Green Thai Chicken, Cashew and Bean Sprout Spring Rolls

Not long ago I made a heap of Thai Green Curry paste and almost everything I have cooked since has been with it. I love having a surplus of stuff because it makes you think of ways to use it. We had prawn and avo manwhiches today with Thai green mayo for example. Anywho, this recipe was really easy. Having never made spring rolls I was expecting it to be fiddly but it was really simple. Heaps of room to move in this recipe too. I used 50/50 oil here as I didn't want the peanut flavour to dominate.

500 gms chicken mince
2 tbs Thai green curry paste
1 carrot grated
1/2 a capsicum in halved matchsticks
1 handful bean sprouts
1 handful mint chopped
2 handfuls cashews chopped
Rind of half a lemon
1 tbs kecap manis
1 handful snow peas in matchsticks
10 or water chestnuts chopped
10 or so spring roll sheets
500 ml peanut oil
500 ml light olive oil

Combine all ingredients (except the oils and spring roll sheets) in a large bowl. Lay 1 sheet of spring roll wrapper down with a corner pointing toward you, spoon in 2 tbs of the mixture into the middle and form a log. Roll up the spring roll, folding in the side as you go, sealing with a dab of water at the end. Place on a clean tray and cover. Repeat until finished. (Each time cover the remaining spring roll sheets with some moist kitchen paper to stop it from drying out, refreeze whatever is left over). Place in the fridge covered until ready.
Heat the oils in a medium saucepan until a small piece of bread fries golden in 30 seconds. Place the spring rolls in in batches and cook until golden.
I served this on coconut rice with fried shallots, more kecap manis and some sriracha (a hot chilli sauce). Unreal.

Cardamom, Cumin and Poppy Seed Spiced Lamb Fillet

This took about 5 minutes to prepare, I let it sit for an hour and BBQ'd for like, 10 minutes. Very little work heaps of enjoyment. I love dry spice rubs, they pack buckets of flavour and you can use almost any thing you have in your cupboard - experiment and see what you come up with.



1 lamb fillet (mine was 500gms)
1 tbs ground coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seed ground
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 handful cardamon pods, seeds removed
1 tbs poppy seeds
Salt (I used porcini salt)
Pepper
Olive oil


Spread the dry ingredients evenly about a plate, sprinkle on some oil, place the lamb fillet in and cover it the spiced goodness. Put on a clean plate and transfer to the fridge to let the flavours hang out until you are ready. Heat a barbecue to very high and cook the lamb for about 5 minutes each side or until medium rare. Transfer to a clean plate and cover with foil and rest for 5 minutes or so. Slice thinly at an angle and divide amongst serving plates. Spoon over a little of the resting juice and some nice extra virgin if you have it. I served this with a garden salad and some lentils.

Chestnut and Shitake Mushroom Steamed Wontons

My wife was recently given a Spirit House cookbook for her birthday. I have heard many good things about this place and judging by the quality of the cook book, it is clearly worthy of the hype. I asked my wife to choose a starter and she chose this. Not having all of the ingredients I altered it sufficiently to consider place it here. They were slightly fiddly but really worth it.

500 gms pork mince
10 water chestnuts chopped
1 tbs fish sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbs chopped coriander
1 tbs chopped basil
1 handful dried shitake mushrooms reconstituted and chopped
1 egg
1 packet wontons

Combine all of the ingredients except for the wontons. Spoon about 1 tsp of pork mixture into the middle of each wonton, wet the edges and seal. Half I sealed in a rectangle, half I sealed on a diagonal and folded like tortellini. Steam for 8-10 minutes. You can separate layers with grease proof paper cut into rounds and holes cut into it. I served this with kecap manis and sriracha - a Thai hot chilli sauce - it is amazing.

Warmed Pesto and Yoghurt Sauce for Chicken Breast

This was brilliant and so so easy. It is a very similar recipe to my Crispy Skinned Chicken Boob with Lemon and Oregano recipe but damn it was good. I will definitely be using this concept whenever I have excess pesto. Thankfully, excess pesto season is just around the corner.



Chicken breast with skin on
Garlic sliced thickly
Salt
Pepper
Fresh Thyme
4 tbs pesto
4 tbs natural Greek yoghurt
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil


Pre-heat an oven to 180 C. Salt and pepper the chicken boobs with 1 tbs of the extra virgin olive oil and the garlic slices. Heat the remaining 1 tbs of oil to medium high. When hot, add in the chicken skin side down. Turn after 5 minutes and place in the oven. Turn again after 5 minutes and return to the oven and repeat once more. Remove from the oven and place the chicken on a clean plate. Place the frying pan back onto the stove top at medium high, when hot again, spoon in the pesto and yoghurt and stir for a couple of minutes. Spoon over you chicken boobs. So so nice.

Oysters Brie-Patrick

Super easy, super tasty.

Oysters
Serrano ham (or prosciutto)
Brie cheese slices
Worcestershire Sauce

Oyster, brie, Worcestershire, Serrano ham, hot grill - crisp/melt - eat.