Schnitzels

 

This was Flash's dish of the day, and extremely tasty, not a crumb left over. Flash may have been a bit shell-shocked at how long the process takes, but he did it. 

• Trim your pork loin
• cut into 1.5cm slices 
• beat flat between clingfilm 
• season with salt and pepper on both sides 
• dip each in flour, egg and then breadcrumbs 
• shallow fry 
• serve with baked potatoes and carrots 

San Choy Bau

Arizona's dish of the day. Tasty, and the mince was squishier than is usual, which helped it sit on the lettuce better. 

 

Salmon with kale coleslaw, rice and fried aubergine

 

Bunny made even kale tasty! Mmm delicious. 

Chicken and pearl barley stew

 Things I discovered with this dish: 

• It is now very hard to buy any chicken pieces with bones in them in Australia, apart from wings, drumsticks, or whole birds. 
• Pearl barley cooks well when boiled up in a fair amount of stock and then left for several hours, then finished off with a little more heat. 

Given the above lack of bone-in thigh pieces, I prepped this in several stages (bone-in drumsticks are a bit messy to eat in a stew): 

Stock and meat prep (earlier in the day): 

De-bone drumsticks, make stock from bones and some skin with a few of the usual suspect veg and good seasoning, simmering gently as per normal. Meanwhile soak meat in strong brine. No need to cut up. 

Pearl barley

As above, boil up for an initial gentle roll in your fresh and very well-seasoned stock, and leave. (Still early on in the day, looking at a couple of hours here). Heat up again later and finish up as desired. 

The rest

Mirapois veg, plenty of it, good seasoning, one chili (or as desired), fresh oregano or other herbs as wished. Fry off the meat, deglaze the pan. Add meat, veg, herbs, and glaze to pressure cooker with a splash of white wine and pressure cook for 30 mins. 

Then 

Gently strain the cooking juices from the solids, return juices to pan and thicken with some cornflour. Add the pearl barley to this 'gravy', check it's cooked and thickened/stewy to your liking. Gently add the cooked veg and meat, as it'll be pretty damn soft and you don't want to mush it. Serve in bowls with a sprinkling of cheese. 

Hearty and bloody tasty, and probs not bad health-wise either. 

Lara's Creamy Basil Pasta

 This has fast become her speciality. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 packet of pasta 
• 1 jar pesto 
• 2 pack chicken thighs 
• spring onions 
• parmesan (a fair bit) 
• fresh tomatoes (2 or 3) 
• fresh basil 

For six people: 

• Grill a couple of packs of chicken thighs, well seasoned. Cut into bit-sized pieces when done.
• Prep chop: fresh tomatoes, spring onions. 
• Cook pasta (Lara prefers spirals) 
• Mix all ingredients, plus a jar of pesto, a good shlurp of cream, some fresh basil, a good amount of grated parmesan. 

Serve. 

Moussaka

 How can a moose have a blog without Moussaka? What was I thinking? 

Shock revelation: some types of moussaka don't have aubergine in them. WHAT. In fact, some types don't have potato. Don't ask me why. That's what I hear. Well, you won't get any of that nonsense round here. My moussaka has 1) mince 2) aubergine 3) potatoes 4) egg sauce, and sneakily 5) a bit of cheese. Obviously, it's the best. 

Your layers will be as follows: 

The mince. Lamb is great. With rosemary and garlic, and tomato. Last one I made, I did the cook-the-mince-with-milk trick (add about half a cup of milk to 1kg ish mince) and it really made it super-soft. Once the milk is reduced (and the onions all softy softy, the herbs all melded) add tomato (passata or a can of diced) and reduce that. Make sure it's heavily seasoned. 

The potatoes. Cook whole (peeled) in very salty water, don't overcook. Slice when cool. Not too thick, not too thin. Comfortable.

The aubergine. I spent years frying these but 1) it makes the kitchen smoky and 2) they get really oily. Now I lay them out on spray-oiled foil in the oven and bake them. Sliced and left heavily salted first for at least an hour, then patted dry with paper towels. Hint: I have never, ever, had too many aubergine slices. 

The sauce. You only need it for the top, so not as much as you would for a similar sized lasagne. Plus, make it runnier, because you'll add a couple of eggs. Season within an inch of its life, nutmeg and pepper it. 

Layering order. Mince, potatoes, aubergine, mince, aubergine, sneaky sprinkling of grated cheese, white sauce. Oven. 45 mins. 

Let the feasting begin. 

Chickpea and feta salad with babaganoush and croutons

 

OK could definitely do better with the pic, but it was tasty. Arizona's dish of the week .

The salad: plenty of chickpeas, cubed feta, cucumber, red onion, mint, parsley, lemon or lime, seasoning. 

The babaganoush: baked aubergine (cut in half first), mashed with cooked garlic (actually microwaved in the lemon juice), tahini, lemon juice, seasoning. 

The croutons: Yeah you need more croutons that that but all good. The chickpeas are carby too. 

Tasty schmasty. 

Flash's Burgers

 

Flash's burgers are like any other burgers but more extreme. To achieve a Flash burger, you must: 

• include an egg and panko in the mix 
• grill your buns 
• ensure you have endless supplies of fresh-baked chips 
• ensure an even larger supply of tomato sauce 
• get someone else to do the coleslaw 
• finish up with sliced cheese melted on top 

Success.

Seafood curry

 

OK definitely not the best pic but this was delicious. Only the very gourmet prawns (frankly they were more like mini-lobsters) were lost in it, so next time would do purely with cheap white fish. Tamarind, coconut, lime, lots of ginger, and sweet potato for the carb, within the curry. Plus yellow curry paste. Another stellar dish from the Bunster. 

Cajun chicken with pearl couscous

 

This doesn't need a recipe, it's a reminder about another nice, quick and bloody tasty dinner from the Bunster. Cajun spices for the chicken thighs, grilled. Fry your small-chopped veg, mix with your pearl couscous and add plenty of herbs and lemon. The nasturtiums added a nice little pepper kick. And yoghurt is always good. Enjoy. 

Salmon with sweet potato

 

No recipe needed, just a reminder about a nice, light, quick dinner. The skin was particularly crispy and lovely on this one, which is an extra bonus. Sweet potato microwaved, the sauce is a yoghurt/mayo/caper/lemon mix. Mmm. 

Pad Thai with chicken, tofu, eggs, and LOTS of peanuts

 Arizona made this so I don't know which recipe it was but it looks a bit like this one: 

https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/chicken-tofu-pad-thai-2/8175e040-dfc1-4b4c-8778-77ed0d1b0b5d 

So, for the sauce: 

• about 1/2 cup brown sugar
• plenty of tamarind paste
• fish sauce 
• soy sauce 
• lime juice 
• a shit load of chopped peanuts
• ginger

bulk ingredients:

• red onion
• spring onion
• capsicum
• chicken
• tofu
• beaten egg
• whatever the hell else you feel like 
• thick rice noodles 
• probably some garlic
• heaps of beansprouts
• mange tout

Garnish: 

1. more peanuts
2. chopped coriander 

Was pretty good. A Do Again from all. 

Khachapuri (cheese-crammed bread)

 

Dough: 

• 1/2 cup milk, 1/3 cup water, (though this is not enough, so about 1.5 cups milk/water) 
• 2tsp yeast, 1.5 sugar, 2 olive oil, 1.5 salt 
• 2 cups plain flour plus for kneading 

1 pound of cheese (pizza cheese, fetta, cottage, whatever mix you like) and I chucked in some cubed ham, makes two of the original cheese vaginas. 

You're meant to stuff the crust, roll it into a... well, nice little... and then there's a gap in the middle which you also stuff with cheese, bake, then back into the oven with a finishing off of an egg and knobs of butter in the middle of the... thing. 

HOWEVER, while these were intriguing and pretty tasty, it was all a bit much. So next time I thought we'd just have Pure Stuffed Crust, and forget about the hole in the middle. It makes the dough underneath rather squishy, and also is not really as convenient a place to dip the bread in as it might seem. I will make some equivalent dipping sauce, either with egg like a hollandaise or perhaps with yoghurt, or a spicy salsa type, or a mix of all of the above. It'll be easier to eat and less soggy, as well as cutting down on the excessive cheese. I'll also serve it with something like a very acid side, like olive/roast pepper salad. On this occasion I served it with 'Communist Salad', which was OK but could do with more. Also another salad that provides crunch and leaf, to counteract all the squish. 

Here's communist salad: 

Beetroot, sliced orange, carrot (grated), sesame seeds. Others as wishes. The point is that it's red and tangy. 

Crunchy crust tuna fishcakes

The filling for these was leftover mashed potato and canned tuna, livened up with plenty of fresh chilli, ginger, lemon juice, and seasoning. But being on a LoFo brief and no wheat flour being permissible, these juicy little offerings were dipped in egg and then potato flour. They were pretty prone to disintegration until shallow fried, but then developed a crispy/bouncy crust which contrasted quite nicely with the squishy/spicy inside.

Served on this occasion with a tomato and olive salad and some plain sliced radishes, along with a simple caper/yoghurt/mayo sauce. All surprisingly satisfying.

If we make it again I'll try to take pics.

Moroccan Chicken

The original recipe does this in a tagine, with a whole chicken. For ease of eating I boned and portioned the chicken prior to marinating/cooking, but next time will only use thigh meat. The breasts get too dry being cooked for so long. The rest is good.

Marinate your chicken in a puree of:

• turmeric
• ginger
• cumin
• coriander
• garlic
• onion 
• preserved lemon 

(Don't bother to salt it as the lemons will do the job)

Add

• pureed onion and chicken liver. 
• more chopped onion
• rough diced aubergine
• some chicken stock. 

Cook in a moderate oven for at least an hour. Serve with cardamom rice and Moorish Crunch Salad. The pic is not mine, as you can guess by the fact that the bird is whole. Mine is eaten. Oh and the original recipe had olives in it but I gave up on that one for the kids.

Tahini chicken and pumpkin salad

Marinade your chicken thighs (original recipe was breast but who grills breast FFS) in lemon juice, tahini and seasoning.

Bake your pumpkin slices (original recipe also to grill - grilled pumpkin is TRULY a bad idea) and layer over a salad with some nice tangy bits - original had mint but it wasn't nearly strong enough.

Make up some dukka with nuts and pank and seasoning.

Microwave up a pack of mini popadums to serve on the side.

Dress the salad, cut and put chicken on top, sprinkle on the dukka (or mix the dukka straight over the chicken after cutting. Or both.) .

Got good marks from the kids. A do-again.

Chicken tikka pittas

A variant on the chicken and falaffel wraps meal that's not unwelcome. Marinate the chicken in tikka paste before grilling and cutting up to serve, with salad, pittas and a yogurt, mint and lemon sauce.

Sticky chicken with Coconut Rice and Choi Sum

Well the title's pretty much the recipe but anyway. I did it with drumsticks but the kids (being lazy of eating off the bone, I suspect) requested the same but with chicken kebabs next time. Well there you go.

For the marinade: 

• Hoi sin sauce (fair amount for six people, about a third of a cup) 
• Sweet chili sauce (a fair dollop) 
• Dollop of honey 
• A splatter of Sambal Oelek or however hot you want it 
• Sprinkle of Five Spice 

Mixy-mixy the chicken (OK I'll do cut up thighs next time, and kebab them later). Cook when appropriate.

For the rice: cook it with a tin of coconut cream and make up the rest with water. I chucked in a few Kaffir Lime leaves, whole. it turned out really nicely.

Once the chicken an rice are both pretty much cooked: 
Cut the choi sum into 5cm lengths, toss with a glug of Chinese cooking wine, and arrange artistically in and around the chicken in a nice fresh serving dish. Cover with foil and pop back in the oven for a further 5 minutes just to heat/wilt the greens. Serve fragrantly.

Italian Roll

Well that's why the vote was to call it anyway - the alternative title was 'Long Pies'. In any case it wasn't an unqualified success but I'll note it down here just to remember. Despite two 'do again' votes I think the dish can't make up its mind whether to be a lasagne or a pie, and if faced with the choice of this, lasagne or pie no-one would pick this one, so I think we have a loser.

So it's a sheet of puff pastry per 'long pie', layered with thickened mince sauce, then thickened spinach puree, then a layer of grated cheddar cheese, then rolled swiss-roll style, then baked. You don't get much of a roll in there. The pastry pouffed OK (which I was worried about with all the moisture) but it just lacked lustre a bit, even though the meat was tender and tasty and that bit of cheese and the crispiness of the puff pastry was all a pleasant combo.

Didn't take a photo. Sorry.

Coconut Broth Meatballs

Chop onions finely, fry with garlic. To your meatball mix add breadcrumbs and milk, chili, and ginger, together with the fried onions. Roll them, and fry them off. Add a bit of chicken stock, then a heap of coconut milk. More fresh ginger, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, turmeric and chili. Bubble for about ten minutes. Was very nice served on top of rice.