Saint Tuna

I'm doing the 40 day revolution at the moment which means dinners are quite saintly. Last night reminded me that saintly food can also be lip smackingly good.

I bought some super fresh tuna steaks from the Sydney Fishmarket (a good buy at $19.99 a kilo) plus some fresh broccolini, snow peas and organic soba noodles. I cooked the noodles for 4 minutes in boiling water (probaby could have done 3), steamed the broccolini and snow peas in the microwave for a minute and a half, then tossed in the noodles with a few drops of sesame oil and soy sauce (YUM).  The tuna was seasoned in salt and pepper and then encrusted with a combination of balck and white sesame seeds. A quick 2 minute sear in a super hot pan on each side and it was done.

The tuna was melth in the mouth with a bit of a crunch, the vegies crisp and the noodles were nutty and hearty. Defintely the best thing I've cooked in a while! Delicious yet saintly.

A chilli from Carlos

It's nice being cooked for isn't it? And it doesn't have to be fancy. Take this chilli for example - a lovely, healthy tasty dish that warmed my heart.

Fry off 3 cloves of garlic with 2 fresh chilli's,eggplant, zuchinni, mushrooms, red and green capsicum. Add a tin of your favouritre tomatoes, some kidney beans and a sprinkling of peas. Simmer for 15 minutes. Serve with brown rice and a dollop of sour cream.

Easy but tasty and cooked with love.

Indian Home Diner

I would like to say that being Indian means that I am automatically born with brain cell that allows me to make curry from scratch with no recipe. But alas I was born with no such gene. I did , however, stumble upon these lovely recipes which made for a lovely Thursday night dinner for 6. I find curry with its accompaniments are so filling you don't need a starter, just a lovely cooling dessert..

Menu

Main: Lamb Rogan Josh

Sides: Home-made naan bread and Saffron Rice with Almonds

Dessert: Coconut and pineapple no churn ice-cream April delicious magazine

Lamb Rogan Josh  - (fragrant, spicy and melt in the mouth)

Cardamom ground Masterfoods

Fennel ground

Cumin ground

Coriander ground

1.5kg diced lamb shoulder

vegetable oil

2 brown onions

Fresh Ginger

4 small red chilli's

4 cloves garlic

400g crushed tomatoes

1/4 tsp saffron threads

2 bay leaves

2 cinnamon sticks

1/4 cup poppy seeds

1 cup Greek style yoghurt

2 tsp brown sugar

Mix the lamb with the dry spices and set aside. Then fry the onion, garlic, chilli and ginger until the onion is translucent. Add the lamb and fry for about 5 minutes until it is slightly browned. Then add the tomatoes, saffron, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and mix until it is combined. The carefully add the Greek yoghurt spoon by spoon and gradually mix in so it doesn't curdle. Add the poppy seeds and let the fragrant curry simmer for 1 hour and 3/4. Mix in the sugar and season to taste (I added 2 tablespoons of salt). Let it cool and leave overnight so the flavours can develop.

Naan bread  - yummy, warm and delicious

1 tsp Dried yeast

2/3 cup of warm water

1 tsp Caster sugar

2 cups Plain flour

1 tsp Salt

Yoghurt

Mix the water, yeast and sugar until the yeast dissolves. Put in a warm place for 10 minutes until it is frothy. Sift the flour and salt and add the yeast mixture. Combine then knead the dough for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. place in a greased bowl for 1 and 1/2 hours or until it doubles in size. Knead for 5 minutes and cut into 6 portions. Roll each portion to an oval shape (about 20 cm). Place in hot oven for 8 minutes..serve with ghee

Saffron Rice with Almonds - fluffy, buttery & yellow

2 cups of rice

2 tbsp of butter

Flaked almonds

2 tsp saffron threads

Melt butter in a hot pan. Add the almonds and brown. Add rice, coat in butter mixture and toast for 5 or so minutes. Put into a rice cooker and cook as per manufacturer instructions.

 Coconut & Pineapple no churn ice-cream - fresh, zesty, creamy.

1/2 cup pineapple juice

Malibu small

Coconut essence

Lime juice to taste

2/3 cup icing sugar

500 ml cream thick

40 g toasted coconut chips

Mix the icing sugar, coconut essence, Malibu, lime juice and pineapple juice until the icing sugar dissolves. Add the cream and whip until it forms soft peaks. Put in an air tight container and freeze overnight. Serve with a sprinkling of coconut chips and a squeeze of lime

What can I say? The food was delicious, the wine was flowing and the company was top notch. A great Thursday night at the Indian Home Diner.

It's a wrap

 Weekday cooking can be a bit of a chore especially after work but this recipe is easy, healthy and tasty.

Sprinkle 2 pieces of fillet steak with Masterfoods corriander powder, Mexican Chilli powder and some salt and grill to your liking.

In the meantime get some lovely fresh avocado and chop then mush with lime juice, salt, fresh chilli and some Mexican Chilli powder.

Slice the beautifully spiced steak thinly and squeeze with fresh lime. Chop some fresh tomato, wash some fresh spinach and corriander and open a can of kidney beans. Layout 4 multi-grain wraps (I used Mission Foods) spread the avocado dip, top with the steak, kidney beans, tomato, spinach, corriander. Squeeze with fresh lime then wrap. Place carefully in the mouth and savour the Mexican spice, the freshness of the lime and coriander, the tender meat and creamy avocado. Delicious, quick, easy and healthy - it's a wrap,

Andrew's Sunday Steak Sanga

There is nothing more fun that catching up with your old mates especially over a beer and a good ol' steak sanga (translation: steak sandwich). After a walk and frolic at Bronte beach we all mosied on back to Andrew and Renee's house for a spot of lunch. The weather was beautiful so we sat out the back and had some cold beer and wine. Andrew cooked up some scotch fillet steaks on the barbie which he'd flattened so they were more tender and sandwich friendly. At the same time he fried up some balsamic onions which is exactly what it says on the tin - diced onion and balsamic vinegar. We toasted some turkish bread, Renee chopped up some slices of tomato, washed some spinach and laid out the most important ingredient - the sauces: BBQ, Tomato and Mayo. A piece of turkish, topped with tender steak, sweet onion, fresh tomato, spinach and a combo of mayo and BBQ sauce. Bite into it...delicious! A sip of wine, a steak sanga and old friends..the perfect Sunday.

A slow-cooked lamb shank

We went over to Dan and Chantal's and they cooked up such a beautiful dinner. I was especially touched as they've recently had a baby, so life is extra hectic! That's where the slow cooker came in handy. Dan plonked all the ingredients for these Moroccan lamb shanks in the slow cooker in the morning and by the time he got home it was done. A relaxing glass of wine with the gang, make the cous cous in a flash, sit down and serve. The lamb was so soft it fell of the bone and the sauce was  thick and sweet from the sweet potato and the prunes. This combination os sweet, savoury and spice was just earthy and delicious! Lucky we had plenty of cous cous to mop it all up! Here is the recipe - divine. http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Slow-Cooker-Moroccan-Lamb-Shanks-L2841.html

My boyfriend the cook

My boyfriend has always claimed he is no cook. He'd rather leave it to me. But he got a 'gastropub' cookbook for his birthday and, somewhat reluctantly, decided to give it a go for a casual Friday night dinner with 2 of our friends. Whilst I can't say he enjoyed the process (some people actually find cooking stressful if you can believe it) I think he was quite chuffed with the end result. The simple but special menu?

Oysters Kilpatrick
Lamb cutlets with rosemary and anchovy butter
A side of perfectly roasted potatoes
Rocket, pear and Parmesan salad with caramelised balsamic dressing (bought on a recent trip to Mudgee)
Strawberries Romanoff with vanilla cream
Cheese
Loads of wine

I helped by heading to the fish market Friday morning. It was so lovely and peaceful being there at 8am and having the market to myself. I bought a dozen Pacific and a dozen Sydney Rock oysters and got some lovely cheeses from the lovely cheese man.

For the Oysters Kilpatrick Carl cut 2 pieces of bacon into strips, crisped them in the pan then added some balsamic vinegar. He then add a dash of Worcestershire sauce and spooned this mixture over the oysters..into a hot grill for about 5 minutes and there you go. You could still taste the oyster but it has has the smokiness of the bacon and the sauce.

The lamb cutlets were simply cooked on the BBQ along with the rosemary but what made them really special was the anchovy butter:

125g of softened unsalted butter
2 anchovies
1 tbsp of parsley
1 tomato skinned and de-seeded
1 clove of crushed garlic

We mixed this all together, placed in the centre of some Gladwrap, rolled and put into the fridge to set. Once the lamb was done we simply sliced a piece of the butter and put it on top of the lamb to melt..amazing.. to mop up with the lamb and the roast spuds. Plus with the leftover butter is now in the freezer for us to use on fish, with chicken, stirred through pasta on to make a garlic bread - very handy indeed.

The strawberries were quartered, sprinkled with sugar and then covered with half a cup of freshly squeezed orange, 60ml of Cointreau and then put in the fridge to soak. The result was sweet syrupy strawberries which tasted so good with the vanilla double cream.

So for someone who doesn't cook this 3 course meal was was simple yet delicious. So delicious in fact there are no photo's...