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It is good to know that my friends are actually reading Sydney Table. I had drinks a few weeks ago with long time school friend, Michelle, who decided it was time I put my money where my mouth is and cook for a group of friends for nothing other than to get together and feast on food and each other's company. She also came up with the awesome suggestion that everyone can pay for their meal so I was not cooking a dish that I could afford for everyone and actually cook whatever I chose. Brilliant idea and thanks Michelle.

As my place is fairly small I had to limit guests and invited Michelle, or live in her eternal wrath, Tony & Renee and my uber cool neighbor Karin, she cooks for me all the time and hand delivers food samples she is cooking every other day. Karin thought it would be much nicer to serve it on her outside deck downstairs - it is much larger and heaps nicer for entertaining. As I refused to take money for Karin she also insisted on cooking one of the four courses for the evening, and hopefully I will post her recipe for the various flavours of dumplings she cooked - these were INSANELY delicious. Tony & Renee could not get a sitter so brought their little one Ava who spent the night hanging out with Karin's little Princess Stella. I also had a very cool assistant for the night, Finn - thanks for all the help Finn, you rock.


Menu for the Evening:
4 types of dumplings with Dipping Sauce
Nigella's Halloumi With Chilli
Malaysian Fish Stew
Helen (from Rough Cooking)'s Chardonnay and Grape cake - with my Grand Marnier Cream

All up for all four dishes the cost of ingredients was about $200- but it was worth it!!!

Karin will hopefully be giving me lessons on dumplings and I will share with you in coming weeks.


Nigella's Halloumi with Chilli


BUT - course one is:
Nigella's Halloumi With Chilli, and this dish is so easy I have no idea why I don't have it for one meal every week. This was also the very first time I had cooked with Halloumi that I will now be using it many more times. Poor Finn had to put up with me daring him to eat everything I cooked so he could experience new things - I am pretty sure this was the only thing he did not like

This made 32 little squares.

YOU WILL NEED:

2 tablespoons chopped de-seeded fresh red chili (about 2 medium chillies)

60 ml extra virgin olive oil

2 (250 g) packets halloumi cheese, sliced medium-thin ( just under half a cm)

juice of quarter lemon

Nigella's Halloumi with Chilli


YOU WILL NEED TO:

1 - Mix the chopped chilli and olive oil in a small bowl or cup and leave the flavours to deepen while you cook the cheese.
2 - Put the slices in a non-stick frying pan for this, without any oil, and just give the cheese slices about 2 minutes a side until they're golden-brown in parts.
3 - When all the slices of halloumi are cooked, transfer them to a couple of small plates. Give the chilli oil a stir, spoon it over the cheese, then give a spritz of lemon.

YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!
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Besides the smell of mint I have never been a huge fan. When I tried to grow it it went completely out of control, like a weed, and killed everything else in its battle of dominance. And when I have cooked with it in the past I am unsure if I had used to much of it but its flavour also always seemed to dominate.

lamb with mint and chilli


Not with this meal - as my eating partner in crime stated "the marriage of the chiili and the mint in this dish is deliscious" - well said Carrie - it was divine and will be cooked again.

We had a great night - hadn't seen Carrie in close to a month - was a great meal at my newly arranged and now unflooded lounge room - I now have a fully functioning dining table - am sssssssoooooooo civilised and makes for better meals. It was also awesome that Carrie cried with joy at how much weight I had lost - I told her my biggest secret was to stop drinking red - of course I said this while we were finishing a bottle of red - hahahahaha

lamb with mint and chilli


SERVES 4

YOU WILL NEED:

* 2TBL spoons of oil - I used rice bran but vegetable would also be fine
* 750gms lamb fillet, thinly sliced - thankgod Coles had it pre sliced but 750gms cost about $18-
* 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
* 1 small red onion - cut into wedges or thinly slices
* 2 small red chillis, thinly sliced - leave seeds in for more kick - the chilli I used were the standard long red chillis and it was not hot at all - more sweet
* 1/3 cup of oyster sauce
* 2 and a half TBL spoons of fish sauce
* 2 tsps brown sugra
* 1/2 cup of finely chopped mint leaves
* a small handfull of whole mint leaves
* a pack of fresh baby corn
* cooked rice to serve

lamb with mint and chilli


YOU WILL NEED TO:

* Heat a wok over high heat, add one TBSP of the oil and swirl to coat
* Add the lamb and garlic in batches - I found four batches was managable - and stiry fry for 2 mins or until lamb is almost cooked. Remove and set aside, covered
* Heat the remaining oil in the wok, add the onion and stiry fry for 2mins or until soft
* Return the lamb back to the wok with the baby corn
* Stir in the chilli, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar and the chopped mint leaves and cook for another 3 mins
* Remove from the heat, serve over rice with a small handfull of the full mint leaves on top of each plate

lamb with mint and chilli


I cannot fault this dish at all - it is divine to eat and so simple to make. TIP: If cutting the lamb yourself - ensure you cut across the grain - it keeps the meat together during cooking.

To make it taste even better, eat it with chopsticks and drink a nice sweet red with it

And massive thanks to Carrie for bringing dessert - yummy fruit flans and a tub of icecream that was bigger than my freezer


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Grilled Eye Fillet with Mustard Polenta

February 25th 2010 08:22
This is a delicious meal care of the Biggest Loser Best Recipes cookbook. It is healthy, affordable and damn scrumptious.

I do apologise for my presentation and photo - it was my very first time cooking polenta and I learnt a few things. Mostly - I should have let it sit for a few minutes to harden up slightly and then it would have been much more managable and allowed me to have a smaller, more round bed for the fillet of steak to sit on. But hey, this is great presentation for kids and it still tasted divine.

Grilled Eye Fillet with Mustard Polenta


Before the recipe a brief "Wikihistory" on Polenta. It should be noted that polenta is gluten free.

Polenta is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal (ground maize) originally made with Chestnut meal in ancient times. It can be ground coarsely or finely depending on the region and the texture desired. As it is known today, polenta derives from earlier forms of grain mush (known as puls or pulmentum in Latin or more commonly as gruel or porridge) commonly eaten in Roman times and after. Early forms of polenta were made with such starches as the grain farro and chestnut flour, both of which are still used in small quantity today. When boiled, polenta has a smooth, creamy texture due to the gelatinization of starch in the grain, though it may not be completely homogeneous if a coarse grind or a particularly hard grain such as flint corn is used.

Grilled Eye Fillet with Mustard Polenta


Polenta was originally and still is classified as a peasant food. In the 1940s and 1950s polenta was not topped with luscious sauces but eaten with just a little salted anchovy or herring: nourishing and filling but on the whole dull. The overreliance on maize as a staple food caused outbreaks of pellagra throughout much of Europe until the 20th century and in the American South during the early 1900s. Maize lacks readily accessible niacin unless cooked with alkali which nixtamalizes it.

Since the late 20th century, polenta became a premium product. Polenta dishes are on the menu in many high-end restaurants, and prepared polenta can be found in supermarkets at high prices. Many current polenta recipes have given new life to an essentially bland and simple food, enriching it with meat and mushrooms sauces, and adding vegetables, beans or various cheeses into the basic mixture.

Now, for this recipe:

SERVES 4

YOU WILL NEED:
* 2 tomatoes, cut in half widthwise
* Oilve oil spray
* 2 teaspoons chopped oregano leaves
* freshly ground black pepper
* 4X 200gm eye fillet steaks
* 2 cups of water
* 1 and 1/2 cups of low fat milk
* 2/3 cup of polenta (unmade)
* 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of hot english mustard
* 1 and 1/2 tablespoons seeded mustard

YOU WILL NEED TO:
* Preheat oven to 150degrees Celsius
* Place tomatoes on a baking tray and spray lightly with olive oil, top them with the oregano leaves and black pepper. Bake for 35min
* Meanwhile, bring the water and milk to the boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the polenta, ensuring it is well combined. Reduce heat and simmer for 35min, stirring occasionally, until smooth and thick
* Halfway through the polenta cooking, cook steaks in a large fry pan over high heat. 6 mins on each side is perfect or as desired. The book says to use olive oil spray in the pan - but seriously one tablespoon of butter will not kill you and will make for a better steak
* Set steaks aside and rest for 5mins in a warm place, loosely covered with foil
* Add the mustards to the polenta and stir in thoroughly
* Spoon the polenta onto plates and place a steak on top, drizzle over any steak juices in the pan and serve with the roasted tomatoes

It is way YUM.

Health Info:
Total kJ: 1158
Total calories: 278
Carbs: 3.9gms
Protein: 39gms
Fat: Total - 11.3gms
Saturated: 5.2gms
Fibre: 0.8gms

ENJOY IT!!
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The Pleach is HERE, New Hybrid Fruit

February 22nd 2010 07:50
The mating of a peach and a plum has become the new cool fruit, and it all came about by accident in the little town of Mudgee.

Pleach Hyrbid between a peach and a plum

[ Click here to read more ]
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Clay Pot Asian Mushroom Rice

February 10th 2010 09:14
I finally got to cook in my clay pot and make something deliscious - do not be turned away though as this one can easily be cooked in an enamel pot or any pot really. I just think the clay pot added to the flavour spreading.

This one could be cooked as a small meal or would be perfect as a gourmet fried rice. I kept picturing thick and sticky Asian ribs or something pork with it, I could also salivate over this with something like a lemon chicken. I ate it as it was without a meat but next time I am cooking Asian fusion to impress the friends this will be the rice to accompany the meat


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Rockmelon - My New Fruity Obsession

February 6th 2010 06:39
Like I have been mentioning a few times in recent articles if I do not like a food I try it again every year to see if my tastebuds have developed an interest.

This has been very succesful in me eventually liking coffee, avocado, beer, wine, am slowly growing to like oysters. It still does not work for bananas and although I can't stand them I eat them in cakes, smoothies, cooking of all different types. I also am not a fan of eggplant and Helen from Rouchcooking.com suggests it could be I am against the texture. This could be highly possible - bananas do feel like eating a bleached pooh hahahaha [ Click here to read more ]
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I had close to one of the best Sundays ever yesterday. Nice sleep in, swim at the beach while a carnival of hotbods paraded around, home for a shower and relax. Then I played tennis on a 45degree court with my fab friend and neighbor, Karin, and while she had an oil slick of suntan cream sweat off her and pool at her feet I turned into a red beacon that made planes redirect and attempt landings on our tennis court.

After being so burnt and bloody exhausted we came home and showered at our respecitve places and met up on Karin's balcony for a nice drop of white or two and were joined by Karin's friend Christine, who had to run off on the way to dinner so she could be a birthing partner due to her friend's water breaking It was all happening yesterday believe me


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Sydney Table Roast Chicken

January 31st 2010 00:05
I am living on a strict budget at the moment due to so many things requiring to be paid off and am also selling numerous items on Ebay to get cash together to a) pay the car rego and b) save for a trip to Japan next January plus c) to generally afford to live in the Sydney area.

My meal budget for the week for all my food stuff at home is generally about $60-. To make this stretch I always cook a meal that allows me a few extra nights of leftovers and some meat for sandwiches etc


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Jambalaya - JK Style :)

January 27th 2010 08:18
I found some Jambalaya recipes with the sole intent of cooking them as my first big Clay Pot Dish but things didn't quite work out to plan. I have loved Creole and Cajun cooking since about 8yrs ago now when my parental units and I had a fun weekend attending a class in both forms of food - was so much fun and I wish I stuck at it back then. But, as Joan Collins would say, the bitch is back!

Firstly - I shouldn't have made so many nibblies to munch on before nor bought the beautiful pate. Secondly, me and the friends shouldn't have downed two bottles of red prior to me cooking But most importantly of all I should have measured the amount of ingredients to ensure they would all fit into the Clay Pot - FAIL


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Clay Pot Cooking and My New Baby

January 14th 2010 08:37
I have been eyeing this clay pot for about two or three years now. Every time I visit my parental units we do a day trip or coffee in Tilba Tilba. It is a beautiful country town just off the highway near Bermagui on the South Coast of NSW and has some great shops and a nostalgic small little pub. They even close the road on one day in Easter and open the town for a fair - so much fun watching egg throwing competitions or the new backtown version of Erobisize on display

We walk the length of the town and I have my traditions - I buy soap and candles from two different shops every single year. And we all buy some cheeses from the Tilba Cheese Factory. They are divine. In the Cheese Factory they have oodles of ccoking equipment for sale and one of them is my new clay pot. I always say no to myself as I normally want to make sure I have money to get home with and play while I am away. But this year they were all on sale and I am kicking myself I did not buy the large one now. Instead I got the medium which is great for feeding up to 3 but if I have more people over or want to cook leftovers aswell I am trumped


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