Jamie Oliver “Oozy Mushroom Risotto”

This recipe is simply amazing!!  It is by far one of the best mushroom risottos I have ever tasted – and I have eaten a lot of risottos when dining out.  The flavours are delicious and if you can incorporate some different mushrooms (pending on seasonal availability etc), then you can enhance the dish further.  In addition, the crispy mushrooms to place on top at the end really make the meal complete!
This is from the 30 minute meal book by Jamie Oliver, however I would recommend giving yourself at least an hour to make this dish, especially if you’re cooking it on your own and don’t have the assistance of your partner to help mix the risotto and prepare ingredients.
Definitely a favourite in our house though!

I’ve found a version of the recipe on the Jamie Oliver website – looks like there’s some slight differences in wording but otherwise it looks the same!
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/rice-recipes/grilled-mushroom-risotto

Heartwarming Lamb Shanks and Potato Mash

Although our Autumn temperatures are still sitting around a comfortable 19 degrees (celsius) at night, the cooler change is definitely noticeable… Especially as we’ve also been experiencing some wet weather as well.

So we both felt like a hearty and delicious meal tonight… And decided on lamb shanks in a tomato and rosemary base.  Cooked on a low heat for about four hours… And we were left with pure bliss for dinner!

Easy to make and also quite affordable – especially as we are using the leftover sauce tomorrow night to add to our pasta dish.  Stay tuned for that!

 

Moroccan Lamb Cutlets with Bruschetta

This is an easy meal to prepare and cook, plus very delicious!!

We made bruschetta for a small entrée using a bread stick, cherry tomatoes, little onions and mushrooms.  The lamb cutlets were seasoned with Moroccan spices and served with a sweet potato mash, asparagus and the bruschetta topping.  So easy but so tasty!

Triple Tomato Risotto

Poppit – Just a quick one today!  This is my latest risotto which I found on the Taste website.  If you’re ever having trouble finding something new or different for dinner, this website is so useful!  You can search for recipes or look through the many different collections.  I went to the risotto collection and found this one.  I think I could happily eat any risotto but sometimes they can be a bit plain if the wrong ingredients are used.  This one definitely didn’t lack flavour and the different tomatoes used were so delicious! 
I was happy with just the risotto but to make sure my husband didn’t go hungry, I cooked some lamb cutlets to go with his (as the recipe suggests).

Recipe found here: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/6522/triple+tomato+risotto+with+grilled+cutlets

Enjoy!

Fine-Ripened Tomato & Moroccan Lamb Cutlets

Puppet’s Creative Cooking – Monday Night

Entrée

Fine-ripened Tomato with Bocconcini & Baby Basil
and a Balsamic Dressing

 

Main Course

Moroccan Lamb Cutlets with home-made potato wedges, baby spinach
& leek with rosemary and wine.

 

Poppit’s Review:

This was absolutely delicious!  I’m usually very picky about eating meat off bones and will only nibble close to the bone, but this time I was getting all the meat off that I possibly could!  The Moroccan cutlets had such a beautiful flavour and were really complimented by the chosen vegetable sides.
We’re both loving leek at the moment and this was a nice spin on the usual grilled leek that we have had before.

Chilli Con Carne

Poppit’s Creative Cooking – Wednesday Night

Poppit – I was trying to think of something that was different from pasta, chicken or curry… my top three things to cook.
 A mexican theme sprung to mind and I ended up cooking a delicious meal of Chilli Con Carne.
I had the original recipe in the Women’s Weekly “Cook” recipe book but it used chuck steak.  As this didn’t look too appealing to me in the supermarket due to the large amount of fat still left on the meat, I opted for the heart-smart minced meat which I love eating anyway!
I also looked up the net to see what recipes used minced meat and found one by Jamie Oliver.  So, mixing a bit of the ingredients from both and adding a few of my own, I have up with this delicious meal!
Now, in the photos, what appears to be oil around the mince is just an excess of water.  The recipe asked for extra water to be added but I don’t think I would do that next time – at least not so much (and I only used about 1/2 cup, if that!).
I also served with corn fajitas which I rolled and placed on the side of the plate.

Chilli Con Carne

 

Ingredients:

• 2 medium onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 medium carrots
• 2 sticks of celery
• 2 red capsicums (red pepper)
• olive oil
• 1 heaped teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 heaped teaspoon
• ground cumin
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground coriander leaves
• 1 heaped teaspoon curry powder
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
• 1 x 400g tin of red kidney beans
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• 500g good-quality minced beef
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Method:

1.  Peel and finely chop the onions, garlic, carrots, celery and capsicum.
2.  Add oil to large saucepan and cook all vegetables until just soft.
3.  Add the chilli powder, cumin, crushed coriander leaves and cinnamon with a good pinch of salt and pepper.
4.  Stir every 30 seconds for around 7 minutes until softened and lightly coloured.
5.  Add the drained chickpeas, drained kidney beans and the tinned tomatoes.
6.  Add the minced beef, breaking any larger chunks.
7.  You can add a bit of extra water by filling one of the empty tomato tins and pouring into saucepan.
8.  Add the balsamic vinegar and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper. 
9.  Bring to the boil and turn the heat down to a simmer with a lid slightly askew for about an hour, stirring every now and again to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Squid & Herb Encrusted Barramundi

Wednesday Night Creative Cooking with Puppet

After pushing forward his cooking night, Puppet finally cooked a new and different three-course meal.

Entrée
Golden Squid on a bed of Herb Salad

 

 

Main Course
Herb Encrusted Barramundi on Potato Mash with
Steamed Broccolini & Asparagus

 

 

Dessert
Fresh fruit salad

 

Review by Poppit:
The entire three courses were all delicious and full of beautiful, complimentary flavours.  Both the squid and barramundi were very fresh and cooked to perfection.  The vegetables with the barramundi were ideal for the style and flavours and weren’t overpowering at all.  I really enjoyed having fresh fish and squid at home as we don’t often get to!  Both pieces were bought at a local seafood supplier and we should definitely make the effort to cook with fish more often as it’s just so delicious (and also very good for your health!). 
Five stars for Puppet this week!

Quick Beef Curry

It was planned that Monday night would be Puppet’s new recipe night to cook something from one of the many recipe books on the shelf, one that they had never had before.
Poppit arrived home after a big day, looked in the fridge to have a sneak peek at what could be on the surprise menu… but there were no new ingredients in sight!  It seemed that Puppet had put his priorities into one of his hobbies for the afternoon and hadn’t got around to thinking about his exciting, new meal.

Well, as there were already lots of fresh veggies and meat in the fridge, it was decided that Puppet’s night for cooking would be pushed forward another night and they could make-do with the ingredients they had planned to use on other nights.  So, there’s nothing new and exciting on the menu tonight but instead an old-time, simple favourite, Beef Curry. 

As our method for making it is rather random, we don’t actually have a recipe for this one.  The main ingredients are beef, onion, beans, capsicum, potato, curry powder and water.  Extra spices, veggies and herbs can be added depending on how you like it.  We also like it with rice and a hot chilli on the side to nibble on as we go!

(We really need to learn the art of taking photos of our cooking – any tips would be greatly appreciated!)

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Spinach and Feta Cheese

This is such a delicious meal and looks very impressive!  Perfect for when you have some friends or family coming over as it’s very easy to make and they’ll definitely be in awe of your amazing cooking skills!

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Spinach and Feta Cheese

Serves: 2 people – just increase ingredients depending on how many people you’re cooking for.

Ingredients:
– 2 chicken breasts
– 1 bag of baby spinach leaves, chopped finely
– 60-80g feta cheese, crumbled
– salt & pepper (to taste)
– Pinch of nutmeg
– 2 cloves of garlic
– 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
– 2 green onions, finely chopped
– 2 tablespoons butter, melted
– Bottle of basil or spinach pesto paste

Method:
1.  Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees celsius. 
2. Gently combine in a small bowl the spinach leaves, feta, salt & pepper, nutmeg, garlic, breadcrumbs, onions and butter to form loose mixture.
3.  Cut pockets into the middle of the chicken breasts.  Be careful not to cut the whole way through.
4.  Carefully pack the spinich mixture into the chicken breast pockets.
5.  Place chicken breasts on baking tray lined with baking paper.
6.  Sprinkle any remaining spinach mixture over top of chicken breasts.
7.  Cook in oven for 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
8.  Mix 1 tablespoon of water with pesto paste and heat in microwave for approx. 1 minute or until warm.
9.  Serve chicken breasts on bed of mash with other favourite veggies with pesto paste on top.