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!!
Fish and More Fish!!
Sea Bass & Fish Tray Bake
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
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??
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??
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
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
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
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