Chai Smoked Duck Breast on Soba Noodle Salad

You will not be surprised to read that this is yet another recipe of Anna Gare's.

My smoking technique was not done as Anna describes in the recipe and I suggest you don't follow my method! 

I did not have wood chips or a smoker, instead I heated up this gorgeous mix of chai tea, sugar and rice in our baby weber Q.

It certainly produced some lovely smoke but our bbq doesn't seal so our duck did not really retain that smoky flavour. I would love to buy a smoker and have a real crack at it.

After smoking the fat was rendered down and the duck breast finished in the oven.

Served with the salad of soba noodles, fresh enoki and shitake mushrooms, capsicum, spring onion, snow peas, basil and coriander.

The dressing consisted of mirin, rice wine, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy and sweet soy.

The whole dish is then drizzled with some pomegranate molasses.

It was certainly beautiful in taste and looks.

Broad Bean and Freekah Salad

Finally broad beans are popping up at the markets and I am able to try this recipe for broad bean salad by Janella Purcell from Good Chef Bad Chef. The seller said they were very young and so no need to peel the beans. I have never eaten them before so I am assuming that the outer skin becomes tough with age? They are so much prettier on the inside, brilliant green.

So this salad was quite simple, healthy and delicious. Just toss mint and parsley leaves with diced cucumber and tomato, sliced red onion, cooked freekah and broad beans. The dressing is a mix of garlic, olive oil, lemon zest and umeboshi vinegar. It tasted light and healthy, although it was not the best salad I've ever had. It makes an easy meal with loads of fresh produce, perfect meal after a trip to the farmers market.

Donna's Thai Fish Cakes

This recipe for Thai fish cakes is another from Donna Hay's Fast, Fresh, Simple. I have never actually made fish cakes before so I thought this very simple recipe was a good place to start. The fish is processed with coriander, ginger, chilli jam and eggwhite before being shaped into patties. Unfortunately my fish cake had too much liquid, I think from my overly runny chilli jam, and so the consistency was not quite right. They did still hold together so I persisted. They are panfried in some oil. Donna used loads of oil but I just coated my non stick pan.

They were served with a little cucumber salad that also had some parsley and coriander leaves with a fish sauce, sugar and lime juice dressing. I made a simple fried rice (inspired by JasmyneTea - thanks) to accompany the dish and make it a meal.

My fish cakes had a delicious flavour but the texture was not quite right, kind of grainy. I assume this is because of the liquid in my mix. The cucumber salad was absolutely perfect, I really loved the freshness of the cucumber with the herbs and the gorgeously balanced dressing. The rice was great, a nice addition to the meal. I would make these again but will be sure to use a thick jam and maybe a different type of fish.

Donna Hay's Chicken Rice Noodle Salad with Coconut Milk Dressing

This recipe for Rice Noodle Salad is another from Fast Fresh Simple, Donna Hay's new show. It really was so simple to prepare for dinner. The rice noodles are tossed with coriander, basil, mint, spring onion, kaffir lime leaves, chicken and chilli (or in my case garnished with chilli so it wasn't too spicy for my daughter!). I also added some snow peas.
The dressing is made from coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar.
I really loved it, so light and fresh tasting, easy to prepare - what more could you want?

Margaret Fulton's Nicoise Salad

Before children we had an awesome place we would go to on our our trips out west and have our favourite wood fired pizza. Problem is when my daughter was old enough to eat properly she didn't like the pizza! Well it came about oneday  - the Nicoise salad was ordered and she LOVED it, so problem solved. We now stop to have the most delicious pizza and my three year old eats Nicoise salad :)

So I decided to I would make it, finding a recipe here. Yes it was simple to make but did involve preparing all the components - boiling potatoes, boiling eggs, steaming beans, picking rocket, halving the tomatoes, chopping up some olives - ok, it wasn't difficult at all ! Even then I managed to overcook my potatoes and eggs (i like a runny centre). The dressing was gorgeous - dijon, garlic, oregano, lemon juice, vinegars (I used verjuice and apple cider) and olive oil.

I used a few different potato types (from my brothers vege patch) - spot the purple one :)

This was absolutely delicious, and yes my daughter loved it. We will definitely be making this on a regular basis. The other exciting thing - it was almost all home grown, my brothers beans, tomatoes and potatoes, our rocket and eggs from my parents chooks!

Nigella's Indian Rubbed Lamb Chops with Butternut, Rocket and Pine Nut Salad

Last night I cooked this recipe from Nigella Kitchen and I was really impressed, it was delicious.

The butternut is coated with oil, salt, turmeric and ground ginger, and then roasted. The sultanas and dressing are mixed in the bowl the butternut and spices were tossed together. The whole thing is then all brought together with rocket and toasted pine nuts.

The lamb is simply coated lightly both sides in a spice mix of cumin, coriander, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, salt and cayenne pepper. My husband then cooked it for me in a griddle pan.

When this dish came together on the plate it was amazing, all the different elements added so much. It was a perfect flavour combination.

Salads...

We had a lovely sunday as it was our little boys Dedication. Lots of our friends and family came to celebrate with us and we invited them all over for a bbq lunch.

I forgot to photograph most of it but I will tell you what delicious food I made. For nibbles I made vegetarian rice paper rolls and homemade olive bread, sliced and grilled to serve with bruschetta topping.

My lovely husband barbecued sausages (out in the heat and humidity) while everyone else was in the pool! And I made some gorgeous salads to serve with our sausages...

Sweet Potato and Quinoa salad - the recipe I found on Naturally Ella. The sweetness in the potato was well complimented by the feta and the quinoa is just amazing. Loved it.

Pesto Pasta salad - I  used the recipe for basil pesto from Delicieux. We have so much basil in our garden to make this and I think the fresh basil is what gave this pesto a lovely flavour. We used a combination of walnuts and pinenuts. The parmesan cheese was only mixed through the 'green pasta' (as my daughter named it) just before serving (after my non-dairy-eating friend took her share) :)

Nigella's Tabbouleh - This is a recipe in Nigella Kitchen to help use up your leftover bulgar. It included, with the bulgar, finely chopped mint, parsley, spring onion and tomato, lemon zest and juice, olive oil and salt. I really liked it, so fresh and light tasting yet filling.

And for dessert I made the Joconde Imprime cake again (like my Valentines one) but bigger and the mousse had extra whipped cream so it was lighter. I also added a layer of sliced fresh strawberries. Everyone loved it and I had lots of fun making it. I also made some lemon curd tarts which were delicious.

Mini Kiwifruit Muffins

We bought a tray of kiwifruits as my daughter loves them. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, they were over ripe (i know, i know, thats what you get when you buy a tray).
I was already planning to cook some muffins with my daughter so i decided instead to make kiwifruit muffins. I did a quick online search and actually there are quite a few recipes out there so I perused and decided what ingredients I would use.
I wanted to make them on the healthy side so i used part wholemeal flour and natural yoghurt.

The final product I thought was delicious, they didn't rise much so the muffin was quite dense but very moist and still soft. My only criticism is the sugar - i used 1/2 cup as often kiwifruit is on the tart side but in this case 1/4 cup would have been sufficient.
My husband took them to work (so that i didn't eat too many!) and he said he had a mixed response, some loved them but they were not to every ones taste.


Mini Kiwifruit Muffins Recipe (makes 36 mini muffins)


 50g margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup pureed ripe kiwifruit (about 4) 


- Cream butter and sugar
- Beat in the egg well, followed by yoghurt and vanilla until just combined
- Mix dry ingredients and fold through
- Fold through the kiwifruit
- Bake at 180 degrees C for 25 mins

Janella's Sumac Herb Salad

This salad recipe is by Janella Purcell from Good chef Bad chef. It is quite interesting in that the main flavour is sumac, a spice i have used before and really like so i was pleased to find another recipe to use it in.
If you have never tried Sumac it is a flavour hard to describe, kind of zesty! I believe it is middle eastern in origin?
Another fantastic component is the fried bread, you thinly slice up a piece of wholemeal lebanese bread and put in a hot pan with a little oil. It crisps up beautifully.
I did use a normal feta and not goats feta. Actually, when eating the feta i felt a bit overwhelmed by the end of the plate. Maybe if i had used goats feta this may have complimented the dish better.

Whilst preparing all the components for this dish i was seriously doubting how it would possibly be satisfying to eat. I was also questioning how the flavours would all come together - parsley, coriander and watercress leaves. But somehow all three herbs managed to shine through, it was such a delicate salad and yet wholesome. And I did not need anything to eat after, it was completely satisfying.

Happy Australia day.....(today i am going malay!)