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What's Cooking Ella

Mango Pine-Orange Smoothie

31/3/2016

If you are looking for a fresh, delicious, dairy free smoothie, that tastes amazing, this is it.

Now I didn't make this because it is dairy free, as we quite like milk/yoghurt based smoothies in our house, I just wanted to try something different for my kids. This was perfect on a warm afternoon. This has the consistency of a smoothie without the yoghurt/ice cream to thicken it up. It tastes thick and just so fresh and delicious. No added sugar, just the three fruits for flavour.

If your blender isn't big enough, you can make this in two batches.

I say it serves 2-3 as it depends on what glass size you use.

This I made for the kids, however, I loved it as is to, but if you like you can add 1/2 cup golden rum to it to make it an adult smoothie.

Recipe

Recipe adapted from Curtis Stone's cookbook 'What's For Dinner?

Serves 2-3

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, roughly chopped
1/4 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, roughly chopped
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
3 cups ice cubes
Lime slices, to garnish

Place the mango, pineapple, orange juice and ice cubes in a blender and blitz until smooth and frothy.

Pour the smoothie into glasses, garnish with a lime slice and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

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Thai Pork Salad

30/3/2016

I am no expert in cooking Asian food, so this year I thought I would give it more of a go.

Why have I avoided making Asian food, it is probably due to the numerous times I have tried, purchased all the ingredients, then not knowing what to do with the leftover ingredients I have just thrown them away. How many jars of shrimp paste have I thrown out in the past, where I have only used 1 tablespoon out of the jar.

So after a few years of giving it a go, my refrigerator now has a certain number of Asian ingredients I use regularly. I avoid recipes where I will use an ingredient once, then toss out the rest.

So I came across this salad in a cookbook of mine, and although it has a large number of ingredients, they are mostly fresh ingredients. The dressing is a simple one, and I can re use the ingredients in other recipes easily.

The flavour of this salad is truly amazing. It is so light, refreshing. Me and my husband can't get enough of it. Two out of three of my kids love it to (my 6 year old doesn't as he is currently on a capsicum phobia).

What I also love is how easy it is to make, while I get the salad ready, my husband BBQ's the pork. Simple.

This recipe I tweaked a bit in the amounts of ingredients used from Julie Goodwin's original recipe. I have doubled the amount of salad leaves (I say doubled, but I do not measure, I just completely fill a large salad bowl with salad leaves), and doubled the quantity of the dressing to compensate. So if you make it and you want less salad leaves, halve the dressing amount also. I only use 1/2 bunch of mint, where she would use 2 bunches. Coriander I use only 1 bunch, but you could easily put in the 2 bunches Julie uses. So you can add or omit things, but for me I love it the way I make it now.

Also with the pork fillet. I will give you a guide on cooking times for the pork, but each time we have made it, it has been slightly different, as it depends on the size-thickness of the fillet. So over time, you will determine the cooking times based on your BBQ, and how you like your pork cooked.

If you want to cook the pork in the oven, this is how I do it:

Preheat your oven to 220C/200C fan forced.

Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan (that can go in the oven) over medium heat. Slice the pork fillet in half, so it can fit in the frying pan. Add the pork fillets to the pan and cook, turning every 3 minutes for a total of 12 minutes, browning the fillet all over nicely.

Place the pork fillets on a baking paper lined baking tray. Place in your preheated oven. Roasting times are as follows, for thinner fillets 15 minutes, for thicker fillets 17 minutes.

Recipe

Adapted from Julie Goodwin's Cookbook 'Our Family Table'

Serves 4

1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2cm piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
500g pork fillet
200g mixed salad leaves
1 Lebanese cucumber, deseeded and julienned very finely
1 carrot, julienned very finely
1/2 red capsicum, julienned very finely
1 long red chilli, deseeded and julienned very finely
1 red onion, sliced very finely
2 teaspoons peanut oil, extra
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
4 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
4 teaspoons fish sauce
1 cup (50g) bean sprouts
1-2 bunches fresh coriander, leaves picked
1/2-1 bunch mint, leaves picked, torn if large
1/4 cup (40g) salted peanuts, chopped

Firstly you need to marinade the pork fillet. In a large bowl place the peanut oil, garlic, ginger and chilli. Toss the pork fillet through the marinade mix. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

While your pork is marinading start putting your salad together.

You will need a large platter or serving bowl for this recipe.

Arrange your salad leaves on your serving platter. Scatter over the julienned cucumber, carrot, capsicum, chilli and the sliced onion. Give this a light toss to combine.

In a screw top jar add the extra peanut oil, lime juice, sweet chilli sauce and fish sauce. Put on the lid and give it a good shake to combine the dressing ingredients.

Now it is time to BBQ the meat. Preheat your BBQ to high. You will need to sear the pork on each side for approximately 4 minutes for pork that is slightly pink in the middle. We usually cook thin fillets for 12 minutes in total, thicker fillets up to 16 minutes, as a guide, turning the meat every 4 minutes. To test if cooked, pierce the thickest part of the fillet, the juices should run clear. Remember that cooking times will vary due the thickness of the fillet. Rest the meat for 5-10 minutes after cooking, cover it loosely with aluminium foil.

While your meat is resting, pour over half of your dressing on the salad. Toss to combine.

Finely slice your pork and scatter over your salad. Toss gently through the salad.

Scatter over the bean sprouts, mint, coriander and peanuts. Pour over the remainder of the dressing, toss lightly. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

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Ambrosia

22/3/2016

Most things I cook are made from scratch, this however, is not one of them. This is one of the easiest desserts to make, it is just getting a few store bought ingredients and mixing them together.

My aunt, Teta Anka, used to make this at nearly every family gathering we ever had growing up. It was so popular with our family, we all looked forward to it. She would make a huge batch of this and if any was leftover, my mother would always want to take some home for tomorrow, it was one of her favourites.

It has been over 15 years since I last had this. I found the recipe this morning and decided I'd make it.

This is something that is great for parties, it is light and refreshing. When you first see it you expect it to be really sweet, it is actually not, it has a tartness about it also. The sweetness of the marshmallows is countered by the sour cream.

This is a recipe from my families party food history, hope it becomes yours to.

Recipe

Serves 8

1 x 250g packet pink and white marshmallows
2 x 310g cans mandarin segments
1 x 450g can crushed pineapple
300ml sour cream
5 tablespoons desiccated coconut, optional (my aunt did not add coconut)
Dried breadcrumbs, if needed

Using scissors, cut the marshmallows in half and place in a large bowl.

Drain mandarin segments, reserve the juice of one tin.

Drain the crushed pineapple, reserve half of the juice.

To the marshmallows add the mandarin segments and reserved mandarin juice, the crushed pineapple and reserved pineapple juice and the sour cream. Stir well to combine. Add the coconut if you are using it.

If the mixture is too runny, add some dried breadcrumbs a little at a time, until you have the thickness you like, don't add too much though. Refrigerate until need, best served cold.

Enjoy!

Find the recipe at www.whatscookingella.com/ambrosia.html
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I'd love to know what you think about this recipe, and please let me know if you have made it, I do like to get feedback. Name and comment only required.

Lemon Pudding Cake with Berries

16/3/2016

I say this quite often on this blog, my family love fresh fruit desserts. Here is yet another one that they love that allows us to enjoy fresh summer raspberries.

I love this cookbook titled Easy, as the recipes are indeed easy. This one is quite quick to prepare, I make it after dinner, takes about 15 minutes to make, then I put it to bake whilst we relax and chill before dessert.

Dessert is something special in my house, I don't do one every night, but when I do there is a bit of excitement amongst my kids, even my husband who says he doesn't like dessert, tends to like mine.

This dessert is actually quite light, the cake part is spongy and delicious and underneath you get this saucy raspberry like sauce. Now when you bake this the top needs to feel spongy, it will be golden when done, but if you cut into it and it is really liquid underneath, just let it sit a few minutes more, the longer it sits the more it will set. I quite like it runny, but if you want a more baked custard feel, allow to sit a bit more. It is like you get two different desserts a self saucing one and a custard one.

I have actually made this in a larger dish also, works just fine, you just get a slightly thinner cake.

If you love raspberries, give this cake a go, it is lovely and light and a perfect way to end a meal.

Recipe

Recipe adapted from Bill Granger's Cookbook 'Easy'

Serves 4-6

2 x 125g punnets raspberries
75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch sea salt
310ml (1 1/4 cups) buttermilk
125g unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra, for greasing
3 eggs, separated
150g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
Icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced.

Grease a 20cm x 20cm x 5cm baking dish (this dish will need to fit into another larger baking dish when it comes time to bake it).

Scatter the raspberries into your greased baking dish.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.

In a small bowl add the buttermilk, the melted butter, egg yolks, sugar and lemon zest, whisk to combine. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture, stir to combine.

Using electric beaters, beat the egg whites in a medium sized bowl until stiff peaks form. Add half the egg whites to the buttermilk batter and fold in gently using a metal spoon. Now add the remaining egg whites and gently fold in until combined.

Spread the batter over the raspberries in the baking dish, place this dish into the larger dish. Carefully pour boiling water into the larger dish until it reaches halfway up the sides, creating a bain marie. Do not get water into the batter.

Place in your preheated oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until puffy and golden.

Set aside for 5-10 minutes to cool and set further, then dust with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream or custard.

Enjoy!

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/lemon-pudding-cake-with-berries.html
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Salmon and Avocado Ceviche

14/3/2016

So I have decided to start cooking foods from around the world. I found a website that randomly picks a country and for one week I try and find recipes from that country. First up in my random shuffle was Peru. I even placed a poster of a world map near my kitchen, so we can see where we have been on our food journey.

Now the origins of Ceviche is hotly debated, but in Peru it is considered a national dish, so I'm giving this one to Peru.

What is a ceviche, it is raw fish cured in citrus juices, usually lemon or lime, spiced up with chillies and served with salad leaves, toasted bread, sweet potatoes or avocado to name a few.

When my husband goes fishing and brings home super fresh fish, this is now my favourite thing to serve guests as a starter. The recipe says to use salmon, however, I have also made it using mackerel and king fish, it was divine.

This is light, it is fresh, the flavours amazing. We like to serve it in baby cos lettuce cups. But it is great with crisp Italian ciabatta bread also.

I have put it in the lunch category as it is a light lunch on a Sunday morning for us, but it probably should be in the dinner category as a starter.

Recipe

Serves 4-6

4 x 200g skinless salmon fillets, pinboned, cut into 1-2cm cubes
1/4 cup (60ml) lime juice, plus lime wedges to serve
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
2 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded
1 large avocado, cut into 1-2cm pieces
2 tablespoons avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
Toasted ciabatta or baby cos lettuce cups, to serve

Combine salmon, lime juice, chilli and kaffir lime leaves in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Toss gently, cover with cling film, chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to marinate.

Add avocado, oil and coriander to the salmon mixture and toss gently. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve in a bowl in the centre of the table or divide among plates. Drizzle with extra oil and serve with ciabatta, salad cups and lime wedges.

Enjoy!

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/salmon-and-avocado-ceviche.html
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If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

Orange and Almond Self Saucing Pudding

13/3/2016

When choosing what I'm going to cook, I usually flick through a cookbook and see what I feel like eating, or I may google certain sites looking for inspiration, other times it is because you have an uncle with an orange tree and you get a big crate of freshly picked oranges.

So when I get gifted something so fresh, I hate to have any of it go to waste, so off I go searching for my next recipe to ensure not a single orange is wasted.

So I came across this self saucing pudding, and as I love self saucing puddings, I figured I'd love this one to. I did, it was tangy, it was fresh, it was delicious. This is one of those desserts that is very simple to throw together and comes out absolutely delicious.

So if you like tangy, fresh desserts give this a go, it is truly lovely.

Recipe

Recipe adapted from www.taste.com.au

Serves 6

Melted unsalted butter, to grease
150g (1 cup) self raising flour, sifted
100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
55g (1/2 cup) almond meal
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
1 egg
50g unsalted butter, melted, cooled
1 tablespoon cornflour
100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar, extra
375ml (1 1/2 cups) fresh orange juice
Icing sugar, to dust

Vanilla custard or vanilla ice cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 180C.

Brush a 1.5L (6 cup) capacity ovenproof dish with melted butter. Place dish on a baking tray.

Place the self raising flour, caster sugar, almond meal and orange rind into a large bowl, stir to combine.

In a small jug, add the milk, egg and butter, whisk until combined. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture, stir until smooth and combined. Pour into your prepared dish. Smooth the surface using the back of a spoon.

Combine the cornflour and extra sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle it over the pudding mixture.

Place the orange juice in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Bring just to the boil. Slowly pour the orange juice over the back of a spoon onto the pudding mixture.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a cake like top forms and a skewer inserted halfway into the centre of the pudding comes out clean.

Set aside for 5 minutes to stand. Dust with icing sugar and serve hot with custard or ice cream.

Enjoy!

Find the recipe at www.whatscookingella.com/orange-and-almond-self-saucing-pudding.html
Pin it: www.pinterest.com/pin/399413060683866850/

I'd love to know what you think about this recipe, and please let me know if you have made it, I do like to get feedback. Name and comment only required.

Medimurski Langusi

13/3/2016

I remember going to visit my mother in law in Croatia years ago and she made these langusi for us for the first time. Me and my kids absolutely loved them.

This is like a little fried bread. It has a crispy outside but the middle is so soft and fluffy. We love it for breakfast and each of us like it with a different topping. I like it sprinkled with caster sugar, my kids all love it smeared with nutella and my husband (and boys) love it with jam.

The mix makes a large amount. So when I make it, we get to eat it for about 2-3 days before we run out. My kids get so excited when I make this, they absolutely love it for breakfast, they would eat it for lunch and dinner to.

It is quite easy to make, just follow my steps exactly. And my biggest tip, when it is time to shape them for frying, make sure your hands are slightly damp and you make them as thin as possible.

Anyway, if you would like to try something different, or you have had them before but have no idea how to make them, give this recipe a go, it really is good.

Recipe

1 - 1 1/2 cups milk
40g fresh yeast
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1kg plain flour
3 teaspoons salt
13g baking powder
500ml plain Greek yoghurt
2 eggs
Sunflower oil, for frying

Put 1 cup of the milk in a small saucepan, heat until lukewarm. Turn off the heat. Add the yeast and sugar to milk. Allow the yeast to become active, it will take about 10 minutes, it will foam up as pictured below.

In a really large bowl add the flour, salt, baking powder, yoghurt and eggs.

When the milk has foamed up, add the milk mixture, mix the ingredients together to form a soft slightly sticky pliable dough. If the mixture feels dry, add 1/3 cup more of the milk, mix it in. Keep adding milk, if needed, until you have a slightly sticky pliable dough, it is ready when it does not stick to the bowl too much, and it feels like you can work with it. (I only added in total 1 1/3 cups milk, I didn't need the two cups).

Get two large freezer bags, open them up and spray cooking oil (canola) into the bags, this will stop the dough from sticking to the bag. Divide your dough in two and add each half to the freezer bags. Close the bag loosely. Place on a baking tray and put it into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to prove and double in size. This can now stay in the refrigerator like this for 3 days.

When it is time to fry the langusi: Place sunflower oil in a frying pan, add just enough oil to cover the base of the frying pan. Place the frying pan over a low-medium heat.

Slightly dampen your hands with water, now tear off golf ball sized pieces of the dough, you can make them larger if you like. Using your hands (make sure your hands are damp, slightly wet hands stops the dough from sticking to them), stretch the dough and form discs about 1/2cm in thickness.

Place the discs into the hot oil. Place a lid on the frying pan (I use a round pizza baking tray) and fry for 2-3 minutes. After 2 minutes remove the lid, they should have puffed up. Now use a fork to see if the underside is golden brown, if it isn't keep frying, if it is, flip it over and cook for a further 3 minutes, but this time uncovered. This is where you need to adjust the temperature, you may need to increase it or decrease it, depending on how fast or slow they are cooking. Also cooking time varies depending on how much you stretch the dough out, thin dough cooks quicker. Test one before removing all from the frying pan, you don't want it raw in the middle.

Place the langusi in the middle of the table and serve with either caster sugar, nutella or jam.

Enjoy!

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/medimurski-langusi.html
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060697345656/

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

Nectarine Shortcake

12/3/2016

Well today's post is a bit of a reflective one, it will be about nectarine shortcake, eventually, I promise, but first a few of my thoughts. I have recently discovered a personal blog by Rory Feeks called This life I live http://thislifeilive.com/ he talks about his life with his wife Joey and his kids. They are Joey and Rory country music singers, and I just love country music, it is very relaxing to me, so many songs just make you feel so much. I came about this blog through my personal facebook page, I saw that Joey had cancer so I started reading about them. I fell in love with their life, their story.

Whilst reading Rory's blog, I would constantly think about my life. I feel very blessed myself. I am blessed with a husband I love and one that I know loves me, when I say this he always asks me how do I know he loves me, my reply is, it's a feeling I get, he doesn't have to say it daily, I just know. I have three beautiful children who are now 14, 13 and 9, who are just the joys of my life, love them to bits. I have a puppy now to, Jake, very cute he is. I live in a home I love (it really is my happy place), nothing pleases me more than having pyjama days at home with my family just relaxing. Now don't think life is perfect, we are a normal family who get upset, have great days, have bad days and all other normal family issue days in between, but we are blessed, blessed with love in our hearts.

This link below is to a song I love from Joey and Rory, it is called That's Important to Me. I just love this song as these are things that are important to me, simple joys in every day life that we are too busy to appreciate sometimes. Have a listen, it is beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzHpYyB_F3U

We recently started growing our own fruit and vegetables in our garden, it is bringing us so much joy (and the odd heartache to my husband when fruit flies attack his tomatoes or when worms are eating the cavalo nero), but at the end of the day instead of sitting in front of the TV, each night, we water the garden and have a look at what is now growing, what are we going to cook with tomorrow. We now plan our meals around our garden, it really is exciting. Currently I'm waiting on my passionfruit to ripen so I can taste our first home grown passionfruit.

Now to get back on the cooking track, sort of, I grew up in a household with factory working parents, parents that worked hard every day to ensure we had a good life. My mother, no matter how tired she was cooked dinner every night. Have to give my dad some credit here to, as whichever parent got home first was the parent that started cooking diner, but mum always finished it. They would discuss what was being cooked the next day every evening so that they knew what they needed to do, once they got home from work.

One thing my mum insisted on was no one ate dinner until everyone was home from work, sport, school, whatever was going on in our day, we waited and we always ate dinner together as a family. I now have been married 15 years and this is something that is important to me. My daughter recently started dancing one day a week until 8pm, we now eat on Thursdays at 8:15pm, rather late, but we wait (normal dinner time is around 5:30-6:30pm). My husband and kids love it to, it is our family time, we eat together, spend a few moments every day, phone/gadget free and find out how our days have been.

Now this Nectarine Shortcake is something I made with my 9 year old baby in mind. With nectarines in season at the moment he just cannot get enough of them. It was a lazy pyjama Sunday for me, my favourite kind of Sunday, they don't happen often, but when they do, I enjoy every minute of it. I bake all the time, I find it very relaxing, and as I have a family that love to eat, I flicked through a cookbook to see what I would make for them. I came across this recipe, I had all the ingredients at home, so I got baking.

This was very easy to make, and I just love making a recipe from scratch, don't get me wrong I always have frozen pastry in the freezer, but when I can, I quite like making my own pastry. This was delicious, my family loved it and that makes me happy, I love that they love my food. My puppy loves my food now to, I didn't give him this, but sometimes he gets food made for him and he loves it, that makes me so happy. My daughter says I should dedicate a page to puppy food, she makes me laugh.

So this simple task of cooking, something that I love to do, makes my family happy, which makes me happy. Simple things that are important to me.

A few notes about the recipe, you can peel the nectarines before baking them, I don't as it doesn't bother me, but if you prefer to peel them, just cut a small cross at the top of the nectarines, place them in a bowl or saucepan, cover them with boiling water for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes remove them from the water and peel them with a small sharp knife, starting at the cross.

Also if you don't have or can't find peach or nectarine jam, use apricot jam, it is readily available and can be used in a lot of recipes.

Joey recently died, I only just started to reading about her life, but I was truly moved by her and Rory.

Take a few moments every day to enjoy what you have been blessed with. This Nectarine Shortcake is something that I now make as a reminder to enjoy the simple things in life.

Recipe

Recipe adapted from Janelle Bloom's cookbook My Favourite Food for All Seasons

Serves 6

1 tablespoon ground almonds
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons peach or nectarine jam
3 nectarines, peeled, halved, stone removed (though I keep the skin on)
Icing sugar, to serve
Double cream or Vanilla Ice Cream, to serve

Shortcake Pastry:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup caster sugar
100g unsalted butter, chilled, cubed

For the shortcake pastry, combine the flour, caster sugar and butter in a food processor, blitz until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 1/4 cup chilled water and process until the dough comes together. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the base is smooth. If the dough is too soft, cover with greaseproof paper and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes or until firm enough to roll out.

Preheat oven to 200C/210C fan forced. Place a large flat baking tray in the oven to heat up.

Roll the pastry out between 2 sheets of baking paper to form a 24cm x 32cm rectangle.

Remove the top sheet of baking paper.

Cut the pastry in half lengthways so you have two pieces 12cm wide, 32cm long.

In a small bowl combine the almonds and 1 tablespoon of the white sugar.

Spread the jam over the base of one piece of pastry. Sprinkle over the almond mixture.

Place nectarines, cut side down, down the centre of the pastry, on top of the almond mixture.

Top with the other half of the pastry, pressing down the edges together, then rolling them upwards to secure.

Brush the top of the pastry with a little water and sprinkle over the remaining 1 tablespoon of white sugar.

Cut slits 3cm apart over the top of the pastry. This is important to allow excess steam to escape, which keeps your pastry crisp.

Leave the shortcake on your baking paper, slide it onto your hot tray. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crisp. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly.

Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with cream or ice cream.

Enjoy!

Find the recipe at www.whatscookingella.com/nectarine-shortcake.html
Pin it: www.pinterest.com/pin/399413060683854001/

I'd love to know what you think about this recipe, and please let me know if you have made it, I do like to get feedback. Name and comment only required.

Chinese Style Fish with Coconut Rice

10/3/2016

My husband's friend regularly gives us fresh fish that he catches. When he does, I like to try new recipes and this one is one that I have repeated quite a few times as we really love it.

It is very simple to make, which I love. The coconut rice I make in a rice cooker, can't get easier than that. And can be made in advance and kept in the warm mode.

Now this recipe is for a 750g fish. I will write the recipe for the 750g sized fish just remember a fish twice the size does not need twice the cooking time, a fish twice the size should only need 10-15 minutes more cooking time. If you are cooking fish for the first time, check the fish after 30 minutes, if it flakes away from the bone at the thickest part of the fish easily it is done, if it won't come off the bone continue cooking the fish until it does.

Now I have stated snapper as it is easy to buy, but pictured is a mowong, I think, as it was caught by my husband's friend and it is great when caught and is fresh.

My whole family loves this, give it a try, it really is lovely.

Recipe

Serves 4-6

750g whole snapper, scaled, gutted
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
7.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, finely shredded
1/4 cup (60ml) soy sauce
1/4 cup (60ml) chicken stock
2 tablespoons dry sherry
3 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons peanut oil
6 shallots, ends trimmed, cut into 10cm lengths, finely shredded
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves

Coconut Rice:
3 cups Jasmine rice, well rinsed
3 cups cold water
400ml can coconut cream
3cm piece ginger, peeled, sliced

Take the fish out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before you need to cook it, so it is not really cold going into the oven.

Preheat the oven to 220C. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil, then with non stick baking paper.
Place all of the ingredients in a rice cooker, cook. Once cooked stir, discard ginger, keep on warm mode until required.

Alternate method: Place all ingredients in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Discard ginger. Serve.

Wash the snapper under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towel inside and out. Cut 3 slashes, about 1cm deep, into the thickest part of snapper on both sides. Place in the lined pan.

Spread garlic and ginger over the snapper. Combine soy sauce, chicken stock, dry sherry and sesame oil in a jug. Pour over the snapper. Cover the pan tightly with foil. Bake for 30 minutes or until snapper flakes easily when tested with a fork. Transfer to a warmed heatproof platter, reserving juices.

Heat peanut oil in saucepan over medium heat until just smoking. Pour over snapper. Pour over the reserved juices. Top with shallot and coriander to serve. Serve with coconut rice.

Enjoy!

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Beef Goulash

6/3/2016

Beef Goulash, this is food from my childhood. Now I'm married with 3 kids and this is now their food from their childhoods. I love it. Food that I grew up on, my husband grew up on, and now my kids will grow up on.

I am a true fan of simple cooking, I love when I only have to spend a few minutes preparing things, a bit of starter cooking and then you just allow something to simmer away for about 2 hours, and dinner is done. Some may not like that idea, but I find it very relaxing and I just love the aroma that spreads through the house as a stew cooks.

We really do love stews in our house, we love to eat with a spoon, soups and stews are regularly made in our house, all year round, as they are just delicious, they just taste so good.

I like to cut the meat up into a larger dice, rather than a smaller one. I find it just tastes better if larger, it can dry out if too small, I think, at least. But don't go measuring, I just chop it up as I feel like it.

Now the original recipe says to serve this up with some soft polenta, this I think would be lovely, but in all honesty I just serve it with some crusty bread and we mash up the potato pieces in our plates to thicken the sauce.

So if you love a good stew, a simple good stew, give this one a try, it is lovely.

Recipe

Recipe adapted from Tradicionalna Kuhinja 2 by Itana Popic, Eliana Plese and Boris Kauzlaric

Serves 5-6

1kg chuck steak, cut into 2-3cm cubes
400g onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
50 grams flat pancetta, diced
100ml tomato paste
400g potatoes, peeled, cut into 2cm cubes
1 red capsicum, seeded, diced
1 green capsicum, seeded, diced
1 teaspoon vegeta
oil, for frying
Salt and pepper, to taste

Add 2-3 tablespoons of oil to a large saucepan. Heat over a low-medium heat. Add onions and sauté for 4 minutes or until the onions have softened.

Add garlic and pancetta, sauté, for a further 1 minute.

Add the meat, cook, stirring, until browned lightly. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the tomato paste, stir through, cook, stirring for 1-2 minutes.

Add vegeta and just enough water to completely cover the meat. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes.

Whilst the meat is cooking, peel the potatoes and cut them into a bite sized dice.

Add the potatoes and the red and green capsicums into the meat mixture. Top up with more water, if needed, so all the ingredients are covered with water. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer a further 45-50 minutes, or until the meat is soft and the vegetables are cooked.

Serve with crusty bread or with soft polenta.

Enjoy!

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