recipe

A tale of two turkeys

by Cellobella on Wednesday, December 24, 2008 · 5 comments

Christmas is possible after all.

Following my melt-down yesterday, your fabulous support, my gorgeous family helping out, my lovely friend taking me out, and some successful Christmas shopping yesterday, I have recovered.

It was weird.  I haven’t felt like that before.  Completely overwhelmed I was.

But enough about that, you want to hear about the turkeys.

So Groover went food shopping yesterday and being as organised as I am went shopping for turkeys.

You see at one point we were going to get some free-range chickens because I love weber cooked chicken much better than turkey, but then as Christmas grew closer we kind of felt a bit nostalgic for that old Christmas turkey so we changed our minds.

Changing our minds meant we hadn’t ordered a turkey so Groover went out hunting and gathering with the masses.

He found a frozen turkey and bought it.

It takes three days apparently to thaw a frozen turkey.

It was only two days until turkey time… so it was close.

He shopped for the stuffing ingredients and weber trays and heat beads and then found a fresh turkey.

So just in case, he bought it as well.

Great.  Now we have two turkeys, and we don’t even like it!

At least we’ll sleep well.

So your suggestions please for what to do with leftover turkey.  I suspect we might need a few ideas.

:)
Happy Christmas Eve!

The last person to make No Knead Bread

by Cellobella on Friday, July 18, 2008

I am well behind the rest of the world on this one. The NY Times unveiled the No Knead Bread recipe on the 8th November 2006 and I have only today found time to make it.

Well yesterday and today.

No Knead Bread

No Knead Bread

The trick is allowing the dough time to rise – 18 hours – and I imagine you could get away with less time if it wasn’t so freaking cold in my house.

The result – crunchy chewy crust – soft light interior.

Bliss.

I’m only posting this now to distract myself until Groover gets home so he can get a slice…

Of course baking bread also looks good to my daughter’s friend’s mother – see I can cook bread – I am trustworthy – I am the sort of homey type who will look after your daughter with care. Look at me – I am the GOOD mother.
;)

(Oh how easily you are all fooled…)

Rice cooker Organic Beef Dark Ale Casserole

by Cellobella on Monday, April 28, 2008

beefcasseroleLet me share with you Groover’s delicious recipe for beef casserole that he made up himself taking inspiration from several recipes.

It is perfect for a wet wintry day and very rich.

The idea is to get it started in the morning and then go away and leave it. Come back for an evening meal and in the meantime enjoy the beautiful aromas of comfort food.

Rice cooker organic beef and dark ale casserole.

Ingredients:
1 kg of oyster blade beef (or any cheap cut of organic beef)
100g pancetta cut into cm cubes
250 mL of beef stock
1 bottle (330mL) dark ale or stout (eg Guinness)
1 can of crushed tomatoes
500g small brown onions
one bunch of baby carrots
300g mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
handful fresh rosemary, finely chopped
50g plain flour
2 anchovies (the secret ingredient)
2 tablespoons of Worcester Sauce
1 teaspoon Marmite (the other secret ingredient)
handful of flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped
zest of one lemon
splash of sherry
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Put olive oil in pan and fry off the pancetta. Remove pancetta and place in bottom of rice (or slow) cooker. Mix the flour salt and pepper and chopped rosemary and cut the beef into three or four centimetre chunks and coat liberally in the seasoned flour.

Brown the beef in the pan to seal and caramelise the beef quickly – you don’t want to cook it through – feel free to do this in batches. Place beef on top of the pancetta in the rice cooker.

Finally, peel the onions and garlic and quickly pan fry in the remaining oil and throw on top of beef.

The onions are meant to be whole and not cooked, just lightly glazed with the oil. Deglaze the pan with the sherry and pour juice over the ingredients in the rice cooker.

Add the stout and stock, chopped mushrooms, anchovies, tomatoes, marmite and Worcester Sauce and close the rice cooker. Put the cooker on cook and then let it simmer on “warm” for the next 6-7 hours (the rest of the day).

The house will fill with delicious comfort foody smells.

About two hours before serving throw in the washed baby carrots.

Just prior to serving add the chopped parsley and zest of a lemon.

Serve with mashed potato and green salad.

Yummy.

My favourite pasta recipe

by Cellobella on Monday, March 3, 2008

Today I thought I’d share with you my favourite pasta recipe as discovered one day at The Boatshed. My favourite if overpriced grocery store.

My favourite pastaIngredients:

1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 jar of tomato pasta sauce (chopped tomatoes in a can is a cheaper alternative)
1 thick slice of pancetta (bacon would be fine)
Kalamata olives (I get pitted because I’m lazy)
Basil leaves
Pasta of your choice

My favourite pastaMethod:

Start cooking pasta.

In a wok or frypan, fry off the bacon/pancetta and add the onion. Cook at a lowish heat until soft and add garlic.

Cook garlic at a low heat for a minute or two and add tomato puree or sauce.

My favourite pastaStir in basil leaves, roughy torn, and olives.

Stir in pasta and serve with a fresh garden salad.

So easy and so yummy… although I do seem to end up with three servings of olives… lucky me. :)

Yummy Chocolate Chip Recipe

by Cellobella on Sunday, October 14, 2007 · 2 comments

My boss’s husband maks these yummy cookies (she’s American so I can say cookies) and I am always hopeful she’ll share with me.

Here is the recipe – mainly so I don’t lose it. :)

Jon’s CCC Recipe

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

CREAM: 1 cup of butter
adding gradually:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar

BEAT in 2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence

SIFT in 2 cups plus 3 Tablespoons plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

STIR in 1 cup choc chips (I use dark chocolate but you can use milk if you prefer)
1 cup walnuts chopped, OPTIONAL

Drop the batter onto baking paper on baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.

Heavy Metal

by Cellobella on Thursday, July 12, 2007

It’s rare to come across a yummy recipe that is also not only good for you but able to provide some health benefits as well. My mum had this recipe out as a dip last night at dinner and let me tell you – it is delicious! She sent me the recipe…

Heavy metal poisoning is rampant. It is a major cause of hormonal imbalances, can, thyroid problems, neurological disturbances, learning problems, depression, food allergies, parasites, etc. etc. This is a great recipe that is not only easy to make but also really yummy, and it tells you how to remove heavy metals from the body!

Coriander is truly a healing food. One friend suffering from high blood pressure due to mercury poisoning had her blood pressure return to normal after eating two teaspoons of this pesto daily for only a week. So whether you need to detoxify heavy metals from your body or just wish to use it as a preventative measure, 2 teaspoons a day is all you need to take. This pesto has now become a regular in my diet.

CORIANDER CHELATION PESTO

4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup Brazil nuts (selenium, magnesium)
1/3 cup sunflower seeds (cysteine)
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (zinc, magnesium)
2 cups packed fresh Coriander (or Chinese parsley) (Vitamin A)
2/3 cup flaxseed oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice (Vitamin C) – use ripe lemons
2 tsp dulse powder (Asian produce stores – seems to be red coloured seaweed)
Sea salt to taste (or 6-12 Algatene capsules’ contents)

Process the Coriander and flaxseed oil in a blender until the coriander is chopped. Add the garlic, nuts and seeds, dulse and lemon juice and mix until the mixture is finely blended into a paste. Add a pinch to sea salt to taste and blend again. Store in dark glass jars if possible. It freezes well, so purchase Coriander in season and fill enough jars to last through the year.

Coriander has been proven to chelate toxic metals from our bodies in a relatively short period of time. Combined with the benefits of the other ingredients, this recipe is a powerful tissue cleanser.

Two teaspoons of this pesto daily for three weeks is purportedly enough to increase the urinary excretion of mercury, lead and aluminum, thus effectively removing these toxic metals from our bodies. We can consider doing this cleanse for three weeks at least once a year. The pesto is delicious on toast, baked potatoes, and pasta.