Shephard's pie... No, correction: Cottage Pie

Did you know that Shepherd's pie is only shepherd's pie when you use lamb mince?
My English husband pointed this out to me the other day when I made "Shepherd's pie" - he pointed out to me that it was in fact called Cottage Pie because I used Pork and Beef mince.....

So here is my COTTAGE PIE recipe:

Ingredients:
800g Pork and Beef (or pork and veal) mince
1 brown onion
1 tin of diced roma tomatoes
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 grated zucchini
2 grated carrots
2 bay leaves
Salt and Pepper
1 tablespoon of mixed spices
5 potatoes
1 tablespoon of butter
1/4 cup of cream (or milk for the diet-conscious)
1 cup of tasty cheese (I also used a bit of mozarella cheese)

Method:
Brown the mince.  Add the onion, then the roma tomatoes and tomato paste.  Add the vegetables and the bay leaves, and also a little water.

Add the seasoning and spices, and simmer for 20-30 mins.

Dice the potato and boil until soft.  Drain the water, and mash.  Add the butter and cream (or milk) and season with salt and pepper.  Mash.
Remove the mince mixture from the heat and pour into a baking dish.

Spread the mashed potato over the top of the mixture, sprinkle with cheese and bake for about 20 mins or until cheese is cooked.

Bon apetite!

Chicken and pumpkin risotto

Google is my friend when I have a fridge or freezer full of food - but no idea what to cook!

I had some chicken thigh in the freezer, and some pumpkin in the fridge so thought I would google both ingredients - and decided to make a chicken and pumpkin risotto.

I read a few online recipes, but decided to just go with the flow and make it up as I go.

Ingredients:
Half a grey or kent pumpkin, cut into 2cm cubes
Extra virgin olive oil
500g of chicken thigh or breast
one brown onion, diced
one leek, thinly sliced
1 litre of chicken stock
1 cup of white wine
2 cups of Arborio rice
salt and pepper
1/2 - 1 cup of shaved or grated parmesan cheese


Method:
Cut the pumpkin into small 2cm cubes, place it on a baking tray, and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.  Bake for about 20 mins (or until slightly soft) on 180 degrees.
Brown about 500g of chicken thigh, remove it from the pan and then sautee one onion (diced) and one leek (sliced).
Return the chicken to the pan and then add about half of a litre of liquid chicken stock, and one cup of white wine. Add 2 cups of arborio rice and bring to the boil. Season.

Lower heat and cook for around 20 mins, adding the rest of the stock as the rice starts to cook.  Add some water towards the end if the rice is still not cooked enough.
Once the rice is cooked and the liquid is absorbed, add the pumpkin and stir through.
Remove from the heat.
Stir through the parmesan cheese and serve.

Chicken Schnizel with roasted sweet potatoes, caramelised onion, and fetta cheese

This is my own recipe, and is a favourite in our household.... even my three year old loves it!

Once again, I don't do measurements.... so the ingredients are mostly guestimates

Ingredients:

700g chicken breast, schnizelled
2 cups of fresh breadcrumbs (I just put a few slices of bread into the blender)
2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped (or you can use dry parsley)
1 cup of plain flour
salt and pepper
3 free-range eggs
extra virgin olive oil for frying the chicken
4 sweet potatoes
salt and pepper
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for the sweet potato
3 brown onions, halved and finely sliced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for the onions
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
a large piece of fetta cheese

Method:

Cut the sweet potato into small pieces. Place into a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and cover with salt and pepper. Mix. Place into a 180 degree oven to roast.

Fry the onion in some olive oil on a low heat until a golden colour.  Add the sugar and balsamic vinegar, and stir for a few minutes on a low heat until the onion is caramelised. Set aside.

Salt and pepper the flour.
Add the parsley into the breadcrumbs and stir.
Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl.
Coat each piece of chicken breast with the flour, then coat with the egg, then into the breadcrumbs. Seat aside.

Fry the chicken in the olive oil, on a medium heat.

Once the sweet potatoes are roasted, cover with the caramelised onion, and sprinkle with crumbled fetta.
Place in the oven for around 15 minutes.

Yummmmm

Butter chicken

If you don't shop at Aldi, then this post will be of no use to you LOL

This recipe is taken from the Butter Chicken spice pack I bought from Aldi last week - however I didn't actually write down the recipe on the back before I threw the packet out......

So this post is a bit pointless, but it was very yummy so I just had to share!

So here is the spice pack I bought.... so it's already got all the spices you would normally have to buy separately, like the garam masala, paprika, etc etc.

Brown the chicken:

And a picture tutorial of what else I did.... I know there was some yoghurt, some cream, tomato paste, the spices, onion, stock, and a few other things! BUY THE SPICES AND YOU WILL FIND THE RECIPE ON THE BACK haha

And it was delicious....

Seafood salad

I offered to bring a salad to Mother's Day lunch at my in-laws - and thought I'd make my delicious seafood salad!

It is such a creamy and tasty salad - with a secret ingredient: Celery Salt!!!!

You have probably noticed that I am a memory-cook. I often just guesstimate amounts, so approach my "measurements" as estimates, and please adjust them according to taste!

Ingredients:
1kg seafood extender
500g king prawns, peeled
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 avocado
A jar of Thomy's whole egg mayonnaise
Around 1 tablespoon of Masterfoods celery salt
Lemon juice

Method:
Break apart the seafood extender, and place into a bowl.
Add the sliced celery.
Add a fair amount of celery salt (according to your taste), and as much whole egg mayonnaise as you desire.
Mix well.
Slice the avocado and place along the top.
Place the king prawns along the top.
Drizzle lemon juice over the top.

Voila!

Home-made dumplings

My husband and I are big dumplings fans.... so today I took a trip down to the local Asian Supermarket to stock up on supplies for dinner tonight....

I used this recipe:


http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/410/steamed+dumplings

But I would suggest adding some salt to the mixture.  I also replaced half the soy sauce in the dipping sauce with some Kecap Manis (nicer flavour).

The mixture:

Making the dumplings with wonton - add a small amount to the middle, wet the sides, fold in half to make a triangle, and then fold the corners together and wet them:

The recipe says it makes 30, but I made 40:

Steam them for 40 mins:

Meanwhile - make the sauce:

Then serve with steamed pakchoy and carrot (or other asian veggies).

I may try it in a soup next time.... they were delicious!

Catering for lunch

I had some friends over for lunch the other day so threw a few things together.

I made some mini quiches - very easy to do.
Just put together into a bowl the following ingredients: 1 grated carrot, 1 grated zucchini, a cup of sliced mushrooms, a small tin of corn, some shaved sliced ham, parsley, chives, salt and pepper, and then about 4 eggs.  Add some tasty cheese, some parmesan cheese, and some thickened cream or sour cream.

You can add anything you like really... like asparagus, chorizo, etc.

Whisk it all up.

Line a greased muffin tray with some puff pastry (I divide each sheet into 9 squares) and add some of the mixture into each cup.

Bake for about half an hour on 180 degrees C.

I also served a Bocconcini salad - very easy. Just some baby spinach, sliced bocconcini, sliced roma tomatoes, arranged nicely on a platter and drizzled with rock salt, extra virgin olive oil, and balsamic vinegar just before serving.

Some Smoked salmon, cream cheese, and capers on mini toast.

And a tray of sandwiches (ham, colby cheese, avocado and chicken, lettuce, mayonaise and colby cheese) on wholemeal bread.

And my apple and walnut cake for dessert with yummy tea (my fave is Dilmah tea with Rose and French Lavender)....
My dear friends also brought some delicious hand made rocky road... and some Lindt balls for dessert... nommmmy!

Apple, Walnut and Raisin cake

I've recently discovered a great blog whilst looking for Lebanese recipes - and decided to make an Apple, Walnut and Raisin cake for my dear friends coming to visit from Queensland.

The recipe is found here: http://mayasingredients.com/2012/01/16/apple-walnut-cake/

All the ingredients:

The mixture:

And the cake was DELICIOUS!