My new ceramic grater

I’ve seen these ceramic graters being sold at every market and festival in Germany for the past year, and yesterday I finally got one.

Red squarish ceramic dish with raised grooves on the bottom, with a clove of garlic

It mushified a clove of garlic nicely, though getting it out again took some finessing. Rodd worked it out – you have to hold the grater on an angle and use the bristles of the brush to push down the plane of it.

I used it in my homemade ranch salad dressing alongside the Snook’s spicy baked chicken strips. (He used toban djan instead of the curry.) It was delicious!

Brussels Sprouts

I never ate Brussels Sprouts growing up; they were just never a thing that my Mom cooked. It may well be that the first time I ever had them was ten years ago at Porteño in Sydney. (They were were charred and tossed with bacon and they were the most delicious thing I’d ever had.) But apparently Brussels sprouts really were a lot more bitter 20+ years ago, before scientists figured out how to get high yields from less bitter heritage varieties. Huh. So if you think you don’t like them, you should give them another try.

A couple recipes I particularly like:

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #37: Broccoli Orecchiette

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #37: Broccoli Orecchiette
This was our 37th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. I’m still catching up on the backlog! For this one, we made “Broccoli Orecchiette, Courgette & Bocconcini Salad, Prosciutto & Melon Salad.” We picked it because we knew we were getting rockmelon (cantaloupe) in our weekly veggie box, and we had some zucchini to use up as well. I was on chef’s duty for this one, and I managed it in an easy 26:14!

Broccoli Pasta

Substitutions: The only change – and it’s an obvious one – is that we used fusilli instead of orecchiette, simply because that’s what we could find! Everything else was as written in the recipe.

Quick verdict: This was great! A tasty and easy pasta dish along with two flavoursome salads. I think the anchovies and chilli were the key to the pasta and kept it from being boring. I was actually dreading the prosciutto and melon, mostly because I’m not a huge fan of cantaloupe. Ours was perfectly ripe though, and it went SO WELL with the prosciutto. I loved it. The courgette salad was good, if a bit messy! We both rated this one 9.5 out of 10. It’s a nice summery Italian feast that you could whip up for a group pretty easily.

Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The kettle was filled up and heated. We had a big pot for the cooking the pasta and a frying pan for the pasta sauce. The food processor was ready with both the grater and the blade, and we also needed a mortar & pestle.

First up are the ingredients for the pasta: parmesan cheese, broccoli, “sprouting broccoli” (broccolini), anchovies, capers, dried chilli, garlic, thyme, and dried fusilli.

Pasta ingredients

For the courgette salad, we had mint, red chilli, lemon, courgettes (zucchini), and a tub of bocconcini.

Courgette Salad ingredients

For the other salad, we had: basil, lemon, prosciutto, cantaloupe, and balsamic vinegar.

Prosciutto and melon ingredients

Pots and pans, ready to go! Big pot for pasta, fry pan for pasta sauce.

Pots and pans

Food processor with grater and blade, and mortar & pestle.

Food processor

And I’m off! I started by trimming the rind off the parmesan cheese.

Trimming the cheese

Then I fed that into the food processor to grate it up.

Grating cheese

I set the cheese aside for later and switched in the blade attachment in the food processor.

Cheese

Next I trimmed off all the florets from the broccoli.

Florets

I also trimmed the ends from the broccolini and cut the spears in half.

Trimming broccolini

I added the chopped up broccoli stalk to the food processor along with some anchovies and their oil.

Anchovies

I also added capers, dried chilli, and three cloves of garlic.

More stuff

Then I whizzed it all up into a paste.

Sauce paste

I put the broccoli paste into the hot frying pan with some olive oil.

Cooking the paste

Next I picked in some thyme leaves…

Thyme leaves

…and added some water, along with the parmesan rind.

Adding water and rind

Time to get the pasta going! I filled the big pot from the kettle and added the fusilli.

Pasta

While those were cooking, it was time to prep the salads. I picked some mint leaves and de-seeded a red chilli.

Mint and chilli

I grated on some lemon zest…

Lemon zest

…then chopped it all together.

Chopping

I put this on a serving plate with some extra virgin olive oil and then squeezed over some lemon juice.

Dressing

I next used a speed peeler to turn the zucchini into thin ribbons.

Peeling zucchini

Time to add the broccoli and broccolini to the cooking pasta!

Adding broccoli to pasta

I piled the zucchini ribbons on to the dressing and took it to the table with the bocconcini.

Finished zucchini salad

Next I picked a handful of basil leaves and bashed them up with some salt in the mortar & pestle.

Bashing basil

I also added some extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice to loosen it up a bit. It was the most brilliant green.

Making a sauce

The pasta and broccoli was cooked, so I drained it in the sink (reserving part of the cooking liquid).

Draining pasta

The sauce was finished, so I removed the parmesan rind.

Sauce

Then I added the pasta to the sauce along with some cooking liquid and tossed a couple handfuls of grated parmesan on top.

Combining everything

To prep the cantaloupe, I cut it in half and removed the seeds.

Cantaloupe

Then I used a spoon to remove large chunks of melon flesh to the serving plate.

Chunks of melon

I then draped over the slices of prosciutto.

Prosciutto

To finish the salad, I drizzled over some balsamic, extra virgin olive oil, and cantaloupe juice. (The basil sauce was added just before serving.)

Melon salad

Here’s the finished broccoli pasta with extra parmesan on top.

Finished pasta

Here’s the finished zucchini salad, all tossed together and with the bocconcini added.

Zucchini salad

And here’s the finished melon salad, complete with basil sauce.

Prosciutto and melon salad

Lastly, the complete meal!

Finished meal

Tasting notes: The Snook also liked the anchovy in the broccoli pasta. He is anti-broccolini though, just because he thinks it’s expensive and doesn’t taste any different from normal broccoli. But he enjoyed the dish nevertheless. We both enjoyed the zucchini salad, but you may want to add some salt as the mozzarella balls can be a little bland. And the prosciutto and melon! It was a revelation. We were fighting over the last pieces. I think the key factors there were having a ripe cantaloupe and some excellent (slightly funky, in a good way) prosciutto. Having only three dishes means this meal is a fast one to cook, and I easily finished in under thirty minutes. We both rated it 9.5 out of 10. Highly recommended!

Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals!

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #36: British Picnic

Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #36: British Picnic
This was our 36th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals, and I’ve now got a backlog of THREE meals, so get ready for a flood of posts! The weather has finally gotten appropriately “summery” here in Sydney, so we chose to make the “British Picnic” for this one: Sausage Rolls, Mackerel Pate, Lovely Asparagus, Crunch Salad, and Pimm’s Eton Mess. That’s a lot of different dishes! We watched the TV episode to prepare. The Snook was on chef’s duty, and he managed it in a respectable 38:54.

British Picnic

Substitutions: We couldn’t find real Lancashire cheese, so we used cheddar instead. We also couldn’t find prewashed watercress (and couldn’t be arsed picking it off ourselves), so we used rocket for that. We had a plain orange instead of a blood orange in the dessert, as well as little meringues instead of big ones. Other than that, everything was as written in the recipe.

Quick verdict: How lovely! We might have been sitting in the stands at Wimbledon, I tell you. The sausage rolls were excellent, and for once Jamie’s use of fennel seeds was appropriate. The cheese went a bit ick on the asparagus, but it was still tasty. I had been worried about the mackerel pate, but it was very nice! Strongly fishy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The pickled onions and pear worked surprisingly well together in the salad. And you can’t really go wrong with Eton mess, can you? We washed it all down with a big glass of Pimm’s Cup. Summertime bliss in only 38:54…

Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The grill pan was put on high heat and the oven turned on to 205C. The food processor was fitted with the standard chopping blade.

First up are the ingredients for the sausage rolls: flour, puff pastry, egg, chipolatas, fennel seeds, Parmesan cheese, and sesame seeds.

Sausage roll ingredients

For the asparagus, we had asparagus, lemon, and cheddar cheese. For the pate, we had creamed horseradish, smoked mackerel, cream cheese, parsley, and lemons. (We don’t like radishes so we didn’t bother with those.)

Asparagus and pate ingredients

We also had a loaf of sourdough to have with the pate. For the crunch salad, we had rocket, pickled onions, pear, and lemon.

Bread and salad ingredients

Lastly, for the dessert we needed: strawberries, sugar, orange, vanilla paste, Pimm’s, yoghurt, meringue nests, and mint.

Dessert ingredients

Pots and pans, ready to go! The grill pan is for the asparagus, and the baking sheet is for the sausages.

Pots and pans

We also needed the food processor for this one.

Food processor

And he’s off! The Snook started by preparing the puff pastry. He cut a single sheet in half.

Puff pastry

He then laid sausages down on each piece along the edge.

Placing sausages

Next he bashed up some fennel seeds in the mortar and pestle…

Bashing fennel

…before sprinkling it over the sausages.

Sprinkling fennel

He also grated some Parmesan over the sausage. Then he painted the opposite edges with egg wash.

Egg wash

Then he carefully rolled up each sausage roll…

Rolling it up

…and crimped the edge with a fork to seal it.

Crimping

He brushed them with more egg wash and sprinkled on sesame seeds.

Sesame seeds

Finally, he cut each roll into several pieces…

Cutting the rolls

…before popping them in the oven on a floured baking sheet.

Into the oven!

He also put some of our sourdough into the oven to warm.

Bread

Now for the asparagus. He prepped them by snapping off the woody ends.

Prepping asparagus

Then they went into the hot grill pan to cook.

Grilling asparagus

Mmm, smoked mackerel! We were surprised we were able to find it, actually. (We got it at Harris Farm Markets at Broadway.)

Smoked mackerel

The mackerel went into the food processor along with creamed horseradish and creamed cheese.

Into the food processor

Then he added a bunch of parsley along with salt and pepper.

Parsley and seasoning

Finally, he grated in some lemon zest and added some juice as well.

Lemons

Whizz!

Whizzing it up

And here’s what the finished pate looked like.

Finished pate

The asparagus were charring nicely, so he flipped them over.

Asparagus

Now for the crunch salad. He started by slicing up the pickled onions.

Slicing pickled onions

Then he sprinkled them on the bed of rocket.

Adding to rocket

Next he sliced up the pear…

Slicing pear

…and then cut each slice into matchsticks. These went onto the salad along with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Matchsticks and seasoning

To finish the asparagus, he drizzled over some extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.

Finishing asparagus

He put the hot asparagus on a plate and shaved over some Cheddar cheese to melt.

Adding cheese

Time for dessert! He started by squashing the strawberries with a fork.

Squashing

You might want to wear an apron for the squashing. The Snook, alas, did not.

Strawberry juice

He added sugar, Pimm’s, and orange zest to the strawberries…

Orange zest

…and then started adding broken-up meringues.

Broken meringue

He also added yoghurt and vanilla paste and swirled everything together.

Swirled mess

He finished the Eton mess with some sprigs of mint.

Eton mess

Here’s the finished British Picnic (outdoors!): sausage rolls (with English mustard), crunch salad, bread and mackerel pate, and lovely asparagus. Oh, and Pimm’s cup.

Finished picnic

And the finished Eton mess, which we just slurped out of the same bowl together.

Finished Eton mess

Dubious Kris trying the mackerel pate. It was pretty good!

Trying mackerel pate

Happy Snook chowing down on sausage rolls.

Snook

Tasting notes: The Snook thought the sausage rolls and asparagus were very good. He thought he probably overdid the parsley in the mackerel pate, but we both still enjoyed it. (The recipe makes a LOT, so be prepared for leftovers!) The crunch salad worked well, and the rocket seemed a fine substitute for the watercress. Everybody loves Eton mess. We both rated this one very high: a 9.5 out of 10! Highly recommended for your next outing to Wimbledon, or the next time you feel like being posh in the backyard.

Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals!