Baked Fish with Parmesan Crumbs

Baked Fish with Parmesan Crumbs

Ingredients
(serves 4)

1/2 cup fresh multi-grain breadcrumbs
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
olive oil to coat
4 (about 200g each) thick white fish steaks (such as blue eye or kingfish, Salmon could also be used)
olive oil cooking spray
steamed snow peas, boiled chat potatoes and tomato to serve

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Combine breadcrumbs, parsley, parmesan, lemon rind, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Stir to combine.

Drizzle mixture with oil. Stir until breadcrumbs are coated in oil.

Press breadcrumb mixture onto flesh-side of fish fillets to form an even topping.

Place fish, skin-side down, onto a baking tray. Spray lightly with oil. Add a tomato for each person on the same tray.

Bake for 15 minutes or until crumbs are light golden and fish is just cooked through.

Serve with steamed snow peas, potatoes, oven softened tomato and lemon wedges.

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Lebanese Bread Pizza

Homemade Lebanese Bread Pizza

Making homemade pizzas with your kids is a fun and easy way to get your kids involved in the meal preparation, introduce them to “questionable” vegetables and ingredients and most of all the kids get a great big kick out of making their very own pizza creation!

Our neice, Bethany (7 years old), was over on the weekend and we had a great time making our own creations and combinations for dinner on Saturday night!

The ingredients for the topping can be as few or as many as you like as well as being as expensive or as inexpensive as you like. The only limit is yours and your child’s imagination!

Ingredients

1 pkt Wholemeal Lebanese Bread
350grams Lite/Reduced fat Mozzarella or Tasty/Cheddar Cheese, grated
1 bottle, store bought Tomato or BBQ Pizza sauce

Toppings of your choosing, some suggestions are:

• Ham
• Pepperoni
• Cabanossi
• Salami
• BBQ Chicken
• Prawns
• Capsicum
• Mushrooms
• Olives
• Tomato
• Pineapple
• Onion
• Anchovies
• Broccolini
• Eggplant

Preheat oven to 200C (fan forced)

First chop (All ingredients chopped to roughly the same size) and prepare your toppings and place each topping either on a breadboard, tray or in individual bowls and place in the centre of the pizza preparation area.

Place the Lebanese Bread on a baking tray and squeeze the pizza sauce onto the Lebanese bread’s surface, then using the back of a spoon spread the sauce to create an even and liberal spread all over the bread.

Next sprinkle the desired amount of shredded cheese evenly over the sauced bread (placing the cheese on the bottom allows the toppings to melt into the cheese when cooking).

Add Toppings of your choice! This is the fun part! I'll leave the amounts up to you on this one, depending on the age and number of your children. (I find that less is more when it comes to toppings! Too many toppings create a soggy and hard to eat pizza!)

The pizzas are now ready for the oven so place them in the middle shelf of the oven for about 15mins each until cheese has melted and they are golden in colour!

Let them cool slightly and then Bon Apetit! Enjoy your own handy work and watch the kids devour them, vegetables and all!

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Beef Wellington

Beef Wellington

Ingredients

400g button mushrooms, roughly chopped finely

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

750g piece of prime beef fillet

1-2 tbsp wholegrain/hot English mustard

6-8 slices of Prosciutto

1-2 sheets of puff pastry

Flour, to dust

1 egg yolk, beaten

Cut the mushrooms into small pieces, (Alternatively you can use a food processor and pulse until you have a rough paste.

Place mushrooms into a pan, season with salt and pepper, and cook over a high heat for about 10 mins or until the mushrooms have reduced by about half in size, then spread out on a plate to cool.

Heat in a frying pan and add a little olive oil. Season the beef and sear in the hot pan for 30 secs only on each side. (You don't want to cook it at this stage, just colour it and seal in the juices).

Remove the beef from the pan and leave to cool, then brush all over with the mustard.

Lay a sheet of cling film on a work surface and arrange the proscuitto slices on it, in slightly overlapping rows.

With the back of a fork, spread the mushroom mixture over the ham, then place the seared beef fillet in the middle.

Keeping a tight hold of the cling film from the edge, neatly roll the proscuitto and mushrooms around the beef to form a tight barrel shape. Twit the ends of the cling film to secure.

Chill for 15-20 mins. This will allow the beef to set and keep its shape.

Place the puff pastry on a floured surface.

Remove the cling film from the beef, then lay in the centre. Brush the surrounding pastry with egg yolk.

Fold the ends over, the wrap the pastry around the beef, cutting off any excess. Turn over, so the seam is underneath, and place on a baking sheet.

Brush over all the pastry with egg and chill for about 15 mins to let the pastry rest.

Heat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6.

Lightly score the pastry at 1cm intervals and glaze again with beaten egg yolk.
Bake for 20 minutes , then lower the oven setting to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 and cook for another 15 mins.

Allow to rest for 10-15 mins before slicing and serving with the accompaniments. The beef should still be pink in the centre when you serve it.

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Braised Beef Shin Ragu & Pappardelle

Braised Beef Shin Ragu & Pappardelle

I cooked this for last nights dinner and although there is a bit of preparation and the cooking time is 2 hours, it is perfect for a lazy Sunday night dinner. It tastes absolutely delicious, the meat is so tender and just falls apart as you fork it. It makes for a great and different variation on a spag bol! What's even better is that we still have leftovers of the meat for either a sandwich lunch today or for an easy dinner over idaho potatoes tonight! Try it - you won't be disappointed :)

PS. I used Pappardelle, but any pasta to your liking can be used!

Ingredients

1 kilogram beef shin, off the bone, in large pieces

Flour (seasoned with Salt and pepper)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 red onions, sliced (may seem like a lot but these reduce & disintegrate into the sauce)

100 grams bacon, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped

4 anchovies, chopped (optional but you can’t taste them in the end)

½ cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 cups beef stock
250 grams dried pappardelle pasta

Parmesan to serve

Preheat the oven to 160˚C

Dust the beef with the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess.

Using a large non-stick fry pan, heat the oil and brown the flour-coated meat on all sides. (You may have to do this in batches).

Transfer to a plate until next needed.

To the fry pan, add the onions, bacon, garlic, rosemary and anchovies and cook until the onions are soft.

Add the balsamic vinegar and allow it to reduce. It may bubble up, and if this happens then scrape the base of the pan to release any sticky bits.

Stir in the tomato paste and beef stock.

Transfer the beef into a large oven-proof casserole dish that has been pre-sprayed with cooking oil. Add any juices from the plate too.

Pour the ingredients in the fry pan over the beef and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Cover with a piece of baking paper, then a tight fitting lid. Cook for 2 hours or until the meat is tender and falls apart when prodded with a fork.

Take out the chunks of meat and pull apart with a fork so you are left with shredded bits of meat. Stir back into the sauce. Cover with Lid to keep warm whilst you cook your pasta.

Cook your pasta in salted water and drain well.

Divide the pasta between warm serving dishes and top with the ragu. Sprinkle with grated parmesan to serve.

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Salmon Patties

Salmon Patties

Salmon patties are an old childhood favourite and Craig and I recently revisited them, the weekend just gone. They are great for a light Sunday dinner and are just as delicious the next day also on a sandwich! I like mine very oniony so if onion if not your thing – then you can easily omit the onion or shallots or both!

As with all recipes there are variations so here are a few ideas:
- make smaller sized ones as finger food at your next party
- leave out the breadcrumbs for gluten free meal
-use herb and garlic breadcrumbs, or for other varieties look under breadcrumbs in this blog for suggestions!

INGREDIENTS
500g potatoes, peeled,
30g butter/margarine¼ cup (60ml) milk
Salt & Pepper to taste1 Celery Stalk – diced finely
2 Shallots – sliced finely
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
½ handful of flat leaf parsley – finely chopped (optional)
415g can red salmon, drained, with bones and skin removed

¼ cup (20g) grated parmesan (optional)

2 eggs
¼ cup (35g) plain flour

¾ cup (50g) dry breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons olive oil

salad, chips

lemon wedges, to serve

Cook potatoes in a saucepan of boiling water until tender., Remove from heat. Drain off water and mash lightly with a fork or potato ricer if you have one.

Add butter and milk, and salt & pepper to taste beating until very smooth. Set mashed potato aside to cool completely.Flake salmon into a medium mixing bowl. Add mashed potato, 1 egg (lightly beaten), celery, shallots, onion and parsley. Season to taste and mix well to combine.

Divide salmon mixture into patties (a bit bigger than the size of a golf ball).

In 3 separate containers, have the plain flour, the second egg (lightly beaten with fork) and the breadcrumbs ready.
Dust with flour, brush with beaten egg and coat with breadcrumbs

Place the crumbed patties on a plate, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

When ready to cook, heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Cook patties for 3-5 minutes each side, until golden.

Drain excess oil on kitchen paper, drizzle with a squeeze of lemon and serve hot with salad and hot chips.

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Potato Gnocchi

Ever since he saw it being done on Masterchef, Craig has been at me to make this recipe. I hunted down a Potato ricer on my travels in my lunch break the other day and so we set about making some homemade gnocchi from scratch. I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of Gnocchi. I find it quite filling and gluggy and can never seem to get through a whole bowl full. Admittedly, I have only used the supermarket packet ones and maybe that is where I was going wrong, because this recipe produced very light little gnocchi's, a pure delight to eat! (Though I would still recommend small serves :)

Potato Gnocchi

Ingredients
750g desiree potatoes, unpeeled (very important to use this variety of potato)
1 1/3 cups (200g) plain flour, plus a little extra

Salt to taste

(serves 4)

Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water then bring to the boil over high heat. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until just tender when tested with a skewer (don't test too much as potatoes will become waterlogged).

Drain the potatoes well and set aside until just cool enough to handle. While still hot, peel by hand and discard skins. The potato skins should have started to crack which will make this easier. (I used a vegetable peeler to remove stubborn bits of skin as it is very important to remove ALL skin so it doesn't end up in the silky gnocchi bites).

Using a potato ricer (think of a large garlic crusher) or mouli, press each potato into a bowl. The outcome should resemble grated cheese. Season to taste with salt. Cool slightly, but not completely.

Add flour to the warm potatoes then use your hands to knead briefly until a soft dough forms.

Note: If mixture is still sticky, add a little more flour (the amount of flour added is very important!)

Too much flour = heavy, tough gnocchi

Too little flour = dough falling apart during cooking

Place gnocchi dough on to a lightly floured surface.

Cut dough into 4 equal-sized pieces. Using your hands, gently roll each piece out to form a log about 2cm wide. Using a lightly floured knife, cut each log into 1.5cm-long pieces.

Roll each ball of gnocchi over the prongs of a lightly-floured fork, pressing gently with your index finger or thumb underneath as you go, to form a dent in the back of each one and fork marks on the other side (this creates a textured surface, helping sauces to cling to cooked gnocchi).

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add 1/4 of the gnocchi. As they cook, gnocchi will rise to the surface of the water. Continue cooking gnocchi at the surface for about 10 seconds then remove with a large slotted spoon and drain well. Repeat with remaining gnocchi.

Toss gnocchi through your favourite sauce and serve immediately.

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Prawn Saganaki

Prawn Saganaki

This is a Greek originated dish that is both delicious and healthy and packed with flavour. I find that the many recipes out on the internet vary greatly on their authenticity and ingredients which make’s this dish easily adaptable to any level cook as you can choose to be as complicated with the techniques/ingredients or as easy as you like.

I have tried variations on both extremes and some in the middle and I have finally created my own version that seems to work everytime.

Ingredients

12 - 16 green king prawns

2 cloves garlic, peeled, diced
1 long red chilli, thinly sliced

1/4 cup chopped basil leaves

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt
Cracked Pepper

10 small-medium red vine tomatoes
15 small grape or roma tomatoes
Parmesan (shaved) or Fetta (Crumbled) –for serving

Lemon Juice - to taste

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley leaves

Preheat oven 250°C (fan-forced).

(Note: You can do this step now or whilst the prawns are marinating).Place the 10 small-medium red vine tomatoes on an oven tray and sprinkle with sea salt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Place in heated oven for approx. 10 – 20mins until they begin to soften and blister. Remove from oven and set aside to cool on bench.

Begin preparing the prawns by cutting off the heads with a sharp knife. On the underside of the prawn (where legs are) use kitchen scissors to cut along from where head was removed to the beginning of the tail, then use a sharp knife along the same line you just used the scissors on, to further butterfly the prawns open. Leave prawn meat and shell intact.

Remove the digestive tract and wipe clean with paper towel. Place cut-side up onto a plate.

Press garlic and chilli over the prawn meat, drizzle with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and season with a pinch of sea salt. Cover and marinate in the fridge for up to 1 hour.

Heat an oven-proof frying pan over high heat until hot. Add enough oil to cover the base then add prawns flesh side down.

Add the basil and cook for 2 minutes, gently pressing flat with a spatula until golden. Turn over and cook few more minutes.

Scatter both the fresh and the pre cooked tomatoes over the pan, season with salt and transfer to the oven.

Cook for 3 minutes until tomatoes just blistered.

Remove from the oven, crumble over the parmesan/feta, scatter over the parsley, drizzle with olive oil and a little lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and cracked pepper. Serve in the pan.

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Spiced Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Nothing is more comforting that meatballs on a cold winters night! These are a good variation on the usual italian variety, and are great for people wanting to get their hands dirty! A hit with kids and adults alike - the herbs in these meatballs balance each other perfectly and when I cooked them last night, there were no leftovers in anyones bowl!

Spiced Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Please note that if you do not have a tagine – a simple non-stick fry pan will do the trick, just don’t use a lid!

Ingredients

for the meatballs

5OOg minced beef (or lamb if preferred)

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoon soy sauce

small handful fresh coriander, finely chopped (optional)

small handful fresh parsley, finely chopped

Oil for frying

for the tomato sauce

3 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 x 400gram tin chopped tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried mixed Italian herbs

2 teaspoon caster sugar

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place beef (or lamb), garlic, onion, ginger, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, coriander and parsley into a bowl and mix well with your hands.

Using your hands roll the mixture into balls just slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball.

Heat some oil in the tagine and fry the meatballs until golden brown all over the outside.

Turn the heat down and place lid on tagine. Cook for a further 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the sauce.

Heat the oil in a separate fry pan over a gentle heat and sauté the onions and garlic until soft but not brown.

Add the chopped tomatoes, the dried herbs and the sugar. Give everything a good stir and season with some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Let the mixture bubble for 10 minutes until it becomes thick, and has a lovely sticky, rich red colour.

Pour the sauce over the meatballs and simmer gently over a low heat for 15 minutes.

Serve with Cous Cous, Plain Rice or your choice of Pasta and a sprinkle of grated parmesan.

Note: Chilli can also be added to this dish for a spicier version!

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Tagine of Chicken with Preserved Lemon & Olives

Tagine of Chicken with Preserved Lemon & Olives

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 onions, grated or very finely chopped

2 to 3 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 teaspoon crushed saffron

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 chicken, cut up in 6 or 8 pieces

salt and black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped coriander

2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

juice of 1/2 lemon

12 to 16 green olives

In a tagine (alternatively you can use a wide casserole or heavy-bottomed pan that can hold all the chicken in one layer), heat the oil and add the onions.

Saute, stirring over low heat, until they soften, then stir in the garlic, saffron and ginger.

Put in the chicken pieces and season with salt and pepper.

Pour in about 1 1/4 cups of water and simmer with lid on base, turning the pieces over every few minutes. (add a little more water if it becomes too dry)

Take the breasts out after 15minutes and place them to one side.

Continue to cook the remaining pieces for another 25minutes or so, after which time return the breasts to the pan.

Stir into the sauce lemon juice, the chopped coriander and parsley, the preserved lemon peel cut into quarters or strips, and the olives.

Simmer uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes, until the reduced sauce is thick and unctuous.

If there is too much liquid, set the chicken aside while you reduce the sauce further, then return the chicken to the pan and heat through.

Present chicken on a dish with the olives and lemon on top.

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Burnt Butter and Sage Sauce

Burnt Butter and Sage Sauce

Ingredients
200grams butter chopped
10 sage leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Place the butter and the sage leaves into a pan and allow to melt under a gentle heat. (This will allow the sage leaves to crisp up by the time the butter starts to brown and it will have also infused its flavour into the sauce).

When the butter begins to foam and begin to turn brown add in the lemon juice and serve sauce immediately over pasta.

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Mushroom Pasta Filling

Mushroom Raviolli Filling

Ingredients

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 garlic clove, minced

8 portabella mushrooms, chopped finely

4 large flat mushrooms, chopped finely

8 Swiss brown mushrooms, chopped finely

Splash of white or red wine (white for lighter taste / red for heavier)3 Basil leaves chopped finely

Salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons Ricotta

Heat Olive oil then add to it the butter.

Once melted add the garlic and sauté, being careful not to burn the garlic pieces.

Add in the chopped mushrooms and sauté with garlic and butter until all mushrooms have adsorbed the liquid and reduced to nearly half the quantity in size.

Add a splash of red of white wine, reduce it down then add salt and pepper to taste.

Add in chopped basil leaves and stir for a further 2-3 minutes then remove the mixture from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Once mushroom mixture is cool, stir in the Ricotta to bind the filling together.

Your filling is now ready for your pasta!

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Fresh Pasta Dough

A few weekends ago Craig and I were inspired to buy a pasta machine after watching several cooking shows. There is something so homely and satisfying about making your own pasta. After a few attempts and several variations on recipes later, we finally nailed one that works everytime! By the way - we did try that whole "flour well on the bench, manual thing" and it was insanely difficult!

Pasta Dough

Ingredients

250grams "OO" Plain Flour

Pinch of Salt

1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Whole Eggs (60gram Eggs)

3 Egg Yolks Place all ingredients into a food processor.

Once all the ingredients have combined and resemble a crumble texture, remove from food processor and knead on a floured board until the dough is firm, smooth and combined. (Approx. 1 minute)

Place dough in cling wrap and rest in fridge for 2 – 3 hours.

Once dough has been allowed to rest – knead again for approximately 2 mins then cut the dough into 4 pieces.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the first piece of dough quite flat to allow it to pass through the pasta machine easily. Repeat this for each piece of dough.

Using the widest setting on the pasta machine – run your first piece of dough through.

After the dough has been passed through once, reduce the opening setting by one each time until the dough is about 2mm thick (thinner than a puff pastry sheet).

Repeat this for the remaining pieces of dough.

Place rolled out sheets of dough onto lightly floured workbench or chopping board ready to make ravioli or your desired pasta shape.

You will find in the following blog a recipe for a delicious pasta filling and an easy sauce to serve with your homemade pasta, sure to impress all your friends! ;)

Tips:

Make sure eggs and flour are fresh!

Add a little more olive oil if mixture is too dry.

Add flour if dough is too sticky, it should not feel tacky to touch.

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