Sicilian Roasted Fish with lemon, anchovies, capers & rosemary

Last night we had this delicious fish from Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days. The recipe called for Brill, turbot or halibut steaks which I’m not sure if you can even get here in Australia, certainly not at my local fish shop anyway so I used some lovely Blue Eye fillets instead. All of the flavours give the fish a beautiful flavour & I found no additional lemon or seasoning was required at all, it was perfect the way it came out of the oven. Also for the fist time ever I actually really enjoyed the anchovies, these being one item I was never that fond of when whole & only coped with when incorporated into sauces, stews, etc, amazing how your taste buds change over time. I served it with a simple baked potato & some salad.

Sicilian Roasted Fish with lemon, anchovies, capers & rosemary

1 handful of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
extra virgin olive oil
4 x 200g brill, turbot, halibut or blue eye tranches/steaks
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 large unwaxed lemons, finely sliced
1 large handful of salted capers, soaked
8 good anchovy fillers
a splash of white wine or prosecco

Preheat the oven to 200c. Bruise your rosemary in a pestle & mortar to bring out the flavour. Add 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil & scrunch together. Pat half of this flavoured oil round the fish, season well & put into an earthenware dish or roasting pan. Lay 4 or 5 thin slices of lemon over each steak, sprinkle over your capers & drape over the anchovies. Drizzle with remaining flavoured oil & bake for around 15 minutes off the bone or 25 minutes on the bone. Now you could splash the wine in if you like. Remove from the oven & allow to rest, like a steak for 5 minutes.

Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lamb with Roasted Vegetables & Shepherd’s Pie

Yesterday I made this slow cooked roast from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Dinners & turned it into a pie as suggested. The aroma in the kitchen all afternoon, not too mention the lovely warmth filling the house was wonderful. When it came out of the oven though I was a little disappointed to find that even after 4 hours my lamb was a little tough & wasn’t the greatest cut of meat – may have to rethink my butcher. Apart from that, the flavours were wonderful & the roasted veggies had that sweet, garlicky flavour from all of the juices, much nicer than the traditional mince meat, bland shepherd’s pie of old.

Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lamb with Roasted Vegetables & Shepherd’s Pie

1 x 2.25kg shoulder of lamb, bone in
olive oil
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 whole bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
a handful of fresh rosemary sprigs
2 red onions, peeled & quartered
3 carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
2 sticks of celery, cut into pieces
1 large leek or 2-3 baby leeks, trimmed & cut into pieces
a handful of ripe tomatoes, halved
2 bay leaves
a handful of fresh thyme sprigs
2 x 400g tins of good quality plum tomatoes
1 bottle of red wine
Potatoes (For Mashing)

Preheat oven to 200c. Rub the lamb with oil, salt & pepper & put it into a roasting tray. Using a sharp knife, make small incisions all over the lamb & poke rosemary leaves & some quartered cloves of garlic into each one. Add the rest of the garlic cloves, the onions, carrots, celery, leeks and fresh tomatoes to the tray, then tuck the remaining herbs under the meat. Pour the tinned tomatoes over the top, followed by the wine. Cover the tray tightly with a double layer of foil & put it into the oven. Turn down the oven to 170c & cook for 3 ½ to 4 hours, until the lamb is soft, melting & sticky & you can pull it apart with a fork. Gently break up the meat, pull out the bones & extract any herby stalks. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins & mush it in. Shred the lamb, and check the seasoning.

To turn this into a shepherd’s pie, transfer the lamb & veggies to a casserole dish, cover with mash potato, add a sprig of rosemary & bake in the oven at 200c for 35 minutes until golden.

Roast Leg of Lamb with Rosemary & Garlic.

This is what happens when you need to feed your baby just as the roast needs carving & you forget to yell out ‘Take a photo!’, you end up with a photo of bones. Yes, for Michael’s birthday I had the family over for dinner which meant 10 people, so what is the easiest & most delicious thing to cook for those numbers, especially when you have a 10 week old baby not letting you spend much time in the kitchen? That’s right, the good old Aussie favourite, Roast Lamb. I used Jamie Oliver’s recipe from the original Naked Chef for a simple Rosemary & Garlic flavouring, I think this combination is probably the best you can do to a lamb roast. So easy too, bash it all together, whack it in the oven, follow with some veggies, whisk up a gravy at the end & walla, a magnificent birthday feast (at least I hope they all thought so).

Roast Leg of Lamb with Rosemary & Garlic.

1 leg of lamb (about 2kg)
½ lemon
1 handful of picked fresh rosemary
salt
1 clove of garlic
olive oil
some extra bunches of rosemary

Slice of small pieces of skin about the size of a 5 cent piece at random around the leg of lamb. Lightly rub with the lemon. With a knife, follow the bone down about 10-12 cm. Do this from the top end and the bottom end. Using a mortar & pestle, smash up a small handful of picked rosemary with 1 teaspoon salt. Add the garlic & ½ tablespoon olive oil and pound again. Rub this mixture on to the exposed flesh & push into the gaps you have made with the knife next to the bone. Season the skin with salt, and then sprinkle it with rosemary. Tie lots of branches of rosemary around the meat. Put a little oil in a hot roasting tray, add the lamb, & roast it in the oven at 225c, turning every 30 minutes.

Cooking times
Pink – 10 Minutes for every 450g plus 20 minutes
Medium – 13 minutes for every 450g plus 20 minutes
Well Done – 20 minutes for every 450g plus 20 minutes.

Always rest the meat for at least 10 minutes before carving.

Pasta e Ceci (Pasta with chickpeas)

This soup/pasta dish is a hearty warmer for those chilly autumn nights that we are now having, nice & thick & full of goodness yet still light enough not to be too much to handle. From Jamie Oliver’s Italy. Note that the recipe at the end says if the soup is a little thick add some boiling water, mine was so thick it needed heaps of water added & it still remained nice & thick.

Pasta e ceci (Pasta with chickpeas)

1 small onion, peeled & finely chopped
1 stick of celery, trimmed & finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled & finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil
a sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves picked & finely chopped
2 x 400g tins of chickpeas
500ml chicken stock
100g ditalini or other small Italian ‘soup’ pasta
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
optional: a small handful of fresh basil or parsley, leaves picked & torn

Put the onion, celery & garlic into a saucepan with a little extra virgin olive oil & the rosemary & cook gently with the lid on for about 15 to 20 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft, without any color.

Drain your chickpeas well & rinse them in cold water. Then add them to the pan & cover with the stock. Cook gently for half an hour then using a slotted spoon, remove half the chickpeas & put them to one side in a bowl.

Puree the soup in the pan using a handheld blender. Add the reserved whole chickpeas & the pasta, season with salt & pepper, and simmer gently until the chickpeas are tender & the pasta is cooked.

At this point, if the soup is a little thick, pour in some boiling water from the kettle to thin it down & add more salt & pepper if needed. Serve drizzled with good quality extra virgin olive oil & sprinkled with some freshly torn basil.

Roast Chicken with Lemon & Rosemary Roast Potatoes

Now that we are having some lovely cool autumn nights I thought it was the perfect time for a Sunday night roast. Jamie Oliver lists this as one of his top 10 recipes in Jamie’s Dinners, and who wouldn’t, a roast definitely has to be on everyone’s favorites lists, doesn’t it? This one differs from the norm in that the chicken is stuffed with lemon, garlic & herbs & the potatoes are parboiled with the lemon & garlic before roasting to make them nice & crisp. It was a beautiful roast, juicy & tender & the potatoes were gorgeous & crispy on the outside even though they didn’t brown up that much & they were fluffy & soft on the inside, as you can see I also added pumpkin which I cant go without when doing a roast & it was delicious also. Mmmm, looking forward to more roasts in the coming cooler months.

Roast Chicken with Lemon & Rosemary Roast Potatoes

1 x 2kg free range organic chicken
sea salt& freshly ground black pepper
2kg potatoes, peeled
1 large, preferably unwaxed lemon
1 whole bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
a handful of thyme
olive oil
a handful of fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves picked
optional: 8 rashers of smoked streaky bacon

Rub the chicken inside & out with a generous amount of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Do this in the morning if possible, then cover the chicken & leave in the fridge until you’re ready to start cooking it.

Preheat oven to 190c. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cut the potatoes into golf sized pieces, put them in the water with the whole lemon & the garlic cloves, and cook for 12 minutes. Drain & allow to steam dry for 1 minute (this gives you crispier potatoes), then remove the lemon & garlic. Toss the potatoes in the pan while still hot so their outsides get chuffed up & fluffy – this will make them nice & crispy when roasted.

While the lemon is still hot, stab it about 10 times. Take the chicken out of the fridge, pat it with kitchen paper & rub it all over with olive oil. Push the garlic cloves, the whole lemon & the thyme into the cavity, then put the chicken into a roasting tray & cook in the oven for around 45 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate. Toss the potatoes in the pan with the rosemary in the fat that has cooked out of the chicken, then make a gap in the centre & put the chicken back in. If using the bacon, lay the rashers over the chicken breast & cook for a further 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked & the potatoes are nice & golden.
Remove the bacon & crumble over the potatoes. Remove the lemon & garlic from inside the chicken, squeeze the garlic flesh out of the skin, mush it up & smear over the chicken, discard the lemon & rosemary & serve

Proper Blokes Sausage fusilli

Michael cooked me my first meal from the new Jamie Oliver book – Cook with Jamie, the cooking is part of this Christmas gift from him – brilliant idea! So of course it stands to reason that he chose a dish that was in Jamie’s words ‘blokey’. It was really yum, the fennel flavour was fantastic & it all had just the right amount of zing to lift the flavour but not burn. Here is Jamies description…

Proper Blokes Sausage fusilli

This is a real blokey, gutsy yet simple pasta dish – but saying that, girls tend to like it as well! It hasn’t really got a sauce of any description because all the flavour that comes out of the ingredients will stick to the pasta and that’s enough. I will even go so far as to say that this is one of my top ten pasta dishes! Remember to buy the best sausages you can afford – if you get cheap, dodgy sausages it just won’t work. Thanks Michael & looking fwd to more of your ever improving cooking skills!

Serves 4

2 heaped teaspoons fennel seeds
2 dried red chillies, crumbled
olive oil
600g/1lb 6oz good quality course Italian or Cumberland sausages (used Lamb and Rosemary)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
a wineglass of white wine
zest and juice of 1 lemon
500g/1lb 2oz good quality fusilli or penne
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a couple of knobs of butter
a handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
a small bunch of fresh flat-leaf Parsley, leaves picked and chopped

Bash up the fennel seeds and chillies in a pestle and mortar or Flavour Shaker until coarsely crushed, then put to one side. Heat a splash of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins and put into the pan, really breaking it up using the back of a spoon. Fry for a few minutes until the meat starts to color and the fat has rendered slightly, then crush it once more so it resembles coarse mince. Add the bashed-up fennel seeds and chillies and cook on a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the meat becomes crisp, golden brown and slightly caramelized.

Stir in your oregano, then pour in the white wine and allow it to reduce by half. Add the lemon zest and juice. Turn the heat down to low while you cook your pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water according to the packet instructions. When the pasta has cooked al dente, drain it in a colander, reserving some of the cooking water, and toss it in the pan with your sausage meat. Coat the pasta in all the lovely flavours then add the butter, Parmesan, chopped parsley and a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water. This will give you a lovely, shiny sauce. Taste and check for seasoning, then serve immediately with a little extra grated Parmesan sprinkled over the top.

Steak & Guiness Pie

For dinner tonight another favorite from Jamie Oliver, this time from Happy Days. The thing I love about this dish is it’s so easy & can be prepared ahead of time ready to just pop into the oven later.

Steak & Guiness Pie

680g stewing beef, diced
sea salt & fresjly ground black pepper
2 heaped tablespoons flour
Olive Oil
1 onion, peeled & roughly chopped
4 sticks celery, washed & roughly chopped
2 parsnips, peeled & roughly chopped
1 handful of fresh mixed herbs (ie rosemary, thyme & bay)
565ml/1 pint Guiness
2 x 400g rins tomatoes
1 x 500g pack puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Season your beef generously with salt & pepper, sprinkle with flour & toss around until coated. Heat 2 or 3 glugs olive oil in a large casserole-type pan & fry your meat until golden brown. Add the onion & fry for another minute, then add the carrot, celery, parsnips & herbs. Fry for a further 4 minutes then pur in your Guiness. Add the tomtoes & rbing to the boil, simmer for around 2 hours or until the meat is really tender, season to taste. At this stage you can move to the fridge until ready to serve, this will also intensify the flavour.

To make the pies, preheat oven to 190c. Put your meat filling into a dishor dishes (if making individual pies). Cut your pastry into circles about 1cm bigger than the top of your dish(s). Brush the rims with beaten egg, place the pastry on top squash the excess down the sides to secure. Lightly score the top of the pstry in a criss cross pattern & brush with the remaining beaten egg. Bake for 45 minutes until golden & Bubbling.

Lebanese Lemon Chicken

After a week away & eating our for every single meal I was looking forward to getting back into my kitchen & cooking up something hopefully delicious. I decided to try this dish from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Kitchen. I used some chicken marylands instead of a whole chicken cut up as frankly I couldn’t be bothered with the chopping. Wow, this dish was amazing, unlike anything I have ever cooked before, very different. The aroma of aniseed while cooking was intense thanks to the fennel bulb & seeds. The bulghur wheat was fantastic, I haven’t really tasted or cooked with this much at all in the past & I loved it, it went all crisp & brown around the edges & the rest was just melt in the mouth full flavour. The flavours in the crispy chicken skin were gorgeous too & it all went so well together especially with that final dollop of sour cream to bring it all together.

Lebanese Lemon Chicken

1 large chicken cut into pieces
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
3 heaped tablespoons plain flour
extra virgin olive oil
1 large bulb fennel, roughly chopped, herby tops chopped & reserved
1 red onion, peeled & roughly chopped
2-3 small preserved lemons, chopped
1 small bunch fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
150g farika or bulghur wheat
1 wineglass of tequila, vodka or white wine
565ml chicken stock or water
1 small tub sour cream

Preheat oven to 180c. Bash all of the spices up in a mortar & pestle with the salt until you have a fine powder. Add the flour & mix well. Rub this all over your chicken, any flour left over, reserve for later.

Heat an appropriately sized casserole type pan on the stove and add 5 tablespoons olive oil. Brown your chicken pieces on all sides, do this in one layer. Once they are coloured, remove to a plate, turn down the heat, add the onion, fennel, lemons and rosemary to the pan. Fry for around 5 minutes or until nicely softened. Then add excess flour & farika or bulghur wheat, give it all a good stir.

Add the tequila, vodka or wine & allow to cook down. Cover with chicken stock until it reaches the same level as the grains & veg. Now make a cartouche (A piece of greaseproof paper cut to fit the size of your pan). Run it under the tap to make it flexible then rub with olive oil. Place over the grains & veg in the pan & put the chicken on top. Place in oven & cook for 45 minutes until the chicken skin is really crisp. Serve with a dollop of sour cream & the fennel tops.

Spiced Slow-cooked Lamb Shanks

The other day I realised that winter is nearly over & to my shock & horror I haven’t made a single batch of lamb shanks this season. Well of course I had to rectify that immediately & cooked up this tasty version from Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef. The thing I love about this dish is the fact that really you just chop everything up, cook it a bit then chuck it in the oven for a couple of hours & wallah you have a gorgeously tender piece of meat falling off the bone, complete with intensely flavoured veggies, a little mash, polenta or whatever takes your fancy on the side & your meal is complete.

Spiced Slow-cooked Lamb Shanks

4 lamb shanks
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon corianders seeds
1 small dried red chilli
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon dried marjoram or oregano
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 large carrot, quartered & finely sliced
6 sticks of celery, quartered & finely sliced
2 medium onions, quartered & finely chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
170ml dry white wine
6 anchovy fillets
2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
1 handful of fresh basil, marjoram or flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Season the lamb with salt & pepper. Smash up the coriander seeds & dried chilli & mix with rosemary & dried oregano. Roll the lamb in this mixture, pressing it well. Dust the lamb with the flour.

Heat a thick bottomed casserole pan, add the oil, brown the meat on all sides & then remove from the pan. Add the garlic, carrot, celery, onions & a pinch of salt and sweat until softened. Add the vinegar & allow it to reduce to a syrup. Pour in the wine & allow to simmer for 2 minutes. Add the anchovies & tinned tomatoes, kept whole. Shake the pan & return the lamb to it. Bring to the boil, put on a lid & simmer in the oven at 180c for 1 ½ hours, then remove lid & cook for a further half an hour. Season to taste & stir in the fresh herbs.

Burgers & Confessions

Well I have a confession to make. If you have noticed that in the last few weeks my blogging has gone downhill somewhat & been quite erratic it’s because I’m Up the Duff & the last thing I have felt like doing was cooking! Believe me I could barely look at food let alone get home from work & prepare something tasty. So with a lot of help from Michael I have mainly been living on comfort food that has been pre prepared & stuck in the freezer so I could put it down & collapse on the couch after work. The worst of it seems to be over now & I have my appetite back & once again can stomach the thought of such things as vegetables & healthy food in general. So I’m slowly easing myself back in while I’m getting my energy back, hopefully before long I will be back to 100% normal. Michael prepared these burgers below so all I had to do was whack them in the frying pan & put it all together, he has been an angel. The recipe comes from Jamie’s Dinners & actually comes with some lovely homemade rosemary chips to which I said I don’t think so, maybe another time. Very, very tasty burgers, nice & juicy too without dripping & they held together very well as well.

The Ultimate Burger

1kg good minced steak
1 onion, peeled & finely chopped
olive oil
a pinch of cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 heaped teaspoon English mustard
1 large free range egg
115g breadcrumbs
8 burger buns

In a big frying pan, slowly cook the onion in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes until softened but not coloured. Add the onion to the mince in a large bowl. Using a mortar & pestle, bash up the cumin & coriander seeds with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper until fine & add to the meat. Then add the parmesan, mustard, egg & half the breadcrumbs and mix well. If the mixture is too sticky add a few more breadcrumbs.

Lay some greaseproof paper on a tray & sprinkle over some of the remaining breadcrumbs. Shape the meat into 8 fat burgers & place these on top of the crumbs on the tray. Sprinkle more crumbs on top & gently press down. The burgers are better if they are chilled before cooking so put them in the fridge for an hour or so.

When ready to cook, fry them in a little olive oil on a medium to high heat for about 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally. Serve on buns with anything you like, sauce, lettuce, tomato, some cheese, beetroot, egg, whatever…

Pollo Alla Cacciatora (Hunter’s Chicken Stew)

Michael cooked up this lovely dish for dinner with only a little help from me. I varied the recipe slightly in that firstly I had bought chicken thigh fillets instead of pieces on the bone as the recipe called for as I always find these work well & you end up with a nicer result in the end. Also I didn’t have any Chianti on hand so rather than go out & buy a bottle I used something from my already plentiful wine collection, went with a Sangiovese in the end having no idea what to substitute the Chianti for. This seemed to work well & didn’t cause any disasters. The recipe comes from Jamie Oliver’s Italy & as usual with his recipes it was sensational! I have made this dish before from other recipes & this was definitely the best, I think the baking in the oven was what did it, the intensity of all of the flavours, combined with the chicken so tender it was falling apart made for a mouth watering feast. I seem to have got one part wrong though, according to Jamie it should have been I who cooked this after my man spent a hard day out in the countryside, oh well! And seeing as how it is still Winter we served this with a good size helping of mash rather than the suggested salads. Fantastico!

Pollo Alla Cacciatora (Hunter’s Chicken Stew)

Cacciatore means ‘hunter’, so this is obviously the type of food that a
hunter’s wife cooks for her fella when he gets home from a hard morning
spent in the countryside. This is also a great dish for big parties, as it
looks after itself in the oven.

1 x 2kg / 4lb chicken, jointed, or use the equivalent amount of chicken
pieces
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 cloves of garlic, peeled (1 crushed, 2 sliced)
½ a bottle of chianti
flour, for dusting
extra virgin olive oil
6 anchovy fillets
a handful of green or black olives, stoned
2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes

Season the chicken pieces with
salt and freshly ground black pepper and put them into a bowl. Add the bay
leaves and rosemary sprigs and the crushed clove of garlic and cover with the
wine. Leave to marinate for at least an hour, but preferably overnight in the
fridge.

Preheat your oven to 180c / 350F / gas 4. Drain the chicken,
reserving the marinade, and pat dry with kitchen paper. Dust the chicken pieces
with flour and shake off any excess. Heat an ovenproof pan, add a splash of
olive oil, fry the chicken pieces until browned lightly all over and put to one
side.

Place the pan back on the heat and add the sliced garlic. Fry
gently until golden brown, then add the anchovies, olives, tomatoes (broken up
with a wooden spoon) and the chicken pieces with the reserved marinade. Bring to
the boil, cover with a lid or a double thickness layer of foil and bake in the
preheated oven for 1 ½ hours.

Skim off any oil that’s collect on top of
the sauce, then stir, taste and add a little salt and pepper if necessary.
Remove the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs, and serve with a salad, or some
cannellini beans, and plenty of Chianti.

Marinated & Pot roasted beef fillet with a brilliant potato and horseradish cake

Well I’m finally getting around to telling you about the main course content of Wednesday nights feast. The following recipe comes from Jamie Oliver Jamie’s Kitchen. The beef was sensational, all of the juices & herbs soaked through to give it a lovely flavour & kept it nice & moist & tender despite the fact that I discovered I had no garlic to use & substituted with onions! The potato bake was ok, I wasn’t overly impressed, Michael loved it though. I didn’t think the flavours came together all that well & it was a bit dry, I would definitely make the meat again but probably serve with mash instead.

Marinated & Pot roasted beef fillet with a brilliant potato and horseradish cake

1 x 900g whole fillet of beef, trimmed
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 handfuls of fresh rosemary sprigs
1 bulb of garlic, broken up, cloves left whole with skins on
extra virgin olive oil
2kg desiree or Maris piper potatoes, peeled & sliced 0.5cm thick
3 heaped tablespoons creamed horseradish
½ bottle of red wine
170g butter

Generously season the beef with salt & pepper. In a pestle & mortar bash up about a quarter of the rosemary with a clove of garlic to make a paste. Lossen with 5 tablespoons of olive oil & then rub this all over the beef. Tie the beef with 4 pieces of string then poke the remaining rosemary sprigs under the string.

Preheat oven to 250c. Parboil the potatoes in boiling salted water for 5 minutes & drain in a colander. Transfer to a bowl & add enough olive oil to just coat, season well. You can make this in a non stick cake tin or oven proof non stick frying pan or make small individual ones. Place half the potatoes in the pan then smear the horseradish cream over the top & place the rest of the potatoes on top, pat down & put to the side.

Brown off the meat in a snug fitting roasting tray until all sides are coloured. Add the garlic cloves to the tray, place the beef on top & put on the oven with the potatoes on the shelf below. Cook fro 20 minutes, then turn the beef over, baste, add the red wine & butter & place back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until cooked to your liking. When ready, rest the beef for a few minutes, then cut off the string & carve. Return any juices to the pan , mush up the garlic & put through a sive & use this sauce as your gravy. Serve with the baked potaotes

Weekend Herb Blogging - Fennel, Chilli & Rosemary roast pork

I thought I would cook up a Sunday roast using some fresh rosemary from my herb shelf & finally participate in weekend herb blogging # 38 which Virginie from Absolutely Green is recapping this week. I absolutely love rosemary, it is one of my favourite herbs & it's so easy to grow that I have it handy all year round. I love it with roasts - lamb, pork & it gives the roast veggies an extra lift in flavour too, in pasta sauces, with fish, all in all a very versatile & flavoursome herb.

This recipe comes from a recent food magazine, I can’t remember which one as I rip them out for later use, sorry. I also served this with some roast potato, pumpkin & parsnip. Well the pork was scrumptious, I love fennel & the flavour of the fennel salt was really strong but not overpowering, so good that I would make the salt again & even just use as a rub on pork chops, really good.

Fennel, Chilli & Rosemary Roast Pork

1kg pork rack (8 cutlets)
Olive oil for rubbing
Sea salt for rubbing
3 teaspoons fennel seeds
3 dried chillies
3 teaspoons sea salt, extra
2 tablespoons rosemary leaves
3 brown pears, halved

Preheat the oven to 220c. Pat the pork rack dry with absorbent towels. Use the point of a small, sharp knife to score the skin into thin strips & rub with oil & salt. Place the fennel, chillies, salt & rosemary in a small frying pan over medium heat. Cook for 1 - 2 minutes or until aromatic. Place in the bowl of a small food processor & process until combined. Rub the fennel salt over the pork rack & cut into four double cutlets. Place the cutlets on a wire rack in a metal baking dish & roast for 25 minutes. Reduce the heat to 200c. Add the pears to the bottom of the baking dish & cook for a further 10-12 minutes or until the pork skin is crispy and cooked to your liking and the pears are tender. Serves 4.

Chocolate Brazil Soft Baked Biscuits

These bickies are from Green & Black’s Chocolate Recipes, love the chocolate now I have the book, hope the recipes are all as luscious as the chocolate itself. I found the dough was a bit difficult. After 1 tablespoon of milk it was still a little dry so added a bit more, then it was a bit too sticky so threw in some extra flour. It then seemed the right consistency though it was still quite difficult to roll. Anyhow cut the cookies & got to the baking, the first batch seemed a bit overdone after 20 minutes so cut down the time to about 16-17 minutes for the second tray which seemed more like it. In the end they tasted pretty good but I found them to be a little dry, I prefer my cookies on the moist & chewy side. They are for the boys at work so will have to wait & see what the verdict is from them!

Chocolate Brazil Soft Baked Biscuits

75g unsalted butter
60g caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
175g wholemeal self-raising flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk
75g dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids, roughly chopped
75g milk chocolate, pref 34% cocoa solids, roughly chopped
50g brazil nuts, chopped
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180c. Grease a baking sheet with melted butter

Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl until light & fluffy. Beat in the egg. Sift the flour once, returning the bran to the sifted flour, then fold it into the mixture. The bran gives a distinctive texture & flavour to the biscuits. Beat well, adding the vanilla extract and sufficient milk to make a pliable dough. Mix it with your hands, adding the milk in stages until the dough is fairly soft, but not sticky. Add the chopped chocolate, nuts & salt and distribute evenly through the dough. Roll out on to a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 5mm. Stamp into rounds & place biscuits, spaced well apart, on the greased baking sheet.

Bake in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes. Watch carefully so they don’t overcook. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 20

Grilled Steaks with Wild rocket and Rosemary potatoes

Tonight was a no brainer from Bill Granger’s Bills Food. Normally I wouldn’t post something this simple but as it was form one of my books I though I better add it to my recipe/cook book lists. The recipe calls for sirloin steaks, I just grabbed my usual eye fillets as I find you can’t go wrong with these. As you can probably see the steak was beautiful, moist & tender, the potatoes beaut & crispy & the rocket & lemon mix a perfect offset.

Grilled Steaks with Wild rocket and Rosemary potatoes

4 Steaks, about 2.5cm thick
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Rocket, rinsed
60ml lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Remove steaks from the fridge & bring to room temperature. Brush with olive oil & season with salt & pepper. Heat a large frying pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Sear the steaks for 2 minutes on each side, by which time they will be done rare, if you don’t do rare then obviously cook a bit longer.

Remove form the pan & allow to rest for 5 minutes in a warm place. Place the rocket, lemon juice, olive oil & a little salt in a bowl & toss to combine. Divide among serving plates. Slice the steaks into thick slices & place on top of the rocket with the potatoes. Pour over any escaped juices over the meat from the steaks too!

Rosemary potatoes

1 kg potatoes, cut into 2cm dice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 200c. Place the potatoes, olive oil & rosemary in a bowl and toss. Place in a single layer on a baking tray & bake for 1 hour, or until crispy. Don’t stir for the first 40 minutes, then gently loosen with a metal spatula. Season with salt & pepper when ready to serve.

Pappardelle with amazing slow-cooked meat - Dinner Party prt 2

This recipe comes from Jamie’s Kitchen. It calls for beef, venison, wild boar or even pigeon. I chose to use lamb shoulder as for some reason I really wanted a lamb pasta. I also made double as I was cooking for 8 adults & 3 children & the recipe serves 4. I was a bit worried when I started thinking it would turn into big lumps of hard chewy lamb but the end result was sensational. Theh lamb flaked apart as promised & combined wiht the sauce was a lovely rich, thick wintery sauce that went perfectly with the pasta. I served with a mixed lettuce & parmsesan & a capri salad. Everyone seemed to be very happy with their dinner & all plates were emptied!

Pappardelle with amazing slow-cooked meat

800g braising meat, seasoned & cut into large 5cm chunks
extra virgin olive oil
1 handful of fresh rosemary & thyme, leaves picked & finely chopped
1 small red onion, peeled & finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled & finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled & finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2 wineglasses of chianti
2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons pearl barley
salt & freshly ground black pepper
400g fresh or dried Pappardelle
100g butter
2 handfuls of grated parmesan cheese

In a hot casserole dish (suitable for stove top) fry your meat in a little olive oil until golden brown then add herbs, onion, garlic, carrot & celery. Turn the heat down & continue to fry for 5 minutes or until vegetables have softened. Add your red wine & continue to simmer until the liquid has almost cooked away.

Add the tomatoes, the barley & enough water to cover the meat by 1cm. Make a cartouche of greaseproof paper. Wet it under the tap, rub with a little olive oil & place it over the pan. Put a lid on the pan as well to retain as much moisture during cooking as possible. Cook n a really low heat for 2-3 hours, its ready when the meat flakes apart. Season to taste & allow to cool slightly. Now pull the meat apart & keep over a low heat.

Cook your Pappardelle in boiling salted water & drain, reserving some of the liquid. Remove the meat from the heat & stir in the butter & parmesan & a little of the cooking water. Toss together with the pasta & serve with some freshly grated parmesan.

Roast Beef & Yorkshire Puds

Had a couple of friends over for dinner last night & given the cold blustery conditions outside thought it was time for my first roast of the season. Decided to follow Jamie Oliver’s recipe from Happy Days as I saw him cook it on tele & it made me drool, also has been years since I’ve had Yorkshire puddings. As well as the veggies suggested I added roast beets & pumpkin with some salt & rosemary & cooked some bok choy in garlic on the side. As usual I cooked way too much & Michael & I are enjoying some roast beef sandwiches for brekky as I type. Everything was delicious, forgot how much I love a good roast. The potatoes were crispy as promised so think I will always parboil first in the future. The Red wine gravy after a shaky start where I thought it was just going to be a runny mess was sensational so we didn’t need my backup gravox after all, and I didnt even sieve it as recomended! And the puds, well just look at the photo, how delicious do they look & yes they were as good as the picture.

Roast Beef & Yorkshire Puddings

Serves 8
2.5kg fore-rib, wing-rib or sirloin of beef, French trimmed
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
3 red onions, halved
3kg roasting potatoes, peeled
4 large parsnips, peeled & Quartered
3 rosemary twigs
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 thumb sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled & diced
flour
½ a bottle of robust red wine

Yorkshire Pudding Batter

285ml milk
115g plain flour
pinch of salt
3 eggs

Before you start get all veg prepared & getting pudding batter ready.

Preheat the oven to 230c & heat a large thick bottomed roasting tray on your stove. Rub your beef generously with salt, then add a little olive oil to the tray & lightly colour the meat for a couple of minutes on all sides. Lay the onions in the tray with the beef on top, then cook in a preheated oven for 1 ½ hours. While the beef is starting, parboil your potatoes in salted water for about 10 minutes then drain. Toss about to chuff them up, this will make them very crispy.

After 30 minutes, take out the tray & toss in your potatoes, parsnip & rosemary. With a garlic press or grater, squeeze or grate the garlic and ginger over everything in the tray. Shake the tray & whack in back in the oven for the final hour. Remove the potatoes & parsnips to a dish to keep warm, place beef on a plate, covered with foil, to rest & get your greens & puddings on.

Preheat a muffin pan with 1cm of oil in each section. After 10 minutes, divide the batter into the pan. Cook for about 30 minutes until crisp – don’t open the oven door or they won’t rise!

Remove most of the fat from your roasting tray & you should be left with caramelised onions & sticky beef goodness. Add a teaspoon of flour to the tray & mash everything together. Heat the tray on the stove & when hot add your red wine, simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes until your gracy is nice & taste & thick enough. Add any juice from the beef if you feel like it. Pour through a sieve & serve with the roast.

Chicken Stock

Well I know every good chef is supposed to make their own stock but to be honest most of the time I used the stuff in a carton as who really has the time??? However a combination of today being the start of Easter, deciding to go on a 4 day cooking & baking frenzy & having some chicken thighs that Michael mistakenly bought when I had asked for fillets, I thought I would make up a huge batch to freeze for later use, so huge I needed 2 great big pots to fit it all in. It really is very easy, you just need those 4 hours or so to hang around waiting for it which for once I had plenty of spare time. The aroma in the kitchen while bubbling away all day was delicious & I’m sure it will make a big difference to the dishes I make with it (it better anyway!!) & Mojo should enjoy the chicken. Even though it’s very simple I pretty much followed Jamie Oliver’s recipe which can be found in The Naked Chef & The Return of the Naked Chef, almost the same recipe in both, I omitted just a couple of things which I didn’t have handy, leeks & thyme.

Chicken Stock

For 4 litres of stock

2kg raw chicken carcasses, chopped
½ whole head of garlic, broken up but unpeeled
5 sticks celery, roughly chopped
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
2 medium leeks, roughly chopped
2 large carrots, roughly chopped
3 bay leaves
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
5 sprigs fresh parsley
5 sprigs fresh thyme
5 whole black peppercorns
6 litres of cold water.

In a large, deep, thick bottomed pot (or 2!), place all ingredients. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat & simmer gently for 3-4 hours, skimming as necessary, then pass the stock through a fine sieve. After cooling for about half an hour, divide into small containers & freeze or you can keep in the fridge for about 4 days.

Pasta E Fagioli

With the cold weather that has suddenly hit Melbourne I thought it was time to start cooking up some warming winter soups, this is my first of the season. The recipe comes from this year’s Delicious diary. Very easy & quick to make so good if you’ve had a busy day running around as I have & just want to knock up something in a hurry. The end result was a thick hearty soup, the rosemary flavours really shone through, very yummy.

Pasta E Fagioli

150g tubetti pasta (or other small pasta)
2 tbspn olive oil
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 sprig rosemary
2 x 400g cans cannellini beans, rinsed & drained
400g can borlotti beans, rinsed & drained
425g can whole tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 ltre (4 cups) vegetable stock
50g (2 handfuls) baby spinach

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water according to packet instructions, then drain.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large, deep saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook the celery, carrot & onion for about 10 minutes until softened but not browned. During the final minutes of cooking, stir in the garlic & rosemary.
Process 1 can of cannellini beans until pureed but still chunky. Add pureed beans, whole beans, tomatoes, stock & 1 cup water to onion mixture. Bring to a simmer, cover & cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir through pasta & spinach & season.

Rustic Olive Bread

Flicking through the latest Gourmet Traveller which I rec’d last night in the mail I noticed this recipe for Rustic Olive Bread & thought it would be great to give it a go. I haven’t baked much bread & love olive bread so thought it was about time I tried to make my own & it should go well with the risotto I’m making for Michael’s mum & sister Julie for dinner tonight.

The recipe is adapted from Stephanie Alexanders in the Cooks Companion so I grabbed that off the shelf & compared the differences. The ingredients are exactly the same & only the method is slightly different. Stephanie’s says to knead the dough on an oiled workbench & the magazine’s says floured. I ended up going with floured as the mixture was quite sticky & felt it needed the extra though as I said I really don’t have much experience so could be wrong. Apart from that Stephanie suggests different shapes you can bake it in, loaf or focaccia.

For the olives I used 2/3 kalamata from a jar that I bought at the supermarket & then when they ran out for the last third I used delicious herb & garlic kalamata olives by Nicolas of Dimboola, I picked these up at the Vic produce market last weekend.

I also kneaded by hand rather than using my electric mixer.

The end result was delicious & will definitely be playing with more bread again soon

Rustic Olive Bread

600gm unbleached ‘00’ (strong) flour
1 tablespoon instant dried yeast
150gm pitted black olives (such as Kalamata) roughly chopped
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Sift flour, yeast & salt into a large bowl, stir through olives & rosemary, make a well in the centre & add combined oil & 300ml warm water. Stir to combine. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface & knead with oiled hands (or transfer to an electric mixer with bread hooks) for 15 minutes or until dough is smooth & elastic. Transfr to a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with a clean tea towel and stand in a draught free palce for 15 minutes or until doubles in size.

Transfer dough to am oiled baking tray & flatten into a 2-3cm thick rectangle, scatter with sea salt flakes, drizzle with olive oil & rest for 30 minutes. Bake at 220c for 20 minutes or until brown & crisp.