Annabel Langbein 'A Free Range Life'- Dinner for Dad

Very exciting new Annabel Langbein Annual #afreerangelife @annabellangbein

Spicy Corn and Rice

Roast Vege and Chorizo Salad

Another view

The revelation! Chimichurri Skirt Steak

Dinner....also with Blackjack Chicken Nibbles

Harry trying everything...but particularly enjoying the corn and rice and the chicken

Birthday Boy

Dad settling in with his food

Raspberry Ripple Ambrosia

Harry eating the fruits of his labour...he pretty much made this

I was lucky enough to be one of the people selected to be a part of a Free Range Foodie event where we got preview copies of this new annual and get to share photos and experiences of the food. Because I have been on night shift I had to wait to have my first attempt at some of the recipes. Let me tell you....this annual is only going to cost $19.95 and it is well worth it! What I like about it is that it's all geared to the easiness of summer food and summer gatherings, which tend to be more relaxed. I have pretty much all of Annabel Langbein's cookbooks and I think it would be fair to say she is my most favourite cookbook author (I know my friends would agree).What I like about them is the high yield of recipes that actually work! 

My dad had his birthday last week but as I was working, last night was the first time I could get him over for dinner. I chose the whole menu from this annual. As I was going to be home later after school pickup I picked recipes that didn't need too much preparation and cooking. There is nothing worse than over committing to a menu. It leaves you stressed therefore making the whole experience a miserable one. I had to do a small amount of prep the night before but otherwise it was pretty easy to manage.

The revelation of the night was skirt steak! I have a feeling this will go the same way as lamb shanks and end up being over priced. The cost of skirt steak is about $13/kilo making it a cheap option. Not only is it inexpensive but it tastes amazing! Trust me on this one....but most importantly do NOT overcook it and make sure you rest it. Otherwise you will end up with tough meat that is impossible to eat. The book said to cook it for 5 min each side. However my steak was quite thin so I did 2 1/2 min each side. It was pretty rare but the taste was phenomenal. I also marinated it the night before. The sauce (using the marinade whizzed up with some orange juice and extra coriander) just finished it off.

I also made the Blackjack Chicken Nibbles but only added a small amount of chilli. for these you whipped up a BBQ sauce the night before and cooked the nibbles in it before grilling them on the BBQ to give a charred taste. Delicious!!! We had the corn and rice salad (loved this) and the Roast Vege and Chorizo Salad....also very good. 

Harry made the dessert with a bit of help from me however because I only had frozen raspberries ($8 per punnet was waaaay too expensive), I think that even though I defrosted them, they were made it just a bit runny. I also added the nougat but next time I would leave it out. As well as that I didn't make the compote to go on top instead I bought the Dollop Boysenberry and Raspberry Compote which is yum! This was pretty standard I thought but still Ambrosia is still fabulous no matter how simple it is! It did look pretty in the stemless wine glasses though.

All in all the meal was lovely. I can't wait to make more from this annual....next up is the Blueberries and Cream Trifle for a 'Xmas' get together on Sunday.

Dons Birthday Part 2

Lamb Shanks, Creamy Potato Mash, Steamed Green Beans

Baked Egg Custard Tart

Table set by Pup with my Grandmothers crystal and china...he was also making a powerpoint thing with photos of him and Dons set to a song 'Love, Love, Love'

Mama and Pup

Dons looking like the Godfather

At Neighbourhood in Kingsland with Jules and Tarn

Seafood Platter- a bit overpriced for what it was I thought

Potatoes and sauces...potatoes tasted like they had been refried...not good!

Snapper Sliders

Pork and Beef Meatballs

Tarn, Dons and Porkchop

Tarn and Ante

As you can probably gather we tend to celebrate our birthdays over days rather than on just one day. On the day before Dons actual birthday Pup and I cooked a delicious dinner of Lamb Shanks (you have got to try this recipe by Chelsea Winter because I think it's the best I have ever made), a super creamy potato mash and simple steamed green beans. Dessert was one of Dons favourites which is Baked Egg Custard. Pup set the table using my Grandmothers china and crystal glasses and some of her knick-knacks as well as making a powerpoint photo display set to an Avalanche City song called Love, Love, Love.

The next day we went off to Neighbourhood in Kingsland for lunch with Dons sisters. The place is AMAZING! but the food could have been better. However because it is such a cool place to go we will return for a glass of wine and a seat in the courtyard in front of the fire.

Anyway whatever you do make this Lamb Shanks recipe...it's a total winner and I have since got her book because I was so impressed with it.

Shakshuka

After seeing loads of this around in various blogs and magazines lately I thought it sounded like the sort of thing I would like to eat....and pretty healthy too! It's very easy and taste wonderful. I just made mine up from a few different recipes and it went something like this....

Saute a small onion which has been finely chopped with a few cloves of crushed garlic. Add in about 1-2 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin. Stir around a bit then add a can of chopped tomatoes and a couple of fresh tomatoes chopped up and a couple of red peppers which have been sliced not too thickly. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the mixture thickens a bit.

Make about 4 dents in the sauce and crack an egg into each. Cover the pan and simmer until the egg whites are opaque but the yolks still soft. Yummy with some crusty bread to dip into the egg! 

Of note one of the recipes I have is by Peter Gordon and his has a bit of lamb mince in it....think I will try that next time.

NIgella's Italian Roast Chicken with Peppers and Olives

I have a fair bit to add to my rather ignored blog. For those of you who live at this end of the earth in the South Pacific where it is lovely and very very hot at the moment, will know that it's our big school holidays. The children are off school for at least 6-7 weeks so that combined with Christmas and New Year makes for a very busy time. At the beginning of each long break it always seems like it's endless like we will have to find lots to do to fill in our time. But it's amazing how fast it all goes. All of a sudden going back to school with all the new requirements is upon us and I realise that I have hardly done anything or caught up with the people I have wanted to. 

Anyway for those of you with little time, little inclination but with a taste for good food, then this recipe is one for you. I got Nigella Lawson's book 'Nigellissima' for Xmas and whipped this up one night. Yum yum yum!!! Give it a go because it is delicious!

Italian Roast Chicken with Peppers and Olives

1 whole chicken
1 lemon, cut in half
4 sprigs rosemary
3 leeks, washed and trimmed (I think I only used 2)
2 red peppers
1 orange pepper
1 yellow pepper (or use whatever mix of colours you want just not green....yuk)
100g pitted black olives
60ml olive oil
salt (use Maldon sea salt) and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the chicken into a roasting tin and put the lemon halves and 2 sprigs rosemary up it's bum.

Cut each leek into 3 logs then slice lengthwise. Then remove the core and seeds from the peppers and slice them into strips. Add to the tin with the olives.

Pour the olive oil mostly over the veges but some over the chicken too. Add the rosemary sprigs to the veges along with salt and pepper to tastes then stir well to make sure everything is coated with the oil.

Sprinkle over some sea salt flakes and roast until cooked. It's ok for the veges to be a bit scorched in parts. Remover the chicken and rest about 10 mins. Keep the veges warm in the oven. 

Cut the chicken up chunkily and transfer to a warmed platter, then remove the veges with a slotted spoon and arrange on the chicken. Finally pour over the browned juices from the bottom of the tin.

Nigella recommends some nice bread to mop up the juices and maybe a green salad.

Christmas Food

A most spectacular Pav...if I do say so myself!

Cherry and Lemon Tart

Tiramisu Truffles

White Chocolate and Coconut Truffles

Well the food excesses of Christmas day are over! I feel like all I did yesterday was eat and eat.... after a few days of cooking and baking and therefore just about expiring in the awful humid heat we have had. I went through packets and packets of butter (I think about 6-7 at least), tons of sugar and flour not to mention the chocolate!

For gifts I made a lovely butter shortbread and Annabel Langbein's amazing Chocolate Chip Biscuits which are my current favourite (they are on here). Then Harry decided that he wanted to give home baking to the family as his present instead of buying something which I loved the idea of. However it did mean lots more baking to do the day before Xmas. He made Caramel Shortbread and a Crispy Shortbread recipe which you can find on the Foodlovers website. If you like your shortbread to have some crunch then this is the recipe for you....delicious! I wish I had taken some photos of these but in the rush I just didn't even think about it. I also baked Pecan tarts and Xmas Mince Pies (all homemade including the Xmas mince).

For breakfast I kept it pretty easy with delicious Paneton pastries and Croissants accompanied with Te Horo jam and the phenomenal Lewis Creamery butter. If you haven't tried this butter yet, it's really worth it for a special occasion. It's pretty pricey but the flavour is like nothing you would have had before....unless you remember the way butter used to be! I also had a platter of lovely fresh fruit and some good yoghurt to go with it as well as good coffee and of course bubbles!!

Lunch was at George's and if I do say so myself, we always put on a great spread. This year I did boneless leg of lamb which I BBQ'd and served with a lime, chilli, ginger dressing and lots of lovely fresh herbs, potatoes roasted in duck fat (these were amazing and I think were quite possibly the star of the meal), a smoked salmon, avocado and rocket salad. George did a ham, a duck and mango salad, a roasted beetroot salad and some delicious mustard fruits. For dessert I made up a platter of the Pecan and Xmas tarts, Tiramisu truffles, White Chocolate and Coconut Truffles; a Cherry and Lemon tart (from Baking Dish...it was like a Lemon tart without the pastry), and a stunning Pavlova. I always use the recipe from Nigella's How to Eat book and this time used 6 egg whites. I think it looked like my best one yet. However Pavlova isn't my favourite thing and instead I tend to go for Russell's amazing Berry trifle so I don't know first hand how it tasted. 

Finally dinner was a more sedate and easy BBQ so I took some Broken Glass Jello (it always goes down well with the kids) and a Stripey Chocolate Cheesecake. I didn't even remember to take photos sorry.

So that was our day of excessive eating. I hope you all had a lovely day too with lots of lovely family time and lots and lots of good food. Merry Xmas!

Homemade Papadelle Pasta with Lamb Ragu

The dried pasta

We had this for dinner the other night and it was so yummy I thought I would post about it. I love making pasta but it's so messy I often just use dried. The difference in the flavour and texture of homemade pasta is wonderful especially if you use Tipo 00 flour and beautiful free range eggs from my friends farm. I just use the 100g flour to 1 egg ration, whizz it up in the food processor until it starts to come together i a bag ball, knead it a bit, rest it an hour or so and roll it out. Papadelle needs to be nice and thin so I rolled it to the last notch on the pasta making and hand cut it into wide strips before drying them on a rack.

For the ragu I browned off a couple of lamb shanks in some EVOO and removed them from the Le Crueset casserole. Then I added finely chopped- onion (one), carrot (a couple), celery (a stalk), fresh rosemary, 4 cloves garlic and a few Tbsp parsley and sauted that over a low heat until the onion has softened. Once that had happened in went some white wine (about a glass), some lamb stock (250ml), 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and it was all brought to a simmer before covering it with some baking paper (helps with reduction), popping the lid on and baking about 2 1/2 hours in a 140C fan bake oven. Once it's cooked shred up the lamb and toss in the pasta before finally topping it with parmesan cheese. Yum yum yum and easy!

Caramelised Onion, Tomato, Sausage and Olive Pissaladiere

Uncooked

So this is yet another triumph from Annabel Langbein's new cookbook 'Simple Pleasures'. I made it for our DVD family night last night and it was absolutely delicious. The base was a revelation. Instead of the usual yeasted pizza dough, this is an Olive oil base which goes fabulously crispy and tastes wonderful and has the added bonus of being very easy to whip up. The topping is some caramelised onions, pork and fennel sausages (which I bought from the Westmere Butcher), cherry tomatoes and olives. Another reason to buy this book!

Flash-Roasted Pesto Salmon

Before going into the oven

Just out of the oven

Just a quick post and a dinner one for once. My new favourite cookbook has got to be the new one in the Annabel Langbein Free Range Cook series 'Simple Pleasures'. As I have been trying (and I mean trying and not always successfully), to meal plan, I trawled through the book and have a few things to make out of it this fortnight. This looked quick and easy enough to cook on a post night shift night and seemed pretty healthy. Like all of Annabel's recipes (well 99% of them), it turned out beautifully. 

You pretty much heat your oven to a massive 220C fanbake and line a shallow tin. Pin bone your salmon pieces (fresh in today at good old P and S), spread over some pesto, sprinkle over some lemon zest, capers and cherry tomatoes. Drizzle over some EVOO and season with salt and pepper. Then bake about 6-8 mins and enjoy. We had ours with some new season roasted asparagus. 

Other things in my plan for this fortnight are Sausage, Tomato and Olive Pizza, Bang Bang Salad, Chicken and Leek Gratin and Burgers with Spicy Chicken Patties. Hopefully I'll end up making them all! If you are thinking about getting this book I would highly recommend it.

Chicken and Kumara Pie with Thyme Pastry

I know I have AWOL for what seems like ages. It's not that I don't have anything to blog about...in fact I have a backlog of photos taken just waiting for some time to get onto the computer and write about them. However we are in the middle of doing some things to our house and I have been painting like crazy before we have new carpet laid in a few weeks. As well as that I have had one small sick child at home which somewhat hampers progress.


Because of all this and because I am about to run out the door to get Harry from school I thought I would at least post the photos of this pie I made last night. It's from my most favourite cooking magazine called Dish (Issue 42...the latest one out). OMG you MUST MUST MUST try this. Buy the magazine or steal it from a friend but whatever you do make this pie. The pastry is so easy and deliver on flavour and texture. The filling is tasty, herbaceous and very very moreish. It was devoured by all of us with the children having seconds. I would have too if I weren't watching my portion sizes (not that I have been all that good lately). There are lots of other fantastic recipes in this issue so you won't regret buying it....next up the Chinese Spiced Beef and Mushroom Pie so watch this space!