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.

Taking a Break

To my fellow readers, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my Blog. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed sharing my experiences with you.

In less than 3 weeks (OMG!) my husband, my nearly 2 year old son and my 80-something year old Mum and I are off on a new adventure..a trip to Germany to see my family.

With time running out to get the garden ready for our absence, organise things, shop for stuff and get the house ready for our house sitters, time for dinner parties has been "verborten".  As we already know, Jamie's 30 Minute Meals take a lot longer and I generally do quite a bit of preparation before any guests arrive.  This all cuts in to our valuable time to get important last minute jobs done.

I really feel I have learnt alot about cooking and I look forward to enjoying some local German cuisine from different parts of the country.  My culinary journey is not just about Jamie's cooking, but looking at food in a different way and unleashing my creativity.  I also have found that I can shop a little more cost effectively and I feel a sense of pride that I can buy a raw free range chook for around $10.50 and then break it down to make 4 separate meals as well as make 2 litres of chicken stock.  How cool to have the skill to do all this and not have to pay for someone else to cut-up and package the various products.  And my herb garden is growing well, although a little dormant in this winter weather, but hopefully by the time we come back, the weather will start to warm up and everything will thrive yet again.

So...until September...I wish you happy, healthy and free range cooking and we will hopefully resume with Jamie's Tapas!!

It's NOT Asian Inspired!

My 20th "30 Minute Meal" is finally what seemed like a more normal everyday family dish which I thought Jamie would "pimp up" like he does most of his dishes.  I was looking forward to this one as it seemed really straight forward; Cauliflower Macaroni with a Chicory Salad and Stewed Fruit...what could be easier?

My first concern was the quantities of the very small list of ingredients.  A full packet of Macaroni, a full head of Cauliflower (stalks and all), a full block of cheese and a container of creme fraiche!  Yikes...there goes the diet!

But too often I have worried and been surprised and I am trying to "trust" Jamie and his recipes, so I went for it!  With Cauliflower at $1.99 a head, this one was going to be a cheap meal for a change.  I opted to drop desert, as stone fruit is not really in season at the moment and I had many other fresh ingredients that I needed to use up (fresh pears and figs from Mt Gambier).

So I proceeded and while I continued to be concerned about the lack of flavour components, I made the dish exactly as I was instructed.  Somehow I ended up with Macaroni and Cauliflower all over the kitchen and the baking dish was overflowing.  In the end I had enough food to feed a small village!

As for the salad, well I was unable to obtain the chicory even though I had seen it in the supermarket the week before, apparently it is hard to come by and is sold out within 24 hours of it hitting the shelf!  Can't imagine why as it is really bitter and not what I really enjoy eating as a salad leaf.  I bought some mixed salad leaves instead which included a few pieces of chicory, so I figured that would be close enough as the hero was the dressing rather than the type of leaves used.

The dressing was a taste sensation..awesome.  Made with fresh Basil, yoghurt, anchovies and Dijon Mustard it would make any salad a stand out.  So ten out of ten for that component.  As for the "Mac & Cheese" itself, well it was ok, but for me, a bit on the bland side.  It needed so many things such as; mustard, paprika, lemon juice, fresh herbs and about half the amount of pasta.  Some base flavours such as onions, garlic, chilli and bacon would also have given the dish some flavour.  Sure there was flavour in the topping, but with so much pasta, the flavour of the topping was lost.

We have since been eating this dish over and over again and I am pleased to say that it is finally all gone and I have stepped up my exercise a notch to work it all off!!  Unfortunately, the meal does not taste much at all when reheated in the Microwave but I am not one for wasting food although I came very close to throwing the 3rd and 4th left overs in the bin.

So with 20 meals down I still have a long way to go (50 in total) and while I have been discouraged along the way, I still feel I am learning a lot (along with Masterchef) and still want to continue.  The next meal on my list is "Tapas" and that looks really interesting and a great one for sharing with friends with a couple of bottles of wine!!  Any takers??

Chicken Green Curry

Well I have had 24 hours to cool down, so this blog may not be as firey as it would have been if I had written it last night after cooking Jamie's "Green Curry with Crispy Chicken, Kimchee Slaw and Rice Noodles"!

I have to say that this meal had me hot under the collar for more reasons than just the chillies.  Firstly, I am really getting frustrated with the amount of ingredients required for one of these meals, only to find that half of them do not really add anything to the overall dish and I now have a fridge full of ingredients that I now have to use up.  It feels like a "Masterchef Mystery Box and I now have to face an "Invention Test" to use up all the fresh ingredients before they spoil!

Ok, I'll get off my mystery box and get back to the Curry.  Firstly, let me say that the Green Curry was excellent.  Really excellent.  Made from scratch from raw ingredients, I don't think I will ever buy a Curry Paste again.  This is now the second curry paste of Jamie's that I have made and both were outstanding.  What spoiled this dish for me was all the other bits and pieces and then the serving method of a bowl and a plate.  I hate this concept cos I feel like a pig trying to eat it.  Imagine a bowl with noodles on the bottom, some long green beans in sauce and then a piece of chicken sitting on top.  It's very hard to cut a piece of chicken when it is sitting in a bowl and then you can't get to the beans or noodles underneath.

Then there was the Kimchee Slaw salad.  Now this was an interesting dish.  Full of heat and bite and crunch (even after scrunching it in your hands to squeeze out the juice!).  Along with the curry sauce, the beans and the chicken, this meal would have been lovely served on a plate with nothing else.  No noodles, no toasted sesame seeds, no cos lettuce and no bean shoots, which in my opinion added nothing to the dish. 

It feels like Jamie is trying too hard to create some banquet of food in a short space of time.  I think less is more.  Good quality food and great flavours and "Keep It Simple".  You don't need 7 different elements to make a tasty meal!

Anyway, that's my opinion and I must say that my Hubby loved the meal much more than the Masterchef Osso Bucco that I made on the weekend, so I guess you win some and you loose some. 

Til next time...

Happy cooking

Rib-Eye Stir-Fry

Another day and time to cook another 30 Minute Meal and yet another Asian inspired dish!  Rib-Eye Stir-Fry with Dan Dan Noodles and Chilled Hibiscus Tea.  My first mission was to try to find Hibiscus Tea and I gave up after looking in several speciality shops.  So this drink was omitted from my dish.  I thought about making another flavoured tea drink as I found many and varied flavours of tea, but I enjoy my glass of wine too much with my meal, so decided it wasn't really worth the effort.

Next, buy some Rib-Eye Steaks; should be easy enough.  So I go to a new local "Meat Market" that has opened nearby and look for these steaks that Jamie has explained in great detail, what they should look like.  Well it seems that butchers in the UK cut meat differently to the butchers in Australia cos when I asked for a Rib-Eye, I was shown an inch thick cut steak with a large bone, quite different to what Jamie was cooking with.  I try to explain to the butcher what Jamie had said and that there was definitely no bone.  Several discussions later, I finally walked out with two quite thinly sliced Scotch Fillets which I think is what Jamie used.  Man..it shouldn't be this hard!

Anyho..I carry on and make the dish which included spicy steaks, a platter of greens with Black Bean Sauce, some bean shoots and some noodles.  This meal was packed with punch and there were several parties going on in the mouth.  It was a great meal, albeit messy and difficult to eat, but real Yum.  I loved all the flavours on the meat which was nice and tender even though I did overcook it slightly due to the meat being thinner than Jamie's.  The black bean sauce with the greens was also great and I will use this technique again for sure.  And the whole meal washed down very nicely with a full bodied glass of red wine!

Next meal, yet another Asian dish....Thai Green Curry!  Lucky we like and grow chillies in this household!

Asian Style Salmon & Killer Jerk Chicken

The next dish on my "To Do List" was a strange looking dish with expensive ingredients which made it difficult for me to gain the enthusiasm to cook it.  The dish was an Asian Style Salmon which sat on top of a Noodle Broth with a Beansprout Salad on the side and a Lychee Dessert.

I am personally not a fan of watery broth style soups and then to put a piece of Salmon on top; well, not really my cup of tea.  But I was wrong..very wrong.  This meal was quite delicious and the broth was not as runny as I imagined it would be (I reduced it a bit more than Jamie).  The whole meal, including the side salad, was full of punchy flavours and although it was a bit messy to eat, it was worth the effort of cooking it. 

As for the dessert, well I couldn't find any Lychee's (not even canned) and with the high price of Blueberries, I gave it a miss.  My husband later told me that he does not like Lychee's, so maybe it was a good thing to leave out.  There was no real technique to the dessert, cut blueberries in half and add to Lychee's, smash up some sesame snaps and sprinkle on top!

The next meal I was looking forward to and I cooked it the following week.  Only one stumbling block with the ingredients which was getting Chicken Breast with the Skin ON!  I tried a couple of places, but decided I would buy a whole chicken and just "break it down" like they did on Masterchef!  It looked quite easy to do, so I bought myself a nice free-range chook, sharpened the knives and away I went!  Well I certainly butchered that chook!  It was not as easy as it looked on TV, but in the end I had two breasts and two thighs which I decided to turn into Jamie's "Jerk Chicken" along with Rice with Black Bean, Chargrilled Corn and a refreshing chopped salad. 

I was happy to find some tinned Black Beans in the Asian section of our local supermarket, an ingredient that I had never used before and had been previously told was very hard to find.  I made this recipe using our home grown chillies and salad and when I tasted the Jerk sauce after first blending the ingredients, my mouth was on fire and I thought this was really going to be a "killer" alright.  However, after blending, I added a little water to the blender to ensure I got all the sauce into the roasting pan.  This may of reduced the fire of the sauce as once it was all cooked, it was really really lovely to eat and not painfully hot as I had previously tasted. 

The rice was really nice also with the black beans but really really salty, even though I rinsed the beans before putting them in with the rice.  Something to note for next time.  The recipe also included some yoghurt with coriander to "put out the fire" that was suppose to be in the mouth.  I made it, but it really wasn't necessary so I put it in the fridge and used it for another dish that did need it, a Pumpkin Curry.

As for the rest of the chicken, I froze the legs and wings for another day and with the carcass, I'm proud to say that I made Chicken Stock!  With the stock I made a pumpkin risotto and a vegetable soup, both of which were delicious!  I can see the benefits now of making your own stock, but not sure I can justify the time required to do this regularly.

I have been making a lot of pumpkin recipes of late, as we grew an amazing 7.1kg pumpkin and I knew that once I cut it open, I would need to work fast to use it all up before it spoils.  So far I have made Pumpkin Soup (obviously), Pumpkin Risotto, Pumpkin & Feta Salad, Pumpkin Relish, Pumpkin, Lentils and Chickpea Patties and a Pumpkin Curry.  With only a few pieces left, I can still make either a pumpkin pie or cook a roast with some roast veg including Pumpkin.  It has been great to have the challenge of cooking different meals with this core ingredient.

So my next recipe is another Asian inspired dish using Rib-Eye Steaks and Noodles.  Should be interesting.  This will now be my 18th recipe and I have noticed that the TV episodes are being repeated already after only showing about 30 meals (interesting?).  So I guess if that's all of the TV shows, I will need to finish the book without watching Jamie make the meals first, which is fine, but you do get a lot of tips along the way, which are not included in the book. 

Til next time...happy cooking (or eating if you are my husband!)

Corn Chowder & Sausage Cassoulet

While it seems like a while between posts, I am still continuing to cook the 30 Minute Meals, albeit not as enthusiastically as I started!  Maybe this is because I am finding it hard work to obtain the ingredients, especially with a toddler in toe!  Some elements of the meals have been a bit of a let down which also dampens the willingness to travel to different shops and shopping centres to find just the right ingredient.  As it turned out for this meal, I couldn't find Smoky Haddock so I just used Smoked Cod.  I figured one large smoked fish would taste the same as another large smoked fish!

But enough of the whinge and into the recipe.  Smoky Haddock Corn Chowder (sounds like something I would feed the dog) with Spiced Tiger Prawns, Rainbow Salad and Raspberry & Elderflower Slushie.  Now this menu has me a little confused.  I would have thought a "Chowder" is a thick hearty soup that the English would eat as a winter warmer, comfort food so to speak.  So why would you serve it with an icey cold Slushie?  Needless to say I bought the raspberries and then thought I could do better than just blending them up with some ice! 

Then there is the Rainbow Salad.  Salad and Soup?? Maybe that is a British thing but I have never heard of serving a salad with a soup.  The Spicy Prawns I guess were ok as they were also seafood, but I don't really like getting my fingers dirty while eating, I figure that is why mankind invented cutlery! 

So let me find something good to say about this dish.  Separately, I think each component was very good.  The Chowder was tasty and warmed you up on a cold night - tick.  The salad on it's own - totally awesome.  Well the dressing is what made it awesome, but so easy and healthy to make by shredding up raw veg and then adding a punchy dressing using fresh Tarragon, a herb I had never used before.  The spicy prawns were nice, but as I said, I'm not really into peeling a hot and spicy prawn at the dinner table.  As for the Slushie - well I gave that a pass and made some really nice pavlova deserts (as seen on the TV show for the Sausage Cassoulet).

Which brings me to the next recipe, another Winter Warmer comfort food dish.  I call it a simple sausage casserole but Jamie calls it a Kinda Sausage Cassoulet with Warm Broccoli Salad and then desert is where more confusion sets in.  The TV episode had desert as a Pavlova Shell with Lemon Curd and fresh Raspberries and the book had a Berry Custard Ripple! 

We already had a friend coming over for dinner so I thought this would be a good meal to prepare for our Queensland guest.  I had everything precooked except for the broccoli which I left to the last minute (and still ended up over cooking it - whoops).  The reason Jamie calls it a Kinda Cassoulet is because he uses Chipolata Sausages.  I think, no problems, I will go and visit my newly found awesome butcher and we will be set.  "Sorry, we don't do Chipolata's, is it for a children's party or BBQ?" he asks.  Feeling slightly embarrassed I try to explain that it is for a Jamie Meal and he suggests a good quality sausage instead which I take.  Don't think it made any difference at all to the overall taste of the meal, just that the bigger sausages were harder to serve up, but no biggy.

I premade the tomato salsa for the broccoli and thought this would be a real taste sensation but it was only a nicer way to serve broccoli and no party in the mouth.  The Cassoulet was also no great meal sensation, but just an ok weekly family dish and not really worth the running around to get special ingredients.

For desert I made neither of the suggested dishes but a Mango Icecream (from the Summer Veg Lasagna) which I served in a glass with broken up pavlova shells and some fresh strawberries from our garden.  As our friend was visiting from Queensland, I thought it would be a nice taste of home.

Next meal....a Smoked Salmon Dish.  Hope this is a good one!

Holding on to Summer

Well I must say I'm feeling better and happier these days so hopefully this blog will not be quite so negative as the last!  Being back pain free certainly makes a world of difference.  So..enough personal stuff, on to the next recipe, a Summer Veg Lasagne with Tuscan Tomato Salad and Quick Frozen Yoghurt in Baby Cornets.

Now this meal looked like it would feed a small football team so I decided to invite over some friends who have two teenage boys to help us eat this meal.  As the weather had already started to cool down to Autumn I was hoping for fine weather and a last chance to eat outside on our new outdoor furniture.

I did heaps of prep work including pre making the Mango Icecream, prepping the 4 bunches of Asparagus and picking all the herbs for the dish.  I also pre made a tomato and feta topping for an entree' of Brushetta (my own creation).

The dish seemed really easy to make and quick although it was an hour before I had it on the table!  I can only say that I was chatting to my friend while making the dish and I also cooked the lasagne longer as I wanted to have that lovely golden colour on the top of the dish.  My oven doesn't really grill like modern ovens do, so it needed a good 15 to 20 minutes in the oven before I was satisfied that it would be cooked to perfection.  I have to say it did look a treat when it came out.

Using the fresh lasagne sheets makes a big difference as the pasta is much thinner and lighter than the dry stuff.  The dish didn't have that heavy feeling in your stomach either as there was no meat or heavy white sauce for the stomach to digest.  I had plenty of food to feed all six of us and still had enough to feed the two of us the following day!

The tomato salad was nice but I did find it challenging finding different types of tomatoes for the salad.  I went to several places including two green grocers and the supermarket to find different coloured tomatoes.  I managed to find a black cherry tomato which tasted ok and gave a little colour variation to the salad.  The croutons also added a nice crunch to the salad.

The Mango Icecream was delicious and was made almost the same as the berry icecream that I had made recently.  Rather than serve it in cones however, I decided to go a little fancier and include some sliced peaches which I prepared earlier and some almonds which I caramelised in the oven when I made the croutons.  This was a technique I learned when I made the Duck Salad 30 Minute Meal which included some stewed fruit with the nuts on top.  All together it made a lovely dinner party style desert.

I have to admit that I am learning some great cooking techniques while cooking these dishes and I am definitely starting to think about food differently.  Just this week I bought myself a pasta maker and made the most amazing pasta dish with pork meatballs which was a Jamie inspired dish from the Jamie At Home series.  I am proud to say that I didn't use a recipe and just kept adding and adjusting as I went along. 

Last night I made a Pumpkin and Spinach Pie, again without a recipe but using some of Jamie's techniques and ideas.  The result was excellent again.  Maybe I am just having a good week in the kitchen but there is certainly a difference in how I cook now to how I cooked six months ago.  Well at least I think so...

Fish and More Fish!!

Well it's been a while since I have found any motivation or time to sit and update my blog and although I still feel very unmotivated and tired, I thought it best to write about my last few meals before my memory completely fails me!

The next meal on my list was the Fish Tray-Bake with Jersey Royals (fancy name for boiled potatoes), Salsa Verde (much like a pesto), Simple Spinach Salad (spinach in a bowl with a standard dressing) and Cheat's Banoffee Pie (Banana Cream Caramel Pie). Maybe I come from a simple background, but geepers, what fancy names for some stock standard dishes!!

Anyho...I pre-made the desert to save time.  Luckily I made this dish before the price of bananas went bananas..litterly.  I was lucky enough to pay $4.99 a kilo at the time and considering the price is now $12.99 my bank balance is still in the black.  I also purchased a mix of green prawns shell off, a few whole prawns and two pieces of salmon. 

I followed the recipe and the meal was tasty however the whole prawns were drying out as I was unable to obtain whole green prawns and the double cooking made them dry and tough.  I'm going to have to try harder next time to get raw ingredients from a fish shop rather than rely on my local Foodland fish department if I am to be serious about these dishes.  It's funny, Jamie is always saying that you can get the ingredients at your local supermarket.  I have heard the supermarkets in Britain are fantastic which is surprising as it seems many Brit's don't seem to know how to cook!!  My local supermarket is pretty fantastic (Pasadena Foodland) but I still struggle to obtain many of the ingredients that I need for these "easy" recipes.

After finishing the meal, I was excited about the banana pie.  Unfortunately I was disappointed as the pie tasted rather bland and unsweet - not at all what I was expecting.  The cream had no sugar which Jamie said wasn't needed due to the sweetness of the caramel.  Maybe I didn't cook the caramel enough, but it certainly wasn't very sweet at all.  I think I would make the dish again, but with more sugar in the base and in the cream.  Don't get me wrong, I don't like sickly sweet and I hate mud cakes for this reason, but us Aussie's like a sweet Banana Caramel Pie!!  Maybe that's why he calls it a Banoffee Pie!!

Oh..I forgot to mention the other components of this dish!  That's because there was nothing exciting to mention and I'm already falling asleep writing about this boring meal.

Next dish...Another Fish Dish...Hooray! (detecting any sarcasm yet?)  Sea Bass & Crispy Pancetta with Sweet Potato Mash, Asian Greens, 1-Minute Berry Ice Cream and Sparkling Lemon Ginger Drink.

Firstly...what is Sea Bass and do we even have it in Australia or is it something they only have in Europe?  I asked the Fish Monger at Foodland and he had "no idea"!  Terrific...really need to find I good fish shop! I ended up buying Whiting as this was the only fish on offer that was around 180g each with the "skin on" which was important apparently.   Again my purse took a hit with the cost of the ingredients but hey..I'm sure it will be worth it....surely!

I presented the meal "on the board" as Jamie always does and for the two of us it was just cumbersome to work with and I should have just plated it up like I normally do.  However, I will say that the Sweet Potato Mash was out of this world.  Wow, there was a party going on in my mouth and I couldn't get enough.  Our 18 month old son loved it too and this was due to the Mango Chutney that was mixed through it.  Total YUM and what an awesome way to serve this normally boring vegetable.

The fish was bordering on dry and very nearly spoilt.  Yes the skin was crispy, but who cares when the taste of the fish is on the brink of ruined!  What is so great about crispy skin anyway...totally not worth spoiling a nice piece of fish, that's for sure.

The other nice part of this dish was the desert of Berry Icecream.  What a wonderful way of making healthy icecream and so quick and easy.  A packet of frozen berries, a little lime juice and a tub of yoghurt.  Blitz and freeze.  Awesome...if only summer wasn't over already!!

As for the Lemon Ginger Drink!!!  Jamie, I love you, but what were you thinking??  Did you have a little too much wine the night you invented this drink or maybe it was a hangover cure??  It was totally awful.  I even added an extra can of lemonade to sweeten it up and it still tasted terrible.  In all, a mix of good and bad for this meal!

Oh..nearly forgot..I Googled Sea Bass (probably should have done this BEFORE going out to buy the fish).  It's another name for "many fish species of various families including, Barramundi, Black Sea Bass, European Sea Bass, Giant Sea Bass, Potato Cod, Suzuki and White Sea Bass.  See, who said my Blog wasn't educational although I am not much wiser for the effort!!

Chicken Pie with French-Style Peas, Carrot Smash & Mixed Berries & Cream

Well today I delved in to my 10th 30 Minute Meal, Jamie's Chicken Pie and I have to say it was mighty delicious considering there were minimal ingredients in the pie.  It must of been the English Mustard that gave all the flavour as I was a little heavy handed I must admit. 

I cheated a little by doing a little preparation work while my little one was still having his afternoon nap.  I figured I could do the food processor jobs and have that all cleaned up before I even started cooking.  This proved to be a great idea and allowed me to get the pie in the oven somewhat quicker than if I had followed the steps in Jamie's book.

I watched the TV show a couple of hours before preparing the meal and found many inconsistencies with what he said and what he wrote which threw me off a bit during the cooking process.  However, the pie tasted wonderful and with the correct size dish, it would have been even better!  The Carrot Smash was nothing to get excited about and neither was the French Style Peas.  I have to admit I didn't like the idea of cooking lettuce, so I used Savoy Cabbage instead which still looked the same and I'm sure didn't change the taste very much.

The Mixed Berries, Cream and Shortbread became mixed berries with yoghurt as both my husband and I are trying to loose weight and therefor shortbread biscuits were definitely not on the plate!  As for Elderflower Cordial, well I looked but didn't find, so I just used a little Lime Cordial which gave it a nice tang.

All up a nice meal and one I'm sure I will make again.  Next up, recipe number 11; Fish Tray Bake!

The Steak Sarnie

It's Sunday afternoon and our guests have just left and the kitchen has finally been cleaned up after cooking the "Steak Sarnie with Crispy New Potatoes, Cheesy Mushrooms and Beetroot Salad".  I'm so glad that I chose to cook this meal for lunch rather than for dinner as it was quite filling as expected. 

Before cooking this meal, I asked around to find a really good butcher in the local area and this certainly made all the difference.  Supermarket meat just isn't suitable for a meal such as this one.  I purchased around 520g of top quality rump steak (0ne giant piece) and it was beautiful.  Cooked to perfection, slightly blushing, tender and juicy, this meat was the hero of the dish.  The beetroot salad was also really lovely and one that I will make again and again.  I purchased a large tin of baby beets as this is all I could find and put them through the food processor.  I cheated by making this before hand which took some of the stress out of the cooking process.

The mushrooms nearly burned under the grill, but I saved them just in time, phew.  For the potatoes, I used some of our home grown kipfler potatoes and they always taste nice.  Along with a few glasses of wine and some good company, this dish was a lovely Sunday lunch and I'm sure I will cook it again some time.

Our guests enjoyed the meal very much and they also endured watching the next episode which is the Chicken Pie recipe.  When asked, why am I doing this, I reply...well, it's just a challenge and something else to think about.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being a stay at home Mum and my spare time is short, but I can see how many Mums can get stuck in a rut and each day blends in to the next.  My husband has stopped asking me what I did today as my replies are "the same as I do every day" with a bit of terse attitude thrown in for good measure.  It's true, the days can be boring and long some times and one longs for something exciting or challenging to do.  Cooking these 30 minute meals and then writing about it gives me a creative outlet and benefits everyone around me and my mood seems to be better, albeit not when I am actually cooking, but before and after (assuming the meal was successful)!

The chicken pie recipe looks delicious and seems a real homely winter style dish.  As we are in the middle of Summer (albeit a mild one) I might have to wait for a cooler day to cook this one.  The ingredient list looks pretty standard and I have most things on hand with the exception of "elderflower cordial" but I'm sure that's not a deal breaker and some nice liqueur out of the drinks cupboard will do the trick nicely.

Until next time....happy cooking!

Oozy Mushroon Risotto

A new week, a new "Jamie Oliver 30 Minute Meal"!  I managed to find the key ingredient "dried porcini mushrooms" at a continental shop in a local shopping centre, excellent start.  With these in hand I was excited at the prospect of cooking this meal tonight.  Problem was, I didn't have the rest of my shopping list for this recipe and my memory, although never great, since having a child, has completely turned into a mushy mushroom risotto!

I did however remember that I needed a stick of celery, the fancy mushrooms and some lemon curd and I was sure that these few things would be all I needed to make this dish.  I bought a variety of different fancy mushrooms that I had never dared to buy before and the price was one of the things that scared me off.  A small pack of fancy mushrooms costing $6 each.  Never the less, I purchased what I thought would be enough and after giving my toddler a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine we headed home.

My hubby came home early so I decided tonight was the night to make this special dish and I started prepping my kitchen and gathering my ingredients, herbs and spinach from the garden.  I ended up being short on a few ingredients, but nothing that would change the recipe considerably so I decided to continue.

Check the clock and away we go.  Flat out with everything going on at once.  I burnt my hand but pressed on.  My hubby ended up helping with the desert and I realised too late, that I had missed some important steps in prepping the cream cheese in all the chaos of the risotto starting to stick to the bottom of the pot and realising that the mushrooms needed to go under the grill after pan frying when I had already removed them so that I could reuse the pan for the desert.  Ahhhhh!

But in the end, I managed to pull it all together and we sat down to "Oozy Mushroom Risotto with Spinach Salad and Quick Lemon & Raspberry Cheesecake".  It was a lovely meal but not sure if I think it was worth hunting down the dried mushrooms or even using a bunch of fancy mushrooms.  Nor do I think pan frying a bunch of mushrooms separately just to put on top, was really worth it.  As I write this blog my stomach feels heavy, like I have just eaten a big steak and maybe this is due to the quantity of mushrooms used.  The salad was a nice fresh accompaniment and I also added a couple of slices of grilled ciabatta bread on the side which added a nice crunch.  The desert was also lovely.  I good tip to place the glasses in the freezer first and then add the filling.  The base was cold and hard even though it went in hot.  I didn't have enough cream cheese so I used a little pre-made custard and mulberries instead of raspberries, but I don't think any of this mattered as it was a layered desert with plenty of flavour and not too heavy.

The kitchen looked like a tornado hit it and I felt guilty leaving it for my hubby to clean up as it was my turn to bath and put our son to bed.  With him finally in bed, I eagerly turned on the tele to watch the next episode and what I would be cooking next.....Steak Sarnie, or sandwich as we call it.  Oh...lovely, another heavy looking meal, cos it's not just the steak sandwich, but also potatoes, beetroot salad and stuffed mushrooms!  My stomach hurts just thinking about it.  Might need to wait until the weekend and invite a couple of friends over for lunch for this one.  I think we have enough risotto to feed us all for several days!!

My first blog about Jamies 30 Minute Meals

Recently I received Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals book as a present.  So what?  I have heaps of recipe books including Jamie at Home, so why would this one be any different? I'm just an everyday person who is a stay at home mum for an 18 month old and I have many hobbies of which cooking is just one.

I started reading through the cookbook and then heard a TV ad for Jamie's 30 Minute Meals!  I was excited to realise that I would not only be able to cook his recipes, but also watch them on TV first, much like the Jamie at Home series.  The difference being, each episode is one night's meal. 

I start recording the shows and I watch the first; Piri Piri Chicken with dressed potatoes, rocket salad and Portuguese Tarts.  I watch, I reference the book, I buy the ingredients and I cook....I fall in love!  Delicious!  My husband is also quite impressed, so I think, I'll watch another. 

I watch the next episode...Thai Red Prawn Curry, Jasmine Rice, Cucumber Salad and Papaya Platter.  I gathered my ingredients, including some kaffir lime leaves from the neighbours garden (we were looking after their garden while they were away and I didn't think they would miss a couple of leaves).  The ingredient list for the curry component was quite long but surprisingly I had most of the list already on hand.  In the blender they all went, and I followed the recipe to the letter.  OMG!!!  What a taste sensation.  This was by far the most amazing curry I and my husband had ever tasted, including any restaurant meal we had ever had. 

It was about now that I made an unconscious decision to continue to work through the TV shows that I had recorded.  Can I do each recipe in 30 minutes?  Not a chance!  Are they simple meals?  I personally don't think so, but others may disagree.  I can whip up a pasta, a risotto or a nice salad or fish dish quite easily without breaking a sweat, but when I cook these meals I need to be in the right frame of mind and my son needs to be happy to entertain himself while I spend the next 40 or so minutes intensely following Jamie's steps, cos if you miss a step, you could ruin the whole dish.  So obviously, I don't do this every night, but maybe once or twice a week.  If you have children, you will understand that the best laid plans can go down the toilet when your child didn't get enough sleep, is bored, teething or just outright having a shitty day.  Not the day you want to cook 30 minute meals!

Next comes Spinach & Feta Filo Pie with Cucumber Salad, Tomato Salad and Coated Ice cream.  Not a big fan of the Filo myself.  I find it so fiddly and quite frankly, I'm not the most patient person in the world when it comes to cooking, but I figure I would give it a go.  Again I try hard to complete the meal in 30 minutes and fail miserably, but the meal was nice.  Not blown away like the first two recipes, but a very nice meal, especially when I could use some of our home grown spinach, tomatoes and chillies.  Cool.

Roast Beef....Mmmmmm.  We love a good roast and Jamie has some great ideas for roasts, especially the recipes in his Jamie at Home book.  This is going to be a winner....or is it?  The recipe is Roast Beef, Baby Yorkies, Little Carrots, Crispy Potatoes and super quick Gravy.  I am excited about the prospect of using our home grown carrots and kipfler potatoes and I am sure this will be a big hit at dinner time.  I watch the episode and I am a little sceptical as the beef fillet in sliced longways down the middle and cooked in a frypan!  What the?  Of course you can't cook a roast in 30 minutes so Jamie comes up with this idea of cooking it in the pan.  As for yorksire puddings...I have never cooked them nor eaten them, so I have no idea of what they should taste like or what texture even they should be. 

I complete the meal and we sit down to eat.  Hmmm...not a fan of yorkies!  They came out exactly as they should but I guess it's an English thing, cos they did nothing for me.  That in combination with the heavy red meat made me feel quite uncomfortable and heavy and I think this recipe is better suited for Sunday lunch rather than a dinner meal.  A nice meal but I'm  not sure if I will pan fry a fillet of beef again any time soon. 

Next is Pregnant Jool's Pasta with Crunchy Chicory & Watercress Salad and Little Frangipane Tarts.  This one excites me cos I love pasta and I love deserts!!  I decide that it's too hard to find chicory or watercress and just opt for simple mixed lettuce.  This helps reduce the amount of work and I manage to make the meal in around 40 minutes!  The pasta was "out of this world".  The caramelising of the meat brought out a richness in flavour that I have never tasted before, not even in a restaurant.  Total Yum.  The tarts were nice, but I couldn't get deep enough shortcrust pastry cases, so I couldn't put enough filling in them to really make them special.

By now I'm feeling quite confident that every meal in this book is going to be pretty awesome, if not, at least really really good, so I decide to invite some friends over for a dinner party.  We hadn't hosted a dinner party since our son was born, but I was feeling quite confident that I could pull it off without too much stress.  I watched the next episode and decide, this is the meal I am going to cook...Curry Rogan Josh with fluffy rice, carrot salad, poppadoms and flatbread.  I would prepare a few things before the guests arrive, include a simple entree using some of the carrot salad and make the ice cream rolled in hazelnut and chocolate from a previous 30 minute meal as the desert.  If this curry is anything at all like the Thai Red Curry I had already cooked, I was really going to really "Wow" our guests.

The night came and I did as much preparation as I could including making the carrot salad, the topping for the ice cream, the poppadoms and preparing the flatbread.  The rest I could do when the guests arrived as it was all done in one pan/pot.  Well I won't say the meal was a disaster, but it definitely had No "Wow" factor at all!  The samosas that I bought from the supermarket and heated in the oven were dry and awful, but the carrot accompaniment  as pretty good.  The curry itself was average.  The recipe did not make the curry from scratch, but used a store bought Rogan Josh curry paste.  I admit I did not use the exact brand that Jamie recommended and maybe this was my downfall, but I used what I thought to be a good quality curry paste and while the recipe only used half a jar, I ended up putting the entire jar in just to try to get some flavour and kick to the dish.  As for Jamie's 5 minute lemon pickle which was suppose to make the rice a "kick out of the park", I'm still on the fence.  Yes it was a taste sensation but I guess it was difficult to get my head around eating lemon peel, cooked or not!!

The desert was a hit, although not so much for our friends 13yo who didn't like the subtle taste of the ground coffee which was mixed with the toasted hazelnuts and dark chocolate.  Overall, it was a great night and the food was nice, but I learnt my lesson and in future I will serve meals that I have cooked and taste tested before!

That brings me to now and I have well and truly committed to cooking every meal in this book - in order of their viewing on TV.  The next recipe...Duck Salad with Giant Croutons and Cheat's Rice Pudding with Stewed fruit.  This one makes me a little nervous as I have never cooked Duck before.  It's expensive and as I find out, really difficult to get and can taste awful if it is overcooked.  I watch the episode and the duck seems to be cooking away for ages.  It takes me a couple of weeks to find Duck Breast.  I try Coles and was looked at rather oddly when I ask "Do you sell Duck Breast?"  The young girl looks at me like I have just asked for Kangaroo testicles so I decide to dumb it down and say "You know, not chicken breast, but duck breast".  Again she gives me a look that says I must be a mad woman and just says "no".  I'm already shaking my hand and saying "don't worry, I'll try somewhere else".  I try a specialty continental shop who say they can get it in for me if I order it but of course they wouldn't stock such an item on the shelf, so to speak.  I thank them and decide I will have to go to the central markets to get this specialty meat. 

The following week I am at another small shopping centre and find a "specialty meat" shop and Duck is listed as one of their specialties.  I'm in luck and I am able to purchase two duck breast that have been shrink wrapped and frozen.  I almost fall over at the price for these small pieces of meat (180gms each), but if I am to be true to my commitment, I must purchase this meat and cook on.

Yet another week later and I am finally presented with an opportunity to cook this dish.  I had taken the duck out of the freezer the night before, in hope that I would feel up to cooking this dish as I did not want to stuff this up after spending so much money on the meat.  I was hosting a baby shower that morning which included 5 toddlers and 7 adults but it all went smoothly.  My son spends this day of the week in childcare, so it was a perfect opportunity to give it a go. 

I admit I took the duck out of the pan well before the instructions tell me too as I am sure that just one minute more and they would be so over cooked they would be inedible.  Lucky I did and with some resting time they were barely blushing when sliced.  But taste....YUM!  It was a good one for sure.  I think I overcooked the ciabatta loaf a bit as they were a little hard to say the least and they did not seem to soak up the juices like shown on TV, but hey...still Yum.  As for the rice pudding, also Yum.  I had never had rice pudding before and I wasn't really sure what to buy, so I bought the canned variety as well as the fresh variety branded "LeRice".  I opted to use the fresh variety and it was good.  My Father in law visited us with literally a bucket full of plums so we had plenty of fruit to cook up.  Overall a very good meal.

Once I complete a meal I place a neat little tick in the book and am excited to watch the next episode.  My next challenge...Mushroom Risotto.  Well this has got to be an easy one cos I cook risottos all the time and I have made many a mushroom risotto.  I watch and find that again Jamie has used a "special ingredient" which is dried procini mushrooms and these are used as the base of the risotto and an important ingredient.  I was also shocked to see him use a stock cube and water.  This baffles me and I'm not sure if I want to go that way or use chicken stock.  Admittedly I would need to heat the stock up before adding it to the mixture, but surely this would give a better flavour than a stock cube.  Hmmm..the mind boggles, but first I need to find these dried mushrooms...wish me luck!