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.