Chipotle Mayonnaise

I made my yummy turkey and spinach burgers the other night http://whatsfordinner-mum.blogspot.com/2012/07/turkey-burgers.html and wanted something delicious and spicy to go on top. We are watching the carb intake here at the moment so we ditched the bun however probably made up the calories with a healthy dollop of this awesome sauce!

I started with a garlic aioli and added the chipotle peppers to that.  I could eat garlic aioli on anything so it was a good base for me.  You might think it takes too long to do this sort of thing from scratch but honestly it takes about 3 mins to prepare and will keep in the fridge for at least a week to 10 days. I'll post a photo shortly, I have been making small jars for friends so will snap a photo before I give it away next time.

Garlic Aioli:

2 cloves of garlic, crushed and rinsed well (and strained)

2 egg yolks, room temperature

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and cracked pepper

4-6 tblspn red wine vinegar

water

The biggest tip I learned recently was after you crush the garlic then wash it thoroughly in a strainer under running water until the water coming off it is almost clear.  This takes the heavy punch of the raw garlic and leads to a more subtle end product.

Method:

• Add the egg yolks, rinsed garlic and about 2 tblspn cool water to the processor and mix to combine, well.  
• Begin to add your oil through the funnel at the top in a slow continuous pour and continue to process. It will begin to become thick and emulsify as you add the oil.  
• Once you have added about half of the oil, stop and adjust the flavor with salt and pepper, and add some red wine vinegar.  
• Continue to process until you have used all the oil. 
• Adjust the consistency by adding red wine vinegar or water, depending on the balance of flavors. Adjust to your taste.  Don't forget to add salt if necessary.  Obviously you are trying to achieve a flavor that should not be too oil heavy or too acidic. 

Chipotle Mayonnaise:

To about 1/2 a cup aioli you have just made, add 2 chopped chipotle* peppers and a spoonful of the adobo sauce.  Mix well and enjoy over grilled steak, in a burger, as a dipping sauce for veggies or chips.

* you can buy "Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce" in small tins in the mexican section of your supermarket.  I would keep the remainder in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.  Use the leftover in your tacos or to make more chipotle mayonnaise! 

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Chutney

Chutney, relish, jam... I think it all refers to the same thing.  This is a slow cooked blend of fruit and sugar which turns into a delicious sticky jam with lots of complexity.  The small hint of chili make this a well balanced topping for loads of different things.  I would eat this on zucchini slice or frittata, alongside lamb, with a juicy big brat or country sausage, on a burger and probably even in a grilled gruyere and ham toasted sandwich.  I made half this batch and it just wasn't enough. 

Makes approx 4 small (half pint) preserve jars

Ingredients:
1kg tomatoes
2 small red onion, finely diced
5 red peppers, roasted and skinned
2-3 fresh red chili pepper
600ml white wine vinegar
450g caster sugar (fine white sugar)
salt and pepper
1 tspn paprika
1-2 tspn cayenne pepper (optional and to taste)

Method:

• Heat your oven to 400'F.
• Slice the red peppers removing the seeds and stem into approx 3 pieces each.  Rub with a little olive oil and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Roast the peppers until charred and the skin has visibly blistered from the flesh, approx 25mins
• Remove the peppers from the oven and immediately place in a ziploc bag and seal (for approx 2mins).  This encourages the skin to lift from the flesh and makes removing the skins much easier. 
• Remove skins and roughly chop the peppers
• Score the base of the tomatoes with a cross and place in a bowl.  Blanch them in boiling water for up to 1 minute.  This allows the skins to be removed easily.
• Peel and dice and the tomatoes or place in a mini processor - be careful not to produce a puree.
• Dice the onion and chili pepper.
• In a saucepan, add the tomatoes, peppers, chili and onion.  Add the white wine vinegar and sugar and season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil over high heat and when the sugar has dissolved, turn down to a simmer and continue to cook until the ingredients turn into a jam like consistency.  This could take up to 40mins.
• Adjust the seasoning and add your paprika and/or cayenne pepper.  If necessary add a little water, 1/3 cup to the mix and reduce again to achieve a balanced flavor.
• I like my chutney with a little kick so the cayenne pepper works beautifully.

Orzo pesto pasta with grilled chicken

Orzo was a pasta I'd actually never cooked with before but after the success of this largely accidental dish, I will definitely be using it more often.  I have always been meaning to whip a quick pasta salad using orzo but have never found the occasion.  This turned into such a quick, light and super tasty meal for the whole family.  I had some chicken breast in the freezer which was marinating in rosemary and lemon oil so all I had to do was defrost it, cook the orzo and sauté the mushrooms.... so quick.  

I actually made the pesto from scratch here because I had a large bunch of basil on it's last days but you could easily opt for a good quality pre-made pesto.  Not to discourage you, because pesto is one of the easiest things in the world to make.... however I have some quick tips for your pantry to make it even easier.  I always have a container of lightly toasted pine nuts on hand so it is as simple as processing all the ingredients together and adjusting the consistency with olive oil or lemon juice. 

The girls loved the pasta, they couldn't quite get their heads around whether it was rice or pasta but it is so light, it makes a great vehicle for so many flavors.  I will be trying it again with a simple mix of tomatoes and olives and maybe some ripped prosciutto.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 chicken breast, sliced
1.5 cups orzo pasta

3-4 cups chicken stock, (enough to cover pasta by an inch)

rosemary and lemon olive oil, to marinate the chicken piece

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 clove garlic, crushed

sea salt and pepper
2 tblspn pesto (see below)

Basil Pesto

3 handfuls fresh basil leaves

1 handful pine nuts, lightly toasted

squeeze of lemon juice

3/4 cup parmesan cheese

olive oil

salt and pepper

Method:

• marinate the chicken breast pieces in rosemary and lemon olive oil for 1-6hrs (or freeze with oil in bag)
• cook orzo in chicken stock, 8-10mins
• cook onions until clear in a little olive oil
• add a knob of butter and saute mushrooms with crushed garlic and season heavily with salt and pepper. cook until they are golden in color
• move to one side of the pan and add chicken pieces
• sear the chicken and saute until cooked through.
• drain the pasta, retaining about 1/2 cup of chicken stock pasta water
• add the cooked orzo and toss thoroughly with the chicken and mushrooms
• add pasta water slowly to loosen as needed
• add basil pesto and stir through until combined
• serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and cracked pepper

Zucchini slice

Zucchini slice is one of those lovely summer dishes, perfect for a lunch or picnic when it doesn't particularly matter if it's served warm or cold.  I had my sister in law in town this week, which I love for many reasons... she is great company during the day, we share a love of Jillian Michaels so we try to work out together, my girls just adore her as she plays constantly with them never saying no to anything   - which amusingly often leads to her leaving the house with a dozen hair clips or slightly too much makeup.  Additionally, because she is vegetarian it encourages me to look for new and exciting meals for her which gets my creative juices going.  I made half of this dish with bacon and the other half without (and with the inclusion of diced roasted red peppers and mushrooms) so the picture below shows the mixed spread.

I have been sending my husband off to work with a slice of this and a small salad in place of bread lately and he has been loving it.  I can freeze it in individual ziploc bags and it will defrost by the time he is ready for it at midday.  A nice alternative for a lighter lunch.

Ingredients:
1 cup Self Raising flour
6 eggs
2-3 medium zucchini, grated and drained
200g feta, crumbled
200g cottage cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
small handful of chopped parsley (or chives)
6 rashers bacon, chopped
1 red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed (optional and more appropriately used if cooking with mushrooms)
sea salt and cracked pepper

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 375'F
• Dice your onion and bacon and add to a sauté pan.  Cook until tender (and add garlic if using) and the bacon is browned.  Remove and drain on paper towel
• Grate the zucchini over a chopping board with a large piece of paper towel.  Once grated, wrap in the paper towel and squeeze the excess water out of it.
• In a large mixing bowl, crack your eggs and gently whisk together.
• Add your sifted flour, zucchini, salt and pepper and cheeses, cooled onion and bacon and herbs.
• Mix well and then pour into a lined baking pan and cook in the oven for about 40-45mins until the eggs are cooked through and the top is lightly golden brown.
• Cut into large slices and serve.  Or freeze extra portions for up to 3mths.

vegetarian option:
mushrooms
roasted red pepper
asparagus spears, cut into 1" lengths

Curried Citrus Quinoa with sultanas and almonds

I have been looking for some alternatives to sandwiches for lunches lately and I remembered a lovely light quinoa salad we had in England recently from Waitrose.  I found this recipe at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/curried-citrus-quinoa-with-raisins-and-toasted-almonds/ and it was perfect. I really didn't change a thing, maybe I added a little more curry powder after tasting it but that is just a personal preference.  The toasted almonds are a must so be sure to keep them separate until serving for the requisite crunch.

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
1 cup low-sodium vegetable (I used chicken) stock
1 cup water

1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tblspn fresh lemon juice
2 tblspn olive oil
1 tspn dijon mustard
2 tspn honey
1 tblspn curry powder
2 tblspn minced red onion
1/2 cup sultanas/raisins
sea salt
1/2 cup lightly toasted slivered almonds

Method:

• Combine the water, stock and quinoa in a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat
• Once boiling, reduce heat to medium, cover and leave to simmer for approx 10-15mins until the quinoa is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
• Make the dressing by whisking the juices, mustard, oil, honey and curry powder together in a bowl.
• Stir in the cooked quinoa, red onion and sultanas and season with salt.
• Cover and allow to cool in the refridgerator until ready to serve.
• When ready to serve, combine add half of the almonds into the salad and serve the remaining half as a garnish.

Chunky Beef & Mushroom Pie

An Australian meat pie... unofficially our National Dish.  It can be made using ground beef or for a more gourmet pie, big chunks of melt in your mouth meat, beautifully sauted mushrooms and a thick gravy in a gorgeous flaky crust. It is the takeaway food of choice in many places, most often at the Footy or Cricket and I remember always ordering one from the Tuck Shop on the days mum let me put a lunch order in at school.  Normally they sold as individual size pies, in a foil pan but since I was feeding the family I made one large pie. I haven't tried making too many meat pies in my life but since we moved here to the States I have been thinking about them a lot.  Such a great Saturday lunch!

Essentially a good meat pie is all about the pastry. You need a good shortcrust on the bottom and a flaky puff pastry on top.   I kept this fairly simple and my gosh, it was perfect.  The right smell, the right flavor, the right consistency.  I was thrilled and my girls absolutely devoured it.  They remain Australian in their hearts, despite their 2.5yrs under the influence of American junk food. Australian junk food still trumps in my house! Now if I just had a bigger freezer I would make a dozen individual ones and send hubby off to work with one every day!

Makes 1 family size pie or filling for four (double pastry recipe for 4)

Ingredients:
2 lb chuck steak, cubed

1 T butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms,
2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 onion, diced

1 Cup beef stock

2 Tblspn cornflour
1/2 cup water

1/2 tspn vegemite

2 Tblpsn worchestershire sauce

1 sheet puff pastry - store bought

Shortcrust pastry

200g all purpose flour
100g butter, chopped
100g iced cold water

Method:

For the pastry base:

• Place the bowl and blade of your food processor in the fridge for 10mins to ensure it's chilled
• Place the flour and chopped butter into the cold bowl of the food processor and process until it looks like breadcrumbs, about 30sec - 1 min, on pulse.
• Remove and pour the flour into a large bowl.
• Add the iced water in a well in the middle and using your hand, twist and turn gradually combining the water with the flour/butter mix
• It should take about 2-3mins to bring it all together.
• Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead it, not too much (you don't want it to get too hot) until it is a soft elastic dough and shape it into a ball.  Place it in a floured bowl and cover it with clingwrap and place in the fridge for at least 30mins.
• When ready, roll the dough out to cover the inside of a lightly greased family pie pan.  
• Preheat your oven to 350'F and cover the pie with foil, and then pie beans and blind bake for approx 15mins.
• Allow to cool completely at room temperature

For the meat filling:

• Cut your chunk steak into large 1.5"cubes
• Season with salt and pepper.
• In a large non-stick pan, heat your oil and add your diced onion.  Cook until soft and lightly browned.
• Now add your beef, in batches if needed until seared on all sides and well browned.
• Remove beef and onions into a separate bowl (or straight into your slow cooker)
• Add butter to your non stick pan and heat until melted, add your mushrooms and season well with salt and pepper.  Add your garlic and saute well until the mushrooms are browned.
• If using a slow cooker, transfer the mushrooms to the slow cooker pot as well and continue to add the remaining ingredients.  The beef stock, vegemite, worchestershire sauce, water with cornflour and cook on high for 3hrs or low for 6hrs.  
• I actually added the beef back to the non stick pan and combined the sauce ingredients and cooked it down for about 45mins until the flavors came together.  I then transferred it to the slow cooker for another 2 hrs while I had to go out.

Stuffed thick cut pork chops

Pork is still not a natural choice of meat for me.  We never ate it much in Australia, as our preference was always lamb, so I wanted to experiment and see whether stuffing the pork chop like this would be something that interests us.   It was very very tasty but I have to say, it didn't totally convert me. It was a massive piece of meat to get through so unless you have BIG eaters, we found one too much for one person.  I think I would like to try this idea with a tenderloin so I could slice it, as the flavors were delicious and the meat was cooked perfectly and still tender and juicy.  It was a really yummy way to eat pork.

We didn't need much on the side, a simple salad was great or if you prefer, a baked potato would go nicely too. I made one mistake.... I stuffed the chops with the filling before grilling the outside.  I think I would grill and char the outside (and that nice fatty bit on the top) briefly first and then slice, stuff it and bake it.  Just to ensure every inch of it was golden brown.  

This was really simple and quick to do and you could use whatever filling ingredients you liked really.  You could add sautéd mushrooms and sage or olives, feta, anchovy and spinach... whatever combination you like, experiment and see what you fancy. 

Serves 2 

Ingredients:

1 cup drained and chopped cooked spinach (fresh or frozen)

2 cloves of roasted garlic

2 tblspn semi sundried tomatoes

75g feta

sea salt and cracked pepper

Method:

• Heat a grill plate or BBQ and set your oven to 400'F
• Make up your mixture, remember to drain the spinach, then add the crumbled feta, diced semidried tomatoes and roasted smashed garlic.

• Season the outside of the pork chop generously with sea salt, pepper and olive oil
• Grill the outside of the chop on both sides leaving char marks and frying the fat off the chop, approx 3 -4 minutes per side and top
• Allow to cool for a minute or two then slice down the center creating a pocket that goes almost to the other side.

Do this AFTER grilling the outside for best results

• Stuff with your filling and use a toothpick or two to secure the cavity
• Place chops upright on a baking tray and cook in a preheated oven for approx 20mins until cooked through
• Allow to rest for 3-4 mins before serving, and remove toothpicks