Pork Fillet Ballontine with Pesto and Fennel

 Looks difficult but it was actually rather simple. A little messing about but a very pleasing result.



1 pork fillet
3 tbs pesto
3 mushrooms
1 chilli
3 slices fennel
8 sheets prosciutto
1 tbs olive oil



Carefully slice pork fillet down the side but not all the way through then fold out the piece of meat. Lay out a piece of cling film, place the meat on and cover with more cling film. Beat the meat out using a meat mallet or a knife sharpening steal until it is about 1/2 cm thick. Halve the piece of meat. Place four pieces of prosciutto on a large-ish sheet of cling film, overlapping slightly. Place each piece of meat on the separate prosciutto sheets. Paint 1/2 the pesto on each piece of meat. Blitz the mushroom, chilli and fennel in a blender. You will need stop a few times and push the gear down to the blades. Lay the mushroom mixture in a sausage form along the top side of each pork fillet. Trim the excess prosciutto from each end. Using the cling film to help you, gently yet firmly roll the pork into a sausage shape then twist round and round until you have an even, firm sausage, tie knots in the end and refrigerate until required.

2/3 fill a medium sized saucepan to simmering then reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Gently slide in a bread plate so that it points up then place in your ballontines. It may be necessary to weigh down your ballontine, I used a spatula. Every few minutes, scoop out a little water and add in some fresh water to keep the temperature from becoming too high. Cook for about 35 minutes or so. I cooked mine for 30 and felt as though they could have done with just a touch more. Remove from the pan and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Remove from the plastic wrap and fry in a frying pan until well coloured all over. If you want to, deglaze the pan with some wine and a little stock, reduce then, add a little butter and maybe some herbs or lemon.

Chicken and Brattwurst Risoni with Corn, Fennel and Mushroom

I love slow cooked stuff - its cheap and the kids smash it to bits.

500gms chicken thigh fillets
3 Bratwurst sausages (or pork)
1/2 bulb fennel in small dice
1/2 bunch spring onion in small dice
1/2 a capsicum in small dice
300 gms mushrooms in small dice
1 handful fresh oregano chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1/3 bunch parsley minced
1 cup sparkling white wine
2 cobs corn, kernels sliced off
2/3 cup risoni
Salt and pepper
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan and chilli flakes to serve

Chop the chicken into chunks. Mix the chicken with salt and pepper, oregano and garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Heat a large non stick pan to medium high. Half cook the sausages, remove to a clean plate. Sear the chicken chunks in batches until they have nice colour then remove the a clean plate. Slice the sausage. Pour any remaining oil from the chicken marinade to the pan and saute the mushroom and fennel. When they have nice colour add in the chicken, capsicum, sausage, spring onion, risoni and wine. Toss about. If you have kept the corn cob and stems from the fennel, add them to the top. Bring to the boil, reduce to the lowest setting, add a lid and braise for an hour.
Remove the lid, remove the corn cob and fennel stalks, add in the corn kernels, Parmesan and mix through and mix. Add the lid and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Check for seasoning and add more salt and pepper or even a squeeze of lemon if it needs it. Spoon into bowls and top with grated Parmesan and chilli flakes.

Stuffed Mushroom Topped with Scallop and Chorizo

Just a few scallops really go a long way, likewise 1 chorizo sausage can span at least 3 meals. This took about 10 minutes to prepare and about 35 minutes to cook. This was enough as a starter for 2 kids and 3 adults.

2 field mushrooms
1/2 handful parsley
2 cloves garlic
4 tbs Panko bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
1 tbs marinated feta
1 tbs grated Parmesan
1 tbs extra virgin (maybe more)
A little white wine
1 tbs pine nuts
6 fresh sea scallops
10 thin slices of chorizo
Some grated tasty cheese

Pre heat an oven to 180C. Break the stems off the field mushrooms and roughly chop. Roughly chop the parsley and garlic. Mince the mushroom stems, parsley and garlic together until fine and well combined. Mix the Parmesan, parsley mix, marinated feta and half of the olive oil with a spoon. If the mixture is a little dry, add the rest of the oil. Drip a little white wine over each mushroom, divide the bread crumb mix between each, place on a baking paper lined tray, cover with foil and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to roast for another 10 minutes or until the top is crunchy.
Thinly slice the scallops. Remove mushrooms from the oven.
Arrange the scallops and chorizo on top of each mushroom,top with a few pine nuts, sprinkle over a little grated tasty cheese and return to the oven until the cheese has melted and the scallops are just opaque.

Pork Cheek Braised with Fennel and Chorizo, Finished with Watercress and Feta

This is the very definition of sometimes food. Holy moly, so tender you could have eaten this using a brick, the fat from the crackling scrapped off like soft jelly. The butcher warned me about this. The cheek came as an entire jowl, its not very pretty to look at but it certainly did the job. Very little prep, a few hours cooking, a lot of guilty face stuffing. Oh, and I meant to poach some green prawns in the reducing liquid but forgot, it would have been great though...

2 pork jowls (score the skin)
1/3 chorrizo sausage finely minced

1 stick celery finely diced
1 carrot finely diced
1 onion finely diced
3 cloves garlic sliced
1/2 a fennel finely diced
1/2 a capsicum finely diced
1 cup bubbly white wine
1 bunch watercress
2 cherry tomatoes
1 tbs marinated feta
1 tbs caraway seeds
1 tbs salt (maybe more)
1/4 bottle passata
1 tbs sugar
Pepper
Olive oil

Heat some olive in a large frying pan to medium high. Half cook the chorizo then remove to a clean plate. Oil the pork skin, pour over the caraway seeds and salt and rub into the skin. Sear the underside of the pork jowl until it has great colour then remove to a clean plate. Throw in the veg and garlic and toss about until fragrant. Pour any resting juice into the veg, add in the chorizo, place the jowls on top and pour in enough wine to cover the veg (not watercress or tomato) and come a little up the sides of the meat. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Cover with a lid and allow to simmer for 2 hours.
Preheat an oven to 140C.
Remove the lid and place the pork in the oven - it reduces the sauce and dries out the skin. Roast for an hour. Remove the dish from the oven. Take the meat from the pan and place back in the oven, under a medium high grill, 2 or 3 shelves down until crispy and awesome. Good idea to place something underneath it. In the meantime reduce the sauce over a low heat on the stove top with half the sugar and all of the passata. Mince the watercress with the feta and cherry tomatoes. Mix through half of the feta, check the cheek sauce for seasoning and sweetness and add more salt/pepper/sugar if required. If you feel as though it is too heavy, squeeze in some lemon - the feta and tomato will freshen it up though. Slice, arrange on a plate, add some sauce, top with more feta gear and serve with some great toasted bread.

Cheese Souffle with Crab and Prosciutto

First ever soufflé. Un-freaking-real. Ahhhh, sounds terrifying but its pretty simple really - white sauce, strained - eggs whites at soft peaks - egg yolks and flavours with some cheese - buttered ramikins - happy Alex, wife and kids. Sooooo making this again. I really think that this would be brilliant in small muffins moulds as a party food. I will have a wild stab in the dark here however - as I used chunks of crab (my brother brought me some he had caught and picked and it was freaking awesome) I am guessing that it would have dragged down the rising process. It was still fluffy though. Also, next time, I plan on flavouring the milk with chilli too.

4 eggs, seperated
1 small onion in small dice
1 clove garlic minced
50 gms butter
3 tbs flour
1 cup milk
1 handful basil
4 tbs parmessan
3 tbs Tasty or other grated cheese
200 gms picked crab (or more)
2 slices prosciutto grilled

Preheat an oven to 180C. Grease 4 ramekins with a little of the butter then place in the oven. Make a white sauce by sautéing the onion and garlic with the remaining butter over a medium low heat until translucent. Add in the flour and cook, stirring for 4 or 5 minutes. Pour in the milk and add in the basil. Continue cooking until thickens like thickened cream. While this happens (it only takes a minute or so) beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Chop the prosciutto. Strain the white sauce through a sieve and discard the solids. Stir the white sauce and cheese together until the cheese melts then mix through the egg yolks, crab and chopped prosciutto. Semi-carefully stir through half of the egg white. Carefully stir though the remaining egg white then spoon into the ramekins until 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden on top.
I served this with a simple salad of chopped roma tomatoes, balsamic glaze and torn basil. My recommendation is, make a double batch because it is really great.

Thai Braised Fennel

The picture for this features a half eaten portion. I wasn't expecting this to be as amazing as it was - new best ever thing I have cooked. As I just throw these things together, I am guessing about the amount of fish sauce so, the best advice I can give here is adjust as necessary. This was cheap and quick to bung together and I plan on regularly recreating this.

1 bulb fennel in 8th wedges

1 tbs olive oil

2 tsp sesame oil

2 stalks lemon grass bashed

1 thumb ginger sliced thinly

2 cloves garlic thinly sliced

1 star anise

1/3 bunch coriander

1 handful basil

1/2 tin coconut milk

2 tbs teriyaki sauce

1 tbs mirrin

1 slice prosciutto 

Juice of half a lemon

Heat the oil to medium high and sear the fennel on as many sides as possible. Add in the garlic and ginger and bashed lemon grass stalks (halve them if necessary) and fry till aromatic. Pour in the teriyaki, mirrin, juice, the stalks from the coriander, the star anise and the coconut milk. Mix about, add a lid and reduce the heat to the lowest setting and simmer for 2 hours. Grill the prosciutto until awesome then allow to cool and crisp up. Chop the herbs and prosciutto together. Check the fennel for seasoning. Spoon some fennel and sauce into clean bowls and top with the herbs and prosciutto and maybe a squeeze of lemon.

Sage and Thyme Pork Belly

Only because the crackling was perfect. The crackling was still crispy the next night cold from the fridge.

1 piece pork belly, skin scored

1 handful sage leaves

1 handful thyme leaves

1 tbs salt

1/2 an onion sliced

4 or 5 mushrooms sliced

1 carrot sliced thin-ish

1 cup sparkling white wine

1 cup stock (or more if desired)

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 lemon in quarters

2 tsp (or more) sugar

Olive oil

Chop the herbs. Spread the onion on the bottom of a roasting tray, top with the sliced mushroom and carrot. Pour over a little oil. Place the pork belly on top, pour on a little oil, add on the salt and chopped herbs and rub into the skin. Pour the wine in, avoid getting any on the skin, add in 3/4 of the lemon quarters and cover with foil. Cook in a preheated 170C oven for 1 hour then remove the foil, roast for a further hour then remove from the oven. Place the veg (pulp of the lemon only) and liquid from the roasting tray in a small saucepan with the stock and garlic. Simmer while the skin crackles then blitz with a stick blender. Check for seasoning, add some sugar and a squeeze of lemon.

To crisp the skin stick the belly under the griller, two shelves down so it doesn't burn, on high, rotating it every few minutes to get an even, super crispy result. 

I served this with blanched asparagus and a sweet potato and potato mash with some marinated feta mixed through.

Cacciatore Risotto Stuffed Sweet Chillis

I bought some long sweet chillis from some farmers markets and some great cacciatore and well, it just made sense. Capsicums work just as well. Easy and full flavoured.

1 cup risotto rice
1/2 an onion finely diced
1 clove garlic thinly sliced
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 stick celery finely diced
1/3 cacciatore sausage finely diced
Splash of wine
2 cups chicken stock
2 or 3 long chillis
1/2 bottle passata
Lemon juice and rind
3 tbs grated parmessan
Some basil
1 tbs butter
Salt and pepper
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Heat the stock in a saucepan to simmering, flavour it some sliced garlic and celery stick ends. Melt the butter over medium high in a medium sized saucepan. Sauté the onion, celery, minced garlic and minced cacciatore. When translucent and fragrant add in the risotto grains and toast, tossing for a minute or two. Splash in the wine and when almost absorbed add in a couple of ladles of stock, stirring occasionally until almost absorbed, then repeat until you are down to the last couple of ladles worth. Should take about 18 minutes. Turn off the heat, ladle in the last of the stock and add in the parmessan, as much lemon rind as you think (maybe 1 tbs), a good squeeze of juice and stir. Check for seasoning and and add more of whatever is missing (salt and pepper or lemon juice). Add the lid, remove from the heat and allow to cool. Heat an oven to 180C.
Remove the top of each chilli or capsicum and carefully remove the seeds with a sharp paring knife. Fill the chillis with as much risotto as you can and secure the lid with tooth picks.
Pour the extra virgin into a small roasting dish, pour in the passatta, sliced garlic and some sliced basil. Stir to combine. Add in the stuffed chillis and rub with a little oil. Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the chillis are softening and a little coloured. Remove, slice on an angle, place on plates and top with a little sauce and maybe a squeeze of lemon.

Sage, Lemon, Garlic and Anchovy Butter

Delicious to say the least. Most people turn their noses up at anchovies but as I have said before, once they cook - they do not taste like hairy fish - they taste like awesomeness. I used this to stick under the breast skin of a chicken I was roasting to allow it to self baste and the result was mouth wateringly good. Not only did the butter melt down through the meat and crisp the skin giving it colour and a deep flavour but it also soaked into the vegetables (portabella mushrooms, leek and garlic) I had underneath which I blitzed to form the basis of a gravy. A ridiculously tasty gravy. The remaining butter I rubbed over the outside of the bird. I can see after having made this that rolling it in cling film to form a butter sausage and freezing it would be brilliant for topping cooked steaks, a marinade for prawns/chicken thighs, finishing sauces or as a great way to maybe start a risotto. Less than 5 minutes work and perfect for ingredient experimentation.

3 tbs softened butter (or more if required)
1 handful sage
2 cloves garlic
Rind of 1/2 a lemon
3 anchovy fillets (less if you are scared)
Cracked pepper

Finely mince the garlic, sage and anchovy fillets with a knife. Add in the rind and mix through the butter with a fork. Done.

Individual Beef, Mushroom and Guinness Pies

So cheap, so easy so good.

500 gms gravy/slowcook/stewing beef diced
2/3 tin Guinness
300 or so gms mushrooms in chunks
2 cloves garlic
3 tbs flour
1 onion in small dice
1 sprig rosemary finely minced
2 tbs tomato paste
1 capsicum roasted, skinned, blitzed
Salt and pepper
Chilli tomato sauce
Olive oil
2 sheets frozen puff pastry
6 ramekins
Butter for greasing
1 egg beaten
Sesame seeds

Season the flour with salt and pepper and rosemary and coat the beef. Heat the oil to medium high then sear the meat in batches until they have nice colour then remove to a clean plate. Sear the mushrooms (more oil may be necessary) then remove to a clean plate. Saute the onion until soft and transparent. Add in the tomato paste and stir, mix through the beef and mushrooms then deglaze with the Guinness. Bring to the boil then reduce to the lowest setting, cover with a lid and simmer for 2 hours. Stir through the roasted capsicum.

Preheat an oven to 200C. 
Grease the top of each ramekin with butter. 3/4 fill each ramekin with beefy goodness then top with pastry, cutting away excess, make a couple of small cuts in the top of each pie for steam. Place the ramekins on a baking paper lined tray and place any un-used strips of pasty on the tray as well. Prick the strips of pastry with a fork so they rise equally. Egg wash all pastry and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Oven bake for about 15 minutes, keeping an eye on it until golden and crispy. Serve with chilli tomato sauce. Rad.

Smoked Rainbow Trout and Mushroom Pate

This is simply mushroom goo with smoked trout through it. Wow. The piece of fish from the markets cost $11 and made 2 1/2 pots and left enough trout for pasta for 2. Bargain. As you can tell by the photo, this was served with some caramelised onion, beautiful cherry tomatoes from the same markets and some brie. A nice snack for us and a decadent dinner for the kids.

500 gms mushrooms finely minced
2 cloves garlic minced
100 gms butter
1 tbs chopped sage
A few whole sage leaves
1 good splash of white wine
4 or 5 tbs natural or Greek yoghurt
1/2 a smoked rainbow trout flaked
Salt and pepper

Heat half of the butter over medium high until foaming, add in the garlic and chopped sage. Cook until quite fragrant. Add in the mushrooms and sauté until very soft, add in the wine and reduce until almost absorbed completely . Season with salt and pepper, stir through the smoked trout and remove from the heat. Allow to cool a bit then mix through the yoghurt, check for seasoning and adjust with more salt and pepper or yoghurt or if too rich, a squeeze of lemon.
Heat the remaining butter over medium high until foaming then spoon off the white stuff on top and discard. Once clarified, add in the whole sage leaves and toast. Fill ramekins with your pate and level out then pour over the butter and sage leaves. If you can wait, refrigerate until the butter sets. 

Simple Chilli Tomato Sauce

I make this all the time and even the kids (all under 5) love it. Do the whole thing for less than $5 and in less than 5 minutes easy. This is the same sauce that I use when making patatas bravas but I feel as though it needs it own recipe as I use it so freaking often. It gets used with breakfast, through pasta, on barbecued goods, alter it by adding blue cheese and sun dried tomatoes and sage, add it to burgers and use it on pizzas.  So so so so good. Amazing with prawns and prawn pasta.

1 bottle tomato passata (1/2 is good too)
2 cloves garlic  minced
1 chilli minced
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 handful basil leaves
Salt

Heat the oil to medium high, add in the garlic and chilli and when very fragrant, pour in the passata. Allow to simmer for 2 or 3 minutes then tear in the basil and a little salt. Allow to cool and refrigerate or just use straight away.

Prawn, Sweet Potato and Mushroom Pizza

So good.
If you like this recipe, try these.

300gm green prawns shelled

4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 bunch parsley minced
1/4 of a sweet potato
300 gms mushroom minced
Basil leaves
1 onion finely sliced
Mozzerella
4 pizza bases
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper
Tomato passatta

Preheat an oven to 220C. Chop the green prawns into thumb nail size pieces and combine with the extra virgin, salt and pepper, half of the garlic and the lemon juice. Hack at the sweet potato with a vegetable peeler making a pile of very thin slices. Spread 1 or 2 tbs of passatta over each base, sprinkle over the garlic, tear on the basil leaves, divide out mushrooms and a light sprinkling of mozarella. Top with the sweet potato slices and prawn followed by as much cheese as you like. Bake for 10 or 15 minutes.
I like to serve mine with chilli slices and dressed rocket on top.

Prawn and Passatta Pasta with Crab and Sopressa

Quick and awesome.

300 gms green prawns, shelled
200 gms picked crab meat
4 slices sopressa torn
1 onion finely diced
2 cloves garlic minced
Splash of white wine
1/2 bottle passata
Salt and pepper
Small handful of basil
Cooked pasta
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Start cooking the pasta as you begin this. Saute the onion, sopressa and garlic in the extra virgin over medium high until fragrant and soft. Add in the prawn, toss about for a minute or so, add in the crab and move through the flavoured oil for about 30 seconds. Deglaze with a splash of white wine. When the alcohol smell is gone (about 30 seconds), pour in the passata. Bring to a simmer, turn down the heat to low, season with salt and pepper and tear in the basil leaves. Drain the pasta and stir through the tomato awesomeness.
Serve with crusty bread.

Mushroom, Asparagus, Parsnip and Salsa Verde Soup

Hello again soup season. Soup is the business, get some tasty stuff, simmer it, blend it, maybe add some cream,  serve, top with some tasty stuff and awesome bread - all with very little effort. It doesn't get much better.

1 large parsnip in chunks

500gms mushrooms chopped

1 onion diced

3 cloves garlic minced

2 rashers bacon diced

2 large potatoes in chunks

1 bunch asparagus

1 tbs+ salsa verde

Good splash of white wine

1 L chicken stock

1/2 cup cream

Sour cream

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Toasted crusty bread

Remove the woody end of the asparagus and reserve along with the tips, slice the stems finely. Set aside 2 tbs diced bacon. Saute the onion, garlic and bacon in some extra virgin. When the onion is soft and the mixture is fragrant, add in the mushrooms and cook until they have nice colour. Add in the salsa verde and mix through, cooking for a couple of minutes. Check for seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. Delgaze with white wine. Add the woody asparagus ends, potato, parsnip and enough chicken stock to cover. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until vegetables are tender. Remove the woody asparagus ends. Add in the sliced asparagus and turn off the heat. After five minutes, pour in the cream, blend with a stick blender, adding more stock to reach your desired consistency as necessary. Check for seasoning.

Fry the reserved bacon in a little extra virgin, when almost crispy add in the asparagus tips and cook for a further minute or two, remove and drain on absorbent paper.

Spoon the soup into bowls, add in a tsp of sour cream per bowl, a tsp of salsa verde and top with some bacon/asparagus mixture and a grind of black pepper.

Chicken Breast with Salsa Verde and Blue Cheese Pockets

First time salsa verde maker longer time admirer of the idea. Awesome sauce concept, get a whole bunch of green herbs and blitz them with some capers and citrus. I have listed here what I used but my understanding is anything green is applicable with heavier leans toward parsley and mint. If you grow your own herbs this will be cheap if not, find a friend who does. I served this with a spicy tomato pasta. Certainly hit the spot. Experiment with the flavours and adjust the salsa to suit your tastes.

1 handful basil leaves

1 handful parsley leaves

1/2 handful sage leaves

1 handful mint leaves

1/2 handful oregano leaves

1 handful thyme leaves

1/2 a lime juiced

2 garlic cloves

1 or 2 tbs capers

1 chicken boob per person

Plain flour

1 tsp paprika

2 cups Panko bread crumbs

Egg wash

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil for frying

Lemon wedges to serve

Blue cheese slices of your choice

Combine the herbs with the lime juice, garlic, some salt, 2 tbs extra virgin and 1 tbs of capers in a food processor. Check for seasoning and add more of whatever is missing eg capers or lime. Refrigerate the salsa verde until ready.

Make a small incision into the thickest part of each chicken breast with a paring knife and slice gently about inside to make a pocket without breaking the skin. Place a small slice of cheese inside each pocket with a heaped teaspoon of salsa verde. Seal with a toothpick.

Preheat an oven to 180C. Season the flour with salt and pepper and the paprika. Dust each chicken breast in the flour, dip in the egg and coat in the bread crumbs. Heat some extra virgin about 1cm deep in a frying pan over medium high. Add in the chicken breasts. Colour on one side, turn then place in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, season with salt and a squeeze of lemon and drain on absorbent paper. Add to your serving plate and top with more salsa verde.

Mussell and Chorizo Pasta

Mmmmmmmm, mussels. I have been meaning to cook some of these bad boys for a while. You should do it.

1 kg clean green mussels

3 tbs cream

1 cup white wine

2 cloves garlic

1/3 of a chorizo diced

2 shallots finely minced

1 handful parsley chopped

Salt and pepper

Sliced chilli

Freshly cooked pasta

Good bread

1 tbs butter

Have your pasta water ready to rock and roll, this doesn't take long. As soon as you add the mussels to the pot, start cooking the pasta.

Heat the butter over a medium high heat. When bubbling add in the chorizo, shallots and garlic. When fragrant pour in the wine and bring to the boil, add in the cream and heat. Add in half of the parsley, salt and pepper and pour in the mussels. Bring to a simmer and cover with a lid. Continue cooking for 5 minutes or until the shells open up, stirring occasionally. When ready, stir in the remaining parsley, sliced chilli and cooked pasta. Serve with some really good bread.

Semi-Saltimbocca

Nice. I saw a recipe for saltimbocca on Food Safari a few years ago and thought it looked simple and awesome. As the traditional recipe uses veal and I couldn't get my hands on any at the time I tried it with a pork fillet instead. Although I have never had the traditional version, this is successful. I recommend it thoroughly.

1 pork fillet

1 cup flour

Sage leaves

3 tbs butter

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Rind of 1/2 a lemon

Prosciutto

1 clove garlic sliced

Salt

Pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Some good mash

Slice the pork fillet into 2cm rounds and beat out between clingfilm until quite thin. Season the flour with salt and pepper, lemon rind and some chopped sage leaves. Dust the pork slices in the flour. Place 1 sage leaf on each pork slice and top with some prosciutto, fold over a piece of meat and beat a little more to sort of seal it in place. Heat some extra virgin in a large frying pan and add a little butter. Fry the pork slices until they have nice colour on both sides.

Drain the oil from the pan and add in the remaining butter over a medium high heat. When bubbling add in the garlic and any remaining sage leaves. When fragrant pour in the lemon juice, stir then pour over the top of your cooked pork slices. Serve with good mash and some nice crusty bread. Very nice indeed.

 

Green Curry Crab, Corn and Ricotta Dip

I made some curry paste recently and have had fun coming up with uses for it. If you haven't made your own green curry paste before, give it a go its reasonably straight forward. Coriander, ginger, garlic, lemon grass, chilli, salt, lime juice, sesame oil (in my version) and another oil to keep it moist. Blend it all and then if you can be bothered, pound it some in a mortar and pestle to make sure it isn't stringy. In any case, I made this for adults to eat at a Kindy disco and surprisingly a wedge of kids ate it, fresh sliced chilli on top and all! To serve with this I halved wanton wrapper on the diagonal and deep fried them: unreal.

300 gms ricotta

1 or 2 tbs green curry paste

1 tub of picked crab meat

1 cob corn stripped

2 eschalots thinly sliced

2 tsp Chinese 5 spice

Juice of half a lime
1 avocado diced

Salt

Pepper
Olive oil

Chopped coriander

Sliced chilli

Heat some oil in a frying pan, add in the curry paste and cook for 1  minute, toss in the crab and corn and cook for another minute. Remove and add to a large mixing bowl. Combine the crab and corn with the ricotta, the eschalots, salt, pepper, Chinese 5 spice, some chopped coriander and half of the lime juice. Fold through the avocado. Check for seasoning and add more of whatever is missing - eg more lime juice, salt or pepper. Transfer into your serving dish and top with a little more lime juice, more chopped coriander and some sliced chilli. Serve with deep fried wanton wrappers.

Sticky Chicken Drumettes with Coriander and Nori

Sticky Asian chicken drumettes have been done before I know but these were tasty and the addition of chopped nori and coriander was really, really good. I was in a rush to cook these so they didn't marinade for more than about 5 minutes but I think that they would benefit from some time hanging out in the liquid. The danger there though is that the nori may take over so, I wouldn't recommend any longer than 1 hour.

1 kg chicken drumettes

3 tbs honey (more if you like)

3 tbs teriyaki sauce

1 thumb ginger grated

1 sheet nori

1/3 bunch coriander

2 cloves garlic minced

Juice of half a lime

1 tbs sesame oil

2 tbs olive oil

1 or 2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice

Process the nori sheet in a blender (its difficult to do with a knife). Mince the coriander and blitzed nori together with a knife until quite fine. Combine all of the ingredients except for the the chicken in a large bowl with a whisk. Mix the chicken through and allow to marinade for an hour in the fridge. Pour onto a baking paper lined baking tray (less washing up) and roast in a preheated 180C oven for 40 minutes or until golden, basting as you go. My daughter smashed 4 of these into herself after her own dinner.

Boned Leg of Lamb with Chicken, Mushroom and Blue Cheese Stuffing

I love this concept. Bone - stuff - secure - roast - over eat. Once you have boned the lamb, look for the extra thick bits and where appropriate - butterfly them out. This will hopefully give you a more even roll, particularly if you fan them out in to the gaps.

1 boned lamb leg (mine was 3 kg)

10 or 12 mushrooms chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1/2 sprig rosemary stripped

1 honey flavoured chicken sausage

1/2 tbs blue cheese (or more)

1 handful baby spinach

6 slices prosicutto

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Remove the chicken meat from the sausage and discard the skin. Saute the mushrooms, garlic, rosemary and chicken in about 1 tbs of extra virgin (will depend on how thirsty your mushrooms are) with a fair bit of salt and pepper. Remove from the pan and mix through the blue cheese. Check for seasoning.

Line the inside of the boned lamb leg with prosciutto slices, top with baby spinach leaves, evenly spread out the chicken mixture, roll the meat tightly and secure with kitchen string at about 2cm intervals. Season the outside well with salt and pepper and rub in with some oil. Refrigerate until ready, mine was over night. Cook at 180C with 20 mins per 450 gms plus 20 minutes. I used the barbecue and had to do some guess work, if it bleeds when you stab it, cook it some more. As the chicken is already cooked though it shouldn't matter if the meat is medium however.

I made a sauce from the pan juices, resting juices, sugar, red wine and passatta.

Awesome the next day on rolls with some blue cheese flavoured gravy...

Sage, Pumpkin and Anchovy Sauce

Well easy and really good. I plan on doing this instead of gravy next time I roast pork or do pork belly. Don't worry about the anchovy, it melts away and goes to the background and makes everything else stand out - it does not taste like hairy fish. Add some cream if you want.

1 big wedge of pumpkin diced and cooked
1 big handful sage leaves roughly chopped
50 gms butter
2 cloves garlic roughly minced
Good splash of white wine
Resting juice from cooked pork
Salt and pepper

Blitz/blend the pumpkin until very smooth. Heat the butter in a pan to medium and when beginning to froth add in the garlic and sage and saute until fragrant and with a little colour. Add in the anchovy fillets and cook for a minute or so, squashing it a little as you go. Splash in the wine and reduce by half, add in the pureed pumpkin and stir, reduce the heat to low and simmer for five minutes. Add in the resting juice from your pork, mix and check for seasoning adding salt and pepper if necessary. Turn of the heat and cover, reheat when ready.

Pistachio Satay

I have a big bag of pistachios that I don't seem to able to make a dint in, no matter how hard I try and I keep thinking of ways to use them. Pistachio pesto springs to mind right now... I am also digging on coriander at the moment - add the two and get this. I researched a heap of recipes for regular satay and every one was different. The only similarity I found was peanuts so I thought I might try and throw together a bunch of things that taste nice with some pistachios and see what happens. It tasted very good - like pistachios - maybe I could have used less coriander but even then, I liked that. Two things, I think the paste was better the second day and, use medium heat so that you don't burn the nuts. I could also see this working with coconut milk/cream. Enjoy.

2 handfuls pistachio nuts

1 tbs sesame oil

1 handful coriander

1 tsp Chinese 5 spice

2 cloves garlic

1 thumb ginger roughly chopped

Juice of 1/2 a lime

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs fish Sauce

1/2 tbs Kecap Manis

Pound the lot in a big mortar and pestle for 5 minutes or so until it forms a smooth paste.

I used this on prawn skewers and chicken thighs. Happy days.

Oregano, Corriander and Beer Marinated Chicken

I was aiming for a Portugeezer style chicken combo and actually meant to put in some paprika but forgot. Almost no effort for heaps of tasty flavour. I will add photos very soon as I plan on making this again.

1/3 bunch coriander finely minced
4 tbs fresh oregano finely minced
2 tbs garlic oil
Juice of half a lime
Juice of half a lemon
Salt (a fair whack)
Pepper
1/2 cup nice beer
Chicken thighs

Combine well all of the ingredients except the chicken in a large bowl. If you feel it needs more oil to stop from burning, add some olive oil. Add the chicken and allow to marinade at room temperature for 15 minutes. (Marinading for too much longer will make the lemon/lime juice cook the chicken and the salt will extract too much). Preheat a barbecue to medium high and cook until well coloured and just cooked through. Baste during the cooking and finish with an extra squeeze of lemon and lime juice.
I used this on pizza...

Lamb Cutlets with Minted Pesto Crust

Holy moly, this was good. The only difficult part was getting the pesto right - which is as simple as tasting it and adjusting it with more of whatever you need. Here I used a 1:1 ratio of basil and mint but I think that it would be better at 1:2 ratio basil to mint. Experimenting with other herbs or sauces like romesco or chimichurri would be brilliant too, just make sure there is enough oil to moisten the crumb and then crisp it. This would only have been about 5 minutes work and 10 minutes cooking. When you make the pesto substitue 2/3 of the basil for mint and make a smaller batch. Alternatively try my Mint and Parmessan Crusted Lamb Cutlets or Lamb Cutlets with Plum, Red Wine and Mushroom Sauce recipes.

3 tbs pesto, minted

8 lamb cutlets (or more)

4 tbs Panko (bread crumbs)
Salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
1/4 lemon
2 tsp store bought balsamic reduction


Season the lamb with some olive oil, pepper and the juice of the lemon and allow to come to room temperature. Heat a barbecue to very hot. Season the lamb with salt and sear both sides well on the barbecue, remove to a clean plate and allow to rest for a couple of minutes. In the meantime, combine the minted pesto and the bread crumbs and spoon to the top of each cutlet. Heat a grill to very hot and place the cutlets under to crisp up. When they have nice colour remove to serving plates and add some balsamic glaze to the plate for dipping/dragging through.
I served this with some barbecued sweet potato, butter wilted spinach and some rosemary garlic potatoes. Unreal.

Money Bags with Prawn

Money bags are little deep fried bags of super tasty goodness. You should eat these. Ignore the chicken skin in the ingredient picture though, that was a failed wonton wraper alternative...

1 chicken thigh

350 gms shelled prawns

2 cloves garlic

1/2 a thumb of ginger

1 handful almonds (or other nuts)

1/2 a handful corriander

1 handful basil leaves

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tbs teriyaki sauce

1 tbs rice wine vinegar

Wanton wrappers
Oil for deep frying (eg canola)
Sweet chilli sauce

Process the almonds in a food processor and remove. Roughly chop the chicken. Add all of the ingredients except the frying oil, sweet chilli sauce and wonton wrappers into a food processor. Blend them. Spoon 1 tsp onto each wonton wrapper, seal it up. Deep fry them in batches. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Chicken Pie with Tarragon, Chorizo and Asparagus

This sounds difficult and expensive but it was neither. Again I am using tarragon as I have some presently but I think most anything herb wise would work. If you would like an aniseed hit and don't have it, use thinly sliced fennel and some fronds. If not try sage - different taste but would suit. As I only used half a chorizo it was far from overpowering but enough to add just the right amount of depth and porki-ness. The left over puff pastry from the lid I egg washed and sprinkled with more sesame seeds and it was great, sort of like the pie equivalent of extra crackling.

4 chicken thigh fillets in small pieces

1/2 a chorizo in smallish pieces

5 mushrooms quartered and sliced

1/3 head broccoli in small florets

1/3 head cauliflower in small florets

2 cloves garlic roughly minced

1/2 handful fresh tarragon

1/2 sprig rosemary roughly chopped

2 celery stalks finely diced

Good splash of white wine

1 cup stock (I had left over turkey)

1/3 red onion finely sliced

1 bunch asparagus sliced

Salt and pepper

1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs plain flower
2 tbs sour cream
2 sheets puff pastry
1 egg beaten
Sesame seeds for sprinkling

Preheat an oven to 220C. Add half the oil to a frying pan with the chorizo to a large frying pan and turn up to medium. Fry the chorizo until it has rendered a little and has a little colour then remove to a clean bowl. Increase the temperature to medium high. Add the chicken in 2 batches with some salt and pepper and fry until they have some colour (not completely cooked) then remove to the chorizo bowl. Add the remaining oil to the pan along with the celery and garlic and saute until soft and with no colour. Add in the mushroom, some more salt and pepper and the rosemary (more oil if necessary) and continue to cook until soft and with a little colour. Return the chicken and chorizo and their juice to the pan along with the flour and toss to combine. Continue cooking for 2 or 3 minutes, tossing then deglaze with the white wine. Allow the alcohol to cook out for a couple of minutes then add in the stock, broccoli and cauliflower. The liquid should come up about half way - if not, add more. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add in the asparagus, onion, tarragon and sour cream. Turn off the heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Check for seasoning.
Pour the contents into a large enough casserole dish to fit. Butter the rim, place on and crimp the puff pastry, cutting away any excess. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle liberally with sesame seeds. If using the cut off pastry, repeat with it and place on some baking paper on a tray and stab all over with a fork. Place in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it, when the pie or the extra bits are golden, remove and allow to cool.

Warm Potato Salad with Tarragon, Asparagus and Chicken with Soft Egg

Clearly I have some tarragon at the moment. I've not grown it before but plan to now. A mates mum gave me some recently and I have been loving it. This recipe took about 15 minutes, about as long as it took for the potato to come to the boil, cook and then I just combined everything. I was working fairly quickly so maybe give yourself 1/2 an hour. If you don't have tarragon use some sliced basil or maybe some fennel fronds for the aniseed kick. Don't have those either? use something else that you like.

3 medium potatoes in bite size pieces
5 small mushrooms diced

1/3 of a BBQ chicken diced

1 slice bacon diced

2 cloves garlic minced

1 bunch asparagus in small slices

1 tbs sour cream

1 tbs natural yoghurt
1 tbs mayonnaise
2 tsp dijonnaise
2 or 3 tbs roughly chopped tarragon
4 large eggs
1 avocado diced
Salt and pepper
1 lemon
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 chilli sliced

Place the potato pieces in a medium sized saucepan and cover by about 5cm water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes. Increase the temperature to high, boil then add in the eggs and cook for a further 4 1/2 minutes. Remove the eggs to cool, drain the potato and allow to steam out (check they are cooked first).
In the mean time heat the olive oil in a large frying pan to medium high and cook the mushroom, garlic, bacon and chicken over a medium high heat. When soft and fragrant, add in the asparagus and tarragon and toss. When you can smell the asparagus cooking, squeeze in the the juice from half the lemon, toss, check for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary then turn off the heat.
In the mean time, combine the yoghurt, sour cream, mayo, dijonnaise (or some seeded mustard), the juice from half a lemon and some salt and pepper.
Shell the eggs carefully.
In a large bowl combine 3/4 of the chicken mixture, 3/4 of the dressing and all of the avocado. Add in the potato and combine. Check for seasoning and add more of whatever is missing (salt, pepper or lemon). Spoon into a serving dish and top with the remaining chicken mixture. Quarter the eggs and arrange on top, top with the remaining dressing and finish with some chilli slices if desired. Would be nice with some great bread. Kicks bum when cold also.

Tarragon Chilli Prawn Linguine

Good gear and simple. The most annoying part is shelling the prawns but that's the price you need to pay I guess for a decent prawn pasta. I used 750 grams of prawn here for 4 adults and left overs for kids. It was overkill but damn it was good. Nom nom nom nom....

750 gms green prawns, shelled

3 cloves garlic sliced

2 cheeks capsicum in small dice

1/4 Spanish onion thinly sliced

1 chilli finely sliced

4 tbs roughly chopped tarragon

1 handful minced parsley

Juice 1 lemon
1 good slug of white wine
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Salt and cracked pepper
3 or 4 slices grilled prosciutto, chopped
1 packet linguine or similar

Combine the prawns and garlic with 1 tbs extra virgin with some salt and cracked pepper. Cook the pasta. When the pasta is about 5 minutes from being cooked complete the remaining steps. Heat the remaining oil to medium high, add in the prawns and toss about for a minute or 2. Add in the tarragon, capsicum, and chilli and toss about for 2 minutes. Add in the wine and 3/4 of the lemon juice and toss about. Toss in the onion and parsley. Try a prawn to check for seasoning. Drain the pasta and add to the prawn gear, add in half the chopped prosciutto and toss about. Spoon into bowls, top with more chopped prosciutto, a few prawns and a little lemon juice. I served this with some really nice toasted bread. Nom nom nom nom...

Scallops on Sage Potato Slices

A very nice little interlude. Probably about 10 to 15 minutes beginning to end. I imagine small pieces of fish or prawn would also be quite tasty. I also think that maybe rosemary or thyme on the spuds would be great too, maybe bung a little garlic in toward the end or some crumbled prosciutto. Experiment. No photos just yet but I will cook this again soon and add some.

200 gms scallops
1 potato sliced very thinly
1 handful sage leaves
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 a lime
Salt and cracked pepper

Combine a fair whack of salt and pepper through 1 tbs of the olive oil in a bowl and coat the potato slices. Remove the potato to a clean plate then run the sage leaves through the oil as well. Press 1 sage leaf onto each piece of potato. Mix the scallops through the oil and leave there until required. Heat the remaining 1 tbs of olive oil in a large frying pan to medium high. When hot (almost smoking) add in the potato slices, sage leaf side down first. Fry until they have nice colour, turn and repeat, remove to a clean plate lined with absorbent paper, patting down the top as well. In the same frying pan place in each scallop (without over crowding) and cook on both side until they have nice colour. Cook in batches if necessary to avoid stewing. Remove a scallop or two to each slice of potato and squeeze over some lime juice. Serve straight away.

This version also had blue cheese and deglazed white wine

Salmon and Persian Feta Pasta with Mushroom

My favourite kind of pasta, cheap and easy. I have enjoyed flavouring stocks with prawn heads or bones or herbs for years and realised I could do the same here with the salmon skin for the pasta water. As it turns out it was effective and a very simple means of injecting flavour with zero effort. I will definitely use this idea again in future.

1/2 portion of hot smoked salmon (reserve skin)

4 or 5 mushrooms sliced

3 cloves garlic sliced and roughly chopped

 3 tbs marinated Persian feta
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Parsley roughly chopped
1/2 a Spanish onion, thinly sliced
1 packet of pasta
Salt and pepper


Place the skin from salmon into a large pot of salted water and bring to the boil. Cook the pasta until al dente. Heat the oil to medium high in a large frying pan and add the mushrooms, toss until they have nice colour. Add in the garlic and fry with the mushrooms until fragrant. Add in 3 tbs of the pasta water, the feta and lemon juice, bring to the boil and simmer for a minute or two to melt the incorporate the cheese, stir lots. Reduce the heat to very low while the pasta cooks. Shred the salmon with 2 forks. Drain the pasta and add to the mushroom feta mixture along with 3/4 of the salmon and 3/4 of the parsley. Mix through the pasta, check for seasoning and then spoon into bowls. Add some shredded salmon to the top along with some parsley. Top with sliced chilli if desired or some Parmesan. Nice.