Chaos in the Kitchen

I've been making bolognese sauce this morning and this is what I'm left with. Kitchen chaos!

While MONT is still working at Number 3, I thought I'd prepare the sauce in bulk so I could freeze some. But I'm not known for my "tidy" preparation or clean work surfaces.

Oh well, time to clean up I guess.

I'll post the recipe tomorrow...it has a couple of little twists.

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.

Hot damn hot - Chilli Con Carne

We do like our sport at Number 10, and while we're mostly AFL tragics, we also don't mind Rugby League, with conditions: Melbourne Storm have to be playing and it usually has to be a final....SNAP!

It's Rugby League Grand Final and The Storm are playing the Paramatta Eels.

I wanted something easy for dinner and decided on Chilli Con Carne. It's easy and doesn't take a lot of effort...which is a pre-requisite here

So here's my version of a pretty simple dish

Chop an onion and fry it in a little olive oil. Add half a dozen chopped mushrooms, a chopped capsicum, a grated carrot or 2 and 750 grams mince beef and cook until it's browned. Now add some chilli, we don't like things too "hot" around here, so I added just 1 teaspoon, but you add however much or little as you like.

I then added:

2 cloves of minced garlic,

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 grated zuchinni
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans

two tablespoons tomato paste and half a cup of water.

Let it simmer for an hour or so and serve with rice, sour cream, tortillas...whatever you like really.

That's it, easy peasy footy food.

Baked Cauliflower

A couple of weeks ago we said goodbye to Maggie Beer and Simon Bryant and their terrific ABC show, The Cook and the Chef.

Each Wednesday night, MONT and I would eat our dinner watching them produce some beautiful dishes. I've tried a few and, quite a few of them also inspired me....One of them was a baked cauliflower salad that Simon put together.

It got me thinking that it wouldn't be a bad idea to bake the cauliflower rather than steam or boil it...so that's what I did.

Take your cauliflower and break it up as you normally would...drizzle some olive oil over the top, then squeeze a lemon over it all.

Bake for about 20 minutes in a 180 degree oven...I'm afraid my photos don't do it justice, but it really is quite delish!

Stacey over here also has a delicious take on baked cauliflower, adding cheese and capers...and over here, they have a great recipe for cheesy cauliflower pancakes. I have to say they all look absolutely fabulous!!

Cannelloni

Tonight I'm making Cannelloni. A simple dish that's quick and tasty.

I make it with chicken mince, ricotta cheese, spinach, an egg and salt and pepper.

Mix about 300 grams chicken mince, a 375 gram tub of ricotta cheese, two large handfuls of chopped spinach, an egg and salt and pepper together until it looks rather pale and unattractive.

You can use conventional cannelloni tubes, or if you find it too fiddly to stuff them, you can use some softened lasagne sheets and just roll them up.

OK, stuff the tubes, pour some tomato sauce (I used a 700ml bottle of tomato passata cooking sauce) into the bottom of a casserole dish, place the stuffed tubes in and layer them if necessary, then pour the rest of the sauce over the top as well as a cup of water.

Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and bake in a 180 degree oven for between 45 minutes and an hour.

I usually serve this with some garlic bread and a salad of some sort....whatever you like really.

Enjoy.

Cauliflower Soup

I first made cauliflower soup back in the mid 1980's when I was living in Hobart. I'd not long moved there for work and was looking through the local newspaper - The Hobart Mercury - and there it was in it's Easter recipe section.

Since then I've made it quite a few times because, well because it's delicious. And easy.

It's on the same principal as pumpkin soup...but paler.

OK...Firstly, take your cauliflower and chop it up

Chop an onion and sweat it off in a large pot with a little olive oil and a knob of butter.

Add the cauliflower, swirl it around, add a litre of water and a stock cube. I use Massel cubes because I like them.

Bring it to the simmer and then when the cauliflower's cooked, give it a wizz with a stick mixer or you can use your blender. But be careful. If your blender has a glass container/jug, make sure you allow the soup to cool a little before putting it in there otherwise you may crack it. I speak from experience here. Depending on the thickness of the soup you may want to add a little milk or extra water, entirely up to you and your taste.

Now you can either put a handful of tasty cheese in each bowl before ladling the soup over the top, or you can add the cheese to the pot of soup and then dish it up in all it's stringiness...your call.

I also add a dollop of sour cream to each bowl, for a little added something.

Sorry, but I don't have a photo of the finished product. It got eaten before I could get the camera out

Enjoy

Ice Cream

I've never been a real sweet tooth...my taste leans more towards fat and salt...you could say I have a "fat tooth". But last Christmas, we were having the whole family over for dinner so I decided to make some ice-cream from scratch....and it turned out rather well.

The first ice cream flavour I made was a coconut and vanilla ...and since that first attempt, I've made it several times more with varying amounts of coconut.

The process looks complicated and lengthy....but it isn't really. Ice cream is just frozen custard, so just think of it as making custard and you'll be right.

Here's what I did for the latest version I made.

You'll need
--------------
8 egg yolks

3/4 cup caster sugar
600ml cream
600ml full cream milk
200ml coconut cream
vanilla bean
2 tsp vanilla extract
extra 300ml cream

Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the tiny black seeds. Place the milk, cream, coconut cream and the vanilla seeds in a saucepan and bring to the boil, then let simmer for a minute. Take off the heat

Place egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and mix until it's thick and creamy and the sugar has dissolved.

Gradually, very gradually, add the hot milk to the egg mixture and mix until well combined, then place it all back in the saucepan and stir constantly over a low heat for about 7 minutes until it's thickened slightly.....Please do not overcook this as it will end up looking a little like fine scrambled eggs and that's definitely not what you want. Be patient with this step. It'll be worth it.

Once it's thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, transfer it back to the mixing bowl and add the extra cream and mix until combined.

Then put it all in the fridge to let it cool down completely.

The next step....if you have an ice-cream maker, just follow the instructions. If you don't, place the mixture in a wide bowl and put it in the freezer until the edges start to freeze. Then beat for 2 to 3 minutes until smooth and return it to the freezer. Repeat this step a few more times until the mix is aerated and thick and then leave it in the fridge until frozen

That's it.

Just a note: If you taste the custard at the start and think it's too sweet, don't worry, the freezing process diminishes the sweetness.

... and don't worry about what to do with all the left over egg whites. I have a great recipe to use them up and it isn't a PAV ! !