Pesto

I love pesto season. To be successful with pesto, you really need to taste it and adjust the ingredient levels until you reach your desired result - it is a tasty but fickle beast. It is also quite versatile too, try using different nuts, add in some rocket, use some chilli, use a different cheese (Mersey Valley Classic would be great) or, as a mate of mine does - add in some sour cream. Throw pesto through pastas, in with sauteed mushrooms, use on sandwiches, add to gravy, use as a marinade, or eat it by the spoon full.

The main tips I have to offer however are; use the best oil you can afford, use heaps of Parmesan, use lots of pine nuts and, if using a few days later it may need some more oil.

1 bunch of basil, leaves stripped

3 cloves garlic

Slices of Parmesan

Porcini salt

Rind of 1 lemon

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 or 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Pepper

1/2 packet of pine nuts toasted

Blend it all. Check for seasoning adding more of what is lacking.

Herbed Bacon and Mushroom Risotto

The least complicated version of a risotto I have created and right up there as one of the tastiest. If you haven't cooked risotto before, try something as simple as this - herbs and bacon and mushrooms and cream and Parmesan.

3 slices bacon diced
5 button mushrooms in chunks

1/2 handful sage minced

1/2 handful thyme minced

1/2 handful rosemary minced

2 shallots in fine dice

2 cloves minced
1/2 a celery stalk
1 clove of garlic bashed
A few slices of dried porcini mushroom
2 tbs cream
3 tbs grated Parmessan
Salt and pepper
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 tbs butter
2 cups risotto rice
1 L chicken stock
1 cup white wine

Heat the chicken stock, celery stalk, bashed garlic clove and some of the porcini mushrooms in a medium sized saucepan until it simmers. Over a medium heat saute the onion and minced garlic with a little bit of the minced herbs in 1 tbs butter and 1 tbs extra virgin. Add in the risotto rice and toss and toast for 2 or 3 minutes. Add in the wine and allow to mostly absorb. Add 2 ladles of the flavoured stock mixture at a time and allow to mostly absorb before adding the next, stir after each ocassionally. Continue until the risotto is mostly cooked (about 18 to 20 minutes).
In the meantime, heat the remaining butter and extra virgin over medium and saute the chunked mushrooms, some porcini mushroom slices, garlic, minced herbs and bacon for as long as it takes to make the risotto.
Stir the mushroom mixture into the risotto with the cream, Parmessan and some salt and pepper with the last ladle full of chicken stock. Add a lid to the risotto pan and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
Eat.

Cherry Tomato and Capsicum Paste

I generally don't like tomato paste, I find it very 'packety'. It can taste good when used well but usually I just find it way too overpowering. Luckily, I have an over abundance of cherry tomatoes at the moment and this experiment worked pleasingly well. If you have the time (about 2 hours) for about 10 tbs worth of great gear, do this and use it in place of bought tomato paste in things like gravies, pizzas, pastas and sauces. I used this firstly to make a sauce from the pan leftovers from a pork belly to which I added some basil, silverbeet and wine. Rad.

About 500 gms cherry tomatoes

2 medium capsicum deseeded

3 cloves garlic minced

2 shallots (1 small onion) in fine dice

1 stick celery in fine dice

200ml tomato passata

A few thyme sprigs finely chopped

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Blitz the capsicum in a blender, add the cherry tomatoes and blitz again. Do in batches if necessary. Heat the oil over a medium heat and saute the onion, celery, garlic and thyme until soft. Add in the blitzed tomato and capsicum and the tomato passata. Bring to the boil over medium then reduce to medium low and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Toward the end, stir more frequently as it will begin to catch. Check for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary. When it has reached a thick consistency, remove from the heat, allow to cool and spoon into storage containers to freeze or use straight away.

Bruschetta of tomato paste, salmon, triple cream brie and basil

Garlic and Sesame Beef Kebabs

Well easy, well tasty.

400 gms diced rump

3 or 4 cloves garlic chopped

1 tbs sesame oil

2 tbs sesame seeds

1 tbs chopped rosemary

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

10 button mushrooms

2 spring onions in big chunks

4 slices bacon on large dice

Stripped rosemary sprigs (or skewers)

Horseradish sour cream to serve

Place the garlic on the chopping board with some salt and pull the knife over it repeatedly to turn it into a paste. Combine the garlic, sesame oil, pepper, chopped rosemary, sesame seeds and olive oil in a large bowl. Toss the diced rump through the sesame/garlic mixture. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and quarter them.

Feed the ingredients onto the rosemary skewers - beef, mushroom, bacon, spring onion - repeat.
Barbecue, top with a little horseradish sour cream and eat.

Quesadillas with Beetroot, Bacon and BBQ Sauce

Very tasty and very child friendly. I would have added guacamole to this but greedily ate it all the night before with some salmon...

3 large soft wraps (or tortillas)

Grated cheese

3 tbs beetroot dip

6 slices shortcut bacon

1 handful chopped coriander

3 eggs

Olive oil

10 button mushrooms sliced

1 clove garlic sliced

Salt and pepper

10 thinly sliced snow peas

1 spring onion thinly sliced

1 cooked chicken breast sliced

3 tbs sour cream

BBQ sauce

3 soft wraps or large tortillas

Cook the bacon in a frying pan and remove. Add a little oil to the same pan and cook the mushrooms with some salt and pepper and the sliced garlic and then remove. Whisk the eggs with some pepper and 1tbs of sour cream. Cook the eggs in the same pan you used for the bacon/mushroom then remove.

Lay some baking paper on a baking tray. Spread the beetroot dip evenly over the first wrap, top with mushroom, sliced chicken, snow peas, BBQ sauce and some cheese. Add another wrap on top. Spread the remaining sour cream on the wrap and top with the bacon, egg, spring onion slices, coriander, BBQ sauce and some more cheese. Add another wrap to the top and top it with some BBQ sauce and some cheese. Place the baking tray into a preheated 180C oven for 20 minutes or until golden. Slice with a serrated knife and dig in.

Salmon with Crispy Sage Skin

Salmon is nothing to be afraid of, awesomely you virtually can't over cook it. Whilst having salmon cooked to medium is preferable, if you do over cook it or baulk at the thought of slightly uncooked fish, well done also works. The main thing to remember if you are trying to achieve crispy skin on a salmon fillet is to cook it over a medium heat as medium high or high could burn the skin and therefore - suck. The same principal can also be applied to any white fleshed fish fillet with the skin on but you will need to cook them all the way through. This recipe shares some of the same characteristics as my Crispy Skin Salmon with Garlic Thyme Kipflers recipe.

1 salmon fillet per person

Sage leaves (or any robust herb)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper
Horseradish sour cream

Pan roasted potato

Guacamole

Some grilled mushroom

Oil and salt and pepper each fillet. Run the sage leaves through the oil and place on the skin. Heat some olive oil to medium and place the salmon fillets in, skin side down. Cook the fillets until they become white-ish half way up (about 5 minutes). Carefully flip the fillets and cook on the other side for a further 2 minutes. Remove to clean plates, top with horseradish sour cream and serve with the potato, guacamole and mushrooms.

Horseradish Sour Cream

Change any of the ingredients for something similar and you have yourself a simple, quick and pleasing accompaniment to any meal. For example use creme fraiche or natural yoghurt instead, substitute the horseradish for mustard or garlic, use different herbs or use a well flavoured vinegar instead. After your initial mix, taste it and add more of whatever you think it needs. In any case, should only be about 3 minutes work.

3 tbs sour cream
Garlic chives thinly sliced
2 tsp horseradish (or more)
1/2 tbs lemon juice (or more)
Salt and pepper

Mix it all together with a spoon, check for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Tasty with meat, potatoes, through asparagus or barbecued vegetables and on a manwhich.

Guacamole with Barbecued Corn and Spring Onion

This is something that changes every time I make it. The addition of barbecued corn and spring onion gave this version more depth. If you haven't used the lemon/lime combination before, it is definitely worth trying.

1 avocado diced

1/2 a lemon juiced

1 lime juiced

1 clove garlic minced

2 cobs corn barbecued

1 spring onion barbecued

1 tbs blue cheese

2 tbs chopped coriander

Salt and pepper

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Slice the corn off the cob with a sharp knife. Finely slice the spring onion. Combine all of the ingredients with half of the juice. Check for seasoning and add more of whatever is missing and as much of the remaining juice as necessary. Could benefit from some chilli I guess.

Lamb Shanks with an Asparagus and Ricotta Sauce

Easy and lighter tasting than most shank recipes I have made.

1 shank per person
Stripped rosemary
Chopped garlic
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1 cup red wine
4 or 5 tbs ricotta
1 bunch asparagus thinly sliced
Chicken stock
1/2 tbs fresh basil
1/2 tbs fresh parsley
1/2 tbs fresh mint
2 cloves garlic
Steamed cauliflower

Preheat an oven to 130C. Grind the stripped rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper and some olive oil in a pestle and mortar until you have a rough paste. Rub the paste over each shank. Sear the shanks on the stove in the casserole/roasting dish you are going to use until they have nice colour. Pour in the red wine, add a lid and place in the oven for 3 or so hours. Baste the shanks occasionally.
When the shanks are ready, pour off or spoon out all of the rendered fat. Place the cooking dish back on the stove top and heat to medium. Deglaze the pan with about 1 cup of chicken stock. Mince the garlic, basil, parsley and mint. Add the minced herbs, asparagus slices and ricotta to the chicken stock. Reduce slightly and check for seasoning. Place a shank on each plate, top with sauce and serve with the veg.

Crab, Blue Cheese and Ricotta Ravioli

Man this was good. If you don't have a pasta machine and want to try this see if you can buy fresh pasta sheets from a deli. As you will see from the pictures, I fortunately have a ravioli press thing, it makes life much easier. If you can't get or make pasta sheets just mix the filling through some freshly cooked pasta and top each bowl of pasta with some of the butter gear. The amount of butter I used in this seems excessive but really, how regularly do you cook crab ravioli? The filling itself including chopping only took about 10 minutes to make and required no cooking. The order I completed this all in was to make the pasta and rest in plastic in the fridge - make the filling - roll out 1/3 of the pasta at a time and turn into ravioli - allow the ravioli to dry on a rack until ready (up to an hour) - boil water, cook ravioli and make butter sauce - eat. To make this go further, serve this with some salad or some nice crusty bread. Enough for 2 adults and 2 kids plus some left over crab gear.

220 gms crab meat (Phillips Bay)

3 cloves garlic minced

1 tbs shredded basil leaves

Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 shallot in fine dice (1/2 a small onion)
3 tbs ricotta

2 tbs blue cheese

Salt and pepper
40 gms butter

Extra virgin olive oil

1/2 and handful of parsley minced

Basil leaves for tearing

Pasta sheets (enough pasta for 3)
A ravioli tray or similar

Combine the ricotta, 1/2 of the blue cheese, shredded basil leaves, shallot, salt and pepper, 2 cloves of freshly minced garlic and 1/2 of the lemon juice. Taste and add the remaining blue cheese (if you want), more lemon juice or salt and pepper as necessary. Add in the crab meat and combine breaking up the crab as you go. Add more ricotta if necessary.

Lightly flour the ravioli tray and lay over half of a long sheet of pasta, press in the pasta using the mould. Spoon in 1 tsp of filling into each mould, lay the other half of the pasta sheet over the top and roll with a rolling pin to cut. Turn each out carefully onto a biscuit rack. Alternatively form the ravioli by hand.

Boil enough salted water. When the water is boiling add in the ravioli and cook for 4 to 5 minutes after the water returns to the boil. While the ravioli is cooking melt the butter over a medium high heat with 1 tbs olive oil. When melted add in the garlic, remaining lemon juice, some salt and freshly cracked pepper and cook. By the time the garlic is fragrant the ravioli should be cooked. Drain the ravioli into a colander using a slotted spoon. Add half of the parsley into the butter and toss, add in the ravioli and toss to coat. Pour the ravioli into bowls, sprinkle over the remaining parsley and some torn basil. Eat straight away.

Pork Loin With Sage and Lemon Zest

Same principal applies in this as to a thick piece of steak or even a roast, smack it with some heat and finish it in the oven. You can also do the same flavour combination with pork chops; pork, sage and lemon work very well together. If you wanted to in this recipe you could easily deglaze the pan with some wine or stock while the meat is resting to make a sauce and bung in some cream or butter or just reduce it. I opted tonight to finish this dish with a balsamic reduction I bought from a deli.

1 piece pork loin (mine was 1kg)

Sage leaves

Zest from 1 lemon

Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Baked mushrooms (I went basic)

Pan roasted potato with thyme

Steamed broccoli
Bought balsamic glaze

Preheat an oven to 180C. Season the pork loin with lemon rind, salt and pepper and coat lightly with oil. Add the sage leaves to one side of the loin, pressing them into the oil to make them stick. Heat some oil in a large frying pan to medium high. When hot add the pork loin, sage side down and sear until it has good colour, Carefully turn and repeat. When seared place on a lined baking tray (easier cleaning) and into the oven to roast for an hour. If your piece of pork is heavier or lighter, adjust the cooking time. Cook for 20mins per 450gms plus 20mins. Remove the pork to a clean plate, cover and allow to rest. I also cooked my mushrooms at the same time. I found that I needed to add a little more oil to the mushrooms toward the end to stop them from drying out.

When ready to serve, carve the pork to your desired thickness then spoon over a little of the resting juice. Arrange the pork on plates and drizzle over some balsamic glaze (or even a squeeze of lemon). Serve with baked mushrooms, pan roasted potato and steamed broccoli.

 

Pan Roasted Potato With Thyme

Nice and simple, very little stuffing about. I used this basically in my Crispy Skinned Chicken Breast recipe. Use different herbs if you like but always aim for fresh herbs as bottled herbs taste like they have come out of a bottle.

New potatoes

Thyme sprigs stripped

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Halve the potatoes lengthwise. Boil the potatoes until just, just cooked. Heat some oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add in the stripped thyme and toss about to flavour the oil. Place each potato in, cut side down and cook until it has nice colour. Turn over and repeat. 5 to 10 minutes approx.

These were also cooked with some butter

Butterflied Pesto Chicken with a Mushroom and Chorizo Sauce

Easier than it sounds and a heaps shorter cooking time than regular roasting. I have done butterflied chicken a stack of times and it is easily worth the effort. Don't be afraid, give it a go - just try and buy the smallest chook you can or you will get a varied result with juiciness. It is possible to cook butterflied chicken on the barbecue but you will need to cook over a low to moderate heat and cover with foil loosely to gain even cooking. To be honest though, the real winner here was the chorizo sauce. I went off chorizo years ago because I found the product generally made here was overpowering and I recently decided that I would like to try it again. Chorizo, mushroom and wine are good. The cooking times will vary so you will need to keep an eye on it. This was enough for 6 adults with leftovers.

3 small chickens butterflied

4 tbs pesto

6 slices prosciutto/Serrano ham

1 lemon halved and in 1 cm slices

1 red onion in wedges, broken up
3 cloves garlic in slices
Olive oil
15 or so small button mushrooms
1 chorizo sausage in medium sized chunks

2 cloves garlic roughly chopped

1 handful of cherry tomato quartered
Salt and pepper
1 cup white wine
1/2 a handful of parsley chopped
Rosemary new potatoes
Steamed greens

Preheat an oven to 200C. Scatter the onion pieces on roasting trays about the size of each butterflied chicken. Top the onion with slices of lemon and the sliced garlic and pour over a little oil. Lay the chicken on the onion mix and smear pesto over each. Lay the prosciutto over the chickens and then place in the oven. Roast at 200C for twenty minutes then reduce to 180C. Should take about 45 minutes but check after 35. Stick a skewer in the widest part and it should run clear if it is cooked. Just to be sure at the end, I carved each chicken (removed the leg/thigh in one piece) then placed them all back in the oven for 5 minutes. Reserve the cooking juices and keep the onion mixture.

While the chicken is roasting, heat a little olive oil to medium in a frying pan and fry off the chorizo pieces. When the chorizo has some colour, add in the garlic and mushrooms, salt and pepper and continue to cook until the mushrooms are becoming soft and have some colour. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and reduce by 2/3. Pour in any reserved cooking liquid and reduce until you reach your desired consistency. Stir through the tomato and chopped parsley and check for seasoning.

Spoon some onion mixture onto each plate and place some chicken on top. Pour over some mushroom/chorizo sauce and serve with rosemary potato and steamed greens.

Whole Beef Shank Slow Cooked with Sage Tapenade

Not as complicated but easily as tasty as it sounds. Can't get a whole beef shank? - use osso bucco slices. Don't like olives? - leave 'em out (its no longer close to a tapenade however). I fully plan to use this method again but I think that next time I will use a slow cooker or add an hour of cooking time. To be true to the result that I created tonight I will use the cooking time here I used. My recommendation to you however if you want to try this would be to use a slow cooker. As this is a large chunk of meat full of sinew, it needs more love than it would in slices as in osso bucco. What I did was tender but didn't melt.
Should be enough meat for 6 adults. As for the pictures, annoyingly I could not rotate the first 2 no matter how hard I tried...


1 whole trimmed beef shank (see pic)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1 stick celery in small dice
1 capsicum in small dice
1 carrot in small dice
1 onion in small dice
5 medium sized field mushroom in slices
1/2 bottle red wine
4 tbs oven roasted cherry tomatoes
1/2 bunch sage
3 cloves garlic chopped
3 large green olives minced
Extra virgin olive oil
3 or 4 tbs gremolata
2 bunches broccolini halved
2 bunches asparagus halved
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
Parmesan cheese
Some great mash
Some great bread

Olive oil, salt and pepper the shank and sear it on all sides over a medium high heat in a dish with a lid large enough to cook it in, remove and allow to cool for a bit. Combine the chopped olive, sage, chopped garlic and enough extra virgin olive oil to lubricate the mixture. Rub the olive/sage mixture on the outside of the shank. Reheat the cooking dish then toss through the diced carrot, onion, capsicum, celery and sliced field mushrooms through the left over shank seared oil. Deglaze the pan with red wine, nestle in the shank, scatter the cherry tomatoes around the shank, cover and slow cook at 130C for 3 hours.
Prep the rest of the vegetables, and heat the water etc. Make the mash and cover. Remove the shank to a clean plate and cover with foil. Spoon off as much fat with a spoon as you can and discard. Add half the gremolata to the shank sauce and cover for 5 -10 minutes while you finish everything else off.
Steam the greens for 5 mins starting with the broccolini then adding the asparagus 2 mins later (depending on thickness). Drain the greens, allow to steam out for a minute then dress with the extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, lemon juice and as much Parmesan as you like.
Try to carve the shank off the bone in 2 or 3 large chunks then slice as thick as necessary (I went for 1cm thick slices). Spoon some shank sauce/vegetables onto clean bowls or plates, add some mash and top with slices of meat, more gremolata and greens with pieces of bread on the side. My mash had horseradish in it.

Crab Lasagna with Blue and Ricotta Cheeses

I haven't cooked crab lasagna for a couple of years now and I am glad that I have here again. I think that there is room for manipulation in this recipe as long as the crab still has the opportunity to shine through. For example, I think next time I may try to make the tomato sauce a little lighter and sweeter by using blanched and skinned fresh tomato. In any case the component of this that has worked the best was the ricotta with lemon rind and blue cheese. The blue worked well as a background flavour and the lemon really refreshed the whole dish. Finally, if you can, try and make the lasagna sheets yourself, you end up with a much lighter result. I also think that some baby spinach or rocket added into the cooked tomato gear would be great. If you want this to taste better still, use twice the amount of crab - it will be expensive though...

V 2.0 Update
I basically followed this recipe however I made the tomato sauce the day before using a full bottle of passata. I used fresh crab and infused some of the shell and two fish frames into it and didn't add any sugar. I had some sauce left over after making the lasagne so I reduced the remaining tomato sauce, added 1 tbs sugar and some quartered cherry tomatoes and poured this over the top at the end. For the white sauce I also made 1 cup of bechamel to mix with the cheeses. Nice.

220 gms crab meat (I use Phillips Crab Meat)
1 handful chopped parsley
2 tsp garlic oil
Salt and pepper
1 tbs chopped fresh herbs (I used sage and thyme)
Olive oil
5 or 6 mushroom in small dice
2 shallots in fine dice (or 1 small onion)
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup white wine (I used Riesling)
1/2 bottle tomato passata
2 tsp sugar
500 gms ricotta
1 handful of basil leaves
Rind from 1/2 a lemon (more if necessary)
1 tbs chopped blue cheese (more if necessary)
1 bunch asparagus finely sliced, tips reserved
3 tbs oven roasted cherry tomatoes
Lasagna sheets
Grated cheese

Preheat an oven to 180C. Saute the onion, minced garlic and chopped herbs over a medium heat in some olive oil until translucent. When soft add the mushroom and saute until soft and with some colour. Add the wine and allow to absorb. When the wine is almost gone add the passata and reduce until quite thick. Mix in the sugar and check for seasoning.
Combine the crab, chopped parsley, salt and pepper and garlic oil.
Roll the basil leaves together and thinly slice. Combine the ricotta, lemon rind, some pepper, the sliced basil and chopped blue cheese.
Build your lasagna. Layer in some crab and top with sliced asparagus. Spoon over a generous amount of tomato sauce. Add a layer of lasagna sheets and top with a healthy amount of ricotta mixture. Repeat the layering process until you run out of gear finishing with a lasagna sheet and ricotta mixture. On the top layer scatter about the oven roasted cherry tomatoes and place the asparagus tips down the centre in a line. Top with the grated cheese of your choice (I use mozzarella and Parmesan). Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Check to see if it is cooked with a skewer (there should be no resistance) and serve with some nice bread and a garden salad.

Herb and Pimenton Rump, Prawn and Haloumi Kebabs

A touch on the fiddly side but no more fiddly than any other kebab threading experience. The marinade was easy to make and was very tasty and I can see this being worthwhile as a marinade for steak, Portugeezer style. To thread the skewers for this I used rosemary branch as I have a mate who has a brilliant rosemary bush that I could attack. Instead of wasting what I had stripped off to obtain the sticks, I have kept the leaves in a bowl for later use. The herbs I used for this were sage, thyme, oregano and rosemary. I tried adding potato to these skewers but they kept splitting...

2 tbs garlic oil

1 handful fresh mixed herbs, chopped
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tsp pimenton (smoked paprika)
Salt and pepper
500 gms diced rump

1 packet of haloumi in large dice

500 gms prawn shelled and halved

1 capsicum in large dice
7 pieces prosciutto
1 preserved lemon chopped finely
Olive oil

10 small button mushrooms halved

10 kebab skewers (or rosemary branches)

Lemon wedges for serving

Combine the garlic oil, chopped herbs, salt and pepper, vinegar and pimenton in a mixing bowl. Toss the rump through the marinade and allow to sit for 30 mins, turning occasionally. Prep all of the vegetables and haloumi while you wait. Combine the haloumi and preserved lemon with some olive oil. Tear each piece of prosciutto into quarters then roll each piece. Preheat a barbecue grill to high.

Thread the ingredients onto skewers in sequence. Barbecue the kebabs turning occasionally, basting with any of the leftover marinade. When cooked, squeeze on some lemon. Serve with lemon slices.

Cacciatore, Basil'd Chicken and Blue Cheese Risotto

Not very many ingredients (for me), little prep, lots of flavour. Both the cacciatore and blue I used in this recipe I bought from a local deli on a whim and I was really impressed with both. Cooking the chicken and toasting the grains in the rendered cacciatore oil was the key to this recipe and, the blue made it really luscious. The cacciatore was Tomewin Farm Mild Cacciatore and the blue Tarago River Shadows of Blue. The blue was not too pungent (enough for my wife to actually like it) and was really creamy. The cacciatore was similarly not overpowering, unlike a lot of small goods I find to be. If you can get your hands on them, you won't be disappointed.

As always with my recipes, if you don't have something, substitute or leave it out but, whatever you can include however will add to the risotto's depth.

1/2 a cacciatore in thin-ish slices

4 chicken thigh fillets

1 tbs chopped rosemary

Salt and pepper
1 tbs oven roasted cherry tomato oil
2 handfuls basil leaves
2 shallots in fine dice (or 1 small onion)
2 cloves garlic minced
1 clove garlic bashed a bit
2 cups risotto rice
1 cup white wine

A mushroom version

1 litre chicken stock

1 pinch saffron threads

Olive oil

2 tbs chopped parsley (stalks reserved)

2 or 3 tbs blue cheese (will depend on its severity)

Lemon

Combine the chicken thigh fillets, salt and pepper, rosemary and oven roasted cherry tomato oil. Line the bottom of a plate with the basil leaves. Add the chicken stock to a small saucepan, add in the parsley stalks and bashed garlic and heat until simmering.

Heat a little olive oil to a medium heat in a large heavy based saucepan with high sides. Add in the cacciatore slices, frying both sides until they have some colour, remove to the plate with the basil, cover and place in a warm place. Add the chicken thighs to the same pan and cook in the same oil until it has colour and is cooked through. Remove to the basil/cacciatore plate, covering as many basil pieces as possible, cover and keep warm.

Saute the onions and minced garlic in the cacciatore oil until translucent then, add and toast the risotto grains for a couple of minutes. Deglaze with the white wine, scrapping up any bits. From this point add 1 or 2 ladles of stock at a time when each previous one is almost absorbed. When the stock is almost all gone, try a few rice grains, if they are still quite uncooked add more stock to your saucepan and continue until cooked. This should take about 18 - 20 minutes. Toward the end of the cooking process, chop half of the chicken and dice all of the cooked cacciatore. Discard the basil but reserve the resting juice.

When adding the final ladle, add the blue cheese, juice from the cooked chicken, the chopped chicken, the cacciatore, parsley, check for seasoning and add the lid and turn off the heat. Allow to sit for 4 for 5 minutes.

Spoon the risotto into warmed bowls, top with sliced chicken pieces and a squeeze of lemon.

mushroom version again

Crispy Skinned Salmon with Garlic Thyme Kipflers

Was simple - cook salmon, toss precooked potato in salmon flavoured oil with some more flavours. The thing I love about salmon is, although it is expensive its really rich so you don't need much. One salmon fillet was enough for myself, my wife and some for the kids for dinner the following night, about $10. To serve the salmon in this dish I didn't make a sauce which I normally would, I used a store bought balsamic reduction. They seem expensive at about $13 a bottle but I have only used about 5ml so far for about 10 meals.

Salmon fillets with skin on
1 tbs stripped fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Kipfler potatoes cut into large bite sized pieces
Garlic oil
Handful cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 tbs white balsamic vinegar
Barbecued corn with feta and lemon
Parsley leaves to serve
Balsamic vinegar glaze

Boil the kipflers until just tender, keep warm. Heat a large frying pan to medium high. Using a sharp knife make a couple of length ways incisions a couple of mm deep into the skin. Oil the salmon fillets, season with salt and pepper and stuff the cuts in the skin with about half of the thyme. Add a little olive oil to the frying pan then place in the fillets skin side down. Cook the salmon until it is white-ish halfway up the thickest part of the fillet (about 5 minutes, maybe more). Carefully (so as not to damage the skin) flip the salmon and cook on the other side for about 2 minutes. Remove to a clean plate, cover and keep warm.
Add some garlic oil to the frying pan and the thyme leaves and toss about. When fragrant add in the potato, white balsamic, salt and pepper and quartered tomato. Toss through the flavoured oil.
Slice the salmon into portions and add to serving plates skin side up. Serve with some potato, barbecued corn, some more cracked pepper and some parsley leaves. To finish add a little balsamic vinegar glaze to each salmon fillet.

Barbecued Corn with Feta and Lemon

2 minutes prep, a few minutes to cook, about 30 seconds to eat. Barbecued corn is also radical with Parmesan and, if you like use limes instead or as well.


Corn on the cob, husk removed and silk stripped
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Marinated feta
Lemon wedges

Heat the grill on a barbecue to high. Rub a little oil on each cob and season with salt and pepper. Cook the corn until it has nice colour all over then remove to a clean plate. Add the feta to the cooked corn (you don't need much) and squeeze in a little lemon. Toss about to coat evenly. Serve with more cracked pepper and lemon wedges.

Avacado and Blue Cheese Dip/Spread

Want to take your sneaky open grilled turkey and bacon on Turkish bread Sunday manwhich up a notch? Yeah me too, this is what I did. This took about 5 minutes and was goooood. A 2 year old and a 3 year lost their minds over it.

1 avocado
2 tbs blue cheese chopped finely
2 tbs mayonnaise (I used Doodles Creek)
Juice from 1/4 of a lemon
Salt and pepper

Halve the avo and remove the seed. Using a dinner knife, dice both halves of the avo while it is still in its shell then turn out into a bowl with a spoon. In the same bowl add the lemon juice, mayo, salt and pepper and chopped cheese. Mix, check for seasoning (more salt, lemon or mayo) and use.

Beef Cheeks Braised with Port and Capsicum

Sounds gross, tastes unreal. I have bought these in different states in the past - as a whole strip that I needed to trim, as a 'fillet' and, this time as medallions. Good gear non the less, its cheap and tasty. You can do a great deal with them, treat them like you would shanks or big cuts of casserole meat if it suits, be simple or be complicated, it doesn't matter. Use whatever herbs you can get your hands on, in this recipe I used thyme, parsley and some basil flower/seeds from a flowering basil plant - the flavour is great and is more robust.

4 beef cheeks

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 handful of chopped herbs

1 capsicum in small dice

2 or 3 cloves of garlic sliced

1 onion in small dice
1 bunch silverbeet washed, deveined and chopped
1 cup port
1/2 cup chicken stock
Minced parsley
Grated Parmesan
1 clove of garlic minced
Extra virgin olive oil
Tomato bread

Preheat an oven to 140C. Heat some oil to medium high in a large heavy based saucepan that has a lid. Oil and season the beef cheeks and sear them in the pan. Remove the cheeks when they have nice colour on both sides, add in the onion, capsicum, garlic, the sliced garlic and chopped herbs then deglaze the pan with the port and stock. Scrape up any sediment while mixing all of the ingredients well. Nestle the beef cheeks into the mixture, add the lid and place in the oven for about 3 hours.

After 3 hours remove the cheeks to a clean plate and cover. Add the silverbeet and minced garlic to the saucepan, mix in and bung back in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour in any resting juice from the meat and check for seasoning, adding more salt/pepper as necessary. Spoon the silverbeet/capsicum mixture into warmed bowls and add a beef cheek to the top of each. Grate on some Parmesan, sprinkle on parsley and drizzle on a little extra virgin. Serve with tomato bread.

Tomato Bread

Super super simple. This is great as an accompaniment to a meal, on its own, as the base for bruschetta or with an antipasto platter or tapas selection. Use the nicest bread you can get your hands on eg, sour dough, ciabatta, bruschetta bread, baguettes. Also, I find that toasting only one side gives a much more interesting result - crunchy on top but soft everywhere else. This is about as simple as a tapas dish gets.


Version 1 (Traditional)
Slices of nice bread
Ripe tomatoes sliced in half
Garlic cloves whole
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Grill one side of the bread until just toasted. Rub the cooked side first with the garlic followed by the cut side of the ripe tomato. Season with salt and drizzle with a little extra virgin.


Version 2 (my interpretation)
Slices of nice bread
Oven roasted cherry tomatoes and their oil

Works 2 ways.

1. Smear some oil on each piece of bread, place under a hot grill. When toasted remove and smear 1 roasted tomato on each. Sweet.
2. Smear some oil and a roasted tomato on each piece of bread and toast under a grill until cooked. Darker flavour.

Port Reduction with Blue Cheese and Mushroom

We had this with steak but I reckon it would be good with most meats. It required very few ingredients and was low maintenance.

5 or 6 button mushrooms sliced
2 cloves garlic chopped
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1/2 cup port (or more)
Chopped parsley
2 tbs roughly chopped blue cheese

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan over a medium high heat. When hot add the mushroom and toss to coat, adding more oil if necessary. When the mushroom is soft and has nice colour, add the garlic and stir. Continue cooking until fragrant then deglaze with the port. Reduce the sauce until it is about 1/2 its original volume, stir in the cheese and parsley, check for seasoning. Serve on top of stuff.

Bay Bug and Tarragon Mushroom Bruschetta

Morton Bay Bugs are brilliant and when the price to size is considered (about $5 - $8 each), they aren't really all that expensive. They are also known as Balmain Bugs, or just Bay Bugs. Anyways, follow that hyperlink and you'll get a better idea about them. This required only a small amount of prep, shell the bugs etc, slicing some garlic, toasting some stuff, cooking and building. Easy as. I used 2 bugs and it was enough for 4 pieces of bruschetta.

2 bugs shelled and washed
1 clove garlic thinly sliced
5 mushrooms sliced thickly
1 tbs butter
Olive oil
Porcini salt
Pepper
2 tsp fresh tarragon leaves
4 pieces of bruschetta bread
Triple cream brie (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil
Lemon


Heat some olive oil in a frying pan to medium high. Slice the Morton Bay bugs into medallions. Place the mushrooms in, in a single layer and shallow fry until there is colour, turn and cook until there is colour on the second side. Sprinkle in some porcini salt, toss and then remove the mushrooms. Bung the garlic into the pan and fry for about 30 seconds then add in the bug medallions and tarragon. Toss the meat, tarragon and garlic for a minute or so, add pepper then remove to a clean plate. Drizzle olive oil on the bruschetta bread and toast under a grill. Build the bruschetta. If using, begin with the brie then top with mushroom slices followed by the bug meat. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and eat. Good with wine. Really good with wine.

Prawn, Asparagus and Feta Linguine

Pretty straight forward. Apart from the fact that cooked prawns are easier to peel, we don't get fresh, green, Australian prawns here. Fresh, green prawns if you can get them will give a more tender result but the flavour will be the same. After you have prepped all of the ingredients, this should only take as long to cook as it does to fill the pot and boil the pasta.

500g cooked prawns, shelled and deveined
2 cloves garlic sliced
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends trimmed
1 shallot in fine dice
1/2 a leek in fine dice
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
2 tbs marinated Persian feta and some of its oil
Pepper
1 chilli, halved length ways and finely sliced
1/2 a handful chopped parsley
3 slices prosciutto grilled
Lemon wedges
1 packet linguine

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions until al dente. Once the prosciutto is grilled, leave it sit to firm up and become more crunchy, when hard, chop. Chop the asparagus into bite sized pieces. Saute the shallot, leek and garlic in the olive oil. When onion mixture is soft and fragrant, add the prawns, pepper, some feta oil and asparagus, toss in the flavoured oil for about 2 minutes. Add the wine and feta and mix in until the cheese has melted, check for seasoning. Turn the heat down to very low until the pasta is cooked. When the pasta is ready, drain and toss through the sauce adding in half of the parsley and chopped prosciutto. Spoon into bowls, scoop up any left over chunks and add them to the top. Top with more parsley and prosciutto, the chilli slices and serve with lemon wedges.

Potato and Egg Salad with Prosciutto, Pomegranate and Avocado

About 45 mins from start to finish. I threw some pomegranate seed in as I had some left over from a my Roasted Lamb Rump with Pomegranate Sauce recipe.

300 gms potato

8 eggs
1 tbs Persian feta and some of its oil

1/4 red onion in fine dice

1 capsicum cheek in fine dice

1 garlic clove minced

1 tbs white balsamic vinegar (more may be necessary)

2 tbs sour cream

2 tbs mayonnaise

3 slices prosciutto grilled and chopped

1 handful rocket leaves roughly chopped

1 avocado chopped

3 tbs pomegranate seeds

2 tbs parsley finely chopped

Salt and Pepper
Crusty toasted bread.

Hard boil the eggs and shell them. Boil the potato until just cooked. Chop the potato and egg into even bite sized pieces. While still warm, combine the potato and feta with some of the feta oil. Make the dressing by combining the sour cream and mayonnaise with the garlic, white balsamic, diced onion, capsicum and parsley. Season well with salt and pepper. To the potato add the dressing, 1 tbs parsley, 2 tbs pomegranate seeds, rocket, avocado, 1/2 of the prosciutto and 1/2 of the chopped egg. Mix to combine and check for seasoning.
Spoon the potato salad into your serving dish, add the rest of the parsley, egg,  prosciutto, and top with the remaining pomegranate seeds. Serve with nice bread.

Roasted Lamb Rump With Pomegranate Sauce

Until last night I had not eaten pomegranate. I was on the phone to a mate recently when his lunch of chicken with pomegranate arrived and since then I have ben intrigue, it sounded cool. In any case, this was really enjoyable and was the perfect meal to greet my wife with when she returned home from hospital with a new baby. The only time consuming part was removing the seeds from the fruit but it was worth it.

1 lamb rump
1 sprig rosemary finely chopped
Olive oil
Porcini salt
Pepper
1 tbs butter
1/2 a leek finely diced
1 shallot finely diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup red wine
3 tbs pomegranate seeds
1 tbs sugar (more may be necessary)
3 tbs finely chopped parsley
Sweet potato discs
Mash (I went for sour cream and mayonaise)
Sugar snap peas

Season the rump with oil, porcini salt, pepper, rosemary and massage into the meat. Heat a large frying pan with some oil to medium high and sear the lamb rump on all sides then place into a preheated 200C oven. Roast for 20 minutes, checking and turning half way through. When the meat is ready (it should be medium/medium rare), remove to a clean plate and cover with foil and a tea towel to rest for 10 minutes.
While the lamb is cooking and resting make the pomegranate sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. When foaming add the leek, shallot and garlic and saute until translucent, pour in the wine and 1 tbs of pomegranate seed. Reduce over a high heat for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes strain the sauce through a sieve, discard the leek/seed gear, add the liquid back into the saucepan with 2 tbs of parsley, rested meat juice, the remaining seeds and sugar and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon. Check for for seasoning adding more sugar if necessary.
Slice the meat thickly, arrange on plates and spoon over some sauce and top with parsley. Serve with some sweet potato discs, mash and sugar snaps.