Monday Giveaway - Cookshop Plus!

Following last week's mega giveaway I am pleased to report that I can brighten your Monday morning with an equally fabulous prize!

From the very fine people at Cookshop Plus in Bowral particularly one of their most brilliant staff and one of my dearest friends- Caroline, we have for you a fabulous box of goodies.

From Zero Teapots, Japan's leading teapot manufacturer we have the ultimate in solo tea-lover's gadgets. Forget those fugly bulky things you add to the top of your clunky mug. This single person teapot is stunning. If you are like me and you love your tea but nobody else at home does then this flawless porcelain teapot is ideal. Sometimes the Japanese do create some really wacky things but come on, this teapot is clever and cute. It has a removable stainless mesh strainer that covers the opening on the inside of the pot where the spout joins the body. Allowing your tea maximum contact with the water so the leaves are strained as you pour. Genius! Go on, stop buying your daggy teabags and go back to leaves! You know you want to. RRP $54.95

As well as your beautiful shiny red teapot you get this adorable red trimmed natural fibre oven mitt. This isn't just any old oven mitt. This is fit for a queen. THE Queen. Seriously. You know you've got yourself a fancypants oven mitt when the label is stamped with this, the Royal Warrant:

This is clearly the only oven mitt a true devotee of Stepford Dreams would be seen wearing. Plus, it matches your teapot. What more could you want? RRP $14.95It doesn't stop here. From the Barefoot Contessa's kitchen we have her famous Outrageous Brownie Mix. This isn't any old packet mix. If you are not familiar with Ina Garten you must google her, she is an amazing cook. Of her brownie recipe she says “I tested this recipe so many times that I am positive it is the best brownie recipe you will find.” These brownies are rich, dark, chewy and with just the subtlest hint of coffee…these brownies are incredible! And this box mix makes them easy to bake. Great to have on hand to make a fabulous dessert for guests or when you’re craving a sweet treat. RRP $17.95

Cookshop Plus is one of Australia's premier kitchenware boutiques. They stock all the major kitchenware brands, plus a new range of exclusive imported products from America, including an extensive range of Stonewall Kitchen. After a move and a major renovation, the shop has undergone a transformation into homeware heaven, with everything from Conran towels to Mauviel Copperware, and (just arrived) one of Australia's most extensive ranges of Nordic Bakeware. Located in the gorgeous Southern Highlands of NSW, Cookshop Plus is a fabulous shopping experience for the home chef (and Stepford Dreamer).

To enter all you need to do is visit their online store HERE or if you are local, pop in and have a look around in person. Leave me a comment below telling me what your kitchen needs from Cookshop Plus. I don't think you will have any trouble, I am lusting over everything from the Lintex napery to the Zyliss Salad Spinner and the Soulfood Liquid Smoke. I love this store!

As with all my giveaways, the Tinker will draw the winner on Friday and everyone can enter. It doesn't matter where you live or if you are a follower or not. You know I hate blogs that make you jump through hoops for giveaways, so go on enter this week!

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.

Tuesday Snapshot- Little Smelly Brown Thing

What was I up to at 8am today? Carefully handling this smelly little brown ball.

Human poo? No. Dog poo? No. Possum poo? Nope.

This stinky brown treasure breathes and you can eat it... What is it you ask? It is a very pungent souvenir my parents brought back from their recent Tasmania trip.

I have to take my little smelly buddy out of the container to breathe for ten minutes each day and then it goes back in the box in the fridge. Not sure what I'll be making with it.

Since I'm on my cooking strike it will have to be a really fabulous recipe if it is going to be a strike-breaker isn't it?

Any ideas, suggestions?

P.s It's a truffle

Tuesday Snapshot- Stitches & Chocolate

So this is my Tuesday. An absolutely massive box of exquisite Laurent Meric's Cacao chocolates and a stunning summer dress for the Tinker made by... yours truly!

Sometimes I need to stop and pinch myself when I think about how lucky I am to have such lovely friends. For the past four days my good friend and sewing guru Theoreticgal has been my house guest. She came to Sydney laden with gifts for the Tinker and all manner of awesome sewing gadgets for me as well as a pattern and some fabric to make the little dress above.

She did a lot of hand holding to get me to make the dress and it turned out brilliantly. I will do another post showing you more detail and telling you how we put it all together. Theoreticgal is quite the house guest. Not only did she have to endure my crazy Griffon Bruxellois dogs as room mates but she had to eat my food.

Last night courtesy of a gorgeous mutual friend with connections to Australia's number 1 restaurant, I made dinner with a kilo of the most amazing ocean trout. I thought I'd whip up a yummy fish pie with Monday being my meat free day as per our new diet. Anyway I made a complete mess of the meal and it ended up being a plate of gruel.

For my most generous and most gourmet friend I served up a plate of gruel. It was a disaster, a funny one in retrospect but a disaster none the less. What went wrong? I have no idea. It tasted fine but the consistency was a nightmare. Lately all of my cooking pursuits have ended in tears. I think it is a sign. So from today forward I am on a cooking strike bar the food I make for my Tinker. Luckily I have my box of amazing award winning chocolates to sustain me for a few days until I hire a full time chef or perhaps invest in a truckload of 2 minute noodles.

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!

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.