Snow Man

So are like my kids the cutest things you've ever seen or what? Ivy is indicating that she is standing in front of a snow man. I should mention to all the northen hemisphere viewers, It's the middle of summer here at the moment. So when I'm opening presents under my christmas tree and there's two feet of snow out side. Well, thats kinda crazy shit coz, Last time I checked christmas day has been stinkin hot, like 35c (110f), thats what we normaly get. So all my christmas cooking has been like conflicting, because normaly I'll cook things to eat in the heat. But this time round I got a cook like pommy stuff, (Baked ham and all. Just check my last post).

So as a contrast to all the contrasting conditions, I am choseing to list a recipe for a sea food stir fry.

Ingredence:

250g Baby octopus. Cut in 4.

250g Peeled prawns.

1 Carrot. Sliced for stir fry.

4 cloves of garlic. Finley diced.

1/2 Cup spring onions. Choped.

3 Table spoon of oyster sauce.

150g packet of Odon noodles. Cooked as per directions.

Sesame oil.

Method:

In a smokeing hot wok, add a splash of oil. Fry the carrots for about 30 seconds. Now add the prawns and the octopus, fry them for 1 minute. Tip in the noodles, oyster sauce, garlic, and spring onion. Toss it all through. When the spring onion starts to wilt the noodles should be hot enought to serve.

Christmas feast

Christmas has been and gone. So I guess I should show you what was cooked on the big day. Seen here are:

Avocarrdo, Hommus, and Beetroot dip.

Roast chicken with roast potatoes.

Glazed baked ham.

Ingredents:Dips:

Avocardo:

1 Prefectly ripe Avocarrdo.

2 cloves of garlic.

3 table spoons of sour cream.

Zest and juce of 1 lemmon.

Pinch of salt & pepper.

Method:

In a food processor, combine all ingredence.

Hommus:

1 440g tin of organic chick peas. Drained.

4 cloves of garlic.

1&1/2 tea spoons of ground cummin seeds.

Juce of 1 lemmon.

Salt & pepper.

Method:

Combine all ingredence in a food processor.

Beetroot:

300g of roasted peeled beetroots. (You can use tinned if you want.)

1&1/2 tea spoons of ground cummin seeds.

1 tea spoon of salt flakes.

1 tea spoon of cracked pepper.

3 table spoons of sour cream.

Method:

Combine all ingredence in a food processor.

Ingredence: Chicken:

1 free range size 16 (1.6kg) chicken.

1/2 lemmon.

2 spriggs of sage.

Handful of flat leaf parsley.

5 cloves of garlic.

2 stalks of spring onion.

1 fresh red chilli.

Salt & pepper.

Olive oil.

Method:

Stuff the chook with the lemmon, sage, parsley, garlic, spring onion, and chilli. Rub the skin with olive oil. Tie up the cavity and legs. Crack some pepper over the skin along with a sprinkleing of salt flakes. Roast in a kettle BBQ with a water filled drip tray for 2&1/2 hours. Rest for 7 minutes befor carving.

Glazed baked ham:

Ingredence:

1 leg of cured ham.

Cloves

Zest and juice of an orange.

1/2 a cup of white wine.

1/4 of a cup of brown sugar.

Method:

Remove skin from the ham. Score the fat in a diamond pattern, insert a clove into the middle of each diamond. Roast in a slow oven at 130c for 3 hours. Mean while, create a glaze from the oringe, wine, and sugar. Now for the next 1&1/2 hours, open the oven and baste the ham with the glaze every 15 minutes. Rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Prawn and Corn Big Boots Ivy.

Top blogs all. Yes I know it's snowing at Christmas time. Thats not stopping me from me from posting a hot weather stir fry though. So, if you've got some left over roast chicken and a few prawns from chrissy, you can chuck this one together in no time flat. The listed ingredents will feed 4.

Ingredents:

400g Peeled prawn tails.

1/2 Roasted chicken.

350g Sweet baby corn. (Tined is fine).

300g Champigion mushrooms. (Tined is fine).

8 Cherry tomatoes. Halved.

1 Cup of choped spring onions.

1 Carrot sliced for stir fry.

5x3x5cm peice of ginger. Peeled and finley diced.

6 cloves of garlic. Diced.

1 Onion. Sliced for stir fry.

1 Table spoon of oyster sauce.

3 Table spoon of soy sauce.

2 Cups of long grain rice. Cooked.

Method:

In a smokeing hot wok, add a little olive oil. Tip in the onion and carrot. Flash fry for 40 seconds. Now add the prawns along with the ginger and garlic. Cook for another 50 seconds. Add the rest of the ingredents with a little extra oil if it wants to stick. Toss it through for a bit. When the spring onions have begun to wilt, thats an indication that the rice has come up to temp, now it's ready. Do sreve promptly. Remember, "Fresh is best".

Serving:

Fryed rice is best served in a bowl, (not on a plate) the shape of the bowl will help to preserve the heat. This is importaint because cold fryed rice tastes like crap! Also if you got the rice right, I insist on useing chop sticks. I know some people are yet to learn how to use them. Now is the time to give it a crack. Once you give it a go, you'll realize it's really not that hard. If you're still unsure, learners cop stick are avalable. Otherwise I would strongly recomend asking some one who allready knows how to use chop sticks.

Merry Christmas Blogs

Dearest readers.

What a yummy food year it has been. From spicy stir frys, to hearty stews, and rich pastas, with so many others inbetween. It's been a real treat cooking for all of you who read my blog. I would like to pass on a special thank you to Seb & Steff who are regular readers, and have given me valuble feed back by trying my recipes out for themselves. Thanks for all the inspiration. Also a big thankyou to my wife Justine, and my three beautiful kids, Finn, Archer, And Ivy for putting up with all of my exprements in the kitchen. Thanks to everyone else for being a part of my blog. I've had a great time cooking for all of you, and I am looking forwards to cooking up a storm in the new year..... Mary christmas, and a happy 2007.

Brock.

High steaks (Tuna)

Last blog I had a comment asking for a way to cook tuna steaks. (Hi Steff). Southern ocean tuna Has been found to be mercury free. As such, I feel I can talk up the benifits of oily fish. Holey shit this stuff is good. If you want to avoid heart, kidney, liver, blader, what ever desease, eat mercury free tuna. The sheer number of disorders prevented or treated by the consumtion of 'Omaga-3 fatty acids' is bloody huge. No need to list them here, just Google "Omega-3" and see for yourself....
Ok. Now you know how good tuna is. Lets get to the really good bits: I'll start by saying this. People liveing in Japan live longer and with better health than so called western people. Why? More fish! But more importantly, more fatty fish. In the west, people see fat as being unhealthy. True, when it comes from pork, beef, or lamb, it is. Eat the fatty tuna though, you'll live to be 100 and never need glasses. In Japan the highest quality tuna is regarded as being the fattyest cuts. All the left overs, or the fat free cuts, are shiped over to us. The highest concentration of Omaga fatty acids in tuna are located within the fatty tissue.
But what I realy wanted to get at was: What are the best cuts of tuna? I will cut straight to the point here. (Get it. Cut...Ha, Ha) No, really. The best cut of tuna is off the cheek. Yes the face cheek. So many people discard the head as waste. But this is where the best meat is found. Also, the fattyest fat, (Remember Omega-3) is found around the, wait for it, yes,.... The 'Eye'.... I know that the average westen person will find the thought of eating a fish eye disgusting. But don't knock it untill you've tryed it. May I suggest grilled over hot coles with salt and peper....
But thats not what I'm here for tonight. The question was about tuna steak. The following is a healthy, but tasty meathod. I should add that the following is my perfered meathod for serving oily fish steak.
Ingredence:
250g wild caught tuna steak. Tail section.
Plain flour, salt falkes, and cracked peper,. to dust.
Olive oil to fry. Has to be high quality.
Wedge of lemmon. As garnish.
Method:
This is very easy. Dust lightly with flour. Cook on a lightly oiled non stick pan. Don't over cook tuna, if you do it will be dry and horrible. If you've got the pan tempreture just right, you should end up with a very thin golden crust formed by the flour. Crack a bit of salt and peper over the top. Give it a twist of lemon, and your done. ....B

Green Been and Chilli Ginger Pork.

Hot blogs all. Tonight I got a spicey pork stir fry for you. This one totally woks!
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I love to stir fry. In blogs gone by, I have given many hints and tips on how to get the best from your wok. I have even included a section. ' Rules of the wok '. After all of that and a fair bit of practice you should be like: "My wokx so hot right now".
So if your wok skills rock. Get that 40,000 BTU propane burner fired up. Pull on the fire proof gloves. Break out the fire extinguisher. And lets wok this joint.
Ingredents:
500g Free range pork ribs. Cut into strips. Bones removed.
1 Small carrot. Sliced.
250g Green beans. Cut into thirds.
Big knob of ginger. Finley diced.
4 cloves of garlic. Finley diced.
125g of dryed green tea noodles. (Soba or Odon will also work fine.)
4 Table spoons of oyster sause.
1/2 Cup choped spring onions.
2 table spoons of Tabasco sauce.
2 table spoons of sweet rice wine. (Sweet sherry will be fine also).
1 table spoon soy sauce.
Fresh crached pepper.
1 fresh diced chilli. (Optional. With all the Tabasco, this could be considerd over kill).
Method:
Marinate the pork in the oyster, soy and tobasco sauce, along with the rice wine, garlic and extra chilli. Allow 20 minutes max for the marination time. While the pork is marinating, Cook the noodles according to the directions. Rince, drain, and set the noodles aside. Heat up your wok, and fry off the pork in a little sesame oil reserveing the marinade, and set aside. Cook the carrots and beans. When the beans and carrots are almost done, add the spring onions. Stir them through. Now return the rest of the ingredents including the marinade and noodles. Toss through and serve.
Serving:
I love to drink a dark ale, honey gold is best with this one.
This is a simple one bowl dish. No need for garnish or finery. Just use chopsticks.

Fetta Bust Out The Watermelon

Where's the fruit? Today it was pointed out to me that out of 100 blogs only one recipe contained fruit. Not fruity enough. So lets get the fruit on. For dinner that is.

In rising to the 'fruit for dinner challange'. It occured to me that apart from tomatoes, fruit is very rarley used in the main meal at dinner time. As such, I was hard pressed to come up with the goods.

But, I think you'll find this one a real cracker. With a salad like this it's all about the sweetness of the watermelon, balanced with the saltiness of fetta. Chuck in a bit off mint for contrast. Voila, a fruity salad that goes well with red meat, or other robust savory flavors like that. This ones for you Steff. Hope you like it...?

Ingredents:

1kg diced watermelon. Seeds removed.

200g Australian fetta.

1/2 Cup of fresh mint. Roughly choped.

Method:

Combine all ingredents.

Notes:

As this is the first time I have ever cooked watermelon salad. I will atempt to refine both the ingredents and the method. I would like to develop a dressing. Possibly just a squeeze of lemon, and a crack of pepper. I will post the results of future experiments....

I know you don't eat lamb (You know who you are). But I feel lamb works wonderfully with this salad. It's all in the mint. I would love it if you gave it a try. Later.......B

100 Blogs!

Holey shit. I got to 100 blog enteries. For some reason, in the 'Blogerverse' . It is considered good form to list a few things about oneself. 100 things actually. One for each blog entry. Not being the type to back away from traditional traditions, I will attempt my one hundered list. No doubt, shit a house interpretation. Yes I did mean to shit a house.

1. I've posted 100 blogs.

2. I love my wife and kid very much.

3. I love food 100% of the time.

4. My boss is a wanker.

5. I am in love with my knives.

6. I think about my knives when I'm not useing them.

7. I meditate when I sharpen my knifes.

8. I own 3 different steels, a 2 sided stone, and a razor strop. (Keeps my knifes sharp).

9. I don't like it when other people look at, or handle my knifes.

10. I think organic, and free range, always taste better than. Pesticide, and cage

bread animals.

11. If you can make it from scratch. It will allways taste better than pre- processed shite.

12. I like to grow my own herbs. You can't get fresher than picked 10 seconds ago. Plus there free...
13. Is the day in December that my sister has her birthday.

14. I still remenber the day my butcher retired, and took with him the best 4kg rump steaks the world has ever seen.

15. I love to make my wife great cups of tea ;-)

16. My wife loves to let me sleep in on weekends.

17. 15 is only to because I love my wife and because she loves me. 16 never happens.

18.

Bun-cho-piks

Ta.......

Santa Chook

Yo. Word on the street is that Santa is on his way into town. In my half of the word, the bottom/ or better half, it's really starting to heat up about this time of year. But many of us anglo homies, are still tryin to keep it real. We're still holding on to our northern heratage. Rather than cooking up a curry or sum such that would suite a hot climb like ours. We still want to do. 'Baked ham, roast pork, or chicken, or something totally inappropirate like that.

Roast chicken, with sage, mint, parsley, mint, lemmon and cous cous stuffing.

Sided by baked potaoes with sage and mint marinade. Alongside slow roasted roma tomatoes with a balsamic and peper reduction.....

Ingredients:

1 size 18 free range chicken.

8 long sprigs of sage.

12 long sprigs of mint.

1/2 cup of parsley.

4 cloves of garlic.

1 cup of cous cous.

1 table spoon of butter.

Pepper.

Olive oil.

Salt flakes.

Ingredience, Sides:

4 ripe Roma tomatoes. Halfed.

12 small Duch cream potatoes. In half.

1/4 cup balsamic vinager.

Peper. Fresh cracked.

Olive oil.

Salt flakes.

Method:

Sorry. You'll have to wait untill next time, coz I'm totally knacked. See you soon. B-Rock

Thanks Stephanie Alexander. (For the scones).

Lady Flo, I am told. Thinks pumpkin scones are wicked. I think they are wicked also. The above pic is the result of one of my best friends recepies. Who I am sure you all know. 'Stephanie Alexander'.
If you spead butter over them when they are still warm from the oven, It's just heaven.
So, as Stephanie tells us:
Ingredents:
250g pumkin. Peeled and cut into chunks.
300g self raiseing flour.
20g butter.
Pinch of salt.
1 lightly beaten free range egg.
Method:
Steam pumkin untill soft. The in a pre heated overn at 200c, breifly dry off, and pruee. Add this to sifted flour with the butter, and salt rubed in. Add the egg, and some milk to make a soft dough. Tip the mixture onto a floured bakeing tray. With floured hands, pat the dough into rounds, about 3cm thick is good. Useing the back of a knife mark into wedges or squares. Brush with milk and bake for 15 to 20 minutes untill golden brown. Cool, then brake them open and spread with butter. Consume promptly for best results.

It's English. So I Boiled The Shit Out Of It.

A big hello all lovers of boiled food. On the menu tonight: We've got an old (Thoroughly boiled for hours on end, just to be sure.) English classic....

Corned Beef. (Sliverside). With White Sauce.

Now I can understand that if you have never tryed silverside. The idea of a hunk of beef thats been soaked in sea water, then boiled for several hours. Can sound a bit off putting. But... If you've tryed A good corned beef. Then you'll now it's totally wicked, and you'll want to eat it all the time. Just like me. Also the rest of my family goes ape shit every time I cook it. Plus, the left over meat is awsome on white bread with tomato sauce. The following is one of many, many ways of cooking silverside. Hope you like it.

Ingredents:

1.5kg of corned silverside. Trim the fat.

2 brown onions. Peeled.

8 whole cloves.

3 large peeled and chopes carrots.

1 dozen peper corns

2 fresh bay leaves.

Method:

Fill a large heavey based pot with enough water to immerse the beef. Bring it to the boil. Rinse the beef, then place it in the water. Alow it to come to the boil. After 30 seconds, remove the beef. Drain the water and rince the pot. (This step is to remove excess salts from the beef.) Refill the pot, replace the beef. Return to the boil. Add the bay leaves, pepper corns, carrots, onions and cloves. Simmer slowly for three hours. As serving time nears. Prepare a white sauce. Flash boil some sliced cabbage.

Serving:

Place some cabbage onto a plate. Next layer 3 or 4 medium thick (3-4 mm) peices of silverside over the cabbage. Add some of the boiled carrots on the side as a garnish. Ladlle a real good dollop of the white sauce over the top. Crack a bit of pepper over it. Now eat it. After every third bite, take a sip of amber ale.

Chilli pork rissoles. Potato Fritters. Mango salad.

Hot weather is upon me. As such I am inclined to prepare meals that are trpoical in nature...

Pork, chillis, mangos, can be worked up to create magic on hot evenings.

This meal has quite a few ingredents. I'll just get straight into it.

Ingredents: Chilli pork.

500g minced pork.

1 small brown onion.

1/4 cup of mint.

4 cloves of garlic.

3 small red chillis.

1/4 cup bread crumbs.

Pepper.

Salt.

Ingredents: Fritters.

200g Sweet potato. Grated.

3 Free range eggs.

2 cloves garlic.

Dash of oyster sauce.

Pepper.

Ingredents: Salad.

1 mango. Sliced.

Cos lettues. Sliced.

Spring onion. Sliced.

Dressing;

1 tbl spoon malt vinagar.

1 tbl spoon sweet cherry.

1 clove of minced garlic.

Juce of 1/4 lemmon.

1/2 tea spoon of palm, or raw sugar.

Pepper.

Method:

For the burgers. Finley chop all the ingredents. Combine and form into patties. When it comes time to cook em: A hot, hot plate will do. Make sure to char each side, this will give the best flavor.

Next. Salad. For this one, greener mangoes are best. Toss all the ingredents together. Very difficult I know.

As for the dressing: This is an opportunity to bring together a whole bunch of oppisites. Mix em into one harmonious flavor, trust me it works! Sweet, tart, heat, bitter. Dress mangoes in this way, so as to equalize the sweetness of the fruit.

Getting to the fritters: As the egg tends to run. I recomend useing an egg ring, or something similar. Other wise. Mix all the ingredents, and cook over a gental hot plate.

When I served this, I made a sauce useing yougart and mint, peper and garlic helps. But you won't die if it's not included. If you do decide to go with the sauce. Drizzle it all over. Yum Yum.

Deglazed Egg Yoke Carbonara. (Brock special).

Carbonara is a favourite in our house. This varient utilises the deglazeing of the bacon in a very hot pan. I wont tourture you all by re-writeing the hole recipe. Instead I'll just give you the things that I changed from my other carbonara posting. If your wondering, that posting was called "Carb-o Nar Nar Ra Ra".
Tranformation A-la Methode:
Get your pan real hot. Slap in the bacon. Work it well, in a minute or so, a brown glaze will start to appear on the base. Bring the heat down real low. Deglaze the pan with the onion. Make sure to scrape off as much of the glaze as possible. If you look real close at the photo you can see small peices of it contained within the sauce. The de-glazeing of the bacon transformes the taste of this dish.
As for the sauce:
All you need to do is. Use a dash less cream. But add the cream just as you remove the heat. Also add an extra egg yoke at the end. Plus I used alot more parley, but it was more finely choped. Note the golden hew in the finnished dish....

Slow Cooked Basil Lamb Fettucine.

Will finnish later. Ta....

OK... Finally, I'm here to finnish this posting...

For the most part. The recipes that I post are either: Quick but hard. Or long winded, but piss easy.

This dish is definately in the latter catagory. Dead easy. But make sure you set aside a good 4 hours to 'whip' this one up. However, I would never expect you to waste 1/2 a day cooking, unless the end result wasn't totally awsome.

In saying that. Can you please ignore the pic. I had friends over, as such my home brew was sampled. The result being a half assed effort when it came to plate up time. Slip. Slap. Slop.

Ingredents:

2kg Lamb neck. (On bone).

750g tomatoes. (Diced).

2 medium brown onions. (Diced).

6 cloves garlic. (Minced).

1/2 cup of fresh choped basil.

Salt& pepper. (To taste).

Fresh made pasta. (To serve 4-6).

Olive oil.

Method:

In a large heavey based pot. Fry off the lamb in a little oil over high heat. When mostly done, add the onion. After a couple of minutes, stir in the garlic, at the same time remove from the heat. Work in the garlic so as to seal. Return to the heat. Add the tomatoes. Crack in some pepper. Bring to the boil. Test for seasoning. Now place the covered pot into a pre heated oven at 180c for 2 & 1/2 hours. Check at the half way point, top up with water if it's looking a little dry. Coincide cooking time with the preperation of fresh pasta. Other wise: (If you haven't figured out how to make pasta by now. Try to buy premium fettucine). At the last minute, add the basil, Just wilt it in.

Now your ready to plate up. Spiral the pasta onto the plate. Not like the car crash of a job I did. Ladle a small amount of the sauce over the top. (Strip the meat from the bone first). Shave some fragerent hard cheese over the top. Wash it all down with a robust red.

Ginger Ribs

Soooo. First of all. Like I'm realy sorry about the lack of posting... For a second there, I thought I was like, bumed out. But then I realized, I was just over worked. So like, totaly! For real! Get out! No way!

Soy Ginger Ribs:

Ingredents:

4 Free range pork ribs. (Any weight will do).

Big knob of ginger. Finley diced.

4 Cloves of garlic. Finley diced.

Juice & zest of lemon.

Fresh cracked peper.

Soy sauce.

Fish sauce.

Method:

Add the ginger, garlic, lemmon, and peper to a non reactive dish for marinateing the pork. Pat the pork ribs in the goodness. Coat evenly. Leave for 15 minutes. Now add enough soy so as to cover the ribs. Marinate for an extra 15 minutes. (Give it 20-25 if they are extra thick). Don't forget about the marination time. Soy as a marinde will easly over power most other flavors. But if you nail the timeing, you will experence the very best flavors that soya sauce has to offer. At the same time allowing the other subtle flavors to show through. After the marinating period is over. Slap them (The ribs) onto a moderate hot plate. Don't go to hot or you'll burn the marinade. But if your hot plate is to cold it will allow the moisture to release it's self from the flesh, leaveing your ribs tough and dry. OK . got all that?

Look... Sraight up. This one is easy to make. But it's bloody hard to marinate and cook properly. If you want to be a great chef. Don't expect to be an expert on your first shot at it. Practice makes perfect.... Before anything hits my blog. It's cooked and cooked again. Eventualy, after many fuck ups, I'll get it right... Sometimes.

Apologies to my family for haveing to suffer through this. Also for haveing to endure my culanary experements...

Country Bumkin Beef Pie

In regards to the comment left on this posting:

I can only conclude from the idiosyncratic grammatical nuances, that the author of the said posting is indeed my good friend, that we will call for the sake of privacy, 'A'.../....../.....

Hello 'A'. thanks for leaving a comment.

In responce to your question. Why don't I have more non meat recipes on my blog? I can say this:

Bloody (Non meat blood) oath. Your right. I should have more vegaterian meals listed on my blog. I mean the fat found in meat is a cheats way to add depth, texture, and flavor to a meal. If I was worth my salt as a home cook, I would try to find ways of extracting, depth, texture, and flavor out of vegtables alone.

However in the last Austrialian census. It was disclosed that 2.78% of people surveyed said that they were vegatarian only. The total percentage of my postings that are not only vegaterian, but vegan aswell, stands at 3.20%. Thus I can say that my blog exceeds the demographic requirement for vegetarian meals. In saying that. Offensive as I may be. You can rest assured.

Know this: Any vegaterian meal contributed in the comments section will be prepeared to the letter, and posted here for all to see. With full credit to the postee. Thanks for reading my blog/...... Later, 'B'.

PS: The correct spelling of the word idiosyncratic, was provided by my wife. All other spelling mistakes are intirely my fault.

PSS: The pictured beer is not vegaterian. Colagen was used as a finning agent. I must say that I am very much against such additives. If one was to make a good beer in the first place. It would not need such things. But I did buy the pictured beer from Ikea. What else should I expect?

Pork barreling

I cooked a one pot pork casserolle. Oh yeah.... I'll tell you how.
This is a cross between English, and French techniques. ( I hope saying shit like that doesn't get me blasted of the web). Here I have combined skills learnd after many-a one pot simmer sessions.
Ingredence:
5 Full free range for quater pork chops.
5 Peeled small waxy potatoes.
2 Large onions.
3 large peeled carrots.
5 sticks of choped celery.
1.5lt of beef stock.
1/2 cup of stout. (Optional).
6 cloves of garlic.
100g fresh green peper corns.
3tbl spoons plain flour.
Olive oil.
Salt & Pepper.
Method:
In a large oven proof heavey based pot. Fry off the chops in a little oil. Set aside. Add the finely chopped onions, cook untill semi done. Add the choped carrots, and cellery, along with the potatoes. Sweat off for a full 5 minutes with reduced heat. Now add the flour. Stir in and add the liquid. Bring to the boil. Tip in the pepper corns. Layer in the chops, cover, place in a pre heated oven at 180c for 2&1/2 hours.
Serving:
Layer out some liquid, Then some veg, potatoes on top. Finnish off with the wonderfuly softned pork. Garnish with parsley if you want. As I don't know what to make of the style. Pepper corn pork casserole. Can be served with what ever beverage you want.

Spag Blog

Spaghetti Blognaise. If you have lived in Melbourne for more than a week, you will have tryed 'spag bog'. Now you you've tryed it and you love it, you'll want to know how to cook it.

This is how I do it.

Ingredents:

500g minced beef.

1 large brown onion.

440g diced tomatoes.

3 cloves of garlic. Finley choped.

Char grilled vegtables. To taste.

1 tbl spoon of tomato paste.

Salt & peper.

Olive oil.

Method:

In a large heavy based pot. Fry off the onion in a little olive oil, untill soft and transparent. Then add the beef with the heat turned up. When thats cooked, add the tomato paste. Fry on the move for a few seconds. Now add the garlic salt and peper. Stir then add the tomatoes. bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Give it a drink if it looks a bit dry. Also be a bit naughty and add a splash of red wine to the mix....

Serving:

Plate up on a bed of #4 spaghetti. Some like to toss through the sauce. Thats fine. Infact, thats more than likely how it should be done. But here I just plonked it on top. Must be eat'n with a red. Thanks for reading.

Curryed Lamb Burgers.

First things first. Gota answer the comments from my last post. 1: Yes the pictures I post are most of the time just one serving. I make the servings so big because: From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, I work, Damn hard. I have a family to support, and I don't want to let them down by not working as hard as I can all of the time. As such, I burn a huge amount of energy through out the course of the day. Hence the wopping plate fulls. Cool. 2: Yes you can come over for dinner next time I make that meal. I promise you a, 'Bloody wicked mate', dinner.

As for the curryed lamb burrgers. Let get it on. (Iron chef).

Ingredents:

500g minced lamb.

1 small brown onion. vrey finely chopped.

2 cloves garlic. Minced.

1/2 tblspoon cummin seeds.

3 cloves.

3 cardomon pods.

1/2 tbl spoon tumeric.

1/2 tbl spoon paprika.

1&1/2 tbl spoons of fresh choped parsley.

1/2 tbl spoon salt. Same peper.

Method:

Pound all the spices to a powder. Add this to the other ingredents. Combine well and form into patties. Cook on a medium hot plate.

Serving:

Look. What you serve'em with is up to. In the pix they got grilled vegies. I like beer for this one. Ta...

Succulent Lamb Balls. (Curryed).

Curry rocks.

These recipes are complicated., But with a wow factor of warp 10. I just have to share it with you. Try this:

Ingredents: Lamb Balls:

500g minced lamb.

200g standard sausage mince.

1 brown onion. Very finely diced.

Several sprigs of parsley.

Pepper.

1 tbl spoon. Harrisa curry spices.

Ingredents: Curry Sauce:

1/2 tea spoon tumeric.

4 cloves.

5 green cardomon pods.

1 tbl spoon of cummin seeds.

1/2 tbl spoon of black mustard seeds.
6 dryed red chillis.

1/2 tea spoon of pepper.

1/2 tea spoon of salt.

4 cloves of garlic.

1 brown onion. Finely choped.

450g diced tomatoes.

Olive oil.

Method:Balls:

Combine all ingerdents. Roll into little balls and fry off in a little oil. Set aside.

Method: Curry:

Combine all ingredents, bar the tomato and onions. In a mortar, pound the shit out of the spices with a little oil, untill they are a nice paste.

Fry off the onion in the same pot as the balls. Deglase the base. When onions are about done, add some extra mustard and cummin seeds. When they start to crackle and pop, add the paste. Move constantly. As you do this, lean over the pot and wait untill the aromatic oils are released. This should only take a few seconds. As this happens, tip in the tomatoes, deglase the pot for the final time. Top up with half a cup of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer. Now add the lamb balls. Return to a simmer and cook for at least 1 & 1/2 hours.

Serving:

Ladle out the sauce and meat balls onto a furrowed bed of rice. Also, make a yogart sauce with finley diced cucummber, minced garlic, crached pepper, mint, and raw sugar. Drink a dark ale.....

Skewerd Cow Yum Yums!

This one it kinda like my last posting in it's construction , just different. Cow not chook here...

Ingredents:

Small Rump steak.

1 rasher of middle bacon.

1 medium flat mushroom.

Spring onions

Seed mustard.

Horse radish.

Peper.

Method:

Pound the shit out of the beef so as to end up with a nice thin, elongated steak. Spread a small amount of mustard and horse radish over the top, along with a generous cracking of peper. Slice the mushroom an place in the middle of the steak, along with the spring onions. Trim the rind from a rasher of bacon. Lift up the meat, place it over bacon. Roll the whole thing up. Impale it on a meatal skewer.

Cook it on a hot BBQ plate untill the bacon is well browned off on boath sides. Transfer to the bakeing tray and give it about 15-20 minutes. Remove and rest for a few minutes before serving.

Serving:

I think a red. Not to fancey. But if you have to, a dark ale, (Wich is what I drank) will do fine.

Skewer Yum Yums!

Tonight I've got stuffed thy fillet of chook filled with asparagus garlic and curry spices. BBQed with a bacon wraping.... Shit yeah.

Ingredence:

2 free range thy fillets of chicken. Skin off.

4 Slim asparagus spears.

2 rashers of middle bacon. Eye removed.

2 cloves of garlic. Finley choped.

1 tea spoon of curry spices. See 'High Speed Chick Pea' posting for ingredents.

Method:

Lay out the fillets. Across the length of the fillet, place the asparagus. (Snap the ends of first and discard. Then snap em in half. This should be a good size.) Sprinkle the garlic over the top aswell as the spices. Place the fillet in line and over the top of a bacon rasher. Useing the bacon as a wrap, roll up the fillet. Skewer and repeat for remaining ingredents.

Place skewers onto a medium hot BBQ grill. With the cover on, grill for about 5 minutes. Turn over and give it another five minutes. Move to the roasting tray, and cook for another 15-20 minutes. Remove, but only rest for about 2 minutes befor serving.

Serving:

For the pictured meal, I used a bed of cous cous with parsley. You could probably use what ever you wan't. I liked to drink a clean ale with this meal. This is a beverage non descript meal. But a bloody good one... Enjoy.

Blogs Revisited!

Kon ban wa blog viewers. From time to time. I try cooking things that I have cooked before. The reasons why are: Can I cook it the same again? Can I tweak it with subtle changes to the ingredents that will make it better? Can I make subtle changes to the ingredents so as to change the flavor, thus creating a new dish? With the same ingredents, can I alter the method so as to present it in a different style? Can any of the above questions teach me anything new about the combinations of ingredents and/or methods that that I have used before?

In essence my core cullanary values are:

Can I do it again?

Can I make it better?

Can I make it different?

Can it look different but taste the same?

Have I learned anything?

Every time you cook. Try to make something youv'ed never made before. If you do this as often as you can, you'll learn a shit load, and end up a way better cook.

As for the pix pictured:

The egg and bacon pie needs tomato on the botton as well as the top. Plus, sprinkle parsley all over just before it goes in the oven.

The lasagne needs to be cooked for about 20 minutes longer than stated in the original posting. Also, try useing a little less topping. I feel this will better balance the flavor.

Finelly. In my last posting I talked about shooting kangaroos. To all of the offended peoples. My apologies. Here is the same meal useing T-bone steak.

Roo-n-Mash

G-day. Tonight it's full blooded Aussie. Grilled kangaroo on potato mash, with mushroom sauce.

These days, you should be able to buy good quality kangaroo at your locall supermarket. I would go so far as to recommend it as a good substitute for beef. The flesh is some what more lean than beef. As it is not farmed, all kangaroo can be considered organic. When cooked, it will grey more than a cow, but will retain more flavor. The only real down side to roo is. If you don't seal it on a red hot pan, It will loose all of it's moisture. To let roo dry out when not sealed properly. Well you might as well eat my work boots. It's that bad.

If like me, you went down the back paddok to waste a fresh one. Use something with a bit of stopping power. 303, .22 magnum with hollow or star point. Anything .45, of even 50cal. All bored weapons with these numbers should bring down a large roo with one chest shot. In saying that. Steer clear of the big males. They are a bit tough.

Also, if your out roo shootn. I feel it is your duty as an Australian to kill atleast 60 rabbits, 14 foxes, 6 cats, 4 pigs, 2 goats, and a deer. All of these can be eaten. Foxes and cats however, taste like shit.

Ingredents:

250g (Per serve). Kangarook, rump steak.

2 large flat mushrooms.

4 large potatoes for mash.

1/4 cup plain flour.

2 tbl spoons butter.

Fresh choped parsley.

Fresh choped spring onions.

1/2 cup milk.

Salt & pepper.

Method:

Cook and mash the spuds. Heat a bbq hot plate to smokeing hot. Add the spring onions and parsley with a knob of butter to the mash. Pound it to a,.. Mash.

On your ultra hot hot plate, cook the roo. Test for doneness with the finger method.

Now make a roue with the mushroom.

Plate up...

Serving:

Make a stack of mash. Lay the steak on top. Drizzle roue over the lot. Done.

Drink with either a deep red or a rich larger.

Thanks for reading.........Hope you cook it.