On the whole, Jamie Oliver's new TV series based around cooking meals in 30 minutes is a load of garbage. Nothing that he makes can seriously be done in 30 minutes unless you have 5 food processors lined up so you don't have to wash things in between, and you use various prepared pastes. I conform to neither of these requirements. However, one night he was making, what he called a 10 second lemon pickle. I really didn't expect anything to happen in 10 seconds, but I thought 10 minutes, including preparation time was realistic. Amazingly enough, I think I was done in about 5 minutes! Wowee!!
Lemons are the centre piece of this accompaniment, and it helps that I have a fabulous 'aunty' that brings me a supply of amazing lemons off her tree every week. She also brings me curry leaves, and in return I trade her chillies from my garden. The bartering system is well and truly alive.
Ingredients:
2 tbs olive oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 dried chilli
1 fresh chilli sliced finely
1 lemon, quartered, deseeded and then sliced
1. Heat the oil.
2. Add the mustard seeds, turmeric, fresh and dried chillies until it begins to splutter.
3. Add the lemon and toss for 10 seconds.
4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
I love this pickle with plain rice, however it goes great as a side to a curry. The tartness of the lemon and heat of the chillies marry up wonderfully.
This blog post has been a long time coming. I made these treats for our Melbourne Cup party, and then again for the Victorian Election party. Super easy to make, and really quite yummy... This recipe was originally found because I had a plethora of chives growing the the garden, but now, I like it just because.
Ingredients:
1 sheet of shortcrust pastry
125g low fat ricotta cheese
50g grated cheddar cheese
1 tbs finely chopped chives
1 egg
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1. Preheat oven to 210 degrees.
2. Grease a 24 pan mini muffin tin
3. In a bowl, mix the cheeses, chives and egg, so that you have a paste like consistency.
4. Cut the pastry into squares. I usually do 25 squares from one sheet of pastry.
5. Roughly press each square into the muffin pan.
6. Spoon a little bit of the cheese and egg mixture into the pastry pan and top with half a tomato. Press the tomato slightly in, so it sits neatly.
7. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until pastry is golden.
So firstly I should begin with an apology (again) so not having updated in yonkers. Much has happened since the last post, including a fabulous trip to Peru where I was able to tick off a couple of items on the bucket list, namely the Inca Trail and a visit to the Amazon. More related to this blog however, has been the fact that all the stuff I was growing in my garden is now being harvested, meaning I can now cook with real, garden fresh produce! First cab off the ranks was the beetroot! We literally have beetroot coming out of our ears, and I wanted to make something exciting but not daunting with it! I have developed a certain affinity for couscous recently, so I thought who not put the two together, and this is the result...
Ingredients:
1 large beetroot, peeled and cut into largish cubes
1 cup couscous
1 cup water
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 and 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
salt and pepper to taste
1. Lightly toss the beetroot in some olive oil, salt and pepper and put in the oven to roast. Mine took about 15 mins in a moderate oven.
2. Bring the cup of water to the boil and pour it over the couscous. Add the butter to this, give it a super quick stir and cover the mixture for about 5 mins. At the end of the 5 mins, the water should be fully absorbed, and using a fork, fluff up the couscous.
3. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and caramelize the onions over a low heat. This can take up to 10 mins. Be patient.
4. Take the onions off the heat, add the balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and beetroot and mix well.
5. Add the onion mixture to the couscous and mix well. Add the chives and salt to taste.
Apologies people. I haven't updated in yonkers. However there has been a lot going on. Not necessarily in the kitchen, but in the garden and on the restaurant front. Confused? Don't worry, I shall explain in subsequent posts, however for now, a few photos from our adventures last night, at Mamasita's...
Mamasita's doesn't take bookings, and is known for being packed and tricky to get a table at. We got there just after 6, and already there was a long queue. When we got the head of the line, we were told there was a 2 hr wait for a table. We decided to opt for the 2 hour wait, and spent the next few hours at Kri Kri on Little Bourke St, which is a greek restaurant that has vegetarian mezze. it wasn't bad, however the service was a bit poor.
Anyway, once we got a phone call from Mamasita to say our table was ready, we were out of Kri Kri so fast, that it wasn't funny...
And so our Mexican night began...
This was the Mexican manderine soft drink... there was also guava and lime variants, and a tamarind flavour that everyone was curious about but no one was game enough to try...
Quesadillas de Huitlacoche. Basically a tortilla sandwich with mexican truffles, mushrooms, and other yummy things.
Tostaditas de Maiz. Mini taco thingies with corn and beans and this awesome chilli hit. Basically the Mexican version of pani puri. We told you it was all Indian.
Chilli Relleno. Stuffed peppers. Super yummo.
Tamales de Flor de Calabaza. This dish was a touch average. A bit dry, had to add the salsa (which was really great btw) to spice it up.
Ensalada de Quinoa. I hadn't had quinoa before, but this salad was bloody good. Looks like I'm a quinoa fan now.
After significant umming and ahing over whether we would get dessert, me and Lavina bit the bullet and went ahead. I have no idea of the Mexican name of this dish, but it was a black pudding with quinoa (yes more quinoa) and fresh figs. I HATE figs, but this dessert was awesome... Mals, Bazz and Shazz bad a pineapple platter with mint and lime... also yummo...
The end of a very satisfying evening. Six great friends, 2 great restaurants, 1 great night :-)
