Italian Sausages with Lentils

What to do with leftover uncooked sausages from the Barbie when you’re not a snag fan? Flicking through my books I have earmarked a few recipes using snags so hopefully they will work well & be a bit more inspiring than plain old bangers & mash. The first is from Nigella Lawson, Nigella Bites. This was my first Nigella book & funnily the one I have cooked the least from for no particular reason, I am making a mental note to pick it up a bit more often in the next few months. Apparently this dish is what Italians serve traditionally on New Years Day, the lentils symbolizing prosperity that is hoped for the coming year. Of course my sausages are not Italian but beef & red wine flavoured which seemed to do the job just fine. A lovely dish though a word of warning, I halved the recipe for 2 & there were still way too many lentils & I also did the full measurements for the gravy & felt there wasn’t enough so I would actually double that next time. Other than that, the gravy was rich & delicious & it all went together perfectly.

Italian Sausages with Lentils

3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
sprinkling of salt
500g puy lentils
1 fat clove of garlic, squashed with the side of a knife, & skin removed
8 Italian sausages
100ml red wine
50ml water
flat leaf parsley

To cook the lentils, put 2-3 tablespoons of the oil into a good sized saucepan (and one which has a lid that fits) on the heat & when it’s warm add the chopped onion. Sprinkle with salt (which helps prevents it browning) and cook over low to medium heat till soft (about 5 minutes). Add the lentils, stir well & then generously cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then cover & let simmer gently for half an hour or so until cooked & most, if not all, the liquid’s absorbed.

When the lentils are nearly ready, put a heavy based frying pan on the stove, cover with a film of oil & add the bruised garlic. Cook for a few minutes then add & brown the sausages. When the sausages are brown on both sides, throw in the wine & the water & let bubble up. Cover the pan, with a lid or foil & cook for about 15 minutes. Using a fork, mash the now soft garlic into the sauce & taste for seasoning, add more water if too strong.

Remove the lentils to a shallow bowl, top with sausages & pour over the garlicky, winey gravy. Sprinkle with parsley. Serves 4.

Chicken & Sweet Leek Pie with Flaky Pastry

This is another dish from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Dinners in his top ten. It’s a pretty good pie, I’m a pie fan loving any type of pastry dish so this was a winner for me, a good combination including lots of veggies & the filling was not too runny as I find a lot of pie recipes are. One note however, the recipe is to serve 4, once you add the mash & any other sides you will get at least 6 very generous serves out of it & that’s saying something as Michael & I are pretty big eaters (I hate to admit it but its true, can you tell?)

Chicken & Sweet Leek Pie with Flaky Pastry

Olive Oil
2 knobs of butter
1kg boned & skinned chicken legs (cut into pieces) – I used thigh fillets
2 medium leeks, trimmed, washed & sliced into 1cm pieces
2 carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
3 sticks of celery, finely sliced
a small handful of thyme, leaves picked
2 tablespoons flour
1 wineglass of white wine
285ml/1/2 pint milk
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
255g good pork sausages
1 x 500g pack of all butter puff pastry (or a couple of sheets of ready rolled as I used)
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 220c. Take a large casserole pot & add a lug of olive oil & the butter. Add the chicken, leeks, carrots, celery & thyme & cook slowly on the hob for 15 minutes. Turn the heat right up, add the flour, and keep stirring for a couple of minutes before adding the wine, a wineglass of water & the milk. Season with a little salt & pepper, then cover with a tight fitting lid & simmer very slowly on the hob for about 30-40 minutes until the chicken is tender. Stir it every so often so it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan. The sauce should be loose but quite thick. If it’s too liquid, just continue to simmer it with the lid off until it thickens slightly.

Pour the mixture into a pie dish. Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins, roll it into balls, brown then in a little oil & sprinkle them over the stew. Roll out your pastry to about 0.5cm thick. Egg wash the rim of the dish & drape the pastry over the edges & trim. Egg wash the top, crimp the edges & cut criss crosses into the top to allow the pastry to go crisp & flaky. Cook in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, until golden on top. Serve with sweetcorn & mash.

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.

Easy Paella

This delicious ‘Paella’ recipe came from a recent delicious magazine, think from memory it is a Bill Granger recipe from his new book. While not traditional Paella by any means, for a quick meal for Michael & I it was easy to knock out & really yum!

Easy Paella

1 tablespoon olive oil
500g chicken breast fillets (pref with skin on), cut into bite sized pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
1 chorizo sausage, chopped
1 cup (200g) basmati rice
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
425g can chopped tomatoes, drained
1 red capsicum, chopped
1 small red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
250g cooked prawns, peeled
425g can cannelloni beans, rinsed, drained
100g baby green beans, topped, blanched & refreshed in cold water
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves
Lemon wedges, to serve

Heat the oil in a large, deep frypan over medium heat. Cook the chicken pieces fro 3-4 minutes, turning until golden & cooked through. Remove & set aside to drain on paper towel.

Add the onion and the chorizo to the pan & cook, stirring occasionally for 1-2 minutes until the chorizo begins to crisp. Add the rice & turmeric & cook, stirring for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes, capsicum, chilli, garlic & stock. Bring to the coil, then reduce heat to medium-low & cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Return the chicken to the pan with the prawns, cannellini beans & green beans. Toss & heat through for 1 minute. Stir in the coriander & serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Bar Lourinha - Spanish Tapas in Melbourne

Bar Lourinha is a wonderful newish Spanish/Portuguese style bar tucked away in Little Collins street run by Matt McConnell, ex Berardo's Noosa, Diningroom 211, Hairy Canary. The bar is tiny, with a couple of communal tables and a bar surrounded by tall bar stools to sit & while away the night on. There’s also a little couch area at the frnt area which is where we chose to sat, being preggers I didn’t fancy houts on a ba stool this time! The décor worked for me, an odd mix of paintings, a lit up reindeer on the wall, and odd bits & pieces, not overly crowded.

The drinks menu had plenty on offer, though sadly I didn’t get to sample any of the promised delights, no cocktails, no apertifs, etc, just a bottle of wine for us to share, which was very nice indeed though I cant remember what it was as the girls did the choosing tonight assisted by our very friendly & knowledgeable waitress. The food menu consists of maybe 15 or so sharing dishes which all sound mouth watering, very hard to choose really. There were 3 of us gilrs eating last night & the dishes we chose were more than enough to satusify our appetities. While choosing our fare we had a plate of cracked grren olives which were very good. Then we started with the yellowtail kingfish "pancetta", salt cured and dressed with lemon oil, fresh thyme and slivers of red onion, a great melt in your mouth dish with the onions & dressing proving just ther ight amount of flavour for the delicate fish slices. Next was a plate of vine grilled sardines over a fennel salad, followed by a great salad of buffalo mozzarella with crispy jamon – how can you go wrong with these two ingedients – it was superb. This was followed by some delicious roasted mushrroms in a creamy garlic sauce.

To finish off with we had the par-cooked, whole smoked chorizo sausage finished over brandy spirit flamed at the table. A couple of minutes on the flames (which sadly my photo hasn’t picked up very well) and our sausage is done & ready to eat, it was fabulous, nice & spicy & love that flame grilled taste & quite a produciton really!

After all of this we still had a little room for dessert of course, there was no way I was missing out on churros. So we shared the churros (long sugar coated Spanish doughnuts which have to be sampled if you have never tasted these delights before), they were served with a caramel type flavoured dipping sauce rather than the usual chocolate I have normally seen, fantastic & I could have had the whole serve to myself. We also tried a dish of pomegranate crema (? Think this is what it was called) with a pistachio praline, again delightful.

All in all this place highly impressed me & is one to keep card handy for.

Bar Lourinha
37 Little Collins Street
Melbourne
03 9663 7890
Mon-Wed, noon-11pm; Thu and Fri, noon-1am; Sat, 4pm-1am
www.barlourinha.com.au

Baked Chocolate tart

Today Rach was coming over for a bit of a catch up, she is a bit of a sucker for chocolate (just like me in my present state!) so I whipped up this tart of Jamie Oliver’s from ‘The Naked Chef. I had some left over pastry in the freezer from when I made the lemon lime tart so this cut down considerably on my prep time which was excellent, means I got to spend the whole morning in the garden! I’ve included the pastry recipe as per previous post. I served the tart with fresh strawberries & blueberries & let me say this, it was sensational, absolutely delicious. The fact that it was dark chocolate made it very intense without being too sweet, it tasted a little like a chocolate pudding but solid of course & of the sweetness of the berries was perfect along side. Also I have to say home made short crust pastry definitely kicks ass over the frozen kind. Make this tart & trust me you will not regret it.

Baked Chocolate Tart

1 x 25cm flan or tart shell, baked blind
140g butter, unsalted
150g good quality chocolate, (70% cocoa solids)
8 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
small pinch salt
4 eggs
200g caster sugar
3 tablespoons golden syrup
3 medium heaped tablespoons sour cream or crème fraiche

Place the butter, chocolate, cocoa powder and slat in a bowl over a pan of simmering water & allow to melt slowly, stirring occasionally until well mixed in. In a separate bowl beat the eggs & sugar together until light & well creamed, and then add the golden syrup & sour cream. Stir your choc mixture into this mixture, scraping all of the chocolate out with a spatula. Once you’ve mixed it well pour it into the pastry shell. Place into a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes at 150c. During cooking a beautiful crust will form.

Carefully remove the tart from the oven & allow to cool on a rack for at least 45 minutes, during which time the skin will crack & the filling will shrink slightly. Serve with fresh berries

Short Crust Sweet Pastry

To make 2 x 30cm/12 inch tart moulds
250g butter
200g icing sugar
a medium pinch of salt
500g flour
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons cold milk/water

You can make this by hand or in a food processor. Cream together the butter, sugar & salt & then rub or pulse in the flour & egg yolks. When the mix has come together, looking like coarse breadcrumbs, add the cold water or milk. Pat & gently work together to form a ball of dough. Use minimum movement as the more you work it the more elastic it will get, causing the pastry to shrink & be chewy. Roll into a large, short & fat sausage shape, wrap in glad wrap & place in the fridge for at lest 1 hour.Carefully slice off thin slivers of pastry lengthways, around 5mm thick. Place the slivers in & around the bottom & sides of your tart mould, then push the pieces together & level out. Now it needs to rest again for at least 1 hour in the freezer this time.Bake the tart for about 15 minutes at 180c, completely cool & fill with any uncooked fillings.For baked fillings, bake blind first at 180c for only about 12 minutes. You can fill the shell with rice, baking beads, etc but if your pastry is straight out of the freezer you shouldn’t have problems with shrinkage, etc.

Lemon & Lime Cream Tart

For dessert on Saturday night I totally ignored my Curry theme & made a gorgeous lemon & lime tart, I thought the tanginess of this tart would be perfect after a night of curries. The recipe comes form Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef. To start with you make the pastry & there is enough for 2 which is handy as next time I need a quick dessert it’s just a matter of filling the case up! I also used the food processor option which makes it so easy. I love a lemon tart & this one is pretty good, very tangy & rich though so only the smallest piece is needed & berries of any type are great on the side.

Short Crust Sweet Pastry

To make 2 x 30cm/12 inch tart moulds
250g butter
200g icing sugar
a medium pinch of salt
500g flour
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons cold milk/water

You can make this by hand or in a food processor. Cream together the butter, sugar & salt & then rub or pulse in the flour & egg yolks. When the mix has come together, looking like coarse breadcrumbs, add the cold water or milk. Pat & gently work together to form a ball of dough. Use minimum movement as the more you work it the more elastic it will get, causing the pastry to shrink & be chewy. Roll into a large, short & fat sausage shape, wrap in glad wrap & place in the fridge for at lest 1 hour.

Carefully slice off thin slivers of pastry lengthways, around 5mm thick. Place the slivers in & around the bottom & sides of your tart mould, then push the pieces together & level out. Now it needs to rest again for at least 1 hour in the freezer this time.

Bake the tart for about 15 minutes at 180c, completely cool & fill with any uncooked fillings.

For baked fillings, bake blind first at 180c for only about 12 minutes. You can fill the shell with rice, baking beads, etc but if your pastry is straight out of the freezer you shouldn’t have problems with shrinkage, etc.

Lemon & Lime Cream Tart

1 tart shell, baked blind (For his tart egg wash before blind baking!!!)
340g caster sugar
8 large eggs
350ml double cream
200ml lime juice
100ml lemon juice

Egg wash your tart shell, then blind bake. This will keep the pastry crisp for longer.

Whisk together the sugar & eggs. When mixed well, slowly stir in the cream, lemon & lime juices. Put the shell back in the oven & slowly pour in the filling (this will reduce spillage). Bake for around 40-45 minutes at 180c or until the filling is set but semi wobbly in the middle. After cooling for an hour the filling will have firmed up. Don’t cut any earlier or it will be gooey & ooze out. If preferred dust with icing sugar to serve. Serve with fresh berries.

Tags: lemon, lime, tart, recipe

Breakfast at Mario's

Yesterday I caught up with a friend for a fabulous brekky at Mario's after a big night out tearing up the dance floor. I have been meaning to try out the famous breakfast here forever & really cant believe it has taken me this long. The place was crammed full of people as you would expect & luckily after only about a ten minute wait I managed to nab a table.

I had the specialof the day which was white bread with melted cheese on top, herbed scrambles eggs, spicy chorizo sausages, chutney & rocket. Can you tell just by looking at it how sensational it was, absolutely scrumptious & will be back for more soon!

Marios Cafe
303 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy
ph: 9417 3343

L'Osteria & Happy Birthday to me!

After a week of birthday celebrations, last night was my night. I decided to take everyone to my favourite local Italian restaurant, L’Osteria in North Fitzroy. I love this place & their stuffed olives are the best, you may have noticed that I have a thing for stuffed olives & when I went to Ladro a couple of weeks back to find they had taken them off the menu I was devastated, luckily this place still had them so I promptly ordered a few servings for all to share. They are green olives stuffed with veal pork & parmigiano then crumbed & fried, sensational! Next we had some miniature vegetarian arancini which were lovely. For my main I had pappardelle alla ragu di salsiccia di finocchio, which translated is beautiful hand made pasta with a ragu of fennel sausages, tomato & radicchio, fantastic combination, the fennel flavour really came through quite strongly & I love the aniseed taste so very good for me. We didn’t have dessert tonight as my mum had bought a cake to have back at home.

Most of the pastas are homemade here & the menu changes seasonally so I never get bored with the choice. They also do pizza which I have not yet tried though I hear it is also pretty good. Highly recommended place to go, everyone was very impressed & I will be back there soon to try some more of the Autumn menu before it changes.

L’Osteria
616 Nicholson Street
North Fitzroy
Ph (03) 9489 6302

Chicken Tagine with Wild Mushrooms, Chorizo & Sherry

Tonight Michael was off playing soccer so I thought I would do a slow cook as had plenty of time to get dinner on the table. Tried this recipe from Allan Campion & Michelle Curtis’ 2006 Fresh produce diary, everything I have cooked of theirs so far has had great results so was sure it would be great. Served with some Mashed potatoes this was truly sensational, the long cooking time reduced the liquid to a thick tasty fantastic intensity of flavours, really, really yum

Chicken Tagine with Wild Mushrooms, Chorizo & Sherry

Olive Oil for cooking
1 chorizo sausage, approx 250g, diced
1.5kg skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillet, diced
1 onion, sliced
300g wild mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon harissa
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
½ teaspoon allspice
1 tablespoon flour
¼ cup dry sherry
250-500ml (1-2 cups) tomato sugo
500ml chicken stock
fresh parsley & coriander leaves, to serve

Heat a small frying pan, add a splash of olive oil & diced chorizo & cook until fat renders out. Drain on absorbent paper.

Heat a heavy based saucepan over medium heat, add a generous splash of olive oil & cook chicken pieces until golden brown. Remove pieces & set aside. Return the pot to the heat & add more oil if necessary.

Add onion to saucepan, cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Add mushrooms, more oil if necessary, & cool until they soften. Add garlic & spices & cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add flour, lower heat & cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring well. Raise heat, add sherry, bring to the boil * allow to evaporate by half. Add half the tomato sugi & the stock & bring to the boil.

Return chicken & chorizo to the pan, add more sugo if necessary to just cover the chicken. Cover the saucepan with lid & cook over a low heat for 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally. Check seasoning & add fresh parsley & coriander to serve.

Tobie Puttock - QV Market Cooking School

Tuesday night Michael & I went along to the Queen Vic Market Cooking School to see Tobi Puttock whip up some pasta magic. Michael bought me some gift vouchers to this for xmas so he was dragged along to try it out too. Tobi was fantastic, making preparing your own pasta look like the easiest thing in the world which I beleive it is not from my prior disastrous attempts.

Anyway in the 2 -3 hours we were there he managed to make up Fresh Tagliatelle with a quick sausage ragu (pictured), was sensational, Rotolo di spinach, (also pic), very yum, Trofie with Pesto, green beans & potato, so easy I think this is the first dish I will attempy myself & equally delicious to the rest, potato gnocchi with an asparagus, lemon butter sauce, (pic) & also delicious, Super light ricotta gnocchi, yum, & zucchini raviolo with a zucchini flower sauce, this was really very good & looked sensational too. Can you believe how much he whipped up, cant believe how quick it all was & how tasty, I will definitely be trying these out myself in the coming weeks & showing you the results. For some reason, pasta is one of the things I am a bit intimated by & shy away from trying after a couple of very bad attempts, will ahve to be my new resoluton to master the art!


Michael enjoyed himself too though was still very hungry by the time we got home, forgot to mention that you only get tasting portions & not a whole meal!

A La Grecque – Aireys Inlet

Sunday night I took Michael to this new restaurant in Aireys inlet which is run by Kosta Talimanidis, the guy who used to run the famous Koasta’s in Lorne, this is his new venture which I have heard much talk & praise about so couldn’t wait. Nothing disappointed form the moment we walked in, the décor is very bright, with white walls, painted with colourful murals here & there & bright bulbs hanging down around the bar area. The staff were very friendly, helpful & quick.

To start with we shared 2 entrees, 1st grilled soutzouk which for those of you who do not know what this is, is a spicy Turkish sausage, served with an eggplant jam, fantastic flavours that were perfect together. 2nd was some Kalimari in a light batter served simply with rocket & aioli, scrumptious.

For mains I had a roast pork shoulder (sorry abt the blurry photo), served with baked apples, pancetta & sage & Michael had some Grilled blue eye with a dill sauce & some greek salad. We also had some potatoes & a beetroot, rocket & yoghurt salad. I loved every mouthful of each dish. And of course we had to finish up with dessert, there was no way I was leaving without it! I went all traditional & had the almond, hazelnut & rosewater baklava which was huge & I’d have to say the best I’ve had & Michael had the slow roasted peaches with ottway ranges honey & Meredith sheeps milk yoghurt, again divine.

This is definitely one of those places I will have to visit again as would love to try every single item on the menu. Well done!

Grilled T-bone steak with garlic & anchovy butter Thursday 9th Feb 2006

Lat night we had what I would call real 'man' food, a great big t-bone, baked spud, beans & mushies. Michael was so happy he even assisted in the cooking, basically I made the butter & threw the spuds in the oven & he did the rest, was nice to be able to take a break & get some other things done while Michael finished off. The recipe which was for the steak, butter & mushrooms came from 'Surfing the menu' by Ben O'Donoghue & Curtis Stone, this is the original book, I love watching their show on abc so much that I had to have at least one of the books, has some great recipes.

Now even though this was simple steak, potato & veg, the addition of the garlic & anchovy butter plus the mushrooms gave it that little something extra to lift it up a notch from a boring meal into something really tatsy & I have lots of leftover butter for the next couple of weeks, yum! The recipe as you will see is to serve 4 & uses 250g butter, I quartered this & we still didnt use even half of the butter, I guess it depends on how far you are willing to go, trust me, the flavour is very intense & you really did not need to add that much butter to you steak.

Grilled T-bone with garlic & anchovy butter

Curtis Stone 'I have always loved cooking meat on the bone. The meat keeps a certain sweetness, and lends itself to a relaxed stlye of eating - or perhaps it's just me who loves gnawing on the bone. I also find that anchovies work particilarly well with hearty meats, such as beef or lamb.'

250g unsalted butter, softened
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 lightly salted anchovy fillets, finely chopped
1 large shallot (eschalot), finely chopped
2 tblspns finely chopped flat leaf parsley
salt & freshly ground pepper
1 tblspn olive oil
4 x 450g T Bone steaks
5 large field mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 1/2 tblspns worcestershire sauce
4 anchovy fillets, halved lengthways to garnish

Place the butter, garlic, anchovies, shallot & parsley in a bowl & season with salt & pepper. Beat together until smooth. Take a large sheet of glad wrap & spoon the butter in a rough log shape towards one end. Roll up the butter, pressing it into a firm, thick sausage as you go. Roll the sausage on the bench to give a smooth surface, then transfer to the fridge to harden.

Brush the steaks with the oil. Fry in a hot pan over a moderately high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side or to your liking. Cut off 4 disks of butter & place on top of each steak. Remove the pan & rest the steak for 3-4 minutes in a warm place before serving.

Meanwhile, heat another pan & get it very hot. Add the mushrooms & worcestershire sauce. Stir to deglaze for 1-2 minutes. Stack the mushrooms in the centre of 4 serving plates & place a t-bone on top of each pile. Place 2 trips of anchovy in a cross on the steaks & serve.

Note - any leftover butter will keep in fridge for 10 days & in freezer for 3 months.

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

Mecca Bah Docklands Thursday 2nd Feb

Last night I caught up with a few friends for dinner, Docklands was decided on & I suggested we try out Mecca Bah as had heard lots of good things about it. So I walked on over after work to meet the girls there. The décor was nice enough though nothing flash, we were seated on a simple table in the middle overlooking the water. The boys were not meeting us til later so we thought we would start slowly with a drink. We started off with a bottle of 04 Freycinet Riesling, from Tasmania which was recommended by the waitress when we enquired which of the Rieslings was dry & good of course, it was very fresh & not at all sweet (I can’t stand the sweeter style of some Rieslings), we all really enjoyed it & decided to stick with it all night, when you’re onto a good thing why change! A couple of glasses & we all started getting a bit tipsy so ordered the dips & bread which turned out to be hommos – a very dry version though still good, tzatziki, delicious & a fantastic Baba Ganoush, the smoky flavour was intense & I love them this way, all served with some Turkish bread, was a good start & soaked up some of the alcohol while we were drinking & waiting for the boys.

Michael soon arrived so we had one boy on board. A phone call determined that the last to arrive was still at least an hour away so we moved onto some mezze to share. We had Spicy Turkish kofte with yoghurt sauce - lovely, sweet potato felafels with tahini sauce - these were especially good & nice to try an old favourite with a bit of a difference, Lebanese sausages and spicy chickpeas & abeetroot & yoghurt salad – this salad sounds so simple yet was a real hit with all, it was fantastic, basically from what we could tell it combined rocket, roasted beetroot, an olive oil & vinegar dressing & the yoghurt, all of these flavours married together beautifully, will try & recreate this at home I think.

Ok so soon after the mezze we were through with the second bottle of wine & ready for another as well as the mains, one more phone call & we were assured that the missing person was only ½ an hour away so we could order the mains, yippee! I went for the Lamb Tagine with preserved lemon, green olive, harissa & couscous. This was served in a gorgeous traditional Tagine Dish which looked like it came straight out of the Bazaar, I must buy some of these one day when I have my dream kitchen & lots more cupboard space! The lamb was melt in the mouth falling apart & the dish on a whole was a great choice. Everyone else was happy with their choices as well.

As you can imagine their was not much room left after this though we still couldn’t resist sharing 3 scoops of ice cream as the flavours sounded divine. Date & Vanilla – very unusual & nice, Middle Eastern Halva ice-cream – this was a real surprise for me, I don’t usually like Halva & I think it must be the texture that disagreed as the same flavours in ice cream were sensational - a must try, lastly Turkish coffee ice-cream, as you can imagine very good also.

Overall it was a great meal, the service was excellent, prices not too high, would go back again & definitely recommend it.

PS – Sorry no pics, forgot the camera