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!!
Sea Bass & Fish Tray Bake
Tuesday 29 March 2011
Monday 21 March 2011
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!!
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!!
Thursday 3 March 2011
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!
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!
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