Cannelloni... "The Best Dinner Ever"

I had a good feeling about this one from early on.  All the ingredients seemed palatable; the composition, style, presentation and cooking methods were all compatible with my girls' preferred taste but never did I think it was going to get labelled "The Best Dinner Ever Mum"... better than Spaghetti Bolognaise. And from my 4yr old, that is saying a lot!  Nothing trumps Spag Bol in this house.  

I wanted to avoid the traditional béchamel sauce style cannelloni (for obvious reasons) so this adaption is from many a recipe I viewed online before attempting my first cannelloni stuffing exercise today.  I was so happy with it that I think it will become one of my staple fun family recipes.  It's not a show-stopper in terms of flavor, spunk or technique but it is one of those dishes you can't help but love.  I loved it even more because I put my two girls plates straight in the dishwasher, without even scrapping away any scraps.  It was a sensational hit and despite what you may think, I don't get to say that very often.   I get the 'you're the best cooker' comment every now and again but it's usually after I've made a batch of cupcakes and have let them ice them on their own - never intending to eat one myself.  Not very often do I hear it after they have eaten a healthy, nutritious meal full of flavour and which took me some time to prepare... those meals almost never get such a good response!

I'm sure I used entirely too many pots to make this tonight, but it was my first attempt so here I go trying to marginalise the process for you.  I hope you and yours enjoy this as much as we did!  

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

meat filling:

extra virgin olive oil

1/2 onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic

1 full stick celery, finely diced

3 cubes of carrot puree (or 2 carrots finely processed)

250g (1/2 lbs) ground pork

500g (1 lbs) ground beef

handful (at least 1 tblspn) each of freshly chopped parsley, sage, rosemary and oregano

sea salt and pepper

1/2 cup freshly crumbed breadcrumbs

1/2 cup pecorino or fontina cheese, finely grated

1 egg

tomato sauce:

1/2 onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tins tomatoes, pureed

2 tblspn freshly chopped basil

1 tblspn sherry (or red wine) vinegar

1 tspn sugar

sea salt and pepper

1/2 tin water

cannelloni tubes

parmesan cheese

mozzarella balls (optional)

sage leaves

Method:

• Dice the onion, separate half for the meat and keep the other half aside for the tomato sauce
• Fill and boil the kettle, for par-boiling the cannelloni tubes
• In a large frypan, add the olive oil and heat.  Add the onion and fry off until tender, add the garlic, then pork and beef and cook until browned
• Add the diced celery and carrot puree and the herbs and cook until mixed through.  Season well
• Turn off the heat and set aside
• Process the bread until crumbs (about 3 slices of stale bread) and place in a large bowl.  Add the grated cheese and then mix through the cooled meat mixture.  Add the egg and stir until well combined.  Allow to sit.

• Fill a large saucepan with boiling salted water and par-cook the cannelloni tubes for 3-4 mins. Once they are done, transfer to cold water to stop them from continuing to cook
• Using the same (empty) saucepan, heat a little oil and add the onion for the tomato sauce and cook until tender.
• Add the pureed tomatoes, basil, sherry vinegar and sugar and continue to stir
• Adjust the seasoning, add a little water and allow to simmer until slightly reduced then turn off the heat.  
• Prepare your baking dish with a thin layer of tomato sauce, ready to lay the cannelloni tubes on top
• Using a zip-lock bag, fill the bag with meat mixture and cut the corner so as to use it as a piping bag. Squeeze the mixture into the cooled cannelloni tubes, ensuring the plug the other end with your hand or thumb to avoid it spilling back out.  

(I made 7 tubes tonight but had enough to freeze the other portion of mixture which would have made at least another 6).

• Preheat your oven to 350'F (180'C)
• Layer the finished cannelloni on the baking dish and then top with more tomato sauce

• Cook for approx 25mins uncovered. 
• Then add some grated parmesan cheese and/or ripped mozzarella balls and sage or basil and bake for an additional 5 mins until the cheese has melted and browned
• Serve with a fresh green salad

Beef and Broccoli Stir-fry

A perfectly simple, tasty and healthy family meal.  I was shooting for plain Beef and Broccoli but I can't help myself, I have to add at least three other vegetables to make myself a 'real' meal and reduce the amount of rice I need.  The girls had the beef, broccoli and carrot version before I loaded it up but for me, adding baby bok choy, celery, cashew nuts and sugar snap peas make it a dieters dream!  I grew up on stir-fry's and this is a good simple take on any I have ever had.  I could easily add a totally different selection of veg or even change the marinade flavors if I used chicken but these work nicely and are most definitely kid friendly. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 x 250g Beef fillets

2 cups broccoli, chopped into small florets

2 carrots, finely sliced

2-3 baby bok choy

2 sticks of celery

1/2 cup sugar snap peas or snowpeas

1/4 cup roasted cashews (optional)

1 tspn garlic

1/2 tspn minced ginger

1/2 onion, finely sliced

1-2 tbslpn vegetable or sesame oil

marinade:

2 tblspn rice vinegar

1 tblspn soy sauce

1 tblspn ketjap manis or 1 tspn brown sugar

sauce:

1/4 - 1/3 cup water

1 1/2 tspn cornflour

2 tblspn oyster sauce

1 tspn soy sauce

Serve with steamed rice, if desired.

Method:

• Slice the beef in thin strips, and place in a bowl with the marinade ingredients for 10-30mins.
• Cook the rice in a microwave or electric rice cooker
• In a wok or large fry pan, heat the oil and sauté the onions until clear
• Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 1 min until fragrant
• Add the beef and cook for 2-3 minutes until almost cooked.
• In a cup, make up the sauce by adding water to the cornflour and mix until smooth.  Then add the flavors of oyster sauce and soy.
• Add the broccoli and carrots and then pour over the sauce and continue to cook until the vegetables are slightly softened 
• Add the other vegetables, bok choy, celery etc and cook for a minute or two ensuring that the vegetables you want crunchy are not over cooked and the sauce has thickened.
• Mix through roasted cashew nuts and serve on steamed rice.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin and new potatoes

An easy all-in-one-dish kind of dinner.  The baked pork loin and potatoes rolled in a simple marinade, baked together for 40mins....this was a no brainer for us mid week.  If I was more organised I would have a baked a larger mix of veggies together in the pan but I quickly microwaved some broccoli while I sautéed a few mushrooms to serve on top, it was perfect.

I am only just coming to cook with pork more recently.  It is such an inexpensive and versatile meat, so while I've been exploring leaner cuts of meat these past few weeks it has come up on my radar a few times.  Roasting it whole and in a medium oven, left it moist and succulent, I couldn't fault it.  The girls really enjoyed their 'chicken' and potato wedges and we enjoyed the fresh, simple taste of the seasoning.   I could do so many things with this sort of dish but I'll let you navigate your own flavors as you play around with it, it may look a little pedestrian but this is a perfect family friendly winner to keep as a staple in your repertoire.

Ingredients:
extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tblspn each of freshly chopped: rosemary, thyme, sage
sea salt and cracked pepper
pork tenderloin
new potatoes

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 375'F (190'C) 
• Make up the olive oil marinade with the herbs. 
• Use about 3 tablespoons and rub it all over the pork with salt and pepper.  Leave to marinade for 30 - 1hr if time allows
• Peel and cut the potatoes to desired size, roughly in 8 pieces
• Use the remaining marinade for the potatoes and roll the cut potatoes in the seasoned oil
• Put them all in a baking dish and bake for 35-40mins until cooked through.  Stir the potatoes half way through.
• Cook under the broiler/griller for another 5mins to brown the top
• Take out the meat and let it rest for 5-8mins, continue cooking potatoes/veggies if needed.  
• Slice the pork and serve

Serve with steamed broccoli or green beans.
I sautéed some portabello mushrooms with some extra fresh herbs (thyme, sage, rosemary) a knob of butter and squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper.   

Vanilla cupcakes

I promised my girls we would make cupcakes over the school holidays so with 8 days to go, I snuck it in just in time.  We always have fun making cupcakes and the kitchen ends up covered in powdered sugar which is a tell-tale sign of fun in my books.

I'm sure most of you are in the same boat when it comes to cake decorating with the under 5 bracket... the more sprinkles the better, right?!  So I think I did well to sneak out three for myself to decorate for the blog today and perhaps even to share with others - those who aren't interested in a cupcake decorated with a heavily licked spoon!

These days so much comes out of box, I implore you to give these a go.  You should be able to do it all in one bowl if you're using a kitchen aid type mixer and they taste heavenly.  

Makes 24

Ingredients:
200g (7 oz) butter, softened
1 3/4 cups caster sugar (bakers sugar)
1 1/2 tspn vanilla extract
4 eggs
2 3/4 cups plain flour
2 tspn baking soda
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Butter Frosting:
200g (7 oz) butter, softened
6 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup milk
food coloring if desired

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180'C / 350'F
• Line muffin tray with paper cases, or use strong cupcake cases on a baking tray. Spray inside of cases with a little cooking spray
• Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer until white and fluffy.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beat until combined
• Add the flour and milk/oil alternately until combined
• Spoon mixture evenly in cases, approx 2/3 full.
• Bake for 15-20mins until cooked through and golden brown
• Remove and place on a cake rack to cool completely
• To make the frosting, using the mixer cream the butter until fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and milk while beating.  Either separate icing into small bowls and add different colors as desired or make one color for all cupcakes.  

Royal Scones

As the London Olympic games drew to a close yesterday, we thought we would pay tribute to England and our family heritage with a traditional afternoon tea of jam and scones.  I forgot what a quick little snack these are and the smell of them baking is so heartwarming, the perfect thing to do with kids.

The girls really enjoyed baking with us particularly as we let them cut the scones into apple shapes and love hearts.  They turned out so beautifully... light, fluffy and golden brown.  Just perfect.  Thank you CWA, you can't go past the Country Women's Association recipe - they have been doing it for years and unlikely to get it wrong!

For your next afternoon with friends, whip up a batch and sit down and relax over these.

Makes approx 15

Ingredients:

2/3 cup cream

1 cup milk

3 cups self-raising flour

3 tblspn icing sugar

2/3 cup sultanas/raisins (optional)

For serving:

cream, whipped with a tspn of sugar

strawberry jam 

Method:

• Preheat oven to 400'F 
• In a mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the cream, milk and sugar together for 1-2minutes.
• Add the sultanas and continue to mix while adding the sifted flour gradually until it just comes together, do not over-kneed.
• Roll the mixture out onto a floured bench.
• Using a rolling pin flatten out to the mixture to roughly a 2 1/2 - 3cm (1 inch) thickness
• Use a round cookie cooker, or bottom of a glass even, to cut out your scones to the desired shape.  Use a twisting action when removing the cutter from the dough.

• Place on a lined baking tray, placing the scones quite close together as they will help each other to rise.
• Brush with a little milk to glaze and cook in a hot oven for 12-15mins or until golden brown

My little helpers

• Whip the cream for serving, adding a 1 tspn of icing sugar for added sweetness
• Serve hot with Jam and Cream, and your favourite pot of tea. 

Straight out of the oven

Fit for a Queen

Crispy Chicken Nuggets

What kid doesn't like chicken nuggets right?  This is a fool-proof meal on those nights when the babysitter is coming and you don't want to cook anything sensible (and want to keep the kids happy!).  These are perfect.  You can make a big batch in advance and freeze them in bags.  I have tried two versions of these lately and shared them with my neighbors for them to be kid tested.  The verdicts: the first ones passed all the other kids' tests but mine... these ones, went down in a hurry by my girls as well so they get my tick of approval and are through to the blog!  I even ate them tonight as my husband was out and I didn't feel like cooking anything sensible either.  They were yum - I dipped them in a roasted red pepper chutney to make myself believe I was eating something more sophisticated than chicken nuggets but hey - they were good, nothing wrong with simplicity!

Makes 28-30 nuggets

Ingredients:
450g (1 lb) ground chicken
1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese
1/2 cup shaved parmesan cheese
1/4 cup carrot puree
1/2 tspn dry Italian mix seasoning
1/2 tspn chicken stock (granules)
kosher salt and ground pepper

2/3 cup all purpose flour
1-2 eggs, beaten
breadcrumbs (approx 1 cup)

Method:

• Mix all the nugget ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.
• Flour your hands and gently roll nuggets into shape using about 1 large teaspoon of mixture.
• Roll each nugget in F.E.B....Flour, then dip into Egg and roll in Breadcrumbs.

• Place on a lined baking tray.
• Continue making them until all mixture is used up.  Freeze at this point or refrigerate until ready to cook, they best refrigerated for at least an hour before cooking.
• To cook:
• for the best golden brown crunchiest result, deep fry in a pan of hot oil however 
• for a more low calorie version, spray with a little olive oil spray before baking in a hot oven (220'C / 425'F) for 20-25minutes, turning once. 
• Serve immediately with tomato sauce/ketchup

Baked not fried

Grilled lamb kofta skewers

As most of you know, we live in Wisconsin, the home of the bratwurst (and cheese of course) however despite my exceptional admiration for their local cuisine, I have to say, I haven't really found a brat our family likes.  Everything is either super thick and fatty or is overpowered by too much flavor I think for us. And the hot dog... well that is no substitute for a sausage.  Except for it's shape it doesn't share anything in common with a sausage. Now to put my bias into perspective, our mystery bags at home aren't always good but I am used to them, we know what to expect and we all loved them. A Bunnings* sausage sizzle is just the greatest thing and I do miss them dearly.  It would have to be the cheapest takeaway there was out in the suburbs on a weekend, so a well timed visit to the store was always a bonus. 

We feel a little stranded here, left being a sausage free household for the most part, so in my attempt to have a fair dinkum (to save you googling it, Aussie slang for 'real' or 'true') sausage, I had to go a little out of the box for the average Wisconsinite.  This dish however may have just solved our problem.... I molded my own meat onto skewers using ground lamb or beef!  The kids enjoyed them and I knew exactly what was in them which made them healthy as well as delicious! Pull the skewer out and there you have it, a sausage!

I used lamb tonight, because I love love love lamb... but if you're more familiar with beef, then that would work equally as well, the flavors would go with either in this dish.  They were really cheap, easy to put together and took only a couple of minutes to cook when we were ready for them.  My girls love cous cous so we had a pile of that on the side with a greek salad and it was perfect for another beautiful summer evening here.  If you prefer, prepare some boiled rice with peas and corn mixed through to balance out your meal.

Makes 10 skewers

Ingredients:
1 lb (500g) ground lamb (or beef)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
extra virgin olive oil
2 tblspn flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tblspn fresh mint, finely chopped
1 tspn ground cumin
1 tspn ground coriander
zest of 1/2 lemon
kosher salt
1/4 tspn cayenne pepper (adults only portions)

10 bamboo skewers (smaller size)

Tzatziki yoghurt dressing:
1 1/2 cups natural greek non fat yoghurt
3 inches cucumber, chopped
2 tblspn fresh mint, chopped
1 tblspn parsley
juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt and pepper

Method:

• Finely dice the onion and cook in a hot pan with a dash of oil.  Cook until translucent and tender. Set aside to cool
• In a mortar and pestle, mix the crushed garlic and salt together until it makes a rough paste.
• In a large bowl, mix the meat, the cooled onion, garlic paste, herbs, spices and lemon until well combined.  Leave out the cayenne pepper at this stage.
• Take approx 2 tblspn of mixture for each (roughly 50g) and mold around a bamboo skewer. Once I had the girls skewers done, I added a few shakes of cayenne pepper, remixed and went about molding the remaining skewers.
• Refridgerate for at least 30mins, longer if possible, before cooking on the grill.

• To make the tzatziki: place all the ingredients in a mini processor and process until well combined and a good thick dressing forms. 
• When ready to grill, drizzle or brush a little olive oil over the meat and grill on a hot plate for 2-3minutes on each side until cooked.
• Serve with israeli cous cous, a greek salad and tzatziki dressing.

For my American friends:
*Bunnings is the equivalent of Home Depot.  Sausage sizzle = grill out.