My kind of Kingston

Not one to blow my own horn, well not too loudly anyway... however on this occasion I feel that it is warranted. I have invented something so spectacular, something so ingenious that I may have to shut down this blog to keep up with the hoards of fans I'm likely to get once I tell you about my latest feat of brilliance.

For the non-Aussies, it may not be clear why this is so fantastic but if you have ever tried a Kingston biscuit you will know that it is impossible to keep a packet in your pantry for more than oh 12 hours. Right?

Well yesterday in a flash of creativity I created my very own Kingston biscuit only it's better. Seriously. Masterchef watch out because I am now the champion. Those two blonde bogans with the patronising piercing voices from QLD who are famous for 4 ingredient recipes also need to watch out because this brilliant invention requires only 2 ingredients.

ANZAC biscuits and Nutella. Genius.

Get 2 ANZAC biscuits and put 2 spoonfuls of Nutella between them. That is all you need to do. Now, step away from the computer, go to your pantry and try it. What kind of Aussie mum has a pantry lacking ANZAC biscuits? Now get your Nutella and get going.

All those size zero glamazon mummies with your 26 children in matching outfits, your perfect show homes and your handmade, home made fancy pants everything can go and sulk in the corner with your pipe cleaners and home made spelt pretzels because this invention trumps everything.

I dare you to come back here and tell me I'm not not a genius.

edited to add:

I've had quite a few emails from some of my overseas readers. Now don't panic. You will not miss out on my genius because the ANZAC spirit is lacking in your "cookie" aisle. Yes we say biscuit and you say cookie. Click here for my previous ANZAC post, if you scroll down you will see I have a really dead easy recipe for you to make the ANZAC biscuits at home. Even I can't ruin them, easy easy easy.

What's for Dinner Wednesday? Easy Steak

With all of yesterday's dramas I have been feeling rather exhausted today.
Didn't help that the poorly Tinker was up for a few hours in the night with a fever.
So I have not gone to any trouble at all with today's Wednesday recipe.
I searched for something that allowed me to make a quick and easy dinner without a trip to the supermarket this afternoon.
This is what I found:

Thanks to the clever folk at Taste.com today's recipe is:

Beef Fillet with a Quick Red Wine Sauce

If you don't have all of these ingredients at home I'd be surprised. It will take you a few minutes and if you are using great quality ingredients even a meal this basic will be delicious. Unless you turn to watch Yo Gabba Gabba while cooking and supervising some hard core crayon action by the toddler and then maybe you will overcook your steak. Not that I've done anything like that lately... *wink wink*

Ingredients:

2 tbs olive oil
4 x 180g beef fillet steaks, trimmed
2 onions, halved, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g small button mushrooms, trimmed
2 tsp tomato paste
2 tsp plain flour *Actually I would recommend corn flour instead but it's up to you.*
1 cup (250ml) dry red wine
1 1/2 cups (375ml) good-quality beef stock
Mashed potato and watercress, to serve*

*I haven't got any watercress in the fridge so I am using fresh spinach leaves tonight*

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat 1 tbs oil in a frypan over medium-high heat. Season steaks and cook for 2 minutes each side. Transfer to a tray and cook in oven for 2-3 minutes for rare; 5 minutes for medium.

Heat remaining oil in same pan over medium-low heat. Cook the onion for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and mushrooms and stir for 1-2 minutes. Stir in paste and flour. Add the wine and stock, then bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5-6 minute or until well reduced. Season.

Remove pan from heat and return steaks to pan to just warm through in sauce. Serve steaks and sauce with mash and watercress or salad.

A Little Pudding for my Little (Picky) Pudding!

I have one of the fussiest children ever when it comes to meal time. It takes me forever to find something she likes and then she usually goes off it very quickly anyway so I am always trying new recipes on the Tinker.

She isn't a huge fan of rice and doesn't like custard so I wasn't confident when I tried one of my favourite pudding dishes out on the Tinker and to my surprise it was a real hit. I thought I'd post my recipe here just in case you might like to try it.

I use soy milk but it works fine with regular cows milk. There are few things I hate more than soy milk, that awful nutty chemically flavour. Yuck. I hate it. That was until I discovered this soy milk from a Japanese recipe called Bonsoy. Honestly it tastes like regular milk, I like it so much that I have stopped buying dairy milk all together now. I can't believe I drink soy. I feel dirty just typing it. As thought I've become some sort of freak who doesn't ever eat hot chips and only uses that beige enviro toilet paper...

Ok so I'll stop waffling about bloody soy milk and share my recipe. This is my take on a basic rice custard that Stephanie Alexander writes about. I've changed quantities and added some brandy and my own favourite crust. Feel free to leave the brandy out and if you hate sultanas just double the rice and ditch those. You can ditch my walnut crust if you prefer a more traditional pudding but I really like the sweet crunchy crust at the top, it is nice when you break through to the soft pudding.

Tinker's Pudding

Ingredients

Pudding:
Butter
2 1/2cups of milk
1 1/2 cups of sultanas
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons medium grain rice
1/4 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 tablespoon brandy

Crust:
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons soft brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
3 tablespoons self raising flour
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C, lightly butter a 1litre ovenproof dish and sit the buttered dish into a larger baking dish which will act as a basin.

Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and cook the rice for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, vanilla and brandy. Then add the rice & sultanas.

Stir in the milk.

Pour into your buttered dish. (for the dairy free folk I think if you use say a glass pyrex dish then the pudding is going to be ok without buttering, it may stick just a touch but no big deal)

Now add some boiling water to the large baking dish that is acting as the basin. Fill up to halfway.

Bake for 30 minutes.

While the pudding is baking you need to prepare your crust.

Mix the crust ingredients in a bowl or in your mortar & pestle. Once the pudding has been in the oven for 30 minutes, carefully take it out and sprinkle the crust on top.

Don't panic if it sinks into the pudding a bit, it will come back up and form a nice crust!

Bake for a further 15-20 mins. Check on your pudding, it should have a crunchy slightly gooey crust. Take it out and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes to cool and set a bit more.

Serve with some cream if you are feeling thin or serve it on its own if you are feeling fat.

That cooking mojo

So those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that a few weeks ago I lost my cooking mojo after a few failed dishes. Well I think I found it again. Either that or the strong painkillers I'm on have sent me loopy and I dreamt up these dishes...

The little Tinker has taken more of an interest in cooking lately so I let her stand on a chair and help me make a batch of fairy cakes.

I thought fairy cakes would be more fun than regular iced cupcakes because they are just a touch more fiddly and I think for toddlers that makes it a little more fun, plus the Tinker really likes anything with wings at the moment so when I explained that the bits on the top were wings she was fascinated.

Ok so you start with your basic cupcake recipe. I always use the Nigella food processor recipe and I use lots of vanilla bean scrapings. Ditch the icing and all you need instead is some cream and some jam or lemon curd and a teaspoon of icing sugar.

Tinker loved these little cakes and they were so easy and fun to make. Only problem with making them in the afternoon is that I had so many hours til my husband came home, it was hard not to eat them all. I managed to save him one so he should feel honoured really.

What's For Dinner Wednesday? Greek Chicken

Ok so my husband crossed the picket line and tempted me out of my cooking strike with the promise of chocolate. Good chocolate. So I am back, baby... but I'm keeping things super simple.

This is just a simple marinade most of us probably do already, I did it last night when the Tinker finally went to sleep at 9.30pm. Took me about 5 mins to prep the chicken and throw it in a ziplock bag in the fridge. I'm doing the singleparent thing til the end of the week so I thought I should try and make things easier for myself (I'll be grilling this inside, bit too cold to venture out and use the BBQ tonight).

Greek Chicken Breast & Simple Greek Salad

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup (250ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1/3 teaspoon paprika

Preparation method

Cut 3 slits in each chicken breast to allow marinade to penetrate. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika for about 30 seconds. Place chicken in a large bowl or ziplock bag, and pour marinade over. Using your hands, work marinade into chicken. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat barbecue for medium heat, and lightly oil grate.
Cook chicken on the barbecue until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear-about 10 minutes per side.

courtesy of www.allrecipes.com.au

I like a greek salad, here is a quick recipe if you don't have your own version:

Greek Salad with Walnuts

Ingredients (serves 4)
40g walnut halves
3 small ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 red capsicum, halved, deseeded, coarsely chopped
1 Lebanese cucumber, halved lengthways, thickly sliced
1 small red onion, halved,
thinly sliced
1 bunch continental parsley, leaves picked, coarsely chopped
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs red wine vinegar
60g reduced-fat feta, cubed
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Spread walnuts over a baking tray. Bake in preheated oven for 6-7 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove from oven and set aside for 5 minutes to cool. Coarsely chop.
Combine the tomato, capsicum, cucumber, onion and parsley in a large bowl. Drizzle with oil and vinegar and gently toss to combine. Divide the salad among serving plates and sprinkle with walnuts and feta. Season with pepper and serve immediately.

courtesy of www.taste.com.au

What's For Dinner Wednesday? Beef & Carrot Ragout

It's 4am here, and as I sit here typing this out my little redheaded friend is sharing the sofa while she watches In The Night Garden. Screaming banshee act started at 1am, nothing would settle her so I figured we'd sit on the couch together instead of the fruitless settling we had been trying. Little feral! She is as happy as larry now, chatting away as I type this out.

Ok so for this weeks' easy as pie Wednesday recipe I have gone for the ultimate in fuss free cooking. Anything involving the slow cooker is perfect when you are tired or busy... or both. Just prep in the morning and throw the lot in and hit start. Your meal is ready in 6-8 hours. Perfect.

image and recipe via taste.com.au

Beef & Carrot Ragout with Pasta

Ingredients (serves 4)

1/4 cup plain flour
1kg gravy beef, cut into 5cm cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large brown onions, cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
3 sprigs thyme
3 large carrots, peeled, roughly chopped
cooked pappardelle pasta, to serve

Method

Place flour in a snap-lock bag. Season with salt and pepper.

Add beef and shake bag to lightly coat beef in flour, shaking off excess.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add half the beef. C

ook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 5 minutes or until browned. Spoon into slow cooker. Repeat with oil and remaining beef.

Reduce frying pan heat to medium. Add remaining oil and onion to pan. Cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and tomato paste. Cook for 1 minute. Pour in wine. Bring to the boil.

Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until wine has reduced by half. Add stock, thyme and carrots. Bring to the boil. Spoon sauce over beef and stir to combine.

Cover and cook in slow cooker on HIGH for up to 4 hours or LOW for 6 hours. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon over pasta and serve.

What's for Dinner Wednesday? Maple Salmon

After last night's debacle with the chicken I am glad to be returning to normal programming folks. No more fancypants attempts. I'm back to my minimal fuss, minimal ingredient cooking.

Since my husband and I are on this stupid healthy eating diet I have been hunting down low carb recipes and this is what I found. I haven't tried it before but it seems so easy that even I can't ruin it and I'm sure you will agree.

Maple Mustard Glazed Salmon with Green Salad

Just click on the recipe name above and it takes you to a fabulous little video that shows you EXACTLY what to do but in case you can't view videos on your computer here is the recipe:

You need one fillet of salmon per person and some green salad leaves and a lemon.

To make your glaze you just mix together the following ingredients:

1 tablespoon of good maple syrup.

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard.
1/4 teaspoon chipotle pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt.

Preheat the Broiler to high. *This is what the Americans call the griller.*

I buy my fish already boned because I barely have time to pluck my own eyebrows let alone get tweezering some piece of dead fish. If you have bought your fillet with bones then get your tweezers ready and prep your fish.

Pour the Glaze on the Salmon.

Put some foil or baking paper at the bottom of the baking dish and add a teaspoon of oil.

Pour glaze over the fish pieces.

Broil for 5-7 minutes about 6inches away from the heat.

The glaze will caramelise and bubble.

Sprinkle salt on salmon and serve with lemon or lime wedges and green salad.

Easy.

What's for Dinner Wednesday? Peas!

wickedsunshine.com



My mother and father-inlaw fly back home this afternoon so we will be having leftovers for dinner. We have an abundance of peas and my mother in law happened to leave me her Delicious Magazine (issue 84 July 2009) and they have a great section at the back for quick recipes for left overs.


They have a quick pea recipe on page 154 and I'm going to try it since we have all of these ingredients here already and after the traffic I'm bound to get on the way to the airport I don't think I'll feel like popping out to get more groceries.


Left-over Pea Pasta (I've named it, you can tell since it is so creative)

Cooked pasta of your choice


2 cups of peas


1 cup fresh ricotta cheese


1/2 cup fresh mint


Shaved Parmesan


Salt & Pepper


Crush 2 cups of blanched peas with a fork. Season, then mix with ricotta and chopped mint.


Stir through cooked pasta and drizzle with olive oil and add some shaved Parmesan.


Could it be any easier? Come on, could it?!

What's for Dinner Wednesday? Omelete & Warm Tomato Salad

Rolled Omelet with Warm Tomato Salad

Ok so this is what's on our menu tonight. It is as easy as can be and it is also pretty healthy. I have my inlaws arriving tomorrow for a week and they like really yummy fancypants things so I figured we'd have a very simple thing tonight before a week of decadence!

The omelet recipe is from my favourite ex con Martha Stewart and the warm tomato recipe is one I've been using for ages you can find it at taste.com.au.

For my friends in the Northern Hemisphere, you could make a basic tomato salad instead of going for the warmer variety. For us southern folk it is a rather chilly winter so we need the warm tomato salad. You could also have a warm tomato soup instead.

Ok so lets start with the omelet and our mates over at Martha's website have kindly provided an idiots guide to making a rolled omelet so I have copied their pics below.


Ingredients
Serves 4
Olive oil, for pan
1 cup milk
1/3 cup all-purpose (plain) flour (spooned and leveled)
8 large eggs
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar (6 ounces)


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees for the Fahrenheit folks (for us in metric land it is 180). Brush a 10-by-15-inch rimmed baking sheet or jelly-roll pan with oil. Line bottom of pan with parchment, leaving a 1-inch overhang on the two shorter sides. Brush parchment with oil.



In a bowl, whisk together milk and flour. Add eggs, mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, and teaspoon pepper; whisk to combine. Pour into pan. Sprinkle spinach over top in an even layer.






Bake until edges of omelet are set, 10 to 12 minutes. Sprinkle with cheddar; bake until cheese has melted, 2 to 4 minutes. Beginning at one shorter end, lift parchment, and roll up omelet tightly, peeling back parchment as you go. Slice and serve.



Now for the warm tomato salad

Ingredients
tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g (7 ounces) yellow grape tomatoes, halved
250g (8 ounces)red cherry tomatoes, halved
2 (300g) vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

Method

Place oil, garlic and tomatoes in a large, non-stick frying pan over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 5 minutes or until tomatoes are warm but still firm. Remove from heat.
Stir in vinegar. Spoon onto a plate. Sprinkle with basil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Ok so there were none of these yellow grape ones at my local Woolworths yesterday. I don't think it is the season for them now so I just bought a zucchini and I'll dice that instead!

What's for Dinner Wednesday? Pasta Piazza

Ok so this week's recipe is a lie. Only because it isn't really what we are having at our house (we are having the rib recipe I did last Wednesday) but it is a real recipe and this week it is brought to you by Oracle one of my regular readers. Thanks Oracle!

Now she has slightly broken the rules by making something with more ingredients that I normally use on a Wednesday and she admits it uses a fair few dishes. But I figure if her husband loves it this much, then he will do the dishes and that kinda makes up for it, right?

Ok here is Oracle's recipe below and if you have a quick and easy recipe for a Wednesday please shoot me an email!

Pasta piazza (pasta square)

500gms of pasta
1kg of minced meat
2 jars of mushroom and red wine Bolognese sauce
Oregano
Basil
Garlic
2 onions
30 Gms butter
125mls Milk
1 table spoon of cornflour
2 cups of grated cheese

Method
Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Pasta
Boil water with a pinch of salt and a dash of olive oil
Cook pasta until Al dente

Meat
In a hot frying pan break up meat and add onions, Basil, oregano and garlic
Drain fat and brown meat.
Add two jars of sauce and let simmer for 15 minutes.

White Sauce
In a small sauce pan melt 30 Gms of butter take off heat
Mix in one tablespoon of corn flour to make paste.
Add milk leave to bubble then stir until it resembles a white sauce consistency.

Pour the pasta into a large rectangle casserole dish
Then layer meat over the pasta
Then layer white sauce over the meat
Finally top with 2 cups of cheese

Pop in the oven for 20 minutes on 180 degrees Celsius
Cheese should be golden brown.

Serves 6-8 served with a green salad or winter vegetables.


Oracle also says This is great for winter and my husband loves it a lot of people say it is lasagne with pasta but it is not layered like lasagne and
It is much yummier. It doesn’t take long but it does use a lot of dishes.

What's for Dinner Wednesday? Glazed Ribs

image credit good housekeeping

When it comes to Asian food my motto is to buy it rather than make it because A.)Here in Sydney we are spoilt with some of the lovely Asian food and B.)It always turns out tastier and cheaper to buy it than make it myself and I hate feeling disappointed when I make my own and it turns out lame.

Today however, I am making a tried and true dish that is extremely quick and easy and perfect for the middle of the week when my cooking mojo is at its dimmest and I have nothing but convenience in mind.

This recipe I stole from the clever people at Good Housekeeping. Give it a whirl if you aren't too much of a bottle sauce snob like I used to be.

Low-and-Slow Ribs with Asian Cuke Salad

(this requires a slow cooker, I have a $39 one from Aldi and it is the bees knees. Beats my $500 Le Creuset whatsy)

Metric friends you will need:

1 1/2 kilos pork spareribs
240 mls teriyaki glaze (use the Kikkoman thick style, it won't burn)
1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
2-3 shredded carrots ( I actually used a packet of preshredded coleslaw mix from Woolies and ditched the dressing packet)
60 mls seasoned rice vinegar

Imperial friends:

3 1/2 pound(s) pork spareribs
1 cup(s) teriyaki glaze
1 (12 to 14 ounces) English (seedless) cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1 bag(s) (10 ounces) shredded carrots
1/4 cup(s) seasoned rice vinegar

Instructions

In your slow-cooker bowl, place ribs and teriyaki glaze, spreading teriyaki to coat ribs on all sides. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook as manufacturer directs on low setting 8 hours or on high setting 4 hours.
In a bowl, stir cucumber, carrots, and rice vinegar, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes 4 cups salad.
To serve, transfer ribs to cutting board; cut into portions. Skim and discard fat from cooking liquid. Arrange ribs and salad on dinner plates. Spoon remaining liquid over ribs.

Easy, and you just throw the meat in the slow cooker in the morning and don't even think about it again til dinner time. I love my slow cooker and I love easy recipes.

What's for Dinner Wednesday? Pasta with Chevre

Ok so I am a very bad bloglady because I lost the email one of my kind readers sent in for today's Wednesday dinner recipe.

So I'm using an old faithful of mine. Because Wednesday is the middle of the week and probably the low point in terms of imagination for me in the kitchen I tend to go for easy meals relying on ingredients that I always have in the pantry/fridge.

Today it is Pasta with Chevre Cheese, Prosciutto & Peas.

We are really lucky where we live because we have a different market every week. Saturday was the farmer's market and we went along after swimming class with the Tinker. I usually buy milk and cheeses from the goat farmer and this week was no exception. So that's why we are having it for dinner tonight- the ingredients are already here. Easy.

You need:

~About 200g of prosciutto or pancetta, chopped.
*If you don't eat pork, this recipe works well if you replace with capsicum aka bell pepper)
This is something I always have because I buy it in the vacuum packs and it keeps for a long time. I suppose you could also use regular ham or bacon but the flavour won't be as good.

~2- 3 cloves of garlic crushed
*This is one ingredient I'll only buy if it is organic Australian garlic because the Spanish/ Chinese imports are so tasteless.

~1 cup of frozen minted peas
*Or you could use fresh peas and fresh mint leaves, but who has time for that?!

~200g / 1 cup of fresh chevre cheese.
*I like the one I buy at the market which is marinated in garlic and olive oil but any fresh chevre cheese will work really.

~1/2 cup chopped onion
You already know I love the pre chopped frozen variety but that is just my laziness!

~1 cup chicken stock
You may only use 3/4 cup, depends. I buy the liquid stock these days and keep it in the pantry. No time for making my own.

~Pasta
Whatever you have in the pantry, we are having fusilli tonight but any small-medium pasta will work. The shells are great with this and on the weekend whe you have more time you might want to make some gnocchi and serve with this sauce. Or you could just eat out on the weekend like me.

~Olive oil

~Lemon if you have it, otherwise don't worry.

Recipe

~While the water is boiling for the pasta you throw your garlic, onions and proscuitto (or capsicum if you are not having the pork) into a pan and cook in olive oil til soft, not brown.

~Get your pasta into the boiling water.

~Add the peas and cheese to the other pan and add the stock slowly so it simmers. Take it off the stove.

~Drain the pasta when al dente. Add to the pan with the sauce and stir through.

~To serve squeeze some lemon juice over and add some freshly ground pepper and salt. Easy.

What's for Dinner Wednesday? Minute Steak!

Ok so this is not an original recipe but it is one I use once a week and I never really tire of it. It is one of Bill Granger's and I love it for its simplicity. You can't get this wrong and it is always fresh and yummy. Perfect mid-week meal. Who doesn't have beans and tomatoes and lemon at home? All you need is your minute steak.

Minute Steaks with Lemon and Green Beans and Passata

2 minute steaks (100g / 3 1/2 oz each)
Olive oil
Sea Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Lemon wedges

1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic crushed
250g (8.8 oz) tomatoes chopped
250g (8.8oz) trimmed green beans
Salt & pepper to serve

Ok so for the steak I just have my local butcher thinly slice Scotch Fillet for me or Sirloin but it doesn't really matter. You just want a really nice even thin slice.

Brush your steaks with olive oil and salt, cook 1min per side. Serve with lemon wedge and pepper and the beans as described here:

Over a medium heat add your olive oil, garlic and salt, add tomatoes reduce to low heat for 5 mins.

Bring water to boil throw beans in for 2 mins. Drain and add to tomatoes. Sprinkle with pepper and if you have some flat leaf parsley throw that in.

Serve with steak and a glass of vino.

Easy.

Do you have a nice simple mid-week recipe? Email it to me and I'll post it up next week!

What's for Dinner Wednesday?

I was thinking tonight that we could have a weekly post with quick and easy dinner ideas.

Would anyone be interested? I'll post one each Wednesday. It has to be something easy, quick and reasonably healthy. I often find myself feeling slightly Iron Chefish when I have no idea what to cook for dinner and no time to nip out and get ingredients so I need to make do with what I find at home.

Tonight I had some fresh corn fed chicken breast fillets and not much else. For a change, I had a shot of brilliance and remembered an easy weeknight meal recipe I read at the doctor's surgery on the weekend. I have been known in the past to do a cheeky rip and steal of a good magazine page but with a bouncy toddler to entertain, thieving pages just wasn't possible. Fortunately it was a basic recipe so I managed to store it in my mind. I amended it and tried it this evening,

BBQ Balsamic Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Veges

2 Chicken Breast Fillets
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Soft Brown Sugar

Mashed Potatoes- I keep riced potatoes in my freezer and when I need them I just add them to some boiling milk with a spoonful of butter. You have perfect mash.

A potato ricer is a great tool to have, you really should get one if you haven't already! To use the ricer you boil the potatoes with the skin on. When cooked you peel and put through the ricer. This is the only way to make good mash, I've seen people boiling peeled potatoes and I don't like it. You fill your potato with water and it doesn't taste so good.

Anyway the frozen riced poato freezes perfectly and I always try to keep a little stockpile for nights like tonight when the little one went to bed late and I wasn't in the mood for cooking much.

Steamed veges- whatever you've got in the fridge/vege patch or freezer.

I had some broad beans in the freezer tonight so I shelled them and gave them a quick steaming and I had a couple of carrots that I cut into little Julienne strips and steamed quickly. Simple!

Now for the chicken you cut it horizontally so you have 4 steak-like pieces. You add the oil, balsamic vinegar and sugar to a bowl mix and add the chicken. Let it sit there while you prepare your veges and set the table.

Throw the chicken on the BBQ about 5 mins per side and serve with the mash and steamed veges.

Healthy, low fat and quick and easy. Everyone has a bottle of olive oil, balsamic vinegar at home and brown sugar of course. Chicken breasts are easy to freeze so you should have them on hand as well.

So there you go, it was really good and really quick. If you have a recipe you wouldn't mind sharing please email me and I will post it next Wednesday. If you have a photo that would be fabulous. I only thought of the picture after we had eaten so it was too late, sorry!

Fungus?

No, it's ok I am not talking about feral skin conditions.

I'm talking about funghi! My husband and I have a lot in common. We like to argue about the same things. Ha! And we both love mushrooms, truffles... yum.

Anyway now that my dinner preparation usually involves supervising a very cheeky toddler and a pair of naughty little dogs, I tend to stick to the most basic meals. One dish that always pleases is my mushroom risotto. It's good because it is easy and it involves ingredients we nearly almost have in our pantry.

Even my fussy little Tinker loves it.

I thought I'd show you how I have altered my usual recipe which used to involve me spending a truckload at Simon Johnson on black truffles and then going out in search of 5 different types of mushrooms, lots of chopping and so on. The other day I sat down and tried to work out a cheats version.
Inspired by that show Four Ingredients I thought I'd see how few ingredients I could combine to get the risotto to taste more or less the same as it did with my original version.

As an aside, what's with those presenters on Four Ingredients? One has an extremely bogan accent to the extreme and the other has what would have to be THE most patronising voice on television. Anyway they are great on mute.

Ok so I was going to go through my original recipe and then show you the new and improved super cheats version but I've decided to cut the original because I'm sure you all have a mushroom & truffle risotto recipe with about 20 ingredients. This is about making things simple so I'll stick with the new one.

I have perfected it now and here are the ingredients, followed by my step by step photos.

Instead of 5 different types of mushroom:


* Dried porcini mushrooms chopped 50-100g whatever you prefer. I like 100g for more flavour.


(they come in 50g packs usually chopped for you)

* 150ml Truffle oil


Instead of buying the actual things. I have saved you a few hundred dollars here alone! Here I have used The Essential Ingredient's own variety from Italy. It was $59.95 for 500ml. You can buy a smaller bottle if you like but I use this A LOT.

* 1 cup FROZEN chopped onion

Instead of standing around chopping an onion, I now play games with my Tinker. Prioritise- why chop onion when you can open the freezer and grab a bag already done. If it is only going to be cooked up anyway it is no different. Finding this was a revelation! Available in your frozen foods section at the supermarket.




* 1 bunch chopped continental parsley

Not essential, if you don't have any in the fridge or the garden it doesn't really matter.

*Small packet pre-sliced mushrooms from Woolworths

*125g Lurpak Garlic Butter
This butter from Denmark comes in a small foil packet, you use the entire stick 125g, if you are counting the calories go make a salad, this isn't the recipe for you. Using this butter saves you peeling and crushing a few cloves of garlic and adding separate butter. See? Easy!



*Couple of handfuls of Gran Padano or regular Parmesan cheese (or as much as you like) Gran Padano has a great flavour and a bit creamier tasting than say a regular parmeggiano and freezes really well too.



*Bunch of baby spinach leaves

I buy a packet at Woolworths that has baby spinach and watercress, I think this is a good mix. We always have it in the fridge for salads or risotto. Whatever you prefer, really it doesn't add a great deal of flavour anyway.

*1- 2cups dry white wine

When I made this the other day we had a bottle of chardonnay already open (a friend left it here) so I used that, but really you want a nice dry white ideally. I say 1-2 cups because it depends on your taste. See how you go.

*500ml Campbells Chicken Consomme

Tastes better than the stock. I used to always have my own home made stocks on hand in the freezer. These days I have no time for boiling bones etc and this worked perfectly.

*2 cups Arborio Rice

Put the dry porcini mushrooms into a cup of boiling water with a lid. Leave for about 20 mins then drain, keep the water and add it to the consomme later.

Put the onion and garlic butter into the heavy based pan and sweat through the butter til soft.

Add the rice and stir til coated nicely in the butter. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the truffle oil.

Keep stirring til rice browns slightly, pour in half a cup of the wine stirring til it is all gone.

Add all the mushrooms.

Pour in the other half cup of wine, stir til all gone.

Add your chicken consomme and the water from the dried mushroom a little bit at a time til all gone.

Keep stirring because you don't want your rice going sticky. Test it, it should be al dente now. Add the greens and stir. Take it off the heat.

Add the grated cheese - stir through and serve.

See? Easy! You can put a little drizzle of the truffle oil on at the end.

We had it with roast chicken but you can have it as is, we just had the chicken so why not cook it as well.