Letters in the Alphabet (aka 26!)

Welcome to another week! This week I am proud to announce the successful cooking of Sticky Pan-Fried Scallops, Sweet Chilli Rice, Dressed Greens and Quick Brownies. The whole meal actually came off better than I had initially anticipated, although despite my fears that I might ruin the whole meal I have spent the last week or so super excited for this one!

The scallops were the most interesting part of this week's meal. For starters, I have never cooked them before and was naturally a bit apprehensive. Not only that, I've only actually eaten one scallop before, in my entire life. And it wasn't even my scallop, I snagged it off Dear Housemate's plate when we were at a seafood restaurant one night. So I basically walked into this one with absolutely no idea what I was doing. For starters, you can buy scallops in a whole bunch of different formats. In their shell, out of their shell, with their little crescent shaped taily thingy (I think it's called a roe?), fresh, frozen, and so on and so forth. I think the guy at the fish market hates me now, because I made him pack, unpack, and repack a bunch of different scallops until I was happy with them. FYI, you want the fresh roe-off type for this recipe.

Actually cooking the scallops was a little tricky, getting to know when they were cooked enough to turn over. I tried one on it's own before I set the whole pan up and did it exactly to the recipe - it was underdone. So I ended up just diving in and throwing all the scallops into the pan and relying on instinct (and my sister's opinion) on when they were ready. They came out of the pan in varying stages of cooked, but for the most part they were okay. They took about twice as long to cook as the recipe suggested, but given that it was under ten minutes that really doesn't make a difference to me! They were really tasty, if strangely textured, and although I quite liked them I think I'll probably leave the scallop-cooking to the professionals from now on. They're expensive and a bit tricky.

The dressed greens were so delicious, I can't even explain. I love my vegies, in particular green vegies and steaming is such a simple way to cook them and to keep them healthy and full of nutrients. This recipe is really basic and only calls for a couple of items in the dressing, so the whole dish comes off really fresh and maintains the integrity of the greens. Plus it looks gorgeous on the plate, so vibrant and full of colour. I will be making this recipe again, it went fabulously with everything else in the meal - and it's good for you!

The rice was another interesting dish. The egg mix that is poured over the top of the rice is really strange to me, but it seems to work okay. It is like making the cheat's version of fried rice. There's a bit of flavour, a bit of egg, and there's also a bit of greenery happening there (if you happen to follow the recipe and put in the chopped chives and coriander, which I forgot/hate). It wasn't much to look at so I didn't bother to photograph this part of the dish!

The brownies were really yummy. The recipe is unlike any brownie recipe I have used before, but again it just seems to work. I left the pecans out (allergies) and wasn't able to find dried sour cherries, so instead I used a dried berry mix to scatter over the top. This recipe makes looooots of brownies (a very large baking tray full of them, to be exact) so there was plenty to go around, and I'm sure my workmates will be happy to know that there will be plenty to go around at work tomorrow as well! Jamie wasn't joking in the book when he says that the meal serves four but there are lots of brownies leftover!

Anyway, I had loads of fun getting the meal together this week and trying my hand at cooking something I'd never cooked before. And next week I'm happy to say I get to test out my fancy tagine, which has been sitting lonely and unused on my benchtop as a pseudo-decoration since it was given to me as a gift for Christmas in 2009. I'll be taking on Seriously Good Fish Tagine, Fennel & Lemon Salad, Couscous and Orange & Mint Tea. Can't wait!

Til next time - Bon Appetit!


p.s. problems with the uploading (agaaaaain), pics soon!

Twenty-Five to Life

Happy Halfway Post everyone!! This week I was on my lonesome, looking for some hungry mouths to feed. Thankfully, I have family and you can pretty much bet that Sunday night dinners are always a good time to load up with food! So this week I whipped up Swedish-Style Fishcakes, Roasted Baby New Potatoes, Sprout Salad and Fresh Zingy Salsa. Here's how it all went down...

The potatoes were really fuss-free. I know most potato dishes are pretty simple, but these were thankfully very simple - no peeling, no chopping, just season and away! They spend a stint in the microwave before being shoved in the oven - this dual-cooking technique crops up a lot in Mr Oliver's recipes and I have to say I'm a fan. For one, it saves time when you cook (the obvious benefit of using a 30 Minute Meal recipe), but for two it tends to give a really nice texture to whatever your cooking. Whether you boil and fry, fry and roast, or whatever combination you use, it almost always leaves you with a really flavoursome, really textured food item. Crispy outer skin on the potatoes, soft and mushy inside. Mine could have used a bit more time cooking this week because they were a little large for new potatoes, but they came up okay anyway!

The sprout salad was interesting. I wasn't the biggest fan of it, but I think that is because alfalfa has always sort of reminded me of grass and I just don't want to eat grass. But the salad seems to work, or at least my family didn't complain. The mix of alfalfa, watercress, crackers, avocado and lemon juice seems really strange to me, but somehow it all comes together. Again I think this may be a texture thing...but it works!

The salsa was great, it was really fresh and indeed quite zingy. I would definitely recommend making it in the food processor, because trying to cut all that stuff up by hand is a nightmare. I should know, I did it. I thought to myself "oh no, I won't bother using, washing and re-using the food processor, I'll just do the salsa by hand. Big Mistake. It took ages, was super fidly, was quite messy and I ended up just throwing it all into the food processor anyway to get the right amount of juiciness out of the tomatoes. Save yourself the trouble and trust the appliances!

I was a bit of a cheater this week and managed to get my family to chip in the fish. Saved me one trip to the fish market (there's a lot more to be had over the next month or so, many fish meals to come!) and saved me more than a few dollars, I would bet! The fish itself was really lovely, the fillets had been skinned and boned so all I really had to do was give them a quick chopping up before throwing them into the food processor! The colours were crazy, the tuna was a gorgeous deep red colour, the salmon a bright, healthy orange (or salmon colour...if you think about it....) and the cod was actually pretty boring by comparison. It was white. Anyway! It was surprisingly easy to make the fishcakes, just throw the fish in the processor with a few spices, smoosh in some bread crumbs and then shape into cakes before frying them up! I used a large egg ring to get the shape right and it did the trick just fine!

So that's how the meal worked out this week. We were also treated to some home made panna cotta with fresh passionfruit - Thanks Mum! - for dessert. It was delicious and I left the table completely stuffed and ready to slide into my stretchy pants for a nap. That's just the way Sunday dinner should be!

The next post is only a few days away, thanks to the delay on this week's meal. I'm very much looking forward to bringing you Sticky Pan-Fried Scallops, Sweet Chilli Rice, Dressed Greens and Quick Brownies. Yum!

Til next time - Bon Appetit!

A Little Snack Between Meals

Meal 25 is going ahead on Sunday night (tomorrow). Sorry about the delay. Unforseen circumstances meant that this little chef was not fit for cooking and the meal had to be pushed back by a few days. In the meantime, here's something I prepared earlier...


Now that we've reached just about the halfway mark in our little challenge experience and so much has happened in the last six months, I decided I would put together a little summary blog post about the journey so far! And I've also included a list of my Top 5 favourite meals to cook (and eat!).

When we first decided to put this operation together, both Dear Housemate and I were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. We were just super excited to have an excuse to throw dinner parties, to eat good food and to give me something to write about. After writing pretty avidly for years and years I had hit a bit of a slump in my creativity. I was halfway through a fairly significant writing project (just something I did in my own time, for my own enjoyment) when there was a dreaded computer crash that took my work with it. I was not fussed, knowing I had saved my work on my trusty USB stick.
Only I hadn't. Or at least, if I had at some point, it had since been removed. And so, completely devastated at the loss of my project, I resigned myself to a break from writing to recover from the loss and to find some inspiration for something new to write. Roughly twelve months had passed and no inspiration had come.

By Christmas time last year, Jamie Oliver and his 30 Minute Meals revolution had pretty much conquered every book shop and the show was all over the telly. I had only caught an episode or two when channel surfing, but always liked what I saw and made a concerted effort to point the book out everytime I walked past a store or saw an ad. I figured that eventually someone would pick up the hint and get me the book. Merry Christmas to me! It worked!

As Dear Housemate and I exchanged Christmas gifts, I was flipping through the pages of the cookbook and found myself getting hungrier and hungrier - it all looked so good! I couldn't wait to try the recipes out. I'm not even really sure how we came to the decision, but at some stage we discussed the idea of just making everything in the book for the sheer enjoyment of it. And that idea evolved into the weekly challenge night idea, which then snowballed into the Grove Cook Off 2012 challenge night and blog idea which you are now a part of. And the rest is history, I suppose.

The first few weeks were probably the craziest. We started out madly trying to complete the meals in the thirty minute timeframe. This usually lead to a completely trashed kitchen, a total mess on our clothing but a really awesome, hard-earned meal at the end of the day. It was fun and challenging, but ultimately we decided that there was more benefit, in our situation at least, in taking the time to cook slowly, enjoy the process and really celebrate the food. Now you're more likely to find me in the kitchen with a glass of wine in hand, casually stirring something on the stove while I listen to The Sundays, Bernard Fanning, Sarah Blasko or Bon Iver. What we've done is taken the recipes and tried to stay as true to form as possible, while still leaving room for our own twist on things.

There are some weeks when we're both a little bit over it. Occasionally it does feel like a bit of a chore, having to make sure the house is tidy, the fridge is stocked, the meal is edible. But usually by the time the groceries are done and we're serving up a meal any of the negativity we might have been feeling just falls away. It's pretty hard not to be happy and contented when you've got gorgeous food, good company and a nice glass of wine to get you through the evening. For every time I've had a thought about not wanting to cook that week, or not looking forward to the meal, I've had about a thousand more positive thoughts to replace it.

Ultimately I'm really glad with what we're doing here. We're not changing the world, we're not saving lives, we're just cooking and eating really good food and having a really good time doing it. We've shared 24 (soon to be 25!) amazing meals with our family and friends, had hours of conversation we might not have had otherwise and we've both learned stacks about cooking and food. We've even accumulated a few more gadgets for the kitchen! 

So before I forget, here are my Top 5 Favourite meals from the challenge to date:
5 - Pregnant Jools Pasta (super, super easy, and so tasty! The leftovers taste amazing too!)
4 - Crusted Cod (really impressive looking food and so flavoursome, perfect for a dinner party)
3 - Cauliflower Macaroni (so versatile. I have made it a couple of times now and I just love it. Goes a long way)
2 - Duck Salad (really delicious, so much flavour, dead easy to make and just a little bit different from your average meat and salad)
1 - Chicken Pie (made countless times, so warming and delicious, the perfect hearty meal for a winter night)

So there it is! I can't wait to keep feeding everyone such amazing food, and to keep enjoying it myself. I hope you're all enjoying the blog and the photographs as well, but in particular I hope that all of this has inspired you to have a go at some of the meals yourselves. They're so much more satisfying (and healthier) than your average take-away meal, they usually end up being cheaper and who doesn't love an excuse to catch up with good people over a meal? Get cooking!

Til next time - Bon Appetit!

Twenty-Four Hours

Success!! I am so happy to announce that this week's meal was absolutely perfect. I  actually can't think of a thing I would have done differently or changed up - which is surprising, because I usually love to put my own spin on things.So, let me tell you how we went about making Tasty Crusted Cod, My Mashy Peas, Tartare Sauce and Warm Garden Salad.

So the simple stuff first - the tartare sauce. I don't know how you guys feel about it, but I basically can't handle fish without some kind of sauce and my go-to sauce is tartare. I absolutely love it with fish and am personally responsible for the high volume of jars we go through in this house. But this recipe is something else. When I finished blending up the first lot of ingredients (parsley, gherkins, capers, anchovies and lemon) and added in the mayo, I had a taste and it was exactly like the stuff you get out of the jar. I mean exactly. So after adding the last few ingredients (olive oil, paprika, more lemon) and taking it to the table, and eventually giving it a stir it just became something else entirely. It was divine. I think I'll make this in future for all fish meals, because it is just that good! And easy!

The mashy peas were really interesting.  I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the whole thing, particularly because there was mint sauce involved. But once everything was bubbling away on the stove and I realised just how big the pot of vegies actually was and how comparatively little the amount of mint sauce was I figured it would all turn out okay. And it did! There was just the slightest hint of mint flavour to the vegies and it didn't ruin it for me at all. Plus its an easy way to get a variety of vegies onto a plate without taking up too much room.

The warm salad was just gorgeous. Once you crisp up the pancetta and then throw in a stack of garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar it just smells amazing. You have to give it a couple of minutes to caramelise and cool a bit before you throw the leaves on top, but because they wilt a little it is really easy to give them a toss and next thing you know you've got one of the yummiest warm leafy salads in existence! I recommend this one - it is perfect for winter when you feel like you need a bit of greenery in your meal but don't want to feel like you're eating a cold, boring salad. Plus you get the flavours of the balsamic and the garlic all through the dish. Yum!

And lastly, the part you've been waiting for - the crusted cod! It was pretty hectic down at the fish market during the day and we ended up with some barramundi instead of cod, but I promise you it works just the same! I actually prepared the fish a little earlier than everything else, just to give it a bit longer to soak up some of the herbs and also to let it warm a little after sitting in the fridge all day. I did the seasoning and set it aside while getting some other bits and pieces ready, and then after a few minutes in the oven I topped it with the two layers of crust. The first layer is a nice mix of flavours, namely basil, parmesan, sundried tomato and a few other bits, all blended down into a paste and smeared over the fleshy part of the fillet. Then a layer of breadcrumbs mixed with garlic and olive oil over the top of that. I let it bake until I thought it was ready (we have all but abandoned the 30 minute part of the meals these days) and then took it to the table.

I can't explain how delicious this whole thing is. After last week I think we all really needed a success story to help us stay on track and keep up the momentum. And this was the perfect meal to do just that! It was warm, filling, fresh, flavoursome and I really can't complain about any of it. Well....maybe a dessert would have been nice. Ha! But really, this is going on the list of favourite meals. For someone who is a self-professed failure when it comes to cooking fish, I am really proud of this meal. Hats off to Mr Oliver for such a simple, amazing recipe.

The menu for next week includes Swedish-Style Fishcakes, Roasted Baby New Potatoes, Sprout Salad and Fresh Zingy Salsa. I'm not sure how I feel about all of that... the word 'fishcakes' doesn't exactly conjure up images of a sophisticated, brag-worthy dish. But I have faith that it will taste good, whatever it ends up looking like!

So until next time - Bon Appetit!

The Number 23

Well, it had to happen eventually guys. At some point, the game had to come unstuck and a truly unappetising dish had to hit the table. I'm just glad that we made it to almost halfway before it happened! This week we rather timidly attempted to make Grilled Sardines, Crispy Halloumi, Watercress Salad & Figs and Thick Chocolate Mousse. We didn't end up making the fig portion of the meal because I couldn't locate them anywhere, but that is the least of my worries from this meal. Maybe it's best if I just start from the beginning...

If I'm being honest, the whole meal wasn't a disaster. For one thing, the halloumi seemed to have worked. It tasted okay, and aside from that I can't say much more because I've never had halloumi before and have no idea what 'good' halloumi dishes are... but it didn't make me drive heave so in my books that's a winner! It wasn't difficult to cook at all, and aside from my ham-fisted attempt to pick up the packet of sesame seeds ending in an explosion of the damn things, it was a mess-free and enjoyable dish to make.

Then there was the salad, which was actually really good. We excused the flaked almonds (allergies) but the dish actually came up great. It was really fresh and well-balanced in terms of flavours, and it involved my favourite superfood - pomegranate! Again it was super easy to put together, pretty inexpensive and I imagine it to be quite versatile as well - salad goes with most things! And this is a salad with a bit of extra specialness to it. I think this one would be welcomed gladly at a summer barbecue.

The mousse was heavenly. I have made a couple of different mousse recipes before so I had a pretty good idea of what was involved in the actual process, but wasn't aware of how amazing this was going to turn out! The recipe called for 200g of 70% cocoa chocolate, but I always find that dark chocolate mousse is too rich so I opted to use 100g of 70% and 100g of milk chocolate. This worked really well and the mousse ended up being the perfect combination of rich and creamy, without being sickly. Not to mention that it was pretty easy to do! I even ended up beating the egg whites by hand, as well as the double cream. We've got one hand mixer that churns cream to butter in an instant, and another that sprays everything up the walls, so elbow grease and a whisk ended up being the best combination there! It only took a couple of minutes and I like to think that everyone could really taste the love in the final product.

Ok. So let's talk about what we've all been waiting for....the sardines.

Buying the fish was a nightmare. For starters, the fish market did have fresh Australian sardines, but they were about the size of my thumb. I took one look at them as I tiptoed through the puddles of fishy water and thought to myself "if I'm going to serve that, then what is the point?". After shaking off the yucky water and fish scales from my shoes, and begging someone to help me, a very loud woman lead me to some Portuguese sardines which, although frozen, were larger and 'ready to be cooked once defrosted'. I have to say, I think the loud lady lied to me. The fish were not ready to be cooked. The fish were whole, not gutted and not scaled. Imagine my horror when I realise what has happened and have to make the decision to either can the whole meal, or gut and scale the fish myself.

So I put my big girl panties on and decided to just scale and gut the little suckers if it kills me. I managed to mangle two fish before I had a mini-throw-up and wanted to cry. I tried. I really, truly tried. But I was holding the little fishy in my hand, overcome by his fishy stank, slicing him from navel to nose and trying to scrape his guts out with my knife and my bare hands and I just couldn't take it anymore. I rang my dad and sooked until he agreed to come over and help me (and by help me, I mean take over entirely so I didn't have to look at them again). But even after they had been tidied up, the kitchen cleaned and they were cooking away in a lovely marinade of lemon, chilli, garlic and parsley, I was still overwhelmed by the smell of them. Don't even get me started on their creepy dead eyes staring up at me from the plate. I managed to scrape out a tiny bit of meat and have a taste before covering up the little face with my salad and losing my appetite. I'm sorry, I just can't do whole fish - particulary smelly sardines.

So we enjoyed the salad and a bit of cheese, and we all loved the mousse....but it's safe to say that we all loved the pizza I ordered as well. But good news for the fish world, I have no intention of ever eating your sardine brethren ever,ever again. Rejoice!

I have much higher hopes for next week (which won't be until Saturday night, for my regular readers!). We'll be tackling Tasty Crusted Cod, My Mashy Peas, Tartare Sauce and Warm Garden Salad.
Like I said... much higher hopes.

Til then - Bon Appetit!

Catch 22

I can't quite believe the rate at which we've been making it through these recipes! We're in week 22 already - with Thai Red Prawn Curry, Cucumber Salad, Jasmine Rice and Papaya Platter. I really enjoyed making the meal this week, every step of the recipe brings about amazing new flavours and aromas. If you want your house to smell amazing (albeit a little bit....prawny) then this is the week for you. I am slowly being brought around on the thai food thing, having never been much of a fan. This week was another step in the right direction, with the flavour and spice.

The cucumber salad was awesome. When you start, you're setting up the dressing on the plate before adding the actual cucumber. It smells incredible - I'm not sure what it is about sesame oil, but when I was pouring it onto the plate with grated ginger and soy sauce it smelled absolutely gorgeous. I find that if the food I'm cooking smells fantastic it really helps me to enjoy the whole cooking experience, even moreso than when the food looks great. I know that when the doorbell rings I will be inviting guests into a house that smells of delicious food, or even if I just duck outside to the garden to get some herbs I get to experience that awesome moment when you walk into a room and you're suddenly overwhelmed by hunger for whatever it is that is cooking. Anyway, back to the salad. It is really fresh and packs a bit of a punch, but it works quite well when you consider the cooling effect of the cucumber. It is such a basic salad (essentially it is just dressed cucumber), but it is so yummy that you could easily match it with plenty of meals.

The jasmine rice was a bit of a miss this week - for starters I used the wrong rice. Mostly out of laziness. And there wasn't any plain jasmine tea available at the local shops so that threw things out a little. We ended up with a bowl of boiled arborio rice... but it did the trick! I also must admit that the papaya platter was a bit of a let down. I haven't really had any experience with papaya so I wasn't sure what to expect. Actually, if we're being honest, when Dear Housemate produced the papaya the night before the big meal I just stared blankly at it, thinking "that is a really strange looking pumpkin" before asking her what exactly it was she had brought to me. Given that they aren't in season at the moment, I wasn't expecting anything too special, but the papaya is basically a rockmelon's bland cousin. Even dressed up with the lime juice, the yoghurt and the banana it didn't do the trick for me.

And now for the hero of the meal - the curry and the prawns. The large prawns were so tasty, they were nicely flavoured with the help of some chilli paste and offered a bit of entertainment when we hooked into them. I have real trouble eating food that has a face, so naturally when the prawns were ready to be eaten I felt obliged to apologise profusely and thank Mr Prawn for offering up his delicious self for my meal. I have no qualms with eating meat or seafood whatsoever, unless there is a whole carcass sitting on the table in front of me. That's when I start to feel the pangs of guilt (and if we're being honest, a hint of disgust). But I completely agree with the theory that if you're going to eat it, you should know exactly where it comes from and how it gets from the paddock/ocean to your table. Its a bit hypocritical to love eating meat but not accept that it comes from cute little animals - but I still feel terrible when I picture the living thing right before I eat the meat. Anyway, back to Mr Prawn - I still felt bad as I was tearing his little head off... but I pretty much recovered by the time I'd eaten a few of his friends. Interestingly, I didn't have any bad feelings at all about tearing through the actual curry sauce, which was littered with little prawns. Like I said - it's the face that does it.

Making the curry sauce was fantastic. For starters, you get to experience all the different smells and textures as you're putting the paste together. The lemongrass smells absolutely divine, and when you start adding in the garlic and chilli and sesame oil it does drive you a little bit mad. By the time the paste was blended and ready to cook, I was all but drooling over the stove. The smell of this sauce cooking will ensure that you are absolutely ravenous by the time it hits the table. It is spicy, but warming and full of flavour as well. We decided to give the coriander a miss altogether, which could be considered quite risky given that it would alter the entire flavour of the dish, but it worked out quite well. If you're into seafood, a bit of spice, or just a really nice warming winter curry, I think I can safely recommend this one.

So there it is, another week done! The coming week is going to be another challenge for me on the Food With a Face side of things.... we're looking down the barrel of Sardines,Crispy Halloumi, Watercress Salad & Fig and Thick Chocolate Mousse. Whole sardines, with their creepy dead eyes staring up at you from the roasting tray... this is basically my nightmare. I'm going to do my best to be brave and actually eat the damn things, because afterall I will have gone to all the trouble of cooking them. Perhaps I will write a formal apology to the sardine family who are so bravely (stupidly?) giving up their little souls to feed my family. You'll just have to wait and see what happens...

Til next time - Bon Appetit!