TEdAMENU Tuckertime

Aquarian Capretto con uva

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:47:52 PST

NAME: _Aquarian Capretto con uva

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
500g of capretto (young goat) - leftover forequarter pieces or similar (see Notes)
several potatoes, whatever you have (see Notes)
1 turnip
1 small swede
2 medium carrots
1 large brown onion (see Notes)
500g red seedless grapes (see Notes)
1 tin chopped tomatoes (or chop up a tin's worth of fresh, discarding the liquid and seeds)
2 tbsp EVOO
1 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 tbsp grape molasses
2 tbsp zartar (see Notes)
salt

METHOD:
Peel the vegetables and cut into slices about 1cm - 2cm thick, boil in barely enough salted water for about five minutes.

In the meantime, slice the onion into rings about 1cm thick, put both the oils in a frypan, heat to smoking, and add the onions. Fry until the onion is cooked brown. Brush a casserole dish and its lid with some of the oil on the insides, then layer the onions on the bottom.

Drain the vegetables, rinse, add the tomato and return to medium/low heat. You may add salt to taste.

Fry the pieces of meat over high heat until browned evenly all over, take out with tongs and arrange in a layer over the onions, then sprinkle the zartar evenly and fairly thickly over the meat. The vegetables can now be removed from the tomato sauce and arranged in a layer over the meat, then the tomato sauce poured over.

Strip the grapes from the stem and cut them in halves or chop/crush them so that all grapes are split at least once. Arrange them on top of the vegetables, and drizzle the grape molasses over.

Cover the casserole dish with the lid and put in an oven at 160 - 165 (low heat.) Check occasionally that it is slightly simmering, leave in oven for at least two, preferably three hours. After three hours, check that the grapes have begun caramelising, and remove the lid for a final 30 - 60 minutes, during which time you raise the heat slightly to 170 until done.

(Check once or twice to see if the liquid is all absorbed and evaporated, and when it is, leave for a further fifteen minutes, at which point the dish should be finished. What you're aiming for is slightly caramelised grapes on top, and the same for the onions and juices that ran to the bottom of the dish.)

SERVING:
Serve right away, with or without a side of crusty bread and butter.

NOTES:
Meat: I got a forequarter of capretto the ribs cut for chops, shoulder for a small roast, and other pieces cut about 5cm square by 2cm thick, bone in and not trimmed up too much - this dish is ideal for tougher cuts, bits that are left over from preparing fancier (but not tastier!) meals, etc. You can also use lamb or mutton for the dish. I prefer the taste of goat.
Potatoes: I had a Kipfler, a Nadine, and some unspecified pink potato, and just used them all. Use what you have to hand.
Onion: Prefer onions with thick layers for this - you're going to fry them brown, then slow roast them for a few hours, they need some body to them,
Grapes: I found red seedless to be the best because there'd be a LOT of seeds otherwise. But any deep red sweet grapes will do in a pinch.
Zartar: is a Middle Eastern mix of wild thyme, sumak, and sesame seeds. Any dried thyme or oregano would do if you can't get the zartar.

This is a dish I developed because I don't have much of a liking for older lamb and mutton, and what I had were zartar, grapes, and the vegetables. Much to my delight, the very first one worked perfectly and I just stuck to the same recipe.

The long slow cooking time in the oven on low heat makes the meat fall off the bones, while keeping the temperature low means the vegetables don't overcook. You can't hurry this dish - three to five hours is a good point to aim for. You have some control over the timing by leaving the lid on the retain the liquid longer, but it can't really be done faster.

When the casserole dries off, the onions on the bottom and the grapes on the top will brown and caramelise, and the flavours develop. Surprisingly enough, the process kills most of the wild thyme flavour, so don't be afraid of well and truly covering the meat.

The flavour is well worth the wait!

ENJOY!

Risoni Carbonara Style

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:39:49 PST

NAME: _Risoni Carbonara Style

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
500g risoni or orzo pasta
1.2L chicken stock
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp dried wild oregano (or dried wild thyme)
250g (1 small pack) bacon
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp natural yoghurt
about 1/2 cup shredded mild cheddar
about 1/2 cup grated parmesan
about 1.5 cups sliced mushrooms (if wanted)
about 1 cup peas

METHOD:
Chop the bacon crosswise into 5mm (1/4") strips, then cut the strips into 1cm length. Roughly enough will do, some size variation lends a bit of texture. Fry this in a pan over medium to high heat until the bacon starts to brown, take it out (leave the grease behind though) and drain on a slice of bread or paper towel.

Add the butter to the bacon grease, wait until the butter's stopped frothing and is starting to turn brown a bit, generally takes three minutes or so. Put the pasta in and toss to coat in butter. Add one litre of the stock, and the dried herb, bring to a fast simmer and leave it simmering until almost all the stock is absorbed. Stir it a few times as it simmers.

Meanwhile mix the egg, milk, and yoghurt in a jug and set aside. Divide the parmesan cheese into two even portions.

Test the pasta, it should be just done (al dente) - if not, add a bit of water and keep simmering until it's all absorbed and the pasta is al dente. Add the mushrooms and peas, add the milk/egg/yoghurt, add all the cheddar and one of the parmesan portions. Reduce the heat and stir until the cheese has melted through the pasta and the milk mixture has incorporated.

SERVING:
Put into serving bowl and top with the remaining parmesan. Serve immediately.

NOTES:
This is not a full-on carbonara but it's delish, I've heard of people seasoning it with salt and pepper during cooking but I let diners season it for themselves - most don't, it's just got that much flavour.

Risoni (and orzo) are small pasta shaped like long rice grains, and they must be made of pretty tough durum or semolina because they seem to take longer to cook than other pasta. They also hold their shape and texture better, which makes them so good for this dish - they don't melt into the cheesy sauce as much.

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Pane Tostato Tre Formaggi e Pomodori Secchi

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 03:59:17 PDT

NAME: _Pane Tostato Tre Formaggi e Pomodori Secchi
(Three cheeses and sundried tomato toasted sandwich)

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
Sliced bread
Provolone
Fetta
Grated parmesan
Oil-preserved sundried tomatoes
Olive oil
Garlic mashed with salt

METHOD:
Put a small amount of the mashed garlic into a small dish of olive oil, allow to sit while you cut the Provolone and Fetta into slices about 2cm square and a few mm thick. Cut the sundried tomatoes into strips.

Brush one side of each slice of bread with the garlic-infused olive oil, then sprinkle quite liberally with Parmesan cheese. Turn one slice upside down on another so as to keep oil sides together, fill each sandwich with the other two cheeses and sundried tomato.

Whether toasting in a frypan or toasted sandwich press, lift the filled slice off the bottom one, place in pan or sandwich maker, cover with remaining slice. Toast both sides until the Parmesan is quite brown.

SERVING: Serve immediately, with side salad if desired.

NOTES: I used a herbed Fetta, good Provolone, and herbed semi-dried tomatoes in oil. I You could use plain fetta and SDT and add some finely shredded basil and a shake of ground black pepper. When you add the salt-mellowed garlic to the oil, you'll soon learn if you used too much - it's the merest hint of garlic you're aiming for. And use a robust olive oil with a bit of colour to it.

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Fowl Toastie

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 06:41:43 PST

NAME: _Fowl Toastie

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
100g chicken or turkey mince
1 tbsp finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp tomato paste
1 egg
2 tbsp grated cheese (good mozzarella is best, mild cheddar works too)
8 slices white bread
salt/pepper to taste
chilli flakes if desired

METHOD:
Cold sweat the onion and garlic together with a sprinkling of salt, toss. Meanwhile, put the mince, egg, cheese, and sauces into a bowl and stir lightly together. Once the onion and garlic have lost their edge and sweated a bit, add them and mix through.

Spread mixture equally onto four slices of bread, cover with the other four, and slip into toasted sandwich maker and toast for at least five minutes.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD:
Make up the mince as above, in whatever quantity you think you may need, lay on a sheet of cling-wrap and roll out to 3 - 5 mm thick, cover with second sheet of cling-wrap, and using a sharp knife, cut into squares slightly smaller than sliced bread, freeze, and use as required straight from freezer to sandwich toaster. This makes a handy snack that's ready in five minutes.

SERVING:
It's a toasted sandwich. Garnish it with a sprig of parsley that most people don't eat anyway, or just bang it on a plate and thrust it towards your intended victim.

NOTES:
Surprisingly good, and there are dozens of variations of the recipe that work. The secret is the quite thin layer of meat filling, it cooks in just a few minutes, even if using the frozen version.

I've also used pork mince (with no garlic, and nutmeg and small raisins of all things) in the recipe, and played with a range of fillings with assorted spices and cheeses.

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Potato Kugel Loaf TEd Style

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 18:45:25 PST

NAME: _Potato Kugel Loaf TEd Style

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
300g bakers plain flour
4 eggs
2 tsp instant baking yeast
2 medium brown onions
5 medium waxy potatoes (about 700g)
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp EVOO
(optional)
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar or whatever you like.

METHOD:
Peel and grate potatoes, using coarse side of a standard box grater. Place grated potatoes into a teatowel or other clean strong cloth, and twist the end to wring out liquid. Save the liquid in a bowl. Squeeze and re-arrange the grated potato a few more times to ensure it is as dry as possible. Leave wrapped in teatowel and set aside, in a cool place or the refrigerator.

Grate the onion or cut into thin strips about the same size as the grated potato or a bit thicker, place in a bowl, sprinkle over the teaspoonful of salt and toss through. Set aside in a cool place or the refrigerator.

Put flour in mixer bowl, add the yeast, and stir through quickly with a spoon. Start mixer on low speed and begin adding three lightly beaten eggs. Pour off most of the clear liquid from the potato starch and add the starch, then add the last beaten egg slowly, you want a sticky paste not totally liquid but not dry either.

Once the mixer has kneaded this mixture for about three minutes, use half a tablespoon of olive oil to grease a bowl, place the douhg in it and cover with a teatowel. Leave in a warm place for half an hour to an hour, until it's definitely risen.

Push a hollow into the dough ball, put the grated potato in. Use the teatowel to similarly squeeze liquid from the onions, be gentle to avoid crushing the onion. Discard the liquid, add the dried onion to the bowl. Add a tablespoonful of olive oil, and mix together all with the dough. The dough will have developed a strong gluten by now, be careful, try and mix the grated ingredients in with minimal disturbance to the cohesiveness of the dough.

Use the remaining half tablespoonful of EVOO to grease a loaf tin that the dough will fill to around 1/4 to 1/3, and put the dough mixture in and level it out. Cover with a teatowel again and let rise a second time, half an hour to an hour.

Put in preheated oven (180C) and bake for 30 - 40 minutes. If you are using the grated cheese, then sprinkle this in a thick layer over the risen dough just before placing in the oven. At the end of baking time, the top should be golden to brown, and the loaf should have risen to the height of the bread pan. Slide a knife or spatula all the way around, and gently turn out onto a biscuit rack.

SERVING:
Server hot or cold, sliced into 2cm slices. Excellent as a side to dishes with gravy. Can also be served by itself with a cheese sauce.

NOTES:
Polish and Russian people in particular have "potato kugel" recipes. Jewish people have a version of it. The word "kugel" just means a ball, and that's how it's generally baked. But. Oh!. All traditional recipes don't have a leavening agent and this comes out like a heavy dough and potato dumpling. I've seen recipes where baking powder raising agent is added, but it was still not what I wanted.

The yeast transforms this from a dumpling to a loaf, with a dense but open crumb and a GREAT flavour combination of yeast dough, potato, and the salting of the onion changes the flavour of the onion from sharp to mellow and rounded. I eat this by itself instead of bread, it just needs buttering and is a complete meal. It's YUMMY. 'Nuff said.

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Find Restaurant Deliveries In Your Area

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 10:04:13 PST

I don't normally. No, really - I don't. It's very rare that I plug a service on my blogs. And it's even more rare for me to do it for free and gratis. But in this case, I had to. I've often wished I had the smarts to set up a variety of online services, and this was one of them. I'm extremely pleased to see that not only has someone had the same idea and implemented it, but they've done so extremely well from what I've seen.

Menulog finds restaurants in your postcode that deliver, lets you order online and then pay on delivery. It's brilliant. If I say so myself. And they are offering $10 off the first order to TEdAMENU Tuckertime readers! Discount code and details are down the bottom, and I wish you a very enjoyable dinner out, (brought in,) in the future.

"Aha!" say you, "he does get something out of it! A $10 discount voucher for himself! Not free and gratis after all! Foul! Foul!"

But in actual fact, in my area code, 6244... - well, you check it out. I'm 100km from the nearest larger population center... However, I know quite a few of you are in cities and large towns, and you'll have no trouble finding some fine quality tucker out there. Bon Appetit, folks!

Menulog Restaurant Delivery Guide

Order home delivery online, get instant confirmation.

1000 restaurants around Australia, 2000 specials, no markup.

Get $10 off your first order with this code at checkout: 25E47D

Details: Available for a customer’s first order only, at participating
restaurants only (which display the “accepts vouchers”) sign,
expires March 31, 2011, min order $20.

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Cheap-Ass Ham And Cheese Tortellini

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:43:00 PDT

NAME: _Cheap-Ass Ham And Cheese Tortellini
(See Notes)

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
TORTELLINI
30 - 40 Tortellini wrappers (or square wonton wrappers from the shop)
(200g flour, 2 eggs, a drop of olive oil, few drops of water, roll out to 9)
50g - 100g ham
50g - 100g cheap cheddar
5g - 10g blue cheese
cabbage or kale leaves
SAUCE
10g - 50g ham
500ml water
1/2 an onion
1 clove garlic
50g butter
1 - 2 tbsp olive oil
1 - 2 tbsp flour
250ml milk
chicken stock cube
salt, pepper
cabbage or kale leaves left over from above, or some fresh parsley.

METHOD:
I'll assume you know how to make pasta dough, or got wonton wrappers. Just make sure the pasta doesn't dry out while you're making this.

Wilt the green leaves in a steamer or a pot of boiling water, dry the leaves. Chop 2/3 (about 100g) of the leaves into quite small shreds, the rest (about 50g) into larger strips. Set both aside.

Grate the cheddar into a bowl, and either finely dice the ham or freeze it and grate it also, add to the bowl. Add the finely chopped green leaves, and freeze the blue cheese and crumble it finely or grate it, add that to the bowl also. Stir to mix the filling ingredients, leave to get warm, stir again. The filling needs to have cohesion from the cheddar, which is why it needs to be room temperature.

Now finely chop the onion, garlic, and the remaining ham, put in a saucepan with the olive oil over medium heat, and cook to glassy onion stage. Season with the pepper to taste. Add the butter, and when it melts, add the flour, stirring constantly. Now begin to add the water, stopping at the quite thick paste stage. Add the milk, and then add water until the sauce is rich and creamy. Add the crumbled chicken stock cube, then adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Bring a few litres of salted water to the boil, drop in half the tortellini, and allow to come back up to the boil for about a minute, or until the required doneness is reached, drain. When all the pasta is cooked and drained, warm the sauce through again, add the remaining shredded green leaves or parsley, and serve.

SERVING:
You can either coat the pasta in the sauce and serve, or serve pasta on a bed of sauce, or pasta first sauce on top, I don't think this matters except from the presentation point of view. I use the coat and serve method myself.

Top with a few crumbs of cheese and/or parsley.

NOTES:Watching Master Chef a few weeks back - and specifically, an invention test to make something with household type ingredients, and a much fairer invention test suggested itself: Consequently, this dish was born. The challenge? Take whatever I actually really truly had in my kitchen, as a pensioner, and produce a tasty and quality dish from it.

Now I'd just paid $5 for a 7 kilo ham, so that was obviously a "quality" start to the dish. That's almost 30c a pound, in the old measurements, and that has to represent the budgetest budget cut, right? I also had some Coles medium cheddar, local dairy milk, local eggs, a kilo of plain flour, and (jewel of my collection) about 10g of the last of a piece of supermarket Danish Blue cheese. The challenge was on! I have to say that for the ingredients, I managed to make something that had a lot of complex flavouring, was of reasonable quality, and which, I'm sad to say, was actually better than many similar meals I've had at restaurants...

The Danish Blue adds a very slight tang to the cheddar and lifts it from ordinary to something a bit harder to define by taste. As the cheap ham is quite salty, that adds all the seasoning the tortellini need, and the steamed kale modifies the saltiness and smooths flavours out again.

So on to the tips and tricks: Tortellini is the easiest shaped filled pasta to make, start with a square, add a dollop of filling, form a triangle, seal the edges, take the two opposite corners and form into a ring, seal, done. Bonus: more pasta to filling ratio, so you can make an economy portion of filling go a long way.

Crumbling slightly moist blue cheese is always easier if you drop it into the deep freezer for an hour beforehand, then you can grate it or finely chop it without it sticking back together. Actually, with "high quality" ham like I had, that would probably have been good advice for that, as well.

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Sweet Potato and Turmeric Cannelloni

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:22:05 PDT

NAME: _Sweet Potato and Turmeric Cannelloni

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
8 - 12 canneloni tubes, the hard store bought pasta kind
250g minced meat (beef)
100g sweet potato
100g sweet pumpkin such as butternut
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp tinned diced tomato
one small onion
2 - 3 cloves garlic
1 level tsp turmeric
1 level tsp paprika
1 medium carrot
2 stalks celery
bunch parsley
approx 100g cheese for grating
chicken stock powder
beef stock powder

METHOD:
Seperate the meat into two lots, one approximately 100g, the other 150g. Place in two small saucepans, place over very low heat to start. Grate the carrot, finely dice the celery stalks. Divide the piles in half. Finely dice the onion, and crush the garlic. Finely chop the parsley. Peel and small dice the sweet potato and pumpkin, place in a third small saucepan, also over low heat.

The 100g of mince will become the filling for half the cannelloni - add one half each of the carrot and celery to this saucepan, add the paprika, add two tbsp of the diced tomato. Add approximately one quarter of the chopped parsley. Bring to a simmer, season salt to taste, and then set aside to cool. Add the turmeric and 1/3 of the crushed garlic to the sweet potato and pumpkin, add the remaining 2 tbsp diced tomato and a level teaspoon of chicken stock powder. Simmer until potato and pumpkin are soft, and roughly mash together with a wooden spoon. Salt to taste and set aside to cool. (Both fillings use as little water as possible, just the bare minimum to prevent burning.)

Add remaining carrot and celery, chopped onion, and crushed garlic to the 150g of meat. Add the 2 tbsp of tomato paste, 2/3 of the remaining chopped parsley, and some water to produce a bolognese sauce consistency, leave simmering while you prepare the cannelloni. The water content of this sauce will be absorbed by the cannelloni tubes, softening them.

Fill half the tubes with the now cool meat mixture. Grate approximately one third of the cheese onto the sweet potato filling and fold in. Fill the other tubes with this mixture. Lay the tubes in a baking dish, I cut thin slices of pumpkin to layer the bottom of the dish so the pasta doesn't stick, your call - you could also use thinly sliced onion for extra flavour. Pour the hot sauce over making sure it gets in all the spaces between tubes and slightly covers the tubes.

Grate the remaining cheese over the top and place in a 350 degree oven for around 45 minutes. The cheese should start getting a tinge of colour and be well melted.

SERVING:
Serve with a crispy tart side salad, serve up one of each kind of cannelloni per plate. Sprinkle the remaining chopped parsley over each serving.

NOTES:
I could have made the tubes myself but then they'd be soft and hard to fill, especially with a filling I left deliberately rough textured. The flavours are all slightly tied together by key ingredients, but widely varied. The cannelloni tubes serve to keep those flavours separate until you plate up, which is why they need to be packed close side by side and end to end in the baking dish.

Using powdered stock is a decision made because you don't want either filling to be sloppy, and if you wait for normal stock to reduce you'll overcook the fillings. Also, normal stock won't pack enough flavour punch. Unless you make your own stocks and reduce them to almost pan glazes.

The flavour of the sweet potato filling is quite heavy on turmeric and tomato and garlic, because I find that vegetarian type food (yes I know chicken stock isn't vegetarian, but use one of the meatless ones if you like) is always a little bit bland. With the added flavours, it's strong. The beef filling is also quite heavy on paprika and the parsley which gives that it's flavour. And the sauce has garlic, onion, and tomato paste to keep it flavoursome.

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Chorizo Ravioli

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:57:50 PDT

NAME: _Chorizo Ravioli

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
PASTA
200g OO flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp olive oil
FILLING
1 Chorizo
roughly equal quantity of minced beef
1/2 onion
2 tsp tomato paste
several leaves cabbage or kale
SAUCE
1 can diced tomato
1 tbsp tomato paste
bunch parsley

METHOD:
Make the pasta dough an hour or so ahead of time. Put the flour in a bowl, add the eggs and other ingredients in a well in the center, mix together with an implement like a fork or spoon, then take from bowl and knead for five minutes or more. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside. Retain the bowl, no need to wash.

Take the skin from the chorizo and slice and finely chop it. Finely chop the onion and greens. Mix the meats, chopped vegetables, and tomato paste in the bowl, then transfer to a saucepan and place over low heat and stir until liquid forms, allow to simmer until it thickens again. Set aside to cool - I usually spread it in a thin layer on a cold dinner plate and that cools it very rapidly. Retain the saucepan, no need to wash.

Chop the parsley and put in the saucepan. Put 2/3 of the tin of diced tomato and the tomato paste in the saucepan, heat over low heat until gently simmering. Set aside.

Now's the time to laminate the pasta. Roll the pasta roughly into a long thin slab, cut into two lengths. Get the pastabike roller out and roll the pasta once on each setting until you get to 6. (I gather all pasta rollers are similar in this scale, a bit over halfway to the thinnest setting is fine. Do this for both pieces of pasta.

Oil a ravioli pan and lay half of one layer of pasta over it. Lightly press the pasta into the hollows, then spoon a small - a tiny - quantity of the chorizo filling into each depression. Press it in lightly. Work quickly before the thin pasta sheets dry. You may want to wet a finger and run it between the filling islands if the surface feels or looks too dry. Fold the sheet of pasta over the top, and use the rolling pin to trim the dough and seal the edges. 200g of dough should make enough to cover the pan twice, so about 4 dozen ravioli.

Remove the ravioli from the pan and let them rest while you bring a pot of water to the boil. Drop in enough ravioli at one time to cover the bottom, and wait until they float up, wait about one minute more, and scoop them out into a colander or draining tray. Reheat the sauce at the same time.

SERVING:
Serve immediately with the sauce and some freshly grated or shaved cheese.

NOTES: I made pasta for the first time to make these. The filling of chorizo and beef was an experiment that worked out very well, it's a nice flavour. And if I can make these then anyone can. %)

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FrittaTEd

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Mon, 03 May 2010 05:22:42 PDT

NAME: _FrittaTEd

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
3-4 eggs
3-4 rashers middle bacon
3-4 spring onions
1 medium brown onion
1 clove garlic
1 large carrot
1 tbsp tomato sauce
2 dozen cherry tomatoes
100g butter
200g cheddar cheese
around half a loaf of bread (see notes)
2 tablespoons cornflour
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp herb such as sage or marjoram

METHOD:
Chop the spring onion into 5mm slices, cut the bacon into similar squares, finely knife-chop the garlic, sweat all three in half the butter in a frypan over low heat, for around 7 minutes. Meanwhile slice your bread (see notes) into 1cm slices and toast to dark brown. Line a ceramic or glass baking dish with these toast slices. Trim if necessary to get even coverage of the bottom and up the sides.

Once the bacon and onion have softened, spoon the mixture over the bread, ensuring you get a thin even layer over the bread. Allow the butter to transfer with all the other pan juices and soak the bread. Slice the carrot and the brown onion into 3mm-5mm slices, fry over medium heat with the remaining butter. When the ingredients show slight colour, stir in the tomato sauce and half the herbs, allow to finish cooking in the heat of the pan while you roughly quarter the cherry tomatoes and layer these over the bacon mixture in the baking dish. Spoon the carrot and onion mixture over in an even layer.

Break the eggs into a bowl, and while whisking, sift in the cornflour. When mixed, add the milk, the remaining herbs, and the salt, whisking all the while. Pour the egg mixture over the ingredients in the dish. Cut the cheese into small cubes also around 5mm, sprinkle over the egg mixture. By now the egg mixture should have almost soaked away anyway. Place low down in oven at 190C (380F) for about 20 minutes, uncovered, then increase the heat to 210C (410F) for 10 more minutes.

There's a knack to finding the right point to remove it. The butter soaks through the bread and along with the juices and tomato liquid, forms a caramelised crust of the outer layer of the toasted bread. That's why it has to be toasted dark brown, to start the reaction. The cheese should melt down around the edges and be starting to brown on top.

SERVING:
This will serve four people with a green leafy salad on the side. Serve it up hot from the oven, making sure everyone gets a share of the caramelised crust and edges. They're da bomb!

NOTES:
The bread can be white sliced but a firmer textured bread is better. You can use French or Italian style breads.

I find that using a glass casserole or baking dish allows me to see the state of caramelisation of the bread, and it's important that the bread and cheese almost start to burn. Your nose will tell you when that point is reached, but then you have to be sprightly to get it out right there and then or things will progress to black and overly hard in only a few minutes.

As Matt Preston would say, the caramelised crust is the hero of this dish, and the herbs and bacon form the nice surprise flavour. It's just a basic egg frittata that I've added the idea of a soaked bread crust to, and to my surprise it performs really well.

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Chump Chop Curry

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:24:06 PDT

NAME: _Chump Chop Curry

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
4 to 6 lamb chump chops
3 or 4 medium white potatoes
3 or 4 medium brown onions
1 cup chickpeas
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp curry powder (mild or hot depending on your preference)
1 tbsp baharat (www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Baharat-Spice-Blend-224763)
1 tsp salt per preference
1 tsp cayenne pepper per preference
1 tbsp flour
1 litre water

METHOD:
Cut onions into lengthways crescents, trim fat from chump chops. Put oil into a large saucepan and bring to a gentle heat, add the onions in a layer, then place the chops atop the onions. Sprinkle half the spices over the chops and onions, leave to braise.

After about ten minutes turn the mixture over so the chops are on the bottom, sprinkle remaining spices over. Leave for another ten to fifteen minutes.

Add enough water to cover, and if your chickpeas are dry and have not been cooked, add them at this point as well, so they will soften in time. Allow to simmer gently for 45 minutes. Resist the urge to eat it now!

Peel and dice the potatoes in about 2cm cubes, add to the pot and add enough water to make the sauce liquid again and cover about 3/4. Add chickpeas at this stage if they are precooked. Allow to simmer for another half hour.

Adjust seasoning at this point, and mix the flour with a few tablespoons of water. Drizzle the flour/water into the pot, stirring all the time, and waiting to see how much the sauce thickens. Adjust to preference.

SERVING:
Serve over a bed of Basmati rice, with a garlic and chilli type pickle/relish on the side. (These are usually reddish-orange coloured, spicy hot, with a nice fermented taste, available at Asian and Indian specialty stores.)

NOTES:
The herbs in the curry and baharat penetrate the meat during the simmering, and produce the trademark "falls off the bones" tenderness of the meat. It should have a curry bite without being scorching.

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Bullets For My Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:58:39 PDT

NAME: _Bullets For My Chicken

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:

100g - 200g chicken or turkey mince
1 tbsp polenta fine
1 tbsp bourghal fine
1 tbsp psyllum husk
1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp chicken stock powder (or replace water, below, with strong chicken stock)
1 tsp salt (more or less, season to taste)
1 egg
2 tbsp water (roughly - adjust to make mixture slightly soft to begin with)
Rice bran oil or grapeseed oil to fry.

If crumbing as well:
1 egg
flour (wheat or corn meal flour)
breadcrumbs

METHOD:
Mix everything except the water in a bowl, really well. Add water (or chicken stock) bit by bit until you get a stiff paste. Mix really well to develop some stickiness and set aside for a while. An hour at least. That allows the grains of polenta and bourghal to absorb moisture and become softened.

Roll out in long cylinders about the thickness of a Sharpie (5mm - 10mm) and cut into 2cm lengths. If you're crumbing them, do it now, roll in flour, egg, and then crumbs.

Your choice of deep or shallow frying - just make sure they get golden to brown in colour.

SERVING:
These are just part of a meal, you can try them in a variety of ways:
- Crumbed, with a side of vegies in a creamy sauce, served immediately.
- Tossed with pasta and Italian red sauce.
- On a bed of rice drizzled with a sweet and spicy sauce.
- Cold, in a salad or as a finger food snack

NOTES:
You can replace the polenta and bourghal with plain bread crumbs if you don't have them, use a touch less water/stock if you do.

Also crushed cheese crackers will work. (It's just to break up the tight meat texture, and I often use cheese Jatz, some finely grated cheese, and crumb them with more cheese Jatz crumbs instead of breadcrumbs to makeTed's Famous Fowl Cheesy Balls.) Psyllum husk is dietary fibre, and also helps bind the mixture.

Why I use RBO or GSO to fry rather than olive oil is simple - olive oil is not a high temperature oil. It's mainly for salads and for adding to cooking at a later, lower temperature, stage. I also prefer to shallow fry and control how much oil I end up eating. (Although, these bullets don't soak up much oil thanks to the psyllum husk, anyway.)

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Free Cooking Videos

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:06:46 PST

http://www.guidetoculinaryschools.com/tips-and-tools/cooking-videos

Someone just passed this link on to me, I thought I'd share it here. It seems to have links to a cooking schools and resources so it's commercial, but that's not wrong. Also, this is a few more resources for you. I like the pork confit recipe already...

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Sometimes, Taste Buds Aren't.

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:12:05 PST

Funniest thing I've seen in months:

Went to a friend's place for a chat and a cuppa, they berated me for letting the water boil in the kettle because "it de-oxygenates the water and makes the tea taste off" then they emptied the jug and refilled it from the tap before bringing that lot of water carefully to just below boiling point and making the tea with that...

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AgBASE Directory of Zen

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:44:09 PST

Would you like to order quite a wide range of foods online? For instance, buy california wine online or pretty much any of a wide range of produce - direct from the place that makes it. Those of you who regularly follow my other blogs TEdALOG Lite II and The Zen Cookbook Blog would already know that I'm all for anything that makes food more accountable and sustainable.

Something about AgBASE makes me happy. Maybe it's the way they use only one lowercase letter, the same as I do. But I also think that the site, which amounts to being a huge directory of food and garden greening, may be onto something, when it covers headings such as Biofuel and Biolubricant, Garden Supplies, Kosher Food, Fish and Seafood, Specialty Foods, Organic Vegetables, Berries, and so much more. The Internet needs more sites like AgBASE. The nearest thing we have in Australia is Aussieweb, but it just opens its doors to any commercial entity rather than focusing on greener and more sustainable businesses.

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Third World Goat

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:22:16 PDT

An interesting price comparison: Dave says goat at his local Price Choppers in the USA, cost $2.79 per lb. Applying currency conversion rates as of about now, and converting that to kilos, that means I should expect to pay about $6.77/kg for goat meat here in Australia. Since even poor cuts of beef cost about $6/kg at my local fruit veg and butcher co-op (and they are at the low end for prices believe me!) that would make goat a really good alternative meat for me. Only problem is that the last time I looked at goat meat in a butcher's store, it was nearer $16/kg. And I can't imagine that prices have dropped since then.

Oh - and the real kicker? Regarding that super economical goat meat that Mr Dave can get at about one thrid the cost I can get goat meat here? It comes from here in the first place!

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Slime And You

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:04:32 PDT

This is an excellent source for information on mold and your food - how to deal with that furry mess in the fridge? Read this information factsheet and find out. I just thought the amount of info is useful and impressive.

I still prefer my mold to be in a nice blue cheese.

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Dukkah-crumbed Lamb & Fattoush

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:06:56 PDT

NAME: _Dukkah-crumbed Lamb & Fattoush

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
Meat:
500g diced lamb
3tbsp mild chilli dukkah
150g snow peas
1/2stalk celery
1/2tsp salt
1tbsp olive oil
Fattoush:
1 large lebanese bread
1tbsp olive oil
Dressing:
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp malt vinegar
1tsp salt
1 clove garlic
2tsp pomegranate syrup
1tbsp tahini paste
1tbsp water

6 cherry tomatoes

small quantity of alfa-alfa and onion sprout mix

METHOD:
Mix the sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until creamy. Set aside.

Slice the lamb cubes into fairly thin slices across the grain, roll in dukkah, press down hard to make sure plenty of the dukkah adheres. Cut snow peas into two or three pieces, slice celery into thin crescents.

Cut tomatoes into quarters and set aside until plating up.

Roll the bread tightly and slice in 5mm (1/4") slices, tease apart.

Heat the first 1tbsp oil in a non-stick pan until smoking, then place the lamb pieces in, sprinkle with the salt and fry until crisp, turn over and fry other side until crisp. Add the snow peas and celery, toss until snow peas are bright green and almost cooked but still crisp. Remove from pan and drain on paper towel or another piece of bread. Don't deglaze the pan, go to the next step.

Add the next lot of olive oil to the pan from above, toss in the bread, and toss every few minutes until the bread is golden to brown and crispy. Put in a large bowl, add the meat and vegetables, and toss together.

SERVING:
Place a serving on a plate, drizzle with the dressing mixture, drop several pieces of tomato and some sprouts on as garnish. Serve immediately while bread is crispy.

NOTES:
This will make a nice hearty entree sized dish for four people. Bread goes soggy pretty quickly with the moisture from the meat and the dressing so serving quickly (tossing the ingredients at the table even) is important for a good dish.

I've made this with beef and pork and kangaroo as well, they all work with this mix. Don't know that fowl would work, but it probably would. Lamb is the most authentic, in what is otherwise a very non-authentic recipe.

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Drag The Food Chain

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:37:32 PDT

Are you eating seasonal enough? What IS "seasonal enough?" It's been a question I've been trying to answer since I wrote The Body Friendly Zen Cookbook, and a recent article I found and wrote up has made me think about this even more.

I recommend you to look at any species in the world, and how tied they are to their specific foodstuffs. Change the temperature of part of the ocean (as we're finding) by a degree and the plankton and krill change, then the balance of different species shifts as species populations change in size. It's why and how evolution works. And yet we think we occupy a privileged place in this schema, we are exempt from ill effects caused by rapidly changing (and generally poorer) dietary habits...

No single member of a species "gets used to" a change in the foodstock. Some individuals may be marginally more tolerant or intolerant of a particular change, but the species as a whole won't be adapted to the change in foodstock for many generations, if at all. It happens faster for krill since their generations are shorter, but it does slowly happen.

The speed a species evolves in response to a stimulus seems to depend on what the stimulus is. Some things like intelligence seem to have taken a very very long time generationally, while our adaptation to food sources changing seems to take only (!!!) several hundred generations. What I think this means for us is that if people were eating certain foods or preparing them certain ways 5,000 to 10,000 years ago and we're still doing so to this day, then that has probably been assimilated into our food regime by now.

So eating foods out of season is generally not something our bodies are well adapted to yet, as we didn't have means of preserving or storing many foods 5,000 years ago. Exceptions are salting, drying, fermenting, and smoking, provided that's also done to the same kinds of foods and used in much the same way.

In a lot of ways, we are a very experimental generation, our diet has had so many factors added to it in a very short time, and we're still not close to finding all the effects that this will cause. Some effects seem pretty clear-cut to me, the scientific community may argue back and forwards that it's cellphone radiation or exhaust smoke or pollution in groundwater or additives in food but I'm pretty convinced - we started processing our food differently only in the last few hundred years, and in that time we've seen a surge in a range of illnesses which were never common before.

Hundreds of years ago the noble folk suffered an increase in the incidence of many and painful kidney stones. Why? They were living in the same air and water as the less fortunate, under the same sun, among the same animals and plants. Why did they have this odd disease?

Turns out, the stones were caused by excessive consumption of bicarb and milk of magnesia and other acid suppressing products, most of which have a tendency to build up mineral deposits. And when you begin to wonder why such affluent people might have needed to take so many products to soothe an irritated digestive system, you don't really need to look far, do you? This was happening as the wealthiest people found newer and more imaginative ways process foods and preserve them beyond their seasons, were exploring the world and bringing home new foods that had never been part of the diet, and consuming a far richer diet than people had ever had.

I'm not saying that you need to bury your head in the compost heap and only eat what grows in your own garden in the windowbox. Far from it, I believe that humans came to be where we are because we did adapt to a range of foods and preparation methods. Don't forget that preparation and preservation methods were originally survival mechanisms, they enabled us to live where other species starved. But it's always a trade-off, until the species as a whole adapts.

I like being able to grow some vegetables all year around thanks to knowing how and when to plant them, I like having flour and cereals and grains available all year around, and I like having a wide range of meats available pretty much all year around. I believe that by having small quantities of many foods around all year around, we may have become better adapted to the omnivorous, out-of-sync diet we now have. I also believe that as soon as the first hunters figured out how to dry meat and smoke and salt it to preserve some for future use, we we began to adapt towards our synergy with a wide range of foodstuff.

But what we're not used to as a species yet, having had only two or three generations to begin changing towards it, is the never-ending list of preservatives and bleaches and additives in our food. Consider it - we are destroying an ever larger portion of the Earth's resources in order to add "value" to our food chain. Much of what we dig up and smelt into transportation and refine into fuel is used to ship foods that we're still not used to eating, to places where they'e never been seen before this last few centuries, and we're using up even more chemicals and making even more pollution to make those foods grow where they never would have before, using more chemicals to promote their growth and inhibit local insects and pests, and then adding some more of those chemicals and additives to the food so that we can store them longer to spread them around the world farther...

Maybe the improvement of the species, to the point where we will be able to eat pure chemicals, is a noble pursuit for some. But it won't help us, our children, their children, or indeed a lot of generations to follow. maybe we shouldn't, anyway...

Cheap Tricks

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:12:14 PDT

Here's a somewhat startling statistic in this article, although A) it's slightly dated (2007) and B) American not Australian.

$3,300.00USD annually is the grocery bill for the average household.

I tried to think back to 2007, and what our household was spending then - $7,000.00AUD is roughly what I came up with. Given that in that year I think the Aussie dollar was quite up there with the US dollar, that means either that the cost of groceries in Australia was almost double that of the US at the time, or else that we were buying almost twice what the average US household was.

And we were back then not exactly wasteful, in fact I'd say we were downright frugal about our shopping. Most of those tricks mentioned in the article, we'd been using for years already. In addition to counting additives and sugar and fats, since T was/is a type 2 diabetic.

In today's inflated and battered economy, I'm spending almost $3,000AUD just for myself, and can assure you that there is very little ever wasted or thrown out. And I also have a home garden for some of my supplies. A typical household in Australia today must be spending close to triple that. I seem to recall that average grocery bills are around $175/week now, can't remember where I saw that but it's recent.

Two things seem to come from that. One, our prices in Australia must be quite high compared to the US. And two, growing stuff takes you out of the loop of paying for processing and pesticides. Healthier and cheaper. (And yes, I include the cost of the seedlings/seeds in my grocery prices - because I only have to buy seedlings about every month or so)

Also, I think, growing some of my own vegetables gives me the feeling of having some control over my food intake. It's a growing trend, with people once again getting back to growing preserving and processing their own foods.

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Cured Pork Sausages

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:04:58 PDT

NAME: _Swine Flu Sausages

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
1kg diced pork (around 1" (2-3cm) cubes)
packet tucino powder (See Notes)
2tbsp psyllum husk
1tsp salt
2tbsp EVOO
more olive oil for casings (See Method)
2 meters sausage casings (See Notes)
5 - 10 litres brine (See Notes)
1/2cup red wine (optional) or 1/2cup water

METHOD:
Take half the diced pork and sprinkle with the tucino powder. Put back in the freezer for a few hours.
Marinate the other half of the pork in half a litre of the chilled brine, put this in the freezer also.

After an hour or two, take out the brined pork, drain and put in a cooled bowl. Add the psyllum husk and mix it through, add the salt, and mince with the medium or fine disk of your mincer. Put back in the freezer for another 30 minutes. (While preparing the casings, anyway.)

Put the remaining brine back on the stove to simmer.

Soak the casings in warm water, use a funnel to fill then with water, which will also expand them. Now tip some olive oil down into the casing. This will allow it to slide easily up the filling funnel. Do this and tie the end of the casing. make a pinhole to allow initial air to escape.

My funnel fits the end of my mixer so at this point I use the coarse mince disk (8mm - 10mm holes) and put the funnel on. If you use some other stuffing method you may just want to coarsely mince the cured pork from the freezer at this stage and mix the two minces roughly together and fill the casing. At some stage here you need to knead the 1/2 cup of water or red wine into the mixture.

In my case, I mix the diced cured pork with the previously minced pork, and then mince the two together into the casing. Twist off lengths as the filling progresses, making sure the casings are not overfilled, especially the collagen casings. Once the casing is all filled, plunge in the simmering brine. You can just scald them at this stage or (my preferred method) let them simmer until gently cooked through. Collagen casings will generally burst with prolonged simmering so I prefer hog casings, as the cooked sausages taste better and store better than scalded ones.

SERVING:
If you've simmered them through, they can be served right away with a german or dijon mustard. Or you can fry them to add crispiness and caramelisation, or boil them later when serving. Go nicely with sliced fried potatoes, sauerkraut, and crusty farm bread.

NOTES:
Meat - Put it in the freezer and let it go "crunchy" with frost. Cold is good. Cold is very good. Also, makes sure there's a percentage of fat in the meat, otherwise the sausages will be very dry.

Tucino powder - a Philipino curing powder used to cure meats, find it in many Asian food stores. You can use any other curing mixture, just don't go over the recommended quantities for the amount of meat you'll be curing. Tucino gives a nice red colour to the meat which shows up in the sausage.

Sausage casings - I went to see the very nice local butcher and got a stick of collagen casings included with my order of meat, you could use hog casings if you can get them.

Brine - around 1 cup of rock salt per 5 litres of water, add anything aromatic you fancy at this stage, bring to simmer, let it cool down to room temperature again, chill the portion you're going to marinate the pork in. (I threw in a few unpeeled but squashed cloves of garlic, you don't have to do anything but the salt.)

Psyllum husk - it's a fibre that gels nicely, and takes up the moisture of the sausages which is why you need a lot of oil and pork fat in the mince

These are best eaten right out of the brine, they have a good strong pork flavour, and frying them after simmering them is good value too. Also, if you used collagen casings and simmered, they may have burst, in which case the sausages will retain their shape due to the psyllum husk fibre. They can still be served skinless, fried skinless, or warmed up skinless as well. They just look more professional with skins on... %)

You can also add things to the basic mixture, but for herbs and seasonings it's best to add them to the brine you're going to marinate the pork in and simmer it for a while, then cool it right off and strain it before using it. One thing that I find is nice is a few tablespoonfuls of finely diced bacon, including the rasher fat. Add this just before filling the casing and roughly mix it in.

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Home Made Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:42:00 PDT

NAME: _Home Made Cheese

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
Milk (3 litres = about 200g cheese!)

citric acid (or lemon juice)

salt
EQUIPMENT (See Notes)

Cloth

Press
OPTIONS (See Notes)
plain yoghurt
turmeric or anatto powder (If you want some yellow colour in your cheese.)
flavouring, optional

METHOD:
Read Notes first - there are so many things you can do or try or leave out.

Warm milk to body temperature slowly (over low heat) and add a tablespoon or two of yoghurt (if using) and a merest pinch of the turmeric or anatto if you want to colour the cheese. (It will concentrate in the curd so really - use only 1/4 of a teaspoonful in this much milk.) Keep at skin temperature for an hour or so, up to four is the longest I've tried. (See Notes)

Now add lemon juice or citric acid liquid a teaspoonful at a time, stirring constantly. As soon as milk develops little flecks, stop. If after five minutes it still hasn't formed a curd (lumps) then add another teaspoonful, stir it in. (I realise this is rough but this is only a really basic homemade soft style cheese and is still damn nice despite the rough handling.)

Once milk starts, don't touch it again for about ten minutes. It should have separated quite well into a lot of curd and some clearish whey. Place a clean handkerchief in a strainer or colander and slowly pour your stock into it. I save the whey for use in the bread, used instead of water. You can save it or drain it, but if you do use it, make sure you use it the same day. I don't know what it would do if it spoiled, but I assume it wouldn't be a pretty sight...

Lift the corners of the handkerchief and let the whey keep draining out. You can help it along by closing it into a bag and twisting a bit. Once the curd is like solid custard, put it in a glass or plastic bowl, sprinkle on about half a teaspoon of fine cooking salt (not iodised salt) and fold it in, then microwave on high for several one minute bursts, with a two minute rest in between bursts. It should become hot to touch, but not boiling.

Put the handkerchief back in the strainer and pour the heated curd (and puddle of whey) back, let it cool to skin temperature again, and once again lift the corners, form a bag, and squeeze a few turns.

You can now continue twisting until no more whey seems to come out, then press the cheese (still wrapped in the handkerchief) under a few kilos of weight. (See Notes) After a few hours (overnight is ideal) there should be no more whey coming out. To be sure, lift the cheese out of the press, turn upside down, and press for another hour or two.

Take the cheese back out of the press, unwrap the handkerchief from the cheese, and rub it with more plain fine salt. You can now eat it pretty much right away, or wrap it back up in a clean handkerchief, cover with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge for a week to develop a little bit. This is a very simple cheese and aging it more than a week doesn't do much for it. You can also marinate it in a brine of salt, water, and white wine or white wine vinegar for the week instead, but it'll still be a pretty simple cheese. (Marinated like this it becomes very like a ziegerkaese, which is a ricotta style cheese marinated in a similar brine mixture.)

SERVING:
It's a soft crumbly cheese, serve with water crackers or crumbled on salads or dishes, etc. It will keep a few weeks if salted enough, and will stay moist enough to eat if you keep it wrapped.

NOTES:
Milk: I used 3litre jugs of milk I buy at the store - maybe a bit expensive, but short of making friends with a dairy farmer that's what you'll have to work with too. It does work, although I've never tried skim or enriched milks. Stick to plain old milk I think. I also imagine that if you get fresh milk you may get a bit more cheese out of it, as commercial milk has permeate in it, which is basically the whey the dairy creamery had left over after making cheese...

Yoghurt: This just adds a bit of flavour. Letting it sit in the milk begins to form more yoghurt in the milk, and the flavour carries through into the cheese. You can leave this out and save the one to four hours's sitting time before curdling the milk - flavour is only slightly affected.

Citric acid/lemon juice: I make up citric acid of about two teaspoonfuls of citric acid powder to a cup or two of warm water, stir well, then let it cool before using it. I dilute lemon juice 75/25 with water so I can add a teaspoonful at a time until the milk begins to turn, if it's too strong then the risk is that the curd will form in a snap, and be all tiny crumbs, which makes for a very powdery textured cheese. Ideal curd lumps in this recipe form at about "teaspoonful" size. If your curd forms one solid mass, pat yourself on the back and slice it roughly into 1/2" cubes with a skewer or knife.

Press: I made a press out of a 500ml tin with one end removed with one of those sideways can openers and a few holes pushed outward through the bottom end, and a jar that was a sliding fit into the tin. I put the press into a large saucepan, resting on an upside-down saucer, and laced rubber bands from one handle of the saucepan to the other, going over the jar and pressing it down onto the cheese. I pulled up on the jar and "guesstimated" the number of rubber bands to apply a few kilos of pressure, you can of course just put weights on top of the press. The saucer just lifts the press and the cheese out of the way of any more whey that will squeeze out of the cheese and pool in the saucepan.

You can also just hang the curd in the cloth for a day or two, put something under it to catch the whey drips, and that will form a softer smoother cheese I believe.

Cloths: I go to the discount clothing store and buy a pack of large cotton handkerchiefs for a few dollars, and keep them just for cooking and cheese experiments. Don't use a used hanky because it will have all sorts of nasty bugs that will thrive in the cheese. And wash the cheese handkerchiefs well, rinse in mild bleach, and then rinse well and dry well. You can also use cotton cloth, cotton tea towels, or butter cloth, as long as it's fairly fine weave so the curds don't squeeze out, has no dye to leach out, and is clean.

Salt: is king - it adds flavour, and prevents rapid deterioration due to bacterial or fungal action. Too much salt will destroy the experience of eating, but too little could leave you with a nasty food poisoning. And it never hurts to store the cheese in a cooler place like the refrigerator rather than on the sideboard. Salt on the outside of the cheese will encourage a harder outside.

Anatto: is used commercially to colour cheeses golden yellow, while turmeric imparts a greener golden tinge. Either should be added in tiny quantities as they concentrate in the curds.

Other flavourings: Should be added after the curd is salted and cooked and before the pressing/hanging stage. Ground / cracked black pepper, mustard seed, paprika powder come to mind - experiment, it's bound to be fun.

LAST NOTES:
Real cheesemakers will shudder - curds should be smooth and undamaged, like medium custard. My method makes crumbly stringy curd lumps, and I use turmeric to colour what should be a white cheese.

To make it more like a haloumi cheese, don't use colouring agent or yoghurt, and use lemon juice to start the curd. Once curds have had whey squeezed out, salt with a whole teaspoon of salt, mix that in.Tie the handkerchief off with string, flatten out into a rectangle about 1/2" thick, place on an upside-down plate, put another upside-down plate on top of that, and weigh that down to press it for about six to twelve hours, then unwrap, salt the outside, lay some mint leaves on one half and fold over, re-wrap and leave to set for a day in a cool place, pressure optional.

LAST LAST NOTE:
It's all experimental. I read a book on simple cheese making, read a few sites online that have instructions, asked a friend of mine who'd made haloumi, and then worked off an idealised set of instructions. (these instructions...) It's worked for me three times now, producing a nicely-flavoured cheese with reasonable texture and firmness. That doesn't mean any of it is gospel - feel free to experiment a bit.

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Aussie Cooking Herb For Sale

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:34:53 PDT

Just a note - I was experimenting with local foods and I found out that syzigium leaves (lillypilly by common name) have a quite distinctive flavour and can be used like bay leaves in cooking, and especially they are GREAT in brine and vinegar pickled foods.

I found by trial and error how to best preserve and dry the leaves, and if you contact me I'll send a small sample out for you to try. You pay postage/courier and the cost of a thick envelope and I'll send you a half dozen to experiment with.

I've used black peppercorns, salt, and syzigium leaves to pickle beetroot, and the flavour is quite unique, and very Australian.

And yes, I've checked bush food analyses on government websites and they unanimously say the leaves are safe and have not been found to contain any toxic alkaloids or anything nasty. They do impart a bitter flavour if you use too many and/or they aren't prepared properly. But as I said I've found the way to prep them and the first batch has seen steady use here in marinades, pickles, and cooked in various meals instead of bay leaves. It's unbeatable in anything with kangaroo, too...

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Khushari

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:13:04 PDT

NAME: _Khushari

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
1/2 cup rice
1 cup risoni or macaroni
1 cup lentils
1tsp ground cumin
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground cardamom
1tsp salt
1tbsp sugar
1/2cup vinegar (see notes)
1 tin crushed tomatoes (see notes)
1 small chilli
2 small onions (see notes)

METHOD:
Cook each of the rice, pasta, and lentils until done. Slice the onion to thin rings and fry or oven roast to crispy brown. Mix rice and pasta, put in a heatproof dish and keep warm in over.

Mix 1/2 of the tsp cumin, the vinegar, the lentils, and the garlic powder, spread in an even layer over the rice/pasta, return to oven. I also like to add 1/2tsp of the salt to this mixture.

Now mix the tomato, herbs, chilli, salt, and sugar in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, at which time you should pour this over the mixture in the dish without disturbing the layers too much. See notes for what to do with raisins.

SERVING:
Top with the crispy onion and serve. This will feed two quite handily, and can be used as a side or entree for four.

NOTES:
I've hacked this recipe a little bit to reflect what I remember it tasting like when I was in Arabia as a kid.

You can use tinned chopped tomatoes or (as I prefer) about two or three cups of chopped fresh tomatoes and a tablespoon of tomato paste. If you do, you'll need to simer this sauce for about 15 minutes. Either way, add the rasins about a minute before you're ready to take the sauce off and pour it.

Try rice vinegar and palm vinegar instead of white vinegar - surprising how much difference it makes to the end flavour.

And I've used Asian fried red onions as a topping for this and it's just as nice as fresh.

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Just Imagine If You Ate Them Close To A Fire!

noreply@blogger.com (teddlesruss dat who!) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:57:10 PST

Just been doing some research into Australian bush foods and herbs/spices as part of something new I'm experimenting with, and came across this in some Government research into bush foods:

Name: Entada phaseoloides (matchbox bean)
Part used: seeds
Effect: Toxic if untreated, and if baked may explode (Dick 1994b)

What a dangerous world food can be sometimes...

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