Monday, February 28, 2011

Garlic mayo

Stop buying mayonnaise from the shops. It takes 10 minutes to make and you don't get any preservatives.
Sure enough you will already have all the ingredients lying around you're pantry.

Plain mayonnaise is great but when you add garlic it adds many varieties of awesomeness.

Ingredients:
  • 1 egg yolk.
  • 3 garlic cloves, shell removed.
  • 1 teaspoon of English or Dijon mustard.
  • 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar.
  • 500ml of macadamia oil.
  • Juice of 1/2 a lemon.
  • Food processor or stick blender.

Method:

  • Firstly wrap the garlic together in al-foil and roast in the oven on 180 to 200 degrees for 20 minutes or until soft.
  • Grab you're food processor, firstly add the egg yolk, mustard,garlic and vinegar and combine.
  • While ingredients are combining, this is the crucial part of adding the oil slowly. Add the oil to fast and the mayo will split. These ingredient ratio's are pretty standard and safe but still a slow steady pace and it will come out fine.
  • Once oil is combined add lemon juice and a little seasoning if required.

Makes: Heaps.

Prep time: 25 minutes.

Notes:

  • Nightshades free
  • Gluten free
  • Stay away from using a strong extra virgin oil as the flavour will be to intense.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Salsa!

Salsa time. I'm not certain where salsa originated from. Popular thinking would deem it to be Mexican.. However i learnt the other day nachos were spawned in the good ole US of A. So who knows.

Regardless. Salsa is cool and refreshing and best served with any seafood.
Here we go.

Ingredients:
  • 2 tomatoes, ox heart tomatoes are the king . Roma and truss variety come in a healthy second.
  • 1/2 a Red onion.
  • 1 avocado.
  • 1 cucumber.
  • Half a bunch of coriander.
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Chili flakes (optional).

Method:

  • First de-seed the tomato and keep the skin. Cut into 1 cm cubes and place in a bowl.
  • Dice the onion a little finer .
  • Dice the cucumber and avocado likewise to 1cm cubes.
  • Roughly chop the coriander and add the lime juice.
  • Combine all ingredients and mix.

Makes: 2 to 3 serves

Prep time: 10 minutes

Notes:

  • Gluten free.
  • Egg free.
  • Dairy free.
  • Nightshades free.


Saturday, February 5, 2011

Kangaroo with sweet potato mash and green beans.

Its time to go native. Kangaroo meat is lean and cooked properly tastes pretty damn good.

I've also noticed that a few prior recipes have been getting a little extensive. So heres a easy dinner meal.




Ingredients:
  • 2 Kangaroo fillets. 150 gram portions.
  • 1 large sweet potato.
  • 150 grams of green beans.
  • 1 bag of rock salt.

Method:

  • Firstly were going to pre heat our oven to 200 degrees. In a baking tray were going to lay out our rock salt and then place our sweet potato on top off the salt and bake for roughly 45 to 50 minutes. Ok i know this takes a while but this method of cooking is pretty radical because were effectively drawing all the excess moisture out of the sweet potato and steaming/ roasting it in its own skin.
  • While the sweet potato is cooking, heat a skillet or char griller if you have one and cook the kangaroo fillets considering there thickness for roughly 2 minutes each side and set aside to cool. Kangaroo should be served rare to medium rare. Anything over that and it becomes tough. You'll know if you have cooked it right by when seeing red blood drip out of it once its resting.
  • Boil some water and blanch you're beans for 2 minutes once it comes time to completion of the sweet potato.
  • Grab the sweet potato out of the oven, you'll know it's ready becacuse it will look like a deflated balloon. Grab a spoon and dig out the flesh. It should be soft and mooshy , almost like mash and serve on a plate with the kangaroo and beans.

Makes: 2 to 3 serves.

Prep time: 50 minutes.

Notes:

  • Gluten free.
  • Dairy free.
  • Egg free.
  • Nightshades free.
  • Salt roasting can be used on beetroots and potatoes as well.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Lamb Cutlets with caponata

Here were going to use caponata which is a Sicilian dish in origin. It is also very versatile with what it can be pared with. Sea foods and lighter tasting meats especially. Caponata is awesome in the sense it combines sweet which we get from the currants and sour from the vinegar.

Please note that this image was taken from my restaurant. With our lamb cutlets we crumb them, however i advise against it due to obvious reasons..

Ingredients:
  • 1 Large eggplant.
  • 1 onion, cut into cubes or bit sized pieces.
  • 2 celery stalks.
  • 1 red capsicum.
  • 50g of pine nuts.
  • 50g currants or sultanas.
  • 5 tablespoons of red wine vinegar.
  • 1 teaspoon of tomato paste.
  • 3 fresh truss or roma tomatoes.
  • Macadamia oil, enough for pan frying.
  • 4 to 5 lamb cutlets.
  • Optional, though fresh herbs like especially basil and parsley go really well too.

Method:

  • Pre heat oven to 200 degrees. While oven is warming were going to cut up eggplant, capsicum and celery into bite sized pieces all the same size. Toss and coat all vegetables in a bowl with the macadamia oil and place on a oven try and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the veggies are soft.
  • Pan fry or toast pine nuts until golden brown.
  • Heat a skillet with some oil and saute the onion until its soft. Remove the onion and put into a large bowl with the diced up tomato and cover.
  • With the same skillet pan fry the lamb cutlets each side for 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside to rest.
  • Once the vegetables are ready from the oven take out immediately and add to bowl with the onion and tomato. Add the rest of you're ingredients, tomato paste, currants, pine nuts,vinegar and mix and then cover with cling film for 20 minutes. This gently steams and infuses all the flavours together.
  • Arrange like the photo and enjoy.

Makes: 2 to 3 serves

Prep time: 40 minutes

Notes:

  • Gluten free
  • Dairy free
  • Egg free