Braised Lamb Shanks

Dinner last night was juicy braised lamb shanks with homemade creamy mashed potato and steamed green beans (not pictured). Need I say more?

It was my first time cooking with lamb shanks and it was a huge success! They were juicy, moist and full of flavour. The meat was falling off of the bone. It was mouthwatering! To compliment this beautiful flavoursome meat, I whipped up some homemade creamy mashed potato and steamed some fresh green beans (not pictured). They worked so well together, I had to stop myself from overindulging in all of its finger-licking goodness. You have to try this at home! 

Braised Lamb Shanks with Creamy Mash Potato and Steamed Green Beans

8 Lamb shanks

Plain flour (for coating)

Butter/oil

3 Onions, diced 

5 Garlic cloves, sliced

3 tbsp thyme

1x400g can of crushed tomatoes

4 cups Chicken/beef stock or water

Veggie of your choice

Coat all your lamb shanks in flour evenly, shake off any excess. Melt some butter or heat up some oil on high heat. Brown off the lamb shanks and then remove from the pot and set aside.

In the same pot, melt off some butter and cook the onions and garlic until golden. Add the lamb shanks, stock, crushed tomatoes, thyme. Let it cook on medium heat for about 1hr 30mins or until the meat falls off of the bone. 

Once the lamb shanks are cooked, serve with mashed potato and top with the delicious thickened juices from the pot.

Tteokbokki (Spicy rice cakes)

Tteokbokki is a combination of rice cake and fish cake cooked in a hot and spicy sauce. Its a very popular street food in Korea, during winter. I have always been meaning to try making this but could never find the tteok (rice cakes) to make it. By luck I found a Korean grocer who had heaps of them, frozen and fresh. 

So I made it then nearly ate all of it. I had to restrain myself because it was that good! It might not suit everyones palate as it is cooked in an anchovy stock and is super spicy but it was soooo yummy that I kept going back for more!

 These are the rice cakes. They're super soft and chewy. They're quite plain tasting, that's why its cooked in a delicious sauce.

Gochujang (fermented red pepper paste), gochugaru (red pepper flakes) and tteok (rice cakes)

 The fish cakes are chopped up to make reasonable bite sizes.

 To make the anchovy stock, you put together some water and anchovy and boil it off until you reach your desired strength.

While the anchovy stock was being made, I combined some gochujang (fermented hot pepper paste), hot pepper flakes, sugar and garlic to create the hot and spicy sauce.

Tteokbokki

Serves 3

4 cups water (more if you need)

handful of dried anchovies (more or less as desired)

650g tteok (rice cake) 

3 fish cake sheets

1/3 cup gochujang (fermented red chilli paste)

1 tbsp gochugaru (red pepper flakes)

1 tbsp sugar

3 garlic cloves

If your rice cakes and fish cakes are frozen, defrost them.

In a pot, boil the water and anchovies for about 10-15 mins or until an aromatic stock is formed.

In a small bowl, combine the gochujang, gochugaru, sugar and garlic cloves.

Once the stock is ready, remove the anchovies and dissolve in the hot pepper paste mixture.

Once dissolved, add the rice cakes and fish cakes. Let it cook for about 5-10 mins or until the sauce thickens and the rice and fish cakes are soft. Add extra water if it thickens to quickly or if you want it a little watery.

Serve immediately. Enjoy.

Asian Chicken Dumplings in a Delicious Broth

Dinner requires way too much thinking! Should I have something healthy? Something light? Soup? Sandwich? I like to first find some inspiration from different cultures, whether it be Chinese, Turkish or Indian. Yesterday was a Chinese inspired kind of dinner. I whipped up some amazing chicken wontons soaked in a deliciously, hot, aromatic broth. 

I used simple every day ingredients and blitzed the whole thing together with the chicken to create a fine mince. The smell that was coming from the blender was just amazing! The coriander and ginger just consumed my sense of smell. 

Using ready made wonton wrappers made the process so much easier. Of course you can make your own dough (recipe here) but if you want to speed up the time or your just feeling lazy these are the way to go.

Once the dumplings have all been made just pop them into a pot of boiling water and let them cook.

Pop them in cold water to stop the cooking process.

The broth had the most beautiful smell and tasted amazing. You can smell and taste everything individually. The sourness and floral aroma from the lime, the freshness from the spring onions and lemongrass, the sweetness from the brown sugar, the punch from the garlic, ginger and the spiciness from the sambal oelek. It was a bowl of pure bliss!

Chicken Dumplings Soup

Serves 5

Wonton wrappers or DIY dumpling dough

Filling

2 chicken breasts

2 spring onions

1/2 bunch coriander

One thumb size of ginger

2-3 garlic cloves

3-4 tbsp fish sauce

1-2 tbsp oyster sauce

Salt

Broth

3 cups chicken stock

3 cups water (can be substituted for chicken stock)

1 lemongrass

Thumb size ginger, sliced thinly or grated

2-3 garlic cloves, sliced thinly or crushed

2 spring onions

1-2 tbsp Sambal Oelek or chilli

1-2 lime

4-5 tbsp soy sauce

Veggies of your choice: Bok choy, etc.

Combine all the filling ingredients into a blender and blitz until its a fine mince. Test out the flavour by cooking a teaspoon of the mixture. Add more of each ingredient until its to your taste.

Start wrapping your dumplings. (This is how you do it)

Boil a pot of water. Once the water has boiled, pop in your dumplings and let it cook for 5 mins or until  cooked through. Once cooked pop into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.

Meanwhile get your broth ready. Boil the chicken stock and water together. Chop the lemongrass and spring onions 1 cm thick and pop them into the pot. Add the ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sambal oelek. Add any veggie of your choice, I added baby bok choy and let it cook with the broth.

Once the broth is infused and enriched with all the flavours, take it off heat and add the lime according to taste.

In a bowl, place your cooked dumplings and soak them with the delicious broth. 

Ready to serve.

Wrapping Dumplings

So this is a quick 'How to' on wrapping or folding dumplings. They're so many ways to do it but I'll show you the super quick and easy way I do it.

 First step is to fill your dumplings with whatever filling you want. Don't overfill it or else it will explode!

 Next with a little water we slightly wet two corner sides to create the stickiness to keep the dough together. Do not soak it in water!

 Now we fold and glue together the sides so it looks like a triangle. Now you can leave them like this and just use it as is or fold them even further. Either way is just fine.

 To further fold, slightly wet one of the adjacent corners and just fold them over one another. 

 And then you get this perfect looking dumpling shape. Yay! You did it!

 Have fun with it and try out different dumpling shapes and maybe even come up with your own! 

Turkish Lamb Pizza with Zucchini

Delicious, crunchy, super thin crust topped with spiced minced lamb and balanced out with creamy greek yoghurt! Enough said.

Turkish Lamb Pizza with Zucchini

Serves 4

2 cups White Wings plain flour

3/4 cups of hot water

100 ml olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

500g lamb mince

1/2 tsp allspice

2 tsp cumin

1/3 cup tomato paste

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic

4 zucchini, sliced 

Jalna Greek yoghurt and roasted pine nuts

Combine 1 tbsp salt with the flour. Add the hot water and 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Knead the dough until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest for 1 hour at room temperature.

Sautee the onion in 2 tbsp olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the mince meat. If the mince is pre cooked, just combine with onion, if not cook for a further 3 mins or until browned.

Add the allspice, 1 tsp cumin, 2 tbsp tomato paste and combine. Allow to cool.

Combine remainder of tomato paste, red wine vinegar, garlic and sliced zucchini in a bowl and marinade.

Preheat oven to 230C. Place baking trays in the oven to heat for 10 mins.

 Roll out dough into 12x30 cm squares. Place on hot trays and top with 1/4 spiced mince meat and 1/4 sliced marinated zucchinis. Bake for about 10 mins.

Once the pizzas are cooked top with roasted pine nuts and greek yoghurt.

Enjoy!

'FF takes on Jamie' Spinach and Pumpkin Rotolo

The other day I flicked through Jamie Oliver's 'Save with Jamie' cookbook and landed on this beautiful recipe. It was the perfect dish because we had all the ingredients at home and we felt like having a meat-free kind of day. It was super delicious and super easy to make!

Spinach and Pumpkin Rotolo

Serves 5

1 batch of fresh homemade pasta dough or 1 packet of fresh lasagne sheets

1/2 a large pumpkin or 1 whole small

1 large onion, diced

500 g spinach leaves

100 g feta cheese, crumbled

1 bottle of passata

4 large garlic cloves, sliced

Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

Bake the pumpkin at 200C, until it is soft.

Saute the diced onion in a tablespoon of olive oil until translucent. Add the spinach and cook until it has died down. Put aside.

In another pan saute the sliced garlic. Add passata. Let it cook for about 5-10 mins or until it has thickened. Add salt. Put aside.

Once the pumpkin is cooked, mash it. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Now you need to assemble!

Place the lasagne sheets on a clean surface and evenly spread with mashed pumpkin, spinach mixture and crumbled cheese.

Once filled, roll the pasta sheets into logs and slice into quarters.

Place quarters into the tomato mixture and bake at about 180C for 30-40 mins.

Now its ready to serve!

If you have any questions, leave your lovely comments below! Enjoy!

Dumpling dough

Dumpling dough is probably the most easiest dough to make. You only need two ingredients. Flour and water. The only hard thing about it is the kneading process. Because not much water is incorporated into this recipe you are required to knead the crap out of it until it is soft and bounces to the touch.

Dumpling Dough

1 cup of White Wings plain flour
90 ml of  boiled water (let it rest for 2 mins before using)

Combine flour and water together and knead until soft and bounces to the touch.

Place dough into a zip lock bag and let it stay for 30 mins. This will make the dough nice and soft.

Dough is now ready to use.

Note:

• If you really need to you can add a little more water. I'd say no more then 2 tbsp.
• To get the best results for dumplings, use only a little amount of the dough (I'd say as big as a gum ball) to roll out into a thin circle.

If you have any questions comment below! Enjoy!

Pot Stickers

Dumplings are easy, quick and super delicious! The other day I made pot stickers using the left over filling from the recipe Barbecue Chicken Dim Sum. They were super delicious but I found that it was a little salty. If you're going to use the dim sum filling for this I highly suggest you reduce the barbecue sauce by half! Or make a sauce that does not contain anything high in salt like soy or fish sauce.

Pot Stickers

Ready made wonton wrappers or homemade dumpling dough (recipe here)

Barbecue Chicken Dim Sum filling

OR

Alternatively 

200g Chicken mince

1/2 bunch Coriander

2 tsp Fish sauce

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

3 garlic cloves (add more if desired)

2 cm ginger minced (add more if desired)

Salt 

Barbecue Chicken Dim Sum filling

Get straight into filling the wonton wrappers. 

Alternatively 

Combine all the ingredients. Add more seasoning accordingly. 

I would cook a tiny piece of the chicken to taste the flavours before filling. If its to your taste fill the wonton wrappers.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan. Place your dumplings in the pan once hot.

Cook the dumplings until the bottom has browned.

Fill the pan with 2/3 cup of boiling water to allow the dumplings to cook all the way through.

Dumplings will be ready once the water has evaporated.

Serve with a chilli sauce.

Note:

Quick sauce (Use only with alternate filling)

Combine 4 tbsp chilli sauce, 1 tsp fish sauce and 1 tbsp soy sauce.

Please comment below if you have any delicious filling suggestions! Enjoy!

'FF takes on Jamie' Korean fried rice (bibimbap)

Bibimbap (Korean rice with meat and assorted veggies) is very common in Korea and is eaten quite regularly. Our house has been 'little Korea' for a while now so when I saw this I knew I had to do it!

I was originally going to call this post 'FF vs Jamie' because I was going to make the traditional bibimbap but realised that it required a lot of side dishes and I just didn't have the time so I decided to stick to the recipe instead.  And can I just say that I do not regret my decision one bit. This tasted amazing. It was sweet and savoury all in one. The poached egg cut the sweetness beautifully and the chilli sent your taste buds tingling.

What I didn't like about this dish was that it tasted more like a biryani then a bibimbap. And what I think did that was the rice. Instead of using short grain white rice, he used basmati rice. Basmati rice has a real pungent flavour and smell so its not a rice that you would use in just about everything. So that would have been my only down fall. But all in all it tasted delicious!

If I were to make this again I would probably use white rice just to see how the flavours work and to determine whether or not this dish really needs the flavour that the basmati gives.

Read more »

'FF takes on Jamie' Hit 'n' run tray-baked chicken

This recipe has to be the best meal yet and should be in everyones repertoire. Its simple, quick and super easy! The recipe calls for every day core ingredients so there is no need for you to go out of your way to buy them.

For a dish that was super easy and simple, it was packed with delicious flavours! The garlic, onion and tomatoes were absorbed by the chicken beautifully and were super juicy.

I was surprised that there weren't any potatoes with this dish so I made it my highest priority to create these super delicious, crispy potatoes. My family and I absolutely love our taters so this was an absolute must!

Hit 'n' run tray baked chicken 

Serves 4

4 large tomatoes, quartered

3 large onions, quartered

2 capsicums, chopped (they can be of any colour)

4 garlic cloves

1/2 a bunch of fresh thyme or 15g of dried thyme

6 chicken thighs/ 3 large breasts/ 8 chicken tenderloins

2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

Combine the quartered tomatoes, quartered onions, chopped capsicums in a bowl.

Crush the garlic with a knife, skin on, and place them in the same bowl.

If you're using the chicken thigh just add it through but if you're going to be using the tenderloins or breast, chop them at a reasonable size (let the photos above guide you). Add them to the bowl.

Add the thyme, paprika, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Add salt.

Toss the bowl until its thoroughly mixed through. Empty bowls contents into a pan and bake it in the oven for about an hour or until the chicken is cooked.

Serve it with a nice fresh green salad!

Enjoy!

Crispy Garlic Thyme Potatoes

Serves 4

        

8 potatoes

boiling water

3 large garlic cloves, sliced, skin on

a few sprigs of thyme

2 tbsp olive oil or as much as you want/need

Salt

Peel and chop the potatoes into quarters. Put them in a saucepan and add the garlic cloves and salt.

Fill the pan with boiling water and cover. Allow the potatoes to cook until they're not yet soft, still a little firm.

Drain the potatoes and return back to the pan with the garlic and return to heat. Add the thyme and olive oil and let it cook on the stove top until they've browned. 

Serve alone or as a side dish with roast chicken, lamb roast or any desired meal.

Enjoy!

'FF takes on Jamie' Barbecued Chicken Dim Sum!

The first recipe I attempted for my 'FF takes on Jamie' are his barbecued chicken dim sum. I absolutely love asian food and as a result I cook a LOT of it. I have never made dim sum (or buns) before so this was a first for me and I must say they were delicious!

The bun was moist and soft and with the combination of the barbecue sauce which was absorbed throughout the whole bun, it was salty yet sweet. It was mouth-watering! Or as Jamie Oliver would say, 'absolutely gorgeous!'

Barbecued Chicken Dim Sum

Serves 8

3 fresh chillies

4 spring onions

300g shredded cooked chicken, can be left over roast chicken or boiled chicken

1/2 a small bunch of fresh coriander

1 cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated

5 tbsp Masterfoods barbecue sauce

1 lime

500g White Wings self raising flour

400 ml milk, you can use coconut milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Slice the chillies and spring onions and place in a bowl of cold water until they curl.

Finely chop the coriander. Combine the shredded chicken, chopped coriander, ginger, barbecue sauce, lime. Put aside.

Combine the flour and the milk. The dough should be sticky as this makes it light and fluffy.

Transfer onto a flour dusted surface and roll the dough into a log, add more flour if it is too sticky.

Cut into 16 slices, roll then flatten into round circles. Fill each circle with a heaped tablespoon of the filling, pinch together then roll into a ball.

Place your ready buns into oiled double cased cupcake cases and place into a bamboo steamer.

Fill your wok with 2 cm of water and let it boil. Once boiled place your bamboo steamer on top of the wok. Steam it for 12 mins or until cooked.

Drain then scatter the spring onions and chilli on top of the buns and serve with the sauce of your choice.

Note:

I found it really hard to use the dough as it constantly stuck to my hands, so I placed a little drop of oil onto my hands and found that the oil made it so much easier to use. Alternatively, you can use extra flour.

Please try it and tell me what you think in the comments below! Enjoy!

FF takes on Jamie

Quick post! I have decided to take inspiration from the movie 'Julie Julia' and do a weekly post from the cook books of one of my absolute favourite chefs, Jamie Oliver! So I thought I'd do only one of his books, Save with Jamie, but have decided I might also dabble a little in to his other awesome cook books. So be on the watch out for my weekly 'FF takes on Jamie' posts.

Butternut Pumpkin Ravioli With Sage Butter sauce

Ravioli is something that I have always wanted to try and it wasn't until recently that I made my first attempt at making this delicious pasta. And with luck it was a great success. I was so proud of myself! I aced the pasta, all I needed was a delicious filling to go with it. The first time I tried it, I made it with a carrot and fennel filling ( I will provide the recipe for this below). It was delicious! It was sweet and creamy and just absolutely scrumptious. This drove me towards trying it again and trying more and different recipes for the filling.

The Italian pop-up restaurant was a great opportunity to showcase my new obsession and see what others though of it. So I decided to make a common ravioli filling and sauce. A butternut pumpkin and ricotta ravioli with a burnt butter and sage sauce. It melted in my mouth! The ravioli was al dente and had a creamy filling with a delicious buttery sauce. And with great success, was a hit with the family.

 

 

Pasta Dough

Serves 5

500g of good quality '00'/ White Wings plain flour

5 whole eggs or 10 egg yolks

1. Make a well in the flour and add all the eggs. Slowly with a fork whisk the flour into the middle with the eggs until a dough is formed.

2. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. Cover and let it rest until ready for use.

Pumpkin and Ricotta filling

Serves 5

1 medium-sized butternut pumpkin

100g ricotta cheese

25g parmesan cheese

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp chopped sage

Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 190C (375 F). Put the pumpkin in a roasting pan with a good glug of olive oil and lots of salt. Bake in the oven for about 30 mins or until its soft.

Put the pumpkin in a bowl and mash well. Mix in the ricotta, parmesan, nutmeg and sage. Season well.

Notes:

I like to mash the pumpkin with a fork so its not completely mushy. I like to have some pieces that you can still bite into.

I suggest adding more of the seasoning and taste as you go, so you can get the right flavours.

Sage Butter Sauce

Serves 5

250 g good quality butter

1/2 cup sage leaves

Melt the butter slowly with the sage and leave to infuse for about 5 mins. Serve immediately.

Butternut Pumpkin Ravioli With Sage Butter sauce

1 batch pasta dough

1 batch pumpkin and ricotta filling

1 batch sage butter sauce

Boil a pot of salted water.

Roll out the dough until you get a thin pasta sheet. Fill the past sheet with a small teaspoon of the pumpkin filling at about 2 cm apart. Be sure to have the filling well spaced. 

Cut out the ravioli with either a knife or use a cookie cutter to create a pretty patterned ravioli like I did.

Cook the ravioli in the salted water until al dente. Because the pasta is fresh it'll only take about 3-4 mins to cook.

Once the pasta is cooked place them in the sage butter sauce and toss them until they are smothered in the sauce.

Serve immediately with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Notes:

You can either place the ravioli in the sage butter sauce like I did or you can drizzle it over the ravioli.

Hope you enjoy!

Bruschetta

Bruschetta is so easy to make and is a perfect snack when you're feeling peckish. You can add a variety of different toppings to create a delicious mouthful of goodness.

I put together three toppings to suit the Italian theme I was going for. I opted for Wild Mushroom and Thyme, Garlic Capsicum and Tomato and Basil.

The wild mushroom and thyme was warm and soft with a delicious buttery and thyme flavour that was perfect for the cold weathers.

The Garlic Capsicum had a slight smokey flavour with a hint of garlic. It was delicious! It was crunchy and soft at the same time and had a punch at the end.

The tomato and basil was much needed to freshen up the palette. The combination of tomato and basil worked so well. It was my favourite out of the three. I could not stop eating them!

I can't decide if the bruschetta's were good or evil. They were so easy and fun to eat that you could not stop at one, you just kept going. I can not express in words on how yummy they were. You're just going to have to try them yourselves.

Bruschetta

Feeds about 10 people

4 Mini Ciabatta rolls, thickly sliced

4 tbsp Olive Oil

4 cloves of garlic

Preheat your grill or oven to 200 C (about 450 F).

Slice the ciabatta rolls into thick slices and place them in the oven to slightly brown. You don't want them to get to dark because then it's harder to bite into and resembles more of a crostini then a bruschetta.

Once the ciabatta is cooked, pull them out of the oven and while they are still hot brush each one with olive oil. Rub each one with the garlic.

Serve with desired toppings.

Wild Mushroom & Thyme

1 packet of assorted mushrooms (or any mushrooms you desire)

4 sprigs of thyme

30g of good quality salted butter

Melt butter in a pan and add the mushrooms.

Add the thyme. Cook the mushrooms until they are soft but still have a bite to them.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately while they are still hot.

Garlic Capsicum

1 large red capsicum

1 large green capsicum

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp of good quality olive oil

Preheat oven to 200 C. Place the capsicum on the top rack of the oven.

Once they have cooked, place the capsicums in a plastic bag to make skin removal easier. Once cooled, peel the skin and slice into thin slices.

Place the capsicum, olive oil and garlic in a bowl and mix.

Add salt to taste and serve.

Notes:

You can also smoke the capsicum on an oven top to give a delicious smokey flavour to the bruschetta.

Tomato and Basil (Picture shown above)

4 large ripe tomatoes

A small handful of basil leaves

2 tbsp good quality olive oil

Dice the tomato at a reasonable size. I like to chop them small so they fit on the small bruschetta.

Slice the basil leaves finely. Combine tomatoes, basil and olive oil in a bowl.

Add salt to taste. Ready to serve.

Notes:

You can add balsamic vinegar to the tomato and basil topping as it will enhance the flavour of the tomatoes. However if the tomatoes are ripe and taste delicious there is no need for it.

Hope you enjoy!

Italian Pop-Up Restaurant

The other day my mum and I hosted a 'private' pop-up restaurant at our place. We had been planning for it for a week or so and were so indecisive about the theme that we should choose that it wasn't until the last couple of days that we decided that we were going to cook up an Italian menu. We decided to create a simple but delicious meal. 

THE MENU

Starters

Wild Mushroom Bruschetta

Tomato and Basil Bruschetta

Roasted Capsicum Bruschetta

Mini Caprese stacks

Pollo alla Diavola (Devil's chicken)

Stuffed peppers

Main

Pumpkin and Ricotta Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce

Dessert

Tiramisu

Awesome company! Delicious food! Need I say more?

I will post recipes for everything I made very soon!