Highway 41 - North by Northwest

Yet another win on the meal front this week! We had the great pleasure of making and eating Liver & Bacon, Onion Gravy, Smashed Potato, Dressed Green and Berry & Custard Ripple. I really can't complain about a single part of this dish - either can DH's family, who joined us this week for the challenge. We subbed lamb backstrap in where the liver should be, and it worked perfectly. So here is how it went down!

The lamb was probably the simplest part of the whole meal this week, you start by frying up some bacon in a pan and then add in the meat. Leave it be. It is really that simple! If you were making the liver version of this meal, you would need to flour and season it before starting to cook it, but the lamb simply doesn't need it. I let it rest for a few minutes after we had finished cooking and the final product was a succulent, perfect piece of lamb, topped with some crispy bacon - absolutely delicious! Add to that the onion gravy (which is divine!), and you've got a gorgeous lamb dish.

The smashed potatoes are simple but really fresh and tasty. I love potato and I love finding new ways to cook it, and this is just a really simple variation on mashed potato that delivers a refreshing, tangy flavour. Simply chop up your potatoes, boil them, and when they're ready add a splash of olive oil, salt, pepper and some lemon zest before a quick mash and stir. Super simple, seems super obvious and makes a really lovely side dish!

The dressed greens are nothing all that special. We ended up using green beans and silverbeet, which was a nice fresh and crunchy dish. Steamed, seasoned and then served - easy and yum!

The dessert was absolutely lovely too. We used peaches instead of gooseberries but it came up fabulous. You start by stewing the fruit (in our case, peaches and blueberries) in their own syrup, which gives off a divine sugary scent as it bubbles away - a lot like toffee. It is a bit messy when you get all the ingredients into the serving bowl together, and even more so when you try to get it into individual cups, but nobody seemed to mind. Not a mouthful was left over once it hit the table! It is really light, fresh, sweet but not overpowering and totally delicious! The shortbread biscuits give it a nice bit of crunch too - texture is everything!

So there you go, another week done and dusted. I'm really looking forward to next week, with a beautiful Stuffed Focaccia, Prosciutto, Celeriac Remoulade, Dressed Mozzarella and Fresh Lemon & Lime Granita. Gorgeous!!

Til next time - Bon Appetit!

40 Days and 40 Nights

This week's meal is going on my personal list of favourites. If you've ever had a really, really long week (haven't we all?) that ended in a really, reeeeally long day and all you wanted to do was go home, crack open a beer and enjoy a really yummy, filling, no-fuss meal - then this is the week for you. It feels like a junk food meal, full of carbs, comfort food and even ice cream at the end, but it is far healthier and doesn't leave you with that horrible greased-up bloated feeling you get after devouring a whole pizza. Not that I've ever done that. Ahem. Anyway,  introducing my new favourite Friday Night Special, the Meatball Sandwich, Pickled Cabbage, Chopped Salad and Banana Ice Cream!

The meatballs are pretty straight forward and in terms of technique there isn't really anything new here to begin with - you throw your mince and your flavour items into a bowl (in this case it was wholegrain mustard and basil, amongst other things), give it a really good mix and then shape the meatballs before throwing them into a frying pan to cook. When they're almost done you add pancetta to the pan and stick it in the oven - I honestly think this is the move that makes the whole dish. Pancetta is awesome for flavour and the oven cooking seems to crisp up the meatballs a little more. Delicious!

The meatball sandwiches are a great opportunity to let other people do the work - I chose to just throw everything on the table and let our guests build their own sandwich. This way everyone got more of the bits they loved and less of the stuff they didn't want. Swiss cheese, pancetta, meatballs, cabbage salad and chopped salad - everyone had a different combination on their plate. The cabbage salad was really lovely, so much flavour and so much purple! It gives a really refreshing edge to what otherwise might have been quite a heavy sandwich. The chopped salad was super simple but was really fresh and tasty. It is made just the way that it sounds - you chop stuff, and turn it into a salad. Simple!

And to finish it all off, banana ice cream! It is delicious, I can't wait to make this one again and experiment with some other fruits for flavour. Some of the bananas weren't quite ripe enough so it did give the ice cream a bit of a sharp taste, but it was so creamy and lovely nobody seemed to notice. Add to that the yummy shortbread sugar biscuits and it was just a really yummy dessert! It really didn't take much effort to make the dessert, except for the fact that my blender decided it didn't want to chop frozen banana. If not for that this dessert would have been ready in about two minutes flat (with the bananas being frozen in advance, that is!). 

So there it is, meal number 40. We're on the home stretch now, with only ten delicious meals to go! Next week is the one meal we have not been looking forward to - out of the whole book, just one meal we really didn't want to have a crack at! It is Liver & Bacon, Onion Gravy, Smashed Potato, Dressed Green and Berry & Custard Ripple. We have come to the conclusion that subbing out the liver and subbing in some lovely lamb backstrap is the way to go. Because even though I am game enough to try lots of foods that are unfamiliar, and I have been told by many that liver is just so wonderful and delicious, I find it really hard to believe those people when liver doesn't make a common appearance on their home menus. So I'm saying no to the organ meat and saying yes to substitution! Hooray!

Til next time - Bon Appetit!

The Thirty-Nine Steps

Yet another lovely week has come and gone And I am proud to announce that this week was both delicious and disaster free! We had the great pleasure of devouring Steak Indian-Style, Spinach & Paneer Salad, Naan Breads and Mango Dessert. It was a really lovely, fresh combination of dishes this week  - complemented perfectly by good wine and even better company! Here is how we pulled it off...

First up, the steak. Once again, the beef was treated to some love and care before we cooked it up. It had about a half hour to marinate in some jalfrezi paste (yummy indian curry paste) and soak up all of that flavour. Then it was as simple as throwing it into a hot pan, cooking it til it was just right and then letting it have a little rest on the board before we styled it up and served it at the table. The flavour is so wonderful - it doesn't become to overbearing on the meat, it just permeates it nicely and gives it a little bit of a kick. I only wish we had marinated it earlier, I can't even imagine how yummy it would be if it'd had a day to really take on the indian flavours.

The salad was a lovely, interesting mix. When DH and I first saw the paneer on the list of ingredients we both looked at each other a little confused and went back to old faithful (google!) for some answers. As expected, it is similar to halloumi in that it is a solid cheese and doesn't melt down too much when you cook it - and it is pretty yummy too! It was a fairly basic salad - a mix of greens, carrot, alfalfa sprouts and a dressing of lemon juice. Fresh, simple, fuss-free and yum!

The meal was served with little sides - including a simple curry sauce made from jalfrezi paste and some coconut milk, some naan breads we toasted in the oven and a yoghurt tip, in case the flavours got too overwhelming. They were only small accents to the meal but they really helped to make the plate feel full and the meal more satisfying and complex. So basically, what I have learned from this is - if the table/plate  is looking a little bare, fluff it up with some dip bowls, bread, dressings and anything else you could pass off as part of the meal!

The mango dessert was dead easy and the perfect sweet, fresh end to the meal. By the time you've chowed through all the steak, bread and salad you don't really need a lot more to eat so having a small portion of mango, sweetened with some icing sugar and flavoured with some mint and lime juice, was all you could ask for. The most exciting part of the dessert was that it is officially mango season again and they are popping up in supermarkets and fruit shops everywhere - so this dish was just a lovely little reminder that the warmer weather is approaching and summer is just around the corner. Bliss!

Next week looks like the perfect blokey dish. And though I am not a bloke, I do intend to enjoy it immensely. We're looking at Meatball Sandwich, Pickled Cabbage, Chopped Salad and Banana Ice Cream - and I am absolutely looking forward to it!

Til next week - Bon Appetit!

.38 Special

Welcome back for week 38! This time around we enjoyed Super-Fast Beef Hash, Jacket Potatoes, Goddess Salad and Lovely Butter Beans & Bacon. It was actually a completely perfect meal all round, it fit the weather, the mood and it was absolutely delicious - not a complaint all night!

It was such a rainy, miserable day and it was at the end of a truly exhausting week - needless to say we were all really tired and a bit in need of some comfort (or comfort food!). It had bucketed so badly that in the 100m dash from the front of my building to the car I managed to destroy a pair of shoes and have my entire front completely soaked. Then off to the supermarket - naturally, the rain had driven everyone indoors so the parking was a nightmare, but thank goodness for small cars - I managed to duck and weave my way around the carpark and snag one right near the front door! Everything was dead easy to collect this week too - everything you need is right there in the supermarket. As much as I love going to the deli and wandering through the markets, some days you just want to get in, buy your stuff and get right back out. And I got to do that this week!

The goddess salad is really yummy - the dressing is sort of odd when you make it, it comes up really creamy and thick, but it tastes awesome. I recommend this one! It was a dead simple salad with a really outstanding dressing - what more could you want? The potatoes were easy as well, a quick boil in the microwave before setting them in the oven to crisp up and bake through. And despite all my most careful efforts to turn them over gently with a pair of tongs, I STILL managed to burn my hand! But for those potatoes, I think it was worth it.

The beef hash is soooo yummy. I'm a little hungry just thinking about it now. It is satisfying and warming and full of good stuff - a nice mixture of veg, beef and flavours. I can't see anyone taking offence at this dish to be honest, it is just a really simple, really yummy, really comforting beef dish. Any more comforting and it would have been stew! It smells so lovely while it is bubbling away on the stove, the whole house had a delicious aroma that left you craving dinner. And given that I was in such a mad rush to eat it by the time it hit the table, I completely forgot to take any photographs. Sorry!! But trust me, it wasn't a lot to look at anyway!

The butter beans were by far my most favourite part of the meal. They just taste sooooo good! They were really simple to make, it was as easy as throwing a few things into a frying pan (namely bacon, butter beans, tomatoes and red wine vinegar) and letting all those awesome flavours work their magic. It smells great while it is cooking, it tastes absolutely amazing (especially if you're a bacon lover, as I happen to be) and it was another lovely, comforting side to this beautiful winters meal.

And there it is, another week gone by and another delicious meal absolutely devoured by DH, myself and my family. It was the perfect end to a cold, rainy day. We all went to bed with full bellies and a nice warm fuzzy feeling that night. Perfect for a winter meal, or just the next rainy day! And next week we are trying out the Steak Indian-Style, Spinach & Paneer Salad, Naan Breads and Mango Dessert. Can't wait, it looks amazing! And we get to share the meal with another person who is new to the challenge night experience (but not new to the leftovers!).

Til then - Bon Appetit!