Smokin’ Risotto

Here is the recipe for the risotto I mentioned, that I made the IKEA bread to go with. It is adapted from a recipe in Woman’s Day magazine, that I came across whilst flicking through mags at the hairdresser recently. I still had the Huon hot smoked salmon from Tasmania that I won on Valentine’s Day, so the recipe caught my eye.

If you haven’t got access to hot smoked salmon, just poach/steam some fresh salmon fillets in the microwave instead, and flake them into the rice mixture.

This risotto is amazing! I mean it. Complete and utter melt-in-your-mouth perfection that just comes together in a moment of pure food delight.

Salmon & Pea Risotto

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

2 small red chillies, finely chopped

2 cups arborio rice

½ cup white wine

5 cups chicken stock

¾ cup frozen peas, thawed

¾ cup fresh sugar snap peas, trimmed

3 tbsp fresh tarragon leaves, chopped

1 lemon – zest and juice of

250 gms hot smoked salmon fillet (or equivalent cooked fresh salmon fillet, skinless)

cracked pepper, to taste

optional – shaved fresh parmesan cheese

In a large, deep pan (a wok is good), heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and chillies and saute, stirring, for 2 minutes until softened.

Add rice, stirring to coat, and saute for 1 minute.

Add the wine and then the chicken stock, gradually, stirring constantly as the liquid absorbs into the rice. When all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked (15-20 minutes), add remaining ingredients and fold through until gently heated.

Top with a sprinkling of shaved parmesan if desired, and serve with fresh bread.

Serves 4-6 depending on what you have with it – it is quite filling.

Happy Fooding!

Spicy Chicken

I had this delicious chicken dish at my aunty’s house whilst in Melbourne over Christmas, and immediately had to try it myself when I got home. It did not disappoint, and was fabulous served with a light and refreshing Cucumber & Dill Salad and some steamed broccolini.

This salad was amazing! I did it exactly as the recipe stated, and bought a piece of Danish feta to sprinkle over the top as I thought this would be a great addition to the flavours of cucumber, dill and zucchini – however, I completely forgot until we’d finished eating, that the feta was still sitting in the fridge waiting to be used! Oh well, I’ll try that idea next time, as I fully intend to make this salad again.

You can use whatever chicken pieces you like – I love drumsticks, and they’re great for picking at cold the next day. This would be a great picnic dish too.

My quantities are double the original, so increase/decrease accordingly as you see fit!

Aunty Helen’s Spicy Chicken

1 tbsp olive oil

8 chicken drumsticks

Spice Rub:

2 tsp salt

4 tsp sugar

2 tsp ground pepper (I had a jar of ground pepperberries so used that)

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp curry powder

2 tsp dry mustard powder

Sauce:

6 tbsp mango or lemon chutney

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

a splash of white wine

Combine spice mixture and coat chicken in it (I placed it all in a plastic bag to shake it around easily). Leave for at least 1 hour (overnight is good) in the fridge.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and brown the chicken on all sides. Place in a casserole or baking dish.

Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer over low heat.

Spoon over the chicken pieces.

Cover with foil or lid and bake at 180C for 40 minutes.

Remove foil/lid and cook, uncovered for a further 20 minutes.

Happy Summer Fooding!

Relishing Royalty

Finally Summer has hit with a vengeance, and I’m loving it. My social life is crazy right now, as everyone is just happier in the warmer weather and there are so many outdoor things to enjoy in Perth when the sun is shining :), not to mention the silly season is upon us – Christmas parties, lunches, concerts, street festivals – so much is going on right now and I’m really having a ball.

I was recently reading historian Kate Williams‘ book Young Elizabeth : The Making of Our Queen, which mentioned the dish created by royal chefs to be served at the Queen’s coronation lunch in 1953. Aptly titled Coronation Chicken, this dish has become an iconic British chicken salad dish, with many variations.

Basically this is poached chicken, dressed with a mixture of mayonnaise, curry powder and fruit chutney.

You can see both the original recipe and a healthier, modern take by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, here. I made mine above by taking elements from both – I used low-fat mayonnaise and Greek yoghurt for the dressing base, and fruit chutney rather than apricots, but I did poach 2 chicken breasts rather than use leftover cooked chicken. I also topped with shaved parmesan to cut through the sweetness, but actually it was still too sweet for me – too kind of “fruity” in an overpowering kind of way.

I like the concept, and it was easy to make, but I will try it again with just yoghurt and no mayo next time, and chopped dried fruit instead of the very strong fruit chutney.

Happy Summer Fooding!

 

Another Quick Salad

Creating a healthy meal in a hurry does not have to be complicated. This salad incorporated what I had on hand at the time, as well as including beetroot and pear, two things that (according to practitioners of Chinese medicine) are very good for the skin. As I have had rosacea for years, I try anything and everything to give my skin a helping hand.

Steam 1 whole beetroot in the microwave (skin on or off, up to you). Trim roots and cut into wedges.

Place a heap of baby spinach leaves on your plate, and top with beetroot wedges, chopped pieces of ripe pear, chopped avocado, bits of cheese of your choice (I used torn bits of shaved Jarslberg as that’s what I had, but I also like feta or blue, or sauted cubes of yummy haloumi) and a sprinkling of walnuts.

For a dressing, just whisk together some extra-virgin olive oil, sherry vinegar (use balsamic if you can’t find sherry vinegar, which is expensive but lovely for this kind of thing) and a bit of dijon mustard – drizzle over the salad and tuck in!

Happy Summer Fooding!

Damper / Soda Bread

I felt like soda bread one day this week, and decided to see if the recipe I’ve had for years worked in the bread machine, because things are so easy that way. It did work, really well, and made great open sandwiches with olive/feta dip, jarslberg cheese, roast beef & alfalfa sprouts on top.

For something different I added a small can of corn kernels and some caraway seeds – you can add lots of things to bread recipes to jazz them up a bit – sun-dried tomatoes, chopped olives, walnuts, poppy seeds, herbs etc.

Soda Bread

3 cups plain flour

1 1/2 tsp bi-carbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp caraway seeds (optional)

125 gm can corn kernels, drained (optional)

1 1/2 cups buttermilk or low-fat Greek yoghurt

Regular Method:

Mix dry ingredients, seeds & corn (if using) together with a whisk.  Make well in the centre and add 1 cup of buttermilk/yoghurt.  Mix with a fork then gradually add more of the remaining buttermilk/yoghurt until a soft dough is formed.

Knead dough lightly on floured surface for 1 minute. Form into an oval shape and place in a greased/lined loaf tin or on a greased/lined baking tray.

Bake at 190C (170C fan forced) for 45 minutes.

Bread Machine Method:

Place all ingredients in machine. Cook on Damper setting. After the first five minutes, scrape down the sides of the mixture with a spatula to make sure it all gets mixed in properly.

Yummy Lunch!

As with all quick breads, this is best eaten on the day of baking. Use leftovers for great toast!

Happy Fooding!

Failures…..

Crappy Cake!

It hasn’t been a great week for me as far as successful new recipes goes……I made an apple & pecan cake in the bread machine, which as you can see just did not want to come out of the machine! This is the first time I’ve ever had something stick like this – it was not saveable at all and went in the bin. I could have broken it up and used it in something I suppose, but I’m not a sweet eater and was not going to have the opportunity any time soon so it would have gone stale and horrible.

Then I made these Parmesan Zucchini Strips. They worked well theoretically, but just didn’t taste overly fabulous – the coating was yummy, but the zucchini inside really was just mush and pretty tasteless.

They do look good though, right? I ate some cold the next day and they were just soggy “things”. I think the concept would work much better with something a bit firmer, like sweet potato or carrot. I’ll try the idea again, but not with zucchini.

I have also failed with some easy choc hazelnut muffins recently……but I’m determined to get those right, so I will show you the failure photos when I can also show you the good ones!

Happy Non-Failed Fooding!

What To Do When The Trains Are Running Late…. Again

Sometimes in the morning on the way to work I have very good intentions of cooking something amazing, grand, special, gourmet, whatever, that night. Then on my way home I start to flag, physically and mentally, and by the time I get home I’m thinking “order a pizza” or “have a box of BBQ Shapes” (yes that is a weakness of mine) instead! I get up at 5.15 some days and it’s a long day by the time I get home and have to start cooking when all I want to do is pour a glass of wine and vedge out watching a DVD or reading (as if I don’t get enough closeness to books, all day at work lol). It’s also, to be honest, very hard sometimes to get motivated when there’s no one to cook for but yourself – much as I love food and all that goes with it – sometimes the lack of people to share the food with is, well just plain depressing.

So, the other morning I had this pang for mushrooms, spinach and feta – I was thinking of something vaguely burrito-ish but hadn’t quite decided what. I bought mushrooms, baby spinach and yummy Danish feta on the way to work, and some lovely fresh broccoli as well. All I knew for sure was, YES I really want to make something super-extraordinaire!

Hmmmmmm. Got to the station after work. Trains running late due to “point delays” (??????). The longer it took, the more my enthusiasm for cooking dinner just disappeared. By the time I got home, all I could think was omg how quickly can I have a shower and get a glass of wine poured (I can tell you from lots of experience, that going straight to the fridge, pouring the wine and taking it to the bathroom with you, is actually the best plan of attack).

I decided to chuck vegies in a pan and do something super fast and just eat it – it would be healthy at least. I wasn’t planning on making something blog-worthy at this point, but it actually tasted SO good that I just have to tell you what I did. Nothing of the rocket science variety, but the perfect super-fast-can’t-be-bothered-healthy-meal-for-one.

No real quantities here, just a great combination of flavours. I didn’t use the feta, decided on tasty cheese instead, so I kept the feta for a salad instead.

Heat a bit of olive oil in a wok or large pan. Add whole button or cup mushrooms, zucchini (chopped into chunks), and broccoli (cut into very small florets). Saute for 1 minute on medium heat, stirring a lot. Add 1 tsp chilli paste, about 1/3 cup condensed tomato soup (I had this leftover from a can I opened for the beef stroganoff the other day) and a good splash of soy sauce. Saute, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, then add some baby spinach and cracked pepper, and saute for a further 1 minute until spinach is wilted.

Drain off the liquid and serve in tortillas with grated taste cheese sprinkled on top.

As I wasn’t planning on this being a perfectly presented and photographed meal, I didn’t take a photo until I’d already eaten two-thirds haha – so the pic above is the leftover bit, sprinkled with cheese and ready for lunch the next day.

Delicious, easy, very quick and stress-free for those pesky train-bothering days.

Happy Fooding!

Cauli Continues…

Cauliflower is so cheap here right now! It has a very short “cheap” season here in WA, and for most of the year is expensive, so I’ve made the most of the current availability.

I had a recipe from somewhere online, can’t remember where, for really easy cauliflower fritter things, and intended to make those tonight for dinner. I haven’t been cooking much lately, just working and coming home tired and really just haven’t been bothered, a lot of the time – but this morning I was super organised and had the cauliflower all cut up ready to go, before I left home.

So…..I arrived home, cooked the cauli ’til tender, and added the other ingredients. The instructions then said to form the mixture into patties and sauté….WELL, this mixture was boiling hot, and too “wet” to form into anything resembling a firm patty. So I had to rethink…..I also didn’t feel like standing over a stove doing fritters in batches, which takes a while let’s face it.

So…..instead, I placed the mixture in a baking dish and topped with a few slices of tomato and some parmesan cheese, and baked for 20 minutes. It was absolutely delicious – actually quite spicy from the cayenne pepper, which had much more of a peppery kick than I expected it to.

I guess this is more of a side dish, the way I ended up making it – but I just piled a heap in a bowl and ate it with a spoon for my dinner lol. Good stuff.

Cauliflower Gratin

1 head cauliflower, cut into large florets

2 eggs

1/3 cup tasty/cheddar cheese, grated

1/3 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

60 gms parmesan cheese, grated

1 tomato, sliced

Cook the cauliflower in boiling water until tender – about 10 mins. Drain, mash and add the eggs, cheese, breadcrumbs and cayenne pepper.

Place mixture in a lightly greased baking dish (I used a square ceramic dish 20 cm x 20 cm approx).

Top with tomato slices and parmesan cheese.

Bake at 180C for 25 minutes until top is golden and bubbling.

Serves 6 as a side dish.

Happy Winter Fooding!

 

Barley Risotto

I’ve been quiet….I’ve been away in Brisbane at the Koala Convention embroidery conference…..I’ve been busy working a lot……and life just takes over sometimes.

I also haven’t been cooking much, or at least not cooking things I haven’t already shared with you. I did make this yummy barley risotto in my crockpot last week – the recipe is from a magazine and was not stipulated for slow cooking, but I wanted to throw it in before I went to work and see how it turned out. It was pretty good actually, and certainly very easy. The only downside was, the leftovers weren’t that satisfactory – I had a serving cold for lunch, and a serving heated up for dinner, and in both cases it was kind of gelatinous. I have no idea what’s in barley that makes this happen but anyway it wasn’t the best from a texture/presentation point of view. Tasted okay though and certainly the original cooking was great.

Barley Risotto

1 leek, thinly sliced

1 cup pearl barley

4 cups chicken stock (I use Massell brand which is vegetarian, gluten-free etc)

2 small or 1 large zucchini, chopped

1 bunch asparagus, chopped

100 gms green beans, cut into 3cm pieces

cracked pepper, to taste

grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Add all ingredients to crockpot except parmesan.

Cook on LOW for 8 hours. Serve in individual bowls topped with parmesan to taste.

Happy Fooding!

Kitchens on My Travels 2

Palace kitchen garden

As you know, I had a wonderful experience at Kew Gardens on my recent UK trip. It was the day before I flew home and for once the weather was absolutely lovely – blue skies and not too cold, just perfect for wandering around looking at the most amazing plants, flowers and old buildings.

You might remember a few months ago, I made Barley Broth from the Kew Palace kitchens’ YouTube channel. I was really looking forward to visiting the kitchens, which haven’t been open to the public all that long, and I wasn’t disappointed! It took me a while to find the kitchens, as the gardens are humungous and I had expected them to be close to (but detached – fire risk!) the palace itself. In fact, the kitchens (which have a lower floor for the actual kitchens and laundry rooms, and an upper floor where the estate accounts were managed – a bit more elegant upstairs!) turned out to be a fair distance away, and when I enquired about this (because I was picturing a trail of servants carrying tea & cakes between two places*), I was told the kitchens actually belonged to the White House, the home of Frederick, Prince of Wales. This house was demolished in 1802, but the kitchen buildings are what we see restored today.

Nosegay Garden

There are lovely gardens behind the palace itself – known collectively as the Queen’s Garden – one section is the Nosegay Garden and it is full of herbs and other “smellies”, which apart from their herbal/medicinal properties are just gorgeous to look at – it must have been a stunningly pretty view, at a sad time in their lives, for George III‘s family, looking out of their back windows on to the lovely grounds and flowers.

Georgian Cooking

So, inside the kitchens, which are below ground level and would be extremely cold if there wasn’t a fire going for cooking, I found the two gentlemen who feature on the Historic Royal Palaces recipe videos! They were lovely and very chatty, and apparently spend their days divided between Kew and Hampton Court, cooking up a Georgian/Tudor storm which is served at 4pm each day. What a life – cooking fun stuff all day every day, without the pressure of serving in a restaurant, and getting paid for it! There were various dishes in different stages of preparation, and I cannot remember what they were although I did ask lots of questions at the time – the only thing mundane was that a plate of boring ham and cheese sandwiches was being made!

Fit for a Georgian King

I had to be pushy and jump in behind the big table to get a photo of myself with “famous” (well YouTube is the TV of today, right….) chefs. They were lovely and didn’t mind at all, and I had a real warm fuzzy moment, hanging out in a Georgian kitchen with these two guys.

Masterchef Georgian Style?

Apparently the ham you can see on the front left of the above photo, is cured especially for Kew, and costs an exorbitant amount – which I can’t remember, but it could have been like £200 or something ludicrous.

As for the rest of the palace itself (which is not very big and is not completely restored yet), there was one morbid moment – in a bedroom is a black chair with a small placard on it – see pic below. The placard states “Queen Charlotte 1744-1818 Died in this chair 17 November 1818″. Hmmmmm gee thanks for sharing that image!

The Chair of Death!!!

Speaking of food at Kew, I never did get the Kew Explorer Muffin recipe from them – they very nicely acknowledged my request and passed it on to the bakers (a national concern), but I never heard back. Shame as it was such a yummy healthy, fruity, seedy piece of yumminess. I’ll have to have a go at making it up some time.

Happy Fooding!

* a-la-Downton-Abbey-Red-Nose-Day hilarity – watch this 2-part parody Uptown Downstairs Abbey if you haven’t seen it before – it’s a crackup!