Pilaf

We were having dinner with mum the night before her big trip to Africa, so I wanted something light, quick and filling. Pilaf!

For those who don't know, pilaf is basically a rice dish cooked in a flavoured broth - hence its ability to be transformed according to what flavours one adds to it! A pilaf can be made in so many different varieties, with so many different tastes, but we have a couple of favourites. This one, first cooked many many years ago when we lived up in the big smoke, is not a regular one, but it is tasty.

To make this pilaf I simply browned a red onion with carrot and chorizo sausage for several minutes. To that, I added garlic, chilli, ground cumin and chopped coriander root and cooked this mix for several more minutes. In goes the rice, which is stirred to make sure that all the rice grains are covered in the seasonings, then hot stock is poured in. Boil it, then bake it for 30 minutes and you're good to go! 

As is my wont I served it with some steamed broccoli and steamed green beans 

lunch w Ms Maxam

My friend came for lunch on Thursday. It was quite a treat as we don't get too many visitors down in our resort town, and also I haven't seen Ms Maxam for quite a while! She has been a keen follower of this blog and comments regularly, so I felt like I wanted to cook something for her.

A light lunch was in order because we're both fairly conscious of fat content, and also we were planning a beach walk after lunch! Mmmmm, so many factors to consider.

Well firstly I made some focaccia again! The last bake was such a success that I felt sure I could replicate it. So.... I made them (I didn't halve the recipe this time so ended up with 2 loaves),  but as I was kneading the dough I realized I had forgotten to add the small amount of sugar required to the yeast. No wonder it wasn't bubbling like last time, those poor little yeast molecules had nothing to feast upon!
I had to keep going as it was far too late to do anything about it now. I left the dough to prove for an hour and it did rise, so I was thinking it all might be OK! It *was* OK too!
As last time, I sprinkled some salt, basil, oregano & chili flakes on top of the uncooked bread to add a touch of pizazz to the finished bread!
The bread cooked beautifully and the only thing I noticed was that there weren't as many focaccia type bubbles in the bread this time. It was more loaf than focaccia perhaps.

We ate both loaves though ;-)

I whipped up a 'tomato and ricotta tart' for the lunch too. I made a few renovations to this recipe... I had a little feta left in the fridge so I mixed it in with a low fat ricotta. Also the recipe asked for puff pastry, but I used a few sheets of filo instead. I know one is supposed to layer filo pastry with melted butter, but I just gave each layer a quick spray of canola oil instead. It clearly was a bit crunchier than it should be, but far less oily!
Next time I make this tart though, I would add a little more zing to the ricotta mix. I felt it lacked a little something, although Ms Maxam and H'o'M disagreed with me.
I served the tart with a green salad consisting of lettuce mix, avocado, cucumber and broccoli drizzled with some balsamic vinegar and lime oil mix.

I think we ate well ;-)

Mussel Soup

I did it, I finally made the ginger and mussel soup from Donna's Magazine!

A few issues along the way...
         firstly I had or remember how to clean mussels properly - it's clearly been a long time since that seafood course in London ;-) Once I had all the beards pulled out - remember people, it's a quick tug down, not up or the whole mussel comes out too - I scrubbed those little suckers well and they were ready for the stock pot!

I sautéd me some ginger, garlic and onion then added the mussels to steam in some fish stock and coconut milk. Add some chili and coriander and served 'em up!

Sadly, as with many of these quick soups of Donna's, it was not a resounding success. The stock just hadn't had time to develop any flavours and so tastes like a nonblended mix of the various ingredients! The mussels were good though - very fresh from the local area - and we ate them all!

 but the broth.... not so much!

No photos

I did make a quite a few meals this weekend - it's amazing just how hungry study can make a person ;-)


Breakfasts were easy, we had pancakes for two of the three mornings - these were eaten with strawberries for those who like them, maple syrup and ice cream. Perfect! The other morning cereal, porridge and toast were on the menu!


For lunch one day I served scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, my home made baked beans, and chopped tomato. Served with lots of toasted baguette!
Another day we had 'Jo's Mediterranean chicken wraps'. These consisted of some chicken breast cut into strips and dredged in flour and some dried herbs...basil, oregano, thyme... and pepper and salt. There was a variety of fixin's on the table to add to the chicken, including lettuce, cheese, tomato, cucumber, mayo, and beetroot.
For lunch today I made some of 'Jo's minestrone soup'. This is the easiest and often the tastiest of soups really. It is just a matter of chopping up every left over vegetable in the bottom of the fridge and cooking it in some stock, tinned tomatoes, dried herbs, and throwing in some pasta towards the end. Today's variation had zucchini, capsicum, onion, garlic, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, leek, sweet potato, tinned lentils and pumpkin. Basically everything in the fridge!
I served it with some dense wholemeal, seeded bread and a dollop of pesto on the top for those interested!


Along with the paella, for dinners we ate homemade pizza one night, and the other was a really tasty spagheti and meatballs. The taste of this meal was really all in the meatballs as the sauce was very basic - the only ingredients being tomatoes, fresh basil and chilli.
To make the meatballs though I mixed the beef with dried red chillies, ground cinnamon, grated nutmeg, garlic salt, black pepper, egg, Parmesan and lemon zest. It all worked out really well and of course I got the fun of squishing all the ingredients together with my hands. So tasty was this dish in fact that my S-i-l wants the recipe! 


Of course what would a weekend away be if there were no sweet thing on hand. I made the 'never fail chocolate cake' again - but this time in muffin size. I also made some choc chip biscuits using both dark and white choc chips, and an apple crumble!  


There was a request for yo-yos this morning. Mmmmm, the last time I made these biscuits 6 years ago they were a disaster and I clearly am still bearing the scars as I have never tried them again! What else can one do though...can't disappoint a niece! 
I went straight to Donna - not the winter magazine - and she didn't let me down! My yo-yos were *very* rustic looking, but they tasted fine! 

Alright I do have one photo. These are the left over sweet things I was taking over to mum after the visitors left. Sorry ;-)

Paella

We had some visitors staying this weekend - Rachie and Lestie came back to OG for a study break this weekend.  I made a few meals - naturally - but forgot to take photos of them all weekend. Until last night. Then I remembered ;-)

Now this is by no means a classic paella, but a mixture of many recipes that through trial and error I have found suits our taste buds best.  

As is my wont, I chopped up all the ingredients before hand! I use red onion and garlic - of course - and then brown some Spanish chorizo and chicken - a mixture of both breast and thighs works well I have found.

For the spices I use both cayenne pepper and paprika. There are quite a number of different paprikas around in the markets, but I use either a sweet paprika or the smoked one, having good results with both.    

For the vegetable component of the paella I add some green beans and red capsicum - for a better impact in terms of colour, the green one would maybe be a better choice though.
I couldn't find any specific paella rice in our little market here in OG, but arborio rice, which is available everywhere, is fine! I add enough stock - with a pinch of saffron - to cook the rice and also a tin of chopped tomatoes!  

A few minutes before the rice is cooked I add a tin of drained butter beans and some green prawns! I've discovered in a dish like this it is always of benefit to leave the tails attached to the prawns. It just creates a built in handle to assist in eating said prawn - and looks pretty too ;-)

At the very end I stir through a couple of handfuls of chopped coriander and serve it with some slices of lemon!

As I was making the paella for 4 people last night I had to use 2 pans - once again I miss the size and convenience of my Le Cruseut dishes! It added a little extra maneuvering to the cooking process to cook in separate pans, but I managed. I just had to keep switching the pans between the big 'wok burner' and the regular pan size burner, and make sure the rice in both pans was cooked through.



The end result looked like this ;-)