Chicken, Apple, Potato and Cashew Curry with Rice

Chicken, Apple, Potato and Cashew Curry with Rice












Not nearly enough ommph to this one, was almost insipid. I'm still very partial to the combination of curry with the sweet apple and the tender chicken. The three year old turned it into finger food with the help of some Naan so he scoffed the lot (the offer of an icecream if he finished probably didn't hurt either).


Ingredients:

• Chicken thighs
• Golden delicious apples
• Potato
• Coriander
• Cashews
  
• Curry paste
• Coconut cream
  
• Chicken stock
• Salt
• Pepper
  

Curry paste:

• Onion
• Shredded coconut
• Tomato paste
• Sugar
• Curry powder
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Tumeric
• Garam masala
• Cashews
• Almonds

Naan:

• No idea it was store bought.
  

Time to prepare: 40 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $15
Number of serves: 5
Recipe inspiration: Nothing in particular

Risoni with Chorizo and Eggplant

Risoni with Chorizo and Eggplant, with Rocket and Parmesan Garnish












This turned out very tasty, however I discovered that my three year old hasn't really learned to chew properly and the pieces of eggplant with skin triggered his gag reflex with spectacular results.

Ingredients

• Risoni
• Chorizo
• Eggplant
• Onion
• Diced tomato, canned
• Chicken stock
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Rocket
• Parmesan

Time to prepare: About 30 minutes
Cost of ingredients: About $15
Number of serves: 6
Recipe inspiration: Subliminally probably the Donna Hay chorizo special in the paper's sunday magazine, but I didn't reference them when creating.

Steak Chips and Veg

Porterhouse Steak, Home Made Chips Peas and Corn












I had a hankering for some real honest to goodness (well honest to badness if you take HDL into account) hand cut home fried chips. It was pure serendipity when I paid a visit to Nepean Bulk Meats and discovered they stock a large range of bulk supplies of King Island beef. I took home a 2kg piece of porterhouse for $30, tough to complain. It portioned up nicely into 9 2cm thick steaks. The chips I lusted after were not as good as they could have been, perhaps I blanched them for too long in the first cook? *shrug* but the steak more than made up for it. The veg were there to make me feel a little virtuous and the corn to be fair was extremely sweet, something to be said for picking and snap freezing in the peak of the season I guess.


Ingredients

• Porterhouse steak
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil
• Potatoes - golden delight if you care. Greengrocer swore you couldn't make a chip out them that wasn't crunchy. He lied.
• Canola oil
• Corn
• Peas

Time to prepare: About 25 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $18
Number of serves: 3
Recipe inspiration: I could lie and say bifteck et pomme frites in some fancy french restaurant, but really just my childhood where this (sans the KI beef) was standard fare

Takeaway: Ocean's Pizza

American and Vegetarian Half and Half Pizza

Little bit of a change here, I thought I'd do a mini-review of restaurants and take-aways now when I visit them, with the view to visiting as diverse a batch of them as possible, rather than just going to the same old takeway chinese joint.

Ocean's Pizza is at 366 Dundas Street in Rye, 03 5985 7752

Ambiance is everything you'd expect from a pizza shop near a couple of surf beaches, piles of little grommits running about all going through the preening and display rituals required to find a member of the opposite sex to exchange fluids with, but they are pretty well behaved and don't intrude uninvited. What does intrude uninvited is the noise from the industrial venting fan that drowns out conversation to same degree as an enthusiastic rock band does in a pub. Don't consider eating here inside, however a table outside in summer could be very pleasant. The place is painted in beachy colours and has a limited menu, but the pizza is not too expensive ($18 for a family, no extra charge for 1/2 and 1/2) and fantastic. They have got the bases just right, and in fact I would go so far as to say besides Ladro it's the best pizza base I've ever eaten. The toppings are fairly standard, but they are well balanced and tasty. Interestingly enough it's standard practice for them to "drain" any pizza deemed too wet, I'd never seen that before.

Menu items consumed: Family 1/2 and 1/2 American and Vegetarian
Cost of meal: $24 including drinks
Number of serves: 3
Website: They don't appear to have one

Citrus Lamb Cutlets with Polenta and Mini Veg Salad

Citrus Lamb Cutlets with Polenta and Mini Veg Salad













I'd never made polenta before so I thought I'd give it a go, I really shouldn't have bothered. It wasn't worth the effort, I might have to visit an Italian restaurant to see if The Real Thing(tm) is any better. The lamb was extremely tender and had a nice zang to it, the salad was just like an ordinary salad except cuter.

Ingredients:

• Lamb cutlets
• Citrus marinade
• Salt
• Parmesan polenta
• Mini veg salad

Citrus Marinade

• Lime zest
• Lemon zest
• Orange zest
• Lemon juice
• Lime juice
• Olive oil
• Salt

Parmesan Polenta

• Polenta
• Chicken stock
• Salt
• Butter
• Water
• Parmesan cheese

Mini Veg Salad

• Baby cucumbers
• Red cherry tomatoes
• Yellow cherry tomatoes
• Roast capsicum

Time to prepare: About 45 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $40
Number of serves: 3
Recipe inspiration: A recipe magazine I found in the supermarket

Cannellini Beans Cooked in White Wine With Roast Capsicum, Rocket and Chicken Sausage

Cannellini Beans Cooked in White Wine with Roast Capsicum, Rocket and Chicken Sausage











For a fancy pants looking dish this was really quick to cook and very tasty (I think it was down to getting the seasoning right, and beans need a lot of salt.) Eaten with gusto by all and sundry, except the 3 year old turned his nose up at the rocket. The 6 month old did a little better tonight with his rice gruel (red bowl in the background of the photo), perhaps on 50% of it came straight out again rather than the previous 75%. I think he's holding out for real food, instead of his gruel, as he watches most intently when people eat around him.

Ingredients

• Chicken sausage
• Cannellini beans (canned)
  
• Capsicum
• Rocket
• White wine
• Onion
• Salt
• Pepper
• Parmesan cheese
• Olive Oil

Time to prepare: 15 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $15
Number of serves: 4
Recipe inspiration: June issue of Delicious magazine
Current weight: 105.1kg

Chicken and Fennel Sausages with Honey Mustard Pan Sauce and Steamed Veg

Chicken and Fennel sausages with Honey Mustard Pan Sauce and Steamed Veg
+
Rice Cereal







Very exciting night tonight, my 6 month old son had his first "solid" meal. Rice gruel effectively and he was confused by the concept of food you don't drink but he did pretty well just the same. The chicken sausages were very nice, but I put a little much honey in the sauce so it was a little sweet.

Ingredients:

• Chicken and Fennel sausages (purchased from Nepean Bulk Meats)
• Honey mustard pan sauce
• Corn
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Carrot

Honey Mustard Pan Sauce

• Juice from cooking sausages, fat drained off.
• Honey
• Seeded mustard
• Salt

Rice Cereal

• Rice
• Vitamin C
• Mineral (iron)
• Water

Time to prepare: About 15 minutes and 2 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $18 and $1.98
Number of serves: 2 and about 500 at current consumption rates
Recipe inspiration: Very little and What to expect the first year