Dinner for One??

I had spent some time avoiding this meal as it called for 1kg of Salmon (basically half a small salmon).  I had been asking around and reviewing pricing from $38kg to $26kg.  I finally found a piece that would meet our needs without breaking the bank and was excited to finally get to cook this meal of "Crispy Salmon, Jazzed-Up Rice, Baby Courgette Salad and Gorgeous Guacamole". 

This time I decided to try to cook this meal in the 30 min timeframe without completing any prep, with the exception of gathering all my ingredients, boiling the kettle and gathering cookware and dishes.  As I checked the clock and began cooking, my 2 year old safely engrossed in evening TV and my Schnauzer puppy happily chewing on a toy, I began by preparing my salmon & putting it under the grill and putting the rice on the stove.  Only 8 mins in and I received a text message.  I stopped to check it as I thought it may be an important message from my Hubby.  Indeed it was.  "Not feeling very well, don't think I will want to eat much tonight".  Wonderful!

With my Salmon skin already crackling away, I had no option but to continue...I was committed and it was too late to stop now.  I quickly return to the kitchen to continue with the Zucchini Salad and the Guacamole.  As my Hubby arrived home I was pleased that dinner was almost ready and the time taken to prepare the meal was 40 mins...Awesome!

But Hubby took one sniff of the fish aromas wafting through the house and made a quick dash to the toilet!  I prepared my son's food and called him to the table, only for him to flatly refuse (something he had not done for several months now).  I figured I would wait another 5 mins until his TV show had finished and I was confident that he would then jump to the dinner table.  Another 15 mins later Hubby is in bed shivering and my son was now engrossed in other play and still refusing to come to the table.  So I ate alone! 


The meal was nice and each element delicious in its own right, however, as usual, it's a ton of food and really the guacamole, although really really yummy, not really required.  A portion of fish and two salads is more than adequate for a meal I think. And the dollop of sour cream on top of the fish...bad idea.  Could not see any benefit in this at all except adding more calories!  Consequently, we are having "Nachos" tonight with all the left over guacamole and sour cream!

So I am over halfway now with 27 recipes completed and only 6 more recorded episodes to watch and cook.  This means I will need to cook the last 17 meals with only the instructions from the book!  Should be interesting to say the least, but for now I will concentrate on what I have to work with.  Problem is, next meal on the list is whole fresh Sardines!  Time to source ingredients from places other than the supermarket again..oh joy!

My Baking Dish will never be the same!!

Greetings to my loyal readers.  Today I have an exciting review about Jamie's Chicken Skewers dish with Amazing Satay Sauce, Fiery Noodle Salad and Fruit & Mint Sugar.

Was it amazing, I hear you ask?  Well, yes, some elements.  The Satay sauce was very very nice and there was lots of it, perhaps too much.  The technique of lining up the chicken breasts and poking the 4 skewers through the lot and then cutting was most interesting and quite a time saver.  Nice one Jamie.

Again the technique of cooking under the grill made for well browned, crunchy looking meat, but a baking dish with burnt  satay sauce that took days of scrubbing!  And to be honest, it wasn't necessary.  The addition of honey is what caused the burnt mess but the satay sauce was so nice, honey just wasn't necessary in my humble opinion and would of saved a lot of cleaning up work.

The noodle salad was a nice accompaniment and the toasted honey cashews added a nice tasty crunch.  I didn't bother with the "Garnishes" as I felt the dish was tasty just as it was.

The desert was an interesting one.  Cut up some fruit and sprinkle it with bashed up mint and sugar.  Ok it was nice I guess, but really not required.  We were so full from the chicken and noodles that eating a pile of chopped up fruit really wasn't what we felt like.

Again this dish could have been completed in the allotted 30 minutes, minus the fruit platter.  An all round tasty dish, but not one to wow your dinner party guests.

OMG...I did it in 30 Minutes!! Oh..forgot dessert!

This was a meal that I was really looking forward to cooking.  Pizza with "3 Delish Salads", Squashed Cherries and Vanilla Mascarpone Cream.

I started early and just took my time putting this meal together and to my surprise, I had the pizza and the salads on the table in 30 minutes!  While I was jumping for joy, I then realised that I hadn't made the dessert and now dinner was ready 30 minutes early....oh schnauzer.

I actually went out and bought the ridiculously expensive "Buffalo Mozzarella", but only purchased a very small amount to keep the cost under $10.  It was nice, but I don't really understand what the big deal is about this cheese.  Give me a good Goats Cheese or Danish Feta any day and at least I won't be breaking the bank to buy it!

Anyways, baking a pizza in a frypan and grill was definitely a different style of cooking this family favourite and it certainly gave a hard and crispy base, but I'm not sure that I will be jumping to make it this way again.  My method of using Lebanese bread for a quick pizza base or making the dough from scratch and cooking in the oven cover both quick meal and dinner party meal boxes for me. 

The salads were very quick to make and very nice to have along with the Pizza.  The dessert was not really necessary and the idea of getting a bowl of ice and throwing cherries on top seemed a little stupid to me.  So I just served some fruit with a Mascarpone mix and a couple of biscuits, close enough..

PS..Thank you to my wonderful Hubby for the great photography work on my meals. 

The Dog Ate My Cookbook!!

Yes it's true, our new Schnauzer Puppy Else, took a liking to Jamie's 30 Minute Meal book and began eating it!  Although I tried to explain to her that it's the meals that are worth eating and not the paper, perhaps this dog has more insight than I give her credit for!

Jokes and chewed cover aside, I continue along my culinary journey with Jamie and this time I cook Mustard Chicken, Quick Dauphinoise (fancy name for potato bake), Greens and Black Forest Affogato.  Sounds yummy and it certainly was. 

The potato bake was delicious with the Anchovies giving extra flavour, however, not great on the waistline with all the cream and cheese.  The "Greens" was just lightly boiled spinach which I could harvest from our vege garden which was handy.  I liked the idea of cooking the stems first and then adding the leaves at the last minute.  The Olive Oil and Lemon Juice gave the spinach a nicer taste and they were a great accompaniment to the chicken and potato. 

The chicken was also nice but seemed rather complicated to cook on a dish that I traditionally know as an oven bake dish, but I think this was Jamie trying to make it cook in a shorter amount of time.  Again, more cream in this dish.  I think some low fat yoghurt would have done the trick just as nicely.

I actually forgot to add the mustard which is stupid really considering the dish is called Mustard Chicken!  It was suppose to be added right at the end, another unusual twist and with the rush of getting everything done and on the table, I completely forgot! 

But one thing worth replicating was the dessert.  There is something about biscuit, coffee, cherries, chocolate and ice-cream that sends you to heaven and back.  I used some left over espresso coffee which I heated up, then added dark bitter chocolate, some cherries and some good quality ice-cream and dessert is served.  So simple and so delicious..nice one Jamie.

And the Frustration Continues...

It's Spring, so what better time to cook "Spring Lamb"?  And so I did and now my tummy feels like it is trying to digest half a sheep! 

It's been a couple of weeks since I cooked a 30 Minute Meal as I have been too busy for these complex meals and have been cooking REAL 30 minute meals that are still very tasty and nutritious.  This recipe needed a "Rack of Lamb" which I priced at my local Foodland to be $32.99 a kilo!  Yikes!  The recipe also needed a "Lamb Neck Fillet" which I could not find in any supermarket, so it was time to find a good butcher and find the time to fit it in to my busy days.  But as luck had it, a trip to the Toy Library with my toddler gave me the opportunity to try another newish butcher with just a short walk across the road. 

I managed to pay more per kilo for the rack, but could purchase a smaller amount as I was only cooking for two.  As for the neck fillet, well the butcher was kind enough to cut a fillet for me, but this meant waiting, which two year olds are not the best at!!

With meat in hand I began the prep an hour before I planned to serve the meal.  This included cutting up any veges, making the marinade for the meat and picking herbs.  After 30 mins of prep, I started the cooking.  The meal included the Rack of Lamb, plus the Neck Fillet, a Vegetable Platter, Mint Sauce, Chianti Gravy and a Chocolate Fondue.

The lamb was fine to prepare and cook and I must say, was melt in the mouth and cooked to perfection.  The Vege Platter was also very nice, but not sure that I tasted bags of flavour, but hey, veges are veges.

The marinade for the meat gave a nice taste and I think it didn't really need anything else, but Jamie tells me I must make a Gravy AND a Mint Sauce, which I obediently did.  My Mint Sauce looked nothing like his, although it tasted nice. His was so smooth like silk and mine was thick like bashed up mint leaves (which it was).  My gravy also looked terrible as I didn't have any red wine in the house (which is a disaster in itself) so I tried to use other things like red wine vinegar and Worcester sauce to get a darker colour, but it still looked awful, so instead of putting it in a jug, I just threw it over the top of the meat when serving it up.

As for the "Chocolate Fondue"....well, I just didn't do it!  To me melting some chocolate and throwing half cut fruit on a platter is not my idea of a nice desert.  But I thought we should at least have the experience, so I bought some "dipping chocolate" for $2.95 and cut up 4 different fruits which I did in my prep time. 

So overall, a tasty dish (my hubby certainly loved it and I think he might of had a little orgasm over the dipping chocolate) but both cuts of meat were very very fatty.  I tried to cook off and cut off as much of the fat as I could, but there was no escaping it.  Not cuts of meat that I will rush to buy again in a hurry.

Starting to get really Frustrated!

Hello again and welcome to my Soapbox edition of Jamie's 30 Minute Meals!!  I am really starting to get annoyed with these dishes now as I feel I need to cook them by first doing 30 mins of prep (Chop veges, make dressings and get everything ready to cook) and then spend another 30 mins actually cooking and then another 30-40 mins cleaning up!

The frustrating thing is that it doesn't have to be that way.  Last night I cooked the "Super-Fast Beef Hash with Jacket Potatoes, Goddess Salad and Lovely Butter Beans & Bacon".  Now I don't know what Beef Hash is supposed to be, so I can't say if this was "Super Fast" or not, but when I watched him cook it on the TV, his mince was cooked to a crisp and looked quite burnt in places.  Now my mince was cooking for the full 30 minutes and was in no way charcoaled like his!  Hmmm, 30 Minute Meal, I think NOT!

The Beef Hash itself did nothing for me.  Placing raw onion, carrot and celery on top of already cooked mince, meant the carrots were still hard.  In desperation, I added a little water and placed a lid on top of the frypan in an attempt to cook the carrots a little.  It worked, but the dish didn't have the same texture after that.  Also using the food processor to chop up the veg may of saved a little time, but it meant the celery was stringy and not chopped as nice as it would have been had I've done it quickly with the knife!  Flavour, nothing exciting.

The Beans however, different story.  Really yummy and buying some special streaky bacon (or finely sliced Speck) may of made all the difference.  The interesting part was cooking the beans in their own juice as every recipe I have ever read has said to drain and rinse the beans.  But Jamie was right on this one, the flavours are there, so why throw it away.  However, there was no need for the Basil.  I added heaps and you couldn't taste it, nor did it need the taste of Basil. 

Jacket Potato was another real surprise, cooking it in the Microwave and then popping under a hot grill.  Great idea and certainly speeds up the process.  The outside of the potato was brown and crispy but the inside was soft and fluffy.  Amazingly nice.  But then...just throw a dollop of sour cream on top!  What???  I had made the most amazing creamy dressing for the salad which would have been perfect for the potato!

Which brings me to the Salad.  Totally not required.  This meal was real comfort food in my opinion.  Beef Mince, Jacket Potato and Beans, all hot and comforting and I don't believe a salad was necessary. Three elements on the plate is more than enough.  The dressing for the salad consisted of avocado, sour cream, olive oil and lemon juice and was a perfect accompaniment for the potato!  So next time, no Salad, just the dressing thanks.

It saddens me greatly that these meals are working out this way.  I know I am not a slow cook as I have completed Masterchef Challenges in the same time the contestants had and I am starting to watch Jamie's shows really carefully, looking for all the cuts and editing.  I really really love Jamie.  I think the work he does is amazing and I have so much respect for him and this is why it saddens me so that this book does not delivering what it promises.  My fear is that people will buy this book and be disappointed and then not like him or buy any future books or watch any future shows that he produces and I don't want this to happen to someone who is working so hard to make a difference in the world.  I just wish he had normal people testing his recipes before publishing this book.  It seems a little rushed to me.  :-(

Back in the Land of Oz!

Hello fellow readers.  Well we made it back in one piece...thank goodness.  It was an eventful trip to say the least, but one that, in the end, was well worth it.  Would I recommend it to anyone...taking a 2 year old and an 85 year old across to the other side of the world?  Only if you are really really brave and have the best husband in the world, would I recommend such a journey.  Thankfully my wonderful son gave me the strength as did my husband, who without him, such a massive trip would not have been possible.  My Mum had the opportunity to see her Sister, Brother and Cousin in person one last time and she got to see her homeland and see how things had changed, and in some cases, not changed at all.  It was a wonderful experience that I will treasure forever.

So now we are back and we have so far had two gatherings.  Our first included our neighbours and house sitters and we put on a German feast including five different types of German Sausage (Grilled the European way over hot coals), Sauerkraut, Herring salad, German potato salad, Green salad, Fish breads (rollmops) and pretzels.  For desert we had Danish, home made Apple Strudel and of course, Gummy Bears made in Germany!

It was wonderful to share our adventures with photos, stories and food.  The food we offered reflected our time away and it seemed to be enjoyed by everyone.

Our next gathering included our other neighbour friends who could not make the first feast.  This time I decided to start cooking the Jamie Meals again and jumped right in and completed the Spanish Tapas Feast.  This meal looked too big and involved for the two of us to eat alone and my 2 year old would not have enjoyed it, so it was time to share some food with guests.

As usual, I did 30 minutes of preparation before the guests arrived and then started cooking around 30 minutes before we were ready to eat.  The meal included; Glazed Chorizo....awesome, highly recommend it.  It involved cutting up two good quality Chorizo sausages and cooking them in a fry pan for what seemed like a very long time and then add some honey and garlic at the end (but don't burn the honey like I did). 

The next dish was called Manchego Cheese with Cured Meats & Honey.  This required no cooking at all but simply placing some cured meats and cheese on a board.  This cheese however, was quite special.  I know this from the price tag!!  I purchased 150g of this special Spanish cheese and had little change from $9.00!  As it turned out, I actually needed 200g of the cheese for the recipe, but in the end, 150g was enough for the four of us. 

Part of this dish included placing some ground coffee on the board and drizzling honey over the cheese.  Jamie says..."Trust Me, it's a match made in Heaven!"  I thought this rather strange but we all decided to give it a go.  The results.....OMG!  Yep, the choir was singing.  It was unreal.  I urge you now...as Jamie did, to try it.  Get some hard cheese, drizzle over some honey and then dip it in a little bit of ground coffee.  Please tell me if you don't love it!!

Next..Stuffed Peppers.  Also awesome.  Not sure if it tasted so good because of the cheese or because the peppers are already pickled and therefore have a base flavour before you start, but a really really nice dish and very quick and easy.

Next...Rolled Anchovies.  An interesting dish and as we had just returned from Germany we had become quite familiar with eating pickled fish, this dish did not scare us!  It included getting fresh Anchovies from the fridge section of the Supermarket, something I didn't even know existed until I went looking for it.  Simple seasoning and then threading onto a toothpick with a half a cherry tomato.  Nice, but nothing super special.

Last was what Jamie calls a "Tortilla".  This included cooking the heck out of some potatoes and then throwing in tons and tons of eggs!  To me, this is a frittata and a pretty tasteless one at that.  It was partly my fault for not adding enough salt and pepper, but there were no base flavours even though the potatoes were cooked with rosemary and fennel seeds, all I could taste was egg, and I only put in five eggs instead of the recommended eight!!

So the feast included five dishes, but to me it wasn't really a Tapas.  But it was enjoyable, tasty and between the four of us we polished it all off, but would I cook/prepare it all again, probably not.  So in summary, I would say, an interesting array of food, but not really a cooking challenge, but more a clever collection of different textures and tastes that we would otherwise not eat in our everyday lives.