A Pot of Carrots Under Every Rainbow...

 

As I prepare for my normal Saturday morning farmers market run, under the steam of my second cup of ambition, there is a true sense of ambition as to what new discovery will occur today.

 

Last week I bought the first asparagus of the season and some AMAZING veal chops. I was also lucky enough to be given (yes freebie disclosure) some veal bones to make stock. This is the story behind the veal.

 

The veal chops just were treated to a quick brown in some butter and 10 minutes in the oven to finish them off, and there simply aren't enough foodie words to describe the tender, sweet, heavenly flavour.

 

It just goes to strengthen the argument that with the best produces you don't need to put it through 8 different processes, to have it as a gel, foam, a mist or even a soil.

(Oh I just can't wait to try the next deconstructed salted caramel soil, sorry was that too harsh? Maybe I need another cup of ambition?)

With this theory in mind one of my staples purchases at the market are carrots, and yes people carrots aren't just the new orange, they are a rainbow of colour.

This salad can be enjoyed raw, but I opt for a light blanching just to take the raw edge off

Rainbow Carrot Salad
Ingredients

• 4 carrots
• 1 tbsp. cumin seed ground (see note)
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp. honey
• Salt

Method

• In a fry pan on medium heat, toast the almonds with the cumin and a pinch of salt, as the almonds heat, their oils will be a glue for the cumin to stick on
• Using a food processor, slice the carrots into thin slices (do this separately by variety)
• Blanch 1 variety of carrot for under 1 minute in boiling water, and then transfer into icy water to stop the cooking process.
• Repeat with remaining varieties.
• Dry on paper towel (or salad spinner but I'd be worried they'd fly through the slots)
• For the dressing combine olive oil, lemon juice and honey with a pinch of salt, and shake it baby!
• Add the carrots to a bowl and coat with the dressing
• Top with cumin almonds
• The purple carrots bleed a lot so you want to make sure they are well drained to avoid them staining the others
• Note: I toast whole cumin seeds and then grind but go with whatever way you prefer
• I have also added tahini to the dressing and while delicious it makes the salad cloudy and takes away from the brightness of the carrots
• Also I've used whole almonds as well....is it a worry I don't even follow my recipes??  

I don't have kids, but I think they might like to eat the bright carrot "magic coins", I know I would!

 

 

What is your favourite "showcase the produce" meal or ingredient?

More tales from the wood panel Chinese

The 2014 Chinese Lunar New Year welcomes the year of the Horse (or whores as the BBC typo read, true, Google it).

I am thrilled about this year for no other reason than that it is no longer the year of the Snake! (Still hate them)

To accompany the Ham and Chicken rolls previously mentioned, I thought I'd recreate another authentic dish from the wood panelled Aussie-Chinese restaurants of my childhood.

Now when I say authentic I'm talking a restaurant that was more like a converted house on an inconvenient bend of the main road of East Gosford, its not quite Guangzhou.

Dome rice is the name I remember this dish by but I have no recollection whether that is what it was called on the menu.

I always found this dish magical as a kid, firstly because it had white sauce and that really should have only ever been used for vegetables. (what were they thinking??)

And secondly I had no idea of how they made the rice take on a shape, let alone fill it. I had visions of the rice being built up and around to enclose that special combination goodness. Those rice ads where the rice took on the shape of famous landmarks only further confused me.

In reflection I don't believed I was a particularly thick kid but the idea of serving an upside down bowl of rice just didn't cross my mind.

This doesn't take long to cook but there is a bit of prep at the start. It also seems like there are a million steps but it's really just a stir fry, in a bowl of rice with a white sauce but packed full of flavour and memories. 

Dome Rice
Ingredients

• 1-11/2 large mugs of basmati rice
• 2 chicken thigh fillet diced
• 200g beef diced (I had some scotch fillet)
• 2 x pinch bi carb soda
• 2 tbsp. oil (peanut/canola)
• 2 tbsp. sesame oil
• 4 Chinese sausages, diagonally sliced
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 2 carrots (see note on vegetables)
• 1 zucchini,
• 1 broccoli stem
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 small thumb ginger finely chopped
• 200g green prawns (halved if large)
• 2 spring onions chopped
• small handful of sliced bamboo shoots
• Small handful of chopped baby corn
• 6-8 quartered straw mushrooms (more if they are smaller)
• 2 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
• 2-3 tbsp. Oyster sauce
• Salt and a pinch of Schezuan pepper to taste
• a few toasted almonds to decorate

 Method

• Place chicken and beef in two separate bowls of cold water and a pinch of bi carb soda
• Allow to rest for 20-30 mins (this is what makes the meat silky tender)
• Cook the rice (I use the microwave method of 1 mug rice 2 mugs water)
• Blanch the vegetables
• Make white sauce (see directions below)
• Drain the chicken and beef separately and pat dry with paper towel
• Into a hot wok add the oil and sesame oil
• Fry off the Chinese sausage them remove just the sausage and place in a bowl
• Repeat with chicken, fry till just cooked and remove to the bowl
• Repeat with beef, fry till just cooked and remove to the bowl
• Leave the juices in the wok as this forms the base of the sauce
• Reduce the heat and add the onions, garlic and ginger stir fry until tender
• Add the meats and prawns back to the wok
• Add all remaining ingredients and
• Add about a 1/4 cup of the white sauce to the wok and combine
• Take off the heat

• To assemble dome
• Spray a glass bowl with oil
• Spread the enough rice to line the bowl with a thin layer (about 3/4 of the rice)

My bowl has a diameter of 22cm and is about 12cm at it's centre

My walls are a bit thicker than I would normally have them, the rice was very hot and I was hungry!!

• Fill bowl with stir fry
• Cover with a layer of rice to enclose it all, press firmly so it takes on the shape of the bowl
• Place a plate over the bowl and then flip it over
• Remove the bowl and you'll have a great looking rice dome!

Steaming!

To serve pour over hot white sauce and top with some toasted almonds or more decorative vegetables.
There were only ever 3 almonds on the top of this dish at the restaurants but live a little and add a few more, I think I have 6!

 


 


 


 

 

White Sauce

Ingredients

• 40g butter
• 60g plain flour
• 250ml chicken stock
• 500ml light milk 

Sauce Method

• In a  saucepan melt the butter
• Add the flour and stir to combine, cook the flour for about 1 minute
• Add stock and milk together in a jug (or use all milk and a good quality stock cube)
• Slowly add some stock/milk mix  while whisking to make a smooth sauce
• As the sauce thickens add more stock a little at a time, you might not use all the stock.
• While whisking let the sauce cook to thicken further for a few minutes, it should have a thick pourable consistency (but not thick enough you can cut it!)
• Season to taste

Vegetable Note:

If you have a lot of spare time on your hands or don't mind heading to the land of all things naff, you could can use various cutters to shape the vegetables.

 

The broccoli stem adds element of surprise as it is a pale green star that looks nothing like it but tastes like broccoli.

 

The zucchini I sliced lengthy ways around the outside so I got .5cm thick slices with the skin on one side for the colour contrast.

 

Blanch each vegetable separately in boiling water for about 1 minute, then  refresh in icy water.

 

 

 

Munching 9 to 5 - Carrot and cheese salad

No it's not a job as a taste tester, as awesomely appealing as that sounds.

The next offering in the War on Terrible Food aka BYO work lunch series.

This salad has had a couple of incarnations and can be used as an indicator of how our eating has changed over the years. When I was at school the major ingredient to this was a jar of mayonnaise, these days it gets a light dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.
If I'm honest the tasty model below only got a drizzle of olive oil, no lemon or salt and pepper, and it was just as yum.

Carrot and Cheese Grateness
Serves 1

Ingredients

• 2 medium carrots grated
• 50 grams grated cheese
• 1 fun size box (40g) sultanas
• black and white sesame seeds
• Olive oil
• juice of 1/2 small lemon

Method

• Add carrot, cheese, and sultanas to a bowl.
• Mix through a drizzle of oil and the lemon juice.
• Top with a sprinkle of seeds and run out the door to work.

Making it the night before will let the sultanas soak up the dressing and the carrots soften. You can also experiment with any seeds that take your fancy, lineseed, chia, pumpkin seeds.

No soup for you.

Faced with the challenge of needing to devour any medicinal ingredient I could get my hands on, garlic, ginger, onions, chili, but it not being soup, I had to come up with a plan B.
Instantly rich curries and tagines come to mind, but lets not forget the man flu, it had to be ready in about 15mins and with a little effort as possible. So close to death you don't want to risk a delicious slow cook if there is a chance you won't live long enough to taste it.
The answer???

Man Flu Fried Rice

• Olive oil.
• 2 onions chopped (any colour)
• 4 cloves of garlic chopped (or as much as you or your beloved can stand)
• 4 cm ginger finely chopped
• 2 red chili sliced (seeds in or out it's up to you)
• 2 carrots grated
• 3 stalk celery sliced
• Garden fresh broccoli or any other vegetable you can get your hands on.
• 3 spring onions chopped
• 3 cups of cooked rice
• Salt and pepper
• Kecap Manis, as much as you like.

Method

• Saute onions, garlic ginger and chili with a good splash of olive oil in a fry pan.
• When the onions start to soften, add the carrot and celery and other vegetables and saute for about 5 mins, you can add a little bit of water or stock if it is too dry.
• Add the spring onions and rice.
• Add Kecap Manis, salt and pepper to taste.
• This version was meatless but you can add any meat of your choice...if you have the strength to go to the shops.
• grab a box of tissues, a blanket, pillow, boxed set of your favourite DVD and pray you have enough strength to eat.

50 shades of phlegm!

About a month ago our home was hit with a double dose of Man Flu.  A near death experience, I even had 2 days of work, not consecutively, 1 day a week times 2. This was pretty dire as I left my last job taking about 3 sick days in 2 years. Thankfully I can report that all is well and we have survived.

I'm blaming my incapacitation for the lack of blog updates, where as others may attribute it to my hoity toity laziness, but they would never say it to my face.
The staple diet of any man flu casualty is chicken soup, mothers milk. I guess you could add noodles but that would be dependant on the man patient having enough strength to chew.

This is my version, I drank it breakfast, lunch, and dinner till I mentioned having more soup and AB gave me a look that advised against it toot sweet. My solution will feature next post.

Clear Chicken Soup

• 500 grams chicken necks
• 2 large red onions (or any colour you have)
• 2 chilli
• half a bunch of celery
• 3-4 carrots
• 1 head of garlic
• 4cm ginger sliced
• small cinnamon stick
• salt and pepper to taste

Method
There are options here depending on your level of Hoity Toity laziness.
Options 1

• Brown the onions, peeled garlic and chicken necks
• Add the remaining ingredients and cover with hot water.
• Simmer for about 45mins-1hour.
• Strain through a sieve and serve.

Option 2 Lazy version

• Put everything in the pot and cover with water
• I don't even peel the garlic as it is strained anyway.

No glamour photo shop here, this pot only has 1 handle, I must replace it!