Tag Archive for ‘cooking’ at me, my camera and my life.

Tag Archive for 'cooking'

Hot Wok

Published

on February 11, 2008

in food, friends, photography and random life

. 1 Comment

6:20am Sunday Morning. I was laying in bed. The phone rings, should I get up and get it or let Pabbi get it, I think. Ahh stuff it, more likely to be for him or Mum then for me. But it was for me! On the other end was Leanne feeling quiet bad for ringing so early but she had an offer for me. Leanne and her sister had been given a voucher to do a cooking class (Hot Wok) at the Spirit House up at Yandina, her sister couldn’t go and Leanne has just found out that the replacement her sister had organised couldn’t come either. Did I want to go? Of course I did. A quick shower later, breakfast and flat ironed hair later it was time to go. A pleasant drive up to Yandina, a very nice class, a very yummy class, a poke round the setting taking a few photos and then it was time to make the trip home again. So happy to have had the chance to take the class.

It was a fantastic class, really enjoyed it. What I enjoyed the most was those little tricks, like deep frying basil leaves for a garnish - soo cool looking, they go really glassy and pretty darn tasty too or making fried shallots. What other little tricks were there mmm. Also enjoyed the time spent at the beginning of the class going through all the ingredients, getting the chance to taste them/smell them etc.

The dishes we made were -

1) Dry Red Curry of Cuttlefish with Wild Ginger
This was fun, the Cuttlefish can easily be swapped out with squid. Really liked this and it looked good on the plate too.

2) Braised Pork with Sweet Soya & Cinnamon
This was another really really yummy dish, we didn’t use a wok but actually just a large pot. Diced pork neck/scotch fillets were used and were quite tender by the end, the spices used were star anise, ginger and cinnamon, oh the flavour was so nice.

3) Sweet & Sour Stir Fry Chicken
This was a good dish, a lot more mellow in taste than the other dishes, which meant when we were sitting down to lunch, it was the least popular. Though it had pineapple in, big hunks of it. Anything with pineapple in is going to go down well in my tummy.

4) Stir Fried Beef with Roast Chilli Paste
This was one of my favourites along with everyone else in the class. Stir fry sliced rump steak in a cumin/coriander/fish sauce marinade. Then fried in the wok with chilli paste/jam (that stuff is so tasty), oyster sauce, fish sauce and just before serving some Thai Basil leaves were tossed through. The sauce was so thick and yummy.

5) Stir Fried Chinese Broccoli (Gai-Lan) with Asian Mushrooms and Oyster Sauce
Nothing like some stir fried Asian Greens with a nice sauce

some of the food.

Leanne with the Sweet & Sour Chicken

Leanne

Bamboo

Hibiscus

Pabbi in the Kitchen

Published

Helen

on January 2, 2008

in family and random life

. 0 Comments

This is my papa, as of course you very well know. I had been out in the garden trying to get some photos of the wild wind we are having at the moment. I wasn’t able to get my shutter speed as slow as I wanted it though (need to pick up some ND filters) so I came inside and took some photos of Pabbi getting tea ready. I have no idea what he was looking at when I took this.

in the kitchen

Published

Helen

on December 30, 2007

in food and random life

. 3 Comments

Today I spent the day off and on in the kitchen, just having fun. Mixing and matching flavours. Listening to the radio, watching the wind outside blow and swoop all over the yard. The wind that we have at the moment is something alright. Last night I made a batch of Tomato/Capsicum Pesto. So so so so so yummy. Today I made pasta for uno. Yep 90g flour, 10g semolina, 1 egg = pasta for one. Mainly it was pasta for one because I rolled it out with a rolling pin and well I enjoy making pasta but hand rolling pasta is a whole lot more intensive than with a pasta maker. I had planned on having it for tea tonight with some anchovies, mascarpone, bit of basil and a bit of sun dried tomatoes. That can wait for tea another night. Instead for tea. I had a brothy soup of sorts. As we do every year we have a smoked leg of sheep (it is meant to be a leg of mutton but in reality it ends up a leg of lamb), every year it gets hacked to pieces till it gets left in the fridge with just a bit of meat left on the bones. Today I decided that I would make a broth. I grabbed my shiny new Le Creuset and set to work, sweated down an onion, a few cloves of garlic and then in went some carrots and beans. After they had softened a bit, the bones went in, covered it with water, put a few bay leaves and peppercorns in and left it. It simmered away for a good hour or two, then I threw in some chopped up chorizo to add to the smokey flavour of the sheep. A good while later the rest of the meat had fallen off the bones and I now had a very fragrant, wholesome brothy soup. Toasted a few slices of bread and mmm dinner was nice especially soaking up the liquid with the bread

Of course I finished off the last of my pesto the other day so I made a new lot which was a blend of Lemon Basil, Greek Basil and Sweet Basil. I love pesto. Just so darn tasty. There is nothing quite like the smell of basil.

Basil

Published

Helen

on November 13, 2007

in food and photography

. 0 Comments

A year ago or pehaps a little longer if you had asked me my feelings about Basil I would have made gagging noises about my distaste for it as I had often had meals where my father had used a pretty heavy hand cooking with dried Basil. Then one day I picked up a bunch of fresh sweet Basil at the markets and made pesto. I haven’t looked back since then. Now I can’t get enough of that Basil taste and in fact if it was taken away from me I don’t know how I would cope.

I have a Greek Basil plant in my garden which has provided me with my fresh basil fix over the winter and in a few weeks I will have an abundant supply of Sweet Basil to keep me going over the summer.

I made my first Sweet Basil Pesto of the season tonight with some Basil that I picked up at the markets on the weekend. Whilst Greek and Sweet Basil both have that Basily taste they so many different levels to them. The Greek is a much more peppery plant I feel and as it is that Pesto I am used to tasting, I kept on adding more and more pepper to the Sweet Basil Pesto tonight as it was tasting too green. Lol. The adventures of Pesto. For Lunch tomorrow I will have Cous Cous, Chicken and Pesto. mmmmmm yummo.

Here is the Sweet Basil waiting to be planted. Waiting to give me hours of Basil Bliss in the kitchen

me, my camera and my life.