Escudella (by Biggs)

When looking for dinner inspiration last week I asked G to name a country with the plan to make a meal inspired by the national dish of that country. For personal reasons G chose Andorra (a plot of land between Spain and France) so I found myself making Escudella.

I found the recipe on a lady's blog and it looked like the sort of meal our household enjoys in the Wintertime. Fortunately, or allegedly more like it, it's the Wintertime. I needed to find an afternoon when I would be home with enough time to cook it so G agreed to swap cooking nights with me today.

This stew is amazing because it has EVERYTHING in it - pork sausage meat-balls, chicken, prosciutto, cabbage, potato, rice, pasta, chickpeas and cannellini beans. That's pretty much how it works too dump it all in a pot and cook it for a couple of hours....some things, like the pasta, you put in at a later stage.

The flavour in the stock came from marrow and bacon bones. It was meant to come from marrow and ham bones but my butcher didn't have a ham bone. They weren't sure initially if they had marrow bones but checked out the back and returned with a giant garbage bag to search thorough. Sign of an excellent butcher right there!

Dinner was a winner. Thanks Andorra!

Kai Kwam (by Biggs)

What's Kai Kwam you ask?

Fried eggs stuffed with pork and seafood! That's what Kai Kwam is.

I wanted to cook something a bit challenging and interesting for dinner so opened up Charmaine Soloman's The Complete Asian Cookbook so see what her thoughts on the matter were. The first page I opened to mentioned Kai Kwam and I was convinced it was a great idea. It turned out not to be a terrible idea but it sure was a bit wacky.

The way it works is that boiled eggs get stuffed with a mix of pork, prawns, crab, coriander, egg yolks, fish sauce and coconut milk. Then I battered them and fried them. I couldn't see how the batter was going to stay on the eggs and I certainly couldn't see how the eggs were ever possibly going to stay in one piece. But, it sort of did and they sort of did.

I was home a bit late from work so was under the pump to get dinner on the table. As a result almost everything went wrong while I was prepping the meal. The prawn guts got everywhere and made me gag, I burnt myself on the pork, then the can of crab spontaneously exploded all over me. Unrelated to dinner, when I went upstairs to change my clothes after the crab disaster, I discovered an animal had crapped all over my room at some stage throughout the day. It was a fairly gross hour of my life.

Whilst this wasn't the tastiest thing I've ever had (honestly, it really tasted a little bit strange) I was really happy that I tried something new and challenged myself a little. It was quite satisfying. More satisfying was that we got to have a dessert of left over pork rashers.

Crumbed Chicken, Mushrooms, Potatoes and Braised Fennel (by G)

Having discovered the joys of brining I've decided to brine at every opportunity. 

I had some chicken marylands and wings in the freezer so I defrosted them yesterday and stuck them in some brine.  This morning I de-brined the chicken and left it in the fridge to dry a little. This afternoon I tempered the chicken to bring it up to room temperature then dusted it in flour, dipped it in an egg wash (egg and vegetable stock - that was my own imagining) then crumbed it in Krummies brand wholemeal bread crumbs mixed with salt, pepper, garlic powder and some dried parsley flakes.

I was trying to use up some of the food I already had at home so I braised some fennel in butter and vegetable stock, blanched some potatoes and fried them in peanut oil. I also cooked some mushrooms (fresh bought) in butter and oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and mixed with chopped garlic, chilli flakes, lemon thyme and dried parsley.

I pulled the trigger a bit early on the potatoes - after they were fried they sat around for a bit before being re-heated in the oven (along with some salt, pepper, chilli flakes and lemon thyme). They turned out a bit buffet-style-roast, but not to worry.

The braised fennel was not great - I blame the fact I didn't use all that much butter and used vegetable stock instead of something more flavourful like chicken stock.

The chicken turned out pretty great (crispy on the outside despite being a bit powdery) and moist (not to mention cooked) on the inside.

Pork and Noodles (by Biggs)

So, I just realised I cooked essentially the same dinner for two of my cooking nights in a row. Luckily, G and I like pork and noodles.

I originally had a slow-cooked vegetarian number planned but the day got a little haphazard and by the time I got home, slow-cooked was going to be just a little too slow. Instead I realied on my comfort meal of pork, noodles and veges....this dinner has definitely been on the blog before.

The pork was little loin medallions which were nice and tender. I cooked them perfectly (in my opinion - a little over as I like it)....four minutes on one side, four minutes on the other side and four minutes resting. I also had a nifty idea to steam the carrots and beans in vegetable stock which G seemed to enjoy.

Stay tuned for slow-cooked vegetarian in our near future.

  

TortillaTuesday (by G)

I had been dreaming for some days about a meal that would be so awesome it would shut down the world-wide-web for good. My plan was to make a kind of empanada with maize flour instead of flour then deep fry them to crispy perfection - how awesome would that be?

Unfortunately, when I made a tester, the corn tortillas I had made fresh started to split and wouldn't seal up properly for the deep frying. Rather than flail and fail I decided to deep-fry the corn tortillas and just serve the meat and dippings on the side.

I'm so deflated with lack of execution on the plan that I don't much feel like going into too much more detail.

There was 2 types of meat (pork mince and chicken thigh) simmered to tender with red onion, oregano, paprika, cumin and chicken stock. There was a guacamole and a tomato salsa each made with jalapeno, red onion, coriander, lime juice and such - also some sour cream with a dusting of cumin and salt.

Pork Stir Fry (by Biggs)

I'm struggling keeping to my (very slender) food budget this fortnight and G suggested "noodles, a little bit of meat and a lot of vegetables" is always affordable. Turned out he was right.

Buying budget pork allowed me to buy the fanciest of vegetables - asparagus and snow peas. I fried off the pork, then some onion and garlic. I added some seasame oil, then the vegetables. A splash of soy sauce helped things along a bit. In the end I coated everything up with oyster sauce.

I then diligently over-cooked some rice noodles to stodge the whole thing up.

Shimeji Mushroom Risotto (by G)

With all the different things we've cooked since the blog started I couldn't remember if we'd had risotto yet. Possibly - and it is certainly something I could have checked on - but I decided to do one anyway.  I was looking to do this meal to a budget, which I probably managed to do if you consider that I didn't use all the rice or butter - though I did have some parmesan and saffron already, so it probably wasn't to budget after all.

The risotto was pretty standard - fry mushrooms, set aside. Fry shallots, mix in rice to coat in oil, add wine (I didn't have wine so I used sake), then ladle in stock until the rice is cooked then add the mushrooms and parmesan.

For some reason I decided not to cook the rice all the way through but it was pretty close.  I has also intended to have some brined chicken legs on the side, but they didn't cook in time...

 

...so we had them as a snack later.

 

Pies, Bacon, Potato and Peas (by Biggs)

Weekend laziness trumps again.

I was looking for a family style pie in the supermarket but they don't seem to make them any more so went with a couple of individual ones each. I was going to serve the pies with chips but thought I should put a tiny bit of effort and make some mashed potato in an attempt to be healthier. Turns out that were probably worse for us given the amount of butter I added.

I had to use the last of the Birthday bacon so added that to the meal as well.....definitely the highlight.

Paprikash (by G)

I wanted to try something new, and beef related - because I had beef available.  After a brief internet search I discovered a recipe for Hungarian Paprikash - it looked pretty delicious.

It's a pretty basic recipe - fry some onions, add paprika and beef, stew in stock and add some capsicum once the meat is stewed. The interesting bit came at the end when you mix some raw flour with a butt load of sour cream and mix it through to thicken the sauce.  The recipe said it was my choice of capsicum colours so I picked red and yellow (and discovered that the yellow ones are more than twice the price of red ones - I did not know that).

Once the stew was stewed I served it on some wholemeal tagliatelle - because the wholemeal was less than half the price of regular stuff (this I also did not know - the things you learn when you actually pay attention to the prices of the things you are buying).

The meat was as tender as a Hungarian poet, though the paprikash as a whole was like a stroganoff with less flavour.  The parsley on top was just to add colour but didn't add much to the meal.

Sausage Sizzle (by Biggs)

After my Birthday and a night out we got a bit confused about whose cooking night it was last night and both came home with groceries. Because I was tired I came home with sausages, because G got home first we decided he would cook. As a result it was all up to me tonight.

I stuck with the sausage plan. G usually takes about 45 minutes to slow cook sausages and onions so I took a leaf out of his book. Although, I slow cooked the onions to weirdness. But, served with white bread and sausages, it was fine.

Not much more to say.....SAUSAGES!

Asian Chicken Rice Noodle Salad (by G)

I've been a bit disappointed recently with the appearance of my meals - they appear as if a flavour monster took a dump on our dinner plates. I did an internet search for something along the lines of 'elegant dinner' - the results were very uninspiring, apparently no-one knows how to make good looking food. The best looking dish amongst them was this one.

It's a salad of fennel, cabbage, carrot with a chilli, vinegar, sugar dressing. I used both red and jalapeño chilli - also I added soy sauce, what is Asian without soy? On top is some sliced chicken thigh. The recipe called for the chicken to be seasoned with salt and pepper only - I decided to add a bit more flavour so I marinated the thighs in garlic, ginger and ketjap manis.

I thought the level of chilli was nice, just a slight burn with a nice jalapeño flavour. Judging by the way Biggs was gasping like a beached trout the chilli level was a bit over the top for some.

Biggs offered to take the photo for me so it would look good - I resisted. Below is the result:

$2 Tacos (by Biggs)

Tonight we went out to (inexplicably) take in a couple of 50's B-Grade, Sci-Fi movies. Neither G or I were going to head home after work, before the films, so decided to have dinner out too.

Because it was Tuesday we were obligated to have tortillas of some description and, I thought we could get them cheap. Turns out we were not the first to think of having Tortilla Tuesdays. After some research we were going to an establishment with $3 tacos but then noticed a pub with $2 tacos. The upgrade (downgrade?) was made.

I ordered two $2 beef tacos, as did G. He also ordered two $2 chicken tacos. G said he couldn't distinguish between the beef and chicken tacos but, based on the beef tacos I had...they were (surprisingly) good.

Flavourful enough, with nice sides of salsa, guacamole and sour cream, some salad, a touch of spice and good a mix of beans. The tacos were either hard tacos that had gone soft in the humidity or soft tacos that had been crisped up in a deep-fryer. Either way....well done RGs, well done.

Biggs' Birthday Dinner - Giant Gyoza, Karagge Chicken Wings and Tempura Vegetables (by G)

Tonight is Bigg's something-or-other birthday so I wanted to do something special - or if not special, at least different.

Someone sent me a photo of a giant gyoza months ago and I instantly knew I wanted to make one for Biggs' Birthday. I had a practice run on Saturday and discovered that the maximum gyoza size is determined only by the size of the largest cooking implement we have - unfortunately our largest pot is not that big.  I did learn that for this sized gyoza the skin does not have to be that thick, so this time I rolled it a bit thinner than the other night.

The gyoza wrapper is just a mix of plain flour, bicarb and boiling water which is mixed and then rested for an hour before being kneeded and rolled out. The filling for tonight's giant gyoza is a recipe I've had for a long time - pork mince, spring onion, garlic, ginger, miso, chilli flakes, sugar and salted and squeezed cabbage. The key to getting flavour, I have discovered, is to add about 3 times as much garlic and ginger as the recipe calls for.  I fried the gyoza in sesame oil for a couple of minutes then added boiling water and steamed it for about half an hour - field tests revealed that this is enough time for the mince to cook.

I thought I should diversify a bit incase the gyoza was inedible so I made some karagge chicken wings (marinated in soy, ginger, garlic, soy, mirin, rice wine vinegar, sake and sesame oil then dusted in potato starch then fried - I forgot to get potato starch so I just used hopper flour).

The vegetables (asparagus, capsicum and shitake mushrooms) were coated in tempura batter then fried.

In all, I would say this dinner was not that elegant but there was some pretty good flavour. The gyoza wrapper turned out better than the other night but the cook on it was not as good. I would have liked to have marinated the chicken for longer but dinner must be served at a decent hour.

Bacon, Beans and Toast (by Biggs)

I had a (vegetarian) plan for dinner tonight but then Fi and Dan gave me a kilo of smoked bacon for my Birthday so the plan rapidly changed.

Lucky for me, Fi and Dan recently discovered Adam's Continental Smallgoods in Carole Park, just in time for my Birthday. The bacon is delcious.

I cooked some up for dinner with toast and baked beans. We had 4 rashers each for dinner then decided to have another 4 rashers each for dessert.

That can't be good for you I know but I did mix some parsley thought the beans.

Practice Birthday Dinner for Biggs (by G)

Posted 19/05/14:

I delayed the posting of this blog because I was practicing making a big gyoza for Biggs' birthday dinner.

This dumpling was made from pork mince, soy sauce, oyster sauce, coriander, hot bean paste, finely diced onion and I think that is it...  I didn't want to make an authentic gyoza because otherwise Bigg's Birthday dinner would not be unique - and I wasn't all that hungry so I didn't make anything else.  For more on how to make a giant gyoza check out Biggs' Birthday dinner post on 19/05/2014:

Pork Neck in Cider and Crème Fraîche (by Biggs)

Words

Words.





Vindaloo Chicken with Saffron Rice Pilaf (by G)

This is what I had planned to make the other night when I did hotdogs - kind of.  The rice was not exactly as I had imagined it.

I simply smothered the chicken marylands in jarred vindaloo sauce then cooked it slowly in the oven for about an hour.

The rice was cooked using the absorption method (because I've had such wonderful success with that in the past - noting like crunchy rice) with chicken stock and saffron as the absorbing medium. I fried a brown onion and half a red onion (because I had a half left over), toasted the endosperms of some pistachio drupes, and heated some frozen peas in boiled water. Once the rice was cooked through I mixed everything together and served the chicken and the rice on a plain white plate to better highlight the saffron tinge in the rice.

To my surprise the rice was quite bland, so I heavily seasoned it with salt and black pepper - which fixed it.  All-in-all I was not too dissatisfied with this one.

BBQ Chicken and Vegetable (by Biggs)

I planned to be lazy tonight, the plan being that I was going to buy a chicken, some gravy and bread rolls. After last night's dinner I wasn't in the mood for more bread rolls so picked up some vegetables instead.

The vegetables were broccoli, carrots (we have quite an excess) and some peas. To make them a touch more interesting I salt, pepper and buttered them.

The BBQ Chicken came pre-cooked in a bag from the supermarket. It was excellent.....like a picnic, at night, at home. The gravy was also pre-cooked in a bag from the supermarket.

I served it with garlic bread.....because of the addiction.

Guacamole Dogs and Potato Gems (by G)

I actually had a plan for dinner but then I forgot that I had a plan and then I had no ideas on what to have for dinner so I got some sausages out of the freezer figuring I could work something out.  Biggs had also asked me to use the rest of the salsa from dinner the night before.

I figured a hot dog was an easy option so I did that. A search for fancy hot dogs came up with a guacamole dog which seemed to fit the salsa theme.  The guacamole had under-ripe avocados, chilli, garlic, coriander, lime, salt and pepper.

Not much else to say except that I oven roasted some potato gems just for the fun of it. I don't think I've actually had potato gems before - I did not expect them to be as they were.

Cajun ChickenTortillas (by Biggs)

I really, truly meant to make my own tortillas tonight but chickened out last minute and just bought a packet of them instead.

 

Speaking of chickens, I had the idea that my Cajun chicken recipe might go quite well in a tortilla. My Cajun chicken recipe is chicken dusted with Cajun spice from a jar. Quite a complicated dish. After I had oven roasted it I 'shredded' it a bit with a knife for volume.

 

The salsa was a salad style salsa that I thought would freshen up the Cajun well. It was one red onion, one cucumber, one green capsicum, one bunch of coriander, two jalapeños and the juice of one lime.

 

I thought a touch of dairy also wouldn't go astray and we luckily had a little left over cheese and sour cream in the fridge.

 

It's a good day when I don't poison the household. Today was a good day.  

Cuban-Style Pork Chops with Black Beans (by G)

This dinner came about when I did an internet search for 'Monday Dinner'.

It's basically pork chops marinated in lime zest and juice, orange juice and garlic then sprinkled with cumin, chilli flakes and oregano and fried, then stewed in a mix of white wine and the marinating liquid.

The chops were served on a bed of corn and black beans with red onion, coriander and mint (I also added fried kipfler potatoes to the mix because we had a guest and I didn't want anyone going hungry).

The black beans were a bit of an issue - Biggs said she had some left after her last black bean meal. I didn't check... turns out the beans have disappeared (I believe Biggs has been snacking on them in her sleep).  Fortunately I had a can of feijoada in the pantry which I simply strained the meat and flavour out of.

The only other difficulty I had was that I over-reduced the sauce - it was way too thick to serve so I put the chops in it while they rested.  The recipe wasn't too clear on what to do with the sour cream so I just dolloped it on top - oh, yeah and I crisped up the pork crackle - that wasn't in the recipe just instinct on my part.

Pancetta Pizza (by Biggs)

G has been going on about wanting pizza for a few weeks now so tonight I decided to make pizza! I asked the Internet what type of pizza to cook and it decided on pancetta.

I made some balsamic onions to go with the tomato paste base and shredded some basil onto it, then I topped the pizzas with a f*ckload of pancetta and some cheese.

My dough wasn't as good as last time, it didn't rise very well but I blame the cold.

Hoppers (by G)

I've been wanting to make hoppers for a long time - and when I found hopper mix at the store the other day I decided to take the plunge.

The first thing to do was make a good curry to have with them - preferably a Sri Lankan curry.  Though it was a bit of a dick-around (what with making the spice blend and everything) this curry recipe came up trumps. I was a bit worried after it had cooked for about an hour-and-a-half - I tasted it and it was watery and bland. Of course, it just had to reduce in volume.

The hoppers were a bit trickier to cook because we only have shitty electric stove elements so the sides of the pan would not get hot to set the batter. With a bit of swirling and grillering and cursing I got the hang of it, sort-of. They didn't get as crispy as I would have like - they were not a catastrophe though, and that was a real possibility at one stage.

Lamb Koftas and Couscous (by G)

Because I had some lamb mince left over from last night's dinner and considering Biggs was away for the evening I decided to do some koftas.  For flavour I added grated onion and garlic to the mince along with salt, pepper and cumin powder. I accidentally added an egg to bind the mince, but there wasn't really enough mince to take a whole egg so the mix got very sloppy. We do not have breadcrumbs in the house so I added chickpea flour - which I though was genius.

Couscous is the natural partner of the kofta so I made some couscous, flavoured with chorizo (non-traditional I'd imagine) and olives - also I pan roasted some sunflower seeds for texture.

The koftas were not great - for some reason they were lacking in flavour. I do not know how that happened.

The couscous, on the other hand, was excellent and very flavourful. I was very happy with the couscous.

Thai Take-away (by Biggs)

Tonight a few of us gathered on Mick and Kylie's deck for some food, drink and merriment. No one could be bothered cooking so we opted for some Thai take-away - massaman curry, green curry, chicken and cashews and some awesome spicy chicken rice. There were also spring rolls and beer, and champagne, and red wine. I did have a touch of food envy though when my two-year old friend Casey had chicken kebabs with peanut sauce for dinner.

A good night was had by all.

Lamb Mince Curry and Scramby Eggs (by G)

I had a plan to make hoppers tonight on account of the fact that I've wanted to make them for quite some time - and, strangely, found package hopper mix at the Indian grocer on the weekend.

When I got home today I discovered that the hopper mix has to prove for 3 hours before being cooked - I don't got that kind of time on a Thursday so I switched plans.

The lamb and vegetable curry I was originally going to make was still do-able, so I did it, but instead of the hoppers I scrambled some eggs - why not.

I'm pretty pleased that I get to make something else to have with the hoppers when I make them on Saturday because the curry was not particularly special or Sri Lankan - the only reason to make it was to use the lamb mince I got out of the freezer yesterday before I knew what I was going to make.

The only thing interesting with dinner was that I used coconut milk in the scrambled eggs - I've never done that before, it didn't add much but the eggs weren't bad so I think it wasn't a terrible thing.

Bacon and Pepperoni Pasta (by Biggs)

I asked G what I should make for dinner tonight and he suggested another pasta due to the cold snap we're experiencing.

I decided to replicate an Amanda recipe. She once told me that you can buy 6 olives, 1 rasher of bacon, some spaghetti and cook it up for a delicious dinner. So, I bought a punnet of olives, 6 rashers of bacon, a handful of salami, a punnet of cherry tomatoes, parsley and parmesen cheese.

Allegedly G's favourite pasta is 'little shells'. There weren't any 'little shells' in the supermarket so I went with 'curls'. Genuine Italian terms those ones.

I wanted to add some chili but we've only got the bag of bird's eye chilies and I thought it would be difficult to disperse their intense heat throughout the dish. Fortunately the salami had the required warmth.

My assessment of dinner is that it was super, super delicious.  

Pork Tostadas (by G)

I'm always on the look out for tortilla style food ideas, I had been thinking about making tostadas for some time but seeing Bourdain eat some nice ones in Mexico recently sealed the deal for this week.

I thought it would be a good idea, as I was trying something new, I should stick with a familiar ingredient so I decided on pork for the topping. Unfortunately the pork was the downfall.

In order to get it tender I simmered it in a vegetable stock with extra onion and garlic, along with paprika and cumin (also some some of the birdseye chillies Biggs brought home yesterday). The recipe called for 6 - 8 hours of simmering. Knowing I don't have that much time in any one weekday I decided to simmer it for half the time yesterday and finish it off today. The pork was tender but very soggy - and that affected the whole meal.

To add some variety I also mashed an avocado with salt and lime juice, pickled some cucumber, radish and shallot in a sugar and vinegar mix, I also made a picante sauce by blending shallot, green capsicum, garlic, coriander and a large dried mulato chilli (which I had pre soaked).

The picante sauce turned out a bit bland but what are you going to do?

To make the tostadas I mixed some yellow corn powder (what the Mexicans call Maiz Amarillo) with salt and water then rested for an hour. After an hour it appeared I had successfully made a solid block of polenta. Fortunately the polenta block was not as solid as it looked and was easily balled and flattened in the tortilla press. One recipe I read advised that I dry the little yellow disks in the oven - this was potentially a mistake because they started to curl at the edges - anyway, after that I fried the tostadas in hot oil.

The tostadas turned out not-too-bad - I could have fried the tostadas longer to make them crispier and I certainly wish I had oven roasted the pork to avoid it getting mushy.  These are things I can correct next time I make tostadas.

Soy Chicken and Rice (by Biggs)

After party time in Perth I came home wanting all things vegetable but I'm over that now so looked up "meat recipes" to cook. One of the first ones was this soy chicken recipe.

I headed to Burlington's to collect the necessarily goods - chicken drumsticks, garlic, chili and spring onions. Total cost $7.50. Included in that $7.50 was a bag of about 30 birds eye chilies which I made G taste test for potency....quite potent in conclusion.

After frying off the drumsticks a bit I added them to a pot of water, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and chili and simmered the lot for about an hour and a half.

After that time the drumsticks were very, very, very salty (I added some salt) but went down pretty well. Fortunately, over the years, through various bad behaviours, G and I have both decommissioned our taste-buds so managed to choke dinner down. If anyone else was over for dinner I would have been mighty apologetic.

The chili has left a satisfying numbness on my lips.

Chicken Neck Curry (by G)

For a long time now I've been passing the irregular meat section in the supermarket and eying off the chicken necks without quite having the nerve to pick some up.  After watching Bourdain eat fried chicken necks in Mexico last weekend I decided to take the plunge.

Detailed research of chicken neck recipes offered a number of different ways of cooking them - I decided slow cooking them would be a safer bet for a first attempt rather than deep-frying. Despite not being able to locate shallots today at the supermarket everything went pretty well.

I fried some small white onion (in place of shallot) in coconut oil then added garam masala, dried turmeric, dried chilli, fresh minced garlic and ginger and some chopped fresh coriander. When all that had become aromatic I added some tinned tomato, vinegar, lemon juice, the chicken necks, fresh ground pepper and a little water.

I simmered all that for quite a while - about an hour and a half before taking the necks out because they looked like they were breaking down a bit too much. I simmered the sauce for a while longer to let it thicken a little before adding the necks back to heat through.  When serving I added quite a lot of coriander on top to disguise it a bit for Biggs - I also served chapattis on the side.  The chapattis were from a packet - they were surprisingly good and easy to prepare, just oven bake them for a couple of minutes on one side, flip, then a couple of minutes on the other side and they were done.

I thought the chicken necks were excellent - not too much meat on them for sure but the flavour was good.  I'm definitely going to do a fried version in the future.  I'm sure I'll have nightmares of neckless chickens haunting my dreams tonight, at least it will be a change from the hoards of baconless pigs that normally disturb my sleep.

Indian Bean, Broccoli and Carrot Salad (by Biggs)

When I was looking for a salad recipe the other day I came across this one and thought it might be good to keep up my sleeve. My sleeve is very short so I had to dish it out tonight.

I wasn't super keen for lots of vegetables but alas, it's how this dinner works. Lots of veges fried off in mustard seeds, chili flakes, turmeric and cumin served with some naan bread and a yoghurt mixed with ginger, cumin and mint.

This was a tasty dinner but I'm sure would have been much better with the sunflower seeds I forgot to add.

Mushroom Fettuccine (by Biggs)

Our household enjoys the odd mushroom so I've planned to make a mushroom pasta for quite some time. It was cold and rainy today so I decided today was as good a day as any. Or even, a better day than most, to have a mushroom pasta.

Unfortunately I couldn't find many different types of mushrooms so I only used large flat mushrooms, small button mushrooms and some oyster mushrooms. I fried them off with some thyme and garlic then added white wine, butter and a dash of balsamic vinegar.

The mushrooms were served on a fettuccine. I was going to use pappardelle but couldn't only find wholemeal and thought I was already pushing it with a vegetarian dinner. Parmesan cheese was added for good luck.....and flavour.

Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad (by G)

In my head this dinner (as is so often the case) was much nicer than it turned out in reality.  In my head it was a mix of big grained couscous, savoury roasted vegetables and some chunks of juicy lamb.

On the whole I blame two of the vegetables - the sweet potato and the pumpkin. They were anaemic and not very flavourful. Anyway, I roasted them in the oven with salt, pepper and cumin. I pan fried some red onion, red capsicum, swiss brown mushrooms and garlic until they were tender - then I fried two lamb back-straps in the same pot until they had some colour and popped them in the oven tray with the roasting vegetables to cook through a bit.

The couscous was the instant kind so I poured too much of it into some boiling vegetable stock and waited for it to cook through - using the same pot as everything else was cooked in to add as much flavour as possible.  Once the couscous was about done I stirred through a fistful of butter (which is the key to couscous) then added all the vegetables and some chopped parsley.

While the servings might have been a bit too large I still decided to add some sour cream on top to add some kind of a sauce in-case the couscous was too dry.

Dinner turned out to be pretty flavourful but it didn't match the potential amazingness that I had built up in my head.