Kangaroo Recipes: Part 1

I have been quite tardy with the posts. Life seems to get in the way sometimes doesn't it? My apologies to my small readership ;)

I have been meaning to do a series of posts on my experimentations with kangaroo. Up until recently, my cooking with this native meat of ours was limited to the BBQ and spaghetti bolognaise and lasagne (which I have blogged, see recipe index). All fine recipes and a good substitute for other meats. Lately though we have been trying to think more about hip and up to the minute topics such as food miles, and sustainability. We could never be vegetarians but we are not the typical Aussie type who needs meat in every meal. I am happy with some sort of animal product once or twice a week. If my body needs more it lets me know through cravings.

It seems crazy that we are still farming beef and lamb, which may work in the European countries, but in this tougher land of ours, makes little sense in terms of farming practise in Australia, esepcially in the drought. These ruminant animals with their hooves rip up our topsoil and their four stomachs leads to copius methane production. They require large amounts of water, directly and indirectly through feed. With a figure of 25% of our emissions being due to our four legged friends, at home we really started to feel that this type of meat should be a luxury or once in a while thing, rather than a weekly part of our shopping list.

Kangaroo, on the other hand is a relatively soft-imprint-on-the-land meat. Being mammals they do not produce methane, and are very light on the ground. Moreover, it is very hard to farm kangaroo, but much of our inland pastures are full of these transient creatures (which anyone driving at dusk in country victoria quickly finds out). The method of killing kangaroos, is considered humane - shooting (though is killing any creature ever 'humane'). There are estimated millions of roos in inland Victoria and NSW, and the farming requirements are pretty much nil, apart from needing liscenced shooters to kill them.

Apart from these 'lofty' reasons for eating roo, the mince is supercheap ($6-7 a kilo) and the fillets and steaks are comparitive to other meats. And importantly, they taste great, are low in fat, keep well in the fridge and are high in iron.

Having said all this, my mother would never touch it, considering it a 'dirty' meat and I think this perception is quite prevalent in Australia, probably due to years of kanga mince being sold as pet food. My understanding is that all kanga meat for human consumption is triple checked and export grade (which domestically sold cattle meat is not).

On to the recipes. The easiest way to eat kangaroo is to BBQ it! It is a lean meat though, so should be coated or marinaded in oil and whatever other flavours you like so that is doesnt burn. This is the mariande I most often use, but any other spcies or herbs may be used.

BBQ marinade

Olive oil

garlic

native or other pepperberries, crushed

lemon myrtle

parsley

Mix ingredients and coat kangaroo fillets for at least an hour. Bring to room temperature before grilling. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side, depending on the thickness, rest for 5 minutes, season, and enjoy. Do not overcook, this really does need to be medium at the most. Lemon is also very good in the marinade.

The picture below shows a meal I made for myself one night. I made a quick mushroom sauce with the steak and instead of potato mash i made cauliflower and parmesan mash, which was beautiful.

Shepherds pie and variations

Kangaroo mince goes absolutely beautifully in shepherds pie. I use this recipe with modifications. One is that I obviously use kangaroo mince, the other that i had a spoonfull of vegemite and of curry powder to the mince. The shots below show two different accompanying salads. One was a grated carrot salad which is a staple in this house, and the other was a salad that involved some cherry truss tomatoes, roasted.

I have also experimented with topping with a pumpkin/ potato mix mash and this is just lovely. There needs to be at least one potato in the mash or else it is too runny, but this can always be fixed by adding breadcrumbs.
I have also made a kangaroo stew. I used home-made chicken stock and seared the kanga before adding it to the mix. The stew doesnt need to be cooked for too long with the meat, but after 40 minutes, I found the meat was still tender (which can be a worry when cooking kangaroo due to its lean-ness) . I wont include a recipe as most people have a stew recipe they use.

Arabic Mousakka

I didnt know what else to call this dish. It resembles a Mousakka, but contains no bechamel or cheese, and is served with rice.

2 eggplants, sliced

onion

1kg mince

tomato paste

salt, pepper, mixed spices

pinenuts

2 potatoes sliced

2 tomatoes sliced

parsley

Firstly, grill or fry the eggplant slices

Brown the mince with onions and garlic and spices (mixed spices are good) until cooked and add parsley and pinenuts.

Lightly grease a baking dish. Arrange potato slices in one layer at bottom of dish. Top with one layer of eggplant slices. Place cooked mince on top of each eggplant slice and then top with another eggplant slice (like a sandwich). Top eggplant with tomato slices. Dilute a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste into enough water to just cover the dish contents. I also added a tin of tomatoes to the top, but this is not really necessary. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes or until bubbling and fragrant

Serve with rice and salad

I have also been using Kangaroo fillet in Chinese style cooking, which tastes great! The quick stir-frying technique works really well for kangaroo and I have tried many different variations and haven't been dissapointed yet! More recipes to come in part 2... enjoy

A rainy day of baking...

The weather this weekend was crazy. On Saturday, we had rain, hail, winds, intermixed with bursts of sunshine. The wood heater has been going flat out all weekend. The 15000L water tank we plumbed into half the roof a week ago is now half full. The vegie patch is happy (and a little battered).

After looking forward to spring so much this year, I rather enjoyed this weekend back in winter. I nested a little, baking, and making soup, and filling the house with warmth. I ran out to the garden to pick some salad greens and radishes between downpours, but mostly took an easy weekend. I also fed some king parrots that used our deck as shelter from the rain…

So food wise, first up I decided to bake a loaf of bread in the neglected bread maker. We prefer to make bread using our own hands but it does take a lot of time. This sunflower and burghul wholemeal bread recipe came with the bread maker, and was easy and reasonably good for a bread maker bread. It was a bit heavy though, maybe my yeast was a bit old and maybe my flour was too (have gone and bought fresh everything now)

Nathan then decided to make Anzac biscuits. We used Belinda Jefferies recipe from ‘Mix and Bake’, and the results were fabulous. Anzac biscuits are so easy to make, and were perfect for this rainy weekend (and for morning teas during the week if Nath doesn’t eat them all)

Back to the bread maker, I decided to make pizza for dinner. Using the recipe from the instruction manual, two thin based pizzas were made with absolutely no effort. The base is not as good as the base I prepared by hand using Maggie Beers recipe for the pissalidiere but it was reasonable.

For toppings I decided to try one of our favourites – potato and rosemary. I also dropped some garlic on it and drizzled a fair bit of olive oil and salt, and a little parmasen. It was pretty good, but would have been better if the base was better.

The other pizza was a tomato based pizza with pancetta, mushrooms, olives, sundried tomatoes, artichoke and mozzarella/ parmesan to finish. This was pretty good and not too heavy which was nice.
I served these with a fennel and anchovy salad.

Much too much baking for one day, and I am all carb-ed up now, but it was just what we felt like! Hopefully the next two weeks will fill our tank up so we can set the drip irrigation going for the vegies. So far we are just harvesting the quick green leafy vegies and radishes but the longer growing plants are looking good (apart from some pest problems).

My garden - a work in progress (and constant battle with the possums)

I have been a bit quiet on the blog front lately. I have still been cooking (and obviouly the eating never stops) but all my spare time at the moment is being taken up with my garden.

The unplanted garden...

A moment of insanity in an unnamed supermarket led me to declare to my husband that i just HAD to start growing my own food NOW. Never mind that we need to renovate the bathroom rather urgently, or paint, or a million other things.

And as my husband always does, a 'little garden' became a massive undertaking. We are still not quite done but we are getting there!

levelling out ground for a water tank

We have plenty of room in our yard, but we have one massive problem - possums. Possums who have now had a nibble on my vine cutting, my strawberries, by lemon and lime tree and some seedlings. Thank god they have left my front herb garden mostly alone as I have been gorging myself on parsley, rocket, corriander, dill, rosemary and mint for a few months now. Some of these are going to seed now but I cant complain.

The herb garden

So, this leads to the construction of an electric fence. And also the installation of a water tank. Both are not quite done yet, and i am growing the pumpkin, zucchini and jute out of the fenced area (as they need room to grow everywhere), but we are getting there...

We are also having some bug problems. I think they are little grasshoppers but I am trying to be organic so not sure what to do here. I am growing some marigold and poppy and the garden is surrounded by lavender and rosemary to attract the 'good' bugs, but at the moment, the bad are outnumbering the good...

And this photo is of an unexpected guest we had last week - an echidna! Hoepfully he has been eating some of the ants that seem to be everywhere in the garden at the moment...

We will have to do some netting when the tomatos start flowering to stop the birds but we are getting there slowly. Most of my plants have been grown from seed bought from the Diggers club.

An interesting point - I have planted some seeds that I got from my uncle - molkeyah as it is known in Arabic. In english, this is known as Jute - used to make hessian. Arabs use the leaves in a stew with lamb and lemon and spices for a pretty amazing dish (also called molkeyah) and as I havent been able to find any of this in melbourne's markets, I am going to try growing my own. Apparently it grows as easily as hemp so I am hoping to get a good harvest that I can freeze for the entire year.

Planted - tomatos, capsicums, eggplants, rocket, pak choy, chinese brocolli, corn, beans, beetroot, potatos, carrots (having issues with these), fennel (not doing well), silverbeet (only one plant has survived the possums), beans (climbing), zucchini, pumpkin and jute.

Hopefully in a couple of months, my posts will be about using copious amounts of tomatos! If the possums, birds and wallabies dont get it first of course!!!

Kefta Bil Tahini

This is comfort food for me that reminds me of my childhood. It could probably be compared to ‘rissoles and mash’ if it had to be but it tastes much much better!

This translates to Kefta with tahinin; kefta being a mince meat ball (also known as kofta in other cultures)

It is a very simple dish, the only tricky part being making the tahini sauce, but if you follow the instructions, it should be fine. Serve with steamed basmati rice and a salad.

Sorry i dont have a photo fo the served product - we were all too hungry to wait for a photo!

Kefta bil tahini (serves 4)

Kefta

500 grams mince meat (lamb or beef)
1 onion, diced
1 tomato, finely diced
Bunch of parsley, diced
1 egg
Breadcrumbs
Cumin, coriander, mixed spice
Splash of Tomato sauce
Mixed spices, salt and pepper to taste

Tahini sauce

2-3 tablespoons of tahini
Juice of 1-2 lemons, to taste
Water
Salt, pepper
3 Potatoes, sliced 1cm thick
1 onion, sliced thinly

For the kefta, mix all ingredients with your hands, adding enough breadcrumbs to make the mixture hold shape. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes to give it more hold. When ready to grill, preheat grill to 180C and roll the mixture into balls (about 2 tablespoons worth per ball). Flatten slightly and grill on both sides until cooked.

For the tahini sauce, put the tahini in a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of water and beat into the tahini well, until it stops being lumpy and forms a smooth paste. Add another table spoon of water and do the same thing. If you skip this step, when you add the rest of the water, the tahini will coagulate and form a lumpy mess. Add the lemon juice, mix well and then add about 1L of water, stirring well to for a nice sauce.

Arrange the potato slices on the bottom of an oven proof dish (such as a lasagne dish). Top with sliced onion and cooked kefta. Pour sauce over and make sure it covers most of the kefta. if it doesnt, add more water.

Put into an oven at 180C for about 30 minutes (covered with foil), or until the liquid is bubbling and it smells good.

Serve on rice

yummmmmm

Why the Italians invented pasta machines...

They only cost around 30 dollars. So why didn't I get one?

Oh no, I really want to make pasta from scratch. What was I thinking?

After having a lovely pea and parmasen ravioli at Ladro a few months back, I couldnt get it out of my mind. I had to make it for myself! And luckily, the recipe was online at the Gourmet Traveller website!

Apparently there are ravioli cutters too. All this would have made my life much easier. It was actually a rather easy recipe, apart from the actual rolling of the dough and filling the ravioli. My problem lies in the fact that i dont have a very good rolling pin, and i couldnt roll it thin enough. Also, I ate too much of the filling while I was making it and so made myself sick of it before dinner even arrived. Sigh

Having said all that, after serving it with a butter and sage sauce, my husband had nothing but praise for it. I couldnt enjoy it. I think there is still a bag of it in the freezer.

You win some, you lose some.

Pissaladière

I was first introduced to Pissaladiere by a French friend who brought some to a picnic. I was hooked! What is there not to like in a pizza which is covered in slow cooked onions, anchovies and olives? (I may have eaten much more than my fair share that day!) While travelling in France we came across it in the bakeries in Nice, and dragged ourselves away from their baguettes long enough to purchase a few in our travels.

So, I decided one Saturday that I had to make some myself. I didnt have a set recipe (which is what i do all the time), i knew the topping was basically slowly cooked onion with some thyme, salt and pepper and then topped with the anchovies and olives. For the base i used a recipe from Maggie Beers massive cook book for flat bread. The base can also be a shortcrust style pastry, depending on your mood. As I begun though I noticed I only had spelt flour so it became a spelt based pizza. This was not a problem in itself though it was a bit more difficult to knead and I had to call in the master kneader (Nathan) to finish it off for me.

And the result? Fantastic! The spelt probably made the base heavier but this wasnt a problem at all, with it being crispy and chewy and a perfect base for the onions. i had too much dough and not enough onions so one pizza ended up with an olive oil, garlic and rosemary topping which we ate straight out of the oven with more oil drizzled over it. mmmm

The ethical quandary of chocolate and how to better appreciate it

Upon telling my friends excitedly that I was going to a chocolate appreciation course at Monsieur Truffle, the standard response was ‘and you don’t already know how to appreciate chocolate???’

There really is a difference between enjoying the consumption of something, and really paying attention to the thing you are eating, where it came from, and how it was made.

We have an after dinner tradition at my house of eating a square of dark chocolate (usually Lindt 70%). As a child I liked all chocolate; milk, white and dark but these days I cannot really eat Cadburys or similar products. They are too sweet and not really about chocolate to me (and looking at the ingredients list the amount of cocoa mass is very very low). To me, chocolate is chocolate by itself, without too much embellishment (with the exception of truffles, or very well made French style chocolate).

So I thought I knew all about chocolate. I was pretty wrong! The chocolate appreciation course at Monsieur Truffle’s new shop (90 Smith St) really opened my eyes to a product I think we take a little for granted. For a start, it can only be grown close to the equator, which means that it is sensitive to climate change and also the product itself changes year by year depending on rainfall etc. Secondly, most of the large companies are buying second grade beans from all over the world and mixing them together (with a whole bunch of other crap like emulsifiers, flavourings, heaps of sugar and preservatives) in order to develop a homogenised product that doesn’t change in flavour year in year out.

The course started by looking at the growing of cocoa and the way it is picked, dried and roasted (and we ate some cocoa beans and some straight cocoa mass, which tastes amazing). Unbelievably, this is done in small villages in poor countries, usually by hand, and typically the locals are not paid very much for their labour (and use/ depletion of their land). I recently came upon an article from the Age which focuses on the way chocolate is grown and issues such as child labour. West African and Asian countries typically have worse conditions for the workers than other countries.

The next stage is shipping the cocoa (butter and mass) typically to Europe where it is processed and then sent all over the world to be consumed. Considering how many food miles one chocolate bar has travelled to be sold at Coles for $2, you start to realise that the people making the money out of it will be the big multinationals but not the locals.

Luckily, at the higher end of chocolate products, the latest trend has been not only single origin bean products, it has also been to start taking care of the communities from where the beans are coming from. Valrhona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valrhona) recently lost a plantation they had for years to a rich Italian philanthropist who offered the community a chance to grow and has introduced schools and hospitals to the area. This is quite promising for the local communities, who for years have been missing out on this precious ‘commodity’. Remember this is only being done for the premium beans and plantations.

And can chocolate ever be SOLE in Australia? Cocoa Farm is an Australian company with a plantation in North Queensland (but they also get beans from surrounding Pacific islands). You may have seen their products in Wine shops, often with shiraz and other grapes. It is not a bad tasting chocolate and is as local as we can get in Australia. Green and Blacks Organic chocolate is available in supermarkets, but remember that it is now owned by Cadbury and is an English company.

The course also offered a tasting component of premium chocolates (of single origin beans) including Valrhona, Michel Cluizel and Felchlin. We even tasted a chocolate product made with ‘wild’ cocoa beans. Part way through the evening we needed to put it into perspective so someone went down to the local corner store and came back with some Old Gold dark chocolate. It was quite interesting to note the difference between a high end product to a supermarket brand. For a start, the overwhelming flavour of the Old Gold was in fact of vanilla. It also had a real ‘dirty’ flavour to it that I had never noticed before, a real bitterness. The premium products on the other hand were all different to each other and varied from smooth, to smoky, to hints of chilli, honey, and other subtle flavours, that were actually due to the bean and not additives.

The course was supposed to go from 6:30pm to 8:45pm but we ended up being there till 9:30pm! He also had take home booklets for us full of useful information. Monsieur Truffle used to be at the Prahran markets but has moved to a shop in Collingwood/ Fitzroy so that he can make the chocolate on site. If you are at all interested in chocolate, I would recommend this course as a really good way to taste some premium chocolate and learn a bit more about it. What I really want to do next is watch him tempering chocolate and making Ganache but I don’t think that is on the cards!

And yes we have been eating much different chocolate for our 'after dinner snacks since this course ;)

Bistro Vue

Bistro Vue
430 Little Collins Street

This post is a couple of months late, but unfortunately life gets in the way of these things sometimes. In the cold winter months I had the pleasure of both a cocktail night at Cafe Vue with the girls (Where’s the Beef did the vego version of the same month I was there) as well as a dinner at Bistro Vue with a group of friends. I guess the next logical step is Vue De Monde itself (are you reading this dear husband?)!

The lighting and my camera skills leave much to be desired so I don’t have any really good photos. Hubbie and I shared an entrée and a dessert (and had a main each) and the table finished with a huge cheese plate. I find I can not really fit in all three (or 4) courses at most restaurants, but I want to try so many things, it can get quite frustrating!

The service was great (much better than the service at Café Vue I should add which was almost nonexistent the night I was there) as was the wine we had (which I sadly didn’t take note of).

Styled after a ‘bistro’ it is almost a bit clichéd, with the velvet furnishings and French style furniture. However it still did make me a bit nostalgic for France. I guess I am just a sucker! Apparently some nights there is even an accordion player but luckily not the night we were there.

For the entrée, we had the 2 hour poached eggs with mushroom foam. I had read about this dish before and was curious. It was very very good. The presentation was impressive, with three eggs split in half with one containing the white and the mushroom foam and the other containing the yolk, and the 6 halves presented in a Vue de Monde egg carton! I love runny eggs and have been craving egg yolk ever since having this dish. The yolk is cooked (just set), but very runny and warm, not hot, so the flavours really stand out. The dish was served with bread sticks that you use like toast soldiers to dip into the egg.

For mains we had the wagyu steak with chips (friend in goose fat of course) and the confit of duck. As a side we ordered the brussel sprouts fried with pancetta and chilli. Both wonderful dishes. The steak was tender (and relatively cheap at about 50 dollars from memory) and the duck was probably one of the best confit ducks I have had recently. The brussel sprouts have prompted me to make my own copycat version at home, and covert my brussel sprouts hating hubbie!

For dessert we had the chocolate soufflé. The waitress put it onto the table, used a knife to put a hole in it and then poured chocolate sauce into the hole, causing the soufflé to expand. A nice bit of table theatre, but it also tasted great, worth the twenty minute wait upon ordering it. I wish I had written all the cheeses down but by this point I was a little tipsy. There was a fabulous French blue, a manchego and a French camembert style cheese, as well as another hard cheese which I don’t remember.

All in all a good night and a place I would definitely go back to. I forgot to mention the bread and butter that we were served at the beginning of the night (but sadly not replaced during the meal), which we all loved and made me rue yet again that there are no good bakeries near my house.

Simple Meals – Sticky chicken wings

I love a simple meal. This is a super easy recipe I got from Bill Granger’s Holiday. I imagine it would be a great family pleaser -at least I know I would have liked it as a kid. I probably won’t be making it too often due to my new diet (weddings, holidays and winters are not good for my waist line). I did change quantities etc so will give a very general outline of the recipe I used – it is quite robust. If you can, marinade it the night before so you can just pop it into the oven, but I didn’t marinade it and it still worked out well.

Chicken wings (4 per person)
Soy sauce
Sugar
Mirin (Japanese wine)
Ginger - grated
Sesame seeds

Combine soy sauce, sugar, ginger and mirin until sugar dissolves. Marinade the wings for as long as you like. When ready to cook, lift the wings out of the marinade and place in a deep roasting dish and roast for 40 minutes at 200C, turning once.

Meanwhile, reduce the marinade by about half on the stove.

After 40 minutes, pour the reduced marinade over the wings. Bake for another 20 minutes. Sprinkle sesame seeds and bake for another 5 minutes. The wings will get quite dark and sticky.

Serve with soba noodles (dressed with soy and mirin) and some steamed green veg.

On another topic, I had stewed broad beans for the first time this year last week. Spring really IS here! At last! I am already wheeling out the barbie and the salads...

Aglio Olio

Not the Beastie Boys EP. Aglio = garlic Olio = oil

We had been meaning to make this pasta dish since we got back from Italy. For some reason, we kept putting it off until one night we had an empty fridge apart from a sad looking bunch of parsley. And OMG, we are such fools for not doing this earlier.

It doesn’t get ANY simpler than this. And it tastes great. I thought it would be really fatty as the ‘sauce’ is basically olive oil, but I don’t think we actually used copious amounts of this. I made a salad to go with it to make it feel like a more complete meal, and bread is a must to wipe up the bowl.

Aglio Olio (serves 2)

Olive oil
Half a pack of good quality dried spaghetti
6 or more cloves of garlic, sliced thinly ( i thik we used more)
Chilli flakes
Salt, pepper
Finely chopped parsley
Good quality parmesan to serve

Fry the garlic in oil on a low to medium heat, covered and stirring occasionally. It takes about 15 minutes to get golden, caramel-ly garlic (be careful not to overcook).


Meanwhile bring a pot of water to the boil, salt well and cook spaghetti until al dente.
Drain the spaghetti and add to the pan and toss with oil and garlic. Add the chilli, salt and pepper and parsley. Serve with parmasen. Eat. Enjoy.

Action shot!

My winter of (fat) contentment

The installation of our slow combustion wood heater has had a few negative impacts.

The first is that it is now very hard to leave our house on the weekends. Example one. Lets check out Movida next door tonight. Actually lets eat something from the freezer and stay in front of the fire and watch Buffy DVD's. Example 2. it is raining and howling outside, should we a) go to the gym or b) curl up with a good book in front of the heater?

The other rather bad impact is that eating and sitting in front of the fire seem to go hand in hand. Why, I am not sure but it might help explain the sudden weight gain. Sigh. And now I can take that one step further and combine the heat from the fire with the actual cooking of food! Just like in the good old days (which were not actually my good old days, but you know what I mean).

After reading Neils post on jacket potatoes in his fire I was just itching to try it in my fire. Unfortunately it worked too well and I am now blaming him for my weight gain. Ok that is probably not fair and my husband is loving the whole potato in the fire thing so I really should be thanking him.

The winner so far has been serving the potatoes with a slow cooked chilli con carne. I made way too much of it and froze some batches so we have been pulling it out for easy dinners. So easy! And gives me more time to watch Buffy. I didn't say that. We have also popped some spuds into the fire to have with roast chook and just for snacks. All good!

The recipe below is rough and I probably added more stuff to it (as I usually do) but it is a hardy recipe, and using cheaper cuts of beef is the only way to go here as they tenderise with long cooking times and allow a richer flavour to develop.

Chilli Con Carne (makes a fair bit)

1kg chuck steak
diced onion

crushed garlic

diced carrot

diced celery

diced leek

ground cumin

ground corriander

cardomen pods, bashed lightly

bay leaf

cinnamon stick

chilli powder and fresh chilli (to taste)

tinned tomatoes

frozen corn

tin of red kidney beans

salt, pepper, etc

Basically, gently saute the onions, carrots and leaks in some oil, add the spices and fry for a few minutes until fragrant, season, add tomatoes and stock/ water. Bring to simmer and add chuck steak (not diced) and simmer gently for 2 hours or until tender. At this point, i remove the chuck steak and shred with 2 forks before returning the meat to the pot with some corn and kidney beans and simmering for 10 more minutes until cooked.

Serve over potatoes, in a burrito or over rice and with guacomole, sourcream and grated cheese. Eat in front of fire and follow up with chocolate. Or worse, a chocolate pudding.

For the potatos, we pierced them with a fork a few times, wrapped them in foil and put them at the front of the fire box (not in direct flame). After about 40 minutes we put them directly over the coals for 10 minutes so that the potatoes develop a nice jacket. And dont have the fire roaring as you dont want to incinerate the spuds.

I need to take a better photo of our fire but you can see the two big foil wrapped spuds in the left front corner there. mmmmm spudy goodness.

I am going skiing at thredbo next week and have been coming up with meals we can cook for 7 people (hungry after a day of skiing) that is easy and nourishing to cook. so far i have come up with spag bog (with kangaroo mince of course), a chicken stirfry, a veg curry, a dahl and some frozen soups for lunches. Any other ideas for good dinners that are simple and scaleable for many hungry people?

Winter Beetroot Salads

I am in love.

My love is sweet as can be, tasty, versatile and knows how to make me feel better when winter is getting me down.

My love does have one fault though...

Purple stains.

Not that that is so much of a problem. Unless you want to go out after dinner and have to explain to people why your hands have strange purple stains all over them.

I cannot believe that up until about 2 years ago, my only real exposure to beetroot had been of the canned variety. Not that the tinned beetroot doesnt still have its place on the salad sandwich, but I didn't know how much better it could be.

My beetroot education started off with roasting it along with other tubers for roast dinners. It then grew to beetroot curries (is there anything more dramatic than a very purple curry?). Then I discovered salads, and I havent looked back. Until I also discovered that the leaves of the beetroot were also edible and tasted great in salads.



This one is simple. Roast baby beets covered in foil for about 20 minutes or until soft. Peel off skin with fingers (I suggest gloves at this point). Cut in half, and add to the leaves of the beetroot if they were in good condition (or else use other salad leaves such as rocket). Add sliced red onion, raosted walnuts and goats cheese or fetta. The salty cheese works very well with the sweet beetroot. Dress with a vinegar/ oil combo. I love macadamia oil and red wine vinegar at the moment.


Apologies for this terrible photo. I would never have attempted grated raw beetroot if it was not for my food processor. Basically, grate beetroot (sans skin) and then add to a bowl with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and the rind of an orange. Sit for 20 minutes for the flavours to develop. I then add chopped parsley, any type of roasted nut, salt and pepper and often a cheese of some sort too, though it doesnt really need any of these additions. Goes great with roast chook or fish and well, anything actually.

I have been treating myself to organic beetroots lately - I figure I can get two uses out of them (leaves and bulb) so really it is worth it to get the best looking stuff I can, right?


SO what do you guys out there use beetroot for? I have not been brave enough to try the soup version yet.

What to do with a box of….

Part 1: Apples

I love buying things in bulk. Not only is it cheap, but it forces me to come up with new ways to use things. One Saturday we were driving around some of the local farms and came across one selling a box of granny smith apples for 5 bucks. My husband couldn’t resist and hey, it was a bargain! What I love is that these apples didn’t have that waxy coating that so much fruit has these days. It might make it look shinier and prettier in the supermarkets, but what the hell am I eating?

You can see the box in the background there with my fabulous apple corer in the foreground. Now, one may accuse me of having some unnecessary items in my kitchen, but I don’t think that my apple corer/ slicer is one of them. Yes I don’t use it all the time, but you try coring, peeling and slicing apples by hand, and then try a whole box, and you will understand why it is useful!

The original idea was to use it for juicing and as snacks in our lunchboxes, but we were not getting through them quick enough. So we had to use our imaginations a little…

So the first thing I tried was making an apple and pecan crumble cake. This recipe was taken from ‘Mix and Bake’ by Belinda Jefferies.

It was an olive oil based cake with pecans throughout the cake as well as on the crunchy topping. Nathan thought the crunch had a strange consistency but I didn’t mind it. The recipe did say to put it in a bundt tin which I didn’t have so I used a round tin. It needed a much longer baking time and I was still unsure if it could have done with a bit longer, but the olive oil keeps it very moist.
The next thing I made was apple and walnut muffins. These were based on Stephanie Alexander’s general recipe for muffins to which I added a grated apple, cinnamon and walnuts. The preparation takes about 10 minutes and then the baking 25 minutes. I love easy recipes like these!

Towards the end of the box, we still had a lot of apples left and they were starting to get a bit floury for eating. At this point some friends of ours loaned us the use of their dehydrator. Basically a load of trays with a heater and a fan, we loaded up the trays with cut apples (dipped in a lemon bath to stop discolouration) and then left them overnight. The resulting dried apples then went into a jar which was snacked on. They would have stayed good for a decent time in the pantry, but we got through them in under a week (I’m pointing the finger at Nathan here!). It did occur to me though that if I had children, these would be a great substitute for lollies as they are sweet, tasty and completely natural.


So that concludes part one of my series of ‘What to do with a box of…’. The next instalment will be carrots – some friends and I went halves on an organic box of carrots (20kg for 25 bucks) and we are still making our way through it…

I have my eye on the neighbours lemon tree which is so full the poor thing looks like it will collapse under the weight of all the lemons, and they don’t even use them!! They have just moved in and I haven’t introduced myself and am feeling a little reluctant to do so as they also just got a new dog which they don’t give enough attention too so it spends all day tied to the deck crying. I love dogs and don’t think people should get dogs if they don’t intend to give them the attention they need (and no we don’t have one for that reason).

But those lemons! I want to make preserved lemons, lemon curd, lemon tart, marmalade and of course use it for juicing. I have to find a box of lemons for 5 bucks somewhere… anyone?

Tajine Madness. The winter of the slow cooked Moroccan ‘casserole’

This was one of our wedding gifts and I have had fun playing with it this winter. Tajine refers to both the pot used to cook meals in as shown above, as well as the dish. It is traditionally served with couscous, rice or flatbread (or all three). The idea behind the pots shape is that the steam rises to the top of the strangely shaped lid which then runs down back into the food, trapping in moisture and hence leading to a tastier result. The design also means the lid can be lifted off without burning your hand To be honest I don’t really know if there is any benefit to the tajines shape, or if a heavy cast iron crockpot or dutch oven would lead to the same result. The benefit of the modern tajines is that they can be heated directly over a flame so that meat can be browned before the stewing (this leads to a more complex flavour). Because of the long cooking times, cheaper cuts of meat can be used and the flavours have more time to develop.

I started off by following a recipe that came with the tajine – beef with dates and almonds.


This is a picture of my first attempt, looking quite retro with the boiled eggs on top! I found that this recipe led to an overly sweet tajine (probably shouldn’t have added the sugar AND the dried fruit they suggested) so decided not to follow any more recipes. The almonds on top provided a nice contrast to the rest of it though (texturally and flavour-wise).

The basic concept is to brown the meat, onions and fry the spices (often cumin, coriander and cinnamon, but I have played around with this) and then add vegetables, water or stock and other flavourings and simmer.

The chicken, preserved lemon and olive version above was more successful and great served with couscous, a salad, a yoghurt dip and some hot harrissa. I am now unfortunately out of preserved lemons so have to make or buy some more before I can play around with this recipe.


The fish tajine I approached a little differently and made a chermoula paste which I used to both marinade the fish and fry in the oil as the spice base. Using the magimix I also got as a present, it is very easy to make spice pastes, in this case a combination of onion, garlic, ginger, parsley, coriander, cumin, lemon and oil. I then made the stock base with some home made chicken stock and added potatoes and oven roasted red capsicum. The fish I only added in the last 10 minutes.

In the spirit of the casserole, this is great to use up old vegies in the fridge and is easy to put together and then leave on the stove for 1-2 hours. Once you develop your favourite/ preferred spice combinations, it is easy to get this meal on.

What’s your favourite tajine recipe?

Laban Immo (Arabic Yoghurt and Lamb stew)

It’s funny how the cold weather has brought out a lot of Arabic recipes in our house. Maybe I am missing home or need the comforts of the memory of childhood. Laban Immo is definitely a winter dish, as is its close relative Shishbarrah (or hats as we kids called them due to the hat shaped dumplings) a yoghurt soup with ravioli type dumplings.

You may have noticed that I call my mothers cuisine ‘Arabic’. That is because while many of her dishes are Lebanese in the sense we use it in Australia (though she is not of Leb descent), they are also eaten by much of the middle east, with some variation between countries and different religions too.

As a kid, I always translated this dish in my head as meaning ‘my mother’s yoghurt’. This is because Immo sounds a lot like immi (mother). As I got older I realised this translation was wrong (and also a bit gross if I thought about it too long). Anyway I digress.

This is an easy winter stew, the hardest part being the continuous stirring of the yoghurt until it boils. My husband and I fight over this sometimes as he thinks I could just turn it up on high heat and walk away without stirring. This would curdle the mixture but as he hasn’t actually seen it curdle (despite him doing this on the sly sometimes) he doesn’t believe me.

Anyway here is the recipe, and if you try it please, stir it continuously until it boils

Laban Immo (Arabic Yoghurt and Lamb stew)
Serves 4, serve ladled over rice

500 grams of diced lamb
1 onion, thinly sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely diced
Tin of chickpeas, drained
1 1kg tub of yoghurt
Salt, pepper
Mixed spice
1 teaspoon Curry powder
1 egg

For the yogurt broth. Into a large saucepan, empty the tub of yoghurt, fill the tub with water and add it to the pot. Add egg, salt, pepper, curry powder and then wiz up with a stick blender or whisk until thoroughly combined. Put it on a hot plate and slowly heat up, continuously stirring with a wooden spoon, until it boils. Once it boils (simmers really, we don’t want it to be rapidly boiling), the danger of the broth curdling is past.

Meanwhile, or after, or before (depending on if you have help), cook the lamb. For this, fry the lamb in a pan in oil until browned and then add hot water to cover and bring to a slow boil. Add salt, pepper, mixed spice, cinnamon stick if you like, and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Drain the lamb and add to the yoghurt broth.
Add chickpeas, onion and lamb and let simmer in the yoghurt broth about 10 minutes, or until the onion is soft. Fry the garlic in a good slug of oil until golden but not burnt. Add to the stew, stir and then serve over rice. The garlic really brings the whole thing together.

Bar Lourhina

Bar Lourhina
Little Collins St

A few weeks ago now, we decided to try our luck on a Friday night at Bar Lourhina. Touted as the Movida alternative, I was surprised at how different the two places are. For starters, we could get in last minute (they don’t take bookings anyway)! It has a real tapas bar vibe, with people there just having drinks from the pretty impressive wine list. We were in the front sofa area for about 10 minutes before we were transferred to the bar, so it wasn’t too painful a wait, plus they had taken our drinks order and we had looked over the menu so it didn’t feel like we were waiting too long. There are also tables, but I think the wait for those were much longer. It was quite noisy in the little room, but had a good vibe, a real Friday night after work kind of vibe.

I was hoping they would be actually preparing tapas in the bar area like they do in Barcelona, but they only prepared the drinks there. Still, the waiters were all very friendly and informative. I don’t remember everything we had now, but the special of baby goat stew was pretty impressive, as was the house made chorizo. The menu is short but the ingredients fresh and put to good use. Nathan didn’t like the olives as they were of the ‘fat’ variety, but I loved them.

The waitress did a very good job talking us out of the churros and into having the panacotta type of dish that had a mixture of candied pistachios and pomegranate over the top, that I am still thinking about. She also talked us into sharing a little glass of black sherry which was pretty amazing.

I was a little surprised at the total bill at the end of the night but I guess with some good wine and sherry the bill adds up. I think the reality of the price of food in general, particularly in restaurants, is finally sinking in, which I don’t have a problem with (as the cost of producing and transporting food has risen) but still surprises me every now and then.

A definitely recommended place, especially if you want a nice Friday night venue for drinks and food with friends.

Bamia (lamb and Okra stew)

This was one of my favourite Arabic meals growing up as a kid. My sister hated it (and still does) but I think she has an issue with the texture, which is a little like eggplant (which she also hated – go figure).

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly (as this dish tastes unreal), my very white Australian hubbie loves this meal – we often fight over the leftovers. It is a very simple meal to make – perfect for the mid week winter meal, and very nourishing. All I can say to make this a simple mid week meal is this; put on the rice first, and by the time the rice is done, the stew will be finished. I tend to use brown rice these days but my mum always used white and it tasted great.

I used to buy okra from the markets, but they tend to be the larger sized okra which are not as tender or tasty. So I have started stocking the freezer with frozen okra which you can buy from middle eastern, Greek or Indian food stores. I also tend to have lamb in the freezer too, so this means I can pretty much make this whenever I feel like it which makes it a good stand by meal. And the frozen okra is small and tender and so cooks quicker.

Bamia (serves 3-4 people)

1 pack frozen bamia (400g) defrosted
500 g diced lamb
2 tins tomato
1 Onion
3 cloves Garlic (or more, to taste)
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
Handful coriander leaves, to finish
Salt, pepper, mixed spice

Precook the bamia, either by deep frying it in oil until light gold, or the healthier option I use, which is to put it on an oven tray, spray lightly with olive oil, and grill for 5 minutes each side until golden (but not burnt).

Meanwhile, brown the lamb in a medium saucepan in olive oil. Add enough boiling water to cover, salt, pepper, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and mixed spice and let simmer for 10 minutes or so. Drain the water and reserve the lamb.

In the same pan, heat a little oil and gently fry the onions and garlic till soft. Add the tinned tomatoes, lamb, okra and spices, and let simmer gently for 20 minutes. It should thicken a little and the okra becomes soft. Taste for seasoning, add chopped coriander leaves and serve with rice.

How not to make a Creme Brulee...

With a propane burner. Engineers, should NOT be allowed in the kitchen. Though bless Nath, I wasn't going to attempt this! For the record, this didnt work so well, as the flame was too large and slightly cooked the custard, and as propane is a liquid, when the torch was flipped upside down, the liquid ran to the top of the torch blocking out the gas and hence the flame would go out.

I am still after a good creme catalana recipe as the one I have tried did not result in a thick enough custard for my liking. Any ideas? Apart from using more thickener...

I have since purchase a butane burner so look forward to a more successful attempt to burn the top!

Baba Ghanoush - or how to best use the heat from your oven when you bake something

There are some things that you inherently learn from your mother. In days long past I think this was even more true, where mothers passed on their knowledge to their daughters, in preparation for adulthood, and being a mother themselves. This was the route by which many recipes were handed down from generation to generation.

My mother is a great cook, though now that all her children have left home, I don’t think she goes to much effort anymore. Growing up, she never made an effort to really teach me to cook, she was more concerned with us getting a good education and grounding. And I, a child of a migrant, desperately wished we didn’t eat such strange Arabic food, and could just eat what my friends were eating, things like tuna mornay and lamb chops (I’m serious!). Now that I cook for myself, I cannot believe I didn’t want these food experiences, and wish I had paid more attention when I was still at home. Trying to get recipes out of her is a little like pulling teeth, as she doesn’t HAVE recipes and bases quantities on sight and taste. I have however gotten used to this and have also started to cook this way, in fact, I am not sure I can even follow a recipe the whole way through!

Having said all that though, it is amazing how much I have picked up from my mother, without even really knowing it. Telling my husband to ‘finish his salad’ the other night, I had to stop and groan! And whenever we have guests, I cook enough for an army, in the very Arabic tradition of never ever ever not having enough food, in fact, needing enough food to make everyone feel so full they are sick. Guests at my place rarely need dessert (though they are getting it anyway).

I also have picked up a need to cook many vegetables and to utilise what I have in the fridge to my advantage and preferably never throw food away because I didn’t use it on time.

With this in mind on the weekend, as I put a roast and some potatoes in my oven for a Saturday night winter warmer meal, I glanced an eggplant in the crisper I had forgotten about and didn't have that much life left. Mmmm, eggplant dip (or Baba Ghanoush) it is then. After dinner I also decided to use the heat from the oven to bake some very naughty chocolate brownies but that is another story and not so healthy!

Growing up, we had baba ghanoush with pretty much every barbeque and every lamb roast. Eggplant and lamb are the best of friends and this dip is SO easy to make. I have read in some places that they BBQ the whole eggplant to get that really smoky flavour but I don’t think it needs it, and that the smokiness can sometimes get too intense. The oven is the easiest way to go anyway…

Baba Ghanoush

1 large eggplant (or more, just scale everything accordingly)
1 tablespoon Tahini (sesame paste)
1 Lemon
Handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
Black pepper and salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 clove garlic, mashed or bashed in a mortar and pestle

Pierce eggplant several times with a fork. Stick in a hot oven directly on the racks (with a tray underneath to catch any drips) and leave for 20 minutes before turning and leaving for another 20 minutes. It is ready when you can smell it and it has wrinkled up.

Take out of the oven and let cool for 10 minutes or until you can handle it. cut of the top, and then using a fork, remove all the inside bits, discarding the skin. Put in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mash with a fork (or food processor), until smooth. Plate up and garnish with olive oil and paprika. Easy!

This is great with flat bread, lamb, kebabs, chicken, the list goes on and on…

I miss...

Italian wine bars. Italian wine. Brushcetta with in-season tomatoes.

My perfect Paris night out

L'Os à Moelle

3, Rue Vasco de Gama - 75015

ParisMétro: LourmelTel : 01 45 57 27 27

This was on my list of ‘to go to’ restaurants after reading the lovely Chez Pim’s account of her experiences there. She describes it thus ‘The cooking here is always reliable, with a focus firmly on using pristine ingredients and letting them shine’

Sounds good to me. I was also sold on it being described as friendly and not too pretentious, very important to us.

I had been to Paris once before, many years ago, and had, as many Australians, Americans and Brits have found, some rather poor experiences with the locals, particularly in restaurants and cafes. This time, we were determined to try to get as much out of the experience as we could and so purchased some language cds which we played in the car to try to learn at the very least, the basics.

What a difference this made!

We were able to introduce ourselves and ask for what we wanted in French. Usually our pronunciation was so bad that they replied to us in English (or Spanish a few times, I guess I look Spanish?), but I found them to be MUCH more friendly and helpful. The exception is possibly just a couple of bistros were the invariably male waiters seemed to think we were lesser people as tourists. This was definitely in the minority though and waiters of this sort were usually found in less impressive eateries.

L’Os á Moulle was possibly one of the friendliest places in France we dined at. When I called up to make a reservation, I had consulted my language book and hesitantly said

‘Je voudrais réserver une table pour 2 pour ce soir s'il vous plaît’

The lovely lady on the other side said something in French, which I hesitated at for a while, trying to quickly translate, and she then replied in English! Oh well, at least I tried.

On arriving at the restaurant that night I tried to continue this pretence of knowing French, by replying to our dining neighbour’s ‘bonsoir’ and trying to speak as much French as we could to the waiter. We didn’t fool anyone though. And though they offered us an English menu, we just tried to work it out ourselves. Stubborn? Or just going with it, as I like to think. Plus, we ended up with some interesting things using this technique all through Europe, things we wouldn’t necessarily have ordered…

The menu is a 5 course menu including dessert and a cheese course, for 38 Euros. Each course has a choice of at least 2 or 3 dishes. This was the menu. If anyone can translate it for me and tell me what we ate, I would appreciate it ;) I guess it is a bit small though…

We started with what was described as mussel broth and foam, served in a little shot glass. It had few peas in it and was warm, salty, fishy without being overpowering, and a great way to whet the appetite…


Nathan came up with a theory that you can tell how good a place is to eat by their bread…

They had two different types of bread and both were textured and chewy and crusty. All things the French know how to do to bread. mmmm

The next course was the soup course. The bowls were brought to the table with croutons and herbs, and the waiter poured in as much soup as we wanted. A nice touch.

Cream of asparagus soup



Entrées – oyster with basil dressing

Quail with a cabbage salad that was really good

For mains we had a lovely prime cut of beef, served with mashed Jerusalem artichoke and beetroot ‘chips’.

Unfortunately I was not taking notes and now forget what this cheese was, but it was lovely.

And desserts. The first was a chocolate mouse which was so rich I only needed a few bites. But then again, I finished it so maybe I didn’t.


And poached rhubarb with a fresh raspberry sorbet. Nathan is the rhubarb king and couldn’t stop eating this.

We had a reasonably priced bottle of red from Bordeaux (I cannot remember the details) which went perfectly with the meal.

The service was friendly and there were a lot of locals and cute old couples having their special meal out. It felt a lot less touristy than many of the places in the Latin Quarter were we were staying, and we left full, tipsy and happy. Happy enough to brave going to the Eiffel tower at night to try our chances. It was still busy and so we didn’t go up it (and never got the chance but after the rest of europe, climbing up another tower was not that exciting), but it was beautiful all the same. This was followed by a walk along the Seine and a metro ride home. You cannot really ask for more than that from a night out in Paris…