Pumpkin & Potato Soup

This little beauty which I found on the internet somewhere is fun to make and full of deep flavour.  It makes a big pot that'll serve up to 8 people.  Great as an entree for a large dinner party.

Ingredients

0.5 pumpkin, deseeded, peeled and chopped
6 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic, crushed and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 sticks celery, trimmed and chopped
1.2L reserved water
1 teaspoon salt

Method

In a saucepan add salt, pumpkin, carrot, celery and potato.  Boil until they're mostly cooked. Reserve 1.2L of the water when the vegies are being strained.

Fry the onion and garlic in a large and deep frying pan until browned. Add the vegies to the pan and fry until browned.

Insert sufficient stock powder to taste in the reserved water and then tip the contents of the frying pan into the liquid stock.

Bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes or till vegies are fully cooked.

Blend and serve with a dollop of yoghurt and cracked pepper.  Sprinkle with parsley (optional).

Banana Bread

I got this recipe from a friend who got it from a friend who got it from some other friend.  Apparently the recipe originator has been making this since she was 4 (obviously with an adult supervising).

Served best straight from the oven, the recipe owner also suggests frying it in butter and serving with lots of custard.  Sounds good to me although straight out of the oven was enough of a treat for me.

I have made different versions of banana bread as a way to use up over-ripe bananas (which happens a lot in the heat and humidity of Singapore) but this banana bread is by far the best recipe I have used.

Ingredients

3 medium to large ripe bananas
110g butter (room temperature as it is easier to cream)
225g caster sugar
2 eggs
285g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
60ml sour cream

Method 

Preheat non-fan forced oven to 180 celsius.

Line with baking paper a 1kg loaf tin.

Mash the bananas.

In a mixer cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy and then add the eggs.  Continue mixing till it's all nicely blended.  Turn mixer off temporarily.

Directly into the mixer bowl sift the flour, bicarb soda and salt.  Turn mixer back on and lightly mix.  Add the vanilla essence and sour cream and continue mixing lightly.  Add the mashed bananas and turn the mixer onto the lightest setting and let it mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

Spoon mixture into loaf tin and bake uncovered for an hour, then cover tin with aluminium foil and bake another 20 minutes.  The bread is fully baked if an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Scrambled Eggs, Smoked Salmon and Feta Cheese on Croissants

I always find breakfast difficult.  Besides cereal with milk, bacon and eggs or baked beans on toast as our staple breakfast dishes there is not much I can whip up easily and quickly in the morning.  I don't have the same luxury of cooking time in the morning as I do for our dinner meals.

However, this recipe is a no brainer.  Scrambled eggs take a few minutes to cook and the rest is even easier.  Pop the croissant in the toaster, pile the ingredients on and indulge your senses first thing in the morning.

The idea came out of a book given to me by a dear friend (who knew my morning dilemma) aptly called Breakfast by Jody Vassallo (a Marie Claire collection).  A terrific collection of recipes filled with great ideas provided that you have time for some of them.  If not, reserve it for the weekend and make a real treat out of it.  Another favorite out of the same book is the Potato Tortilla which comes out beautifully (stay tuned as it is likely to crop up on this blog in the next few days).

Ingredients (Serves 2)

2 large croissants
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 slices of smoked salmon (if the slices are small then just double it)
0.5 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
0.25 red capsicum, finely chopped
6 cubes marinated fetta cheese, crushed with a fork
2 teaspoons finely chopped dill (I don't use it as I can't easily get my hands on it but it is a beautiful herb with delightful aroma and distinct flavour that works very well with salmon and eggs)

Method

Slice the croissants in half horizontally and put aside.

Whisk the eggs with the milk, add salt and pepper to taste, dill if you have it, onion and red capsicum. Pour into a frying pan with a little oil that has been heated on medium.  Push around with a flat-end wooden spoon until mostly set.

Whilst the egg is cooking, toast the croissants.

Fill the croissants with scrambled eggs, smoked salmon slices and topped with the crumbled feta cheese.

Serve with a glass of orange or red grapefruit juice.  I found a little tartness in the juice complements the breakfast well.

Note:  I am not a fan of cooked salmon hence the above serving suggestion, however, if you do like it cooked then slice the salmon and when the eggs are mostly set add to the pan and cook it together gently. 

Bon appetit.

Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Stew

This is a deliciously hearty casserole which in a tropical environment like Singapore with daily heat and humidity needs to be toned down a fraction and eaten with a light green salad instead of rice as suggested in the cooking book.

Another from Women's Weekly Casseroles and Stews collection, this recipe is definitely abundant.  Instead of serving 4 as suggested, it actually serves 6-8 people.  So nice to make in bulk if you want to have some for lunch the next day or for leftover nights when you don't feel like being in the kitchen.

I found the creamy sauce a little thick making the meal far too dense when topped on rice, however, it was rectified the next day with some extra milk to thin it out along with a bit more mustard in order to maintain the flavour.  The next day, instead of rice we had it with fresh spinach leaves topped with fresh mango pieces and drizzled with vinaigrette.  It made a world of difference to the dish and we ate with a lot of gusto.

Ingredients

2 large chicken breast, skinned, deboned and cut into 2cm pieces (or 1 kg thigh fillets)
2 tablespoons plain flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped coarsely
1 clove garlic, crushed, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped coarsely
1 large potato, peeled and chopped coarsely
2 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped coarsely
1 cup white wine (use something you're happy to drink)
1.5 cups chicken stock (if you don't want to use wine then substitute the quantity for extra stock)
1 large zucchini, chopped coarsely (do not peel as it will turn into mush during the cooking process)
1 can green beans (you can use fresh if you prefer)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped coarsely
300ml light/thin cream (don't use thickened cream as it makes the stew too dense)
2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard

Method

Coast the chicken in the plain flour.  In a large saucepan (preferably non-stick), on medium, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and cook the chicken until browned.  Remove from pan.

Heat the remainder 1 tablespoon of oil on medium and add onion, garlic, carrot, potato and celery.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly (if you are not using a non-stick saucepan then make sure you are stirring regularly, otherwise the chicken will stick to the bottom of the pan and start burning).  Add the wine and bring to boil.  Leave pan uncovered and boil until the liquid reduces by half.

Return the chicken, add the stock and bring back to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer covered for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

Add zucchini, beans, tomato, cream and mustard.  Simmer uncovered for another 10-15 minutes.

If the sauce has thickened too much add some milk to dilute until the consistency is more fluid.  Retest the flavour and add more mustard if necessary.

For a hearty approach to your meal serve it with rice or small pasta shells.  If you want it lighter serve it with a green salad on the side.

Bon appetit.

Polish Sausage Stew

After a 6 month hiatus from the kitchen, I began 2013 with an awesomely nice stew extracted from a little Women's Weekly book called Casseroles and Curries that I've had for a few years but hardly ever used.

Wanting to use what was readily available either in my freezer or the condos mini-mart the stew recipe was about all I could make.  The original is a combination of chorizo sausages and pork belly.   I am not keen on chunks of fatty pork belly even though I love crispy bacon and I didn't have chorizos but the Polish sausages in my freezer would have to do.

The other benefit of only using sausages is that cooking and preparation time is reduced by half which kind of suits my rather impatient nature.

Buy yourself a nice bottle of red which you don't mind sacrificing half a cup as an ingredient and drink the rest with your meal.

Bon appetit.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

6 Polish or Chorizo sausages, sliced in 1cm pieces
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 teaspoon paprika
1 red capsicum, chopped coarsely
2 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
125ml red wine (mine was a lovely merlot to indulge in as well as cook with)
125ml water
400g can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
0.5 cup finely chopped basil (if you have it, if not skip it)

Method

Fry the sausages in a large pan (that has a lid) until browned.  Remove from pan.

Add the onion and garlic with a little bit of oil to the pan and cook until onion is soft.

Return sausages to pan and add the paprika, capsicum, undrained tomatoes, basil, wine and water.  Bring to boil, cover and simmer for half an hour.

Add beans and simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes.

Serve atop mashed potatoes or with crusty bread.

Why Kitchen Experiments

My collection of recipes consists of about 30 books, hundreds of digital copies and just as many magazine cutouts.  How many are tested?  Yep, maybe about 10%.  And let's not forget the internet with its myriad of variations for the same dish.

Now I definitely don't consider myself a great cook.  I'm okay and every so often I surprise myself with a newly tested recipe that actually turns out great.  Although terrific at following instructions there are times when I just don't know if it's me or if it's really the recipe.  I'm hoping it's the recipe.

Up until my mid-30s, I wouldn't have a bar of the kitchen.  Most of my friends wondered why I built a house with a kitchen.  I could have save thousands of dollars by just not having one.  Of course, I was a prolific user of my kettle to support my coffee addiction and loved my microwave oven.  That was the extent of my kitchen usage.

Then one day around 35ish, I got bored of waiting for my gorgeous hubby to finish his studies so I can hang with him and decided to hover around the kitchen in my new house.  Nope not much bigger than my last one (somewhat surprising since the house was twice as big) but it had what it needed, even if the equipment were old.  I have no idea what I cooked that day but I was satisfied with the experiment and the outcome.  Satisfied enough to bring me back and curious enough to want to try something else.

Off I went experimenting with simple dishes, following instructions exactly, never veering off from a recipe.  This way I knew if the cooked meal was a failure it had nothing to do with me being creative.

Now seven years on, I have been in the kitchen on and off with the last two years out more often than in.  Cooking for me is like a hobby.  I do it when I feel like it and then I usually go digging for a new recipe, with fingers crossed hoping it'll work out just fine.  More often than not the dish turns out as expected but on the odd occasion I have the disappointing outcome where the food looks great but it lacks flavour or just doesn't quite measure up.  Some dishes came out very well and find themselves on a revolving door, like the:

• chocolate brownies made from scratch or the blonde version made of loads of brown sugar that go straight to your hips;
• spicy pumpkin soup;
• cous cous salad;
• eye fillet steak with homemade fries, caramelised onions and steamed vegies (hubby is the chef on this one but it is so good, I won't go anywhere else for steak);
• bread and butter pudding with homemade plum reserve;
• pesto pasta that is so super quick I'm basically just waiting for the pasta to cook.

Probably the funniest experiment was trying to make cookies for the first time.  I grabbed my special cookie book that I've had for years but never used and off I went with the basic cookie.  The dough was mixed and fridged as instructed.  It was rolled out as instructed but do you think I could cut the dough out and lift it off the bench to put it on the tray to bake.  It was a fudgy mess and figured if the dough is non-compliant then I will roll it out and put the whole darn thing on a tray and see what happens.

Imagine a biscuit tray with one big piece of rolled out dough on it.  I had this massive cookie that measured 20 x 25cm and baked it for the required 20 minutes.  After taste testing a small section, I was surprised to find out it was darn good and it baked all the way through.  Hubby liked it, the child liked it and I liked it.  So I broke it into pieces and stored it in a container.  It lasted all of 2 days. 

My favorite pastime in the kitchen is making soup.  Love the stuff.  It's the European in me raised on soup as an entree every day.  The spicy pumpkin soup, ribolitta an old Tuscan soup, lentil and vegies, german potato soup and many more that I will post along the way.

This blog is about me having fun in the kitchen experimenting, chronicling the good recipes and the disasters (hopefully not too many of them).  Occasionally I may impart some information on an ingredient's health benefit or even describe those perplexing moments when I attempt to decipher a recipe that is not in English (you should see my grandmother's recipes in old measurements and in Hungarian which I certainly do not speak - may need to draw on my sister for translation) or is not in Australian English because the US or UK English differs in measurements and at times in ingredient description ie, cilantro for coriander, aubergine for eggplant, courgette for zucchini, strong flour for bread flour.

Anyway the journey should be fun, especially since I reside in Singapore and western ingredients are a little harder to find.  I had to fly back to Australia at Christmas just to have a good ole' fashioned lamb roast with 3 vege.  Meat is expensive here as it is all imported, but then so are many of the veggies (I paid $1.70 for 3 carrots, in Oz I'd be paying $1 for 8 carrots).

Join me on my quest for better cooking.  Try the recipes out and tell me what you think.  Certainly make suggestions for improvements, better yet give me a recipe to test.  

Stay tuned as I reproduce some of the recipes from Silv's Journal blog and add the newbies as I go along.

My little helper.