Recipes

 

• Butter Chicken
• Carbonarra
• Chicken in a cheese and mustard sauce
• Clafoutis
• Pea Pancetta risotto
• Pork and caper sauce
• Tomato Bruschetta pasta
• NZ Lamb Roast
• Oeufs en Cocotte
• Quinoa Crusted Salmon with Crème Fraiche Sauce
• Panzanella
• Lemon and garlic marinade
• Cauliflower and Broccoli cannelloni  
• Mexican Chicken
• Christmas leftover Salad
• Lamb Rissoles
• Lamb Biryani
• Burgers
• Steak Diane
• Béarnaise sauce (well a cheats version anyway)

 

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Clafoutis 

I love this one. It has got me out of trouble time after time. All you need is some eggs, milk, tinned fruit, a bit of sugar and you have a brilliant desert that everyone will enjoy.
 
Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 yolks
2/3 cup of caster sugar
½ cup plain flour
200ml milk
200ml cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or extract
1 tin of cherries (traditional) or any sort of tinned fruit, drain off the syrup and discard.
 
Method:
 
Put everything except the tinned fruit into a mixing bowl. Grab a whisk and mix it all together so there are no lumps – this should only take about 20 seconds.
 
Grab a ceramic baking dish (I use a small lasagne dish) and spread the tinned fruit over the bottom of the dish. Pour the contents of the mixing bowl over the fruit and wack it in the oven at 190 degrees for about 15 minutes. Depending on the type of oven and the depth of dish, cooking times will vary, but what you are looking for is a little wobble and the mixture to be just set in the middle with a little brown colour on top.
 
I always serve this one at the table as it looks much more impressive as a big dish with bits of fruit sticking out, and it smells amazing. All you need is a little scoop of ice cream and you’re done.

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Chicken in a cheese and seeded mustard sauce.
Aka ‘Bogan Chicken’

Alright, I didn’t name this one, a friend named it once she saw one of the ingredients. I am normally the last one to use something processed out a jar or can but for some reason in this recipe, 'plastic' cheese works. I have tried it with proper cheeses and it is just not the same. This is the recipe I teach mates when they are trying to impress someone. It never fails.
 
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
½ a medium jar of kraft cheddar – the bright orange funny looking stuff
150ml of cream
½ a glass of white wine
2 tablespoons of seeded mustard
½ cup of chicken stock
Salt and pepper
 
Method:
Heat a frying pan and add a little olive oil and add the chicken breast. You want a medium heat as you want to cook the chicken with out it drying out to much. Once the chicken is cooked (it can be the slightest under cooked as you will return the chicken to the pan in a couple of minutes) take it out and let it rest on a plate.
 
Tip in the white wine and scrape all the goodness from the bottom and let it bubble for about 30 seconds. Now add the rest of the ingredients except the salt and pepper, and keep stirring till the plastic cheese stuff has melted into the sauce. Bring it to a gentle simmer for 3 or 4 minutes, keep stirring every now and then and thicken the sauce slightly. Taste the sauce and check if it needs any salt and pepper (it will need pepper).
 
Add the chicken and any juices on the plate back to the pan and let it simmer in the sauce for a minute or so on each side, to warm through again. This also adds more flavour to the sauce as you kind of semi poaching flavour out of the chicken into the sauce.
 
When the chicken is done take it out and place it on your serving plate. Have a look and see how thick the sauce is. I like mine quite thick, about the consistency of tomato sauce, so I normally have to let the sauce reduce for another minute or two. Then just pour the sauce over the chicken and you’re done.
 
This dish was designed to help friends cook a meal to impress, so it was always served with simple things. Normally it is served with some mashed potato and some green veges

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Butter Chicken

This one looks like a lot of effort but it is really quite easy as you are not stuck to the stove top for every second, just mix something in and come back in five minutes to check. Lots of simmering, low temperatures and taking your time with this one. 

Ingredients:
1kg chicken breast cut into chunks/strips
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 inch cube of ginger
4-6 cloves of garlic
125g natural yogurt
Juice of 1 lemon

(grind the following together)
8 green cardamom pods
6 whole cloves
8-10 red chillis
6-8 white peppercorns

2 tablespoons of cooking oil
2 tablespoons tomato puree
225g butter (a stick is easier)
400g can of tomatoes
2 cinnamon sticks
150ml cream

Method:
Cut the chicken into strips or little bite size chunks and place in a bowl ready for the marinade. To make the marinade grind all the spices together in a mortar and pestle and tip into the yogurt, Then add the ginger, garlic and salt to the mortar and bash into a paste and add to the yogurt along with the juice of a lemon. Wack it in the fridge and leave it overnight.

Grab a little saucepan and add your can of tomatoes throw in the remaining 2 cinnamon stick and to a simmer, covered for 10 minutes, then remove the lid and reduce the liquid by half. Pour this through a sieve to remove the seeds and the cinnamon and set to the side to cool slightly.

Add the cooking oil to a pan and allow to heat before adding the chicken and marinade, stir frying for about 10 minutes or till nearly cooked through. Then add the tomato puree and the butter and cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes before adding the sieved tomatoes. Continue to cook for five minutes, add the cream and cook for a few more minutes till the butter chicken has the right consistency and serve with Rice.

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Tomato Bruschetta pasta

Ingredients:
1 packet of spaghetti
4 or 5 tablespoons of bruschetta mix
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Optional extras – parmesan cheese – chilli – basil – lemon juice – olive oil

Method:
Heat a large pot of water and bring to a rapid boil, add a good handful of salt and cook pasta as per instructions on the pack.
Now grab a large frying pan or large pot, add the olive oil and start to heat. Add the bruschetta mix and heat through. You are not trying to fry the mix, you are looking to heat it so all the flavours mix with the oil and blend into each other to create a sauce the will coat and stick to the pasta. If you are using chilli now is a good time to throw some in.
When your pasta is about a minute away from being cooked add 2 or 3 table spoons of the pasta water to the sauce to thin it out and then add the pasta to the sauce. You want to finish cooking the pasta in the sauce so it sucks up and absorbs the sauce into the pasta.

Serve the pasta in bowls as is, or top with a little parmesan and fresh basil, add a drizzle of oil or a little squeeze of lemon – it is really up to you.

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Pork medallions with a caper sauce

I cook this one when I have no idea what I feel like. It is meaty without being too heavy but still has a great salty/savoury hit from the capers with a creamy sauce. Serve it with a few steamed greens and it feels like a healthy dinner.

Ingredients:
8 pork medallions
Olive oil
40g of capers – a small handful
150ml-200ml of cream
½ cup of chicken stock
½ glass of white wine
Salt and pepper

Method:
Heat a frying pan until it is nice and hot, add a little splash of olive oil and cook the pork for 2 to 3 minutes each side. Ideally you are looking to get a good colour on the pork and only ½ to ¾ cook it (the pork will finish cooking in the sauce at the end so don’t stress). With 8 pieces you will have to do this in a couple of batches, so just put the cooked pieces on a plate or in a bowl as you do the second batch as you want to collect the juice from the meat.

Once the meat has finished cooking, throw in the capers and then add the white wine and scrape all the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine for a minute or so and then add the stock and the cream (how much cream is really up to you, I would add the whole 200ml in if that helps). Now lower the heat and reduce this for 5 to 10 minutes stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom. Add a couple off grinds of pepper.
After about 5 minutes grab the pork and tip in all the juices that are on the bottom of the plate and then add the pieces of pork to the pan. You want to cook the meat for a further 3-5 minutes to warm through and finish cooking.

Serve with some fresh broccolini or seasonal greens. Delicious!

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Pea and Pancetta Risotto

There are a couple of steps in here which seem silly but if you follow them the difference is amazing in the end. I use this when I am feeling lazy or have friends coming over for a quick bite as I have normally have all of these ingredients sitting around and there is not thinking involved. The only down side to this is that you have to stay with it the whole time and keep stirring it gently to get the best result.

Ingredients: - enough for 4

2 cups of risotto rice – Carnaroli is my favourite but if you can’t get it Arborio is fine
200g of flat pancetta or 400g of bacon cut into little strips (lardons)
(If you are using bacon take the rind of but leave plenty of fat on it as this is what will add flavour to the dish)
1 cup of white wine
1 cup of peas
1 medium onion finely diced
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1.3L of a good chicken or vegetable stock (if you are using a powder stock make it a really weak as it will over power the final dish)
50g of butter
Handful of finely grated parmesan
Olive oil

Method:
Put you stock in a pan and bring to a simmer.

In another frying pan or large saucepan, heat the oil and add the pancetta or bacon and cook till it starts to go crispy, if you are using bacon and you have more that about 3 table spoons of fat at the bottom just remove a little at this point. Now throw the onions in and cook briefly till they soften, now bung in the garlic and give it a quick stir add a 1/3 of the butter and pour in the rice. You want to toast the rice in the oil and butter for a minute or two, this adds flavour but also ensures that you get a really creamy finish to the risotto.
Now add the white wine to  the rice and mix it right through making sure you scrape all the good bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring till there is nearly no liquid left. Now add a ladle full of the simmering stock and stir gently till it has all been absorbed and then do it all again with another ladle full of stock and repeat and repeat till the rice is nearly cooked. At this point add the peas and mix through and add a little more stock. Now this is the person bit, I like my risotto fairly dry so cook out a lot of the last bit of stock, though if you like it a little more runny add a little more stock to get the right consistency.
Now when your risotto is cooked and you are about to take it off the heat add the rest of the butter and the parmesan and mix it through really well and this will make the risotto go very creamy and rich and just brilliant. Take it off the heat add some freshly ground black pepper, taste it to see if it needs any more seasoning and serve in nice big bowls. If you wish you can add a little fresh mint (yes mint, it works really well) or basil or parsley at the end.

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Carbonara – with no cream

When most people think of carbonara they think of rich, creamy and sometimes horrible sauces and over cooked pasta. This recipe is the opposite of what most people think a carbonara is, and I have managed to turn the most stubborn of pasta and carbonara haters around with this simple dish.

Ingredients:

1 packet of spaghetti
500g bacon (rind removed) cut into thin strips or 250g flat pancetta for a more authentic taste!
3 or 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 chilli fined chopped (optional though if you get a nice long red chilli, remove the seeds and finely dice and you will hardly know it is there)
2 eggs
good handful (about 125g)  finely grated parmesan
3 table spoons of olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the bacon and cook till crispy (it may seem like a lot of oil and fat but this is what carries all the flavour for the dish, though if it is really fatty bacon you may need to remove a little) When the bacon is cooked and nice and crispy remove from the heat and stir through the garlic and chilli, the residual heat in the pan will cook the chilli and garlic. Bring a saucepan of water to a rapid boil, add a handful of salt and add the pasta and cook to your liking. While the pasta is cooking beat the eggs and parmesan together and sit to the side. When the pasta is about a minute or so away from being done, stick the bacon mix back on the heat to warm through. Drain your pasta when it is ready and reserve a couple of spoonfuls of the cooking water. Put the pasta back in the pan, tip in the hot bacon mix and stir through well making sure the pasta sucks up all the garilcy bacon flavoured goodness., add the egg mix and mix well again so everything is coated. It is at this point the heat in the pasta cooks the egg and cheese mix and turns lovely and rich and creamy. If you want a looser or a less thick mixture add a spoon or two of the reserved cooking water and mix it through.
Traditionally when you serve this dish it is topped with plenty (and I mean a fair wack) of freshly ground black pepper.

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NZ Inspired Lamb Roast

I discovered this recipe years ago while in NZ on a rugby trip, and since the World Cup just started I thought it was a very appropriate time to pull this one out of the cupboard. The idea of this roast is to end up with meat you can cut with a spoon and for it to be as simple and easy to cook as possible. Just bung it in the oven and come back 3 or 4 hours later. You can’t over cook it and the gravy is beyond simple to make.
 
Ingredients:
1 Leg of lamb 
4 medium onions thinly sliced into rings or half moons
A couple of sprigs of thyme
1 bottle of red wine (yes a whole bottle)
3 tablespoons of Plain flour
Cold water (from a tap) – about a cup
Salt & Pepper
 
Method:
Grab a baking pan and place your onions in a mound in the middle. Season them with a little salt and pepper and then place your leg of lamb on top of the onions. Pour the whole bottle of red wine over the lamb. Season the meat with salt, pepper and the thyme and then make a tent over the meat with alfoil. Be sure to tightly seal the alfoil as you don’t want any steam to escape while the roast is cooking. The idea is to sort of steam and roast the meat at the same time. The steam created is going to be flavoured with the red wine, onions and thyme which in turn, adds flavour to the meat. In addition, all the cooking juices that are collecting in the bottom of the baking dish are going to mingle together to make the best gravy at the end.
 
Place the alfoil tented meat into a pre heated 170 degree oven for 3 ½ to 4 hours and leave it. I usually check it after a couple of hours to make sure that I don’t have a hole in the alfoil and the liquid hasn’t all evaporated (which has happened to me once before - and I’m pretty sure I no longer have that baking dish).
 
Once the meat is cooked, carefully remove from oven and place onto a plate and cover again with alfoil to rest. While the meat is resting you can now whip up a little gravy (and not from a packet). Take the baking pan and put it on the stove top with all those juices still in there. Turn on the stove to a medium heat and let the juices start to bubble. Now is the time to add the flour, just sprinkle in two tablespoons to begin with and keep mixing the flour through (you want to cook the flour a little to take the raw flavour off it). It is at this point you need to decide if it needs a third tablespoon of flour. Anyway, whether you add it or not, once you have cooked the flour in the juices for a minute add the cold water, I just add the whole lot at once and keep stirring and I don’t get lumps, others like to add a little at a time. Keep stirring till you get the consistency you like, taste it and see if it needs any salt and pepper and you are done!
Or as they say in New Zealand ‘Sweet azz bro’

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Oeufs en Cocotte

This is a brilliant little French dish that is just as happy being served for breakfast as it is for an easy Sunday night dinner.  So simple with only a couple of ingredients - yet it never fails to impress. The great thing is that you can dress it up to make it a little flashy with no extra effort, and honestly mine is different every time as it depends what is in the fridge as to what goes in.
 
Ingredients: for 2
4 eggs
100ml of cream
Tiny bit of butter to brush a couple of ramekins
Salt and pepper
 
Optional extras:
Smoked salmon/ham/bacon
Gruyere cheese
Shallots/red onion finely chopped/chives
Dill/parsley
Truffle oil
 
Method:
To begin, pre heat the oven to 180 and fill the kettle and get it boiling.
 
Grab 2 ramekins and brush them with the butter. Drop 1 or 2 eggs into each ramekin, and season with a little salt and pepper. If you want something easy and plain skip this step and just add some cream, but this is where you can add your optional extras - I tend to just add whatever I have in the fridge, be it a little ham, shallots or smoked salmon and dill.
 
Finally,  pour 1 or 2 tablespoons of cream over the eggs. I have also been known to sprinkle a little gruyere over the cream so I get a nice cheesy top as well. Once this is done, these are ready to go and all we need to do is make a water bath to cook the ramekins in.
 
Grab a dish that is about as deep as your ramekins, put the ramekins in the dish and pour hot water into the dish (around the ramekins). The water should reach about half way up the side of the ramekin. Put the dish in your pre heated oven for 10 or so minutes. I usually just give the ramekins a little wobble after 10 minutes to make sure they are cooked.
 
Serve with some warm toast smothered with a good wack of butter.

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Quinoa Crusted Salmon with Crème Fraiche Sauce

We recently started stocking quinoa in the shop and like always, I had to take some home and give it a go. Typically, I made too much, and not wanting to throw it out kept it in the fridge and did some research on what else you can do with quinoa. I found a heap of recipes that used quinoa as a crust on chicken and fish. So I gave it a test drive on some salmon and the end result was surprising in that it added texture that we expected but also it added a great nutty flavour as well to the fish. The other bonus is that looks really impressive and quite flash with no real effort.
 
Ingredients:
For the salmon
4 pieces of salmon fillet
1 cup of cooked quinoa
1/3 cup of olive oil
2 eggs
½ cup of Flour
 
For the sauce
100ml creme fraiche (if you don’t have crème Fraiche use some sour cream or cream and a little extra lemon juice)
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
½ a handful chopped fresh parsley
Juice of ½ a lemon
salt and pepper
 
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C. Grab 3 bowls, beat the egg with a teaspoon of water in one, put the flour in a second and add the quinoa to the last.
Dip the skin side only of the salmon in the flour and then into the egg, and finally into the bowl of quinoa (you will find you have to press it onto the fish to make a nice crust). The idea is that when you cook the salmon, you will create a good crust on the skin side of the fish and the underside with be soft and succulent.
Heat up a pan and add the olive oil (you want the oil to easily cover the base of the pan but not up the sides of the fish). Once the oil is hot add the fish to the pan, crust side down. Cook it for about 2 or 3 minutes until the crust is nice and golden in colour. At this point, turn the fish over carefully, let it cook on the other side for 30 seconds and transfer it to a baking tray (which should be lined with some baking paper). Then place the tray into the pre heated oven for 5 minutes to finish cooking (depending on thickness of the fish and how you like it done obviously).
 
Now the sauce, this one is a tough one. Add the crème Fraiche and mustard to a saucepan and heat gently, stirring until the mix is smooth and not lumpy. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and parsley. Taste to check if it needs anymore seasoning or lemon juice. The sauce should be fairly runny and quite sharp as it has to cut through the fat of the salmon - if it is thick just add a tablespoon of water or so until you get the right consistency.
 
Take the fish out of the oven and let it rest for a moment. Pour a couple of spoons of sauce on the bottom of the plate and then place the fish, crust side up on the sauce and you’re done.
 
I normally serve this with a little wilted spinach or some roasted root vege, but any green vege is fine.

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Panzanella

As it warms up this is one of my favourite salads as you can have it by itself or it works perfectly with nearly any kind of grilled meat. I often serve it with a piece of chicken I have beaten flat and cooked quickly in a pan and finished with a squeeze of lemon. Panzanella is an Italian bread salad which in its simplest form, consists of fried bread, tomatoes and onion but you can add anything else really such as cucumber, roasted peppers, capers, olives..... well you get the idea!
.
 
Ingredients: 
 
1 cup of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic (optional)
¼  loaf of stale sourdough or cibata (these heavier/rustic breads work better)
1 large red onion
4 ripe tomatoes cut into chunks
½ cup basil
½ cup parsley
½ cucumber cut into chucks
2 or 3 table spoons of red wine or balsamic vinegar
 
Optional extras: Capers, olives, roasted peppers, parmesan
 
Method:
Grab the stale bread and chop or rip it into about bite size pieces. Now you have two options, you can be authentic and heat the olive oil in a pan with the garlic cloves and when the oil is hot take out the garlic and fry the bread until it is crispy and golden (I like this way) or, you can just toss the bread in the oil and bake it in the oven at 180 degrees until crisp (note – you have to wait until the bread is fried and brown otherwise it will turn into a soggy mess in the final salad – you need it to be crunchy).
Now the rest is a piece of … well it’s easy anyway. Roughly chop the onion into thin half moons, and then cut the tomato and cucumber into bite size pieces. Chuck it all in a bowl with the fried bread and herbs, season with a little salt and pepper, dress with a little red wine vinegar or balsamic, give it a good toss and you are done. Obviously if you like any of the optional extras just throw them in with everything else before you toss.

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Lemon and garlic marinade

This may look simple, well actually it is dead simple but it is the marinade I use time and time again for chicken, prawns or yabbies. If I am using chicken I tend to flatten it out, prawns I use peeled ones and same for the yabbie meat though if I can I do purge the yabbies in fresh water for a day before. It takes seconds to put together for maximum impact. Throw the marinated meat on  a hot BBQ and you can’t go wrong.
 
Ingredients:
¼ cup of olive oil
Juice of a lemon or two depending how juicy they are
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 long red chilli
Couple of sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper
 
Method:
Throw all of the ingredients into a glass or ceramic bowl (there is a reason for this. The acid in the lemon juice can/will react with a metal bowl and impart some funky flavours that aren’t very nice into the dish). Now get your hands in the marinade and squash the ingredients together in your hand. This will bruise and draw as much flavour as possible out of the ingredients, as well it is always fun to get in there and get your hands dirty.
All that is left is to put your meat into the marinade and make sure you mix everything together really well so the marinade gets to cover everything. Now just put a bit a glad wrap over the bowl and bung it in the fridge for as little as 20 minutes or I normally leave it for about and hour or two. Then just wack it on the BBQ and serve it with a salad or it makes a great filling for a sandwich.

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Cauliflower and Broccoli cannelloni 

This is a dish that I cook time and time again when I have to feed a crowd and feel like something half healthy, well, my half healthy. I am pretty sure it is a Jamie Oliver recipe but either way it is just a real crowd pleaser. There is a little fiddly work, but I manage to do the cooking the night before and then just assemble it the next night to bake. I normally start with this recipe but add anything else lying around that needs to be used like, peas, spinach, bacon etc.
 
Ingredients:
 
1 broccoli, chopped into small florets and stalks chopped into small pieces
1 cauliflower, chopped into small florets and stalks chopped into small pieces
Olive oil
7 cloves of garlic finely chopped
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
4 or 5 anchovy fillets (yes use them, they dissolve in the cooking process and you won’t know they are there!)
2 small dried chillies crumbled or a pinch of chilli flakes (this is optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 bottle of Passata*
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
Tub of creme Fraiche**
Handful of finely grated Parmesan
cannelloni tubes
1 small bunch fresh basil, leaves picked
7 ounces good-quality mozzarella cheese
Juice of a lemon
 
Method:
(this is the bit I do the day before)
Bring a big pot of salted water to the boil and add the broccoli and cauliflower and cook until, just tender. Drain and reserve some of the cooking water for later.
Now grab another large sauce pan and pour in a good wack of olive oil, say about enough to cover the bottom of the pan, turn the heat on and throw in the garlic, anchovies and chilli. Cook this for a few minutes until the garlic is soft and the anchovies have dissolved. Grab the vegies and add them to the oil and stir them around so that they get coated with oil. Add a few tablespoons of the cooking liquor, put the lid on and cook, stirring occasionally until the vegies are soft. At this point grab yourself a potato masher and mash the veg into a paste. Add some pepper and check the seasoning. It is this paste that will fill the cannelloni tubes later. I normally stop at this point as this is enough work for one day and put the veg in a bowl and stick it in the fridge to use tomorrow.
(the next day)
Grab your bottle of passata and pour the top inch or so into the bottom of a baking/lasagne dish, this will stop the cannelloni tubes sticking to the bottom.  To the passata bottle add a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar, a pinch of salt, pepper and sugar, screw the lid back on and give it a shake and set to the side.
Get your veg mix out of the fridge and stuff your cannelloni tubes. To do this you can get a big zip lock bag fill it with the mix, cut the corner off and pipe it into the tubes or just use your hands (much easier).
Place the stuffed tubes in the baking dish on the tomato base you poured in earlier, now pour over the rest of the tomato passata out of the bottle you shook.
Put the crème Fraiche in a bowl, add the grated parmesan, the juice of a lemon, some pepper and mix it all together. It should the consistency of thickened cream. If it is a little thick just add a few drops of water.  Pour it over the top of everything (this is a cheats sort of béchamel replacement) top with the mozzarella and put into a 180 degree oven for about 30 minutes or so, I just wait until the cheese is golden on top.
Serve with just a few salad leaves dressed with oil and lemon.
 
** If you can’t get crème Fraiche try substituting with either mascarpone and a little extra lemon juice or ½ sour cream and ½ thickcream and a teaspoon of flour, the flour should hopefully stop it from splitting. If you ask nicely at the supermarket they can get it!!
 
* Passata is a tomato sauce – it should be in the pasta isle at the supermarket, normally in a tall bottle about 750ml. You can just wack 2 cans of tomatoes in a blender and give them a blitz quickly

 

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Mexican chicken 

This is a dish we had overseas recently and it was just amazing and so simple. What I did learn is Mexican is definitely not full of cheese, sour cream and beans. It is quite fresh, light and dead simple to make. Just take out the chilli if you don’t like the heat but a little really makes this dish something else.
 
Ingredients:
1 cooked chook - pull all the meat off and tear it into little pieces
2 long green chillies
1 handful of chopped coriander
200ml crème Fraiche or 150ml cream and 1 tablespoon of sour cream
1 packet plain corn chips (no flavouring)
1 can of tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 ancho chilli – or a teaspoon of smoked paprika and a tiny pinch of chilli flakes
500ml chicken stock
Salt pepper and sugar
1 onion finely diced
 
 
Method:
If you can get or are using the ancho chilli, warm it through in a dry frying pan before putting it in a bowl and covering with hot water to steep for 15 minutes.
Now grab the blender and add the can of tomatoes, the garlic, some salt, pepper and a little sugar, about ½ a teaspoon, add the ancho chilli or the paprika and chilli if you are not using the ancho and blend it all together.
Heat a frying pan and add a little olive oil and add the onion and cook till golden brown. Now pour the blended sauce into a strainer and push it though using the back of a spoon into the brown onions. Cook this down till it looks like a tomato paste and then add the chicken stock. Reduce this down till it is about as thick as tomato sauce.
 
Now grab a fairly large based saucepan and add the tomato sauce and the crème Fraiche and stir until it is combined and warmed through. Then the rest is simply, just throw in the chicken, coriander, and chilli and cook for a minute till everything is warmed through, then just before you serve fold through the corn chips. Then spoon it out and you are away.
The corn chips will soak up the sauce and some will still retain a little crunch.
As far as leftovers go this stuff (if there is any left) is great in a wrap with a little salad

 

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Christmas leftover salad

I have heard that real men don’t eat quiche - or salad for that matter (especially if they are west of the range). However in the case of this one I think you can just tell them to suck it up and eat it or else go hungry, not that you need a sales pitch to get it eaten - all you need to do is assure them it is a man’s salad full of roast bird, bacon and crispy potato. 2 meat and one vege, not a bad ratio (just don’t mention the rest of the greenery). And of course just add and subtract anything else you have on hand, although I would avoid any roast vegies that get soft such as pumpkin.

Ingredients:
1 or 2 cups of leftover roast turkey or chook
4 rashers of bacon cut into strips and cooked until crispy
½ a lettuce or a couple of handfuls of salad leaves
1 avocado cut into chunks and dressed with a little lemon juice to stop it going brown
3 shallots finely chopped
3 or 4 left over roast spuds
2 left over roast carrots
2 tomatoes cut into smallish chunks or a handful of cherry tomatoes
½ a cucumber cut into smallish pieces
Handful of toasted pine nuts
100g crumbled feta
 
Dressing
2 tablespoons of wasabi mayo (of course just sub normal mayo if you don’t have any wasabi or add some wasabi or sweet chilli to some mayo)
1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar
½ a teaspoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of water – or enough to make a runny dressing
Bit of salt and pepper
 
 
Method:
When I make salads I tend to layer them up and serve them with tongs (really flash I know) so everyone can just dig in and get a fairly even spread of everything.
 
Firstly turn the oven up to high and get the spuds in there to crisp up again (these are your croutons!). Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan and place to the side. While the pan is still hot add a drop of oil and fry off the bacon until crisp and also set this aside (I keep a teaspoon of the bacon fat to add to the dressing once it cools).
Now it is just a matter of tearing up the bird, and chopping up the rest of the ingredients, all into pieces that are about the same size.
Grab your spuds out of the oven, give them a second to cool and chop them into slightly smaller pieces as these will add the crunch to the salad like a crouton and also a little warmth.
 
To make the dressing grab an empty jar, add the mayo, vinegar, sugar, water and salt and pepper and a teaspoon of the bacon fat (it is Christmas after all and it adds a little extra flavour) give it a really good shake – if it is a little thick add a teaspoon more water and shake again.
 
To assemble the salad all I do is start with the lettuce at the bottom, then add shallots, avo, tomato, cucumber, carrot, turkey, pine nuts bacon and feta. Drizzle over the dressing and you are on your way. I don’t bother tossing the salad, as each person takes a tong full it should dress itself.

 

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Lamb Rissoles 

Rightio, I know what you thinking – really, a rissole recipe. Believe me these are real crowd pleasers and something a little different to throw on the BBQ. Firstly there is no breadcrumbs, just egg to bind and they are packed full of fetta, tomato, pine nuts and herbs. You need to prepare them a little in advance so that they can go back into the fridge to bind together a little more and they need to be treated gently when cooking. The results are worth the effort though.
 
Ingredients:
1 kg lamb mince
2 ripe tomatoes (pulp removed and finely diced)
Handful of toasted pine nuts
150g feta cut into little cubes or crumbled into small pieces
Small bunch of basil or mint or parsley (or a mix of all three)
1 or 2 eggs (I use 2 which makes the mix a little wet but gives a better finished product)
3 shallots finely chopped
Half a dozen good grinds of pepper (no need for salt as the feta is quite salty)
 
Method:
There is not clean way to do this other than throw everything in a bowl and get your hands in there. Mix it together really well, you may think after a minute it is done but just keep turning it over a few more times and the feel of the mix will change from slippery and lumpy to fairly consistent.
 
Now just roll them out into balls, whatever size you like – I think slightly bigger than a squash ball gives the best result as it gives the rissole a chance to caramelise (blacken) on the outside and the cheese has time to slightly melt.
 
Before you start cooking though, line a tray with baking paper and place your rolled rissoles on top. Cover them in a bit of glad wrap to let them firm up for an hour or so before cooking. The only tip for cooking them I can give is make sure the BBQ or pan you are cooking in is quite warm and has a thin layer of oil or they can stick.

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Lamb Biryani

Ok I am not going to lie to you, this one is definitely a weekend meal for two reasons. One it takes a bit of planning and secondly it will feed at least six. In saying that, it is also the best way to feed a crowd because after you have finished the first part of the recipe you throw it in the oven for half and hour, clean off the bench, have a drink and relax. To serve just bring the pot to the table, crack the pastry seal , sprinkle on the herbs, let the fantastic smell fill the room and serve straight onto the waiting plates. I would love to lay claim to this one but I have borrowed/stolen it from an English bloke by the name of Atul Kochaar. He used hare in the original recipe but I think lamb is a little easier to get your hands on and tastier.
 
Ingredients:
Onion paste:
7 onions, finely sliced
vegetable oil (for deep frying)
1 tbsp Yogurt
1/2 tsp turmeric
For the biryani (don’t let the length of this list overwhelm you – it will be worth it)
600g lamb meat - I normally use a shoulder and bone it out (you don’t want too much fat left on it and also cut the meat into little chunks a little bit bigger than 1cm cube)
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste (just grate equal amounts of garlic and ginger)
200 g natural yogurt, beaten
Pinch of turmeric
1 tsp salt
Good bunch of coriander, finely chopped
5 tbsp vegetable oil
2 whole dried red chillies
5 cm cinnamon stick
4 cloves
6 green cardamom pods
1 tsp cumin seeds
10 black peppercorns
500 g basmati rice, washed and drained
water
bunch of mint leaves,
pinch garam masala
2 tsp garam masala
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp mixed nuts, (almonds and cashews) deep-fried until golden (yes it makes a difference, just throw them in the oil before the onion!)
1 tbsp raisins
Handful of crisp fried onions(left over from the paste)
Pinch of saffron, dissolved in 100ml warm milk
pinch ground green cardamom
For the raita
200 g natural yogurt
50 g dried apricots, roughly chopped
50 g walnuts
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted
1 tbsp coriander, roughly chopped
1 tbsp mint, roughly chopped
pinch of salt
 
Method:
 
Firstly we need to make some onion paste. Slice up your onions and deep fry them until they turn a deep brown colour (not black). I do this in a couple of small batches. Let them drain on kitchen paper. Keep a handful to the side - you will use this later on. Grab the blender and throw in the fried onion, the yogurt and the turmeric and blitz it all together until it is a fine paste.
 
Now for the marinade - you can do it as little as 2 hours before, but I normally do it the night before as it is just one less thing to do the next day. Mix together in a glass or ceramic bowl the onion paste, garlic and ginger paste, yogurt, ½ teaspoon of garam masala and tumeric, salt and a little of the chopped coriander. Tip in the chopped lamb and mix it all together really well so the lamb is covered by the marinade and bung it in the fridge.
 
Fast forward to the next day...........
 
Grab a heavy bottom saucepan and heat a couple of tablespoons of oil and gently fry the dried chillies for 1 minute (this adds flavour not really any heat).  Now add the lamb and marinade to the saucepan, turn it over a couple of times then turn down the heat to its lowest setting and cook for 45 minutes, stirring every now and then.
 
Now while the meat is gently cooking, grab a pot and add the rest of the oil. Add the cinnamon         cloves, cardamom, cumin, and peppercorns; fry until they begin to splutter. Now throw in the rice, stirring to coat in the spiced oil, and fry gently for 1-2 minutes. Cover the rice with water and bring to the boil. Cook for 12-15 minutes until the rice is almost cooked, but is still just not quite cooked as you will cook it again in a minute.
Drain the rice and spread out on a tray to cool. Pick out cassia, cardamom and cloves.
 
Quickly throw together the raita by mixing  all the ingredients together.
 
Turn your oven on to preheat to 180 degrees.
 
Brush a heavy bottomed pot that can go in the oven with a lid (a cast iron le creuset / French oven style is best) generously with butter and add the half the cooked lamb in a single layer on the bottom. Sprinkle over a little of the chopped coriander and mint. Now cover your meat with about a 3cm deep layer of rice. Sprinkle over half the garam masala, dot with a few knobs of butter, half the nuts, raisins, fried onions and more herbs. Drizzle half the saffron milk over the top.  Now just repeat the process, a layer of meat, some herbs, the rice, nuts, rasins etc, butter, saffron milk and a last sprinkle of ground cardamom.
 
That last step before you go into the oven is to make a seal for the lid as you don’t want any steam to escape. So just mix together some plain flour and water to make a dough and roll it into a long snake about ½ an inch thick. Run this around the top of the pot and squish the lid on top. Pinch in the sides so you get a good seal and place it in the oven for 20, 25 minutes.
 
Pull it out of the oven and take it to the table still sealed. Break open the seal and sprinkle on some more fresh coriander and spoon it out onto the waiting plates with a bowl of the raita on the side.

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Burgers

Being a bit of a food tragic I can’t resist researching who or where a dish comes from, or in this case, taking a dish that is less that gourmet and giving it a little TLC to see what it is really supposed to be like (I have been know to recreate from scratch some of those deep fried goodies found in hot boxes at truck stops with great success).
Alright, I can see people laughing at this one and even thinking I have lost it. I did this the other night for a group of friends who agreed that when done well, a burger can stand up to any other dish, granted in may lack style and sophistication but on flavour alone it just works (it is also fun to be a big kid every now and then).
Right, back to the burger, it is very simple, uses a bit of science and as one of the steps is freezing the meat patties you can do these ages in advance and just grab them out when you need them.  The difference between a good burger and a dud is the meat patty so take a little time.
 
Ingredients: for 4 burgers
700g good mince (I like to make my own using a mix of chuck, shin and cheap rump)
2 teaspoons Salt
Burger buns (store bought makes them look original)
Good whole egg mayo like S&W
1 Red onion finely sliced
4 slices of cheese
Tomato sauce
1 Tomato thinly sliced
½ an iceberg lettuce shredded
 
Method:
Now this requires a little bit a forward planning as you need to freeze the patties once they are made, and I will explain why later.
Firstly, grab the mince and throw it into a large bowl and grab about 2 teaspoons of salt and throw it in with the meat as well. Now just get your hands in there and mix the salt through the meat well.
What happens is that the salt will draw some protein out of the meat and basically work as glue to hold the patty together and give it a better texture in the final product.
Now divide the meat into quarters and roll each quarter into a ball pushing it together to try and make it as firm as possible. Lay down a sheet of baking paper on the bench, place the meat on top, cover with some more baking paper and then, using a chopping board push down on the meat till you get something that is a little less than a centimetre thick. Pick up the patty and clean up the edges by pushing them in and place on a tray lined with baking paper to put in the freezer. Once you have all the patties completed cover the tray in cling wrap and leave it to freeze for at least an hour, more is better.
 
The reason you need to freeze the meat patties is that when you cook the meat it increases the cooking time allowing you to get a good colour on them(this colour is flavour), also it helps the patties stay together as well.

So how to cook them, I find the best place is the BBQ. Get it as hot as it will go, place a little bit of oil on the meat and wack it on the barbie. You want a good sizzle and a little flame as this all adds a nice rich smokey flavour to the meat. When the meat has a really good colour on the first side, give it a flip and place your cheese on top to let it start to melt slightly. This gives you time to grab the burger buns and split them in half and place them under the grill cut side up the toast lightly. Take them out and butter them if you would like but I don’t think it needs it.
After the meat is cooked to your liking, take it off the barbie and give it a moment to rest and a grind of black pepper.
All that is left to do is to construct this bad boy.
Place a good spoon of mayo on the bottom bun and top with a generous sprinkle of red onion followed by the rested meat patty (the heat from the meat will take the raw edge off the onions). Pour on the tom sauce and top with a slice of tomato and a good handful for shredder lettuce, add the finest scraping of mayo on the top bun, put the lid on and your done!

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Béarnaise sauce (well a cheats version anyway)

This is a massive cheat’s version of béarnaise. You could stand there beating egg yolks for 20 minutes and infusing wine vinegar with tarragon and shallots and you will probably get a more authentic result, and I have done it that way before and it is a fantastic sauce , but flavour wise and time wise this one tastes just as good but is done in about 2 minutes flat.  So good with beef but just as at home on some asparagus or with anything really. (Personally, I can just have it on some white bread and dip in those lovely pink juice that comes out of the meat while it rests – make sure no one is looking though)
 
Ingredients:
180g of butter
2 teaspoons mustard powder
2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar (if you don’e have tarragon vinegar just use white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
3 egg yolks
 
Method:
Grab the blender out of the cupboard and get him set up. Put the butter in a saucepan and start melting it over a medium heat. Now put your egg yolks, vinegar, mustard powder and salt and pepper in the blender and give it a 2 second wiz. Now up the heat on the butter and bring it top the boil. Normally the butter fill foam for a bit then it will stop foaming at this point you a right to go. Turn the blender on and carefully pour the butter into the running blender fairly slowly. By the time you put the saucepan down the sauce is finished.
Pour it into a bowl and let it cool on the belch. Taste it to see if it needs any extra mustard or vinegar. Avoid putting it in the fridge if you can as it will set like butter and not be very sauce like!

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Steak Diane

Alright, I know, it sounds pretty average, fairly old.... ok, very old fashioned and for most, well at least for me, it conjures up images of a pretty horrible bit of charred meat covered in an equally ordinary gravy at a pub somewhere.
Don’t let this put you off!!
This recipe on the other had is the best way I know to turn a bit of steak and salad into, ‘wow you should not have gone to so much effort’. It is as simple as throwing the steak in a pan, cook it, take it out to rest and in the meantime, bung everything for the sauce back in the same pan, quick stir and your done. The other bonus is that you only dirty one pan so less washing up.
 
Ingredients: for 4 steaks
 
4 Steaks
50g butter
½ a small onion finely diced
1 clove of garlic finely chopped (optional)
2 cap fulls or a little slug of brandy
2 or 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
½ a teaspoon of Dijon mustard
100ml cream
Half a handful of chopped parsley
S&P
 
Method:
Get you pan on the heat to get seriously hot. Grab the steak and drizzle a little oil on them and season  them with a little salt (no pepper as it turns bitter as you cook it, leave it till after you have cooked your meat)and place them into your seriously hot pan. Cook the steaks till they are done how you like them and place them on a plate to the side to rest.
Now grab the butter and throw it in the pan with the onion and garlic if you are using it. Stir everything around till the onion is getting soft. Pour in the brandy and stand back, there is a good chance that this is going to catch fire if you are using gas. If it does just grab the handle and give the pan a bit of a shake (it looks quite impressive especially if you have a crowd in the kitchen).  Scrape up all the goodness stuck to the bottom of the pan and add the cream, Worchester sauce and mustard. Stir everything together and taste the sauce, it may need salt and pepper.
Reduce the sauce for a minute till it is the consistency you want then TASTE it!
If you find it is a little sharp just add a little more cream or visa versa if you need a little more punch a little more Worchester or mustard.  30 seconds before you serve toss in the parsley and then just pour it over your steaks.
I normally have this with a bit of mashed spud and a simple garden salad – too easy
 
There you go Al!

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