Porridge weather ...

 

I made a saucepan of porridge this morning (1/2 cup porridge oats, 1 cup of milk to start). Do you like my spurtle? My spurtle is made of Huon pine from Tasmania.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurtle

I sprinkled my porridge with LSA (ground linseed, sunflower seeds and almonds) and drizzled with honey (ligurian bee ho ey from Kangaroo Island, SA). Delicious!

 

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Beth's Chicken Cacciatore ...

I gave the CC a whirl last night - so, so good!

Here we have the onion, pancetta, rosemary all chopped. I can't go past adding a bit of celery and the tops also. Later in the recipe I added a chopped carrot too - get those veggies into you!

The browned off chicken thighs...

Deglazing the pan with a little bit of the white wine to get all the gooey brown bits off the bottom...

I normally use frozen beans and peas but these lovely green beans caught my eye so I bought fresh. We should get three different meals out of this large pack.

I also sprinkled a little bit of plain flour over this mix (about a tablespoon) just to thicken the sauce a bit.

Here it is ready for plating...

I served it with a good mash and the green beans (yum!) but Beth roasts some quartered spuds in the oven and wilts some baby spinach over that at the last minute. Give it a go (recipe in previous post)!

~

We had a beautiful soaking of rain which started about 10pm and continued all night. Out rain water tanks are over flowing already!

Off to work now,

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

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Winner, winner, chicken dinner...

We are still away on our holiday but will arrive home tomorrow. I miss my kitchen and can't wait to knock up a few recipes I've found.

First up, Estelle's Chicken Pie - oh, how I love comfort food like this! (Photo by Estelle)

http://themainehouse.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/easy-chicken-pie.html

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Next up, Chicken Cacciatore from Beth at Baby Mac

(Photo by Beth)

http://baby-mac.com/2013/07/just-call-me-bev-chicken-cacciatore/

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We are heading home to cooler weather after being spoiled with nearly 2 weeks of 22-25C perfect sunny days. I reckon one of these dishes will hit the spot nicely!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

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Anzac Day ...

This lovely photo was taken at our local Cross of Sacrifice at the dawn service (photo by S. Gray).

Lest we forget ...

 

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Easter in Sydney Pt 2 ...

 

Chocolate! Yum!

For a long time now, I've always given my two girls new pyjamas - this year I hid chickens in the pockets!

Sunday afternoon we went to the Lyric Theatre at Darling Harbour to see Strictly Ballroom. It was a very good show and the costumes were amazing!

For dinner, after the show, we sort of decided on Kamikaze Teppanyaki in the Darling Harbour complex, but they couldn't seat us so we moved on and found Zaaffran, an Indian restaurant. Lots people of Indian decent dining can't be wrong so we chose that. We only wanted a light dinner so shared 2 entrees and 2 mains among the four of us. Above, Sarson de Jheengay - King prawns tandoor grilled with a creamy seeded mustard marinade, beetroot and coriander dipping sauces...

 

Aloo Tikki Chaat

Crisp spiced mini potato patties laced with yoghurt, date-tamarind and mint toppings

 

 

Nizami Karahi Murgh

Chicken simmered in a cardamom-bay leaf flavoured gravy... We also had raita and saffron basmati rice...seriously yummy!

 

Bhoona Masaley lamb tandoor cutlets ...

Well worth a visit!

 

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Easter in Sydney...

We arrived in Sydney about 3.30pm on Thursday and found our hotel. We met our girls at the airport on Good Friday and checked into a bigger apartment.

With most things shut, we planned to have dinner in our little apartment. We went for a stroll late in the afternoon and Gus thought the bar up in the Shangri-La hotwl would be open so up we went - 36 floors up to the Altitude Bar!

Gus did a superb job in the tiny kitchen to produce linguini with roasted cherry tomato and basil, Moroccan spiced potatoes, tomato pesto topped baked salmon and a green salad. We thought up this combo as we were driving to Sydney - magnificent!

Saturday, we took the ferry from Circular Quay out to Watson's Bay (express ferry took 18 minutes). We had time to relax with a cocktail before being seated for lunch.

I had an Aperol Spritz!

Doyle's is a Sydney institution for the freshest seafood. Where else can you sit with the waves gently lapping the beach right in front of you?

 

Oysters mornay...

Scallops with a cucumber, onion, capsicum, chilli salsa with ginger and caramel dressing...

Chorizo and prawn, sundried tomato pasta...

John Dory fillets ...

Snapper, prawn and scallop pie...

Delicious!

White chocolate and raspberry creme brulee...

 

 

It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. I had a cup-o-soup and toast for dinner, I was so full!

Do you catch up with family for Good Friday and Easter?

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

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Road trip!

 

(Web pic)

We hit the road yesterday (leaving from Melbourne), headed for Sydney. We arrived in Gundagai (where the dog sits on the tucker box, 5 miles out of town).

We dined at the Criterion pub and the food wasn't too bad, it just took a while to come out. We are stayed at the Gabriel Motor Inn and it was very clean and comfortable. Toaster in the room so we were self sufficient for breakfast.

 

Today we have about 3.5 hours drive on into Sydney. We will have to shop today for meals for tomorrow as everything will be shut for Good Friday. We might see whats on offer at the Sydney Fish Market. Some salmon and prawns would be nice!

Our girls fly in for the weekend so we are in for a great time!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

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Chicken Apricot Curry Pt 2 ...

The curry was beautiful - quite spicy ( and I backed off the Kashmiri chilli powder too)!

Here is the recipe - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chicken_and_apricot_15424

It is always best to measure out all of your spices etc before you start. That was you are not running around trying to find things and nothing gets left out.

~

Gently fry off the whole spices then the onion, until soft.

Add tomatoes, garlic and ginger, fry off.

Add in all other dry spices and fry off to combine. Add in the chicken pieces.

Stir to coat the pieces then nestle them into the mix.

Add in the jaggery, vinegar and water, just enough to cover.

This is the jaggery that I found at an Indian deli. It is concentrated sugarcane juice. It is similar to palm sugar in taste and texture.

The finished curry, tasty chicken pieces!

Ready to serve in my new Indian silverware! Now onto the Aloo Gobi (potato and cauliflower curry).

More spices (mustard seeds, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, garlic and ginger).

Add in diced potatoes and cauli florets, honey and water.

Just before serving add in peas and squeeze of lemon juice.

Sprinkle with corianded to garnish.

Serve with Basmati rice (I do the absorption method - 2 cups of water, 1 cup of rice in a saucepan - bring it to a rapid boil, give it a good stir then turn off completely and put the lid on. Walk away then come back 15-18 minutes later to perfect, fluffy rice. No boil overs or stuck rice.

I also served it with a cucumber, mint raita to help cool it down!  I love that stuff!

A delicious curry, which we will also enjoy for lunch today.

Saturday night, I made this Sticky Date pudding with Butterscotch sauce. Oh, my Lordy - the best!

Sticky Date Pudding

1  1/4 cups dates, chopped

1  1/4 cups boiling water

1 teaspoon baking powder

60gms butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup SR flour

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a deep 20cm cake tin (or I used a casserole dish). Combine the dates, boiling water and soda.

Allow to stand 5 minutes then blend the date mix with the butter and sugar with a stick blender - I put the mix in a metal milkshake cup. Be careful its still hot!

Tip this mixture into a bowl andd add in the eggs and flour. Stir to combine until you have a nice cakey batter.

Pour into your cake tin or casserole.

While the cake is baking for 45-50 minutes, make the butterscotch sauce - this is the naughty bit!

Butterscotch Sauce - in a saucepan combine

1  1/2 cups brown sugar

1 cup cream

50gms butter

1/3 cup golden syrup

- stir over low heat until all combined, sugar dissolved and sauce has thickened slightly.

When you remove the cake from the oven, poke small holes with a skewer then pour a little bit of the sauce over the cake.

Serve slices of the cakes drizzled with more of the sauce and a dob of thick cream. You are welcome!

Cheers - Joolz xx

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