Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Seville Chicken ... and a little grumbling about Microsoft Word and HTML code


Do you know what I don't like about Microsoft Word? I puts in a whole heap of junk HTML coding into the document outside of the text and the actual code needed to format the text you've written. I complain about this because I recently had to edit a book for a friend who had written it in Word and I had to correct the HTML to make some of the formatting work. It was a painful experience of editing HTML code for the better part of a Sunday afternoon. Of course, I also get reminded of this every time I write a blog post.

Why you ask? Because a lot of my recipes are in Word and when I want to insert them into a blog post, I then need to copy it into Notepad, strip out the formatting, copy it back into my chosen blog writing medium (in this case being an email composed in Gmail) and then reformatted.

Of course, now you will ask why I am writing my blog post in Gmail as an email rather than just doing it in the interface from Blogger? Because I don't like the way that formats either. I think I complained about it here when I first learned about it.

The Boy who writes the SAZ in the Cellar blog does all his composing in Blogger and writing in Blogger and even manages to do some fancy formatting with this text alignment around pictures. I am less inclined to fiddle around with the interface, so I have found a way which works for me and which I find easy.

What do I do? I write my blog post in my Gmail email interface, format it and add a picture, then hit send. Once I do that, I go into my blog and edit the post. The only things that I really do there are centre the picture and add labels to the post. This works for me. Of course, it's not as elegant as doing it all in the Blogger interface but I do like that Gmail autosaves and I find it easy to format. It also brings to mind the fact that I'm getting more set in my ways (read: getting older) and less flexible when it comes to learning new ways of doing things, not incapable, just less flexible and less willing to do so graciously.

And finally, you ask: What does this have to do with Seville Chicken? Well, I'll tell you ... when it comes to cooking, I'm much more willing to learn and try new things and this Seville Chicken dish did that for me on many levels.

As a dish, it was of course, new and I was trying it for the first time, but also, where the flavors were concerned, I was taking a step out into some unknown territory with ingredients like orange and different colored capsicums in a combination of flavors that I had not previously tried. It was also my first attempt at a Spanish dish.

I confess to being intimidated by recipes that seem to have a very long list of ingredients but less so as I become more experienced with my cooking. Looking at the ingredient list for this dish gave me pause, but at the same time, I wanted to try something new and decided to go with the challenge.

Here's the RECIPE for my Seville Chicken:

Ingredients:
  • 1 orange
  • 8 chicken thighs
  • Plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large Spanish onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 red capsicum, seeded and sliced
  • 1 yellow capsicum, seeded and sliced
  • 115g chorizo sausage, sliced
  • ½ cup flaked / sliced almonds
  • 1 large cup brown rice
  • 2 ½ cups chicken stock
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • ¾ cup white wine
  • Generous pinch of dried thyme
  • Salt and ground black pepper
  • Fresh thyme sprigs to garnish

Instructions:
  • Pare a thin strip of peel from the orange using a vegetable peeler and set it aside. Peel the orange, then cut it into even segments, working over a bowl to catch any excess juice. Dust the chicken with plenty of seasoned flour
  • Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the chicken pieces until nicely browned. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate. Add the chopped onion and crushed garlic to the pan and fry until onion begins to brown. Add sliced red and yellow capsicum to pan and fry, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until slightly softened
  • Add chorizo, stir fry for a few minutes, sprinkle over the almonds and rice. Cook, stirring for 1 – 2 minutes
  • Pour in chicken stock, chopped tomatoes and white wine, then add the reserved orange peel and the dried thyme. Season well, Bring the sauce to simmering point, stirring, then return the chicken to the pan
  • Cover tightly and cook over a very low heat for 1 – 1 ¼ hours until the rice and chicken are tender. Just before serving, add the orange segments and juice, and allow to cook briefly to heat through. Season to taste, garnish with sprigs of fresh thyme and serve

Overall, if you follow the instructions, this is not difficult to make. It does require some patience though.

I did not vary the recipe very much, since this was new to me and also because I could not think of much that I wanted to do to change it.

The only thing that I really did differently was that rather than cooking it over the stove on a low heat after all the ingredients went in, I turned my oven onto 120 degrees Celsius and put the entire pot covered with a lid into the oven to slow cook. Oh, I also used one of those cast iron enamel pots (though mine is just regular Benzer rather than the much lusted after Le Creuset) rather than just a regular pan to cook in. This allowed the dish to be covered and slow cooked in the oven a lot better.

This dish was a complete surprise to me. The orange gave it a very tangy flavor and when you first eat it after it's been cooked the flavors are intense and almost all battling for supremacy in your mouth - between the orange, capsicum, the tomato and the various meat flavors - a delightful tango in your mouth. However, after a few days, when the flavors have integrated and mellowed, it became an entirely different dish yet again - smooth, rich, tasty.

Definitely a very yummy dish that has made it's way into my permanent cooking repetoire.

© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

Monday, July 30, 2012

Easy chicken and corn soup


Whenever The Boy is sick, he always wants comfort food, which tends to be warm and soupy.

Either I make him chicken congee (Chinese rice porridge) or chicken and corn soup, both favorites and very often requested in our household.

At the moment, my poor Darling Boy is down with a virus of some sort, a chest infection and a very bad cough. The coughing just seemed to take a turn for the worse this evening though the doctor did warn that he would get worse before he got better. He's very poorly right now.

Sleeping last night was very unpleasant. He fell asleep but didn't sleep easily and tossed and turned all night in bed, as well as coughing all night. I got woken up at 1am and was unable to get back to sleep at all. Very distressing for the both of us.

I had originally intended for us to just have some leftover noodles for dinner but he gave me his cute sooky face and asked for chicken and corn soup, so that was what I made for dinner. I didn't have any chicken thawed for the meal so I ended up thawing out the meat partially in the microwave, cutting it into small pieces and then cooking it in the boiling soup.

Here's my super easy chicken and corn soup RECIPE:

Ingredients:
  • 2 pieces of chicken thighs cut into very small pieces (about the size of a fingernail)
  • 1 can 400ml creamed corn
  • 1 can 310ml corn kernels (drained)
  • 3 - 4 cups of chicken stock (enough to cover the ingredients)
  • 2 eggs (optional in case the soup is too watery and needs thickening)
  • 2 handfuls of shallots sliced (also known as spring onions or scallions)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
  • Put the cut up pieces of chicken, creamed corn and corn kernels into a pot.
  • Cover with stock and bring to a boil.
  • Simmer covered for about 10 minutes after the soup comes to a boil.
  • At this point, if the soup is too watery and you want to thicken it, bring it back to a boil, crack open the two eggs into a bowl, break up the egg yolk slightly (do not beat the egg) and pour into the soup all the while stirring to swirl egg around the soup.
  • Continue to simmer for another 5 minutes after that.
  • When ready, ladle into bowls, salt and pepper to taste and add a small handful of the shallots into each bowl.
  • Serve while hot

Note: since the shallots usually go off really quickly, what I do is buy a bunch and then cut them up into small pieces and store them in a plastic container in the freezer. This retains the flavor and it doesn't go off. The shallots last in the freezer for up to a month or two, and it's great to pull out and just use a handful or two at a time.

Since this is pretty much a recipe that I made up, there's no variation to it. This is just how I make it.

Of course, tonight, this was exactly what the doctor ordered for The Boy. Right now, it's an early night for him and he's all tucked into bed, coughing like crazy and trying to get some rest. Get well soon, my darling.

© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Microwave chocolate chip cookie in a cup


Anyone who knows my cooking, knows that I suck baking, so imagine my delight when I found this recipe on the interwebs when I googled "microwave cookie in a cup" and found this little gem. I can't remember where I found the recipe but I'm very grateful for it. If you do want to find the source, just google it. :-)

I have to admit to being somewhat dubious about the efficacy of this recipe but then again I also know nothing about baking.

I won't blather on much more because there really isn't much to say about this little recipe besides the fact that it's quick to make and very tasty. I like that it's a small single serve cookie and I think it would also be great as a dessert, warm right out of the microwave and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Without further ado, here's the RECIPE:

Ingredients:
  • 1 Tablespoon Butter
  • 1 Tablespoon Granulated White Sugar (caster sugar)
  • 1 Tablespoon of firmly packed Dark Brown Sugar
  • 3 Drops of Vanilla Extract
  • Small Pinch of Kosher Salt
  • 1 Egg Yolk (discard the egg white)
  • 1/4 cup of All Purpose Flour (plain flour)
  • 2 Tablespoons of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Instructions:
  • Start by melting your butter in the microwave.
  • Add sugars, vanilla and salt. Stir to combine.
  • Separate your egg and add the yolk only to your cup. Stir to combine.
  • Add flour, then stir again.
  • Add the chocolate chips, and give a final stir.
  • Cook in microwave 40-60 seconds, start checking for done-ness at 40 seconds.
  • Mine takes 60 seconds in a 1000W microwave.

Just for the record, this *is* baking, so I didn't vary the recipe ... sort of. I didn't have any granulated white sugar, so I used raw sugar instead. The cookie came out a little crunchy from that, I thought.

I did think it was a little sweet for my taste but then I think you can adjust the sweetness to taste by adding more or less sugar according to what you like.

© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

Sunday, July 22, 2012

I'm no fool ... oh, you mean it's a Raspberry Fool


I  have always found the name of this dessert amusing. That said, it's an old, old dessert dating back to the 16th century and it's simply delicious and very easy to make.

For me, easy to make desserts are a must because I am not most proficient when it comes to baking. As an example, I've now attempted banana bread / cake about five times and each time it has come out different though mostly tasty. I think it has to do with the fact that baking requires a specificity and exactness that is just not in my make up. So, the Raspberry Fool is a winner for me.

And yes, I did do some things differently, but I will leave that for after I give you the RECIPE:

Ingredients:
  • 150g (1 punnet) raspberries
  • 1 300ml container thickened cream
  • 1 tbs icing sugar, sifted

Instructions:
  • Set aside 12 raspberries. Place the remaining raspberries in a bowl and use a fork to roughly mash.
  • Use electric beaters to whisk the cream, icing sugar until firm peaks form. Fold the mashed raspberries into the cream mixture to create a swirled effect.
  • Spoon the mixture into four 125ml (1/2-cup) serving glasses and place in the fridge for 10 minutes to develop the flavours.
  • Top the fools with the reserved raspberries and serve with the biscuits, for dipping.

So here's what I did differently:

I used frozen raspberries instead of fresh because they were not in season and even if they were, they are just too pricey to buy.

I didn't just mash up the raspberries (because they were frozen), I dumped them in a pot and made a coulis out of them, which basically involved heating up the frozen raspberries, bringing them to a boil and putting some icing sugar into them and sweetening them up. This made a very lovely, gooey, liquidy mess of raspberry and juice.

Instead of just raspberries (which I didn't have, I used fresh strawberries and fresh blueberries and just layered them in the glass - coulis, cream, fruit, repeat until the glass is filled and then just drizzle some coulis right on top. Mine turned out looking nothing like the picture of the recipe that I was given, of course. You get a picture of mine. :-)

This is a very rich dessert, so a small glass goes a long way.

© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Bacon and beans risotto ... in the Thermomix


We've had an odd week this week. The Boy was supposed to be out quite a few nights on business dinners so I hadn't really planned to do much (if any) cooking at all. Tonight we're home together (again! Yay!) and I had nothing planned for dinner. I have a few serves of leftover Honey Soy Chicken though this time I did it with Hokkien noodles but the boy wanted to save those to take to work the next few days, so I suggested trying a new risotto dish that I've been meaning to make. Fortunately, The Boy was home early enough to take the bacon out of the freezer for me so that it would be defrosted by the time I was to cook.

As I stood preparing the ingredients and moving around my now minuscule kitchen, I had the odd thought that (hooray!) I am finally getting accustomed to this very teeny, tiny kitchen, where the two of us can't even be in the kitchen at the same time or we are bumping into each other or the cupboards. Still, it was a good moment and I felt glad for it that I felt settled or that I was at least settling into the kitchen, which takes us one step closer to feeling more like The New Apartment is home.

So, this new risotto dish ... again, you can make it using the basic risotto recipe but of course, I made it in the Thermomix. I have to say, the Thermomix is a working person's gift. So simple to use and such a time saver.

Here's the RECIPE for it:

Ingredients:
  • 3 bacon rashers, or 6 shortcut pieces, roughly cut into largeish pieces
  • 1 medium onion, peeled and halved
  • 15g olive oil
  • 380g arborio rice
  • 100g red wine
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 900g water
  • 1 tin borlotti beans, drained
  • chopped parsley, to serve
  • 40g cream, optional

Instructions:
  • heat the thermomix 2 minutes varoma speed 1
  • add bacon, chop for 10 seconds on speed 5-6
  • saute for 3 minutes varoma speed 1
  • add onion on speed 5 for a few seconds
  • add olive oil
  • saute for 2 mins 100C speed 1
  • pop in the butterfly
  • add arborio rice and wine
  • saute for 2mins 100c reverse speed 1
  • add in stock concentrate (or 2 stock cubes), tomatoes and water
  • cook for 11 mins 100c reverse speed 1
  • add borlotti beans and cream and cook a further 5 mins 100c reverse speed 1
  • Pour into thermoserver, mix to stir parsley through and leave to stand for 5 mins or so until more of the liquid is absorbed. serve with Parmesan if desired, season to taste

Again, because I can't help myself, I'm doing some things differently, but not drastically so.

I didn't chop the bacon in the Thermomix right in the beginning, rather, I cut them into large strips and put them in to cook on the varoma speed. The reason I didn't do this was because the next step was to chop the onion in the Thermomix and I didn't want mushy bacon. I actually wanted bacon bits for texture. After that, I cut up the onion according to the instructions (about 4 seconds) and that made both the bacon and the onion the perfect consistency and the right size for me.

Instead of 380g of rice, I only used 300g of rice. I remember reading somewhere that if you use a little less rice, your risotto ends up being a little juicier / creamier (with a bit more sauce) and I like it that way.

For stock instead of stock cubes, I used 3 heaped teaspoons of chicken stock, mixed into the 900g of (boiling) water.

After I added the beans, instead of cooking it for 5 minutes, I cooked it for 6 minutes just to give it a little more time for the sauce to thicken.

I also didn't use any cream because I'm lactose intolerant and while I can stand a little bit of cream, I rather not risk it.

Finally, instead of just adding Parmesan cheese at the end, I mixed a generous amount into the risotto and then I let it stand.

Of course, by the end, I just got lazy and left out the parsley. :-)

Oh, and I almost never use the Thermoserver. I just use my standard Corningware dish, which works beautifully. I'd only use the Thermoserver if I wanted to keep it warm for a couple of hours and I don't need to do that.

This turned out to be a very, very tasty risotto. It was rich, luscious and oh so delicious. I think I might have eaten too much because I had seconds. There's plenty for leftovers too, so I'm looking forward to that.

© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Crustless quiche

I think I've mentioned this before ... I'm not much into the baking or the dough making, so when a recipe requires a crust or a pie shell or any sort of pastry to wrap it in, I tend to give it a miss. If I can buy the pie crust, shell, pastry, then I'm quite likely to make the recipe but so far, I have not visited the pre-made pastry aisle in the grocery store and given it a serious review to see what's available. I will get to it at some point.

So what you are going to see today is a CRUSTLESS quiche. To be exact it's a crustless bacon and tomato quiche (or you can use ham too, if you like). It's super simple to make because without the crust, all you really need to do is throw all the ingredients into a mixing bowl, mix together and put it into the oven. Seriously, that's all there is to it.


I learned to make this recipe in my early 20s and living on my own. It was one of those dishes that was easy and kept for a few days in the fridge and worked really well as leftovers. It's also a nice dish to bring along to a pot luck party.

Here's the RECIPE for the crustless bacon and tomato quiche:

Ingredients (serves 4):
  • 1 brown onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 cup bacon or ham bits
  • 1 can drained whole tomato, chopped roughly
  • 3 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 tub sour cream
  • 1/2 cup self-raising flour
  • 1 cup grated tasty cheese
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions:
  • Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 4cm deep, 24cm (base) ovenproof fluted ceramic quiche dish
  • Whisk eggs and flour in a bowl until well combined. Stir in all other ingredients and mix well
  • Season with salt and pepper and mix
  • Pour mixture into quiche dish. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until set in the centre. Allow to stand for 10 minutes. Serve

There's not much to it at all, but just because I can't help myself, this is what I do different:
  • I use a little bit more cheese than the recipe says because I like my quiche cheesy
  • I do not use canned tomatoes because I find them really squishy and I don't like that it turns my quiche red if I don't drain it properly (which has been known to happen!). Instead, I use a ripe whole tomato and remove the seeds. I just cut the tomato (depending on how big they are, I use 2 or 3 of them) and cut them into 6 pieces, then remove the seeds (sometimes I'm lazy and I don't even do that). After that, I cut the 6 pieces into half or thirds
  • I've never had the eggs at room temperature so I don't know what difference having the eggs at room temperature does to the quiche. Maybe I should try it one day? Anyhow, with cold eggs, the quiche still turns out fine

The Boy loves quiche, particularly for breakfast. I don't know if he warms it up or not. Once (and only once) he had a little bit of Semillon left in a bottle and decided to have quiche and Semillon for breakfast at 10am. He tells me that the combination worked very well. I am taking his word for it.

Do you like quiche? Do you like it with a crust like a traditional quiche Lorraine or can you live without a crust? Ever tried leftover quiche for breakfast or do you prefer it for another meal?



© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny’s Fortunes Pty Ltd

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Prawn and gorgonzola risotto ... in the Thermomix


Tonight I had intended to write a post about my crustless spinach quiche only to discover that I had already done it previously and just forgotten that I forgot that I did it. Duh me!

On top of that, my mid-week post is late since it's already Thursday night. Sorry 'bout that. Very slack of me. I have no excuses. I've just been hiding away in The Apartment amusing myself and passing time watching videos while The Boy has been away for work and missing him terribly.

The Boy came home tonight. Yay!

So ... instead, I thought I'd post yet another risotto recipe and yes, again, this one is done in the Thermomix, but really, if you follow the instructions in my basic risotto recipe being made the traditional way, you can easily modify the recipe to do this.

The Boy loves this dish and we often serve it as a starter for dinner parties. It's simply delicious, especially if you love prawns and gorgonzola.

A word of advice, the saffron adds a lot. I once didn't have any saffron and ran out to Cole to buy some cheap Masterfoods saffron. It didn't taste nearly as good. If you can, try to get some good quality saffron. I'm very fortunate, a very good friend (and one of my boys) is Iranian and each time he goes back to Iran, I have him bring me back some mondo premium saffron for me to cook with. I definitely recommend a friend like that. Spanish saffron is pretty good too and definitely much better that the crap they sell at Coles, but in a pinch, that will have to do.

Here's the RECIPE for the risotto:

Ingredients
  • ½ onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • Handful of fresh basil
  • 40g Olive oil
  • 300g Arborio rice
  • 80g white wine
  • 4 tsp chicken stock
  • 2 pinch of saffron
  • 1 litre of hot water
  • 10 king prawns shelled, without tails
  • 80g Gorgonzola
  • 10 cherry tomatoes
  • 2 handfuls of baby spinach

Instructions
  • Chop onion, garlic and basil together Speed 6, 3 – 5 seconds, scrape sides
  • Add olive oil and sauté at 100 degrees for 2 minutes
  • Put in butterfly
  • Add Arborio rice and wine wine, sauté for 2 minutes at Reverse speed 1, 100 degrees
  • Add stock, hot water mixed with saffron, set time to 13 minutes, Reverse speed 1, 100 degrees
  • After 13 minutes, add prawns, cook at 100 degrees for 2 minutes, Reverse speed 1
  • Add tomatoes and gorgonzola (crumbled) cook at 100 degrees for 1 minute, Reverse speed 1
  • To serve, add 2 handfuls of baby spinach to bottom of thermoserver, then pour in risotto. Cover and rest for 5 minutes, then serve


I don't vary this recipe at all though I would be careful of the use of the gorgonzola. The gorgonzola is very strong, so if you don't like too strong a flavor ease off on the amount used and as a rule, try not to use more than the recommended amount in the recipe.

Oh and you don't need salt as the gorgonzola will provide plenty of saltiness to taste but you might want to season with pepper.

I often serve this on a bed of rocket for the spiciness of the leaves rather than spinach.

Enjoy!

© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

Monday, July 9, 2012

Off sick ... so an oldie but goodie, making risotto


It would appear that there is a stomach virus floating around and I have caught it. I've been nauseous and unwell for the entire weekend. In fact, aside from a few commitments, I spent most of the weekend in bed. My weekend which was supposed to be a fun weekend in The House with The Boy turned out to be me mostly tired and horizontal. Not much fun at all.

Today is Monday and I'm home from work because I woke up feeling miserable and dragged myself off to the doctor. Unfortunately, there was nothing the doctor could prescribe for me to make me feel better which was a bummer. I want drugs to make me feel better!!!

There has not been much cooking as a result and no planning of meals either. There are a few reasons for that, one because we were away and I was unwell, plus The Boy is away most of this week interstate for work.

I'm going to make a chicken and mushroom risotto for dinner tonight in the Thermomix, just because it's easy and it's yummy. I'm really not up to anything fancy or trying anything new.

There wasn't any Sunday night cooking of any note either. On Saturday, we had intended dinner to be our usual "The House" dinner which consists of hot dogs made with beef sausages and corn on the cob. However, after a rather late lunch, we weren't terribly hungry, The Boy had an apple and I had nothing cos I was laid up in bed feeling ill. Saturday night's dinner was brought forward to last night and between that and me not feeling well, last night's dinner was not terribly exciting.

Funny thing about the hot dogs though, The Boy claimed that the dinner last night did not taste as good in The Apartment as it does in The House. Odd, isn't it? The only thing that is really different is that instead of cooking the sausages on a BBQ grill, we cook the sausages in a pan. I guess the flavor is different cooked that way? Not entirely certain, but that could be the case.

Anyhow, I'll stop rambling now, which is mostly what I've been doing for this entire post, but I didn't want to just not post anything this week.

Other posts that I'm planning:


See you all when I'm feeling better!


© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Planning meals and cooking for the week


As you may know, I've started working full time again, which leaves me a lot less times for dinner parties and spending a lot of time cooking during the week.

If we want to eat economically and eat food that we cook ourselves, I can't be "spur of the moment" anymore. I need to plan ahead and think about what we want to cook and what we want to eat.

It's not all about just the cooking though, it's also about what our plans are for the week and whether or not we will be around.

For example, last week, we spent most of the week at home in the evenings. Often The Boy would have business related dinners at least one night a week, but last week, he didn't, so we had to plan a couple more meals at home.

What we do now is on a Sunday, we think about what we want to cook and eat at home and what days we will be doing that. Then we work out a shopping list and shop according to that. The benefit of that is that we get exactly what we need and our ingredients are always fresh.

So, for the last week, I decided that Sunday dinner would be beef stroganoff. Beef stroganoff is a larger meal since there is always leftovers (we also think about what leftovers are available to eat during the week too).

With that in mind, this is what the menu for the week ended up looking like:

  • Sunday - beef stroganoff
  • Monday - nothing since we were out for bible study
  • Tuesday - beef stroganoff leftovers
  • Wednesday - prawn and gorgonzola risotto with a side salad (we were supposed to have a friend over to dinner but he had to cancel at the last minute, I cooked the risotto anyway)
  • Thursday - the risotto leftovers since it had prawns it would not keep more than a day or two
  • Friday - beef nachos
  • Saturday - chicken parcels (I buy those from my butcher and just pop them into the oven to cook when I want to eat them) with a side salad

I'm not so structured that I write it all out but we do discuss it and I have a list in my head.

This week is a short week for us and not as much eating at home since The Boy has a business dinner out and we're heading up to The House on Thursday night, so our menu for the week is much simpler:

  • Sunday - lasagne
  • Monday - nothing since we have bible study
  • Tuesday - nothing since The Boy is out for a business dinner. I know I still need to eat but I'll just be lazy and grab something simple out of the fridge or out of a tin (I don't mind doing that occasionally)
  • Wednesday - we will probably have whatever is left of the lasagne
  • Thursday - we head up to The House right after work so we will stop on the way, probably at our favorite Thai restaurant for a quick meal
  • Friday and Saturday - we will play it by ear because we will be at The House which will probably mean BBQ hot dogs one night cos The Boy loves it and possibly a night out at one of the restaurants we like.I think The Boy mentioned catching up with some friends for dinner one night in passing so that might be what we're doing one of the nights that we are up there.

And then, of course, it's Sunday again and we start the planning process all over again.

I guess the point that I'm trying to make here is that it's a lot easier to cook during the week when you're working full time if you plan your meals for the week in advance. You also don't need to plan to cook every night because there will be leftovers some nights and other nights there might be something on which means you won't be home to eat. Think the week through, and you will find that like me, cooking during the week will become easier.

So far, in all the weeks that I've started this process, I have found that the most I've had to cook during the week has been 3 times and that's on the high side. Usually it's only once or twice during the week that I'm cooking. That's doable when you're working full time and you get home late and tired.

Do bear in mind though, that if you tend to work a little later like I do (I usually don't leave work till about 6:30pm) dinner might be a little late if you plan on cooking. We usually eat quite late. We would sit down to eat dinner usually anywhere between 8pm and 8:30pm. I don't spend the whole time that I'm home cooking till 8pm. I just start cooking a little later, often between 7pm and 7:30pm after a few errands and unwinding a little bit.

If you've read this far, I hope this helps you in some small way to plan your meals and plan your cooking week.

Happy cooking!!!

© This work is copyrighted to Invest-Ex and Destiny's Fortunes Pty Ltd

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Beef lasagne with bechamel sauce ... in the Thermomix



For this weekend's Sunday dinner I decided to try my hand at lasagne. Now, I know a lot of people make lasagne at home and looking at the recipe it's not that big a deal but for some reason, lasagne has always intimidated me, I think because of the layers and also the bechamel sauce. I have had some previous experiences of cooking bechamel with someone where we ended up throwing away so many batches because we didn't make it right the first time, so the idea of bechamel always used to freak me out. Now I have the Thermomix. :-)

I looked through my recipe books and didn't find a recipe for lasagne that I liked and then decided to let Google do the looking for me. I actually searched for "thermomix bechamel sauce" and not lasagne and found a lovely and simple looking recipe that I thought I could make.

The recipe did call for homemade pasta sheets but I decided to skip that step and just buy my pasta sheets from the store. Other than that, I mostly followed the recipe for the bolognaise sauce and the bechamel sauce.


Here are the recipes:

RECIPE for Bolognaise Sauce

Ingredients:
  • 500g Minced beef
  • 50g Bacon
  • 80g Celery
  • 6 cloves Garlic
  • 1 Carrot
  • 1 Onion
  • 50g olive Oil
  • 2 x tins dices Italian tomatoes
  • 1 x tin small tomato paste
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions:
  • Place Bacon, celery, carrot, onion and garlic into thermomix and mix for 15 seconds on speed 7. this finely minces everything.
  • Add oil and saute for 3 mins at 100 degrees on speed 1.
  • Add mince and cook on Varoma, Reverse, Soft for 10 mins. At this point I usually give the sides a scrape down to make sure everything is below the surface.
  • Add tomatoes and cook for 15mins at Veroma temp on Reverse, Soft. Turn over the MC to reduce the spit effect.
  • Once finished place in the Thermomix warmer to keep hot.

RECIPE for Bechamel Sauce

Ingredients:
  • 1Lt Milk
  • 100g Plain Flour
  • 60g Butter
  • 1tsp salt

Instructions:
  • Place all ingredients into the bowl and cook for 12 minutes at 90 degrees on speed 4.
  • Chopping the butter into 4 smaller pieces stops the splash effect when you first turn the thermomix on.

I'm especially grateful for the thermomix when it comes to making a roux or a white sauce or a cheese sauce or a bechemal sauce because it just makes such a difference in terms of how easy it is to do.

I did do some things differently, because that is just me:

For the bolognaise sauce:

  • Where it said "Place Bacon, celery, carrot, onion and garlic into thermomix and mix for 15 seconds on speed 7. this finely minces everything." I only ran the Thermomix for about 3 seconds because that almost minces the ingredients up without turning it to mush. Running the Thermomix for 15 seconds would have given you a fine paste. I didn't want that.
  • I also left out the bacon from the mincing part of the recipe and decided to slice the bacon into thin strips and cook with the minced beef.
  • I also had a few mushrooms that had been sitting in the fridge for a while and needed to be used up. Instead of throwing them in with the other vegetables, I sliced them up and included them in to cook with the minced beef so that I had slices of mushroom in the mix.
  • After it cooked in the thermomix, I poured it out onto a pan and added a generous amount of Italian herbs and a teaspoon of chili powder. After that, I set the oven to 100 degrees C and put the whole pan into the oven to simmer for about an hour, just to really get the flavor going.

With the bechamel sauce, I added two handfuls of cheese to really give the flavor a good base. I like cheese to the sauce because to me it "grounds" the flavor of the sauce.


To assemble the lasagne

Ingredients:
  • Lasagne pasta sheets
  • Bolognaise sauce
  • Bechamel sauce
  • Shredded cheese
  • Handful of basil

Instructions:
  • Assemble the lasagne in layers of pasta, bolognaise and bechamel repeatedly until finished in a large baking dish.
  • Place a few leaves of basil on top of each layer, on top of the bechamel sauce.
  • Top off with some shredded cheese
  • Put into the oven and bake in oven for 45 mins in 180 degree oven with another 7-10 mins on 225 degrees to really brown the top.

That's pretty much it for my lasagne making efforts. It seems quite a long drawn out process with all the bolognaise making, bechamel making, assembling and baking but if you take it one step at a time, it's not too bad. That said, you still need to allow a fair bit of time for this whole thing to be prepared and cooked. I'd say allow yourself a good safe 3 hours from start to finish, though there's some down time in between like when the sauce is simmering and when the lasagne is in the oven. You don't need to be standing over it then.

Also, remember - this may be a thermomix recipe but people have been making lasagne without a thermomix for much longer than the thermomix has been around. You can easily make the bolognaise sauce and the bechamel sauce in a saucepan and get the same results.

Happy eating!!!


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