Friday 27 July 2012

In the kitchen - Round-up 20-26 July

I suspect that this doesn't count as cooking, but on Friday 20th I stir-fried some daeji bulgogi (spicy marinated pork) that Darren had made several weeks ago and frozen. We had it with jasmine rice, kim chi, soy bean sprouts, chili marinated tofu and chili marinated bamboo shoots. Delicious. Still one package in the freezer for another day. Yay.

On Saturday 21st, we felt like sushi. Usually when we make sushi, it is a monster affair with all different sorts of fillings and styles and sides and lots of people. But there were only going to be the three of us (although it ended up being five with Mr and Miss 22 as well), so we opted for simple, quick sushi. Darren and I made nori (seaweed) handrolls, with Kewpie mayonnaise, blanched fresh tuna, red capsicum, avocado, cucumber and white egg yolk with mirin filling. In addition, Darren had friends over after dinner to play board games and made them bola de Berlin (Portuguese donuts) from the SBS Feast magazine. The camera's batteries were charging, so I actually have an excuse for failing to take pictures.

A Sunday is always a good day for some slow cooking. This Sunday 22nd I made three-hour baked Southern-style sticky ribs from Joanne Glynn's 'Slow Cooking: Not So Fast Food'. Of course, I didn't have one of the critical ingredients, so the ribs weren't wrapped in bacon. They were lovely, with baked potato and salad.


Baked Southern-style sticky ribs.

As a general rule, I dislike sausages. There are two exceptions: (1) most of the range from Andrew's Choice, who were my next-door neighbours for three years when we lived in Yarraville; (2) Chinese pork sausages from Box Hill market. On Tuesday 24th I grilled Chinese pork sausages, with are sweet and I think have Chinese five spice in them. To go with them, I stir fried rice noodles with broccoli, carrot, soy bean sprouts, mushroom, garlic chives and spring onion, seasoned with garlic, soy sauce and Chinkiang black rice vinegar. Miss 1 finds it confusing the distinguish between noodles (which she is very fond of) and bean shoots (which she is curious about, but not excited by).


Chinese pork sausages on rice noodle stir fry.

Wednesday 25th I made risotto. I don't follow a recipe for risotto, but this is pretty much what I made (the stirring is the important bit):


16 mushrooms, halved
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
300 g seafood marinara mix
2 cups Arborio rice
White wine
Vegetable stock
2 handfuls walnuts
2 handfuls roquet

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Place mushrooms on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in the oven.

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion is soft. Add the seafood marinara mix and saute until just cooked. Remove seafood. Add the rice and stir to coat in the oil. Add white wine to just cover the rice. Stir! When wine is adsorbed, add stock to just cover the rice. Stir. When stock is adsorbed, add more. Continue until the rice is al dente. Then add a little more stock and the mushrooms, seafood, walnuts and roquet. Stir through until the stock is adsorbed.

Inspired by last week's 'Epicure' liftout in 'The Age', last night, Thursday 26th, I made mushroom burgers with haloumi and fried onion rings. I added some extra vegetables to the burgers, but although the flavour was great, I felt a bit greasy afterwards. Too much butter. As for the onion rings, they worked out pretty well. I'd made two batches, one without cayenne pepper and Tabasco for Miss 1, and I only ended up cooking that batch. It would be good to make the spicy version of the rings next time.

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