The Start Menu

Kettle Corn – Salty Sweet Popcorn

admin — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 09:27:32 +0000

Ingredients

1/4 Cup oil (vegetable works)
1/4 cup White sugar
1/2 cup corn kernels
1/4t Salt (to taste)

Instructions

Heat oil in a good sized pot with a lid until hot.
Stir in sugar and popcorn kernels
Keep the pot moving back and forth as the kernels pop. It may even help to take it off the stove and give it a few good shakes to make sure the sugar is not burning.
When the kernel popping slows to every 2-3 seconds take it off the heat
Pour the popcorn into a bowl.
Wait for popcorn to cool stirring occasionally.
Once cold break up any lumps, and salt to taste

Variations

Brown sugar makes a more caramel type corn

Butter Chicken

admin — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:22:57 +0000

This one is from a friend of mine who has worked at several Indian restaurants
Step One

3 TSP Oil
2kgs Tomatoes
1 TSP Garlic
1 TSP Ginger

Instructions

Place tomatoes, garlic, ginger, water into a pan
simmer for an hour or until the skin falls off the tomatoes.
Puree the mixture in a blender,
strain into a bowl

Step Two

500gms Chicken
1 tsp Garham Masala
11⁄2 tsp Ginger
11⁄2 tsp Garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 TSP Kasori methi Red Colour
3 TSP Unsweetened Yogurt

Instructions

Tandori Chicken:

Put everything but the chicken in a bowl,
mix together until mixed together nicely,
add chicken to the mix, making sure to cover the chicken well with the mixture.
Once chicken is covered with the mixture, place in an over tray and bake in the oven until cooked

Step Three

1⁄2 TSP Garham Masala
50gms Butter
1 Pinch of Mace
11⁄2 tsp Cardamom Powder
11⁄2 tsp Coriander Power
Chili Powder to taste
500mls Cream

Instructions

Place everything but, butter and cream into a pot
simmer and reduce till nice and thick
add cream, butter and chicken and simmer until chicken is cooked.
Serve

Quick easy Pesto Pasta with or without chicken

admin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 07:58:27 +0000

Ingredients

Chicken Breasts (optional)
1500gm packet pasta
2T Finely chopped basil
1 Cup blueberries
Any vegetables, eggplant, beans, etc you want
2 T crushed/chopped fine Garlic oil Sprinkle of cheese (parmesan works best)

Instructions

Cook pasta
Mix Equal amounts of basil and garlic with oil. I find food processor is great here!
Put mixture with the pasta, feel free to add more/less depending on taste.
Add any vegetables into it here if you have any. Sliced eggplant is great, as is carrot, zucchini, mushrooms etc
Sprinkle cheese over the top
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes whilst you brown/cook the chicken.
Brown/cook Chicken in a frying pan. You can slice it or leave it whole.
Stir the Blueberries into the pasta
Serve with chicken on the side, or mixed in if you sliced it (up to you!)

Spicy Lemon Pepper Pasta with Broccoli

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:29:22 +0000

Found at this lovely website with wonderful creations http://veganyumyum.com/2008/01/spicy-lemon-pepper-pasta-with-broccoli/ . Worth checking out if you ever get the time.

Ingredients

Dried Fettucini, enough for one
2 tsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 Cups Fresh Broccoli Florets
1/4 Cup Sliced Sundried Tomatoes (oil packed)
1/2 tsp Hot Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice, or more to taste
1-2 Pinches Kosher Salt
Black Pepper, Lemon Zest to taste

Instructions

Cook the Pasta in well-salted water
Chop the broccoli florets in to small pieces (about the size of a nickel).
Slice the sundried tomatoes.
When pasta is nearly finished cooking, heat a wok over medium-high heat until it’s quite hot.
Add oil and broccoli and toss to coat, adding more oil a little at a time if needed.
After 1-2 minutes, add tomatoes and pepper flakes.
Let cook undisturbed for another two minutes, then toss.
Repeat this process until broccoli and tomatoes have some color on them, and the broccoli is bright green and becoming tender.
Drain pasta very well and add to the wok, adding just enough oil to coat the pasta (if needed).
Add lemon juice and salt and taste, adjusting if necessary.
Plate and grind fresh black pepper over the top, adding lemon zest if desired.
Serve immediately

This also makes a nice room-temperature pasta salad, so it’d be great for picnics, work lunches, or potlucks.

Mushrooms in a tangy sauce

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:34:52 +0000

Ingredients

2 cups button Mushrooms (feel free to try others)
1 T Soy Sauce
1T Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Cream

Instructions

slice mushrooms
Lightly sauté mushrooms in tiny bit of butter
squirt equal amounts of soy and balsamic vinegar (i use approx 1T of each)
Let it simmer and reduce (to get rid of some water)
Add in cream and again let it reduce until thick, then serve.

Alter the amounts of soy and balsamic to taste.

Custard from scratch

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:05:23 +0000

Nice easy crowd pleaser that you can make the day before.

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk or cream
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons corn flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

Heat the milk to boiling.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and flour together.
Whisk in a little warm milk, then a little more, gradually.
Whisk well then pour into the boiled milk.
Turn the heat to low and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened – about 3 or 4 minutes.
Whisk in the butter and vanilla.
Transfer to to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching the surface of the cream. Refrigerate.

This recipe makes excellent tarts or pies. With the 3 remaining Egg whites you can make an excellent Pavlova.

Bicotti – low fat easy base recipe

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:31:16 +0000

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of flour
1 Cup Sugar
1/2t baking soda
1/2t Baking Powder
1 pinch salt
3 Large eggs Icing sugar for rolling it in
Optional: nuts, ginger pieces, cherrys, cocoa etc

Instructions

Put all ingrediants in a blender and turn on low until mixed and doughy (or mix by hand)
Turn out into board and roll in icing sugar (this can be messy/sticky, do your best)
Split into 2 long thing rolls, put on baking paper on an oven tray.
Cook at 180C/350F for 15 minutes or until cake like (occasionally a little longer to firm up in the middle)
Slice into slices finger width thick lay slices on their side and re-bake for another 10-15 minutes at 150C/300F or until toasted/crisp on the outside.

Quick Notes

Most recipes contain a cup of oil or butter, I especially hunted down and tested this recipe which is low fat and easy.

These make an excellent gift wrapped in cellophane with a bow for christmas, or served with coffee. You can dress it up with a dunk in chocolate, or leave them as they are.

Additional Ingrediants:

Spices: 1/2 to 1t cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom or ginger all seem to taste great

Citrus zests and juice: 1t of lemon or orange zes and up to four T of juice can be added to the mix

Extracts: 1/2 to 1t of almond, pepermint, or vanilla extract can be added

Dried Fruits: cherries, cranberries,apricots,raisins, or currents can be rehydrated in water, fruit juice or alcohol, drained and added to the mixture.

Nuts: 1/2 to 1 cup shelled, peeled, chopped nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, etc) can be added to the mix

Dont Judge Me – Quick easy pasta dish

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:15:54 +0000

Recipe: Dont Judge me

Ingredients

500g bag of uncooked pasta
750gm Bag mixed vegetables
1 cup grated cheese
3-5T balsamic Vinegar

Instructions

Put the Pasta in a large pot with hot water, bring to the boil and then switch off and let them sit (basically just cook it, but leave it in the water to stay warm)
Boil the vegetables until well cooked.
Put the cooked vegetables into a blender or food processor until its a puree (this is the ‘sauce’)
Mix the Balsamic Vinegar with the vegetables
Mix in the grated cheese whilst its still hot, if its not you may need to reheat in microwave.
Combined Pasta and sauce together and serve with a little grated cheese on top.

Quick Notes

Feel free to use any other herbs and spices to taste, by default this is a fairly blandish recipe, thats filling, healthy, cheap, and the kids love it. Its called ‘Dont Judge me’ because it looks green and yuck to the kids, and yet tastes yum. (its very similar to Jonos Lunch)

Pacman Cookies

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:48:50 +0000

There is no real recipe for this, just use your favourite cookie mix. I used Chocolate chip, which in hindsight made life a little harder trying to get the right shapes with lumps of chocolate hanging out. I did solve that problem however by devouring the offending chocolate chip.

The idea originated from when i was making Xmas Mince pies, i cut the circle then cut a V out so i wouldn’t have leftover dough. Since i was doing a cookie swap at the time i made a quick mock up with the Pie Dough which my kids loved.

I gathered my cookie mixture together in the following few days, and did some research (clearly not enough, i almost only made 3 Ghosts when there are 4!), then sat down one night to make the cookies.

I took photos of the process for you to have a giggle. Apologies for the poor photo quality, It was night from 9pm-1am , i don’t have a decent flash unit etc. I made 3 sets, one for each of the people in the cookie swap, and one as a spare in case things went wrong which i took to work.

After wiping the conference room table, i placed the cookies out in a pattern, everyone loved it and wanted to eat it,. John grabbed a Ghost immediately, and then there was talk about ‘you cant eat the ghost until you get a powerup! and you need Pacman to eat his way along the line to get to those!.

So for the rest of the day everyone would eat a small cookie, and move Pacman along a pace whilst making the ‘waga waga’ noise. Slowly they all disappeared.

You can find the full photo set here http://www.flickr.com/photos/wishes/sets/72157622749111189/

Spinach & Cheese bites

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:33:32 +0000

Summary: Years ago a recipe book by Peg Bracken titled I Hate To Cook Book introduced budding home cooks to the secret shortcuts most cooks use but don’t tell. Among many gems was the suggestion that if the presentation looks posh, guests will decide the dish is posh. “Knee-deep in baby brown orchids” was her recommendation for serving a dish that was basically canned tuna and macaroni cheese. Spinach and cheese pie is today’s version of Bracken’s dish; bake it in a big old pie dish, but cut it into perfect little squares, set them over scattered salad leaves casually arranged on a large white plate and wait for the compliments. Add orchids if available. Or gild the lily by placing a caper berry on each square.

Ingredients

1 envelope of bunched spinach
250g cottage cheese 2 cups of grated cheese; cheddar and parmesan are ideal but add any ends of cheese to the mix
3 eggs, lightly whisked
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley

Instructions

Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Lightly oil a large baking tin (approx 18cm x 28cm).
Wash the spinach thoroughly ensuring no grit remains.
Chop stalks into tiny pieces, tear leaves into rough pieces and put everything into a saucepan over high heat.
There should be enough water on the leaves to steam-cook them.
Remove and drain as soon as the leaves wilt.
Leave to cool while you mix all other ingredients in a bowl.
Add spinach and mix again.
Bake in the hot oven for 25-30 minutes. The top should be golden brown and the pie a bit wobbly in the middle.
Remove and cool to warm – or cold – cut into small squares and serve.

Diet type: Vegetarian

Meal type: cocktail

Thanks to @elpie for this one