Operation Death by Macaroni and Cheese

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to my very first Thanksgiving. I was told that everyone was to bring a traditional Thanksgiving dish, and being that my life's motto is "dance like no one's watching and eat like you aren't lactose intolerant", I jumped at the chance to cook  Macaroni and Cheese. But this wasn't just any Macaroni and Cheese, this was Martha Stewart's recipe and I'd been waiting almost a year for an opportunity to cook it. It was amazing (and by amazing I mean so full of fatty ingredients that my heart nearly stopped beating just reading the recipe).

Here's what you'll need (serves 12. Halve the recipe if you've had a horrible day and need something comforting to eat while watching trashy television) :

• 6 slices good-quality white bread, crusts removed, torn into smallish, crouton-size pieces
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing dish
• 5 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar
• 2 cups grated Gruyere
• 500g elbow macaroni

1. Heat the oven to 190 degrees. Butter large casserole dish (I used one of those foil roasting trays you buy from the supermarket); set aside. Place bread pieces in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour butter into the bowl with bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, heat milk. Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided frying pan over medium heat. When butter bubbles, add flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

2. Slowly pour hot milk into flour-butter mixture while whisking. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick.


3. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyere. Set cheese sauce aside.

4. Fill a large saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Add macaroni; cook 2 to 3 fewer minutes than manufacturer's directions, until outside of pasta is cooked and inside is underdone. (Different brands of macaroni cook at different rates; be sure to read the instructions.) Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar and 1/2 cup Gruyere; scatter breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until browned on top, about 30 minutes. Transfer dish to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes; serve. Best eaten sitting down with eyes closed (it's so dangerously delicious that your eyes tend to roll back in their sockets).

*You can find more delicious looking pics of this recipe here

 

Radish Soup

Radishes... I just love them in salads and they are so good for you (great for the stomach and liver and rich in vitamin C). So when my work colleague Greg brought me in a massive bunch pulled straight from his garden, I thought I would try something a little different. You could say I put the rad in radish...

Here’s what you’ll need (serves 4):

• 1 large bunch of red radishes, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 cup of red lentils
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 2 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin.
• 1 teaspoon of garam masala
• 1 sprig of Thyme
• 1 tin of coconut milk

Cook the onion, garlic and radishes in a saucepan until softened. Add the stock, water, thyme, spices and lentils and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until radishes are cooked through and lentils are tender (you may need to add more water at this point as the lentils soak up a fair bit). Blend soup in a blender, return to heat and stir in the coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper and adjust spices according to taste. Serve with toasted sourdough.

Amanda's Duck and Quail Egg Salad

When my friend Amanda came into work one morning telling me about a delicious sounding salad she had made, there was only one thing to do... I shamelessly used my blog as a way of not only acquiring the recipe (and some really great photos), but also scoring  a serve for lunch, and it did not disappoint... It was reduckulously good (I know, that one was bad). Here is the recipe, make it quack smart!

Here's what you'll need (serves 6):

• 1 roast duck from your Asian Grocer. (Amanda gets hers "chop chop", and says that they will even debone it for you if you ask).
• 9 quail eggs (if you can't get hold of Leanne's itty bitty silkie chook eggs because she won't answer her phone).
• 2 bunches of watercress
• 4 sticks of celery
• 4 carrots
• 3 tbsp pickled pink sushi ginger
• Coriander leaves
• Birdseye chili (optional)

      Dressing

• 1 nip Rum
• 1 cup Coke
• 1 slice of lemon
• Ice
• Sesame oil
• Soy sauce
• Liquid from pickled pink sushi ginger
• Rice wine vinegar
• White sugar

Method:

Wash salad veg and chill in the fridge.

Prepare dressing. Start with a base ratio of about 3:2 / sesame:soy in a small jug. Mix.

Combine the rum and coke in a glass and pour over ice. Garnish with lemon. Drink (this is a very important step in Amanda's recipe. She stated that this is crucial in preparing your taste buds for the following, and who am I to argue). Add the remaining ingredients and combine to taste.

Cover the eggs with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 seconds then run under  cold water so they don't continue to cook.

 While the eggs are cooking slice the carrots and celery into thin sticks. Slice chili. Arrange the watercress in a bowl and add the celery and carrot sticks. Peel the eggs and halve.

If the duck is not warm, give it a quick blast in the oven. Remove the bones if not already deboned and toss into salad.

Add the eggs, pickled pink ginger, coriander and chili.

Pour over the dressing, toss salad, pour another rum and serve.

Spag to Bol You Over...

Spaghetti Bolognaise holds a very special place in my heart/stomach. Not only is it the ultimate comfort food, but it was the first thing that I ever learnt to cook. I have been tweaking my recipe for almost 5 years now and feel I can no longer keep it's deliciousness to myself....

Here's what you'll need (serves 6):

• 500g pork mince
• 500g beef mince
• 100g pancetta, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, grated
• 2 zucchini, grated
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 200g mushrooms, sliced
• 2 small red chillies, finely chopped
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• 2 x 400g cans diced tomatoes
• 415g tomato paste
• 1 cup of basil, roughly chopped

In a large saucepan fry the onion, chilli and mushrooms until softened. Add the garlic, carrot,zucchini, mince and pancetta and cook stirring for 1 minute. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, stock, brown sugar and red wine. Season with salt and pepper and simmer over low heat for one hour or until sauce has thickened (really, the longer you have to simmer this puppy the better. Sometimes I cook it all day in the slow cooker and it turns out AMAZING). Stir through chopped basil. Serve with spaghetti (or pasta of your choice) and a liberal sprinkling of grated parmesan.



Apologies for how messy this plate looks. I was so hungry by the time I had finished cooking, and it smelled so damn good that I was in no mental state to take a good picture...







Kat's Purrrfect Fish Bake

I like to wander around my office at lunch time as people tend to offer me samplings of their lunches (I have even come back to my desk to find sandwich halves on my keyboard, true story). I always partake in these offerings because a) I'm mostly always hungry, and b) well, pretty much because I'm always mostly hungry! But the day my friend/work colleague/ fellow blogger Kat offered me a morsel of her fish bake, that's when I hit the jackpot. This dish tasted so delicious that I'm pretty sure for a moment my eyes rolled into the back of my head. I begged her to email me the recipe, not only so that I could share it with you, but mostly because I wanted to be able to make it for myself ASAP! Not only did she deliver on emailing me the recipe, but she also provided pictures, which pretty much brings her up to best friend status in my book. In her own words:"The bake has a layer of onions and fennel, then topped with a lovely layer of flaky fish, crunchy potatoes and breadcrumbs with a little cheese and cream. It is the epitome of winter warmth in your mouth".

 
Here's what you'll need (serves 4, or just 1 if you plan on spending a night in, eating in front of the TV):

• 400g potatoes, scrubbed and finely sliced
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 bulb of fennel, trimmed and sliced (Kat uses leek as a substitute)
• 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
• 4 medium or 8 small fillets of trout, pin boned (Kat has never actually cooked it with trout, She uses 2 fillets of salmon - skin on)
• 285mL single cream
• 2 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for sprinkling
• 2 anchovy fillets
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 handfuls of fresh breadcrumbs (sourdough bread is perfect for this)
• 2 lemons halved

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.

2. Parboil the sliced potatoes in salted boiling water for a few minutes until softened and then drain in a colander.

3. Place a 20cm casserole type pan on low heat, and add oil, garlic, onion, fennel (or leek) and fennel seeds.

4. Cook slowly for 10 minutes with lid on, stirring every so often

5. Take pan off the heat. Lay trout (or salmon) fillets skin-side up over the onion and fennel.

6. Mix together your cream, parmesan and anchovies, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and pour over fish.

7. Toss the potato slices in a little olive oil, salt and pepper and layer these over the top of the fish.

8. Place in the oven for 20 minutes, sprinkling with the breadcrumbs and a little grated Parmesan 5 minutes before the end.

9. Serve with lemon halves.

Most Eggsellent Pumpkin, Broccoli and Mushroom Frittata

A couple of weeks ago, my work colleague Leanne generously (and most kindly) gave me a dozen eggs laid by her very own Chinese Silkie hens.

Not only are these hens the most adorable little chickens I have ever seen (I just want to pick one up and give it a cuddle), but the eggs they lay are just as cute...

Cute and also delicious, which is how I prefer all my food to be. To take full advantage of this most eggseptional gift I decided to make an eggstremely tasty frittata.


Here's What You'll Need (Serves 4):

• 1 1/2 tbs butter
• 1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 500g piece butternut pumpkin, cut into 2cm pieces
• 2 heads of broccoli, roughly chopped
• 200g mushroom, sliced
• 1/2 cup thickened cream
• 6 eggs
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan

Melt the butter into a frying pan over low heat. Add the sugar and stir until it dissolves. Increase the heat and add the onion, garlic and mushrooms. Cook, stirring for 10 minutes or until onion has softened and caramalised. 

Meanwhile, add the pumpkin and broccoli to a saucepan of salted boiling water and boil for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain and then add to onions in the frying pan.

Whisk the eggs and cream togethe and season with salt and pepper. Pour mixture over the veggies and cook uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes or until egg mixture is almost set but the top is still runny. 

Sprinkle the frittata with the parmesan and cook under the grill for 5 minutes or until the top is golden. Take out of the grill and let it rest for 5 minutes. Eat with the realisation that it doesn't matter what came first the chicken or the egg, because either way you end up with something delicious.

Drink This if You Know What's Good For You

My yogi friend Muz (or as I like to call him NaMuzte),  introduced me to this wonderful Turmeric concoction. Before this I had been completely unaware of the many wonderful health benefits of Turmeric. Not only is it a natural liver detoxifier and painkiller, but it also aids in fat burning, who knew? Needless to say, I now sip on this deliciously warming Turmeric drink first thing every morning and expect to live until at least 125.

Here's What You'll Need:

• 2 teaspoons of ground turmeric
• 2 teaspoons of organic honey
• juice of half of a lemon
• grated ginger to taste

Mix the turmeric in a mug with a little hot water to form a paste. Add the rest of the ingredients and top up with hot water (you may need to add more honey, ginger or lemon depending on your own tastes). Sip on this refreshing drink while justifying to yourself that you can indeed have some more chocolate because turmeric aids in fat burning, right?