Soft Polenta with Wine Lamb

This week my new experience for my mum & dad was polenta which they again had never tried before. I used this recipe from Marie Claire’s Cooking, which had parmesan, butter & mascarpone added to it to provide an irresistible, creamy & cheesy polenta. This topped with the gorgeous lamb cutlets & rich red wine & quince sauce was a match well made & they were very impressed so I’m happy to have turned them on to another exciting food staple.

Soft Polenta with Wine Lamb

4 cups hot water
1 ¼ cups polenta
sea salt & pepper
65g butter
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ cup mascarpone
cracked black pepper
8 lamb cutlets
½ cup red wine
½ cup beef stock
2 tablespoons quince paste

To cook polenta, place water in a heavy based saucepan over medium heat. Allow water to come to a slow simmer. Slowly pour polenta into water while whisking to combine. Reduce heat to as low as possible. Stir polenta occasionally with a wooden spoon for 40-45 minutes. Polenta is cooked when it comes away from the sides of the pan. Stir salt, pepper, butter, parmesan, mascarpone & extra pepper through polenta & keep warm.

Place a frying pan over high heat, add cutlets & cook for 2 minutes on each side or until they are cooked medium. Remove from pan & keep warm. Add wine, stock & quince paste to pan & simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce has thickened.

Serve lamb on polenta with sauce spooned over. Serves 4.

Lentil & Beetroot Salad

I had some leftover beetroots from last week so I made this salad from the Marie Claire ‘Luscious’ Cookbook. It was good although the beetroot still needed quite a bit of cooking after the hour so plan on that in advance. The lentils were great with the salad, every time I cook them I forget how much I love them & promise myself to cook more real soon, hopefully more lentil recipes coming up soon!

Lentil & Beetroot Salad

4 beetroot, about 150g each, washed but not peeled
100g puy lentils or tiny blue-green lentils
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 orange
100g baby rocket leaves
100g marinated goat’s cheese

Preheat oven to 200c. Sit the beetroot in a roasting tin & pour in 250ml/1 cup of water. Cover with foil & bake for 1 hour or until a knife passes easily through the beetroot. Remove the beetroot from the tin & leave to cool.

Meanwhile, put the lentils in a saucepan with 500ml/2 cups of water. Add the sea salt & bring to the boil, then reduce the heat & simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Drain off any excess water, tip the lentils into a bowl & stir in the vinegar & olive oil.

Wearing rubber gloves to stop your hands staining, peel the skins from the beetroots. Cut the bulbs into wedges, put them in a bowl & pour the orange juice over the top.

Scatter the rocket leaves on a serving platter & arrange beetroot wedges on top. Spoon the lentils over the top, season with salt & pepper & drizzle with any remaining orange & beetroot juice. Crumble the goats cheese over the top. Serves 4.

Lamb with Quince Glaze

For a really quick & easy & very tasty mid week meal this week I turned to the Marie Claire ‘Food Fast’ book for inspiration & found this yummy lamb dish which seriously takes no time at all to put together. As you can see I served it with sweet mash potato & asparagus. Note - you could also make your own quince paste as Another outspoken female did this week but then it wouldnt be as quick would it, very impressed with the effort though?

Lamb with Quince Glaze

600g lamb backstrap or eye of loin
1 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoons quince paste
2/3 cup dry white wine
cracked black pepper

Trim lamb of any fat or sinew. Heat oil in a frying pan over high heat. Add lamb & cook for 1-2 minutes on each side or until well sealed & browned. Remove lamb from pan & place on a plate. Reduce heat to medium and add quince paste, wine & pepper to pan and simmer for 2 minutes or until glaze has thickened slightly. Simmer lamb in the quince glaze for an extra minute on each side or until cooked to your liking. Slice lamb into large pieces & serve with the quince glaze.

Fish Tagine

Michaels mid week cooking last week was this tagine from Marie Claire’s Zest. It was quite interesting, I’ve never had a potato based one before, normally I have had them served with couscous. A quick meal to knock up after work though be warned our potatoes took more like half an hour than ten minutes before soft. Also the preserved lemon as a garnish was a bit too strong for us when we got a bite so you might want to tone it down or leave it out all together.

Fish Tagine

4 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 large red onion, roughly chopped
10 saffron threads
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 large potatoes, sliced into bite size pieces (about 750g)
2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 small cinnamon quill
600g tick snapper fillets, cut into 4 cm chunks
1 handful flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped preserved lemon

Heat the olive oil in a large deep based frying pan or casserole pot over medium heat. Add the onion, saffron & cumin and cook until the onion is soft & slightly caramelized. Add the potatoes, celery, tomatoes, cinnamon & 1 cup of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 10 minutes. When the potatoes are soft, season the fish with sea salt & add them to the stew. Simmer for a further 10 minutes then season with freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with parsley & preserved lemon & serve with warm crusty bread.

Breakfast Bars

This morning, still on my healthy breakfast thing I made up a batch of muesli bars from Marie Claire’s Luscious. Very easy to prepare, the flavor was delicious though mine had a bit of trouble keeping form when cut, they did keep their shape though they were very delicate & the edges crumbled, think maybe they needed to cook just that bit longer than the 30 minutes I allowed. Anyway this will be something nice Michael & I can take along to work this week.

Breakfast Bars

150g butter
175g (1/2 cup) honey
200g (2 cups) rolled oats
60g (1 cup) shredded coconut
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
200g (3/4 cup) pitted prunes, chopped
100g (2/3 cup) dried peaches, chopped
75g (1/2 cup) currants
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 170c. Line a 23 x 32 cm sandwich tin with baking paper.

Put the butter & honey in a small pan over medium heat & stir until butter has melted.

Toss the oats, coconut, baking powder & sesame seeds together in a large bowl. Add the prunes, peaches & currants & mix well. Add the warm honey mixture & eggs & stir to combine, then spoon evenly into cake tin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the mixture is cooked through & the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven & allow to cool in the pan before cutting into 12 bars.

Quince and Red Wine Duck

The other night I had planned on cooking dinner but after a hectic day/week in the new office, got a bit caught up so once again Michael was a darling & did the prep. I have made this dish several times before, its so easy & really, really yummy, great for a simple dinner alone or even impressive for guests – or so I have been told. It has a lovely sweet flavour that goes perfectly with the richness of the duck meat. I always serve with mash potato & greens on the side even though the recipe suggests couscous. The recipe comes from Marie Claire ‘Zest. Sorry the photo is not the prettiest, don’t let that put you off. I also find that a bit further cooking time is required so they aren’t completely raw & that the skin does crisp up nicely.

Quince and Red Wine Duck

12 thyme sprigs
250ml (1 cup) red wine
2 garlic cloves, sliced in half
4 duck breast fillets, skin on
3 tablespoons quince paste
1 teaspoon cumin

Preheat oven to 200c. Arrange the thyme sprigs over the base of a baking dish to form a bed for the duck. Add the wine & garlic to the dish. Rinse the duck fillets under cold water then pat dry with paper towels. With a sharp knife make several incisions through the fatty skin on each of the fillets. Rub the quince paste into the skin, sprinkle with cumin & season with salt & pepper. Sit the duck fillets on top of the thyme, skin side up. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove form oven & spread the paste over the fillets with a knife. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. For crispy skin put the cooked duck under a hot grill for 2 minutes. Allow to sit for a few minutes then slice. Serve with cooking liquid drizzled over.

Pork Cutlets with Ginger Sweet Potato Mash

Tonight I was feeling very lazy as I have most of the week & not really up to much of a cook so I whipped up this simple dish from Marie Claire’s Food Fast, I wouldn’t even call it a recipe it was so simple. Was very tasty, especially the sweet potato mash, normally I don’t add anything so the extras gave it an extra special flavour.

Pork Cutlets with ginger sweet potato mash

4 pork cutlets
sesame seeds
oil
400g sweet potato, peeled & chopped
2 tablespoons shredded ginger
30g butter
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons coriander leaves

To make the mash, place the sweet potato & ginger in a small saucepan of water & cook until soft, about 5-7 minutes, drain. Mash with the butter, honey & coriander until smooth. Meantime steam up some greens, I did green beans. While these are cooking, press the sesame seeds into the cutlets & fry in an oiled pan for 2-3 minutes each side until golden brown.

Spiced Salmon

Tonight I cooked up this very very quick & simple dinner from Marie Claire’s Luscious. It’s just a matter of throwing it all together & whacking in the fridge while you run around the house sorting out all of those after work bits & pieces you normally don’t have the time for as cooking elaborate dinner! Nice simple flavours with the smokiness of the paprika really coming through. I also added some cherry tomatoes to my couscous for just a teeny big of fruit/veg factor.

Spiced Salmon

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon small salted capers, rinsed & drained
1 tablespoon finely chopped preserved lemon rind
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
4 Salmon Steaks

Place all ingredients in a bowl & stir, add the salmon, cover & refrigerate for 1 hour.

Bake in an oven preheated to 180c for 10 minutes & serve with steamed couscous & mint leaves.

Banana Maple Syrup muffins

This morning I whipped up this batch of muffins from Marie Claire ‘Cooking’ for brekky, will take the leftovers in to work tomorrow for a morning treat for everyone. They were incredibly simple to make, really it was pretty much just measure & stir & the taste was really delicious, and as the bananas were chopped rather than mashed you could really taste their flavour when you bit into them.

Banana Maple Syrup Muffins

2 cups self raising flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup sugar
300g (10 oz) sour cream
1 egg
3 tablespoons maple syrup
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 bananas, chopped

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk together balance of ingredients in another bowl. Add the banana/wet mixture to the dry mix & mix until just combined. Spoon mixture into a greased ½ cup capacity muffin tins and bake in preheated 200c oven for 25-30 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Serve with extra maple syrup. Serves 12.

Fragrant Peach Tart

This weekends sweet cooking is for Michaels mum & dad again as it’s a very hot day so we thought we could pop into their place for a swim. For the tart I got to use my new food processor for the first time & it’s fantastic, I used to have one with a teeny tiny bowl that you could not fit anything in, this one is huge & industrial strength & I love it, thanks mum! The tart looks beautiful, I was a bit disappointed with the taste though, the peaches I used didn’t seem to have that much flavour & you definitely need something with a strong flavour, so I would use apricots or much sweeter peaches if making it again. The recipe is from the Marie Claire Luscious book

Fragrant Peach Tart

6-7 small ripe peaches
Tart Case (see instructions below)
2 eggs
115g (4oz/1/2 cup) caster sugar
4 tbpsns plain flour
½ teaspoon rose water
110g unsalted butter
double cream to serve

Preheat the oven to 180c. Slice the peaches in half & remove the stones. Slice the flesh into think wedges & arrange in the base of the tart case, cut sides up. Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, add the sugar and beat with electric beaters until pale & fluffy. Fold in the flour & rosewater. Heat the butter in a saucepan over high heat. When it begins to froth & turn pale golden brown, pour it into the egg mixture & beat for 1 minute. Pour the filling over the peaches & bake for a further 15 minutes, or until the filling has set. Allow to cool & serve with cream.

Shortcrust Tart Case

200g (7oz/1 2/3 cups) plain flour
100g (3 ½ oz) chilled unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chilled water

Put the flour, butter & a pinch of salt in a food processor & process for 1 minute. Add the chilled water & process until the mixture comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Grease a 25cm tart tin or 6 8cm tartlet tins. Roll the pastry out as thinly as possible between 2 layers of plastic wrap, then use it to line the prepared tin(s). Chill for a further 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180c. Using a fork, prick the pastry case(s) over the base, line with crumpled baking paper & fill with rice or baking weights. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the pastry looks dry. Remove from the oven & allow to cool.

Chocolate Plum Cake

Today I baked this absolutely scrumptious chocolate plum cake ftom the Marie Claire Luscious book to take over to my mum & dads for an afternoon visit. I chose a recipe with plums as growing up my grandparents had some plum trees in the back yard so we were always eating plums, home made plum jam & plum cakes of course! As they have sadly left us we no longer have the pleasure of these treats anymore though I wanted tomake something using plums for nostalgic reasons.

The cake is heavenly, the plums almost completely breakdown into a syrup which seeps into the top of the cake & the sugar topping is so good you now it is doing very evil things to your waste line. We served it with double cream which was just perfect.


Chocolate Plum Cake

165g (3/4 cup firmly packed) dark brown sugar
280g (2 ¼ cups) plain flour
185g unsalted butter
2 tspns baking powder
3 tblspns dark cocoa powdeer
¼ tspn salt
230g (1 cup) castor sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
185ml (3/4 cup) milk
16 small plums (550g), stones removed, cut in half
ice cream or thick (double/heavy) cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 180c (350f). Put the brown sugar in a bowl with 30g (1/4 cup) of the flour & mix together. Add 3 tbspns of the cold butter (leave the rest at room temperature to soften) and rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Sift the remaining flour into a mixing bowl along with the baking powder, cocoa & salt. Put the castor sugar and softened butter in a separate bowl & cream together using electric beaters, then add the eggs & mix well. Add half the flour mixture, then half the milk, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the remaining flour mixture, then the remaining milk.

Pour the cake batter into a greased 25cm (10 inch) spring-form cake tin & arrange plums on top cut side down. Sprinkle with the brown sugar mixture & bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove the cake form the oven & allow to cool before turning out of the tin. Serve with ice cream or cream.

Lime Marinated Fish & tomato rice Saturday 18th Feb 2006

Last night my lovely hubby graciously agreed to cook dinner for me as I had been like a mad woman all afternoon on the computer categorising this site by sweets, savoury & out & about & also by cookbook, I was still going at 6.00 & like a woman obessed refused to stop until the job was done. I had put off this mamoth task for so long that now that I had started knew I couldnt stop.

Luckily I had planned on throwing together some fish & rice using one of the simple Marie Claire recipes. When I met Michael his idea of cooking was taco's or chicken tonight, these were beatiful & romantic the first times he cooked them for me though now he has moved on as I slowly show him how to cook some simple yet delicous recipes from scratch! Amazing how most men like to say they cant cook yet its really only coz they have never tried. Michael manages to produce great results even though it still takes him a bit longer than you would expect & the kitchen is like a bomb has hit it when finished!

Lat nights effort from 'Zest' was really really yummy, the full savoury flavour of the tomato rice complimenting the lovely tanginess of the fish. Oh & by the way for the first time Michael didnt ask me what Kaffir lime leaves were & cut them straight of the tree!

Lime Marinated Fish

2 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
2 limes, juiced
1 red chilli, seeded & finely chopped
1 tspn fish sauce
2 tblspn grated fresh ginger
60 ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
80g (1 bunch) coriander
4 x 150g blue eye cod fillets

Put the lime leaves, juice, chillis, fish sauce, ginger & oil in a bowl & stir to combine. Remove the stems & roots from the coriander & wash carefully. Finely chop & stir into the marinade. Add the fish & toss until well coated. Cover & leave in the fridge to marinate (prepare the rice while marinating).

Heat a frying pan over medium heat & add the fish. Sear on one side for 3 minutes before turning over & cooking for a further 3 minutes or until cooked through.

Tomato rice

1 tbspn sesame oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 ripe tomatos, diced
1 cup basmati rice

Put the sesame oil into a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion & garlic & cook until the onion is soft & transparent. Add the tomatoes, rice & 1/2 tspn sea salt & stir for a minute before adding 375ml (1 1/2 cups) of water. Raise the heat & bring to the boil. Cover with a lid & reduce the heat to low. Leave covered for 20 minutes & then remove form heat.

Serve teh fish on top of rice & garnish with fresh coriander

Roasted Duck breast Salad – Dinner Jan 26 2006 Australia Day

Sorry its not lamb! Duck however would have to be one of my fave foods & most of the time you can whip up somehting absolutely yummy that makes you look like a star in the kitchen & it only takes you 5 minites to prepare, like this next one. For dinner I cooked up this duck salad from Marie Claires ‘Luscious’, it was really really good & seriously only took abt 5 minutes to prepare & not much longer to cook & throw together

Roasted Duck Breast Salad

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
¼ teaspoon chinese 5 spice
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 boneless duck breasts, skin on
½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
100g mixed lettuce
2 mangoes, peeled, seeded & sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
2 tablespoons Chinese Black vinegar

Preheat the oven to 180c (350f/Gas 4). In a small bowl combine. Sugar, five spice & salt. Lightly score the skin of the breasts in a crisscross pattern, then rub the sugar mixture into the duck skin.

Heat a non stick frying pan over high heat & sear the duck, skin side down for a few minutes, or until crisp – the skin will go quite dark as the sugar caramelises. Put the duck, skin side up, on a rack set over a baking tray & roast for 15 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven, cover with foil & allow the duck to rest for a few minutes.
Roughly grin the peppercorns in a mortar & pestle. Arrange salad leaves, mango & spring onions on 4 serving plates, Finely slice the duck breasts & arrange over the salad. Drizzle the duck with the vinegar & sprinkle with the ground peppercorns

Chocolate Chip Cookies – Australia Day Jan 26 2006

Today we had another scorcher so my plans to go to the Hanging Rock Races were unfortunately cancelled. Woke up & felt like baking so thought I would whip up some treats & take them over to Michaels parents, they have a pool which was just the thing for us to cool down in.

Luckily downstairs at our place stays nice & cool so having the oven on all morning didnt heat things up too badly

The first thing I made were some gorgeous chocolate chip cookies from Marie Claire ‘Cooking’. Very simple to make, the brown sugar & coconut adding lots to the flavour, the photo doesnt do them justice, here’s the recipe

Chocolate Chip cookies

125g (4oz) butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup plain flour
1 cup SR Flour
1 cup desiccated coconut
250g (8oz) chopped chocolate (I used Nestle dark)

Place butter, vanilla & sugar in a bowl & beat until creamy. Beat egg into mixture & then stir through flours, coconut & chocolate. Roll 2 tablespoons of mixture a ta time into balls, place balls on lined baking trays & flatten slightly. Bake in a preheated 190c (375f) oven for 15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on trays. Makes 20