Lazy Lasagne

 I don't blog all that much any more. You know, in case you hadn't noticed. Life is moving along, as it does, and frankly most of my energy for the past 2 years has been spent just trying to get by. But enough about me. I actually cooked this evening. Yep, that's right. Despite my entirely uninspiring kitchen, and my woefully crappy stove and oven, I cooked. Amazing.

It may not be an authentic Italian lasagne (actually, there's no doubt, it's definitely not), but it's tasty and filling, has ingredients you can usually keep in the cupboard for ages, and relatively quick. Remind me to share my "proper" lasagne with you one day.

Take:
A slug of olive oil
1 leek, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed (or 3, or 4...)

Cook these up in a pan over high heat

Add:
100g diced bacon (or in this case, some triple-smoked ham I had in the freezer)
250g veal mince
250g pork mince

Cook until mince is completely browned. Switch on the oven to 200C or 180C fan-forced

Add:
2tbl tomato past
1 x 400g can diced tomatoes
1/2 can water
a decent shake of dried oregano

Stir it around, then let it simmer while you turn your attention to the sauce. If you're too lazy to make proper bechemel, give this ago. Combine:

500ml (2 cups) milk
1 packet white sauce mix
1 packet cheese sauce mix

Whisk over heat until the sauce thickens.

Place a sheet of lasagne on the bottom of a half-size (ie. rectangular) casserole dish. Spoon in a layer of meat, then top with another lasagne sheet and repeat until either you run out of meat, or your dish is 3/4 full. Place one more lasagne sheet on top of the last layer of meat, then spoon or pour in the white sauce mix. Top with grated tasty cheese, maybe a little reggiano, maybe some mozarella. Place in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until the pasta is cooked and cheese nicely browned.

Once it comes out, leave it sit for a few minutes.

And there you have it. As I said, certainly not authentic, but it's tasty. I think even better the next day.

Even so, it's not particularly pretty, is it?

Un-boring Bangers & Mash

It's certainly been a long time between posts. What can I say, my energy and attention has been diverted elsewhere.

But anyway, I wanted to share last night's dinner with you. Not in a "come on over and chow down on the leftovers" kind of way, just to tell you about it.

To me, there's just something about having sausages and mashed potato for dinner sometimes that really appeals, particularly when the weather is a bit colder. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell you, step by step, how to cook sausages and mashed potato. But I am gonna suggest a few things.

1) Use really good sausages. Not cheap yucky stuff.

2) Don't just make boring old regular gravy: try this, to feed 2 hungry people. Dice a tomato and an onion. After you've mostly-cooked the sausages move them to a plate and keep them warm. Put the tomato and onion into the pan with a clove of crushed garlic and saute until the onion softens. Then add a splash of dark mushroom soy, a splash-and-a-bit of Worcestershire sauce, and a tablespoon of brown sugar. Stir it all around a bit. Mix two tablespoons-full of gravy powder with a cup or two of boiling water and whisk to get rid of most of the lumps, then add that to the pan too. Stir it all around. Cut the sausages into big chunks and add them to the gravy, then let it all simmer till the gravy thickens.

This picture REALLY doesn't look appetising. What you're not seeing is how thick, dark, and yummmmmmmmmmm that gravy is.

3) Don't just boil then mash/puree the potatoes. I steam mine with a sprinkle of Vegeta on them, then mash them chunkily with a fork and a slug of warm milk, butter melted into the milk, a little more Vegeta, and whatever else I think will make a tasty addition. Even a little grated cheese. Mmmm, cheeeeeeese.......


4) Don't forget to have a thick slice (or two) of soft, fresh bread on hand to sop up leftover gravy.

Linguini, Gamboretti, e pomodoro

Did I say that right? Probably not. I'm sorry. But this is what I cooked for mum and her friends for lunch.

It's always difficult to cook something that you don't actually eat yourself. Or at least, I find it difficult. Or perhaps that's not quite the right word. I mean, I've never cooked prawns before, and don't eat them either, so I have no idea of the correct way to prepare them so that they are edible. I'm happy to report that this meal was unanimously voted as "great" by all that partook.

First we picked up some prawns from Queen Vic market, with no set idea of what to do with them. I suggested I cook up some pasta and make a tomato sauce and simmer them in that. Mum gave that the nod, so I did.

A diced onion and a heaped teaspoon of crushed garlic sauteed in some oil. A tin of tomatoes and a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste, plus another half-tin of water added and set to simmer. A squirt of this, a shake of that, and it simmered for about 15 minutes. I threw the prawns in for the last 5 minutes or so. As always, I am no good at putting stuff on a plate and making it look good:


But I hear you asking, if I cooked this for them, what did I eat. I reserved a little sauce before throwing in the prawns and had this with some pasta and a spare arancini we had leftover in the freezer. It might not be as special as prawns, but it was bloody tasty too.

Grandma-style Cookin'

Sometimes you just crave a meal kinda like what Grandma might've used to make. Or just something kinda simple, homey, old style.

For those who don't know, my mum's been staying with me since the end of September. It's been great having her here, what with an operation, last-minute wedding hassles, the non-wedding, and a bunch of other things rearing their ugly heads. Today we decided to have corned beef for dinner (and lunch tomorrow, and probably as part of dinner tomorrow night... it was only a small piece of beef, but there's only two of us!).

If we imagine the plate is a clock, then clockwise from where 11 would be is:

- slices of corned beef that'd been in the slow-cooker with a bay leaf, worcestershire sauce, vinegar and water on high for 2.5 hours, then low for another 4.5 hours so that it was fall-apart tender, with chive white sauce on top.

- potato, sweet potato, carrot and pumpkin, tossed with oil and Vegeta then roasted.

- steamed broccoli.

- cauliflower that had been roasted with a little of the oil the other vegies had been tossed in drizzled over the top (BTW this is a fricken AWESOME way to eat cauliflower).

- corn cut from the cob, then seasoned with a little butter, sugar, salt, and thinly sliced... stuff from my window sill... is it sage or basil? I'm a bad person, I don't know!

- tomato and onion pudding, made by layering slices of tomato and onion with crushed Vita Brits in a casserole dish, then topped with more crushed Vita Brits and dotted with butter, and baked at about 180C for an hour. Delish. Try it.

- finally, in the middle, some steamed green beans.

Y'know, we only had a little of each thing, but it ended up being a HUGE meal. But so tasty. Needless to say, we didn't have any dessert. But hey, how good are we, folks: count the number of vegies in that meal... EIGHT vegies, plus the tomato and onion. Surely that means we can be a little bit bad for a few days? Cos, you know, we're, like, in credit, right?

French Toast (again), Sweet-style

You might remember my last post on french toast (holy skulking bad guys, Batman, that was a long time ago!). This is my latest. I hadn't ever had this before, but thinking about the flavours, I really hoped it'd work.

Again, I didn't really plan this well, so instead of extra-thick-cut slutty-white-bread I had to use my usual sandwich-cut multigrain. But hey, that means it's healthy, right? Right?!

So, for just li'l old me, I lightly beat 2 eggs (for me, at least free range, if not organic) with a splosh of milk and dunked a slice of bread in until it was well and truly soaked. While it was cooking in the pan I grabbed some vanilla yoghurt (I prefer Jalna) from the fridge and mixed a generous swirl of maple syrup through it. I took the first piece of bread out of the pan and put in on a plate, then dunked another piece of bread in the egg mix and got that cooking.

While THAT one was cooking I added another squeeze of maple syrup to the leftover egg mix, sliced up half a banana, and tossed the pieces through the egg mix. Once the second piece of bread was done I put it on top of the first piece of bread. Then I threw the banana slices into the pan and dribbled some of the egg over the top. After half a minute I flipped the banana slices over. Another half minute and off went the heat.

Now to assemble. I dribbled the yoghurt over the top of the french toast. I dumped the banana slices on top (mmm semi-firm on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside). Hm, it was missing something... I know, another dollop of maple syrup over the top!


Almost gives ya a toothache just lookin' at it, don't it? Actually, while the was ample sweetness, the tang of the yoghurt cut through it nicely and saved it from being sickly.

So after all that, did the flavours mix as well as I'd hoped they would?


What do you think?

Pumpkin (and other stuff) Soup

What is it about soup that can be so warming and comforting? On a rainy day, or when I'm feeling sick, I seem to crave the stuff. I'm not a big fan of the canned stuff, though, no matter how home-style the ads say some are. That being said, I do keep a can or two in the drawer at work for lunch emergencies. In any case, soup can be SO easy to make, it kinda makes me wonder why some people have never attempted it.

I started out with a butternut pumpkin, a decent-sized orange sweet potato, and a knob of ginger. I prefer to roast the vegies, I think it adds to the flavour. I also add a sprinkling of Vegeta (damn I like that stuff). I also roasted a knob of ginger, although I think, in future, I won't. And I'll also use a LOT less of it (as in, not even slim a cm-worth as the ginger came through quite strongly).


After that, into the pot with them, and a date with the masher.


I like to use evaporated milk. I think it gives, aside from the obvious creamy flavour, a silkier texture. For this amount of vegies I usually add at least one can of evaporated milk, a little at a time, and pureeing it with a stick blender to keep it smooth.


And I keep adding and pureeing until it's the consistency I like. I just adore how easy this stuff is to make.


I ended up not getting to actually eat any of this... I taste-tested it throughout the preparation, but gave it all away to friends! Oh dear, I'll just have to go make some more. Hm, maybe split pea, lentil and ham. Yum.

Double-crumbed veal with steamed veg

I tend to shy away from cooking pieces of red meat - sometimes I get it right, but sometimes it ends up so tough that it does a good impression of a all-day doggy chew-toy. Thankfully, I think through sheer stubbornness/perseverance, it appears I'm slowly starting to get it right more often than not.

So, what do you do when you buy a bunch of groceries to make a stir-fry, but then it doesn't happen? You double-crumb the steak, steam the vegies, and make up a gravy with the pan juices.

Then you eat it and exclaim how [insert expletive] good it is, and how happy you are with yourself! :-) Sadly I was far too hungry to even attempt to make it look more appetising, but hey, when it's just me here it's more about taste than looks, right?

T'ain't Purty, But's Danged Tasty

Tonight's dinner was truly a new level of half-assery. A kiev from Wishbone, cous cous from the cupboard, a few "red back" potatoes, an orange sweet potato, garlic, salt, oil, and some Vegeta.

Wash potatoes, toss with peeled chopped sweet potatoes in some olive oil, Vegeta, garlic and salt. Throw 'em on an oven tray and start baking 'em at 180C.

15 minutes later put the kiev in on a different tray. 15 minutes after that turn the kiev over. 15 minutes after THAT boil the kettle. Put half a cup of boiling water in a bowl with a slick of olive oil and a shake of Vegeta. Measure out half a cup of cous cous and put that into the water. Stir it all around, whack a plate on top to cover the bowl and leave it for a few minutes. Fluff it up with a fork, add a little butter, then back on with the plate for another few minutes. Fluff it again, then dump it on the plate.

Take the kiev and veg out of the oven. Serve 'em up on top. To be extra bad pour any garlicy buttery liquids from the kiev over the top. Eat. Mmmmm.


Keeping in mind the picture really doesn't do the meal credit, and I actually split what's in the plate in half, eating one half and putting the other in a container for lunch tomorrow, I don't think it was such a bad effort for a Sunday night, after a VERY sleepless Saturday night. Meh, if I'm the only one that's gotta eat it, and I enjoy it, it's good enough. Right?

Salmon with Bean Puree and Greens

This is supposedly a very healthy meal. Hmph. Far too tasty to be good for you.

I got this recipe in an email a bit over a year ago and flagged it as something I wouldn't mind trying. So, 13 months later, I have. You can't hurry these things.

I've made a few modifications to the recipe and method.

Bean puree:
400g can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup low-salt chicken stock
1-2 bay leaves

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over a medium heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, take out the bay leaf/ves and puree the beans (btw, I love my stick blender). Leave covered on the stove until you're ready to serve up.

Salmon & marinade:
4 tsp good olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2-3 tbl white wine vinegar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbl chopped dill
2 x salmon fillets

Combine all the ingredients except the salmon in a glass or pyrex bowl. Mix well. Add salmon fillets and turn to coat, then leave to marinate for 10 minutes. Heat a non-stick frypan to medium-high. Remove fillets from marinade and place, skin-side down, in the hot pan 3-4 minutes, with the lid on. Turn the fillets and cook a further 3-4 minutes, covered. Lower the heat to low while you take care of the greens.

Greens:
big handful or so of spinach leaves
100g beans, topped, tailed, and cut into 3cm lengths

Steam the beans in the microwave 2 minutes. Add the spinach and microwave for a further 1-2 minutes. While this is happening remove the salmon fillets from the frypan, pour the remaining marinade into the pan and heat on high until dried out fairly well (this won't take long - a matter of a minute or two).

Sling some pureed beans into a bowl. Throw a salmon fillet in the middle. Heap some greens on top of that, and finish off with a dollop of cooked-out marinade.

End-of-pay-period Emergency Rations

You know what I've realised? It's nigh-on impossible to take a good picture of something with vegetable chunks in it. It so often turns out looking, well, less than wonderful.


As per usual, towards pay day meals start getting less impressive in my house. This offering last night might not be all that picturesque, but it was pretty tasty, and the leftovers are working out REALLY well.

Take:

olive oil
1 red onion still fairly usable, diced
the 3 last cloves of garlic in the bunch, finely chopped
3 nearly-past-it tomatoes, chopped chunkily (icky bits removed)
1 x 350g jar of arrabbiata sauce, only slightly past its best-before date
1 x 300g can of four-bean mix, salvaged from the back of the pantry, purchase date unknown
1 x sachet of tomato paste (or 2 tablespoons-worth)
a smattering of frozen peas and corn
the leftover half of a capsicum (which, unfortunately, I forgot to add), chopped

Saute the garlic and onion in the oil until nice and soft. Add everything else. Start cooking some pasta. Simmer the heck out of it all until your pasta is done. Dish it all up with some type of grated cheese. It'll be fine, just don't look at it!

Bacon and Leek Quiche

My mum and I LOVE this quiche. It may not look like much, but any time we make it we end up making pigs of ourselves and finishing the whole thing. I can't for the life of me remember where we first got the recipe from, but we haven't referred to it in years - partly because it's such a simple recipe, and partly because we've made it so many times. I made it for J last weekend and yep, none was left over.


Bacon and Leek Quiche

1 sheet of puff or shortcrust pastry
1 leek, finely sliced
150-200g bacon, finely diced
2 eggs
1 cup cream
grated cheddar cheese
any herbs you like, or maybe a little sweet chilli sauce

Grease a pie pan, press the pastry into it firmly and trim the excess. If you're using puff pastry I find it's better to blind-bake it for 10-15 minutes first. Fry the leek and bacon until leek is soft and bacon is just turning crispy. Mix the eggs with the cream in a jug along with any chopped herbs or sauce you like. Scatter the bacon mixture over the base of the pastry, then gently pour over the cream mixture. Spread a little grated cheese over the top, and bake at 180C for 20-30 minutes (depending on the depth of your quiche) until cooked.

Serve it up with some salad. I was lazy and went with a fairly pedestrian salad this night, with just lettuce, tomato, cucumber, capsicum and cheese, with a basic balsamic and olive oil dressing. But meh, it was only there to try and kid myself that it was a healthy meal. You know, what with all that bacon and cream and cheese.

CBF and Feeling Vego

Spinach, feta, capsicum, cheddar, sweet chilli sauce... I can't remember why I had all these things laying around, but they did come in handy.


I bought one of those nasty par-baked turkish bread rolls from my local Coles, then piled this stuff on top and baked it at 180C for about 20 minutes. Soooooo yummy. I could go another right now, actually.

Goat Curry and Apple, Pear and Blueberry Crumble

A few weeks ago Mel told me about a curry she'd made on the weekend that was a HUGE hit. I was curious to try it. I finally made my way to the Vic Market yesterday and bought a few choice ingredients. Namely, goat. That place is brilliant.

I'm sure that, for many people, eating goat is not a big deal. Me, I've never had it, so I had NO idea what to expect. Mum told me to think of lamb, and J said imagine a game-y type of lamb. I was more confused than ever!! However, having now made the curry and enjoyed it IMMENSELY, I'm a convert. I'll now happily try goat in almost anything. I was surprised at how lean it was, and how well it worked with long, slow cooking.

This was a deliciously rich, incredibly more-ish dinner that sure as hell had us licking our lips. J went back for seconds... and then finished off the rest a couple of hours later. Sadly, the picture I have here really doesn't do it justice, which of course means that you're going to have to go and make it for yourself. I think this would work well with any red meat.

I could link you to the recipe, but websites have a habit of disappearing, so here it is, with the variations I made due to either lack of ingredients or lack of equipment. What I can tell you, though, is that I can't imagine the flavour lacked anything for my changes.


Goat Curry (adapted from Steve Manfredi's recipe that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, 10/10/08)

Cube 500g of goat. I used top-side. Heat some oil in a large heavy-based saucepan, then add 1 diced brown onion, a cinnamon quill, and 5g of curry leaves (or a couple of stalks-worth) and a table spoon or so of chilli powder. Then add a tablespoon of fennel seeds, 5 crushed cloves of garlic and a few vigorous shakes of ground ginger (the original recipe called for the fennel seeds, garlic and fresh ginger to be pounded together in a mortar and pestle till they became a paste, but I don't have one of those. This still worked out well) and stir fry gently for a few minutes.

Add the goat and fry over a high heat for a few minutes till the meat is browned. Add a cup of water and simmer that over a low heat for 30-40 minutes. Cue good smells.

Add 125ml of coconut cream (or more if you like), a pinch of salt, a pinch of sugar, and the juice of 1 small lemon. Cook this over a low heat until the liquid reduces to be fairly dry and any sauce coats the meat (this can take a while... I think it took a couple of hours for me). Stir it occasionally. And if little bits "caramelise" (ahem) on the bottom of the pan, scrape them up and keep on going. It all adds to the flavour! I had hoped this would serve the two of us and leave me some for lunch today, but I have to admit that, even though I was a tad heavy with the chilli, it was pretty fu... um... it was pretty damn good. And there were no leftovers. At least I know hubby-to-be likes my cooking!

After a meal like that I couldn't think what to serve up for dessert. After such a rich meal I wanted something relatively simple. Cue a treat that I don't think I've made since grade 10 Home Ec: crumble.

Oh yum. Sadly, as I made this up as I went along, I don't have exact measurements. I only made about 2.5 people's worth of it (lucky I did that extra .5.... J cleaned it all up again!).


Apple, Pear and Blueberry Crumble

Melt some butter and grease a small ovenproof dish. Core and peel 2 medium Granny Smith Apples and 1 large pear, then cut into thin slices. Line the base of the dish evenly with half the apple slices. Layer the pear slices. Throw in a handful of frozen blueberries. Sprinkle a little brown sugar or honey around, then layer with the remaining apple slices. Preheat the oven to 180C.

How much crumble to make depends on a couple of things, like how big your dish is, and how much you like crumble. I ended up with some left over, even though I made what I thought was a tiny amount. Put 1/4 cup plain flour, 1/8 cup brown sugar and 1/8 cup of oats into a bowl. Add 25g of cold, cubed butter and rub it all together until it looks like fine breadcrumbs (alternatively, you can use a food processor). Naturally, if you need more, increase the amounts. Sprinkle this over the top of the fruit to the depth you like, pressing it down lightly. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

I had planned to make custard to have with this, but then realised that I had no custard powder left, so ended up using store-bought instead. So it wasn't quite all home-made, but it was still good.

I have to admit, if I may without sounding completely up myself, that that was a damned good meal. I done good :-)

"I-Love-Weekends" French Toast

I luuuurrrrv weekends. Not sure if you know, but for a while there I was working 2 jobs, which meant 7 days a week I had to get up and get moving (and let's not dwell on the time, in my late-teens and early 20s, when I was holding down 3-4). When I quit about a year ago I found that I'd completely forgotten what I used to do on the weekends.

Didn't take me long to remember, though.

There's one thing in particular that I love about weekends, and that's the fact that I don't have to drag my ass out of bed when some alarm goes off, before the sun is even up, and race off to work. Yep, I wake up whenever the hell I want (well, some weekends), and I have time for a proper breakfast. Like today.


It might not look like much but this was fabulous, if I say so myself. And I do. It was SO worth the effort. And yet so simple.

6 strawberries, hulled, sliced in half, and thrown into a small bowl with a slick of good balsamic and a bit of icing sugar, then mixed all around to coat the strawberries (with an occasional stir while the rest is being prepared). An egg, a splodge of milk and a little vanilla in another bowl and beaten. Bread (in my case, wholemeal, which ain't the most picturesque of breads) thoroughly soaked in the egg mix, then thrown into a hot pan to cook and get yummified. Repeat with a second piece of bread (note to self - use smaller bread next time, or make extra egg mixture). Throw on a plate, top with strawberries, some of the sweetened balsamic, and a twirl of golden syrup. Dish it up with a lovely cup of coffee.

Welcome to Saturday morning.

Delicious.

Mmmm Fresh Pasta

I've wanted one for years. And this christmas, my mum got me one.

Oh yeah. A pasta machine. Mega-happiness.

So, mum and I got together and decided to make us some fresh pasta! It was a great experience, but I'm still not sure how on earth I'll operate this thing with only two hands... but I'll figure it out :)

I'm a bit late with this post, we did it some time either between Christmas and New Year, or very soon thereafter... I'm so slack.


We went with a 100:10:1 ratio of dough, if that makes sense (or if it's even how it's described): for every 100g of flour, we added 10g of oil and 1 egg. Or, in this case, 300g flour, 30g oil, and 3 eggs. Then the hard yakka started - kneading the damn dough. I had to pass this on to mum as I still had no strength in my right wrist, and I think she did a damn fine job of it.

After allowing the dough to rest for half an hour, we quartered it and started the fun.


We had no idea how thin we were meant to roll the stuff, and I've learned now that it does need to be a mite thinner. Either way, we soon worked out a system for rolling: one person turn the handle and thread the dough through, the other support it and hold it coming out. Then came time to send it through to make fettuccine.


We were quite proud of ourselves by this time. We'd not only worked out how to make the dough, but also how to roll it and cut it, and we had a pretty impressive production line going.


And this was the finished product. We cooked it up and served it with a tomato sauce of tinned tomatoes, passata, onion, and leftover christmas ham.

As I said, next time I'll roll the pasta thinner. But hey, for a first attempt, we did pretty good!!

Leftover Pizza... but not as you know it

This Christmas was unlike any other in my life. There is, however, always one constant: lots and LOTS of leftover roast meat. We're always trying to come up with ways of using it up. Mum and I weren't sure about this one, but it ended up working a treat.

You usually talk about leftover pizza being the pizza you didn't finish last night. This pizza wasn't pizza to begin with.

This morning I made corn fritters for breakfast and, with the batter I had left after making plenty of little ones, I made one big fritter, the size of the pan. Mum asked me what I was doing. I said we'd work out something. We did.

On Christmas Day we started lunch with some biscuits and dips. There was still some left.

Also on Christmas Day we had roasted turkey and ham. There was a LOT.

And it all had to be eaten, because we don't like waste.

So we took the big fritter, smeared some roasted capsicum dip on top, diced up some turkey and ham and threw that on with a smattering of grated cheese.

Surprisingly, it was quite tasty!

A Guilty Little Secret

I'm going to share a secret with you.

I know it's not right. I know it's even maybe a little bit disgusting. I hope you won't think too badly of me once you know what it is.

It's...


... Easy Mac.

This stuff might tout that it has no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. It might say that it's a source of calcium. It might claim that you can have it ready in 3-4 minutes. It might even be right about these things. But I just can't believe this stuff has anything good for you about it. I mean, it's powdered cheesy flavour that keeps forever in the cupboard, and that you mix with hot water and pasta and eat. Reading the ingredients list, frankly, scares me.

But yes, despite the voice of reason in my head telling me "DON'T EAT THAT!!! GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT IT'LL DO TO YOU!!", I just can't help myself when I get a hankering for a little mac-snack.

Soupy Goodness

For the last week and a half I've not been well. I don't know about you, but when I'm sick I crave soup.

The hard thing about blogging soup, though, is that it's hard to get a picture of it that DOESN'T look kinda yuck. I made a really great lentil, split pea, barley and ham soup the other week, but I won't disgust you with the pictures I took.

These are the pics I WILL inflict on you.


This is a sweet potato and ginger soup. I also added just a little bit of turnip and parsnip. And a fair shake of Vegeta while it all cooked. I thinned this out by adding water, but if I hadn't used the Vegeta I'd have used vegie stock. I've almost finished my stock of this, I think I'll have to make some more.


And here we have a plain old pumpkin soup. Again, a fair shake of Vegeta in with a cubed butternut pumpkin while it cooks in a little water, then I blended through nearly a full can of light evaporated milk till it was the consistency of, well, soup.

If I do say so myself, I brewed up a couple of yummy soups. And they were perfect for warming up a sick body and soothing a sore throat.

Gotta Love A Stir-Fry

Many thanks to SOME PEOPLE (not mentioning any names, Mr M) for telling me I hadn't blogged anything in a while. Cheers. Much appreciated. I hereby dedicate this post, in all its crumminess, to you :-)

For one reason or another, I haven't gotten around to doing anything all that blog-worthy lately. OK, I've been on a few dates with someone, and there's been sad things happen as well, but nothing I want to share with you all.

Today I'm sick, and taking a few days off work. And, as always happens when I'm sick, I've been craving vegies and fresh fruit like you wouldn't believe. Enter one of my favourite CBF meals: the stir-fry.

The one above is a simple little number: some garlic sauted in a little oil with carrot, fish sauce, soy sauce, sweet chilli and ginger sauce, cauliflower, broccoli, baby corn and sliced sweet peas, with some egg noodles tossed through, and sesame seeds added at the end. The only problem for me when it comes to stir-fry is that I tend to eat a fair amount of the ingredients before they even make it to the wok. I usually plan ahead for that by chopping up extra.

I really love the texture of these stir-fries - the vegies are still crispy, the noodles are al dente (question: can noodles be al dente, or only pasta?), the smell is divine, and the flavour explodes around my mouth. Does it make me up-myself that I really do love my own cooking when I get it this right? I guess it makes up for the times when it all goes terribly wrong!!

Cheese-Stuffed Meatballs on Rice

This was inspired by something I remember Rosemary telling me about (I'm sure it was Rosemary...). I tried finding the recipe but with no luck, so had to make it up as I went along.

I found half a kilo of mince in the freezer so thought I'd make a bolognese and cook some pasta. Then I realised I really, really didn't want that again. I haven't had it in ages, but the mood just wasn't on me. Cue the memory of Rosemary's meatballs. I'm fairly sure she used pork and feta, but I didn't have any of those. So here's what I did. I'm sure fresh herbs would have been much tastier, but I had to work with what was in the pantry.

a little oil
1 clove of crushed garlic
1 tin diced tomatoes
a smattering of mixed dried herbs
an extra smattering of dried basil
1-2 tbl tomato paste
a shake of chilli powder
500g mince
2 slices multi-grain bread, reduced to crumbs
1 egg
8 small cubes of vintage cheddar cheese (the bitier the better)
extra grated cheddar

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Lightly cook the garlic for a minute then add the tomatoes. Stir over a medium heat until hot, then add the herbs, tomato paste and chilli. Stir for another minute then switch off the heat.

Mix the mince together with the breadcrumbs and egg. Take a knob of mixture and lay it out on your palm. Place a cube of cheese in the middle then fold the meat around to make a ball. Place this in a greased casserole dish. Repeat with the remaining mince and cheese (I got 8 medium-sized balls).

Once the meatballs are in the dish pour over the sauce. Top with a generous smattering of grated cheese, then throw it in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Just before the meatballs are done, cook up some rice. Throw a bed of rice on the plate, top with a couple of meatballs and some of the sauce.

I also did a few veg to round out the meal a bit, but they wouldn't have looked all that photogenic :-) This tasted so incredibly nice. A shame the pic is a little blurry.... but you get the idea. After I took it I tried to slice open one of the balls to show you the melted cheese centre, but it didn't work all that well.

Yum