alive. It goes into the bread, helps to make it delicious and then....then you kill it.
Ordinarily you have no problem dealing with death in the kitchen. You have a chicken, it's dead, you cook it. With dough, however, it fails to rise and you think "Oh, the yeast must have died. OH CRUEL FATE, IT NEVER HAD A CHANCE!" And then you wonder "Did I kill it? Was it too warm there by the heater?" As you tip the useless dough into the bin the guilt is almost overwhelming. How can you go on? You just have to take a deep breath and hope that the next batch of yeast is somehow made of stronger stuff.
Such were my fears as I prepared to make bread from scratch for the first time but the enticement of delicious carbs and the memories of Mum baking countless yeasty goodies during the cold winter holidays of my childhood finally allowed me to overcome my trepidation and embrace The Leaven.

This is the basic bread recipe I use, the great thing about it is that it doubles as pizza dough.
I only use instant yeast which costs slightly more than dry yeast but is heaps easier to use; you just chuck everything together. There's no proving the yeast beforehand.

Put 300ml lukewarm water in a bowl. Remember that if the water is too hot then you will kill the yeast stone dead and you don't want that on your conscience.
Over the water sprinkle 2 tsp. instant yeast, salt to taste and a drizzle of oil. Whisk everything into the water and then gradually start to add 500g bakers flour, whisking as you go. Once everything's starting to come together and you can't whisk it anymore you can turn it out onto the bench and start kneading. Here's a very informative video on how to knead dough. 8 minutes kneading is usually plenty of time. Put the dough in a clean bowl that's been rubbed with oil. Turn the dough a couple times to coat it in oil too so it doesn't stick to the bowl as it rises. Cover it with Gladwrap or a clean tea towel and put it in a warm spot. The ideal temperature is about 35oC. Let it rise for an hour to an hour and a half, until the dough's doubled in size.
Then comes Michael's favourite part: punching down the dough. And it's exactly what it sounds like, you just punch the dough to let the air escape. Knead it again breifly, then you can shape it into a free form loaf on a baking tray or stick it into a loaf pan. If you like a soft crust brush it with milk, if you prefer a crunchy crust brush it with water.
Most sources will advise you to let it rise a little before baking it but you can skip this step if you put the bread into a cold oven and then turn on the heat.
So bake the bread at 180oC for about an hour until it's golden (if you're after a really crisp crust, continue brushing it with water throughout the cooking). To test whether it's cooked, tap the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds hollow then it's cooked.

To use the dough for pizza, divide it into two after the punch down. Roll a portion out, put it on a pizza stone or tray. Cook with the pizza sauce for 6 minutes at 250oC, put the rest of the toppings on and cook for another 6 minutes.

Then you can make all manner of delicious pizzas and breads! And you can make the best bruschetta you ever had.

Surpisingly Tasty Apricot Chicken

2010-07-18T22:27:00.003+10:00

If you're Australian then chances are you have some kind of a relationship with apricot chicken. For the uninitiated it usually contains one or more of the following ingredients*:

Dried apricots
Apricot jam
Apricot nectar and/or
French onion soup mix

Sweet sassy molassy (!), that's a potently disgusting combination. I don't remember ever having this as a child, I'd have to thank my friend Mitchell for introducing me to it. To my credit, I tried his version several times before deciding that it wasn't for me. One of the more memorable conversations of our friendship would be when I finally gave up the charade and told him I actually didn't enjoy it as much as I'd led him to believe.
With patience and regular therapy, Mitchell and I were able to work through that particularly difficult time. Since then I have searched for an apricot chicken that he and I could enjoy together and I have finally found it.
I have sung praises for Jane Lawson's book Grub before but I think it's worth repeating. It really is a great book. It's full of classic recipes (recipes so classic that one might forget to ask a mother or grandmother how they're actually made) but they're by no means pedestrian. It's also full of beautiful pictures and I have to say, my favourite cook books are the ones where each recipe has a little blurb talking about why the author loves it.
Anyway, from the first time I flicked through this book I've been dying to try the apricot chicken. Not a sachet of onion soup in sight! Here's my slightly adapted version:

Lightly season 12 chicken drumsticks and, working in batches, fry them in some olive oil until they're browned on all sides. Set aside.
To the same pan add 2 chopped stalks of celery, 1-2 chopped carrots and one chopped brown onion. Sautee until everything's softened, about 10 minutes.
Add 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 2 tsp. cumin, 5 cm piece of fresh ginger and 4 cloves of garlic, both finely chopped. Stir them around for 30 seconds or so until it's nice and aromatic. To this mixture add 1 tbs. honey, 750 ml chicken stock, 250 ml water and 180g dried apricots, sliced. Stir everything together and return the chicken to the pan. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cover until chicken is cooked through and tender (about 25 minutes.)
Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and keep warm. Bring the sauce back up to the boil for 10-15 until it's thickened and glossy. Return the chicken and stir to coat in the sauce. At this stage you can add a handful of chopped coriander but of course, for Michael's sake, I didn't (incidentally, if you agree with him on the coriander front, you might enjoy this site.)
Serve with mashed potato, rice or cous cous. During the last five minutes of sauce thickening, I threw together some cous cous with a tin of chick peas and two tsp. chicken stock powder.
Sprinkle some toasted flaked almonds over the chicken for a flavour/texture explosion! Do not overcook the almonds while rumaging through the pantry looking for cous cous, like I did.
Garnish with more coriander or some parsley and enjoy!

Michael's final word: Now this is a surprise, an apricot chicken that doesn't taste and act like poison. Not only that but it tasted awesome. There was so much moaning and gasping while we ate that I wonder what the nieghbours are thinking. As usual I give this meal the trademark Michael stamp of approval.

*If you're really curious you can check out this example of a typical apricot chicken recipe.

Warm Potato Salad

2010-07-11T20:08:00.007+10:00

Hello everyone! Apologies for my long, unexplained absence. It's been a while since I cooked anything really blog-worthy. But now things are back in full swing and I will be bringing lots of new and exciting dishes.

My cousin Nerea and I have things called PCJ dates where we come together to eat potatoes, bok choy and jelly. It is a time-honoured tradition and the things we eat never change. However, we are always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to dress up those delicious potatoes. We've done scalloped potatoes, hashbrowns and all sorts of things!

She made this for us on Friday night and it was so delicious that I had to make it for Michael and myself on Sunday.
I've adapted the recipe (and by adapted I mean added anchovies and chives) from the original found in Women's Weekly.

The first thing you will need is about a kilo of waxy potatoes, the recipe suggests nicola. My supermarket only carries the washed and still-dirty varieties and doesn't tell you whether they're floury or waxy. I think the ones I ended up getting were called...I dunno...Courtesans or something. They were definitely floury though, or I may've just overcooked them. But I'm a busy lady! I'm not going to neglect my favourite web comic just for some damn potatoes.
So boil the potatoes for 10 minutes or so until they're cooked but still firm. Drain and cut in to large bite-sized pieces. (I also forgot to mention that you can peel them but I didn't bother. It's not a coronation for goodness sakes, it's my dinner!)
While the potatoes cook, fry some bacon. I know that's infuriatingly vague but the original recipes says to use panchetta and I wasn't making a special trip to the deli. I used six shortcut rashers but it wasn't enough so I'd recommend getting more. Start the bacon in a cold pan and cook it over medium heat until it's really crispy, turning occasionally. This took me about 20 minutes or so. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, crumble and set aside.

Put the bacon pan back on the heat and add about 1/8 cup chopped capers (I like the big caperberries with stems on them, not baby capers), 6 chopped anchovies and a dash of the anchovy oil, 6-8 finely sliced gherkins (you don't know the meaning of the word 'menial' until you've sliced gherkins) and 1-2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard. Stir everything around until the mustard's mixed with the bacon fat and everything's nicely coated. Add 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar and stir to combine. Gradually add 1/3 cup olive oil, stirring well as you go (it sounds like a lot but it's just the right amount for this much potato.)

Add the potatoes and bacon back to the pan, stir and heat through. Add a generous handful of roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley and chives and gently toss everything together. Season with salt 'n' pepper and set aside.

Now to poach an egg. This was a first for me. Though my dad makes perhaps the best poached eggs on the planet I've never asked him to teach me so I was at a bit of a loss. I decided to copy my cousins method and cook it in a bit of Gladwrap. Line a little bowl or ramekin with the 'wrap and crack the egg inside. My cousin managed to tie a knot in it but I couldn't so I just twisted the top. If you're going to do it this way make sure you liberally spray the inside of the Gladwrap with non-stick spray. Make sure the water's only at a low boil and if you're concerned about the thickness of your plastic wrap, do two layers.

A sad looking egg parcel.

Cook one egg per person for about 4 minutes or until they're cooked to your liking.
While the eggs are cooking, serve the potato salad into bowls (this is supposed to serve four...or two if you really like potatoes which we do.) Top with a poached egg and garnish with some extra herbs and freshly ground pepper. I tried to garnish with an extra anchovy but there's no way to make a limp, dead, hairy little fish look decorative.
ENJOY!

If you're wondering whether this was FREAKIN' DELICIOUS, it was! I want to eat it all the live long day! If you'd asked me a year ago which foods I hated I would've said capers and anchovies but now I love them! I just never knew how good they could be. If your only experience of anchovies is those crusty salt explosions on pizza then how could you like them?!
The sweetness of the gherkins really compliment the salty bacon and anchovies.
Everything in the salad is in harmony. To paraphrase Iron Chef: "I think the [potatoes] are happy."

Anyway, both Michael and I highly recommend that you try this out. Your tastebuds will thank you!

Next week: An Apricot Chicken recipe that doesn't make me want to vomit a bit in my mouth!

Quadruple Chocolate Cookies

2010-03-08T15:29:00.003+11:00

Since I started cooking I've always loved inventing recipes but with baking it's a lot more difficult. A few years ago I tried inventing some cookies. The recipe included butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, coconut, rice bubbles, mixed spice, baking soda and flour and appears under the COMPLETE DISASTER, NEVER ATTEMPT AGAIN section of my notebook of recipes.
Seriously, what was I thinking?
Anyway, I gave up on inventing baked goods for a while and the second time I attempted it I used a more scientific approach. I read a bit about Baking Science (this is a good website: Baking and Baking Science), read a lot of other recipes and then crossed my fingers until they were twisted arthritic hunks of bones and flesh.
This recipe is my pride and joy; they're super chocolatey, rich and fudgy and they're every chocolate lover's dream.

Preheat the oven to 180o (355oF).
Sift together 1 1/2 cups white flour, 1 1/2 cups soft brown sugar and 3/4 cup cocoa. Sifting brown sugar is a pain in the arse but it's worth it!
Make a well in the flour mixture.
In a double boiler melt 180g unsalted butter and 150g dark cooking chocolate. Add the chocolate mixture and 3 lightly beaten eggs to the flour and stir it all together until there're no dry bits. Add 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips and 3/4 cup white chocolate chips and combine.
Place tablespoonfuls of the mixture on a greased or lined baking tray and bake for 7-9 minutes.
The cookies should be just set when you pull them out of the oven (so usually 7 minutes is all it takes.) They will still be soft to the touch but they'll firm up as they cool while still staying chewy on the inside.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before moving them to a rack to cool completely.
Once cool, store in a air tight container. I can't tell you how long they keep because they always get eaten on the same day.

Michael's final word: I eat 'em! That's why they never get to see both a sunrise and a sunset. I eat them, as many as I can as quickly as I can. They are so warm and creamy that it's such a joy to take each bite. She made them twice this weekend, one lot for my family and another for her's and both times I was excited to see those delicious chocolatey cookie emerge from the oven. Can't wait to see what she makes next!

Christmas and Fresh Pesto

2009-12-27T14:14:00.000+11:00

I hope you don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this Christmas was the best Christmas ever! Not only did I get to spend it with wonderful Michael for the first time (of many) and get showered with presents but I also got to eat so much wonderful food.

Our family celebrates Christmas on the 24th so early Thursday morning Mum picked me up and drove me back to hers to enlist my help in preparing for the epic family feast.
My biggest job of the day was to bake a pavlova. I'd never made a pav before so I was a little apprehensive but it turned out delightful. Crisp 'n' brown on the outside, marshmallowy on the inside......or so I was told. I was really full of Mum's delicious Christmas parfait so I planned on trying some of the leftovers the next day. But then Mum took it back to the kitchen, tripped and...
...pavlova, meet cranberry sauce. No perfect pav for me.
Anyway, Christmas was awesome and there were plenty of lovely presents.
Today's installment focuses on three of my favourite presents: a George Foreman blender from Michael's devine mum, a pasta machine from the best cousin ever and a beautiful mortar and pestle from Michael.
For the longest time I've wanted to make pesto myself and now that I've got my little George Foreman I can! So I consulted Mum for a recipe...I'm not sure whether I should divulge family secrets but.....
I put the leaves of two bunches of basil in the blender, added 5 cloves of garlic and two handfuls of grated parmesan cheese and blended them 'til they were smooth enough. Mum told me I should add the oil in a steady stream while blending to get the consistency right but my blender doesn't have one of those holes in the lid for adding things while it's going so I just had to add a glug of oil and hope for the best. Then when that's done you add a handful of pinenuts and [the secret family ingredient] and pulse. You don't want the pinenuts to be ground up, you just want them chopped a little.
When I was done the pesto was a little thin (Mum says you should be thick enough to cut it), probably due to the way I added the oil so I ground up some more pinenuts and [secret family ingredient] in my new mortar and pestle and stirred them through the pesto.
The only problem is that, for the amount of pesto, there's too much garlic. It's enough to make you cross-eyed. Luckily Michael and I really like garlic.

Then it was time to bust out the pasta machine.
Mum says that when she's making spaghetti or any other long pasta she likes to make them with just the egg yolk. Her rule it 175g of flour to 4 egg yolks. Unfortunately I have no scales so I just had to gestimate. I think I probably ended up with about 375g of flour.
So you take your flour and dump it on a clean bench, make a little well in the top and start adding the yolks and mixing them through the flour. I used 7 yolks coz that's what I had. Mum says that at the end you should have a very stiff dough. I just had crumbs. So then I started adding a little water until it all came together. I don't know if that was right but what you gonna do?
Then it's time to start putting it through The Machine. You smoosh it a little flat, flour each side and put it through the rollers at the widest setting. Then you fold it in half, flour it again and repeat. You do this a couple of times 'til it's nice and smooth.I had to occasionally cut it in half so it was more manageable. Then you start feeding it through on the thinner settings. I did it once on 2, 3, 4 and 5, then jumped up to 7. After that it was quite thin enough, even though it goes up to 9.
Then I started with a pasta cutting (?)
Glorious!
I worked my way through all the dough and hung it all on the clothes horse to dry.
The pasta only took about 3 minutes to cook coz it was super fresh. Then you take about half a cup of the pesto and mix it with 1/3 cup of the water that the pasta cooked in and stir it through the pasta. Scatter with a few more pinenuts, parmesan and a fresh sprig of basil. Om-nom-nom!
Michael's final word: Yum! Oh my gosh! What a perfect treat waiting for me today! I've never had homemade pasta or pesto before and now I'm not sure I'll be able to eat the 'bought stuff' ever again. Sarah is truly a genius.
So I would like to truly thank everyone for all their wonderful Christmas presents that made tonight's dinner possible.
Happy New Year, y'all!
PS- Sarah's pesto is the besto (That made her laugh.)

Aromatic Stewed Tomatoes and Eggs

2009-12-19T22:57:00.000+11:00

Some time ago I bought this awesome cookbook called Grub by Australian Jane Lawson.
It's all about food that she remembers from growing up and even if you're not in the mood to cook, it's great to flick through and read about why each recipe is special to her.
Unfortunately I've been really slack. Even though I've had this book for about a year and read it at least a dozen times I've never cooked anything from it. I decided that tonight was the night!
It wasn't an easy choice, there was the home made baked beans, coq au vin, a recipe for apricot chicken that didn't make me want to puke (alas, coriander), beef stroganoff...luckily Michael got home and made the decision for me: aromatic stewed tomatoes with eggs.I won't go into the recipe in depth, the story here is about all the new experiences it afforded.
It involved making a thick sauce of tinned chopped tomatoes, garlic, red onion, red chilli, paprika, red capsicum, lemon zest, basil, parsley, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar.
There were a few obstacles. Michael forgot the red onion ("there were too many ingredients that started with 'red' on the shopping list!") so I used brown to no ill-effect. The next hurdle was that I couldn't find my zester so I had to vegetable-peel slices of zest from the lemon and try to finely chop them. It was okay but I occasionally bit into a big ol' bit of peel that I'd missed.
The interesting part was that I've never cooked with fresh chilli before. I have a morbid fear of getting chilli ever since this one time when I was 10 and we were at a Vietnamese restaurant and I stuck my fingers in a bowl of raw chopped chilli and then accidentally rubbed my eye. All I remember was being in the kitchen with two waiters and one going "MILK IS GOOD FOR CHILLI!" and then them trying to pour milk into my eye.
Aaaanyway, I chopped the chilli with plastic bags over my hands. It was a little cumbersom but I've rubbed my eyes several times since and they're fine! HA-HA-HA-HAAA!
And about the paprika, it was really good in this. And I don't say that lightly, because I hate paprika. When I was young (yes, another story from my childhood) I was watching Oprah and she had a segment all about putting paprika on potato salad. She was all like "I didn't think anyone sprinkled paprika on their potato salad but then we got all these letters in from woman who sprinkle paprika on their potato salad." And then they had this procession of women with their various potato salads all sprinkled with paprika. Then someone was like "paprika's also really good on grilled cheese." So I tried it and it was gross and ever since I've hated paprika.
Anyway, I was brave and still put it in and it was delicious.
So once the tomatoes are all stewed and thickened up you crack 6 eggs straight into it, put the lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes and serve on hot buttered toast, garnished with fresh parsley and basil.
Deeeelicious!!
I remember Mum making something like this when I was very, very young so it tasted like home to me.
It even got the Michael seal of approval and he's not a big fan of tomatoes. He started by saying "I thought we were at home....not a fancy restaurant! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk." and then went on to say "even better than I though they'd be and I thought they'd be great!"

No leftovers.

Nachos

2009-12-13T09:50:00.000+11:00

"They're mine, nachos." Max, Sam & Max.

Nachos, to me, are one of those things that you don't really get to eat until you're an adult...or at least in your late teens.
I remember a few much-enjoyed occasions when I was allowed to have them at a restaurant but other than that I never really ate them 'til my later years of high school. My boyfriend at the time and I used to eat them constantly and now that I think about it, his mum must've spent a small fortune on Doritos, salsa and cheese.
That was so long ago and there've been many a nacho since so I've pretty much perfected my technique. Now, you might be sitting there thinking "How hard is it to make nachos? Surely there's no technique or skill to nacho construction."

WRONG!!

Several months ago I decided to make nachos in the oven. If I had to pick the main mistake it would be the layers. In theory it sounds fine to do a layer of chips, salsa, cheese and repeat it a couple of times. You get even sauce distribution, plenty of cheese...what's not to love?
What I didn't foresee was the chips completely dissolving as a result of too much sauce. What we ended up with was a nacho casserole with 'hint-o-corn' flavour.
It was tasty but it wasn't right, dammit!!

So last night Michael and I were well into the lengthy process of choosing what to have for dinner when I though how good nachos would be. We set out to the supermarket to obtain our supplies.
Now, to me there are two kinds of nachos. You can go with Hasty Slapdash Nachos which involve buying all the ingredients pre-made and just throwing them together, or you can do Proper Nachos.
I myself am not a huge fan of store-bought salsa for nachos. It's too sweet...I don't know, I can't quite put my finger on it. Needless to say, I made my own nacho topping last night and it went like this: 500g minced beef, cooked until brown. Add one 420g tin of chopped tomatoes and one 420g tin kidney beans, stir and then add a sachet of taco seasoning. I am well aware that using taco seasoning is cheating but I had it in the pantry and I happen to like it.
While that's cooking away you can make some guacamole.

"These would be great with guac-a-mole!" Zap Branigan, Futurama
Ordinary, plain avocado sliced or mashed is more than fine for nachos but for some time I've been dying to try making guacamole à la Nigella. I haven't watch the DVD in a while now but as far I could remember it basically involves lime juice and a lot of coriander. As you all know, however, my boyfriend won't tolerate delicious coriander in anything...and also there was none at the supermarket. All I did was mash an avocado with a generous squirt of Lazy Lime, salt, pepper, a couple of drops of Tabasco and a scant shake of garlic powder.
It was so delicious that it almost didn't make it onto the nachos. I had to keep testing it to make sure it wasn't poisonous. I am never having nachos without guacamole again!

So now we come to the exciting part, putting the nachos together.
You can do it however you like (who am I kidding, you're doing me a favour just reading this) but I've found that my way is pretty damn good.
Spread a small handfull of corn chips (plain, unsalted chips are a must!) on a plate and sprinkle with some mozarella cheese.
Pile more corn chips on top of the first cheesy layer. Now spread some of your beefy salsa stuff over the chips and cover with a further generous sprinkling of mozarella. Microwave on high for 2 minutes or until the cheese is gooood 'n' melted.
Now you add the guac' and obligatory sour cream. Garnish with coriander if you have some and enjoy!!!

Fun fact: Most 'Mexican' food we enjoy is actually what's known as Tex-Mex. Very few true Mexican recipes have cheese in them. This might be elementary to many Americans but it was news to me. Consult your local library for more information.

Nachos à la Sarah get Michael's "Om-Nom-Nom of Approval."

Onion Casserole and Peppermint Brittle

2009-11-18T22:14:00.000+11:00

I don't know how the rest of you feel, but I personally feel like I've been cooking a little safe. I don't feel like I'm testing my boundaries. I don't feel like I'm expanding my culinary horizons. I feel like sometimes when I start cooking I should feel terrified about the process and the outcome!

That's why I've set myself a list of goals and achievements that I want to accomplish on the road to epicurean greatness. Things like "bake a loaf of bread" because I'm totally scared of yeast (it's alive!), and "scale, gut and debone a fish". I will cook with ingredients that I'm unfamiliar with or perhaps even don't like. I will make the things that mum makes that I was always to lazy to do because I knew that she'd probably just make it for me at some point.

In the words of this kid:

Anyway, the things that I'm including in this blog mightn't seem that adventurous but the first recipe includes a can of cream of chicken soup (yuck!) and the second falls into the Mum's Recipes I Can't Be Bothered Cooking category. Yeah.

So the other day I was trawling Instructables.com when I can across this little treasure:

Cheesy Onion Casserole: Best Thanksgiving Side Dish Ever!

I've never celebrated a Thanksgiving in my life, but I know that's a big call. I knew I had to try it.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of the recipe, you can read it yourself. The part that I'm proud of is that I actually followed the recipe and used disgusting, yellow gelatinous cream of chicken soup from a tin. Soup in a tin was one of the few things my dad could cook and to this day I can't bring myself to eat it. However in this casserole, it was completely undetectable and helped make it delicious! I used Campbells (if you're going to use a disgusting ingredient, at least use the high end brand) so if you wanted to be wanky you could call it Andy Warhol casserole. I'm hilarious!

The only changes I made to the recipe were adding some BBQ chicken and using mozzarella instead of Swiss. I know Swiss goes well with onions but I just don't like it, dammit!

Ahhh, so beauteous and so delicious. It's not often that my version comes out looking as good as the picture on the recipe. So golden. Reviews on the recipe say that it tastes even better the next day but I wouldn't know, Michael ate all the leftovers.

And that brings us to my next recipe: Peppermint Brittle.
Mum's been making this one for a few years and it's really quite delicious. I have to admit that I'm not much of a fan of white chocolate or peppermint candy canes but when they're combined they become something wonderful!
I didn't purchase the full kilo of white chocolate, I just went with 750g (they come in little baggies on 250g at the supermarket and I wasn't about to buy four) and it's was enough to very generously cover a baking sheet. 500g would be more than enough if you were just making it for yourself.
And another word to the wise, if you're making this and you have to smash the candy canes, either do it in a food processor or buy some zip lock bags. I don't have a processor and I didn't buy bags and smashing the candy canes was an ordeal. First I broke them into more manageable pieces by hand and lay them between two sheets of baking paper. Wouldn't you know it, I couldn't find my rolling pin so I tried to smash them with my big olive oil bottle.
The pieces just kept falling out, onto the floor (bon appétit, ants) so I put them into a big bowl and tried to kick it mortar and pestle style. I don't know if you've ever had a shard of peppermint candy fly into your eye but let me tell you, it hurts!
I ended up doing it in the bowl with some baking paper over the top but it still took an eternity.
If you're living in the Melbourne area or any other place that's hot at the moment, I wouldn't recommend leaving it out of the fridge for long periods of time. Mine was already starting to melt by the time I'd taken mine out of the freezer and had broken it into pieces.
Unlike the onion casserole, mine didn't turn out look as idyllic as the original but it's still delicious. I highly recommend it for giving out at Christmas to your colleagues...because that's what my colleagues are demanding I do.

Camp Chops

2009-11-05T19:43:00.000+11:00

When I was learning how to cook my mum didn't make it easy.
This is how she dictates a recipe:
"Take some flour-"
"How much flour?"
"I don't know, enough. Then season it."
"With what?"
"Whatever you like."
"But not every herb goes with everything!"
"I don't know, whatever you want."
And so on and so forth in this fashion. It was infuriating. To this day I'm still not 100% confident on what goes with what but what I do know it this: lamb loves rosemary.

The walk from the train to my house is rich in fresh produce. There's about 10 houses with olive trees, loquat-laden branches hang enticingly over high fences, apricots grow on the trees on nature strips and most importantly there are three houses with giant rosemary bushes along the front fence-line.
Today, as we're having lamb, I decided to nick some on the way home.
The plan was simple: as I'm walking past I'll grab a fistful and without breaking stride I'll tear it off. The reality was that I almost snapped my arm off at the shoulder because rosemary stalks can be surprisingly tough and thick. So then I was stuck lingering in front of the house looking guilty, throwing furtive glances for movement behind the curtains.
I rubbed the leaves between my fingers and smelt them. "Ha," I thought, "anyone inside will just think I'm admiring the plant!" Then I struck my blow, grabbing a handful of leaves and thin, weak stalks. Then I power walked the rest of the way home, never looking backwards. I am bad.

And now to tonight's dinner.
I went to camp when I was about 14 where, on the clothing list, we were instructed to bring a clean, empty Milo tin. We were all curious about what it was for. As it turned out it was for a delicious dinner!
You take your tin and put in a lamb chop, two potatoes cut in half, a carrot chopped in half, a tablespoon of instant gravy powder and glug of water. Then you put the lid on (you need to punch a few holes in it first) and set it in the coals of a fire. Some time later (it was too long ago to remember exactly how long) you take it off the coals and it's all deliciously cooked.
Okay, it's not exactly gourmet but it's still good!

So I was reminiscing about this today and I thought I'd try an oven version.

So as you'll recall from two paragraphs ago, I scored some totally sweet illegal rosemary. I decided that I'd kick it roast leg of lamb style and cut little slits in the chops and slide in a slice of garlic and a few rosemary leaves.
I did one and I thought "I am insane" but I had to persevere.
I spread four potatoes cut into eighths on the bottom of a oven dish with a lid. Then I shook some salt over the potatoes before putting the chops on top.
Pour two cups of gravy over the top, put the lid on and cook for an hour in a 200o oven.
It was very delicious! The rosemary and garlic, though fiddly and insane, really paid off.

Michael's final word: Nothing beats coming home from work and having the smell of rosemary and lamb greet you, hand you your slippers and take your briefcase (1. Smells can't actually perform domestic duties and 2. I don't have a briefcase.)
Sarah treats every meal with a care and it's a joy to come home to her cooking. She can make chops and potatoes a feast!

Dinner Fail

2009-11-05T12:59:00.000+11:00

"What do you want for dinner tonight?" The eternal struggle.
Often, as I'm leaving for work I'll say to Michael "Think about what you want for dinner."
When I get home he'll invariably say "Oh...I forgot to think about it." I can't say I blame him, thinking up what to have is such a drag and while I could get angry at him for his indecision, I'm just as non-committal as he is.
Last night Michael was exhausted and I thought rather than bother him with ideas, I'd just try and think of something all by myself.
So I stood in front of the open pantry for 15 minutes doing absolutely nothing. You know what I discovered? We have six (yes, six) bottles of soy sauce at varying degrees of fullness. Just....how?!
So in the interest of actually using some of this stuff I decided to try for a sort of honey soy chicken. I've made it before for my brothers and it turned out quite well.

As you have probably already figured out by the title of this blog, it was a complete disaster so you'll forgive me for not giving exact measurements for ingredients.
I just squirted quite a large amount of honey and some soy into a bowl until it tasted right and then added a teaspoon of crushed ginger and a shake of garlic powder.
Doesn't sound too bad yet, right? A word to the wise: Never, I repeat, never use Red Box honey for something like this. The flavour is waaay too strong. Use something milder.
Anyway, I took the trusty ol' chicken drumsticks and I swished them around the bowl of sauce with my hands (very satisfying) and put them in my oven dish. It was too late for marinating.
Now, here's where the problems really began. There was a lot of sauce left so I thought, 'as there's no time for marinating, mayhap I shall pour the sauce over the chicken and it can marinate while it cooks.'
If only at that moment someone had burst into the room screaming “MISTAAAAAAAKE!” in the style of Dr. Katz (or Scrubs, depending on what side of the tracks you’re from.)
In retrospect it was a really moronic thing to do given that it was a sugar based sauce.
Anyway, blissfully ignorant of what I was doing I popped the chicken in a 200 degree oven and set about tidying up.

About 40 minutes later I said to Michael "Does it smell like burning to you?" It did.
I frantically pulled the chicken out of the oven and tried to remove the lid but it was fused on!!
"My God, it's locked itself in!" Michael cried, somewhat dramatically I thought. I frantically tugged at the scalding hot lid and it eventually yielded revealing, through a cloud of smoke, a disaster.
At this point I want to apologise for the absence of photos but I found the whole experience too traumatic for photography.
The chicken looked fine, if a little dehydrated, but the sauce it was sitting in was black and bubbling like the aftermath of a volcanic eruption. The air smelt acrid and the sauce tasted much the same. I had planned to pour that over the rice!! There wasn't going to be any delicious flavourful rice, the sauce had become bitter honey soy caramel. Yuck.

Like champions we ate the chicken but it was pretty awful. It was very dry which I suspect was the salt in the soy drawing out all its moisture and the rice, though cooked to perfection was bland because, honestly, it was just rice. Would that I'd had some coconut milk.
It was crap.

Michael very valiantly offered to go get me a cheeseburger from the obliging Maccas down the road but I didn't feel like I deserved it. I was ready to go off for some self-flagellation with an egg whisk (that'd hurt, right?)
Michael said it was okay. He said that up until now he'd thought I was some kind of superfreak because everything I'd cooked was 'perfect'. Now he knew I was normal.

Still, I went to bed feeling like a failure. Like I'd let myself and Michael down...but I didn't feel bad enough to try and clean the baking dish of its gross honey soy toffee.
Michael can do that.

Lamb Chop Pasta

2009-10-28T19:51:00.000+11:00

I love Aldi. When I walk into that festival of savings my eyes light up like those of a child in candy store. There's just so much! Whenever I'm there I run up and down the aisles grabbing more things than I can afford.
My latest trip to this German wonderland (or 'wunderland', if you will) was on Monday and it was no exception. Kristen and I stopped in on our way to Miss Libertine's on Franklin St. and I got heaps of stuff. An assortment of Asian dipping sauces, yellow, green and red curry pastes, coffee syrups (I don't even have coffee at home), gummi bears (there's no gummi like German gummi) and I even bought a policeman Matryoshka doll* for Michael.
The thing that really got me excited though was this pasta:
As soon as I saw it with it's beautiful colours and shape, I wanted it. And they had others! There were these gorgeous big spirals that Kristen got. It's actually really good pasta, I recommend it.
So that brings us to tonight's dinner. Straight off the bat I want to point out that this was a collaboration, okay. Neither Michael nor I can take full credit for the delicious meal we just finished eating.
What happened was this. I was sitting at my desk at work, bored out of my skull and thinking about what I was going to do for dinner. Due to the enormous number of bills I had to fork money out for just after payday, money's been pretty tight this fortnight. Tomorrow is payday again though and we still had four lamb chops sitting in the freezer so I figured, why not go nuts?
I called Michael and told him to defrost the chops, chuck them in the crock pot with a sauteed onion, two tins of chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and oregano. Turn it on high, I said, and leave it 'til I get home. See, I orchestrated it from work!! I'm the mastermind behind this operation.
Still, Michael did remarkably well. When I finally arrived home the sauce had been cooking for just over 5 hours and the house was filled with a beautiful aroma. Nothing was wanting, it was perfectly seasoned and the meat was falling to pieces. All that was left left for me to do was to shred the meat a bit and cook the pasta.
I love the way the pasta box included the instruction "do not overcook". Thanks guys.
I stirred a tablespoon of butter and a handful of parmesan through cooked pasta before adding the sauce.
It really was the most wonderfully satifying dinner. There was this amazingly deep marrowy flavour. The only thing to be wary of is the seemingly thousands of tiny bones to be found in lamb chops. You have to be really thorough picking them out when you're shredding the meat. I found a few in my pasta and I thought I'd got every single one.
The only thing I would change next time is perhaps to add a chopped carrot and some sliced mushrooms.
Definitely worth a try!

Michael's final word: I helped! I really did! This time I contributed more than going 'mmmmm...' after every bite. I listened to instructions through a phone and did them! I put chops in our Slow-cooker, poured tomatoes on them, added onion and awaited the richly deserved praise.
I'm nursing a pretty serious cold at the moment so my taste buds are taking a day off but even I could taste how delicious the pasta was. I love cooking with Sarah and I love any meat that has been cooking for longer than that new Che Guevara movie. So, let's just say that I have a very satifsied smile on my face.

*Wikipedia tells me that calling dolls that stack inside one another Babushka dolls is wrong. Matryoshka is, apparently, the proper name.

Chicken and Pasta Salad

2009-10-19T20:32:00.000+11:00

What the hell is with the weather lately?! Miserable over the weekend, gloriously sunny and warm during the week. That dog won't hunt, Monsignor.

I'm actually at work, gazing longingly throught the skylight to the clear blue, cloudless infinity beyond. Who wants to talk about boring old toll roads when there's such weather to be enjoyed?!

What I wouldn't give to be stretched out on the grass or the beach with a good book (I've just bought a Bill Bryson book on the English language!)

Anyway, there is no escape from this work-a-day world so I must content myself with sitting at this poorly decorated desk and fantasising about summery foods (despite the fact there there is a good month and a bit of Spring left.)

There are so many beautiful foods that say Summer to me. Just about any sort of barbeque, tomato, cucumber and mint salad, cold bacon and egg pies...the list is endless and delicious.

One of my favourite things to eat when I'm pining for the outdoors is pasta salad.

Just to appease my mum I ought to point out that this is not the gluggy supermarket pasta salad in creamy sauce (though it is one of my guilty pleasures), this is proper pasta salad with a proper dressing.

Because I usually make it when I'm exhausted I start with a BBQ chicken from the supermarket. What could be nicer? Stripping all the chicken off the carcass is very cathartic and I get to eat the delicious skin...sometimes I even share it with Michael, but then he's more of a stuffing man.

Chuck all the flaked chicken into a big bowl and start adding things like mushrooms, cucumber, capsicum, radishes, salad onion, cherry tomatoes (amazingly sweet at this time of the year), snow peas and avocado. These obviously should be chopped or sliced how you like them.

Yesterday at the supermarket they had no Lebanese cucumbers so for the first time I had to buy a Continental one. Ugh! The skin's so thick. Now I know why Mum never buys them. Lebanese cucumbers are the only ones to use.

While you're chopping your vegetables cook some pasta (spirals are good). With everything else in the salad you'll probably only need 250g.

Add 50g of fresh baby spinach leaves and pour the hot pasta (drained, of course) over the top of everything.

Dress with salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and sweet grainy mustard. Trust me, the mustard makes the dressing. Toss everything together and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. The dressing and the heat of the pasta will soften/cook the spinach and mushrooms somewhat so they're nice and soft and delicious.

Then you eat!

Ah, so good. So satisfying. So summery!

The one thing that I've learned from this exercise is that I need a bigger salad bowl or I need to put less in my salad. The bowl I have was big enough but when it came to tossing it, I couldn't. I had to tip everything into our big saucepan.

That aside, it's a perfect meal. It has everything and leaves you wanting for nothing.

I'm going to sit here and pray that there are some of last night's leftovers still uneaten when I get home.

Panko-Coated Chicken

2009-10-14T19:44:00.000+11:00

About two months ago I bought a big bag of panko bread crumbs. I'd read a lot about them in Japanese cooking and having also eaten them wrapped around many delicious things I'm convinced it's the only way to deep fry.
That being said though, I bought the panko crumbs with no intention of doing any frying. I can almost never be bothered with it. You've got to heat the oil and cook it and then there's the risk that your heart will explode just from looking at it.
So the poor panko sat in my cupboard not doing anything until finally I decided it was high time to put them to good use. My good American friend sent me some packets of dry ranch dressing mix and a bunch of my other good American friends suggested that one of the best ways to use it was to sprinkle it over chicken.
I mixed it with some panko, crumbed some drumsticks (having first rolled them in flour and dipped them in beaten egg) and cooked them for 45 minutes on high.
It was so good!! I wanted to eat it every day. The problem was that I only have two packets of dry ranch and I want to save one for something else...I haven't decided what yet.
I've learnt, though that panko-coated drumsticks are delicious even without ranch powder in them. I highly recommend them.
I don't know exactly how much panko I use, I just get a dinner plate and keep pouring til the surface of the plate is generously covered. I then add salt, pepper, mixed herbs, powdery Parmesan and some mixed herbs that I bought from Aldi called 'seasoning for chicken'.
A word on the chicken seasoning, it's amazing! I haven't seen it since I bought it July and I just got 'round it using it. It really is very good. If you can pick it up, definitely try it out.
So mix all the seasonings and the panko together 'til they're well combined. Dip the chicken it some flour, dip it in the egg and roll it around in the crumbs. Put it in a baking dish and sprinkle some more cheese if you like (I do) and bake at 220o until they're crispy and golden.
Num city!!
I served them with a balsamic rocket salad and some corn that I'd cooked with a tiny bit of cream, cheese and some flour to thicken. Michael wolfed it down.
In the words of the Dilma man: "Do try it!"

Michael's final word: Americans have ca-razy food. Their supermarkets must look like a chocolate-coated nirvana. Dry ranch dressing is something we dream of in this country and Sarah, of course, used it in an imaginitive way, as a coating on drumsticks.

And who can make corn interesting? She can.

To quote my favourite cook, "Num City!!"

No-Brainer Mushrooms

2009-10-02T19:44:00.000+10:00

To my mind there is nothing so prized and exalted as mushrooms cooked with garlic.
There's this cafe is University Hill in Melbourne called Degani where Michael and I often go for late breakfasts and we always (always) have scrambled eggs, bacon and a large side of the mushrooms. I don't know what they do to them but they taste beautiful! I think they're cooked in bacon fat and MSG and laced with LSD. Michael and I have different tactics. He dives into the mushies as soon as is possible whereas I leave them 'til last. We always say that next time we're just going to get the mushrooms but I guess we love bacon a lot too.
Anyway, tonight Michael's working the late shift so I only need to organise dinner for myself and it just so happened that I had some mushrooms sitting in the fridge just begging to be used.
I know when Michael gets home he's going to be wildly jealous but I'm planning on throwing together his favourite scalloped potatoes after this so that should keep him happy.

Your ticket to paradise goes thusly:
Heat a glug of oil and a generous blob of butter in a frying pan to moderately high heat.
Chuck in a few chopped or sliced cloves of garlic (I slice them because I love chomping down on crunchy bits of garlic and my boyfriend doesn't seem to mind garlicy breath too much) and fry them a little. Then add the mushrooms. I quartered about 15 with the stems on (waste not, want not, right?) Add salt and pepper and fry until they're golden and soft.

That's all it takes and it's the most greedily delicious thing I've eaten in recent memory.
I know you don't exactly have to be a culinary genius to think up mushrooms in garlic but I want to showcase things I love too!!
Do it, you know you wanna.

Creamy Sausage Pasta

2009-09-26T22:32:00.000+10:00

Today my mum and I spent what felt like a lifetime in Ikea.
My trips there always play out in much the same way. Mum will suggest the trip, she's only looking for one thing. We enter and we wish, more than ever before, that we could look in all directions at once. The rooms set up in their entirety, the gadgets, the cafe!
Then an hour slips past, then another and another. Suddenly all you can hear in screaming children. "I CAN'T GET OUT!" I hear an exhausted 3-year-old in a Spiderman costume cry out.
"Wait a minute," the thought slowly dawns, "that's how I feel too!" Then I can't leave that labyrinth of savings quick enough.
Resting my weight on the trolley handlebars, I'm suddenly acutely aware of the aching in my feet. No Ma, I don't want to look at rugs. No, not lamp shades either. Please let's just go! The ice cube trays shaped like love hearts were interesting five minutes ago but now I want to toss them aside Hulk-style...and just where are the toilets?!
No matter how many new things for the house I come away with, a trip to Ikea can only ever be described as an ordeal.
To console myself I decided to make creamy sausage pasta, one of the first things Mum ever taught me to make and one of the first things I cooked for my friends.

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan on high. When the oil's hot, cook 8 pork sausages for about 30 seconds on two sides. This makes them easier to cut into bite-sized pieces, but you can skip that step if you like. While you're cutting the sausages, turn the heat down to medium and add a chopped onion and a few diced cloves of garlic. Return the chopped sausages to the pan and continue frying them until they're cooked through.
Add two tins of chopped tomatoes and season with salt, pepper, oregano and Tabasco.
Stir and simmer while you cook the pasta (I suggest spaghetti, fettuccine or some other long pasta). When the pasta is about 5 minutes from being done, stir 150ml of thickened cream into the sauce.
Turn up the heat slightly and simmer while the pasta finishes.
Drain the pasta, stir the sauce through and serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
Honest to goodness, it's one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.
I was surprised to realise that in the eight months Michael and I have been together I haven't made this before. Michael too was surprised that I hadn't made this specialty for him. He sat by while I cooked with anticipation radiating off him.

Stand by for Michael's Final Word: By gum, this stuff is delicous! I'd say one of Sarah's biggest strengths is her sauces. She always knows exactly what to sprinkle into a sauce to get it just right. This sauce was no exception, perfect amount of cream, tomato and sausage. Another triumph from my very own saucy cook!

Satay Chicken

2009-09-22T15:45:00.000+10:00

I'm not one to buy into stereotypes but I went to school with a girl who was blond dumbness personified: she was blond and she was staggeringly dumb. So dumb, in fact, that there was a page in our graduating class' yearbook dedicated to the number of stupid things she'd said and done during our years at school.

There was the time she said to my friend Daniel, who was drinking iced tea, "Oh my God, I didn't know they made cold tea bags!" There was the time she almost choked to death trying to swallow some noodles that had become wrapped around her tongue ring. And, most memorably for me, there was the time in year 7 when we were partnered in home economics to make satay chicken.
"Laura, are you done with that sauce," I asked, (my cheeks flushed with youthful promise,) "I need to put it on the chicken."

"Hang on a second, I'm just stirring the lumps out." She frantically whisked the creamy sauce, to no avail.
"...Laura, it's crunchy peanut butter." She never lived it down.

So here, in respectful memory of my silly friend wherever she now may be, I give you satay chicken à la Sarah.

I use chicken drumsticks for just about everything because they're nice 'n' cheap but you could use breasts or whatever part of the chicken you like.

So take your chicken and brown in a frying pan with some oil. When it's been browned on all sides, set it aside on a plate. In the frying pan mix together a tin of coconut milk, 180g crunchy peanut butter, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp crushed ginger, chili flakes/sauce to taste. This is all an approximation, I was doing it 'til it tasted right. I didn't need salt because of the peanut butter and soy sauce.
Return the chicken to the frying pan, simmer the sauce and chicken on medium for 30 minutes or until cooked through.
Serve over rice (I served it with cous cous because Michael loves it) with a few chopped peanuts and (if you can get away with it) some coriander.

Mmmm...lazy satay....

Trashy Dessert

2009-09-17T22:44:00.000+10:00

Yesterday when I was watching Nigella Bites there was this episode called Trashy that, obviously, was all about trashy food that she likes. "Oh, I can do trashy," she reassures us. Okay, bring it! I think, more than a little excited over the promise of trailer park cuisine. I belong to a livejournal community dedicated solely to the sharing of the trashiest of culinary ventures.
I have to say that, once again, Nige' let me down. Deep fried Bounties? Puh-lease! Until you're ready to wrap that fried Bounty in processed cheese and dip it in ranch dressing you can go join the other kids in the sandbox.

The most wondrous trash foods are born from the part of the brain that Nigella is just too trained to access. They're created from a lack of ingredients, not a well-stocked freezer and pantry. To be a true trashy eater you need to be able to think on your feet and be a master of the rudimentary. You've evolved beyond looking for pretty, well-presented food and taste its true, ugly beauty. If it's the dog's breakfast you'll have what he's having. Above all, you need a proufoundly deep love and respect for bacon.

Sorry Nigella, this is not you...except maybe for the bacon thing.

Today I was craving a sweet dessert like I had never craved dessert before and, wouldn't you know it, there was no chocolate or lollies to be found so I had to improvise.

I took two slices of white bread and spread one with Nutella and one with peanut butter, sandwiching them together. Then I cut the sandwich into cubes and chucked it into my jumbo mug. Drown it in chocolate ice-cream topping and microwave on high for 30 seconds and what you've got there is one trashy mouthful.So delicious, you can't even begin to imagine until you've tried it for yourself.
Do it, you won't be disappointed.

Lemony Pasta à la Nigella

2009-09-16T20:27:00.000+10:00

I was in Sanity this morning and was about to leave empty-handed when I spotted two Nigella Lawson DVDs.

Now, I have three of Nigella's cook books and I love them because she writes them in such a way that you have something to read instead of just a handful of recipes artlessly chucked together. However (!) I am in two minds about her. Her recipes, style and ethos are, to my mind, undesputably awesome. I think she and I could conceivably be mates. But whenever I've seen her on TV she sexes around the kitchen like a characterture of herself spouting words like "gloop" (as a verb, not a noun) and "knubbly" and drives me a little bit mad.
I bought those two DVDs and took them home, determined to give her a chance to redeem herself.
I watched all of Nigella Bites and afterwards proudly proclaimed to Michael and my friend Mitchell that I had decided that I loved her afterall, in every form of media.
Then I sat, as I now still sit, to watch Nigella Express. Within minutes I was screaming "What's happened to her?!" at the television. She jumps erratically between Mono-Toned Labotomised Nigella and Wide-Eyed Psychotic Nigella in a way I find genuinely unsettling. All her natural ease is gone and in its place is smarmy smugness at its absolute worst: "Shhh! I'm using tinned peas." Augh! The food is the same but the joy is gone.
So my Nigella-redeeming experiment has gone terribly wrong. Which is the real Nigella? I love her, I love her not.
I'll have to find another DVD for a tie-breaker.
Anyway, I had to eat today and I thought why not try something that Nigella suggested? I had almost all the ingredients on hand and my taste buds did not complain about the ommission I made.

Take three egg yolks (Nigella separates her eggs with her hands, imagine!) and whisk with as much freshly grated Parmesan cheese as you like (I had pre-grated, shame on me, and I used quite a lot). Add as much of the zest from one lemon as you like and all the juice. I had the empty skin of a lemon left over from my morning tea for the zest but alas no lemon juice so I used a big ol' squirt of lazy lemon from a bottle. At this point Nigella says to add a generous but not crazy glug of cream. No need for salt because of the cheese and pepper doesn't really work well in it. I shook in a pinch of garlic powder because I have it and I don't know what I'm going to use it for.
Add a generous spoonful of butter to 250g cooked, hot pasta and stir it around to melt, then add the sauce and stir with a pasta server until pasta is all covered in the sauce. Make sure all this is done off the heat or you'll end up with pasta and scrambled eggs.
Serve with a further generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
It's even more delicious than I ever could've imagined! First, just look at it. It's beautiful and golden. I can only imagine the beautiful colour I could get from fresh free range eggs. And then to the taste: It's so creamy and then the lemon hits you and...oh!
I would definitely recommend using the cream, having gone without it. I think it just would've pushed the pasta over the cliff of wonderful into the abyss of sublime.

Michael wasn't around to sample this so he doesn't get a final word on it. I suggested he have the final word on Nigella herself but he doesn't have anything to say about her. He'll be back the next time I create something when he's about.

Spinach and Pine Nut Pizza

2009-09-12T14:44:00.000+10:00

Just a quick one today:
As you've read before, I love creamed spinach so I thought there could be nothing nicer than putting it on a pizza for lazy Friday dinner.
I defrosted 750g frozen spinach and then chucked it in a frying pan with 300ml of cream and added salt, pepper and a generous shake of nutmeg. When it was all heated through and tasting delicious I stirred through a handful of grated tasty cheese.
I piled the spinach on a pizza base, scattered some pine nuts and a bit more cheese and put it in a 220oC oven until the cheese was melty and the pine nutes were browned.
So good!! Completely easy, completely satisfying.
Just one warning, brush well after this or you'll be picking spinach out of your teeth 'til Christmas.

Michael's final word: G'day Crimefighters! I too am picking spinach out of my teeth, it's like tasty little memories of last night's meal. It was easily the healthiest pizza I've ever eaten and surprisingly one of the tastiest!

Onigiri and "Octodogs"

2009-09-10T21:34:00.000+10:00

Today I got it into my head that I was going to make onigiri, that is Japanese rice balls.
I've never made them before so I spend a leisurely day at work researching various recipes for sushi rice and onigiri fillings. I decided on a minced pork filling so after work I did a quick lot of shopping and got to work.
First I made the filling. I sauteed 500g minced pork, 3 chopped cloves of garlic and seasoned it with a dash of salt, 2 tsp. minced ginger and generous squirts of soy sauce and sesame oil.
I cooked about 2 1/2 cups of sushi rice in my rice cooker (thanks Mum!) then I scooped it out into a bowl and stirred 5 tbs. rice wine vinegar, 3 tbs. sugar and 1 tsp. salt in a cutting motion. Then I let it cool exponentially coz as it was I couldn't handle it.
When it was cool I got a bowl with a little water and some salt in it. I wet my hands and took a medium-sized handful of rice and made it into a flat circle. Then I made a little indentation which I filled with a tablespoon of the porky filling.
Then I piled a little more of the rice on top (I had to keep wetting my hands every so often).
I formed it into a ball before forming it into a triangle. I found it easier than just going straight for the triangle.
Then I cut a strip from a sheet of nori and wrapped it around the base of the rice ball and trimmed off the excess with Michael's trusty everything scissors.OM-NOM-NOM!!!

In my travels around the world wide web searching for onigiri recipes I found a lot to do with bento and I have to say I fell in love a little bit. I went momentarily crazy and ordered myself an onigiri mold (okay,a few onigiri molds), some soy sauce bottles and a beautiful bento box.

I also came across a large number of bento recipes and of all the delicious things I felt compelled to make "octodogs". You take cocktail frankfurters and cut into them four times in such a way that when cooked they curl up like lil' tentacles! Oh, wowee!

Then Michael ate them all.
Today has been a festival of photos and flavour!

Michael's final word: Hi there bloggees! Michael here! For too long octopuses have eaten humans and I felt it was time to turn the tables. Take that, sea-dweller!

I enjoyed tonight's meal. I haven't been the biggest eater of Japanese food for a few years now but Sarah, as always, made a delicious and interesting meal. The rice was oh-so yummy and the prize inside (the pork) was a real treat.

Now I must leave you, there's birthday leftovers still in the fridge.

Michael's Birthday Spectacular Part 2.: Mushroom Pasta

2009-09-09T22:39:00.000+10:00

This recipe is one of the first I ever came up with on my own and the very first thing I ever cooked for Michael when we started going out. It started out just creamy mushrooms and bacon and I thought it needed some texture so I added the walnuts. I do not consider it sad when I say it's one of the single greatest executive decisions I've ever made.
Michael says today was the "best birthday ever!" so I reckon this was a good way to finish it off nicely and prepare us forrrrrrrrrICECREAM CAKE!!!!!!!

This is how I do it:
Sautee a chopped onion and a few chopped cloves of garlic 'til golden. Add 150g diced bacon and half a red capsicum, also chopped. Continue cooking until bacon's browned and the capsicum is softened. Then add 1kg mushrooms, sliced and stir them around until the collapse and go soft.
This is a good time to start the water boiling for pasta.
Add 300ml of cream and stir, leave it to simmer and thicken a bit.
When the water's boiling, salt it and add the pasta (I use something spaghetti or fettuccine-like).
About two minutes before the pasta is done add a handful of chopped walnuts (or more, I use heaps; I love the crunch) and a handful of finely chopped parsley and stir 'em in.
Drain the pasta, return it to the pot and stir the sauce through it.
Serve with a sprinkling of walnuts and Parmesan.
Stick a birthday candle in it and sing to the birthday boy!

Michael's final word: Hi there, Michael here! A very happy and very full Michael. What a wonderful birthday filled with my amazing girl and her amazing cooking. I remember when Sarah made me this the very first time she cooked for me and it has been a favourite of mine ever since. She's right about the walnuts, genius!

So, I sit here; full of great food and birthday cheer and dreaming of what delights she'll cook up next!

Michael's Birthday Spectacular Part 1.: Breakfast Risotto

2009-09-09T13:51:00.001+10:00

So about a week ago I asked Michael what he'd like to eat on his birthday and he couldn't decide between his two faourites: risotto and my mushroom pasta, the first thing I ever cooked for him.
To put him out of his indecisive misery I decided to make a breakfast risotto and then mushroom pasta for dinner.
Granted that the way I planned it, both meals would share at least three ingredients but who can get enough of mushrooms, bacon and capsicum?! Not I. Not. I.
Now it is Michael's birthday and I get to spoil him all day!!

Here's how I did the risotto.
In a large pot heat some oil on medium and then start frying 3 beef sausages.
When they're half cooked remove them from the heat and slice them thickly. Of course there's nothing to stop you slicing them before you cook them but I just find it easier this way.
Return the sausage to the pan along with half a red capsicum diced and 150g diced bacon. Cook over medium heat 'til it's done.
Remove all the bacony-sausagy-capsicum goodness with a slotted spoon (leaving the delicious juices in the saucepan) and set aside.
Get 8 cups of vegetable stock simmering on a different burner, ready to add to the risotto.
Sautee a diced onion and three finely diced cloves of garlic 'til golden (not brown). Add 500g Arborio rice and sautee a further minute or so.
At this point you could add a little white wine but I decided against it. It's breakfast, after all. ("C'mon," the cask of goon sitting on my bench says, "it's not like you're going to drink me!")
Start adding the stock to the rice, a ladle-full or two at a time. Stir and allow the stock to be absorbed each time before adding more.
You mightn't need all the stock; you'll know it's done when the grains are al dente. Add 250g sliced mushrooms and 100g fresh baby spinach leaves. Stir until the spinach has collapsed and the mushrooms have softened somewhat. Return the sausages and stuff to the rice and stir through.
Add 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese and a tablespoon of butter and stir through.
Serve with a little extra Parmesan and a sprig of parsley.

I was going to serve it with a fried egg on top but every time I thought about it I could hear my arteries screaming.

Michael's final word: Happy birthday, Me! Today is the also the birthday of Bill Cosby and Adam Sandler but neither of them started their day with a hearty bowl of risotto (probably). No prizes for guessing whether or not I enjoyed it. I did. The sausage tasted great and the rice was perfectly done. Before I met Sarah, risotto was a 'restuarant only' food. No one in my family was brave or comitted enough to toy with the weird little rice that expands exponentially.
Let's just say it was a scrumptious way to start the day and bring on dinner!
Happy birthday to all and to all a good night!

Tonight: Michael's Birthday Spectacular Part 2.: Mushroom Pasta

Savoy Chicken

2009-09-08T21:18:00.000+10:00

I don't remember the first time my mum made savoy chicken for us but I remember always loving it. This is the recipe Mum's always used and now I make it and Michael adores it.
I was originally going to serve this with mashes potatoes but at the last minute I changed to cous cous. So glad I did.

It goes like so:
Take 1kg chicken pieces (I usually use drumsticks)
30ml extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chicken stock (I used a chicken stock cube and a cup of water coz I didn't have stock to hand)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
dried oregano
salt and pepper
30g Parmesan cheese
45ml balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 230oC.
Sautee the onion and the garlic in a little oil.
Place the chicken pieces in one layer in a casserole dish that has a lid. Pour the stock and olive oil over the chicken.
Pour the sauteed onions and garlic over the top of chicken and then add salt, pepper and oregano.
Sprinkle chicken with Parmesan and put the lid on.
Cook for 45-60 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Pour balsamic vinegar over chicken and serve over cous cous. Sprinkle with a few sprigs of parsley as a finishing touch.
Very easy and very delicious.
Tomorrow: Michael's birthday which means Michael's favourite foods!

Beef French Dip

2009-09-06T23:14:00.000+10:00

A few months ago, not sure how, I became aware of French Dip.
If you're not aware of this phenomenon, close your eyes and consider this:
A beef shoulder roast cooked for 10 deliciously agonising hours 'til it's practically falling apart. Then the meat's shredded and served on a fresh, crusty roll with a little bowl of its juice for dipping.
When I first heard about it, I knew I had to make it.
My mum's out of the country at the moment so in the interest of looking after my little brother I drove home and decided that this was what I was going to spoil him with.

My usual starting point when I want to try something I've never tried before is allrecipes.com and for this particular meal I pretty much followed this recipe to the letter.
The only changes that I made, on the advice of a review, were to use reduced salt soy sauce and only half a stock cube. It would've been too salty otherwise.

I wasn't so sure this morning but now, in retrospect, I can proudly say that getting up early on a Sunday was worth it to get this into the slow cooker so it'd get the full 10 hours cooking time. The smell started gradually to waft through the house, a reminder throughout the day that dinner was approaching. I had to keep a close eye on all the lads in the house (Michael, Jeremy and Jake) to make sure none of them lifted the lid to stick their faces into it.

Once it was cooked it was a matter of mere minutes getting it on to the table.
The only thing I would highly recommend is that you strain the juices as you're serving it into little bowls. It's full of herbs and peppercorns and meat chunks.
For a meal that required so little effort on my part, it was so gratifying to be standing in the kitchen hearing cries of "Oh wow!" and "Man, this is so good!" coming from the living room.
The boys asked for thirds. Thirds! That mightn't seem like such a feat but my brother eats like a bird. I was, and am, proud.

I'm sure most Americans who stumble across this blog are familiar with the French Dip in one form or another so this advice isn't really for you, but Australians, for the love of all that is good, try this. It's AMAZING!

So without further ado, here it is:
Beef French Dip Sandwiches with Au Jus.

Chocolate Jam Drops

2009-09-02T22:09:00.000+10:00

Michael and I do this thing where we take turns giving each other a gift on Wednesdays. It doesn't have to be something big, just something to remind the recipient they're loved.
Last week Mikey gave me a beautiful bunch of yellow flowers (we don't know what they're called but they look like if tulips and daffodils had babies) so today I thought I'd try making him a present using one of his favourite culinary combinations: chocolate and raspberry.

I have a baking book with a recipe for jam drop biscuits which are usually flavoured with custard powder. I decided to omit the custard powder and add the same quantity of cocoa powder and see how it turned out.

The book I used was called The Essential Baking Cookbook; I bought it when I'd just started baking. It should be called The Penny Pincher's Guide To Tight-Fisted Home Cookery.
The recipe called for 2 tablespoons of milk; I had to add another big splash because, before I did, all I had was a big ol' bowl of crumbs.
The recipe promised a yield of 32; I came out with a scant 24. And when I say scant, I mean the 24th biscuit was the size of a 10c piece (not pictured because I ate it).

That aside, they've turned out quite nice. My stupid oven burnt them a bit on the bottom even though I cooked them for 2 minutes less than the recipe told me to. I hate it so much!! I feel like the Angry German Kid with an oven.

Okay, deep even breaths. 1-2-3...

When Michael comes home from his gig in an hour, he'll be very surprised.
If you've got a better jam drop recipe than mine, I would highly recommend trying it with cocoa. It's a delicious twist on an old classic.

Spare Rib Stew

2009-08-30T23:45:00.000+10:00

The problem (or one of the problems) with having a job is the time you get home at night. On my stay-back-late day (which just so happens to be today) I work 'til 6 and by the time I've fought my way through peak-hour traffic, checked my email and other internet things I can't access at work, got all the ingredients I need for dinner and got down to cooking it's already really late.

Last night I had a very mild stroke of genius. I made dinner for tonight last night.
Threw it all into the crock pot (new best friend!) and put it in the fridge.

(Mmmm, already looks so delicious and full of promise!)

It is now 12:00pm and if all is going to plan at this moment Michael is lovingly placing the crock pot into its base and turning it on to HIGH.

Usually I tend to make soups and stews with a tomato-y base and never really get that thick, rich brown gravy that I love so dearly.

As my mum is overseas and unavailable to give culinary guidance I thought I'd just wing it and see how I go. I put in a lot of liquid so I might just end up with brown soup but it's going to be cooking for over 6 hours so hopefully it'll work.

This is what I chucked in:
1 litre beef stock: would that I could get my hands on pork stock.

2 cups "traditional gravy": just the stuff out of a packet. 6 heaped tbs. with 2 cups boiling water.

1 400g tin corn kernels

2 400g cans red kidney beans
1 400g can chickpeas/garbanzo beans
1 chopped carrot
1 chopped Roma tomato: I hadn't planned to use any but it was leftover from our tacos and they would've gone to waste otherwise.

a few quartered potatoes: I don't remember how many.

2 sweet potatoes cut into more managable chunks: for Michael, he loves sweet potato.
1 red onion cut into wedges: found rolling around the back of the pantry since I-don't-know-when.

1 brown onion and 4 cloves garlic sauteed: for extra flavour.

8 pork spare ribs: usually I would brown them a little but I was too tired and they're going to be cooking for ages anyway so I don't think it matters.

splash of Worcestershire sauce

shake of Tabasco
a sprinkling of mixed herbs
salt and pepper to taste and
a liberal shake of corn flour to encourage thickening.

Michael and I have been exchanging SMSs. All is apparently going well and it's starting to smell "amazing".
I'll report back later this evening with the results.

*****Some time later*****

Success!!!
We arrived home to the smell of delicious. I poured in some green peas while I cooked some rice and it was ready to go.

(I just noticed that random solo kernel of corn sitting on that spare rib. Heh heh, pesky corn! And look at that rice! It's that's white that people talk about when they say they'll be on [something] like white on rice. White.)
The meat was so tender, falling off the bones; the potatoes were soft but not falling apart.
The only problem is that there was definitely too much liquid.
I'll figure that out and it'll be perfect!!

Taco Soup

2009-08-26T23:45:00.000+10:00

I love my slow cooker.
It's a tried, tested and true appliance in my family's household and when Mum bought me one of my own I was more than a little excited.
To my shame I haven't used it as much as I originally pledged to so now I'm going to try and make up for it.
Anyway, last night I went out to see a late afternoon screening of Inglourious Basterds so I though I'd throw some stuff together, leave it and see how it came out.

I read a recipe vaguely like this but I just threw this together from what I had in my pantry. I imagine it'd be good with just about anything lying around- it is the magic of the crock pot.

So, take your crock pot, add something similar but not necessarily the same as or limited to two 400g tins diced tomatoes, two 400g tins red kidney beans, one 400g tin chickpeas/garbanzo beans, one 400g tin corn kernels, one 330ml Corona, one cup water with one chicken stock cube, a good squirt of Worcestershire sauce, a few shakes of Tabasco (according to taste), one onion and a few cloves of garlic chopped and sauteed, two sachets of taco seasoning, herbs of choice and salt 'n' pepper to taste.
You can either leave that as is or, as I did, add some sort of meat. I had eight raw chicken drumsticks.
Put the lid on, turn the slow cooker to high, go out and watch a movie that makes you want to throw up into your popcorn.
When you get home your house should smell delicious and you should have a sort of soupy stew concoction.
If you've added pieces of meat remove them, check to make sure they're cooked, shred them and return them to the pot.
Check the seasoning is right.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream, grated cheese and, if your boyfriend's not a big woos who thinks coriander tastes like soap, some chopped coriander. If you have tortillas for dipping they're pretty delicious too.

Makes lots of scrumptious soup...like enough for six hungry people or, if you're Michael and I, enough for two hungry people and lots of leftovers.

Apologies for the shocking photos, so obviously taken on a chair. I'm getting a portable photo studio with a tripod (oodalalee!) so you won't have to put up with it for long.

Prawn And Chorizo Risotto

2009-08-24T22:19:00.000+10:00

On Sunday Michael and I went to a restaurant in Warrnambool called Fish Tails.
The menu is so long that when the entrees are going to bed the desserts are just getting up. After much "um"ing and "ah"ing I settled on creamy prawn and chorizo pasta.
I am sad to relate that it was pretty ordinary. The sauce was too thin, it needed salt, I got three prawns. I thought it was a dish with a lot of potential and I wanted to try and do it better.
I've only made risotto twice and both times is was mushroom risotto. I thought I'd try and create a risotto of prawns and chorizo.

Now, when I started thinking about this I posted about it on Facebook, thusly:

Sarah Baggs Inventing prawn and chorizo risotto in my head...

I got an unprecedented response from friends and family telling me what a bad idea it was.
"Somebody please stop her!" my mother cried. A few minutes later she commented again telling me I should use salami, make prawn stock, etc., etc.
"Wow," one friend said, "you should listen to her. She can cook!"
"Those ingredients are more of a pilaff thing. Use ling instead of the chorizo," suggested another.

Sarah Baggs Oh ye of little faith!!!

Encouraged by Michael, my brother Jeremy and his friend Jake, I got to work.

Here's how it goes:

Cut one chorizo in half length ways and thinly slice. I'd never cooked chorizo before and everything I read said to remove the skin before doing anything with it. If this is wrong, let me know because I don't know the first thing about it.
In a large saucepan, heat some olive oil on medium. Fry the chorizo for 5-7 minutes til it's a little brown.
While the chorizo is cooking get 4 cups of vegetable stock gently simmering. If the stock isn't hot it'll cool the rice as you add it and mess up the cooking process.
Add 1/4 kg peeled cooked prawns and stir around with chorizo for 2 minutes, just to warm a little. If you cook the prawns for much longer they'll go tough.
Remove the prawns and chorizo with a slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl, reserving the oil and delicious cooking juices.
To the same saucepan add a diced onion and few cloves of garlic (also diced) and sautee over medium heat 'til translucent. I just learnt that browning the onion can give the risotto a bitter taste so....don't.
Add two cups of Arborio rice and stir to coat with the oil. Sautee for 2 minutes.
To the rice add 3/4 cup white wine, stir and allow the wine to be absorbed.
Start adding the simmering stock, one laddle-full at a time to the rice. Stir the rice and allow the stock to be absorbed each time before adding anymore. You may need all the stock, you may not. Just keep going, tasting occassionally, until the rice is soft and creamy but still al dente.
Add the chorizo and prawns back to the rice and stir to combine. Cook for 2 minutes to reheat the prawns and chorizo. Remove rice from the heat.
Add 4 tablespoons of butter, 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese, pepper to taste and a handful of finely chopped parsley and stir to combine. I don't care what anyone says about parmesan and seafood, it was great in this. With regards to salt, mine didn't need any because of the chorizo and the cheese but now would be the time to add it if you wanted any.
Serve immediately, sprinkled with a bit more parmesan and a sprig of parsley to garnish. Serves 4.
Mmmm-mm!
Dispite what everyone on Facebook said, it was delicious. The chorizo didn't overpower the prawns; everything tasted of itself and complimented everything else nicely. I'll definitely make this one again.

Creamed Spinach And Pork Chops

2009-08-20T22:38:00.000+10:00

My mum once said that my Dad'd eat a turd if it was served in a creamy sauce.
I wouldn't go so far as to eat poop but I think Dad is the parent from whom I got my love of heavy sauces.
One of my favourite things to eat (which I never get to have) is creamed spinach. Let's face it, popular thought to the contrary, spinach is pretty damn tasty as it is. It's so versatile! I add baby spinach to salad, stir it into pasta and at Easter my mum makes a killer Torta Pasqualina (Easter Pie) which is practically all spinach!
Today I was on another food blog and the woman made a remark about creamed spinach and I thought "That's it. That's what I want for dinner." After that moment nothing else would've done; the decision was made.

This is how I did it: I sliced one onion and 5 cloves of garlic (we like it garlicy) and gently sauteed until golden. Then I started adding the spinach.
It took four packets of baby spinach leaves to make about 3 servings (I'd say I had two of those servings, it was gooooood.) That stuff doesn't half cook down!!
I had to add them one at a time because uncooked, one packet fills our big frying pan to overflowing. After two minutes or so, there's almost nothing there.
When all the spinach was added and cooked down I added about 100ml of cream, salt and pepper and let the cream cook down quite a bit.

Sure, it's simple as anything but it's so good. One of my pet peeves is an idea that food should be complicated and if it's easy it needs to be kept a secret.
How often do you read an article that says "They'll never guess you only spent 10 minutes in the kitchen!" or "Don't tell anyone but these such-and-suches are a cinch!!" or "A chuck in the crockpot meal that tastes like you've been slaving in the kitchen for hours!"
Embrace the simplicity!! Ideas like that are what stops people from cooking more often. If something's easy to cook tell everyone and embrace it!! The more people who love to cook the better, I reckon.

*Climbs off soap box* Anyway, we served ours with pork chops done in the George Forman (I had mine on top of my pork chop, mmmm!) and it was an amazingly satisfying dinner.
If you don't like spinach and have never had it creamed before, it well might change your mind.

Caramelised Onion and Blue Cheese Pizza

2009-08-19T22:37:00.000+10:00

Caramelised onion is delicious. Seriously, my idea of heaven would be to make a big bowl of it and crawl under the desk for
However, Michael's a big fan and I couldn't get away with not sharing so I have to put it on a pizza base.
Here's what I do:
Preheat oven to 180oC.
Slice about 6 brown onions. Technically the way I measure how much I need is to put them directly into our big frying pan and I stop slicing when they're so much that it's almost too hard to stir them without spilling them all over the place. They cook down quite significantly so it doesn't take long for them to become more manageable.
Pour in a good slug of olive oil, and cook over medium heat. It takes about 20 minutes for them to soften. Stir them around as they need it, you know how it goes. If they brown then the heat is too high.
When the onions are golden and soft add two tablespoons of brown sugar.
Stir and cook for a further two minutes.
Remove from heat.

Take your pizza base (I used two smaller ones) and spread some grated mozzarella on it. I used tasty cheese (coz that's what I had) but I imagine mozzarella would be much tastier. It's the pizza cheese!
Spread a generous ammount of onion on top of the cheese.
Cut a small wedge of blue cheese (about 300g) into little cubes and scatter over the top. I know there's about a million varieties of blue cheese and I'm not the most discerning of cheese eaters. I bought a moderately priced one called Costello. It was nice, not too strong, not too mild, very creamy. Mmmm!
Place on a tray and bake in oven for about ten minutes 'til the crust is a little browned and the blue cheese is all melty.

YUM!!!

Mighty Vikings

2009-08-19T22:09:00.000+10:00

You've seen them at the supermarket: turkey drumsticks.
They're huge, they look delicious and meaty and they look just like what pirates and vikings ate in cartoons.
I've been eying them off for quite a while and when Michael and I decided that we wanted to stay in to celebrate our 6 month anniversary. I knew just what I wanted to cook...I covered them in Hickory BBQ Marinade from Aldi. It's very good stuff!

Here's something I didn't know though: turkey drumsticks are full of bones. Like....ten. I honestly can't see that they have any practical culinary application. They're great for a novelty but after that....Well, I don't think I'm going to be cooking them again.
Still, makes for a good picture.
Pro tip: Let them cool before you pick them up for an awesome photo.
Hot sticky marinade in the palm of your hand is not the most pleasant of sensations.

Lenin Meringue Pie

2009-08-09T22:07:00.001+10:00

When your significant other's sister invites you to bring dessert to the next family dinner you know it's a test. This challenge was presented to me this weekend and I opted to make lemon meringue pie. Not only is it a generally popular choice but I happened to know that it was Michael's mum's favourite.
It turned out pretty well. The lemon curd was delicious and I wanted to retreat to the bedroom closet with the bowl for secret eating. The only problem resulted from our stupid oven over-browning the meringue but I don't think any of Michael's family noticed.

Anyway, this triumph put me in mind of a long-time dream of mine: Lenin Meringue Pie.
It's lemon meringue pie but instead of lemon, it'd have raspberries. Get it? Red? Communism? Lenin? It was funny a few years ago.

I made the filling almost the same as you'd make the lemon curd. I was using frozen raspberries and I microwaved them which really broke them down so they were almost liquid. I was worried that the raspberries wouldn't have the same strong flavour that the same amount of lemon juice would. I tried to find some raspberry extract at the supermarket but they didn't have it.
It doesn't matter, it came out with a nice flavour. Not weak and not overpowering.
It wasn't thick enough though. I added more cornflour than the recipe called for and it still wasn't firm enough. I put a dollop of the filling on a plate in the freezer like you do with marmalade when you're checking the set. It was firm then...so I figured it'd be okay when the pie was cool.
I also added a generous squirt of red food colouring because it looked kind of pink what with the egg yolk and all and I thought it should be decidedly red, I don't know why.

I was thinking about what goes with raspberries: Chocolate.
Chocolate meringue, I thought.
I used 8 egg whites, 1/2 cup white sugar and 2 tbs. cocoa. It tasted delicious.
When I made the lemon meringue pie, I over beat the meringue so this time I was trying to be vigilant.
When it went into the oven I was optimistic.
I only baked it for 10 minutes coz I knew our crappy oven would burn it otherwise.

Look how beautiful it came out!!!!

The most perfect looking meringue pie ever! *Weeps*
The euphoria was short lived though.

I let it sit for about two hours to cool and whatnot and then we dished it up...

It looks like...well, it looks like a bloody stool.
Don't get me wrong, it tastes good but there's a lot that needs fixing with the recipe.
I was so determined not to over beat the meringue that I under beat it and the consistency was more like...bad chocolate mousse than anything else. The raspberry filling wept a lot; obviously the raspberries need reducing before adding them or something. Maybe you would be better off using a bit of raspberry extract if you could get it.

I think I will try it again, but not before a good, long time back at the ol' drawing board.

In the end the verdict was:

Michael: Four 1/2 stars
Mitchell: Four
Me: 2 1/2 (The texture has to be right, it needs to look right...I'm my harshest critic.)

Baco-Chocolate Pastries

2009-07-20T23:01:00.000+10:00

Okay, this is the first entry of my new blog. I don't know you, you don't know me. This could be awkward. I feel kind of obligated to make an introduction. Do you want to hear it? I don't know. Probably not.

Okay, I'll do a quick intro and then on to my latest experimental creation.
So my name's Sarah. I'm 21 and I live with my gorgeous boyfriend Michael and our housemate Adam.
I love to cook. I come from a family that plans the event around the food, not the other way around.
My mum's been a big influence for me with my cooking but we differ on one key point: My mum is a food snob. I, on the other hand, will try anything.
I have classical cooking roots and a flare for the disgustingly experimental.
As soon as I read about it on the internet I need to try it as soon as is physically possibly (practicality is not important).
My favourite thing to cook is pie and I hope to write a pie cookbook some time in the near future.

Anyway, on to my latest creation.
As I sit here munching on a rasher of bacon wrapped in chocolate wrapped in puff pastry wrapped in a dream I wonder how I got here.
I've known that people eat bacon dipped in chocolate for a little over a year now but never got round to trying it myself. The other night I kind of dreamt about making it and then when I woke up, improved upon my original idea by wrapping it in puff pastry.
It looked like this:

That (if you're wanting to recreate this somewhat dubious masterpiece), is 4 rashers of middle bacon, halved, fried, dipped in melted dark chocolate, allowed to set in the freezer for a few minutes and wrapped in strips of packet puff pastry.
I sealed the pastry with a bit of milk and brushed them with milk too. My dumb-ass housemate threw away my eggs because he's a paranoid little bitch when it comes to use-by dates so no shiny egg wash.

Then they looked like this:

Then I put them on a plate for presentation (that's my mum) and they looked like this:

Looks good right? Well I ate one and a half of them and I couldn't decide what I thought so I hand-passed the responsibility to Michael or, as I like to call him when he road tests things for me, Action Jackson.
Here's some reaction shots:

"Hmmm..."

*Chew, chew, chew..."

"What the....?"

Haha, just kidding. I just added a series of random photos in an order that suited my means.
He actually ate two and then said:
"I have a verdict. I don't want to eat another one.'
I think that says it all.
Baco-Chocolate Pastries: Fail.
I can cook, I promise. I'll show you next time.