Pork meatballs in coconut broth

Although I watch a lot of TV cooking shows, I’ve never really liked watching any of Gordon Ramsay’s shows. Too much drama and profanities, and not enough food for me. Personally, I just don’t enjoy watching something where every second or third word is a four letter word (okay, that is probably an exaggeration, I’ve never sat down and counted – I haven’t watched long enough to do that). That’s just me. And so as a result, I’ve never purchased any of his cookbooks or tried any of his recipes.

Recently, however, I have seen him in his role as judge on Masterchef US where for the most part it seemed food, rather than the ‘f-word’, was more the focus. So I thought maybe it was time to give Gordon a chance. After all, he’s held onto three Michelin stars for a while, so he must know what he is talking about. I came across his latest book (which accompanies his most recent TV show and is aimed at teaching people how to become better home cooks) for 30% off and after having a quick look, a recipe for meatballs in a fragrant coconut broth with flavours I don’t use a lot caught my attention. There were a few other recipes that also caught my interest which I will try another time. Seeing as it was on sale, and telling myself that even though I have shelves full of cookbooks, I have a blog now so it’s okay to buy another one, I bought it. Link to book here –  Gordon Ramsay’s Home Cooking: Everything You Need to Know to Make Fabulous Food
I know. I have a problem… And I’m running out of space on my bookcase!

Pork meatballs in a fragrant coconut broth

click here for more including the recipe

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Baking disasters and Anzac biscuits

Some days, things just go right in the kitchen. They certainly have for me this last week while I’ve been blogging. New recipes worked first time and my first attempt at pastry turned out pretty good. But sometimes, like today, things just don’t work. I like to think that even the best of chefs have baking disasters occasionally. Not that a failed recipe in the kitchen really is a disaster in the scheme of things. But this afternoon baking, things just didn’t seem to want to go my way.

Last week just before heading out for my first cake decorating class, I was skimming through one of my books and came across a recipe for ginger and lime kisses (two little ginger cookies with a lime butter-cream filling). I thought they looked and sounded nice so decided that they would be my next weekend baking project. They didn’t quite work out. While I followed the recipe, they spread too much, didn’t rise and just didn’t look like they should have. I think I may know what went wrong, but I’ll get to that in a minute. They still tasted great, so I have frozen them and might make ice-cream sandwiches with them or a twist on cookies and cream ice-cream another day.

Determined to still have something baked to post, and share, I decided to make some Anzac biscuits. Chewy Anzac biscuits Click here for more including the recipe

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Holiday entertaining

With the holiday season fast approaching (much too quickly), I have been reflecting on holiday entertaining last Christmas, and what I may want to do differently this year.

In November last year, after 3 years of living in a small apartment (with limited room for entertaining), I moved to a house which much more room both inside and out. So instead of only being able to invite a few friends over for dinner, suddenly we could invite a larger group. So of course I decided to host a Christmas dinner with friends about a week before Christmas (we were flying out to Paris a few days later for Christmas with my boyfriend’s family). Continue reading “Holiday entertaining” →

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Warm lamb salad with lentils and salsa verde

Even though I enjoy cooking, sometimes after a busy day at work, it can be too easy or tempting to succumb to picking up takeaway on the way home. Especially as I have so many great restaurants (Indian, Italian, Japanese and many more) within five minutes of my house. Alternately, I fall back on a few tried and tested favourite recipes, which if cooked too often will no longer be favourites. So finding new quick and easy recipes that I can add to my repertoire and save the takeaway for an occasional treat is something I am actively trying to do.

The other day I was looking through a new cooking magazine and I came across a warm beef and salsa verde salad that sparked my interest. It looked like a great spring dinner, but although I liked the look of it and the idea, I didn’t feel like beef so I went with lamb instead. Then because I was cooking with lamb, I thought mint would be a great addition to the salsa verde rather than just the parsley they used. And how about some basil as well given I’m adding tomatoes to the salad, and some lemon to freshen it up? Next thing you know the recipe below was created and the result delivered was just what I was after. A quick (all up around 30 minutes), light and tasty dinner perfect, in my opinion, for a spring night in Perth. Next time I might try cooking the lamb on the bbq instead of the stove.

It’s nice when cooking ‘experiments’ work out. And as I’d never used anchovies or capers in any of my cooking before, this really was an experiment for me. Don’t be scared of the anchovies, they don’t make the dish taste of fish. The leftovers were great for lunch the next day, the flavours had intensified and I thought it was delicious.

Quick lamb salad with salsa verde and lentils click here for the recipe

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My spaghetti bolognaise

After years of making spaghetti bolognaise from a jar, I recently started making my own at home. I make a big batch and freeze the leftovers. It is certainly not a traditional or authentic recipe. Doing what I often do when I want to try a new dish, I looked at different recipes for inspiration and then went of and started cooking and adding things myself, such as mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce. Neither are traditional ingredients, however I love mushrooms in this sauce, and for me the Worcestershire sauce just adds something. I always add it to my home made hamburgers and just added it automatically the first time I made this.

This recipe is something I taste as I go and make adjustments to at the end if needed (salt/pepper, maybe some more vinegar). Depending on the tomatoes you use or the sweetness of the red wine, you may need to add a small amount of sugar at the end to overcome some lingering tartness/bitterness. However I have only needed to do this one and only needed to add a small pinch. While it does have around 3 hour cooking time, most of that is taken up with the sauce slowly simmering away on the stove top, with the most you need to do is stir and taste occasionally. It’s certainly not something you want to make on a busy work night, but it’s a great one for an afternoon of cooking on the weekend. You can chop the vegetables quite small or keep them a bit larger if you prefer a chunkier sauce. It’s really up to you. click here for the recipe

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Cauliflower soup

For me blended vegetable soups are not just a winter staple. If I’m rehearsing or performing in a musical, a pot of soup ready to go is a must for me, whatever time of year. It makes a great quick nutritious meal on the go between work and rehearsals/performances when I don’t want anything too heavy for dinner. It also makes a great quick and easy lunch to take to work.

A few years back I was experimenting with different types of vegetable soups and I stumbled across a recipe for cauliflower soup. I looked up a few other recipes, got some ideas and then went and made this one. I was surprised with the result and it’s now one of my favourites. It’s not for everyone. If you don’t like cauliflower then you aren’t going to like this soup. But the basic principles can be used with a lot of other  vegetables for a quick easy meal.

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click here for the recipe

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