Do you like chilli?

These are the chillies that hang above the bench in my parents' kitchen. Every single one of them was grown in the backyard, but as they can't eat them as quickly as they grow, they are sewn onto a string and hung in the kitchen to dry. Don't they look awesome?!

The 2nd Annual Sydney Chicken Christmas Dinner

Every year for the past 12 years, a friend of ours has thrown a Christmas party. It is a major event on our calendar, about 30 of us get together and spend the afternoon/night eating, drinking and being merry.

When we moved to Sydney last year, we were the 3rd couple from our group living here. Work commitments meant that none of us would make it to Melbourne for the annual, and seeing it was the first Christmas in Sydney for both Sis and MJ, and BF and I, the 6 of us decided to start our own Sydney tradition.
You would think that between Sis and I, we would work at whipping up a big fancy feast, but no. The other couple, SteveKat, were moving back to Melbourne just before Christmas, and MJ had been raving about this amazing chicken takeaway that he and Sis had found just near their house. Boys being boys, Steve decided that he MUST try said chicken before leaving Sydney. Thus, The Sydney Chicken Christmas Dinner was born.

This year, there were just the four of us, and Sampson (Sis' cat!). After the craziness of December, it is nice to just relax with some good takeaway, a beer or two, a bottle of wine, and good company.
I know, you want to know about the food - barbeque chicken, hot chips, tabouli, toum and chilli sauce. MJ always makes sure to get extra toum and chilli sauce because we eat so much of it! Toum is a deliciously creamy garlic sauce made mostly from garlic and oil, is very pungent and addictive. A rather modest spread for Christmas, but a new tradition. It also means that by the time we all make it to Melbourne (I fly tonight!) that we have not overdone the Christmas foods early.

Sampson getting into the spirit

I'm off to finish packing now - wishing you all a very Merry Christmas full of laughter, fun and food!

Fresh Parpadelle with Rabbit, Olives and Marjoram

Below was the starter, so now on to main! I had been wanting to cook this dish for a while, but as a whole rabbit costs around $25, I wanted to cook it for more than just the two of us. So this dish was the plat du jour for our dinner with Sis and MJ.

As it is now summer, a lot of butchers do not have rabbits readily on hand. However, if you call a day in advance, the lovely boys at Hudson Meats will get one in for you and prepare it as you request. For this dish, I had the rabbit jointed (8 pieces).

Now for my grumbles. Part way through cooking, I noticed that it looked absolutely nothing like the picture in the book. Normally this isn't such a worry, but my concern was that my dish was completely the wrong colour. The photo in the book shows the sauce as having a red-ish tinge, and also there are flecks of what looks like chilli. As you can see in my picture, there is no red in sight. I read, re-read and then read it again. There are absolutely no red ingredients in either the ingredients list or mentioned in the method. Unconvinced, I then made Sis double check. She agreed with me, I grumbled some more, then finished cooking. Our thought is possibly that the recipe should have called for red wine instead of white?

As for the fresh parpadelle, upon tasting this, MJ proclaimed it the best pasta ever. He went as far to say that it craps all over the pasta that he makes at home, and that it was even better than the pasta we ate at A Tavola in July. And they make some very awesome pasta. Yay to me! All my practice making fresh pasta is paying off - this was definitely the best batch I have made. I made this dough a little wetter than usual (by adding extra egg yolks one at a time until I was happy with the dough), kneaded it a bit more than usual, and then stored the whole sheets in the fridge separated by baking paper until I was ready to cook it.

This recipe is best started the day before, to allow the meat to marinate longer, but you could marinate it for as little as 4 hours if in a pinch.

Sis learning to use the manual focus lens

Marinade
small bunch of thyme, leaves picked
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled and squashed
zest of 1 lemon
olive oil
1 rabbit, jointed

Mix the above ingredients together and rub them onto your rabbit pieces. Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight.
To cook the rabbit
olive oil
knob of butter
few sprigs thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 bottle white wine

On the serving day - preheat the oven to 180C. In a large, oven proof saucepan, heat a splash of olive oil with the knob of butter. Season the rabbit, add it to the pan and brown the pieces until golden. Add the thyme, rosemary and garlic, stir, then pour in the wine - it should just cover the meat (use more or less as necessary). Put the lid on, place in the oven, and cook for around 2 hours, or until the meat pulls easily away from the bone. When cooked, remove from the oven and allow meat to cool.

Whilst the rabbit is cooking, make your pasta.

Sauce
small handful good quality green olives, stoned and roughly chopped
bunch fresh marjoram, leaves picked
freshly grated parmesan cheese
zest of half a lemon
knob of butter

When the meat has cooled, use your hands to shred it away from the bones. Discard the bones. Remove the garlic, rosemary and thyme from the pan, then put the pan on the heat to reduce the cooking liquid until slightly thickened. Turn down to low, and stir in the rabbit meat, olives and marjoram.

Cook your pasta in plenty of boiling salted water. Drain, reserving a little of the cooking water. Turn up the heat under the sauce, add the pasta and check for seasoning. Turn the heat off, add the butter and a handful of parmesan, and stir through. Quickly add the lemon zest, and add some of the reserved cooking water if the sauce needs loosening. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's Cook with Jamie.

Spiced Smashed Chickpeas

I have made this a few times now and it always goes down well. This time I made it as a light starter when I made dinner for Sis and MJ. I was making fresh pasta for main (again - I love it!), so I didn't want to serve an entree. Instead I made this and also some almonds which I panfried in a little olive oil and then tossed with some sea salt and dried chilli. They were awesome - so good that we ate them all before I realised that I hadn't gotten a photo!

This recipe is disgustingly easy. If you have a large morter and pestle, you can fit the whole lot in there, just add the chickpeas a little at a time to avoid them flying across the room! If you only have a small one, then you will need to smash them in batches. Alternatively, you lucky people with food processors could make it in there!
1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin powder
2 dried chillies
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil

Crush the garlic and chillies in a morter and pestle with a little salt. Add the chickpeas a bit at a time, crushing them before you add the next lot. Add in your cumin, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper, mash around a bit, then add olive oil to loosen a bit.

Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's The Return of the Naked Chef.

Fresh Pasta with a Ragu of Tiny Meatballs

This is a really easy dish to make - it doesn't take too long and it is very tasty. I made it one lazy Saturday afternoon at BF's request. And I'm very glad I did.

The original recipe calls for beef mince, but I noticed the butcher had a pork and veal mix, and thought that would be much tastier. This was the only change that I made, and I'm glad I did, as it made the dish that little bit more than just plain old spaghetti and meatballs.

First things first, make your fresh pasta (recipe here). Either hang it and allow to dry, or place uncut sheets onto baking paper and store in the fridge until ready to cook.

Meatballs
450g pork and veal mince
1 or 2 dried red chillies, crushed
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 egg
handful freshly grated parmesan
zest of 1 lemon
Mix all ingredients together with your hands. Shape into marble sized balls (I made mine a bit larger than this - lazy!) Place on a tray and put in the fridge.
Tomato Sauce
olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves picked and stalks chopped
1 fresh red chilli, whole and pierced with the tip of a knife
2 x 400g tins tomatoes
small swig red wine vinegar

Heat up a little olive oil in a pan, and fry the garlic, basil stalks and the whole chilli. Add the tomatoes and vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for about half an hour.

Extras
knob of butter
handful of freshly grated parmesan

Meanwhile, heat up a frying pan with a little olive oil, then add the meatballs. Cook until they are well coloured, then add them to the tomato sauce. Remove the chilli, and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.

When the meatballs are almost done, cook your pasta in a big pot of salted water for 2 or 3 minutes. Drain, add the pasta to the sauce along with the butter and parmesan. Tear over half the basil leaves and toss it all around. Serve topped with extra parmesan and the remaining basil leaves. Serves 4

Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's Cook With Jamie.

Warm Chorizo and Chickpea Salad

I have had a lovely weekend, with plenty of time for cooking. Blueberry pancakes for breakfast, home made pasta last night, banana bread in the oven filling the place with wonderful smells.

But most of the time, this is not what my life is like. Most days I don't want to spend a long time in the kitchen after work, because I would rather be wrapped in a blanket and asleep on the couch! This meal came from a night like that. I wanted to be in and out of the kitchen in the shortest possible time, but still eat something tasty and nutritious. The result? 10 minute chorizo salad!

This salad was literally just a combination of items that I had in my fridge/cupboard at the time. I don't quite remember how much of some of the things I used, but being a salad, measurements don't really matter! This makes enough for 2 hungry people, but if you aren't huge fans of chorizo, you should cut down to 1 sausage, as 2 is a quite meat heavy salad.

2 chorizo sausages, sliced
1 440g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 small block feta cheese
1 tomato
1 lebanese cucumber
1/2 red capsicum
1 small red shallot
rocket
red wine vinegar
olive oil

Heat a frying pan with a tiny amount of oil, and add the chorizo slices. Stir occasionally. Whilst cooking, slice shallot, and dice capsicum, cucumber and tomato. Put these in a mixing bowl.

When chorizo is starting to crisp up, add the chickpeas and stir to coat in the oil that has come out of the chorizo. Whilst the chickpeas are warming, make the dressing - 2 parts olive oil to 1 part red wine vinegar (or 3:1 if you like it a little less zingy).

Put the rocket on TOP of the other vegies, then pour the warm ingredients on top. This helps the rocket to wilt down just a touch. Add the dressing, season with salt and pepper and get your hands in to mix it all around.

Divide onto serving plates and crumble feta over the top. Enjoy!

High Tea at The Tea Rooms, QVB

I have said before that I don't usually take photos of food whilst I am eating out. High Tea was no exception. The food was delivered, we oohed and aahed, and then we tucked in. And halfway through the finger sandwiches, my sister whipped out the camera and decided to take some shots. Hmph. I sat back on my lounge, giggling, as I handmodelled for her with my teapot...
I'm getting ahead of myself. Earlier this week, I managed to burn a couple of fingers on my right hand pretty badly. Bad enough that the doctor gave me a week off work. I also have been struck with a nasty cough, reminiscent of the bronchitis I used to get often as a child. Whilst on the phone with Mum, filling her in on all my current afflictions, she decided to fly up to Sydney and pamper me for the week! Yay!
Sis and I hadn't seen Mum for a good 4 months or so, so as my cough was starting to ease up yesterday, we decided to take Mum sightseeing. Having not been to Sydney before, we showed her the Bridge, and the Opera House, and then went for a lazy wander through the Botanic Gardens.After working up an appetite, we decided to surprise Mum with High Tea. Sis and I had been wanting to try The Tea Rooms for a while, but had never gotten round to it, and thought this was the perfect excuse to do it on a whim. We were offered the choice of tables or lounges, and lounges were the unanimous choice. We sat, relaxed, I chose tea, the others received their glass of sparkling, and we waited for the food to arrive.

And so it goes... The food arrived, and we all tucked in to the finger sandwiches. There were smoked salmon, egg, and ham sandwiches, all done quite simply with not too much to mask the flavour of the main ingredient. The egg sandwiches were definitely my favourite, but how can you go past an egg sandwich? Halfway through them, Sis decided to take photos, so we had to do a bit of artful rearranging of the top tier of the stand to make it look full!!

The top tier also had tiny tarts of polenta and cheese - the waiter said it was blue cheese but Mum and I though it tasted more of Gruyere.
The bottom tier had small toasts topped with eggplant and chorizo - these were delicious and we all agreed that 6 more of these each would not go astray! Also on this tier were scones, 2 plain and 1 fruit scone. Sis and I allowed Mum the choice, both knowing deep down that we were about to miss out on the fruit one - it probably would have been both our first choice! The scones were just warm, a little too firm on the outside, and served with jam and cream. Mum always whips the cream when she makes us scones, so we were a little disappointed that the cream was runny. Also, they obviously recycle leftover cream from other tables, as ours arrived with little bits of someone else's scone in it! However, when pointed out, it was promptly replaced with a smile.
The middle tier was the most impressive looking. Tiny bite-sized sweets, five different varieties, and thankfully, enough of each that we didn't have to share any! With these, we sat back, relaxed and took our time. And we each had a different favourite. Sis enjoyed the passionfruit-cream filled cookies, Mum liked the orange and almond cake topped with lemon curd the best, and my favourite was the pistachio meringue stack. Also here were a pastry boat with cream and strawberry (the cream lacking in flavour) and a sponge filled with jam and custard topped with chocolate and coconut!

For the record, the tea I chose was called Keemun, and is described as a Chinese black tea with an aroma similar to rose or orchid. It was lovely, quite mild, but unfortunately my blocked nose didn't allow me to smell it properly!

All photos courtesy of my lovely sister.

The Tea Room, QVB
455 George St, Sydney

Traditional Afternoon Tea $32 (add $2 for tea for connoisseurs - I did!)
Sparkling Afternoon Tea $37 (same as above but with a glass of Australian Sparkling wine)

I'm back... with wonton noodle soup.

YAY! My partner, BF, found the camera cable last night! So I am back and have a backlog of pictures to blog about. I'm very happy, because I found I wasn't very inclined to taking photos of what I was cooking whilst I wasn't able to blog about them. So hopefully I will be back better than ever!

I've been waiting to share my wonton noodle soup for a while... and I couldn't do this one without photos. You see, I made a large batch of wontons a while ago, and popped the unused raw ones into the freezer to use at a later date. When I got them out a couple of weeks ago to use, I realised that I had packed them all into the same container, with nothing to separate them, not even a piece of baking paper. Result? One big block of frozen wonton!
There were more than I wanted to use for one meal, however, I was unable to separate them without partially defrosting them. And then when I did separate them, most of the wrappers broke, leaving the precious filling exposed. What to do? Use all of them and indulge in way too many wontons! (BF did not complain!)
Thankfully, when I cooked them, they stayed intact, and tasted just as good as usual. A lesson learnt though!

Wontons
You can put pretty much anything in wontons - prawns, crab, garlic, different sauces - these are the ones I make because they are quick and simple - and BF doesn't like prawns! The water chestnuts are important, as they provide crunch to an otherwise texturally unexciting mix.

1 pack wonton wrappers (found near the fresh pasta in the fridge section of the supermarket)
150g pork mince
2cm ginger, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
water chestnuts, chopped, add to taste
soy sauce, to taste
rice wine vinegar, to taste

Mix all ingredients (except wrappers) in bowl. Place small amount in centre of each wrapper, wet edges of wrapper with paper, and bring all sides together and pinch shut. Aim for the look of a money bag. Makes about 30.

Keep aside 6 per person and freeze the rest, separated by baking paper, for next time.
Chicken stock
2 chicken carcasses, washed under running water, any large bits of fat removed
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
1 large brown onion, roughly chopped
4 parsley stalks, all leaves removed (use stalks only)
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
5 whole black peppercorns

Place all items in a large pot and cover completely with COLD water. Bring to the boil, turn down to low simmer, and simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Skim off any fat or scum that rises to the surface and discard. Strain, and discard all solids. Stock can be frozen in small portions and defrosted when required. I usually make stock in large batches, so it is always on hand when needed.

Wonton Noodle Soup
2 blocks asian instant noodles (similar to 2 minute noodles)
1 carrot, sliced very thin
2 choy sum, base removed, washed thoroughly
10 snowpeas
2 chillies, sliced
2cm ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
12 wontons (recipe above)
chicken stock (recipe above)
soy sauce, to taste

Bring stock to a simmer in large pot. Cook noodles in stock according to packet instructions. Remove from stock and divide between serving bowls. Put wontons into stock and cook until floating and cooked through. Whilst wontons are cooking, arrange carrot, snowpeas and choy sum on top of noodles.
When wontons are cooked, place on top of noodles. Fill bowls with the stock, top with chilli and ginger, and serve with soy sauce so you can each add as much as you like! Serves 2.

Pork Ragu

This is the recipe for the sauce that I used on my fresh pasta below. I got this from my sister (do you notice a trend here?), and she got it from Karen Martini. My sister calls this "The best pasta in the world" when she teams it with home made pasta. I have to agree.

I have played around with it a little, the main reason being that I couldn't get hold of the pork and fennel sausages that the recipe asks for. I used plain Italian pork sausages in the end, but it would definitely be better with pork and fennel. Try to find sausages where the meat is still a little chunky (and not minced), it makes the final product so much more special. The other major change I made was to the amount of liquid added to the sauce - the original recipe asks for 750ml of red wine. Yes, a whole bottle. I couldn't bring myself to add that much, and after making it, think it turned out just fine with half the amount.

300g good quality Italian pork sausages
3 sprigs rosemary, leaves removed
3 sprigs thyme, leaves removed
1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp olive oil
2-3 red chillies, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
3 celery stalks, finely diced
1 1/2 onions, finely diced
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 bottle red wine
1 cup water
400g can diced tomatoes

Remove the skin from the sausages and crumble meat. Heat a heavy based pan, and cook sausage meat (with NO oil), stirring regularly until golden brown. Don't worry if it starts sticking. Add the oil and herbs, and stir for 1 minute, then add the chillies and vegetables and cook for 10 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to caramalise. Still don't worry about the sticking. Stir in the tomato paste, sugar, and season with salt and pepper.

Add the wine, and bring to a simmer. Now, scrape all of the yummy stuff that is stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the water and tomatoes, and simmer for 1 hour, or until the sauce is thick.

Serve over your awesome home made pasta with some freshly grated parmesan cheese and the rest of the red wine.

Recipe modified from Karen Martini.

Fresh Pasta - Yum!

I bought a pasta machine on Sunday, and immediately put it to good use. I have watched my mum make fresh pasta many times, but my job was usually to make a filling and then make the ravioli with it. So it is good fun now to make my own pasta. It is easy, cheap, and so so delicious.

I have seen many variations of pasta recipes... special types of flour, half flour - half semolina, so this one here is just what I find works for me. If you have a different way of making pasta, please let me know, I am happy to road test other ways!

300g plain flour (nothing fancy, just the usual stuff you have in the cupboard)
30g semolina
10ml oil
3 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
a pinch of salt
Sift the flour, semolina and salt directly onto your worktop. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into the well. Add the oil. Using your fingers, break the yolks and then work the eggs and oil into the flour. As the mix starts to come together, use your whole hand to scrunch the dough together. Once it has formed a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and pop into the fridge for 30 minutes.

Secure your pasta machine to the bench. Remove the pasta dough from the fridge and break into 3 or 4 pieces. Flatten out a little into a square shape. Starting with the widest setting on the machine, pass the dough through. The first few times the dough will be quite scruffy around the edges, so fold in half, turn 90 degrees and put through the machine rough edge first. Repeat this step until the edges are all coming out fairly square. (If you don't have a pasta machine, you can roll it by hand, however it can be difficult to get it thin enough. I got my pasta machine from House for only $39.95!)

Change the setting to the next width down, run the pasta through twice, then change the setting down again. Dust with a little flour if it is becoming sticky. Continue with this pattern of running the pasta twice through each setting until it has run through the thinnest setting. The pasta will have stretched to be much longer than first anticipated! Repeat for the rest of the dough.

I was making rough-cut pasta, so I then cut the pasta by hand. You could run it through the cutters on your pasta machine if you want more uniform pieces, but I quite like the fact that mine are all different size and shapes... it proves that it is home made!!
Hang the cut pasta over a coat hanger/rolling pin/broom handle if you are not cooking it immediately after cutting, otherwise it will stick together when you cook it.

Cook in plenty of well salted boiling water for about 2 minutes, and then stir through your favourite sauce and marvel at how easy it was to make!

Peas and Spinach with White Wine

This recipe is dead easy, takes about 6 minutes to make, and tastes brilliant. It is perfect for making whilst your roast is resting on the bench, as it stops the urge to carve the roast too early! (Is it just me that gets that urge? The smell of the roast is hard to resist!) I served it with the pork belly below.

2 spring onions, sliced
1 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 glass white wine
4 handfuls spinach
olive oil
butter (as much or as little as your hips can handle!)

Heat some oil and a knob of butter in a pot, and slowly fry the spring onions for a couple of minutes. Add the peas and cook for another couple of minutes, add the wine, bring to the boil and then simmer for a minute or two. Add the spinach, and turn over with tongs until the spinach is wilted. Add another knob of butter, season and serve.

Recipe from Jamie Oliver's The Return of the Naked Chef.

Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Baked Apples and Onions (Oh my!)

I first saw this on stonesoup, and originally asked my sister to cook it for me next time I was to visit. You see, she is the much better cook when it comes to all those slow cooked, hearty comfort foods. And her oven has temperature settings.

Then came the first Saturday of Spring. I had plans to get up early and head to the Grower's Markets... but mother nature had other plans. It was just raining so much that day that I rolled over and went back to sleep. Click here to see what a much braver foodie discovered by braving the rain that day!

So what else to do on a really rainy stay inside day? Slow cooked roast of course! I huddled under my umbrella to go to the butcher (admittedly the only time I stepped outside all day!) and buy my first ever pork belly. I had the butcher score the skin, remove all bones, and he also cut a pocket into the inside of the belly so that my stuffing wouldn't fall out when I rolled it up. He was then nice enough to supply some kitchen string for trussing as well.

Home again, and I attempted to not ruin this beautiful piece of meat. The first step was to roast some garlic in it's skin... and I promptly managed to explode a clove in my oven. And I mean explode - it must have burst into a million tiny pieces. Note to self - cut small slit in garlic skin before roasting! 30 mins of oven cooling and scrubbing later (my kitchen is tiny, and the oven is in an awkward place for cleaning - especially when hot), I was ready to go again.
I stuffed, trussed, oiled and salted the belly, sliced the onion and into the oven it went. The recipe says to start with the oven at 250C then reduce to 160C. Now, since I have no oven markings, the only exact temperature I am able to get is 200C (straight down) and I have almost figured out 180C (bake much?) Everything seemed to be going along nicely, until I realised that I had waited too long to put my potatoes in the oven. Of course, 160C is pretty low for roasting potatoes, so they would need longer than usual, but I hadn't factored this in.

And then there was the blackened burnt stuff on the bottom of the pan that was supposed to be cooking juices. I was hoping to use these to make a quick sauce whilst the meat was resting, but no, there was no juice to be seen.

Aside from this, (and the slightly underdone potatoes) this turned out to be a perfect rainy day dinner. I will admit to eating WAY too much, but being very glad for it! I served it with spinach and peas cooked with white wine, which I will post the recipe of later.
Visit the stonesoup for the recipe and a lot of drool-worthy photos.

Balsamic Glazed Dutch Carrots

Mmm... baby carrots. These are one of my favourite things to pick up at grower's markets. They are sweeter than large carrots and look so much nicer when served.

I made these quite a while ago, and just kind of threw bits and pieces together, so will try and put some measurements in for you - just adjust the amount of sugar depending on how sweet you like your savoury dishes. I just add a little, taste, add a bit more, taste... the same process you use when seasoning with salt.

1 bunch dutch carrots
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 -2 tbsp brown sugar
good knob of butter
fresh thyme

Peel the carrots and remove most of the stem, leaving about 1cm intact (it looks prettier this way!). Simmer very gently in a pot of salted water until tender but not mushy. If you boil them, you risk the outside being overcooked before the inside is ready.

Put balsamic vinegar in a shallow saucepan and bring to boil. Continue cooking until the vinegar has reduced by about half. Add brown sugar to taste, and stir until dissolved. Add a good knob of butter and stir until smooth.

Drain carrots, and coat with the vinegar mix and some fresh thyme leaves. Season and serve with your favourite Sunday roast!

Bill's Spicy Fried Chicken

When my partner told me he wanted to cook me this for dinner I was in two minds. Firstly, he doesn't cook very often, so I was excited and wanted to support him in his endeavour. But secondly, the title of the recipe includes the word fried. This usually is enough to stop me from cooking a recipe at home, as I usually try to reserve my fat intake for desserts/cakes/cookies etc! I was also apprehensive as my partner doesn't like to cook chicken that contains bones (after an unfortunate incident in which he served his parents undercooked chook!) and I feared that fried chicken breast would be dry and tough. Bill swears in his book that poaching the chicken in coconut milk before frying keeps the chicken moist and juicy, but it turned out that my fears were confirmed. The centre of each piece was still moist, but the edges were quite dry. Perhaps it would have been okay if we had have used chicken on the bone?

It was, however, edible and quite tasty. We ate it with a simple salad of leaves, cucumber and cherry tomatoes and a LOT of sweet chilli sauce.

Spicy Fried Chicken

1 cup coconut milk
zest of 1 lime
2 asian red shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2cm piece ginger, sliced
3 green chillies, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp salt
1.5kg chicken, cut into 16 pieces
veg oil for frying
sweet chilli sauce to serve

Place coconut milk, lime zest, shallots, ginger, garlic, chilli, turmeric, salt and 2 and 1/2 cups water into a large saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Add chicken and cook gently for 20 minutes or until tender and just cooked. Remove from saucepan and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Heat oil in a wok or deep frying pan over high heat. Cook the chicken in batches (do not overcrowd) until golden. Drain on paper towel and serve hot with sweet chilli sauce. Serves 4.

Recipe from Bill's Sydney Food.

Risotto with Prosciutto and Goat's Cheese

This is a deliciously rich risotto - definately one for a day when you feel like spoiling yourself. Go easy on the goat's cheese if you are not a big fan, or if you are like me, go for the strongest one you can find. Also, try to chop the celery as fine as you can, otherwise, they may not soften enough and you might end up with crunchy bits in your risotto! The base risotto can be used to make any type of risotto you like - other favourites of mine are mushroom, asparagus, or just plain cheesy risotto with some lemon zest and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Yum!

Approx 1.1 litres chicken stock (substitute veg if using for a vegetarian risotto)
1 tbsp olive oil
3 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 head celery, finely chopped
400g arborio rice
2 wine glasses of white wine
70g butter
115g freshly grated parmasan cheese

2 handfuls fresh lemon thyme, leaves picked
115g freshly grated pecorino
155g goat's cheese
8 slices prosciutto

Heat the stock. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil. Add shallots, garlic and celery and cook gently for 5 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add rice, and turn up the heat. Stir constantly for 1 minute, until the rice looks slightly translucent. Add the wine and continue stirring until the wine has cooked into the rice.

Add the lemon thyme, and then the stock one ladleful at a time, stirring until it is fully absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Have the heat at a simmer, so the outside of the rice doesn't cook too quickly. Continue adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite to it.

Remove from the heat, and gently stir in the butter, parmasan and pecorino. Season to taste. Place a lid on the pan and allow to rest for 2-3 minutes. Divide into bowls, lay over the prosciutto slices, and top with a generous serve of crumbled goat's cheese. Serves 6.

Recipe from The Return of the Naked Chef

Lamb Shank and Prune Tagine

Mmm... prunes. What to do with leftover prunes? Why, tagine of course!
This was a sneaky thing for me to cook, as my partner is not a fan of prunes. However, he is also not a fan of mushrooms and I manage to put them in most things so thought, why not give this a go?
The finished product was lovely and sticky, and the lamb was falling off the bone. Perfect Sunday night food.

4 frenched lamb shanks (serves 4)
1 tbsp oil
30g butter
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
4 coriander sprigs
zest of 1/2 a lemon (in wide strips)
300g pitted prunes
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
couscous to serve

Heat a heavy based saucepan over high heat, add oil and butter, and when hot, add the lamb shanks. Brown on all sides and remove from pot. Reduce heat to medium, add onion, and cook gently until softened but not coloured. Add 375ml of water, ground ginger and cinnamon sticks. Tie coriander sprigs in a bunch (for easy removal later) and add to pot. Stir well, then return lamb shanks to pot. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Add lemon zest and cook for further 30 minutes. Add the prunes and honey, stir, and simmer for another 30 mins or until meat is very tender and almost falling from the bone. Remove coriander sprigs and discard. Serve hot with couscous and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Delish!

Recipe from Cooking Moroccan

Za'atar pizza

This is one of our favourite breakfast recipes in my house. It is easy to make, tastes delicious and reminds me of being home with my parents. I know you don't often associate pizza with breakfast (except possibly when the pizza is cold and you are supporting the effects of a big night), but try this and I know you will love it. My favourite thing about this is that it is so easy that my partner offers to make it on Saturday mornings!

Za'atar is a middle-eastern spice mix rich in thyme, with sesame seeds and sumac. You can buy it ready mixed from many stores (I got mine from Herbie's in Rozelle) but I always find that I need to mix in extra sumac to get the right taste. The sumac gives it a lovely tangy, lemony taste, that is essential in this pizza.

Basic Pizza Dough

300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
7g easy blend yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
225ml warm water

Place flour, yeast and salt in bowl. Combine water and oil (as much as this is possible!) in a jug.
Slowly pour oil mix into flour, and stir until you have a soft stretchy dough. Knead by hand for 10 minutes on a floured work surface.
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, rub a little extra oil on top, and cover with a clean damp tea towel. Set aside at room temperature to rise for 1 hour (or until dough has doubled in size).
Punch the dough down with a clenched fist. Remove from bowl and knead for a couple of minutes until smooth. Cut in half, and roll each half out to a 25cm circle. Place on lightly oiled baking tray.

Za'atar topping

4 tbsp za'atar
extra sumac (this really depends on your taste - have a play and see)
olive oil to blend

Combine za'atar, extra sumac and olive oil in a bowl to a slightly runny paste. Spread mixture evenly over pizza bases (you may need a little more or less mixture depending on how strong you like it!). Using your fingertips, make small indents all over the pizza dough. This helps stop the dough from puffing up whilst it is cooking.
Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 10 - 12 minutes or until the base is crisp and cooked through. Za'atar can burn quickly so keep a close eye on it.

Take from the oven and enjoy whilst hot with a strong cup of black coffee!