Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon & Mustard Dressing

Another breakfast from Bill Granger, this one from Bill’s Food. As I absolutely love potato pancakes of any description, even the ones from Macca’s when I have a hangover though of course it has been a long time since one of those was present, ahh those were the days! Anyway I thought that I would try this recipe of Bills even though I thought it sounded like an odd combination, you never know until you try right? The pancakes were good but I hate to admit that I don’t think they worked too well with smoked salmon & most of all not with the mustard dressing but who knows some of you might love these 3 together, all elements were great alone, they just didn’t do it for me as a mix, you decide.

Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon & Mustard Dressing

3 large potatoes (about 700g)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
60g butter, melted
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil

Mustard Dressing

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
60ml (1/4 cup) canola oil

To serve
8 slices smoked salmon

Preheat oven to 150c. Grate the peeled potatoes & squeeze out any excess liquid. Put the potato in a bowl & add the chives, butter & a little salt & pepper.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan over a medium to high heat. For each potato cake, spoon 1 ½ tablespoons of mixture into the pan & fry until golden on both sides. Drain on paper towels & keep warm in the oven until all the potato cakes are made.

Meanwhile to make the dressing, whisk the mustard, sugar, salt & vinegar together in a bowl until the sugar has dissolved, then whisk in the oil in a thin stream.

Put two potato cakes on each plate, top with salmon & drizzle with dressing

Chicken Tikka Masala

Another delicious curry, this one from Jamie Oliver’s Jamies Dinners. Great flavours, though surprisingly on the hot side for a Tikka Masala which is all ok by me but be warned if you are expecting the normal mildness of this dish.

Chicken Tikka Masala

6 cloves of garlic, peeled
7.5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled
2-3 fresh red chillies, deseeded
olive oil
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
3 tablespoons garam masala
200g natural yoghurt
4 medium chicken breasts, skinned & cut into large chunks
1 tablespoon butter
2 medium onions, peeled & finely sliced
2 tablespoons tomato puree
a small handful of ground cashew nuts or almonds
sea salt
115ml double cream
a handful of fresh coriander
juice of 1-2 limes

Grate the garlic and ginger on the finest side of a cheese grater and put to one side in a bowl. Chop the chillies as finely as you can & mix them in with the ginger & garlic. Heat a good splash of oil in a pan & add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, add them to the ginger & garlic mixture along with the paprika, cumin, ground coriander & 2 tablespoons of the garam masala. Put half of this mixture in a bowl, add the yoghurt & the chicken pieces to it, stir and leave to marinate for half an hour or so.

Melt the butter in the saucepan the mustard seeds were in & add the sliced onions & the remaining half of the spice mix. Cook gently for 15 minutes or so without browning too much. Add the tomato puree, the ground nuts, half a litre of water and ½ teaspoon of salt. Stir well and simmer gently for a few minutes. Let this sauce reduce until it thickens slightly and then place to one side.

Put the marinated chicken on a hot griddle pan or barbecue & sear until cooked through.

Warm the sauce and add the cream & the other tablespoon of garam masala. Taste & correct with seasoning if necessary. As soon as it boils, take off the heat & add the grilled chicken. Check the seasoning again & serve sprinkled with the chopped coriander & the lime juice & some steamed rice.

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…

Maccaroni Cheese My Way!

Maccaroni cheese to me has to be made with this recipe the way I used to have it at home when I was growing up. There is nothing whatsoever fancy about the dish, in fact it even uses a block of Kraft cheddar that you buy of the shelf – yes you know the one in the blue packet – not even sure if you can call it real cheese, but for the recipe to be authentic you have to use this. This is my ultimate comfort food & I try to restrict myself to one batch each Winter it is so bad for you. I think that may be part of the appeal, wicked=bloody good every time if you ask me. Trust me, one mouthful of this carb filled, cheeze oozing goodness & you will be hooked forever

Macaroni Cheese

500g Macaroni
30g butter
2 bacon rashers, shopped
250g grated kraft cheddar cheese, grated
¼ cup plain flour
2 ¼ cups milk
¼ tspn dry mustard
3 tomatoes, sliced
breadcrumbs

Cook macaroni & set aside. Meantime fry chopped bacon. Add butter, stir in flour, mustard, salt & pepper & cook for 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk until sauce boils & thickens. Stir in ¾ cheese & macaroni. Place in a casserole dish & top with sliced tomatoes, breadcrumbs & remaining cheese. Bake in oven preheated to 180c for approx 30 minutes or until tomatoes cooked, and cheese browned.

Curry Night

Last night I had a few people over for dinner & decided to do another curry night. I started off with some vegetarian samosas which I didn’t think were that good, they were a bit on the oily side so I have skipped the recipe. For the Main course we had some curries, rice dishes, rotti & raita. I used Jamie Oliver’s favourite curry sauce from Happy Days which I’ve made heaps of times before, I love it, the flavours are very fresh & it can be used many ways which came in handy as one of the guests tonight only eats fish, so I doubled the recipe, then split the sauce in half & did half chicken, half fish. The Lemon Rice is from this book also & really is worth that little extra effort over plain steamed rice, it’s absolutely delicious. This is the first time I am making it with the urad dhal as I finally found some at my local Asian grocer, it added a lovely crunchy texture to the rice The raita was a simple mix of yoghurt, grated cucumber & toasted cumin seeds and the Rotti I picked up form the local deli.

Curry Sauce

5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
3 fresh green chillies, deseeded & thinly sliced
1 handful of curry leaves
2 thumb size pieces of fresh ginger, peeled & coarsely grated
3 onions, peeled & chopped
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
6 tomatoes, chopped
1 x 400ml coconut milk
salt

For the fish version
225g white fish fillets
1 knob tamarind paste or 1 teaspoon tamarind syrup
baby spinach
handful fresh coriander, chopped

For the chicken version
4 chicken breasts, sliced into 1cm strips
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, crushed

Heat the oil in a pan, and when hot add the mustard sees. Wait for them to pop, then add the fenugreek seeds, fresh green chillies, curry leaves & ginger. Stir & fry for a few minutes. Using a food processor, chop the onions & add to the pan. Continue to cook for a few minutes until the onion is light brown & soft, then add the chilli powder & turmeric. Using the same food processor, pulse the tomatoes & add to the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add 1 or 2 wineglasses of water & the coconut milk. Simmer for about 5 minutes until it has the consistency of double cream, then season carefully with salt.

Ok so now I am splitting the sauce in two. For the fish verion, add the fish & tamarind & simmer for 6 minutes. Add some baby spinach & coriander at the end.

For the chicken version, stir fry the chicken strips & coriander seeds until lightly browned, then add to the sauce & simmer for about 10 minutes.

Lemon Rice

455g basmati rice
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 teaspoons urad dhal (small dried split peas)
1 handful of curry leaves
rind & juice of 2 lemons
fresh coriander, chopped
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Thrown the rice into boiling water, cook for 10 minutes & drain.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan, over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds & as they begin to pop add the urad dhal, curry leaves & strips of lemon rind. Leave to cook for 1 minute until the urad dhal & lemon peel are lightly coloured.

Add the drained rice to a bowl & pur over the cooked spices, lemon juice & chopped coriander. Season to taste.

Lemon Chicken with a warm lentil salad and Herb relish

Last night my good friend Rach was coming over for dinner for a well overdue catch up. Had some computer disasters at work so got home a bit late, the 1 hour marinating time for the chicken was not looking good! Don’t you hate it, things always seem to go wrong only when you have plans! Luckily Michael got home early for a change & I managed to instruct him over the phone on the chicken, lemon juice, olive oil & chicken, what could go wrong? Well surprisingly the chicken nearly went wrong as Michaels first pick was some thighs that I had out for making stock today, luckily he thought to ring me & all was soon corrected. I used breasts instead of the chicken supreme suggested as couldn’t find any of these & omitted all tarragon as none on hand. Also used a tin of brown lentils instead of cooking up puy lentils as really didn’t have the energy or time. The result was a smashing success, lots of ingredients mixed together to create beautiful subtle flavours, Rach loved it & has vowed to start cooking with lentils, something she has not tried yet. The recipe comes from Bill’s Food.


Lemon chicken with a warm lentil salad and herb relish

1 lemon, finely sliced
125ml (1/2 cup) extra virgin olive oil
4 chicken supreme (breast fillet with wing attached, with skin on)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

to serve
100g (3 ½ oz) baby English spinach leaves
warm lentil salad (below)
herb relish (below)

Mix the lemon and olive oil in a bowl, add the chicken and coat well, then cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 200c (425 F/Gas 7). Heat an ovenproof frying pan (large enough to hold all the chicken) over a high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, place with the skin side down in the pan and sear until golden on one side. Turn the chicken over and cook for another minute to seal the chicken.

Put the pan in the oven and cook the chicken for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the chicken feels firm to touch. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing the chicken on the diagonal into three pieces. To serve, put a handful of spinach leaves onto each plate, spoon some lentil salad on top, then divide the sliced chicken among the plates. Serve with fresh herb relish. Serves 4.

Warm lentil salad
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
60 ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
215 g (1 cup) lentils du Puy, cooked to instructions on the packet and drained
½ red onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Whisk the mustard, olive oil and vinegar together in a small bowl until combined. Combine the vinaigrette in a bowl with the warm lentils, red onion, herbs and salt and pepper.

Herb relish
1 tablespoon salted capers, rinsed, squeezed dry and chopped
1 anchovy fillet, chopped
3 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chervil or tarragon
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
60 ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
a few drops of red wine vinegar
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Stir all the ingredients together in a bowl, then leave for 1 hour to allow the flavours to develop.

Cajun Daintree Barramundi with Kipfler Potato Salad, Jelly Coconut Sambal & Cumquat Sauce

Tonight I decided to whip up another creation from the ‘A Slice of Port Douglas’ cookbook. This recipe was not so much difficult as very fiddly, lots of pots & pans used, luckily I didn’t get stuck with the washing up too. The other thing was that I had trouble sourcing some of the ingredients & in fact didn’t end up finding jelly coconut, can you even get this in Victoria, would love to hear from anyone that knows where? The cumquats I could not buy anywhere either & have since come to the conclusion that they only grow in peoples back yards & are not for sale. Luckily the fruit & veg man at DJ’s who I was asking for these from had a tree at home & promised to pick some for me & bring them in. So I went back the next day & sure enough he had them there waiting for me after apparently picking them at 3 in the morning by the light of his mobile phone torch. It’s very refreshing to find someone so helpful & willing to go out of their way for no profit just to help a total stranger, very impressed. After all of that the end result was really good & especially the potato salad, the lime mayo was excellent & the first I have made from scratch. Was always under the impression that they were very time consuming yet this only took me a couple of minutes to whip up, another first for me & will be looking to make more now that I know they are so easy.

Cajun Daintree Barramundi with Kipfler Potato Salad, Jelly Coconut Sambal & Cumquat Sauce

4 x 180g barramundi
2 tbspns Cajun spice
1 bunch fresh asparagus

Potato Salad

4 garlic cloves
Olive oil & 2 egg yolks
1 tspn Dijon mustard
Juice of 2 limes & 2 kaffir lime leaves, julienned
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 cup grape seed oil
600g Kipfler potatoes
1 red capsicum, finely chopped
1 spanish onion, thinly sliced

Coconut Sambal

200g jelly coconut
1/3 cup coconut cream
1 tspn fish sauce
½ red capsicum & ½ spanish inion, very finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped coriander
1 tbspn sweet chilli sauce
1 tbspn sesame oil

Cumquat Sauce

1kg cumquat
½ cup orange juice
2 cardamon pods
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon quill
½ cup sugar
50g butter

To prepare the salad, place garlic on a baking tray & drizzle with olive oil & bake in a 180c oven for 10 minutes or until soft. Place garlic, egg yolks, mustard, lime juice, lime leaves, salt & pepper in a food processor & process for 10 seconds. With the motor still running, add the oil in a thin stream. When mixture starts to thicken you can add the oil faster. Continue to process until the mayo is thick & creamy. Place potatoes in a pot of salted boiling water & cook until tender. Refresh in cold water. Slice thickly & combine with mayo, capsicum & onion.

To make the sambal, combine all ingredients in a bowl & mix to combine.

To prepare the cumquat sauce, place all ingredients (minus butter) in a saucepan & bring to the boil. Reduce heat & simmer uncovered until liquid is reduced by half. Strain. Add butter just before serving.

Boil or steam asparagus for 2-3 minutes or until tender. Coat the barramundi with Cajun spice & cook in a heated frypan with olive oil, approx 2 minutes each side until cooked.

To serve, place potato salad on a plate with the asparagus then top with barramundi & sambal, Drizzle the sauce over the top.

BBQ at our place Saturday 4th Feb 06

Last night we had a couple of friends over for a bbq. It was a beautiful Melbourne day & quite a mild night so we were able to sit outside in my courtyard which is nice & protected from the wind. I love being able to eat outside, surrounded by my garden which I have put a lot of work into, nice seeing all of the flowers in bloom & smelling their fresh scents. Us girls did wrap up in some blankets by about 11 though as it was getting quite chilly by then.

Onto the food, to start with we had some bruschette. I followed Jamie Oliver’s advice & after toasting the sour dough on the grill I first rubbed it with a clove of garlic, then drizzled olive oil & sprinkled a bit of salt. I then topped with a mixture of chopped tomatoes (deseeded), Spanish onion, basil, olive oil, white wine vinegar & salt & pepper. The garlic rubbed on gave quite an intense flavour which I loved & everyone commented on (positively too!).

For the barbie I did a few different things. I always find that I do way too much food as I’m never happy to settle for 1 meat or even 2 so this time I tried to keep the amount of each dish quite small. In the end every morsel was eaten even if some of it was by Mojo my adorable cat, so for the first time ever I judged pretty well, no leftovers for the next 3 days!

The grill consisted of some good old Coles snags so there was something plain for Jasmine who is only 3, some Spanish chorizo sausages for a bit of spice, some chicken thighs which I marinated in a mustard sauce from a bbq 6 pack of condiments I rec’d for xmas, & some lovely lamb kebabs I made up. The chicken was great & very tender, I used to do all my chicken with breast fillets until someone put me onto thighs, much more tender & they don’t have the same tendency to dry out that fillets do. And the lamb was just gorgeous & so easy to make, will make these again for sure. Congratulations & a big thanks to Michael for doing the bbq-ing too!

I served this with some bread for the snags, a salad of mixed lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, boccocini & an avocado dressing, tomato sauce for the boys, & some relish for the girls. What is it about boys & barbies that means that even though normally their tastes are quite open for a bbq they insist on the basics, oh well we all have our ways I guess. Dessert was the frozen meringue from the previous post

Made up the kebabs from a recipe in the ‘Women’s Weekly great bbq food’ book . I find this book pretty good for basic bbq ideas.

Lamb kebabs with baba ghanoush

1kg minced lamb
¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh coriander
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cloves garlic, crushed
200g prepared baba ghanoush

Combine mince, herbs & spices, egg yolk & garlic in a large bowl

Roll tablespoons of mixture into oval shapes, shape 2 pieces of mince mixture onto each skewer

Cook kebabs on heated oiled bbq until browned all over & cooked as desired

Serve with baba ghanoush

** If using bamboo skewers , soak for at least 1 hour in water before using to avoid scorching

Flying Food Sunday 22nd Jan 2006

Flying home from a weekend in Brisbane last night I couldnt resist taking a photo of my plane food. Its amazing how unappetising they make these meals look, this was mustard chicken with potoato & veg, a bread roll, butter & a mars bar. I know you wont believe it but it tasted a lot better than it looked & lets face it the meal is always one way of helping the flight go a bit quicker so I always try it out.

Despite this pic here which is the only one I took, I ate many a very lovely meal in Brisbane, one of them being a fantastic tepinyaki of lobster, scallops, moreton bay bugs & steak.

Also for brekky Saturday morning went to a nice little cafe in the Cleveland shops & as well as serving some tasty food I was very impressed with the fact that they did a big brekky of eggs, bacon, mushies, tomato & toast or turkish bread in 3 different sizes. What a fantastic idea, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach & I have to have a bit of everything so always end up with a huge brekky that I can only eat half of, this way the portions were as you chose (I had the small) so I managed to eat it all, yum.