Five easy spring meals

It's spring! Proper spring - with balmy temperatures, early rising birds and new buds appearing in the garden. Well, it was like that a few days ago. Now we're back to tempestuous winds, lashing rain and that horrible greyness, but I've got high hopes.

It's too soon for asparagus and the little lambs arriving in paddocks near you are too small for the cooking pot, but there are lots of other spring-y things to eat. Here are five easy spring dinners to add to your repertoire...

1. Superfood Salad: It's got quinoa, broccoli and other spring-y, crunchy things to make you feel like frolicking in the sun. What more do you need?

2. Tray-baked Lamb and Potatoes: This is really good for those 'I can't think what to have for dinner' evenings, which occur in our house at least once a week. Everything goes in the oven in one dish and there's minimal cleaning up (even the non-cooks can make this one).

3. Spring Cauliflower Soup: Cauliflower has had a bit of a renaissance of late, thanks to the craze for turning it into a pizza crust, but I think it's unbeatable in this simple and healthy cauliflower soup.

4. Simple Smoked Fish And Rice: This is another one-pot wonder, handy when you've been out in the garden tackling six months' worth of weeding.

5. Little lamb burgers: If you're blessed with a beautiful spring day, cook these outside on your (long-neglected) barbecue. If it's 'sit inside by the heater weather', they can be baked or pan-fried indoors.

What are your plans for this spring? 

Easy Japanese-y pork fillet

Disclaimer: I am not Japanese. I have never even been to Japan. In fact, the closest I've got is frequenting a number of Japanese restaurants and sushi bars and in New Zealand, most of them are run by Koreans so I'm not sure they even count.

So while this easy way to cook pork fillet might not be 100 per cent authentic, it does make use of some properly Japanese ingredients, it's very quick to make and it goes well with a pile of sushi rice and pickled ginger. I reckon that's Japanese enough for now, don't you?

Easy Japanese pork fillet
This is a really good after-work dinner. Make it even easier on yourself by marinating the pork before you leave the house in the morning (or give it at least an hour in the marinade, at room temperature) if you forget.

1 x free range pork fillet - about 450g
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp good soy sauce
1 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp honey

Put the garlic, oil, soy, mirin and honey in a shallow bowl and mix well. Add the pork fillet and make sure it's well coated with the marinade, then cover and leave overnight in the fridge or leave in a cool place for an hour or two. If it's been in the fridge, let it sit out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes before cooking.
Heat the oven to 200C and line a small roasting dish with foil.
Heat a heavy frying pan over high heat and pour in a tablespoon of oil. When it's hot, take the pork fillet out of the marinade and sear it on all sides. Remove it to the roasting dish and put in the hot oven for 20 minutes.
Remove it from the oven, cover loosely with foil and let stand for 10 minutes, then carve and serve with sushi rice, pickled ginger and some steamed beans or broccoli.

Click here to print this recipe.

Green peppercorn sauce for cheats

I pulled a packet of frozen peas out of the freezer yesterday and something heavy shot out from underneath them and landed on my foot. I uttered a string of epithets not suitable for a family-friendly food blog and bent down to pick it up. Was it a brick? Was it a small frozen animal? Was it that packet of wonton wrappers that I've been planning to use for ages? In fact, it turned out to be three small pieces of fillet steak. Hurrah! I nearly lost a toe, but I gained an excellent dinner. It seemed like a fair trade to me.

Green peppercorn sauce - the cheat's version
When I told my beloved we were having steak for dinner he looked like I'd dropped the frozen meat on his foot. He perked up a bit when I told him it was fillet, then he perked up even more when I told him I'd make his favourite green peppercorn sauce. But somewhere between making the offer and dinnertime I got sideswiped by such fatigue that I couldn't face all that faffing about with reductions and whatnot. Instead, I made this in all of five minutes and it was so good I don't think I'll ever go back to the other one. If you're not a carnivore, rest assured this is equally good on baked potatoes or bread.

100g unsalted butter, softened
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
a good pinch of salt
4 tsp green peppercorns in brine

If you have a mortar and pestle, now's the time to use it. If you don't have a mortar and pestle (or you do and you just don't have the energy), this is easy enough to do by hand. Put the garlic and salt in the mortar and pound away until it forms a smooth paste. Add the peppercorns and smash them a bit, then add the butter and mush it around a bit. Scrape it on to a piece of waxed paper and roll into a cylinder. Stick it in the fridge to firm up - for at least 15 minutes. When your steak or potatoes or toast is ready, slice the butter into discs and put on top. Buttery, peppercorny heaven awaits. If you don't have a mortar and pestle (or you do and you just don't have the energy), this is easy enough to do by hand.

What's your favourite sort of butter?

Stir-fried pepper steak

While I've been swamped by a tidal wave of work in the past few weeks, two good things have happened. One, my sister-in-law arrived with a suitcase of farm meat (vastly superior to anything in all but the poshest butchers) and two, dearest husband has devised a very tasty thing to do with it. I'm thinking of pretending I have a lot of work on more often.

Stir-fried pepper steak

This is how my lovely husband cooks this dish, which he has devised to fit in with his after work schedule. His other commitments after work three nights a week include being glued to his work phone, playing princesses, cajoling the Small Girl into the bath and generally having the household in order by the time I get home from work. If you don't eat meat, you could try this treatment with tofu or those Quorn things that I always feel a bit suspicious of.

500g steak - we used porterhouse, but you could use Scotch fillet or even rump - sliced into 1.5cm x 2.5cm strips

3 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp fish sauce

a 3cm knob of fresh ginger, finely grated

2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

a bunch of spring onions, finely chopped

3 Tbsp black peppercorns

2 Tbsp oil

enough vegetables of your choice - mushrooms, beans, peppers, broccoli - for four

Put the steak, soy sauce, fish sauce, ginger, garlic and spring onions in a bowl and toss well until the meat is well cover. Cover and set aside to marinate for 45 minutes (if leaving it for longer, put it in the fridge and let the meat return to room temperature before cooking).

Crush the peppercorns with a mortar and pestle (or put them in a heavy plastic bag and pulverise with a hammer). Add them to the steak and stir to coat.

Heat a large, heavy pan until a drop of water sizzles on the surface. Add the oil, then cook the steak for about three minutes. Remove to a clean bowl and set aside to rest. Stir-fry the vegetables (pour any leftover marinade into the frying pan) until just cooked. Remove the pan from the heat, toss in the steak strips and stir to combine. Serve with rice. Serves four.

Who does the weeknight cooking in your house?

Finsbury Park pasta and proscuitto

I invented this quick, delicious spaghetti when we were living in our first London flat. It was a neat place (if you ignored the crack house two doors down, the overland train out the back windows and the bus route out the front) and we had lots of visitors. Now we live in a house in Wellington that's probably three times as big, with neighbours who play classical guitar and invite us over for dinner, with trees and sky out the windows. We still get lots of visitors, though they don't look as frightened when they appear at the door.

Spaghetti with roasted vegetables and proscuitto
This is a very vague recipe that can be altered to fit whatever vegetables you have lying around. In Finsbury Park I relied on whatever looked best at the 24-hour 'Local English Mediterranean Superstore' on Seven Sisters Rd, though I was careful not to buy any of the vegetables that had been sitting out in the traffic fumes all day.

For four people:
A slosh of olive oil
2 red onions, chopped
3 zucchini, sliced into coins
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 peppers, cut into large dice
2 handfuls of green beans or broccoli, in bite-size pieces
1 cup black olives, stoned
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
1 packet proscuitto
Parmesan and fresh parsley, to serve
500g good quality spaghetti

Heat the oven to 220C. Put the onions, zucchini, garlic, peppers and beans/broccoli in a roasting dish and toss through the oil. Roast for 20 minutes, until they start to turn golden. Stir, then tip in the olives and tomatoes. Lay the proscuitto over the top. Return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, until the tomatoes are at bursting point and the proscuitto is crisp.
While this is happening, cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, then toss through the roasted vegetables. Divide between four bowls and top each one with the shards of proscuitto, grated Parmesan and finely chopped parsley.

Pork, pineapple, cashews and lime

A few weeks ago I had a ridiculous craving for sweet and sour pork. Ridiculous because I've not eaten any for years, let alone made some. So I turned to my collection of 1970s cookbooks (at last, they've been useful!) and made an approximation of their various recipes - which was as revolting as you might expect, with this sort of gloopy, cornflour-thickened sauce.

Last week though, I had another attempt. There was sweet (a ripe, juicy Australian pineapple), sour (lime juice and a few shredded kaffir lime leaves) and pork (free range Scotch fillet), plus some salty roasted cashew nuts for crunch. It was delicious, which proves a) you can learn from your mistakes and b) some things are best left to the mists of memory.

Pork, pineapple, cashews and lime
This is a really good mid-week dinner - it's fast, good for you and feels like a treat. Chop everything up, put some rice on to cook and wash some crunchy lettuce leaves - cos, iceberg or Little Gem. Then quickly stir-fry the pork and other bits before scooping it and the rice with the lettuce. Making lettuce parcels is a good way to encourage recalcitrant lettuce eaters to get their fill of Peter Rabbit's favourite greens. If you haven't got access to fresh pineapple, leave it out rather than use the canned sort because that only tastes of tin.

2 Tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 red onion, finely sliced
3 cm piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
600g pork Scotch fillet, cut into 1cm x 2cm pieces, at room temperature
300g fresh pineapple, cut into 1cm  x 2cm dice
100g roasted salted cashew nuts
1 Tbsp brown sugar
zest and juice of two limes

Heat a large heavy pan and add the oil. When it is hot, add the garlic, onion, ginger and lime leaves and stir-fry for a couple of minutes, until golden. Tip in the pork and let it fry for two minutes before stirring around. It should be browned on all sides but don't overcook it. Add the pineapple, cashews and sugar. Cook, stirring all the time, for another two to three minutes, until the pork is done. Remove from the heat and squeeze over the lime juice, stirring to scrape up the caramelised bits from the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle over the lime zest and serve with rice and lettuce wraps as detailed above. Serves four.

Random recipe #24: Barbecued ribs

For this month's Random Recipe Dom instructed us to get someone else to choose a recipe from their collections. I called on my sister-in-law Lucy - yes, two Lucys, married to identical twins, no, they didn't find us at a dating agency - to do the honours and she did me proud.

"I picked the Leon cook book because you gave it to me and it is one of my favourite books. I honestly just let the book drop open and the lucky page was 226... Love me tender ribs."

I'd forgotten all about giving her the Leon book, even though I remember introducing her to the tiny Leon on Carnaby St years ago. It's been a long time since I made anything from the book myself, but I couldn't believe I'd missed these ribs.

Barbecued pork ribs
I took some liberties with the Leon recipe - I couldn't get baby back ribs but just asked the butcher to saw some up, which he did while telling me a story about playing Father Christmas at a children's party. "I got out of the car and there was a huge scream, then I realised it was because of me!" But I digress. I simplified the sauce a bit and did the final cooking on the barbecue. If it's not barbecue weather at your place, finish them off in a hot oven. Either way, these are super simple and delicious. The amount below is enough for four adults with some side dishes, though two Flintstones could probably devour them by themselves.

1kg good quality pork ribs
1 x 200g tin of chipotle sauce (I used the La Morena brand)
4 Tbsp honey
90ml  red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1 tsp Chinese five-spice
1 tsp dried chilli flakes

Put everything except the ribs into a large dish (big enough to hold the ribs in one layer) and mix well, Then add the ribs, turning to coat in the sauce. Cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge to marinate overnight.
The next day, heat the oven to 120C. Line a shallow roasting dish with foil and put the ribs on top, fitting them in like jigsaw pieces so they form one layer. Carefully pour the marinade in (between the ribs, not on top of them) and top it up with water so the liquid comes about halfway up the ribs.
Sprinkle the ribs with salt, then cover the dish with foil or a lid and bake for about five hours, turning occasionally. At this point, you can let the ribs cool until you're ready to eat - in the fridge for a few days if necessary.
When you're ready to eat, fire up the barbecue or heat the grill. Grill the ribs, basting with the sauce, for about 15 minutes, until they are piping hot and sizzling. Eat with your fingers, flatbreads, black beans and a cold beer.

Parmigiano and prosciutto

This might sound strange, given I earn my living by tapping away at a keyboard, but one of my resolutions for 2013 is to spend less time online. It's so easy now to get caught in the interweb that some days I feel I spend more time interacting with virtual life than the real thing. That doesn't mean I'll be giving up entirely - I mean, I have this blog to feed, delectable things like this to marvel at and a shoe habit to maintain - but I want to spend more time doing things that don't require a broadband connection. Pottering about in the kitchen with friends over the holidays was a good reminder of the benefits of actual reality.

Parmigiano e prosciutto alla Bess
This was one of the things lovely Bess whipped up for our New Year's Eve feast. Her brother, a chef who divides his time between Martha's Vineyard and New Zealand, taught it to her and in an ideal world, I'd be at your place making it for you. Instead, invite someone over to your place and show them how to make it.

a small block of Parmigiano Reggiano (or best local equivalent)
a packet of prosciutto (or best local equivalent)
extra virgin olive oil (I have been using this delicious fennel-infused Wairarapa oil)

Lay the slices of prosciutto on a flat plate. Grate over the cheese, then drizzle with the oil. Serve with glasses of prosecco (or best local equivalent). Cheers!

What foodie trick have you learned in 'real life' lately?

Lucy had a little lamb, Pt 4

After telling the great and the good of the New Zealand Food Bloggers Association that I didn't like food blogs that focused on pets, a group of cheeky minxes started tweet-bombing me photos of their furry friends. When that joke got tired they turned into the baabaarazzi*, sending me photos of frolicking newborn lambs.

The silence of the lambs Image: Shirleen Oh

Now, I am pleading with them to stop. Those telephoto lenses must be very intrusive and I hate to think of those wee lambs getting stressed. I prefer photographing my little lambchops when they are snuggled into a tray with agria potatoes, garlic and olives (with a little parsley to remind them of grass).

Tray-baked lamb, potatoes and olives
This combines all the things we love in this house - lamb, potatoes, olives, anchovies, garlic and lemons - in one super easy dish. Throw the half the ingredients in the oven, get on with bathtime or having a strong gin, throw the other ingredients into the dish, make a salad, set the table and dinner is ready.

6 good-sized roasting potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks
8 lamb leg chops
2 onions, peeled and cut into wedges
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup of kalamata olives, stoned
4 anchovy fillets, finely chopped (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, zested and juiced
handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

Heat the oven to 200C. Splash a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a large roasting dish - I use the giant ones that double as racks in our oven - and toss in the potatoes, onions and garlic so everything is coated in the oil. Put the tray into the oven for 30 minutes, shaking occasionally.
Put another tablespoon of oil into a bowl and add the anchovies, then the lamb chops. Rub the chops with the oily anchovy mixture and season well with salt and pepper. Set aside.
When the potatoes have cooked for 30 minutes, remove the tray from the oven. Make spaces for the chops and scatter the olives on top. Return to the oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the chops and your preferred level of done-ness. Squeeze the lemon over the top, then sprinkle with lemon zest and chopped parsley. Serves four.

* Thanks to Shirleen for 'baabaarazzi'. Isn't it genius?

Apple and beetroot meatloaf

I never thought I would become the sort of parent that hides vegetables in things. I never thought I'd have to negotiate about the wearing of tutus, deal with the constant need for things to be pink or have arguments about whether Daddy was a king or a princess.
However, I felt quite proud of this little number, which manages to combine quite a lot of vegetables and the colour pink. True, I did have to say it was "just like sausages" before she'd deign to sit on her royal bottom and eat it, but small victories are what parenting is all about. Or am I doing it wrong?

Apple, beetroot and fennel meatloaf
Because I can't resist a cheap pun I've taken to calling this 'beetloaf'. Well, wouldn't you?
If you have a processor with a grating/shredding attachment, this is a good time to use it. Even if you don't, this takes less than 10 minutes to get in the oven.
Like most meatloaves, this is even better cold the second day, even if you're eating a slice of it at your desk.

500g good pork mince - ask for pork shoulder, if you're at the butcher
1 large apple, cored but not peeled
1 large onion, peeled
1 large beetroot
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 cup rolled oats
1 egg
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a large loaf tin with baking paper - enough so there's a decent overhang on the two longest sides so you can lift the loaf out afterwards.
Grate the apple, onion and beetroot. Tip into a large bowl and add all the other ingredients. Mix well with clean hands, then pack the resulting mixture into the prepared loaf tin.
Bake for an hour, by which time the top should be dark golden brown and crusty. Leave in the tin for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with crunchy potatoes and something green. A dollop of apple sauce is good too. Serves four.

Lucy's little lamb burgers

The world - or at least the part of it I live in - has gone burger mad. Not only are more than 60 Wellington restaurants battling it out to win Burger Wellington 2012, but McDonald's have introduced a new lamb burger to their menu, using New Zealand lamb.
I can't vouch for the McDonald's burger (please don't ask me to) but I'm happy to give you my own recipe. We've been eating these baby burgers a lot lately - they're about a quarter of the size of a 'proper' burger but still very filling. You'll have to wait for the upcoming issue of Frankie to see how to make the baby buns - but in the meantime, here's how I construct our little lamb burgers.

Little lamb burgers
You don't have to make these with lamb - in fact, the last time I made them I used a mixture of beef and lamb mince (a combination due in part to shopping sans glasses). The secret is to handle them as little as possible. Don't go squishing the mince in your hands for fun, treat it like you would a delicate fillet of fish (that's fillet, not a 'filet of fish').

500g good lamb mince
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 red onion, finely chopped
about 1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

Mix everything together and shape into flattish small balls - about 50g each. Line a tray with baking paper and put the burgers on top. Cover loosely and put in the fridge until about 15 minutes before you're ready to cook them.
To cook, either heat a heavy pan and fry them in a little oil, or bake them at 200C for about 15 minutes, turning once to brown both sides. I think the panfrying method gives a slightly better result, but baking has the benefits of being hands-free.

To assemble, spread a baby bun with hummus, then top with a tangle of baby salad leaves, a slice of beetroot (essential in a Kiwi burger), the burger, a dollop of redcurrant jelly or chutney and the bun 'lid'. For a beef burger, ditch the beetroot and add a slice of blue cheese.

Have you sampled any Burger Wellington offerings yet? Don't miss the one at Cafe Polo - it's the best burger I've ever eaten.

Lucy had a little lamb, Pt 3

After doing a lot of eating out and watching Masterchef in recent months - both in the name of work - I have realised how nice it is to eat really simple food. Foams, gravels and deconstructed this and that are all very clever and tricksy but they're not exactly heartwarming to eat, are they?

This, on the other hand, is like going back in time to when you got home from school and asked what was for dinner and your mother said, "something-out-of-my-head-and-don't-take-the-lid-off-the-crockpot". In other words, it's slow-cooked lamb shoulder chops. Really easy. Really delicious.

... complete with no-frills photography to enhance the experience

Simple lamb shoulder stew
Don't even think about adding anything fancy to this, unless it's a can of drained and rinsed white beans about halfway through the cooking time.

olive oil
4 good lamb shoulder chops
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
4 ribs celery, de-stringed and roughly chopped
1 tin whole peeled tomatoes
1 cup kalamata olives
salt and pepper

Heat a spoonful of oil in a heavy, ovenproof, cast iron casserole pot until hot. Brown the chops, one at a time, until well-coloured on both sides. Remove to a plate.
Wipe out most of the fat, then add another slosh of olive oil and saute the garlic, onions, celery and carrots for five minutes, until starting to colour. Tip in the tomatoes and olives, plus half a tomato tin's worth of water. Stir well, then lay the browned chops on top.
Grind over lots of salt and pepper and bring to a simmer, then put the lid on and transfer to an oven preheated to 160C. Cook for at least 1 1/2 - 2 hours. The meat should be tender and falling off the bones. Serves 3-4, with crusty bread or rice and something green on the side.

Random recipe #17: Albondigas

You know how when you're a kid you go through a stage of wondering if you're really a princess and hoping that your real parents will turn up? I know that wasn't just me, because a few years ago I interviewed a couple who were convinced they were Russian royalty and they had told their nine-year-old daughter that her real name was really Princess Anastasia or something. Nevermind that the poor kid was getting bullied mercilessly at school because of it, her parents were too busy waiting for the gold ingots to turn up in the post to notice.
But I digress. Lately I've been wondering if my life would have turned out different if I had a Mexican grandmother. Daniella Germain does and she's written My Abuela's Table - a really beautiful book of said grandmother's recipes.
My copy of this book happens to be in the middle of the middle shelf of cookbooks, so I chose the middle recipe from it for June's Random Recipes.

Albondigas
Forgive me, but I didn't exactly follow the recipe in My Abuela's Kitchen, not least because it has '2 chicken cubes' listed in the ingredients. I don't put chicken stock cubes in anything, so I'm not about to start crumbling them into meatballs. Perhaps it's not so cool to have a Mexican grandmother after all. Here's my version of Daniella' Germain's grandmother's meatballs in chipotle sauce. She cooks the meatballs in the sauce, but I baked mine in the oven and served the sauce separately. This serves four.

Chipotle-tomato sauce
Make the sauce first and let it simmer away on the stove while you prepare the meatballs.

2Tbsp olive oil
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tins tomatoes
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, then gently saute the onion and garlic until golden. Tip in the tomatoes and chipotle peppers. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and let simmer gently for at least 30-40 minutes. Stir occasionally, squishing the tomatoes against the side of the pan, until the sauce is dark and thick.

Meatballs
1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
a splash of milk
350g beef mince
250g pork mince
2 eggs
finely grated zest of a lemon
a handful of finely grated Parmesan
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a large baking tray with nonstick paper.
Put the breadcrumbs in a large bowl and pour over a splash of milk to moisten them. Add all the other ingredients and mix lightly with your hands. Roll the mixture into small balls and place on the prepared tray. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until they are crispy on the outside and cooked through. Give the tray a shake halfway through cooking to turn them over. Serve with a pool of chipotle-tomato sauce.

Hot cross bunny

Many moons ago, a suitor of mine once arrived on the doorstep bearing a charmingly vacuum-packed rabbit. It was an unexpected and unconventional gift, but it certainly tasted better than a bunch of roses. I wasn't sure what to do with it but he produced a few notes written on the back of a restaurant menu. Using them as a basis, this is how we cooked it.

Braised rabbit with tomatoes and olives
Rest assured that you don't have to sacrifice the family pet or go hunting for this Easter dinner. Farmed rabbits are available from good butchers, farmers markets and some supermarkets - and they are usually sold already 'dressed' (decapitated, skinned and cleaned) . If you flinch at the idea of eating one of the Flopsy Bunnies, substitute free-range organic chicken pieces for the rabbit.

1 rabbit (around 1.5kg), cut into pieces (ask the butcher to do this for you)
1/2-3/4 cup plain flour
salt and pepper
3-4 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 ribs of celery, tough strings removed and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
150ml red wine
500g vine-ripened tomatoes (about five medium-sized ones)
Herbs: 1/2 a small bunch of fresh parsley (use the other half of the bunch for garnishing), several sprigs of thyme, a sprig of rosemary, a bay leaf
1 cup good quality black olives


Begin by putting the flour, a good pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper in a plastic bag with the rabbit pieces. Close the top of the bag and shake well, ensuring the rabbit pieces are all covered with a nice dusting of flour. Remove from the bag and set aside (throw the unused flour away).

Blanch and peel the tomatoes - put them in a bowl, cover with boiling water and let sit for about 30-40 seconds. Lift out and nick the skins - they will lift off easily. Chop into chunks and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan and add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Saute over medium heat until starting to soften, then add the rabbit pieces, browning them on both sides. Pour in the wine and let it bubble away for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes and herbs. Cover and simmer very gently for 45 minutes to one hour, until the rabbit is cooked through and tender.

Stir in the olives and season with salt and pepper to taste. Scatter over some freshly chopped parsley before serving with steamed greens and hunks of chewy sourdough bread or crusty baguette. Feeds four.

F.E.O Chicken

People often assume I do all the cooking at our house and sometimes, when I am feeling especially like slack housewife, I let them. But during the week, at least in the horrible after-work rush, the Boy Wonder puts his pinny on* so when I get home from work dinner is already underway.
Last week he rang me at work, sounding rushed. I immediately envisaged the house being on fire or the Small Girl being in hospital but something much bigger was at stake.

Him: "I need to know the order again."
Me: "What order?"
Him: "For the chicken. What do I do after the flour and before the oats?"
Me: "Oh. Egg. Flour, then egg (a beaten one), then - what? Oats? There's some panko breadcrumbs somewhere I think..."
Him: "No, I'm going to use oats. Ok, so egg, then flour, then oats."
Me: "No, flour, then egg, then oats. Flour, egg, oats. Do you really want to use oats? I think breadc..."
Him: "No, I'm going to use oats. Flour, egg. oats. F.E.O. Ok. Got it. Text me when you're on the way."

F.E.O Chicken
So, what I have learned from this is that a) I don't always know best and b) my husband makes excellent fried chicken. This is - roughly - how he does it.

Chicken pieces - we use free-range, bone-in chicken thighs, because that's what I buy at the supermarket
Flour
Salt and pepper
A beaten egg or two (also free range, see above)
Rolled oats
Peanut oil

Put some flour in a shallow bowl and grind in some salt and pepper.
Crack the egg(s) into a bowl and beat lightly.
Tip some rolled oats into a third bowl.
Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour, then egg, then oats (recite the F.E.O mantra if you are worried about getting confused). At this point you can set the chicken aside in the fridge if dinner is some time away.
Heat some oil in a large heavy pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until the juices run clear. Turn the heat down once you have a nice golden crust and just be patient. "It takes a while, but you want it to be cooked," says the expert.
Serve with homemade chips and salad made from the cos lettuces you grew yourself in the mini allotment at the end of the garden.  The little bits of oaty crust that get left behind in the pan are an excellent treat for whoever does the dishes.

*He doesn't really wear an apron. He does have a high-vis vest though - but it might be a bit flammable to cook in.

Who does the weeknight cooking in your house?

The Silver Spoon's Pollo Arosto

Who was it that said the more things change, the more they stay the same? This time last year I was shamefacedly admitting that I'd never cooked a single recipe from The Silver Spoon, the mammoth Italian cookbook apparently given to new brides that the Boy Wonder gave me for our wedding anniversary in 2007.
I dragged it out for the first-ever instalment of Belleau Kitchen's Random Recipe challenge - and made a promise to myself to dip into it more often, which I have done. A bit. Well, I use it for reference a lot, and we did actually make an amazing swordfish thing out of it together, which was not in the usual rules for new Italian brides in the 1950s.

But to celebrate both Random Recipe's first birthday - and our wedding anniversary - I dipped into The Silver Spoon again last night to make this rustic pot-roasted chicken. I was covered in dirt following an afternoon in the vegetable garden and felt more like an ancient Italian peasant woman than Sophia Loren, but that's not such a bad thing, is it? There is an elegance in rustic simplicity, after all.

Pollo Arosto
This requires only a modicum more attention than an oven-roasted chicken and you don't have to stand over the stove for long. The Silver Spoon recommends eating it with ''buttered carrots'' but we had it with rice and bowl of salad greens.

4Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 stick celery (I actually used a bulb of fennel, which worked well), chopped
1 stalk fresh rosemary
1 good chicken
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot with a lid (like a Le Creuset or similar). Add the vegetables and rosemary and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Wash and dry the chicken and season the cavity with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string (or a bit of green bias binding, if that is the only thing that comes to hand). Raise the heat and add the chicken to the pot. Cook for another 15 minutes, turning occasionally. Splash in a bit of water or wine and clamp on the lid, then cook over low-medium heat for 45-50 minutes, until the chicken is cooked. The vegetables will cook down to a deliciously dark and sticky sauce, which is very good with rice.

 

Random Recipes: Burmese Curry

There are few things more random than the meanderings of a two-and-a-bit-year-old, so I put mine to good use and got her to select the cookbook for this month's Random Recipe challenge.

I can't remember how I came to be in possession of Great Ways With Steak & Chops. It was probably a joke gift - I have 'Cooking For Couples' and '100 Dishes For Two' that we got as engagement presents. GWWSC was published in 1972 by the Australian Women's Weekly and written by its well-respected food editor, Ellen Sinclair. Her name should have prompted me to open this book earlier, but food snobbery being what it is, I thought the whole book would be full of appalling examples of 70s cuisine. There are many things in this book I will never, ever, make - such as Veal Oscar (veal steaks topped with canned asparagus, lobster meat and bearnaise sauce) or Pineapple Bacon Cutlets (lamb, topped with tinned pineapple rings, wrapped in bacon, breadcrumbed and baked), but GWWSC actually has some interesting, even enticing, recipes. This is one of them.

Burmese Curry

Ellen Sinclair, who wrote loads of other titles for the Australian Women's Weekly, certainly knew her stuff. These recipes are very well-written and easy to follow (even if the photos are hilariously awful). The original recipe was very dry, so I splashed in about a cup of water as detailed below and upped the chilli quotient as detailed below. This can also be cooked in the oven - after adding the water clamp the lid on and let it bake for about 1 1/2 hours at 150C.

900g chuck steak, cut into 2cm chunks

2Tbsp oil

4 onions, finely chopped

5cm ginger, grated

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2tsp turmeric

1/2tsp chilli flakes

1 beef stock cube

1 1/2 - 2 cups water

2tsp soy sauce

Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan with a lid. Add the meat and brown well, add the onions, ginger and garlic. Cook until golden brown.

Add turmeric, chilli, water and stock cube and bring to the boil, stirring.

Cover, reduce heat and simmer gently for one hour or until the meat is tender. Add soy sauce and salt to taste. Serve with rice. Serves 4-6.

Lucy had another little lamb and this is how she cooked it

Hello, my name is Baabaara. Image via here

I thought it was best to get the gratuitous and possibly bad taste lamb photo out of the way early on. Please, don't be offended - I love lambs as much as the next person, especially if that person is cooking this spicy, slow cooked lamb shoulder in my oven, then serving it up to me with crispy roasted potatoes and steamed greens.

Slow cooked shoulder of lamb
This is my version of a Hugh F-W recipe. It is a firm favourite in our house for a number of reasons, not least because it is very low-maintenance and extremely delicious. Mature lamb (ie, the sort that lies about being younger than it is) is especially good cooked this way.

1 lamb shoulder, bone in (about 2kg)
2tsp cumin seeds
2tsp coriander seeds
2tsp fennel seeds

2tsp black peppercorns

2tsp cinnamon

3tsp sweet smoked paprika

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 dried chilli, chopped (or 1-2tsp chilli flakes)

3tsp sea salt

2Tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 220C. Toast the cumin, coriander, peppercorns in a dry pan until fragrant. Tip into a mortar and add the garlic, rosemary, smoked paprika, dried chilli and salt. Crush/grind for a bit, then add the olive oil. If you don't have a mortar you can do this in a mini food processor or just use a bowl, a wooden spoon and lots of elbow grease.
Score the skin of the lamb and put it into a large, lidded, ovenproof dish (like a Le Creuset or similar). Rub half the spice paste over the meat, then put in the oven for 30 minutes. Take it out and rub the remainder of the spice paste on to the meat (I use the back of a spoon). Tip a small glass of water into the pot (not over the meat), put the lid on and return to the oven, turning the heat down to 120C. Let cook for at least six hours, until the meat is falling off the bone.
If you want to cook this in advance, remove the meat from the pot when it is done and discard the bones. Pour the liquid into a container and let cool, then refrigerate both the meat and liquid. To reheat, put the meat back into the (now clean!) pot. Scrape the layer of fat from the now jelly-like liquid and throw it away quickly before anyone sees. Put the jellied liquid in with the meat and reheat at 150C until piping hot.

Random Recipe #6: How To Eat

It was easy choosing the book for this month's Random Recipe challenge - all we had to do was pick our favourite title. Finding something in it that I hadn't made before was slightly harder.
I first read Nigella Lawson's How To Eat when visiting my sister in the UK in 1999. I was having a mid-twenties crisis and the flu - a bad combination - and my recovery involved a lot of lying on her sofa and reading. Looking back, perhaps Nigella had some impact on what happened next: I went to Italy, came home, applied for journalism school and got my own copy of the book, which has gone everywhere with me ever since (I bought another copy when we moved to London a few years later).

How To Eat predates the BBC commodification of Nigella into a finger-lickin', satin dressing gown-wearing caricature. There are few pictures and none of her except a very Sophia Loren-esque author photo. But the writing is wonderful and the recipes are incredibly useful, whether you're cooking for one or planning a long Sunday lunch. I never thought I'd have a use for the section on 'feeding babies and small children', but it was the only book-based information of its kind that I wasn't disgusted by, even if I've yet to feed the Small Girl duck liver sauce. Yet.
When it was published the Daily Telegraph reviewer called How To Eat "the most valuable culinary guide published this decade". Some 13 years later, I think that still holds true.

Hummus with seared lamb and toasted pine nuts
My copy of How To Eat falls open naturally at many well-thumbed pages so it took some turning to find something we hadn't eaten before. Now I've discovered this I think we'll be having it a lot.
In the book, Nigella devotes a lot of words to discussing the making of hummus - the soaking and cooking of chickpeas etc. Ignore this bit if you think making your own hummus is akin to kitchen slavery, but it really does taste better. AND, cooking your own chickpeas means you can use their cooking liquid to slacken the hummus instead of adding more oil. Don't be tempted to use the brine from the tin - do as N suggests and dollop in a bit of Greek yoghurt instead.
For the lamb, she suggests using lamb noisettes, cut into little rags and tatters, but I used lamb rumps, sliced into 2cm steaks and quickly fried (it was such nice meat, I didn't want to tear it up).
You can find her updated version of the recipe here - essentially it's just a case of, a) make hummus, b) toast pinenuts, c) sear lamb, d) dollop hummus on plate, add lamb, sprinkle with pinenuts and chopped parsley. Over-achiever that I am, I also made some flatbreads to go with it, but you could just as easily use bought ones. It's just that I like a sprinkle of smugness with my dinner, don't you?

Big Red: Braised Beef & Tomatoes

At this time of year there's always lots of press extolling the virtues of slow cookers. Occasionally I wonder about getting one, then I remember that we have a giant slow cooker tucked into the corner of the kitchen. It's called an oven. O-V-E-N. Set low, it also conveniently heats the room. Bet your benchtop slow cooker can't do that...

Big Red Braised Beef
I've just taught the Boy Wonder how to make this, which is good, except I'm going to have to teach him something else really quickly lest we end up eating it all winter. It takes about 15 minutes prep on the stovetop, then you can put it in the oven and forget about it for a few hours. Quantities here are approximate - you can always stretch a smaller amount of meat with more vegetables and/or cooked beans.

2Tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
3 sticks celery, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
500-750g beef suitable for stewing (shin is my favourite), cut into 2cm cubes
2tsp smoked paprika and/or 1tsp dried chilli (less if you don't like it hot)
2Tbsp flour
125ml red wine
2 tins tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 150C. Take a large, lidded, ovenproof, stoveproof pot (like a Le Creuset) and put it over medium heat. Add the olive oil, then the onions, carrots, garlic and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes, until soft but not coloured. Add the spices and fry for a minute or two, then add the beef and flour Turn up the heat and fry for another couple of minutes, stirring to try to brown it as much as possible. Add the wine and let it bubble up, then add the tomatoes. Stir well. Add enough water to barely cover the meat (you may not need any) and bring to the boil. Clamp the lid on and stick the pot in the oven. Cook for at least 1 1/2 - 2 hours, until the meat is so tender it falls apart when prodded. Taste for seasoning. If the sauce is too thin, let it cook with the lid off on the stovetop for 10 minutes to reduce. Eat then and there with crusty bread or mash and some sort of greens, or let cool and refrigerate/freeze.