Sausage and beansBananas flambeHalve a bunch of bananas down the centre, individually. Lengthwise. Fry in butter until brown. Sprinkle lumps of dark molasses sugar over them. Turn them. Turn down the lights. Add brandy, ignite, and play with the flames. Serve with cream. BeignetsMake choux pastry. Deep fry in balls. Roll in icing sugar. Devour, chased by gallons of chicory coffee. BreadHappily real bread is finally available on Porirua shelves, but if it's not: Yeast concoction:
Don't leave the yeast concoction too long! For bread itself mix with eight cups wholemeal flour and one dessert spoon (= four teaspoons) salt. Knead lightly and rest in a warm bowl. Wait 'til bulging over top of bowl. Give it a huge kneading. Bake quarter of an hour at 220° reduced to 180°, then a half hour on low. Burmese curry
Heat the oil in a saucepan over moderate heat and fry 3 of the chillies, the cardamom and the curry leaves for 1 minute (apparently be careful if using fresh curry leaves as they spit). Add the onion and sauté until golden then add the garlic, ginger, curry powder and other spices. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the lamb, tomato paste and water, mix well and cook on high heat for 10 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot from time to time. Cover and simmer on low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add the coconut milk and lemongrass. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil, stirring. Reduce the heat and add the tamarind. Mix well, cover and simmer for a further 30 minutes. Add the remaining curry leaves and chillies. Burmese curry powder
In a heavy-based pan over low heat, dry-roast separately the coriander, cumin, fenugreek and fennel, stirring constantly until each becomes fairly dark brown, but do not let them burn. Set aside. Using a blender on high speed process all the ingredients until ground to a fine powder. Transfer to airtight container. CassouletSoak 1.5 cups (about 350g) of white beans overnight, simmer 45 minutes until they begin to soften, and drain. Brown a chopped onion or two in a casserole. Add 250g pork, 70g bacon, and some sage, thyme and garlic. Cook at 380° for an hour. Add 250g garlic sausage, a raw jointed chook (if you don't have a raw jointed goose) and the beans. Stir gently, add stock if necessary, and cook for another hour. If improvising, it must stay within the bounds of meat, bird and beans to qualify as Cassoulet. Len Deighton astutely observes that "green vegetables of any kind would be an embarrassment with this dish, which should be served in bowls accompanied only by not-too-rough claret and argumentative conversation". If your guests disagree, start. See also sausage and beans: neo-cassoulet for the chef in a hurry. CPTAka CPT. From Olims Hotel in Canberra, modified with experience Prepare a shortpaste flan ring about ten inches across. Don't cheat by using one of those 400g ready-made pastry packs: use one and a half of them. Better still, make two pies from three. For each pie, mix by hand three eggs, 300g of castor sugar, 180g of unsalted butter, a few drops of vanilla essence, and a pinch of salt. Lick your hands clean. Chop up 150g of chocolate very finely, and 150g of pecan nuts not so finely, add 100g of flour, and mix the whole caboodle together. Or, if you don't want to cover the ceiling with chocolate, melt the butter and chocolate together then mix in the rest: this improves the result, but's less fun. Place mixture in the flan ring, and bake for about an hour at 180°C. The pie is cooked when the top cracks when pressed. It is overcooked when the flan case cracks without being pressed. Serve hot or cold, with or without crème fraîche, at any time of day or night Tips: Freeze/cool the pastry rings. Microwave butter and chocolate for 2'30" on medium per pie. Put aluminium strips around the flan edges, removing a quarter of an hour before done. CurryMum's special recipe.
DamperNot recommended unless you're planning to be cold and hungry. As taught in Anchorage. Make tramping mix as two cups self-raising flour, quarter cup of sugar, same of milk powder, and half a teaspoon of salt. To make as bread, add quarter cup of oil and half cup of water to the basic mix. Cook five to six minutes each side until tapped it sounds hollow. Duck and snow peasDuck risotto
GumboOn G-day eve, soak overnight beans of whatever political persuasion. Throughout G-day, simmer them with bacon bones in chicken stock. At G minus a few hours, chop a chook's limbs and breasts off and brown them in oil, with slices of smoked sausage. Make up a roux in your big, black Gumbo pot: best to use flour already baked a rich brown. Throw in slices of the holy trinity - onion, celery and green peppers or capsicums. Brown them until floppy. Pour in the beans, bacon and stock, and throw in the bird carcass. Flavour with Tabasco and any powder thats red and begins with 'c'. Add bay leaves, basil and so on if you're feeling creative. Slice some okra finely, fry separately until no longer sticky, and slither that in too. Stir from time to time, or the fat will rise to the surface, and the lady of the house might see it. When the meat starts falling off the bones, remove them, pull off the meat, and throw it back. At G-30 minutes, throw in the chicken pieces and sausage. Pour another glass of wine. Warm some bowls. Cook up some rice, or just throw in the pot.
JambalayaSlice smoked sausage and sauté gently in peanut oil until brown. Add onions, green peppers and celery and continue sautéing until tender. Stir in washed rice until coated in oil. Add tomatoes, stock and seasoning, including Tabasco, a chopped chili, bay leaves and finely chopped garlic. Perhaps some basil and thyme, too. Cook slowly until the rice is tender, stirring and adding water if needed. That takes about 40 minutes on a good day, an hour and a half on a bad one. Stir constantly or it'll burn. Serve with French bread and butter (traditionally, after first dropping the J on the floor and scraping it up). Laksa
Put 2 tablespoons of Laska paste in wok with small amount of grapeseed oil. Stir-fry for about 1 minute. Add about 1/3 tin of coconut milk and 1/2 container of chicken stock and stir together. Place salmon in wok and cook - removing stick and bones if required. When done, add noodles (dependant on number of people) and cook until tender. Place spring onions/bean sprouts/chives in bowls and put noodles on top, plus all the yummy stuff at the bottom! LMPMum's "modified LMP recipe - for smaller flan case" Mum - where do the 2oz caster sugar and 40g (1 1/2 oz) butter fit in? What cooking times? Mix in a bowl three heaped tablespoons cornflour and a little of 320mls water into a paste, then pour rest of water into a pan and bring to boil (add juice of two large lemons with the water in pan, and rind if you want it). When it boils, pour into cornflour and mix 'til smooth. Put this back in pan and bring back to boil - stir all the time to stop lumps and burning. Take pan off heat, and beat it into three egg yolks and lemon juice - end up by beating in the butter - pour into baked flan case. Here's a version straight from the BePure site Lemon Meringue Pie - Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free Base 2 cups ground almonds 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted Pinch of salt ¼ tsp baking powder 1 tsp vanilla extract Preheat your oven to 150C fan-bake and grease a 9-inch pie dish with coconut oil. In a food processor (or bowl) mix together all base ingredients and press into the pie dish. Prick the base with a fork and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden - although be careful as it browns quickly! Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes. Filling 5 egg yolks 2 whole eggs 1 cup of lemon juice (4 lemons juiced) 1/2 cup honey 4 tsp arrowroot starch (mixed with a little water to make a paste) Separate 5 eggs and save the whites for the meringue. Mix the yolks and 2 whole eggs in a small bowl. In a pan melt the honey over a medium heat and add lemon juice. Take off the heat and beat in egg mixture and slowly add the arrowroot paste. Return to a medium heat and stir continuously until thick. Pour into cooled tart case and allow to cool. Meringue 5 egg whites 1 Tbsp Honey Garnish Zest of 1 lemon Beat egg whites to a soft peak and add honey. The mixture should be thick and glossy. Bake at 150C for 10 minutes until meringue is cooked and has a shiny golden topping. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Garnish with lemon zest and serve at room temperature! My goring
Oat bars
PastaThis page somewhat out of step with the evolution of my tastes, but still... It is said that man cannot live on pasta alone. This is almost certainly wrong: I thrived for over a decade on practically nothing else. Pasta is the perfect food. It is tasty, filling, and versatile. It is fast to prepare. It is full of complex carbohydrates, the fuel of athletes. I eat lots every night, just in case. It is cheap and stores forever. It is a way of life, and a very pleasant one, at that. I eat it at home and around camp fires. I rarely choose it at restaurants, however, because they seldom prepare it well, and besides, I know how easy and cheap it is. Put a large pan of water on the boil. Add some salt. Use a large plate as a lid so it warms. Most sauces are fast enough to prepare once the water is boiling and the pasta in. Depending which of pasta and sauce you commit to first, that choice will drive the other. Lumpy sauces with sausages, bacon and so on call for lumpy pasta, perhaps penne or rigatoni. Smooth sauces of oil or cream call for ribbon pasta, perhaps tagliatelle or spaghetti. Unless you have the time and energy to make your own pasta, keep and ample and varied stock of the dried variety, which is better than most fresh pasta. In addition, have the following always in stock:
Most of these keep well (although wine seldom does in the Castle), so it is not an impractically huge inventory. Even I can manage it. These basic stocks provide countless combinations for sauces. Olives, capers, anchovies, red onions and sun dried tomatoes provide countless more. I even add broccoli occasionally. But flavours should complement, not compete. Minimise the number of ingredients: garlic and pepper are essential, but save most of the others for the morrow. Here are some ideas: Garlic. Deliciously simple. Fry ample garlic in ample oil until turning brown. Carbonara. Fry bacon. Separately, mix egg, cream, black pepper, parmesan. Stir into each other and the hot pasta immediately before serving. Four formagio. Boil cream down to half its volume. Mix in a variety of cheeses. Pepper and garlic, of course. (See also pizza) Sausages. Fry sausages (sliced or crumbled) with onions. When brown add tomatoes, herbs and maybe some wine. The longer it bubbles the better. Add herbs and garlic, and perhaps cream just before serving. Just before the pasta's al dente, drain it quickly and toss it into the sauce, or onto the plate for top dressing. Serve with wine, pepper and cheese to hand and to taste. Enjoy. Pizza
With thanks to Pizza Pomadoro for the inspiration Pork and gingerWith your rice boiling on the side:
Sausage and beansSubtitle: Cassoulet for the man, woman or kayaker in a hurryThis is a remarkably passable imitation so long as you are very careful in choice of the key ingredients:
Slice the sausage and fry (I use duck fat) until browning, add diced onion and continue frying until all browning. Drain the beans and mix them in. Stir dry for a little so they absorb the smoky flavour, then add 150g of chicken stock and simmer, longer the better as long as the beans don't go too mushy or too dry. That's it apart from two secret ingredients, which I can divulge to you dear reader as first a small pinch of molasses sugar (the really dark, oozy one), added early, and second a small dash of Marsala, added late. Resist the temptation to pinch or dash in too much - just right is best. Douse with pepper and serve with torn-off chunks of bread, perhaps with a splash of olive oil on bread and beans. As with cassoulet, green vegetables of any kind would be an embarrassment with this dish, which should be served in bowls accompanied by not-too-rough claret (shiraz for me) and argumentative conversation. |
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