Turkey Sliders on Pretzel Buns

Turkey sliders on Pretzel buns

Ingredients:

Beef

• 2 pounds of lean turkey mince (serves 30 sliders)
• 2 large brown onions
• 12 green onions
• one quarter cup of mint
• one quarter cup of basil
• one quarter cup of cilantro
• 2 limes
• half a cup of parsley
• 2x eggs
• one quarter cup of Worcestershire sauce
• one quarter cup of diced sautéed pancetta
• cracked black pepper
• sea salt

Steps:

I sautéed the onions and set aside whilst I sautéed the diced pancetta and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl I beat the eggs and stirred in the ground turkey with a fork. I added the Worcestershire sauce, 2 squeezed limes, sautéed onions, pancetta, chopped parsley, finely sliced mint, finely sliced chopped basil, finely sliced cilantro, finely sliced green onions, cracked black pepper and sea salt. I stirred until all ingredients were combined.

Take handfuls of the turkey mix (a little large than the size of limes) and form patties.

Ingredients:

Aioli

• 3.5 cups of healthy mayonnaise
• 4 garlic cloves
• one cup of basil leaves
• one lemon squeezed
• cracked black pepper

Steps:

This is not true aioli. It's a cheaters version but with a twist. I will get to the real version later in the summer.

Blend all ingredients in the food processor.

Ingredients:

Caramelized Red Onions

• 2 red onions
• half a cup of honey
• one table spoon of extra virgin olive oil
• cracked black pepper

Steps:

Slice the onions and sauté in extra virgin olive oil. Once translucent, add the honey and cracked pepper. The onions become caramelized once the honey has been absorbed into the onions.

Ingredients:

Barbecued Red Bell Peppers

• 3 red bell peppers
• two table spoon of extra virgin olive oil
• cracked black pepper
• sea salt

Steps:

Ruby red bell peppers sit in a bowl in a small amount of extra virgin olive oil. I smear the peppers in the oil and then barbecue. Once they begin to blister, I turn.  Once the blisters begin to blacken, I remove and place in a large Ziploc. Set aside the bell peppers for an hour. Once the bell peppers have cooled, their skin will easily peel off. Slice into fingers and sit in a bowl containing the remaining olive oil. Add cracked black pepper and sea salt.

Other Ingredients:

• butter lettuce lettuce
• pretzel slider buns

Steps:

Barbecue the slider patties for 4 minutes on each side. Cut the buns in half and very briefly barbecue. Smear both sides of the bun with aioli. Add caramelized onions and bell pepper. Then place the patty in the bun and then add a nice size piece of butter lettuce. Done. YUM!!

Lamb Chops Dinner

 My secret to foodgasm lamb chops is marinating them for one hour in a mint marinade & then serving with a homemade mint sauce.

Mint Marinade

• 2 cups of finely chopped mint (not the spearmint kind)
• half a cup of Worcester sauce
• one quarter of a cup of soy sauce
• one quarter of a cup of honey
• one table spoon of extra virgin olive oil
• a teaspoon of cracked black pepper
• half of a teaspoon of cracked sea salt

Blend in the blender. Place lamp chops in a large ziplock with the marinade & massage the marinade into the lamb.

Mint Sauce 

• 2 cups of finely chopped mint
• one quarter of a cup of honey
• one quarter of a cup of Vermont maple syrup

stir together -- YUM !!

These lamb chops are even more delish with roast potatoes and grilled baby broccoli.

Roast Chicken on the BBQ

Roast Chicken on the BBQ

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• One lemon
• One tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Cracked pepper
• Cracked sea salt
• half a cup of fresh tarragon

Steps:

I prefer my chook roasted on the BBQ in a tin foil pan. To soak up the full effect of the flavors, I butterfly the chicken after 20 minutes. But firstly, I massage the juice from one lemon into the skin of the whole chicken sitting in the tin foil pan. I then drizzle a table spoon of extra virgin olio over the chicken and then generously coat with cracked black pepper and cracked sea salt. I stuff the chicken with the remaining lemon cut into quarters. After 20 minutes (or until skin is crisp, I remove the chook and cut it in half (butterfly). I use scissors to cut the chook in half. It is easy. I then sit the two halves on the lemon quarters and fresh tarragon. I return to the BBQ for another 20 minutes before cutting the legs from the breast. The chicken pieces will soak up the yummy juices in the the pan. It should only take another 20 minutes to cook .

Grilled Satay Beef

Grilled Satay Beef

Salad

• 4 cups of shredded carrot
• 4 cups of bean sprouts
• 4 cups of shredded cabbage
• half a cup of thinly sliced mint
• half a cup of thinly sliced cilantro
• 2 cups of thinly sliced green onion
• 2 cups of thinly sliced bell peppers
• half a cup of roasted pine nuts
• half a cup of diced roasted unsalted peanuts
• one quarter cup of slithered almonds
• one quarter cup of toasted sesame seeds

Sesame salad dressing

• half a cup of tahini
• sesame oil
• rice wine vinegar
• light soy sauce
• sweet chili sauce

Marinade for beef 

• 6 cloves of garlic diced
• 4 fresh red chilies
• one ginger root diced
• 2 Tbsp of turmeric
• 3 Tbsp. ground coriander
• 2 Tbsp of cumin
• 1 Tbsp of cardamom
• half a cup of sliced green onions
• half a cup of sliced cilantro
• half a cup of mint
• 3 cups of light soy sauce
• 1 cup of sesame oil
• 1 cup of coconut oil
• half a cup of fish sauce
• 3 Tbsp of honey
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 1 can of coconut cream
• 2 cups of coconut water

Beef

• 8 pounds of tenderloin beef (we bought a whole piece from Costco)
• slice into strips and then into cubes
• remove all fat

Steps:

Blend all marinade ingredients in a food processor and place in a bowl.  Let it sit for at least 2 hours. Skewer 4 pieces of beef onto a wooden skewer that has soaked in water overnight. Continue until all beef has been used. 

Combine all salad ingredients into a large bowl. Stir in salad dressing  and toss.

Barbecue the beef first. It should take at least 6 minutes on all 4 sides.

Sit 2 skewers a top 2 cups of salad in a shallow bowl. Provide chopsticks as utensils.

Korean Beef on a Bed of Brown Rice Noodles

Korean Beef on a Bed of Brown Rice Noodles

This is yet another made up recipe of mine, after I tasted something at a fab Korean restaurant that I loved and then recreated in my own style.

Ingredients:

Beef

• one third of a cut of sirloin beef
• 36 green onions
• 6 cloves of garlic
• one tablespoon finely ground white pepper
• one cup of raw cane sugar
• one table spoon of sesame oil
• one cup of sesame oil
• one cup of light soy sauce

Noodles

• 2 packets of brown rice noodles
• 8 cups of home made beef or vegetable stock (or 2 x Telma beef stock cubes in 8 cups of water)
• 12 sliced green onions (at an angle… ala Peking Duck style).
• 12 normally sliced green onions
• one bunch of parsley
• half a cup of basil
• one red onion
• one shallot
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3 bunches of bok choy
• one quarter of a cup of the satay sauce made above
• table spoon of sesame oil
• cracked black pepper to taste
• 6 green seeded chilies.
• sunflower sprouts for garnish

Steps:

Beef

One third of a sirloin cut is too much for a dinner of 8. But you can freeze what you don't cook (and keep it in the marinade). Or cook it and have it the next day in an asian salad. Beautiful.

I slice up one third of a semi defrosted cut of sirloin, as thinly as I can.

I sauté sliced green onions and sliced garlic in one table spoon of sesame oil. Once the onions are slightly transparent, I add the pepper, and stir in. I then add the one cup of sesame oil and one cup of light soy sauce and one cup of sugar. I simmer until the sugar has dissolved. I let it cool.

Once it cools, I pour the marinade over the sliced beef and let it marinate for about 2 hours. One hour is fine but the longer the better. As the beef sits in its marinade I prepare the noodles.

Noodles

I cook the noodles in 7 cups of beef stock so that the noodles absorb the flavor.

As the noodles cook, I prepare an asian fusion stock that the noodles will sit in. Not like a laksa -- more akin to a small amount of pasta sauce with pasta.

For the noodle sauce, I sauté the red onions, garlic, and shallot in sesame oil in a deep pan or wok. I then strain one cup of the beef marinade from the bowl the beef is sitting in and add that to a wok and let it simmer for 5 minutes. I add the satay sauce and the one cup of remaining stock to this mix and simmer for a few minutes.

In a separate pan I sauté the normally sliced green onions, parsley and bok choy leaves in sesame oil and cracked black pepper. I slice the basil and chilies.

I strain the cooked noodles and then place in the sauce in the wok and turn the flame off.

Beef

I now quickly grill the beef. They take just 30 seconds on each side. It's that quick too cook.

Beef & Noodles

I add boy choy, fresh basil, the fresh sliced green onions and fresh sliced chilies to the noodles and stir.

I place approximately one and a half cups of noodles in a bowl. I place about 10 pieces of beef on top the noodles and then layer a handful of sunflower sprouts on the slices of beef.

Recipe: Satay Chicken Tenders with Chunks of Persian Cucumbers

 

Satay Chicken Tenders with Chunks of Persian Cucumbers

This is one of the first dishes that I ever taught myself to cook.

After a trip to Singapore, at age 10, I fell in love with chicken satay served at stalls in the open markets. I couldn't find any version as good back home in Perth, so I taught myself how to recreate this street food by trial and error. I am in love with it now as I was back then.

I usually make thrice the amount of satay sauce so that I can freeze a couple of batches. As I prepare the satay sauce I soak the chicken tenders in coconut milk.

Ingredients:

• 16 chicken tenders (this is enough so that each guest can have two pieces)
• one tablespoon of sesame oil (or coconut oil)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 12 green onions
• 2 red onions
• 2 shallots
• 1 quarter of teaspoon of ground black pepper
• one cup of fresh basil
• half a cup of cilantro
• one quarter of a cup of diced ginger
• one quarter of a cup of mint
• fresh seeded small green chilies to taste (6 starts to get very spicy).
• one cup of unsalted peanuts
• one cup of natural chunky peanut butter (no preservatives or sugar)
• one quarter of a cup of light soy sauce
• 1 table spoon of freshly squeezed lime juice (or 2 sticks lemon grass)
• 2 cups of home-made chicken or vegetable stock (or 2 cups of water with one Telma stock cube)
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 6 persian cucumbers sliced

Steps:

Saute garlic cloves, red onions, shallots and ground black pepper in sesame oil in large pot. Add peanuts once onions are transparent. Once peanuts start to get slightly carmel colored, remove all ingredients and place in blender with basil, cilantro, ginger, mint, chilies, soy sauce, lime juice, green onions and coconut milk. Liquefy.

Return the sauce to the pot and add peanut butter and the chicken stock. Simmer for 5 minutes and blend into one. If it seems to thick to you, add another can of coconut milk.

I then add one cup of the satay sauce to the chicken tenders that have been siting in the coconut milk. I take a fork and poke the tenders so they open up a little and absorb the satay sauce.

On a hot griddle or BBQ I grill the tenders. On this occasion, my BBQ was snowed in -- so I used my griddle. It's important to only cook each tender once on each side. I take a spachelor and press the chicken into the grill -- to create those nice seared lines across the chicken. Once brown lines form across the tender I turn to the other side and do it again. The tenders are very thin, so do not cook for more than 2 minutes on either side.

I like to serve the satay chicken with slices of Persian cucumbers that are almost the same size as the chicken tenders. I line the pate with fresh basil, and place the cucumbers on one half of the plate and the chicken satays on the other side of the plate, with a small bowl of satay sauce for dipping. YUM!!

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Pork Chops & Apple Sauce

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Pork Chops & Apple Sauce

Ingredients:

• 10 apples
• 1 table spoon of butter
• 2x 1 table spoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup of plain flour
• 1/4 of a teaspoon white pepper
• half a teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 of a teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/4 of a teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1/4 of a teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• half a teaspoon of cracked black pepper
• half a teaspoon of ground sea salt
• a quarter of a cup of finely slices chives

Steps:

Sauté 10 sliced apples in a table spoon of butter and one table spoon of extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle in white pepper, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves and ground nutmeg. Once the apples begin to turn golden brown flip over. Once they are golden brown on both sides add half a cup of water and simmer. After 3 minutes co

mbine all ingredients in the blender and blend into a sauce.

Set aside half a cup of apple sauce and smear over the pork chops in a flat wide bowl. Add cracked black pepper and ground sea salt and fork the chops. Then take the chops into another flat wide bowl and sprinkle with the flour. Dust flour all over the chops.

Cook the chops in a frying pan in 1 table spoon of extra virgin olive oil at medium heat. Do not keep turning over. Cook for approximately 8 minutes on either side -- or until cook

ed through to the center -- on either side.

Sprinkle chives over the chops as you serve with the delicious apple sauce!

Green Curry for Six

Green Curry Dinner for Six

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Ingredients (aside from the paste)

• 3x chicken breasts
• 1x tablespoon of sesame oil
• 4x cans of light coconut milk
• 3x red onions
• 12x green onions
• 1x large tub of natural Greek yoghurt
• 3x Persian cucumbers
• one cup of diced mint
• one half of a cup of cilantro
• half a cup of diced basil
• 2 limes
• 1 Telma Kosher chicken stock cube
• 2 green bell peppers
• 2 cups of sweet chili sauce
• 2x packets of papadams
• 3 cups of jasmine rice
• a teaspoon of roasted sesame seeds

Green Curry Paste Ingredients:

• 1 stalk of lemongrass
• 3 de-seeded green chilies (Thai green chilies OR jalapeño)
• 1 shallot, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic
• half a ginger root -- thinly sliced
• one half a cup of chopped fresh coriander/cilantro leaves & stems
• one half a cup of fresh basil
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• half a tsp. ground white pepper
• half a tsp. ground coriander
• 3 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 tsp. shrimp paste
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 4 Tbsp. coconut milk

Making the Green Curry Paste

Blend all ingredients in a blender and set aside.

The Curry Dice and sautee 2x red onions and the 12x green onions in 1x tablespoon of olive oil. Blend all onions in a blender with one table spoon of butter and set aside. Slice the chicken breasts into short strips the size of a lady's pinky finger. Sautee the chicken breasts in 1x tablespoon of sesame oil until golden brown on one side. Add the green curry paste. Stir vigorously for two minutes, add the blended onions and stir for one minute and then add one can of coconut milk. Crush one Telma Kosher chicken stock cube and add to the curry. Stir in. Squeeze one and a half limes and pour juice into curry. Add three cans of coconut milk, one cup of diced cilantro and half a cup of diced basil. De-seed the two green bell peppers and slice into the size of a pinky finger. Stir for 5 minutes and serve with the below condiments.

Sweet chili & Red onion Dice 1x red onion into the size of jellybeans and add to a bowl with 2 cups of sweet chili sauce. Combine ingredients with a fork and serve.

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Raita Dice the 3x Persian cucumbers into the size of kelly beans. Keep skin on. Add to a bowl with the large tub of natural Greek yoghurt. Add the juice of one half of a lime. Stir ingredients with a fork. Add half a cup of diced mint and one quarter of a cup of cilantro. Combine all ingredients with a fork and serve.

Papadams Sautee each papadam in a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil until crisp. Turn and sautee the other side until crisp.

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Jasmine Rice Cook jasmine rice and combine with a teaspoon of roasted sesame seeds.

Roast Chicken & Roasted Potatoes & Grilled Asparagus & Salad

Comfort Food Chicken Dinner

Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 whole organic chicken
• one sweet onion
• 2 lemons
• 5 sprigs of fresh tarragon
• half a cup of sliced European parsley
• 6 sliced green onions
• half a red onion -- diced
• 1 clove of garlic
• sea salt
• ground black pepper
• garlic salt
• two table spoons of extra virgin olive oil

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Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of fingerling potatoes
• sea salt
• ground black pepper
• garlic salt
• two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• one quarter of a cup of sliced European parsley
• 6 sliced green onions
• half a red onion -- diced

Steps:

I placed the chook onto a tin foil baking dish and squeezed the juice of one lemon all over the bird. I massaged the lemon into the skin and then cut the remaining lemons in half and stuffed them into the cavity of the bird. I diced my one sweet onion and one large garlic clove into fours and also stuffed those ingredients into the bird. I drizzled the olive oil over the bird and massaged it into every crevice. I sprinkled cracked sea salt, garlic salt and cracked black pepper all over the bird. I placed the tin foil dish onto the grill of the barbecue and closed the lid.

I boiled fingerling potatoes for 10 minutes, strained and cut them longways into fours. I placed the potatoes in a tin foil baking dish and massaged one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into the potatoes before sprinkling with cracked sea salt, garlic salt and cracked black pepper. I placed the tin foil dish onto the grill of the barbecue and closed the lid.

Once the bird was golden brown, I removed and cut it into four pieces (separating the 2 thighs from the 2 breasts). I squeezed the juice of another lemon all over the 4 pieces of chicken. I cut the lemon up into 4 pieces and added to the dish along with all the contents that had been in the cavity. I diced the tarragon sprigs and sprinkled over the chicken, along with the parsley, green onions and red onions. I scooped up the juices on the bottom of the dish and poured it all over the chicken and the herbs adorning the bird. I returned the yummy bird to the barbecue and closed the lid.

I took one tablespoon of the juice from the roasting chicken baking dish and added to the roasting fingerling potatoes. I also added parsley, green onions and red onions before retuning the potatoes to the barbecue and closing the lid.

Once the bird was ready I very quickly added the asparagus onto the grill.

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Grilled Asparagus

Ingredients:

• One bunch of asparagus spears
• One lemon
• One tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Cracked black pepper

Steps:

I soaked a large handful of spears in the juice from one lemon and then splashed on some extra virgin olive oil and cracked black pepper before grilling on the barbecue for only 2 minutes.

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Butter Lettuce Salad

Ingredients:

• three cups of chopped butter lettuce
• one cup of arugala
• one quarter of a cup of feta (that had been marinating in garlic, tarragon, extra virgin olive & cracked black pepper)
• 2 diced Persian cucumbers
• 6 sliced green onions
• one eighth of a cup of unsalted cashew pieces
• 10 diced strawberries
• one eighth of a cup of dried cranberries

Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

• one quarter of a cup of aged white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
• a splash of aged balsamic vinegar
• ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 sliced and diced garlic cloves
• 2 squeezed lemons
• 2 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon of sweet chili sauce
• Himalayan sea salt
• cracked black pepper

Steps:

I did not dress the salad. I let our guests dress the salad themselves. The potatoes absorbed the juices of the chicken and lemon and were spectacular. The chicken was tangy, moist, herb infused and utterly delicious. Loved it!! My guests also went wild for the asparagus. They had absorbed a nice amount of the lemon. The salad complimented all of the other dishes and the lemon in the dressing married itself beautifully to each of the dishes. Everything was eaten up. No leftovers today.

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