Royale With Cheese

27th July - PJ's Hamburger Patties

After the massive week of cooking that was last week, it was time to get back into it. As Sian had what she described as “the worst hangover of my life”, I decided that it was the perfect time to cook PJ's Hamburger Patties.

When I got home, Sian did not look good. She was lying on the lounge with a bucket of spew in front of her. Hot! Not only did she look like shit, but she didn't even want my hamburgers! (“Hamburgers! The corner stone of any nutritious breakfast”) She decided that chicken nuggets and chips would be a much better dinner. Oh well, I was committed to the hamburger cause, so just cooked them anyway.

I was very excited to get to use sausage mince again as I love squeezing that out of its plastic wrapper! It really was quite simple, I essentially just combined it all up and cooked it. I didn’t use a glass bowl, as the recipe requested, as we don't have one, but I don't think it mattered. It was way too cold to go outside and use the BBQ, but a pan worked fine.

I also cooked caramelised onions. The best decision I've ever made. I was super happy with myself! I found some (stale) bread rolls in the freezer (lucky I was toasting them anyway) and topped the burgers with pineapple, beetroot, lettuce, tomato, cheese and my onion. Since Sian didn't eat any and I only had one there are now 9 hamburgers lying around which I'll probably forget about and never eat. Oh well. They were real good anyway.

I said I'd do a comparison if I got two of the same recipe in my book, so here it is. PJ's burgers stayed together much better than Alex's so were more ascetically pleasing, and honestly, I think I might have preferred the taste as well. HOWEVER, Alex's can be made from ingredients that you may have lying around in your house so this is an advantage.

Honestly though, I was just loving life sick when I ate this one which may also be due to the fact that it had caramelised onion, and also that I felt great while Sian felt shit. Hard to tell.

Caramalised Onion: Thinly slice 2 medium white onion. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan. Cook onion, stiring until soft. Add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons of water. Cook, stiring until onion is caramalised.

Tips: Have a housemate that will use the leftover mince to make a yummy pasta with meatballs dish like Sian did for me.

Music: Due to Sian's state, I just left Seinfeld on and watched that while I cooked.

Do you know the muffin man?

Very Very Easy Muffins - Emily - 20 July 2011

I apparently can't stop cooking at the moment so after another walk in the rain I decided to give Emily's Very VeryEasy Muffins a go.

I was seriously multitasking while making these muffins. All at once I was making a quiche for dinner (no pastry, easy, delicious), making the batch of banana and coconut muffins, putting the apples in to bake for the apple and cinnamon muffins and icing my face after waxing (I've got seriously sensitive skin). It was quite the production!

Needless to say, the kitchen had never seen such a mess! The muffins were as easy as Em had said. The bananas (although practically rotten) cost me $6 which was a total rip off but it really was as easy as combining all the ingredients and putting the mixture in a muffin tin (which I had to buy especially). I made 9 out of this batch and they cooked perfectly after 20 minutes.

I cut the apples up into the right size, tipped a load of brown sugar mixed in water over them and added some cinnamon to the top to bake them. They cooked in about 10 minutes and tasted really yum. I forgot to mix the butter in until the very last minute so the mixture was really runny and buttery. I added a bit more flour until it was the right texture and tipped it into the tin. They also made 9, cooked in 20 minutes and were amazing.

I of course took them to work for everyone to try and they seemed to disappear pretty quickly which is always a good sign! Very easy and something I'm sure I'll make again! The apple ones in particular were a hit!

Tips: When creating a mess in the kitchen, don't leave the container of flour in the sink with its lid off as when you turn the tap on, it could be a disaster!
Music: Sian had Friends on so I watched that - the Barbados episodes – amazing!

and the quiche just FYI

There's nothing funny about chickpeas.

Lauren's Vegetarian - no bacon - Yummy Chickpea Curry - 19 July 2011

Lauren had been bugging me and bugging me to cook her recipe so I finally manned up and decided to cook Lauren's, vegetarian, no bacon, yummy chickpea curry.

Even after the great description she wrote at the top of the recipe (“This chickpea and tomato based curry with a blend of fragrant spices is warming and healthy. Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt, a sprig of coriander and a warm naan”), I was slightly skeptical for three reasons

1. My favourite vegetarian recipes are the ones that include bacon

2. I don't really like the texture of chickpeas

3. I don't really eat curry.

It was a bold move to say the least. Sian and I went for a walk in the pouring rain and froze to death which was an interesting decision so a nice warm curry was just what we wanted.

As much as I enjoy a recipe that includes product placement, Coles didn't stock the right type of chickpeas so I used a different one instead. I'd never used chickpeas before so wasn't sure if I needed to drain them, but luckily I did or it would have been disastrous.

I didn't put chilli in, even though the recipe called for it because we didn't have any and I don't like chilli. I did have to buy some more spices though to add to the insane amount I have that take up half of the top shelf of our cupboard! Soon I’ll have every spice they sell in Coles and cooking won’t be so insanely expensive all the time!

Lauren suggested I eat it with some baked sweet potato. We all know I can't say no to sweet potato, so I popped that in the oven with some paprika on it to season. Yum.

It was really simple, Sian bitched and moaned about it not being ready when she was hungry, but I didn't give in and left it to simmer for the right amount of time. I played around with the presentation of the rice which didn't really pay off, but was good fun regardless.

The overall result was really nice. The combination of the sweet potato and the curry was amazing and I was quite impressed. The texture wasn't too bad, and after I added a fair bit of salt to it all I couldn't stop eating it. Sian was loving it sick and had it for lunch again the next day too. Success.

Tips: Definitely have it with sweet potato

Music: The Fratellis

July Review - Jenna Puglisi

I've been lucky enough to sample some of Jo's delicious cooking over the past few months but last night I was given the ultimate privilege - to be served her newest recipe and to critique it!

So I ventured across the 11.4km between our houses dressed in my warmest clothes (it was like I was going to a footy game in -2 degree weather! Beanie, scarf & enormous jacket!)

I must say I was hugely impressed to hear the menu and the fact that I wasn't only getting Gianna's lasagna recipe but there was also dessert involved!

I should at this point admit that I was in serious need of a hearty meal. I had failed to do the groceries and the food supplies in my house were down to the basics (bread and frozen pasta sauces!). For breakfast I had eaten toast, for lunch more toast...so when I saw Jo pull out the dish of lasagna my stomach was already cheering!

What can I say, it tasted even better than it looked! The lasagna was creamy and delicious! It was very hot but it didn't stop me from my usual fast paced eating. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the meat filling was oh soooo tasty! A lovely side salad with some awesome balsamic dressing was the perfect accompaniment.

Dessert was also a hit! An apple crumble in these really cute blue ceramic dishes. Jo was worried the topping was too crumbly so I had to remind her that there is a reason it is called an Apple 'Crumble'! It was scrumptious! There was a good hit of cinnamon and spices and all topped off with yummy ice-cream.

All in all the perfect winter warmers I needed on a chilly Saturday night! Thanks for spoiling me Jo!

The Apple of My Eye

Mother Nank’s Apple Crumble – 16 July 2011

Apparently, Jen was getting the royal treatment this weekend! After the lasagne was such a hit, I was pretty excited to see how Mother Nank’s Apple Crumble might go down.

I got some new oven proof dishes from Alex for my birthday and this was the perfect opportunity to use them. I cooked the lasagne in the big one and the apple crumble in the medium dish and the four ramekins.

This recipe looked pretty simple, but I did run into some trouble when I was writing the shopping list:
"Oi Sian, how do you spell cinnamon?"
"Does it matter? It's just your list."
"Yeah, but I'm not sure I even know how to say it. Which ones are m's and which are n's?"
I should be ashamed, but it's a tricky word!
After preparing the lasagne without any dramas I was feeling good for the dessert. I cut up all the apples (my coring skills leave a lot to be desired) and coated them in the cinnamon and mixed spice. It was again quite simple, just a matter of combining everything up. I used my mixer, but it didn't seem to combine it properly. I think it was the butter. I’m not sure if I should have melted the butter first or perhaps blend the sugar and butter together first, then add the other ingredients, but it really didn't hold together very well. I figured it'd change in the oven somehow and hold together.

After an appropriate amount of time for our lasagne bellies to recover, I popped my crumble in the oven (don’t tell my green friends, but I left the oven on the whole time so it would keep the house slightly warmer) ready to continue impressing Jen. It only needed about ½ an hour all up and seemed cooked through and delicious.

I served it with ice-cream (which I accidentally left on the kitchen floor for ages while I was cooking the lasagne) and it tasted great. However, it looked like absolute shit! The crumble didn't stick together at all and it just ended up in a big mush with the apple and ice-cream. It tasted great, but presentation was not my strong point. Jen seemed to like it though which is great news.

Jen and I only had a little one each so hopefully people at work will scoff the rest.

I look forward to Jen's review, I think it'll be a good one!

Tips: Figure out what I did wrong with the crumble, and do it differently so it sticks together a little bit more.
Music: Sparkadia, The Great Impression.

La la la la la lasanga

Gianna's Lasagne – 16 July 2011

Since I got this book, I’ve been waiting and waiting for the opportunity to try Gianna’s Lasgane. For some reason I knew it would be amazing and it’s a recipe from a real Italian family so I had faith in this recipe! Sian was slightly devastated because she wasn't going to be home for the actual eating of it, but I finally had a weekend when I had the time so I just cooked it anyway.

I invited Jen over for dinner and a movie. We were meant to be going out, but I changed the plans - had I been told last year I'd ever cancel plans to invite someone over and actually cook for them, I would never have believed it.

So, I got started. Gianna had said the most important thing was to chop the onion 'very very finely'. Not only did she write this in the recipe, but she also said ‘it’s very important’, so chop I did - for ages, to the point where I was amusing myself by chopping in time with the music. Interesting fact: I was wearing my glasses at first and was crying like a baby. I went away, popped my contacts in and no tears at all, it's bizarre. I've been told it makes no sense, but it works.

Anyway, everything else seemed to go ok. I had everything 'mise en place' as Sian says and I just combined it all up. Sian mocked me relentlessly about my stirring... as usual, but it was fine. It was all combined and simmering for an hour. It was around this time I realised I’d made a big mistake! I had just cooked Italian for a real life (second generation) Italian. Fool!

I was really nervous about making the béchamel sauce as I know it can go wrong, so I made Sian literally stand right at my side to help me. It was ok though. My arm got sore from all the mixing, but apart from constantly saying to Sian 'Is the right? Is this right? What's it meant to look like?' it seemed to go ok.

I layered it all up, meat, boccincini, lasagne, Bertolli sauce - Easy. I had a slight problem with one layer when I must have tipped the jar a bit hard and about 17 litres of Bertolli sauce flooded the dish and Sian absolutely lost the plot laughing at me while I had to scoop it back into the jar.

It smelt amazing. It was in the oven for 40 minutes and seemed to be cooked through and melted and yum! I served it up to Jen's oohing and aahing and we were good to go. It was really good. Really tasty and juicy and just amazing (tickets much?). I was so proud of myself. Gianna sure does know how to make me look good!

Jen kept telling me how nice it was which was cool - I should invite her over more often!

"It's ok," she told me "I do this over the food I cook too, even when no one else seems to enjoy it" Brilliant. Wait til she sees the dessert I made her!

Tips: Go heavy on the Bertolli, it was so deliciously juicy.
Music: Mix of songs from Triple J new music podcast.

That old kettle of fish.

11 July 2011 – Bitch Tits’ Salmon, Asparagus and Cherry Tomato Salad

I decided to check-up on how all the cooking has been going and was shocked to find that I am two recipes behind (for my once a week target)! This in mind, I thought I’d better get cracking and cook for the second night in a row. Sian and I were entertaining the thought of being healthy so I decided to have a crack at Bitch Tits’ Salmon, Asparagus and Cherry Tomato Salad - to date the best named recipe in my book. Thanks Nomes!

This was crazy easy. The fish went in the oven while the griddle pan heated up and once it was hot enough, I put the asparagus, cherry tomatoes and pumpkin (there was some in the fridge so why not) on to cook. Easy.

The recipe said 'balsamic vinegar (caramelised)' which confused me. I didn't know if I was meant somehow caramelise it or if I should have brought something different, but there was some balsamic vinaigrette in the fridge so we used that instead.

I don't think I did anything stupid and there were no difficult processes, so it's really not that interesting.

Missy Higgins was thoroughly unenjoyable for some reason, so we switched her off and watched last weeks’ Grey's (before turning back to playing Yahtzee, which until this weekend was forgotten about and totally underrated in my book).

We had the same issue we had last time we tried to eat a healthy meal and were hungry after half an hour but apart from the small issue of us being pigs, it was really yum. I’ll cook it again for sure.

Tips: buy a snack to eat after dinner as healthy food (is delicious) but not filling.

Music: Missy Higgins, The Sound of White.

What came first, the chicken or the pie?

10 July 2011 - Sian and Jo’s Chicken Pot Pie

After one of the worst weeks of all time, I felt I had earned some comfort food, so decided to cook a Chicken Pie. If I’m honest, this was mainly so I had an excuse to eat chips (ahhhh logic) which wasn't the best idea since on the weekend my suspicions were confirmed and my belly is in fact bigger than my pregnant friend's! Oh well, I didn't have a recipe yet, but Sian said she'd show me how to make it and then it became Sian and Jo's Chicken Pot Pie.

Sian hadn't watched me cook for some time (as she's become the international man of mystery of late) and was waxing lyrical about my skills! Apparently I'm a genius at cutting these days and have a great technique (“just please curl your fingers under!”).

Sian was telling me what to do, step by step, which resulted in me even having two pans going at once. I had no idea why I was doing what I was doing, but I was excited anyway! The searing of meat has always been a concept that goes way over my head (why would you cook something so it doesn't over cook?) but I did as I was told and followed her very patient instructions.

I felt like a bit of a pro tasting the mixture and adjusting it as I, aka Sian, saw fit. The whole experience was totally easy. We added a handful of grated cheese and a big chunk of cream at the last minute to thicken it up, and we couldn't have made a better decision. It turned from ‘ok’ to ‘yum!’ just like that!

I popped the pastry on the dish, cut up the leftover pastry so I could write Jo on top and it was good to go. It went on the top shelf of the oven with the chips underneath, no problem.

Problem! There was a hole in my pastry and the pie overflowed onto the chips. As a result they weren’t quite as crispy as I would have liked, but who doesn’t like a gravy soaked chip?

All in all, it was pretty easy and something I'll make again for sure.

Tips: make sure the pastry is sealed and have Sian on standby for recipe.

Music: Adele (Sian's choice).

As Nutty as a Fruit Cake

04 July 2011 - Alex's Pumpkin Fruit Cake

Back on the desserts again because I was too hungry to wait the time it took to cook something for dinner, instead I scoffed some leftovers and decided to try Alex's Pumpkin Fruit Cake.

It all seemed pretty straight forward so I turned up the music and got into it. I chose A Perfect Circle after rediscovering my love for them when rocking out one of their songs on Guitar Hero the day before.

Anyway, the cooking started and I cooked the pumpkin without any problems and made sure it had time to cool down.

For my birthday I got a super dooper mixer thing, so I used that to mix the butter and sugar. I'm pretty sure I'll NEVER get sick of getting to use the ruler on the side of the butter to cut the right amount, it's my favourite thing in the world! Small things ha?

For some reason, the lid got stuck on the mixer...like, really stuck! To the point where I couldn't stop laughing even though it was hurting my hand and i was jumping up and down trying to get the lid off! Eventually I did get it unstuck and was able to continue with the cooking process. I think I added more lemon than it said and I have no idea how much flour ended up in there! I was measuring the cup over the bowl and it overflowed so I just thought for the second cup I'd do a bit less... but it also overflowed so I can't tell how much ended up in there. Probably pretty close to two cups after I tipped some out.

I popped it in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes to make sure it wasn't going to burn the top. It wasn't quite brown enough on top so I left it in for another ten minutes and then I covered it in foil. It was probably in the oven for 55 minutes or so all up. I kept poking it with a skewer because that's the only way I know how to test it. Sian said you can tap the top of it to see if it sounds cooked so you don't have to poke it. Seemed reasonable, so over she came and whacked it on the top and said "does it sound right?" to which I of course answered "how would I know... does it?" She had no idea... brilliant method.

I found other jobs to do so I could keep listening to A Perfect Circle for the rest of the night and could continue singing all the parts of a round in one of their songs.

I of course brought the cake into work and after making my colleague cut it according to my strict directions (fruit cake has to be in rectangles not triangles!) everyone went nuts for it! I got lots of compliments and a number of people said it was so good that they went back for seconds. One (ex-chef) even asked me for the recipe! Well done me!

Tips: Cover it with foil after around 40 minutes.
Music: A Perfect Circle, Thirteenth Step