Moussaka (Greek Lamb and Eggplant Lasagna)

Moussaka is serious Greek comfort food, but with less calories than lasagna. The Italian families all have their own version of Bolognese sauce when making a lasagna, and the Greek families often have their own recipe for Moussaka. I've never been to Greece unfortunately, but I felt a connection when I ate this dish.

Shawarma Meatloaf with Caramelised Onions

This Shawarma meatloaf from Yotem Ottolenghi's "COMFORT" is a departure from the Aussie style meatloaf I was used to when I was growing up.  A whole suite of  aromatic Shawarma spices and herbs such as cumin, allspice, cinnamon, mint and turmeric are used along with bulgur wheat instead of breadcrumbs. The texture is moist and fluffy thanks to the zucchini, and the burghul and eggs binding it altogether. 

Budget Friendly and Loaded Sweet Potato Wedges

 

This nourishing dish is a simple, inexpensive mid-week meal with Middle Eastern flavours, or it can have more of a Mexican influence depending on what you substitute or add. It's a recipe that is extremely versatile and only limited by your imagination. I placed the mince filling on a bed of lettuce both for extra nutrition and appearance, however corn chips as a base, yes, I am thinking Mexican nachos now, would really bring this dish to another level if you are cooking for children or extra adults. Who doesn't love  a corn chip? If you are adding corn chips, add some drained sweet corn to the mince or add it separately, and layer it up. Hidden vegetables are very achievable here and always important for our health, I love them. Please see my notes below.

In My Kitchen - September, 2023

 Last month, much of the activity In My Kitchen was a celebration of the fresh and plentiful bounty of fruits and vegetables available at the markets and in the supermarkets, and at quite reasonable prices. This will change as the weather warms up, as Summer sets in with a vengeance on our beautiful sunburnt country, and the inevitability of the dreaded bushfires of the season have an impact on certain parts of the country. Let's hope the bushfires are averted by careful management practices. The following is in a nutshell what I created in my kitchen. This post is part of the In My Kitchen Link Party series hosted by Sherry at Sherry's Pickings. 

Beef and Red Wine Stew, in the slow cooker - oh my!

Today I present to you one of the most delicious Beef Stews I've ever made, and I've made a lot of them. I've been working on a stew that has all the essential elements of the beef falling off the fork, perfectly balanced flavours, and with a rich, red wine and mushroom gravy. However, I wanted a stew that would also be perfect as a filling for Beef Pies, which we love.  The meat filling in a Beef Pie needs to have a tanginess to its flavour, and this is where the Worcestershire Sauce's umami properties make a big difference to this beef dish.

Individual and Budget Friendly Cottage Pies with Cheesy Parmesan Mash

 Economical beef mince, vegetables and Worcestershire Sauce are the basis of these Cottage Pies. This is also the perfect recipe for Batch Cooking aimed to stretch a budget and make life easier for us all during the week. By that I mean, doubling the recipe, and cooking up a whole batch of mince on the weekend, and just eating what you need for that night, or serving half to dinner guests as cottage pies, and freezing the rest for later. It's very flexible. Dinner size portions of cooked beef can be frozen in small freezer bags and thawed out quickly. Cooked savoury mince can be used later in a pie maker if you have one to make individual pies, so quick, easy and delicious. A can of tomatoes, and some fresh or dried Italian herbs such as basil and oregano, and a splash of red wine can transform the mince into a delicious Pasta sauce, or you might just like to have it heated up on toast for an easy Sunday night's dinner. The possibilities are endless, and with a little imagination, nobody in your family need realise that they have eaten the same batch of mince a few times over but with a different name. 

I heard an ABC morning breakfast presenter say the other day during their program that preparing the evening meal is the most stressful time of the day for her, and I thought what a shame that was, given what fronting the cameras in the morning in front of Australia must be like. That's what I would call stressful. Batch cooking and a little organisation can help to take the stress out of the daily evening meal preparation. It's also a much more economical way to purchase and cook up ingredients. Your freezer can be your best friend.

A Note about the Ingredients:

Halve the list of ingredients I have given, for 6 servings. The mixture made 13 serves for me. I cooked these Cottage pies in 13 dishes with a 1 1/2 cups capacity to test out the quantities even though I only needed 8 of them. The original recipe said to use six 1 3/4 cup (430 ml) ovenproof dishes. There's not a lot of difference and even a slightly larger ramekin than 1/3/4 cups would be ok, but we find that the 1 1/2 cup capacity is perfect, when the pies are served with additional vegetables such as fresh asparagus and broccoli. I love serving meals in individual serving dishes or ramekins, and it seems to make the meal that bit more special for everyone at the table. However, this cottage pie is also perfect cooked in 1 large ovenproof dish. They make great leftovers the next day.

Ingredients: Minced beef, carrot, celery, onion, sauces to be added

Ingredients:

Makes 13 individual serves

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 large onions (600 g), chopped finely

4 cloves garlic, crushed

4 stalks (600 g) celery trimmed, chopped finely

2 medium sized carrots, very finely chopped

1.5 kilos minced beef (2 x 750 g)

1/2 cup plain flour

2 cups beef stock, or 2 beef stock cubes and 2 cups hot water

5 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

2 tablespoons tomato sauce

3 cups frozen peas

8 large potatoes, boiled and mashed

2 cups finely grated parmesan or cheddar cheese (this can be optional)

Fresh thyme leaves for garnishing the potato mash (optional)

Homemade spicy tomato relish to serve (find my recipe at this link)

Dinner plates with my homemade Spicy Tomato Relish in small dishes ready for the Cottage pies from the oven

Method:

In a large pot, heat up the oil over a high heat, and fry the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and beef altogether. Stir to break up the mince and mix the ingredients together, which will take about 10 minutes. Make sure all the clumps are removed and the mince is nicely browned.

Stir the flour through the mince mixture, and gradually add the stock, the Worcestershire Sauce, and the tomato sauce. Keep stirring until the mixture starts to boil and thicken. This happens quickly.

Remove from the heat, stir in the frozen peas. Season well with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

I cooked my mince in the morning so that it would be cold by the time I needed to add the potato to the dishes, and then I knew it was ready to go. However, it can be prepared before assembly.

Preheat your oven to 220 deg. C (200 deg. C fan forced.) Spoon the beef mixture into 12-13 x 1 1/2  cup ovenproof dishes, or just 6-8 dishes and freeze the rest.

Ready for the oven

Spread the mash onto the pies. The potato needs to be hot so that it spreads well onto the cold mince. I use a fork to draw squiggles onto the surface of the potato, which ensures all of those little peaks will crisp up and brown up. My friends, this is an essential step, and is a tradition going right back with Cottage Pies that I remember as a child. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and some fresh thyme leaves. This is optional but I love how it looks and it gives the potato a beautiful flavour.

 Place the dishes onto an oven tray to catch any overflow. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the potato is golden brown and the pies are heated through. As the ingredients are precooked this only takes half an hour at the most.

Ready to serve

Cook's Notes:

• Mashed potato doesn't freeze well. I wouldn't freeze whole cottage pies with the cooked mashed potato. It doesn't take long to boil some potatoes, and the potato can be added to the cooked mince and browned off in the oven quite quickly.
• Carrots weren't in the original Australian Women's Weekly recipe, so if you don't have them, that will be fine. In my mind though, onion, carrots and celery are the perfect vegetable base for savoury mince. 
• Freshest celery, carrot and onion bring a beautiful flavour to the mince.
• Culinary Magic seems to happen when mashed potato is added to top up minced beef and is then baked to a beautiful golden topping to create a cottage pie. So delicious.
• Serving cottage pies with homemade tomato relish, or good quality bought tomato relish is the perfect accompaniment
• Fresh Asparagus is in season at the moment. Lightly blanched fresh asparagus and fresh blanched broccoli are the perfect vegetables to serve. 

A delicious leftover pie, reheated the next day.

Savoury Mince isn't difficult to cook, so I figure why not double the batch which is economical on your time and on your pocket. Batch cooking is a very economical way to cook and eat. The first Australian budget for the Labour Party came down today, it was the budget that had to happen. I don't want to be political, but a lot of people and families are doing it tough and according to the financial experts the two areas which are hurting people's wallets the most are food and fuel. Families need to eat good quality food to keep healthy, not cheap take away, and I think a meal like this isn't overly expensive and will go a long way to feed you or a family a few times.

Warm wishes

Pauline

Classic French Beef Bourguignon

Today I present to you one of the most delicious beef stews I have ever made, and folks I've made a lot of them and I've also tasted quite a few Beef Bourguignons in my time, and I reckon that this one is up there with the best of them. 

Beef Stir-Fry with a Citrus Kick

My stir-fry will tantalise your taste buds, delivering a citrus kick to Aussie beef, crisp veggies, and fresh herbs. This meal has everything. Generally when I cook a stir-fry, it is because I am short on time. I cook the meat in the wok, whether it is beef, chicken or pork, remove it while I add the vegetables, ginger and garlic, add the meat back into the pan with some soy sauce and perhaps another Asian sauce, stir fry it until the vegetables are ready and that's it. It's always tasty, but now that I have made this recipe using lime juice in addition to soy sauce and fish sauce, and marinating the beef, there's no going back for me to a simple stir-fry. And when I buy my limes for a stir-fry, I might just buy a couple of extra for Gin and Tonics for us to enjoy as an aperitif before I start cooking. It doesn't get much better than that.

Sometimes it's Mr. HRK that cooks the stir-fry in the wok, outside in our BBQ area on the patio while I prepare everything in readiness. This time, because a little bit more of an effort was required, and I was still cooking in my beautiful daughter's kitchen, I prepared and cooked this meal. We were all thrilled with the result. 

We are home now, and the temperatures up here in North Queensland are soaring to 37 deg. C. some days. We are running our air-conditioner almost 24/7, however if we turn it off for a few hours in the morning and keep the house closed up, it stays beautifully cool. We can't ever remember the humidity or the temperatures being so continuously high here in Mackay, and with no real rain forecast for us, although it must be coming. However, south Eastern Queensland and now Northern New South Wales have been absolutely hammered by the recent rain event and have suffered significant devastation, and those poor people affected are now cleaning out their flooded homes and salvaging what belongings they can. The badly affected have lost almost everything. The Australian Army is spreading themselves thin trying to help those in need to clean up, as are available and well meaning residents and volunteers not as badly affected. It is all very sobering. I fear that these extreme weather events will be exacerbated as a consequence of the developing climate change scenario.

This recipe is my twist on one that I saw in a recent Coles monthly supermarket recipe book, originating from our very own Aussie chef Curtis Stone, who was wanting to move back to Australia from Covid stricken Los Angeles. I'm not sure if he has or not. These catalogues tend to promote the supermarket's  own home brand product, which isn't necessary to produce a a great result, and the photographs are always nice and inspiring. This recipe is perfect to cook during the Australian Summer, although it is no longer Summer, but the beginning of Autumn. Bring on the Autumn temperatures, please.

Recipe serves 4

Ingredients:

Preparation 15 minutes + 15 minutes marinating time. Cooking time: only 10 minutes because it's a quick stir fry.

400g - 500g rump steak, Scotch fillet, or even Sirloin steak, thinly sliced across the grain into 6 mm thick strips (marinating the meat will give very tender results). I used Rump steak.

2 tbs fish sauce

2 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs vegetable oil divided

1/4 tsp cornflour

1 red capsicum, seeded and thinly sliced

200g green beans, trimmed and halved diagonally

1/2 cup (70 g) thinly sliced shallots

1 tbs finely chopped garlic

1 tbs finely chopped ginger

1 cup coriander leaves, divided

1 cup mint leaves

1 lime juiced, divided

1 tbs sugar

Steamed rice to serve

Method:

• Prepare the fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl by whisking it until the sugar dissolves. Place the sliced beef in another medium sized bowl, add 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce mixture and mix the sauce into the meat. Set the bowl of meat aside for 15 minutes to absorb the flavours. I marinated mine for 2 hours, covered the bowl and stored it in the refrigerator, until ready to use, as I had the time to do that. 
• Whisk the cornflour into the remaining soy sauce mixture and cover.
• Remove the beef from the bowl and pat it dry with a paper towel. Add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil to a large hot frying pan,  and add the beef, spreading it over the base of the pan in a single layer. Without stirring the beef or touching it, cook for 2 minutes until well browned. You can see why the pan needed to be hot to begin with. 
• Stir fry the beef, and continue to stir and fry it for 40 seconds until cooked through. 
• Transfer the beef now to a plate with a rim to catch the juices.
• You are now ready to cook the vegetables. 
• Add the remaining oil, (1 tablespoon), and the capsicum and beans and cook for 2 minutes until the vegetables soften slightly. Stir and fry the vegetables. You want them still quite crisp. Stir in the shallot, garlic and ginger,
• Add the remaining soy sauce mixture, and the beef and the juices to the pan with the vegetables. Stir and fry for 1 minute until the beef is just heated through, the vegetables are tender, and the sauce has thickened slightly. 
• Take your frypan from the stove and stir in half the coriander leaves, the mint leaves, and half the lime juice. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to add the lime juice and at least one of the herbs.
• To serve divide the rice among the serving bowls. Top the rice with the beef stir fry, and drizzle with the remaining lime juice and for presentation, sprinkle with the remaining mint and coriander leaves.
• Serve with extra lime wedges if you have them

Cook's Notes:

• Please believe me, the lime juice adds a delicious zing and kick to this beef stir fry.
• If you are having trouble finding fresh produce in the supermarkets or markets at the moment because of recent weather events, frozen beans added toward the end of cooking will be fine.
• The quality of the beef will be much better if you buy it whole and slice it yourself. For a stir fry buy the steak or fillet as a whole piece, and slice it yourself, or buy from a reputable butcher and ask them to slice it for you. I have never had great results with beef that I have  purchased already sliced from a supermarket, which is being sold as stir-fry beef. 
• Using coriander and mint leaves will produce superior flavours, however the first time I made this I only had mint on hand, and it still tasted amazingly good.
• Please don't skimp on the lime juice, it's a game changer.
• Whilst I love to generally cook brown rice or even cracked bulgur wheat whenever I can as a side for health reasons, with a stir fry like this one, white rice is the perfect accompaniment.
• Marinating the beef for up to 2 hours before cooking, ensures very tender meat for a stir fry and is packed with flavour.
• 400g of beef might be enough for you if you aren't big eaters, but I used 500g. 
• If you are time poor, 15 minutes marinating the beef will be ok, however if you have plenty of time, marinate the beef for up to 2 hours before cooking for maximum flavour and tenderness.

We are being careful with what we eat at the moment, with low calorie meals being the preferred choice during the week. Stir-frys are a perfect option for healthy eating. Here's the breakdown per serve for you if you are interested:

Per serve:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calories: 309/ 1292 KJ, Protein 28g (56%),Fat 16g (23%),Sodium 1763mg (88%),Carb 12g (4%),Sugar 10g (11%),Dietary fibre 6g (20%)

Warmest wishes,

Pauline

Slow Cooked Beef Brisket (not Corned Beef) with Prunes and Vegetables

I'm enjoying a reprieve from the balmy tropical heat of November, as temperatures lower, the sea breezes lighten our mood and the occasional shower of rain brings relief to the parched lawns and to us. It's meant to last the whole week, and I am making the most of it by slow cooking a piece of beef brisket in the most delicious way, and by slow cooking I mean low and slow, using my new stove top and the oven in tandem with each other. I haven't succumbed to using my slow cooker this time. In time I might, but I wanted to be in control of the tenderness required for this cut of meat. 

So what is Beef Brisket? Have you only eaten it cooked, sliced and cold from the butcher or the deli? It's a cut of beef that needs to be slow cooked until it is tender on the fork, but still slices easily, unlike some other cuts such as chuck, whilst delicious for beef stews, can shred after lots of slow cooking.  Brisket seems to keep its integrity. Beef brisket is a large primal cut of beef taken from the lower breast of the cow, which the cow constantly exercises. It has become very popular as a preferred cut of meat for corned beef, pho, smoked brisket, pot roasts and many more. However depending on how it is to be used, the distinction needs to be made between using the Point or the Flat part of the brisket. Its important to have a good butcher, who knows the cuts of meat and will give you a good cut of meat depending on how you want to cook it. Also hopefully a butcher where the meat is constantly being moved to the customer, and is grass fed. Brisket has a very meaty flavour, and an amazing texture.

This recipe is from the Monday Morning Cooking Club recipe book, which a friend of mine owns, and where I first tasted this dish causing me to wax lyrical about it all evening and to think about it during the whole of the following week. The flavours in this dish are to die for.  I read where Brisket is the most popular primary cut used for a Jewish Pot Roast, which makes sense, as even though this was said by a beef expert in the United States, the ladies who make up the Monday Morning Cooking Club are all Jewish Australian, and amazing cooks. 

This is my kind of meal. Perhaps it's partially because of my background, from growing up in Beef Country in Rockhampton, Central Queensland, or Rocky as the locals call it and who also claim it as the Beef Capital of Australia. We ate a lot of beef when I was growing up at home in Rocky, and vegetables as well I hasten to add, but that was before we realised the need to reduce our meat consumption for environmental and health reasons and also chicken and lamb were quite expensive back then, which is hard to believe now. My Great Uncle, Lionel De Landelles, founded the first Brahman cattle stud in the Rockhampton area near Yeppoon, (Cherokee Brahman Stud) and was the first Cattleman to import Brahman Cattle to Central Queensland. He became quite legendary for his work with the Zebus from India, which the beautiful Brahman cattle originated from.  They are a very sturdy animal in the hot areas of Queensland and in the tropics, distinguishable by a hump just above their shoulders. So you could say that a love of good beef is in my genes. However when I cook beef now, I like to know where the meat came from, and I really appreciate it when I can eat a spectacular cut of meat like this. I think it's a great thing that now we don't take eating good meat for granted.

This recipe serves 8 people.

Ingredients:

 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 kg (4 lb. 8 oz) piece fresh beef brisket

2 onions, halved and sliced into wedges

1 kg waxy potatoes (such as kipfler), peeled and thickly sliced if you can get them. (I used washed small potatoes and left the skins on)

400 g (1 1/4 cups) pitted prunes

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

175 g (1/2 cup) golden syrup

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Method:

This brisket and the vegetables will be cooked on the stove top for the first 1 1/2 hours so you will need a very large saucepan to hold the meat and the vegetables. 

Heat the oil in the pan  and brown the brisket on both sides. 

Add the potatoes, the onions, three quarters of the prunes and 2 teaspoons of salt. 

Cover with boiling water and half the golden syrup. Bring to boil, partially cover then simmer until quite tender, at least 1 1/4 hours.

Preheat your oven to 180 deg C (350 deg. F /Gas 4).

Take the meat out of the liquid and place in an ovenproof dish. Strain and reserve the liquid and spoon the onion, potatoes and prunes on top of the brisket. 

Pour enough liquid into the dish so that it comes halfway up the meat. This is about half the liquid from the cooking saucepan.

Top with the remaining prunes and golden syrup. Sprinkle over 1/2 teaspoon salt and plenty of pepper. Roast uncovered, basting about every 15 minutes, for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is fork tender.

To serve, sprinkle with lemon juice, and enjoy all the delicious scrapings from the bottom of the dish.

The prunes might look as if they are burnt but they are not, just deliciously cooked.

Hoping you enjoy a wonderful weekend with friends and loved ones.

Warm wishes,

Pauline

Homemade Pasta Bolognese sauce, it's Italian, it's gut friendly and it's delicious

 

 I've made many versions of pasta sauce over the years, but this is now my favourite. When I have the time and I want a really rich sauce full of Italian flavours, and also minus the acid that some tomato based sauces contain this is the sauce I cook. If you can't tolerate rich tomato based sauces, yet love the rich flavours of Italian herbs, red wine, and pancetta, then this is the dish for you. 

IN MY KITCHEN - February 2021

 January 2021 was a month of recovery and readjustment from Christmas holidays, concern over the Covid crisis, tropical heat, some tropical rain, reading good books, relaxing, and not that much cooking or gardening. We were in Cairns, Far North Queensland for Christmas and New Year, and drove home on the 2nd January, just in time before the roads flooded the next day near Ingham cutting off the Bruce Highway to all traffic. We drove carefully through some torrential rain that day, and it was lovely and quite a relief to arrive home. Despite a wonderful holiday, there's no place like our own home. 

When we're in Cairns we always go to Chef Link, a countertop store and warehouse which supplies all of the Cairns restaurants, cafes and bakeries with their catering requirements, but is also happy to sell to and assist members of the public at no extra cost or the need for an ABN. I love this shop, and they are always so helpful. They will also accept orders online. Mr. HRK was looking at their coffee cups, I was looking for bread making equipment, and anything else that caught my eagle eye.

This time I bought a Herbert Birnbaum, plastic polypropylene Brotform, or a bread proofing basket. Brotforms, Bannetons, and bread proofing baskets are all the same thing. This range is made in Germany, is guaranteed to last a lifetime, and is recyclable.  I can't wait to try it. No need to use a tea towel or any cloth to cover the base, it just needs to be misted and lightly floured and the dough placed in it to rise. If it works to my liking, I'll invest in a rectangular one for a large loaf as well. I have a couple of round cane bannetons which I bought at Chef Link during 2020 last year, but they need a tea towel insert to work. Can't have too many though I reckon. 

Then we ventured onto the shopping centres, enjoying the air conditioning during the Cairns heat,  and whilst in a kitchen shop, we bought a new chopping knife. The Japanese make great knives, and their packaging is very attractive and designed to house the knife very well. Mr. HRK likes to use a good, sharp knife when he's chopping and I'm very happy to support him with that.

It is a Baccarat Kiyoshi Japanese Stainless Steel 42012 15 cm Chefs knife. The packaging says it is inspired by the traditional Japanese craftsman and Samurai sword makers.The blades are made from premium Japanese Steel that has been mined in the same Japanese region of Chuo-Ku, Chiba since the middle of the last century. I hope that is all true because I love a good story about the kitchen items we buy.

I still can't bear to discard the beautiful packaging, so I store the knife in its packaging in a drawer.

Australia Day, always on the 26 January,  was somewhat of a meat fest here , when good friends Paul and Jenny, brought over some very large, marinated beef ribs which we cooked in our BBQ. 

I made a sourdough cob loaf to complement the meal, and I used my cane proofing basket for this one.

There were some delicious salads, mixed grain, potato and tomato.

We had a great time and ate and laughed a lot.

And for dessert, I made Mango, Lime and Coconut Panna Cotta which I wrote about in a previous post, and here is the link to the recipe if you missed it and are interested. The recipe serves 6 people.

The seasonal Bowen mangoes were delicious during December and January here, but are finished now making way for the southern stone fruits.

I haven't been cooking nearly as much as I usually do, blame the heat and the holiday vibe. However I made some delicious Chicken Burritos from scratch recently. Believe me, there were no El Paso spice mixes to be found in this recipe. I'll be publishing it on my blog shortly. I just have to make them again  to take a photo of the finished product. I have photos of the process, but I forgot to take a photo before they all disappeared. Familiar story?

Throughout January it has been very hot and humid and we ate lots of salads. Salads, salads, and more salads was my mantra. Last week, I made some comfort food though, as my gut was telling me to take a step back and just eat some plain steamed vegetables, chicken, brown rice and so forth. Part of the problem I think is that Mr. HRK is waiting to have surgery on his sinuses this month, and as a consequence can't taste anything, which is quite frustrating for him so I have been trying to spice my cooking up a bit more than usual so that he can hopefully taste some food. I might have overdone it with spices when I have actually cooked, so I am being careful for a while and eating blander foods, while he continues to add condiments like Kewpie Mayo with wasabi and sweet chilli jam to our meals which he loves.

I made one of my favourite comfort food dishes last week for us, Paleo Beef Chow Mein which just has a minimal amount of curry powder added and is full of vegetables.  Always a winner. I used cabbage instead of kale which is in the original recipe.

Beef Chow Mein with some Kewpie mayo added for Mr. HRK.

Lots of fresh green cabbage added, yum.

Because I haven't been doing that much cooking compared to what I normally do, it's been the perfect time to clean and reorganise my pantry, spice drawer and baking products. I discarded quite a lot of unnecessary clutter and have made some space for the rest of the year. Mind you my friends, I found a couple of duplicate spice jars, as the small jars are now arranged in alphabetical order. I wonder how long they will stay that way. However I am very happy with the result.

We are looking forward to watching some tennis this month, with the Australian Open Tennis Tournament starting tomorrow in Melbourne. The overseas tennis players are so happy to be here and to be able to play after not much competition in 2020 because of Covid. Hope it all goes well for everyone. The summer of tennis in Australia is a long standing tradition. We love our tennis.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event, that was started by Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial,  If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to read more In My Kitchens.

 

That's all folks and thanks for visiting.

Best wishes.

Pauline

In My Kitchen - July 2020

I've been doing a lot of cooking this past week, as we have had a succession of visitors here since Friday. It's great to see Queensland travellers on the move in Queensland, travelling North up the East coast to Cairns, soaking up our sunshine, although yesterday was rainy, but that's okay. In addition to three lots of visitors, including my brother and sister-in-law, we had 11 friends from our tennis group for dinner on Friday  night, and then my Mahjong ladies were here Tuesday afternoon for cake and Mahjong, in that order, ha, ha. It was a lovely afternoon, with the lorikeets putting on a dazzling display around our bird bath.

Aussie Beef Saltbush Stew in the Slow Cooker

It's been rainy and cold all this week, so I decided to make a comforting and nutritious beef stew. I saw some very nice looking chuck steak at Woolworths supermarket, and so my mind was made up. I added Saltbush flakes which we bought when we were travelling through the centre of Australia a couple of years ago which need using up.

Hungry for a batch of Hearty Beef Goulash

There was a cool weather change coming through, possibly the last before the onset of summer so I decided to appease my craving for beef and cook a goulash, the process for this one being very similar to cooking a casserole. There aren't many unusual ingredients in this dish, which is a factor I look for now as I keep a good stockpile in my pantry which I hope will serve as the basis of a lot of the things that I cook. Green capsicums, tomato puree and  Blade steak were all I needed to purchase. I had everything else on hand which was great. Winner! This goulash recipe was originally written for 4 people, and I had cooked it for four and loved it, so this time I decided to do some batch cooking. The Hungarian word for goulash is gulyas meaning 'herdsman', and the dish originated in Medieval Hungary. I am taking a lead from this and if serving this to family and friends, a very rustic presentation of this dish is perfectly acceptable.



Thankfully, I have the time now to cook food in large batches. I'm telling you nothing new when I say how expensive it can be to buy and cook healthy food, however it is the only way to go. There are ways around this such as shopping at local farmer's markets whenever possible, and also doubling the quantities in dishes such as stews, casseroles, lasagnes, and goulashes and freezing half of what you have cooked. How many times do you find that a recipe calls for 3 tablespoons out of a can of tomato puree, or coconut milk for example, and then you are left wondering how to use up the rest of the ingredient, or it stays in the Refrigerator unused and ends up being tossed out.  It was easy to increase the quantities to feed 8 people for this recipe,  however it is easily halved to quantities for four people if you wish. I cooked it three days ago, and I have frozen half of it. On a regular basis if I cook more than we need to eat I freeze it in portions for those "no cooking" nights when the kitchen is closed, which we all need occasionally, or eat it during the week as leftovers. A dish like this definitely improves in flavour when it sits for a day or two in the refrigerator before being eaten. It is an economical way to eat and stretch the budget these days. As we head into summer, it will be nice some nights to enjoy the convenience of taking a cooked meal out of the freezer and defrosting it, without having to cook in a hot kitchen. However, I do enjoy a good barbecue as well, don't you?

I love that this recipe uses live Apple Cider Vinegar which is great for our healthy gut, and also tempts the blade steak to braise well and provide a lot of rich flavour. This is such a Dr. Michael Mosley trademark, which you will recognise if you have read any of his books on how to live with a healthy gut. A traditional Hungarian Goulash is a soup and stew combined so there will be more liquid in this casserole than the traditional kind, all the better to mop up with some nice bread I say. Traditionally, flour isn't used to thicken Hungarian stews.

Let's Cook:

Ingredients:

Serves 8

8 tablespoons olive oil
2 large white onions, chopped
4 large carrots, cut into batons
2 large green capsicums, deseeded and sliced
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 kg diced braising steak, I used grass fed blade steak, diced for me by the butcher
2 tablespoons paprika
6 tablespoons tomato puree
6 bay leaves
800 ml organic beef stock, or a bone broth you have made yourself
2 x 400 g tins chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons live (raw) apple cider vinegar

Let's Cook:

Preheat the oven to 160 deg. C.

Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a large stove top casserole dish or Scanpan frying pan with a well fitting lid and fry the onions gently for 5-7 minutes. Add the carrots, capsicum and garlic and cook for a few more minutes. I used my Scanpan for this dish.




Dry your meat with some kitchen paper or a chux to avoid excess splattering. Place 2 tablespoons of oil in another pan over a high heat and brown the meat on all sides in batches adding more olive oil as you need it. I cooked the beef in four batches in my favourite cast iron frying pan on a high heat.



I seasoned each browned batch of meat  and added it to the vegetables in my Scanpan, along with the paprika, tomato puree and bay leaves.



Pour the stock or broth into the pan used for browning the meat and stir for a minute or so, scraping the bottom, to incorporate all of the brownings and juices from the meat.



Add the juices to the casserole dish, along with the tomatoes and the vinegar. Bring the goulash to a simmer, then either transfer the  mixture to a large casserole dish for the oven or cover the one you are using, and place it in the middle of the oven for  2 1/2 - 3 hours, taking it out occasionally to give it a stir, and adding more water if it is drying out. My Scanpan was perfect for slow cooking this dish in the oven. It will look like there is a lot of liquid, but trust me it will thicken up beautifully over the cooking time.

Serve your goulash with a bowl of full-fat organic Greek yoghurt or sour cream, a generous serving of green vegetables and a bowl of reheated new potatoes and butter sprinkled with parsley. As we are conscious of our carbohydrate intake now, I often cook potatoes and pasta in advance and let them cool, as reheating previously cooked potatoes increases the amount of healthy resistant starch in them, which is much better for us.  Any condiments such as good quality sauerkraut, pickled cabbage, or pickled fennel could also be served as a vegetable side to compliment Goulash as is customary in Eastern European countries such as Hungary and Poland.

Thanks for dropping by, 

Best wishes,

Pauline

It's Chilli Con Carne on a Rainy day

Hello everyone from the wet North. I am thinking of hot and spicy foods as the weather is still quite cool with the rain bucketing down, as the Monsoonal trough still hovers over us. No complaints though, as we aren't suffering from flooding on the same scale that Townsville is. My heart goes out to them. Chilli Con Carne is nothing new as a main meal dish, and is still popular in most households. It has stood the test of time, as has other Mexican food.