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Woot! I'm back baby! Picked up my laptop from the apple store today after hearing good news from Genius Simon that it was back up and running.

I've been trying a whole lot of recipes from the Masterchef website. Not always the ones they feature on the show, but also the ones the sponsors put up. And now that I have my own kitchen, I can cook whatever I want, and as many meatballs as I want! Om... ah nom nom nom nom!!



I had never made meatball mix with stock before. I was a little hesitant at first wondering if the mixture would even combine with liquid. But the breadcrumbs did an excellent job of soaking them up. For a mixture with not that many ingredients, it should did smell fantastic as I was rolling them into little balls of delicious-ness.

The end result, juicy, flavoursome packed meatballs, with pasta and a rich tomato sauce, all in done in less than an hour.


3. Stir in risoni & tomatoes. Cook for 8 mins, uncovered, stirring occasionally, or until pasta is al dente. Garnish with parsley & serve with steamed vegetables and parmesan.

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This week's cookbook challenge almost didn't happen. Hamsley and I have been busy looking at places to live, and buying stuff for the move. This week was full of pushy real estate agents and it all became very draining; I just wasn't in the mood for cooking. I then decided I'd just do something simple to get my obligatory blog post for the week done, but Hamsley wasn't too happy with that, so he raided my book shelf and flicked through trying to find something to suit the red theme.

I must admit, it was nice of him to be so enthusiastic, and seeing him drowning in cookbooks brought a smile to my face after such a hectic week. It was a toss up between soup, beef and red wine pies, or this dish. This dish ended up winning and we cooked it up today for lunch after checking out the local trash and treasure market.

It was relatively easy to make. Hamsley helped cut everything up and we watched the calzone episode of Seinfeld whilst it simmered away. This was meant to be served with parsley rice but I served it with pasta instead. It was quite like a beef stroganoff but with tomato.
Hint: Don't season the dish until after you have added the sour cream.

The move will be happening next month, hence why I have not been blogging so much, and whilst I won't be until I'm all settled in. I need to reply to comments left by gorgeous people such as yourself, but I'll see you again next week for the cookbook challenge... and maybe a review of my birthday dinner which will be happening on Tuesday. I'll be turning a quarter of a century!

Thanks to Hamsley for making this week's cookbook challenge happen!

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I didn't have any ground bean sauce. I looked in 3 different supermarkets and an Asian grocery store. So we settled on a black bean and garlic sauce. Luckily for me, it tasted fantastic, and Hamsely was most impressed!

Aromatic Vietnamese Beef Curry
Australian Women's Weekly
2 tablespoons peanut oil
800g beef strips
1 medium brown onion (150g), chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 fresh long red chilli, chopped finely
10cm stick fresh lemon grass (20g) chopped finely
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
4 cardamon pods, bruised
350g snake beans, cut into 4cm lengths
2 tablespoons ground bean sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh corriander
1/2 cup (40g) toasted almond flakes


1. Heat half of the oil in wok; stir-fry beef, in batches, until browned. Cover to keep warm.


2. Heat remaining oil in wok; stir-fry onion until soft. Add garlic, chilli, lemon grass, star anise, cinnamon, cardamon and beans; stir-fry until beans are tender. Discard star anise, cinnamon and cardamon.


3. Return beef to wok with sauces; stir-fry until heated through. Remove from heat, stir in coriander and nuts.


Serves 4.

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I know I'm meant to be using a variety of my cookbooks for the cookbook challenge... but I seem to have used this particular book about 3 times now or so. It's not my fault there are so many delicious things in there I want to make. And the worst part is, Hamsley introduced me to Book Depository, and it's sooooo incredibly cheap (better than Fish Pond).
So I know some of you are sitting there thinking..."raspberries AND beef.... TOGETHER?? Has she lost the plot???"
Truth be told, I have not lost the plot, and if Valli Little think the two of them go well together, then who am I to doubt her? 

Turns out it was a delicious combination! It really worked well with the mashed potato. I don't think it would have been as nice with rice or pasta. The raspberries added a nice sweet taste to match the richness of the eye fillet. 
After we all got used to the idea of raspberries and beef; most of us kept adding more raspberry sauce to our plates. There were a few jokes as the mashed potato looked like cream, and dad would say "please pass the raspberry jam"; I asked my aunty if she brought the scones over.

I'll definitely make it again!

A few reasons why my photos don't look as good as in the book:
- Mum pre-sliced the eye-fillet before I could stop her
- Mum insisited I add a couple of frozen raspberries when garnishing for the photo despite my cries of "BUT THEY LOOK FROZEN!!"
- I didn't serve with green beans, but with a nice garden salad instead
- I cooked double quantity as we had extra people over, and my raspberry sauce somehow ended up looking more like a raspberry thick shake (still damn tasty though)

Get your hands on:
1 tablespoon olive oil
10g unsalted butter
4 x 180g beef eye fillet steaks
1 cup (250ml) red wine
2 tablespoons caster sugar
250g raspberries
1 cup (250ml) good-quality beef stock
3 tablespoon creme fraiche or sour cream

Serve it with:
Potato mash
Steamed green beans

1. Place the oil and butter in a frypan over high heat. Season the steaks with salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until browned and cooked to medium-rare (or until done to your liking). Transfer to a plate, cover loosely with foil and set aside while you make the sauce.

2. Return the pan to medium heat and add the red wine, sugar and most of the raspberries (reserving about 1/2 cup to garnish). Cook, stiring for 2-3 minutes until the fruit has broken down. Add the stock and cook for 3-4 minutes until syrupy. Whisk in the cream fraiche or sour cream and season to taste.

3. Strain the sauce, discarding the soilds, and return to the pan. Add any beef resting juices and the reserved berries to the pan and stir until heated through.

4. Serve the steaks on potato mas and green beans, drizzled with the raspberry sauce.

Serves 4.

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Because I'm a nuff nuff and had an extreme weekend of cooking, I stupidly formated my memory card before my Christmas luncheon which contained prized photos of my moussaka that I made for this week's cooking challenge. The best I could do was scan the photo from the book, so this is what is kinda looked like:

How could I not cook from one of George's books for Greek week?
Hamsley will often blurt out "Moooooooosaka"... so I though I'd shut him up and make moussaka.
What a weekend to make it on though, I have never spent as much time in the kitchen as I did this past weekend. Saturday night my ankles were throbbing due to all the preparation for the annual Christmas luncheon with my friends. A post to come on that soon... if I don't format my memory card again by accident!

The moussaka was relatively easy to make. The recipe was set out very simply, step by step; so I was never lost on what I should be doing. It was my first attempt at making a béchamel sauce, and man it was an effort; lots and lots of stirring. My arms were a little more buffed after my béchamel work out.

The easiest way to describe moussaka is, it's a Greek lasagna. Instead of pasta, you have eggplant and potato. We all thought this recipe could have used more meat, but the overall flavour was delicious. You could definitely taste the cinnamon, and the other herbs. A real comfort food / wintery dish.

Moussaka
George Calombaris

1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely dice
1 tablespoon lemon thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped
300g (10 1/2oz) lamb mince
100g (3 1/2oz) pork mince
100g (3 1/2oz) veal mince
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cinnamon quills
250g (1 3/4oz) crushed tomatoes
Salt, to taste
2 eggplants (aubergine), sliced 1cm (1/2 inch) thick
3 medium-sized potatoes, sliced 1cm (1/2 inch) thick

Béchamel
100g (3 1/2oz) butter
100g (3 1/2oz) flour
600ml (25fl oz) milk
3 eggs, beaten
100g (3 1/2oz) grated keflagraniera cheese (I just used tasty cheese)

Meat Sauce:
1. Saute diced onion, garlic, lemon thyme and rosemary until soft, add all mince and brown.
2. Add tomato paste, cinnamon quills and crused tomatoes reduce to a low heat and simmer for 1 hour. Season to taste.
3. Brush eggplant and potatoes with olive oil and either grill on barbecue or pan fry until tender. (I just grilled mine under the grill).

Béchamel:
1. Melt butter in a heavy based saucepan.
2. Add flour, stir on a low heat for 2 minutes.
3. Slowly add warm milk, continuously stirring until thick. Cover with lid and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
4. Whisk in beaten eggs and keflagraniera cheese, season to taste.


Assemble:
1. Oil casserole dish and lay eggplant over bottom. Then add a layer of meat sauce. Arrange potato slices over meat sauce then over with the béchamel.
2. Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes at 200°C (400°F, Gas Mark 6) until golden brown and béchamel has set.

Serves 4.

Voila! Bon Appétit!

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With the lead up to Christmas, life has been extra crazy! I woke up extra early today for some reason, and with time to kill before work, I thought I'd do a quick post.
We made these pies last weekend for dinner from Donna Hay's; No Time To Cook, cookbook.

They were fairly simple to make, but we forgot to read the part about having to cook the meat for an hour. Luckily mum suggested we start cooking a little bit earlier than we anticipated, and dinner was served at a reasonable hour.

The pies were fantastic! Full of flavour, and you could really taste the beer. We just got a $2 beer from the bottle-o, instead of a nice boutique beer.
The meat was so tender, and the shortcrust pastry was nice instead of the usual puff pastry.

The recipe makes 6 pies, so there are freezing instructions listed below should you want to have some on hand for those nights you can't be bothered cooking!

 Beef and Beer Individual Pies

2 tablespoons olive oil
1kg chuck steak, cubed
2 brown onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
375ml beer
2 cups (500ml) beef stock
8 chat (baby) potatoes, quartered or 3 normal size potatoes, largely cubed
2 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons water
1 cup (120g) fresh or frozen peas
2 sheets (25cm x 25cm) store-bought shortcrust pastry
beaten egg, for brushing

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add beef and cook, in batches, until well browned. Remove beed using a slotted spoon and set aside. Add garlic, onion, thyme and bay leaves and cook for 3 minutes or until onion is soft. Add beer and cook for 2 minutes to reduce slightly. Return beef to the pan and add stock and potatoes. Cover pan, reduce heat and simmer gently for 1 hour, or until beef is tender.

2. Combine water and cornflour, stir into the beef mixture for 3 mintues or until sauce thickens.

3. Remove from heat, add peas and cool the mixture slightly before dividing amount 6 x 330ml capacity ramekins or pie dishes.

4. Preheat the oven to 200°. Cut pastry lids to fit ramekins, place on top of pies and brush with egg. Bake pies for 20 minutes or until pastry is lightly golden.

To freeze, wrap the pie dishes in layers of baking paper, plastic wrap and aluminium foil to seal. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Recipe makes 6.

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It's another meatball curry!
I ❤ meatballs.
I ❤ curry.
I found another recipe to combine the two, and this time it has a Thai twist.

So simple to make, so tasty. I amazed myself with how delicious these were.
It just proves, you don't need to have pasta in a napoli sauce to enjoy a good, old fashioned ball of meat!

Red Curry with Meatballs

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
2-3 tablspoons Thai red curry paste
400ml can coconut milk
1 long red and 1 long green chilli, seeds removed, thinly sliced, plus extra to serve
3 spring onions, thinly sliced, plus extra to serve
1 lemongrass stem (pale part only), finely chopped
Juice f 2 limes, plus wedges to serve
1/2 cup (60g) almond meal
Steamed rice, to serve

Meatballs
500g lean beef mince
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 lemongrass stem (pale part only), finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander, plus extra to serve
2 tablespoons finely grated ginger
Grated zest and juice of 1 lime
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten

1. For the meatballs, place all ingredients in a large bowl, season, then use your hands to mix together until will combined. With slightly wet hands, form into about 20 walnut size balls. Chill for 15 minutes.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large, deep frypan over medium heat. Cook the meatballs, in 2 batches, for 10-12 minutes until browned and cooked through. Remove. Set aside.

3. Wide the pan clean, then heat remaining oil over medium-low heat. Add capsicum and cook for 2-3 minutes until softened, then add curry paste and stir for a further minute until fragrant.

4. Stir in coconut milk, chilli, spring onion, lemongrass, lime juice and almond meal. Simmer for 2-3 minutes until slightly reduced and thickened.
5. Return meatballs to curry sauce, stirring gently to coat, then place over a low heat for 1-2 minutes to heat through.

6. Scatter curry with corriander, chilli and spring onion. Serve with rice and lime.

Serves 4.

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For those of us following Masterchef in Australia, you would have been familiar with the "Guess the ingredients in the bolognaise" challenge where the vegetarian cook cried because she didn't want to have to taste it to guess what was in it.

There were 17 ingredients they had to guess, by both smelling and tasting the sauce. Once all the ingredients were revealed, there were some things I would have never considered putting in a bolognaise sauce. I've been hanging out to try it since I saw it, and I finally made time to make it.
I also made a tarte tatin that was in one of the pressure test challenges, so I had a very Masterchef inspired night! Photos of that in my next post!

It is definitely a more interesting sauce than what I'm used to. We could all pick up different flavours. For me the cinnamon stood out, for my mum she could really pick the bayleaf, for Rob, it was more the cloves. I should have added more nutmeg, but overall it was quite a lovely sauce.

George Calombaris' "Best Bolognaise Sauce"
An adaption by "Stephsmail" on the Masterchef forums (Thank you!)

a good splash of olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
300g minced beef
300g minced pork
300g minced veal
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 cups white wine
2 heaped teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 heaped teaspoons ground cinnamon
5 bayleaves
5 cloves
425g tin crushed tomatoes
200g tomato paste
salt to taste
pepper to taste

1. Put olive oil in a large hot saucepan. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook for a few minutes.

2. Add the beef, pork and veal and cook until browned. Add the carrots and celery. Add the white wine.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer over a low heat for as long as possible.
I left mine over night off the heat to develop more flavour, and slow cooked it for about 2 hours before serving.

Serves 5.

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I LOVE my pasta. Hence why my waistline isn't what I'd like it to be, but as my aunty once said "I'm here for a good time, not a long time", so I'll enjoy my pasta and then go work some of it off at the gym.

So it's no surprise I wanted to try this recipe from the latest Donna Hay magazine.
I haven't used eggplant before believe it or not! Was never really a fan, but since starting cooking, I've been eager to try new flavours and all the things I've been missing out on!

I couldn't find any pappardelle pasta, so I settled on curly fettuccine. It almost looks like squid instead of pasta!

So I peeled the eggplant and was starting to chop it up when my dad comes over and goes "What's THAT?!" I couldn't help but laugh because I also thought it looked weird when it was naked, almost like a melon or something!

The sauce didn't taste all that fantastic, so I seasoned it with salt, pepper and sugar. It was still a bit runny and didn't look that great to I added in a tub of tomato paste and BAM! It looked much better and tasted amazing!

The torn bocconcini and basil add a lovely finishing touch. Better than your average bolognese. Luckily there were leftovers so I can enjoy it again today!


Eggplant and Beef Bolognese
Donna Hay with alterations by Iron Chef Shellie

400g pappardelle pasta, or fettuccine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 eggplant, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
500g beef mince
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
1 tub tomato paste
1/2 cup basil leaves
240g bocconcini, torn

1. Cook the pasta as per instructions on the packet. Drain and keep warm.

2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add the eggplant and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes or until golden.

3. Add the beef and cook, breaking up any lumps with a wooden spoon, for 5 minutes or until browned. Add the tomato and cook for 5 minutes or until thickened. Add 1 tub of tomato paste and stir through.

4. Add the pasta and toss to combine. Top with basil and bocconcini to serve.

Serves 4.

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I've been craving Mexican food a lot lately. I'm not sure why, but it's always such great comfort food. And since someone smashed into the side of my car just the other day, I was in need a good dose of comfort food.


I found this recipe and it looked like a Mexican lasagne. It looked yummy and easy to make. I couldn't find salsa flavoured tortillas, so i just added salsa when layering the pie.
Serve this with extra salsa instead of tomato sauce and a nice green salad. So so so good!

Mexican Tortilla Pie
Taste Website

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
500g beef mince
1 small red capsicum, finely chopped
125g can corn kernels, drained, rinsed
2 teaspoons Mexican chilli powder
415g can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup torn fresh coriander leaves
4 salsa-flavoured tortillas
1 1/2 cups grated tasty cheese
1 large tomato, deseeded, finely chopped


1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Reserve 2 tablespoons onion. Add garlic and remaining onion to pan. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until soft. Add mince. Cook, breaking up mince with a wooden spoon, for 8 minutes or until browned.

2. Add capsicum, corn and chilli powder. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until capsicum is just tender. Stir in diced tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring, for 5 minutes or until mixture is thick. Add half the coriander. Season with salt. Stir to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.

3. Place a 6cm-deep, 20cm round springform pan on a baking tray. Place 1 tortilla in base of pan. Spread one-third of the mince mixture over tortilla. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup of cheese. Repeat layers twice with remaining tortillas, mince mixture and cheese, finishing with 1 tortilla. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

4. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is golden. Set aside for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

5. Meanwhile, combine chopped tomato, reserved onion and coriander in a bowl. Serve pie with tomato mixture.

Serves 4.

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Mid week cooking postings have been a bit rare as of late haven't they?
This week I attempted a very easy pho recipe from the new Donna Hay magazine.


I am a big fan of pho as you may remember from my previous pho adventures.

Most recipes I've seen have about 600 different ingredients to get the stock right, where as this one just uses beef stock and a few spices.
It was just way too easy to cook and to have dinner on the table in no time!

Donna Hay did get a few things wrong though in her recipe, in my opinion. She uses only 200 grams of rice stick noodles. The traditional noodle used is the flat rice noodles, and well 200g for 4 people would just be not enough! I used a 375g packet and it was enough for everyone.
She also uses regular basil, when in fact you need to use Thai Basil.

Beef Pho
Donna Hay with Iron Chef Shellie alterations.

375g flat rice noodles (similar to ones used in pad thai)
1.5 litres beef stock or consomme
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 cardamon pod
1 spring onion, cut into 0.5cm pieces (I like to cut mine using scissors)
200g eye fillet, cut paper thin (the best way to do this is to freeze, then cut with a very sharp blade)
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup Thai bail
2 small red chillies, sliced
fish sauce lemon wedges, to serve

1. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions. Drain and divide between serving bowls.

2. Place the stock, cinnamon, star anise and cardamon in a saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Top the noodles with the spring onion, beef and pour over the stock. The stock will cook the raw eye fillet.


4. Top with the thai basil, bean sprouts and chilli.

5. Add fish sauce and lemon juice to taste.

Serves 4.

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Ok, so I've been swamped with stuff and finally found some time to post something.
I've done beef stroganoff before, but this recipe looked delicious from Valli Little's new book "Faking It".


Simple, easy to impress if you have someone coming around and very tasty. Yum!

New Beef Stroganoff
Valli Little

4 x 180g beef fillet steaks
1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil, plus extra to brush
2 tablespoons mixed dried peppercorns, crushed
250g swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons brandy
1 1/4 cups (310ml) beef stock
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus extra to serve
1/2 cup (125ml) thickened cream
400g pappardelle or fettucine

1. Brush the steaks with a little oil, then season with salt. Sprinkle all over with the crushed peppercorns, gently pressing into the steaks. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a frypan over medium-high heat. Add the steaks and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until well-seared but still rare in the centre (or until cooked to your liking). Set aside and cover loosely with foil to keep warm.

2. Add the remaining oil t the steak pan. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes until they start to soften. Add the brandy and stock, then bring to the hoil. Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes or until reduced by half. Stir in the mustard, parsley and cream. Cook for a further minute, stirring, until heated through.

3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a saucepan of boiling salted water according to packet instructinos. Frain, then add to the pan with the sauce and toss to combine.

4. Slice the steak 1cm-thick on an angle, then divide among plates with the pasta. Drizzle with any sauce left in the pan, then serve garnised with parsely.

Serves 4.

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