Wiltof Triple Cream Brie and Lemon

I've never eaten wiltof before prior to this. It was more bitter than I was expecting but it has a refreshing taste. Prep for this was about 10 minutes and it has only about ten minutes cook time. Nice snack. I think next time though I would have grilled the cheese over the top. Cheap and simple.

4 wiltof quartered
Garlic oil
Sea salt and cracked pepper
Triple cream brie in slices
A lemon cheek or two
Chopped parsley

Oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill on a grill over high heat for a couple of minutes until you get some lines/colour. Top with a piece of brie, a squeeze of lemon and some parsely. I reckon chilli flakes would be rad too.

Pistachio Romesco Sauce

I made Romesco sauce a few years ago and it was nice but it was hard work. Traditional Romesco sauce is made with blanched almonds and hazelnuts. To prep the hazelnuts you need to oven roast them and then rub the skins off with a tea-towel. That task sucked. Anywho the reiteration I've come up with here was simple and quick and versatile. I served this with scallops, prosciutto and guacamole but it very easily doubles as a dip.


100 grams shelled pistachios
3 slices of ciabatta crusts removed, diced
3 cloves of garlic minced
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 tbs rice wine vinegar
2 tsp chilli flakes
2 pinches paprika
Water


Toast the nuts and garlic in some olive oil over a medium heat. Remove to a clean plate. Add the remaining oil then toast the bread. Blitz the ingredients (only half of the vinegar) together, check for acidity and add more vinegar if required. Add water until you reach the consistency you'd like.

Dukkah Crusted Labne and Lamb Backstrap Pizza

An awesome ex-student of mine gave me some dukkah and lamb herbs for Christmas last year and I finally got around to using them. This was delicious and simple and I can thoroughly recommend giving it a go yourself. Labne is a cheese you make from yoghurt (seriously this only takes 10 minutes). The fiddliest part of this is rolling the cheese into balls and then dusting them but even then, that only takes 15 minutes. I made my own pizza bases here but I would imagine that using toasted Turkish bread or kebab bread would be just as great. The amount of oil used will seem terrifying but its only for marinating and can be re-used as part of a salad dressing, used in pesto (a nod to Tracey), or used in confit (a nod to JP). Next time I use dukkah, I think I am going to make my own. You will need to make the labne three days in advance.

1 kg natural yoghurt
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 tsp salt for the labne
45g packet of dukkah (mine was lemon and herb)
1.5 litres of extra virgin olive oil
1 lamb backstrap
Lamb herbs
Individual pizza bases
Garlic oil
Parmesan cheese
Chopped parsley
Mozzarella
Rocket
Salt and pepper
A little red wine vinegar
Some fresh parsley

Combine the salt and crushed garlic for the labne into the yoghurt. Place a muslin wrap over a bowl doubled over, pour in the yoghurt. Bring the sides of the muslin wrap in and tie around a wooden spoon then hang in a bowl. Place in the fridge for three days re-adjusting the height of the bag if necessary so that the yoghurt is not sitting in the extracted liquid.

Remove the yoghurt from the hanging bag into a clean bowl. Pinch tablespoon sized quantities out and roll into a balls, place onto a clean plate. It helps if from time to time you rinse and dry your hands, the
yoghurt does become sticky. Roll each cheese ball in the labne then place carefully into another clean bowl, throw in a little fresh parsley then cover with the olive oil.

Pre-heat an oven to 180C. Paint the pizza bases with garlic oil, sprinkle on some chopped parsley, grate over some parmesan then top with a little mozzarella. Bake until they have great colour.

Season the lamb fillet with some lamb herbs, salt and pepper. Sear on a barbecue to your liking (mine were rare). Allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes under some foil then slice very thinly. While this is happening dress the rocket in some garlic oil, some more grated parmesan and a little red wine vinegar.

Smear a labne ball on a pizza base, load up some lamb and rocket then tuck in.

Raw Humus (wellll almost...)

There are some local markets near my place that have heaps of cool food but by far and away my favourite thing from there is a raw humus that a dude makes. A friend asked me to see if I could do it so I had a go. The end result was very similar and certainly worth making again. It doesn't taste anything like regular humus in much the same way that raw corn tastes nothing like cooked corn. The cooked part in this? Salted cashews, I couldn't have been bothered finding raw ones. This was better a few hours later once the ingredients had had some time to get to know each other.


1 tub sprouting mung beans
1/2 a thumb on ginger
1 clove garlic
1 stick of celery finely diced
1/4 of a bunch or coriander
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbs sesame oil
1 handful salted cashews
1/2 tsp paprika (or to taste)
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lemon
Pepper and salt

Using only half of the juices, combine the remainder of the ingredients in a blender into a paste. Adjust the juices levels, salt and pepper accordingly.

Artichoke Tapenade

So easy, so tasty.

1 small tub marinated artichoke
1/3 jar olives
3 tbs creamed cheese
Juice of half a lemon
1 handful of parsley leaves


Blitz it.

Crumbed Stuffed Mushrooms

Some people I know made this a few years ago at a New Years Eve bun fight which was later topped off by eating 700gms of meat-sweat-inducing rib on the bone steaks. I have tweaked it a little but it is still pretty close the original. Tastes good.

Mushrooms
200 gms cream cheese
1 rasher of bacon
Some rosemary
1 clove garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Porcini salt
Pepper
Bread crumbs
2 eggs beaten
Flour
Some milk
Light olive oil

Chop up the bacon and garlic and fry with rosemary and extra virgin olive oil. Remove and mince the stems from the mushrooms with the bacon etc with a knife. Stir the mushroom/bacon mix through the cream cheese with some porcini salt and cracked pepper until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the mushroom caps. In batches dip the mushrooms in the milk then flour then egg and finally the bread crumb so that they are well covered. Heat some light olive oil to medium high. Fry the mushrooms in batches on both side until they have great colour.
(If you have some lemon, squeeze some over the finished product once cooked - I didn't but it would taste nice)

Golden Syrup and Rosemary Wingettes

I didn't have honey but the syrup was an excellent substitute.


Chicken wingettes
2 tsp garlic oil
1/2 sprig rosemary roughly chopped
Salt
1 tbs seeded mustard
Pepper


Combine them all, marinade for a bit then roast at 170C until they have nice colour (about 30 minutes).

Chilli Rosemary Oven Fondue

I have been meaning to try this for a while. Straight forward, painless and really great. The flavours can swing as wildly as you like here by using different herbs and spices, citrus rind or inserting something smoky like fried bacon pieces. It is important though that you find a cheese wheel that has a wooden container and is wrapped in foil or grease proof paper or you may find melted plastic which aint cool.

1 small cheese wheel
Garlic slivers
Chilli slices
Rosemary sprigs

Peel back the wrapping from the top of the cheese. Use a small sharp knife to make incisions all over the cheese and insert your flavourings. Re-wrap with the foil and place the wooden lid back on. Place into a 120C preheated oven for 20 minutes or so. Remove and tuck in with biscuits, bread or vegetables.

Thyme and Start Anise Potted Prawn

Wow. Ticks all of the boxes - simple, cheap, quick, stupidly tasty. Some chilli would have been good too.

200 gms cooked prawn, peeled

200 gms unsalted butter
1 clove garlic sliced
2 pieces lemon rind
Small handful of thyme leaves
2 star anise
1/2 tbs mayonnaise
Rind of 1/2 a lemon
1 spring onion minced finely
Salt and pepper
1 baguette thinly sliced
Extra virgin olive oil


Melt the butter over a low heat and throw in the garlic, star anise, lemon rind and thyme. Infuse for 10 or 15 minutes but don't allow to colour. While the happens, mince the prawn with a knife then combine with the remaining ingredients, then spoon into a ramekin. When the butter is ready carefully pour half into the ramekin and gently fold through with a teaspoon. Squish the prawn down flat lightly. Place some of the thyme on top and then 1 star anise before pouring in the remaining butter. If necessary squish down the star anise to submerge. Refrigerate to solidify. Take out of the fridge 10 minutes before you wish to use it. To serve drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over the baguette slices and grill on one side until crunchy. Tuck in.

Beef Tarts with Pesto and Cummin

Simple and another opportunity to make pesto. Could easily be done on a smaller scale as a tapa or canapé.

500 g mince
2 cloves garlic minced
1 slice bacon diced
1 onion, 1/2 sliced 1/2 diced
1 tsp cumin
4 tbs pesto
2 tbs sour cream
1/2 hanful coriander leaves
3 sheets puff pastry
Salt and pepper
1/2 a capsicum sliced
1 handful mushroom sliced
1 - 2 cups grated cheese
1 tbs milk
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Preheat an oven to 180C. Sauté the diced onion and garlic in 1/2 of the oil with the bacon and cumin until soft and fragrant. Add in the mince and brown with some salt and pepper. Add in the sour cream and reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes until almost dry. Stir through the coriander and remove from the heat to cool. Spread about 1 tbs of pesto over each puff pastry sheet leaving a 1cm border. Evenly divide the flavoured mince between the pastry sheets and spread to a thin layer. Scatter about the capsicum, onion and mushrooms and top with a little cheese. Brush the sides with some milk. Drizzle over the remaining oil and some salt and pepper. Place in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes until golden, turning if necessary.

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.

Mushroom and Prawn Bruschetta

Easy as. I made this taste even more mushroom like by using some porcini oil I made by soaking some porcini mushrooms in some extra virgin olive oil - an inexpensive little trick. I bought my bread from the Dayboro Bakery, they not only make the best pie and peas in the world, they also bake amazing bread - if you get the chance, check them out.



300 gms prawns shelled
Some great bread sliced
4 or 5 big mushrooms sliced
2 cloves garlic sliced
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 handful parsley chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tbs marinated feta


Drizzle some oil over the bread. Heat 2 tbs of the oil to medium high, bung in the garlic and fry until fragrant, throw in the mushroom, some salt and pepper and cook until coloured. Remove and mix through the parsley and feta, set aside. Grill the bread. Heat the remain oil to medium high then flash fry the prawns until tender and just cooked through. Bread, shroom, prawns on top, drink some wine.

Tomato Bread V 3.0

And here this reason why my Cherry Tomato Jam will not see November... Tomato Bread versions 1 and 2 can be found here.

Some great bread thinly sliced
Extra virgin olive oil
Cherry Tomato Jam

Drizzle some olive oil over the bread, smear over 1 tsp of tomato jam and grill until aweeeesoooooome.

Corn Chip Crusted Nacho Meat Balls

Do it. I've been thinking about this concept for a while after hearing on a cooking show that you can crumb meat in basically anything. Two thoughts popped into my head 1) crushed up Cruskets for fish or chicken and 2) crushed corn chips to coat chicken or beef meatballs. I believe though that pork would happily work as well. Easy as and full of flavour. The corn chips I went with here were nacho cheese corn chips which are covered in powdered cheese so I cooked them as small balls at a medium temperature to stop them from burning. If they were much larger they definitely would have burnt. I happen to have a decent 'Tex Mex' seasoning at home, taco seasoning would do but if you don't have either - its fair basic, just use a little powdered cumin, paprika, salt and coriander to taste. Want more, make a larger batch.

500 gms minced meat (I used veal and pork)

 2 or 3 tsp Mexican seasoning
1 clove garlic minced
Some chopped coriander
2 or 3 handfuls cheesy corn chips blitzed
1/2 cup flour (or more)
1 egg beaten (or more)
1 cup light olive oil for shallow frying
Simple tomato sauce and guacamole to serve

Combine the mince, seasoning, garlic and coriander well in a bowl. Make small meat balls and dust with the flour. Pass the meatballs through egg and then through the blitzed corn chips, coating very well. Blitz more corn chips if necessary. Shallow fry in the olive over a a medium heat, turning until you have great colour all over. Remove to some paper kitchen towel to drain then serve hot. I served mine with a simple tomato sauce and some guacamole but salsa or bottled tomato sauce would also work well.

Bocconcini Wrapped in Basil and Prosciutto with a Lemon Garlic Oil

I last made this at Christmas time and they literally disappeared faster than I could make them, even with assembly help. This is a very simple yet sophisticated drinks nibble and it takes no skill, few ingredients and, you get to eat with a toothpick. For best results with this though there are a few steps I recommend you take 1) make the lemon oil in advance so that the flavours can infuse properly 2) only prepare this as you are about to eat it or the basil leaves will discolour 3) use the best extra virgin you can be bothered to and, 4) use the best prosciutto/parma ham you can. Great prosciutto is about $70 a kilo but, you only need about 5 slices (<$10) which will cover you needs easily if you tear the meat carefully enough -  you don't need much as it is full of flavour. Finally, other flavours would work (eg chilli oil or a cherry tomato vinaigrette).

1 small bucket bocconcini
Rind of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic finely minced
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 bunch fresh basil
5 slices prosciutto
Cracked pepper (chilli flakes?)
Toothpicks

Combine the oil, rind and garlic and allow to infuse. Drain the bocconcini well. Tear the bocconcini into bit sized pieces. Cut the prosciutto in half width ways then carefully pull each piece into thin strips. Wrap the bocconcini in one strip of prosciutto per bit of cheese. Feed one toothpick through one end of a basil leaf, slide on the prosciutto cover cheese ball, feed on the other end of the basil leaf. Place on your serving dish. Repeat with the remaining bocconcini. Once finished, drizzle over as much of the lemon/garlic oil as you think necessary then crack over some pepper. Serve and be quick about eating some yourself.

Pastrami

A mate of mine told me about this, it tasted great and I wanted to give it a go but haven't gotten around to it until just now. It is as simple as it is tasty and inexpensive. Whilst this doesn't taste exactly like pastrami I have bought in the past it is very very tasty. The kids and I ate at least 500gms in one afternoon, just by itself.


1 piece corned meat (mine was 1.4 kg)
1 litre pineapple juice (may need more)
Fresh cracked pepper - various kinds
Ground coriander
Salt
Olive oil


Soak the corned meat in the pineapple juice in a seal-able container over night. Pre heat an oven to 180C. Remove the meat from the juice, pat dry, coat with a little oil then cover in as much pepper corn, salt and coriander as you think necessary. Roast for 20 mins per 450gms plus twenty minutes. It is a good idea to place this on some grease proof paper as the juice will get gnarly and be difficult to clean off. Allow to rest then slice thinly and tuck in.

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.

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.

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.

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.