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...