My Kitchen Confessions ...

Bacon and egg roll

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:04:00 +0000

Nothing says breakfast to me like a big bacon and egg roll. But it can’t be any old bacon and egg roll…it needs to be made a certain way which generally means I am making it!

You see if I am going to devour something as ‘sinful’ and a bacon and egg roll then I am going to do it right.

To start with I like to use the most rusting bread roll I can find, you know those lovely chewy rolls with lots of gritty bits. Then scoop the middle of the roll so it isn’t so ‘bready’and butter it generously. The 2 slices of bacon needs to be free range and have just the right amount of fat on it to get the bacon nice and crispy and leave enough fat behind to cook a lovely soft free range egg. I also like to add a good handful of peppery rocket, a blob of really good Dijon mustard, a squirt of tomato sauce and lashings of salt and pepper,

You see that is how I like to start my day on the weekend there is no way possible that I could have a bad day with a breakfast like that…How does your weekend start?

What I love to eat ...this week

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:41:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 04:09:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:28:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:07:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:22:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:31:00 +0000

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…

Serves 4

400grams macaroni

½ head cauliflower cut in to small flowerets

10 fresh sage leave chopped finely

250grams crème fraiche

200gramss good cheddar cheese grated

100grams parmesan cheese grated

60grams soft goat’s cheese

Sea salt and white pepper to taste

Fill a large put of water and bring to the boil, add macaroni and cauliflower and cook until macaroni is al dente. Drain and set aside.

Add crème fraiche, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese goat’s cheese and sage to a pot and cook over a very low heat until combined. The cheese sauce should have a silky consistency. Do not over cook as the sauce will separate. Season well will salt and white pepper.

Add sauce to macaroni and cauliflower and combine will. Add mixture to an oven proof dish and pop under the grill until slightly browned.

Serve with a loving smile …

Note – In Jamie’s recipe he uses parsley instead of sage. I happened to have sage and I thought it would make the dish a little more “grown up”. I also added the goat’s cheese as once again I happened to have it in the fridge and I liked the ides of using three cheeses…

Spaghetti with traditional bolognese ragu

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:44:00 +0000

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.
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 Bolognese 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 question WHY that was allowed to be aired. To this day I refuse to go to the restaurant owned by this particular ‘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 bolognese Ragu, I have spent a long time perfecting this recipe and I happen to think its pretty amazing…Now don’t be alarmed by adding the 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 heave based pot, add onion, carrot and celery and cook over a medium for 5 minutes. Add garlic and 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 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 sauceon top of your spaghetti or mix it together and cover in parmesan cheese (like it do)

Prosciutto olive and rocket pizza - Low carb/wheat free

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:01:00 +0000

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!

Now I need to make something clear I am not a member of the low carb movement! I will however be counting down the days until I make this again.

Serves 2 but I think 1…

1 large zucchini peeled and grated

1 egg whisked lightly

100grams mozzarella cheese + 30grams extra

3 tablespoons tomato passata

2 slices prosciutto

Handful black olives pitted

Handful rocket leaves

Sea salt and black pepper

Preheat oven 190ºC and line a medium sized oven proof fry pan with baking paper

Combine zucchini, egg and mozzarella cheese season with salt and pepper. Add mixture to the frypan and spread out evenly to form an even ‘crust’. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes or until the top in golden brown. Take crust out of the frypan and place on a plate to cool.

Turn oven up to 220 ºC.

Once your crust has cooled add passatta, prosciutto, olives and extra mozzarella cheese and place back into your frypan. Cook for another 10 minutes in the oven or until prosciutto is crispy and mozzarella cheese has melted and is all bubbly.

Scatter pizza with rocket, cut into wedges and eat…do not share!

Indian prawn curry

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:08:00 +0000

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.

My Indian prawn curry is a perfect mid week dinner that I can get on the table in less that half an hour. I prefer not to cook onions with this dish as it takes away from delicate sweetness of the prawns and I find the curry paste provides the perfect amount of spice for this dish.

Serves 2

20 large green prawns, peeled and deveined

1 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons of any mild Indian curry paste (I use Korma)

1 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons natural yoghurt

Handful chopped coriander

2 cups cooked basmati rice

Salt to taste

Lime wedges to serve

Cook rice according to directions.

Heat oil in a medium size frypan and cook curry paste for 3 minutes stirring continuously. Add chicken stock and allow to simmer until liquid has reduced by half. Add prawns and cook until prawns turn pink (do not over cook) remove from heat and add yoghurt. Stir gently until combined.

Serve on a bed on basmati rice, sprinkle with coriander and a wedge of lime.

Spicy chicken wings served with a cooling garlic dipping sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:15:00 +0000

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!

I thought I would start off my party food favourites with my spicy chicken wings that I serve with a cooling garlic dipping sauce. They are a little messy...but who cares when something tastes so good!

Serves 4-6

1kg “happy” chicken wingettes (wingette = chicken wings cut in half and the little tip of the wing removed)

½ cup Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons sweet paprika

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon chilli powder

1 tablespoon chipotle chilli powder

2 teaspoons sea salt

2 teaspoons white pepper

Juice half lemon

Dipping sauce

½ cup whole egg mayonnaise

¼ cup good Greek yoghurt

2 cloves garlic crushed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Salt to taste

In a large zip lock bag, combine all of the above ingredients except for the lemon juice and dipping sauce. Mix well and leave in the fridge overnight.

Preheat oven 180ºC

Line 2 baking trays with foil and baking paper (trust me about this). Place wingettes on the baking trays. Try no to overcrowd each tray. Reserve any remaining marinade. Cook for 40 minutes turning half way through cooking time.

Add reserved marinade to a small pot and simmer gently until mix has reduced and thickened slightly. Remove from heat and add the juice of half a lemon.

Dipping Sauce

Combine all ingredients and chill for at least 15 minutes. This allows to sauce to magically thicken up and flavours to develop.

To serve place you wingettes on a lovely platter, drizzle with the reduced marinade, scatter with lemon wedges and a nice big bowl of the dipping sauce.

Serviettes are recommended!

Oven baked pumpkin and sage risotto

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 20:48:00 +0000

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.

Seriously who doesn’t love the thought of a dinner consisting of ten minutes chopping, combining your ingredients and bunging it in the oven for 45 minutes?

This dish is a perfect week night supper when you have had a busy day and cooking is not high on the agenda…

Serves 2

1cup Arborio or Carnaroli rice

1 leek cleaned and sliced finely into little half moons

400grams pumpkin cubed

10 fresh sage leaves

30 grams butter

2 cups of vegetable stock

½ cup dry white wine

1/3 finely grated parmesan cheese

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven 190◦C

Add rice, leek, pumpkin, sage, butter, stock and wine to on ovenproof pan and give it all a good stir.

Cover pan with tight fitting lid or aluminium foil and put in the oven for 45 minutes. Stir in parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and allow to stand for five minutes.

Serve in warmed bowls and sprinkle with a little more parmesan cheese…best eaten when sitting on the couch!

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

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:00:00 +0000

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.

My darling Captain Vegetarian has become quite cunning in our three years of marriage and knows that he can always lure me out on the high seas with the promise of a lunch once we hit dry land. So off we went Captain Vegetarian and his Chief Wincher (its electric) our destination was to be Manly!

Deck Bar

Keeping in mind that it was hot, had only just gone 12pm and I had to stomach to trip back I went for a Thai Beef Salad. I wouldn’t say that it was your traditional Thai beef salad as the flavours had more of a Chinese vibe with hoi sin sauce being the star of the dressing along a nice sprinkling of sesame seeds. I definitely wasn’t disappointed.

Thai Beef Salad $19

We couldn’t resist the big bowl of thick cut chips. They were delicious! I promised my self I would only eat a few…it didn’t happen.

Bowl of Chips $7

Captain Vegetarian also went for the salad option which I thought was strange …especially as there was veggie burger on the menu, but like me he was also hot and thought of our impending trip home. The Captain went for the Pumpkin and Fetta salad. This salad was missing something, and I don’t mean meat. I have to say that it looked a little sad on the plate and could have been dressed with a better dressing.

Roast Pumpkin & Fetta Salad $15

Manly Skiff Club

t. (02)9977 3322

f.(02)9976 2804

a.cnr East Espanade &

Stuart Street

, Manly 2095

e.info@manlyskiff.com.au

Over all it was a lovely day, I enjoyed a great meal and got to spend time my favourite person. The only thing I didn’t discover was my sea legs!

Stuffed Red Capsicums

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:33:00 +0000

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.

Serves 4

4 Red Capsicums (uniform in shape and size)

500grams turkey mince

1finely chopped onion

1fat clove of garlic, crushed

200grams sliced button mushrooms

½ cup almond meal or bread crumbs

¼ cup tomato paste

120grams crumbled Greek or Bulgarian fetta

Handful chopped parsley

2tablespoon of ‘Greek’ seasoning mix (most supermarkets will stock this)

4 large potatoes peeled and each cut into 4 wedges each

Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Pre heat your oven to 180ºC.

Cut the tops off the capsicums and remove the seeds.

In a large bowl combine mince, onion, garlic, mushrooms, almond meal or breadcrumbs, tomato paste, parsley, seasoning mix, salt, pepper and half the fetta cheese. You will need to get your hands dirty and give a good mix with your hands…please wash your hands and remove your jewellery first!

‘Stuff” the mixture into the capsicums and sprinkle with remaining cheese, place capsicums into a heavy based casserole dish. Add potatoes around the capsicums. The potatoes will help keep your capsicums upright and will soak up the lovely cooking juices. Add a ¼ cup of water cover with a lid and bake in the oven for 1 hour. Remove lid and bake for a further 15 - 20 minutes. Serve capsicums with the potatoes.

Spaghetti with traditional bolognaise ragu

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:00:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:00:00 +0000

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!
One of my favourite ways of eating left over roast chicken is to serve it in lettuce cups. I prefer a lettuce cup instead of a sandwich at times especially if I am feeling a bit ‘breaded out’ or feel like something light.

Trust me these babies really hit the spot.

Per serve

2 iceberg lettuce cups

100grams shredded left over chicken (cold)

½ green apple cored, peeled and cut into match sticks

1 tablespoon whole egg mayonnaise

1 tablespoon Greek yoghurt

2 teaspoons mild curry powder

2 tablespoons chopped chives

Salt and white pepper to taste

Fill a bowl with luke warm water large enough to hold an iceberg lettuce. Add lettuce and leave for a few minutes, this process allows the leaves to pull away easily so you don tear the lettuce cups.

Once separated keep lettuce cups in cold water so they remain crisp.

Combine remaining ingredients well and place in lettuce cups…Eat!

Pot roast chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

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!
I especially enjoy pot roast chicken. I love the idea of layering my veggies in the bottom of the pot, adding chicken stock, white wine and thyme then placing the chicken in the pot covering up and adding to a hot oven… at the end you are presented with the most succulent chicken, tastiest veggies and best ever gravy, my mouth is watering just thinking about it…

Serves 4 – 6

1.6kg whole happy chicken

1 whole garlic bulb sliced in half

Mixture of roasting vegetables i.e. potatoes, carrots, onions, sweet potato, swede, turnips brussel sprouts …

10 sprigs of thyme

1 cup chicken stock

¼ cup dry white wine

Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven 220ºC

In a large heavy based casserole pot layer your vegetables, add sprigs of thyme, chicken, wine, garlic and season well with salt and pepper.

Season the chicken inside and out, you can even add an onion cut in half or half a lemon to the cavity for extra flavour and place on top of the vegetables. Cover with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for 1 hour. After 1 hour remove lid and cook for a further 30 minutes to brown the chicken and reduce the cooking liquid.

Serve chicken and vegetables on warmed plated and drizzle with juices from the bottom of the pot…this is the perfect one pot dinner!

Oysters with horseradish cream, pecorino and chives (cheats mornay)

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Last night I found myself home alone as Captain Vegetarian had announced that he would be ‘offsite” at a work dinner. As much as I enjoy our evening meal together occasionally it is lovely to enjoy a little me time and cook myself a nice dinner for one.

Knowing this I had spent most of the morning planning my greedy plan of attack and by lunchtime I had settled on oysters…and not just any oysters, I wanted those lovely plump pacific oysters, a whole dozen of them all to myself!
When I got home I placed my tray of oysters in the fridge, poured myself a glass of wine and set about how I was going to prepare my oysters. Usually I am happy to have them natural served with lemon juice, salt an pepper but tonight I fancied something a little richer and more substantial.

By the time I had finished my glass of wine it was decided…I was going to have oysters with horseradish cream, pecorino and chives or as I like to call it “cheats mornay”. So off I went collecting my ingredients from the fridge when the phone rang. It was my dad who was just around the corner and about to drop in for a visit which I thought was lovely. However, knowing my dad like I do (lets just say I had to get my gluttonous ways from someone) I frantically packed up the kitchen hiding all evidence of my oyster’s existence. If he new they were they were there I wouldn’t be enjoying a dozen oysters for dinner…

As dad was leaving he happened to ask what I was planning on having for dinner…I looked him in the eye l and said cheese on toast!

Per dozen

12 plump pacific oysters

60grams grated pecorino cheese

2 tablespoons of horseradish cream

2 tablespoons light thickened cream or greek yoghurt

1 tablespoons chopped chives

Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 200ºC and line an oven tray with baking paper.

Line oyster up on your oven tray

Combine pecorino, horseradish cream, cream or yoghurt and half the chives. Mix well. Add mixture evenly to each oyster and season with sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

Bake oysters for 10 minutes or until all bubbly. Serve immediately.

Mussels with garlic and white wine

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

One thing I know in life is that Captain Vegetarian will always be a vegetarian … he says that he just doesn’t like the idea of an animal having to die to end up on his plate so I think its safe to say that this isn’t a passing faze. However, he will occasionally make an exception when it comes to oysters, mussels and scallops or as I like to call them molluscs. He isn’t overly fussed on them and once referred to scallops as being minging (his words not mine) but will eat them at a pinch.
The other night I had a craving for mussels…I nice big greedy serve of them and persuaded Captain Vegetarian to head on over to the dark side and have them for dinner. Lucklily he only ate a few which meant more for me. After we ...well mainly me ate all of the mussels we mopped up all of the rich intoxicating garlicky broth from the mussels, wine and butter with a rustic loaf of sour dough. Delicious!

Serves 2

1kg green/black mussels (what ever you like)

50grams butter

2 fat cloves of garlic finely chopped

Small red chilli deseeded and finely chopped

1 cup dry white wine

Handful of cherry tomatoes sliced in half

Handful chopped parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large heavy based pot over medium high heat. Add butter garlic and chilli and cook until garlic begins to soften. Add mussels and wine and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook mussels for 7 minutes...no peeking

Remove lid and discard any mussels that did not open. Taste broth for seasoning and adjust to taste. Add parsley and tomatoes and serve with a loaf of crusty sourdough.

Lamb cutlets with black olive tapenade

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:41:00 +0000

I love little lamb cutlets, I love them so much that I could eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner… one of the great things about being married to Captain Vegetarian is that I know I never have to share my little lamb cutlets or have to worry about them being stolen from plate !

Normally I wouldn’t bother with adding anything to my lamb apart from olive oil, salt and pepper as I don’t see the need to mess with perfection. Occasionally I will also use lemon juice, garlic and rosemary and if I am really looking for flavour punch I will break out the black olive tapenade.
The saltiness of the tapenade goes beautifully with the sweetness of the lamb making this an amazing combination.

Please don’t worry about making your tapenade from scratch as I don’t. Find yourself a good deli, buy it and jazz it up with a little black pepper olive oil and lemon juice, trust me no one will ever know …

Serves 2

6-8 lamb cutlets (depending how greedy you are feeling)

1 teaspoon black olive tapenade per cutlet

1 tablespoon olive oil

Handful chopped parsley

Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Lemon wedges to serve

Heat a non stick frypan on med- high heat.

Rub olive oil over the lamb cutlets and season with se salt and cracked black pepper.

Add cutlets to your frypan and cook on one side for 3 minutes. Turn them over; add tapenade to each cutlet and cook for a further 2 minutes. This will give you lovely pink lamb; if you feel the need to cook it longer go right ahead. My preference is towards the rare side.

Serve on warmed plates with parley and lemon wedges…if you are feeing fancy drizzle with a little olive oil.

Pork cevapcici

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:00:00 +0000

How lovely is it to go shopping and come home with a nice new cookbook? The only problem is once I have made my purchase all I can think about is rushing home making myself a nice cup of tea, curling up the lounge and reading my new book cover to cover. Half the time I forget why I have had to go shopping and end up having to go back the next day to buy the rest of my poor forgotten items…

The lasted edition to find itself as an honorary member of my cookbook library is OMG I Can Eat That by Jane Kennedy. I really enjoyed Jane’s first book Fabulous Food Minus the Boombah and couldn’t wait to read her lasted instalment.

Now I warn you, carbohydrates are not included in either book. It appears Jane simply does not eat them as they make her arse huge. If you can get passed that you will find great recipes, beautiful pictures and hilarious stories about her battle with the scales.

This dish came from a recipe I borrowed from OMG I Can Eat That. The original recipe was called Pork cevapcici and mustard pots with rocket parsley and red onion salad. However I served mine with a crunchy garden salad and as my gorgeous little mini sauce ramekins still had not been unpacked from our recent house move so dollop I add a dollop of Dijon mustard on the side.

Serves 4

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

500grams pork mince (not extra lean, you will need a little fat in this one)

1 large onion finely chopped

1 garlic clove finally chopped

½ cup almond meal

1 tablespoon olive oil

Crush the fennel seeds, chilli, sea salt and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle.

Combine the mince, spices, onion, garlic and almond meal in a large bowl and mix well.

Take a small handful of the mince mixture and shape into 12 small fat ‘fingers’. Line up on a plate and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Heat olive oil in a fry pan over medium – high heat. Add cevapcici and cook until cooked through.

Serve with salad and drizzle with lemon.

Confession… Although not in the picture I did eat this dish with a sneaky portion of crispy homemade chips ….Sorry Jane!

Maple roasted pumpkin with toasted pine nuts

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 01:56:00 +0000

I don’t understand people who say they don’t eat vegetables. I have spent along time thinking about this and have come up with only one reason why.

They were brought up on meals served with a side of vegetables boiled within an inch of their lives and believe veggies are meant to disintegrate when picked up with a fork, and served a dreary shade of grey. I’m pleased I got that of my chest!
Please don’t think I am jumping on the vegetarian bandwagon or a crazed health fanatic, as I am and always will be a shameless gluttonous carnivore. I just think that everything on your plate should be treated as a main event…Vegetables included.

Serves 4

1kg butternut pumpkin cut into rustic chunks

¼ cup maple syrup (the proper stuff, trust me it’s a good investment)

2 tablespoons olive

¼ cup toasted pine nuts

1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes

Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 200ºC and line an oven tray with baking paper.

Combine pumpkin, olive oil, maple syrup and chilli on your baking tray and mix well. Flatten out and season with sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

Cook until pumpkin is deliciously soft and caramelised …approximately 30 – 40 minutes.

Toast pine nuts gently in a small pan over a low heat until they are lovely and brown… be careful not to turn your back as they only take a second to burn

Arrange on a serving plate and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.

I dare a veggie hater to not enjoy this…

Pan seared pork cutlets with mustard sauce, braised red cabbage and sweet potato mash

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:21:00 +0000

Do you ever find yourself looking at what other people have in their supermarket trolley...? I do.

I find it interesting to see what people collect in their trolleys. Sometimes I look and think that’s a great idea, I might try that, other times I am horrified and leave that particular isle rather quickly.

Recently I had in my possession two lovely free range pork cutlets that I had just purchased from my butcher. I was a little stuck for what to serve along side them and felt a little trolley stalking was in order. Lucky for me on my first peak I spotted a lovely red cabbage.

Inspired I set about creating my dish of pan seared pork cutlets with mustard sauce, braised red cabbage and sweet potato mash.

Serves 2

2 x 200gram free range pork cutlets (rind on please)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and cracked black pepper taste

1 heaped tablespoon of good Dijon mustard

1 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon butter

Salt and cracked black pepper taste

Braised red cabbage

¼ small head red cabbage shredded

1 read onion sliced

1 green apple cored, peeled and sliced into half moons

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

Good glug of balsamic vinegar

Handful of chopped flat leaf parsley

Squeeze of lemon juice

Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

To a heavy based pot add your olive oil, butter and red onion, season with salt and cook on a low heat until onions begin to caramelise. Add cabbage and cook for a couple more minutes. Once cabbage has wilted slightly add the sliced apple, balsamic and splash of water.

Cook cabbage on a low heat stirring occasionally for one hour. Once cooked remove from heat and lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Mashed sweet potato

500gram orange sweet potato pealed and cut into medium sized pieced

1 tablespoon butter

Dash milk or stock

Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Cook sweet potato in a pot of salted boiling water until tender. Remove from heat and drain well. Add butter , milk or stock and mash until smooth. Season with sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

Preheat your oven to 220ºC.

Heat an oven proof fry pan over medium-high heat

Cut little incisions in the pork rinds to stop your pork cutlets curling up when cooking and rub with olive oil. Season with sea salt and cracked black pepper and add to your fry pan.

Allow pork to cook for three minutes with out touching, turning or poking at it. Flip over and place entire pan in the oven to cook for 10 minutes.

Remove pork from the pan and place on a warmed plate to rest while you crack on with the sauce.

Add your pan back on the stove on a medium heat and add the wine to deglaze the pan. Add chicken stock, mustard, thyme leaves and mix well (a small whisk works well) Allow sauce to reduce and thicken slightly. Add juices from the resting plate and season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove sauce from heat and add butter (this will bring your sauce together and give your sauce a lovely shine)

Serve pork cutlets on warmed plates with braised red cabbage and sweet potato mash. Drizzle with mustard sauce and serve immediately.

Fettuccini pesto with spicy roast pumpkin and parmesan cheese.

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 21:23:00 +0000

Confession… I married a vegetarian.

Meal times can be interesting at ‘My Kitchen Confessions Manor’ as I am not keen on sitting down to a meal that does not contain some kind of meat or seafood. So each evening I set about preparing two meals …one for Captain Vegetarian the other for me.

My other problem is, although he flatly denies it, Captain Vegetarian is a picky eater. Unfortunately that is something I do need to take some blame in as in the first year of our marriage I was going through a bit of a tomato faze… Let’s just say I used them a lot and leave it at that.Captain vegetarian does prefer it when I avoid cooking a meal for him using any type of tomato cooked or raw; he also isn’t a fan of mushrooms (not my fault). What he does enjoy though is my fettuccini pesto with spicy roast pumpkin and parmesan cheese.

Serves 2

250grams dried fettuccini

¼ cup light thickened cream

Toasted pine nuts for sprinkling

Freshly grated/shaved parmesan for sprinkling

Pesto

4 cups Basil leaves

1 large garlic clove
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup freshly grated pecorino cheese
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
Sea Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Toast pine nuts gently in a small pan over a low heat until they are lovely and brown… be careful not to turn your back as they only take a second to burn

Combine ingredients except for salt and pepper into your food processor and blend to your preferred consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Spicy Roast Pumpkin

500grams of butternut pumpkin cut into rustic chunks

1 tablespoon walnut oil

1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Sea salt to taste

Preheat your oven to 200ºC and line an oven tray with baking paper (Trust me it helps with washing up, make it your new best friend)

Crush chilli flakes, fennel seeds and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle.

Combine pumpkin, walnut oil and spices on your baking tray and combine well. Flatten out and season with sea salt.

Cook until pumpkin cooked and caramelised …approximately 30 – 40 minutes.

The final event

Cook fettuccini according to instructions in a large pot of salted boiling water. Once cooked drain pasta and return to the pot.

Over a low heat add ½ the pesto (save the rest for another meal) and the cream to the pasta and combine well. Add pumpkin and stir gently to keep pumpkin in shape. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Serve in large bowls and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts and parmesan cheese.

Note – I have also used olive oil when making the spicy roast pumpkin and had a delicious result, however if you do come across a bottle of walnut oil I suggest you grab it as it is also a sensation oil to use on your salads!

Cauliflower mash

noreply@blogger.com (Elisha) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 05:31:00 +0000

I love my veggies, even as little girl my mum never had issues with me eating my vegetables, actually the more I think about it she never had any trouble getting me to eat anything… It would appear I was classed as greedy child, a bit of a glutton really.

On one of my recent excursions to the farmers market I came across the cauliflowers. Being a caring and nurturing person I felt I should give one of these cauliflowers a good home. That evening I only had one dish in mind… Cauliflower Mash.

For the members of the low carb movement, cauliflower mash it is a substitute for mash potatoes. I however look at cauliflower mash a delicious and velvety treat that leaves mash potato for dead!

Serves 2 …Generously

½ head of cauliflower cut into flowerets

1 glove garlic

¼ cup parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons Greek yoghurt

Sea salt and Pepper to taste

Add cauliflower and garlic to a saucepan of salted boiling water and cook until cauliflower is lovely and soft.

Drain cauliflower and garlic well in a colander and allow to cool slightly before adding to a food processor. Add the parmesan cheese, Greek yoghurt and process until smooth and velvety. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Note – I prefer white pepper in this dish as it gives it a nice flavour and keeps the colour of the cauliflower nice and white. However if you prefer cracked back pepper go right a head and feel free to sprinkle with some lovely fresh chives or parsley.