Broad Beans, Peas and Pancetta

Posted on November 18, 2012 by DemeterG

I don’t know if you are like me and used to be force fed big, fat, floury broad beans as a kid. Blerk!

This is a fantastic way to have broad beans. They taste great, but you do have to make sure you get the nice young pods of beans.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

400g whole baby broad bean pods or about 100g baby broad beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small brown onion, finely diced
1 small garlic clove, crushed
125g frozen baby peas
25ml dry white wine
50ml chicken stock
100g pancetta, diced or matchsticks
40g fresh sugarsnap peas in the pod, topped & tailed and halved
40g fresh snow peas in the pod, topped & tailed and halved

Method:

Blanch the broad beans in their pod for 2 minutes in boiling water and then refresh in cold water. Remove the beans from their pods and set aside.

Sauté the garlic and onion in the olive oil until soft. Add the frozen baby peas, beans, stock and wine. Simmer until the liquid has almost completely reduced.

Add the pancetta and remaining peas and cook for one minute.

Season with salt and pepper and serve.

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High-Five Lamb Chops

Posted on November 10, 2012 by DemeterG

No, these are not named after the kiddies singing group, I named them High-Five Lamb Chops because that is what I got from B2 when he tasted them for the first time. He was very impressed, as was the DB whose comment was “Why haven’t you ever cooked these for me before”?

This is a recipe that I “made up” a very long time ago and had not made for over 10 years. You can vary the quantities of the sauces depending on your taste and what you have on hand and they still turn out “melt in your mouth” every time.

Ingredients:

6-8 lamb chops of your choice
½ cup soy sauce
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup tomato sauce
¼ cup BBQ sauce
100 ml water

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Mix the sauces and water together.

Lay the chops in the bottom of a baking dish that fits them nicely in a single layer, cover with the sauce mix.

Cover with foil or casserole lid & bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the chops from the sauce and serve with green veges. and potato mash.
You can use some of the leftover sauce to pour a spoonful or two over your potato if you like.

This photo was taken by the lovely Lady B, who received High-Fives herself when she made them for her family! Nice one! 

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Slow Cooked Lamb with Lemon and Maple Syrup

Posted on November 9, 2012 by DemeterG

For roast lamb, I usually use a slow cooker with red wine, garlic, herbs and root vegetables. I wanted something a bit different to try, so I went hunting on the interweb and found this one that used white wine, maple syrup & lemon. Keen to try something new I adapted it for the slow cooker and eagerly awaited the long 7 hours until I could try it. The result was a beautiful sweet lamb with a lovely light gravy. Sorry no lovely pictures for this one, I mean really, anyone who is Australian knows what roast lamb looks like??!!

Ingredients:

2 kg lamb leg
Salt and ground black pepper
Olive oil
¼ cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
4 shallots, thinly sliced
6 whole garlic cloves, crushed
12 sprigs fresh thyme
1 lemon, rind finely grated
1/3 cup pure maple syrup

Method:

Season the lamb leg with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a hot frying pan and brown the meat all over. Transfer to the slow cooker. 

Pour pour over the wine and stock. Sprinkle the lamb with the shallots, garlic, lemon rind and thyme.  Drizzle over the maple syrup, making sure all surface of the lamb is covered. Season again with a generous amount of salt and pepper.   

Cover with lid and cook on low for 7 hours.  Remember that every time you open the lid, you need to add 20 minutes cooking time, so walk away and let the slow cooker do its thing.

Remove the lamb and allow to rest 15 – 20 minutes. Don’t bother trying to carve the meat as it will fall straight off the bone and melt in your mouth.

While the meat is resting, strain the juices from the slow cooker and use enough of the strained juice to make a gravy using a roux from flour and butter.

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Caramelised Pear & Ginger Cake

Posted on November 4, 2012 by DemeterG

It was the DB’s mother’s birthday, so it was time to whip up something special for her. I had put out the feelers a few weeks ago and apparently her favourite cake is pear and ginger, so this is what I came up with.

The poached pear rose on the top was to try and pretty it up a bit.

Ingredients:

225gm softened butter
250gm dark brown sugar
3 pears, core removed and cut into large cubes
3 cups plain flour, sieved
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1½ teaspoonground cinnamon
1 teaspoon finely grated nutmeg
1 cup treacle
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
125g glacé ginger, finely diced
1/3 cup pouring cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 160C.

Melt 100gm butter in a large frying pan over medium heat, scatter in half the sugar and stir until dissolved (3-5 minutes). Add diced pears and turn occasionally until golden and just cooked through (10-12 minutes). Remove pears with a slotted spoon and set aside. Reserve remaining liquid in frying pan.

Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a bowl and set aside.

Beat remaining butter and remaining sugar in an electric mixer until pale and creamy (3-5 minutes). Add treacle, then eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition to combine.

With mixer on low speed, add one third of the flour mixture, mix until just combined. Add one third of the buttermilk, Mix again until just combined. Continue until all ingredients are combined. Gently fold through the glacé ginger.

Pour a layer of batter into the cake pan to just cover the base. Add half the pears then half the remaining batter, repeat again with pears and cake batter.

Bake until an inserted skewer withdraws clean (1 hour 15 minutes).

Just before the cake is due to be removed from the oven, re-heat the reserved pan juices over medium heat, once it is starting to bubble, remove from heat and whisk in the pouring cream until combined to make a caramel sauce.

Remove the cake from the tin and place onto a serving plate. Drizzle with the caramel sauce and use a knife inserted in the top to help the sauce seep into the cake.

Serve warm with double cream

If desired decorate with a poached pear rose. See recipe for red wine poached pears.

 

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Sausage and Mushroom Pasta

Posted on October 30, 2012 by DemeterG

This recipe is adapted slightly from MasterChef Magazine #29 and was a hit. Rather than the normal two thumbs up for a good meal, it got a two thumbs wiggled,  while trying to shove a fork-full into the mouth, rating. I take that as two thumbs plus rating.

This really was very delicious, the best pasta I’d had in ages…… if I don’t say so myself…..                                                          Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 large or 6 small gourmet sausages, casings removed and discarded (I used italian pork & beef)
1 tablespoon butter
250g portabello mushrooms, thickly diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 sprigs rosemary, leaves torn off
300ml cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
200g fresh lasagne sheets (or make fresh pasta)
180g baby spinach
shaved parmesan to serve

Method:

Using a mortar and pestle, bruise the rosemary leaves with a little rock salt, added as an abrasive.

Heat fry pan over medium high heat and cook “chucks” of the sausage meat. Turn for approximately 5 minutes until golden and cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add the butter and the mushrooms to the pan and cook, tossing for 5 minutes until tender. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook for a further 3 minutes, until fragrant.

Return sausage meat to pan with cream and mustard and stir until sauce thickens, approximately 3 minutes.

Bring a saucepan of salted water to boil over high heat. Gently tear pasta sheets into squares. If you are a little bit anal you can cut the pasta sheets so that they have nice straight edges. Add to boiling water and cook for 3 – 5 minutes or until al dente. Drain.

Add spinach to the sauce, remove from heat and toss for 1 minute until wilted. Add pasta and gently toss until combined. Season with salt and pepper, taste first as you have already added salt with the rosemary leaves.

Divide among pasta bowls and scatter with parmesan to serve.

Posted in Favourite Recipe, Pasta, Quick Week-night Cook, Recipes, Sausages | Leave a comment