What I love to eat ...this week

If some was to ask me what 5 ingredients I always have in my kitchen in order to sleep at night would difficult to answer. I could probably give you my top 5 this week …is that bad?

You see for months now I could not bear the thought of having to eat chicken breast as I tend to naturally gravitate towards the dark meat of chicken. Although lately I have been happy to eat a lovely organic chicken breast pan seared with olive oil, lemon juice and fresh rosemary. I would even say that I can not get enough of it.

Mushrooms are another one and not just boring old button mushrooms…I want to eat all of the lovely wild mushrooms fresh and dried. I love them made into a delicious buttery wild mushroom sauce or comforting mushroom risotto.

I also have to eat a small bowl of really good chocolate ice cream at night, which is something again very strange for me. Anyone who knows me would testify that I am a savoury girl through and through. I hope that phase passes soon as I don’t fancy an expanding rear end!

Another favourite is my white truffle oil…I simply must have it drizzled over scrambled eggs. For me this addition to my breakfast has been life changing to say the least and I phase I hope does not pass in a hurry.

So to round up my top 5 this week, they would be;

Ø       White truffle oil

Ø       Organic chicken breast

Ø       Rosemary

Ø       Lemons

Ø       Wild mushrooms

I wonder what next week will bring…

Jamie Oliver’s fish pie

As you know I love my cook books…I read them like most people might sit down to a good novel. I can spend hours reading a good cook book and quite often I will read it again and again. Strangely though I hardly ever cook a recipe from any of them, if I do its only because I happen to have all of the ingredients at the time… For me, a good recipe book will give me the foundations for amazing meals that I can adapt to suit me or the people I am cooking for. They should give you inspiration, not have you heading out to supermarket buying a heap of ingredients that you probably would never use again. Make the recipe work for you as you know what you like to eat and what flavour combinations prefer.

This is what happened with my fish Pie… I first came across it in Jaime Oliver’s Ministry of Food cookbook and liked to idea of it. I wasn’t crazy about a couple of flavours that he had included so I simply swapped them for ingredients I preferred. 

Result ...this was probably one of the most delicious pies I have ever eaten…even if I do say so myself. I didn’t want it to end and ate every mouthful like it was the last meal I was ever going to eat.

Don’t be afraid to take a risk, if it doesn’t work out it then it’s not the end of the world… although 99% of the time I can guarantee that you will have created a masterpiece that came about by using the good foundations from a recipe found in one of your cookbooks!

Serves 2

2 large potatoes

20grams butter

¼ cup milk

400grams firm white fish cut into bite sized chunks

10 green king prawns

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 zucchini grated

60grams good cheddar cheese grated

100grams creme fraiche

¼ cup chopped fresh chives

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Juice of half a lemon

Sea Salt and white/black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Peel the potatoes and cut into 2cm chunks. Once the water is boiling, add your potatoes and cook for around 12 minutes, until soft (you can stick your knife into them to check) Add fish, prawns, grated carrot, zucchini, cheddar, chopped chives, parslry, lemon zest and creme fraiche to the oven proof dish you will be using to cook your pie. Squeeze over the juice from the zested lemon (no pips please!), and add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix everything together really well.

By now your potatoes should be cooked, so drain them in a colander and return them to the pan. Add butter, milk and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mash until nice and smooth, then spread evenly over the top of the fish and grated vegetable mixture. Place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until cooked through, crispy and golden on top.

Serve with greens and good tomato sauce (trust me on this one!)

Wild mushroom sauce

I have to say that I am a little but crazy about mushrooms at the moment. I can quite easily eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So you can imagine my excitement when the first stall I came across on at the Orange Grove Farmers Market on the weekend had the most amazing selection of fresh and dried mushrooms I have ever seen!

I bought a selection of oyster, swiss brown, chestnut, king brown, dried chanterelle, and dried porcini mushrooms, enough for quite a few meals but as we were barbequing I though it would be best to start my mushroom fiesta with a wild mushroom sauce to go with my steak.

Serves 2 (or one if I am at the table)

200 grams wild mushrooms sliced

10grams dried porcini mushrooms

10grams dried chanterelle mushrooms

1 red shallot finely diced

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 sprigs fresh thyme

½ cup dry white wine

1 ½ cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon veal demi glaze

30 grams butter

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Soak dried porcini and dried chanterelle mushrooms for 20 minutes in boiling water (from the kettle) drain rinse and set aside.

Heat a heavy based fry pan over medium heat. Add half the butter, shallot, garlic and cook until softened slightly. Add mushrooms, thyme and continue to cook for 10 minutes stirring frequently and being careful not to burn.

Add wine and cook until reduced by half. Add chicken stock and demi glaze and simmer until liquid again has reduced by half. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining butter. This will thicken your sauce slightly and give it a lovely gloss. Taste for seasoning and serve. This sauce is lovely on meat poultry and even stirred through pasta.

Note – I like to drain and rise my dried mushroom as they can be ‘gritty’. If that doesn’t bother you feel free to add the mushroom stock from the soaking liquid.

Roast beef with blue cheese butter

This is my favourite way to enjoy beef. In fact after eating this I decided there was no need to waste my time eating it any other way…

As you know I am a fan of trolley stalking, it would have to be my favourite sport. Next to trolley stalking, pestering my local butcher would be my second sport of choice. I like to know what I am eating, where it came from and if it lived a happy life.

Recently I happened to like the look of a prime rib roast but new it would be a waist of time buying the whole piece as we all know Captain Vegetarian would not be impressed if he was presented with a Roast Beef dinner.  So I asked my friendly butcher if he would kindly cut me a piece and this is how I cooked it!

Serves 2

400gram piece scotch fillet on the bone (cut from a piece of prime rib)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper

Blue cheese butter

250 grams unsalted butter

120grams good quality blue cheese (I used King Island Bass Straight)

1 clove garlic

1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Sea salt and black pepper

To make blue cheese butter and butter, cheese, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper to a food processor and combine well. Spoon mixture onto a sheet of cling film and roll into a log shape. Refrigerate until needed.

Preheat oven 220ºC

Heat an oven proof pan until hot. Rub beef with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Add beef to fry pan and allow to cook on one side for 4 minutes. Turn over and place pan in the oven for 15 minutes for rare. Remove from oven and allow beef to rest on a warm plate for 10 minutes.

Top steak with a slice of blue cheese butter and pan juices. Slice beef and serve with rocket, grilled field mushrooms and cauliflower mash.

Note – The blue cheese butter freezes beautifully and can be used over veggies, pasta, and other meats. You will be glad you made a big lot of this!

Baked mushroom risotto

One thing I have never been able to understand is people who can plan a whole weeks worth of meals in one day go grocery shopping for the whole week and not stray from the menu . I admire the organisational skills and discipline of these people but I just don’t think it is for me… What I feel like today I can promise you will not be what I feel like eating tomorrow let alone 5 days from now.

Honestly, I can not bear the thought of having to commit to such a hideous task, and let’s not mention the stress of having to eat something I simply do not feel like is enough to send me over the edge.

Fortunately for me I am one of those people who live to eat, not eat to live. I adore my ritual of waking up in the morning and planning my day of eating. You see as soon as I wake up I plan my breakfast, during breakfast I start thinking about lunch and at lunch time I start planning my grand finale of the day which of course is dinner. Captain Vegetarian thinks I am positively mad and  tells me all I talk about is food to which I remind him that doing this makes me happy and you know how the saying goes “happy wife, happy life”.

I also go through food fazes, at the moment I am going through a comfort faze, I want soothing, feel good food which is why I am leaning towards pasta, risotto and home style cooking. I will continue with this until I feel like something else. I can not be restricted to a weekly list…I can only commit to cooking what I feel like that day and I will not apologise for that…

Today I was feeling mushrooms, and lots of them. I had recently bought dried porcini mushrooms so I new they would be used and I was also thinking about some lovely delicate oyster mushrooms and the rich earthiness of the swiss brown mushrooms. Combined with my desire to eat nothing but comfort food, I though a mushroom risotto was in order.

Like my oven baked pumpkin and sage risotto this was also cooked in the oven to avoid the boring and tedious stirring. I did however cook my mushrooms first in butter to release their lovely mushroominess which is a step I’m sure I can handle…

Serves 2

1cup arborio or carnaroli rice

1 leek cleaned and sliced finely into little half moons

2 cloves garlic chopped finely

100gram oyster mushrooms sliced in half

200grams swiss brown mushrooms sliced

10gram dried porcini mushrooms

30 grams butter

2 ½ cups of chicken/vegetable stock

½ cup dry white wine

1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

¼ cup chives

Juice of half a lemon

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven 190◦C

Soak porcini mushrooms in boiling water (from the kettle) for 20 minutes. Rinse and set a side.

Over medium heat melt butter in an oven proof heavy based pan. Add mushrooms, leek, garlic, salt & pepper and cook gently for 10 – 15 minutes. This step is important so you get maximum flavour from the mushrooms. Stir continuously so the mixture does not burn or colour too much.

Remove from heat and add stock, wine. Stir well and cover with a tight fitting lid or aluminium foil. Place in the oven and cook for 40 minutes.

Once cooked add parsley, chives, parmesan, lemon juice and adjust seasoning to taste. Stir well and leave to stand for 5 minutes.

Serve in warmed bowls…enjoy

Note – To make this dish vegetarian add vegetable stock. I use chicken stock as Captain Vegetarian isn’t a fan of mushrooms…Something I simply do not understand!

Jamie Oliver’s cauliflower macaroni and cheese

A meal created using three cheeses makes Captain Vegetarian a very happy boy…and slightly suspicious. I happened to make this dish the other night -

a)      because I new the Captain would love it

b)      I happened to have all of the ingredients

Unfortunately my beloved Captain Vegetarian thought I was about to ask for something and was trying to get into his good books…Seriously why are men so suspicious of things done out of the goodness of your heart? We females are not devious and conniving creatures all the time are we…

Spaghetti with traditional bolognese ragu

Everybody and I mean everybody has a version of a Bolognese sauce that they claim is the best… no one can beat mine they say. I have tasted many sauces over the years some good, some ok, some that have caused me not to be able to eat spaghetti Bolognese for a very long time.

Prosciutto olive and rocket pizza - Low carb/wheat free

Ok… I made this expecting a laugh and for it to be a complete disaster. Who in there right mind would make a pizza using zucchini, egg and mozzarella cheese as the base? I found this recipe in Jane Kennedy’s OMG I can eat that! I had already made her Pork Cevapcici recipe and I have to say they were amazing. But I still wasn’t convinced that this could work so I made sure I had a back up plan in case this all went horribly wrong and my pizza was not a success. My back up plan was my local Italian as I was already in a pizza mood.

Well I have to say…I was wrong and I hate saying that because I am never wrong this pizza was amazing… obviously the base wasn’t as crispy as a normal pizza but it looked like a pizza, smelled like a pizza, and tasted like a pizza, so as far as I am concerned it was a pizza!

Indian prawn curry

Confession…I have never made curry paste. Seriously why should I when I can buy an amazing selection from curry pastes from my supermarket made by the experts.

I like to keep a sneaky stash of curry pastes in my refrigerator like Korma, Vindaloo, Madras and Tandoori so when the urge to make a curry hits me I can crack on and make it. The thought of dry frying spices and pounding garlic, ginger and chilli into perfect paste in my mortar and pestle that is too heavy to lift (a gift from my dear mother) is quite frankly too much for me to bear…so I cheat and I am not ashamed to say it.

Spicy chicken wings served with a cooling garlic dipping sauce

Party food is my favourite food… I love the idea of eating a bit of this with a bit of that. If I could my dinner would consist of several plates of h'orderves with a glass of wine to match each one…unfortunately time does not allow me to indulge in that dream as like most of us I get up at the crack of dawn to beat the traffic to go to work and earn a living…a lady of leisure I am not. I do however inform Captain Vegetarian regularly that being a lady of leisure was a life more suited to me…he doesn’t agree!

Oven baked pumpkin and sage risotto

I adore risotto, it’s a one pot dinner that sooths and rejuvenates the sole. However for some reason the thought of being tied to the stove ladling hot stock and stirring continuously for how ever long it takes to cook does nothing for me at all. I struggle to get my risotto just right when I choose this method. I am sure that traditionalist are baulking at me as they read this but I promise you, cooking your risotto in the oven gives you the most creamy, velvety and flavourful risotto with minimal effort.

Adventures on the high sea...with a spot of lunch

Manly Skiff Club

The weather in Sydney has been so hot lately. I think with such a slow start to the summer season there was a lot of catching up to do.

As it was another hot day recently, Captain Vegetarian thought it would be a great day to take the boat out. Captain Vegetarian loves heading out on the boat…. I however only occasionally venture out as I never really found my sea legs.

Stuffed Red Capsicums

I was looking in my freezer and I came across a package of turkey mince… I have no idea what my inspiration was when I bought it, which is probably why it ended up in the freezer! I was in the mood for some comfort food and thought maybe making it into a chilli or meatloaf but I happened to have four lovely red and uniform in size capsicums that I couldn’t resist a punnet of sliced button mushrooms and a jar or Greek seasoning mix that were also another impulse buy that I needed to use…and with these ingredients my stuffed red capsicums were born.

Spaghetti with traditional bolognaise ragu

Everybody and I mean everybody has a version of a Bolognese sauce that they claim is the best… no one can beat mine they say. I have tasted many sauces over the years …some good, some ok, some that have caused me not to be able to eat spaghetti bolognaise for a very long time.

I once watched a cooking program and a celebrity chef (I wont say who) was filming a segment with his mother on how to cook the perfect Bolognaise sauce … I watched with anticipation, waiting for the perfect recipe for this luscious sauce to be handed to me. Unfortunately I was forced to watch in sheer horror as a horrendous concoction or fatty mince; condensed tomato soup, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sweet chilli sauce and few other hideous condiments and spices were added to a pot and boiled rapidly for what seemed like eternity … I was disgusted and questioned WHY that was allowed to be aired. To this day I refuse to go to the restaurant owned by the offending‘chef’ nor have I ever been able to look at condensed soup the same way. Please excuse my ranting...I just felt I needed to share that.

This is my version of a Traditional Bolognaise Ragu, I have spent a long time perfecting this recipe and I happen to think its pretty amazing…Now please don’t be alarmed by adding milk, this method is used throughout Italy and somehow magically brings the sauce together making it deliciously rich and gloriously tasty. 

Serves 4

250grams Beef mince

250grams Pork mince

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large bottle of tomato passata

1 large onion finely chopped

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and finely diced

2 ribs celery finely diced

3 fresh bay leaves

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup full cream milk (don’t bother with skim)

400grams dry spaghetti

Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large heavy based pot, add onion, carrot and celery and cook over a medium for 5 minutes. Add garlic, bay leaves and cook for a further 3 minutes. You don’t want the vegetables to burn or colour to much as it will ruin the flavour of the sauce.

Turn up the heat and add the white wine. When the wine in bubbling add the mince and stir until combined well and the colour has changed. At this stage season with sea salt and black pepper. Add passata and beef stock, turn down heat and simmer sauce partially covered with a lid for 2 hours stirring occasionally. Keep an eye on your sauce as if it starts to dry out you will need to lower the heat further and add more beef stock. After 2 hours add the milk and cook for a further 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and adjust the seasoning to taste.

To serve cook spaghetti according to directions in a pot or salted boiling water. You can add sauce on top of your spaghetti or mix it together and cover in parmesan cheese (like it do)

Notes – you don’t have to use spaghetti, I just happen to like it.

Chicken lettuce cups

I am always looking for ways to use up left over roast chicken. Being as I am the only meat eater in the house I find it difficult to eat a whole roast chook in one sitting…although having said that I do have a good crack at it!

Pot roast chicken

For me there is nothing more comforting than the smell of roast chicken cooking in the oven. Roasting a chicken has a soothing and calming effect on me that always makes me feel like I am in a safe and secure place … I suppose some people might find that a little strange and may suggest aromatherapy oils to relax and unwind I however much prefer to roast a chook!