Found this recipe on taste.com.au and changed it quite a bit.
Here tis!
Cook 375g pasta (spirals, shells, bow ties etc) according to packet and drain.
Chop up 4 spring onions (scallions) and 1 red capsicum (bell pepper).
Lightly fry onions in a bit of olive oil - add 2 cloves minced garlic, and then the capsicum.
Fry for 5 mins till all are tender. Add 1 punnet of sliced grape tomatoes (I sliced each tomato into 4) and 1/2tsp minced red chilli. Cook another 2 mins or so. Add 300ml thickened cream and let it simmer for 3 mins until slightly thickened. Stir occasionally.
Place cooked pasta in a big bowl and add 1/2 a diced bbq chicken (alternatively pan fry 2 chicken breasts and then slice up thinly) and a few cups of baby english spinach, roughly chopped.
Pour cream and onion mixture over the top of the pasta and mix together.
Serve warm.
Serves 4-6 as a main meal.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Amazing salad!
I made this awesome salad tonight.
Ingredients:
Torn up coral (?) lettuce
Torn up baby spinach
1 sliced red capsicum
1 sliced orange (or yellow, or 2 red) capsicum
2 thinly sliced carrots
2 mushrooms thinly sliced
1 lebanese cucumber, sliced
cherry tomatoes
fetta cheese, diced
Throw all the salad together and toss.
Then throw a nice piece of tender steak in a pan or on the bbq and cook to your liking. Medium well is how we had it. When cooked, slice your steak and scatter over the salad.
Serve in pasta bowls with some crispy noodles on top!
Dressing:
Found this amazing recipe on allrecipes.com for this honey balsamic dressing. I changed it a bit so here goes:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 small onion
1tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp white sugar
1 cloves of garlic
3tbsp honey
1inch wide piece of red capsicum
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
Chuck everything in a blender and whizz until thick.
YUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!
Ingredients:
Torn up coral (?) lettuce
Torn up baby spinach
1 sliced red capsicum
1 sliced orange (or yellow, or 2 red) capsicum
2 thinly sliced carrots
2 mushrooms thinly sliced
1 lebanese cucumber, sliced
cherry tomatoes
fetta cheese, diced
Throw all the salad together and toss.
Then throw a nice piece of tender steak in a pan or on the bbq and cook to your liking. Medium well is how we had it. When cooked, slice your steak and scatter over the salad.
Serve in pasta bowls with some crispy noodles on top!
Dressing:
Found this amazing recipe on allrecipes.com for this honey balsamic dressing. I changed it a bit so here goes:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 small onion
1tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp white sugar
1 cloves of garlic
3tbsp honey
1inch wide piece of red capsicum
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
Chuck everything in a blender and whizz until thick.
YUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Inspiration
Well I went to see Julie and Julia last night at the movies, and I was inspired!
I have Beef Bourguignon in the oven at the moment!
If it's a success, I will post pics an the recipe. I am using Julia Child's recipe. It's rather time consuming, but man it smells divine!
I have Beef Bourguignon in the oven at the moment!
If it's a success, I will post pics an the recipe. I am using Julia Child's recipe. It's rather time consuming, but man it smells divine!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Corned Beef!
Well I had a request for my recipe for corned beef on facebook - so here goes.
Head on down to your butcher, or supermarket and grab a piece of corned silverside. Make sure it's the corned stuff, not the regular, otherwise it might not taste so nice! Alternatively, I also like corned brisket. This is often a little bit cheaper and just a different cut of beef, and has a more subtle flavour IMO. Both are nice, it just comes to personal preference. The silverside is usually easier to carve though, as the brisket is generally rolled.
Anyways get a piece of the size you want. When you get home, plop it in a nice big pot that is deep enough for you to cover the meat with water. You can rinse the meat if it's a bit gooey. Fill the pot with water so it's just covering the meat, and add the following. An onion, a carrot (both halved is fine), a couple of bayleaves, a swig of vinegar (not too much, just a tablespoon or two) and about the same of brown sugar. Also a couple of cloves don't go astray.
Now you can kinda put whatever you want in the water, but mostly you need the vinegar and the sugar. Don't over vinegar it or your meat will taste just like vinegar. Blech! Most corned beef that you buy already wrapped will have a recipe on the wrapper, so that's just my version of all the ones I've seen.
Alternatively, you can put in a 1.25Litre bottle of ginger beer! Believe me, this is DELICIOUS! If you do the ginger beer, forget all the other ingredients, apart from say the onion and carrot. Chuck in the ginger beer, and then top up with water to how much you need.
Other options to add to your pot include a stick of celery and a potato or two. I don't bother with these though.
So pop the pot on the stove, and bring to the boil. Then turn it down and let it simmer for a few hours. I think the story goes, like 1 hour per kilo plus 30 mins or whatever. Anyways 2-3 hours for a 2ish kilo piece of beef will be fine. Tonight I had 1.5kg and it cooked for just over 2 hours. It's simmering the whole time, so it's going to be totally cooked through nice and early - you want it to get tender and get the flavours from the juices in the pot nice and infused.
If you want to use your slow cooker, this is an easy thing to make - pop it all in, throw it on low or auto for around 8 hours, and voila! Tender corned beef!
Now to serve, slice up your meat in nice chunks, and then I like to steam up some cabbage, mash some potatoes, and throw in a few carrots (you can pop these in the pot at the end if you want, although I don't bother) and serve with white sauce.
White sauce: See my recipe for white sauce. If you like yours with a bit of a bite, add a spoonful of dijon mustard - or your favourite mustard. Easy peasy!
Leftovers are great on sandwiches!
Head on down to your butcher, or supermarket and grab a piece of corned silverside. Make sure it's the corned stuff, not the regular, otherwise it might not taste so nice! Alternatively, I also like corned brisket. This is often a little bit cheaper and just a different cut of beef, and has a more subtle flavour IMO. Both are nice, it just comes to personal preference. The silverside is usually easier to carve though, as the brisket is generally rolled.
Anyways get a piece of the size you want. When you get home, plop it in a nice big pot that is deep enough for you to cover the meat with water. You can rinse the meat if it's a bit gooey. Fill the pot with water so it's just covering the meat, and add the following. An onion, a carrot (both halved is fine), a couple of bayleaves, a swig of vinegar (not too much, just a tablespoon or two) and about the same of brown sugar. Also a couple of cloves don't go astray.
Now you can kinda put whatever you want in the water, but mostly you need the vinegar and the sugar. Don't over vinegar it or your meat will taste just like vinegar. Blech! Most corned beef that you buy already wrapped will have a recipe on the wrapper, so that's just my version of all the ones I've seen.
Alternatively, you can put in a 1.25Litre bottle of ginger beer! Believe me, this is DELICIOUS! If you do the ginger beer, forget all the other ingredients, apart from say the onion and carrot. Chuck in the ginger beer, and then top up with water to how much you need.
Other options to add to your pot include a stick of celery and a potato or two. I don't bother with these though.
So pop the pot on the stove, and bring to the boil. Then turn it down and let it simmer for a few hours. I think the story goes, like 1 hour per kilo plus 30 mins or whatever. Anyways 2-3 hours for a 2ish kilo piece of beef will be fine. Tonight I had 1.5kg and it cooked for just over 2 hours. It's simmering the whole time, so it's going to be totally cooked through nice and early - you want it to get tender and get the flavours from the juices in the pot nice and infused.
If you want to use your slow cooker, this is an easy thing to make - pop it all in, throw it on low or auto for around 8 hours, and voila! Tender corned beef!
Now to serve, slice up your meat in nice chunks, and then I like to steam up some cabbage, mash some potatoes, and throw in a few carrots (you can pop these in the pot at the end if you want, although I don't bother) and serve with white sauce.
White sauce: See my recipe for white sauce. If you like yours with a bit of a bite, add a spoonful of dijon mustard - or your favourite mustard. Easy peasy!
Leftovers are great on sandwiches!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Scones!
My mum always had the knack of making delicious scones. Her recipe has changed over the years, but she never ceases to make good ones! She's also taught me how to make them and people ask for them all the time.
I made some today.
Here is how I did it.
about 2.5 cups self raising flour
about 1 cup lemonade (sprite/7up for any americans who read this)
about 1 cup whipping cream (unwhipped)
a couple of spoonfuls of sugar.
Put everything into a big bowl and slowly stir it around to mix it together. You want a mix that sticks but isn't too sticky. Add flour or liquid to make a good consistency.
When it's reasonably mixed, dump it onto a floured board or bench. Give it a soft knead ensuring the outside is floury and not sticky. Don't press too hard. A soft hand gives light scones!
When that's done, lightly press it out till it's about 1cm high and cut out scone rounds with a scone cutter or a glass.
Put the scones onto an oven tray that has a scattering of flour rubbed across it (no need to grease it, just flour). You want the scones to all be touching, so don't spread them out. When they touch they have to rise up, not out!
Place your tray into a very hot oven - 230C (a bit less for fan forced, maybe 220C). A hot oven is the key, so make sure you do this!
They will cook for 15 mins or so, until they are nice and brown on top. The scones should sound hollow when you tap them.
Wrap in a teatowel and place in a bowl or basket when they come out of the oven. Do this while they're still hot.
Serve with strawberry jam and whipped cream (tip for cream, when beating, add a spoon of icing sugar (powdered sugar) just before you finish and it will help it keep its shape and stay all nice and whipped).
Scones only last a day, so make sure you eat them straight away, otherwise they can be frozen and microwaved to defrost and freshen them up.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Easy chicken casserole
I got this recipe from an old friend and have slightly changed it to suit me!
Anyways, you need:
1kg chicken thighs
4 sticks celery
3 carrots, peeled
1 leek, or 1 onion
1 parsnip
1 zucchini
button mushrooms
1 tin of corn
2 tins tomatoes, diced
1 packet french onion soup mix
1 packet chicken noodle soup mix
Trim the fat off the chicken and cut each thigh into 2. Place into a casserole dish that has a lid. Then chop up the vegies to a size you'd like - chunky dicedish.
Add the vegies to the pot and pour the soup mixes and the tomatoes over it. Give it a little mix around, and then you might want to add a cup of water or so.
Put it in a medium oven - about 170C or so for 2 hours.
If you want to use frozen corn, add it in the last half hour.
For a slightly different version, add some macaroni and a little more water in the last half hour too.
Anyways, you need:
1kg chicken thighs
4 sticks celery
3 carrots, peeled
1 leek, or 1 onion
1 parsnip
1 zucchini
button mushrooms
1 tin of corn
2 tins tomatoes, diced
1 packet french onion soup mix
1 packet chicken noodle soup mix
Trim the fat off the chicken and cut each thigh into 2. Place into a casserole dish that has a lid. Then chop up the vegies to a size you'd like - chunky dicedish.
Add the vegies to the pot and pour the soup mixes and the tomatoes over it. Give it a little mix around, and then you might want to add a cup of water or so.
Put it in a medium oven - about 170C or so for 2 hours.
If you want to use frozen corn, add it in the last half hour.
For a slightly different version, add some macaroni and a little more water in the last half hour too.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Nanna's Lamb and Vegie soup
Nanna always made this yummy lamb and veg soup so I got the recipe from her.
Boil up a few lamb chops or shanks for a couple of hours so you get some nice stock. (I also added some diced lamb too coz I like it meaty!)
Grate some carrot, celery, onion/leek, parsnip, turnip, and any other veg you like, although the combo of those works great. You can add a potato or two as well (peeled).
Add the vegies to the pot with some more water or liquid vegie stock. Then add some vegie stock cubes/powder per your tasting preference.
After it's simmered away for another couple of hours, pull all the bones out and rip up the meat a bit if it's really chunky.
Let it cool overnight in the fridge, then skim the fat off the top.
Heat through and add 1/2 cup macaroni or pasta to your preference and simmer for half an hour or so until ready to eat. YUM!!!!
Boil up a few lamb chops or shanks for a couple of hours so you get some nice stock. (I also added some diced lamb too coz I like it meaty!)
Grate some carrot, celery, onion/leek, parsnip, turnip, and any other veg you like, although the combo of those works great. You can add a potato or two as well (peeled).
Add the vegies to the pot with some more water or liquid vegie stock. Then add some vegie stock cubes/powder per your tasting preference.
After it's simmered away for another couple of hours, pull all the bones out and rip up the meat a bit if it's really chunky.
Let it cool overnight in the fridge, then skim the fat off the top.
Heat through and add 1/2 cup macaroni or pasta to your preference and simmer for half an hour or so until ready to eat. YUM!!!!
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