Sunday Gravy - My Way

This is a spectacular sauce. The depth of flavour in this sauce is exceptional, if I do say so myself. This recipe makes a very large pot full, great for the large family or dinner party, or pop half of it in the freezer for another day. Sunday Gravy really isn't a gravy, it's an Italian slow cooked tomato and meat sauce. You choose the meat you want to use. I have used lamb in this one, but sometimes I make it with pork and beef, sometimes just beef. This definitely is a weekend dish. You pop on a low heat for about 4 to 5 hours. Time is the key to this recipe and the key to having a sensationally rich sauce and simply tender meat. So give it a go and enjoy. Sorry it took so long to finally post it. I haven't cooked it for a while because I have been distracted with lots of new flavours. With the present of my glorious pasta machine for Mothers day, I just had to make fettuccine to go with it. Yummo ;)

Ingredients

• 1 Lamb Rack
• 1 Lamb Fillet
• 4 Lamb Steaks
• 5 Cloves of Garlic, Chopped
• 2 Large Brown Onions, Sliced
• 500 mls of Beef Stock
• 2 Bottles of Tomato Cooking Sauce, widely available at the supermarket
• 2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon of White Sugar
• Salt Flakes and Ground Black Pepper for Seasoning
• A Knob of Butter and a Good Splash of Olive Oil

Firstly you need a nice big heavy based stockpot. Put on a high heat to sear the meat, add the olive oil and butter. Brown the meat for a minute or so on each side, take out the meat and set aside on a plate. Then in the same pot add the onions and fry them for about 4 Min's or so, with a generous pinch of salt. You want to fry them in the residual juices, olive oil and butter leftover from searing the meat, lots of flavour in there. So that was the hardest bit really. Add your stock, tomato cooking sauce into the pot. To get the most out of your cooking sauce in the jars, add about a cup full of water in each and put their lids back on and give them a shake, then pour that into your pot as well. Lastly put in your Worcestershire sauce, sugar and the meat, including the lovely meat juices that have run out onto the plate, make sure to add lots of ground black pepper at this stage and another good pinch off salt. So now just bring this gorgeous sauce up to the boil. Give it a stir, then reduce to quite a low heat. Simmer for a good 4 hours with the pot lid half on, half off. Give it a stir every 30 Min's or so, but don't stress about it. Just make sure it is not simmering to much otherwise it will stick to the bottom of the pan. You will notice it will go from being very watery to a love rich thick sauce and the meat just seems to fall apart it is so tender. Taste for salt and pepper and add more if needed. Seasoning is so important, it creates depth in flavour and enhances the ingredients to their full potential. Allow the sauce to cool enough so you can break the meat up into lovely chunks and to pull out any bones that are in the sauce. Reheat and serve with your favourite pasta, and some Grana Padano. This sauce, can you believe it, is even better the day after. Something about it sitting in the fridge over night just lets all those flavours just enhance even more. I hope you guys enjoy as much as we do. It is an amazing sauce. Enjoy ;)

Garbage and the Prime Minister

Photo of a random dump somewhere

Alot of the time in life I think I forget about the impact I make everyday to the environment and then I got a total reality check. Last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting the dump one on one for over an hour. It was a day of observing what happens after I sell my front lift bin. I sell Waste Management everyday and really, I didn't actually think about what I was selling. We all have garbage to get rid of but I saw on Friday how much we actually do get rid of in just one day. To be honest with you, it really is scary. My day started with the excitement of 'I am going to ride in a big garbage truck today, oh I feel like a big kid' lets just say the novelty of it wore off quickly and reality set in.



I jumped into the truck with my Bosses get the job done attitude and off we went. He then proceeds to tell me about how he had just lifted a bin and it was chock full of stuffed up, uncooked bread dough, wet, expanded, sludgy bread dough. I am talking at least 3 cubic meters of it. So we headed off to the dump to dispose of goodness knows how much garbage, my boss said about 120 cubic metres, lets just say it was a massive load. Firstly you get to the landfill and they weigh the truck and the fee charged to dump it is based on weight. Then we drive round to where the trucks dump their garbage. I have never seen so many birds. It was amazing, no exaggeration there must have been 300 ibis birds standing on top of this huge landfill of garbage. Above that there were about 30 brown coloured eagles circling above them, soaring with their wings stretched right out. It was sad to see them like that, so unnatural, so unthinkable. All of the ibis where dirty and grotty looking. We dumped our load of garbage and my boss proceeded to scrape out the inside of the truck with a shovel. It was disgusting. The smell and the vermin and all that garbage. It took my boss over an hour in the heat of the day to clean out, the inside of the back of the truck with a shovel. All I could think about was how disgusting it was and how disturbingly blind I have been about what contribution I make in protecting the environment.



I use my recycle bin but that's pretty much about it. That is about to change for me. I am going to learn to be more aware of what I throw in my bin and my actions towards the environment. I am a real lover of our country and the gorgeous land we adore. But the reality is we are rubbishing it and will it survive for our children's children to come? Gosh I hope so.



I also got to see Mr John Howard on my journey in the Garbage Truck. We passed him on his way to the airport. All comfy in his flash Mercedes Bens car dressed with ribbons and who ha. All in all it was a very interesting and thought provoking day. The last place I ever imagined I would see our Prime Minister was while I was bumping up and down in a Garbage Truck.

Cheers Amelita

The Dog Hot

Would you check this out! This is one serious hot dog, but wait it's not your usual hot dog. It's what I call a Dog Hot! Every mouthful encapsulated in fresh bread and it's hot all the way through. That's why I call it a Dog Hot! P.S. don't burn your tongue ;)

For the Bread Dough

• 5 cups Bread Flour
• 500 mls of Water
• 2 teaspoons of Dried Yeast
• Passion with a love of Hot Dogs

Place all ingredients in a good stand alone mixer, attach dough hook and mix for a good 4 - 5 Min's on slow speed. Stop mixer and touch dough with finger tip. If it is sticky add a little more flour and mix until combined well. Keep testing as needed. When your finger comes away from the dough without it sticking you have finished. Pull from mixer and knead on a floured surface by hand for a couple of Min's. Then place on a lined baking tray on top of warming oven at 200 degrees. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for 30 Min's.
Once risen place dough on a floured surface. Don't worry if it seems really soft, stretchy and sticky a bit. Give it a quick Knead and roll out into a very large rectangle.

Basically use your imagination and create the Dog Hot of your choice. I filled mine with cheese, half mix of grated tasty and mozzarella, grilled bacon, caramelised onions, skinless Frankfurt's, tomato sauce and American mustard. After you have filled them like the photos above, roll them into a large sausage shape encapsulating all of the filling. Then cut into Hot Dog length rolls. Place in a lined tray snuggled up together. Brush with a little milk and top with sesame seeds. Bake in an oven for 35 Min's on 210 degrees Celsius. Then turn off your oven and allow to sit in the remaining heat for 15 Min's. Then eat at will. Fantastic, the kids loved them and my biggest fan David ate 2 and a 1/2 of them. I planned these out in my head a couple of days ago and I am really glad that they turned out so well. Would be great party food to, cut into small dogs for finger food.

Rejuvenation

Hello Everyone,

Just thought I would let you all know, I have given my blog a little makeover. There are some new pictures of food and lots of pics of my artwork. So if you usually just check out my most recent post and have not wandered downward for a while, check it out. I try to keep my blog fresh, fun and interesting. So go on, scroll down, yes, all the way down and enjoy ;)

Cheers Amelita

San Choy Bow - So Easy

San Choy Bow is one of our favourite dishes. It is so morish and so refreshing to eat. I love the saucy flavour. This is such a simple dish and is sure to be a favourite for you as well.


Ingredients

• 2 Iceberg Lettuces, separated into leaves
• 500 grams of Pork Mince or Beef lean
• 2 small Carrots, grated
• 1 tin of Water Chestnuts, sliced and diced
• 2 large cloves of Garlic, chopped finely
• 1/2 bunch of Eschallots, sliced, keep separated the white ends and the green top
• 3 tablespoons of Oyster Sauce
• 3 tablespoons of Sweet Thick Soy or Kecap Manis
• Splash of Sesame Oil
• Salt & Pepper to season

To start in a large pan, fry on a high heat the Eschallot white ends and garlic in some peanut oil with a sprinkling of salt for a couple of minutes. Then add your mince and brown. Next step is to throw in the grated carrots, water chestnuts, oyster sauce, sweet thick soy and sesame oil. Stir and bring to a simmer. Allow to bubble for a couple of minutes until the sauce seems to thicken and look syrupy. Taste for seasoning. Then toss through your green eschallot tops. Your ready to go. All you have to do now is put a big spoonful into a lettuce cup, roll it up and munch your brains out. This is seriously good stuff. Enjoy :)

My fridge - Completely Naked

OK, so I was inspired to bare all in my fridge from a post on Becks & Posh. They did it and have inspired others to do it, so I thought why not join in. So here it is. Not very exciting. Working our way down from the top. Up there on the left is this little area where I stash my chocolate and chocolate biscuits, but for some reason someone has put some leftover artichoke oil up there. Then there is some sliced cheese just beneath that, garlic cloves peeled, some Turkish delight thins I bought Dave. Now on the same shelf all the way to the right is a jar of tamarind paste, with that I just made some Thai marinade I am working on perfecting. You can see the jars of marinade beneath on the next shelf. Also there are some jars of a Onion, Chili, Apple and Raspberry Jam. It came out more like a sauce, so I am still working on that recipe. Greek yogurt in case I want to make tatziki.

Next shelf there is a giant tub of Kalamatta olives that we are trying to work our way through. Egg whites in that little bag all the way to the right, ready for a pavlova or meringue.

There is beef mince there also, for San Choy Bow, because I have major trouble finding pork mince here. Pork mince is traditionally used for this dish. Looks like I might have to actually use my mincer attachment for my Kitchen Aide. Then underneath that shelf is some leftover foccacia and a bag of mozzarella cheese. In the crisper we have a lettuce, carrots, William pears and chili's.

It's really not that exciting for someone who loves to cook. The only thing I can say is, wait till you see the picture of my pantry. That I think is where my magic happens. I have so many not the norm ingredients that my food is just filled with flavour. There are other things in my fridge that I have not mentioned because I think you can tell what they are. So well then What's in your fridge? Anything out of the ordinary and simply splendid? It is fascinating looking in others peoples fridges, we all have such varying taste buds. We all have our favourite snacking food, we all have a special something expensive ingredient. My expensive ingredient was in the door of my fridge and it is a bottle of White Truffle Oil that I bought in the USA. This with gorgeous creamy mashed potatoes is pure heaven. It is adorable and so aromatic. I have never had the pleasure of eating a fresh Truffle and this is the next best thing. So I hope you have enjoyed my little bare all tour through my fridge? Thought it might be a bit of fun. Cheers Everyone :)

Chocolate Fudge Sauce

How is this for a Banana Split? My kind of comfort food. Every mouthful is just sinful, rich and disgustingly fattening. Bananas, Vanilla Ice Cream, Cream, Toasted Peanuts and of course, the richest most delicious chocolate fudge sauce to top it off. As you can see I love rich food. I am not obese, nor am I an over indulger but these kind of treats just make life a bit sweeter. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm

Chocolate Fudge Sauce

Ingredients

• 400 grams of a good quality dark Chocolate, chopped
• 2 cups of Cream
• 40 grams of Butter, real butter no substitutes
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Bean Paste

Pop your cream and vanilla bean paste into a heavy based saucepan. Bring up to the simmer and take of the heat. Then add your butter and chocolate. Stir until the chocolate and butter has all melted through. You should have a thick, glossy, smooth mixture.

Suggestions for other use, great on cupcakes, fabulous as a hot chocolate base - just add warm milk, perfect on top of a pavlova, great for using with fresh strawberries. The possibilities are endless. So Easy :)