Crispy Roast Potatoes

How many times did we have soggy roast potatoes? I tried tossing them in oil first before putting it into a very hot oven, I tried mixing it up with other veges- a bigger no no! One would think that potatoes are easier to roast than chicken no?

This time, I did research! Yup. Like a determined student preparing for her thesis. I read up. From Jamie Oliver to Donna Hay ... and cooking websites. This method seems to be the one with the most success. I think I didn't do too badly except..just except. I forgot to turn them.

which means, the potatoes are HALF crispy. Ha.

It's ok..more to prac for next time.

Crispy Roasted Potatoes 
4 potatoes chopped
2 tablespoon of oil
salt

Boil potatoes till just done. Drain. Return to pot with lid. SHAKE it HARD.

Meanwhile, preheat oven 180C. pour 2 tablespoon of oil into a baking tray enough to just fit the potatoes. When the oven is preheated. put the tray in the oven for 5 minutes.

Take the tray out, toss potatoes through with the oil. Put the tray back in the oven. TURN the potatoes at the 15 minutes mark. Serve with a sprinkle of salt.

Salmon Carrot Potato Cakes

Having one left over salmon fillet the other night, I decided to mixed it up and make some potato cakes for dinner the next night. For some reason, small sized food is really appealing to me these days. Maybe it means less guilt while I take an extra bite of the mini sized food?

This time round, I mashed potato using chicken stock instead of milk or spread. While it wasn't as creamy, it certainly has the flavour to go with it. Just a twist of a traditional easy to make dish I suppose!

Salmon Carrot Potato Cakes 

2 potatoes chopped, boiled and mashed with chicken stock.
1 salmon fillet grilled and flaked. Can also use canned salmon.
1 grated carrot 
1 tablespoon of corn flour
Seasoning- I used a mixed of pepper, salt and chili flakes! 


Mashed everything up, shape into patties and then pan fry it. Serve with salad.

Swiss Adventure- Rosti and Halomi at home

During our trip to Switzerland (Interlaken), we hurried to try the local cusine. Cheese Fondue with white wine-checked. Rosti- Checked. While I wasn't ready to try out the strong cheese fondue at home (just didn't sit too well in my tummy), I love love love the rosti.

Re-creating dishes that we try and love overseas back at our humble kitchen is one of my passions. While our little rosti cakes did not look anything like what we had in Switzerland, it brought us back memories. The human brain is so amazing, recording our memories not just by sight, but by all senses. Having this, just brought us back a little more of what we have experienced. I can't help but drool with the sight of the runny egg on a bed of potato!

At home, I grated the potato, added some melted spread, season and proceeded to shape them in little cakes. It worked really well and turned crispy despite not having much oil added to the pan. I suppose it would have to be the butter on the potato cakes.

The shredded delights hit a big spot in us. We paired it with a light salad with grilled halomi cheese.  While I tried this cheese briefly in cafes, I have not thought of using it in salads before. Grilling it made it slightly crispy and I was greeted with the crispy outer and creamy cheesey insides. Superb!

 

Rosti with Halomi Salad (Serves 3-4) 

50 grams of Halomi cheese sliced to 2 pieces

Rosti 

2 potato grated

2 tablespoon of spread melted 

lots of freshly cracked pepper

1 tsp of chilli flakes 

1 tsp of minced garlic 

1 tsp of mixed herbs 

sea salt  

Mixed all ingredients together. Shape into patties. Preheat pan with a little oil. Fry rosti up.

ps- I like my potato with a little bite so I didn't pre boil it.  

Grilled Halomi- Preheat another pan with oil. Grill it till it turns crispy on the outside. Serve on bed of salad. 

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Semi-Sundried Tomatoes and Cheddar

I am so loving my copies of Australia Healthy Food Magazine. A friend recommended me (thanks Laynee- I know u r reading this!) and I got very addicted. It is MY kind of food magazine (I can see AR rolling his eyes because he thinks every food magazine is my kind).It is filled with lots of healthy facts and ways to prepare good tasting food without the scary amounts of calories. From suggested snacks that fill me up to quick dinners to health information, I read it from cover to cover.

This is what I picked up from one of the mag one day. Chicken Breast Stuffed with Semi-sundried tomatoes and chedder. For sides? I mashed potato with cream sweet corn. My friends, you know my pendent for sweet corn of course so this is NO exception.

Honestly, it is not my thing to stuff anything. One deep reason- everything I stuffed comes out. I just can't seem to do it right. Not this time though, I sliced the chicken breast into half, place the sem sundried tomatoes in there, half a slice of chedder, sew it up with a toothpick, rub it with some olive oil and season it with cracked pepper and salt. Then I throw it into a pre-prepared hot pan and hear it sizzle.

A few minutes and then I turned sides. Oh, not forgetting the edges of course. Mashed the potatoes with the sweet corn instead of cream or butter and it was a steal.

And check out the little ruby tomatoes-aren't they calling for you?

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Semi-Sundried Tomatoes and Cheddar   (Serves 2)
2 Chicken Breasts
30 grams of 98% fat free Semi Sun dried tomatoes drained
1 piece of cheddar

Seasoning

Preheat grill pan. Quickly cut chicken breast lengthwise, to open it up to a butterfly. Be careful not to cut through it. Place sundried tomatoes and cheddar in the cavity, seal it up with a toothpick. Season and rub olive oil on them. Place on grill and sizzle. Cook for around 5 minutes on each side and dont forget to sear the edges as well.

Mash 2 potatoes with a can of sweet corn. Season. Serve with salad on the side.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY! This marks my 10 years in Australia already. So HAPPY 10th Year anniversary between me and you Australia!

Lamb Pies with Mash and Mushy Peas

A few years ago, I tasted pies from Harry's Cafe De Wheels. Then more recently, I went back to Miami Bake House in Mandurah and totally fell in love with their pastry there. We ate one pie there around 3-4 years back and didn't think it was great but Miami Bakehouse have certainly gone up a few notches with its pastry!

Again, this is my attempt to bring something similar to our little home kitchen. I was too lazy to use the pie maker and just folded the pastry into half instead! I cheated and used store bought gravy-still it made a good Friday meal with little fuss!

Lamb Pies with Mash and Mushy Peas

300 grams of lamb mince
3-4 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp of soya sauce
2-3 tsp of mixed herbs
1 cup of chopped mushrooms
generous dashes of pepper

2-3 pieces of puff pastry cut into quarters

2 potatos boiled and mashed
1 cup of peas defrosted in the freezer, mashed with reduced fat butter, milk and pepper.

Saute lamb mince. Add sauces and herbs and mushroms. Add around 1/4 of water or stock and simmer. Cool.

Preheat oven to 200C. Once meat mixture is cooled, spoon a few tablespoon onto pastry, fold and brush with egg wash. Bake for around 25 mins.

Garlic Pepper Steak

Rarely do we have a "Meat and vege" dinner. Just the thought of having a big chunk of meat as a meal does not appeal to me that much. It does however appeal to the hubby-so when he requested steak for dinner, I gave in.

I marinated these sirloin steaks with some garlic powder, mixed herbs and lots of freshly grounded cracked pepper. The result was one tasty yummy steak-and it didn't costs us AU$30 either! The potatoes were over baked with olive oil and mixed herbs- I didn't have the time to leave it in the oven abit longer for it to become crisp.

Garlic Pepper Steak  

Sirloin Steak (I rubbed in some freshly grind sea salt and left it for around 10 mins. Rinse then pat dry)
2 generous tsp of garlic powder
2 tsp of mixed herbs
freshly grind black pepper.
1 tsp of olive oil

Rub oil, herbs, garlic powder and black pepper onto meat. Preheat grill pan to very hot. Grill each side for around 3 minutes or cook till your liking.

Cottage Pie

Have you ever had something to eat as a kid that you just cannot forget?

My first taste of cottage pie was at a friend's farewell party. I think we were 15 years old. She was one of my close mates in class and we had debates over Shakespeare's Macbeth. But her dad was relocating to the UK and subsequently to Sydney, hence the farewell party was held.

I took a bite of her mom's cottage pie and I was sooo sooo hooked on it. Seriously, I have NOT tasted such a well made cottage pie since then. I remembered being cautious.. not quite certain what I was eating (I was brought up in a Traditional soup, vege and meat meals home) but gave it a go anyway. It was in a aluminum tray...and it was huge.

And it was gone in minutes.

The worst thing was I was too stunned (and very unsure about my cookery skills!) to even ask for what her secret was. AND we lost touch soon after her re-location..

I can't get that image and taste out of my mind though.

Here is my version of cottage pie when the pangs hit.



Cottage Pie (serves at least 6)
3-4 medium sizes of potato (I used royal blue)
1/4 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of spread
seasoning

1 red onion chopped
1 tsp of garlic
olive oil
400 grams of lean beef mince
3-4 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce
1/4-1/2 cup of beef stock
1 cup of peas
1 cup of chopped mushrooms
1 can of tomatoes
1 tablespoon of spicy mango chutney
2-3 celery sticks chopped

Cheddar and Parmesan cheese (around 1 cup)

1) Chop and cook potatoes till done. Mash with milk and spread. Season.

2) Pre heat oven 180C. In a deep pan, fry garlic and onion till soft and done. Add beef mince. Break the mince up as you cook it. Add stock and simmer. Add chutney, sauce and seasoning. Stir in the veges. Cook for around 10-15 minutes till done.

3) Place beef mixture in an oven proof dish. Then top it with the mash potato. Sprinkle some cheese on too. Bake for around 45 minutes till it is bubbling hot and golden brown.

Oven Baked Curry Puffs

I have been eying this recipe for ages. Curry puffs are one of my favorite snacks as a kid-in fact, my favorite part is the egg and the crisp edges. These treats are usually deep fried and are probably not the most healthy snack around, but arguably one that is the hardest to deny.

The first time I read the recipe, I thought it was waaaay too much work and procrastinated attempting them. The "one day I will make these" eventually turned into 3 years.


Because these curry puffs weren't deep fried, the texture of the pastry wasn't the same. Nevertheless, it had a slight melt in your mouth texture which I found surprising. The pastry was rather thin as well and you get a generous mouthful of filling. I did not follow the recipe for the filling as the original recipe required coconut milk which I was reluctant to use since I froze some of the remaining puffs.



Oven Baked Curry Puffs (makes 25)

Pastry
500 grams of plain flour
1 egg
150 grams of butter
50 ml iced water
pinch of salt
1 tsp of vanilla essence

Filling
3 potatoes chopped finely
1 onion chopped finely
3-4 tablespoon of your favourite curry paste
2-3 tsp of curry powder
1 tsp of minced ginger and garlic
pinch of salt

Egg wash
1 beaten egg

Pastry
1) Whisk egg till smooth. Add vanilla essence and salt.
2) Rub butter to flour till it resembles breadcrumbs.
3) Add egg mixture and iced water and mixed with both hands to form dough. Cover with damp cloth and chill for 1 hr.

Filling
4) Meanwhile cook potatoes in a pot of salted boiling water till just done. Drain.
5)Heat some oil in a seperate pan and saute the onion, ginger and garlic. Fry curry paste as well. Add potatoes and curry powder and cook throughly. Season if needed.
6) Set aside and cool.

Wrap
7) Preheat oven to 150C
8) Dust board with flour. Flatten a piece of dough to a thin disk. Place 1tbsp of filling at the centre and seal edges. Either use your fingers to fold wavy fringe or a fork.
9) Place puffs on baking tray. Brush with egg wash. Bake for 20-25 minutes till golden brown. Cool and serve.



I was lazy and used a fork to do the edges rather than pleating them. I wouldn't say they looked perfect but I'm glad I finally attempted them after 3 years!! And so, I have the privilege of bringing this dish to Dhanggit's perfect party dishes blog event. Happy first birthday Mayumi!!

Chorizo Potato Salad

Since chorizo has a strong taste, less is more. I used the remaining in a potato salad! The contrasting texture, crispy, salty went really well with mayo.

Really good stuff!!!!!!!!!

Chorizo Potato Salad
50 grams of chorizo chopped in tiny pieces
2 potatoes peeled and chopped
garlic
3 generous tablespoons of djon mayo

1) Boil potatoes in salted saucepan of water. Drain well.

2) Fry chorizo till crisp.

3) Mix everything together. Taste and season!