Add A Bit Of Spice To Your Life

Green chicken curry has long been a household favourite in my family. The mere scent of the fragrant sauce simmering away sends us into a tizzy! The best advice for amatuer cooks is to use a decent green curry paste. My favourite is Valcom authentic thai paste. There are plenty of green thai curry recipes out there, so any that use eggplant, fish sauce, palm sugar, kaffir lime leaves and ginger are going to give you a good result. I got my recipe from the 2011 issue of Better Basics by Better Homes And Gardens (page 84). I gave the thai basil a miss and cooked the eggplant for a little longer so it was super soft and oozing with flavour. Totally Tizzalicious!

Uni Blues Quick Fix

Reality came crashing down on me like a tonne of rolling pins today with the return of uni. It was quite surreal to return to campus after studying abroad last semester. Uni just doesn’t feel complete without a well-catered buffet restaurant! Without the student restaurant to appease my hunger, I had another quick-fix meal in mind – Prawn noodle broth. It might not sound like much, but it was so tasty! The recipe’s called Chinese Chicken Noodle Broth from www.bbcgoodfood.com.

I substituted the chicken for green prawns, used a green chilli because all the red chillis had gone walkabout and loaded up on the egg noodles to satisfy even the most hunger-ravaged of souls. To finish the dish off I fried up a bunch of Enoki mushrooms left over from the risotto (see Sunday Sessions) which added a bit of crunch. The recipe was ridiculously easy and all-in-all took about 10 minutes. I’ll definitely be making this again.

Sunday Sessions

There's no finer, more indulgent way to welcome the laziest day of the week than with Sunday brunch. I tried to get a table at Galleon (http://galleoncafe.com.au/) but the wait was long and my wavering sugar levels were threatening to drop to an all time low. We opted for Pelican (http://www.stkildapelican.com/) and I devoured my french toast with blueberries, cinnamon cream and maple syrup.

I've been really excited to cook a risotto as I've never cooked one before so tonight I cooked Jamie Oliver's Oozy mushroom risotto (http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=163174790380261). I picked up an amazing selection of mushrooms at the Vic Markets yesterday - enoki, oyster, and little king oyster mushrooms, and switched the dried porcini for dried shitake as I had some in the cupboard. The result was lovely and the different textures of the mushrooms really added to the dish. 

And to finish off a wonderful weekend, my sweet foodie sister has given me a piece of rhubarb and raspberry meringue pie... Can't wait to eat it!! Thanks sis :)

I For An Eye

My dalliance with vegetarianism is over, and to counter-balance last night’s greenies delight I grilled a succulent 200g eye fillet. I seared the edges of the beast and then grilled the steak for 3 ½ minutes each side (lovely and rare!). Once cooked, I rested the steak for 4 minutes to lock in the juices and flavour. The steak was accompanied by one of my all time favourite salads, though I use the term ‘salad’ rather lightly…

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9590/warm-new-potato-salad-with-bacon-and-blue-cheese

Daily Five

Vegie bar has always hits the spot, even for the most carnivorous of folk. But tonight left a little to be desired. My dish, shahe fen noodles was nice enough yet lacked a certain 'restaurant-quality' finesse.  My bf's risotto was very dry and looked like porridge that had been sitting in the pot all day. However the price, ambiance and past experiences at Vegie Bar is enough to drive me back to challenge another dish on their menu in the future.

www.vegiebar.com.au 

Thursday Night Love

After a couple of glasses of Mount Langi Shiraz at Melbourne Wine Room I’m being inextricably drawn to the closest takeaway (in which there is an abundance on Fitzroy St!). But even better than takeaway, there’s half a sausage and veg pie in my fridge leftover from last night!  

Espanol Delight On A Cold Winter's Night

Returning from the searing heat of a Californian summer to a freezing apartment with insufficient heating in Melbourne, the taste buds and internal thermometer are screaming, "COMFORT FOOD!!!" I found a great tasty recipe in this month's Woolies Fresh mag - Spanish Chicken.
http://woolworths4.smedia.com.au/Olive/AM3/Fresh/ (page 18).