Eggplant and Porcini meatless 'meatballs' with tomato sauce.

The recipe I made last Tuesday is probably the evil twin sister of the previous recipe I posted. Lets just say there is more to it than throw it all together and bung it in the oven. This one is a labor of love.

Sometimes I really enjoy pottering around in the kitchen. Stirring a sauce here, doing a little frying there, while something is cooking away in the oven. It's like when you cook risotto, there is always pottering around the kitchen. A little stirring then another ladleful of stock and maybe roasting some vine tomatoes or making a pesto to stir through.

It's a labor of love.

Now it's not to say I haven't had some disasters over the years when I think it's all going to plan but end up eating at 10:30 (one time 11...eeekk) at night and being so sweaty and past hungry I feel like a train wreck. Not to mention the kitchen looks even more like a train wreck than I do. I have found the trick is not to get flustered. Yeh yeh easier said than done but if I keep my cool and just potter it's usually quite satisfying, a tastier dinner and I don't end up feeling like a train wreck at the end.

These Eggplant and Porcini meatless 'meatballs' with tomato sauce were such a success and an absolutely delicious one at that! They are definitely a labor of love and not a quick mid week meal but in saying that if you get home from work earlier then I do why not spoil yourself during the week and put in a little extra effort?

I got the recipe from blogger Amelia Morris from Bon Appetempt who found it in a magazine called Food and Wine. It's actually the first post I read from her blog. The link was part of The Wednesday Chef's Saturday links post back in October last year and I've been a huge fan ever since (I even went back and read most of her old blog posts...). If your a regular reader you've probably heard of me going on about her blog and her cooking show on youtube so I'll stop my ramble and just link everything here (you really should check her out!).

This dinner was actually incredible. I am still thinking about them a week later and not only did I thoroughly enjoy myself pottering around the kitchen and rolling garlicky eggplant balls but the taste was incredible. You get the robust flavours from the dried porcini mushrooms and garlic that work so well with the silky eggplant. Oh and the tomato sauce uses the porcini soaking water in it which turns it into a turbo tomato sauce that is packed with flavour. I loved this recipe and will be making it again for sure! I served it with crusty bread but it would work perfect with pasta too or even polenta.

The eggplant and porcini balls are just as delicious without the tomato sauce (I snacked on a couple while cooking them) and they would be a great appetiser or cold the next day on a sandwich is good too :)

Show a little labor of love this week or weekend and cook these for dinner... it's well worth it!

Eggplant and porcini meatless 'meatballs' with tomato sauce.

Serves 4
(Recipe from Food & Wine and Bon Appetempt)
Please note I have converted the recipe into metric measurements so they vary slightly from the original.

1 large eggplant or 2 smaller ones (about 560g)
28g dried porcini mushrooms (I used 20g) **
boiling water
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, minced
4  cloves garlic, finely grated
2x 800g cans of whole italian tomatoes, seeded and pureed with their juices (I used 2 bottles of passata)
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil leaves, plus extra leaves for garnish
salt
freshly ground pepper
3 cups of fresh bread crumbs (from 170g crustless country bread)
2 large eggs, beaten
60g pecorino romano cheese, freshly grated, plus more for serving (I used parmesan)
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
plain flour, for coating
vegetable oil, for frying
crusty bread, for serving

- Preheat your oven to 350F or 180C.

- Prick your eggplant(s) all over with a fork and place on a baking tray. Roast in the centre of the oven for 1 hour, until very soft and collapsed. Let the eggplant cool slightly, then scrape the eggplant flesh into a bowl and let cool completely. Discard the skin (I was impatient so I stuck my hot eggplant flesh in the freezer for 15 min to cool down).

- Meanwhile, in a heatproof bowl, cover the porcini with 1.5 cups of boiling water and let stand until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain but reserve the soaking liquid. Rinse the porcini to remove any grit and extra dirt then finely chop the porcini.

- In a large casserole pot heat olive oil until shimmering. Add the onion and half the garlic and cook on medium heat, stirring, until softened for about 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree (or passata) and pour in the porcini soak liquid but stopping before reaching the grit at the bottom of the bowl. Bring it to a boil and then simmer on low heat until thickened, about 1 hour. Add half the chopped basil and season with salt and pepper.

- In a medium sized bowl mix together the chopped porcini, bread crumbs, eggs, cheese, parsley, remaining garlic, eggplant flesh with 1 teaspoon of course salt and 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper.

- Line a baking tray with baking paper. Form the eggplant mixture into 20 balls (about 1 3/4 inches), rolling tightly. Dust the balls with plain flour and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

- In a non stick frying pan heat 1 cm deep of vegetable oil. Add half of the eggplant balls at a time and cook over medium to high heat, turning occasionally, until browned all over, about 8 minutes. Drain on paper towel. Add the eggplant balls to the tomato sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Garnish the meatballs with basil leaves and serve with extra grated cheese and crusty bread.

** I got the dried porcini mushrooms from Essential Ingredient online.

Hit 'n' Run traybaked chicken.

Chicken tray bakes. For a while I thought these would be the end of me but I have gotten to know my oven inside and out and I know what works and what doesn't.

Chicken tray bakes are easy mid week meals (note that this is a new revelation) which you can easily throw in the oven and then fluff around for an hour while the oven looks after everything. I love these kind of recipes where I can multi-task while knowing dinner is cooking away  and I can get on with other things. If you're a regular reader you'll know I'm more of a pasta girl than chicken and potatoes kinda girl. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy chicken and potatoes but give me a big bowl of pasta any day!

Tristan on the other hand LOVES chicken and potatoes. I could spend hours making hand made pasta with a slow cooked ragu and ciabbatta made from scratch but chicken and potatoes would still win. Of course he would enjoy the hand made pasta and tell me that he loved it but I know all too well when he actually loves eating something... it's like when you're a kid and you get your favourite food and the excitement beams out as you try and shovel another mouthful in an already full mouth. That's Tristan, when I serve chicken and potatoes.

Every week when I ask him what he feels like for dinner this week, trying to get some inspiration, this is how the conversation normally goes...

'What do you want for dinner this week?'

'Can we have that chicken and potatoes tray thing you cooked last week again?' 

'Again?' 

'Yeh it was really good'

'Umm maybe...' *scrunches face*

'Well why did you ask me then?!?'

'Ok ok, we'll have a chicken tray bake but it'll be different than last time'

'I'm sure it'll still be amazing'

*rolls eyes at him*

The way to his heart is chicken and potatoes.

So of course I made a chicken tray bake this week. Sometimes it's what ever I can find in the fridge but this week I found a recipe called Hit 'n' Run traybaked chicken by Jamie Oliver from his cookbook Save with Jamie. It sounded perfect to me until I realised when I started throwing everything into the tray that there was no potatoes in it... uh oh I thought... do we even have any potatoes? Thankfully there were three potatoes floating around with the onions so I chopped them up small and added them to the tray with the chicken, tomatoes, onion, garlic, capsicum with the rest of the ingredients and threw it all in the oven. Ah ha done for an hour or so!

Time to throw my feet up and relax.. ha! If only there was that much time during the week :)

This recipe is really really tasty, I'll admit it's another recipe thats not going to win the pretty award but by golly it's good. The garlic cloves go all soft and sweet and the tomatoes almost slow roast and all the natural sugars come out and give the whole dish that humble slow roast taste.  

There is only one thing I can say is...

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!!

Hit 'n' Run traybaked chicken.

Serves 2 

(Recipe adapted from Save with Jamie by Jamie Oliver)

4 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2 inch pieces

1 red capsicum, chopped into 2 inch pieces

3 medium potatoes, chopped into 1 inch chunks

4 cloves of garlic, skin on

2 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges

1 red onion, cut into wedges

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

1 small handful of fresh oregano, leaves washed and picked

- Preheat your oven to 200C or 400 F.

- Throw everything (yes everything!) in a large baking tray (roughly 25cm x 30cm) and give it a good mix. Make sure it is all evenly spread out then bung it in the oven.

- Bake for 1 hour - 1hour 15 min. Check your potatoes and chicken are cooked through then serve with a simple green salad or some crusty fresh bread.

chorizo, chicken and seafood paella inspired by Jamie Oliver.

I hope everyone had a love-ly weekend...

I'm a romantic so I'm all for Valentines day. Now lets not get carried away though… My perfect Valentines day starts with avoiding all restaurants and cafes the entire day. Breakfast at home, a good coffee then ok maybe a single ruby red rose always makes me feel a little special :) Dinner is the same… avoid avoid avoid restaurants at all costs!!

Staying in for the night was clearly the only sane option and if we didn't want to wait hours for take-away to be delivered cooking was also the only sane option. I wanted to make something a little bit special so decided on paella with smoked chorizo, chicken and fresh seafood. I would have loved some mussels or pippis to go in it but our fish shop didn't have any so we decided on king prawns, squid and a few scallops.

Dessert was a no brainer. I know it's one of Tristan's favourites and I'm going to say it's probably my favourite dessert too. Creme Caramel. Every time I make this I am reminded why I love it so much… silky custard nested in a pool of caramel sauce flecked with vanilla bean… UM YUM! Plus they are really easy to make, don't require any heavy mixers and often the ingredients are always on hand (milk, sugar, eggs and vanilla) which makes them even better. I unfortunately didn't take any photos of the creme caramels this time around but I used the same recipe as last time. I used 4 slightly bigger ramekins this time and they took about 50 minutes to cook. This meant that we got to have them again the next night :) double win!

The paella recipe I used was from Jamie Oliver's book Jamie Does. I tweaked it a little bit to make it feed two but this easily fed 4 (we had leftovers for lunch the next day) and because I didn't have all the ingredients -  my planning wasn't so great but I don't think it mattered. It was so fresh and full of flavours, I can't wait to make it again and add mussels or pippis to it. The great thing about this recipe is that if you don't like all the seafood or can't get your hands on it you can easily substitute it for something you do like or if you're a total seafood hater leave it out altogether and add a little extra pork or chicken.

If you're looking for a recipe to impress or something a little special then this is a keeper and I recommend making the creme caramels for dessert too. They are a really great make-ahead dessert because once they're baked all you need to do it chill them in the fridge for 4 hours (you can even make them the day before) and flip them out onto a plate to serve. 

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentines day and got a little spoilt… even if it was treating themselves to that extra scoop of ice-cream! Valentines day is a day to indulge… no said on what :)

chorizo, chicken and seafood paella.

Serves 4
(recipe adapted from 'Jamie Does' by Jamie Oliver) 

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 chorizo sausage, thinly sliced (I used a spicy smoked variety but any will do)
1 skinless chicken breast (approx. 200g), diced
1 red capsicum, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 brown onion, finely diced
1 small bunch of flat leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped, stems finely chopped
salt and pepper
a pinch of saffron threads
200g paella rice (I used aborio rice)
1/4 cup of jarred capsicum strips, drained
400g can chopped tomatoes
600ml vegetable or chicken stock
6 king prawns, peeled & deveined
150g calamari tube, rinsed and finely sliced
4-6 scallops (not in the shell)
8 mussels or equivalent amount in pippis, scrubbed and de-bearded (I didn't have these but will definitely add them next time)
1 cup frozen peas
1 lemon, cut into wedges

- Heat olive oil in a heavy based frying pan (or paella pan if you have one) and add the chorizo and chicken. Fry for about 5 minutes on medium heat until the fat starts to come out of the chorizo and the oil starts to take on the chorizo colour.

- Add the capsicum, onion, garlic, parsley stalks, saffron and some salt and pepper. Fry that for a further 5-10 minutes until the vegetables soften.

- Add the rice and jarred capsicum and stir for a couple of minutes until the rice is coated in all the juices. Add the can of tomatoes and stock and bring everything to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and keep at a simmer.

- Make sure you come back and stir every minute. You want to make sure you give each grain of rice equal amounts of love :)

- After about 15 minutes the rice should be cooked but still have a but of a bite to it. Add your prawns, scallops, mussels/pippis and calamari tubes and give it a stir. Cook until the mussels/pippis start to open and the prawns turn pink. Add the frozen peas and cook for a further 5 minutes or so.

- Any mussels or pippis that haven't opened, discard now.

- Stir through the parsley and juice from half a lemon.

- Serve with lemon wedges and extra parsley on top.

THE plum torte from the NYTimes

Another better late than never recipe...

Last Sunday.. not the one just passed.. the previous one. I started assembling a new bedside table. I started strong even if Arthur was against me the entire time and had an aversion to this new piece of furniture. He sat on the pieces I needed next, attempted to chew the corners, decided that the screws were his latest toy and when I went to screw a new screw in... that was his time to attack my hand/screwdriver. But even with Arthur against me and procrastination looming heavy in the background in the form of youtube videos or online shopping I pursued! Arthur and I did have another altercation or two when he insisted the frame of the bed side table was his new cubby house and the assembled draws were his new bed.

Although I did have a momentary lapse and decided to make the famous Plum Torte from the New York Times in between draw one and two. It was only fair to have a break right? I was nearly done anyway. Plus I said I would bring dessert to dinner at Tristan's parents and I couldn't go empty handed... actually I have wanted to make this recipe for a while now and it just so happened to be that plums were in season and on special at the supermarket.

The original Plum Torte recipe by Marian Burros featured in the New York Times every September from 1983 for 12 years. I first read about this recipe in one of my favourite memoirs I always talk about 'My Berlin Kitchen' by Luisa Weiss (The Wednesday Chef) but she didn't seem too enthusiastic about it. Since then I've read a few other blog posts about it and (Smitten Kitchen is a gooden) and they seemed to rave about it. Then I saw these photo's on Bon Appetempt by Amelia Morris and I couldn't not make this when plums were in season, it looks beautiful!

With plums looking deliciously ripe and moorish surrounded in cake batter. Um how can you not like this right? The cake batter rises up and around the plum halves, encasing them in cake.

This was a HUGE hit! Tristan loved it and so did his family. Between four of us we managed to eat three quarters of the cake after dinner. Tristan then ate the remaining quarter for dessert the next night (I didn't get a look in) and said it tasted even better. Deb Perelman from Smitten Kitchen says you shouldn't even touch it on the first day you make it and leave it until the following day because it's that much better. Let's be honest... mine's not going to win any cake decorating contests but it will impress anyone who eats it.

Will definitely be making this again. It was such a simple recipe with a big wow factor. Might have to pick some more plums up on my way home from work this week :)

THE Plum Torte 

Recipe by Marian Burros from Elegant but Easy and The Essential New York Times Cookbook.
(also found on these blogs: The Wednesday Chef, Bon Appetempt, Smitten Kitchen and NYTimes cooking)

1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Large pinch of salt
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar plus 1 to 2 tablespoon
115 grams unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
12 smallish purple Italian purple plums, halved and pitted (or 5-6 larger ones)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- Preheat oven to 350F.

- In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

-In a larger bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy and pale in colour.

- Add the eggs, one at a time. Make sure you scrap down the side of the bowl then add the dry ingredients and mix by hand until just combined.

- Spoon batter into an ungreased 9-inch spring-form pan and smooth the top using the bak of a spoon or palette knife.

- Arrange the plums, skin side up, all over the batter. Sprinkle the top with lemon juice, cinnamon, then the remaining 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.

- Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until cake is golden and a toothpick inserted and comes out with no gooey batter (make sure you don't stick it in a plum). Cool on a rack and serve.

- If you have enough restraint or baked this a day early for an event. Once at room temperature, cover and leave till the next day. It gets better!

Martha Stewart's one-pan-pasta

Last Thursday night we had a lazy date night in that consisted of a one-pan-pasta, a huge bowl of ice cream and a movie.

The one-pan-pasta recipe from Martha Stewart has kind of been a internet sensation if you follow a few food blogs and most blogs I read have already made this... ages ago! I'm a little late to the party but better late than never. I'd seen the recipe online about a year a go and my friend Kate, her boyfriend, Pete showed me the recipe too knowing I was a foodie but I kinda brushed it off and didn't think much of it. To be honest I was sceptical.... one-pan-pasta... just put it all in a pot together... pasta, sauce ingredients and the water. Nup! I don't believe it.  Plus I also read a blog review (here) saying that the traditional way of making pasta and a sauce (the normal way) was still much better, so why would I attempt this recipe?!

But then I saw this video from the blog Bon Appetempt and why on earth hadn't I made this earlier??!?  (Also her book comes out this week, you should definitely go and check out her book trailer... and maybe all her other video's while your there. She is great!!)

The big thing here: I only have to wash up one pot. 

This is an amazing discovery! All I keep thinking about now is what other things I can add or swap in the recipe to change the sauce up and still keep the one-pan pasta idea. I could use canned tomatoes in winter, fry some bacon up in the pan before adding all the other ingredients and or chorizo or or or... you could add anything and still only have to wash up one pan! I wonder if it'd work with short pasta... I don't see why not? ahhaha the possibilities are endless!!

Ok maybe I'm a little excited about a pasta dish but to be honest I think it's a pretty funky recipe. We don't get Martha Stewart magazine here in Australia (well you can but it'll cost you an arm, leg and your first born) so not many of her recipes cross my path except through other food bloggers. I think I might have to have a ritual weekly browse of her website in case I miss another gem like this.

I definitely recommend giving this a go. The sauce goes thick and rich with kind of a creamy-ness to it but not a drop of cream in sight! It also has a bit of a chilli kick so if you're not that into spice maybe half the amount of chilli flakes. I can't wait to make this again... just writing this thinking about dinner the other night and I wish I was having that for lunch... yes I had it cold the next day in a sandwich and it was GREAT!

mmm cold spaghetti sandwich... yum :)

If anyone else has a food hero I'm yet to discover please let me know below. I'd love to find more hidden gems like this that I should have tried to ages ago.

One-pan-pasta 

recipe from Martha Stewart - find the original here
Serves 4

400g dried spaghetti
400g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 brown onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
2 large sprigs of fresh basil (or 4 small)
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of table salt
a generous grinding of black pepper
4.5 cups of water
parmesan cheese and extra basil leaves, for serving

- Place pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilli flakes, basil sprigs, extra virigin olive oil, salt, pepper and the water in a pan.

- Bring to a boil, this should take about 2-3 minutes. Once boiling keep stirring the pasta to separate it a little. It should be done in about 9 minutes or until the pasta is cooked through and the liquid has been absorbed.

- Serve with the extra basil leaves and parmesan sprinkled on top.

charred beef and rice noodle stir-fry from delicious. magazine.

I think the thing with takeaway is that it just never tastes the same when you try and make it at home and you don't get the variety of a couple of dishes in the same sitting. Yes even home alone on a Friday night I order at least 2 mains (plus entrees)... variety is the spice of life!

In the new delicious. magazine this month they have a great charred beef and rice noodles stir-fry recipe that tastes pretty close to a dish at the local thai around the corner from us. I just need to find the right noodles and I think it would have been spot on. My supermarket didn't have big fat flat rice noodles... I chose the fattest ones they had but not the same thing but then I'm being picky and in reality a noodle 1cm thinner is probably not going to make that much of a difference.

I was pretty impressed with this dish as there wasn't many ingredients and normally when I make a stir-fry I start getting every asian condiment and sauce in my fridge and pantry out and add a little of everything and then it all ends up tasting the same. This time I went by the recipe (kinda) and trusted it. I couldn't find bean sprouts so I used some baby pak choi instead and my measurements were adjusted slightly with the soy sauce as I adjusted the recipe for 2 people instead of 4 ...but it still tasted pretty amazing!

The only wok I own is a mini wok that still overflows when making fried rice for one so instead of charring the beef then charring the noodles in a wok on high I used my regular frying pan. This meant that they weren't really charred so even if you don't own a wok don't let that discourage you. It still tastes great even without the charring! It's easy, simple flavours and I was very impressed.

Before you serve it give it a little taste. I added a tiny splash extra fish sauce and dark soy to mine and big dollop of sambal oelek (chilli paste) but the brand of sauce you have used might be saltier than mine so always taste first. I have over salted on more than one occasion being heavy handed with the soy or oyster sauce and made it so salty that it was completely inedible. Now I'm a better safe than sorry girl :) I hate being disappointed with a dinner and wasting stomach space.

I think this is a great mid week dinner, I don't think it took more than 20 min to prep everything and cook it.

Charred beef & rice noodles stir-fry

Serves 2

(recipe adapted from delicious. magazine February 2015 issue - find original recipe here.)

300g minute beef steaks, sliced into strips

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

200g flat rice noodles (softened in boiling water if using dried)

2 teaspoons sunflower oil

2 teaspoons sesame oil

5 spring onions, white & pale green parts chopped, dark green parts thinly sliced on an angle for garnish at the end

2 teaspoons of fish sauce

1 bunch broccolini, sliced in half and lengthways

1 bulb of baby pak choi, washed and leaves separated

sambal oelek (chilli paste), to serve

- Place a frying pan (or wok) on high heat and fry the beef and half of the dark soy sauce until the beef is brown all over and cooked through (or charred if using a wok) about 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

- Place the same frying pan back on high heat and add your noodles and remaining soy sauce and cook for about 1 minute until noodles are charred (mine didn't char in the frying pan so if your using a wok this step might work).

- Next add both oils, chopped spring onions, fish sauce and vegetables and stir fry for a further 3 minutes until vegetables are tender.

- Return the beef to the pan with any resting juices and toss until heated through.

- Taste to see if you need a little extra dash of anything and serve with the dark green parts of the spring onions and some sambal oelek for a little bit of spice (optional).

Pork and Sweet potato red curry with lazy brown rice.

On this rainy, cool Tuesday morning it felt like a Monday... humpf (we had a long weekend here in Australia so to a lot of us it kinda was a Monday). Waking up to find that Arthur has just discovered the toilet paper and decided it's a fun game to spin it until all the toilet paper end ups in a pile on the floor all ripped with holes in it somehow I don't think I was the only one who felt this either. The guy in front of me on the train this morning had his t-shirt on inside out (he bought it from cotton on and wore a size medium) and the man next to me was on the phone most of the train trip trying to get his flat tire fixed that by the sound of it he had only discovered flat this morning.

We have been having some of the oddest weather here in Sydney and today I feel like I should be in a scarf and my gumboots but instead I turned up to work with soggy socks then trekked it out again for the morning coffee run. On days like these I crave food that tastes like it has spent hours cooking on the stove or in the oven. Something that fills your cold little belly with a warm home cooked meal. 

During the week I feel like I cheat this little blog, I don't often stretch my cooking skills or bake much at all (or any eeek). I pick quick meals to cook. When I get home form work at 6:30pm, I give Arthur some much deserved cuddles, kick off my shoes, strip my uncomfortably too tight pencil skirt off, slip on a pair of daggy old sports shorts, tie my hair up in a sprout on top of my head and start on dinner. I want to be sitting down eating by 7:30... at the latest. 

Yes I know what your thinking - I'm a nanna. I can't help it.

Tonights dinner I got from Donna Hay's book 'no time to cook'. It has the flavours of a slow cooked dinner, the vegetables that give you that comforting full tummy feeling and the meat was so tender that you would be completely fooled when I tell you that it only took about 30 minutes of cooking but tastes like it cooked for hours. What more can you want from a mid-week dinner on a rainy Tuesday which feels like a Monday??

Pork and sweet potato red curry with lazy brown rice.

- recipe adapted from Donna Hay's 'no time to cook'

Serves 3 

note - this is a mild curry (unless you get the HOT curry paste)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons red curry paste 

1 brown onion, sliced into chunks

1 teaspoon jarred grated ginger

400g can coconut cream

200ml water (I half filled the coconut cream can with water and gave it a slosh around)

1 vegetable stock cube

1 medium sized sweet potato, peeled and thinly sliced

200g pork fillet, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon dried coriander leaves (a small handful of fresh would be better but I didn't have any)

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1.5 cup brown rice

3 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

- Start with your rice. If your using white rice you can start it after you have the sweet potatoes boiling but brown rice takes longer. Put your brown rice, water and salt in a medium pot, give it a stir and bring it to the boil. Once it reaches boiling stage reduce it to low (as low as your stove can go), place a lid ajar and set a timer for 25 minutes.

- Heat the olive oil in a medium pot on high heat. Add the curry paste and cook for about 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion and ginger and fry for about 4 minutes or until the onions have softened but not coloured.

- Add the sweet potato, coconut cream, water and stock cube and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the potato is soft.

- Keep en eye on your rice! If the timer has finished, turn the heat off. Place the lid on properly and leave it for 10 minutes to keep steaming.

- Add the pork to the coconut cream sauce and cook for a further 6-8 minutes or until the pork is cooked through (this will depend on how thin you sliced your pork).

- Stir in the fish sauce and coriander at the last minute and serve with brown rice. 

A nice addition would be to add some freshly sliced chilli on top if you like a bit of spice!

Home-made pizza and a long weekend.

I don't know about you but I feel like summer this year has cooked me. It's been hot. And it's still so hot as I sit here at our tiny dining table covered in a sticky film of sweat, unable to get comfortable. I'm ever so slightly jealous of Arthur who lies on the bathroom or kitchen tiles all day long to cool off, I don't think it would be acceptable for me to spend 90% of my day lying on the tiles unfortunately.

Tomorrow in Australia is a day where you can let your inner bogan free. It's a day you find that stubby cooler you know you have lying around somewhere or the bucket hat that makes an appearance for one day a year still smeared with last years green and yellow zinc (guilty as charged). So on a long weekend what better way to spend a Saturday than at the beach with friends and home made pizza's for dinner?

An airconditioned apartment. Jokes!... maybe.

The pizza dough was actually surprising easy to make and didn't take that long at all. Not going to blow my own horn here but they were pretty damn good.

I got the recipe from one of my favourite food memoirs 'My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss' and tweaked the topping. She also writes about this on her blog - The Wednesday Chef. I remember reading her book in bed at about 11pm and there is a scene where the writer sits on her balcony eating home made pizza by candlelight and it sounded so romantic, care-free, delicious and easy. I wanted to go and make pizza right then and there at 11pm in my pj's. Looking over at Tristan snoring next to me stopped me or maybe it was the fact I had to get up early for work but it wasn't the only occassion that I wanted to get out of bed and start cooking from her book then and there so I could taste what she had written so beautifully about.

If your a foodie with a soft spot for a love story you will love this book and her blog!

The pizza dough was easy to prepare. A little mixing and a little kneading then let it sit and double in size. Stretch it, top it and bake it. I made a simple tomato sauce for the base which was made up of onion, canned tomatoes, garlic and some dried oregano but you can make it even easier by following Luisa's instructions (link below) where she tears canned tomatoes over the pizza instead of making a sauce.

We made two pizzas and put ham, olives, chilli and mozzarella on them. Some sections with the lot and some with less to keep everyone happy. You need to really crank your oven to full ball and make sure it's piping hot! I think my oven could have been hotter and an even better trick which I will do next time is make the pizza's on baking paper or foil and put your trays in the oven to start with so that it gets really hot then slide your pizza onto the hot tray and hopefully you get a crispier bottom. Everyone loves a crispy bottom :)

The pizza dough also freezes well or if you make the dough in advance just pop it in the fridge the night before and then pull it out an hour before you want to roll the pizza's out. Easy!

Sorry... Hunger won again!

Home-made pizza (dough and all!)

pizza dough recipe from The Wednesday Chef - find original recipe here
serves 3-4

For the pizza dough:
3 1/2 cups of 00 flour (or plain flour)
1 1/2 cups luke warm water
a pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon dried yeast
1 teaspoon fine table salt
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

- Put your flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre of it. Add your yeast and sugar then pour over your luke warm water (make sure this isn't hot or you'll kill the yeast). Start mixing it together with a fork, adding the salt and olive oil as you mix. It will start to look like a shaggy mess but thats ok.

- Using your hands bring it together in the bowl. If it's too sticky add a little more flour or if it's too dry add a splash more water. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead with the heel of your hand until it becomes smooth and springy. Form it into a ball.

- Wash and dry your mixing bowl then lightly oil it with oliver oil. Place the dough in the bowl turning it around so that it is covered in a very thin layer of olive oil. Place a wet tea towel over the top and place it in a warm draft free area. It is very easy to find one of them in our apartment right now! Let it rise for 1 hour or until it doubles in size.

- Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce (recipe below) and get your toppings ready (what ever you fancy!).

- Once your dough has doubled in size crank your oven to hot hot hot (220C or hotter) and place your baking trays in the oven. Gently push the dough down knocking the air out and divide it into two pieces.

- Stretch or roll them out on a floured surface to your desired tray size/shape and place the dough on to either foil or baking paper. Top them with the sauce and your toppings.

- Slide the pizzas onto the hot trays (keep them on the foil or paper) and bake for about 15 minutes or until everything is bubbling and smelling incredible.

Tomato Sauce recipe:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, finely sliced
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 can tomatoes
1/2 cup water

- Heat olive oil, garlic, onion and oregano over medium heat and cook until onion is translucent.

- Add tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the can of tomatoes and water and bring to a boil.

- Cook for 20min on low. Let cool for 10 minutes or so then using a stick blender or processor blitz the sauce if you want a smooth sauce or leave it chunky if you prefer.

Turkey & Chorizo Burritos inspired by Donna Hay.

Have you ever lost your mojo? Get your mind our of the gutter!! I mean something you were so passionate about which kind of turned all a little bit sour, only for you to realise that maybe you should have left it a passion and not pursued it further then maybe, just maybe you’d still be in love with it?

Sorry, a little deep for a Friday morning.

So in attempt to find my mojo again I thought the only way to do this was to start cooking again, and I mean a girls got to eat right?! I have had a fair few weeks off and definitely eaten way too much local Thai-takeaway and pizza.

I did have this horrible freezer experience last week when I went to reheat some mystery unlabelled mince container for dinner and ended up with freezer tasting pasta sauce. That meal inspired me to throw out everything that was a mystery and unlabelled in my freezer and to my horror there was quite a few containers and ziplock bags that all contained freezer flavoured mystery sauces.

So with a freezer that is no longer threatens your toes with mystery frozen items falling out when you open the door and no mojo. We also had no food. SO meal planning started again and to the supermarket I went and came back with a lot of food that surprisingly didn’t break the bank as previous shops have done.

On Monday night we had Turkey and Chorizo burritos inspired by a recipe in the latest Donna Hay magazine -Summer issue (Feb/Mar 2015) which is out now. They were delicious and a lot fresher than burritos I’ve made before. I felt healthy after and not overly full which is a nice change… I can never order the right about of Thai food (2 entrees, 1 main and a large rice oh but thats not enough for delivery... ok add another main dish to the order). I also decided to use turkey mince instead of chicken mince because well… I can. That’s what I think I need to keep reminding myself that you can change a recipe and it’s not written in stone and if it is written in stone, there is stone masons for a reason.

The mince mixture when cooking looked a little dry and a bit nothing if I am honest. I wanted to add a can of tomatoes to it or something to make it saucy but restrained and I’m glad I did because it wasn’t dry at all when it all come together. I added a teaspoon of smoked paprika to the mince for extra flavour and with the lack of fresh coriander I went to my newly sorted freezer to find the frozen stuff and BLURGH! Freezer tasking coriander anyone??? So I ditched that and dried coriander leaves it was and you know what it still tasted pretty damn good but I will admit fresh coriander would make it better.

I served the turkey and chorizo mince with diced tomato, lettuce, grated cheese, sour cream, black beans and guacamole. DE-LISH!

I wouldn’t say my mojo is back after making one meal… but hunger is a great motivator to make dinner.

Turkey and Chorizo Burritos (with all the trimmings).

serves 2
Recipe adapted from Donna Hay Magazine Summer Feb/Mar 2015 issue.

1 tablespoon olive oil (or any other mild cooking oil)

250g turkey mince

1 chorizo sausage, diced finely

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

½ teaspoon chilli flakes

Salt and pepper, to taste

Guacamole:

1 avocado, mashed with a fork

½ small tomato, diced

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Salt and Pepper, to taste

1x 400g can black beans drained and rinsed

To serve:

Sour cream

1 tomato, diced

4 tortillas, warmed

grated cheese

chilli sauce

mixed lettuce leaves

- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat and add your chorizo, turkey mince, garlic and chilli. Break the mince up with a wooden spoon as you fry it all until its lovely and brown. Add the paprika and dried coriander and cook until the mince is cooked through. (This will looks a little dry but trust me it will be ok.)

- Meanwhile: heat the black beans in the microwave or over the stove until piping hot,  make guacamole by mixing all ingredients together and warm the tortillas.

- Serve with the condiments of your choice and dig in.