Cicken & Ricotta Quiche

Quiche: Short crust pastery with an egg bound filling.

Aubergine Lasagne

I got the most awesome eggplants from my parents garden. Plucked fresh and cooked soonafter, eggplant takes on a whole new dimention. Super fresh eggplant has a texture kind of like granny smith apples; Crisp and firm, with a hint of flour as an after thought.

So I used the eggplant in a lasagne, it was bloody beautiful mate, check out the pix, good looking grub hey? Oh and I put in a pic of two thirds of my kids.

The following recipe will feed eight hungry people:

Ingredence:

6 egg plants. (600g).

1kg minced beef.

1kg tomatoes skinned and diced.

2 brown onions diced.

1 bulb, (not clove) of garlic diced finely.

8 large feild mushrooms sliced.

1 large green capsicum sliced.

250g of chedder cheese grated.

300g of reccota cheese.

250g of fetta (Australian) cheese.

Enough fresh rolled pasta to do about 6 or 7 layers.

Salt flakes and fresh cracked pepper.

Olive oil.

Method:

In a large heavy based pot, fry the onion slowly untill well softened. Max the heat and add the mince and garlic, cook untill done. Add the tomatoes with a pinch of salt and pepper. Lower the heat, simmer and reduce untill well thickened.

Roll out your pasta and set aside. Dust with extra flour beforhand to prevent the pasta sticking.

Ladle a small amount of sauce into a rectangle pyrex oven dish, this will form a layer to stop the pasta sticking. Now lay down pasta, sauce, mushrooms, pasta, sauce, chedder cheese, pasta sauce, capsicum, and repeat untill the dish is almost full.

In a mixing bowl combine the reccota and fetta cheeses with a little milk. This will be the sauce to go on top. As you pour over the sauce be careful not to disturb the other ingredence on the lower levels, it will blemmish the white look of the sauce. Crack a bit of pepper over the top, also try a sprinkle of ground Sumac, when it cooks with the cheese sauce it will release it's purple pigments. I recon that it looks abit like the colour of egg plant skin, so you get a bit of a visual aspect to the egg plant flavors.

Bake the big bugger in the oven at 190c for about 1 hour. As an extra touch turn on the overhead oven grill for a minute or so to brown up the top abit if not all ready that way.

Serve by cutting into squares and carefully lifting out onto a plate...... Yum.

Salt bush lamb. (Simple is best).

The guys down at Kitchen & Butcher, Hi, got me on to what I would say is the best lamb that I've ever tasted.

It went like this: Brock walks into Kitchen & Butcher. "Hi guys, how it going, blah, blah, blah. So, whats good today?"

Behind the counter bloke says: "Give us a sec and I'll go and get the chef. He'll know whats what."

Chef walks in. Says: "Hello, nice day...... Blah. Look at this lamb. Salt bush lamb. It's been grazing on salt bush and wild herbs. You've got to try it. You wont beleve how good it is. I cooked it for lunch. Heaven, perfict, the best.

Me and the chef had a bit of a chat about how he cooked, and how I plan to cook the lamb. After a bit of advice here's how I did it:

Ingredence:

2kg hind leg of organic salt bush fed lamb. No shank.

Few sprigs of rosemary.

Salt flakes, fresh cracked peper.

Olive oil.

Method:

Prepare a kettle (Webber) BBQ with about 20 heat beads. In the mean time; Lightly score the lamb. Denude the rosemary sprigs, (pull the leaves off), chop roughly and massage into the lamb along with a fair pinch of salt and a generous cracking of pepper. Drizzle the lot with oil. Place on the grill in the BBQ. Give it full vents for about 40 minutes, then turn to half vent and cook for about 4 hours. Low and slow is the aim here. Proper salt bush lamb doesn't loose much moisture, so it ok to cook it slowly, just make sure you seal it on high heat at first so as to seal in the liquid goodness.

Rest the joint for about ten minutes before carving. When carved salt bush lamb has an extra fine grain, so it's possible to slice extra thin.

Coz this lamb is soooo good, don't bother jazzing it up to much. Keep it simple, just appreciate the excelent flavor of the lamb. Don't stuff it up with sauces or the like. Just taste the lamb for what it is...... Bloody beautiful mate!

Three Meat De-Lux!

Veal rib eye, Scotch fillet, and Sir loin.

Like I always say. "Top quality beef doesn't need any jazzing up. Just a crack of salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and a bloody hot grill."

A quality butcher should be happy to cut beef as you ask for it. If your butcher gets abit shirty when asked to cut a steak for you, just politely ask them to recomend a butcher that will.

While your at it. Take time to inquire about the lenght of time the beast has been hung for. Any less than three weeks is to fresh. It wont be tender and will lose moisture on cooking, as the conective tissue won't have had a chance to break down.

Lastly; Don't kill your beef by over cooking it. I know I've said it a thousand times before, but it's better to er on the side of caution and under cook your steak. After all high quality beef can and is eaten raw, kind of like sushimi.

Keep it beefy bloggers!

White Wine & Rabbit.

Organic free range rabbit is not as strong in flavor as the wild variety. Although wild rabit is often dry, farmed rabit is allmost allways tender and suculent.



Cooking, cooking, cooking...

At the table.....

Ingredence:

4 buck hind quarters of rabit.

4 midim sized carrots.

6 sticks of cellary.

1/2 bulb of garlic. Finley choped.

1 Lage brown onion. Finley choped.

4 bay leaves.

1/2 a letire of chicken sdtock.

750m bottle of chardoney.

Olive oil & pepper.

1 potato to soak up the salt.

Method:

In a large heavy based pot fry the rabbit untill lighly golden, set aside. Add onion and thickly sliced carrot, cellery, garlic, and potato. After about 5 minutes add a light sprinkle of plain flour to make a thickened sauce when the wine is added. Bung in the bay leaves and stock add the wine and a real good cracking of peper. Brig it back to the boil toss in the rabbit, Place lid on top, stuff into a pre heated oven at 180C for 2 hours. After the oven stint the sauce may need to be thickened up some. Do this by simmering on the stove for as long as it takes to come good. Be careful not to break up the meat.

Serve on a bed of mash. Pictured is Duchcream potato 8 cloves of garlic and a beetroot added for colour and flavor.

Penne & Fungi

Ok, this one is for all of my vego friends. Coz I really do love and admire your dietary convictions. As we all know, animals have feelings, but plants can't sence pain, right?

Soooo. Now we've cleared this one up for good lets move on to our featured meal. Mushroom and garlic penne. Fresh and simple tastes are a favorite theme of mine, but saying this dish rocks is no joke. Garlic, tomatoes, and mushrooms all get together and have a big party on my tonge when cooked like this.

Heres how I did it.

Ingredence:

440g tin of crushed tomatoes. (Organic are best).

450g of button mushrooms. Quartered.

10 cloves of finley choped garlic.

1 small brown onion, very finley choped.

Salt & pepper.

Olive oil.

Penne pasta.

Method:

Get the pasta on the boil with a bit of olive oil. (I'm assumeing dryed pasta here). Fry the onion in a heavy based pan untill translucent and soft. add garlic, give that about 30 seconds, then bung in the mushys. Toss through and slowly fry for a couple of minutes. Now tip in the tomatoes, simmer rapidly untill the pasta is al-dente. Drain the pasta and pour sauce over the top. Season to taste.

Remember. Be kind to your fungi. It's better to unter cook than over cook mushrooms.

I like a big chardy with this one.

Miso Soup.

Miso soup is an ultra classic Japanese dish. Made from the ever versitile soy bean it has a slightly nutty taste. My great friend Steff was looking for a healthy protine rich meal. Miso soup made in this way ticks just about all the healthy boxes. It should be noted that the pictured soup is vegan only if the dryed plankton, (very small prawns) are ommited.

The ingredents listed should feed 2 hungry buggers, 3 not verry hungry people, or 4 sparrows.

Ingredence:

Enough miso paste to make 4 cups of soup.

250g of set tofu.

2 sheets of nori.

6 small Shitakai mushrooms.

Small hand full of fresh bean shoots.

Small hand full of sliced spring onions.

100g of dry green tea noodles.

2 table spoons of dryed plankton.

Method:

Bring the meso paste to the boil and test fror flavor. Add more water or meso to get the level of flavor you are looking for. Don't forget, meso pastes can be quiet salty. Don't go over board. Tare the nori up into small peices and toss into the miso. Working quickly add the tofu cut into small cubes along with the sliced mushys and dryed plankton.

After about 2 & 1/2 minutes on the slow boil add pre cooked noddles and the bean shoots. As soon as the bean shoots are in remove from the heat. After a quick stir add the spring onions, serve straight away.

Drink golden coloured beer with this one.

If you eat like this often, expect to live to be 120...... No bull shit mate!

Veal Rib Eye.

Veal. (Baby cow). -Lighter in colour, more subtle in flavor, and a finer texture than beef. (Thats a grown up cow). Although a superb meat, it has been highly under rated and not often eaten by Aussies. It's high time Veal should feature on this blog!

Ingredents:

2x 350g veal rib eye fillets. Bone on.

Olive oil.

Salt & Peper.

Method:

Cook veal as you would cook beef. Crack salt and pepper over boath sides and drizzle with olive oil. Seal boath sides on a searing hot plate. Use the finger method to test for doneness. Don't forget to rest the meat before carving.

Archer cooks pizza!

My son Archer loves to cook. Although he is only three years old he really knows his way around a kitchen. The pic is of a pizza Archer made from scratch, (base and all). The only thing I did was stick it in the oven for him.

Archer cut us all a slice. It was bloody beautiful mate.....

Food Art!

Archer loves to cook up a storm.

Finn gets down with a bit of food art..

Corned Beef.

The Gulden Drak. King of brews .....

It's an English invasion. (Of food).

Wow two English meals in a row. Whats happening? Corned beef is a prefect whinging pom meal. It's very simple and very boring. (Thats the pommy part). The whinging bit is where they keep asking. "Is it ready yet? How much longer?". Thats because it takes about four hours to cook. So there you have it. A perfect whinging pom meal. Feeds a perfectly boring family of four.

Ingredents:

1kg of corned beef.

1 large brown onion.

10 cloves.

2 carrots.

2 bay leaves.

15 peper corns.

1 kg of potatoes suited to mashing.

100g of butter.

Raux to garnish.

Method.

Wash the beef very well to remove as much of the brine as possible. Place into a pot of water along with the onion, cloves, carrots, bay leaves, and pepper corns. The amount of water added along with all other ingredents should just cover the beef. Bring to a very slow boil and simmer for about 3 & 1/2 hours. As serving time approaches, prepare the mashed potatoes with the butter, use extra milk if it's a little dry. On a bed of mash place slices of beef drizzled with the raux. As this is a peasant style of meal I would strongly suggest beer over wine. Something rich and dark. (Like Gulden Drak).

Earlier I described corned beef as boring. Far from true. I would compare this meal to many Japanese dishes, in that it's flavor is very clean and simple, and the texture is delicate, the combination of which is subtle yet profound.

Crispy Skined Blue Grenadier, Minted Potatoes.

Beer made by farmer in back of barn!

Salt & pepper crispy skin fillet of Blue Grenadier.

It's right back to the mother land for this one. Blue Grenadier is a delicately flavored fish with a flakey texture. Some say it's a bitch to cook on the barbie. I say Poms can't cook. As for the spuds. I used the Nicola variety. They retain there shape when cooked, yet have a buttery texture... Perfect!
Well blogger me! Square rigging for two buccaneers.

Ingredents:

2X 250g fillets of Blue Grenadier. Skin on.

500g of Niccola potatoes. Peeled, and cut in bite sized peices.

6 rashers of middle bacon.

1/2 a cup of mint leaves. Roughly choped.

1/2 cup spring onion. Finley sliced.

100g of butter.

Salt & pepper.

Olive oil.

Method:

Half boil the spuds, then transfer to a pan with the butter and gently fry. As the potatoes become golden brown add the bacon. When the bacon is fully cooked add the mint and spring onion. Stir through, remove from heat. Be carful not to break up the potatoes as you stir.

Drizzle olive oil over the fish, season well, place skin side down on a verry hot, hot plate. After 2 minutes flip the fillets, give em another minute, serve on top of the spuds skin up.

Remember it's allways better to under cook fish than to over cook it.

I included a pic of a to pommy beer with this meal as i felt it was a perfect match.....

The Sorry Sausage Of Erin!

Poor Erin.

She's like. "Wow, these sausages look great, I'll take eight".

I'm like. "If you want, I'll look after your sausages while you look in shops".

So Erin looks in shops, chats, has a fine time. Gets back to my place, says her good byes, jumps in her car, drives home to Melbourne. See ya later Erin!

Some hours later... I'm getting abit peckish. I go to the fridge, have a look, and there lies the sorry sausage of Erin.

On a lighter note (For me that is). I cooked up the sausages; and they were bloody beautiful mate.

Check out my beefy balls!

Welcome back bloggers. Sorry for the short break. I've been ball bustingly busily. So rather than go on busting my balls, I cooked them for all to see.

Ingredents:

500g Minced beef.

800g Tin of crushed roma tomatoes.

1 large brown onion. Diced.

Few fresh spriggs of Rosemarry, Tyme, and Sage. Choped.
8 Cloves of garlic. Finley diced.

2 Table spoons of bread crumbs.
1/2 table spoon of salt flakes.

10 good crackes of pepper.

Olive oil.

Dash of red wine.

Method:

Combine the beef, herbs, garlic, bread crumbs, salt, and peper in a mixing bowl. Heat some olive oil in a large heavy based pot. Roll the mixture into balls alittle smaller than a golf ball. Gently fry them on all sides untill just cooked. Remove from pot and add the onions. Stir often untill the onion becomes well softened and cooked. Add the tomatoes and a bit extra salt and peper, plus a little splash of wine. Simmer the sauce for about 15 or so minutes, or untill it has reduced and thickened. Replace the meat balls and simmer for a further 20 minutes. add water if it starts to look a bit dry. Serve on a bed of fresh pasta....

Beefy Perfecto

Wonder Beef!

I should have cut this one open so all could have shared in the succulant, tender, beefy goodness.
The featured cut 'Sir Loin' has a name steeped in history. The richest cut the 'Fillet', was reserved for the nobility of English culture, whilest the loin, of slightly less esteem was eaten by the next highest class the 'Kights of the relm', holding the title of 'Sir'.
In posts gone by I have dicsussed how to cook a great steak. Also the finger thumb method to test for doneness.
If you've got your self a really top notch peice of beef. Don't even think about spoiling it with some sort of garnish. Mustards, horseradish, chutneys, sauces, or rues, should only be used to augment the flavor of substandard meat. Another way to put it would be: One would be crazy to mix a fine scotch with coke, it would totally ruin the flavor. At most a few ice blocks could be used to enhance the flavor a little with out changeing the overall taste. It's a simmilar story with MSA, (Export grade or higher) beef. At most a little seasoning (Salt flakes and Cracked peper) can be used. Salt and peper are boath flavor enhances, neither will adversely affect the overall taste. But use just alittle. To much ice in your scotch will water it down. To much seasoning on your beef will overpower the taste.
Now if you don't mind, I'm off to enjoy a nice 25yo single malt. Neat!

Pork & Potatoes.

Same Same, But Different!

This is monster dad with monster kids...

I loved this pork belly. But I didn't feel that it suited a green salad. So it was cooked again, this time with 'Dutch Cream' potato mash, fresh sage, and rosemarry....

Pickle Me Pork!

Pickled Pork Belly With Wagiu Beef Salad.


Sorry to all readers for so long no blog.... Will try to make it up.

I've got a couple of friends who really know good pork. (G-day Steff, Seb). I love to cook pork, what i really wanted to do was prepare a pork dish of my own for them to try. The whole thing has been put off because I didn't think I would make the grade. Untill now that is.

Pork belly is succulant and tender when cooked propperly. As the pictured cut was pickled, one must take care not to over cook, or the end result will be very dry, and far to salty.

'Wagiu Beef'. Refers to the method used to raise the beast. Originating in Japan. Beef raised in the Wagiu manner is renowned for it's rich marbleing, perfect texture, and well rounded flavor. However at around $85-100 a Kilogram, not everyone will be stuffing it down there throats every night. Well not like I do! As such this dish is possible without the beef. But if you can, lash out. Wagiu is wicked...

In addition. Sorry about the cheese Steff. I'll never do that to you again...

Sooo. How'd I cook the bugger? The meat not the cheese.

Method:

Place a few spriggs of rosemarry along the center of the belly, (Flesh side). Now fold in half skin side out and tie with butchers twine. Seal all sides well on a hot plate, then move to the warming tray and bake for a further 30 minutes. (This is for a 1100g belly).

As for the beef. Crack some pepper over it, sprinkle some salt flakes on top of that. Press it all in with your hands, finnish by drizzleing olive oil all over. To cook seal on a smokeing hot plate. Move to the warming rack for about 10 minutes. (150g filet) Rest boath peices of meat befor serving.....

Oyster Sweet Corn Stir Fry.

Tonight it's a 'Hot wox' stir fry special. The other day I had a top notch German inspired lunch. (Thanks heaps Steff. Bloody beautiful). Once again the cabbage was amongst the finest I've ever tryed. So in an effort to reciprecate, 'Wombok', or Asian cabbage is featured in this dish.

Wombok cooks in a flash. Think of a cross between lettuce and cold climate cabbage. A mild delicate cabbage flavor with a texture more like lettuce.

The main flavor combination of this stir fry is created by combineing the sweetness of corn with the saltyness of oyster sauce. The wombok is acting like noodles or rice as a filler.

I will list ingredents as I cooked it. This will be enough to feed 4 hungry buggers.

Ingredents:

500g of chicken thy fillet. Sliced into strips.

300g of sliced wombok.

Corn kernals from to small cobs.

1 cup of sliced spring onions.

6 cloves of finley choped garlic.

3&1/2 Table spoons of oyster sauce.

1 brown onion. Roughly sliced.

Several good cracks of peper.

Sesame oil.

Method:

Marinate the chicken in a splash of sesame oil, 1/2 a table spoon of oyster sauce and, and one of the cloves of finley choped garlic. In a smokeing hot wok, Quickly fry off the chicken in batches untill done, set aside. Now with a splash more sesame oil add the brown onions and corn. At this stage your wok should be ultra hot. What you want to do is kinda pop the corn. If your wok is hot enough after about 20 seconds of tossing the corn will start to crackle and give the odd bang. This is the juice escapeing from the corn, it will in turn provide the sweet half of your flavor. So after about 40 seconds of frying, add the garlic and return the chicken, give it a quick toss. Finally add the wombok, spring onions, and oyster sauce. Toss through for about 10 seconds, just enough to mix it all together and wilt the spring onions/ wombok. Serve straight away.....

Ginger Chilli Ribs With Mango Salad.

Ok enough of the greek Thing. I think I got it out of my system. Back to all the other stuff.

From the garden I got:
Cucumber, mint, chilli, garlic, ginger. All the rest I had to buy. Listed ingredents are for two.

Ingredents: Ribs.
4 Large or six small pork ribs steaks. (Free range).
4 Tai chillis. (Finley choped).
4 Cloves of garlic. (Finley choped).
4x2 cm Peice of ginger. (Finley choped).
5 table spoons of soy sauce.
Large crack, (Ha) of peper.


Ingredence: Salad.
1 Large cucumber. (Sliced).
1 Mango diced. (The greener the beter.)
1/2 a cup of spring onions. (Sliced).
1/2 a cup of mint. (Whole leaf).
1/4 Cup of parsley. (Whole leaf).
White vinagrett.
Crack of peper.

Method: Ribs.
Marinate the ribs in all listed ingredents. Give it about 20 minutes, don't let it go for to long or the marinade will be to over powering. Cook on a medium heat hot plate untill done. (Use the finger method to test for doneness). Remember: Ribs will dry out easily. It's better to under cook and rest the meat than over cook and dry out the flesh.

Method: Salad.
Combine all ingredents. Assemble at the last minute to stop the mango dissintergrating to much. Toss lightly and place gently onto a serving plate.

Have You Ever Done It With A Fish/Chicken.(Greek)

Finaly. it rained. Had to include a pic.

Here is the same Greek salad featured in preveious postings. This time served with Salmon, then ckicken.