THE FOODENATORS

Shanna's Easy Pizza Dough

2011-07-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

Shanna Holden's quick pizza dough recipe that even works at 7000 feet. Makes 2 medium or 1 large pie.
Mix in large bowl:
1.25 C warm water (~120 F)
2 t honey
1 T oil
2.5 t yeast (1pkg)
Let sit in bowl 5 min then slowly mix in:
3 C flour (whole wheat is fine)
3 T of gluten
1 t salt
Knead 5 min
Cover with damp towel and let rise ~15min in oiled bowl.
Roll dough, layer with your favorite ingredients and bake at 500F for 10 - 15min.

Baguettes at 7,000 Feet

2011-07-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

So I've been trying to make a proper baguette since we went to France, and made some rather-nice-bread-that-wasn't-a-baguette for awhile before I worked out that the recipe needs tweaking for the altitude and the dry air here in Flag, and the salt isn't optional. Its still not _quite_ right, but its getting close, and the bit of paper with my scribbled notes is getting nigh-unreadable, so its time to put this down somewhere that I can find it again...

Baguettes at 7,000 feet.

1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast. (Yes the amount seems to matter; don't just dump a whole packet in.)
1/4 cup very warm water.

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
OR
4 cups unbleached high-gluten bread flour

2 1/4 teaspoons salt. (Don't skimp, especially at altitude, no matter how little you usually cook with salt. The salt retards the yeast growth so it doesn't go too nuts too fast in the low pressure at altitude.)
1 1/2 cups cool water. (1 1/4 cups in the original recipe - the extra helps adjust for the altitude.)

White of one egg, mixed with ~1 tbsp water.
---

1) Combine yeast and warm water and mix well to dissolve the yeast.
NOTE: steps 2-7 are taken care of nicely by my bread machine on the large, white, dough setting, which takes an hour fifty and ends with a quick knead cycle.
2) Mix everything except the eggwhite in a large bowl, adding the liquids last. Mix to form a shaggy mass.
3) Knead for 4 minutes on a floured surface.
4) Rest, covered with plastic wrap or a towel for 20 minutes.
5) Knead for 6-8 minutes.
6) Place in a lightly-oiled bowl and cover. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours, until doubled in volume.
7) Gently deflate the dough and fold it over itself in the bowl. Re-shape into a ball and re-cover.
8) Let rise for 1 1/4 hours, or until nearly doubled in volume.
(Original recipe calls for another punch-down and rise here; I've been skipping it.)
9) Deflate and re-form, then break the dough into 3 equal-sized pieces. Gently stretch and/or flatten one into a rough rectangle without tearing it - it will try to shrink back, but you can let it stick to the surface a bit to hold the shape. Then roll the rectangle up from one edge. Pinch sealed the seam and the ends. Set aside and repeat with the other two thirds.
10) Going back to your first "loaf", elongate it by gently stretching and/or rolling the loaf, until its about the length you want your final loaf to be (length of my baking tray, in my case...) Place it on a baking tray scattered with a bit of corn meal. Repeat with the other 2.
11) Cover the tray, and let rise for 30-40 minutes, until not quite doubled in volume.
12) While waiting for the last rise, pre-heat your oven to 500 F (260 C). Put a large metal baking dish (really; don't use glass!) empty in the bottom of the oven while it heats. I use our paella pan for this and its perfect. Get a plant mister and load it with tap water. Boil the kettle, and turn it back off.
13) Un-cover the bread tray and paint the loaves with a mixture of the white of one egg and about a tablespoon of water. Using a very sharp knife held at about 45 degrees to horizontal, cut a long shallow cut from one end of each loaf to the other.
14) Put the tray in the oven. Take a cup of the hot water from the kettle and dump it in the metal tray in the bottom of the oven. Shut the door quick!
15) Wait a minute, open the door, use the plant mister to spray the loaves and each side of the oven 6-8 times (and shut it again quick!)
16) Wait two minutes, open the door, use the plant mister to spray the loaves and each side of the oven 6-8 times (and shut it again quick!)
17) Wait 12 minutes, turn the oven down to 400 F (205 C), then open it for half a minute to drop the temperature, and spray the loaves and sides once more.
18) Bake for 20 minutes (original recipe called for 25-30, but 20 seems pretty consistently right for me.)

That makes it sound all very complicated, but for me it amounts to: dump ingredients in bread machine; come back in 3 hours. Fold over once; come back in an hour. Form loaves, wait a bit, and cook.

Two new nummies

2011-01-27T10:09:00.001-08:00

Hey,

So I came home cold and hungry and lazy and all I had was some eggs and zuccini...Persian Omblet

http://checkitoutavesta.blogspot.com/2008/10/middle-eastern-omelet.html

It turned out amazing, all fluffy and yum. The sugary tumaric gives it a really interesting taste.

Emptying the shit out of the fridge - Pheasants

2011-01-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

So my fridge was infested with pheasants that needed to be eaten...I again didnt have too many ingredients so I modified this one...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/emerils-favorite-roast-pheasant-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

1 pheasants
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 manderine
1 tbl sp thyme dried
bacon pieces
1/4 cup Madeira
1 cup rich chicken stock
2 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 260C degrees. (I cant remember if I used this temp or reduced it,...use brains)

Season the cavities and the outside of each pheasant liberally with salt and pepper. Stuff carrot, onion, manderine pieces (cut in half), thyme (snap its spine if the stupid birds are too small)

Arrange the pheasants in a large roasting pan, breast sides up. Thow bacon pieces over the pheasant (its supposed to be rashes but I didt have any so I basted lots) Roast for 15 minutes, then remove the bacon strips and continue roasting for approximately 30 to 40 minutes, or until the juices run clear. (It is important to not overcook the pheasants, as they are very lean birds.) Remove the pheasants from the oven and transfer to a serving platter, loosely tented, while you make the sauce.

Using a spoon, carefully remove as much extra fat from the pan as possible. Place the roasting pan over high heat and, when hot, deglaze with the orange juice and Madeira, using a wooden spoon to scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When the orange juice and Madeira have reduced by half, add the chicken stock and continue to cook until sauce has reduced enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 3 to 4 minutes. Swirl in the butter and remove from the heat. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Remove the back bone from each pheasant, then cut along the breast bone to divide the birds into two halves. Serve 1/2 pheasant per person, napped with some of the sauce.

Id do this again anyday, the thyme and orange were great. It would probably work for other little birds like geese, swans, emus, or pterodactyls too.

Marinated beef ribs in dark ale and mustard

2011-01-22T23:27:00.000-08:00

4 beef spare ribs, about 2kg in total
125ml dark ale (1/2 cup)
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp cider vinegar
2 small red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
20g unsalted butter

Place ribs in a single layer in a large non-metallic dish. Put the ale, sugar, vinegar, chilli, cumin and mustard in an bowl, stir well to dissolve the sugar, then pour over the ribs. Toss to coat, then cover and marinate in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
Preheat kettle or covered BBQ to medium indirect heat. Transfer the ribs and the marinade to a large shallow roasting tin and place in the middle of the BBQ. Lower the lid and cook the ribs for 50 minutes, or until the meat is tender and about 1/2 cup of marinade is left in the pan. Transfer the ribs to a warm serving plate while you finish making the sauce - leave the pan on the BBQ to keep warm.
Using a whisk, beat butter into the reduced marinade in the roasting tin and season with salt/pepper.
Drizzle ribs with sauce.

From Leanne Kitchen's The Butcher.
I use dark Kozel for preference, and have used tabasco in place of the chilli but it's not as good.

2010-11-23T21:29:00.001-08:00

Summer Hill 'corner store' has corn syrup.

Just sayin'.

2010-09-26T23:48:00.001-07:00

Summer Hill Butcher has liquid smoke.
Just sayin'.

Vietnamese summer salad

2010-06-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

Does anyone have a better salad than this? its still pretty damned good but not perfect. I added fish sause and about a handful of mint.

much better...it also needs more chilli....lots of chilli

http://yummies.wordpress.com/2008/01/28/vietnamese-cold-beef-salad/

Ingredients
¼ cup light soy sauce
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup water
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tsp red chili sauce/paste/oil
1 ½ tsp minced ginger
½ pound flank steak
1 cup fresh basil leaves (I didnt have this)
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves (or this)
1 cup fresh mint leaves (this I had...it was good)
½ red onion, sliced finely (used shallots instead)
½ seeded English cucumber, halved and sliced finely
2 cups julienned carrots
½ cup dry roasted peanuts

*Optional* cooked rice, prepared as you like

Directions
Combine light soy sauce, lime juice, water, sugar, garlic, and chili sauce/paste/oil and ginger in medium bowl. Whisk or stir to blend. Pour approximately 5 tablespoons into a resealable plastic bag or large container. Cover and refrigerate the remaining dressing. Add steak to bag/container, seal, and turn to coat. Chill 30 minutes or overnight (for a more stronger flavor) to marinate.

Heat broiler to 400 degrees F. Broil steak 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, or until medium-rare. Let rest 5 minutes and slice thinly at an angle, across the grain.

Place basil, cilantro, mint, onion, cucumbers, and carrots in large bowl and toss. Top with sliced steak, drizzle with reserved dressing, and sprinkle with peanuts.

Can be eaten with a bowl of cooked rice or alone for a healthy low carb alternative. Let the ingredients mingle overnight for a more intense flavor. If you choose to do this then keep the basil, mint and cilantro out of the dish till you are ready to eat to keep them from getting droopy in the dish.

Roman Cheesecake

2010-06-09T04:35:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I cooked it for Yule Feast and Cold Wars. I have a cunning plan to put it in many places so it can't be lost.

Savillum (Cato 84)
(Cato - 180 BC
Cato. Liber de agricultura)

Savillum hoc modo facito: Farinae selibram, casei P. II S una
commisceto quasi libum, addito mellis P. - et ovum unum. Catinum
fictile oleo unguito. Ubi omnia bene commiscueris, in catinum indito,
catinum testo operito. Videto ut bene percocas medio, ubi altissimum
est. Ubi coctum erit, catinum eximito, melle unguito, papver
infriato, sub testum subde paulipser, postea eximito. Ita pone cum
catillo et lingula.

Make a savillum this: Mix 1/2 libra flour and 2 1/2 libra cheese, as
is done for libum. Add 1/4 libra honey and 1 egg. Grease an
earthenware bowl with oil. When you have mixed the ingredients well,
pour into the bowl and cover the bowl with an earthenware testo. See
that you cook it well in the middle, where it is highest. When it is
cooked, remove the bowl, spread with honey, sprinkle with poppy, put
it back beneath the testo for a moment, and then remove. Serve it
thus with a plate and spoon.

Serves 4
750g ricotta
1 cup flour
6 Tbs honey
1 egg
2 Tbs poppy seeds

Blend cheese flour, 4 Tbs honey and egg. Grease baking pan with oil.
Pour in mixture and bake in hot hot (400F) for 20-30 minutes. Cover
with foil for first 10-15 mins. Remove from oven drizzle with honey
and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Replace in oven for 5 minutes and
serve.

The above recipe, translation and redaction comes from Giacosa, Ilaria
Gozzini, (1994), A Taste of Ancient Rome, The University of Chicago
Press, Chicago.

And here is the recipe we actually used at the feasts.... not quite
the same, but I didn't re-read the recipe at Cold War, and the result
was so well received, we just did the same again for Yule.

3kg ricotta
750g honey
200g poppy seeds
4 cups flour
5 eggs
makes about 12 cakes

Mix every thing together. Shove into buttered foil pie tins. Bake in
oven about 200C-ish until starting to brown. Allow to cool a little
before attempting to stick in head.

Le parfait d'armangnac aux pruneaux

2010-06-04T23:52:00.000-07:00

Frozen prune mousse with armangnac (with commentary)

450g best quality presoaked dried prunes, stoned (I got a packet from the shops, that were soggy in their bag already, stoned, and they seemed to work fine. Perhaps Oz has better access to prunes?)
a few strips of lemon zest (I could have gone a little heavier on this I think)
4 tbsp armagnac (I used brandy. Couldn't get armangnac)
500ml thick double cream
whites of two large eggs
2 tbsp caster sugar
a pinch of salt

Soak the prunes with the lemon zest and armangnac for an hour or so. Remove lemon zest and whizz prunes and armangnac in food processor until a puree.
Whisk egg whites with salt until stiff, then add sugar. (And then whisk some more? The recipe says nothing. I whisked, and don't think it did any harm.)
Whisk the cream until it has a floopy consistency. (Why? Surely thick double cream has been beaten enough already? I had to be careful not to make butter)
Carefully fold the prune puree into the cream and then, with a wooden spoon, fold in the stiffened egg whites. (I think all the egg whites are doing is cutting the thickness of the cream. I may be wrong)
Spoon into individual serving pots and place in the freezer for no more than 2 hours. (it says 6-8 serves - I filled 10 espresso mugs, and then a small pyrex dish, and had plenty of bowl to lick. No idea how big their pots are!)

Goat in Goat with Goat

2010-03-31T14:54:00.000-07:00

http://chrisbadenoch.com/2010/03/22/goat-in-goat-with-goat/

I cant claim credit for this. It come from liam but .... COOOL :-)

Fruitcake for BaggyT

2010-03-23T04:42:00.001-07:00

Made from stewed fruit that was over-spiced. Recipe adapted from Ye Olde "Day to Day Cookery Book" which is the standard text HomeEc cookbook in Queensland.

3 cups cold spicey stewed fruit (BaggyT's special mix of a besquillion secret fruits and spices but had in there - apples, cinnamon sticks, half a lemon, ground cloves, honey, brown sugar. Fish out lemon and cinnamon sticks before making cake)
2 eggs
1 cup self-raising flour
1 1/4 plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix fruit and eggs. Fold in sifted flours and baking soda. Stick in two loaf tins lined with baking paper. Cook in 150C oven for 1 hour or until skewer is clean. The end.

It's very good with icecream. Be sure the fruit really is cold before you put the eggs in. I was never a patient cook, but eggs poached in fruit is not a good look

Mmm bunny

2010-03-14T03:47:00.001-07:00

Just in case you missed it elsewhere...

About 300gm pork belly, fried off, and as it caught on the bottom of the pan, deglased with red wine. Removed.
Rabbit, halved to fit in the pot, browned in the pork juices and more olive oil. Removed.
Two onions, lotsa garlic, into the rabbit/pork juices. Thyme, rosemary chucked in, then sliced fresh tomatoes. Add the meat back in when everything's a little softer, top-up with vegeta stock. (I didn't put enough liquid in I think. The resulting rabbit was a little dry, and could have been moister. He cooked for the whole time not wholely covered. Next time, enough liquid to cover.)
Stuck in the oven for close to 2 hours.
At about the 40 minute mark, I had a smell, and while it was good it needed...something...sweet? I threw in a good slug of orange flower balsamic vinegar. I love this vinegar - more please if you're heading to tassie! It seemed to be a good idea.
About 30 minutes before I wanted to eat it I threw in a large cup of 'french' lentils. I need to remember that while it takes about 30 minutes to cook a cup of lentils on the stove, it takes a little longer in the oven, and they suck liquid like a bastard. So next time, the lentils go in about 45 minutes before the eating, maybe even an hour, and a splash more liquid.
Fz stripped the carcass and stirred the meat back into the lentils. Cunning way to make the meat accessible to all. Could be left in the juices for a while too, to soften up some more.

It was tasty. Not pork, not duck, not chicken...but very enjoyable. The last bunny I ate was well musky, and I didn't like it. This is only my second tasting attempt. I'm not sure I'll make it a thing, but it could be a fun party trick. The bunny cost $14, and the whole meal was about 20 bucks, and would have fed 6 people happily. I have 2 small serves left now in the freezer, and with either bread or potato we will have a tasty second dinner sometime.
I served it with steamed potatoes and a salad of bitey rocket and tomatoes, with a tiny drizzle of orange balsamic. And a bottle of Italian red.

I plan to pull this new knowledge out for Festy Feast, with added porks and lentils to feed the masses.

Onion Jam

2010-02-21T01:59:00.001-08:00

Basic premise

1 brown onion
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Cook everything together.

What I actually did was 4 times the above quantities with 1/2 clove of garlic and about a punnet of home grown cherry tomatoes.

It's completely yummy on toast with a slice of cheese. I just need to cut the onion up a little more next batch.

Epic BBQ vs Summer Heat

2010-01-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

I so wasn't in the mood for making something hot, or meaty. And I'm glad I didn't - there was so much meat already. So I made mojito iceblocks, in little plastic shot glasses. There was 58 of them, and they kept us cool and minty! And I made sure I followed a recipe, 'cause then I knew that the alcohol amount would be enough to ensure freezing.
Win!
I'm interested in some of the other recipes, if they're available - jerk marinade, for starters!

General Bottling

2010-01-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

*queue Hey Hey It's Saturday cheesy memories*

Hello! General Bottling here!

Okay, enough of that.

Over at BT's we've been talking about bottling stuff, and I though I'd copy down my notes on bottling stuff, the basic methods you can apply to anything you want to bottle, like jams, sauces, pickles, stewed fruit etc. I still find it disconcerting that it's called canning on the US. Bottles, people. Bottles.

In general, to bottle something:

1) the liquid must be boiling hot. If you've let something cool down, bring it back up to a boil for a few minutes.

2) the jars and lids must also be hot, to avoid explodifications. Hot liquid + cool jar can sometimes = bang. You can be mildly cheaty and do this straight out of the dishwasher. Or if they're already clean, microwave them (except the lids, put them in a bowl of boiling water). I tend to stick jars and lids on a tray in the oven on about 100C until you say OUCH when you touch them.

3) put your hot bottles onto a teatowel on the kitchen bench to help avoid other explodifications. Hot bottle + hard or cool surface may = bang.

4) leave about 1 - 1.5 cm for expanding/contracting at the top. Where the bottle becomes the neck is often a good guide.

5) ideally, wait until the liquid is no longer steaming, then put lids on. Too hot can mean too much condensation. If it's too cool, you may not get a good seal.

6) once filled, you can do one of three things:

A: Seal lids about quarter turn too loose (ie, not completely tight) and boil in a saucepan of water, making sure the water doesn't come right up to the neck. The boiling expands the bottle, causing a tight seal. You still need to check this seal and make sure it's tight. It usually is.

B: Seal lids completely (as tightly as you can by hand) and turn upside down to cool. Turning upside down helps to create a vacuum against the lid as it cools, thus making the seal tight.

C: Be a slack tart and just seal tightly. I like to think this isn't completely slack, because if I turn jam upside down it would set like that and then be messy-looking when I turn it back upright. I do it for sloppy things though.

7) Rest the bottles on a teatowel until room temperature (see explodifications, bottles thereof).

8) In theory, pop-tops should pop down. If they haven't, and they pop down when you press them, it's worked. I usually have a few which go SNAP and it's very satisfying ;-) If they don't, it's still probably worked but you might like to store them in the fridge just in case. So far I haven't had any problems.

9) I've used some jars with plastic screw lids (like the Vegemite jars) for things that either aren't going to be kept for very long, or are going to be kept in the fridge. So far, so good.

Got any other tips to add?

Note: As exciting as it sounds, I haven't had any exploderating bottles experiences, nor do I want to. I'll leave that to Dr Nik to explore ;-)

Sweet Tomato Chutney

2010-01-10T01:13:00.000-08:00

8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
5 inch piece of ginger, roughly chopped
2x400g tins chopped tomatoes, or 800g peeled fresh
300 clear vinegar
350gm jaggery or brown sugar
2 tablespoons sultanas
2 teasp salt
3/4 teasp cayenne pepper
chili powder (optional)

Combine garlic, ginger and half the toms in a blender and blend till smooth.
Put the rest of the tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, sultanas and salt in a large, heavy-based saucepan. Bring to the boil and and add the garlic and ginger mixture. Reduce heat and simmer gently for 90-120 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thick enough to tall off a spoon in sheets. Make sure the mixture doesn't catch / burn.
Add the cayenne. For a hotter chutney, add the chili. Leave to cool, then pour into steralized jars. Store in a cool place, or in the fridge.
Makes 2 cups.

I find that the cayenne is enough to give this quite a nice warmness, without being evil. I always add a little more garlic, of course. And I was mad enough to take the skins off the cherry tomatoes before I made it, and I think it was worth it.

From The Food Of The World

Productive!

2010-01-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

Today, I've turned 2.5 kilos of cherries into jam, using this recipe. I'm yet to see if it will set - I think it will. I cooked it for far longer than recommended, convinced it wouldn't set each time I was ready with jars...I'm a jam beginner. On the dream wish gift list now? A thermometer!

This cooking frenzy was brought on by a buying frenzy yesterday at the markets. We picked up a box of toms for 5 bucks, and the 5 kilos of cherries was 6. Sadly, I might have got most of the 5k out of the box if I'd done this yesterday. The compost is happy and dripping red.

There's about 800gms of cherries left. I might make muffins. Or jelly - I'm keen to try that out, now that I know about gelatin. And I'm not scared of hand-pitting the last of them. Not now.

Two kilos of toms became roasted tomato puree, using this recipe. I'll slip that into some freezer bags soon. It tastes good - better than the old eye-tie/aussie boil up. I might finish the rest of the box that way. Most of it will be a donation to Pasta Night.

Also got a fist full of basil from the markets for a buck. That's become pesto for Pasta Night, using pine nuts, brazil nuts and almonds that got a quick and dirty dry roast beforehand - so dirty, in fact, that I burnt a few. Pesto still tastes grand though!

What did you cook this Sunday?

Christmas Cooking

2009-12-24T17:07:00.000-08:00

It is the season to eat until you explode!!!! and the need to spend days sitting infront of the boiling oven in 33C heat preparing.

We love it. and dam you freaky "White Christmas" Euro/Americanos

So...to the cooking

Zucchini Pickle

This was Liams discovery while he was sitting around being a French housewife and I was the bread winner before we left on the Euro tour. We survived on this for a couple of months while living as hobos. In the end it was so good we were rationing so we didnt run out.

1.0 kg zucchini
4 onions
2 apples
Apple cider vinegar
500g sugar
Salt
1 tblsp Tumeric
2 tsp Curry powder
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tblsp Brown mustard seeds

Dice the zucchini, onions, apples into 5mm pieces (+- 1mm ...yes im an engineer).

Add about 100ml of water and boil them until they are soft.

Add 400ml apple cider vinegar (important here to adjust to taste, ive killed too many things by just following the recipe), sugar, 1 tablespoon salt, tumeric, curry powder, cayenne pepper and mustard seeds.

Boil for 25-30 minutes and thicken with 1 tablespoon cornflour and a little vinegar (make them into a paste) and boil for another five minutes.

Pizza Tartiflet

This is a classic Marseillais pizza. using creme freche instead of a tomato base. For the fully classic marseille experience its cooked in a woodfired pizza oven in the back of a truck (yep, smoke stack out the roof and everything). This was our little christmas eve dinner.

1 Pizza base
1 onion
2 large potatoes steamed and sliced
200g of bacon pieces
a small can of mushrooms (or fresh)
Roblochon
2 soup spoons of creme fraiche
parsley
salt, pepper

Fry the bacon pieces, after a couple of minutes add the onions and mushrooms. Fry for a bit, add the parsley and salt and pepper

Butter the base with crème fraîche. Lots of Creme fraiche. Put on the potato slices followed by cheese and cook at 180C.

Shredded Pork Stew

2009-12-15T15:09:00.001-08:00

So I know that a lot of the folks who read this blog are in Australia, and Australians don't on the whole eat a lot of pork (just try to get decent lamb in this country though - it probably came from NZ) but I thought I'd pass this along.

True Mexican cooking - as opposed to Tex-Mex, which I also like and which is most of what you get in anything called a Mexican restaurant - involves a lot of rich stews and/or stewlike substances stuffed into other things. And often, for whatever reason, their stews involve the meat being shredded, instead of cubed. I like the texture this leads to, and it also helps get those yummy sauces spread around a bit. So when Coz brought home a slow-cooking "crock pot" the other day, I thought I'd try to make a shredded pork stew, though the shredding technique should work equally well with any meat in just about anything stew-like. I started from some recipe I found online and as usual ended up tweaking things fairly severely, but the first version last week went something like this:

~1 lb. beans (I think they were pintos) soaked overnight with a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a couple of dried chilies. Cooked in the slow-cooker for about 6 hours, then drained.

~1 lb. pork loin boiled for about an hour with a couple of bay leaves and some more crushed garlic. Skimmed the fat off the top and drained, reserving the liquid for later. Left to cool (pour cold water over it, or leave the whole pot out in the snow for a bit :) Then you literally shred it with your fingers; work the stringy fibers of the meat apart, but try not to break them too much.

~1 lb. of Italian sausage, skinned (recipe calls for chorizo, but we didn't have any.)
Saute in a big pan (I like our tall-sided paella pan for the job, as its harder to spill things out of, but a big frying pan or wok should work) until it starts to brown. Remove the sausage, but don't clean the pan.

1 large onion, sliced.
5-6 cloves of garlic, chopped.
8-9 baby potatoes, quartered.
Sautee in the juices in the same pan until the potatoes start to brown. Re-add the sausage, the shredded pork, some salt, and some baby carrots, and cook for another few minutes.

Transfer to your stewpot, and de-glaze the frypan with some red wine; pour that in too. Add your beans, some oregano, and some more chili - I used a couple of tablespoons of smoky chipotles in adobo, pureed, which are the bestest chilies ever. Added about a cup of the liquid reserved from the pork, and the rest of about a cup of red wine (what I didn't use for deglazing.) And the juice of a decent-sized lime. And 2 cans of diced tomatoes (fire-roasted; my favorites.) Oh, and some bacon left over from breakfast. Stewed this for absolutely _ages_ in the slow-cooker, but a couple of hours on a low simmer on the stove would probably do it. Served it over rice with sour cream. Yum!

Todays version of same has no beans in it, nor sausage, but a huge amount of shredded pork (whole pork shoulders are cheap to begin with AND they were on sale for half-price. I used half of what I got off the shoulder, and this stew is going to be twice as big as the last batch.) Gave in to temptation and just used a whole head of garlic this time. Put the carrots in early with the potatoes so they get that almost-burnt carmelly flavour that carrots do. Added cubed eggplant and sliced capsicums when the veggies were about half-done. Used about the same amount of chipotles - for the double batch - and added a bunch of fire-roasted milder Hatch chilies. Twice as much tomatoes. Half again the red wine. A bit of ground cumin. I'm a little worried that dropping the sausage and pre-boiling the meat will mean there isn't enough fat in it (Hey! Fat is good!), but its a stew; it can't exactly dry out on me. Smells good anyways - I'll let you know.

Tomotoes

2009-11-22T11:55:00.000-08:00

I have a billion baby toms. I'm open to suggestions - what the hell am I going to do with them all?

So far, it's been:
Bruchetta
Salsa (really good! will post my ideas here later)
Pasta sauce (handy serves in freezer)
Salads

Last year I made chutney. But we didn't eat it all. Though a jar of chutney could be a good christmas pressie for mum.
Yesterday, I should have left some sliced toms out there, and harnessed the power of the blazing heat and sun to dry them. Oh well. Live and learn.
I've been taking them to work too, and feeding my colleagues tasty home made toms from the fridge.

Any other ideas?

2009-11-15T02:28:00.001-08:00

Hi Kim!

Nuts!

2009-11-01T02:51:00.000-08:00

Tried my own muesli bars today. In fact, they're still in the oven. I hope I remember to take a photo!
So, the doc and I are still searching for an answer to my lack of B12. But she's circling around coeliac, so I thought I might test out a gluten-free diet for 2 weeks, and see what happens. If it's a reality, then I guess I'd better get use to it anyway. Gawd. I'd always hoped I'd never be one of the high-maintenance guests at parties.

So, I was always going to make muesli bars. But now I can't make them with oats. So I made peanuts the base.

400gm peanuts
100gm almond slivers
165gm 'seed mix' (papitas and sunflowers)
100gm sesame seeds
150gm cashews

Roasted at 160 in oven for 20 minutes.
The peanuts had their skins on, so after the 20 mins I played with them until I'd got most off.

The glue roughly follows Moni's recipe - 2 big dessert spoonfuls of peanut butter, honey and brown sugar. I could have done with a tiny bit more glue, I think. Of, and a pinch of salt.
I mixed it all up, and pasted it into the lamington tray. Important to keep the glue warm, otherwise it's really hard to mix. Spose if the nuts had still been hot, that would be a different story!
Threw it all in the oven, and left it for 10 minutes.
Then put baking paper over it, and gave it a damn good pressing! With a tea towel to avoid the heat.
Back in the oven for 15.
Out to take of the paper. I'm glad I did this - pulling the cooled stuck nuts off the paper for nibbles didn't work - they were stuck. It was really easy to pull it off when hot.
Back intot he oven for 5 to dry out a little more.
It's cooling now, and here's a picture of it! I hope it's tasty!

LATER: They were well tasty. A little heavy on the sesame, but great nonetheless. Mores soon!

Leeky joy

2009-11-01T02:49:00.001-08:00

I grew leeks!
I've been waiting for them to get big enough to eat...I mean, I knew they were growing on down under the ground, where I couldn't see, but, you know, it was my first time...
I turned them into potato and leek soup. First time for that too. I read a few recepies, hated them all, and made one up. Here's a ruff redaction:

butter and oil
2 huge leeks, and 2 tiny ones, chopped
garlic
many potatoes. I think they were dutch creams
vegeta stock - in cold water, and enough to cover the mix
teaspoon of cumin
salt and pepper
huge splosh of cream

Saute leeks and garlic in butter and oil. Add potatoes. Add stock. Boil and simmer until potatoes are tender. Remove and keep some liquid, just in case. Blend. Splosh in cream, bring back to heat. We ate it with parsley and chorizo garnish. And more pepper.

Was well tasty. Horray for tasty home grown leeks!

ASIDE: I also found potatoes in my garden. tiny, baby, shouldn't be allowed away from their mother kinda size. So I boiled their bottoms off, and ate them today for lunch, with a boiled egg (home made), parsley, alfalfa and mayo. Woot!

I've been busy!

2009-10-26T01:43:00.000-07:00

I've been making potato and leek soup, and muesli bars, over at my blog.

Smoky Puttanesca

2009-10-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

Saving this for re-use, sharing... and also asking for more puttanesca recipes, or ideas for things to try with this one; it was good, but not quite what I was going for.

Sauteed for ~3 mins:

6 cloves of garlic diced (well all right; 12. But they were tiny little things and hardly counted for half.)
Half a large Spanish onion, diced.
1 tin smoked sardines. (no anchovies :( )
1 chipotle in adobo, diced, and a bit of the adobo sauce from the tin.

Added, then simmered for ~20 minutes:
1 small tin of tomato paste + 3 tins of water.
1 medium tin of chopped fire-roasted tomatoes.
about a glass of red wine.
about a tablespoon of smoked paprika.
20 black olives, chopped.
3 tablespoons of capers.

Those chipotles are hell-on-wheels, but I think it needed a bit more hot. Liked the various smoky flavours running through it. The rough source baseline recipe called for crushed tomatoes rather than paste and water, but you work with what you've got...

Potato and Olive Salad

2009-09-23T22:19:00.000-07:00

Kim asked for this Morrocain recipe from Claudia Rodin,

500g of new potatos (not old apparently)
3 tlb olive oil
Juice 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp paprica
1/2 tsp cumin
pinch chilli power
salt
bunch of parsley
1/2 spanish onion - chopped
12 olives

Peel and boil the potatos in salted water until tender. Drain and cut into 0.5 or 0.25 fractions. If the mean potato size < 2.5cm then scission is not necessary. In a salad bowl, add oil, lemon juice, paprika, cummin, chilli pepper and salt. While still warm add the potatos and parsley and onion and olives and agitate gently.

Roman Salted Cod stuff

2009-09-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

I ate something like this in Rome when I was there. It was amazing but I could never find the recipe back. Google fails because it always wants plums to be plum tomatos. Stupid googel. Anyway girl is bringing back Baccalao from itally for me. This will be cooked next week I think

Salt Cod with Prunes

Prepared Salt Cod
Onion
Celery
Dried Prunes
Pine Nuts
Dried Bread

Thinly chop the onion and the celery, including the leaves. Heat the oil in a skillet, add the onion and celery and sauté quickly. Add the soaked salt cod fillets, the dried prunes and the pine nuts. Let simmer until the oil begins to emulsify, taking care not to stir too often so as not to break up the fillets. (If necessary, add water. The final result should be very liquid.) Adjust for taste and serve over 2-day old, toasted bread slices.

Spicy Plum Sauce

2009-09-09T00:34:00.000-07:00

of course! der Speedy!

having been given some of BT's flukey plum largesse it's experiment time for me too.

so to the Googlemobile and instant success. this not being Baking (and therefore Science) I've done what I wanted to one of St Stephanie's recipes. hers is here. cracking stones etc is not for me, I couldn't find the muslin, and I only used 1 kg of plums instead of 1.5kg (saving the rest for something else), so this is my version -

Ingredients:

1 kg plums
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/4 cups red wine
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp mixed spice
1 1/2 tsp seeded mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chilli
1 tsp salt (actually, I forgot about this)
1 Tbsp ginger
1 Tbsp garlic

Method:

score the plums into segments. if the flesh comes off easily, well, hooray, otherwise bung them stones and all into a medium saucepan (like I did).
put everything else into the pan.
bring to the boil and stir well.
turn down to a medium simmer and cook until plums collapse, stirring occasionally. this turned out to be over an hour rather than the 20 mins in the recipe. even then, they still had a lot of structure. cooking for an hour doesn't do any harm anyway, and dear god, it smelled fantastic. I stopped once the liquid started to reduce and become syrupy.
strain liquid into a bowl then tip it back in the pan.
pick out all the cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon stick and stones. yes, okay, the muslin would have been handy.
dump the fruit back into the pan.
whizz with your stick blender. you'll find out if you left a stone in there!
bring back to the boil and continue to cook till it's as thick as you like. remember this doesn't have to become thick like jam, it's a sauce.
spoon/pour/funnel into hot, clean jars.
seal tightly once the steam has stopped rising from the jars. but don't just walk away from them and come back later - they've got to still be very hot.
leave for a week before using. in theory. not sure if I can follow that instruction.

the resulting sauce is thick, gloopy, dark, deep, mysterious and spicy. I can't wait to try this with some good meat, or it will probably go really well with a sharp cheddar too. YUM.

Epic fail!

2009-09-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

The jam doesn't seem to have worked. Way too runny, Don't know why. Perhaps I should have let it boil a little longer? I know I added too much vanilla essence (didn't have a pod).
I wonder if it would taste OK with ice cream?

I don't eat ice cream.
Maybe on muesli!

Kitchen adventures

2009-09-05T04:06:00.001-07:00

Went to the market, where we found 6 boxes of unwanted plums. They were ok - a bit past it, not sellable, sure, but I've eaten worst things from my fridge. There were three of us, so we got two each.
So I built some jars of plum and apple jam, from here. I'm yet to see if they will set, or even taste good. But the sticky horrid pink jelly I had to peel off the bench fills me with confidence. They will be cold and set by morning.
I also have plans to dry some of them. But I ate one raw, and they're not flavoursome. They might not be tasty dry.
Chutney might get a look in, too.
I had to get rid of some apples, too. I just didn't eat them fast enough. Though I'd have given a medal to any who could have eaten a whole box by themeselves. So the jam was good for about 7 apples, but this apple cake took about 12 more out of the box. I think I'm down to 2 or 3 now.
Sadly, the cake turned out very, very moist...like warm delicious batter. Good crunchy around the outside though. The problem was probably the tin. My tall round tin made everything too dense. Thin and flat, like they suggest, would be great...But I don't think I have one like that.
I also made port-you-geese chicken from this site again, without too much chili so that I could share it. It's not as much fun when it's not burny. But it is still a good chicken.
The pumpkin that was slowly turning to mush on the bench became spiced baked orange for the cous salad, that went beautifully with the chicken. So of course, after all this, I had to have someone over to eat it all! And get rid of some plums!

So, got any good plum chutney recipes?

(stolen somewhat from my blog)

terribly good fool-proof* chocolate brownies

2009-08-31T03:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not bad at baking if I do say so myself, but brownies have always eluded me. they usually turn out too cakey. I love cake, but cake isn't brownie. so this recipe makes me feel happy and clever. and heavier. sigh.

a lady from a book-making class I went to a while back gave it to me. we took turns making morning tea, and this was her contribution. she must be very devoted to it - when I asked for the recipe, she wrote it straight down on a scrap of paper without having to think.

this works beautifully with the Basco all-purpose gluten free flour as well. dangerously scoffable especially when you cut it into little squares. wafer-thin, don't you know?

Ingredients:

125g butter
125g dark chocolate
1 cup almost-but-not-quite firmly packed brown sugar (the darker the better)
1/3 cup cocoa
1/3 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 eggs

Method:

as with all baking, it's best if ingredients are at room temperature
preheat oven to 180C, if you're lucky enough to have an accuate oven
grease and line a small pan about umm... a bit smaller than A4-sized and about 3-4 cm deep. that's what I use and it's just right. I'm crap at measuring pans, which is naughty, because for baking you should try and use the same dimensions as described in the recipe. except she didn't tell me
melt butter, chocolate and brown sugar together in a medium bowl - about 40-50% power in a microwave, minute at a time and stir in between
sift cocoa, flour and baking powder together into a larger bowl. yes, you lazy bugger. sift. it does make a difference, especially with the cocoa
add the butter/choccie/sugar mix to the dry ingredients and combine
lightly beat the eggs (just to combine them). I use the bowl that's just had the wet ingredients in, because it saves washing up another...
mix the eggs in - fold and stir rather than beat. no need to beat
pour into the pan
bake for approx 35-40 minutes. test by skewer or wait until the brownie has risen in the centre (it won't rise much) and has slightly cracked open
cool a little in the tin then turn out and cool completely

I have to add, resist the urge to slice it when it's still warm, because a) it's much more crumbly and just gets messy, and b) much as I'm a fan of scoffing straight out of the oven, this is SO much nicer after a few hours, or even the next day. the moisture content rises and it becomes perfectly brownie-like, but when it's still warm it's drier and cakier. so a bit of patience pays off. and it is brilliant straight from the freezer. unfortunately.

*no guarantees

Pork with Red Wine Poached Pears

2009-08-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

I made a thing.

It started with some pork chops. I like applesauce with my pork chops, and we didn't have any, so I thought I'd do something else fruity with them. Pork and fruit seems to work pretty well. So I dug around the cookbooks in the kitchen and found a recipe for Prune and Sage Pork Chops.

But I didn't have any prunes. Or any sage. Or, in the end, any white wine, thyme, shallots, chicken stock, or parsley... or effectively _any_ of the ingredients for the recipe. (Time for a shop.) So I faked it, stealing a few ideas from the original, and got:

~3/4 cup red wine (a Merlot)
the juice from a tin of tinned pear halves
salt and pepper
~1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
"some" chipotle pepper sauce, to taste (more than you think - the sweet of the rest drowns out the chili.)

Brought to a simmer in a small pot, removed from heat, added the pear halves, covered and let sit. Seasoned the pork chops and seared on both sides in a pan, then removed to a tray in the oven until just done, then removed to rest. Put a nob of butter in the chop pan with some salt and pepper and about 1/4 cup diced onions. Sauteed for a couple of minutes, then added 1 tablespoon of flour and sauteed for another minute. Stirred in the pears and the pear liquid and simmered for ~4 minutes, until thickened somewhat. Added the juice of 1/2 a lemon (one of the sweeter Meyer ones, from my grandmother's garden) and removed from the heat. Poured the sauce over the chops and served with boiled baby taters and broccoli.

Really rather nice. I would not do this without the chipotle - or at least some form of chili - and lemon juice; it would be too sweet. Could have used a bit more rosemary (or possibly some of the sage I didn't have.)

Figured I'd best write it down; there is no way I'm coming up with the same thing from the same starting point a second time...

Cajun Arse-periment

2009-08-06T02:24:00.000-07:00

half a chicken breast, big chunks
a chorizo, sliced thin
some bacon, cubed (I had some 'cut your own' left over)
one onion, diced
garlic (you do the maths)
'cajun' spice (stole ideas from here, then added more paprika, and lots of smoky paprika, and didn't bother with their amounts except as a ratio guideline)
carrot, diced
a can of white beans
a can of tomatoes
green beans, in little pieces
crapsicum slices

In a casserole, brown them all in olive oil. Let them rest on paper (that's gotta be healthy, right?).
I burned the bottom of the pot, so I glazed with water to clean it up before the onions. The water went a great colour, so I kept it as stock.
Brown onion, garlic. Add spices, stir. Throw in tomatoes to stop the burning happening, mix, add meat, carrots and the magic water. Let it all warm up again.
When it's simmering, turn it to a low heat, add beans, put lid on, leave it for 10.
Take the lid off, let it reduce for 20.
Add the geen beans, stir through, allow to heat. Either add the crapsicum to the pot to warm them, or use as garnish. I like my crapsicum crunchy.
Serve on rice.

Totally tasty. The smoky paprika was a great addition. I also added some chopped fresh toms that needed eating, but I don't think it made a major taste difference. The amount of water from the glaze was small, about 3 tablespoons. I feel that it could have reduced a little longer - it was a bit wet. Then again, I might have been dreaming of paela, and not getting paela!
The beans had disappeared by the time we ate it. I think I'd put them in after the 10 min simmer next time.
I might add sweet potato next time too.

Arse-periment with Pumpkin

2009-07-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

Step one: Get a whole pumpkin
Step two: Put it in the oven.
Step three: Eat tasty soups.

Well, kinda.

I read a cool recipe like this in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a few months back, and wanted to try it out. But I hadn't remembered it, so I made it up.

I sauteed leek and garlic in olive oil, with thyme, rosemary and bay leaves. While this cooked, I took the top off the little pumpkin (would have been less than 2k, just) and removed the seeds. There wasn't much room in there, so I scraped out some of the flesh and threw it in with the leeks. I added chicken stock to the leeks too, and warmed it. And there was a spare potato lying around, so that was thinly sliced and tossed in too.
I poured the stock mix into the shell, put the pumpkin on a tray, and put it in the oven for about 2 hours. It held up very nicely. Oozed a fair bit of sugar, which went black and sticky. I stirred it a fair bit. The liquid was never boiling, but was always warm. The flesh began to soften enough to scoop into the soup after about an hour.
The resulting soup was lumpy, sure, but quite tasty. I didn't feel like blending it. I threw some roughly chopped rocket over it for token green (and I have an absolute surfeit of paving rocket at the moment). It was nice with bread and butter.

I came back to the left overs about an hour later. The skin peeled back from the remaining flesh very easily. I sliced it into wedges, and scooped it into containers. I now have lots of tasty roast pumpkin flesh, and no idea what to do with it!

The original recipe is here, and I think I'd like to try this way next time. Sounds like a tasty soup too.

Waking up next to St. Stephany

2009-07-05T03:18:00.000-07:00

Slavic blogfollow this Rob (I think the time difference works for you

Poached Eggs with yoghurt and garlic sauce

4 eggs
2 tbl butter
2 tbl parsley
pepper
3 cloves of garlic
pinch of salt
2 tbl chives
500g yoghurt

Pound garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle, mix with yoghurt and chopped chives.

Poach the eggs and drain on kitchen paper

Melt the butter and fry the parsley briefly in a frypan, pour over eggs and serve immediately.

Man its the ONLY way to wake up on sunday afternoon

Morrocan student food - Kefta Mkaouara

2009-07-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

Holly crap, I turn my back and all of a sudden there are MILLIONS of activity on my old dead blog...WTF

Anyway, its awesome. I just did my first dinner here (my friends are all drinkers and lovers not eaters and fighters). Cooked morocain, and im looking forward to cooking more for people here. Man I miss it.

Anyway, this is something that was described to me sitting on the floor of a carpet shop in Morocco as what he used to cook when he was a poor student. In the end I managed to have it for lunch on the side of a oasis in the desert watching arab kids jump from the palm trees into the pool.

Enjoy

Moroccan Meatball Tagine called Kefta Mkaouara or Kefta Mkawra. Well-seasoned meatballs are cooked in a spicy tomato sauce. Eggs are an optional but classic addition to the dish.

Ingredients:

----- For the Kefta Meatballs -----

1 lb. (about 1/2 kg) ground beef or lamb (or a combination of the two)
1 medium onion, chopped very fine
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika (or 1/8 teaspoon ground hot pepper)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

----- For the Tomato Sauce -----

2 lbs. (about 1 kg) fresh, ripe tomatoes
1 medium onion, very finely chopped (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika or 1/4 teaspoon ground hot pepper
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/3 cup olive oil
---------------------------------
3 or 4 eggs (optional)

Start Cooking the Tomato Sauce

Peel, seed and chop the tomatoes OR cut the tomatoes in half, seed them and grate them.

Mix the tomatoes, onions (if using) and the rest of the sauce ingredients in the base of a tagine or in a large, deep skillet. Cover, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. (Note: If using a tagine, place a diffuser between the tagine and burner, and allow 10 to 15 minutes for the tomato sauce to reach a simmer.)

Once simmering, reduce the heat to medium-low, just enough heat to maintain the simmer but low enough to avoid scorching. Allow the sauce to cook for 15 to 20 minutes before adding the meatballs.

Make the Kefta Meatballs

Combine all of the kefta ingredients, using your hands to knead in the spices and herbs. Shape the kefta mixture into very small meatballs the size of large cherries – about 3/4 inch in diameter.

Add the meatballs to the tomato sauce, along with a little water – 1/4 cup (60 ml) is usually sufficient – and cover. Cook for about 40 minutes, or until the sauce is thick.

Break the eggs over the top of the meatballs, and cover. Cook for an additional 7 to 10 minutes, until the egg whites are solid and the yolks are partially set. Serve immediately.

Kefta Mkaouara is traditionally served from the same dish in which it was prepared, with each person using crusty Moroccan bread for scooping up the meatballs from his own side of the dish.

Hock it up, baby

2009-06-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

I bought a hock, for soups. I'm doing some research. Here's some stuff I found.

Ulitimately, I want a soup I can freeze for lunches, and fill with veg, and hopefully barley.
But this crazy hungarian one looks good.

**************************

Dried Bean Soup with Smoked Pork Hock - Bableve Recipe

Ingredients for 6 servings

- 145 g (5 oz.) White Bean or White Kidney Bean

- 1 smoked Pork hock, about 750 g (1 lb. 8 oz.)

- 200 g (7 oz.) turnip

- 100 g (3 1/2 oz.) carrot

- 1 tbsp. oil

- 2 tbsp. flour

- 1 clove of garlic

- 1/2 tsp. paprika

- Salt

- Sour cream

Method

Soak the beans overnight.
Place the pork hock in a soup pot; cover with water and boil for 15 minutes. If the broth is too salty, add more water.
Continue cooking until the pork is almost tender; add the beans.
When the beans are almost cooked, add the other vegetables, cut into pieces.
Once the hock is cooked, remove it; bone it, chop the meat and return it to the pot.
Make a roux: brown the flour in the oil until nicely colored; add the garlic and heat for a few seconds. Remove from the heat; sprinkle with paprika; add 250 ml (1 cup) cold water; mix well and add to the pot.
Bring to a boil; continue cooking over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Jó étvágyat ! (Bon appétit !)

***********************************************

This one looks so very convoluted, I'm not even going to put the recipe here. Just the URL.

Some good ideas from a forum of peeps here.

And this one looks delicious, but I can see that when you do it properly, like take the 2 days, it would taste fabulous. I just don't have the time.

I think I'm going to boil the hock, add the barely, and then add some veg. That sounds exciting enough for me today. Should I put the onions and garlic, herbs in when the barley goes in?

What would you do with your very own smoked pork hock?

St. Stephanie's Chilli Con Carne, as promised

2009-06-02T23:46:00.000-07:00

In case you don't have the Orange Bible.

500gms dried beans (borlotti, red kidney, what ever - but I'm too lazy - I use 2 cans)
1kg chuck steak, cut in 2cm cubes
2 bay leaves
2 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped (yeah right - pack it in!)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1kg tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped (screw that - canned is fine. Still working out the amount though...2 cans seems ok)
1 1/2 teaspoons freashly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (go easy - it gets hot quick)
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons polenta

Soak beans over night, then drain and rinse. Put beans into an enamelled cast-iron casserole with meat, bay leaves, onion and garlic, and barely cover with cold water. Bring to a simmer and cook until beans are just tender (about 1 1/2 hours).
(Because I use canned, and they're already soft, I cook the meat like this for about an hour, and then tip the beans in for another 20 minutes or so. Works ok. But of course, soaked beans taste better).
Preheat oven to 180. Heat oil in a large frying pan or cast-iron casserole. Stir in tomato, seasonings, and polenta. Simmer for 10 minutes until tomato has collapsed. Tip sauce over meat and beans, stir will, then check and adjust seasonings. Transfer pot to oven and cook for one hour. Serve it as it is - chilli con carne is a complete meal in its own right.

She's right, too, with all that polenta in there.

Tips:
I added extra polenta once. Don't. The water gets sucked into it, and the consistency is all wrong. Like clag glue.
I go a little bit overboard on the spices, but do be careful, the cayenne is deadly.
I cook it in the oven with the lid off - it turns nice and gloopy then.
This freezes and reheats beautifully. And the meat is always soooooo soft.
Makes for great hiking dinner - reheats the body, and lots of good GIs.

Arse-speriment

2009-06-01T02:47:00.001-07:00

Take a whole smoked chicken, bought from the markets purely for its novelty value.

Then come up with a plan of what to do with it.

AHHA!
Remove some of its meat. Chop roughly. Fry in butter and olive oil, cracked pepper, half a lemon (squeezed, then quartered again and pieces chucked in the pan), thyme and rosemary.
Move to a plate, deglaze pan with wine and a bit more lemon juice. Reduce until doesn't smell alcoholic. Keep juices.
Saute leek and garlic. Add risotto, mix. Add the wine juice, allow to be soaked up by rice. Slowly add vegeta stock until rice is cooked, like usual.
Add frozen peas, mix through, 4 minutes.
Add chicken, mix through, allow to reheat.
Warmed crusty bread, butter, pepper and white wine. Tau and Tittle's chardy is nice. But a Riesling would be better.

Phwar.

P.S. Arse-speriment: an experiment that could go arse up. You don't know until you try.

Experiment

2009-05-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

I've recently discovered gnocchi. It's more exciting than pasta, and can live in the freezer for emergencies. But I need ideas of what to put on it.
The first time round, I think we just had parsley/rocket/basil chopped finely, parmesan cheese and a drizzle of oil. I do remember it being tasty.

Tonight, I thought I'd make a sauce.
I've thrown half an onion (I had it lying around) and some garlic in a pan. Let them saute. Thrown in a chorizo, thinly sliced (everything's thinly sliced) and movd it around a fair bit, until some of the fat is leaving the sausage. I've tipped a can of diced toms and half my glass of red in it. There's also a big bay leaf and a spring of thyme. And cracked pepper.
I thought I'd let it simmer until the tomato has collapsed, and it's thicker.

I'll let you know if it works.

EDIT:
It were well tasty!
In the last 10 minutes or so I cooked it on high with the lid off, to help it turn into a sticky mess. Added a bit of gnocchi water when it got too dry, and that was great - the floury water helped to sauce it up good.
Served it with lots of parsley (standard 'green' around my house) and parmesan cheese.

Watercress Soup

2009-05-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

More in the line of Nik's original post about this blog than my previous submission, this soup has a really yummy spicy flavour - which surprised me, because watercress had always sounded pretty dull to me. If you didn't have cress available, I think it would work a treat with a good spicy rocket.

As given to me:

3 bunches of watercress, top and bottom separated
3 whole, peeled Idaho potatoes
2 onions, rough chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1 inch of ginger
3 cups of vegetable stock or water
cooking oil
salt/pepper

Heat a cooking pot and add two tablespoons of cooking oil, and all of the ingredients except the watercress. Saute for two to three minutes, then add 2 cups of water / stock. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down to medium. Simmer until the potatoes are tender, turn the heat up and add the rest of the water / stock, add the bottom of the watercress, bring to boil. Let it cook for a few minutes, add the top of the watercress, and turn the heat off. Puree in small batches and serve with sour cream or creme fraiche.

My notes:
Why so many recipe have use broken engrish sentence? Bugs Rob (but I transcribed faithfully, rather than lose anything...)
Sautee the potatoes whole? I think not; I chopped them up in chunks first. I also didn't bother to peel them - its getting blended, after all, and the skins have good flavour and vitamins.
I added more garlic, on general principles.
Don't be shy with the salt/pepper, or the sour cream.

Roasted Capsicum Hummus

2009-05-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

The recipe as given to me:

2 cups of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight OR canned chickpeas, rinsed
2 roasted red capsicum, cleaned and deseeded
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 bunch of parsley
1 cup tahini
1 cup olive oil
salt/pepper

Cook the chickpeas, with a little salt, until soft. Drain, reserving some cooking liquid. In a food processor add the chickpeas, tahini, garlic, parsley, roasted capsicum, and puree until smooth. Add the oil in a slow but steady stream while its still running. Stop, scrape the sides, add some salt and pepper. Start the food processor and continue to add oil til the desired texture is achieved. Taste and correct the seasoning.

My notes:
I used a bit of lime juice on the suggestion of the guy who gave me the recipe, and more garlic on general principles.

Marinated feta

2009-05-19T03:27:00.000-07:00

BaggyT told me Nik was asking for a recipe. Here's what we do...

Get
a 2kg tub of feta (cut into 1cm cubes)
4 litres olive oil
a metric heap of garlic (seperated into cloves and peeled)
tiny red chillis
peppercorns
fresh rosemary

Stuff into bottles. Leave for a week or so before eating. Or longer. This makes about 6-8 large bottles of the stuff. You will probably want to start with smaller amounts.

There are tricks, like remembering to put some flavour agents into the jar before stuffing it full of feta, and making sure the oil covers everything so the top doesn't go mouldy.

You can also use thyme. And lemon zest (cut off lemon with potato peeler). Dried chilli can be used.

For me, the compulsory items are the cheese, oil, pepper and garlic (especially the garlic)... and maybe the chilli. All other flavourings are up to you and what you have in the cupboard at the time.

Once emptied of feta, the oil is packed full of flavour. You can stir through pasta or put on pizza. Or shove on crackers without the feta... The garlic goes all soft and sweet. Mmmm. I should get out the stuff we have in the fridge! (we are crap and forget to eat it these days)

Nik finds interwebfoodz

2009-05-18T04:31:00.001-07:00

Here is the portuguese chook recipe.
Wants more face-burning, from memory.

Braised sausages with puy lentils

2009-05-18T04:29:00.002-07:00

olive oil
100gms pancetta, cubed (I had bacon)
2 red onions, sliced thin
12 toulouse sausages (or great pork - i reckon these are little ones, not full-length, judging from the picture. I used fresh butcher's chorizo - made a good spicy meal)
Garlic, squashed (I used 3 big ones. The recipe says 2. I say go with what you love)
2 sprigs thyme
300mg puy lentils (I used "french" - black. still good)
750ml chicken consomme (I used chook stock)
150gm baby english spinach, chopped (I used parsley from the garden)
Crusty bread to serve

Heat oil in heavy-based fry pan. Brown pancetta over medium-high heat. Remove with slotted spoon.
Add onion, saute until soft or slightly browned. Add to pancetta.
Fry sausages in the same pan, until golden.
Return pancetta and onion to the pan, add garlic, thyme, and lentils and stir well. Pour in consumme and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 35 minutes, or until lentils are tender.
Stir in spinach and season to taste. Serve in bowls with crusty bread.

Man, this was GOOD! First time I've cooked lentils. I'd do it again, and again!

Beany stew

2009-05-18T04:29:00.001-07:00

A beany stew, based on what I had, wtih some pre-planning.

4 chicken marylands
rock salt, peppercorns, one clove garlic, thyme, lemon verbena (I had no lemons - otherwise I would have used rind. This worked really well).

Grind spices in coffee grinder thingy, cover chicken legs in mix, let sit.

1 chorizo
smoked pork neck
One onion
garlic
thyme
bay leaves
white beans, already soaked (it's what the packet says!)
2 carrots, diced
One apple, diced
white wine
vegeta stock

Heat olive oil. Brown chicken legs, set aside.
Chop chorizo and pork, brown, set aside.
Glaze pan with wine, reserve juices.
Cook onion, garlic, herbs till soft. Throw pork products back in. Add beans. Mix well. Add juices, enough stock to almost cover mix. Set chicken legs under the mix (try to get them completely covered - I almost did but they were very big legs!). Bring to boil, let simmer 30 minutes. Add carrots and apple and mix through.

I turned it off at this point - I knew it needed another 30 minutes or so in the oven, lid off, and we were more than 30 minutes away from dinner. I was also hoping that the fats would float to the surface, and help the top to brown when it got to the oven stage. They did a little, but I'd only left it for an hour. Not even enough to get it cool.
I had put too much water in - I ladled lots out, and this helped.

Remove lid, cover surface with breadcrumbs and pepper. Put in oven until top is browned, beans are done, or you are starving.
Serve with a liberal (fistful!) sprinkling of chopped parsley, and a cold white.

The carrots and apple cook very fast, so I try to leave them out for as long as possible, rather than let them become mush. The apple is an amazing sweet smush in your mouth, unexpected. It fits so nicely with the spicy chorizo.
If I'd had celery I would have added that too.
It was really delicious for dinner again tonight. Just threw the whole pot in the fridge overnight, and the whole pot back in the oven this evening. No fuss! Sweet!

Peruvian food

2008-01-17T12:33:00.000-08:00

Aji de Gallina

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_4231,00.html

I ate this in a little peruvian resteurant in Amsterdam, it was amazing, and quite simple. Its like a spiced curry/stew, mixed with carbonara. Ive tried this recipe, its not that great but its similar to what it should taste like. Ill find a better one once I have time

2007-12-03T01:37:00.000-08:00

Cooking Pad Thai,

Well, I cooked this for a friend here in France and it turned out pretty good. Except fish sauce stinks and you really do need a hot pan. When I cooked for them the pan was not that hot and the egg just tended to form a sticky mess at the bottom rather than nicely stirfrying.

Oh and the recipie is really amusing

Sticky pork

2007-10-15T01:19:00.000-07:00

This, is, the goods. Man oh man. So very sticky.
I like to serve it with angel hair noodles, and a cabbage salad lightly drizzled in sesame oil. Hot, cold and noodley, all mixed up on the same plate.

And good with that aussie wine, too.

K, I hungry now.

Wet rice good

2007-10-15T00:53:00.000-07:00

I really like making risotto. Sure, you spend most of your time standing there, stiring the fugger, but it's rewarding (notice that only losers say that kinda shit? huh.)

Ok, came across this tasty little recipe on the interwebz. I was a bit dubious - after all, the guy: looks like he'd be happier making risotto halfway up a mountain, even with the name Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (but hell, so would I!) but it also contains NO GARLIC!!!!!
That's how you can tell it's British.
But deep frying sage leaves? Friggin' inspired. They crumble so nicely as a garnish. Num. And add some deep fried prosciutto, and Bob's a close relative.
So, without further ado, here's a link.
My tips? I put in about as much garlic as I can stand. Which is about a head. And I add prosciutto, deep fried and chopped small, as garnish. The butter makes the whole thing amazing, and it doesn't need cheese.
Add white wine = tasty dinner.

I'm considering trying some more of the recipes on the BBC site, as this one works pretty well. After all, Clarissa Dickson-Wright features too.
I'll let you know.

Cous cous

2007-09-24T00:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a cheap-arse.
I like cous cous.
I want more recipes for fun and different cous cous.
Got any?

[edit: Nik]

You read my mind!

I had cooked this and it turned out really well, I was just too lazy to post it yet...it was sitting there waiting.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_27553,00.html

Alot of the tagine and Cous cous recipies I have seen are pretty bland on flavour, but this one is good and spicy.

Cous Cous served here is usually a liquild sauce similar to whats given here with various vegitables (eggplant, zuccini, etc and chick peas) that have had the hell boiled out of them. This is spooned over cous cous and meat of some kind cooked seperately and added (lamb, chicken, spicy Maguiez sausages, meatballs).

I have found there are 2 types of cous cous here, a sweeter variety with a warm cindamon flavour and a sharper spicy lemon variety. I prefer the lemon. Thus this recipie.

Chicken Tagine with Green Olives and Preserved Lemon
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon sweet or hot paprika
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon whole cloves
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for frying
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
1 handful fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 large pinch saffron
1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) free-range chicken, cut into 10 pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 preserved lemon, recipe follows
1/2 cup cracked green olives
1 cup chicken stock

Couscous with Apricots, recipe follows

In a skillet over medium heat, toast the cinnamon, peppercorns, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, and cloves until they start to smoke. Remove from the heat and grind in a spice grinder.

In a bowl large enough to accommodate the chicken, add the oil, spice mix, garlic, ginger, cilantro, bay leaves and saffron. Mix to a paste. Add chicken, rubbing the marinade over all the pieces. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and reserve marinade. Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. In a tagine or large casserole over medium high heat add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Put in chicken pieces and lightly brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until just starting to brown, about 3 minutes. Rinse preserved lemon well. Scoop out flesh and discard; cut peel into strips and add to pan. Add reserved marinade, olives, and chicken stock. Cover tightly and cook over medium low heat for 30 to 35 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove bay leaf and discard. Taste juices and adjust seasoning. Place chicken on a warm platter. Spoon juices with the preserved lemon, olives, and onions over chicken and serve accompanied by Couscous with Apricots.

Camp food roxor

2007-09-24T00:46:00.000-07:00

You changed the title before I could even post! Cheeky monkey!

I wanted to share my little camping gem with you. It's pretty simple, and I made it up, but it was very delicious.
We seem to have this habit of eating very well while camping. It's a great habit - not like smoking, what kills you dead.
A few weekends ago we made a bridge at the new Festy site, and stayed over. I had most of a lamb leg* in the freezer, and I chucked in some random ingredients to plan something palatable later.
The vauge procedure went like this:

Browned the meat (and random bits of meat/fat) in dutch oven, as well as I could as some of it was on the bone.
Tipped in lots of harissa, and cooked it a little further.
Threw in a sprinkle of spices I'd prepared earlier - a jar containing paprika, cumin, corriander and salt. Tossed it about some more.
A tin of tomatoes, a bit of water, and let the whole thing stew.
Towards the end of it, some chopped carrots, sweet potato and onion.
I have a plastic tub I bought honey in, that had dry couscous in it - I boiled some water and made couscous the easy way.
Then we ate it.

It was so good, I reheated the left overs for lunch the next day. There was even some couscous left.

I guess the real reason I was so chuffed that this worked out is based around the circumstances. It was raining for most of the cooking time, the wood was wet, it was dark (though head torches are great). But it was delicious, and a great meal after a day of hauling logs.

No, that's not a euphamism for anything.

*The 'most of a lamb leg' was because I had needed some diced lamb, and the butcher guys didn't have any left. So I hacked at a leg, and froze the rest. simple, really.

Habanero sauce

2007-09-13T03:52:00.000-07:00

I wanna make this:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bobs-Habanero-Hot-Sauce---Liquid-Fire/Detail.aspx

INGREDIENTS

* 12 habanero peppers, seeded and chopped
* 1 (15.5 ounce) can sliced peaches in heavy syrup
* 1/2 cup dark molasses
* 1/2 cup yellow mustard
* 1/2 cup light brown sugar
* 1 cup distilled white vinegar
* 2 tablespoons salt
* 2 tablespoons paprika
* 1 tablespoon black pepper
* 1 tablespoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the peppers, peaches, molasses, mustard, brown sugar, and vinegar into the container of a food processor or blender. Measure in the salt, paprika, pepper, cumin, coriander, ginger and allspice. Blend until liquefied. Pour into clean jars, and refrigerate overnight before using.

Saag Gosht (lamb and spinach curry)

2007-08-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

(4 servings)

Olive oil
1/4 ts black peppercorns
6 Whole cloves
2 Bay leaves
6 Cardamom pods
1 tbl paprika
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 Medium onions finely chopped
6 Garlic cloves chopped
1 Inch cube of ginger chopped
1kg cubed lamb
2 tsp salt
250g frozen spinach chopped
1/4 ts garam masala

Instructions

Fry the meat until brown on the outsides, remove and then fry onions slowly until brown. Add the spices, 1 tsp salt, garlic and ginger and fry for about 1min until aromatic. Return the meat and heat until frying again, and then add the spinach. Once this has melted/wilted add about 2 cups of water and simmer for about 40min, or more.
Just before serving add Garam Masala.

Major flavour: I dont know, salty and spicy because its a curry, however the spinach sweetens it quite a bit and its generally a sweet curry. So ill go with sweet on this.

Discussion: This turned out pretty good, but it was lacking something and im not sure what. Other recipes suggest that 5 tbl yogurt can be fried into the onion spice mix, and another suggests adding tomato paste. Ill try the yogurt tomorrow night. I think this is why this didnt work, I was missing the key sweet ingredients of Garam Masala, yoghurt. I cannot get Garam Masala here in franceand I used dried ginger and joke chilli (old Cayen pepper)...so pretty much it was a massive slapup job :-)

EDIT: Adding yogurt did the trick with this recipie. Ill edit it later.

Hints and tips

2007-08-15T10:30:00.001-07:00

This section will have little gems of information I have learnt, or want to learn...

Tasting:
'It is an ill chef who cannot lick his own fingers'
William Shakespear.

One thing that everyone should do is taste their food, firstly thats how you learn and secondly you will get the food poisoning before your guests. Its the gentlemanly thing to do.

Spyder taut me something that has made all the difference to me with tasting. We were preparing a smallish feast (40 people) with a Arabic theame. She said that each dish should contrast in the meal, something sweet, something salty, something hot, something cold, something sour, something spicy. And from this she said, taste the dish and forget what the dish is and just say "what flavored dish is this, and does it have enough of that flavour?" Does my salty dish need more salt, does my sweet dish taste sweet enough. Its so simple, but just thinking like this cuts away all the other complex flavours you are tasting and allows you to see what you should.

So items to add:
Sweet: Sugar, sugar syrope, fruit, jams, dried fruit
Sour: Lemon, vinegar (careful but), lime
Spicy: Cumin, cindamon
Salty: Salt (duh wha?), stock (vegitable is my favorite, but beef or chicken is good too), bacon, olives
too bland: This is an odd one ive often found the following are really great items for fleshing out a flavour: Corriander (leaves, not powder), stock (powdered), oil, salt, garam masala (for indian), sugar (for thai)
Crisp/fresh: Lemon juice
Hot (chilli): Chillies, pepper, vinegar (or other acid)

My meat is too dry!
Well id suggest you see a doctor!
I once cooked a stew from pork I think. I couldnt undertand it. I bought loverly meat, cooked it until it was falling appart and it still tasted dry, I had no idea. The secret is oil. Oil lubricates the fibres of the meat and will make it that loverly soft texture that we all know and love. Anyone wonder why rabit is often cooked with bacon? and its not because bacon is the universal ingredient (after garlic), its because rabit is so lean that it cannot cook properly.

Balls out there food

2007-08-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

"WHATS THIS ALL ABOUT?" I hear you say.

This is my style of cooking and eating, 10 years as a chemist (the white lab coat kind, not a pharmacist) has effectively killed me tastebuds and sense of smell. So basically I have a very poor sense of taste. As such all the food I cook has strong flavours and marvelous aromas. I have largely found that alot of food is a bit more middle of the road than im after so im collecting recipies that over time i and others have cooked.

This is about the smells, the colours, the flavours and the passion for food.

And one of these leads to another, the smell of a fine spice mix will gets the saliva flowing like nothing else and this inspires. Something also never to forget is the appearance of food. There is no reason why a meal should ever go out without a garnish, or splash of colour. Its how we are inspired to cook, by looking at the pretty pictures in books.

Anyway, so here it goes. Just remember, im no expert, if you poison your friends with my advice, then be it on your own head myfriend.