Bacon and egg roll

Nothing says breakfast to me like a big bacon and egg roll. But it can’t be any old bacon and egg roll…it needs to be made a certain way which generally means I am making it!

You see if I am going to devour something as ‘sinful’ and a bacon and egg roll then I am going to do it right.

To start with I like to use the most rusting bread roll I can find, you know those lovely chewy rolls with lots of gritty bits. Then scoop the middle of the roll so it isn’t so ‘bready’and butter it generously.  The 2 slices of bacon needs to be free range and have just the right amount of fat on it to get the bacon nice and crispy and leave enough fat behind to cook a lovely soft free range egg. I also like to add a good handful of peppery rocket, a blob of really good Dijon mustard, a squirt of tomato sauce and lashings of salt and pepper,

You see that is how I like to start my day on the weekend there is no way possible that I could have a bad day with a breakfast like that…How does your weekend start?

What I love to eat ...this week

If some was to ask me what 5 ingredients I always have in my kitchen in order to sleep at night would difficult to answer. I could probably give you my top 5 this week …is that bad?

You see for months now I could not bear the thought of having to eat chicken breast as I tend to naturally gravitate towards the dark meat of chicken. Although lately I have been happy to eat a lovely organic chicken breast pan seared with olive oil, lemon juice and fresh rosemary. I would even say that I can not get enough of it.

Mushrooms are another one and not just boring old button mushrooms…I want to eat all of the lovely wild mushrooms fresh and dried. I love them made into a delicious buttery wild mushroom sauce or comforting mushroom risotto.

I also have to eat a small bowl of really good chocolate ice cream at night, which is something again very strange for me. Anyone who knows me would testify that I am a savoury girl through and through. I hope that phase passes soon as I don’t fancy an expanding rear end!

Another favourite is my white truffle oil…I simply must have it drizzled over scrambled eggs. For me this addition to my breakfast has been life changing to say the least and I phase I hope does not pass in a hurry.

So to round up my top 5 this week, they would be;

Ø       White truffle oil

Ø       Organic chicken breast

Ø       Rosemary

Ø       Lemons

Ø       Wild mushrooms

I wonder what next week will bring…

Jamie Oliver’s fish pie

As you know I love my cook books…I read them like most people might sit down to a good novel. I can spend hours reading a good cook book and quite often I will read it again and again. Strangely though I hardly ever cook a recipe from any of them, if I do its only because I happen to have all of the ingredients at the time… For me, a good recipe book will give me the foundations for amazing meals that I can adapt to suit me or the people I am cooking for. They should give you inspiration, not have you heading out to supermarket buying a heap of ingredients that you probably would never use again. Make the recipe work for you as you know what you like to eat and what flavour combinations prefer.

This is what happened with my fish Pie… I first came across it in Jaime Oliver’s Ministry of Food cookbook and liked to idea of it. I wasn’t crazy about a couple of flavours that he had included so I simply swapped them for ingredients I preferred. 

Result ...this was probably one of the most delicious pies I have ever eaten…even if I do say so myself. I didn’t want it to end and ate every mouthful like it was the last meal I was ever going to eat.

Don’t be afraid to take a risk, if it doesn’t work out it then it’s not the end of the world… although 99% of the time I can guarantee that you will have created a masterpiece that came about by using the good foundations from a recipe found in one of your cookbooks!

Serves 2

2 large potatoes

20grams butter

¼ cup milk

400grams firm white fish cut into bite sized chunks

10 green king prawns

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 zucchini grated

60grams good cheddar cheese grated

100grams creme fraiche

¼ cup chopped fresh chives

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Juice of half a lemon

Sea Salt and white/black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Peel the potatoes and cut into 2cm chunks. Once the water is boiling, add your potatoes and cook for around 12 minutes, until soft (you can stick your knife into them to check) Add fish, prawns, grated carrot, zucchini, cheddar, chopped chives, parslry, lemon zest and creme fraiche to the oven proof dish you will be using to cook your pie. Squeeze over the juice from the zested lemon (no pips please!), and add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix everything together really well.

By now your potatoes should be cooked, so drain them in a colander and return them to the pan. Add butter, milk and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mash until nice and smooth, then spread evenly over the top of the fish and grated vegetable mixture. Place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until cooked through, crispy and golden on top.

Serve with greens and good tomato sauce (trust me on this one!)

Wild mushroom sauce

I have to say that I am a little but crazy about mushrooms at the moment. I can quite easily eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So you can imagine my excitement when the first stall I came across on at the Orange Grove Farmers Market on the weekend had the most amazing selection of fresh and dried mushrooms I have ever seen!

I bought a selection of oyster, swiss brown, chestnut, king brown, dried chanterelle, and dried porcini mushrooms, enough for quite a few meals but as we were barbequing I though it would be best to start my mushroom fiesta with a wild mushroom sauce to go with my steak.

Serves 2 (or one if I am at the table)

200 grams wild mushrooms sliced

10grams dried porcini mushrooms

10grams dried chanterelle mushrooms

1 red shallot finely diced

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 sprigs fresh thyme

½ cup dry white wine

1 ½ cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon veal demi glaze

30 grams butter

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Soak dried porcini and dried chanterelle mushrooms for 20 minutes in boiling water (from the kettle) drain rinse and set aside.

Heat a heavy based fry pan over medium heat. Add half the butter, shallot, garlic and cook until softened slightly. Add mushrooms, thyme and continue to cook for 10 minutes stirring frequently and being careful not to burn.

Add wine and cook until reduced by half. Add chicken stock and demi glaze and simmer until liquid again has reduced by half. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining butter. This will thicken your sauce slightly and give it a lovely gloss. Taste for seasoning and serve. This sauce is lovely on meat poultry and even stirred through pasta.

Note – I like to drain and rise my dried mushroom as they can be ‘gritty’. If that doesn’t bother you feel free to add the mushroom stock from the soaking liquid.

Roast beef with blue cheese butter

This is my favourite way to enjoy beef. In fact after eating this I decided there was no need to waste my time eating it any other way…

As you know I am a fan of trolley stalking, it would have to be my favourite sport. Next to trolley stalking, pestering my local butcher would be my second sport of choice. I like to know what I am eating, where it came from and if it lived a happy life.

Recently I happened to like the look of a prime rib roast but new it would be a waist of time buying the whole piece as we all know Captain Vegetarian would not be impressed if he was presented with a Roast Beef dinner.  So I asked my friendly butcher if he would kindly cut me a piece and this is how I cooked it!

Serves 2

400gram piece scotch fillet on the bone (cut from a piece of prime rib)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper

Blue cheese butter

250 grams unsalted butter

120grams good quality blue cheese (I used King Island Bass Straight)

1 clove garlic

1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Sea salt and black pepper

To make blue cheese butter and butter, cheese, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper to a food processor and combine well. Spoon mixture onto a sheet of cling film and roll into a log shape. Refrigerate until needed.

Preheat oven 220ºC

Heat an oven proof pan until hot. Rub beef with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Add beef to fry pan and allow to cook on one side for 4 minutes. Turn over and place pan in the oven for 15 minutes for rare. Remove from oven and allow beef to rest on a warm plate for 10 minutes.

Top steak with a slice of blue cheese butter and pan juices. Slice beef and serve with rocket, grilled field mushrooms and cauliflower mash.

Note – The blue cheese butter freezes beautifully and can be used over veggies, pasta, and other meats. You will be glad you made a big lot of this!

Baked mushroom risotto

One thing I have never been able to understand is people who can plan a whole weeks worth of meals in one day go grocery shopping for the whole week and not stray from the menu . I admire the organisational skills and discipline of these people but I just don’t think it is for me… What I feel like today I can promise you will not be what I feel like eating tomorrow let alone 5 days from now.

Honestly, I can not bear the thought of having to commit to such a hideous task, and let’s not mention the stress of having to eat something I simply do not feel like is enough to send me over the edge.

Fortunately for me I am one of those people who live to eat, not eat to live. I adore my ritual of waking up in the morning and planning my day of eating. You see as soon as I wake up I plan my breakfast, during breakfast I start thinking about lunch and at lunch time I start planning my grand finale of the day which of course is dinner. Captain Vegetarian thinks I am positively mad and  tells me all I talk about is food to which I remind him that doing this makes me happy and you know how the saying goes “happy wife, happy life”.

I also go through food fazes, at the moment I am going through a comfort faze, I want soothing, feel good food which is why I am leaning towards pasta, risotto and home style cooking. I will continue with this until I feel like something else. I can not be restricted to a weekly list…I can only commit to cooking what I feel like that day and I will not apologise for that…

Today I was feeling mushrooms, and lots of them. I had recently bought dried porcini mushrooms so I new they would be used and I was also thinking about some lovely delicate oyster mushrooms and the rich earthiness of the swiss brown mushrooms. Combined with my desire to eat nothing but comfort food, I though a mushroom risotto was in order.

Like my oven baked pumpkin and sage risotto this was also cooked in the oven to avoid the boring and tedious stirring. I did however cook my mushrooms first in butter to release their lovely mushroominess which is a step I’m sure I can handle…

Serves 2

1cup arborio or carnaroli rice

1 leek cleaned and sliced finely into little half moons

2 cloves garlic chopped finely

100gram oyster mushrooms sliced in half

200grams swiss brown mushrooms sliced

10gram dried porcini mushrooms

30 grams butter

2 ½ cups of chicken/vegetable stock

½ cup dry white wine

1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

¼ cup chives

Juice of half a lemon

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven 190◦C

Soak porcini mushrooms in boiling water (from the kettle) for 20 minutes. Rinse and set a side.

Over medium heat melt butter in an oven proof heavy based pan. Add mushrooms, leek, garlic, salt & pepper and cook gently for 10 – 15 minutes. This step is important so you get maximum flavour from the mushrooms. Stir continuously so the mixture does not burn or colour too much.

Remove from heat and add stock, wine. Stir well and cover with a tight fitting lid or aluminium foil. Place in the oven and cook for 40 minutes.

Once cooked add parsley, chives, parmesan, lemon juice and adjust seasoning to taste. Stir well and leave to stand for 5 minutes.

Serve in warmed bowls…enjoy

Note – To make this dish vegetarian add vegetable stock. I use chicken stock as Captain Vegetarian isn’t a fan of mushrooms…Something I simply do not understand!

Jamie Oliver’s cauliflower macaroni and cheese

A meal created using three cheeses makes Captain Vegetarian a very happy boy…and slightly suspicious. I happened to make this dish the other night -

a)      because I new the Captain would love it

b)      I happened to have all of the ingredients

Unfortunately my beloved Captain Vegetarian thought I was about to ask for something and was trying to get into his good books…Seriously why are men so suspicious of things done out of the goodness of your heart? We females are not devious and conniving creatures all the time are we…