easy roast leg of lamb

This recipe probably got me started doing more roasts because the meat came out quite tender and was great for leftovers.  This cut of meat also has little surrounding and inside fat so I didn't have the experience of seeing all the juices turn waxy on my plate as I often do when I have other cuts of lamb.

I wanted something easy so I used garlic and rosemary because they're ingredients that are readily available all year round. Plus, I love the sweetness of the roast garlic so I tend to throw them in a roast whenever I can.

I relied on Jamie Oliver's slow roast method here and that just guarantees you'll have a super tender roast.

Ingredients:

 1 x 2 kg leg of lamb, bone in

1/3 c olive oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large garlic head, separated but left unpeeled; add 2 heads if you love garlic like I do

1 bunch rosemary, half roughly chopped, other half left in sprigs

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Stand lamb at room temperature for 1 hour before cooking. Slash the lamb crosswise at 4 cm intervals on the top side, cutting through the meat no more than .5 cm deep.

Preheat oven to 170 °C.

Combine 50 ml of oil, garlic and chopped rosemary. Place lamb in a roasting pan and season with salt and pepper. Rub oil mixture all over lamb and into incisions. Place garlic bulbs and rosemary sprigs underneath and around the lamb. Add 50 ml of water and cover tightly with aluminium foil. Cook for 3 hours. Remove foil and add 150 ml water. Cook for another hour or until meat falls away from the bone. 

Rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 4-6.

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chargrilled broccoli

This recipe was inspired by a trip to Eveleigh farmer's market. I saw a huge stack of broccoli heads that looked so bright and green that I just had to buy and make something out of them.  

I wanted to cook the broccoli as little as possible so that I wouldn't lose its bright colour. I also wanted to keep the dish simple so that the broccoli's flavour was the star.  I  came across a recipe of grilled broccoli salad that had a lot of ingredients in it so I pared it back and came up with this. 

This was so delicious it never made it as a side for the main meal. My husband and I just ended up eating it as a snack with a nice cold glass of dry white wine while I prepared the rest of dinner. I wasn't sure what to expect from grilling broccoli but I have to say it's probably one of the best ways I've ever had them.

Ingredients:

2 broccoli heads, preferably organic, cut into florets then cut lengthwise along the stalk so that they lie flat during grilling

1 T and 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon, cut in half crosswise

2 T red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1/4 red onion, finely sliced

sea salt flakes

freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Heat a grill pan to high heat. Toss broccoli with 1 T olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Grill for 8-10 minutes, turning occasionally. Set aside. Grill lemon on both sides until softened.

Whisk 1/4 c olive oil, vinegar and garlic to make dressing. Add onion to broccoli and toss in dressing. Drizzle with juice of grilled lemon to taste.

You can serve this as a side or on its own.

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Serves 4.

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white chocolate rocky road

I think it was around Easter and I remember arriving at my work desk to find a small block of white rocky road wrapped in clear cellophane with a dainty ribbon wrapped around it. My work friend Tracy had made some for everyone. I tended to get to work early and remember chuckling to myself as I heard one gleeful sound after another as each person found the little present waiting for them.

I was never a big fan of rocky road until I bit into Tracy's version. I think the rose water did it for me. I didn't get around to getting her recipe so I tried to create my own by tweaking a recipe I found on Taste.com.au. I just love the rich colours of the pistachios and cranberries against the snowy white chocolate. 

I've given these as gifts or served them with the coffee after dinner.

Ingredients:

300 g white chocolate, chopped

1/2 c dried cranberries

1-2 t rose water or just enough to soak the cranberries

1/3 c pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped

100 g white marshmallows

Method:

Grease an 8 x 26 cm bar pan. Line with baking paper with a 2 cm overhang. 

Toss cranberries in rosewater for 20 minutes then drain any excess liquid.

Place chocolate in microwave-safe bowl and heat in microwave on high for 1-2 minutes, uncovered. Stir every 30 seconds or until melted and smooth.

Put cranberries, marshmallows and pistachios in a large bowl and toss to combine. Add melted chocolate. Stir until combined. Transfer and press into pan. Refrigerate, covered with paper overhang, for 2 hours or until set. Cut into into desired size.

Serves 6-8.

Note: To toast the pistachios, preheat oven to 175 °C. Place pistachios on a cookie sheet and distribute evenly. Bake for 6-8 minutes. They will become fragrant when they are done. Watch them like a hawk because they can burn easily. Allow to cool.

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salt & pepper pork

Salt & pepper crab, salt & pepper prawns, salt & pepper squid. How can anything dubbed as simply as "salt & pepper" taste so good? Problem though is they're often deep-fried dishes and I rarely deep fry anything at home. Don't get me wrong. I love deep-fried stuff and would frequently order them when I eat out.  Let's face it. It's hard to beat that fat-epidemic-inducing combination of a crispy crunchy batter with a tender juicy bit of meat or vegetable pocketed inside.

I came home with a deep fryer years ago and still recall the look of fear my husband

gave me. He was scared I was going to slowly kill us with fat. Hot, sizzling, fat. I thought he was being overly dramatic. I wasn't going to use it all the time, I told him.  As it turns out, when I saw how much oil I had to use to get that crispy crunch for my calamari, I balked. I haven't used that deep fryer since. I still see it, sitting at the bottom shelf of my parents' cleaning cupboard, taunting me for my purchase mistake.

 I searched for a salt & pepper dish that didn't require deep frying and came across Adam Liaw's recipe for salt & pepper pork belly in his book "Asian After Work". This is his recipe with some very minor adjustments to suit my taste. I increased the garlic and shallots because they taste fantastic with rice and there never seems to be enough of them go around whenever I order this dish. This is a simple recipe you can easily whip for a week night meal. In fact, that's what the recipes in Adam Liaw's book are all about.

Ingredients:

500 g pork belly, skin removed

1 t sesame oil

4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 bird's eye chilli, sliced

4 shallots (spring onions), white and light green sections only, trimmed and sliced

2 t sea salt flakes

1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

handful coriander leaves

Method:

Slice the pork into 3 cm squares, about 1 cm thick.

Heat wok until very hot and add sesame oil. Fry the pork in 3 batches until well browned on all sides and cooked through.

Remove any excess fat from wok and add garlic, chilli and shallots. Fry over very high heat until mixture is fragrant and garlic starts to brown. Return pork to the wok, add 1 t salt and the black pepper. Do a taste check and add more salt if needed. Toss to coat well. Transfer to warm plate and garnish with coriander.

Serves 4.

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soy sauce noodles

This is a staple on our family table whenever we have yum cha. I've had several attempts at making it and this is the best version I've come up with so far. It's a simple yet satisfying dish that's easy to make. 

Ingredients:

500 g fresh egg noodles

2 T sesame seeds, toasted

1 bunch spring onions (shallots) or garlic chives, cut into 3 cm lengths,  halve the spring onions lengthwise if using them

3 c bean sprouts

4-5 T light soy sauce

2 T dark soy sauce

1 T oyster sauce

3/4 t sugar

white pepper

2 T cooking oil

sesame oil, to taste

Method:

Soak noodles in boiling water for 1 minute then drain well. Do not overcook. You can cut the noodles with scissors if you want to break them apart although this is considered bad luck in the Chinese culture.

Combine sauces and sugar adjusting it to your taste. Stir until sugar has dissolved.

Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add bean sprouts and spring onions or garlic chives for 1 minute or until slightly softened. Set aside.

Add 1 T oil to wok and fry noodles for 1 minute. Add sauce mixture and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add dash of white pepper to taste. Add bean sprouts and spring onions or garlic chives and sesame oil to taste. Fry for 1 minute to combine ingredients. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.

Serves 4.

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Filipino toyomansi prawns

Filipinos love using soy sauce ("toyo") and "calamansi", a citrus fruit we tend to use instead of lemon, in everything. We use it to marinate our barbecued meats and seafood, stewed meats, cured meats and if that's not enough we also use it as a dipping sauce (aka "toyomansi").

Whenever I go home to Manila and have had more pork than I usually consume in a month, which happens within a matter of days, this is the dish I have to help me "detox." Well, sort of. I think detoxing in Manila is next to impossible until you physically fly out of the country. Filipinos love to eat and show their love by relentlessly offering you all manner of temptations around the clock.

I don't really know if there's a proper name for this dish because, as I said, Filipinos use soy sauce and calamansi on so many things. I figure describing the dish as accurately as I can is the way to go in naming it

This dish goes well with some simple sauteed snow peas or green beans.

Ingredients:

1 dozen whole king prawns, heads and shells intact, about 440 g

1 T chopped garlic

4 T light soy sauce

1/2 t dark soy sauce

2 T fresh lemon juice

freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

3 T olive oil

Method:

Using a small sharp knife, make a slit along the back of the prawn and remove the dark vein. If you want to butterfly the prawns, you can cut all the way through the belly side of the prawns. I've left the heads intact because they add a lot to the flavour of this dish.

In a small bowl, combine garlic, soy sauces, lemon juice and some freshly cracked pepper. Place prawns in a shallow non-metallic tray and drizzle with marinade, making sure all the prawns are well coated.  Marinate for 10-15 minutes. Drain.

Heat 1 T of olive in a large fry pan over medium heat. Fry half of the prawns about 1 minute on each side. Add some oil if the pan looks dry. Place prawns in a serving dish. Repeat for remainder of the prawns.

Optional: drizzle prawns with extra virgin olive oil or melted butter; or, if you love garlic like the Filipinos, fry about 1 T of chopped garlic in some olive oil or butter until they're golden brown and drizzle it over the prawns.

Serves 4.

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