A friend had sent me this recipe many moons ago, something her Mum used to make.  The description of this meal struck a chord with many of us who were children and mothers in the 70s.  Sometimes you take a mouthful of something and it feels so comforting because it brings back happy memories.   Children of the noughties seem to enjoy this mixture as well!   So make it and enjoy it and have a great time reminiscing about the best meals your Mum used to make when you were a child.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons plain all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp curry powder (more or less or even none depending on your taste)

500g cubed beef, I used blade

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium brown onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 cm bit of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

3 sticks of celery, washed and chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 x 400g tin of tomatoes

400ml of water

1 cup of chopped cabbage

Scone topping ingredients:

1 cup of flour

3 teaspoons of baking powder

1 cup grated cheese

2 tspns chopped basil or whatever herb

1 beaten egg in a small amount of milk

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C.

Place the flour, salt, pepper and curry powder into a dish and rolled the cubed beef in it.  Take a casserole dish that can be used on the stove top and then put into the oven and add the olive oil.  Heat over a medium-high heat and once hot add the cubed meat in batches until it is browned.  As a batch browns take it out of the dish and place in a bowl to one side.  Once all the meat is browned add the onion to the dish and then the garlic and ginger and cook a couple of minutes until soft.  Add the celery and carrot and fry for about 2 minutes.  Then add the tomatoes, water and add back the beef.  Heat the mix until it starts to simmer and at this point place it into the oven for for 1 hour.

After 1 hour of cooking remove and check that there is still enough liquid in the dish.  If not add some more water and then stir the chopped cabbage into the beef mixture.  Take the scone topping ingredients and mix until just combined.  Pat the scone mixture out and place over the beef mixture and return to the oven for 20 -30 minutes until the scone topping is golden.

We all have those nights.  The ones where you come in late or you just can’t be bothered cooking.  On those nights I’m looking for a meal that is a little bit dirty or a bit of a cheat.  It was one of those nights when I came up with Pizza Chicken.  The girls love pizza so departing from that meal we designed Pizza Chicken.

Ingredients:

2 skinless,  boneless chicken breasts

1 jar of pasta sauce (I used Barilla Napoletana Sauce but use your favourite or if you are feeling more pure make your own)

250g haloumi cheese

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

Trim the chicken breast into portions and cut through the middle of the breast so that the fillet is quite slim. 

Heat the olive oil in a fry pan that can be transferred into the oven.  Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper and then place in the fry pan. 

Fry the chicken without turning for approx. 5 minutes on one side.  Turn the chicken and fry on the other side for approx. 5 minutes.  Please don’t overcook the chicken. I know we are all petrified about making sure chicken is cooked through but don’t over do it!  At this point top the chicken with a couple of tablespoons of pasta  sauce and then the haloumi cheese.  Place the whole fry pan into the oven and grill for about 3 minutes or until the cheese has browned.

Serve with a favourite vegetable, in this instance zucchini (courgette) sauteed in a little olive oil.

 Long time, no post, in fact months since my last post.   Thanks to a friend I post tonight’s dinner offering for my 2 beautiful daughters.  Noodles are always well received and these noodles especially so.  I have made this noodle dish with only 1/2 the ingredients listed and still it has a favourable reponse.   I think the key is the addition of the palm sugar and fish sauce.  Please give it a try and see what you think.

Ingredients:

500g Thai rice noodles

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

300g shrimps (substitute chicken or pork)

2 Lup Cheong sausages, chopped

4 eggs

2 cup bean sprouts (optional)

½ cup of garlic chives (subsitute normal chives or green onions)

½ cup of ground roasted peanuts or cashews

½ cup ground dried shrimp (optional)

¼ cup salted radish, finely chopped (optional)

4 tblspns palm sugar (subsitute brown sugar)

4 tblspns fish sauce

2 tblspns lemon or lime juice

3 tblspns of vegetable oil

Coriander leaves, ground dried chilli and a few pieces of lemon or lime, obviously leave out any of these for children.

Cook noodles in water just off the boil for 2 minutes.  Drain, rinse in cold water and drain again then put to one side.

Put oil in the fry pan, add garlic, Lup Cheong sausage and salted radish.  Stir fry for a few minutes, add shrimp, cook until well done.  Add sugar, fish sauce, lemon juice and stir well.  Make a space and add eggs, break the yolks and fry until nearly set then add the noodles.

Stir over a high heat for a few minutes.  Add bean sprouts, garlic chives and ground shrimp to the mixture.  Stir fry about 1 –2 minutes.  Put on a plate sprinkle with peanuts, coriander leaves, chilli and lemon wedges.

We are so lucky to get fresh fish direct from the ocean when Mr Feed Me goes fishing however, it is sometimes hard to convince our children of their luck.  I am always trying new ways to entice them to eat fish.  I tried this recipe and got a reasonably enthusiastic response. 

Ingredients

700g white fish, in this case I used snapper

1/4 cup shiro miso (white miso)

3 tablespoons mirin

1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest

In a small bowl combine the shiro miso, mirin and zest to make a runny paste. Rub the fish with the marinade and leave to sit for 1-2 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat the grill to hot. Place the fish on a small grill tray and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the fish is white nearly all the way through and the marinade has begun to colour. Transfer gently to serving plates.

Serve with sushi rice and crunchy coleslaw.

It is such a long time since I posted anything that I had to come up with a really easy, fabulous recipe to make up for it.  So here it goes with the ultimate spring chicken recipe.  This has made it into my Mum’s repertoire so it must be easy!  (Sorry, Mum)  By all means use store bought pesto but I have included my recipe at the bottom for a pesto variation made with toasted almonds.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil

500g chicken thigh meat

2 sprig of rosemary, chopped

Flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Juice of a lemon

Broccoli and green beans, cut into bite sized pieces and blanched

3 tablespoons of pesto

Grated parmesan cheese, to serve

500g of short pasta such as penne or farfalle

Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper.  Heat olive oil in a fry pan over a medium heat.  Add the chicken thighs and rosemary and fry until golden brown and cooked through.  Turn the heat off and squeeze the juice of the lemon over the chicken.  

In a large pot boil the pasta as per the manufacturers recommendations.  With three minutes cooking time to go add the beans and broccoli.  Drain and stir through the chicken mixture with 3 generous tablespoons of pesto (recipe follows).

Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Pesto My Way

Ingredients:

1 cup of basil leaves

70g blanched almonds

1 clove of garlic

1/3 of a cup of grated parmesan

1/3 of a cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon of salt

Put the almonds in a fry pan over a medium low heat.  Keep moving them around until they are a golden brown colour.  Take off the heat and let them cool. 

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and process until reasonably smooth and hey pesto!

The weather has finally started to improve and tonight it was warm and still light until 6.30pm.  The thought of spring inspired this pasta dish in which the broccoli could be replaced with asparagus or broad beans. 

Ingredients:

2 cups of broccoli, chopped into small florets

300g frozen baby peas

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, peeled and finely sliced

200g bacon, trimmed of fat and chopped into strips

¼ teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ cup lite cream cheese or crème fraiche

350g short pasta, such as penne, farfalle, trofie

¾ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese plus a little extra for serving

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil.  When boiling plunge the broccoli in and cook for 3 minutes.  Scoop the broccoli out with a slotted spoon and put to one side. 

Heat the butter in a fry pan over a medium heat.  Saute the onion until soft but not brown.  Add the bacon and fry for a further 3 minutes.  Add the frozen peas and cook for a further 2 minutes.  Mix in the lite cream cheese (crème fraiche), salt and pepper and turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water for the recommended time.  When cooked, drain and add to the fry pan with the broccoli and parmesan cheese.  Warm through over a low heat, stir and serve sprinkled with the extra bit of parmesan .

We have all enjoyed traditional Sukiyaki, both at our local Japanese restaurant and home, but tonight I decided to put a twist on the meal by adding pumpkin.  There is a traditional Japanese dish called Kabocha no Fukumeni that has pumpkin simmered in soy that has always looked appealing so I decided to combine the two and make Sort of Sukiyaki.  The meal was a great success, my little girls ate it with gusto and I’m sure I’ll be forgiven for the little white lie I told when I said that tofu is a kind of sausage!

¾ cup soy sauce

½ cup mirin

½ cup sake

¼ cup sugar

500ml beef stock

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

300 g chopped pumpkin

2 carrots, grated and chopped

250g tofu, chopped into cubes

300g scotch fillet, very thinly sliced

3 heads of bok choy

Heat a wok over a medium heat and add the soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar and beef stock.  Heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves.

Add the onion, pumpkin, carrot and tofu and simmer for approx. 15 -20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.  Add the scotch fillet and bok choy and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

Serve with rice.

Some things surprise me, like when my two girls loved this pork meatball recipe.  Even better this has proved a successful meal with a lot of different children who have eaten at our house.  The recipe is extremely simple, so give it a go and let me know if your children like it!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons canola oil 

1 medium brown onion, finely chopped

1 clove Garlic, finely chopped

500g minced (ground) pork

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 teaspoons five-spice powder

2 teaspoons mirin

1 teaspoon freshly chopped coriander (optional)

Take all the ingredients, except the canola oil, and place in a food processor bowl.  Process until the mixture is quite fine.  Wet your hands and roll the mixture into teaspoon size meatballs. 

Heat the oil in a fry pan over a medium heat.  Fry the meatballs, turning until they are golden brown on all sides.  Serve with rice and coleslaw.

Coleslaw

Ingredients:

½ cup cabbage

1 carrot, grated

2 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 teaspoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds 

Finely chop cabbage, add carrot.  Dress with mayonnaise, soy sauce,honey and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

The kids love these edamame beans.  You can find them in the freezer of your local Asian supermarket or even some supermarkets.  You then boil them up with water and hey presto a snack that is a vegetable but one that kids love to pop out and eat!  There is a lot of conflicting information about soy but like all foods this can be a part of a varied diet when eaten in moderation.

The edamame beans straight out of the pack.

Boil the beans up and then pop them out as a snack.

If you cook and you enjoy cooking you can always remember the first time you cooked something or were involved in cooking something.  One of the ladies who taught me to cook and love food was my Nana.  She had infinite patience for her young apprentice and I can remember standing at her elbow “helping” just as my girls love to do.  It’s such an important way to learn about food and how food connects us.  My Nana isn’t very well at the moment which is the reason why the posts have been few and far between.  She hasn’t been interested in eating and we are doing our best to tempt her with tasty treats.  These biscuits are proving to be her favourite thing.  I don’t recommend you make them a meal subsitute as she has but sometimes you just need chocolate and here is the recipe for the cookie that will do the job.

Ingredients

300g bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
250g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup icing sugar

Melt chocolate in short bursts in a microwave, stirring every 20 seconds until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a small bowl. Beat butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric beater until very fluffy. Add white and brown sugars and beat well. Add egg and vanilla and beat again. Add melted chocolate and mix just enough to blend. Reduce speed to low and add flour in 3 batches, mixing only until just blended. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and chill for 1 hour.

Shape dough into walnut-sized balls, and roll in icing sugar to coat thoroughly and heavily. (During cooking the dough will expand, leaving white sugary patches on the chocolate biscuits.) Arrange balls of dough on paper-lined baking sheets, with plenty of space to spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 180°C until the top of a cookie springs back when lightly touched.

Hot tip: Crinkles are best eaten while still warm, however they will keep in an airtight container for several days.  Alternatively, freeze the mixture after you have rolled it into balls and dredged it in icing sugar and then you can take them from the freezer and bake them as require.