WELCOME TO MY KITCHEN










WELCOME TO MY KITCHEN!!
I hope you enjoy the food!!!

Monday, June 14, 2010

A Special Treat - No Cooking for Cate!!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have the day off from cooking.  We had been invited out for lunch!!  What a glorious day it was too - and if you picked the right place in the sun you almost forgot it was winter!

My Brother, quite the experimental chef, was doing all the hard work - I didn't have to lift a finger!  So what did we have for lunch - a lovely BBQ'd shoulder of lamb, his version of my smashed potatoes, and another interesting dish "buggered beans"!?  Here are his recipes that he would like to share.









BBQ Shoulder of Lamb
This recipe was one that has been advertised in the Masterchef magazine, Julie's Fountain recipes.

Prep time: 10 minutes (plus marinating time - I marinated overnight and was happy with the results)
Cooking time: if BBQ'ing 30-45 minutes, I roasted then finished off bbqing.
Serves:- below serves 6 nicely


1 Tablespoon of fennel seeds
1 Tablespoon of coriander seeds
1 Tablespoon of cumin seeds
3 cloves of garlic, crushed ( I finely chopped, my preference as it chars off it becomes little nutty chunks)
1 Tablespoon of hot chilli sauce
2 Tablespoons of mustard sauce
1.5-2kg of deboned shoulder of lamb. (yesterday we had about 3kg). (So I went 1.5 times the amounts stated of the ingredients).

Place the spices into a dry frying pan and cook over medium heat for about a minute, until 
spices start to smell. Cool, then grind in mortar and pestle or processor. I went for a medium 
grind consistency. Combine with garlic, chilli sauce and mustard sauce and mix thoroughly.


Score meat and smear the marinade all over the meat, then place in a sealable plastic bag 
and refrigerate for desired time. a few hours is ok, but if you want the meat to fully infuxe the 
flavours, then overnight I reckon is best.  


Remove meat from the refrigerator about an hour before you want to cook, this allows the meat to   
normalise to room temperature. Preheat a covered BBQ to ~180C. Place meat on the grill and close the 
lid. I actually trussed the meat up, roasted it slowly for a couple of hours, then cut the strings and 
splayed it out to finish the centre (just to satisfy those who don't like their lamb still Baa'ing at them). 
The outside surface of the meat should have a nice dark colour to it almost like a crust. Abvously 
cooking time varies depending on how you like your meat and the technique you use. I cooked this 
way in total for 2.5 hours, but if I had BBQ'd only, time would hve been reduced to probably around 
an hour for the size of the meat I was cooking. Rest the meat for 10 minutes before carving into nice generous slices.


Cate's Smashed Potatoes - Stuart's Style Follow Cate's recipe, then: - 


Finely chop a few cloves of Garlic. nice and small 


Finely chop fresh thyme about 1 sprig, nice and fine is best (possibly dried would be ok?) 


Grated fresh parmesan cheese 


Spray potatoes with olive oil spray, sprinkle the garlic and thyme generously on spuds. 




I also placed in the tray some Grape Tomatoes and roasted these slowly, beautiful. towards the end, I 
sprinkled the parmesan to melt stlightly. 




Buggered Bean's why buggered beans? buggered if I can think of another name? 


1kg green beans, topped and tailed, cut into 5cm lengths roughly
1 tablespoon sesame oil
500g sliced mushrooms
200g unsalted cashews
pinch dried chilli flakes - fresh would be fine, but regulate for how much heat you like
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped Thyme
 



Blanch beans in boiling water for 3 minutes, just to soften slightly - drain and cool. 


Heat sesame oil in wok, and soften the mushrooms, keep them moving.


Add the garlic, chilli and thyme and heat through the mix before adding the beans. Keep the mix    
moving 3 minutes to heat through nicely. You want it all to be still slightly crunchy to the mouth when 
you eat.


Add the cashews and toss through to roast off the cashews slightly. Cashews should start to colour 
from pale to light honey colour, they just soften at this stage, but cruch to the bite. 


Serve, sit, pour a glass of your favourite wine or Ale. Relax and eat. Then.....



Stu's Apple Crumble (serves 4) 6 Granny Smith Apples
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sultanas
splash of cointreau (to your liking and taste)



Crumble Topping
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup white sugar
100g butter, softened
 



Preheat oven to 200C, slice the apples into thin wedges and place in a bowl with the sultanas, brown 
sugar and cinnamon. toss to combine evenly. 


Place apple mix into a 4 cup capacity baking dish, splash your preferred quantity of the cointreau over 
the mix, then cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. 


For the topping, place the flour, white sugar and butter in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips 
until the mixture resembels a course breadcrumb texture. 


Remove the foil from the dish and spread your crumble evenly over the apple mix. 


Bake for a further 20-25 minutes or until golden. Serve with ice cream or cream. 


And there you have it - a meal fit for a King or Queen!!  I tell you there wasn't much left over!!  Well done Bro, another success!!  Must run in the family....... 


Cate Can Cook, But So Can Stu!!!  


ps - I'm not changing the blog name - you can get your own and we can duel it out over a hot stove!!!
xxoo








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