Tag: Home

15 Minute Monday – Creamy Mushroom Sauce

3 Comments

Creamy Mushroom Sauce

I love mushrooms, I can’t get enough of them – breakfast, lunch or dinner – they are a welcome inclusion to any meal. I especially love mushroom sauce/gravy, the pub kind is particularly delicious atop a perfectly cooked steak. Without heading out the pub every time I wanted this and to cut out unneeded  additives

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs of olive oil
  • 1 tsp of crushed garlic
  • 1 cup of thinly sliced brown mushrooms
  • 150ml of lite thickened cream – you can add more if you like it extra saucy
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Heat olive oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat, add garlic and stir until fragrant.
  2. Add mushrooms and stir to coat and allow to brown slightly, approx. 2 minutes. Pop a lid on the pan and allow the mushrooms to soften and appear golden, approximately 4 minutes, stirring to ensure they don’t burn or stick.
  3. Remove lid, season with salt and pepper, add cream and stir until the cream reduces slightly or you can’t resist eating it!.

Best served atop a medium-rare steak, steamed greens and my delicious white bean and chickpea ‘mash’.

Enjoy xx

 

Related articles
Advertisement

Three Berry Cocktail Swizzles

3 Comments

Three Berry Cocktail Swizzles

Add a Three Berry Cocktail Swizzle to your summer beverages for a delicious and cooling treat. Use lemonade for kids or add some sparkling wine or gin for the big kids.

Ingredients

  • 1 packet of Season’s Choice Three Berry Mix
  • 1 bottle of lemonade or sparkling wine
  • 1 bunch of fresh mint
  • Ice cubes, to serve

Method

  1. Remove the lower leaves from the fresh mint stalks leaving the top leaves intact.
  2. Make a hole in the centre of each berry using a wooden skewer and carefully tread each berry on to the mint stalk, using the blueberries as the last berry to form a stopper.
  3. Place in a glass, top with lemonade or wine and an ice cube if desired. Serve.
Related articles

15 Minute Monday – White Bean and Chickpea Mash

5 Comments

White Bean and Chickpea Mash

White bean and chickpea ‘mash’ is the perfect accompaniment to steak and veggies or as a side for Christmas roasts. This garlicky, lemony, ultra-fabulous, utterly addictive bean mash is a wonderful substitute for those looking to kick potatoes.

Ingredients

  • 1 can of white beans – drained
  • 1 can of chickpeas – drained
  • 1 tsp of dried rosemary
  • 1 tbs of crushed garlic
  • 1/4 cup of olive oil
  • 1/4 cup of lite thickened cream
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Heat olive oil in a small pot over a medium heat. Add garlic and rosemary and cook, stirring until fragrant.
  2. Add white beans, chickpeas and lemon juice to the pan and allow to cook, stirring for 3-5 minutes or until warmed through.
  3. Add cream to the beans and use a potato masher or fork to roughly mash/squish the beans.
  4. Season with salt and pepper and serve!

Enjoy xx

Related articles

Cherry and Yoghurt Ice Cream

11 Comments

Cherry and yogurt ice cream

Living in the cherry capital of Australia, Young NSW, means that come summer we are inundated with delicious cherries. In fact there are more cherries than I can eat! I use them in recipes, eat them plain and make pot, after pot of jam but this year I thought I would try something different and make a deliciously refreshing cherry and yoghurt ‘ice cream’.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of fresh pitted cherries – finely chopped
  • 1 cup of natural honey yoghurt
  • 300ml of thickened cream
  • 1/4 cup of caster sugar
  • 1 tsp of vanilla essence

Method

  1. Combine the all ingredients in a bowl and gently fold until mixture is just combined.
  2. Pour into a shallow metal container. Cover with foil and place in the freezer for 4 hours or until almost set.
  3. Use a large metal spoon to roughly break up the ice-cream. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and use an electric beater to beat until smooth.
  4. Quickly return mixture to the metal container. Cover with foil and freeze for another 4 hours or until firm.
  5. Scoop into bowls and serve immediately.

Enjoy xx

Related articles

Beef Kofta

Leave a comment

Beef Kofta

Ingredients

  • 500g premium beef mince
  • 1 brown onion – finely diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic – minced
  • 1/2 cup of loosely packed coriander leaves – roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp of dried ground onion
  • 1 tsp of dried ground garlic – I like garlic
  • Freshly ground salt and pepper – to taste, about 1/2 tsp each

Method

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Shape mixture into small football shaped sausages – you should get about 15-20 per 500g of mince.
  3. BBQ, grill or pan fry until cooked.
  4. Serve with salad, pita bread, natural yogurt and lemon wedges.

Enjoy!

Related articles

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Crisps

7 Comments

shutterstock_116273602

Step away from the Kettle Crisps, put down the Doritos and whip up a batch of these homemade sweet potato crisps! They are the perfect snack food and what’s best – you know exactly what goes into them! Eaten stuffed into your mouth by the hand full or served with dip they will disappear in a flash.

Ingredients

  • 1 large sweet potato – peeled and very thinly sliced. Use a mandolin to slice them if you have one and are confident you won’t slice your fingers off. The thinner the slices, the crisper your crisps!
  • 1 tbs of olive oil – don’t give into temptation and add too much oil. You are trying to dry out the sweet potato not fry it
  • A sprinkle of cumin, sweet paprika and freshly ground sea salt

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 200C.
  2. Toss the sweet potato slices in oil and season with cumin, paprika and fresh sea salt.
  3. Arrange in single layers on lined baking trays and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turning halfway through, or until crisp and golden.

Tip: add an extra sprinkle of dried herbs and spices like rosemary and garlic or smoked paprika and chilli for a flavour hit!

Enjoy!

Related articles

Spiced Chicken Wings

4 Comments
Image: Australian Gourmet Traveller

Image: Australian Gourmet Traveller

With Footy Finals Fever in full swing one thing I know everyone can agree on is the need for something delicious to munch on while you cheer your team onto glory! With that in mind, one of my all-time favourite finger foods would have to be chicken wings. They can be cooked a thousand ways, eaten with your hands and downed between sips.

Without further ado let me introduce to you one of the most deliciously, devilish chicken wing recipes I know – Spiced Chicken Wings with Roast Garlic and Chipotle Sauce.

Ingredients – Wings

  • 400 ml buttermilk
  • 1 tbsp each smoked sweet paprika, ground coriander, ground cumin, ground garlic and ground onion
  • 2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Finely grated rind of 1 lime
  • 1 kg chicken wings, jointed

Ingredients – Roast Garlic and Chipotle Sauce

  • 1 head of garlic
  • 3 vine-ripened tomatoes, halved
  • 1 Spanish onion, cut into wedges
  • 2 chipotle chillies in adobo  – available from delicatessens
  • To serve: juice of 1 lime, or to taste, plus wedges
  • Pinch of caster sugar

Method:

  1. Whisk buttermilk, spices, oil and lime rind in a bowl, season to taste, add wings, stir to coat and transfer to a non-reactive container. Cover and refrigerate overnight to marinate.
  2. For roast garlic and chipotle salsa, preheat oven to 180C. Wrap garlic in foil, roast until tender (40-50 minutes), cool slightly, squeeze flesh from skin and set aside. Meanwhile, place tomatoes cut-side down on an oven tray lined with baking paper, add onion, drizzle with oil, season to taste and roast until tender (35-45 minutes). Cool, peel tomatoes, process in a food processor with remaining ingredients to a thick sauce, season to taste and set aside.
  3. Preheat a barbecue or char-grill to medium-high. Drain wings and grill, turning occasionally, until golden and cooked through (8-10 minutes). Season to taste and serve hot with salsa and lime wedges.

Best served with a Rose, pear cider or icy cold beer!

Enjoy! Oh and go Freemantle!

Related articles

Shine On Award

23 Comments

Shine on Award

What a lovely surprise this morning to wake up and discover that the amazing Novice Gardener has awarded me the Shine On Award for my blog. Could there be a better way to get through hump-day?! It is so nice to receive recognition from fellow bloggers for the love we put into our posts. Every time I create a post I hope that someone will try my recipe, like my photos and enjoy my musings. Receiving this is recognition that people do enjoy my contribution to the crowded world of blogging and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It is with extreme gratitude and pleasure that I thank  The Novice Gardener for my award and accept my “Shine On Award”.

The rules of the award are as follows:

  1. Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.
  2. Acknowledge the nominating blogger on your blog and provide a link back to their blog.
  3. Share seven random and interesting things about yourself.
  4. Nominate up to 15 bloggers for the Shine On Award, provide a link to their blogs in your post and notify them on their blogs.

Shine On Award – seven random facts about me

  1. I have clavicaphobia – it is the irrational, and believe me I know it is irrational, fear of seeing or touching collar bones. I am even eeked out thinking about them to type this…
  2. I am allergic to ginger.
  3. I like every food expect for squash. I will eat them, but I don’t enjoy them.
  4. My favourite flavour pairings to accompany chocolate is mint and coconut, not together though I am sure it would be tasty.
  5. My comfort food is salmon mornay. When I was little and unwell my Mother would make this for me and now everytime I am sick the only thing that will make me feel better is salmon mornay – with the exception of chicken soup.
  6. On separate occasions I have broken both my elbows.
  7. I have a labradoodle called Bronte who is my pseudo child. She is about 30KG, she acts like a cat and she thinks she is a human. I love her. She is black, has curly hair that blows in the wind and a ginger beard.

Shine On Award – nominees – alphabetical order

  1. Around the World in 365
  2. Cause Baking Makes Me Happy
  3. Cooking as a Hobby
  4. The Crafty Cook Nook
  5. Dish ‘n’ The Kitchen
  6. The Greedy Archive
  7. Keep Calm and Eat On
  8. Kitchen Art
  9. Laura’s Mess
  10. Nancy Creative
  11. Of Pots and Pens
  12. Sugar and Cinnamon
  13. Talk and Spoon
  14. Tea with Erika
  15. The Shine Blog

Thank you again to The Novice Gardener for my award and I hope that all the nominees enjoy the award as much as I have!

xx

Shine On Award

Shine On Award – Official Image

Related articles

15 Minute Monday – Asian Steamed Sea Bream

Leave a comment

Image: delicious. - October 2012, Page 46. Photographer: Ben Dearnley.

 

Asian steamed sea bream with spring onion and ginger uses the bright flavours of Asia to make this fast, fresh midweek dinner irresistible!

Ingredients

  • 2 x 150g bream fillets
  • 2 tbs light soy sauce
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp caster sugar
  • 1 tbs rice vinegar
  • 3cm piece ginger, finely shredded
  • 1 each long red and green chilli, seeds removed, thinly sliced
  • 6 spring onions, finely shredded
  • Coriander leaves and steamed rice, to serve

Method

  1. Place a plate inside a bamboo steamer and lay the fish, skin-side down, on the plate. Place the soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and vinegar in a bowl and stir to combine, then pour over the fish. Scatter the ginger, chilli and half the spring onion over the fish. Set the steamer over a large saucepan or wok of simmering water and cover with the lid. Steam for 6 minutes or until the fish is opaque and just cooked.
  2. Garnish the fish with coriander and remaining spring onion, then drizzle over the cooking juices and serve with rice.

Enjoy!

Related articles

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread / Homemade Nutella

5 Comments

shutterstock_134121146

This recipe goes out to all the Nutella lovers out there… and I know there are a few including my very own sister-in-law who eats it by the spoonful! Today I’m excited to share with you a recipe for Chocolate and Hazelnut spread or.. homemade Nutella. I’m just going to jump straight into this one, because if you’re like me, the only thing running through your head right now is “Om nom nom nom”…..

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of raw hazelnuts
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1/2 cup of icing sugar
  • 1/4 tsp of salt
  • 1/4 of cocoa
  • 4 tbs of coconut oil

Method

  • Preheat oven to 220C and roast hazelnuts for 8-10 minutes until golden.
  • Place the hazelnuts in a teatowel and rub together to remove the skins, it’s okay if some stubbon skins won’t budge.
  • Place hazelnuts in the food processor and blend continuously until a smooth butter forms (around 3 minutes).
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and continue blending until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
  • Sit back and omm nom nom nom………

TIP: Add extra hazelnuts on top for extra noming crunch.

This will last in the fridge of up to two weeks, probably longer if it’s not eaten on the first day but best to err on the side of caution.

Enjoy!

Related articles