Happy Christmas!

Well it’s been far too long since my last post. A combination of being very busy with work and having very random eating habits in the last few months. Feeling inspired about food again, with a lot of exciting plans for the blog this year so stay tuned in! 

Now I should say my photos are not up to their normal standard. I was too caught up in the xmas food excitement to concentrate on photography. So just some phone shots today. 

Now, my food over christmas. So far it’s been a big mixture of stuff. Christmas day we had lots of nice salads, some great prawn skewers with a fab marinade which I’ll tell you about. Next up we had a really nice organic grass-fed rack of lamb with a home-made tzatziki. Finished it off with some great bread and cheese. I didn’t even get onto the eye fillet that I bought, so expect something with that very soon!

The other day I went down to Glebe Markets and met Stephen Wallis from Snowy Mountains Garlic. I bought a plait of garlic from him and some of his excellent Garlic Relish. I’m hoping to go down for a visit so stay posted for more on that. Anyway the garlic is amazing. So juicy and a really great flavour. I’m now hooked! The Relish is so nice as well and has given me some brilliant ideas to try out with it. I’ve got this idea for stuffed mushrooms with roast vegetables but the first one I tried was my asian garlic prawn marinade.

So for this you will need.

• Snowy Mountains Garlic relish
• Linghams Sweet Chilli Sauce
• 1 large Fresh Red Chilli
• Rice Vinegar
• Fresh Ginger – finely chopped, about 1 teaspoon then 
• Ground ginger – about half a teaspoon. 
• Maldon Salt
• Pepper
• 1 Fresh Lemon
• Fresh Corriander – 1 teaspoon finely chopped. Don’t use too much of this. We just want a subtle flavour.

1. Ok so in a bowl add the garlic relish and mush it all up with a fork. Don’t worry about getting it too fine. Can be a bit rustic! Next add about 4 tablespoons or about 80-100ml of Linghams Sweet Chilli sauce. Add the juice from 1 lemon and about a teaspoon of the lemon rind. Be careful not to take off the bitter white part under the skin. Also make sure to buy un-waxed lemons. Give this a mix then add the fresh and ground ginger then the fresh coriander. Season with a pinch of Maldon Salt and fresh ground pepper. Finally add a splash of good quality rice vinegar. I use a Japanese Rice Vinegar normally.

2. Mix all this up and leave to sit for about 25 mins just to let the flavours infuse.

3. All I did then was to get some bamboo skewers which I’d soaked in water for a few hours and add tiger prawns, onion, red and yellow capsicum and mushrooms. I popped these on the BBQ and brushed over the marinade every few minutes and every time I turned them. Give them about 10 mins over a medium heat, turning every 2 mins or so. We want the vegetables to have some nice colour on them but to retain a bit of their crunch. Don’t have the BBQ too hot!

Sorted. Great as a snack or with a nice asian inspired salad.

Ok so next up I’ll just give you my tzatziki recipe. I realised when I made this that I hadn’t really made tzatziki before and wan’t really sure exactly what went in it, so this is just my interpretation of a tzatziki. I served this with roast potatoes and a BBQ rack of lamb cooked with Snowy Mountains Garlic and rosemary from the garden. The roast potatoes were particularly good with the tzatziki 🙂 No photos here, it all got a bit exciting and I got distracted by the food so I only took a few shots.

So for this you will need.

• High quality yoghurt. I used Barambah Organics Natural Youghurt. It’s great stuff. Their milk is also amazing.
• 1 large cucumber – diced
• A big handful of fresh mint – Finely chopped
• Maldon Salt
• Pepper
• 1 juicy lemon.
• A teaspoon of lemon rind. Sliced and finely chopped. Again make sure not to get any of the white stuff under the skin.

1. This is really easy. Just finely chop everything and add it to the yoghurt. Mix well then leave for 30 mins to infuse. Easy and so fresh and healthy. Great with fish or lamb or on the side with some new potatoes and a nice mixed salad.

Just as one tip, I added the freshly ground pepper but used a fine course grind on my pepper grinder for half of the pepper I added, then put it on a course grind for the remaining pepper. This just means I get some bigger chunks of pepper which adds a little peppery zing occasionally as you’re eating it.

I’m not too good with quantities here, you have to just do what feels right. It all depends how much you want to make. Just taste as you go then make sure to taste after its had about 30 mins in the fridge to check the flavours and seasoning. I love black pepper so I added quite a bit. 🙂

Last up is a nice little salad dressing. Really simple, fresh and tasty!

• Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Caramelised Balsamic Vinegar
• Maldon Salt
• Pepper
• Lemon Juice
• Fresh Parsley – Finely Chopped
• Fresh Basil – Finely Chopped
• Fresh Mint – – Finely Chopped

1. For this I used.

6 tablespoons of Olive oil
2 tablespoons of Caramelised Balsamic
1 tablespoon of Lemon Juice
a heaped teaspoon each of freshly chopped mint, basil and parsley
a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Mix well or make in an old jam jar, pop the lid on and shake well. Sorted!

This is really great over a nice mixed salad, on a carrot salad with chopped boiled eggs or a mixed tomato salad with Heirloom tomatoes and mozarella.

Check back soon for a nice eye fillet recipe. Not Sure what I’m going to do with it yet. Im thinking about a beef wellington……mmmm.

Happy Chrsitmas and New year to you all xxxx