Marinated Roast Beef with Seeded Mustard, Rosemary and Garlic.

Season your scored Roast Beef with sea salt and cracked pepper. In a pestle and mortar add a large clove of crushed garlic, a lge sprig of finely chopped fresh Rosemary, about a Tbs of Seeded Mustard (I've used my Mum's homemade... almost out Mum... hint hint!) a few splashes of good worstershire sauce, and a splash of olive oil. Make a paste and rub really well over the top of your roast beef.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Heat a roasting pan in the oven and transfer to the stove top. Place the beef in your hot pan with a splash of olive oil and sear on all sides except the top that you have marinated.  

Slice some onions and smash some garlic (enough for your roast to sit on in the pan) and place your roast on top. Reduce the heat to 200 degrees and pop into the oven and cook for a bit over an hr depending on how rare you like your meat. I like it pink so that is about right for a 1.5kg piece of Beef for my tastes. 

While the Beef is cooking prepare your veges and throw in after the beef has been cooking for around half an hour.  I'm doing roasted potatoes and carrots, fresh corn on the cob and peas. I boil my potatoes first for around ten minutes and smash them up a bit (Makes them really crunchy and crispy) Something I learnt from Jamie Oliver...

Once my Beef is cooked, I let it rest while I make the gravy from the pan juices. All that lovely onion, garlic and juices will make the most delicious gravy with a splash of red wine. 

Stuffed Chicken & Bacon Roll

We are living the chicken and bacon combo at the moment so I decided to throw together a stuffed chicken roll to be served with a potato bake and steamed greens.

Lay down some baking paper and strips of bacon, top with chicken thigh fillets. 

Mix together some cream cheese, chopped fresh chives and garlic. 

Spread over the chicken. Sauté some chopped bacon and sliced onion and add on top of the cream cheese mix followed by some sliced mushrooms and grated mozzarella.

Wrap up into a roll as tightly as you can and place into a loaf tin or silicon form. Bake at 180 degrees until cooked, I think about an hr. Drain the juices off while it is cooking and use that as your  base. YUMMY!! Test with a skewer or meat thermometer. Let in rest before slicing.

Easy Bacon and Egg Pies!

Using Puff Pastry, cut each sheet into 4. Press into a Muffin tin greased with cooking spray.

Saute chopped onion, bacon and mushrooms and place into the bottom of the pastry. Crack in a fresh free range egg and top with half a cherry tomato, some chopped shallots and grated cheese.

Bake in a 180 degrees oven for 25 minutes or until the pasty is golden and the egg is cooked. 

You can also make a big pie in a pyrex pie dish or what you have and slice it. I find these cook a lot quicker and it is a really easy meal to throw together. When I can I make fresh pastry, but being so busy at work these days I just don't have the time :-)

Chutney & Sauces for Christmas Gifts

Everyone loves homemade Chutney's and Sauces..

I have bottled some Tomato & Date Chutney and Tomato Sauce as gifts for my work mates this year.

I've designed a new Jar Label too..

Can't wait to package these up!

I made some Marinated Mushrooms with bite and some Mulberry Jam as well.

My brother in law's yummy potato salad!

My brother in law's yummy potato salad! Yummy! Wish I was there today!

Quarter & cook potatoes. Seeded mustard, fresh crushed garlic in mortar & pestle & onion cooked together until crisp. 

Mix through potato with Taylor's Avocado & Garlic dressing. Garnish with chopped shallots.

Pavlova... we all love it :-)

Everyone loves Pavlova so I made one for the first time in many years using a  recipe 

 from a CWA Cookery Book from Bundaberg that Mum gave me for my birthday last year. 

I made the topping from whatever fresh fruit I had fresh in the fridge

Ingredients:

12 Egg whites

450g Caster Sugar

2 Teas Vanilla

Pinch of Salt

1 1/2 Tbs Cornflour

3 Tbs Sugar

1 Teas Vinegar

What to do:

Beat 2 Egg whites with salt. Gradually add the other 10 egg whites and beat until stiff.  Gradually add the caster sugar a few tbs at a time. Add the Vinegar and beat and then the vanilla and beat. You need to beat until all of the sugar is dissolved. To test you can put some mixture between your thumb and first finger and rub together, if it feels grainy there is more beating to do.. Once the sugar has dissolved fold in the the cornflour and sugar and mix in well. Drawn a large circle on baking paper and place onto a baking tray. Place the mixture into the circle and using a knife or spatula make a nice shape pushing the sides up to the top. Bake in a preheated oven on 160 degrees for 5 minutes. Turn down to 110 - 120 degrees and bake for a further 2 hours. Turn off and let it cool and dry out in the oven. 

I have served with freshly whipped cream, passionfruit/kiwifruit/strawberries and a mixed berry sauce.  I made the sauce from frozen mixed berries, a bit of sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan. Heat until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce thickens. Let it cool completely before adding to the top of your other fruit on the pavlova. I cut the pavlova into slices and added the cream and the topping in individual serves. Alternatively you can decorate the whole Pav and then serve!

Stuffed Baked Chicken wrapped in Bacon

Really simple easy dinner tonight... I love dinners that practically cook themselves!

Saute some bacon, onion and mushrooms. Lie flat a piece of bacon, place your chicken thigh fillet on top and then your stuffing with a dollop of homemade garlic butter. Roll together and tie with string. Place into a baking dish. Bake in the oven until the chicken is cooked through, (I haven't give a time here as it depends on how much chicken you are cooking) Baste often with the juices while cooking.

3/4 through the cooking, add some of the juices to your veges and then add some cream to your dish. I've used about 125ml of extra light cream. Remove the chicken and take off the string at this stage. Mix about a tbs of cornflour and a teas of chicken stock powder with a bit of water and stir into the sauce, pop the chicken back in to finish cooking.  The cream will thicken and make a lovely sauce to serve over the top. Add some grated parmesan and cheddar to the sauce and a bit on top of your chicken.Serve with Roasted potatoes, carrots and greens.