Fresh Garlic and Mushrooms with Pappardelle

When we go to the markets the produce is always so incredible and is often best eaten that day. I bought some mixed mushrooms on the weekend and they were just so beautiful and fresh I wanted to use them straight away. Another thing I bought was fresh garlic, it looked much like a spring onion but had the aroma of garlic. 

I sliced up the garlic and softened it in plenty of butter and a little organic macadamia oil (another market item!). I then added my sliced mushrooms and cooked until just soft chucking in a few basil leaves at the end. 

I made some pasta earlier and cut it into pappardelle. I cooked this at the same time adding it to my mushrooms at the end to mix through in the hot pan. Serving with some freshly grated parmesan and a rocket and parmesan salad, a perfect meal. 

Jerusalem Artichoke Tart with Artichoke Tapenade

This is an Anna Gare recipe I saw on Quickies in my Kitchen a while back. At the time I realised that jerusalem artichokes were not in season, so when I spotted some at the markets last week I bought them immediately!

The jerusalem artichokes are peeled and chopped, they have the texture and smell of potatoes but due to their shape are very annoying to peel. They are boiled to cook and then pureed with eggs and cream before being poured into a tart base and baked. I made the basic pastry base anna suggests, using wholemeal flour and it rolled out beautifully. It is sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan before filling.

The artichoke tapenade is a blended mix of jarred artichoke hearts, capers, spring onion, garlic, parsley, parmesan, almonds and lemon. It is served with the tart.

I was amazed when I tried this, it was fresh and delicious. We had a picnic with some friends and took it cold as our lunch. The tapenade was quite strong and salty but complimented the creamy tart perfectly. The tart had a distinct flavour of the jerusalem artichoke but was overall quite mild in flavour. Very pleased I tried this and will be looking out for other recipes with jerusalem artichokes.

Lamb Biriyani

This is a recipe that we first tried years ago and loved it so much it is now a regular on our dinner table. I am not sure if it is even close to being authentic but it is definitely delicious. We actually found the recipe in one of those mini cookbooks you can sometimes buy in the supermarket.

Basically the lamb is cooked on the stove top with loads of spices and yoghurt. You then layer the lamb with rice and tomatoes before baking. The final result is essentially a one dish meal with very flavoursome lamb that melts in your mouth.

Lamb Biriyani 

Adapted from Family Circle mini cookbooks

100g ghee (I used margarine)

2 onions chopped

750g lamb back strap cut in to chunks (I used chump chops)

3 cloves garlic crushed

1 tbsp chopped ginger

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp chilli flakes (only adds a hint of heat)

2 tsp ground tumeric

10 cardamon pods bruised

1 tsp ground cardamon

10 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick

1 1/4 cups plain yoghurt

2 1/2 cups basmati rice

2 ripe tomatoes chopped

1 cup frozen peas

2 tbsp chopped mint + extra to garnish

2/3 cup cashew nuts

Rinse the rice and soak in plenty of cold water for 45 minutes.

Melt the butter and add the onion, cook until soft.

Add the lamb, all of the spices and yoghurt and cook for 5 minutes. 

Turn heat to low, partially cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 190C.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, add the drained rice and boil for 3 minutes, drain well.

Grease a 3 litre ovenproof dish. Spread half the rice in the bottom. Spoon over half of the lamb. Top with the tomato, peas and mint. Add the rest of the rice and then lamb. Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes (check rice is cooked).

Garnish with cashews and mint.

Lemon Myrtle and Macadamia Seafood Curry

We were given some Barbushco australian native spices as a present. They include Lemon Myrtle, Wattleseed, Aniseed Myrtle, Dorrigo Pepper and Rainforest Blend (Lemon Myrtle, Cinnamon Myrtle, Chilli). They are also certified organic. I have to confess I have had them a while, but, I have now made a decision that I should try a recipe once a week.

'helping' Daddy prepare the prawns!

So this seafood curry recipe came with the spices. The recipe calls for green curry paste, I used my paste that I had in the freezer from my thai green curry recipe. Another confession is that my husband actually cooked this as I am feeling sick with a cold (and have had very little sleep due to my bub also having the cold). After tasting the curry he decided it needed a bit of zing so added some fish sauce, tamarind, brown sugar and lime juice (not in the original recipe).

It was really delicious. None of the spices dominated but overall it was different in its flavour. The fish, prawns and squid all tasted fantastic. The colour of the curry was not all that appealing. I am looking forward to trying more recipes.

Lemon Myrtle and Macadamia Seafood Curry
Adapted from Barbushco Australian Native Flavour Recipe Book
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp green curry paste
2 Tbsp macadamia nut paste (we ground up roasted macadamias with our mortar and pestle)
1 tsp Lemon Myrtle ground spice
2 tsp Dorrigo pepper
1 tsp rainforest blend spice
1/2 head broccoli cut into florets
1 bunch baby bokchoy cut into quarters
300 gm white fish (we used ling)
5 large green prawns (shelled and deveined)
1 squid tube sliced into rings
1 tin coconut cream
fish sauce, tamarind, brown sugar and lime juice 


Heat oil in pan, place curry paste and macadamia paste, and stir until fragrant.
Add Dorrigo pepper and rainforest blend and stir.
Add coconut cream and bring to boil.
Add Lemon Myrtle and stir for a further two minutes.
Add broccoli and fish, simmer for three minutes. 
Add bokchoy, prawns and squid rings, simmer for a further three minutes or until cooked.
Taste and add a splash of fish sauce, tamarind, sugar and lime juice depending on your tastes. 

Donna's Gourmet Beef Burger

No I couldn't get my mouth around that!

For dinner last night I cooked this recipe for beef burgers of Donna Hay's. 

The recipe is essentially for the patty which is then meant to be cooked with pancetta. I used free range bacon instead. 

I also had a go at making my own wholemeal multigrain bread rolls. Although I am not entirely happy with the results they were still good and I will be trying again. 

As you can see I also piled up my burger with rocket, tomato, cheese, caramalised onion and chilli jam. The meat patties were delicious and moist with a nice flavour. Who doesn't love a good burger!

Sticky Pork and Plum Pie

I spotted this pork on Sugarlace last week and thought it looked amazing. And amazing it was!

The pork spare ribs are cut into chunks and coated in a thick marinade of garlic, ginger, chilli, five spice, pepper, brown sugar and kecap manis. You then bake covered for about an hour turning the pork over a couple of times. The pork is then put in hot pan to caramelise - but be careful they pop, I had whole pieces pop out of the pan! I then poured the remaining sauce from the roasting dish and reduced to a paste before putting all the pork back in to get covered in extra glossy caramelised goodness. Just top with some spring onion. I served with some rice and steamed chinese veges.

It was one of those dishes that you cannot stop eating, very moreish indeed.

Since we had a guest over lastnight I decided to make dessert, plum pie. We bought some plums on the weekend and they were very ripe. I made a sweet pastry base using wholemeal flour. I have never used straight wholemeal flour for a sweet pastry, it was harder to roll out and the final product was a little less delicate. It also gave the tart an almost rustic flavour, which in this case I think it actually complimented the plums quite well.

For the filling I halved the plums and mixed with some sugar, flour and cinnamon. This was placed in the uncooked pastry shell topped with some more pastry and baked until brown, about half and hour I think.

The pastry crisped up beautifully and the amazing plums were perfectly cooked. It was a winner!

Chipotle Bean Burritos with Sweet Potato Fries and Homemade Salsas

When I started blogging I didn't realise there was a big world of bloggers out there. I just didn't think about it. But it is an amazing network and one of the most exciting parts is finding interesting recipes from all around the world.

This recipe for bean burritos is from one of my favourite blogs, Sweet Pea's Kitchen (Check it out if you wanted to be tempted by some gorgeous treats!). I actually cooked it on friday but have been so busy all weekend. Hope you all had lovely mothers day and were able to spend some time with loved ones.

It is quite a simple recipe to prepare with the beans (I prepared earlier) being simmered with some garlic and chipotle powder. Some salsa (I used my homemade roasted tomato salsa) is then mixed through and the mixture served with some tortillas to make delicious burritos. 

To make the salsa I roasted tomatoes and garlic with olive oil. These were then chopped up with some pickled jalapeno, spring onion, lime juice and ground cumin. It was delicious and had that distinctive 'salsa' flavour. I also prepared some avocado salsa (Nigella recipe) which is avocado, jalapeno, coriander, lime juice and spring onion. It was gorgeous, so light and tasty with a good kick from the jalapeno.

To complete the feast I decided to cook sweet potato fries. I have had these saved to cook for ages, I saw them on Naturally Ella and as a sweet potato freak knew they would be tried. I have attempted sweet potato chips before but they always turn out soggy. This recipe is fantastic, they were amazing. The fries are cut and then tossed in olive oil before being tossed in a mix of egg white, chipotle and paprika then spread out and baked, turning after twenty minutes and then baking until crisp. 

Overall a delicious meal, but a little on the spicy side, as my husband said by the end we were breathing fire! Maybe we needed something more to balance out the heat :) but hey what's a mexican feast without heat!