Meatballs with mozarella

I love meatballs...or rissoles or whatever you call them in your part of the world.

They don't look too good starting out, but the end result is pretty delish

Everyone has their own way of making them I guess...meat, veggies...some even put a pack of chicken noodle soup in their mix...and yes I have been known to do that too.

Whatever you include in the meatball mix, it's going to turn out really well, as long as there's an egg in there to help bind it all together.

I saw a recipe by Justine  of Masterchef fame a little while ago and thought I'd try her version...to be honest, they tasted almost the same as the ones I normally do, but hers were baked...and they had cheese in the middle!

The recipe calls for little balls of boconcini to be hidden in the middle of the balls...

They are delicious...really delish

You can have them as-is...

or you can add them to some pasta sauce, as suggested by Justine...

I also added some pasta spirals to the sauce...

Preheat oven to 180deg.

Get you mince mix together...whatever you usually use is OK...then flatten a tennis ball size in the palm of your hand, place a delectable ball of cheese in the middle then mold the meat mix around it.

Continue until all the meat's been used up, place in a baking tray in the oven. 

You can make a tomato sauce with pasta to go with them, which is really yummy...and don't forget the crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

Taste of the sea

There is nothing better than something freshly caught, especially if someone very close to you is the "catcher".

I was reading Kitchen Hand's blog What I Cooked Last Night and he was speaking about some beautiful, plump mussels from Portarlington  that he bought over Easter

Well, we often get a couple of kilos of mussels each year when we holiday not far from Port'.

MONT also catches his own fare...whiting, flathead, the occasional snapper and squid.

We had some squid left over in the freezer, so had it as a snack the other night...

This isn't a recipe as such. It's much simpler than that.....

Put the calamari into a very hot pan with a little oil and chopped garlic, cook for a minute then eat.

Job done.

There is nothing as simple or as tasty

What's for dinner?

This week I made Pasta with tuna and peas and slow roasted tomatoes and it was very quick and very nice.

I slow roasted the tomatoes through the afternoon...I used the Roma's, slice them in half, sprinkle with a little raw sugar and freshly ground pepper and salt, then a drizzle of olive oil and roast in a 120 degree C oven for about 2 hours.

Boil the pasta of your choice. Throw some frozen peas into the boiling water about a minute before it's ready, then drain...open a can of tuna, (I used one in oil) throw it in the pot of hot, drained pasta and stir it around.

Bowl it up, place some tomatoes on top, grate or slice some good cheese of your choice over the top, (I used Parmesan) and eat.

The quantities are really up to you...that's what's good about this. You make it to suit yourself.

Thai Chicken Risotto

Delicious Magazine has provided another winner, and it's super easy because you start it off in a heavy casserole dish on top of the stove, then plonk it in the oven for about half an hour to finish it off.

Quantities are for 6, so you can adapt it for however many people you're cooking for

You need:

Peanut oil
500 gr chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm pieces
1 onion finely chopped
1 red chilli, chopped and de-seeded
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 kaffir lime leaves finely shredded
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/4 cup Thai red curry paste
2 cups chicken stock  (I used water)
1 cup coconut cream
2 tbsp fish sauce
200 gr green beans, trimmed and chopped
Coriander, fried Asian shallots and lime wedges (to serve)

Preheat oven to 180 c
Heat oil in flame proof casserole dish and then add the chicken in batches and fry until browned. Remove the chicken and add the onion, chilli, garlic and half the kaffir lime leaves and fry for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Add the rice and curry paste and stir to coat the grains
Return the chicken to the dish with the stock and half a cup of water. Let it simmer then cover with the lid and cook in the oven for about 25 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the oven and stir in the coconut cream, fish sauce and beans then cover and let stand for 10 minutes.


Top the risotto with the chopped coriander, fried Asian shallots and remaining kaffir lime leaves and serve with lime wedges.

Dinner is served

Lamb, walnut and pineapple casserole

It may sound a bit weird, but this is a delicious recipe!

I found in the Herald Sun's Tuesday food supplement a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd give it a try....and since then I've made it again.

The recipe calls for lamb, but I've also made this with beef and it was just as good

I'm not a fan of sweet and sour dishes but this isn't too sweet, even though it contains pineapple juice.

Here's the recipe.

Lamb, Walnuts & Pineapple Casserole

This quantity serves 4

Preheat oven to around 180

1.2 kgs diced lamb
2 tblsp flour
2 tblsp oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 chopped onion
2 cups pineapple juice
2 teaspoons curry powder
small tin of tomato paste
4 tblsp soy sauce
2 tblsp vinegar
2 tblsp brown sugar
3/4 cup walnuts

Toss meat in flour and fry in oil till browned a little.

Remove to casserole dish then fry the garlic till just cooked and add all other ingredients (except walnuts) and bring to the boil for a minute

Pour over the meat and cook in the oven for around 2 hours for lamb.Best to check it after an hour to see how it's going

When cooked, add the walnuts and serve with buttered noodles.

For a change, you can use beef, pork or chicken...but you may need to adjust the cooking time for chicken and pork. It's all trial and error really....

Enjoy!

Pizza to go...

I'm not a big lover of pizza...or pasta for that matter. I eat it and I enjoy it, but I'm really more a meat and potatoes sort of girl

But, I've started making pizza at home on a Friday night...and I've even been making my own pizza dough.

Last night we tried a seafood pizza.....it was delish!


Seafood pizza

I considered buying a pizza cooker/oven thingy, but thought I'd try it first in my oven, and it worked out just fine.


All in pizza, with fresh basil and bocconcini

The dough recipe I use is by Karen Martini. I have "tweaked" it a little though because when I used her measurements I ended up with a dough soup.

Here's my amended recipe for the dough

2 cups Strong Flour
1/2 cup Semolina
1 cup tepid water
50 ml Olive Oil
7½ g Yeast (1 sachet)
10 g Salt

Put the dough hook on your mixer and into the mixer bowl add all the dry ingredients. In a jug put the tepid water, oil and yeast and whisk it for a few seconds
 
With mixer on low and dough hook attached, add the wet ingredients all at once and then raise speed to high.

Mix until you have a silky smooth dough; about 10 minutes. ... Spray another large bowl with oil and put the dough into it. Place a tea towel over the top and leave to prove for as long as you can - overnight is ideal but I do mine in the morning and it's plenty of time for that evening. I punch it down once after about 3 hours, then just let it sit until I'm ready to use it.

The All-In pizza includes just about everything I had in the fridge...red onion, a jar of marinated capsicum, bocconcini, tomato base, fresh basil, sliced mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and olives.

The Seafood pizza had a tomato base, as well as bocconcini and sliced mushrooms and some marinara mix I picked up at the local fishmonger

Seafood pizza

Hope you like it...MONT sure did

Pale and Mysterious - Poached Chicken

This is a very pale looking dish, but what it lacks in colour it certainly makes up for in flavour....and it's just perfect now that the days are turning a little cooler here in the Southern hemisphere and it's getting warmer in the north.

I first saw Ben O'Donoghue make this on a lazy Saturday afternoon while watching "The Best in Australia" on one of the new digital TV channels. It's Poached Chicken and Tuna Mayo Salad, and I love it for it's simplicity.

Image from here

I tweaked this a little from Ben's original recipe...here's my version


You'll need
--------------
1 free range chicken
2 pork bones or spare ribs
Big handful of parsley and stalks
4 spring onions, chopped in 3 inch pieces
2 cloves Garlic
1 carrot
1 lemon
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
Good pinch of salt.


Tuna Mayo
--------------
1 tin Tuna in oil
3 egg yolks
Lemon juice or white wine vinegar
400 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Salad
-------
500g New Potatoes
8 anchovy fillets
2 tablespoons capers
Chopped parsley

First of all, juice the lemon and set the juice aside for the tuna mayo. Use the cut lemon pieces in the poaching water for the chicken

To poach the chicken, place it in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add the pork bones, parsley and stalks, shallots, garlic, left over lemon halves, carrot, salt and peppercorns and bring to a simmer for six minutes then turn it off and let it stand, covered for at least 1 hour.
Remove the chicken and set aside. Don't forget to keep the chicken stock and freeze it for other dishes.

To make the tuna mayo, whisk together egg yolks and lemon...and while whisking, slowly add the olive oil. As soon as you have mayonnaise, add the broken up tuna and season to taste.

For the salad, cook the potatoes in salted water until tender, drain and cut in half then set aside. Dress them with a little of your tuna mayo and add the capers.

To Serve...break up the chicken (you can discard the skin if you wish) arrange some meat on a plate with the potatoes and spoon over the mayo then garnish with the anchovy fillets.

That's it. I served this with some steamed green beans rather than a salad. Enjoy this on a lovely Sunday afternoon with the wine of your choice. We had a very nice De Bortoli Windy Peak Chardonnay

For a change, you can use celery leaves or baby spinach or any other green leafy veg you like...

It really is a lovely Sunday lunch. Yummo!

(sorry still no camera so I had to rely on Ben's photo from Best in Australia)

Shanks in the Slow Cooker

Some time ago I was fortunate to see a recipe over at Proud Italian Cook, that looked absolutely delicious! It was neck bones with spaghetti , which doesn't sound too good...but let me tell you. It was!

So I made it with lamb necks and it was just as good as I'd hoped. This week though, I had some shanks in the freezer, so decided to use those instead....and it was again, delicious.

Usually I just throw everything into the slow cooker and turn it on. Not this time.

This time I roasted the shanks for about 45 minutes, just to get them browned and caramelized... then I browned some onions in a pan and added a can of diced tomatoes, a few sliced mushrooms, some garlic, a good dollop of tomato paste, a teaspoon of sugar and some pepper and salt and let it bubble away for a few minutes while the shanks roasted.

Then it all went into the slow cooker for about 4 hours on high.

I served it with crusty bread and spaghetti.

There were no leftovers.

Slow Cooking

So, it's Winter and it's cold, which means the Slow Cooker's been dusted off and put to work.

I've made a few things so far this Winter, but forgot to take any photos or post about it...anyway, this one is a Country Chicken Casserole.

Now, the general rule is to brown the chicken and the onions to kick things off, then put them into the cooker and let it rip.

Not me. Even though the dish turns out a little pale, I figure that the slow cooker's there to do a job, so why should I have to brown things in oil. I just throw everything in and hope for the best. Things must turn out OK though because MONT always comes back for seconds.

OK

For this casserole:

10 chicken drumsticks,

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot chopped

1 stick of celery sliced.

... and whatever other veggies you have in the fridge... mushrooms, beans, peas etc...

Now, some recipes call for a can of celery or cream of mushroom soup, or even a can of chopped tomatoes to give you a nice sauce. Frankly I think you should just do whatever suits you. If you like tomato based dishes, then add a can of tomatoes. If you like a creamy based casserole, then add a can of cream of mushroom soup, or whatever you like.

Me?

Well into half a cup of water I added a Massel veggie stock cube, a slurp of white wine, a teaspoon of gravox, pepper and salt and a teaspoon of mixed herbs, then I poured it over the chicken and veggies, put the lid on, turned it to "high" and left it alone for four hours.

I then removed the chicken and stirred in a large dollop of cream, returned the chicken, and let it simmer for another half an hour.

Done

Eat.

Yes, it is a little pale, but it sure tasted good!

Noodles

Strangely, I've never been a huge fan of peanut butter, but I love everything satay.

I've never been a really huge fan of Nigella Lawson either, but strangely, I really like some of her recipes...especially this one.

This noodle salad is right up my alley.... It's a little spicy but not hot and it has plenty of veggies in it...although you can't tell by my photograph because I'd eaten a lot of them by the time I took the photo.

All you need is:

1 pack of prepared egg noodles, whichever ones you like the most

a handful of snow peas, sliced

2 spring onions, sliced

red capsicum, sliced thinly

1 cup of bean sprouts

handful of cashews

chopped fresh coriander

sprinkling of sesame seeds

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce

3 heaped tablespoons peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, whatever you like)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons lime juice (or lemon if you prefer)

The original recipe also calls for 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, but I never touch the stuff as the smell makes my stomach churn, so use it or not, whatever you prefer.

I usually refresh the noodles in a bowl of boiling water for about 30 seconds, just to get them all separated and soft...

Whisk the dressing ingredients together...drain the noodles and place in a bowl with the veggies, pour or spoon the dressing over the top and mix it all together, then sprinkle the top with the chopped coriander and the sesame seeds...

You can also add some cooked chicken and other veggies to this as well...let your imagination run wild!

That's it! Time to eat

Friday Night Wings

Friday nights at Number 10 are easy peasy nights as far as food goes.

Sometimes I like to do chicken wings because I can marinade them and just throw them in the oven.

This recipe is an adaptation of one I saw "Fast Ed" do on Better Homes and Gardens a year or so ago...maybe even longer.

Firstly, take a bowl and pour in a can of coconut cream.

Then add 2 tablespoons of Thai red curry paste, the juice of a lemon and a couple of good slurps of soy sauce

Marinade the wings for an hour or so...then place them in a baking dish and bake in a 180-200 oven for about half an hour

Once they're golden, remove them from the oven and place them in a bowl...Now, at this point you can either just eat them, or put some other yummy stuff on them.

I like bean sprouts and cashew nuts...mix them all around so the heat from the wings permeates the sprouts and the cashews...then eat

Told you it was easy

Friday Night Spare Ribs

Friday nights are easy meal nights at Number 10, which usually means marinated chicken wings and some oven baked chips in front of the TV.

A variation on the theme though is pork spare ribs, which I made last night

The Winter 2009 edition of Donna Hay Magazine had a couple of marinades, but as usual, I play around with what I've got in the fridge and cupboard.

You'll need about 1 kilogram of ribs, depending on how many people you're feeding.

Prepare your marinade about 2 hours before you plan to cook your ribs

In a saucepan place:

1/4 cup whiskey

1/4 cup rum or brandy

1/3 cup soy sauce

good slurp of oyster sauce

1 teaspoon mustard

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 desert spoons honey

Bring the marinade to the boil and let simmer for a couple of minutes to allow it to thicken a little.

Some recipes advise you pre-boil the ribs first. That's a good idea if you plan to do them on the BBQ. You don't want to end up with charcoal on the outside raw ribs on the inside.

Place the ribs in a container and pour the cooled marinade over the top, then cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. Keep an eye on them on the BBQ and brush marinade over them every few minutes as they cook.

If you plan to do them in the oven.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius, place the ribs on a baking rack in a tray lined with foil or non-stick baking paper...cook for about 30 to 45 minutes, brushing with the marinade every 5 minutes or so. That's it.

I served these with oven baked chips...but then, I serve just about everything with oven baked chips

Enjoy!

Bolognese Sauce

Spaghetti bolognese is a fortnightly dish here at Number 10. MONT's home late on a Tuesday night and it's something I can prepare early and dish it up before I head to bed. I start work very, very early Monday through Wednesday

Anyway, I was watching Fast Ed on Better Homes and Garden's last Friday night and he suggested doing the bolognese sauce in the Slow Cooker. GREAT IDEA!

Firstly in a pot on the stove, chop an onion and fry it off, add mince beef and some mince pork...probably about half a kilo each

Break it up as it cooks, then add four cloves of chopped/minced garlic, fresh and dried herbs, chopped celery, carrot, zucchini and whatever else you like.

Looks good huh?
I then transferred it to the Slow Cooker and added 1 can of diced tomatoes and about 4 tablespoons of tomato paste. I then added Ed's secret ingredient. Well I would've if I'd had any . He suggested a good slurp of Soy Sauce. I was all out, so I added these instead.

Then add 1 cup of red wine and stir it in, then a half a cup of milk and give it a good stir.

I set the cooker on high and let it simmer away for about 4 hours. Then turned it down to low for another 3.

The real taste test will be tomorrow night, but it sure looks and smells good.

Chicken with Lemon and Garlic

This is a dish I do when I want something quick. Real quick.

I usually have some chicken thighs of drumsticks in the freezer and I've also used maryland pieces for this dish

Place the chicken in a roasting dish, squeeze a lemon over the top and slice a lemon and place the slices over the top of the chicken. Slurp some olive oil over the top, then get some cloves of garlic, and put them in there too. I don't peel mine, just throw them in whole.

Bake until the chicken's golden brown.

I usually serve this with some asparagus that I've cooked in a pan with a little oil and a squeeze of lemon...and some potatoes that I chop up and put in with the chicken.

That's it...told you it was an easy dish.