Pizza (by Biggs)

Today was spent at my friend Snipes' place for his birthday. Beers, wine, gin, rum and BLTs in the sunshine meant pizzas were ordered once the sun set.

A bit of research makes me think that the lovely Liz and her husband Snipes ordered dinner from Naples Pizzaria in Grange. A nice man brought the pizzas right to the door for us, two small and two large (as per the two family deluxe pizzas that were ordered?)..... heavily featuring pepperoni.

We inhaled the pizzas, drank more wine and went to bed.

The only frustrating thing about the pizzas is that I know there were plans for a veal dinner which we were all too drunk / distracted / lazy to follow through on and I haven't quite worked out an excuse to turn up for dinner tomorrow night when I suspect the veal will be served.

Mexi-pasta with three meats (by G)

Biggs is dining elsewhere tonight so I thought I should get rid of some left overs.

The pasta sauce is the leftover Mexican bean tortilla mix from Tuesday.  The meat includes minute steak, chicken tenders and cubes of pork that have been variously used in the past few weeks.

My colon says 'No' but my taste-buds say 'Yes!'.

Tarragon Macaroni and Cheese (by G)

We ate a VAST amount of cheese last night but still had some left over so the the logical meal to cook is macaroni and cheese.  I found an interesting recipe and thought I'd give it a shot.  Onion, bacon and mushrooms were fried off in butter (the mushrooms were not in the recipe but they were in the fridge) then flour was added and cooked off, then salt, pepper, garlic powder, fresh tarragon, and milk was added. I couldn't find mustard powder so I added grain mustard.

After simmering the bechamel for about 10 minutes a mix of cheese was added and then the mix was added to some curly macaroni then topped off with some buttery panko bread crumbs and baked in the oven.

This turned out to be one of my least favorite macaroni and  cheese of all time - I think I added too much tarragon.

Cheese and Crackers (by Biggs)

If G and I have been very very good we get cheese and crackers. We have been very very good....in my opinion.

Unfortunately I was quite pressed for time this evening so had to get the cheese from a crappy supermarket and was forced to purchase the only five cheeses they had. Not really worth mentioning what they were. The olives were good, the wasabi crackers were great and the apple was refreshing.

That crappy fake smoked cheese is a childhood favourite of mine so makes me happy however awful it is. And, 100% vegetarian as per the contract.

Steak With Red Wine Sauce (by G)

As we've had leftover goat's cheese and thyme for some time I've been waiting all week to make some toast topped with mushroom duxelle and cheese... the steak and red wine sauce and other sides are incidental.

The duxelle was made with minced mushrooms fried off in butter with fine chopped eshallot, thyme, salt and pepper until all the moisture has been boiled off. Then it's onto a bit of toasted ciabatta, topped with cheese and grilled 'til warm.

For the record the weird looking sauce below was lovingly created by frying off more mushroom and eshallot in butter. Flour was added and cooked until un-raw - then a glug of wine. When the sauce thickened a little I mounted it (with butter you dirty perves).

When I tasted the sauce I decided it was bland so I added some vegetable stock... then it tasted like vegetable stock.

Mexican Bean Tortilla Stack (by G)

Today the goal was to cook authentic Mexican Bean Tortillas, but for the life of me I couldn't find the taco powder that the recipe called for... seriously I could not find it.

Instead I fried off some red onion and garlic, added chopped coriander stems, tinned kidney beans, half a tin of tomatoes, a fresh tomato, dried chilli flakes, paprika, white pepper, cayenne pepper, vegetable stock powder and water. Once the beans were simmered soft I mashed it all into a mush.  The tortillas turned out not to be the folding kind so I stacked them up with some of the bean mix and green capsicum, topped them off with cheese and oven baked them.  A little coriander and jar salsa for garnish and there you have it.

Since Biggs complained about missing out on heat when I cook I've been ramping up the chilli level in increments - unfortunately she's already hit her limit...

Samoan Chop Suey (by G)

I heard Biggs was not feeling well so I made what is referred to as Samoan Chicken Soup due to it's mythical restorative properties... okay, I'm bullshitting - one of the women I sit next to at work had Chop Suey for lunch the other day and it smelled pretty good.

The version I made had onions, garlic, ginger and beef mince fried off then some water and soy sauce, rice noodles and some vegetable, then another half a cup of soy sauce(!), ketjap manis, vegetable stock powder then simmer for 15 minutes.

The result is definitely salty but pretty tasty and warming.