Corroboree recipes

[botanika]

Yucatan Surf and Turf

This a custom recipe I made up last weekend with exotic jungle flavors. I haven’t noted quantities of ingredients really and I’m just describing it as I remember cooking so it may be a bit long winded. Its not a quick dish but easier than it sounds.

What you’ll need:

Olive or favourite oil

Salt and pepper (preferably ground rock/sea salt and pepper)

Fresh Lime’s (small thai style ones the best)

Garlic

Spanish Onion

Green, yellow or red peppers

Baby tomatoes

Yellow zucchini

Sour cream

Fresh full cream

Brown sugar

Fresh Basil

Fresh cilantro (coriander)

Fresh parsley

Chives

Hot Chilli sauce (I use Mad Anthony's hot sauce)

Pork cutlets (thick as you can find)

Fresh King Prawns

Marinade sauces for meat (I use a smokey grilling marinade for the pork and a honey chilli sauce for the prawns)

Fresh Banana’s

Coconut cream

Coconut shavings

Organic dark food colouring (optional)

Dark rum

Rice (or cous cous, mashed potato)

There are 4 parts to the dish: The meats, the vegetable sauce, the banana coconut salsa and rice. If you're vegetarian you can substitue meats for sweet potatoes or legumes and you can use fish or other meats instead of pork.

Start with the pork cutlets. Turn on oven to medium high heat. Add smokey flavored marinade sauce to pork cutlets and seal the pan with a little olive oil and salt covering the pan on medium heat. If you don’t have any marinade use a little of your favourite bbq sauce. Grill and seal the pork cutlets both sides until a nice light brown colour. You only need to seal it for a minute or so each side. Add a touch of seasoning and place cutlets in an oven tray with a shallow layer of olive oil. You don’t want the cutlets on too high, just enough to slowly roast them while your cooking everything else. Every so often open the oven and spoon some of the seasoned oil back over the pork. This will keep it moist and tasty.

Now onto the sauce. After cleaning the frying pan, seal pan again with oil and pinch of salt and add chopped garlic and onions. When slightly brown add peppers (capsicum) and keep stirring like a stir fry to keep it all moving. Add tomatoes and zuchini when peppers soften along with a dash of chili sauce, freshly squeezed lime juice, cilantro, basil, chives and seasoning (salt and pepper). Just put a little herbs in at this moment. Add a splash of water if it gets dry and avoid burning. Add a little splash of red wine if you have some. Add in some sour and fresh cream, a tea spoon of brown sugar and more lime juice simmering until like a pasta sauce. Add a bit more cilantro and basil but don’t overdo it. Because this sauce is similar in colour to the banana salsa you may wish to add organic dark red food colouring or more tomato’s and tomato paste to darken it up and add colour contrast to the salsa. It’s just a presentation thing. Or add salad to the final dish for presentation colours. When ready pour it into a blender to produce a rich smooth sauce. You can add anything to this sauce really, but keep it full of goodness and tangy taste. You want to get a nice blend between the salts, sugars, vegetable flavours, chilli and lime and the creams help bind it all together. I try not to use much salt, just a pinch hear and there while Im going and let the other foods anchor down the flavour. Use plenty of lime juice - it's awesome to cook with. Put blended sauce to side.

Next up is the banana coconut salsa, similar to what you might find in a thai or Indian restaurant. Chop fresh banana’s and quickly sear in pan with a small splash of dark Jamaican rum and pinch of brown sugar. Add a squeeze of lime in there again if you want. Add coconut milk or cream and coconut shavings and simmer quickly. You don’t want to cook the bananas soft just enough to heat them. This salsa should be thick and chunky in contrast to the vegetable puree sauce. Put this salsa aside.

By this time you should have some rice going or a rice cooker finishing up. Time it to have the rice ready as you finish the prawns. You could also used mashed potatoes as a base but rice is better as it has texture to contrast the sauces.

Keep checking on the pork cutlets and remember to drizzle some oil from the bottom of the oven dish back over the cutlets. Peel and marinade the prawns using a honey chilli glaze. You can use a simple marinade of garlic and chili sauce if you want.

Now’s when it all gets busy getting ready to serve. The pork should be done. Turn off oven but leave pork inside. Quickly zap or reheat vegetable sauce and salsa if needed and start serving the rice out onto a plate in a neat oval shaped mound. Quickly sear the prawns adding more chili glaze and seasoning if needed. Another squeeze of lime juice while cooking won’t hurt. Place pork cutlets and prawns over rice and drizzle over the top the tangy blended vegetable sauce. Banana salsa (or salad) and half a lime to the side and sprinkle coconut shavings over salsa. Add a touch of seasoning if needed, fresh chopped parsley and a few fresh chopped chives for presentation. Serve on large white plate with glass of wine and you can also add cornbread, tortilla or pita bread to side.

A Peruvian flan would make a nice dessert for this dish.

Wake n Bake Sunday Breakfast Sandwich

What you will need:

Turkish pide bread

Off the bone deli ham

Cheese: either tasty, cheddar, jack, coon etc (I use sharp cheddar)

Eggs

Baby spinach

Tomato sauce

Seasoning

Cook egg sunny side up on medium heat in light oil, butter or non stick egg maker. Ensure yolk in middle does not harden. Place to side. Keep pan heated and throw on ham to warm up. Place Turkish pide in toaster or oven but dont toast too long or it will be brittle and dry. Put slice of cheese on top of ham as it grills to soften. Butter Turkish bread toast and add layer of baby spinach. Then scoop up ham and cheese from grill and place over baby spinach layer. Add a couple of squirts of tomato sauce (or mayo, BBQ, honey mustard, hollandaise etc) then put sunny side egg on top with a quick twist of seasoning (salt n pepper). Place top bread on carefully as it will break egg sending an explosion of yolk through sandwich. Enjoy, sit in sun, have bong and compliment with expresso or OJ.

Edited January 28, 2011 by botanika

[santiago]

#1

it doesnt get much simpler than this...for the person on the run or just who cant be bothered.

2 minute noodles

1 can of john west tuna tempters

cook the two minute noodles, once cooked add can of room temp tuna tempters (tuna & onion or salsa seem to be my best tasting combo)

mix arount with a fork and enjoy.

total cooking time-5 minutes

total cost at todays cost $2

pretty much equivilant to tuna mornay without the fuss.

enjoy

#2

5-10 small medium tomatoes

packet of grated cheese

slice top off tomato and core out inside leaving outside intact.

replace core with grated cheese and place inside a preheated oven at 150-200c for 10-15 mins depeding on taste.

simplistic just as they are, maybe with a piece of buttered bread.

yum

Edited January 28, 2011 by santiago

[botanika]

You guys aren't eating take away all the time are you??

Stuffed Cranberry Roast Pork

Tasty Roast Pork dish with an infusion of cranberry ripples.

To make the stuffing buy a packet of bread crumbs, chicken stock, butter, herbs (I used majoram, parsley, thyme and sage). Fresh lime juice, garlic, chives, seasoning and fresh cranberries (You can buy frozen packs like John West or Ocean Spray). Simmer the chicken stock and butter and pour into bowl with breadcrumbs. Leave remaining un-used stock in pan for later. Mix in with remaining ingredients and add in a big handful of cranberries. Leave to side.

Pre heat oven to medium high. Take a Pork Lion and butterfly it (cutting in 1/3 and then back in reverse the remaining third) so it opens out flat. Rub some salt onto the opened side and then spread out the stuffing in a thin layer. If you make the layer too thick it will all squeeze out when tying it back up. Once the stuffing is spread out, roll it back up and tie in place with some cooking string. It should look like a log. Add more seasoning to the surface. Take baking tray and fill a small layer of olive oil in the bottom, several whole garlic cloves and a few more cranberries for good measure. Bit of seasoning to the oil mix. Heat for 40-50 minutes, occasionally opening up oven to drizzle oil from bottom back over the roast.

While this is cooking you can steam some vegetables or make mashed potatos. When the Roast is done, skim some of the tasty oil from the bottom of the baking tray back into the pan with the stock. Add a tablespoon of cream to this and you have an instant creamy gravy or sauce for the roast.

Remove cooking string and thinly slice pork. Serve with mash or steamed vegetables and drizzle sauce over the top. Its a great dish because the stuffing infuses the pork and the cranberries explode with tangy flavour as you devour the meal.

Scrambled Eggs

Crack and whisk 3 eggs into a bowl with a pinch of salt. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of full cream. Melt small knob of butter into a pan and when melted pour in the egg mix. Keep stirring and ensure pan/saucepan is not too hot so it burns. Take off heat just before its done and still a little runny. If its done in the pan, it will be overdone on the plate and will be too dry. Easy dish but using fresh full cream will make it like it was made in a restaurant.

Serve with fresh turkish bread toast and a sprinkle of pepper on top.

Quick meatballs

This one I got from Jamie Oliver. Normally I find his dishes a bit british but this one is good if youre in a rush or need to use leftover sausages from a BBQ the day before.

Boil saucepan with water and pinch of salt. Add spaghetti pasta.

Season frypan with olive oil and salt and take fresh sausages (can be any but the better the sausage the better the meatball) and breaking the skin you can squeeze out the sausage meat into little meatballs straight onto the pan. Make sure its high enough to cook but not too high to burn. In another pan (or you can cook this beforehand and leave to side in bowl) sear fresh garlic, olive oil and fresh basil leaves, plus a little oregano or majarom. When Garlic is roasting, add a can of peeled roma tomatoes. Grab the tomatoes as they come out of the can and squeeze them to a pulp. Simmer and stir (along with meatballs). Add in 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar and a squeeze of lime juice to the tomato sauce. When pasta is done drain and put into the pan with the meatballs. The pasta will soak up the meaty oil. Serve pasta onto dish followed by tomato sauce and finally meatballs on top. Add fresh basil shoot on top if entertaining. Its a quick dish because sausage can be frozen and thawed easily, tinned tomatoes can be kept a long time and you dont have to make the meatballs individually, just rip the meat out of sausage.

Edited February 15, 2011 by botanika

[bℓσωηG]

im so getting into eating prickly pears one day

Nopales

Nopales are the tear-shaped, hand-sized leaves or pads or "paddles" of the prickly pear cactus.

Nopalitos are nopales (pronounce no-PAH-les)--cactus spines removed--cut into bite-sized squares or strips.

To make nopalitos en salsa verde, steam or boil nopalitos until tender crunchy then re-cook in a sauce of puréed tomatillos, onion, garlic, cilantro, and jalapeño chiles boiled and simmered. Wrap the mix in a tortilla or serve with chips.

Nopalitos sautéed or steamed are a favorite served in omelets.

Grill nopales brushed with olive oil until soft and slightly charred, about 10 to 12 minutes on each side, and serve as a side vegetable with grilled steak or chicken.

Nopalitos cut into strips can be rolled in a flour or cornmeal batter and deep-fried like potatoes.

Nopales have the flavor and very subtle tartness of asparagus or green beans with a chewy texture. Young, thin pads are the most succulent and delicate flavored.

Nopales are popular in the cookery of the southwestern United States and Mexico, dating back to the time of the Aztec and Mayan peoples. The pads can be harvested with the slice of a knife from several species of the prickly pear cactus which range in size from low and sprawling to tree-like, more than 20 feet ( 6m) tall. The prickly pear is native to warm, dry regions of Mexico. Nopal means cactus in Spanish.

Besides nopales, the prickly pear fruit--which can be red or orange or an array of bright colors and is about the size of a large plum or pear--is also edible and often used in desserts.

Nopales can be covered with "eyes" and cactus spines and prickly hairs called glochids. These must be removed by hand or singed away with fire. Some cultivated varieties of nopales are spineless.

Season: The peak season for nopales is spring through late fall.

Choose: Select smallish nopales paddles that are no larger than hand-size, about 8 inches or less in length, and not too thick. Thicker paddles will have lost their sheen and be less tender and can be stringy. New, tender growth will be pale to medium green, crisp-firm, not dry, limp, soggy, or wrinkled. Cultivated nopales have a prickless pad

Store: Nopales are best used fresh in a few days. They can be kept nearly crisp for a few weeks in water in the refrigerator.

Prepare: The "eyes" and stickers of nopales must be removed before serving. Use a swivel peeler to remove the spines. You can also brush away the spines. Be sure to wear gloves. After the spines are removed, shave the rim of each pad and trim off any dry or fibrous areas and rinse thoroughly before serving or cooking. Keep as much of the nopale's green skin as possible.

Cook: Nopales can be simmered, boiled, sautéed, deep fried, or grilled. They are best served with a tender crunchy texture. Over-cooked nopales will have a slimy texture.

To avoid the slippery texture, rinse cooked nopales and drain in a colander, cover with a damp towel to keep the pads from drying out, and let stand about 30 minutes before slicing or serving.

Serve: Here are some nopales serving ideas:

• Sauté nopalitos in butter or oil and serve.

• Grill until slightly browned, slice into strips and toss with a squeeze of lime and a little bit of olive oil.

• Dice and cook in an ungreased pan with chunks of onions, one or two cloves of garlic until no longer slippery, about 5 minutes, then rinse.

• Grill or boil, dice, and add to salsa or salads.

• Sauté with scrambled eggs, diced onion, chiles, and tomatoes.

• Sauté bite sized pieces in butter for about 5 minutes then add eggs and cheese to scramble.

• Cool for 15 to 20 minutes in boiling salted water; pour off the water and rinse in cold water; use in salads, stews, or as a vegetable.

• Boil, drain and wash with cold water; serve with finely diced tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and jalapeños, season with vinegar, salt and lime juice.

• Grill and serve with grilled Portobello mushrooms.

• Dice and sauté bits with chili pepper and sausage or grated cheese in tortillas.

• Cut boiled, cooled strips and combined in a salad of tomatoes, onion, oregano, cilantro, chilies, oil and vinegar.

• Stir squares into soups, about 10 minutes.

• Stir diced into chili or beans in last the 15 minutes.

• Slice the pad and sandwich to enclose cheese, then dip in a light egg-flour batter and deep fry.

• Steam, dice and add to scrambled eggs.

• Toss with tomato, onion and vinaigrette.

Flavor partners: Nopales have a flavor affinity for chiles, coriander, corn, eggs, lemon, lime, onions, sweet bell peppers, tomato, tortillas, tropical fruits egg, cheese, onions, cilantro, scallions, oregano, and salsa.

Nutrition: Nopales are an excellent source of vitamin A and C, and also contain vitamin B and iron.

The botanical name for the prickly pear cactus and nopales is Opuntia fiscus-indica.

 

[CβL]

I can attest that eating prickly pear cactus (with spines, without gloves) is NOT worth it.

[herbal_hindsight]

I can attest that eating prickly pear cactus (with spines, without gloves) is NOT worth it.

 

hahahahah yes so can i... hahaha young foolish days of trying something new without researching it first ;-) those things are not pleasant stuck in your tongue/mouth!

The fruit tastes alright but not good enough to repeat having those glochids? imbedded in my gob! youch!

[mutant]

Shrimps and morels, red sauce

Shrimps, whole

Dried morels

Tomato sauce, tomatos

Onion, garlic

salt pepper

This is a champ, a top gourme dish, and its success lies in its simply awesome incredients.

I usually cook - when I do - instinctively, so I won't refer to quantities

you will use preferably fresh and small shrimps, but frozen whole will do, you need to use all the juices of the shrimp and dried morels. Then you peel the shrimps and leave only the shrimp flesh in the stew. you can always use some fresh morels [a highlight of the dish] or some other mushroom or vegetable in there, but take care not to add anything intense or it will loose it's morel character. A little onion can never harm though. So you cook these with tomato sauce and chopped up tomato, and OF COURSE garlic. Don't put too much tomato, or you will spoil the dish. Some wine [red preferably] can be added in some phases like in the shrimps-only phase or the shrimp and morels phase or even pour some to the stew after adding the tomato.

thinly chopped up fresh parsely is a yes-please for me in almost all mushroom dishes, so yes.

This awesome dish can be changed into being a sauce for spagetti or rice , a main dish [more shrimps and morels, lots of materials needed] or a secondary treat dish for everyone in the table.

Some people add cheese to this recippe, I haven't tried, but I don't really feel like to.

Oh, it pays to have fresh bread with this one

Squid-morel-blacktrumpet red pseudosoup

This was one of the in an instant inspirations, I thought of this as an alternative to something I love and eat often, chicken with mushrooms, in all kinds of ways. So I was stoned and found some frozen squids in the freezer. I thought what the heck, soup is what I gonna make the easiest.

incredients:

squids

dried morels

dried black trumpets

1 gram dried amanita muscaria powder [flavor enhancer]

3 tomatos

3 onions

salt pepper

well soups are easy. you put the water to boil, then you put the incredients according to how long they take to be ready. Say, squid and onions first, then tomato, then after a while the dried mushrooms and , amanita muscaria last of all.

you can add more discreet veggies in that, like, more tomato, leek, carrot, some potato, chives, anything discreet really. Again, take care of quantities, so as not to burry the mushrooms aroma and flavour.

[Slybacon]

Chicken and Roast Pumpkin Pesto Pasta with Rocket and Feta (Very Easy Quick Dish)

-Pasta

-Chicken

-Pesto (Home Made Preferred)

-Parmesan Cheese Block

-Pine Nuts

-Feta Cheese

-Rocket

-Roast Pumpkin

-Chili (Optional)

-Sour Cream (Optional)

Pre-Heat Oven to 180 to 200.

Cut Pumpkin Into Small Pieces and Place in baking dish.

Add oil Salt and Pepper to taste.

Bake for Approx 30 mins or untill lightly browned on out side and soft in the middle.

Meanwhile

Put Pasta ( I usually use spirals ) in to cook to your liking.

Fry pine nuts in skillet until lightly browned and crispy. Place to One side.

In same pan, add a glug of Oil and fry chicken until lightly browned but still moist

Next

Combine Chicken , Chili (optional) , Pesto and Cooked Pasta in a large mixing bowl and stir together

Add Parmesan Cheese until thick and sticks to pasta and chicken. (if too thick add Sour Cream or Yogurt)

Finally add Feta , Pine Nuts and Pumpkin and stir lightly trying to avoid breaking the feta and Pumpkin

Serve garnished with Rocket and Parmesan. Add salt and Pepper to taste

Edited February 16, 2011 by Slybacon

[etherealdrifter]

beautiful.yum.yum. to save thyme i add my pine nuts to the pesto-homegrown-basil mix when imake the pesto.

yummm

onya

sb.

ethdtr

[botanika]

Nice one Sly - roasted pine nuts are awesome!

[botanika]

Creamy tomato salman pasta

This one is quick, easy and super tasty!

Start boiling some water with favourite pasta. Add a pinch of salt to the water.

Add some olive oil to a pan on medium heat and throw in some chopped garlic and fresh basil leaves until soft. Add cut pieces of Salmon with salt, pepper and fresh oregano turning regularly. Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a little more oil if getting dry. When salmon is basically cooked and a nice light brown colour add a can of italian peeled tomatoes squeezing them through your fingers to pulp them down. Add a tablespoon or 2 of tomato paste to get some extra zing and deeper colour. Stir in 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of full cream and another squeeze of lime juice. You can also add a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. Taste it to check richness and add more salt and pepper if needed. Simmer until pasta is done.

Drain pasta and stir into bowl with a drizzle of olive oil so it doesn't stick. Add the pasta sauce and mix in. Cracked pepper over the top and a fresh basil leaf/shoot for presentation. Quick and yummy!

[mutant]

Boiled 'chard' [beta vulgaris ] with cellery

this is the easiest dish ever, my favourite 'greens' boiled, greeks eat lots of boiled 'greens', usually served with olive oil and lemon, more rarely with vinegar/garlic. I might talk about this some time, we got tons of them and many of them have therapeutical qualities.

OK this is easy as fuck. 'Chard' [ Beta vulgaris] and cellery [you might want to add your favourite hot pepper according to your taste for capsaicin-hotness, it goes well with this]. You boil the two greens - the stems are awesome the more tender they are, but boiling will do it anyway. You don't really need lots of cellery for this one. It's more like a 1:20 or even 1:40 analogy chard : cellery

Serve with olive oil and plenty of lemon. It's also eaten cool and it's still awesome.

This is a minimal dish, so you can feel free to experiment with adding more aromatic greens and hebrs - but this is fantastic as is!

====

I have difficulties in cooking terminology and even in food names in english. I will read you recipees in depth sometime. I am not sure which chard you have locally available, but I assume there won't be too exotic. They are awesome , what I have in mind are perennial plants and guarantee lots of harvests per year from a couple of plants, plus seeds. They might get weedy with some encouragement, and I have accomplished this in an occasion or two.

[qualia]

for a thoroughly delicious sautéed tofu,

cube up a 1/4 pack of tofu (1cm or so), pan fry until half way done,

then put in 1 or 2 cloves of garlic (crushed or chopped fine), and cracked black pepper,

fry until tofu is golden

in the meantime combine 3/4 - 1 of a teaspoon of cumin powder,

less than quarter teaspoon of turmeric,

bit of a dash of dried thyme (about 1/4 teaspoon or less)

salt to taste

combine it with enough water to make a loose paste, maybe 4 - 5 tablespoons,

needs to be wet enough to cover tofu, any excess water will evaporate in the pan

add to tofu, cook out the spices and evaporate the water,

once ready remove from pan and consume,

for a delicious sweet twist add some red capsicum in with the tofu at the start

*att: quantities are very rough guesses, adjust everything to taste

[∂an]

Walnut, Date and nutmeg cookies

Ingredients:

225 gm whole wheat flour

1 cup dates, chopped

1 cup walnuts, chopped

200 gm butter, melted

1 egg

3/4 cup brown sugar

50mL sour cream

2 tablespoons local honey

2 tsp baking powder

1 large whole, fresh nutmeg, chopped finely

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder

Preparation:

1. Sieve the flour and baking soda together. Mix in the chopped dates, walnuts, nutmeg and cinnamon.

2. Cream the sugar, honey and melted butter, add egg and sour cream when it has cooled, beat thoroughly.

3. Stir in the flour mixture. Mix the ingredients together until well combined.

4. Make balls with your hands and flatten the balls with your palm.

5. Bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 24 cookies

A nice, mild nutmeg buzz can be felt after 2 or 3 cookies. A good way to put unsuspecting housemates in a good mood on a sunday morning

Edited May 14, 2011 by kalika

[devance]

pea soup. wash the peas 3 times and soak over night or not if using a slow cooker..

As a veg cooking after soaking , just onions, garlic or black pepper powder after.

Salt or sea salt can be the added to much, that can ruin a soup.

So after the veg soup too from salt taste.

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Exotic-Herbs-Spices-and-Salts-639/culinary-salt-guide.aspx

I think that heating up the salt crystal makes it more tasty.

.

Edited June 19, 2011 by devance