Balti Paste

Ingredients:

      5 -6 tb Coriander seed
      2 -3 tb Cumin seed
      2    3" pieces of cassia bark
           -(can substitute cinnamon;
           -but cassia is superior)
      2 -3    Habaneros or whatever you like
      2 ts Mustard seed
      2 ts Fennel seed
      3 ts Cardamom seed
      1 ts Fenugreek seed
      6    Bay leaves
      25    Curry leaves; or more
OTHER
      2 tb Ground turmeric
      1 tb Ginger powder
      1 tb Chilli powder
      1 pn Asafoetida
 
  Roast the spices and allow to cool, grind to a powder, then add additional ingredients.
  
  Mix spices and place in a bowl, add 6-8 fl oz (175-250 ml) of vinegar. 
 Mix the spice into the vinegar, adding water if needed to make a creamy paste.
  Let this stand for a while, 1/2 hour is best.
  
  Meanwhile heat 6-8 fl oz (175-250 ml) vegetable oil.
 Add paste to the oil, care is needed here as it will splatter very easily.
 Stir the paste for about 5 mins, do not let it stick. Remove from heat and stand for 5-10 mins,
 if the oil rises to the top the spices are cooked, if not add more oil and cook again for a while, don't forget to keep stiring.
  
  Bottle the paste, (sterile jars essential) and cap with hot oil. This is well worth the trouble to make and will store for a long time. It never
  lasts long in my house though= !!!

Lentil Dip

Red lentils
Olive oil
Cumin
Lemon
Preserved Lemon
Salt and Peeper

Cook lentils for 5 minutes and leave them for 10, add to blender with the other ingredients until you are happy with the consistency and taste

Granola Bars

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2005

Prep Time:

20 min

Cook Time:

40 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

16 (2-inch) squares

Ingredients

• 8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups
• 1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup
• 3 ounces sliced almonds, approximately 1 cup
• 1 1/2 ounces wheat germ, approximately 1/2 cup
• 6 ounces honey, approximately 1/2 cup
• 1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed
• 1-ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries

Directions

Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Cost: $0.75 per portion (depending on quantity and quality of dried fruit)

Bagels

Not that good unfortunately, well good, but not Montreal bagels, not even close really.

http://www.kosherfoodcentre.com.au/

Stock

Collect all your food scraps

• Include: veggies, bones, etc
• Exclude: fruit, eggs, salt or any spices

Boil them up for 2 hours
Strain
Boil down
Freeze

Red Cabbage

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1/2 red cabbage, finely shredded
• 2 Spanish onions, sliced
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, grated
• 60ml (1/4 cup) red wine vinegar
• 3 tbs brown sugar

Optional

• 375ml (1 1/2 cups) red wine
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• bay leaf
  
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 piece orange peel
• Chopped flat-leaf parsley, to garnish

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Place all ingredients in an ovenproof casserole dish with a lid. Stir to combine, cover and bake for 2 hours. Check that all liquid has been absorbed (if not, return to the oven, uncovered, for a further 10 minutes).

Cannellini beans and Tuna Salad

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 425g can tuna in springwater, drained, flaked
• 400g can cannellini beans, drained, rinsed
• 1 large avocado, peeled, sliced
• 250g grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled, thinly sliced
• 3 celery sticks, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 SMALL garlic clove, crushed
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Method

1. Combine tuna, beans, avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, celery and basil in a bowl.
2. Combine oil, lemon juice, garlic and mustard in a jug. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over salad. Toss gently to combine.

Marmalade (Lemon and Grapefruit)

Ingredients:

• 2 large grapefruits, thick skinned
• 1 large lemon, thick skinned
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups granulated sugar

Preparation:

Chop fruit coarsely, reserving juice.
In an large nonreactive heavy kettle over moderately high heat, simmer rind, chopped fruit, reserved juice and water, covered, until fruit is translucent 60 minutes. let stand, covered, in a cool place overnight.
Add sugar and Jam Setter and set over moderate heat. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, skim off foam and ladle into sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Wipe rims, seal jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove jars from water bath, let cool for 12 hours and test for airtight seals. Label and store in a cool, dark place. If you decide not to sterilize and process jars, refrigerate marmalade and serve within three weeks.

Variations

• More fruit for richer flavour and texture
• Vary size of the chop
  

Potato Omlette

The best ever

Boil the potatoes, then fry them in cubs until they have some colour.
Add and fry off some onion
Turn heat down
Add the egg mix (egg, milk, salt, pepper, cumin)
Cook slowly
Add to oven after 5 minutes

Cost: $2.50 for 2 portions + Toast = $3.00 or $1.50 each portion

Roast Root Veggies

Anything you like, just know the relative cooking times.

Potatoes take the longest, with Turnip and parsnip so par boil these
Pumpkin and sweet potato are next
Then onions and Halumi cheese towards the end

Add sea salt, olive oil, rosemary

Roast until golden on hot,

Mutton stew - the best

Slow but good - make a batch and eat over the next week.

Ingredients:

• Mutton
• Mushrooms
• Carrots
• Onions
• Garlic
• Red wine (a reasonable one)
• Stock
• Parsley
• Bay leaves
• Rosemary

The usual process -
Brown off the trimmed meat, and onions and garlic.
Add the other ingredients and simmer slowly for 2 hours,
Add some flour and cook for 30 minutes to thinken the source.
Better the next day

Kanargoo Burgers

Great for you and tasty, they are lean and rich so you really dont need big ones, say 8-10 per kg

Kangaroo mince (lean), Onions, Egg, Breadcrumbs, soil, Type A spice mix, chili flakes

Mix it up with the hands-not to much
form into burgers (I use 2 small (childrens range) tupperwares bowls, one inside the other)
Grill for 5 minutes per side for the 2cm burgers (Start high and turn heat down)

Add ons:
I bit of blue in the middle

Tuna Omelette

Tinned Tuna (the good stuff in the glass and olive oil from Italy), Onion and walnuts (enough so that it will be half this and half eggs
fry them up in the pan

4 eggs and a bit of milk, whisk up while the Tuna mix cooks

Turn temp down and add the the eggs, cook until firm, use the grill in the oven for than last bit

Cost: $6 (Inc good quality Tuna) or $3/ portion.

BBQ Sauce

BBQ Sauce

• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar (packed)
• 1/3 Tsp Tabasco Sauce
• 1/3 Cup White Vinegar
• 1/4 Cup Tomato Paste
• 2 Cups of Catsup
• 4 Cloves of Garlic (minced)
• 1/2 Large Onion (minced)
• 1/4 Cup Worcestershire Sauce
• 3/4 Cup Molasses
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Tsp Pepper
• 3/4 Cup Whiskey
  

Preparation

Combine onion, garlic and Whiskey in a 3 quart sauce pan. Saute until onion and garlic are translucent, around 10 minutes. Remove from heat and the light mixture: flame 20 seconds (you may need to add a little whiskey to do this). Add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then turn down to medium simmer. Simmer about 20 minutes, stirring bits if you prefer a smoother sauce ( I do, after cooking you can even strain the sauce if you like). This sauce has some very unique characteristic: It taste completely different if you use it as a cold after sauce as apposed to a finishing sauce in your smoker or grill. I enjoy it best when it is used to finish ribs or chicken on the smoker. You should wait until the last 30 minutes and then apply this sauce, but make sure there are no direct flames. The sauce will burn!

Thanks http://www.mikesell.net/smoker/ for this.

Meat Thermometer Temperatures

Meat and Requirement	Temperature (Celsius) (NOTE FOR SMALL PIECES REDUCE TEMP BY 2-3 DEGREES)
Beef Rare Medium-rare Medium	44° 48-50° 55°
Lamb Rare Medium-rare Medium	57° 60° - 65° 70°
Poultry Chicken Turkey	75° - 80° 75° - 80°
Pork	65°

cabbage ummm

Not my favourate normally, but

Cabbage with

• butter and caraway seas (roast caraway seas and steam the cabbage for 2 minutes, drain well).
• Apple and cinnanon are also good (again steam cabbage for 2 minutes)
• Butter and Almonds
  

Lemon-Garlic Chicken Thighs

8 chicken thighs with bones and skin, about 3 1/2 pounds
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups thinly sliced onions
30 cloves (about 2 heads) garlic, peeled and smashed
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 pound angel hair pasta
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves, plus more for garnish
3 tablespoons unsalted butterPreheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Season the chicken thighs with 1 1/4 teaspoons of the salt and 1 teaspoon of the freshly ground pepper.

Place the flour in a shallow dish. Lightly dredge the chicken in the flour and set aside. Saute chicken in medium-high heat, about 6 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add the onions to the oil and cook, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from the chicken until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, crushed red pepper, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the bay leaf and cook 1 minute. Add the lemon juice, chicken broth, and browned chicken thighs to the pan. Bring the mixture to a simmer, cover tightly, and place in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, remove the lid and cook an additional 15 minutes, or until cooked through and tender.

While the chicken is baking, cook the pasta until al dente, 4 to 5 minutes for dry pasta. Drain well and toss in a large bowl with 3 tablespoons of the parsley and the butter.

To serve, place a portion of pasta in the center of 4 large plates. Arrange 2 thighs around each serving of pasta and drizzle lemon garlic cooking liquid over the pasta. Garnish with additional parsley and serve immediately.

Thanks Emeril, nice dinner

Fennel Salad

For dressing:

• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar or red-wine vinegar
• salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

The salad:

large fennel bulb - sliced

large oranges

large grapefruit

almonds or Cashews sliced

other optons -

1 small bunch of fresh mint leaves

apple slice

red onion

What does well with Mushroom?

Mushroom is umami.

Things that go well

• Basil
• Thyme
• Cream / Sour cream
• Fennel
• Onions or Garlic as usual
• Spinach
• Cheese - Goats Cheese
  

Soup for today

Start with A base soup like Cream of Celery

Add some of:

• Chicken - 1 drumstick for 2 people is sufficient.
  
• Cashew butter
• Chili
• 5 spice
• Sweet corn
• Rice
• Sesame oil
• Sherry for the bowl
• Coconut
• Ginger
• Chicken, corn, wize up, add sherry and sesame oil and chili sause
  

What a great meal.