Saturday, May 29, 2010

Baba's Chicken Soup

That's the last of the Baba's Chicken soup:-(

Last week my daughter, The Truffle, rang from work saying she was feeling poorly with a stubborn cold that had nagged her for most of the week.  With a little encouragement from her mother, the naturopath, she agreed it would be best to stay home the next day to give it a chance to clear over the weekend.  I decided I would lend a hand by preparing some soup for the next day for her lunch and make enough for leftovers for dinner for her and her hubby Long_mach.
One of nature’s best food remedies for anyone unwell with cold and flu symptoms is; Jewish Penicillin commonly known as chicken soup. Ideally, the chicken stock is not made from processed stock powder but made the way the grandma would have made it – with love and using fresh preferably organic or at least free range chicken, with selected vegetables. For my magic master stock, I employ a two part process: firstly lightly simmering the whole chicken and vegetables, followed by straining the stock and letting it set overnight in the fridge allowing any fat to set on top – to be removed before adding to the fresh soup ingredients.
Master Stock Ingredients
1 Whole organic or free range chicken
2 Carrots
4/5 Celery stalks with some leaves left on
2/3 Sprigs parsley
2 Brown onions
2 Long red chilies
4 cm Piece ginger
2 Cloves garlic
2 Bay leaves
1 tsp Sea salt and several pepper corns
Wash the whole chicken and place it in a large stockpot with all the remaining ingredients. Fill the stockpot with water to just cover the chicken and vegetables. Bring the stock to the boil and turn down the heat to a gentle simmer. Simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Strain the stock through a clean tea towel or muslin. Discard all the vegetables. Once chicken and stock is cooled store them separately in the fridge overnight.  Next day remove any fat from the top of the stock. Remove the skin from the chicken and shred the meat from the bones to be added to the soup. I usually save the legs for sandwiches or add into a fried rice dish. The white meat is finely shredded or diced for the soup.
Soup Ingredients
2 cups Onions diced
2 cups Carrots diced
2 cups Celery diced
1/1 ½ Litres chicken stock
1 cup rice or risoni
2 cups chicken diced or shredded
½ cup finely chopped parsley
1tsp Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and ground pepper season to taste
Gently sauté the trinity of onions, carrots and celery for approximately 4-5 minutes. Add about 1 – 1 ½ litres of chicken stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the rice or risoni and ¼ cup of parsley simmer for 15 minutes. Then add the diced chicken for several minutes to heat through. Season to taste and serve garnished with the remaining parsley.


Monday, May 17, 2010

Osso Bucco


Winter is approaching and as the weather is getting cooler in the afternoons and evenings I tend to focus my cooking on soups, roasts and other slow cooked meals. One favorite recipe is Osso Bucco. My first encounter with this recipe was when I was cooking in the SAS Officer’s Mess as part of my National Service Training.  Santo Ferarra, a civilian cook employed at the Mess, was my mentor and taught me all the tricks of the cooking trade including how to make this dish. Back then we would have used beef shin instead of veal and this works perfectly, it just may require a bit more cooking.  Fortunately now we have good supplies of veal in our supermarket and local butchers so I recently stocked up in anticipation of making this recipe.
Long_mach and the truffle were coming over to share Sunday dinner so it was an opportunity to make this recipe and also have a go at making the Master Chef recipe Crème Brulee. Happy to say the Osso Bucco and accompanying wine was a success. Unfortunately the Crème Brulee did not set, so it will be back to the test kitchen to see what went wrong – I’ll try again and post of the recipe when I have nailed it!
Osso Bucco
Ingredients (Serves 4)
4 centre bone cut pieces of veal Osso Bucco (approx 800gms)
½ cup plain flour seasoned with sea salt and ground pepper
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
100gms butter
2 brown onions diced
2 celery stalks diced
1 carrot diced
3 cloves garlic diced
1 cup dry white wine
2 tbs tomato paste
2 x 400gms tins diced tomato
1 cup chicken stock
2 sprigs fresh thyme
200 gms Button or Swiss brown mushrooms
2 bay leaves
Sea salt, ground black pepper

Gremolata
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely minced
1 lemon zest finely minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
Preheat fan forced oven to 180°C. 
First make your base – the ‘Holy Trinity’ or ‘soffritto’ (used in most soup and casserole recipes and consist of onions, celery and carrot lightly sautéed in oil and butter.)
Add half of the olive oil and butter to a large baking dish or cast iron casserole and lightly sauté the onion, celery and carrot – remove and set aside.

Dust veal portions in seasoned flour.
Add the remaining olive oil and butter to the baking dish and lightly brown the floured veal portions - remove and set aside.

Deglaze the baking dish with white wine and when the wine is nearly fully reduced add the tomato paste and cook for a minute then add the canned tomato, vegetables and veal.
Add the stock, bay leaves, thyme and seasoning - if necessary add additional water to just cover the Osso Bucco.

Bring to the boil, and then cover the baking dish with foil or casserole lid and place into the pre heated oven for 1.5 to 2 hours. Check the veal for tenderness and adjust cooking time until the veal falls off the bone. Check seasoning adding extra if necessary. If there is too much liquid do not replace foil or lid to allow any excess liquid to reduce to a nice sauce consistency.

Prior to serving stir through the gremolata.

Serve with mashed potato and steamed green vegetables.

Beverage: Fraser Gallop 2008 Cabernet Merlot.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Fast Ed’s Basic Muffin Recipe



One of my favorite TV foodie presenters is Ed Halmagyi who is a regular on channel 7’s Better Homes and Gardens. Watching him the other night presenting his basic muffin recipe got me motivated to give his recipe a try.  Over the years I have tried heaps of muffin recipes and can honestly say this one may not be the healthiest – but it is foolproof, makes the lightest, best tasting and long lasting muffins I have ever made. When I made my first batch of muffins I divided the wet mixture into 2 even batches.  Adding 1 diced Granny Smith apple into one mix and 1 large mashed banana into the other;  Finishing up with 6 apple and 6 banana muffins.  Looking back at the finished product I could have added a little more apple into the mixture thus enabling me to fill these muffin cases to the desired ¾ level.

Fast Ed’s Basic Muffin Recipe (12 large muffins)

350 gms self raising flour
140 gms caster sugar
1tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
200 mls milk
140 mls vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift all the dry ingredients a couple of times. In a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients ensuring the vegetable oil is thoroughly emulsified. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently mix them together using a silicone spatula – do not over mix.

To add texture and extra flavour to your muffins add about 1½cups of any of the following ingredients: diced apple or pear, mashed bananas and walnuts, frozen blueberries, chocolate chips are just a few to get you started. I could just imagine how delicious some good white chocolate would taste using this recipe – maybe next time.

Add your chosen filling to the wet mixture gently mixing it through. Then ¾ fill each of the paper muffin cases and let them rest for 5 minutes so they form a crust, this will assist them to rise better. Bake in a pre-heated fan forced oven at 190C for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean from tested muffin. 

Enjoy with your morning cup of tea or coffee.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Apple Tart – Tarte aux Pommes




Apple Tart – Tarte aux  Pommes  (25cm Tart)
New seasons Granny Smith apples were the inspiration to try this dessert recipe for our Sunday family gathering last week.  The tart is made from short pastry, with a frangipane filling and new season Donnybrook Granny Smith apples. This was my first attempt at making this recipe and while it seems fiddly and is a bit time consuming the effort was well worth it.
Short crust Pastry - Pâte Brisée Ingredients
11/3  cups plain flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup soften butter
1 egg yolk
2-3 tbs cold water
Frangipane Ingredients
½ cup  softened butter
½ cup caster sugar
1 egg beaten and 1 egg yolk
150 gms ground almonds
1 tbs brandy
2 tbs plain flour
Topping
4 medium Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples  - peeled, cored and sliced about 12 slices per apple (Squeeze some lemon juice over the cut apples to prevent them browning)
1 tsp caster sugar to caramalise top
2 tbs Apricot Jam for glazing the tart

Make your short crust pastry using a food processor. I prefer to do it manually with a pastry cutter. In a large bowl add the flour and butter using the pastry cutter and cut in the butter and flour until it resembles medium crumbs. Add the beaten egg and water and using your hands bring the pastry together to form a flattened ball. (Do not over work the pastry)  Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate the pastry for at least half an hour.

While the pastry is resting make the frangipane. Cream the butter and sugar ensuring the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is creamy - gradually add the egg mixture continuing to whisk the mixture. Stir in the brandy and flour using a spatula.

Roll out the pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper to a 30cm circle. Spray the tart tin with oil and place the pastry into the tart dish pressing into the fluted sides of the dish. The pastry base and sides need to be pricked evenly with a fork all over to prevent the pastry rising while baking. Refrigerate the pastry until firm about 3o minutes.
Preheat oven to 200C fan forced and also your baking sheet. (Preheating the baking sheet will assist the tart base baking evenly).

Remove pastry from refrigerator and spoon the frangipane evenly over the tart base. Arrange the apples in a spiral pattern so they overlap each other around the tart also pressing them into the frangipane mixture.  

Place the tart on the preheated baking sheet and bake at 200 C or 20 minutes until the tart starts to brown. Then remove the tart and gently sprinkle 1tsp caster sugar evenly over the apples and return to the oven at 170C for another 10-15 minutes until the apples caramalise.

Remove the tart from oven and cool on a rack. Prior to serving dissolve the apricot jam in a tablespoon of water and brush over the apple tart. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.









Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Cabbage Rolls


Cabbage Rolls (Recipe makes about 16 rolls)

The cabbage at the green grocers looked so fresh and healthy that I couldn’t resist buying the whole instead of the usual half. Having done so, I then had the dilemma of what to do with a whole cabbage when there are only generally two of us to eat any meal. First recipe that came to mind was cabbage rolls as seen in a TV program with Martha Stewart featuring her late mother making cabbage rolls. That immediately brought back memories of my own childhood and my mother making the rolls as a regular part of our diet. Not only were they traditional Polish fare but I’m guessing the cabbage was home grown and mince was an affordable protein. Also if there were any leftovers they could be frozen and reheated for future meals.  Cabbage rolls or Golabki (little pigeons) is a traditional Polish dish but it is also found in the cuisine of many other Eastern European countries. Traditionally white rice is used; however, I have chosen to use brown rice because I like the wholesome nutty texture.
Ingredients
1 large head of green cabbage, centre core removed
400gms minced beef (combination of pork and beef is the traditional option)
100gms diced bacon
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
½ cup chopped parsley
3 cloves garlic finely diced
1 cup ketchup
2 cans crushed tomato
1 can water (add extra water if required to cover rolls)
1 tbs brown sugar
Salt, pepper
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and immerse the whole cabbage. Cook gently till all leaves are tender and start to separate. While still simmering carefully remove the individual leaves as they fall off into the water.  You will need about 16 leaves. Cool the cabbage leaves in cold water. Cut the thick membrane off the back of each leaf.
Sauté onion, celery, garlic and bacon in a little butter until lightly browned.
Put all the uncooked meat into a large mixing bowl.
Add the sautéed onions and bacon.
Add seasonings, parsley, ketchup and the cooked rice.
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly using clean hands.
Lay out leaves and depending upon their size, place 1-2 tbs of meat and rice mixture on the wider side of the cabbage leaf.
Roll leaf up over the meat, folding in sides of leaf, and continue to roll.
Line the base of your cast iron casserole or baking dish with the discarded outer cabbage leaves.
Place cabbage rolls, seam down, onto the leaves at the base of the cast iron casserole.
Mix together the crushed tomatoes, water and brown sugar and pour evenly over all the rolls. Cover the cast iron casserole with more cabbage leaves and bake at 170C for 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Note: after baking for ¾ hour, check liquid, adding additional water as necessary.
To serve: spoon sauce over rolls. Another options is to serve with a side dressing of light sour cream.
Leftover rolls can be frozen up to 3 months.
Beverage; 2009 Rosemount Limited Edition Chardonnay