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.

Star Anise, Sesame and Corriander Barbecued Lamb

Simple, very few steps, great flavour. I have used about 1/2 of a leg of lamb that I have boned out (the rest went into a stew and I kept the bone to make stock) but a couple of lamb rumps would work equally well. Come to think of it - chicken, pork or dead cow would all work.

1/2 lamb leg boned

2 shallots halved

1 tbs mirin

1 piece lemon grass halved, bashed

1 tbs sesame oil

1 tbs olive oil

2 tbs teriyaki sauce

1 tbs fish sauce

3 star anise

1 thumb ginger

3 cloves garlic
1 tbs kecap manis

1/4 bunch coriander

Combine the sauces, mirin, oils, star anise, ginger, lemon grass, garlic and spring onion in a large zip lock bag. Add in the lamb, gently rub about a bit (careful not to pierce the bag with the star anise), remove as much air as possible from the bag and seal. Allow to marinade in the fridge for 1 or 2 days, turning a couple of times a day. When ready to use, remove the lamb and reserve the marinade. Heat a BBQ with a lid to very hot, place on the lamb fat side down and reduce the heat to low. Close the lid. Continue cooking turning every five minutes and basting until it feels firmish (about 25 minutes). Allow to rest, slice diagonally and pour over the resting juices.

I served this with a salad made from barbecued potato and broccoli dressed with Persian feta, sliced Spanish onion, a little lemon juice and chopped coriander.

Lamb Cutlets with Plum, Red Wine and Mushroom Sauce

Delicious and simple - cook some meat, fry some shroom, deglaze and melt some plum paste.

3 lamb cutlets per person
Stripped rosemary
Salt and pepper

1 tbs garlic oil
3 large mushrooms sliced
2 tbs dried porcini mushrooms
1 cup red wine
2 tbs plum paste
Olive oil
Patatas bravas
Grilled prosciutto

Cover the porcini with boiling water and allow to rehydrate. Season the lamb with rosemary, salt and cracked pepper and garlic oil. Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan to medium high. Cook the lamb on each side to your liking (I like mine rare to medium rare) and remove to a clean plate and cover. Add the mushrooms to the pan with porcini and saute until they have nice colour. Deglaze with the wine, pour in the porcini water, add the plum paste and reduce until slightly thickened.
Spoon some sauce to a plate, top with cutlets. Serve with patatas bravas, grilled prosciutto and some rocket.

Patatas Bravas

Quick, cheap, well tasty. Allow 1 potato per person and about 1 cup passata for 2 people.

2 potatoes

1 cup passata

1/2 an onion diced

1 clove garlic minced

1 chilli sliced (or 2 tsp flakes)

Olive oil

Boil the potatoes until just cooked, remove and allow to cool slightly, discard the water. Slice the potatoes thickly. Add some oil to the saucepan fry the potato slices each side then remove and keep warm. Saute the onion and garlic until soft in the same pan, over a medium heat. Pour in the passata and chilli, return to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened. Serve the potatoes with some tomato gear. Nice.

Pulled Slow Roasted Lamb for Pizza

A fair chunk of this didn't make it to the pizza - we ate it well before then. This gear would work equally well to finish a risotto, to fill ravioli, go through pasta, sit on crusty bread or fill pasties/empanadas. The pizzas had either garlic oil and passata bases, included roasted sweet potato and basil leaves and were finished with yoghurt once cooked. One I filled as a calzone. Stuffing around is worth it sometimes.

1 kg lamb pieces

3 or 4 shallots

4 cloves garlic

Fresh thyme

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

1 tbs olive oil

Salt and cracked pepper

1 cup red wine

Mix the olive oil, balsamic, thyme and enough salt and cracked pepper for all of the lamb in a large bowl. Add the lamb to the bowl and rub all over then transfer to something suitable for roasting in. Place the lamb in a preheated 200C oven for 20 minutes then reduce the heat to 140C and roast uncovered for 2 hours. Take from the oven and remove the meat, garlic and shallots to a clean bowl and allow to cool. Return your pan to the stove top over a medium heat. Deglaze with the red wine and quickly scrape up any bits. Pour the liquid into a bowl until ready. When the meat has cooled enough to handle, cut from the bone and either chop with a knife or pull apart with two forks. Remove the garlic and shallots from their skins, chop.  Remove it all to a large clean bowl and stir through the wine gear. Use as you see fit.

Chicken Braise with Chorizo, Leek and Olives with Cous Cous

Cheap and radical. Very little work and got better as the days went on. I think that the better the quality olives you use will provide you with a better quality result.

4 chicken thigh fillets
1 sprig rosemary stripped
Salt and pepper

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 slice bacon diced

1 large leek in thin batons

6 or 7 oil marinated olives, chopped

1 tbs of the marinated olive oil

2 tbs chorizo in small dice

5 or 6 mushrooms quartered

1 cup white wine

1 1/2 cups passata

2 garlic cloves sliced

1 tbs natural yoghurt

2 cups couscous

1/2 a lemon

1/2 a lime

Chopped parsley

1 chilli sliced to serve

Season the chicken with salt, cracked pepper and rosemary and set aside. Add the extra virgin to a large pan that has a lid and heat to medium high. Cook the bacon until it has nice colour then remove. Sear the chicken pieces on each side until they have nice colour but aren't cooked and remove to a clean bowl and cover with foil. Add the mushrooms to the pan and saute until they take on some colour then add in the garlic and cook until fragrant then add in the leek. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring until the leek is fragrant. Deglaze the pan with the white wine scrapping up any bits. Slice the chicken. Pour in the passata and add the chicken and its juice, olives, chorizzo, oil from the olives, stir and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, add a lid and allow to braise for 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off and remove from the heat while you prepare the couscous and stuff about.

Pour the couscous into a bowl and squeeze in the juice from the lemon and lime, add the lemon and lime halves to the bowl. Cover with boiling water and cover for 5 minutes. Remove the citrus pieces and fluff the couscous with a fork.

Check the braise for seasoning, adjust, stir through the yoghurt and some parsley. Spoon the couscous into bowls, top with the chicken braise, parsley and sliced chilli and tuck in.

Garlic Parsley Prawns on Turkish with Iberica Ham and Triple Cream

A little decadent but so damn good. Iberica ham IS expensive ($100 a kg) but it is sliced thin and you don't need much of it - 8 slices cost $6 and I used only 4 slices. It tastes amazing. Instead, used Prosciuto or Parma Ham. Either way, the flavours of all of them are brilliant. As a guess I would say this worked out at $12 a head but they were big serves for 2 (main size) and I reckon you would pay at least twice as much for half the size in a restaurant as an entree. 45 mins beginning to end, including shelling. Split the portions to make it go further or increase the quantities for more portions.

400 gms green prawns, shelled

3 tbs minced parsley

2 tbs garlic oil

Salt and cracked pepper

Squeeze of lemon

Splash white wine

Extra virgin olive oil

1 piece of Turkish bread split

Triple cream brie

4 slices Iberica ham (or Prosciutto)
1/4 Spanish onion thinly sliced
Chilli flakes

Combine 1 tbs garlic oil, salt and cracked pepper and 2 tbs parsley with the prawns with a squeeze of lemon in a bowl. Spread some garlic oil over the cut side of the turkish bread. Tear the ham into smaller pieces.

Toast the Turksih bread under a grill and remove when ready. Heat a little extra virgin in a pan to medium high. When hot pour in the prawns and toss about until just cooked - 2 or 3 minutes. Pour in a splash of wine, stir about and remove from the heat. Place 4 thin slices of cheese on each piece of bread and spread with a knife. Divide the ham amongst the bread, top with prawns, onion slices and spoon over any remaining prawn cooking liquid. Sprinkle over some parsley and chilli flakes and serve.

Prawn, Prosciutto and Chilli Risotto

Shelled some prawns, made risotto. Easy as. Used the left overs to make Seafood Risotto Cakes. Annoyingly, I deleted the photos for this recipe and will have to take new ones at a later stage. Fortunately, I plan on making this again very soon...

500 gms green prawns
1 stick celery

1 litre chicken stock

1 clove garlic bashed
1/2 bunch parsley (reserve stems)
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 cups aborio rice
1 shallot finely diced
1 cup wine (I used bubbly)
3 tbs finely grated Parmesan
Salt and cracked pepper
Rind and juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 chilli sliced finely
3 slices grilled prosciutto

Shell and devein the prawns and reserve the shells. Keep 1 prawn per person whole then slice the rest of the prawns into thumb nail sized pieces. Finely dice one half of the celery and cut the other half into chunks. Remove the tops from the parsley and finely mince and reserve the stalks. Add the prawn shells, bashed garlic and celery chunks to the stock and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the stock (discard the prawn shell) and return to the saucepan along with the parsley stalks.
Heat the butter in a large heavy based frying pan to medium high until foaming then add in the olive oil, saute the onions and 3/4 of the minced garlic. Toast the rice for a minute or two, stirring. Deglaze the pan with the wine. From this point add 1or 2 ladles of stock at a time when each previous one is almost absorbed, stirring occasionally. 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. When adding the final ladle add the Parmesan, half of the parsley, prawn pieces, lemon rind and juice, salt and cracked pepper, check for seasoning, adjust accordingly then add the lid.
Heat extra virgin over medium high and when hot add the garlic, half of the chilli, some parsley and the reserved prawns, toss and cook - 1 or 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Spoon the risotto into bowls, top with chopped prosciutto, more finely grated Parmesan, parsley, chilli slices and 1 prawn per bowl. If necessary add a squeeze of lemon.

Sage and Pimenton Butterflied Chicken

I love sage and when teamed with the smokey-ness of paprika and the barbecue, it just works. 2 minutes prep for the marinade and 5 for butterflying the chicken. I prefer to use smaller chickens for butterflying as I find it is easier to keep moist and ensure it is cooked through.

 

1 butterflied chicken

1 bunch sage finely chopped

1 heaped tsp pimenton (smoked paprika)

Lots of salt and cracked pepper

3 tbs garlic infused oil

Combine the sage, pimenton, salt and pepper and oil. Make some deep cuts into the chicken across the thigh, leg and breast area. Smear the marinade over the chicken rubbing it into every nook and cranny, cover and refrigerate until required. Heat a hooded barbecue (alternatively cover with a large roasting tray) to high. Add the chicken skin side down, reduce the heat to low and pull down the lid. Turn every 5 minutes closing the lid each time, until cooked - about 25 minutes. Poke the thighs and breast with a skewer to check if it is cooked, remove to a clean plate when ready and cover. Rest for 5-10 minutes. Eat.



the one on the right