Recipe – “Crumbed moki”

Dinner tonight was rather yum!

Recipe – “Pancakes”

Stolen in its entirety from here.

I made them very small as suggested, they tasted pretty good, could possibly leave out the maple syrup and turn them into savory wee treats.

All up, it made about 10-12 and they’re very dense / filling, so only recommend 6 or so per person.

Served with berries, bacon, and a dash of maple syrup over the top.

Recipe – “Pumpkin Soup”

Adapted from here.

I added:
– butternut
– “normal” pumpkin
– 1 parsnip
– 1 carrot
– 1 purple carrot (gave the soup a rich caramel colour)

Recipe – “Pork burgers + Kumara chips”

No real recipe, just a modified recipe based on this page (I didn’t have much basil lying around).

Salt and peppered some pork mince, mixed, and formed into small patties.

Cooked with coconut oil, and for me, served with a tahini / garlic paste + lettuce leaves as buns.

Made some kumara chips to have as a side.

Pretty tasty.

Recipe – “Roast Chicken”

Doesn’t really need a recipe, does it?

Bought a vertical roaster today and wanted to give it a whirl.  Took a mash up of instructions from the interwebs, and combined with this recipe (used for the chicken only).

Here’s what I did:

– washed and dried the bird
– seasoned with salt and pepper, and propped it up on the vertical roaster, covered loosely to dissuade flying creatures
– about an hour later, smeared with softened butter
– chucked in oven at 180c, covered loosely with a tin foil wraparound hat for the first 40mins or so of cooking, so it didn’t burn up top

Next time:

– Nah – the chicken was spot on; if I had more time I’d salt it for longer and season with lemon + herbs.
– I’d do the veges differently – the only downside of having your bird on the bottom rack is that there is not really any room left in the oven for an extra tray for veges.  So less roasties all crammed in, and I didn’t find the butter glaze work that well, but my guess is that I stinged on the butter.

Recipe – “French Onion Soup”

Someone wise suggested I make French Onion soup, seeing as I have a buttload of bone broth kickin’ around.

Never had French Onion soup before, so I googled and found this recipe, which I used as my basis.

I then got the caramelised onion wobbles, so I googled some more and found this blog, which I found helpful (particularly the word “fudgy” to describe the onions. Yum.)

And… then I got the adding stock wobbles, so I googled Jamie Oliver and found this recipe, which I followed just in regards to the liquids / simmering etc.

So, what I did:

– 4 onions, sliced into rings
– 3 tbsp ghee + 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
– 5c bone broth
– salt and pepper to season

Melt the fats, chuck the onions (I used a mandolin) in, stir stir stir, lowest heat on the element (our oven is poked so it actually did need to be on the lowest heat).  Stir stir stir, wait wait wait, etc. Rinse and repeat.  Do a couple of batches of dishes (wash and dry) stopping to stir every few minutes.

Once it got all brown and caramelly, I added the stock, brought to the boil, simmered for 15mins or so.

Then, I got the only small oven safe bowl in the house, loaded some bits of bread on top for the dining companion, and grated a bit of gruyere over the top.

I went back for seconds.  So sweet and delicious and BROWN.

I’m not sure if I’d make again, because from go to woah it was probably 3 hrs.  Then, if you add the 24hrs of stock making … I guess I didn’t realise how long the onions would take.  So, if I had a bit of time on my hands, and a couple of other kitchen projects to complete at the same time, I’d make it again.  I’d just use a buttload more onions and a buttload more stock, and make a buttload more soup.

This amount would probably be enough for 4 entree size bowls.

 

 

Recipe – “Green Smoothie”

For the record, my smoothie is purple in colour, but with a cup of baby spinach leaves, I’m still calling this a green smoothie!

First smoothie in a long time, and I think that I’m sold on this way of getting a whole bunch of good stuff into your body in a really easy way.

I was hunting around the internet trying to find a green smoothie recipe that used the ingredients I have at home.  I was onto the last page before attempting the experimental method (bung it all into a blender, see what comes out) when I found this choice page. I heart the delivery/presentation of the ‘recipe,’ so in the end I feel like I went in with a big hug from that page and the words of “go forth and experiment – she’ll be right!” in my ears.

So, here’s what I “bunged” in:

– 1 can (400mL) coconut milk
– big handful of washed baby spinach leaves
– 1c frozen mixed berries (strawberries, boysenberries, blueberries, raspberries)
– about half a stalk of washed celery
– half a manky orange sitting in the fridge about to die
– 1 dsp of coconut oil
– 1 tsp of hazelnut butter

The end result?

Texture is thick, but the taste is quite light / watery.  It tastes like marzipan/almond (I presume it’s the coconut) and strawberries.

It’s made about 3 glasses worth.

Yay experimental green smoothies.  Breakfast of champions.

Recipe – Stock (aka Bone Broth)

Got a sweet bag of lamb bones for $2 today at the markets, so I sought inspiration from the web for a simple stock recipe.  It doesn’t really need a recipe, but I found this page and thought it was pretty friendly.

On advice from my guru, I roasted the lambikins up (we had a pick at the bones and delicious fatty goodness prior to chucking into the slow cooker).

Onions, carrots, celery, frozen chopped up kale (not much – and just as I type this I think that perhaps not the best addition, as I read somewhere that green veges turn the outcome a bit bitter), garlic, bit of parsley + the only vinegar in the house (malt).

So, its been in probably since 1pm and I’ll keep it cranking overnight.  Mmm.

Final: made 10.5c worth of broth, and 3 icecube trays

Recipe – “Asian Salmon”

The recipe is here

I used about 300g of salmon, and about 1/4c of coconut aminos (that shiz is expensive!)
I marinaded for an hour, could easily be done for longer.
The marinade smells AMAZING.

Easy – would make again.

Recipe – “Slow Cooker Beef Chili”

Here’s the link

 

Made as per directions, I used “ground chili” instead of chili powder.  Next time – less chili! It’s a bitttttt too hot!

Next time I’d also add vegetables at the start and make it super hearty and “whole meal, one pot.”

 

So yes, would make again, with some tweaks!

 

**28.08.14: this time I’ve made it with 1 tsp ground chilli, and all other spices the same as recipe.  I added 1 tsp tumeric too.