My Caesar Salad

Phillip has been lifting lots of weights at the gym lately and I've noticed large tubs of protein powder sneaking into my kitchen cupboards and taking up way too much room. So I said to him, I'll create a dinner high in protein so you don't have to drink that stuff!

I'd been reading his he's latest edition of Men's Health that they recommended having two forms of protein on your sandwich - like chicken and egg. So I thought that I would do the same and create the one salad that I know that contains chicken and egg.

When people normally think of 'cafe style' Caesar salad it's pretty high in fat - but this homemade version hit the spot without packing too many calories!

CAESAR SALAD
4 thick slices good-quality bread, crusts removed, cut into 2cm cubes
1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp Seeded mustard
2 skinless chicken breasts
2 anchovies (optional)
1 tbs white wine vinegar
1/2 cup (125g) low-fat natural yoghurt
2 tbs low-fat mayonnaise
1 tbs grated parmesan, plus extra, shaved, to garnish
2 baby cos lettuce, washed, dried
4 eggs

Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and then cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, run under cold water and then remove the shell. 

Place the bread cubes on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees. Whilst the bread is baking, grill your chicken breasts. I like to add an extra anchovy fillet to the chicken pan, it pretty much just fries down to nothing and really just seasons the chicken without adding extra salt.

To make dressing, lemon juice, garlic and mustard in a food processor with the anchovies, vinegar, yoghurt, mayonnaise and grated parmesan and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Wash the lettuce and tear into manageable pieces before topping with chicken, boiled eggs and bread cubes. Drizzle with dressing and you're done!

Spicy Prawn Risotto

So I thought that I would make a baked risotto once more before 'carbs for dinner' becomes a bad word, not word ... what's the word I'm looking for ... 'turn of phrase'. I really like baked risottos as they are quick and easy to whip up when you get home from work and you only end up with one baking dish to wash up!

Spicy Prawn Risotto
500g green prawns (peeled)
1 cup Alberio rice
1 brown onion
1 red capsicum
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1 red chili
1 tbsp chili flakes
1 cup water
1 tsp vegeta
handful of basil

Place diced onion, capsicum, tomatoes, chili, water, vegeta and rice in a baking dish and bake for 15 minutes at 200 degrees. Remove from the oven and add green prawns making sure that they are pushed into the rice mixture and not just sitting on top. Bake for another 10 minutes. Top with basil to serve!

Belated Christmas Ham

As I sliced the last remaining slices of Christmas Ham off the bone, before wrapping the bone in a plastic bag and saving it for cooler months when I can enjoy making my Mum's pea and ham soup, I realised that I was yet to blog about my Christmas Ham - or in fact anything from my Christmas feast.

We had an enormous Christmas feast, which could have been described as a melding of two cultures. We had my traditional Christmas fair of ham, creamy potatoes, roasted carrots and parsnips in tarragon butter, maple roasted pumpkin and sweet balsamic onions. We also Phillip's favourite Croatian things like Pig on the Spit, hot potato salad , garlic green beans and shredded cabbage salad.

To accompany this culinary treats (and just in case we might have ran out of food) I made a shredded basil, tomato and Boccaccio salad (with the basil and tomatoes coming from my garden) and some roasted corn. I seasoned the corn with butter, chili flakes, salt and pepper - then wrapped the corn individually in foil and placed them in the hot coals underneath our delicious pig on the spit to cook.

For those looking for something sweet afterwards, I made; a delightful mango trifle (a spin on the cherry trifle I'd previously made), not one but two pavlova rolls and some baklava.

CHRISTMAS HAM
1 large Christmas Ham
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
20 cloves

In a small saucepan place the orange juice, maple syrup, brown sugar and mustard. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and leave to simmer. 

In the meantime, remove the ham from the plastic and carefully slice on the top layer of skin, with the aim of leaving behind as much of the fat as possible. Score the fat diagonally and then diagonally the other way so that it makes a diamond pattern in the fat. Where two lines meet place a clove (note you may not need all of the clove or you may need more depending on the size of your ham).

Return to the glaze, remove it from the heat. When your ham is sitting in an oven proof/ BBQ proof tray, pour half of the glaze over the top and then transfer it to the BBQ which should be on low and cover with a lid . Cook the ham for 3 hours, adding extra glaze each hour. If you notice that the ham is beginning to burn cover with some foil.

Remove all of the cloves before carving - enjoy with lots of Christmas cheer.

Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

With all of these delicious summer squash and zucchinis comes their incredibility wonderful flowers, which are also delicious (that are hard to find and sometime expensive to buy). So I thought that I would make the most of them being in my veggie patch and create some beautiful stuffed zucchini flowers and a tomato salsa to go with it (tomatoes, shallots and basil also coming from my veggie patch).

STUFFED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS
Vegetable oil
10 zucchini flowers
100g Persian fetta (or a comparable soft fetta)
3 tbsp capers
Sea salt flakes
Black pepper
1 egg (separated)
1.5 cups plain flour
1-2 cups of cold soda water

2 ripe tomatoes
4 shallots
1/4 cup shredded basil leaves
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 olive oil

Preheat oil to 180 degrees.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a small saucepan and fry the capers until crispy. Allow them to cool on some paper towel before combining the yolk, fetta, capers, a touch of salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.

Depending on the length of the zucchini stem you may need to cut some off, leave approx 4 cm attached to the flower.Gently open up the zucchini flowers and using a teaspoon gently spoon the cheese mixture into the flowers and fill to approx 2/3rds. Gently push the remaining air out of the flowers and squeeze the tips of the petals back together.

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt and pepper and make a well in the centre.Slowly pour some of the soda water into the well and whisk as you add, slowly moving the whisk out from the well to incorporate more flour until the entire mixture is fluid and thick (it may not require all the soda water, so add it slowly).Whisk the egg white until frothy and fold into the batter mixture.

Holding on to the stem drag the flowers through the batter until liberally covered (do not batter the stem) and hold the flower end into the deep fryer until the batter has sealed (a few seconds) and then drop the stem in as well, cook until golden, they may require turning once.Remove, drain, season with some sea salt, and serve.

For the quick and salsa, dice the tomatoes and shallots. Combine tomatoes, shallots, basil, lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the stuffed zucchini flowers.

Summer Zucchini & Squash Gazpacho

My veggie patch is yeilding lots of exciting and delicious treats - in fact, upon returning from our 5 nights away in Port Douglas ( a little engagement vaccation), we harvested so many summer zucchinis and squash I just didn't know what to do with them all!

Maybe I should make a little sign and leave them on our front porch - 'FREE - to a good home where people eat their greens and yellows' ... but I wouldn't want them to waste away and spoil in the hot sun. I served up a bunch for dinner, lightly steamed and seasoned with salt, pepper, crushed garlic and olive oil. I whipped up a batch of a childhood favourite - zucchini slice and then I thought 'GAZPACHO'.

Late last year, I auditioned for 'Masterchef' it was really fun, but I don't think that I made it through to the top 100 or they would have invited me back for filming by now. One of the ten people in my auction group made a lemon gazpacho and I think that she made it through ... so gazpacho might be the new big thing on Masterchef this upcoming season. Also watch out for a guy named 'Andy' who is super HOT.

Anyway ... back to Gazpacho - Often described as a liquid salad, gazpacho descends from ancient Roman concoction based on a combination of stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and vinegar. As Romans labored to build roads and aqueducts across Spain in the scorching heat, this creamy soup replenished them with the necessary salt and vitamins lost through physical exertion.

Later, shepherds and farmers added vegetables to make it more hearty and satisfying. Because tomatoes and capsicums were not indigenous to Spain, these ingredients were not added to the soup until after Spain's discovery of the New World. Since that time, gazpacho has remained relatively unchanged - an unpretentious soup designed to quench the thirst evoked by the unrelenting Spanish sun.

SUMMER ZUCCHINI  & SQUASH GAZPACHO
1 big zucchini
2 yellow squash
2 green squash
1/2 green capsicum
4 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 slices white bread, crusts removed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Tabasco
salt
pepper
3 tbsp parsley, chopped
juice of 1/2 an lemon
extra olive oil for drizzling

Blend the zucchini, squash, shallots, capsicum, olive oil and garlic in a food processor. Get it a bit combined and then add the bread, a bit of Tabasco, parsley and lemon juice. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve into individual bowls and drizzle with the olive oil. You’re done.

Grab a glass of something alcoholic and the mosquito repentant (cause they sure are biting this season) and enjoy your soup out in the open.

Recipe Swap: Alcohol and Eggs

I put this post together during the silly season, I know .. you're thinking I'm crazy ... who has time to do a post in the silly season, let alone write a post due in January - but the thing is, my January is VERY FULL too... not only is it my birthday and Phillip is best man at one of our friend's wedding ... BUT WE JUST GOT ENGAGED!

So when I was given the recipe for the 1st recipe swap for 2012 I jumped on it a little early.

I looked into Zabaione and found out there was in fact a similar dish called 'Ponche Creme' or (Christmas) Cream Punch and I thought ... hmmm, why not create something to bring a little Christmas cheer.

So I researched into this Ponche Crema and this is what I found out about it's inventor Eliodoro Gonzalez:

Eliodoro González P. went on long sea journeys. He traveled throughout America and Europe to show his wonderful Venezuelan creation. One by one, he visited the most prestigious food and drink competitions in the world. Ponche Crema was a sensation at the World Fair at Saint Louis, Missouri, the first fair to gather inventions and novelties of the 20th century. Likewise, the British awarded him the “Grand Prix” in London. It was warmly received at the International Maritime Exhibit at Bourdeaux and at the Food and Hygiene Exhibit in Paris.

One of the things that people loved about Ponche Crema was something they read on the first product label: “This drink can be stored for a long time at room temperature, therefore, it is suggested to chill only the amount that will be drunk. Store the bottle horizontally and shake it before using.” (thanks official Ponche Crema website).

Then I looked at what I normally create at Christmas time and realised that I have an abundance of what is required in traditional Zabaglione ... egg yolks - because my infamous pavlova roll contains so many egg whites (and this year I made not one, not two, but three pavlova rolls).

And hence, Baked Raspberry Zabaglione was born. I used raspberries because I have an abundance of them in my freezer (for pavlova roll), but you could insert any berry or fruit for that matter that you think you would enjoy!

BAKED RASPBERRY ZABAGLIONE
3 egg yolks
80g caster sugar
20g icing sugar mixture
1 nip of grappa
100ml white wine
150ml whipped cream
2 punnets of raspberries

In a bowl, whisk together 3 egg yolks with 60g of caster sugar and the icing sugar mixture until the it is pale and thick. Add a nip of grappa and 100ml of white wine and mix well.

Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water - the bowl should sit so that it makes a tight seal with the pot, but so that no water is touching the bowl when it simmers. Whisk until it doubles in volume.

Cool the zabaglione, then fold in whipped cream. Scatter the raspberries across a shallow baking dish or 4 small ramekins (I'd make it in ramekins, but I don't own any at the moment). Distribute the zabaglione on top of the raspberries and then sprinkle over the remaining caster sugar. Place under the grill until the surface is golden brown.

Can't wait to share all of our Engagement/Wedding joy with you in the coming months!!