Breakfast Potatoes

Decided to treat the Darling this a.m. to Breakfast Potatoes, this is a dish that doesn't surface too often in our little home, the reasons will become obvious as this post unfolds.

Firstly put two small potatoes on to boil until just soft. I like these red skinned lovelies with the creamy yellow flesh.


While the potatoes are cooking, trim the rind and fat from 3 rashers of bacon, cut the rinds into 2" bits and pop them into a heavy based fry pan on a medium low heat to render out some of that oh so lovely, but oh so bad for you, bacon fat.
Cut the three bacon rashers into 3 equal lengths, reserving to one side the last 3rd from the end, you know, those skinny little bits that bacon wants to end with, keeping the nice middle and eye for the breakfast plate.


Finely dice the ends of the bacon rashers and keep to one side for a bit, and while you are wielding that knife, chop a small wedge of both red and green capsicum (bell pepper) into medium dice.

And go ahead and chop the half onion into medium dice, keeping diced onion separate from the capsicum.

This cutting mat looks like it has seen much better days but it is only about 5 weeks old, hmmm, perhaps not my finest kitchen purchase, still its better than the lot I bought a few days before that, they curled into unusable lumps of uselessness very first time in the dishwasher. Ugh!

Now that the bacon fat has rendered down, remove the bacon rinds from the pan, and pop them to one side, added to some noodles for a doggie breakfast will buy you instant droolie love. I'm talking seriously wet toes here.

Add a goodish slosh of olive oil to the bacon fat in the pan, probably a little less than 1 tablespoon but this will vary with the size of the potatoes you have used, more potato, more oil.

Add the diced onion to the pan, turning the heat to medium high.

Fry the onion, stirring occasionally until onion is just becoming translucent.

Now add the finely diced bacon to the onion in the pan, keeping heat at medium high.

Continue to stir occasionally while onion and bacon begin to brown.

While the onion and bacon is crisping and browning, finely mince a small clove of garlic.

Add to onion and bacon which is browning nicely, stir through and leave to finish browning.

Scoot the bacon and onion mix to one side of the pan, and move that side furthest from the heat. Add the bacon 1/3rds to the hotter side of the pan.

Turn the browning bacon and scoot it to the top of the fry pan, add the chopped capsicum to the pan and allow to heat, stirring into onion and bacon mixture.

Now take your cooked potatoes and cut them into chunks, not too big, not too small or they will break down.

Stack the cooked bacon rashers on the side of the pan.

Add the chunked potatoes to the capsicum, bacon, onion mix and stir to coat with cooking oil.

Move the pan up on the heat so heat is now under the potatoes and the bacon rashers are resting a little.

Using a spatula or wooden spoon, press down on potatoes slightly, not to crush but to give good contact with the pan to brown and crisp the outside.

Season the potato mix well, 'cause you just know that potatoes are one of the things in life that need to be seasoned well.

Flip the potato mix over a couple of times to crisp everything up nicely, I like the crunchy well browned bits, caught just short of burning.

Stack your little pile of bacon rashers on their edge against the pan side, you will need the room and its an easy way to keep the bacon warm while allowing it to drain.

Now add a thinly sliced small piece of eye fillet steak per serve.

I like eye fillet even though it is rather pricey, there is absolutely no waste, it cooks quickly and is usually tender.

Add your egg to cook along with the steak and with a bit of luck and a fair breeze, the egg will be done with a nice soft yolk, the steak slices will be medium rare, the bacon crispy, the potatoes all nicely browned.

And the best bit of all? Its a one pan dish.

The finished dish, Darling Style,

While I had mine with a poached egg on unbuttered toast, I had a little nest of fresh tomato sauce which was left over from our pasta last night under my soft poached egg. All that yummy yolk flowed down through the tomato sauce into the toast. Heaven.

And now of course you know why we don't have this dish all that often, slimming it ain't, but yum some it is!

And of course it is so filling that lunch is not needed.......a winner all round, low on dishes, low on energy spent cooking, but sadly rather high in the fat levels, oh well, two out of three ain't too bad now is it?.

Not so Chilli for the Chilly weather

Its cold, very cold, well o.k., its not freezing, we do live in the subtropics after all, and yes there are no snowflakes or sleet rushing through the house, but there is a very cold and lazy wind, too lazy to go 'round you, goes straight through.
Today is Rachael day, that is the day Rachael comes to help me clean, and we work together on so called spring cleaning, either a room or area and we tend to use the front veranda to deposit small things, like the rugs over the railings, and what a great place to pop the dinning chairs, etc, you get the picture.Well today I kind of overdid it, so dinner tonight just had to be simple, add to that the youngest DS thought he might join us......well chill, but not so hot, seemed the way to go. So with a cursory glance at Stephanie Alexanders chill recipe in her book 'the cook's companion...p.137, a really great book by the way, this is what I came up with and I have to tell you, it sure was better eating than looking at the pic.
Not as good as Stephanie's real recipe, but not too bad either, and I have to thank one of Stephanie's ingredients for that, polenta, yep, you got it, polenta, it cooks right on in there and gives the dish such a creamy texture. Great.
Of course the whole thing would have gone a lot better with the rather yummy corn muffins that I have managed to discover, but heck, did I mention that energy levels were low......really low?

This is what happened to produce the above:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 really large onion, diced
1 monster glove of garlic, Mexican and pink skinned, so just use 2 cloves of what you have
400 grams diced beef
400 grams minced beef
3/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
3 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
1/2 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 bay leaves
1 kg diced fresh tomatoes, yeah, well if I had 'em they would have been canned
1 jar passata, (Italian tomato cooking sauce)
2 tablespoons polenta
1 can 400grm approx of red kidney beans

Pour the olive oil into a large saucepan, add the onion and garlic and cook a little until slightly translucent, increase heat and add the minced beef, stir until there are no lumps, and meat is slightly browned. I use a whisk for this, its easier.
Add beef cubes and allow to brown all over, stirring a couple of times.
Add salt, pepper, paprika, hot smoked paprika, cumin and bay leaves, stir until combined.
Add tomatoes, fresh or canned and passata with the polenta, stir until combined, turn heat down low and place a simmer mat under pot and then just forget it........have a nap...I did, or better still a wine.
After about and hour, give it a stir to make sure the polenta isn't sticking, rinse off the can of beans and add to meat. Steam up some rice while the beans heat and then serve.

And if you really want to float your boat, make the real thing, its just so much more of a flavour adventure. But really, for a cold night and no energy, this did o.k.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Well, its been a bit of a marathon trying to get back into this blog........bit of an oopsie as the DDIL is wont to say.


3 large potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed with olive oil and milk

1 Tablespoon o.oil
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced with knife
1/2 cup cauliflower florets, cut into fork sized pieces
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into thick rings
1 zucchini, cut into thick rings
3/4 cup shredded cabbage,
1 x 400 gram can diced Roma tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup stock
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce ( or use balsamic vinegar - will try this version next time)
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
3/4 fresh sage leaves - pulled into pieces
pinch hot chilli powder - or use hot pepper sauce or even 1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 x 400g can butter beans, drained and added at end - Optional.

Heat the oil in deep skillet and add the cumin, curry powder and garlic. Stir one minute and add the fresh chopped vegetables. Stir and cook about five mins or so.

Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste and stock along with the worcestershire sauce, sage, chilli, be it either powder, sauce or flakes.
Stir to combine, season and bring to simmer and cook until the sauce begins to reduce and vegetables are still a little crisp, and the sauce has thickened a little.
Remove from heat.
Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, add can of butter beans if using - I didn't

Either transfer vegies to a casserole or leave in pan if it is oven proof.
Layer mashed potatoes over vegies, rough up with a fork, sprinkle some chopped chives over if you desire.
Bake in moderate oven for 35 - 40 minutes, until the pie is bubbling and heated through.

Made 4 servings as a side dish

Served it with some rissoles & mushroom gravy and steamed green beans.

This recipe is adapted from one I found on a foodie blog, can't remember which one but when it comes to be I'll post a link.

This weeks meals

It's been a week of just grab what you can from the fridge and call it a meal this week.
Tuesdays dinner was so memorable - not - that I cannot remember what the heck it was and no piccie to prompt the memory.

Wednesday we had crumbed chicken on a bed of leek & mushroom with a chunk of Persian Fetta crumbled over the mushrooms which slightly melted and gave a lovely creamy texture to the mushroom & leek.


I sauted one leek and a handful of thickly sliced mushrooms in a knob of butter for flavour and a tablespoon of o.oil, when plated I crumbled the fetta over the mushroom bed and lay the crumbed chicken on top.


Thursday was the old stand-by, Spaghetti Bolognese, at least I made the sauce instead of using a jar.

and of course, served it with a salad.

Recently the Darling popped into some electrical hardware type store down in the back blocks of town, didn't notice the industrial kitchen supply store just a couple of doors down did he.
I skittled in there and got myself one of these little babies,

a Microplane zester, I love the way it grates the Parmesan Cheese to a light and fluffy little pile that melts down into the sauce.

And what can I say about last nights dinner, not even sure what to call it.

The support team were invited to dinner but they got a better offer late in the day, so there I was with 2 B.B.Q chickens, which turned out to be a good thing.

Did a little ferrying of a son around town and didn't get home until 7p.m., hungry dogs, cat and a Darling were waiting to be fed.

Chopped up an onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 stalk of celery and 1/2 a green capsicum, popped it all into a frypan with some oil over a pretty high heat, as soon as the onion started to soften I poured a can of chopped tomatoes, added some dried oregano, salt, pepper and a dessertspoon of tomato paste and a glass of red wine.
While it all simmered down to a reasonable looking sauce I stripped one chicken and chopped the meat. Kept the best for us and fed the rest to the animals, they thought they had reached heaven and almost forgave me for being so late with their dinner.

Stirred the chicken into the sauce to just heat, topped it with a few sliced black olives and some zested parmesan and served it over rissoni - not trying to be artful there, just out of everything else.

We were both surprised that it tasted as good as it did. Sometimes the gods do smile on you.

The Grandies are coming for a sleep-over this arvo so dinner tonight will be ...........erk and ugh.........sausages....

Pasta with Simmered Veal Shanks

After an afternoon having fun with the Grandies we were invited to share dinner with the support team.
It was delicious.......
Didn't have my camera so have to rely on this scan from Donna Hay's book 'Off the Shelf - Cooking from the Pantry'. I love all of her books, and this one has quite a few fave recipes, along with her book ' 'the instant cook' - just love these books, they make great gifts too.

There are links to Donna's books and some recipes on her site
along with a new book 'no time to cook'
http://www.donnahay.com.au/about-donna-hay/biography.php

This is Donna's recipe:

pasta with simmered veal shanks

6 thick slices veal shank
2 x 400g (14 oz) cans peeled tomatoes, crushed
4 cups (1 3/4 pints) beef stock
1 cup (8 fl. oz) red wine
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons chopped thyme leaves
cracked black pepper and sea salt
400g rigatoni or penne
parmesan cheese to serve

Place the veal shanks, tomatoes, stock, wine, garlic, thyme, pepper and salt in a deep frying pan or large saucepan and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer over low to medium heat for 45 minutes or until the veal is tender.
Remove the veal from the pan. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, and reduce until it thickens. Remove the meat from the bones and chop.
Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water until al dente. Drain. Mix the veal into the sauce and toss the pasta through. Place on serving plates and top with parmesan
Serves 4

The DIL served it with a lovely crisp salad, and sides of sliced avocado and persian fetta and of course the finely grated parmesan.... Bliss.

Frittata for Lunch and Chicken Salad Dinner

This recipe for a Zucchini Mint Parmesan Frittata comes from Avec Eric, at
http://aveceric.com/category/gettoasted but be warned there is an error on this page and it is very difficult to get out of, better to try his other pages such as this great recipe for mission figs in bacon http://aveceric.com/2008/09/08/mission-figs-wrapped-in-bacon/

He does a lot of recipes for single serves, cooked in a toaster oven, but I converted it to a dish for two and served it with yet again a salad.

The Darling wasn't too sure, not being a lover of zucchini, but bravely gave the dish a go, and then came back for seconds.

The small amount of mint gave the frittata a lovely fresh taste, but would be overwhelming if too much was used.

My version of Zucchini Mint Parmesan Frittata
for 2

4 large eggs
half a zucchini, peeled and very finely julienned
3 tablespoons Parmesan, freshly grated
6 small mint leaves, finely shredded
2 teaspoons olive oil (optional)
salt and pepper


Heat oven to 180deg.
Using1 teaspoon oil, lightly oil a gratin dish
Place the eggs in a stainless steel bowl and whisk well
Add the zucchini, Parmesan and mint and if wanted 1 teaspoon olive oil
Season with Salt and Pepper

Pour mixture into gratin dish and bake for approx 12 mins or until the eggs are just set and the top is lightly browned.

I served it hot but it can also be served at room temperature.

Chicken & Melon Salad
Having spent a lot of the day quilting, a fast, easy dinner was called for, found this recipe on the net and it was great, tasty, fresh and easy to prep.
Serves 2

1/2 roasted or B.B.Q. chicken, cubed
1/3rd Cup diced watermelon
1/3rd Cup diced rock melon (Cantaloupe)
1/2 stick celery, finely sliced
10 red, seedless grapes,

3 red skinned potatoes,

Steam potatoes, cool and then quarter
Put prepared chicken, watermelon, rock melon, celery and grapes into bowl, add cooled potatoes.
Pour dressing over and toss together

Serve with a plain green salad.

Dressing
1/4 cup greek style yoghurt
1/4 cup cream cheese
1 teaspoon mint jelly
1 teaspoon curry powder
8 - 10 fresh mint leaves,
Place all ingredients in processor or mini blender and blend until smooth.

Tiny taters and tiny mignons

In an effort to get some interest back into my cooking I am making an effort to post each meal here. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, it doesn't have to be a complicated, or even easy, recipe from one of the many books I own, it just has to be tasty and well prepared.

Thursday night was a disaster, blessed peas burnt .......again.......I really don't like dried peas........I burn them all the time, problem with that is that anything I have in the steamer above the peas is also wiped out, as was the case on Thursday.

I then threw a real spit fit, chucked a whole bunch of stuff that I cannot remember along with a can of tomatoes into a pot, slammed a pot on for pasta and had a new dish on the table in 25 mins, the Darling claimed it was tasty, I was still so ticked off I couldn't tell you if it was or not. He was probably just happy to get fed ;)

So this is what we had for dinner last night.
little fillet Mignon's, tiny red skinned jacket potatoes, done in the microwave with a cream cheese, butter and herb topping and a Greek salad, sans the cucumber as the Darling loathes cucumber.

The topping for the potatoes was easily done in the mini processor,

stripped the leaves from a 6inch length of oregano,
6 basil leaves
1 tablespoon cream cheese
2 teaspoons butter
whizz it around, stopping once to push the butter back down to the blades, and presto, yummy topping and not so bad for the cholesterol.