Mmm Beef

Its been a while since I did a food post so here is tonights dinner.

Very easy to make beef curry.
Heat some olio & worstershire sauce in the good old elec frying pan

Cut up the spuds and throw them in the steamer

Throw the beef in the pan and brown it.

Next put about a tablespoon of curry powder in a small container. Mumma bare puts in 1 tablespoon (I like more so I usually pretend to sneaze or something and "accidentally" put 2-3 tablespoons in)

Mix in a bit of warm water

Throw it in the pan with the meat

Doing this with half a dozen children in the house while your wife is out on her walk means you have plenty of offers from potential apprentices

Have your apprentice stir on occasion

Next up grab about 2 tablespoons of gravox

Add 3-4 cups of warm water and have your apprentice stir it all together

Pour in with the meat

I usually add peas & corn and on occasion carrots

Simmer for a while (however long it takes for the spuds to cook usually)

Mash the spuds with some butter & milk

Serve

Its quick, easy and tasty. Ok so it doesn't look that appealing but the best part is my eldest boys dont like it so there is always plenty when I make it. Sometimes we substitute the spuds for rice or leave out the curry and just have the gravy base sauce.

Untill next time.....

Yabby Fail

It was my original intention to do a lovely write up about catching some of these suckers, doing some biology with the children then eventually cooking up a decent feed.

Unfortunately we didn't catch any, we found ourselves in deliverence country at a Yabby Farm that was highly suspect. I had to pay cash up front and the bait they gave us was so dry I had no confidence. Ideallt it would be good to just go somewhere and order a kg of live yabbies but at the "farm" we chose you had to catch your own.

We had a net and several lengths on string with rotting meat on the end for "fishing" I have always trapped Yabbies in a net, left in the water for quite a while (Like overnight)

But alas after 2 hours we never had a nibble.

I didn't actually get the impression there were any yabbies there, there was no sign of tails, claws or anything to show people had caught any before.

L quickly tired of the mud and decided to listen to the radio in the car.

It didn't stop her from barking instructions and How-tos

Given how hard C crashed for the trip home I think energy was still well spent.

The kids were dissappointed that we didn't get to catch any and more importantly try eating some. They did agree that that they had fun regardless. I grew up catching and eating Yabbys, and Rabbits and want to share this with my children Now I just need to find a better yabby farm!!

Until next time.....

A weekend Of Cooking

Not much free time his weekend for blogging, Saturday we had some good friends, newlyweds and newly pregnant over for dins, even thought we have been down that road so many times its always exciting when friends get themselves knocked up

I did a fairly large sized piece of beef for Saturday for dinner with roasted herb potatoes.

I'm still trying to find the perfect herb mix for beef, but this turned out pretty good.

Sorry no "After photos".

I also had a gig catering the meet for a work colleague who recently resigned o move back to the states. I did 3 Lambs (all double boneless legs) 1 was injected with garlic cloves, the other 2 copped a oregano/rock salt dusting over extra virgin olive oil rub. Needless to say they all turned out fantastic.

I cooked them on High for an hour medium for the next hour then high for the last. I also filled the bottom of the spit with water, this makes cleaning out the tray easier and also circulates a bit more steam making the meat partially steamed as well as roasted.

I really enjoy cooking for large groups and a few extra hundred in the wallet for 1/2 a days work cant hurt. So given today's success and all the positive feedback I received I think this year I might make a bit of an effort to set myself up and maybe even start a little business, just doing meat/spit roasts not full catering. I have another giog lined up for late March/April so who knows.

Until next time...................

Pork (It Comes from Pigs)

Yesterday I had a chance encounter with this lovely lady at the collingwood childrens farm, like all good one night stands I never got her name or number and was left feeling slightly unfulfilled when I woke this morning.



I quickly realised I was still craving pig, I mean Pork.





I must interject here and apologise for the fact that the photographic component of this update is cronologically flawed (mainly because I forgot to take pics of my prep work)

Anyhoo I digress.....



MY TRICK FOR GOOD CRACKLE

For those unfailiar with pork crackling its the outer layer that sometimes goes crispy during roasting, despite being something like 98% animal fat & 2% skin any unhealthyness disolves during the cooking process (this is what I tell myself)

STEP 1- Ingredients:
The best piece of pork for getting good crackling is a rolled side of pork. While the leg is my favourite part of the beast its not the part that crackle grows on. You need to make sure your butcher scores the hide (cuts heaps of slits in the skin) if not make sure you do it.

You will also need
- Olive oil, gold (harvested late) is best for cooking
- Salt, I use rock salt, ground up in a cup
- Herbs (I use a secret blend)


STEP 2 - Pork Preparation
This is easy but messy (just how I like it). Place the pork into a decent sized roasting dish and pour about a table spoon of the olive oil over the top, use your hands and rub it into every orifice, this can sometimes be a little unsettling for the pork, if need be buy it a drink or two first do this, but not to many, the pork should be easy with little inhibition. You must make sure you rub the oil into all the slits, the oil is the key for making the other ingredients stick.


STEP 3 - Crackle Preparation
Rub the Salt into the slits, I usually just separate the split with2 fingers (Are you getting turned on? I think I am), pour in the salt, then rub over. Make sure you rub into every crack. I also rub herbs into the ends of the pork (the meaty bits). Pour another tablespoon of olive oil around the pork and sprinkle any remaining sat and herbs into it.


STEP 4 - Preheat the oven
Heat is the key here. Over the years i've found that electric ovens work better for pork crackle but I actually prefer gas for just about everything else. I set the oven to 240c and put the pork in for 25 minutes, then drop the temp to between 160-180







This is what my little bundle of joy looked like after 25 minutes











At this point I dropped the heat to about 170 and cooked it for another 25-30 minutes










Sometimes I just pull it out and admire it













Time for the spuds, I just peel and half the potatoes then cut slits in them (similar to the pork)





This is after about an hours cook tie as you can see the crackle is coming up nicely








You can see the slits in the potatoes. I always use BBQ tongs to add them so I can roll them in the oil (which with its herbs and pork juice is now full of flavour) without fear of being splashed.















Fast forward about and hour and we are done, note in my eagerness to get a photo I tilted the tray and bathed one end of the potatoes in a little too much oil, I usually use the same BBQ tongs to get the spuds out and place them on a plate lined with a piece of paper towl.











Carving is not my strong point so I wont show you the end result. Lets just say it was liked by all, every family member asked for seconds and the crackle was perrrrfect.

I'm going to try and do one cooking related post every week or two.

Till next time....