Well, firstly, sorry it has been such a long time between posts. Starting a new job, looking for a new pad, all very time intensive stuff.

We treated ourselves to a weekend in the mountains this weekend, mainly just food and rest, batteries recharged.

Seafood is one of those great things to cook when there are a couple of spare hands between your diners. We all love to get involved and prepare it, and those who don’t, can just work on the delicious crunchy garlic toast!

  Carluccio’s- Fish Stew Soup

  2kg Mixed fresh fish fillets and shellfish. I used swordfish, calamari, parwns, mussels.

4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

1 large onion, finely sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, plus extra for rubbing

1 kg tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes

125ml red wine

1 x small Birdseye chili chopped finely, seeds removed

3 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

½ tsp fennel seeds

salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 slices good quality bread

serves 6

  1.  Clean and prepare you fish and shellfish, cutting into manageable chunks

2. Put the oil, onion and garlic into a large frypan, on fry over medium heat for 3 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes, wine, parsley and chilli, seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook for 10-15 minutes, then add large chunks of fish, thn prawns, ending with mussels and calamari. Cook for 5 minutes, or until seafood is cooked through.

4. Meanwhile, toast your bread until lovely and crunchy. Rub the raw garlic over the toast and drizzle with olive oil.

5. Place a piece of toast into the bottom of a deep soup dish, and ladel the fresh seafood and liquid over the top.

Sunday has become my most regular cooking day. I cook snacks and lunches for the week ahead: Quinoa and poached pear porridge, Paleo muffins, Mulligatawny (NO SOUP FOR YOU!) and some sort of protein whether it be pulled pork, lamb shoulder, beef brisket or chicken. This Sunday was chicken and I wanted to share one of my easiest, tastiest and cheapest marinate to make your chicken have a little more "Jazz".

Soy Marinated Chicken Breast Fillets

4 x chicken breast fillets- trimmed (you could alsu use thigh's or a whole chicken if you feel adventurous and like breaking down a whole chook!

2 x tbsn Soy sauce or Tamari sauce

1 x good handful of thyme leaves

1 x large garlic clove- chopped finely

1 x tbsn olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Pop the thyme and olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt in a mortar and pestle. Bash until the leaves are seperated from the stalks and pull the stalks out.

2. PLace the thyme oil in a bowl, with garlic, salt and pepper and soy/tamari sauce.

3. Add the chicken and marinate for at least 1/2hr, ideally a few hours.

I have just had the most Chocolatey- of Chocolate cravings of late! 

This Donna Hay chocolate mousse is a favourite of mine. It actually doesn't have much sugar in it, and I used super dark bitter chocolate, so it certainly hit my cravings! Serve with a lovely short espresso after a long weekday and I'm all yours (Max)!

Donna Hay's Chocolate Mousse

200g dark chocolate

75g butter

4 eggs, separated

1 cup single pouring cream

2 tbsp icing sugar

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over low heat, and stir until smooth. Pour into a bowl and beat in 4 egg yolks, one at a time, set aside.

2. Whip 1 cup of cream until soft peaks form, set aside.

3. In a third bowl, whip the 4 whites until soft peaks form. Then whisk in the icing sugar and whip to form a thick and glossy texture.

On a recent trip to the mountains, I stayed at my favourite B&B; home. Max and I started a fire very early on in the afternoon. It crackled and prickled away as the sun dropped, and we made dinner.

The smell of beer and beef filled the air and for dessert we had a lovely crispy and gooey Marmalade Bread and Butter Pudding.  Marmalade is one of those funny things, which I will only eat at home. I think my love for food started at such an early age. I have a wonderful memory of hiring out an old and aged copy of Paddington Pear from my public school library, and devouring the stories of Paddington and his orange Marmalade. As you can see, I couldn’t resist spreading orange marmalade all over the bread to make the pudding.

  Beef and Beer

2 Tbspn butter

1 Tbspn olive oil

1.5kg chuck steak, cubed

2 large onions, sliced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbspn all-purpose flour

1 tbspn brown sugar

1 ½ cups beef stock

2 cups beer (I Used Hahn!)

1 tbspn red-wine vinegar

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 bouquet garni – sage, thyme and 2 bay leaves (this is where you pick or buy your herbs and tie together with some natural string..Don’t use coloured twine or you will have a blue soup, a la Bridget Jones)!

1. Heat the butter and oil together in a saute pan. Working in batches, brown the beef on all sides. Remove from the pan.  

2. In the same pan, fry the onions until soft, about 15 minutes, then add the garlic for 1 minute. Remove. (Check if there is fat in the pan. If not, add a good tablespoon of butter and let it melt.) Add the flour and sugar to the pan and cook for 1 minute to make a roux. Gradually whisk in the stock and bring to a boil. (At this point, turn your slow cooker onto low-medium heat) Add the beer and vinegar to the boiling stock, and bring back to a boil, cooking until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. 

3. Place the onions, beef, bouquet garni and sauce into your slow cooker. Cover and bake for 4-5 hours.

4. If you can bare the wait, cool the dish completely and refrigerate overnight! Casseroles are always better the next day don’t you think?

  Marmalade & Whisky Bread and Butter Pudding 

8 x slices Raisin bread, or brioche, crusts removed

50g very soft butter (don’t be impatient! It will rip apart your bread if you don’t wait)

4 tbspn orange marmalade

300ml full fat milk

248 ml pot double cream

3 large eggs

seeds 1 vanilla pod

4 tbspn caster sugar

1 tbspn whisky

  1. Butter each piece of bread on both sides, then spread 4 with the 1 tbsp marmalade each. Pop the remaining bread on top to make 4 marmalade sandwiches. Cut into triangles and nestle in rows in a large baking dish. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. 

2. Beat the milk, cream, eggs, vanilla, sugar and whisky together, then pour over the bread. Leave to soak for 30 mins.

Lately i've been on a big baking adventure! I think i'm trying to find reasons to turn on the oven and heat up our tiny little flat. June/July is also the month of Birthdays in our family, but really, any excuse will do!

I used a Donna Hay pastry, which uses a little bit of icing sugar. Keep a close eye on it, because I found it coloured very quickly and I popped some alfoil over the top to protect the edges. It is a lovely and short pastry!

Pastry

1½ cups (225g) plain (all-purpose) flour

125g chilled butter, cut into cubes

½ cup (80g) icing (confectioner’s) sugar

3 egg yolks (reserve yolks for meringue top)

1 tablespoon iced water

Filling

3/4 cup lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

1 cup caster sugar

2/3 cup thickened cream

5 eggs, lightly beaten

Meringue

3 egg whites

1 cup caster sugar

  1. For the pastry, Place the flour, butter and icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. While the motor is running, add the egg yolks and process to combine. Add the iced water and process until the dough just comes together. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently bring together to form a ball. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Roll the pastry out between 2 sheets of non-stick baking paper to 3mm-thick. Line an 11cm x 34cm lightly greased loose-bottomed tart tin with the pastry, trim the edges and prick the base with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Line the pastry case with non-stick baking paper and fill with baking weights. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the paper and weights and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the pastry is light golden. Reduce temperature to 140ºC (275ºF). 

3. Combine the lemon juice, sugar and cream in a bowl. Whisk in the beaten eggs a little at at ime until is is all combined. Pour the mixture into the tart shell, through a sieve (this will stop any egg bits that haven’t quite separated appearing on the top). Bake for 25 minutes or until set. Allow to cool for half an hour before putting the meringue on top.

Having started a new job last week, I wanted to make a good re-heat meal over the weekend to carry us through the week. Moussaka is one of my favourites and it tastes even better when reheated! The cinnamon smells amazing as it cooks!

This recipe is based on Maggie Beer's recipe. I love her use of lemon rind and lemon thyme as it freshens up the lamb. It makes such a difference to pound up a cinnamon stick, as opposed to using the powdered stuff. The flavour is more potent and a little tart. You can substitute it for 3 teaspoons of cinnamon powder if you don't have the stick, but I think it is well worth the investment!

3 medium-sized eggplants

1 1/2 tbspn Extra Virgin Olive Oil to roast eggplants

To taste salt flakes

To taste freshly ground black pepper

1 tbspn Extra Virgin Olive Oil to saute

1 onion finely chopped

2 cloves garlic crushed

500g minced lamb

1 Cinnamon quill cinnamon, pounded

1 tbspn tomato paste

½ cup red wine

½ lemon lemon zest grated

1 cup tomato sugo

2 tbspn lemon thyme

Rind of 1 lemon

½ cup of cheese- combination 

Bechamel Sauce

2 tbspn parmesan grated

50g unsalted butter

50g plain flour

1 cup light milk

1 cup Chicken Stock

1 pinch nutmeg grated (grate fresh)

To taste freshly ground black pepper

To taste salt flakes

1. Cut eggplant into thin 1 centimetre slices. Brush slices with oil, season with salt and put in the oven at 250C, or as hot as you can go, for 8 - 10 minutes until golden – turning the pieces over half way through cooking.

2. Saute onion at moderate temperature for 5 minutes – add the garlic and cook another 5 minutes. Put onion and garlic aside.

3. Salt and brown meat in batches at a high temperature, you don’t want the mince to ‘boil’. Put all meat back into the pan, add cinnamon, onion and garlic, tomato paste, and deglaze with wine at high temperature. Then add lemon zest, Tomato and Basil Sugo, parsley, and lemon thyme. Simmer for 20 minutes for flavours to combine.

4. To make the béchamel or cheese sauce, melt the butter in a pot and then sprinkle the flour over it, stirring well to combine. Continue to cook for a little while until the flour colours slightly and it loses that raw flavour.

5. Remove from the heat and pour the milk in first and then the stock, slowly, at first, whisking continuously to avoid lumps. Return pan to the stove and continue to cook until thickened – stirring often until the liquid thickly coats the back of the spoon. Add the nutmeg and seasoning and lay a piece of plastic wrap or baking paper directly on top of the sauce so that it doesn’t form a skin. Set aside until needed.

6.  To make the moussaka, spray an oven proof dish with non-stick cooking spray or a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Place a layer of eggplant on the bottom of the dish and then a layer of lamb mince over this. Continue to alternate between eggplant and lamb mince, finishing with a layer of eggplant.

I wanted to use up the last of my slow cooked pork leftovers. So scroll down the page and find the recipe for 'best pulled pork', for the pork in this recipe.

serves 4

Cauliflower Purée

60g butter

2 tsp olive oil

300g cauliflower florets

1 small onion, finely chopped

250ml (1 cup) milk

100ml cream

1. heat butter and oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add cauliflower and onion and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened but not browned.

2. Add milk and simmer, covered, for 5-10 minutes or until softened. Drain, then blend cauliflower with cream until smooth. Season.

Pork Floss

2 cups pulled pork

1. Heat a frypan to medium-high heat and brown the pork in batches until it has lovely crispy edges. This can take 10 minutes.

You may have noticed by now that once I find something works, I like to stick with it for a while...This is why I hang round with Max! Haha, but in terms of food, if I find a yummy flavour combination or technique I will experiment with it a bit and try and use it in a new way.

In this recipe there are segmented oranges (instructions are in an earlier post). I also are this one with my delicious 'Best Pulled Pork Recipe' http://tableofsophie.tumblr.com/post/86446105328/best-pulled-pork, for those of you who don't want to scroll down the page. It will serve 2 as a side, or 1 as a main. It is so crisp and the basil and fennel give it a nice kick and freshness. The roast beetroot and pumpkin add a great depth of flavour, and the orange...well, a bit more freshness, and perhaps some zing!

You will need:

1 x bunch of beetroot, peeled, diced into 4 x 4cm chunks

1/4 butternut pumpkin, peeled and sliced into 5mm slices

2 oranges, segmented

6-10 fresh basil leaves, torn (depends on size)

1/2 fresh bulb of fennel, finely sliced

2 handfuls of spinach leaves

olive oil

salt and pepper

Lemon Infused Olive Oil

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

2. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

3. Arrange beetroot on one, and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat with pumpkin on 2nd tray. Place beetroot ONLY in the oven, as it will take 45minutes roasting time. The pumpkin will only take 10-15, so place it in with 15 minutes remaining and check at 10.

4. Meanwhile, wash and arrange. the spinach leaves, basil leaves and fennel. Arrange orange segments on top.

5. Remove vegetables from the oven and allow to cook down a little for 3-5 minutes.

I think a successful dinner party is a bit like a successful mix between songs on a dance floor; you just don't want any awkward 'waiting moments' and the more alcohol the better really.

Max and I had my old uni friend and her Italian boyfriend over for dinner who we had not yet met. I wanted a meal that looked effortless by the time they had got here, with no panic or hungry moments waiting for food to come out. I must say, the Italian boyfriend was very good at topping up the wine and so it was a very lovely evening, which went on until the early hours, when we all had 'rosey wine cheeks'. I made a roast chicken and panna cotta, as they are safe bets for me. I sourced lovely Italian flavours for an entree dish when they arrived, and added a berry vodka sauce to the dessert.

Caramelised Pear, Burrata, Basil and Heirloom Starter

*Burrata is an Italian cheese, which to my understanding is made in a similar way to Mozarella, however cooked in a different way, so that the inside remains very creamy and runny. It's delicious.

2 x William Pears (sliced, 6mm thick or so)

3 x Burrata balls (depending on size, mine were small)

12 Heirloom tomatoes, cut in half

Fresh basil leaves, pick the smaller sweeter ones- about 30

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar.

1. Warm a bbq or griddle pan on the stove.

2. Place the sliced pears in a bowl, and coat with the butter, sugar and vinegar.

2. Place the pear slices across the griddle and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, so they are tender, but not too soft or falling apart.

3. Arrange Burrata, tomato halves, basil and grilled pear on a plate.

Serve with your favourite crackers- I brushed some break with olive oil and cut circles out of it, to make crackers. I popped them into the oven for 20 minutes with some garlic cloves, and rubbed the garlic cloves onto the hot bread fresh out of the oven.

The Perfect Roast Chicken

1 organic chicken, RSPCA approved chicken is good too and both are available in supermarkets, 1.6kg

1 lemon, cut into quarters

good handful of thyme

4 garlic cloves

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

good knob of butter

1. Take your chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before it goes into the oven. Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius.

2. Have your lemon, garlic cloves, thyme, olive oil, salt and pepper out ready. Using your finger (see image), separate the skin over the breast of the chicken from the meat and push 2 sprigs of time and a teaspoon of butter. This method stops the breast meat from drying out.

3. Stuff the carcass of the chook with the remaining thyme, garlic cloves and 2 lemon quarters. Rub olive oil, salt and pepper into the outside of the chicken

4. Pop the chicken into the oven and immediately turn the oven down to 200 degrees celsius. Cook the chicken for 1 hour and 20 minutes, turning halfway through.

* Check the chicken is cooked, by piercing into one of the joints (you can see in the third image, I have stabbed between the wing and the body.

The Best Gravy

Drain the oil from the roasting pan, but reserve the cooking juices (you should be able to just pour the oil from the top, leaving the juices in the pan). Pop the roasting pan on the stovetop and bring to the boil. Deglaze the pan with a good slosh of white wine and add some tarragon (I used dried), Add 2 tablespoons of plain flour, some salt and pepper to taste. Stil thoroughly for 5 minutes. If the mixture becomes too thick, you might like to add a little bit of water.

Panna Cotta

1¼ Tbsp powdered gelatine

½ cup whole milk

1½ cups thickened cream

4 Tbsp caster sugar

1 Vanilla bean stripped

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

3 cardamon pods, bruised

1. Place the milk, cream, sugar, vanilla seeds, nutmeg and cardamom in a saucepan and stir over gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved.

2. Bring to the boil, and then simmer for about 3 minutes. 

3. Sprinkle the gelatine onto the hot cream in an even layer and leave it to sponge (be soaked cup by the cream) for a minute or so. Whisk into the cream until it is dissolved.

4. Pour the cream through a sieve and then into 4 x 125ml dariole moulds that have been sprayed with cooking spray, cover each with a piece of cling wrap and allow to drop down to room temperature before putting them in the fridge to set fully. THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT! Otherwise the Panna Cotta will most likely seperate.

5. Unmould the pannacotta by gently inserting a knife around the edges of the moulds and tipping them onto individual plates.

6. Serve with fresh fruit or my vodka berry sauce! It's amazing!

Smashed Berry and Vodka Sauce

150ml apple juice

125g strawberries

125g blueberries

30ml vodka

1 tablespoon lemon juice

lemon zest, ½ finely grated

pinch of cinnamon

1. In a small saucepan, bring to the boil apple juice, lemon juice, leom zest and cinnamon. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. cool slightly.

2. Combine berries, vodka and cooled syrup in a blender and process until berries are chopped.

I'm not at all being biased! I made this and there were just no words between my boyfriend and I, as we filled our tummies after a long Wednesday hump-day.

I've become a bit of a spice princess and shied away from the heat of late. This dish actually isn't hot. It's quite mild, but has a lovely fresh chilli flavour (a lot of people think chilli is purely heat). If you would like more heat, feel free to swap your long red chilli's out for birds eye chillies or add more chilli sauce in. The dish is also gluten free, and thickened with an egg. It's very healthy.

We keep lovely green prawns in the freezer (which we pick up from our favourite Sydney seafood supplier; Faros Brothers). Everything else we had in the cupboard and I think most of you would too! This dish honestly took 5-10 minutes from start to finish. Hop to it!

Singapore Chilli Prawns

750g green prawns, peeled and deveined

2 large red chillis finely sliced (you can use a little bird's eye chilli if you like it very hot)

Thumb sized piece of ginger (finely chopped)

2-3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

2 teaspoons of rice bran oil

for the sauce

200ml water

2 tspns salt

2 tbspns tomato sauce (I use a gluten free one from the supermarket)

4 tbspns tomato paste

2 tbspns sambal olek (you can substitute for a chilli sauce, like spirulina, but start by using 1 tablespoon and then taste)- check for gluten free options if this is a requirement for you

1 tbspn sesame oil

1 tbspn white vingear (i substituted with white wine vinegar because I was out and it was delicious)

1 egg beaten, and mixed through at the last step

1.Fry garlic, ginger, red chilli, then add in prawns and fry for 1 minute.

2.Next add in the sauce ingredients and simmer for 1 minute. 

3. Lastly, add in a beaten egg, stir the sauce while adding in the egg.

On monday it was my birthday and I received this beautiful Tagine! You can't see from the image, but the bowl is glossy and the top is matte. It's so beautiful!

I had a lamb shoulder in the freezer and I have been mulling over the best possible way to use it for a few weeks now. It seems my gift giver read my mind!

The philosophy behind a tagine is that the steam that escapes from the bowl rises into the lid and condenses before trickling back down into the bowl. The result is wonderfully tender meat. For the first time in a long time, my boyfriend and I didn't talk as we delved into our dinners. We each decided nothing was missed and nothing could be gained to this dish. It is one of those rare 'first time hits'. Needless to say, I'm pretty impressed with myself.

The recipe is based on a BBC recipe by Antony Worrall Thompson. I omitted a few things and added some pomegranate seeds and pistachios to serve. The dish is quite spicy and those little pomegranate jewels are a perfect respite and palette cleanser.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp ground black pepper

1½ tbsp paprika

1½ tbsp ground ginger

1 tbsp turmeric

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 x shoulder of lamb, trimmed and cut into 5cm/2in chunks (about 0.8-1kg meat in total)

2 large onions, chopped finely

4 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 x 400g tinned chopped tomatoes

90g dried apricots cut in half

55g cut in half

55g raisins

500ml/1 pint lamb stock (this is made from the bones in the lamb shoulder and water- so don't buy any stock)!

1 tbsp clear honey

2 tbsp coriander, roughly chopped

2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

seeds of half a pomegranate

3 tbsps pistachios, roughly chopped

1. Place the cayenne, black pepper, paprika, ginger, turmeric and cinnamon into a small bowl and mix to combine. Place the lamb in a large bowl and toss together with half of the spice mix. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge. Place the lamb bones from the shoulder with 500ml of water, 1 chopped carrot and 2 celery sticks, chopped. Simmer for 1 hour nad strain. This is your lamb stock that you will add back in with the tomato to make the tagine sauce mixture.

2. Preheat the oven to 150C

3. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large casserole dish. Add the chopped onion and the remaining spice mix and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes so that the onions are soft but not coloured. Add the crushed garlic for the final 3 minutes.

4. In a separate frying pan, heat the remaining oil and brown the cubes of lamb on all sides then add the browned meat to the casserole dish. De-glaze the frying pan with the canned tomatoes.

5. Add the apricots, dates, raisins or sultanas, flaked almonds, lamb stock and honey to the casserole dish. Bring to the boil, cover with a fitted lid, place in the oven and cook for 2-2½ hours or until the meat is meltingly tender.

A big trend at the moment is to substitute cous cous, which is a traditional North African cuisine made up of semolina (granules of durum wheat), with cauliflower. My favourite part of cooking with cous cous is that it is such a speedy process. Cauliflower takes a comparable time to cook, but the benefits of cauliflower are much better! Cauliflower has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties (can help decrease chronic inflammation that leads to conditions such as arthritis, chronic pain and bowel conditions). The veggie also contains a whole lot of vitamins, particularly B group vitamins, assisting with the nervous system and energy production. I served my cous cous with some simple moroccan meatballs for a winter meal. But I also think it would be fantastic dressed up with some herbs, celery, walnuts and maybe even some dried fruit to add a bit of sweetness.

Cauliflower CousCous

1 cauliflower

1 teaspoon rice bran oil

salt and pepper

1. Remove the florets from the cauliflower and pop into a food processor (leaving behind stems). Pulse cauliflower in a food processor until it’s “riced” (ie, the size of couscous). Careful not to overmix, you don’t want to puree the cauliflower at all.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet over low heat. Add the cauliflower “couscous” and a few good pinches of salt. Let it gently toast for a minute or so and stir. You are trying to keep the couscous white, careful not to toast it, just to dry it out. Pop it into a cold pan or plate and fluff up with a folk.

Moroccan meatballs

500g chicken or lamb mince

40g quinoa flour

1 small brown onion, coarsely grated

1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander

Moroccan spices- I used 1 tspn cumin, 1 tspn smoked paprika, 1/2 tspn ground coriander, 1/2 tspn nutmeg 

salt and pepper

2 teaspoons olive oil 

1. Combine all ingredients for meatballs and roll into balls- about the size of 2 tablespoons.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add half the meatballs at a time, browning for 5 minutes, set aside.

For the Sauce

1 tablespoons olive oil

1 garlic clove, chopped finely

1 x 400g can Chopped Tomatoes

125ml (1/2 cup) chicken stock

1/2 cup red wine

2 tablespoons tomato paste

salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the remaining oil in the pan. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato, paste, wine and stock. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5-10minutes. Add the meatballs, reduce to low heat. Simmer for 10 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.

I have tried a few pulled pork recipes in my time, and I thought I had a great one…Then I found this one! Initially it was a Williams-Sonoma recipe, but I have adapted it a little since then. The pork remains really succulent and moist. By browning the pork off really well before putting it in the slow cooker or baking pan, you get those lovely crunchy bits, with the very soft shredded bits! Delish! Unfortunately this one does have a little bit of sugar in it..

This is what the meat should look like after 4-5 hours in a slow cooker on high, or in a baking pan or french cookpot in the oven. You can see that it’s lovely and browned and already falling apart..Perfect for pulling!

3 tbspns rice bran oil

2-2.5 kg pork shoulder piece (you could even try a 3kg shoulder if it will fit in your slow cooker/cookpot.

1 brown onion finely chopped

1 large garlic clove finely chopped (or 2 small cloves)

3/4 cup cider vinegar

3/4 cup tomato ketchup

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tspn red pepper flakes

1 Tbspn  Worcestershire sauce

1 tspn dry mustard

1 tspn salt

1 tspn freshly ground pepper

1. Brown the pork: In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the pork pieces and brown well on all sides, about 12 minutes total. Transfer the pork to a slow cooker.

2. Pour off all but about 1 Tbs. of the fat from the fry pan and return the pan to medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, it will brown quickly- 1 minute or so). Add the vinegar and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom.

3. Stir in the ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, just until the mixture begins to bubble. Pour over the pork. Cover and cook until the pork is very tender, 4 to 5 hours on a high setting. If you are cooking in the oven, place all ingredients in a baking pan or cookpot and cover with a lid, or double layer of foil if using a pan. Set oven to 150 degrees celsius and cook for 4-5 hours.

Having never been a fan of the bitter/sour flavour in tomatoes, but loving tomato based dishes, I tried a roast tomato soup. It was delish! 

High intakes of tomatoes are linked to heart health- helping to lower cholesterol, as well as the fruit having well known antioxidant benefits. 

Ingredients

1kg ripe roma tomatoes, halved lengthways

2 leeks, trimmed and cut into 2cm sections

8 whole garlic cloves

3 tbspn oil for baking

1 tbspn olive oil

2bspns tomato paste

3 1/2 cups chicken stock (you can substitute veg)

pinch sugar

1/3 cup basil leaves torn

sea salt flakes and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper and arrange tomatoes (cut side up), leeks, garlic cloves. Drizzle with the 3tbspn of olive oil and sprinkle with some sea salt and pepper. Roast for 30-35 minutes, until slightly caramelised and tender. Pull the garlic cloves from the pan and pop in the fridge to cool for 10-15 minutes.

2. Heat 1 tbspn oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant. Squeeze the garlic from the roasted cloves into the pan and add all roasted vegetables, sugar and basil. Blend with a stick blender, then add stock and blend to combine, until smooth.

3. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired. Bring to the boil over medium heat, reduce to low heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes. 

With my healthy steamed fish last week, I served a really fresh salad, with orange segments. It was such a refreshing salad and a fantastic match for the fish. For a bit of extra crunch, I added some of the Tamari almonds that I also made last week.

Salad recipe

3 oranges- segmented (before segmenting one, grate the rind off for the dressing)

3 celery sticks- trimmed and sliced into 8mm crescents

1 large cucumber- cut in half lengthways, scoop out the inner pulp, and cut into 8mm crescents

2 cups of watercress or rocket or spinach (the pepperiness of the watercress or rocket is a good mix)

1/3 cup tamari almonds- chopped roughly

1. Prepare all ingredients (except nuts) and toss to combine.

2. Sprinkle chopped nuts over and dress with dressing recipe below.

(you can view a picture of the salad next to the fish in my prior post)

dressing recipe

zest of 1 orange

1 tbspn whole seeded mustard

juice of half a lemon

1 tbspn white wine vinegar

4 tbspn olive oil

1 tspn honey

dash of cold water

1. Combine all ingredients and shake, shake, shake!

You might find it best to heat the mixture in the microwave for 15-20 seconds, in order to combine smoothly

It is becoming rare in our household for my partner and I to sit down and eat dinner together. Uni, late working nights and evening classes seem to be what we are all about! I think healthy meals in the evening are about freshly cooked produce and seasonal salad or veggies, unfortunately these types of foods don't reheat very well. These fish packages are super tasty, fragrant and very healthy! The fish steams in it's own juices and when you take it out of the oven and open it up, the smell is amazing! 

I prepared one for my partner to pop in the oven when he got home, so it was just as fresh and delicious for him- as well as being a bit cute, don't you think? Fish packages tied up with string, these have become some of my favourite things!

You will need:

2 x fillets white fish, I used red snapper

stem of ginger( about 2cm x 1cm), chopped roughly

1 x clove garlic, peeled and chopped roughly

1 x teaspoon turmeric

1 x tablespoon tamari sauce

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 bunch coriander, chopped- utilise the full length- from stem to leaves

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Baking paper

Cooking twine or string

squeeze of lime for serving

1. Place the ginger, garlic and turmeric into a mortar and pestle. Grind until a paste begins to form.

2. Add you tamari and oil and mix. Fold through the coriander and pepper.

3. Rub the mixture onto the fish fillets and wrap in a layer of baking paper, followed by another, to ensure there are no gaps.

4. Tie each end with come string. Switch oven on to 180 degrees celsius, fan forced

5. Pop the fish fillets straight in on the tray and cook for 10-12 minutes.

Tamari almonds are a go to snack for me. Our local co-op produce store has them, but sometimes they can border on the side of soggy, so I decided to make my own, activating the almonds first. 'Activated nuts', a few of you may be questioning? They are quite easy to pick up these days but are often a bit expensive, so it makes sense to bake a large batch to keep you going for a while.

Activating nuts brings a ton of health benefits to the tasty little morsels. Natural nuts contain good fats, protein, fibre, zinc, magnesium and calcium. They also contain natural chemicals (phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors) that can prevent these nutrients from being absorbed. By activating your nuts, these natural chemicals are broken down and the nutrients are better absorbed into your body.

The process of activating nuts is a bit of a lengthy one, but it is also quite fuss free, so don't be turned off too quickly. You can activate all nuts: almonds, macadamias, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, as well as seeds, such as pepita's. Nuts other than almonds can take 10-12 hours to soak.

Activated Almonds

1. Place your almonds/ or other nuts in a bowl (I used 2 cups). 

2. Add enough water to the bowl to cover the nuts. Now add 1-2tspns of salt ( I used 1 and 1/2 for 2 cups).

3. Leave the nuts to soak for 7-12 hours. 

4. Strain the nuts and place them on a baking tray, lined with baking paper. Place into a very low oven, 65 degrees celcius. If you were to pop them in a hotter oven, the good nutrients would essentially be 'cooked away'.

5. Leave the almonds in the oven until they are completely dried out, otherwise they can go moldy in storage. My almonds took about 12 hours.

* I soaked my almonds on a Friday morning before work, and then when I got home, popped them in the oven and got them out after a Saturday morning sleep in.

Tamari Almonds

Tamari is a gluten free option to soy sauce. It is known to have many health benefits including anti-oxident and anti-cancer properties. Tamari can be used as a more flavoursome option to salt in cooking. It would be lovely added to soups, stir fry's and dressings or sauces.

1 cup almonds

2 tablespoons tamari sauce

1. Heat the almonds in a saucepan on low heat, until just heated through. They will become fragrant at this point. Remove from heat.

2. Add the Taramri sauce to pan and place back over low heat. Stir constantly until the Tamari has been absorbed. 

3. Allow to cool before eating. Store in an airtight container for up to a fortnight.