Sunday 4th November 2012

It's BBQ time!

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

I think the salads were the hit for me at today's BBQ.

I made a Seafood Pasta Salad

My neighbour brought a Quinoa Salad
BUT I FORGOT TO TAKE A PHOTO OF CAMBOT'S AWESOME POTATO SALAD!!!

Monday 28th November 2011

Lunch
Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls with Pork

I love the fresh mint from Mum's garden.

Dinner
Pasta Shells with Chicken and Mushroom in a rich Tomato Sauce

Friday 19th August 2011

Supper
Hokkien Noodles with Seafood

I'm having a little party tomorrow night despite having to work all day so I thought I'd better do as much preparation tonight as I could. Here is the recipe for Alice's awesome oyster roll that she brought to my High Tea recently.

OYSTER ROLL

Ingredients:

3 x tins smoked oysters

A squeeze of lemon juice

250g Philadelphia Cream Cheese

1 Tbn chives, finely chopped

1 Tbn parsley, finely chopped

1/2 onion, finely chopped

Method:

1. Roll the cheese out between two sheets of aluminium foil to about the size of an A4 sheet of paper.
   
   
2. Remove the top sheet of foil.
   
3. In a bowl, drain the oysters and mash with a fork.
   
4. To the oysters, add the lemon juice, chives, parsley and onion. Mix.
   
   
5. Place the oyster mixture along one end of the sheet of cheese and roll it up like a sausage roll.
   
6. Score the top of the roll or garnish with some parsley and chives.

Monday 22nd November 2010

Lunch
The Noodle Box - Hot Pepper Box
This little noodle bar is next door to the Brew Ha cafe on Rokeby Road. It was a generous portion for $9.90 but I couldn't eat it all because there was too much sauce and it was getting really sickly sweet. Not as spicy as I would have liked. However, they did give me lots of slices of beef and chicken.

At home, Mum was in the kitchen and she was really pleased with herself. She insisted I try one of these fish that she had fried.

I tend to shy away from fried fish. I prefer steamed fish. But Mum was so insistant, she wouldn't leave me alone until I tried one.

OH MY GOSH!

It was a mouthful of textural pleasure!!

Looking down at what I had bitten into, I saw to my amazement that the fish was stuffed full of roe! These fish are called capelin and they're similar to herring and sardines. I could not stop at one. I love roe. I love the little bubbles that bounce around between your teeth when you chew. These would be awesome with a cold beer, which is what I did.


During our trip to Phuket earlier this year in March, I came across this gorgeous dish at one of the local markets we found when we were scootering around.

I have since learnt that it is Haw Mok, which is a steamed red curry with fish or a combination of seafood. It is to die for!! I was a bit worried when I saw the coconut milk because I didn't want to have an upset stomach while out on the road on the scooter! But I risked it and it was worth every last mouthful. It was so creamy, aromatic, tasty and the seafood was cooked to perfection! The curry is steamed in a basket of banana leaves.

I have been wanting to try to recreate this dish and tonight I finally attempted it. After a bit of googling for recipes, I pretty much knew what I had to do. I didn't have all the fresh ingredients available so I had to find jar substitutes from the pantry.

I diced up some barramundi.

In a bowl I combined red curry paste, kaffir lime leaves,
Thai basil paste, coconut milk, chilli, lime juice and two eggs.

Stir through the diced fish.

Layer some banana leaves in a steaming bowl and pour in the mixture.

Cover with more banana leaves and secure with toothpicks and steam until cooked.

Oooh I salivated as the aromas grew stronger.
Not quite as good as the authentic version served up to me in the markets! I will have to attempt it again and use a combination of seafood. I bought this dish in Phuket for 25 Thai Baht. Today, that's equivalent to about 85 Australian cents! 85 CENTS!

Wednesday 12th May 2010

Dinner
Ling with Basil Pesto
served with fresh Rocket & Roasted Pumpkin salad with Pinenuts
For dinner tonight I felt like fish. I defrosted a piece of ling, then smothered it with some basil pesto, a splash of olive oil and baked it in the oven wrapped in baking paper and aluminium foil.

After about ten minutes, I let it rest for about five minutes and then served the fish with a squeeze of lime and salad. For the salad I threw together some fresh rocket from the garden, pinenuts and roasted slices of pumpkin.

After dinner I busied myself to prepare some MINI CORNDOGS for Natalie's farewell lunch tomorrow at work. I managed to resist and only had one - for quality control of course.

Mini frankfurts coated in cornflour; heating the oil for deepfrying.


Beautiful golden crisp polenta battered corndogs.

Supper
Mum's Wintermelon Soup

Before bed I got my creative juices flowing and made a card for Natalie. I really need to find some time to do some scrapbooking.

Friday 7th may 2010

I struggled to get to work today with my head feeling really foggy from yesterday's migraine. As I drove to work, I remembered that today was Friday and was wondering if anyone had remembered about our newly appointed 'Finger Food Friday'. It would really solve my problem of what to have for lunch.

I was in luck!


FINGER FOOD FRIDAY

Nadine brought in Carrot & Walnut Muffins
with her mum's Lemon Frosting.
For those of you who watched Masterchef the other night, you'll know what I mean when I felt like I was at a cupcake station. I chose a muffin - they actually looked like friands because Nadine couldn't find her cupcake trays and had to resort to using the friand tray - and spread the lemon frosting over it. I then studded the cream with a few walnuts.

Doesn't it look absolutely delightful!?
It was soooo good. For a moment my headache subsided while I munched away on it with a cup of hot chocolate.

Alice brought in Pumpkin Scones
that we had with butter and jam.
I warmed mine up for thirty seconds in the microwave. I spread butter on one half and jam on the other half. Moorish!

I love how food can be therapeutic. I couldn't wait to get home, shower, get into my PJ's and spend some time in the kitchen.

Dinner
Chicken Roulades with Basil, Sundried Tomato & Cheese
served with Mashed Potato & Asparagus Spears
Yes, the asparagus was a little overdone when I let them stay in the oven with the chicken while I was resting it. It's getting difficult to find some good quality asparagus now and not have to pay sky high prices for it.

So...how did I prepare the chicken?

Firstly I trimmed the excess fat off the thigh fillets. I then lay them down on the board and rolled up some basil, sundried tomatoes and a slice of cheese in each one. I also cut the thicker ends to create 'flaps' to tuck around the ends of the roulade to try to seal in the juices and prevent the cheese from leaking out when it melted. I didn't want all the cheese to be in the pan.

I tied the roulades up with kitchen string.
See how the ends are covered by the 'flaps' of chicken.

While the chicken cooked, I made an entree.

Creamy Garlic & Saffron Prawns with Cous Cous

I tried the new Philadelphia Cream Cheese for Cooking and it's really good. It doesn't curdle when you add it to the dish. I'm going to experiment with it somemore in the coming days!

I do so love being arty farty with my dishes.

I wish I could be a food stylist.
Janelle Bloom...give me a job!

Ooh ooh my chicken is ready to be sliced up!

The way I rolled the chicken thighs up proved to work a treat with sealing in the juices and cheese.

Aah Saz, you've done it again!