Teriyaki Salmon

I first found this little duo together in a sushi-roll and my life has honestly not been the same since.  There's just something about the dry texture of grilled or fried salmon and the sweet stickiness of Teriyaki that just creates a little taste explosion.

Again like the vast majority of what I cook this is super simple and requires very minimal effort.

Teriyaki

1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Red Wine

1 Tablespoon BBQ Sauce
2 Teaspoons Minced Garlic
2 Teaspoons Minced Ginger
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Grill/Fry three Salmon fillets until half cooked, drain excess oil and pout Teriyaki mix over fish, being sure to coat the underside.

The mix will reduce significantly so make sure you continue to coast the fillets as it begins to thicken.

Served on a bed of brown rice but could easily be substituted for Soba noodles or similar.


 Hot Tip: Tastes just as good the next day wrapped up in a tortilla with a little Japanese mayo! So much salty goodness!

Spiced Chicken & Pear Salsa Soft Shell Tacos

Taco Time!

Just a bit of a summer throwback, nothing make you appreciate warmer weather like a taco and a cold pear cider.

You can pick up these small tortillas from your local supermarket and just warm them in the oven or in a pan before you serve.

Pear Salsa (Make the day before)

2 Pears, Diced into about 1/2 cm chunks

2 Brown Onions, Same consistency as the pears.

2 Tbsp Honey

2 Tbsp Finely Chopped Mint

2 Tsp White Vinegar

Combine together and leave in fridge overnight

Chicken

Complete basic just coated in rice flour then egg then Moroccan Spice mix. Fried in shallow olive oil.

I added just a smear of Japonese Mayo to my tacos just to give it a but of a creamier texture without adding anymore sweetness.

Food Porn: Chin Chin, Melbourne

A couple of amazing meals down in Melbourne for the week but by far was dinner at Chin Chin on Flinders Lane.

 Chicken and Corn Steamed Dumplings

  Beef Ribs

Crispy Barramundi & Green Apple Salad with Caramelized Pork (Absolute winner of the night!)

Pulled Pork Pancake

Kingfish Sashimi

Pear and Vanilla Bean Frappe

I got massively hooked on these guys at my local cafe, my neighbor and I would head down in between study breaks on the weekend and catch on our respective weeks and moan about how we have no time for a social life, so keeping that in mind now that our Australian summer has come to an end we wanted to kick of Autumn with our own take on it.

Crazy simple to make, these are massive so scale down to what you want. For two Frappes you want two cans of pear halves, separate the flesh and the nectar and keep the nectar in the fridge and the flesh in the freezer overnight. The next day your good to go, chuck it all in a blender along with scrapings of a vanilla bean or 1tsp of vanilla paste.

Verdict? Even better than from the cafe, using 100% frozen pear without using ice makes for a smoother consistency but can lead to pear overload.

Pistachio & Cardamom Cheesecake

A recipe like this is probably something I will only make once in a while, I'm really not one for deserts and frankly having a whole cheesecake sitting in my fridge scares me as to how much damage it can cause.

So luckily for all my friends they will be spoilt with a slice of this temtping desert.

Recipe adapted via

Pumpkin & Ricotta Lasagna Muffins

Over a year ago I blogged about Lasagna Muffins, and so far it has been my second most popular post behind the low-fat Spanakopita.

I regularly make these little bad boys and decided to share one of my favourite alternatives to the original.

The recipe is basically the same, spray two muffin trays with oil, put one wonton skin as the base layer with filling and cheese, repeat, and finally spread a small amount of the fill on the top layer for colour.

I used half a large pumpkin and 500g of Ricotta to make 16 of these

Original Recipe Here

Turkey & Pear Sliders

- Fresh Bread Rolls (Ciabatta Rolls Used Here)
- 500g Minced Turkey, Lean
- 1/4 Pomegranate
- 3 Pears (2 Diced, 1 sliced horizontally)
- 3 Tbsp Low Fat Sour Cream
- 70g Blue Cheese
- 1/4 Cup Roughly Chopped Fennel
- 1 Brown Onion, Diced
- 1 Packet of Spinach

Combine Turkey, Onion and Diced Pears and shape into palm sized patties
Grill of fry until cooked through.

Warm the Blue Cheese over heat until it is quite soft, at this point add the Fennel, and sour cream and combine well.

Knock the pomegranate jewels out of the shell and rinse and set aside.

Once everything is prepared it time to get your sliders together, start with halving the rolls and spreading a heaped tablespoon of the blue-cheese mix onto the base, layer with some spinach and throw a few pomegranate jewels on top. Next goes the turkey burger and finally add one or two slices of pear to make sure you get a hit of that flavour.

These are an awesome crowd pleaser, and you really cant go wrong with burgers!

Shaved Cucumber Salad - Chilli, Mint and Ginger Dressing

A tidy little summer salad that you can slap together in no time at all.

Total Time: 10 Minutes

Get two medium cucumber and chop of each end. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer skin.

Use the same peeler to begin to shave the outer part of the cucumber. Stop when you get to the water inner part with the seed capsules.

Mix 1tsp Chilli, Ginger, Salt, Lime Juice, 1tbsp Chopped Mint, 3Tbsp White Vinegar, 1tbsp Japanese Mayonnaise.

Combine shaved cucumber to dressing and lightly shake off excess dressing.

Cracked pepper over the top and you're golden.

Lemon-Cello Spiced Chicken

Sometime your week can be a lemon. After spending three weeks away for work without a kitchen I was really itching to get back and cook myself something that didn't come from a box or require me wearing pants. Sometimes it'd hard to fit it all in with work and study, but winding down the week into what looks like a pretty quality weekend deserved a fitting finish to a lemon of a week. 

And if it includes alcohol then that's just a bonus.

2 Chicken Thigh Fillets

4tbsp All spice

1tbsp Rosemary

1/2 Can Coconut Cream

4 Tbsp Lemon-Cello

1 Tbsp Lime Juice

1 Tbsp Ground Cumin Seeds

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Place the Chicken Fillets on some baking paper and cover both sides with Rosemary and All-Spice, fold baking paper over the top and beat with a rolling pin until approx 1.5cm thick. Cook in a hot pan with a small amount of oil for about 5 minutes a side.

Mix all remaining ingredients besides Lemon-Cello in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Once off the heat add Lemon-Cello.

Lightly browned cashews to serve and you're good to go.

Jalapeno Poppers

Jalapeno Poppers take me back to the time I spent going to high school in the US.  Done right they stay still have the crunch and heat of the jalapeno but have the gooey cheesyness of the filling. Here's a recipe that goes just as well with a beer and a rugby game or as an in my case the accompaniment to a movie night.

Ingredients:

Adjust all quantities to suit but the following serves three.

- Twenty Fresh (not jarred) Jalapenos
- 200ml Light Sour Cream
- 120g Shredded Cheddar/Tasty Cheese
- 100g Diced Bacon
- 2 Eggs
- Flour
- Breadcrumbs

Cut the Jalapenos in halves lengthways and remove seeds (they are the hottest part) leave aside to prepare filling.

Mix the sourcream, cheese and bacon in a bowl, stuff the Jalapeno halves with the mix.

Once all the Jalapenos are stuffed lightly flour them and dip into the two whisked eggs and then breadcrumbs. This gives them their crunchy coating.

Heat shallow oil over a medium heat in a large pan.

Working with ten at a time, place the coated Jalapenos in the oil and turn over after 2-3 minutes, leave for another two minutes or until golden.

Cabbages and Condoms - Bangkok

Such a funny little restaurant! Besides the mannequins dressed entirely in condoms the food was actually pretty decent! This was my entree from last night: Miang Kum.

Crispy Whitebait with Lemon and Dill Dressing

I had been trying to track down some whitebait for about a month and came across it at the Vic Markets in Melbourne.  This recipe is super simple and really delicious for lunch outside when its warm.

Lightly flour and salt 400g of whitebait and drop into 800ml of hot olive oil in a sauce pan. Alternatively if you have a deep fryer use that.

While your little beauties are bubbling away, mix a small tub of sour cream with the juice of one lemon and 3 Tbsp of chopped dill, mix to combine.

When the whitebait are ready put them on a big plate to share.

I find this recipe pairs really well with a glass of iced soda water.

Il Fornaio - St Kilda

Stopped for some breakfast after a bike ride at Fornaio in St Kilda.

 

'My Spanish Sweetheart' corn fritters with a hash on the side.

Jam Doughnuts - Victoria Markets

These little gems from American Doughnut Kitchen have been around for a long time and I remember visiting their van at Vic Markets when I was a boy.

 Totally worth the 50m Line.

Mama Sita - Collins St, Melbourne

Tamal con salsa guajillo

 (Pulled pork tamale, braised red peppers & guajillo salsa) 

http://www.mamasita.com.au/

Vietnam Teaser

Just a quick snapshot of my trip to Vietnam.  More detailed posts to follow.

Winters Breakfast: Caramelised Onions on Sourdough

Whether it be a chilly winters breakfast, or a midnight snack with a friend, Caramelised Onions on some warm toast can never go wrong.  Make a larger batch and keep it in the fridge for those in between meal snacks.

5 Brown Onions
1 Tbsp Balsamic
3 Tbsp Honey
4 Tbsp Butter

Melt the butter in a pan, chop the onions and add.  When softened add the honey and balsamic to start the caramelisation process and brown to your preference.

Low Fat Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)

Guilt free and great to make for lunches, just reheat in a microwave for a minute and you're good to go!

Ingredients:

300g Pack Spinach

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

4 Shallots (Chopped)

2 Cloves of Garlic (Crushed)

75g Low Fat Feta

1002 Low Fat Ricotta

4 Eggs

1 Pack Filo Pastry

Oil Spray

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 170°C fan-forced.  Use spray oil to grease a pie dish.  In a saucepan begin to wilt the spinach in some boiling water, once wilted make sure you thoroughly dry with paper towel.

Heat oil in a frying pan and add shallots and garlic, once browned take off heat and add to a bowl with wilted spinach.  Add ricotta, eggs and feta and stir until combined. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Line the pie dish with three layers of filo, spraying oil between each sheet, pour in mixture and spread evenly.  Add another three layers of filo, spraying in between and fold bottom layers of filo over to create a crust.

Cover loosely with foil and bake for 30 minutes, remove foil and bake for a further 10.

Let cool and enjoy!

Orange Fruit & Nut Cous-Cous Salad

Quick, easy and quite tasty.

Tailor the recipe to how much cous-cous you have, I used left over cous-cous from another recipe from the night before.

3 Cups of cooked cous-cous
2 Oranges, peeled and cut in eight
Small handful of cashews
Small handful of sultanas
One cup of dates, seed removed and roughly chopped
1/2 Cup of orange juice.

Chuck it all in a bowl and mix!

A quick and easy meal for a weekday, or a useful way to use up left over cous-cous.

Quinoa and Kale Pilaf & Mini Quinoa Burgers

 Two super delicious recipes that you only need to buy one set of ingredients for!

I find it frustrating that I always seem to have a huge amount of left over ingredients when making something from a recipe.  These two little gems can be made together and are super easy and super tasty.

Quinoa and Kale Pilaf

Recipe Via

 

When you are making the Pilaf just throw the whole packet of Quinoa in and adjust the water accordingly so you can make..

Mini Quinoa Burgers

Using the leftover Quinoa from the Pilaf, combine in a bowl 

4 Eggs, 1 Tbsp Salt, 1/3 cup Grated Parmesan, 2 Tbsp Minced Garlic. 1 Tbsp Olive Oil, 1 and 1/3 Cups Plain Flour

Mix really well and put a frying pan on the stove with a shallow layer of oil.  Get prepared to get your hands dirty because this mixture is sticky! Ball the mixture into small patties and once the pan has heated up pop them and watch they get golden!

Served here with Spinach, Sour Cream and Dijon-Mayo