337/984 - Coconut tuile biscuits

These little pringle-like biscuits are actually quite a lot of fun to make. 

I added them to last week's dinner party dessert course, always looking for some kind of crunch or texture to put on the plate. Baked in the oven for only eight minutes, they are cooled slightly and then laid over a rolling pin so that they resemble a little old fashioned roof tile (tuile in French). 

The first batch I made were delicious and slightly chewy, but I preferred the second batch even more, which I suspect were a little closer to how they were supposed to turn out; crunchy and crispy and leaving guests with their hand in the tin seeking a second and third helping!

336/984 - Mushrooms en papillote

These lovely mushrooms were served as a part of last weekend's dinner party, at which I decided to serve a deconstructed burger for main and planned the plate with my favourite burger ingredients in mind. 

We have a bit of a dinner party routine in our house; first comes the menu planning, then I write out all of the ingredients I need and Trev heads out to the shop to pick them up. While he is out I begin to plan my cooking schedule for the day and start to tackle the basics (pastry, pasta dough, breads). We really do have this down to a fine art! At least I thought we did...

Unfortunately on this day as I wrote out my list of required ingredients, I got distracted halfway through the recipe as I pondered the perfect mix of mushrooms for the meal. Whilst off in a daydream, I somehow completely forgot to write out the ingredients from the second half of the list.

Later in the day as I began to prepare the mushrooms, I was amused to see cream and tarragon on the list of ingredients, knowing full well that I did not have either of these things in my house. Not particularly worried, I simply substituted the cream for Greek yoghurt and the parsley and tarragon for a mix of woolly thyme, oregano and garlic chives.

The mushrooms I used (and can highly recommend!) were oyster, enoki and button. I thought the enoki were particularly fabulous. I absolutely loved the mushrooms cooked this way and actually think the yoghurt tasted incredible. What a great little accident!

Served with potato cubes, kale chips,
baked egg with tomato and parmesan wafer
and home-made burger patty.

My little mushroom packages.

335/984 - Charcoal-grilled ginger prawns

Prawn lollipops for dinner? They were so sweet they might as well have been!

The marinade for this dish contained so many lovely things including kecap manis which was first introduced to me by my lovely friend Lani. The kids adore every dish that it contains because it is sweet, sweet, sweet! I replaced the peanut oil with coconut oil which of course was a wonderful substitute, but other than that stayed true to the recipe. 

Whenever I feel a marinade or sauce is particularly decadent, I tend to fill the rest of the plate with raw vegetables, which is exactly what we did on this night. We all agreed that the result was wonderful. 

That is the second chapter done and dusted! We are a bit sad to see the last of the prawn dishes and are hoping to see prawns pop up in another chapter soon. 

334/984 - Chilli and lime sauce

With the most beautiful barramundi to cook for dinner, I was looking for a way to prepare it that would be acceptable to the slightly fussy five year old who was joining us. 

We decided to wrap the fish in foil, with lemon juice and slices, and cook it in the chiminea. We served the fish, beautifully steamed and silky smooth, with rice and this beautiful chilli and lime sauce, which of course my fussy little guest could omit from her plate. There was no way we could have let her try this sauce anyway, with the added jalapeño giving it an amazing kick. 

One of the changes I made to this recipe was to add a whole peeled lime to the mix, rather than just the lime juice. I figured if I was to be blending everything together we might as well get the goodness of the entire fruit!

The only down side to this recipe was removing my contact lenses in the evening with hands that were apparently still covered in chilli juice. Yikes. 

333/984 - Polenta pancakes

What a lovely addition to our special breakfast plate!

The boys tried the wonderful combination of polenta pancake, bacon and maple syrup for the first time this morning and fell in love! I omitted the syrup from my breakfast but was blown away by how simple these pancakes are to make, and how tasty! 

Apart from whisking the egg whites in the KitchenAid (because why would I do it by hand if I don't need to?), this was a one bowl deal and took around 5 minutes to put together.  

I used coarse polenta and so being used to eating smooth pancakes, my favourite thing about these was the wonderful texture. I am thrilled that there were leftovers and look forward to snacking on these as the day goes on.

332/984 - Chinese-style trotters with ginger and black rice vinegar

It was piggy feet for dinner in our house tonight! 

I had quite a busy day planned and so I made a quick dash to the local organic grocer this morning for a pile of ginger which was to be used to flavour this lovely recipe. Stephanie mentioned that the taste of ginger in the finished product could be alarmingly strong for some people and so I reduced the amount from 500 grams to 350 just in case.

I used a tip that was kindly shared recently by a fellow foodie, Miss Food Fairy, which was to use a spoon rather than a peeler to remove the skin from the ginger. It rubs away very easily and certainly saves a lot of waste. Thanks Miss Food Fairy for that one!

I actually had to boil this quite hard for the final two hours to ensure the liquid reduced into a lovely rich syrup. I even transferred the trotters into a wider saucepan for the final thirty minutes to encourage the reduction of fluid. Needless to say, my kitchen was a crazy big mess by the time tonight's dinner was complete. Thankfully I had a couple of helpful small boys by my side for the horrendous clean up. 

We all loved this dish, and according to the lovely lady at Terra Madre, the source of my ginger and other lovely vegetables, it was very good for us too. Who knew that cooking cartilage would be beneficial to the health of our own cartilage. If my boys grow old without a sign of arthritis perhaps we can thank my love of cooking trotters for that. 

331/984 - Marinated mussels

Mussels on a Monday night? Yes please!

We bought these on the weekend from Western Port mussels and while I almost gave in to Trev's request and cooked these with chorizo (our favourite combination!), I thought I would try marinating them which seemed a little bit healthier. 

I decided that if I was going to marinate the mussels then I didn't really need to add anything to the wine when I steamed them. To be honest I was being a bit lazy but I still thought my logic was sound. The mussels went into the pan to steam (after a rigorous de-bearding session!), and then I popped them all out of their shells and mixed them with good olive oil, spring onions, beautiful Australian Harvest horseradish vinegar and almost a whole bunch of chopped curly leaf parsley. 

I let this sit for a bit and then we added them to piles of rocket on our plates. We ate this alongside raw vegetables and for a touch of decadence, a chunk of "Fermier" cheese from L'Artisan Organic Cheese Timboon which if you look closely you can spy peeping out from behind my little pile of rocket. Who said good cheese had to be eaten after a meal? 

A very satisfying dinner indeed.

330/984 - Erna's red cabbage with apple

This cabbage was bought with a lovely fresh, raw salad in mind....but then I found this! 

I halved this recipe and the amount was enough for four people with leftovers. I realised (too late) that we didn't have any cider vinegar and so instead used our beautiful organic horseradish vinegar from Australian Harvest for the final stage of cooking. The result was fantastic and I plan to make the same substitution when I marinate our mussels for dinner tonight (stay tuned for the post!).

This rounded out a lovely healthy dinner of chicken poached in master stock, feta, cucumber, tomato and grated carrot with lemon juice.

The only complaint was from Trev who contested the apple to carrot ratio...until he realised I had loaded most of the apples onto my own plate. 

Whoops.

329/984 - Cauliflower and potato 'pie'

I really wanted to make this but it is a rare thing for me to have either cream or sour cream in my fridge. I do, however, always have Greek yoghurt! 

I cooked four potatoes and tipped them in a dish with the cooked cauliflower where I mashed them together roughly, figuring lumpy bits would be OK in a rustic dish like this. I went to town with the grated nutmeg and pepper and then added the yoghurt, doubling the recommended amount so that the entire mix bound together. 

With loads of beautiful parmesan on top, it went into the oven for about a half hour; just long enough for the top to get crunchy. 

I think the yoghurt substitute was fabulous, adding a lovely tang to the dish, and will definitely do it again next time.

328/984 - Tea-smoked quail

Who knew tea-smoking would be so easy? 

I almost did something that destroyed this recipe, thinking that "one cup of oolong tea" meant a brewed cup of tea! Luckily I came to my senses and added a cup of dried tea to the smoking mixture. I guess steamed smoky quail may also have worked, but in a completely different, and possible a bit of a weird way.

As it was this recipe turned out beautifully, although our wok was clearly not as hot as it should have been, my little quail requiring double the allocated time in the makeshift smoker.

I cooked the quail until the meat was slightly undercooked in the middle and it was absolutely fabulous. We ate half a quail each and we were all surprised at how long it took to eat all of the meat off the tiny little bones. 

Jules was thrilled holding his little quail drumstick and pretending he was a giant eating a chicken leg. It's dinner and a show at my house! 

327/984 - Fried bean curd with spicy ginger sauce

While I realise that anything fried tastes great, it's the sauce on this dish that takes it to a whole new level.

Every time I fry ginger I find myself wondering why I do not do it more often. The combination of ginger, chilli and garlic in the pan is simply one of my favourite cooking smells...and tastes! With the addition of spring onions, soy and black rice vinegar (I didn't have red) this dish was the most popular tofu I have ever served up. 

With this, the marinated fish and Trev's wonderful smoky roast we were definitely spoilt for choice last night. Oh yes and there were some vegetables on the table too...

326/984 - Baked fish in a North African ginger marinade

I really like snapper but I LOVE it with this marinade!

So, so easy, all of the ingredients (cumin, coriander, chilli, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, paprika, turmeric, salt, olive oil) were ground into a paste and rubbed on the fish. Left to marinate for one hour and then baked for thirty minutes, this was one of the easiest and most delicious meals I have created. 

I did something tonight I have never done before; I ate the eye of the fish. I was advised by the waiter at Urbane (amazing, amazing Brisbane restaurant) that the eye was considered to be a delicacy, but after discovering the hard little ball in the centre I have decided I will never do that again! Erk...

The family adored the fish cooked like this and honestly it was so easy I am thinking of heading out to get some more snapper soon just so I can see if I can make it taste this fabulous twice in a row.  

The best news is that we served up so much food for dinner that we still have a small pile of snapper left over. Now if only I can find a way to hide it from the men in my family...

325/984 - Curried beans with cashews

Oops...I think I am entitled to an underwhelming picture every now and then! 

This little dish was supposed to accompany last night's pizza but most of it is still sitting in the fridge today. Mostly because the pizza was largely devoured and the diners disappeared by the time I had finished this.

As with all curries, the flavour of this dish intensified overnight and was a yummy little snack to eat today. With two growing boys I am learning that no cooking goes to waste and have decided to cook whatever takes my fancy at any time of day. If it lasts longer than 3 hours in the fridge it will be a miracle!

324/984 - Darina Allen's quick soda bread

I wonder if there is a type of bread I have not made?

One of the things I like about making bread is the lovely feel of the soft dough in my hands. Pastry provides me the same sensation as does any biscuit making that involves squishing or rolling into balls. While this bread is definitely easy and super quick to make, I did not enjoy the sticky dough and the way it clung to my hands! First world problem I know...

I actually did all of the mixing and kneading in the thermomix, buzzing the dough for about a minute. I sometimes think of my life pre and post thermomix purchase and wonder how many hours of my life I wasted in the kitchen before; kneading, chopping and battling with blenders that just did not want to play ball. For a sometimes cook it is probably an exorbitant purchase but I truly think mine has paid for itself twice over in two years. 

As instructed, I cut a cross in my bread "to let the fairies out" which made it look like a very large hot cross bun. (Note to self: make a batch of hot cross buns!)

The result? Fabulous! Somewhere between bread and a scone and wonderful with a smear of butter.

323/984 - Cantonese spiced salt

I have been searching for Szechuan peppercorns for some time now and of course was thrilled when I found them at Parisi Foods near the Queen Victoria market. 

I made this spiced salt tonight in preparation for a tea smoked quail that I plan to make in the next couple of days (which I am very excited about by the way!). I think I will also try the variation suggestion, and will add some five-spice powder to the remainder of this salt so that I can rub it all over some lovely prawns very soon. 

I ground this with the mortar and pestle and found that the peppercorns fell apart very easily. It's always a good thing when I don't have to dirty a big appliance for a small job! 

Not much more to say really; salt, peppercorns, fry, grind, done. 

322/984 - Steamed chicken breast

My three boys were out and about today and so I only needed to feed myself for dinner. I had a hankering for chicken and remembered that this recipe was specifically designed to feed one person and so headed straight for it!

To be honest this recipe did not exactly go to plan.

I seasoned the chicken and put it on a plate, which I then covered in (too much) foil. When I dropped the plate into the saucepan to steam, it became wedged halfway down and obliterated any possibility of the steam actually making it to the chicken!

When I pulled it out of course it was raw and I decided to tip it straight back in onto the rice, adding the vegetables and a bit of extra water as I did so. A couple of extra slurps of water later, I had beautifully steamed chicken and lovely cooked rice and vegetables to eat alongside.

The flavour of the dish was beautiful seasoned with garlic, ginger, mirin and soy. All in all very simple, but requiring a different plate to saucepan ratio in order to be effective on the first go. 

321/984 - Potato and chive cakes

We needed a potato dish to go with our wonderful Spanish lamb the other night and I thought this would be a great way to use up some more of our beautiful garlic chives.

I decided to cook these as individual serves using metal egg rings rather than making one big cake. I used the thermomix rather than the food mill to shred the potato and so ended up with a much smoother texture than was probably intended. It was much simpler though!

Blended with butter and egg yolks, the potato tasted amazing before it was even baked. Only twenty minutes in the oven turned these little cakes into golden discs, which made delicious eating and were a great match for the lamb. I couldn't help following the last portion of the recipe with just one, drizzling it with melted butter and some more chives. I happily donated it to my little one who has been known as butter boy ever since I can remember due to his obsession with the golden stuff. 

This is a great and simple way to make a potato side just that little bit more interesting...and to use up flourishing herbs!

Our lovely garlic chives

320/984 - Spanish-style marinating paste for lamb

We love lamb rump and tonight I discovered yet another way to make it taste fabulous!

I chose thyme over basil to include in this paste and was pleased to see that it is still going great guns in the garden. Also included was some amazing garlic from Angelica Organic, pink Murray River salt, sweet paprika and the juice of a lemon. 

I decided to make the paste the old-fashioned way tonight (mainly because the thermomix was dirty!) and dragged out the mortar and pestle which did a fine job of combining the ingredients, leaving enough lumps and bumps so as to keep the texture interesting. 

I only marinated the meat for thirty minutes because we were all hungry, but I don't think this affected the taste at all. The best part about the result was the tang from the lemon which I will be honest, I never would have thought to include.  

Fabulous! Loved this. As I told my husband tonight, there is just no place in the world for bland meat. 

319/984 - Date scones

I love scones. Ever since I was small and my Mum would make scones that we ate still warm from the oven, I have adored them. My favourite variety is still cheese and onion but goodness me these came in a very close second! In fact I think I will name these my favourite sweet scones. 

Mum always stressed to me the importance of not over-handling the scone dough, and so I was tossing up whether I could use the thermomix to put these together. In the end I decided to give it a go, using the appropriate setting to mix the final dough. I mixed until the liquid had been absorbed, then tipped it out, bringing it together gently with my hands. The fact that these were cut into squares meant even less handling, as opposed to stamping out circles and having to put the scraps back together to make the final few. 

I also ground my nutmeg in the thermomix, but was worried that the few small pieces that didn't quite grind would be a problem. The result was the opposite, with the taste of the nutmeg being the highlight of this little treat. Freshly ground nutmeg is definitely a must for these, as well as raw sugar which I think is a zillion times nicer than any other sweetener.  

As the scones were in the oven baking I asked Trev if he would like one when they came out. "With a coffee?" he asked. "Yes I would!" 

Cheeky.

318/984 - Piadine

A request for butter chicken from my youngest was the inspiration behind finally getting around to making this Italian flatbread. It is very similar to roti and so I knew it would be perfect for scooping up the lovely butter chicken juices.

Trev was on duty to cook the main tonight, and my role was to supply the bread and some lovely fresh vegetables to serve with dinner. The piadine was so simple, and with only a half hour for resting, I was rolling little balls of dough before I knew it and throwing them into a hot, hot frying pan to cook. The hotter the pans got (yes I used two at once!) the faster I had to work, in the end roping Jules in to help me roll them out so that I could keep up with my self-imposed crazy production line. 

The dinner was a success and the carrot with mustard seeds, which I found in the margin on page 223, was an absolute hit. The piadine recipe made a stack of twenty flatbreads and so lunches, and maybe a huevos rancheros or two, are very likely over the next couple of days.

Note the very beautiful new table that we ate our dinner on
this evening! If you live in Melbourne I can highly recommend
 Nook Vintage for amazing industrial homewares. 

317/984 - Chicken with red wine vinegar and tomato

This really has to be eaten to be believed. 

We are on a quest to eat all of the meat in our freezer before we buy any more, and were thrilled to find yet another Yapunyah chook in there when we went digging. They really are quite easy to spot, wrapped in newspaper and quite well sized!

I unwrapped the chook and put it in the fridge on a plate to thaw a couple of days ago, and was excited to have a go at jointing it today without completely destroying it in the process. Some determination, a pair of sharp cooking scissors and a few grimaces later I had myself a little bowl of ten chicken pieces. Hooray!

The only thing I didn't add to this dish was the chicken stock, having plenty of juice left in the pan when it was set to simmer. Apparently the important thing to ensure with this dish is that it tasted interesting rather than sharp due to the large amount of red wine vinegar. On tasting the juice after 25 minutes of simmering, I was thrilled to find that it had turned out beautifully, Jules actually proclaiming that it was the best chicken he had ever eaten. 

I must say I think I agreed!

316/984 - Rosemary 'pesto'

We are lucky enough to have a very substantial rosemary bush that serves us all year round. Tonight's pizzas featured Stephanie's rosemary 'pesto' which was a lovely base for my topping of mushroom, capsicum, apple and fetta. It was simple enough to make, with my Thermomix doing all of the work combining the garlic, pine nuts, rosemary and oil. 

I used Stephanie's buttermilk pizza crust recipe tonight but replaced the buttermilk with a mixture of milk and natural yoghurt which seemed to work quite well. For every cup, I used about two tablespoons of milk and the remainder of yoghurt. To ensure the pizzas did not stick as I slid them into the oven, I sat the dough on a dusting of flour and semolina, which I also used on my pizza stone. 

The boys both requested Margherita pizzas (extra cheesy!) and so avoided the pesto altogether, using oregano as their herb of choice. Of course this means lovely leftovers so I will be looking for another use for this tomorrow!

315/984 - Ratatouille

When I piled the first half of the vegetables into the pan to cook, I was a bit shocked at the amount and seriously questioned whether I should have halved this recipe. When the dish was cooked and I had my first taste, I was glad I hadn't!

I was in a bit of a rush to get dinner on the table by the time the tomatoes were to be added to the pan and so I threw them in unpeeled. As if to keep the universe in balance, I peeled the zucchini instead! This is not something I would normally do but the enormous zucchini I had picked from the garden was lovely inside but had unfortunately turned a bit woody on the outside and down one end. My chickens were thrilled with the extra scraps so I didn't feel too guilty throwing some away. 

I can highly recommend cooking the onions for a long enough time that they start to caramelise, convinced that this was the reason my ratatouille was so wonderfully sweet. 

Being the resourceful person that I am, and also because this recipe makes an ENORMOUS pile of ratatouille, we ate this three ways over three nights. The first night we ate it as is, alongside slices of barbecued chicken. The second night was tipped over pasta as a simple sauce, and day number three saw the remainder baked in the oven with eggs, chorizo and leftover pasta. 

I am still not sure which version I preferred!

Ratatouille, chorizo and pasta bake. 

314/984 - Tony's crunchy fruit and nut granola

This is one of those foods I would like to munch by the handful, but where instead I have learned to show some restraint.  

I have always adored granola, or toasted muesli, and I especially like the home-made variety. Not only is it a million times cheaper than store-bought, but I also get to choose all of the ingredients. Of particular importance to me is the oil in which the oats and flakes are baked. I decided to substitute the grapeseed oil in this recipe for coconut oil, while I believe to be healthier and quite frankly I always have it in the cupboard and it tastes wonderful. 

Instead of buying bran flakes especially for this recipe, I simply used sultana bran minus the sultanas. Yes, I did stand there and pick the sultanas out one by one; really is anybody surprised by that? I also meticulously cut all of the raisins in half as I am not a huge fan and do not fancy the idea of getting a mouthful of dried fruit that overpowers the deliciousness that is the toasted oats and flakes. 

The boys have already tried this out as a snack, sprinkled over natural yoghurt and have given it a big thumbs up. I was not terribly surprised; I imagine I could probably bake cardboard in honey and coconut oil and it would taste fabulous.

313/984 - Sauce ravigote

The Cook's Companion certainly contains a lot of fabulous recipes, but most importantly there are just so many very simple sauces and sides that can be prepared in a matter of minutes.

I know I say this a lot, but I adored this sauce and will definitely be making it again to top cold meat, eggs or vegetables. Wanting to reduce the clean up afterwards, I didn't push the egg yolks through a sieve, but simply mashed them with a fork. Also instead of using red wine vinegar I used the beautiful Australian Harvest organic red wine jus that I bought at the Royal Melbourne Show late last year. Jules was thrilled as he was the one who nagged me to buy it, little gourmand that he is. 

Made the day before we ate it, with salty capers, tarragon that smelled sensational, chives (I used garlic chives), parsley and a crack of black pepper, this sauce perfectly complemented the meat we had also cooked the day before. 

Add some raw vegetables and this was fast food at its best. 

312/984 - Chinese stir-fry of garlic chives and bean sprouts

This may not look like much but wait until you taste it! 

As ever I was keen to use up some of our beautiful garlic chives which is why this recipe caught my eye. At Stephanie's suggestion I planned to serve this with chicken and rice and organised for Trev to barbecue the chicken as only he knows how.

I had no idea how absolutely fabulous this would be, and when it was made I idly scooped some up for a taste. More excited than I am willing to admit, I dashed into the other room to give Trev a taste and we both agreed that it was amazing and also that there was not nearly enough on the plate to satisfy our family! Given that it only took seconds to make I decided to make it again, double the amount this time! 

Later that day when the rice and chicken were ready, I threw my now tripled amount of chives and sprouts (and delicious sauce) into the pan to reheat, along with some carrots and mushrooms. 

If you own this book and would like a ridiculously fast way of livening up a meal, you must try this!

Post script: I just realised that I forgot to share a very important substitution that I made! I replaced the oil with coconut oil, which I use like it is going out of fashion. I have no doubt this decadence enhanced the loveliness of this dish. 

311/984 - Grape gratin

We were all a bit sceptical about this dish. Heating grapes and yoghurt, in my mind, is a bit odd and I expected to be a bit underwhelmed by the taste. My oh my, how wrong I was! 

I got a bit impatient waiting for the sugar/ginger combination to caramelise under the griller given that I had already waited a day since I packed my ramekins with grapes and yoghurt. I whipped out my blowtorch to hurry things along and was temporarily elevated toward hero status as the boys sat by, mesmerised by my handy flame-work. 

The only disappointing thing about this dessert was the amount; I could have eaten twice this much! Which would have been completely gluttonous of course, and so one ramekin per person is actually the quantity I will stick with when I make this again. The ground ginger in the sugar was unbelievably good and I think I will add some to the topping of my next crumble. 

If you are looking for a dessert that takes five minutes to make and is fairly healthy, this is the one! 

310/984 - Banana muffins

It's a hot, hot day in Melbourne today and if I had any sense I would be leaving the oven well alone. But we are stuck inside escaping the heat, and so what is a girl to do but cook?

I decided to make banana muffins, given the pile of bananas that were beginning to go black in my fruit bowl. In the margin on page 119 Stephanie advised that 150g of mashed banana could be added to the muffin recipe along with the other wet ingredients. I had around twice that (which I really wanted to use up!) and so decided to see what would happen if I threw it all in. What a maverick!

I was a bit concerned as I spooned the batter into the muffin tins, given that it looked like a big pile of mashed banana with a little bit of flour in it. My fears were unfounded however, and out of the oven came slightly wobbly muffins that cooled perfectly and are so full of banana it is fabulous! 

Muffins are definitely not the healthiest snack, but if you are looking for a sweet treat or an occasional sweet thing for lunchboxes (adult and child alike!) at least homemade muffins are made with natural ingredients and not a load of scary sounding chemicals and preservatives. 

309/984 - Sue's meringues

So to round out our Australia Day, I thought I would make a dessert that was in some way related to the pavlova, less the cream.

My meringues turned out a little more tanned than I expected, but most importantly they were still chewy on the inside (hooray)!

The boys were immersed in a Disney movie by the time my meringues had cooked and so decided they would like to eat their meringues straight, sans topping. Of course I was still keen to make mine into a pretty dessert and proceeded to add mango, strawberries, mint and a drizzle of De Bortoli Botrytis Semillon to my bowl.

Crazy simple, healthier than eating piles of cream, deliciously tasty and pretty too. I declare my pavlova alternative a winner!