Category: Crafts

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #29: Catherine Wheel Sausage
This is our 29th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. Sorry for missing the past two weeks! We were in Melbourne for one of them. We actually did cook a Jamie meal last weekend, but we had visitors and got too distracted to properly document the meal. (We decided we’d revisit that one again in the future.) The Snook was on cooking duty for this one, and he chose “Catherine Wheel Sausage, Horseradish Mash, Apple Salad, Sage & Leek Gravy, and Stuffed Apples.” This is actually the second meal to use a “Catherine Wheel sausage,” but I was the chef on the other one. We chose this one because it used a lot of ingredients we already had. Unfortunately the TV episode hasn’t aired yet, so we were working just from the book. The time, I’m afraid, was a blow-out: 42:27. Luckily it made up for it in taste!

Substitutions: We used Dutch Cream potatoes instead of the ones specified. We couldn’t find any watercress in season, so we substituted rocket instead. We had roasted almonds instead of blanched for the dessert, and we didn’t bother with the flaming Cointreau(!). Other than that, everything was as written in the recipe!

Quick verdict: This was another winner in terms of the overall flavour “theme.” Each component complemented the rest really well. (You can’t go wrong with pork and apples, basically.) The sausage is impressive-looking, but it’s not a large portion of protein. That’s okay because you fill up on horseradish mash, which is very tasty and awesome. The “gravy” isn’t really; it’s more of a weird leek white sauce. It tasted good though. Snook was dubious about the apple salad at first (mostly the Ryvita bits on the bottom), but I thought it was unusual and nicely crunchy. And stuffed apples always = YUM. We both rated this one a 9 out of 10.

Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The oven grill was turned on full whack, the kettle was boiled, and the food processor was fitted with the standard blade attachment. We had a roasting pan for the sausage, a saucepan for the potatoes, a frying pan for the gravy, and a baking dish for the apples.

First up are the ingredients for the sausage: pork sausages, sage, and hot English mustard (to serve).

Next are the ingredients for the gravy: leeks, fresh sage, chicken stock powder, flour, and cider.

The bits for the horseradish mash: potatoes, butter, and creamed horseradish.

Here’s the ingredients for the apple salad: Ryvita, cream cheese, lemon, apple, and watercress (rocket).

Lastly, the bits for the dessert: apples, an egg, sugar, dried apricots, almonds, and cream (to serve).

Pots and pans, ready to go! The foil-lined sheet is for the sausage; the frying pan is for the gravy; and the saucepan is for the potatoes. The small cake pan is for the baked apples.

And he’s off! The first step was to make the Catherine Wheel sausage. He wetted and scrunched a piece of greaseproof paper as directed, then started untwisting the sausages and pushing the meat into continuous tubes.

Then he spiralled the links around to make the Wheel.

He inserted metal skewers to hold the thing together. He also tucked fresh sage leaves down in the gaps and rubbed the thing in olive oil. It went into the oven!

…where the greaseproof paper promptly caught fire. Yeah, really. He pulled out the pan and removed the paper, then put it back in the oven. (It was a stupid idea anyway, Jamie.)

The next step was to core the apples. Unfortunately we don’t have an apple corer, so the Snook had to do this with a knife. He did lose some time here.

To make the filling for the apples, he measured out sugar, dried apricots, almonds, and an egg in the food processor.

Whizz!

Then the filling got stuffed down into each apple, with the excess put in the bottom of the dish. The whole thing went into the microwave for 10 minutes.

Next he chopped up the potatoes for the mash.

Those went into a pot of boiling water on the stove with some salt. It was also time to flip the sausage, which was looking golden and tasty!

Now for the gravy. He chopped up both leeks…

…before adding them to the hot frying pan with olive oil, boiled water, and salt. He put the lid on so it could steam.

Next he had to prep the apple salad. First he had to break up the Ryvita biscuits into small pieces.

He smeared each piece with cream cheese before adding black pepper and lemon zest.

Then he cut up an apple into matchsticks.

The apple matchsticks were tossed with lemon juice to keep them from going brown.

Back to the gravy. He added sage leaves, chicken stock powder, and flour. Then he added cider and more water. (“Looks like gloop,” he said, stirring furiously.)

To finish the salad, he topped the Ryvita with rocket and the dressed apple. Then he drizzled it with extra virgin olive oil.

The baked apples were finished cooking in the microwave, so he transferred them to the cake pan to finish caramelising in the oven.

All that was left was to finish the mash. He drained the potatoes…

…before mashing them with butter, creamed horseradish, salt, and pepper.

The gravy was… still gloop. But tasty gloop!

The finished meal of Catherine Wheel sausage, horseradish mash, sage & leek gravy, and apple salad.

And the finished dessert of baked apples. (The filling got a little scorched, but it was still good.)

Tasting notes: The sausage worked well. The sauce was “interesting,” says the Snook, “but I wouldn’t call it a gravy.” The horseradish mash was very good. I thought the apple salad provided welcome crunch, but the Snook thought that smearing cream cheese on all the little pieces of Ryvita was a bit fiddly. He says that his #1 tip for cooking this meal would be to HAVE AN APPLE CORER, as otherwise you’re going to get frustrated as he did. Overall this was a great little meal with some nice flavour combinations. We both rated it a 9 out of 10 despite the extra time it took to prepare. Highly recommended!

Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals!

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #28: Fish Tray-Bake
This is our 28th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals… and I’m not gonna lie, the fatigue is starting to set in. But we started this thing, and dammit, we’re gonna finish it. We chose this one because we had the episode recorded, asparagus is in season, and I started drooling when I saw a photo of the Banoffee Pie. Snook was on chef’s duty and he finished in a very respectable 33:39. There were some definitely highlights and lowlights to this one…

Substitutions: We already had some big potatoes in the pantry, so we just cut those up instead of using new potatoes. We had “banana prawns” rather than tiger prawns. Fresh red chilli is still very difficult to come by, so we went with dried chilli flakes instead. The pie calls for “Camp coffee,” which we had to google. It’s a kind of thick essence of coffee and chicory. Our supermarket actually had the local equivalent, but we decided against it (on the grounds that we’d never use up the rest). Instead, the Snook just made a shot of espresso and stirred a lot of sugar into it. Other than that, everything was as written in the recipe.

Quick verdict: Meh. It was okay. The fish tray-bake was tasty, but I dislike eating whole cooked prawns. I know why he does it; it’s a time cheat. But I’d rather take the time to use cleaned prawns than have to tear their heads off, peel the shells, and de-poop them myself. (The ones we had were quite gritty, too.) The potatoes and the salad were fine, but there wasn’t really much to them. We were divided on the salsa verde. I loved it, but the Snook thought it had too much raw garlic. But the Banoffee Pie… was a complete disaster. The problem was the bananas. Bananas are incredibly expensive right now in Sydney, and the best ones we could get turned out to be crappy quality and totally not ripe. We ate only a few bites of the pie and then chucked the rest away. Big disappointment! Overall we rated this one an 8/10 as cooked, but with a better Banoffee Pie we’d go up to 8.5. There just wasn’t really any showstopping dish here, and nobody likes to eat prawn poop.

Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The oven grill was turned on full whack, the kettle was boiled, and the food processor was fitted with the standard blade attachment. We had a baking tray for the fish, a frying pan for the caramel, and a pot for the potatoes.

First up are the ingredients for the potatoes: potatoes, mint, and lemon.

Next are the bits for the fish tray-bake: salmon fillets, prawns, asparagus, lemon, chilli flakes, basil, anchovies, garlic, tomatoes, and pancetta.

Here are the ingredients for the salsa verde: mint, parsley, garlic, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, capers, and cornichons. For the spinach salad we had: balsamic vinegar, lemon, mint, and baby spinach.

Lastly, the ingredients for the Banoffee Pie: sugar, bananas, milk, pre-made sweet pastry case, cream, sweetened espresso (subbing for Camp coffee), and dark chocolate.

Pots and pans, ready to go! The pot is for the potatoes; the frying pan is for the caramel; and the foil-lined tray is for the fish.

And he’s off! The first step was to get the potatoes into a pot of boiling water. He added the stalks from a bunch of mint and a pinch of salt. The pot was covered and allowed to cook.

Now for the caramel for the pie. He spooned the sugar into the hot frying pan and let it start to melt.

While the sugar was melting, he used the blender to whizz up some bananas and milk. Unfortunately this was where we realised the poor quality of our bananas, as they weren’t ripe enough to blend to a smooth consistency.

Here’s the sugar just as it started to caramelise.

Once the sugar was all bubbling and golden, he poured in the banana mixture and cooked it for a few minutes.

He then poured the caramel into the bottom of the pastry case and put it in the freezer to chill.

Now it was time to start the fish. He chucked the salmon fillets and prawns into the awaiting tray.

Then he snapped off the woody ends of the asparagus and added the spears to the tray.

Next he added salt, pepper, lemon quarters, chilli flakes, basil leaves, anchovy oil and fillets, and crushed garlic.

He then chopped up a few tomatoes…

…before adding them as well.

Lastly, he arranged everything nicely in the tray, making sure the salmon was skin side up. Then he draped over a few slices of pancetta and put the whole thing in the oven.

With that finished, he moved onto the salsa verde. He put mint, parsley, garlic, anchovy fillets, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, capers, cornichons, and extra virgin oil into the food processor.

Whizzz!

It made a beautiful green sauce.

Here’s the finished salsa verde waiting at the table.

By now the potatoes were cooked, so he drained them and discarded the mint stalks.

The potatoes were dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

He also smashed the potatoes lightly with a fork. Here are the finished potatoes!

Now for the spinach salad. He made the dressing with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice.

Next he finely sliced the remaining mint leaves and added them to the dressing.

He then roughly chopped the baby spinach…

…before placing it on top of the dressing.

Here’s the finished spinach salad, waiting to be tossed just before eating.

All that was left to do was assemble the pie. He began by whipping the cream. (Jamie has you do this BY HAND with a whisk? No way. Everybody’s got some sort of electric whisk or beaters, right? That’s just craziness.)

Once the cream was stiff, he added the sweetened espresso and folded it through.

It looked all swirly and marbled.

He then sliced up the remaining banana…

…before placing the slices on the chilled caramel base.

Then he poured the coffee cream on top.

He carefully shaved curls from the bar of dark chocolate…

…before sprinkling them on top to finish the pie. (It did look good, didn’t it?)

The final task was just to pull the fish tray-bake out of the oven. (The book said “about 10 minutes,” but it ended up being closer to 15 for us.)

Here’s the completed meal of fish tray-bake with potatoes, spinach salad, and salsa verde.

And here’s the finished piece of Cheat’s Banoffee Pie.

Tasting notes: I think I covered most of it already. For me the salsa verde was the highlight, and I think it would be worth making this to serve with any grilled meat or even as a salad dressing. (You may want to tone down the garlic a bit though if you find it too strong.) If I were going to do this meal again, I’d clean the prawns ahead of time and add them partway through the cooking. I’d also buy my bananas a week in advance to ensure that they were properly ripe and tasty. (Trust me; this just doesn’t work at all with non-ripe bananas.) We’re giving this one an 8-8.5/10 (making allowances for the Pie Fail). It LOOKS like one that would be perfect for a dinner party, but only if your guests don’t mind peeling and de-pooping their own prawns.

Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals!

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #27: Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca
This is our 27th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. This one was going to be our dinner the night before the City2Surf, so we were thinking “carb-loading.” And what’s better for carb-loading than pasta? With that in mind, we chose “Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca, Crunchy Salad, Garlic Bread, and Silky Chocolate Ganache.” We made sure to watch the episode so we knew what we were in for. I was on cooking duty for this one, and I actually pulled it off in 29:49!

Substitutions: We used fettucine instead of spaghetti (simply because we already had a box of it in the pantry). We used a pinch of dried chilli instead of a fresh red chilli. For the dessert, we had an Australian mandarin rather than a true clementine. Other than that, everything was as written in the recipe.

Quick verdict: Nice! This is the perfect pre-race meal, if you ask me. My fettucine went a bit gluggy, but that’s more to do with me overcooking it and not separating the strands enough. The sauce was a different sort of puttanesca than I’m used to: the Snook normally doesn’t put tuna nor so much tomato in his version. He wondered at its authenticity but agreed with me that it was a very tasty tuna pasta regardless. The crunchy salad was better than I expected, but be warned – the recipe makes a LOT. We had heaps left over. The ganache was simple but effective, and having it with cookies and orange wedges was a nice combination. Overall we both rated it a 9.5 out of 10. It was quick to make and very tasty, but it just lacked the “wow” factor to make it a perfect 10. It’s a great weeknight meal though… or even a pre-race feast!

Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The oven was turned on to 180C, the kettle was filled, and the food processor was fitted with the slicer disc. We had a baking sheet for the bread, a big pot for the pasta, and a frying pan for the sauce.

First up are the ingredients for the garlic bread: ciabatta, garlic, parsley, and olive oil.

Next up are the components for the crunchy salad: fennel, radishes, lemon, and olive oil.

Here are all the ingredients for the pasta: fettucine, tuna, garlic, capers, anchovies, chilli flakes, parsley, black olives, passata, and cinnamon.

Lastly, the ingredients for the dessert: 70% dark chocolate, butter, cream, clementines, and biscuits/cookies.

Pots and pans, ready to go! The baking sheet is for the garlic bread. The big pot is for the pasta, and the bowl on top is for the chocolate ganache. The frying pan is for the sauce.

We also needed the food processor for this one, with the slicing disc attachment. The bowl is for the salad, and the greaseproof paper is for the garlic bread. (Note: this bowl ended up being way too small for the salad, so I had to get a bigger one!)

And I’m off! I started by slicing up the top of the ciabatta (not all the way through the bottom).

Then I wetted a big piece of greaseproof paper, scrunched it up, and spread it out on the benchtop.

To flavour the bread, I chopped up some parsley and crushed a few cloves of garlic.

I rubbed the garlic and parsley all over the bread and down inside the cuts I’d made. Then I drizzled over olive oil.

Lastly I sprinkled on some salt and pepper.

I wrapped up the loaf in the damp paper and put it into the hot oven to toast.

Time to start the pasta! I filled the big pot with water from the kettle.

I put a large bowl over the boiling water and then added the chocolate bar (broken up) and some butter to melt.

I also added cream and then grated in the zest of a clementine.

I briefly removed the bowl to add the fettucine and some salt to the boiling water. Then the bowl went back on top.

Next I moved on to the sauce. I poured the oil from the cans of tuna into the frying pan.

Then I crushed in some garlic…

…and then added chilli, capers, and anchovies. Yum.

I finely sliced up the stems of the parsley for the sauce…

…and roughly chopped the leaves as well.

After adding the parsley stems to my pasta sauce, I gave my melting chocolate a stir.

Next I added the tuna to the sauce.

I also tore up the black olives and added them as well.

Finally I added the passata and the cinnamon to complete the sauce.

The ganache was finished so I spooned it into some small cups to serve.

I put them in the fridge to cool a bit.

Finally time to make the salad. I quartered the fennel and removed the cores.

Then I fed them into the food processor. WHIZZ!

I ended up with a LOT of fennel.

Then I sliced the radishes (including the tops) and added them as well.

To dress the salad, I added extra virgin olive oil…

…along with lemon juice…

…and salt and pepper.

Then I had to toss everything together, trying not to get salad EVERYWHERE. (Easier said than done.) The salad is done!

The pasta was well-cooked by this point, so I drained it in the sink. (Jamie simply scooped it out into the sauce, but I didn’t think it would all fit in my frying pan.)

Then I put the pasta back in the pot and poured in the sauce.

I used tongs to toss it all together.

The final step was to add the chopped parsley and stir it through.

The finished pot of fettucine alla puttanesca!

Nearly forgot the garlic bread! I pulled that out of the oven and unwrapped it. It smelled fantastic.

Here’s the completed meal of fettucine alla puttanesca, crunchy salad, and garlic bread.

And here’s the dessert of silky chocolate ganache with cookies and mandarin wedges.

Tasting notes: Everything was really tasty. I’m used to garlic bread that’s soggy with butter, but this was nicely crunchy from the olive oil. The pasta may have not been an authentic puttanesca, but it was still a damn good tuna pasta anyway. I just wish my fettucine hadn’t stuck together so much. I didn’t expect much of the salad but it was a really nice textural contract to the pasta. The raw fennel was less aniseed-y than I feared, and the pepperiness of the radishes complemented it nicely. The Snook felt that melting the chocolate over the pasta water was a nice idea, but it wasn’t practical for getting a really good rolling boil going below. (He felt that may have contributed to our sticking problem.) But overall there was nothing in the meal we didn’t like, and we had plenty of it leftover to eat after the race the next day. We both rated it 9.5 out of 10. Would make again!

Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals!

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #26: Spinach & Feta Filo Pie
With this meal, we venture into the second half of Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals! It was the Snook’s turn to cook this week, and we chose “Spinach & Feta Filo Pie, Cucumber Salad, Tomato Salad, and Coated Ice Cream.” We picked the recipe because we had silverbeet and tomatoes to use up from the veggie box, and we happened to have all of the ice cream coating ingredients too. Unfortunately the time was a complete BLOWOUT, and he finished it in 43:57. (And even that wasn’t quite long enough, as you’ll see!) But those flavours… YUM.

Substitutions: We used silverbeet (just the leaves) to substitute for 75% of the spinach. We used some Tasty cheese instead of Cheddar. We forgot the fresh red chilli for the cucumber salad and had to use dried chilli flakes. Everything else was as written in the recipe.

Quick verdict: This was a total winner in terms of flavour. The pie was excellent! The Snook had been worried about the cayenne sprinkled between the layers of filo, but it provided just the right amount of heat to counter the rich cheesy interior. The tomato salad was beautiful, and I can totally see myself spooning that onto some bread for bruschetta this summer. The cucumber salad was just okay, but I found the leftovers improved the next day. But the dessert? It was a revelation! The first of Jamie’s “simple” desserts that was actually greater than the sum of its parts. I rated the meal as 9.5 out of 10, while the Snook gave it a 9. The only real drawback was the TIME. There is just no way to prepare this meal in under 30 minutes. The pie is meant to cook for 18-20 minutes, which means you need to get it in the oven in 10 minutes flat. There’s just no way. It took the Snook more than 20 minutes to get his in! And when he went to serve it, he decided the egg filling wasn’t set yet and put it back in for another 10 minutes (that I didn’t even count in his official time). So this one gets major points for flavour, but you’re not gonna make it in 30 minutes.

Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The oven was turned on to 200C and the food processor was fitted with the standard blade attachment. We had a large frying pan as the sole cooking vessel!

First up are the ingredients for the pie: pinenuts, eggs, feta cheese, Cheddar cheese, oregano, lemon, butter, silverbeet/spinach, filo pastry, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg.

Next the bits for the cucumber salad: cucumber, black olives, balsamic vinegar, spring onions, lemon, chilli, and mint.

Next the tomato salad ingredients: basil, garlic, white wine vinegar, and tomatoes.

Lastly, the ingredients for the dessert: coffee beans, hazelnuts, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream.

Our sole frying pan, ready to go! We’ve also got some dishes ready for the salads.

The food processor has the standard blade attachment ready and waiting.

And he’s off! The first step is to get the pinenuts toasting in the frying pan.

While that happens, he gets to work on the filling. Five eggs get cracked into the bowl…

…along with quite a lot of lovely feta cheese.

He also grated in some Tasty cheese for extra gooeyness.

He finishes the filling with dried oregano, lemon zest, and olive oil.

The pinenuts were toasted by then, so he added them as well.

He put the frying pan back on the heat and got the spinach/silverbeet wilting with some butter.

Time to prep the filo! He spread out a layer of greaseproof paper on the bench and smeared it with olive oil.

Then he laid down a large single layer of filo sheets, sprinkling it with more oil, salt, pepper, and cayenne. This was repeated twice more for a total of three layers.

The spinach continued to wilt.

Once it was finished, he added it to the filling and mixed it all up.

Now to assemble the pie! He put his triple layer of filo into the frying pan (still in the paper!) and pushed it down along the edges.

Next he added the filling to the pan to fill the crust.

To finish the pie, he folded the edges of the filo up and over, letting them fall artfully into wrinkles and crinkles. He also trimmed the paper close to the edge of the pan. The pie cooked on the stove for a few minutes before going straight into the oven.

Now on to the cucumber salad. He scored it all over with a fork…

…before chopping it up into pieces.

To make the dressing, he tore up ten black olives.

He then finely sliced some spring onions.

He mixed the onions and olives in a bowl along with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, and chilli.

He then finely sliced some mint and added it along with the cucumbers. Here’s the cucumber salad, ready to be tossed and eaten!

Now for the dessert. Rather than grind our coffee beans in a blender, we just used our actual coffee grinder.

He then put hazelnuts and chocolate into the food processor…

…before whizzing them up.

He combined the chocolate/nut mixture with the coffee in a bowl.

It made a sort of lovely “soil” to sprinkle over our ice cream. He set it aside for now.

The last thing to make is the tomato salad. He began by adding basil leaves, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, and white wine vinegar to the (clean!) food processor.

More whizzing!

It was slightly thinner than a pesto, and vibrant green.

He poured the dressing into a serving bowl…

…before adding the tomatoes (which he’d artfully chopped into random cheffy chunks).

A pinch of salt and some basil leaves to garnish finished the dish!

Here is the pie as it finally came out of the oven… before going back in for another 10 minutes.

Here is the tossed cucumber salad, ready to eat. (There was a lot of dressing in there, maybe too much.)

The yummy tossed tomato salad is ready.

And here’s the pie out of the oven – finally!

Finished meal of spinach and feta filo pie, cucumber salad, and tomato salad.

For the dessert, we simply scooped out vanilla ice cream and sprinkled the crumbly soil on top.

Tasting notes: Everything was really good. The cayenne in the filo was a bit strong if you were just eating the crust alone, but together with the filling it was nicely balanced. The filling was set perfectly (though we did bake it more like 30 minutes instead of the 18-20 Jamie suggested). The tomato salad was gorgeous, with the raw garlic providing a nice bit of heat. It was like eating really good bruschetta without the bread! I liked the cucumber salad better than the Snook; he found it a little boring. We both agreed that the ice cream was surprisingly effective. (Be warned – the recipe makes a LOT. We halved and still had enough for dessert three nights running.) I rated the overall meal a 9.5 and the Snook gave it a 9. This would be a really nice one to share with guests on a summer day! Just don’t expect to finish the cooking in less than 45 minutes…

Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals!

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #25: Spring Lamb
This is our 25th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. Wow! We’re officially HALFWAY through the book! For this week’s recipe, we chose “Spring Lamb, Vegetable Platter, Mint Sauce, Chianti Gravy, and Chocolate Fondue.” We chose it because we had the episode recorded, and because it’s one of “lower” carb recipes left in the book. (Normally we cook our Jamie meal on Saturday – which is our Diet Cheat Day – but this weekend was the Snook’s birthday, so that took precedence.) I was on chef duty for this one, and the Snook clocked me at 38:42. I was really annoyed with that time, given that I was flat out the whole time and this meal had a LOT of components. There’s no way you could do it in 30 minutes! Time concerns aside, it was a very tasty meal and quite possibly the best lamb I’ve ever cooked.

Substitutions: The recipe says to remove the fat from your rack of lamb, but we left it on. (Jamie leaves it on the show, and the photos in the book clearly show it on too. Besides, it’s tastier that way!) We couldn’t find “lamb neck fillet,” so instead we bought a whole lamb neck and the Snook actually filleted it himself. We couldn’t get cherry tomatoes on the vine, so loose had to do. I used full sized potatoes and carrots (chopped up) rather than the baby ones specified, and I used broccoli instead of runner beans. Other than that, everything was as written in the recipe.

Quick verdict: The lamb cutlets were cooked beautifully. Seriously, cutting that thing apart and seeing the blushing pink was like Masterchef, baby! And they were so, so good. The lamb neck… not so much. It was cooked fine, but it was just chewy and tough. (Is a “lamb neck fillet” something else in the U.K.??) The gravy was very good, if a bit chunky. (I used a bit too much bacon.) I think this mint sauce may have actually converted me to liking it! I’m just not convinced of the need for both sauce AND gravy. (The Snook tells me “it’s traditional.”) The veg was a nice accompaniment. The fondue looked to be a disaster at first but then came good after a bit more work. It’s another one of his “afterthought” desserts though, and I’m not sure I’d bother with it next time. We both rated the overall meal a 9.5/10… if you don’t count the neck fillet. It’s a filling and warm late-winter/early-spring family dinner!

Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The kettle was boiled and the oven turned on to 220C. We had a big pot for the veg, a frying pan for the meat and gravy, and a roasting tray for the meat as well.

First up are the ingredients for the lamb: 8-bone rack of lamb, lamb neck fillets, rosemary, garlic, dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, and cherry tomatoes.

Next the ingredients for the gravy: bacon, rosemary, flour, and red wine.

For the mint sauce, I needed fresh mint, red wine vinegar, and sugar.

For the vegetables, I had: potatoes, carrots, chicken stock cube, beans, broccoli, Savoy cabbage, frozen peas, butter, and a lemon.

Lastly, for the dessert: 70% chocolate bar, vanilla, milk, and fruit to dip (apple and pear).

Pots and pans, ready to go! Big pot is for the veg. The frying pan is used first for the lamb, then for the gravy. The lamb goes into the roasting tray into the oven. I also needed a mortar & pestle and a gravy boat!

And I’m off! The first job was to cut the lamb rack in half and season it with salt and pepper.

The rack went into the hot frying pan (fat side down) in some olive oil to sear.

Next I started on the veg. Instead of using new potatoes, I just cut up the existing big potatoes we got out of our weekly veggie box.

I also cut up some big carrots into smaller pieces.

I put the veg into a pot of boiling water along with salt, the mint stalks, and the stock cube. I put the lid on to let it boil and cook.

Next I seasoned the neck fillet with salt, pepper, and olive oil and added them to the frying pan to sear. I also turned over the lamb rack.

Next I had to make the dressing that goes on the lamb. I picked all the stalks off a few sprigs of rosemary…

…and then bashed it up with salt, pepper, and garlic. Then I swirled in some olive oil, dijon mustard, and white vinegar.

I placed the seared lamb into the roasting tray and spooned the green goop over it.

Then I added the cherry tomatoes and shook the tray until everything was nicely coated. This went into the oven for 14 minutes.

Time to make the gravy! I started by slicing up my bacon. (Note: I used too much. Jamie says 4 rashers, but he probably didn’t use whole giant rashers like I did.)

I drained off most of the fat in the frying pan, then tossed in my bacon to cook. I had some nice crust forming in there!

Now for the mint sauce. I had to strip off the leaves…

…before pounding them up to a paste. Then I added red wine vinegar, sugar, a pinch of salt, olive oil, and a couple spoonfuls of the cooking water from the veg. It was really tasty!

The bacon was well cooked at this point, so I added some rosemary leaves and then a big spoonful of flour.

I poured in a glass of red wine to deglaze the pan, taking care to scrape up all the yummy bits off the bottom. I also used a few ladles of the veggie water to loosen it up.

Now for the other veg. I prepped everything else (cabbage, broccoli, beans, frozen peas) and added them to the big pot, which was still bubbling away.

Next I started the dessert. I broke up the chocolate bar into a bowl. (We only did a half-recipe, so I only used half the bar of chocolate.) That got microwaved with a bit of vanilla, some milk, and a pinch of salt.

The oven timer went off, so I pulled out the lamb to let it rest. It looked great!

Back to the dessert. I sliced up the apple and pear we were going to dip in the fondue.

Fruit! (We squeezed on some lemon to keep them from browning too much.)

The veg is done! I drained it in a colander and put it back into the same pot.

I finished the veg with olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

It was time to slice the lamb. I nervously separated the cutlets… PERFECTION!

I also sliced up the neck fillets. I could tell at this point that they weren’t nearly as tender as the rack.

I added the roast tomatoes to the platter along with some of the pan juices.

Here’s the completed platter of spring lamb!

Here’s the complete spread of lamb, veg, gravy, and mint sauce.

And the finished dinner plate with everything on it.

Lastly, the dessert! The chocolate actually went really thick and grainy while we were eating, which worried me. Snookums guessed that maybe it had seized. So when we were ready for dessert, I added a bit more milk and heated it for a little longer in the microwave. Then I stirred madly… and it came good! It went silky and glossy and lovely. Very nice – and kinda romantic!

Tasting notes: Seriously, those lamb cutlets were *fantastic*. Perfectly cooked, tender and juicy, with just the right amount of kick from the dressing. The neck fillets… not so much. But whatever; that’s just Jamie padding out the meal to make it less expensive. (I’d rather have just the rack as a special treat.) The veg was surprisingly tasty considering that it was basically just boiled! It was nice to have a variety of different shapes and textures in there. I found having both mint sauce AND gravy to be overkill, but it’s traditional apparently. They’re both excellent. (My gravy was chunky from all the bacon, which is not necessarily a problem for us bacon-lovers.) I expected to be underwhelmed by the dessert, especially when the first attempt came out grainy and thick. But it turned into a lovely smooth ganache, one that would be perfect to share with someone special! Overall my only complaint with the meal was the time it took to complete. As the Snook put it, “It does seem like a lot to do in 30 minutes…” The only way I can see it happening is if all your veg was prepped to the point where you just dumped it in the pot. In terms of flavour though, this one was a winner. It rated 9.5 out of 10 from both of us! Just leave off the neck fillet next time; trust me on that one.

Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals!

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #24: Sea Bass & Crispy Pancetta
This is our 24th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. We didn’t think our oven would be repaired in time for this one, so I flipped through all the remaining recipes in the book looking for the ones that didn’t need an oven. There aren’t many! We chose “Sea Bass & Crispy Pancetta, Sweet Potato Mash, Asian Greens, 1-Minute Berry Ice Cream, and Sparkling Lemon Ginger Drink.” (As it turns out, the repair guy fixed the oven a few hours before dinner, but we were already committed to this recipe.) We’d previously watched this episode, and we re-watched a bit of it online to refresh our memories. The Snook was on chef duty for this one, and he managed it in a very fast 30:56!

Substitutions: Well, it ain’t sea bass. European sea bass just isn’t available here. We turned to the fish markets for advice on a suitable substitute. They recommend Murray cod, which upon further googling appears to be critically endangered. NOPE! We instead went with some beautiful John Dory fillets. Instead of asparagus, we used some pak choy we got in last week’s veggie box. Other than that, everything else was as written in the recipe.

Quick verdict: In many ways, this is the prototypical “30 Minute Meal” recipe. We actually had to check to make sure we hadn’t made it already! It feels very, very familiar. It’s got all Jamie’s favourite ingredients (lemon, fennel seeds, chilli, sesame oil, etc); the technique of microwaving the veg for the mash; piling up everything on a tray; the random extra bits he has you make to use up time, like the drink; and the thrown-together dessert at the end. However, even though this one didn’t feel very exciting, it was certainly a pretty good meal. I found the mash a little sweet at first (some extra salt helped with that), but the Asian greens were perfect. The fish was okay, maybe a little boring. (Our skin didn’t get crispy enough and stuck to the pan a bit.) The lemon drink was very good, but seriously, who bothers with things like that? And the dessert was nice, if a bit expected. Overall I gave this one an 8; the Snook gave it an 8.5. Nothing really wrong with it, but nothing really amazing either. And he managed it in 30:56! Can’t argue with that.

Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The kettle was boiled and the food processor equipped with the standard attachment. We had a frying pan for the fish and a big pot for the greens.

First up are the ingredients for the mash: sweet potatoes, limes, coriander, mango chutney, and soy sauce.

For the greens, we had: red chilli, garlic, soy sauce, lime, sesame oil, pak choi, and broccoli.

For the fish, we had: pancetta, John Dory fillets, fennel seeds, and a lemon. For the lemon drink, we had: ice cubes, fizzy lemonade, mint, fresh ginger, and sparkling water.

And lastly, the dessert ingredients: frozen berries, honey, yoghurt, and mint.

Pots and pans, ready to go! The big pot is for the greens; the frying pan is for the fish. The mortar & pestle is also ready to go.

And he’s off! The Snook’s first job was the wash, trim, and halve the sweet potatoes.

He put these into a bowl along with half a lime. He covered it in cling film and put in the microwave to cook.

Next he prepared the dressing for the greens. The first step was to finely chop the red chilli.

Half of the chilli went into the serving bowl for the greens.

He then added garlic, soy sauce, extra virgin olive oil, lime juice, and sesame oil to make the dressing.

Next he prepared the broccoli by quartering each head.

For the pak choy, he simply cut it into more manageable lengths. All the veg got a wash.

Time to start the fish! He put the pancetta into the hot frying pan. (For some reason we cannot find strips of pancetta like Jamie uses; all we seem to get here is round.)

Now it’s time to prep the lemon ginger drink. He filled the jug with ice cubes and then poured over the fizzy lemonade.

Next he grated in the raw ginger.

Time to flip the pancetta!

To finish off the drink, he added some mint and topped it off with sparkling water.

Next it was time to start cooking the fish. The fillets went into the hot pan with the skin side down, and he held them flat for a few seconds with the spatula.

He then quickly pounded up some fennel seeds in the pestle & mortar…

…before sprinkling it over the fillets. He also grated over lemon zest and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Now for the mash. He started by chopping up most of a head of coriander.

He put the coriander on the serving board, then added mango chutney, soy sauce, extra virgin olive oil, lime juice, and the reserved bit of red chilli.

Time to cook the greens! They went into the big pot with boiling water from the kettle.

The fish seemed to be cooking nicely.

The sweet potatoes had finished in the microwave, so he removed the lime half and then started to mash it.

He combined the mashed sweet potatoes with the coriander and chilli mixture on the serving platter.

The fish was nearly cooked, so it was time to flip it. Unfortunately our skin didn’t crisp up quite the way it was meant to (maybe the pan wasn’t hot enough, or there wasn’t enough oil?) and it stuck a bit.

He drained the greens in a colander…

…before adding them to the prepared dressing.

The greens are tossed in the dressing to finish.

The fish fillets and pancetta were then added to the platter of mash.

And here is the completed main meal of John Dory fillet, crispy pancetta, sweet potato mash, Asian greens, and lemon ginger drink!

After the meal, I restarted the clock so the Snook could finish the dessert. He started by spooning some yoghurt into the food processor.

Next he added the frozen berries…

…before finishing it off with honey and mint sugar.

Whizzzz!

And here is the completed dessert of “1-minute berry ice cream.” (We served it over some mini meringues we had in the cupboard.)

Tasting notes: If you wanted to sum up the whole vibe of the 30 Minute Meals in one recipe, this is the one. It’s got the most common flavour profile and the most common techniques. It’s nothing earth shattering, but it’s a pretty good feed. For me the Asian greens were the highlight, and I can see myself using that dressing frequently in the future. The Snook says he’d be interested to try it with a different fish; maybe we could get the crispy skin if we tried again. The lemon drink was actually a neat trick with the grated ginger, and I think it’s something we might make again in the summer. This is just good “Tuesday night dinner” type food, not really something special enough for a dinner party. Still, we rated it 8-8.5/10 in flavour, and it was definitely one of the faster recipes in the book (despite its many components)!

Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals!

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #23: Smoked Salmon
This is our 23rd cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. For this one we chose “Smoked Salmon, Potato Salad, Beets & Cottage Cheese, Rye Bread & Homemade Butter.” We picked it because the Snook happened to buy us a beautiful rye from Brasserie Bread at the Rocks Markets on Friday, and because we had this episode recorded. I was on cooking duty for this one, and I lucked out because this one had the least actual cooking of any meal in the book so far! It’s mostly assembly, which meant that I finished in the blisteringly fast time of 26:05. (It’s so quick that Jamie even does an extra dish on the show utilising raw beets, which I didn’t bother with since it’s not in the book.) Fastest meal ever!

Substitutions: Jamie used a bag of prewashed watercress, but we could only find it in a giant bunch. So we spent a few minutes ahead of time picking off the leaves and washing them. Jamie also used “cooked vac-packed” beetroots, which neither of us have ever seen in Australia. So I pre-cooked the beets by peeling them and then microwaving them for ten minutes. Oh, and we couldn’t find Greek basil, so we used regular. Other than that, everything was as written in the recipe.

Quick verdict: Yummy! This is such an unusual recipe in the book; the flavour profile is much more “northern European” and out of Jamie’s usual wheelhouse (English/Italian/Asian). It made for a really nice change. There was so little cooking that there’s not much to critique. The potatoes were excellent, though I’m not sure the dish warrants the name “salad.” Making my own butter was fun, and once again it made me appreciate our awesome food processor. The beets were great, and the trick of microwaving them first worked brilliantly. The only “flaw” in this meal is that we both felt it worked much better as a lunch than a dinner. With that in mind, we both rated it a 9/10. The flavours are great and the presentation is impressive, but it’s not the type of thing you crave after a long day at work – unless maybe you’re Nordic?

Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The kettle was boiled and the food processor equipped with the “beater” attachment. I had a single saucepan for cooking the potatoes.

First up are the ingredients for the potato salad: red-skinned potatoes, lemon, thyme, and dill.

Next up are the components for the salmon: pre-washed watercress, smoked salmon, lemon, creamed horseradish, and a punnet of cress.

All you need for the butter is cream! You can also see the whipping attachment on our food processor.

Here are the bits for the beets: pre-cooked beetroots, balsamic vinegar, basil, cottage cheese, thyme, and lemon.

And lastly, our beautiful rye bread.

The sole saucepan is ready to go on the stove!

And I’m off! The first job was to wash the potatoes and cut them up into chunks for the salad.

I put the potatoes into the saucepan along with a few strips of lemon zest.

I also added a few sprigs of thyme, then covered everything with boiling water. I put on a lid and left the potatoes to cook for 10 minutes.

Next I prepared the salmon platter. The first step was to mound up the watercress.

I then laid the salmon slices over the cress “in rustic waves” as directed.

In one corner of the platter, I smeared a few spoonfuls of creamed horseradish.

The whole platter was seasoned with salt and pepper…

…as well as some lemon juice, lemon wedges, and extra virgin olive oil.

Here’s the finished salmon platter! (I also snipped over some cress before serving.)

Now for the butter. I poured the cream into the food processor, put on the lid, and left it to over-whip.

Next I cut up the pre-cooked beets into random chunks into a serving bowl.

At one point, I stopped the food processor to scrape down the sides with a spatula. It was clearly over-whipped cream at this point. Halfway to butter!

I next chopped up some basil…

…and added it to the beets, along with balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Back to the butter. The Snook and I had never made it this way, so we weren’t really sure what was going to happen. After getting so thick, the cream then seemed to go really thin and liquidy. We were worried we’d done something wrong and maybe melted it or something? But we left it going, and a few minutes later were rewarded when suddenly the sound changed as the butter all began to clump together and separate from the whey!

I dumped the butter into a strainer to separate it from the whey. I used my hands to scrunch it to drain off as much liquid as I could.

I put my homemade butter on some greaseproof paper and sprinkled it with salt. Then I scrunched it up in a bundle as Jamie had done.

I made butter!

The potatoes were cooked, so I dumped them into a colander to drain and steam. I also picked out the thyme stalks and the lemon zest.

Back to the beets. I dumped the cottage cheese into a bowl and added extra virgin olive oil.

I also grated in some lemon zest…

…before finishing with salt, pepper, and thyme leaves.

To finish the beets, I dolloped the cheese around the bowl and garnished with more basil, oil, and pepper.

To make the potato salad, I chopped a big handful of dill…

…before adding it to the cooked potatoes along with some of my homemade butter. I also squeezed in lemon juice and seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Here’s the finished potato salad!

And here’s the complete meal of Smoked Salmon, Potato Salad, Beets & Cottage Cheese, and Rye Bread & Homemade Butter.

Tasting notes: Like I said, this meal has a flavour profile that was pretty different and unusual. No garlic, no chilli, no fennel seeds, no coriander! It was certainly tasty though. I’ve only had smoked salmon a few times in my life, but it’s basically “fish ham,” and who doesn’t love nice ham? It paired nicely with the bread, butter, and horseradish. The cress was pretty boring considering how much work it was to pick off; perhaps English cress tastes different from ours? I think you could sub in some other salad leaves without any effect. The potatoes were great with the dill, though I still wouldn’t call it a salad. (I guess Boiled Dill Potatoes doesn’t sound very sexy though.) The beets were well worth staining my fingers purple. They’re just so pretty! And making butter is a fun party trick. I don’t think I’d bother if I didn’t have a fancy machine to whip it though. At least I can add that one to my repertoire of Pioneer Woman Skills. (I do know to make it without a whizbang food processor; we did it in Girl Scouts once.) Overall, this is a very quick and easy meal to throw together, and the unusual flavour combinations make it feel more sophisticated than the usual fare. It would make an excellent lunch to share with guests. Rated 9/10 by both of us!

Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals!