Saturday, Sunday... more food...

Gus knocked up a delicious meal on Saturday night. It was from the My Kitchen Rules cook book I bought him for his birthday, a recipe from the two army boys from Queensland, David & Scott .... The recipe for Prosciutto-wrapped Chicken is here - Gus stuffed the chicken with mushrooms, sliced black olives and sundried tomatoes...

Looks as good as it did on MKR I think!

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On Sunday, I made a slow cooked Beef Ragu to go with our homemade pasta... I bought gravy beef...
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seasoned with salt and pepper then seared it off in my dutch oven...
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then removed it from the pan so I could cook off onion, carrot and celery in a little oil...
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Add a tablespoon of flour to the onion mix, fry off for one minute then add in 1.5 cups beef stock, a can of chopped tomatoes and 2 teaspoons of sugar...
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Snuggle the gravy beef back into the sauce, add a good shake of dried thyme and about 10 basil leaves and let it slow cook for the next 3 hours...
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I also added in 5 portobello mushrooms then let it cook on for another hour, taste and adjust seasonings ... Flake all the meat with a fork so that there are no big bits left. It's ready to go on the pasta now.

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Gus and I made the pasta - I used 200gms 'OO' flour, 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons of good olive oil. I made the dough in my food processor then let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes...
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Voila - fettucini!
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We dried/rested the pasta on my clothes airer... I reckon we could do San Remo out of a job...

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Ready for the pot of boiling water...
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5 minutes later - perfectly cooked fettucini!
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Beef ragu and fettucini...
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Everything cooked from scratch! Delicious!
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Jodie at Jellywares had a wonderful looking slice so I decided to make it. So easy!

Jam Filled Shortbread Slice
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250gms butter, softened
2.5 cups plain flour
1 cup Icing sugar
Jam of your choice
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Place first 3 ingredients in a food processor and whiz until a dough ball forms.
After patting down half the mixture in a paper lined slice tin, top with your favourite jam - mine was homemade Mulberry jam from 2009 (actually it was the syrup that was left after bottling all the other jars - no fruit lumps in it), then top with the second half of the mixture, this time just crumbling it on.
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Bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes until golden. It is buttery and shortbready ... Mine turned out a bit crisper than Jodie's, her's looks more gooey but either way the taste is there!

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and delicious! I had one piece on Sunday night then the rest has been plated up and taken to work for the troops. That is how you get rid of temptation!
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Enjoy the coming week - hopefully we will see a bit more sunshine than rain...
Cheers - Joolz

Weekend roundup...

I woke up at 4.30am to the wind howling and whipping around the house, settled back down knowing I had another 2 hours wonderful, snuggly sleep ... 6.13am we had the biggest crack of thunder I have ever heard, it seemed like it was right above our house and I almost hurt my neck when I sat up suddenly! Then the rain poured down for a few minutes and the wind continued to howl. A few more cracks of thunder and flashes of lightening and then it was all over. The pic above was taken just after 8am when it poured down again, this time with some small hail. I do love winter in the South East!
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We had a car to deliver to Adelaide so we headed up on
Saturday morning and stayed with Kirby. She worked until 8.15pm then we went out to dinner at Georges on Waymouth.
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Kirby and Angus had the Hervey Bay scallops, Jerusalem Artichoke veloute, za'atar for entree (not pictured) then Kirby & Brianna had the Tortellini of duck, woodear mushrooms, cavolo nero, pear and olio santo...
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I had the pork belly confit, celeriac, apple candy, vanilla and cider reduction. So much flavour, wow!
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Angus couldn't pass up the special, which I believe was schnapper - the details I cannot remember...
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For dessert, I chose the vanilla bean pannacotta, rhubarb, mandarin jelly... so smooth and full of flavour...
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(apologies - the photos are out of my NokiaE71)
Brianna had the chocolate souffle, balsalmic icecream and slow roasted strawberries.
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On Sunday, we visited a friend who is battling cancer and we were quite shocked to see how he had deteroriated. Once a big strong brute, he is now a shell of his former self. He had complications after his operation and is finding it hard to rally and gain strength. He needs to get stronger before he can have any more chemotherapy. Sadly, things do not look good.
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Tonight, it is back to reality - something to warm our bellies and quickly - I worked all day and only got home at 5.45pm so it's easy to get onto a plate - it's Beef Stroganoff with mushrooms served over pasta with crusty bread rolls. Twenty minutes from start to finish!
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More wild weather coming our way - it's nice to be inside listening to it, all warm and cosy.
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Cheers - Joolz

Another week gone...

More comfort food being eaten here at the moment. The weather has turned quite cold with foggy mornings and dull days. After Brianna's culinary delight last Monday, my pasta disaster on Tuesday, we then had lamb cutlets and veggies on Wednesday.

Thursday night we had Chicken Enchiladas - quite spicy but very tasty.
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Netball was at Robe but we escaped the rain and stayed dry for the duration of the game.
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I watched this movie (and wasted my Sunday afternoon) while Angus watched the footy. Hugh Grant was a total let-down in this flick. I think he is best off acting in British comedy/dramas because when he does American films he seems to come off as a foppish, bumbling English fool. I loved him in Nottinghill, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually but he failed to enthuse me in this poor excuse for a comedy. And Sarah Jessica Parker - why did she need to wear a wig? Score 4/10 Annoying
(of course this is entirely my own opinion)
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I had a hankering for a Jubilee Cake on Sunday afternoon also. I have a Green & Gold Cookbook so I looked up the recipe and made the cake. Simple ingredients and simple recipe.... for a fruity house brick!!! It was a total, inedible disaster. I threw the inch high cake (and all the yummy fruit I had wasted) in the scrap bin and started again, determined to have that cake.
My sister Leanne came to the rescue with a 'never fail' recipe that she had. Above is the fruit mixture boiling away. I could just eat the fruit like this.
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Ah, a much better result.
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BOILED JUBILEE CAKE
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In a small saucepan add -
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 cups mixed dried fruit (I also added chopped dried apricots and Craisins)
60 gms butter
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Boil all of these until sugar has dissolved. Let the mixure completely cool.
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To the cooled fruit mixure, add 2 cups of SR flour and 1 beaten egg. Mix well to combine.
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Place in a lined loaf tin and cook for approx. 40-50 minutes at 180C (test with skewer and make sure it comes out clean).
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Make a runny icing mixure (icing sugar and milk) and ice the cake when it has nearly cooled. Sprinkle with coconut if desired. Wait for icing to set then slice a piece off and butter it. Serve with tea or coffee and a friend.
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It was a very wet and dreary weekend with showers of rain both days. I love my Mum's homemade soup so I gave her the ingredients (bacon bones, carrot, potato, swede, turnip, celery, onion, split pea soup mix) and she made me a big pot of it. My lunch today - Yum! I just can't get the flavour in it like she does.
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My pc monitor decided to give up the ghost on Saturday so I am without a computer at the moment. Bri is away for a few days so I can't commandeer her laptop so posts will have to be done at work (like this one).
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Hope you are all well,
Joolz

The week in pictures and a few (too many) words...

Have you had a go at my quiz?? Take a look and see if you can guess what the common theme is.
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V from Stickhorse Cowgirls asked me what the raspberry lollies were that I use in my Rocky Road...
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They are just your generic (Home Brand from Woolworths) type of raspberry jube. They make the Rocky Road nice and chewy, along with the marshmallow and peanuts etc.

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This is the arrangement of flowers we gave Angus' mum, Margaret for Mother's Day. I gave my mum a nice little patio cream rose in a planter.
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A beautiful pink Day Lily amongst the arrangment.
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Tuesday bought delicious rain, soaking everything and...
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... very nearly filling our two rainwater tanks. Yay!
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Bonnie was sunning herself on the bonnet of Bri's car on Thursday morning but the minute I wanted a photo she was on the move. She is the hardest darn (or is that... darndest hard) cat to photograph!
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After a lovely autumn day, this was my Thursday sunset over the neighbour's house.
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Because the weather is getting nice and chilly, we've been enjoying some comfort food. This was spicy crumbed chicken breast with cauliflower & broccoli au gratin, baked potato bits and mixed veggies.
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Thursday night dinner was slow-cooked lamb shanks in a tomato sauce, mash and green beans. There are lots of recipes around for lamb shanks so I won't bore you with a full one for these.... er, okay I will! I just browned the 6 shanks in my Big Blue, sauteed onion, carrot & celery in olive oil (mirapoix), returned the shanks to the pan, added 2 tblspns plain flour, fried off again, then added 3 cans of chopped tomatoes, a good slug of red wine, 2 tblspns balsalmic vinegar, 6 anchovies, a good shake each of dried basil, thyme, oregano and mint (yes, use fresh if you have them, I didn't...), cracked black pepper, salt to your taste, a tblspn of sugar, a beef stock cube and a cup of water. Place in a 180C oven to start with. After an hour, give it a good stir and back off the heat to 150C. Continue to cook for another 2-3 hours - even slower temp if you've got the time. The meat should be very tender and falling off the bone. This could/should be an all day winter's Sunday dinner recipe - put it on at 2pm and enjoy at 6-7 pm! Serve with lots of creamy mashed potato and greens of your choice. Yummo!
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Friday night dinner is 'eat what you like'! Bri has had some chicken pies she made in Hospitality at school today. I am having a toased ham and cheese sandwich. There are leftover lamb shanks and mash also. No-one's going hungry here!
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Netball tomorrow is an away game but we should be home by 1.30pm so I hope to maybe get out in the garden, weather permitting and prune back some roses and do a small sewing project. Enjoy your weekend, won't you?
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Cheers - Joolz