Springing into the kitchen

The first signs of spring have sent me rushing to green grocer to stock up on the key salad item. Before I hear the collective sighs of ‘salads just don’t fill me up’ give this little beauty a try.

Tuna nicoise-style salad a go!

Fresh tuna fillet with a bit of green leaf, green beans, tomato, cucumber & olives. The additions of potatoes and eggs instantly make it man friendly and will ensure full tummy’s well into the night!

Important to not to overcook the tuna – a simple sizzle on either side is all it needs.

Simple dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and S&P make it a regular of the weekly spring/summer menu.

Sunday Roast- Bringing the Gang Together

There is a nothing that brings together good friends like the traditional roast dinner.

Sunday night we did an ‘old school’ roast dinner with all the trimmings.

Lamb seasoned with garlic and rosemary springs with the roast potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato and steamed greens. Not forgetting the gravy!

The ol’ Sunday roast cannot be underestimated.

Crispy Chinese Chicken

In the sea of boxes I managed to cook something easy yet yummy on Monday night. Organic chicken breast covered in Masterfoods Chinese Five Spice powder and a little salt.  A drop of peanut oil on a non-stick pan and cook for 4-5 minutes each side. In the meantime, chop mushrooms, capsicum, asparagus and broccolini and stirfry with a drop of sesame oil, a clove of crushed garlic a splash of soy and finish off with some oyster sauce. Done..in 20 minutes. Aromatic, crispy, moist chicken with semi-crisp vegies infused with garlic..nice.

Use pressure to slow cook during the week

We're moving house,  so last night's dinner was about using all the leftovers.Rump steak, mushrooms, capsicum, tomato, sweet and regular potato, onion, garlic, stock, mustard and red wine.  My mum gave me a pressure cooker about 3 years ago and I'm ashamed to say I have never used it. So I thought I'd give it a go. I fried the onion, garlic and capisicum in the pressure cooker, added the sliced rump steak and some mushrooms. I was drinking some lovely Shiraz so sloshed a bit of that in, 3 teaspoons of dijon mustard and half a cup of stock and then it was time. I put on the pressure cooker lid and then mashed the sweet and regular potato with butter and milk. The pressure cooker 'tooted' 4 times and I opened the lid.  The meat was melt in the mouth and the sauce was rich and hearty and tasted amazing spooned over the creamy potato. Not bad for 30 minutes including prep and cooking..Why didn't I use my pressure cooker sooner? Thanks Mum!

I’ve always feared baking whole fish, but decided to give it a go last Sunday.

It was easy.

We chopped some tomato, shallots, grated fresh ginger and sliced limes

We covered the fish and laid it on a bed of this mix. Lemons were halved and baked.

Covered it in foil and baked for 40 mins and enjoyed a glass of rose

Uncover and squeeze the baked lemon over the top of the fish and serve with steamed green vegies. YUM!!!

Bangers and Mash - food for the soul

So it was a lazy Sunday after the party so I defrosted some sausages, made some mashed potato with my new potato ricer and a bit of milk and steamed some spinach and broccoli. Tried to be a bit fancy and deglaze the pan with red wine and stock to make something the chefs call 'jus'..it was quite tasty..especially with some Masterfood dijonnaise..mmm

Why you should cook cupcakes in a cupcake tin

Note the wonky cupcake on the right

So, it was my boyfriends birthday on the weekend so I thought I'd make cupcakes -blue for boys with dinosaur sprinkles. Here is the reason you should use a cupcake tin - note the wonky cupcake on the right. Wonky but still delicious. Icing and sprinkles fixes everything. I'd like to say I made them from scratch but Green's cake mix is just too delicious and easy to pass up.

Spicy Noodley Yuminess

I don't make rice noodles enough so I soaked them in hot water for 10 minutes and in the meantime fried some ginger, chilli, beans and broccoli in the wok. Had a left over chicken breast from the roast on Monday night so put that in aswell (its important not to waste) and added some brown sugar, oyster sauce, fish sauce, stock and fresh lime. In went the noodles and finally I finished off with some fresh coriander and crushed peanuts. Lip smacking  asian noodley yuminess. Sigh. Respect to the Rice Noodle.

A little bit of lamb

A little low in iron so decided to to cook some lamb. Supposedly lamb is indestructible..tastes cook wel-done, tastes good rare. Not sure if it was the cut of lamb I bought (sirloin), but it was a little too 'lamby' for my liking. According to my critic (aka boyfriend), the chicken roast won hands down. Might stick to loin chops next time. Lucky I'd roasted some eggplant, red capsicum, sweet potato and tomatoes on the side. The eggplant was creamy, the capsicum sweet and delicious, the potatoes just yum and the tomatoes popped in the oven and covered the vegies and lamb in a lovely sauce.

Monday Roast

Last night I cooked a chicken roast. I rubbed the skin with butter and stuffed it with whole garlic cloves, thyme and half a lemon then roasted it with a cup of water. The result was beautiful moist meat with crispy skin and juices that made a lovely buttery lemony gravy which made me want to lick the plate. On the side? Steamed beans and potato gratin made with Carnation Light n Creamy..so it wasn't  too naughty. It was Monday night afterall.