Are we there yet?

We are getting close to the end of the alphabet in our #abcmeals challenge and are now talking about going in reverse and each doing the letters we haven't done before.  That seems like a good idea until I start thinking about all the yummy stuff that has been cooked for me, and that then I will have to use different ingredients for with the same letters.  Eeeeekkk!  One thing is for sure though, when we get to 'V' again, there'll no doubt be a whole plate of vegetables again, just like I did.  And if there's not vodka again, then look out!  The whole 'V' themed menu was this: vodka cocktails (ie Cosmopolitans!), with vintage cheddar; Veal fillet with veges; and Red Velvet Cupcakes.  Not too shabby for a crazy Wednesday night, if I do say so myself.

Thanks to Donna Hay for the inspiration for the easy veal fillet and veges.  All you do is seal the fillet in a hot frypan for 3 - 4 minutes each side, then spread dijon mustard on it and bake it in the oven for 7 - 10 minutes (or to your liking).  Bring it out, let it rest and roll it in chopped herbs (parsley and chives).  Slice it up and you're done.  This is an easy way to add colour, texture and different flavours to meat.  You could also do the same thing with pork, hummus and dukkah. 

"U" can't go past the United Kingdom for "U"

Udon noodles were the only thing I could come up with for a "U" ingredient. I'm sure there are others but for the first week back at work my brain wasn't really thinking to hard for "U" ingredients. My plans went for a country or Kingdom and settled on the United Kingdom.
As we are presently going through a cold snap, what a perfect time for a hearty soup. Entree: Tick.
As we are presently going through a cold snap, what a perfect time for a Roast n veg. Mains : Tick.
As we are presently going through a cold snap, what a perfect time for a hot pudding. Dessert: Tick.

Bubble and Squeak Soup.

30g unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, white part only,
thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 litre (4 cups) good-quality
chicken stock
2 potatoes, chopped
300g brussels sprouts,
thinly sliced
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
½ cup (125ml) pure (thin) cream,
plus extra to serve
6 bacon rashers
Croutons, to serve


1. Season, then add nutmeg. Cool slightly, then in batches, blend until smooth. Return soup to the pan over low heat. Add cream and stir.

2. Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, turning, for 4-5 minutes until crisp. Drain on paper towel, cool slightly, then roughly chop.

3. Divide the soup among 6 serving bowls and drizzle with extra cream. Garnish with bacon, croutons and brussels sprouts leaves, if desired, then season and serve immediately.

Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding and Ale Gravy

4-rib beef roast with top flap (about 1.5kg), bones trimmed
1 onion, thickly sliced
Olive oil, to brush
1 1/2 teaspoons plain flour

YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS
1 cup plain flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted fat from the beef

Ale Gravy

1.5 cups beef stock

1.5 cups mild English light ale

2 tbs redcurrant jelly

2 tbs plain flour


Preheat oven to 230C. Calculate the beef cooking time by allowing 30 minutes to brown, then 10 minutes per 500g for very rare, 12 minutes for medium and 20 minutes for well done. Put the onion slices in the centre of a baking tray.

Rub the beef with oil and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Place the onion in a roasting pan and sit the beef on top, then roast on the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes to brown the meat well. Reduce heat to 160C. Continue to roast for the calculated cooking times (1 hour 20 minutes for very rare for a 4kg 4-rib beef roast).

Remove beef from the oven. Lift on to a board, loosely cover with foil and rest for 30 minutes.

To make the Yorkshire puddings: Place the flour and 1 teaspoon salt in the bowl of a food processor and whiz a few times. Add eggs, milk and 100ml water and process until smooth. Set aside for 30 minutes. While the beef is resting, turn the oven up to 220C.

Divide the fat between 8 muffin tins. Place tins in the oven for 5 minutes, then carefully remove and quickly pour in the batter.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden. Serve immediately. Meanwhile, place the roasting pan on the stove over medium heat.

If the onion isn’t already caramelised, cook for a further 2-3 minutes until caramelised. Sprinkle in the flour, stir well, then add beer, stock, jelly and any beef resting juices. Scrape base of the pan with a wooden spoon to release cooking juices.  Stirring, for 4-5 minutes until reduced to a well flavoured gravy. Strain into a clean saucepan. Uncover the beef and pour any juices into the gravy.

I served roasted veges with the roast beef, Flavoured with a few sprigs of thyme.

Sticky Date Pudding cake.

175g dates, pitted, chopped
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
75g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease
150g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
170g self-raising flour, sifted
2 eggs
Thick cream, to serve

Sauce
200ml cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
60g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped pecan nuts

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place dates in a pan with 180ml water and bring to the boil. Add bicarbonate of soda and set aside for 15 minutes (it will bubble fiercely then settle down).

Cream together butter and sugar until pale. Add vanilla and 1 tablespoon of flour, and stir to combine. Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth. Use a metal spoon to gently fold in remaining flour and stir in the date mixture (it may look a little curdled at this stage).

Grease six 250ml (1-cup capacity) dariole moulds with butter and pour in pudding mixture. Bake for 25 minutes until cooked through. Set aside for 5 minutes before turning out.

To make the sauce, mix ingredients in a pan over low heat until butter has melted. Cool slightly before pouring over puddings. Serve with cream.

Recipes by Valli Little

The luxury of time

Being on holidays gave me the absolute luxury of time last week to cook a three-course meal for lunch, on a Wednesday!  So we're up to the letter 't' in our #abcmeals challenge and there's not too many letters left now.  My first thought once again was straight to dessert.  There was no way I wasn't going to make tiramisu.  This delicious dessert is very easy to create, but can get a little messy when dipping and layering.  The main thing is to not dip the sponge fingers for longer than 2 - 3 seconds, otherwise they will fall apart.  Trust me on that - they will fall apart!

Tomatoes were key ingredients in the other two courses.  Beginning with an easy as pie (or should that be tart?) tomato tarte tatin.  Don't be scared of this, just find a small non-stick oven-proof frypan and deliciousness will be yours in less than 25 minutes.  It's nice on it's own drizzled with balsamic vinegar glaze.  Or you could serve it with a rocket or mixed leaves salad with a simple vinaigrette dressing.

Finally, the tagine I was given, as a birthday present 5 years ago, made it out of the box and onto the stove.  It is a Maxwell Williams 'Microstoven', that can go on my electric ring elements - yay!  Keep an eye out for this range if you don't have gas, as it will mean you can now cook the one pot wonders that go from stove to oven, or just stay on the stove, in things other than oven-proof frypans.

Tomato Tarte Tatin
1 punnet (250g) cherry tomatoes
20g butter
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp dried basil or oregano
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed 
fresh basil leaves

1. Preheat oven to 220C.  Slice tomatoes in half, season with a little salt and pepper - not too much!
2. In a small oven-proof non-stick frypan (10 - 13cm), melt butter and mix in vinegar and brown sugar, until sugar is dissolved.
3. Place tomatoes cut-side down into pan and pack them in tightly. Sprinkle dried basil or oregano over the tomatoes.
4. Cut a circle from the puff pastry big enough to lay over the frypan.  Place this over the tomatoes and tuck it in around the tomatoes.
5. Bake in oven for 15 - 18 minutes until pastry is puffed and golden.
6. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 3 - 4 minutes, before flipping onto a serving plate.  Garnish with torn fresh basil and serve with a green salad.

Apricot Chicken Tagine (Serves 4)

250g chicken breast, cut into large cubes
250g chicken thigh, cut into large cubes
1 - 2 tbsp harissa (to your taste)
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli flakes (to your taste)
400g tin chopped tomatoes
125mL chicken or vegetable stock
50g dried apricots, quartered
200g tinned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 - 2 tbsp chopped parsley
flaked almonds, to serve

1. Place cubed chicken into a snaplock bag (or small bowl), add harissa and rub/stir to coat.  Allow to marinate in refrigerator for 2 - 3 hours.
2. Heat some vegetable oil over a medium-high heat, in the base of a tagine/casserole dish/heavy based frypan.  Add chicken and cook for 3 - 4 minutes, until sealed.  Remove from pan and set aside, leaving juices in the pan.
3. Add onion and cook for 3 - 4 minutes, until soft.
4. Add garlic and all the spices.  Stir to combine and cook for 1 - 2 minutes, until onion is coated and spices are fragrant.
5. Add chicken back to pan.  Stir to combine and coat with spice mixture.
6. Add tinned tomatoes, stock and apricots.  Season with salt and pepper. 
7. Bring to the boil.  Cover with lid, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Add chickpeas and cook for a further 15 - 20 minutes, until sauce is slightly thickened.
9. Add chopped parsley.
10. Serve on top of cous cous, with flaked almonds and a dollop of natural yoghurt on top.

Tiramisu
5 eggs, separated
60g (5 tbsp) caster sugar
500g mascarpone
500mL espresso coffee
125mL Kahlua
1 pack (500g) savioardi sponge finger (biscuits)
cocoa

1. Beat egg whites until stiff.
2. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks with sugar, until thickened and lightly yellow (a lemony colour).  Add mascarpone and beat until smooth.
3. Gently fold 1/3 egg whites into mascarpone mix.  Gently fold in remaining egg whites.
4. Combine espresso and Kahlua, and pour half into a shallow bowl.
5. Lightly dip sponge fingers in espresso mix and line bottom of a 13" x 9" dish lengthwise, to form the first layer.
6. Spread top with half of the mascarpone mixture.
7. For the second layer, dip the sponge fingers in the espresso mix and lay out widthwise.
8. Spread top with remaining half of mascarpone mixture.  Dust with cocoa.
9. Refrigerate for at least 3 - 4 hours, or overnight if you start a day early. 



This is how good it looks if you can leave it overnight




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Simple Steak Satisfies Starving Stomachs

"S" dinner this week offered so many choices it was extremely hard to choose. During the planning phase, thoughts in my head were, "Oh I could do Seafood, Steamed this or that, Singapore noodles or a Satay this or that. I decided to go with a good piece of Steak for mains and a Steamed Syrup pudding for dessert. I had inspiration walking through the aisles at Woolies for entree, Cheese and tomato SALADA. AWESOME! with some Smiths crisps.

I was looking through some steak recipes online and found a Heston Blumenthal version of steak and decided to go with that. I have always known that to cook steak you leave the steak sit in the pan and NOT TURN it.
Here is what Heston had to say about cooking a steak: He says, "By flipping the meat every 15–20 seconds, the steak will develop a crisp, flavoursome exterior without being overcooked in the centre."
His steak comes with a rocket lettuce topping with a lemon, garlic and rosemary dressing.

Heston's Steak


olive oil
2 sirloin steaks, weighing approximately 400–500 g each
salt and black pepper
3 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed with the flat part of a knife or by hand
4–6 rosemary sprigs
2 strips lemon zest (use a vegetable peeler)
50 glemon juice (approximately 1 lemon)
60 grocket leaves
40g parmesan cheese shavings (use a vegetable peeler)
sea salt

Place a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a high heat, then add a thin layer of olive oil. Heat until the oil is smoking hot.

Season the steaks with a little salt and place them away from you in the hot pan for 15–20 seconds. Then turn the steaks over and fry for a further 15–20 seconds. Repeat this, turning the steaks, for 2–3 minutes. Remove from the pan and allow to rest on a wire rack, set over a plate to catch the juices, for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and discard most of the oil (but don’t clean the pan). Allow the pan to cool for a few minutes, then pour in 120 g olive oil. Add the garlic and sprigs of rosemary to the oil. Rub the strips of lemon zest between your finger and thumb to release the oils, and add them to the pan too. Allow to infuse for 5 minutes while the meat is resting, then squeeze in the lemon juice.

Strain this dressing through a sieve and add any juices from the steak.

Slice the steaks thinly (5 mm wide) with a sharp knife. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and place on a serving dish. Spoon over half the dressing.

Mix the rocket leaves with the remaining dressing and place on top of the beef. Finish with the parmesan shavings and a sprinkling of sea salt.

Together with the steak I served a Potato bake.

Melted butter, to grease
1 x 300ml ctn thin cream
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
1.25kg sebago (brushed) potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
2 large brown onions, halved, thinly sliced
100g thinly sliced prosciutto
60g (3/4 cup) finely shredded parmesan

Preheat oven to 170°C. Brush a 2.5L (10-cup) capacity ovenproof dish with melted butter to lightly grease. Combine the cream and milk in a saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until heated through.
Step 2

Arrange half the potato slices over the base of the prepared dish. Sprinkle with half the onion. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over half the cream mixture. Continue layering with the remaining potato slices, onion, salt and pepper and cream mixture.
Step 3

Cover with foil and place on a baking tray. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until potato is tender. Scatter prosciutto over the potato bake and sprinkle with parmesan. Bake, uncovered, for a further 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and the potato is very tender.
Step 4

Set aside for 15 minutes to cool. 

Steamed Syrup Pudding

1/2 cup (125ml) golden syrup
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
2/3 cup (160ml) milk
Golden syrup, extra, to serve
Ice-cream or vanilla custard, to serve

Grease a 4-cup (1 litre) capacity ceramic pudding basin. Pour the golden syrup in the base of the pudding basin.
Step 2

Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. Stir in flour and milk in alternating batches. Spoon the mixture into the pudding basin and smooth the surface.
Step 3

Layer a sheet of baking paper and foil together on a work surface. Fold a 3cm-wide pleat down the centre. Cover the basin, paper-side down, with the layered paper and foil. Secure with kitchen string. Roll the edges of the paper and foil up so they will not come into contact with the water while cooking.
Step 4

Place an upturned saucer in the base of a large saucepan. Place the basin on top then pour in enough boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the basin. Place over medium-low heat and cook, covered, for 2 hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from heat and remove the basin from the saucepan. Set aside for 5 minutes before turning onto a plate.
Step 5

Drizzle extra syrup over the pudding. Serve immediately with ice-cream or custard, if desired.