Sweet Corn Pancakes (by G)

The other day I remembered that Bigg'ss' favourite meal as a wiener kid was sweet corn pancakes - amusingly it was also our Dad's least favourite dinner.

I'm surprised Biggs hasn't busted this one out before given that it's 99.999% vegetarian (some bugs got into the flour and I couldn't get them all out of the pancake batter). The probable reason is because Sweet Corn Pancakes, while not unpleasant, are not really pleasant... bland is probably the word for them.

For the record it is a flour, egg, milk pancake with tinned sweet corn filling, seasoned with pepper and topped with cheese.

Zucchini Slice (by Biggs)

I had a moment of genius this week when I thought zucchini slice might be a good vegetarian option. Problem #1 was that I hated zucchini slice as a kid so wasn't really looking forward to eating it but I hated mushrooms when I was little too and was wrong about that. Problem #2 was that zucchini slice, of course, has bacon in it but decided to replace it with sun-dried tomatoes.

The slice has zucchini (surprising), carrot, sun-dried tomatoes, onion, flour, dried basil, eggs and about a bucket of cheese. It was tasty. I served it with a simple Greek salad because it's not vegetarian night without at least two types of cheese involved.

G said that zucchini is the turkey of the vegetable world. I don't know what that means but he's probably right.

Chicken Pasta (by G)

I was so fond of the tortilla sauce from last night that I thought I'd try something similar with chicken and pasta. A mix of tomato, a whole bunch of coriander, two large de-seeded green chilies, garlic - blitzed and cooked off with the chicken and served over thin fettuccine.

I'm not sure what the flavour was like because I smothered mine in Sriracha - I tend to do that with everything I eat now so I'm not sure which meals taste good and which do not.  Sriracha is possibly the one magical ingredient that could even make tofu taste good.

Pork Carnitas (by G)

Yet another variation on the tortilla - this week carnitas.

Basically it is cubed pork slow cooked for 8 hours in a liquid of paprika, cumin, onion, tomato paste... some other things I don't quite recall because I pre-cooked it on the weekend.   Today I fried it off to get some colour and crispiness.  Despite all the preparation (not 'love', I can not stress enough that this meal was not made with love) the pork was a bit bland.

Luckily the sauce was super flavorful - green chilli, coriander, garlic, tomato, oil and lime juice blitzed together with diced red onion and extra coriander added afterward for texture.

Fry Up (by G)

I went to the doctor today and somehow, even though it was unrelated, he tricked me into getting a cholesterol test. It's probably a couple of days before the results come back so I decided to get as much cholesterol into the old arteries as quickly as possible before the horrifying truth is revealed.

I suspected the photo would not be stunning but it does show off the protein and fat. A mix of bacon, steak, pork chipolatas, mini lamb chops, fried egg and some fried tomato for colour.  Left over chipolatas are a stroke-inducing bonus.

Savoury Green Bean Pork (by G)

This is a variation on one of our favorite recipes.  Pork mince with green beans.

Tonight the mince was fried off with onions, garlic, green beans, soy sauce, oyster sauce, desiccated onion powder (not a new gourmet ingredient - just regular onion powder whose anti-caking agent has given up). It was served on cos lettuce leaves with a touch of sesame oil on top.

The green beans were added a bit too early so were not as crunch as I usually like but I think the flavour was good.

Vietnamese, Mexican and Italian (by Biggs)

My friends Amanda and Mike are awesome. About a month ago I made Amanda dinner for her Birthday and tonight she reciprocated in spectacular fashion. Allegedly I recently said my favourite cuisines are Vietnamese, Mexican and Italian. It seems odd that I wouldn't mention Japanese but limiting it to three is hard.

Some people say be careful what you wish for. Those people are wrong.

Course 1: Vietnamese Rice Paper Wraps. Can you beat a good rice paper wrap? No you can not. These were great. The highlight was fresh mint from the garden and a mysterious sauce that came in a bottle labelled "rice paper wrap dipping sauce". Seems legit. Drink pairing: Beerlao....close enough.

Course 2: Mexican Tacos. Can you beat a good taco? No you can not. These were a Jamie Oliver special with pork and beans and an awesome salad with hits of chilli so bold it'll put hairs on your chest then rip them right back off again. Drink pairing: a huge jug of sangria....close enough....let's just be thankful it wasn't tequila.

Course 3: Italian Spaghetti. Can you beat a good pasta dish? No you can not. This was my favourite in a lot of ways. It was so simple but so delicious and featured the magic flavour combo of bacon, olives and garlic. The only downside to this dish is that it was the only one not served on my brand new Birthday Lazy Susan (named Suse). Drink pairing: Australian red wine....close enough. The wine wasn't as frothy as it looks in this photo.

And, the prize goes to the person who can name the animal that featured in all three meals. Winner!

Lamb Pie and Pea Puree (By G)

There's nothing better for taking care of leftovers than a pie maker.

These pies are filled with the leftover shepherd's pie mix (once I'd corrected the over fattiness problem). I thought peas would be good with the lamb mince so I blitzed a mix of packet peas, chicken stock, salt, white pepper and sour cream.

Lamb mince pies and pea puree are a winning combination suitable for children aged 8 to 80.

Beef Stroganoff (by G)

Today was cold and blustery so I thought stroganoff would hit the spot - also someone somewhere requested stroganoff.

This was a pretty good meal, probably could have used a bit more flavour, more garlic? more tomato?  Bacon would definitely be a welcome addition.  The pasta was cool, frizzy fettuccine - I would recommend it.

Cauliflower and Potato Curry (by Biggs)

Today I made a cauliflower and potato curry. Sort of like a fake Gobi Aloo with cumin (seeds and powdered), garlic, ginger, paprika, garam masala, turmeric and coriander  I served it with raita because it seemed really dry. There are so many recipes for raita on the internet I have no idea what's genuine and what's not but this one has ginger, mustard seeds, cumin and cucumber, topped with paprika. I based it on what we had available in the pantry.

I've finally admitted to myself that I'm shit at cooking rice. I've been taught a billion times, read heaps about it and understand it's a very easy process but I'm so bad at it I was thrilled to discover packet rice today. 90 seconds in the microwave and you're sorted. I cheated even more with the pappadums which came pre-done in a bag.

The curry and raita I did make....it turned out pretty flavourless.

Pho (by Biggs)

My friend Fi is heading to Japan for a couple of weeks so we decided to celebrate by going out for Vietnamese. I did give her the option of Chicken Omelette Rice at our favourite Himawari but I guess given she can do it properly next week in Japan we went with Quan Than instead.

We had a great entree of dim sims and rice paper wraps followed by a not so great pho. It was advertised as spicy pork and beef pho but wasn't so spicy or very porky. I was almost desperate for pho because it's rainy and freezing cold and I've been left still desperate for pho. The most disappointing part was that the usual rice noodles found in pho had been inexplicably replaced with, what seemed to be, spaghetti.

Sigh. I wonder if there's any Shepard's pie left over.

Shepard's Pie (by G)

I was very pleased this morning when I decided to make Shepard's pie for dinner - the result was not as expected though - it turned out looking like some kind of cancerous growth.

Unfortunately the lamb mince released a lot of orange lanolin scented fat when the pie was cooking - a lot of fat. I tried to wick it away with paper towel without much success.

With the Shepard's Pie is braised brussel sprouts with bacon.

Fish Tortillas (by G)

I've been meaning to make fish tacos for a long time but only got round to it now.

The recipe is a mix of regular tortillas, Bobby Flay's fish and sides and Jamie Oliver's red sauce.  The fish is marinated in oil, lime juice, coriander, chili and cayenne pepper for half an hour then fried off.

The red sauce is tomatoes, onion, garlic, apple cider vinegar, dried chillies, cloves and cinnamon simmered down. I'm not much of a fan of cinnamon but this sauce turned out pretty well.

Fish tacos good.

Beef Noodles (By G)

This is a mix of left overs from my faux Pho the other night. Rice noodles with beef (fried off with garlic and ginger), bean sprouts, coriander  mint, chives, Thai basil and a freestyle sauce of fish sauce, mirin, soy sauce, sugar and lemon juice.

I smothered mine in sriracha before tasting it so I'm not sure what this combination actually tastes like - awesome I bet.

Sadly I didn't save any of the herbs aside for presentation.

Bacon and Eggs (by G)

It is Biggss's birthday today and she requested bacon and eggs.  Rather than just making bacon and eggs as requested I decided to do the other thing... which is always something I regret when I'm mid-way through.  At least I didn't go for a dozen courses this year.

As shown below we had boiled hens egg topped with bacon, onion and gruyere. Tempura egg yolk on a nest of bacon. Also teriyaki bacon and quail egg skewers.

The gruyere was probably not the correct choice - it thickened up very soon after coming off the heat. My tempura was too thin and didn't stick to the yolk well, then I over cooked it.

Those things aside I am pretty happy with how things turned out. Quail eggs are naturally awesome and bacon is always good.  I'd like to get the tempura egg yolk correct at some point in the future.

Jazz Treats (by Biggs)

I was out and about for dinner with some friends at the Brisbane Jazz Club this evening which was plenty of fun. But, after a winning combination of beer, scotch, beer, scotch, beer, scotch, red wine, I must admit dinner wasn't all that memorable. But, from the looks of this photo we had halloumi, meat balls, chicken skewers and some spicy sausage of very wide girth. It seems like they were some tasty treats. I like tasty bits and pieces of tapas style eats so this is a dinner I'd definitely like to have again. It should also be noted that my friend Lizzie makes some spectacular pancakes.....unfortunately not pictured.

Faux Pho (by G)

I wanted to see how this 'simple' Pho recipe would turn out - for research purposes you understand.  Packet beef broth simmered with ginger, garlic, star anise, black cardamom and sugar.  Mixed with rice noodles, mint, thai basil, coriander, beef fillet and mung beans.

It was okay, good layers of flavour but lacking in a lot of things that make Pho good...

PeaS: Even if you're confident you know how to pronounce Pho you're probably wrong - check out the correct pronunciation here.

Pizza (by G)

It's been an age since we last had pizza - it used to be a Monday night tradition (Pizza Monday).

The pizzas didn't quite turn out as I'd hoped - the dough was a bit too wet and stayed a bit doughy when cooked. The topping on the ham, roasted vegetables and boccanchini pizza was also a little soggy and lacking in flavour. I liked the pepperoni, olive and red onion pizza - pepperoni and olives - not lacking in flavour.

I made cheesy garlic bread as a side - it was okay, not as garlicky as I'd expected... but it's Friday so things could be worse.

Potato Gnocchi (by Biggs)

This week the budget is TIGHT so I wasn't sure what I was going to cook for dinner on the cheap. Then I remembered that Curtis chap is always going on about feeding your family of four for $10. It made me think that, theoretically, I could feed my family of two for $5, right? WRONG!

Regardless, based on one of Mr Stone's recipes, tonight I cooked homemade potato gnocchi with zucchini, tomato, parsley and lemon. I know you're not meant to mess with a chef's recipe but I also added some olives and capers for flavour. G does have a fancy gnocchi board but I chose lazily to just use the 'roll and cut' method. Rustic yes? I was also short one egg yolk for the dough because I stupidly thought the fact we had 3 egg cartons in the kitchen may indicate we had plenty of eggs. Wrong again.

I was expecting my gnocchi to be dense and awful but, it was pretty good. A little bit floury and raw potatoey but I expected much worse so am pretty pleased.

Chicken Rice (by G)

Don't get excited - it's not an awesome version of Singaporean chicken rice. This is a traditional family recipe of chicken and vegetables stewed in canned cream of chicken soup and served over rice.

I'm getting super lazy with my dinner prep because today I used leftover barbecued chicken from yesterday, frozen vegetables and canned soup... I cooked the rice from scratch though.

The flavor was blander than usual - I put this down to buying the fancy country style chicken soup instead of the usual stuff  made from the sad cadged (and super flavourful) chickens.  A last minute dash of soy sauce saltied it up nicely.

Mini Chimichangas (by G)

For Tortilla Tuesday today I felt like faux Mexican food so I bring you Chimichangas. Chimichanga is spanish for 'thingamajig' - when the inventor dropped a tortilla in the deep fryer in error she started saying 'Oh Fuck' (Chingada) but cleverly covered the profanity by saying 'Chimichanga' (this is one version of the story according to Wiki and should be treated with much suspicion).

These are filled with barbecued chicken, chopped tomato and spring onions - wrapped in a tortilla and oven baked. Traditionally (if you can call bastardising Mexican food a tradition) the chimichanga is fried, but I though the oil might soak into them.  In the photo below I've doused my chimichangas in sriracha (not tomato sauce) and served with avocado, spring onion, coriander and lime guacamole.

French Dipped Sandwich with Poutine (by G)

This was a request from the North. From what I've seen on 'Man vs Food' a regular dipped sandwich is dipped at the start and served but I have a dread of soggy bread so I was pleased to find that you can dip your own table side.

It's pretty basic - perfect for a Monday.  Buttered baguette filled with left over roast beef with a dipping broth of roasting juices and some packet beef consume.

I wasn't sure what would go well with a dipped sandwich - Biggs commented that we've hit a rich vein of chips lately so I continued the trend with poutine, traditionally the chips are topped with cheese curds but I substituted with bocconcini.

Dog Food (by Biggs and G)

For reasons I'm not going to divulge here we found ourselves sitting down to dinner at the Albion Greyhound Track tonight. We went in expecting hot dogs and chips or perhaps a pie but the menu offered good cheap RSL type meals and even featured a Sunday Roast. I went with chicken schnitzel and chips because the roast veges looked pretty soggy. The chicken was spectacularly moist given it looked like it had been sitting in the hot box since Tuesday. If there had been more gravy and less chips this would have been the perfect meal. It was exactly what I was craving this evening. Fortunately G was able to help me out with the chips. I'll hand over him now to explain what that pile of brown is in the distance...

I was torn between the chicken breast in homemade tomato sauce and the bacon wrapped pork loin... inevitably the pork loin won out even though the bacon wrapper was scant and a bit manky looking.  It came with sad frozen vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, beans, carrot and - surprisingly - baby corn).  The roasted vegetables were good, pumpkin cooked correctly and potato seasoned with curry powder, which is not something I've come across before.  Pork was the star though, not dry and impregnated with a bacony flavour.  Again they were a bit stingy with the gravy but it was a pretty good meal.

Roast Beef with a Bone Marrow Entree (by G)

I've been hearing about bone marrow for a long time but have never tried it (or even been to a restaurant where it's served).  When I saw it in the supermarket today I thought it would be a good time to try it - especially as it's less than $5 a kilo.  I over cooked it so it got liquidy and I personally found it a bit confronting because it smelled just like a cow before it has been made delicious with heat and salt.

For main was roasted beef with roasted potatoes, roasted sweet potato and snow peas.  It wasn't the best roast I've ever done - the potatoes were not crispy even though I did the super secret scoring trick.  On occasions like this, when I've done everything right and the potatoes still don't get crispy, I (correctly) blame the potatoes.

Bacon and Egg Pie with Fries (by G)

Today was a bit chilly so I was feeling like comfort food - the pain from the resulting stroke will likely be less comforting.

The pie is a puff pastry shell filled with sweated onions, chunks of bacon, garlic, eggs, cream and cheese.

The fries come from a packet that alleges they are beer battered - due to the vagaries of our oven they are crispy on one side and under-cooked on the other which, due to the number of times I've had them this way, is just how I like them.

Pasta Bake (by Biggs)

I'm calling this a pasta bake as opposed to ‘mac and cheese’ because a) the supermarket had sold out of macaroni so I had to use spirals, and b) it’s vegetarian night so it doesn't have bacon in it....a 'mac and cheese' staple. It does have a huge amount of salt, pepper, garlic, onion, parsley and cheese in it but for some reason it tasted like nothing….absolutely nothing…which was awfully disappointing.

The other day I noticed our unit complex gardens have nastirsum plants in them so I thought I’d include some in the bean and tomato salad. As I was adding the leaves and flowers I had a nervous moment when I thought maybe it isn't actually nastirsum. I’m still not sure if it is so if there’s no dinner post tomorrow you’ll know I've poisoned us. It was bound to happen eventually. 

Pappardelle with Tasty Things (by Biggs)

My very generous friend Bonnie took me out for dinner tonight and we decided to go to the ever popular Spaghetti House Trattoria in West End. The reservation website was very specific that it was a "romantic/first date" restaurant so we thought it was best to start the night with a GIANT Sapporo around the corner at Cobbler Bar.

I must admit after a GIANT Sapporo and a delicious glass of wine I forgot about taking a photo for Tortilla Tuesday until half way through my meal so please note....the photo does not do this dinner justice. We started the night with mozzarella and pesto on sourdough and some olives and I then moved on to an order of pappardelle with tasty things including porcini and pancetta. It was great but I did get some serious order envy when Bonnie's veal saltimbocca with gnocchi was delivered to the table. My computer spell check just tried to change the word 'saltimbocca' to 'bombastically' so I guess it's tried the food at Spaghetti House before.

Bombastic!

Sausages with Potato Gratin and Pea Puree (by G)

I always say - when life sends you sausages, potatoes and peas make sausages with potato gratin and pea puree.

The potatoes were simmered in bonito broth, cream, tumeric- cheese was added and the whole lot was cooked off in the oven. 

Sadly the pea puree looks a bit like a miniture cow with diahorrea took a dump on my plate - the taste was okay though - frozen peas heated in bonito broth and cream then blended.

There is no secret behind using bonito broth - it was the only stock available.

Mini Chicken Quesadillas (by G)

After dedicating a lifetime to perfecting soft, pliable tortillas (well... one evening a week for a few months) I was not expecting it to be so difficult to crisp them up in quesadilla form.

The filling is chicken seasoned with salt, pepper and oregano along with cheese and Fi's home made tomato chutney - I thought we had a tin of tomatoes at home but proved to be wrong. Probably a good thing because it added a lot of flavour.

The guacamole was a bit heavy on fixings but at $4 an avocado it was inevitable.

Cowboys Breakfast - for dinner (by G)

I don't know if it is a real thing but Biggs and I occasionally have what we call a cowboys breakfast of baked beans, tinned potatoes and sausages.  This is a dinner version - inspired by laziness.

The beans are left over from the porky stew the other day, as are the chipolatas, the potatoes were cooked in butter then fried off with some salt, pepper and thyme... the healthy streak (if you can call one night a streak) is officially over...

Salmon and Salad (by G)

I thought (for once) I should make a meal that will contribute to our healthfulness rather than the opposite.

The salad comprises shallots, tomatos, carrot, cucumber, asparagus and snowpea shoots overdressed with Sheldon's salad dressing from the other night.

Based on conventional wisdom I dropped the salmon into a superhot pan and burned the skin instantly.  Salmon sashimi is my favourite thing in the whole world but if it's cooked I like it cooked through so I did that.

The other side is the rest of the shallot sweated off with cabbage and apple cider vinegar - to offset the tartness I added a large spoonful of newly delivered home-made tomato relish (thanks to Fiona!).

Porky White Bean Stew (by G)

I'd bought and soaked white beans for last nights dinner before I managed to find the required mung beans for the puree.  Given that they were already soaked I thought I should use them before they died.

Cassoulet is the obvious use, but a bit too much of an effort.

The stew comprises pork belly, pork chipolattas, chorizo, white beans, carrots, celery, onion, corn, garlic, bay leaves and thyme stewed with half a tin of tomatos and chicken stock.

The beans were still a bit firm but the fat on the pork belly was soft and unctuous... as mine now is.

Pork Belly Adobo a la Sheldon (by G)

Biggs and I were rewatching TopChef Season 10 the other day and I saw Sheldon make a pork belly adobo in restaurant wars - I wrote it in my notebook... 'Adobo'.

Happily I found his exact recipe and here it is, copied as closely as I could:

The only differences are: I couldn't find 'Aloha' brand soy sauce, my mung beans were not shelled (hence the greenish tinge of the puree), I have no idea what sweet onions are so I used shallots, we are not eating a 4 course meal so I served it with bread and I couldn't let the pork skin go to waste - hence the crackle... obviously Sheldon is a professional so there was also a gap in skill level.

That said, this is a brilliant dish - it takes time to make (mostly sitting and waiting) but not difficult.  If you eat only one meal this year it should be this one, seriously.

Mushrooms on Toast (by Biggs)

I'm not meant to feel like my arteries are going to give way on vegetarian night but thanks to Soignon's fromage de chèvre (Soignon's cheese of the goat)... I do.

Tonight I made "fancy" mushrooms on toast complete with avocado, asparagus, chives and of course the cheese of the goat. The mushrooms were fried off with thyme and sage, salt and pepper. I got us new salt and pepper today and to avoid buyer's remorse decided to use it incredibly liberally straight away. It sure paid off. Dinner was pretty satisfying.

I served it with crisps because I saw it done once in the U.S. of A. and thought it was genius.

Chicken and Pasta* with Chorizo Sauce (and extra chorizo) (by G)

*the pasta was shit...

My original idea was to make fettuchini with chicken and chorizo. The pasta dough was beautiful, then I couldn't find the handle to the pasta machine or the bench clamp - also I remembered that the bench clamp is broken so I switched gears... big mistake.  My new idea was to make orecchiette out of the dough - but I made it too thick and it just wouldn't cook.

My next mistake was to burn the presentation slices of chorizo while discussing ladies reproductive problems.

In a perfect world this would have been fettuchini with a sauce of carrot, capsicum, tomato, basil, onion, chorizo and garlic with a nicely cooked piece of chicken and crispy slices of chorizo on top... maybe next time...