Meal One

... And we're off!

Yes, the challenge is called 'The Grove Cook-off 2012' but with a few break weeks planned for next year we thought it best to get off to an early start. That way we will be guaranteed to finish by the end of 2012.

I have decided to start at the start. I will be working through Mr Oliver's book from beginning to end in the hopes that it will be easier to keep track of what recipe we are up to and to avoid the inevitable umming and ahhing that comes with decision making. So the first cab off the rank was Broccoli Orecchiette, Courgette & Bocconcini Salad and Melon & Proscuitto Salad.

I started out by reading the recipe over about five times. The first time I was a little overwhelmed (as often happens when I first come across a set of instructions, including those for flat-pack furniture and user manuals for anything tech-related). I actually paid attention the second time around and the other few read throughs were simply for the benefit of my compulsive need to know everything about everything.

Adequately satisfied that I could handle the recipes, I wrote the shopping list and dear housemate accompanied me to the local market and deli. This was probably my most favourite part of the cooking experience today and I imagine it will continue to be (until the checkout, that is). Walking in the door of the deli I realised that I should probably get acquanted with the layout - afterall, a good cook uses good ingredients and where better to find the gourmet cheeses, meats, olives, spices and seasonings than the local european deli?

After scoping the place out for a short while and secretly enjoying the overwhelming aroma of cured meats, fresh cheeses and array of antipasto, I picked out the few things that we needed and carried them home proudly. Something about using good quality ingredients and specialty items like fresh-cut proscuitto and imported italian parmesan as opposed to a lot of the pre-packed and monotonous items from the supermarket just improves the experience altogether. I think it helps you to appreciate the food more when you go through the selection process and check out weights and colours and smells and textures before it even reaches your kitchen.

At this stage dear housemate pointed out that I had just purchased a lot of rather nice food and was only planning to cook for the two of us. And so, the first dinner invitation was issued to my parents since I left home more than 2 years ago. Needless to say, they were delighted to oblige and showed up with large grins and chilled wine in hand.

 The actual cooking process was rather interesting. My second-hand food processor did not seem to enjoy the task of grating the block of parmesan, and illustrated this point by making a terrible sound and breaking the grater in two. Sometimes doing things the old fashioned way is better. A hand grater would never have such a fit.

Once that initial hiccup was out of the way, things did get easier. If I can recommend anything when it comes to trying out new recipes, let it be this - just jump in and do it. The more you fret over getting the recipe perfect and getting the exact consistencies right the worse it is all going to be. At the end of the day, Mr Oliver and his industry colleagues are able to make such delightful food because they have trained to do so and continue to work hard at maintaining the standard. While cookbooks are created for the benefit of the average cook or food enthusiast and our inexperience and limitations are often accounted for, you can't expect everything to work out all of the time.

The pasta was far easier to make than I had anticipated and I was pleasantly surprised by the time it landed on the plates. It was light and fresh and despite the fact that I had to sub in a different type of pasta and it didn't look quite as delicious as the photographs in the book, I found it to be really enjoyable. It was perhaps a bit too sublte for my liking (I usually cook my pasta with a ton of garlic and/or chilli) but alongside the other dishes it found it's place.
The courgette salad was so fresh and zingy that it really complimented the mellow taste of the pasta - I also think it would taste fantastic alongside a fresh BBQ steak. Of course, the baby courgettes were a little difficult to find due to the Christmas time shut down of many shops, so I used a few zucchinis from Mum and Dad's vegie patch instead.
And the Proscuitto Melon salad..... heavenly. The salty and sweet flavours mix up so beautifully that it's hard to really describe the sensation. It's not quite a dessert, but not quite a side dish either. We ate this right at the end of the meal as a seperate portion to the pasta and salad and it seemed to work quite well this way. I can find no fault in this dish - it was almost too easy to make, it tasted amazing and the unusual mixture of ingredients give a great brag-factor. Yum.

In the excitement of it all we did not remember to take a photo of any of the food - and happily there was very little left afterwards to photograph! I am still adjusting to the 30 Minute Meal idea and I feel as though it may take a few attempts to get used to the multi-tasking involved in having all three dishes cooking at once, but I do believe it is completely do-able and I look forward to someday soon smashing out some great food within half an hour.

Til next week - Pasta, Salad and Tarts - Bon Appetit!

Teagan

The First Post!

Hello Dear Readers,


A funny thing happened a few days ago. Just two days before Christmas 2011 my housemate presented me with a copy of Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals cookbook. As I had been eyeing the book for several months but maintaining a steady hold on my pursestrings, I accepted the gift with great excitement. And before I knew it, we had plans to use it as the basis for a cooking challenge.


The idea at this stage is to use the cookbook to create one meal each week for the next year. There are 50 'meals' in total, each consisting of three individual mains/salads/desserts/sides/recipes so that should take me through to next Christmas. In turn, those meals will be used to inspire this blog, in which I hope to write about the process of cooking as much as the food itself. And hopefully, if the food doesn't get scoffed too quickly, a few photo attachments of the delicious creations.


My hope is also that through this challenge I will get to spend more time with my close friends and family, with the excuse of providing gorgeous food for their consumption. I have always enjoyed cooking and good company so this should be the perfect combination. I should also mention that some of the meals will be helped along or cooked entirely by my dear housemate. Even the best chef gets a night off every now and then, afterall!


Before I proceed, I would like to point out just a few things on the business end of this blog.
Firstly, that I do not own or claim ownership of any of Jamie Oliver's recipes, nor do I claim ownership of his 30 Minute Meal idea. I will be referring to his recipes and meals throughout the course of this blog so I just wanted to clear that up. Please don't sue me, Jamie. I love your work.
Secondly, I recognise the likeness of the challenge to that found in the book/movie Julie & Julia. While I wish I could say my decision to make this blog was entirely independent of that idea, but let's be honest - the movie inspired a world full of would-be cooks to create things they felt were beyond their reach. I include myself in that group of would-be cooks.


So with all of that said and done...the challenge is officially underway. Bon Appetit.


Teagan