Maggie's Creamy Vegetarian Pepper Pot Soup

I have fun trading recipes, cooking tips n tricks, ingredients substitution, etc on twitter. One of my most wonderfullest twitter mates is named Maggie. She's a vegetabletarian but she also puts my meatiness recipes on her daily paper.

The other day (month!) we were chatting about soups and she said she'd send me her pepper pot soup recipe.

Of course I had to make it!

And of course I had to change it around a bit! Why? Cuz I didn't have all the ingredients at hand so I subbed a couple of items. I also changed the amounts a bit as I was only making it for myself.

She later told me that she herself had modified the original recipe from the person she received it from! Hey, all's fair in the kitchen mates!

Here is her original ingredient list plus directions:

PEPPER POT SOUP

2 Cups Water
2 Cups Veggie Stock
2 Good Sized Potatoes, Shredded
2 Medium Carrots, Shredded
2 Celery Stalks, Chopped fine
2 Medium Onions, Chopped fine
1 Green Pepper, Chopped fine
½ Cup All-Purpose Four
2 tsp Salt
½ tsp Pepper, fresh hand milled
1 Cup Water
6 Cups Milk

Mix first 7 ingredients together in a large saucepan. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Mix flour, salt, pepper, and 1 Cup Water together in a small container until no lumps remain. Stir into the simmering soup to thicken it slightly. Add milk. Heat through. Check for seasoning.

Makes 12 ½ Cups

Not being one to take directions too well, I decided to make a few changes based upon why I had on hand. And remember, I was only wanting to end up with 6 to 8 cups. Here's what I came up with:

Maggie's Modified Vegetarian Pepper Pot Soup


1 Cup Water
2 Cups Veggie Stock
1 Good Sized Potato, Shredded
1 Medium Carrot, Shredded
1 Bok Choy, rough chopped, leaves included
1 Medium Onion, Chopped fine
1 Red Bell Pepper, Chopped fine
1 Handfull of fresh Rocket (the peppery kind)
A few fresh basil leaves, rough chopped.
A few fresh coriander leaves (cilantro to North Americans)
½ Cup All-Purpose Four
2 tsp Salt
½ tsp Pepper, fresh hand milled
1 Cup Water
2 Cups Milk





I mixed first 10 ingredients together in a large saucepan and brought it to a boil.

It was then covered and simmered for 30 minutes.


Then the flour, salt, pepper, and 1 Cup Water were whisked together and that slurry was stirred into the simmering soup as a thickener and a spicy-er.



The milk was added and the soup was brought back up to temperature.



I checked to see if it needed any more seasonings (like salt) and I added a pinch of sea salt.

And it of course looks great in a bowl!


I of course just had to make one little, itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny final adjustment...


Fresh grated Parmesan!


The soup was very very tasty, I thoroughly enjoyed it. And you can all thank Maggie up in Canada for sending me the recipe!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I've been trying for a month now to get this post up! It's been rather difficult as most of my daytime activities since July 2nd have been seen through a sleep-deprived haze.

"Why?" I hear you ask.

It is because the French decided to have a big ole bike race in the middle of the night. You'd think they could have the decency to have it at normal hours, but no, it's on live in the middle of the night here down unda.

Now that it has been 5 days since the end and I've caught up on a month's worth of sleep, I can now devote time to this here food bloggie thingy.

BTW, Cadel Evans won the Tour de France. Just in case you didn't know.

Back to brussel sprouts.

Brussel sprouts are in season down here now so I've been eating lots of them. I used to just steam them, butter em up, and then eat them. Someone suggested that I bake em with olive oil and garlic. Hey, that works for me! Thanks Arvay!

They were very good, I quite like them that way. I then tried baking them with some other veggies at the same time and found that onions make a nice accompaniment.

I also used them in a couple of stir fries; again success!

But why not combine the two, thought I? Guess what? It WORKED!

ROASTED BRUSSEL SPROUTS

What you need for one serving as a side dish:

4 raw brussel sprouts, halved
1 thick slab of raw onion
2 cloves garlic (I used some that I stored in olive oil), thick sliced
olive oil
sea salt
splash of white wine
freshly grated parmesan
A fry pan that is oven safe (I recommend cast iron)

What you do:

Drizzle a bit of olive oil in your pan, heat it up, then add the brussel sprouts, cut side down. It should look something like this:

No, these aren't giant brussel sprouts, it's just a small cast iron pan!



When the flat side has browned, turn 'em over and add the onion and garlic. Like this, see?




Go ahead and give it a sprinkle of sea salt now. Or later, no worries either way.

Once the onions are just starting to cook



add a splash of white wine --around half a glass-- to deglaze the fry pan. Simmer till the wine cooks down.

Once the wine cooks down put the pan in a medium oven and cook till the garlic is just soft. This should only take 12 to 15 mins. When you take the pan out of the oven it should look something similar to this:




After plating, grate some high quality Parmesan over the top and enjoy!

Here it is as a side dish to Twice-Baked Potatoes:




And here is the obligatory closeup:




Don't forget that brussel sprouts are very healthy! In fact this entire side dish is just oozing with healthy goodness!

What would you make with...

The other day I came back from the shops with a load of really good, fresh veggies. I had a fair few ideas of what I was going to do with them too.

And then I thought, "Hangabout mate! P'haps some of me tweeterers may wanna give it a go?" So I put the list up on twitter and also mentioned a well stocked pantry plus herb garden, and asked what folks would make!

Unfortunately, I don't have many foodies following my tweets, so only 2 people gave it a go. One was braise some of the veggies then through it all into a quiche. Ummmmmm, not exactly what I had in mind. The other was stuffing the bell peppers with the chilli, put them and the rest of the veggies in a casserole dish, cover with cheese and bake. Not bad. But again, not exactly what I had in mind.

Remember, it's hard to get the meaning through in only 140 characters via twitter!

So how's about we try it here!

You may assume a very very very well stocked pantry and good garden goodies. This means things like garlic greens, wild onions, fresh herbs, potatoes, spuds etc can be used. Pretty much any kind of dried spice, dried herb, or herb mix you can think of can also be used. As far as cheese goes, just make sure you use ones that I've heard of as I usually have 7 to 10 different kinds of cheeses on hand at any one time.

And lastly, let's keep this meat free. Just cuz I feel like it.

And try not to go overboard on the pantry items. Fettuccine with a creamy cheese sauce and a few of the fronds from the fennel bulb sprinkled over the top ain't gonna make the cut! The idea is to see what you would make from this list that features the ingredients, not the accessories.

And here is the list of goodies you get to work with:

Brussel sprouts, red n green n yellow bell peppers, green beans, large fennel bulb w/stalks and fronds, button mushrooms, fresh juicy just-off-the-vine tomatoes, fresh thai chillis, 3 bok choys.

I came up with a dozen dishes I'd make off the top of my head, and then pared it down to 6 simple, tasty ones.

If you feel the need to help your knowledge a bit (cheat) by using cookbooks or the internets then you may, but you'll have to live with your guilty conscience. (I'm just joking of course!)

Obviously, there's no need to go out and get all this stuff, I'm just curious to see what other folks would make. Use the comments, it'd be nice to get into double digit comments so spread the url for this post around!

Cassarole

This is a "blast from the past" recipe. It's from other blog before I hived off this here food blog. Which of course means it is full of some rather inane and silly comments from me.

You've been warned.

So here's the cassarole recipe in it's entirety from over 4 years ago.

*********************************************************************

A Cassarole (not the US style, please note)

This is another easy one, in fact you get TWO recipes with this --weeee, something
for free in this world: a toofer (you know, two for one... toofer... oh, never mind).

Extra bonus: No conversions needed!!! Woo-hoo! This one's for everyone**!

Have you noticed I'm starting you all out gently with recipes and cooking? Don't
worry, they get more fun and adventurous as time drags on. Ugh, can't believe
I just typed that line of crap...

What you need:

one roaster pot with a lid (them old black, enameled ones your mum had that she
got from her mum work the best)
a few of hunks of really cheap, tough beef (or pork, or lamb, or roo, or moose, or bear, or wombat, or sheep, or BUNYIP, or wooly mammoth, or smilodon, or sasquatch, or caribou, or whatever)
2 onions; rough chopped
4 carrots; rough chopped
6 spuds (potatoes) peeled (or not); rough chopped
salt


What you do:

Put the hunks, chunks, or pieces of cheap beef in the bottom of the roasting pot.

Add everything else, layering as you go (up, dummy) and lightly salting each layer.

At this point, your roaster should full be right to the top. Add water (H2O) till the
water (H2O) is about half to 2/3rds to the top.

Put the lid on (this step has a serious DUH-factor).

Cook in oven for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours at 175 C (350 F).

Ummm, serve it up! You can make gravy with the juices if you'd like (damn, gotta do a gravy
making entry soon).

BONUS recipe: The next day, take all the leftovers and chuck them in the blender (add
more H2O (Water) if needed) and blend it till it's all liquified (I like that word: liquify It can mean so much to so few...). Heat it up and serve with fresh, homemade (homaid) bread (damn, gotta do a homaid (homemade) bread entry).

Do ya'll like my use of parenthesis? Comes from a programming background.

** I put a double asterisk so you'd notice. Don't worry you vegetarians, I've got several
coming up for you too so please stay tuned :)

*************************************************************************************

See? I was much more funny back then. And make some fresh bread to go along with this, you'll be happy.

You can obviously season it with whatever seasonings happens to tickle your taste buds that day, no worries.

Ratatouille with Fennel and Okra

And I served it with feta crumbled over the top and some grilled venison sausages w/okra on the side.

Plates were emptied! Quickly! Very very tasty.

Full disclosure: I've never made ratatouille until I made this. My first try I knocked out of the park!

I got the idea for making ratatouille from a great post at a wonderful food blog. She's a professional chef and teaches cooking classes full-time. Friendly and she answers comments and questions. You can find Helen at:

Beyond Salmon

and her ratatouille is here:

Beyond Salmon's Ratatouille

Go have a quick look and you'll see where I got the inspiration for my Ratatouille. I know that fennel isn't a common ingredient in Ratatouille but it's in season down here in South Oz and very inexpensive. Okra is in season here too, and it IS a staple veggie in Cajun cooking commonly used in gumbos.

And I do apologize for using canned corn. Fresh corn cobs are very pricey down here due to the 10 year ongoing drought. When you use canned corn make sure the ingredients are corn, water, salt. Nothing else. No chemical crap!

A quick word about fresh okra. When you are selecting okra to buy, you want to buy smaller rather than larger. The larger ones can have a "woody" texture. You also want to test a tip or two. If the tip snaps off then they are fresh. If it bends completely over, then that bin of okra is not very fresh. Here's what I mean:

Give the tip a little bend like this:




And the tip should snap off thusly if it is fresh:






Anyways, on with the recipe:


Fennel and Okra Ratatouille with Venison & Okra on the side

What you need:
One large fennel bulb
12 to 16 small, fresh okras
1 large onion, rough chopped
One 12 ounce can of corn kernels
2 or 3 cloves crushed garlic
1 large zucchini
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
sea salt
olive oil
a bit of crumbled feta

4 mini venison sausages (2 per person)
12 to 16 small, fresh okras --in addition to the ones going into the ratatouille
olive oil
sea salt
small handful fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves


What you do:

First, peel and slice the zucchini. Try to aim for 1/2 inch thick slices. Sprinkle the slices with sea salt, toss to coat, and let them set on paper towels for 15 minutes or so --this is to draw moisture out of the zucchini. I do this with eggplant, but it was the first time I'd done it with zucchini. Worked like a charm.

See? Have a look:




Prepare the okra: cut the tips and stems off, then cut each okra into 3 pieces. Don't worry about the sticky stuff as that is normal. Fry them up with a bit of olive oil for a minute or two so they are just browned. Set aside to drain and cool. This is what they look like before lightly frying:




Slice your fennel bulb into 1/4 inch thick slices. If you need to halve or even quarter it to facilitate the slicing then be all means go ahead and do that, no worries.









Now give your onion a rough chopping. Don't make the pieces small otherwise they'll be lost in the ratatouille.

By now the zucchini slices should have lost enough moisture. Give them a quick pat with paper towels and fry them in a bit of olive oil till the just start to brown. A minute or two each side should do the trick. Set them aside to drain.

In the same pot you'll be cooking the ratatouille (I recommend an enameled dutch oven) put the sliced fennel and chopped onion. A bit of olive oil and fry em up. You want the fennel and onion to just caramelize. Once they've caramelized then add the garlic, basil and rosemary; continue to fry for another 30 seconds.

Now you get to de-glaze the pot. Add the liquid from the can of corn to the pot and stir it around so the fennel and onion aren't stuck at all. Put the lid on and simmer on low for 5 minutes.

Add the can of tomatoes and the corn. Simmer for another ten minutes. Now add the zucchini and okra. Put the lid on and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and let it sit in the dutch oven while you get the sausages and the rest of the okra cooked.

If you want this dish totally vegetarian, then just don't use sausages at this point, no worries.

Hopefully your dutch oven should now look something similar to this:




Cut the rest of the okra into thirds, as you did for the ratatouille. Put the cut okra and the venison sausages into a wok with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle a bit of sea salt, and toss in the coriander leaves:




Fry it up till the sausages are done. Toss/stir regularly so nothing sticks. Once they are done you can plate it up!

Spoon the ratatouille onto a plate, sprinkle with crumbled feta, and put two sausages plus some fried okra onto the plate:




It's easier to make than it sounds and OH SO TASTY!

Again, a big thanks to Beyond Salmon for posting her wonderful ratatouille recipe and guidelines for making it! Thanks Helen!

Easy Beef Stroganoff

Beef stroganoff is perhaps one of the easiest and tastiest dishes you can make. The only slightly pricey part of it is the meat, but if you shop smartly you can still feed four people for around a buck-fifty a plate.

I had to do some substitutions from my usual stroggie recipe as I was out of tomato paste and fairly low on cream. But don't worry, I persevered and figured out some quick and easy subs. I'll tell you what they were in a minute.

This is my basic, standard stroggie recipe. Sometimes I "go above and beyond" it, other times I leave it as is. Last night was the "leave as is" as Wifey-Poo wasn't up for anything too spicy.


Easy Beef Stroganoff


What you need:

500 grams (a bit over a pound) of lean ground beef
1 onion
500 grams mushrooms --the more, the better!
1/2 cup tomato paste
3 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp paprika
sea salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups cream
1/4 cup sour cream


Substitutions:
I've used kangaroo, caribou, moose, or venison instead of beef --tasty!

I was out of tomato paste so I took 2 cups tomato puree and cooked it down till it was the consistency of tomato paste ---Ta-DA!

I also didn't have enough cream so I mixed full cream milk powder with an equal amount of water to make a nice, creamy milk slurry. Worked perfect.



What you do:

Brown the ground meat in a large skillet till it's half cooked. If you aren't using really lean meat then drain off some of the juices now. Add the onions and shrooms to the meat, sprinkle a bit of sea salt, and cook till the meat is done. By then the onions and shrooms will be done.

Add the tomato paste, dijon mustard, and the paprika. Give it a thorough stirring for a minute with the heat on low. Add the cream with the heat still on low. Stir it well to combine everything and let it simmer till the cream just starts to bubble. Turn the heat off and stir in the sour cream.

See? Wasn't that easy?

I served mine over pasta last night, specifically #56 fusilli. That means medium spirals. Very tasty, very easy, and it'll impress your friends.

Sautéed Onions with Chili and Garlic

This is a simple, wonderful topping for many things. They can, obviously, be put on a hot dog or burger, no worries. They make a great addition or topping to any omelet. Pile them on top of your nacho platter! Heck, I'm sure I could even incorporate them into sushi rolls!

The possibilities of uses are limitless. Provided, of course, you like onions, garlic and chillis.

A note about the chilli paste you'll be wanting to get: make sure that it is at least 90% chilli (and they should at least be as hot as Thai or African Bird's Eye) and the only other ingredients are water and salt. Well, there might be a preservative and a thickener in it... But nothing else!

What you need:

1 small onion, either rough chopped or cut into half rings
1 tbsp of chilli paste (or less if you are a wuss)
1 garlic clove, crushed
dash of sea salt
1 glass of chardonnay, or any white wine
a bit of olive oil


What you do:

Heat up a wok on medium/mediumhigh heat. Add a splash (like 1 tbsp) of olive oil to it. Just before the olive oil starts to smoke (like after around 45 seconds) toss in the onion, chilli paste, garlic and salt. Toss or stir constantly till the garlic juuuuuuust starts to brown and things start to think about sticking --this should only take 2 minutes at most. At that point, add a half glass of the chardonnay (the other half is for the cook) and give a quick stir to de-glaze the wok.

Cook it down till there's no liquid left BUT that the onions have not started to fry again.

Turn the heat off. Splat the onions over or in whatever you'll be having them over or in and ENJOY!

Mussels in a Creamy Garlic Sauce

This turned out soooooo good a few nights ago that I just had to share it all of you. It's fairly simple and oh so tasty.


What you need:
1 kilo of scrubbed, de-bearded mussels in their shell --I used New Zealand green-lipped
1 small onion, fine chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
1 cup of white wine --I used chardonnay
1/2 cup (or so) of water
1/2 cup of cream

What you do:
Put the onion and butter in a wok or a wide frypan. Saute for a few mins and then add the garlic. Cook for a minute or two, while stirring regularly. Add the white wine and the water, bring it up to a simmer and then add the mussels. Put on the lid.

Once the mussels have opened, remove them from the sauce and continue to simmer till the sauce is reduced by half. While the sauce is reducing, remove the steamed mussels from their shells --obviously, discard any that didn't open.

Once the sauce is reduced, put the mussel meat and the cream into the sauce. Cook till it's hot (should only take a minute or two) and then serve it up! I served this over some jasmine rice, but there is a lot that can be done with this for serving so use your imagination.

Oh, keep the shells. They are great for serving seafood type hors-dourves (how the heck is that spelled?) on. And they also make great spoons if you are having a south-pacific style feast.

Dingo Dave's Dangerously Hot Chili Sauce

Yes folks, I like chillis. I also spell chilli with two l's as that's how we spell it down here in Oz.

Have I mentioned I grow my own chillis? Well, I do grow them. I currently have 8 plants of an African Bird's Eye variety growing and I should have no problems keeping them through the winter (I haven't seen frost in Adelaide for 8 years now).

Normal Bird's Eye top out at around 200,000 scoville heat units (SHU) but I'm pretty sure these are in the 300,000 to 350,000 scu range. Why do I think that? Because I know how to properly grow chillis in pots so that you get maximum fruit and maximum amounts of capsaicin. And I've eaten a regular Habanero which tops out at 350,000 and these puppies are as hot as them.

Not as hot as the Red Savina Habanero and not near the famous Bhut Jolokia that tops out at over 1,000,000 SHU, but still pretty damned hot. BTW, I'll be getting some Bhut Jolokia seeds for next season... Wife thinks I'm crazy.

These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if you think a Jalapeno is hot, my chillis are 70 times hotter.

These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if you think Tabasco sauce is hot, my chillis are 70 times hotter than the original Tabasco sauce and 43 times hotter than their hottest sauce.

These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if a Cayenne chilli is toxic to your taste buds, my chillis are 7 times hotter.

These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if you a Thai chilli means instant death to your taste buds, my chillis are 3 and 1/2 times hotter.

For those of you with the guts (in every sense of the word) to read on, then please, by all means, READ ON!


Dingo Dave's Dangerously Hot Chili Sauce

I was going to wait to make this sauce till more of the chillis are completely red and half dried, but we had a big windstorm last night and two branches broke on one of the plants. Keep in mind that even in their green state these puppies are as hot as a Thai chilli.

What you need (besides a great love of chillis):

30 Habanero chillis --this is about the SHU equivalent of the variety of African Bird's Eye I grow
1/2 an onion, minced
5 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 tsp of each of the following powders: Cardamom, Ginger, Sumac, Coriander, Cumin
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp wasabi paste (the really hot green paste you get with sushi)
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil

1 to 2 cups red wine (I used a shiraz-cabernet)
1 cup water (the wet type, not the dehydrated type)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar


What you do:

Firstly, you need to snip the chilli fruit off your plants, or go to a shop and buy 30 Habaneros. If the wind broke some of your branches then it should go from this:


to this:




Please notice I left the "hats" on the chillis. Why? Because under the hat on chillis (eggplant too) is where the most tenderest, succulent part of the fruit is. That's also the area with lots of capsaicin in chilli fruit.



You'll notice I'm not wearing rubber gloves whilst handling the chillis. That is because I'm not a wuss. Although my wife thinks/knows it's cus I'm crazy.

Anyways, remove the hats from the chilli keeping as much fruit as possible:



And then rough chop them:




Now add all the ingredients EXCEPT the wine, water, vinegar to a saucepan. You'll notice I grouped those at the top of the ingredient list for your convenience; you're welcome. Make sure you add the seeds too!

Mix it well and then crank the heat up. Cook for around 5 mins while stirring often. The idea is to sear stuff without burning it. It should look something like this:


The above pic is after 2 mins. After 5 mins you'll notice some of the mix getting stuck to the pan. Once it starts to stick you should also notice the chillis, onion, and garlic are well-seared. Time to add the wine and the water!

So, add the wine and the water, stir well making sure you scrape the pot so everything is incorporated into the liquid. Simmer the pot till the liquid is reduced by at least 3/4 and then add the vinegar. Turn the heat off and let it cool.

Add the whole mix to a blender and blend for a few mins so that every little bit of chilli, onion, and garlic are pureed. Put the mix back in the pot and simmer to reduce the liquid by 1/4.

Your saucepan should now look like this:




TADA! Done! Now just pour it into a jar you've disinfected, cap it, and refridgerate. Use when needed. It ages quite well and gets smoother over a couple of weeks. No preservatives are needed, I seriously doubt anything has the temerity to grow in it.

Enjoy!

Oh, btw... chilli enthusiasts (snobs) are constantly debating the heat and taxonomy of various chillis so if you think that African Bird's Eye can't get as hot as a regular Habanero then I say you are mistaken. My opinion, and I'm sticking to it.

Greek Spinach Salad

Gee, this doesn't sound very Polynesian, does it? That's cus it's not. I figured we'll go take a quick detour over to the Aegean Sea and see what's cooking. Also I don't think too many folk like my Polynesian dishes, oh well.

UPDATE
To make this into a Vegetarian dish just don't use the bacon, no worries.
END UPDATE

This salad is by no means "traditional" Greek food, it's just something I make when baby spinach is in season using Greek seasonings and such.

You can vary the amounts if you'd like, no worries. Also this salad can easily be a meal by itself. This is good for side salad for four, or one person can use this as a meal themselves --as I've been known to do.

What you need:

6 cups fresh baby spinach, NOT packed down
1/2 of a small onion
2 rashers of bacon --or 4 US sized slices
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried mint
1/4 cup rough chopped kalamata olives
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese


What you do:

Thin slice the half onion. Get the slices as thin as you can; yes you can cheat and use a food processor if you can't shave an onion with a knife. Place the shaved onion in a bowl and add the lemon juice, salt, black pepper, oregano, and mint. Give it a good stir so the onions pick up that lemony goodness. Then let it sit for an hour.

tick

tock

While the onions are marinating, chop up the bacon rashers. Whatever size bacon pieces you'd like. I usually cut mine to around 3/4 of an inch before cooking. Cook the bacon pieces to your liking --extra crisy or just done, your choice. Drain the cooked bacon and set aside to cool. You don't need the drained bacon fat for this recipe, but I'm sure you'll want to keep it for future use.

After an hour...

Rinse and drain the spinach well. Put it into a large salad bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, toss in the onions WITH their marinade, add the olives and the feta. Mix well. Remember, some of the little tiny bits will end up at the bottom of the salad bowl so make sure you scoop from the bottom.

I do believe the next recipe *could* be for spanakopita, but no promises.

Chili Cherry Chutney

There are literally an infinite numbers of chutney recipes. You can pretty much do anything with a chutney you'd like.

Now, some chutney enthusiasts insist on a few certain ingredients and a specific way of making said chutney.

This. Recipe. Is. NOT. For. Those. Folks.

This is one you can make easily and only has a few things in it. I came up with it after we came back from Belair with 2.5 kilos of fresh, wild, tart, just barely ripe cherries. I was planning on making cherry syrup and cherry jam only. However, I kept back a couple of ladles of the syrup to experiment with... This was then born:

Dingo Dave's Excellent Chilli Cherry Chutney.

I've reconfigured the amounts --are YOU really gonna have access to five and a half pounds of cherries? Thought not. This should be sufficient make a chutney that'll fill a small salsa sized jar, about two cups.

Here's what you need:

200 grams fresh, tart cherries
1 cup of raw sugar
2 to 4 cups water
1 or 2 fresh Thai chilli peppers (them little, red, skinny ones that are about 2 inches long and are really really really hot)
small handful of finely minced onion
1 clove of crushed garlic (or 1 tsp of prepared garlic)


Here's what you do:

Give the cherries a good rinse and remove the stems. Give each cherry a quick slice partway through --don't pit them, just give each one a little slice so that as they cook all the cherry goodness is released.

Put the cherries and the sugar in a stainless steel saucepan and then add enough water to cover the cherries plus about an extra inch of water for cooking down.

Cover the saucepan and put it on low heat. Give it a stir every 5 minutes of so. If the water has cooked down the the cherries haven't turned to pulp, then just add a bit more water. This'll take 20 to 40 mins depending on your stove-top. You should end up with around 2 cups of really good tasting cherry syrup.

Now you get to strain it! This is a lot easier than you think. Pour the liquid, pulp, and pits into a fine metal seive --Ummmmm,make sure it's over a bowl cus the syrup in what you want! Now instead of trying to use a spatula or spoon, just put your fingertips into the pulp and pits and start stirring it around in the seive with your fingertips juuuuuust grazing the seive. Waa-La! 20 seconds later all the syrup is extracted from the pulp and pits.

This cherry syrup also makes a great ice cream topping, but we're gonna add some goodies to it!

Slice each chili pepper in half lengthwise and remove the seeds (but don't toss them out). Finely mince the chilli pepper flesh and then add them and the whole seeds to the cherry syrup. Add the minced onion and the garlic. Give it a good stir and let it sit while you sterilise your jar and lid.

I usually just use boiling water to sterilise my storage jars. It's, ummmm, not difficult.

Once the jar (and lid) have been out of the boiling water long enough for you to handle the glass with your hands (but still pretty warm), it's then a good time to pour the chutney in. Make sure you seal the jar tightly!

In about 30 minutes the sealed jar should be cool enough to put in the fridge --NOTE: if you are doing this in the aussie summer heat you'll put it in the fridge but if you are anywhere else just put in it your pantry.

Put it waaaaaaaay in the back and forget about it for a month.

After a month, this will taste soooooo good! You can dip crackers in it, potato chips, pappadams, corn chips or whatever. Pour it onto your morning toast! Guaranteed to wake you up.

Once you've opened it, then make sure you refrigerate it (if you don't polish the whole thing off in one sitting.

It also makes a great marinade for roasts, chickens, lamb, fish, whatever. Just remember to keep it covered in the cus the sugar will caramelise and you don't want it to burn.

THIS IS NOT A JOKE POST! THIS IS GREAT STUFF! Trust me, eh?

Cheesy Steamed Cauliflower

This is a main dish. Yes, that's right. It'll feed 3 hungry adults --provided they all like cauliflower, of course. It's dead easy to make and is quick. Heck, I'll bet even Ishmael could make it (but I doubt he'd eat it).

Here's what u knead:


one big ole cauliflower
1 litre full cream milk
1/2 cup cream
1 cup white wine
salt
ground white pepper
2 to 3 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup minced onion
corn flour (corn starch for you yanks)

What to due:

Cut the cauliflower up into large sized chunks --depends on the size of your steamer, the chunks should be as big as you can make them and still fit into the steamer. Don't forget to steam the greens too, very tasty and nutritious!

They'll need to steam for a good 30 mins and the sauce only takes 10 mins. That'll give you an idea of when to start the sauce. The sauce really makes this dish, yum!

Put the milk, cream, and white wine in a large saucepan heat it slowly. Keep the flame low as you don't want to scald the cream, but you should be able to get it bubbling without burning it. Add 1/2 tsp sea salt, and a few good shakes to white pepper --this is to YOUR taste.

Once the sauce in simmering, start sprinkling in the corn starch (corn flour for you Aussies) while whisking like crazy. Once the sauce is as thick as you like it (it should be fairly thin for this so that it soaks into the cauliflower) then add the minced onion and the CHEESE. Mmmmmmmm, cheese... drooooo-al...

Turn the heat off the sauce and let it sit for a few mins while you plate up the big cauliflower chunks. Liberally ladle the sauce over the cauliflower and use some process to get the food from your plate into your stomach.

Options:
Use a beer instead of the white wine
Use some cayenne powder
Use some garlic
Use some bleu cheese along with the cheddar
Parmesan along with the cheddar works well too
Serve with piping hot, soft, fresh, homemade bread (with lots of butter)

Mmmmmmmm

Sweet And Spicy Cabbage

Whoa, hold on a minute. Just cus I can hear the groans from way down in Oz doesn't mean it's not good! In fact, it's very good. Well, at least to me it is.

As many of you are aware, I tend to experiment a bit. Sometimes in the kitchen even! Most of the kitchen experiments are pretty successful, once in a while something bombs totally, and once in a while something is awesome (like the special meat balls last night).

This one is one of the awesome ones. Provided, of course, that you like cabbage and spicy food. Otherwise, I don't think you'll enjoy this.

But if you're brave and like spicy food and cabbage, then read on.

This whole thing started when I noticed that I had some leftover cabbage the other day (just steamed a bunch, it was very mad) and I didn't want it to go to waste. Hmmmm, I'll just thin slice it (shred) and marinate it in *something* to have on the side tonight with the fish stir-fry.

6 hours go by while the shredded cabbage marinates...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Well, that sure didn't "take" the flavors well. Let me add some more sugar and then simmer the mess.

simmer

simmer

simmer

Ah, ready to have as a side dish!

Not ultra yummy, but tasty.


*The next morning*

*picture dave staggering down the stairs in his robe*

*to feed the birds*

*and the cat*

*dave is hungry*

What's this? Some leftover cabbage! Well, the spices will help clear the sinuses.

*Eat*

WOW!

*Eat some more*

WOW!!!! That's great! Now I just need to remember how I made it...

Which brings us to:

Dingo Dave's Sweet and Spicy Cabbage

Please note that this is a very ad hoc recipe...

What you need:

1/8 (or so) of a cabbage head, shredded
1/4 cup very thin sliced red onion
1/2 cup fermented white vinegar (never use distilled, I took organic chem and I know where the distilled garbage comes from)
1 cup white wine vinegar
3 or 4 cups haitch-too-o (water)
2 tsp grated ginger
2 cloves crushed garlic (or 2 tbsp of the jarred stuff)
1 to 4 tsp chil(l)i flakes (just how hot do you like it?)
1 cup raw sugar

What you do:

This is so easy. Even you blokes or blokettes that can't cook can do this!

Put everything EXCEPT THE CABBAGE AND THE ONION in a saucepan. Whisk the heck out of it so the sugar is dissolved. Crank on the burner and simmer for 15 mins (stir it once in a while, eh) and then let take it off the heat. Toss in the cabbage and onion, cover, and let it sit for a few hours.

A few hours later, turn the heat back on. Boil it till there's almost no liquid left. Strain off the liquid. Let the cabbage and onion cool, then cover and toss that puppy in the fridge till the next day (or even two).

If you like spicy and if you like cabbage, then this is awesomely good!

Seafood Chowder

This may seem to be a fairly simple menu item, but no matter how you make your chowder and whatever you put into it (clams, prawns (shrimp), crab, fish chunks, mussels, etc) there are a couple of very important techniques to getting it right.

For those of you in the US who make your own New England Clam Chowder, you'll feel right at home with this.

There are also many many different ingredients you can use. I'm going to give you the recipe as I made it two nights ago, and then give you a bunch of different things you can use/substitute. That way no matter where in the world you are and no matter what local ingredients you can lay your hands on, you'll always be able to make Dingo Dave's Seafood Chowder!

Oh, I tend to make it slightly different each time, depending on what I have in the pantry and the freezer that day or what was fresh at the fish shop that morning. So there's no real hard and fast rule, except for a couple of techniques.

On with the show!

Dingo Dave's Seafood Chowder

What you need:
2 or 3 rashers of bacon cut into small pieces
bacon fat from the above bacon (this is IMPORTANT)
1 can (400 mls or about 14 oz) coconut cream
200 gms small whole prawns (1/2 pound small shrimp) with the shells on
1 litre seafood stock (made from the above prawn shells)
1 whitefish fillet cut into small chunks (I used hoki)
small can of crab meat (or fresh if you've got it)
1/2 to 1 litre milk (2 to 4 cups)
a small minced (or diced) onion
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
3 or 4 small diced potatoes
sea salt
ground black pepper
ground white pepper
1 tbsp dried basil
1/4 cup flour
a couple of litres of H-TWO-OH(water)

What you due:

Firstly, make the seafood stock (start this a few hours before you want to make the chowder). To make it you'll need to peel and devein the prawns. Toss the veins (alimentary tract, ahem...) but keep the heads, shells, legs etc and throw them in a big ole saucepan. Add a litre (4 cups) of water and boil the heck out of it. Once it's almost boiled down, add another litre of water and boil for a short time. Let cool. Take a potato masher and mash down the shells --this is to extract every bit of flavourful prawny goodness from the shells. Strain the stock (this is IMPORTANT). Save the stock, dump the shells.

Ok, your seafood stock is made, no worries.

Now for the nuts and bolts.

Cook the bacon pieces in the pot you plan to make the chowder in (use a low flame). Once the bacon is done to your liking (crispy or not, your call), remove the bacon but LEAVE THE BACON FAT IN THE POT. Add the diced potatoes to the pot, and cook in the bacon fat for a few mins; stir regularly. After a couple of mins, add the minced onion, some salt, some ground black (or white) pepper and a bit of dried basil. Stir it around. You should have some very nice aromas by now; just keep the heat low so nothing burns. Add the flour and mix well.

Yes, you'll have some browned on gunky looking stuff in the pot along with the spuds and onions. Don't worry, you're about to take care of that.

Now add the seafood stock you made earlier in the day. Give everything a good stir and use your wooden spoon to scrap the bottom and sides of the pot. Ain't deglazing pots great? Very flavourful. Oh, and, ummmmm, it's a FRENCH cooking technique!

Now add the coconut cream and about 1/2 litre of milk (2 cups). Let it simmer for a few mins.

While that's simmering, you get to sear the spices and seafood.

I use a wok, but feel free to use a saucepan if you'd like.

To the wok add the olive oil, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, fish chunks, crab meat, prawn (shrimp) meat. Crank the heat to HIGH and sear that stuff while tossing/stirring regularly. It'll only take 2 to 3 mins.

Dump the entire contents of the wok into the chowder pot. Also add the bacon pieces. This is the point where you can add more milk if you think the chowder is too thick. I, however, feel that chowder can never be too thick --but that's just me.

Let it simmer for a couple of mins, then serve it up! Have a fresh made loaf of bread or a fresh cobb or a fresh baguette around for dunkers.

This is seriously good!

And now for the substitutions and garnishes!

Well, most of you may not want to make your own fish stock. I can respect that, really! So get a bottle of clam juice instead. Oi! Can't find clam juice, use white wine! Don't drink? Don't worry, the alcohol will cook off.

Fake crab can be subbed for crab meat, no worries.

If you sub clams for the prawns, then DON'T sear them and only add them to the chowder in the last couple of minutes --otherwise they'll be really tough and chewy.

Don't like coconut (heathen scum)? No worries, just use milk cream instead.

Allergic to lactose? Well... this really isn't the recipe for you, sorry.

Garnish with any herbs you want, just make sure they are fresh; chives, basil, parsley, coriander (cilantro if you are in N.A.) etc.

Want it spicy? Add a tbsp or two of vindaloo paste to the wok when you sear the seafood and spices. Oh YEAH! That'll get them capillaries dilated!

Beef Soup

Sometimes even the simplest recipes can be the best. This is one of those times. You may not realise this, but I tend to cook without recipes. Now, I do have a very good idea of where I'm going with a dish, what food/herb/spices goes well with whatever, what technique works with what type of meat or veggie or fruit, etc. Around 75% of the time, it's turns out great and everyone enjoys it. Perhaps 20% it's a so-so, but plates and bowls are still empty. The remaining 5% is split between, "let's not have that again", and "HOLY SHIT! This is the best darned thing I've ever tasted! Whatever you did write it down so you don't forget cus we all want to have this every meal for the next century!!!"

This soup dish fell into the final category. *pat, pat, patting myself on back*

It involved a bit of leftover too. I'm very good with leftovers. If I was on Iron Chef and Chairman Kaga announced the theme ingredient of Leftovers, then I'd blow them all away! I'd even take them all on at once! Ha! It's gotten to the point where I actually plan for leftovers and have sorta figured out what I'll do with them for lunch the next day. Like this morning, for example. Had some leftover mashed spuds and some leftover sugared carrots. Hmmmmmm, add some bread crumbs, an egg, some seasonings, mix it all together and form into patties. Fry in leftover bacon fat. TaDa: great potato cakes!

Meat is also hard for me cus I've got to make it so my MIL can eat it (and like it too). Hmmmm, 80 yrs old, suffering from Crohn's Disease for the last 60 years (had 5 operations in her twenties and don't have much guts left), not many molars left, and her medications makes her taste buds have wild moods swings. For instance; she's loved lamb her whole life, then about a year ago she said she can't stand the taste of it no matter what is done. Sigh... Beef is even harder cus she loves the taste, but it has to be cooked very carefully for her so that's it's very tender. Needless to say, grilled steaks are out for her (but not for me!). Fish is no problem for her, but shellfish has to be cooked certain ways for her. Even chicken has to be cooked carefully for her... But at least I've gotten them to like spices! Keep in mind, these people used to have seizures if more than one small grind of pepper was put into 2 gallons of soup.

Now, since this post is titled Beef Soup, can you guess which type of land-based protein critter is to be used????? Yup, it's BEEF. All of our really tender good beef is very very very very expensive, so we buy cheap cuts and then I get creative.

To get the beef tender enough for her and for the onions to really "cook in" I knew I'd need to start this soup about lunchtime. Fortunately, it's like maybe 5 mins of work every couple of hours.

Here's what you need:

4 small, tough, cheap, possibly inedible, beef rump steaks
1 leftover baked potato
1 medium onion (rough chopped)
2 fresh carrots (diced)
lots of water
3 bay leaves
2 tbsp dried basil
2 tbsp dried oregano
lots of salt
1 to 2 tsp ground black pepper
bacon fat
2 potatoes (peeled and diced)
1/4 cup unbleached flour
one really big pot with a lid
a wok
wooden spoon for stirring
some sort of heat producing device, I recommend the side burner of your gas grill
fresh baked cobb for dunkers
bowls
spoons
serviettes (napkins to you US'ns)
table
chairs

Well, those last ten you can probably figure out on your own, I guess.

What you do:

Cube the beef. Try to trim off as much of the grisle and fat as you can. The cubes should be the size of small dice. Heat half (about 2 tbsp) the bacon fat in your big soup pot, and add the cubed beef in just BEFORE the bacon fat starts to smoke. Fry it up for a minute or two, turning frequently so all sides of the cubes are well browned. Yes, you'll have some stuff start to stick to your soup pot but don't worry.

Now add a couple of cups of water. Stir well while using your wooden spoon to scrap all the really good tasting bits off the bottom of the pot. Once that is done, fill the pot to 3/4 full and turn the heat down waaaaaaay low. Add the rough chopped onions, the bay leaves, basil, oregano, pepper, some salt (you can always add more later). 

Put the lid on it and go away for an hour. This may be a good time to take a nap :)

After an hour, top up the water level to 3/4 and give the broth a taste. Add more salt if needed and whatever other seasoning you think may help. Add the diced carrot it.

Put the lid on it and go away for another hour. Hmmmm, time for another nap perhaps?

Oh yeah: if you didn't make a fresh cobb pull-apart loaf of bread this morning, then you really should have started that BEFORE you took your FIRST nap.

After the next hour, skin the leftover roast spud and chop it up finely. Add to the soup, and top the water back up to 3/4 of the pot. Taste the broth, and adjust the seasonings. Dig out the 3 bay leaves and chuck em. Turn the heat off and let it sit for an hour COVERED.

After that third hour (and another nap???), heat the rest of the bacon fat (about 2 tbsp) in a wok and add the diced potato. Fry and toss for around two mins. Then sprinkle with the flour, stir it around, and add to the soup. Put the soup pot back on low heat for 30 mins.

Serve that sucker up in some LARGE bowls cus I can tell you everyone will want lots and lots. Fresh bread for dunkers!

This is really good, I'm not joking.

Onion Rings

I was thinking about starting a series of posts about pickling and drying, but I first decided to talk about one of THE BEST deep fried foods ever: The humble onion ring. I was reminded about onion rings not only from last weeks' post about deep frying, but from the death of a canoe story on my other blog.

There was, and I really hope it's still there, a restaurant in Los Anchorage called The Arctic RoadRunner.  They made great cheeseburgers and the worlds best onion rings.

I hope they are still there...

Anyways, I make my own onion rings. You can use batter if you'd like, but it doesn't stick to the rings very well and the oil gets in. So use breading! Many folks use buttermilk before dredging in the breading mix.



But there's a better way



Dingo Dave's Onion Rings:

What U Knead:

3 good sized onions (what? aren't you having company to enjoy these?)
2 cups flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp of cayenne powder (or less or more, your choice)
1 tsp mild paprika

and the secret... 2 cups of plain yog(h)urt

Don't worry if you don't like yoghurt, you won't even notice it's there. But it makes the breading stick GREAT and absolutely no oil gets into your onion rings.


What u due:

I think you can figure this out, but I'll go through it anyways. Slice the onions into rings (see, I told you you coulda figured it out). Mix all the dry ingredients. Give the yog(h)urt a good stir so it's not lumpy. Drag the rings through the yog(h)urt and then dredge in the flour mix. Notice how the breading REALLY stays on?

Deep fry in hot oil for 2 to 3 mins only, won't take long at all.

Now here's the really easy part: EAT THEM! Oh, they are best had with a light, hoppy, lager on a hot day.

enjoy


Oh wait, I just gotta tell you about my lunch today. Here's what I had:

sushi
cocktail prawns (shrimp)
dolmades
chilli marinated New Zealand Green-Lipped Mussels
fried squid rings
battered fish
veggie egg rolls (healthy!)
sliced roast beef w/horseradish (not sauce, pure horseradish)
honey chicken
sweet and sour pork

and for dessert:
chocolate truffles
chocolate mousse
banana cake
profiterolles

I then took a two hour nap, and am NOT planning on having any dinner tonight.