Thai Me Down.

24 May 2011 – Mini Thai Chicken Burgers by Kate

No time to do anything this week as I am so busy and important, but Cam and I decided to head out to a Zumba class and I decided to cook her Mini Thai Chicken Burgers by Kate, when we got home.I rushed home from work and called my friend (from here on known as baby mama) while I chopped up all the ingredients in preparation for the cooking later - told you, so busy and important I don't even have time to concentrate on cutting up ingredients. None of this was too tricky, but I’d never used Lemon Grass so didn’t know which bits I was meant to cut and if some bits didn’t get used. I just decided to cut off a bit at the top and the bottom and use the middle.

Cam arrived and we headed off to Zumba which was hilarious as usual.

Everything was ready to go when we got home, so I just combined everything together and cooked it up. Cam was a great help reading the recipe to me, preparing some things and chatting away.

Everything was happening at the same time, so I was putting stuff in the freezer (didn’t have time to cool it) and stuff under the grill and stuff on the stove, I felt very skilled with all my multitasking! It all seemed to go to plan and I didn’t have any major stuff ups. The patties were really sticky and fell apart a bit when I put them in the pan but apart from being a bit misshaped it didn’t really matter. They also seemed to need a lot of oil to stop them from sticking and it kept on splashing me and burning my hands but I shouldn’t complain.

Kate had told me that these Mini Burgers in fact worked better as regular-sized burgers so I made six patties out of the mixture and didn't chop the Turkish bread up into smaller pieces. I assembled it all and was slightly concerned about how plain it all looked. I don't like cucumber so I had tomato instead but it didn't look like the regular burger that is bursting with colour and looks all delicious, it looked bland and boring. I stuck a knife in it (Hogs Breath style) instead of a toothpick and we sat down to eat.

I was totally impressed! They we're kinda of spicy (probably because I used two small chillis instead of one) but really nice. I was surprised at how Thai they actually tasted. While it was cooking I had said to Cam it smelt like walking past a Thai restaurant but I sort of forgot that it would taste Thai too.

We watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs while we ate, which as it turns out is the best movie of all time: “I wanted to run away that day, but you can’t run away from your own feet!”

Tips: I love mayo sick so put heaps of the mayo mixture on mine, but it was too much and I had to scrape it off again – it isn’t like regular mayonnaise and is kind of an overwhelming taste.

Music: Arctic Monkeys

On a Roll!

21 May 2011 - Ash's Granny's Sausage Rolls.

I've been looking at the recipe for Ash's Granny's Sausage Rolls for ages and waiting for an opportunity make them, but you don't eat mini sausage rolls every day (although I may start too).This weekend I finally got my opportunity as Sian was having people over for a party.

I got straight to work (as soon as they left the house for lunch) and was very excited! I didn't know what sausage mince was, turns out it's really weird, but super fun to squeeze out of its little packet. As always, I chopped the garlic really fine as we don't have a crusher, and mixed everything together...easy.

The recipe says to cut the pastry sheets in half and before I started, I looked at them and was imagining rolling them so I could figure out the best way to cut it in half. I got that sorted out and kept mixing and stuff. When it came time to cut them I couldn't remember which way I'd decided on and was trying to figure it out again...and then realised they're square, what a doff.

Anyway, I got over that and began wrapping the rolls up. I think the first couple I did were way too full and were huge and looked like they might burst. It said you'd need around 4-6 sheets of pastry, but by the time I'd used up most of the mixture, I hadn't even used three sheets. I made it last the three but some of them were mainly pastry and very little meat, whereas the first ones I made were distinctly chode-like which probably isn't what you want in a sausage roll.

I was a bit nervous about cooking them because I wasn't sure if the meat would cook inside the pastry, but they turned out really well. I think I cooked them for about 20 minutes or so and they were really good. Crispy and delicious and effing addictive!

I gave them to Sian and her friends and I think they were a hit! I headed off to a party with a couple of B grade celebrities and had a great night. I had hoped there would be some left over so I could eat them when I got home drunk, but there weren’t any, which I guess is a good thing. The overall feeling I got from everyone seemed to be that they were better than the ones you buy in a shop! Larnie even said they were so good you didn’t need any sauce! I am kicking goals lately!

Yum. Highly recommend you make them.

Tips: Don't overfill the pastry sheets – also, maybe best not to refer to food as ‘chode-like’

Music: Basement Jacks

Fishing for Compliments

15 may 2011 - Donna's Thai fish

Another Sunday night attempt at cooking after a nice weekend. I went out on Friday night and then literally didn't do anything else interesting the whole weekend - honestly I read an entire book, watched some movies (classics like 17 Again) went for an epic walk... Nothing.

Anyway, we had some fish in the freezer so i decided on Donna's Thai Fish. I had to buy "bottled sliced lemon grass" which I'd never even heard of before, but I found it without too much hassle. It all seemed to go really well, I didn't do anything stupid which was nice. I blended the sauce up with what Dad refers to as the "kitchen vibrater" and tipped it over the fish that was only slightly cooked from the microwave defrosting process. I didn't have as much fish as it said, but I just made the same amount of sauce anyway.

It turned out really well. I don't know how to tell if fish is cooked, but I just left it in for the 30minutes it says in the recipe and hoped for the best.

It smelt really weird but tasted nice. It was so effing spicy though as I have no tolerance for spice. It was full on! I complained up a storm and said dramatic things like "I'll never be able to taste anything ever again". Sian and 180 were having spaghetti bolognese, but they both tasted it and were impressed. Ange said it was "amazeballs" as she scoffed it off the serving spoon and Sian said "if i bought this in a restaurant I'd be happy" - best compliment ever!

She ate it again the next night and said, "holy fuck this is the best thing you've ever cooked. If I cooked it I'd think it was a triumph... It's sort of arrogant but it's the truth."

I'm calling it a success.

Tips: I'd pop in a bit less sweet chilli as it was so god damned spicy!

Music: Blues Brothers 2000 Soundtrack.

Schnit Happens

11 May 2011 – Sarah’s Chicken Schnitzel

Had a freezing weekend in Canberra for Groovin the Moo which was amazing! I somehow managed to control my emotions this time and didn’t cry when The Wombats came on!

This week Sarah emailed me her chicken schnitzel recipe and I gave it a red hot go. She's good at writing recipes because she gives me enough information without making me feel like an idiot. Anyway, I couldn’t be bothered to buy Dijon mustard, so I just used a mix of mustard and mayonnaise instead. I always shock myself when I just decide to trust my lack of skills and change a recipe I've never cooked before, but oh well. I couldn’t find the rolling pin so whacked the chicken with a chopping board instead – didn’t make much difference to be honest.

Sarah had said the oil needed to be quite hot, but I think mine was a bit too hot because the outsides of the schnitzels got a little bit burnt. The first ones didn’t go golden brown, just a weird dark brown burnt type thing. The second ones were better, but then they didn’t cook all the way through. I ended up putting them in the oven for a while because we weren't ready to eat anyway.

Overall they were really nice. I do love a good schnitty. Sian was impressed with my skills and said it was "yum... crunchy on the outside tender on the inside... except the bit that wasn't cooked that I didn't eat."

I scoffed it. I had more of my mustard mayonnaise with it which was delicious. Good call Sarah! It was the perfect type of recipe too, because I don’t have many that are just good to make for an after work regular dinner. Yum.

Tips: next time I'll probably cook them in the oven for the whole time so I hopefully won't burn them.

Music: Amy Winehouse

Looking at your big brown-ies

02 May 2011 - Lib's Brownies (Sandra’s recipe)

After the raging success that was Beer Butt Chicken, I decided not to muck about and to get onto my recipe early this week. I only collected this one this weekend, but couldn’t wait to try Lib's Brownies (Sandra’s recipe).

Had a relatively good day at work, the rest of my team came back from annual leave which was nice so I'm no longer a loner. Got lots of compliments on the top I was wearing and felt pretty rocking...until at 4pm it was pointed out to me that I had left the tag on and you could see it through the shirt. Damn it!

Anyway, I came home and got stuck into making my brownies. I couldn't find coffee powder at the shops (wtf is it anyway?) so I just left it out. When I went to pour the vanilla into the mixture, I looked up at my stereo to see what was happening with my music...and put in at least three times as much as I was meant to. Oh well. I also added extra walnuts because there weren’t many left in the packet and I thought why the hell not. It was all very simple and I was seriously loving the sound of my own voice singing along to Lauryn Hill.

I couldn’t find a lamington tin, so I just chucked it in another dish instead. I popped it all in the oven and went out for a sneaky beer at the pub – I’m clearly both dedicated to my cooking and concerned about burning the house down!

I returned to a house that smelt amazing! I wasn’t sure if the brownies were cooked, but after ½ an hour they looked good enough so I took them out and watched amazing loser finale. Great night.

Turns out that since I didn't have the right dish they didn’t cook properly. The pieces that were around the sides of the dish cooked fine, but the middle isn't really cooked so it got stuck to the foil and was borderline runny. Sian said it was nice but this sort of food its WAY too sweet for us so we didn’t eat much. I don’t think the icing was necessary. They would have been nicer without in my opinion.

Sian and I took a container to work each to earn us some brownie points (oh, the wit) and hopefully get rid of them. I heard one comment, from Lauren; “they’re not too bad”. Brilliant – oh well, at least I can judge her for eating brownies at 9.15am. Everyone else seemed to like them and they were can by lunch so it can’t be too bad.

Tips: Careful with the vanilla, use the right dish and if you’re not too much of a sweet tooth, don’t worry about the icing.

Music: Miseducation of Lauryn Hill- Lauryn Hill.