Beef Massaman Curry

I love making Curry pastes from scratch. It makes the whole house smell amazing and is very rewarding!

 



 

 


500Gm Beef Cubes
2 TBSP Cornflour
1 Red Onion
2 Spring Onion stalks
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 TBSP Lemongrass paste (or a couple of stalks)
1 Thumb-size piece of Ginger
1 bunch of Coriander (stalks and roots chopped finely, leaves roughly chopped and set aside for later)
1-2 Long Red Chilli's (depending on how hot you like it, some chopped and reserved for garnish)
1/2 tsp Ground Coriander, Cinnamon and Cumin
2 tsp Soy Sauce, Sugar and Fish Sauce
2 Limes (1 juiced and 1 cut into wedges for garnish)
4-5 medium sized potatoes, cut into large chunks
400ml can coconut milk
3 TBSP Sweet Chilli Sauce
2.5 cups Beef stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss the beef in the flour and set aside.

Combine the red onion, spring onions, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, coriander root and stems, chilli, spices, soy sauce, fish sauce, sweet chilli sauce, sugar and lime in a food processor or mortar and pestle and process until a paste is formed.

 

 

 Fry off the beef in batches in some oil until browned and set aside. Then fry off paste in some more oil for a few minutes. Add the stock, coconut milk, beef and potatoes and mix until combined. Simmer on very low, covered for 6-8 hours. You could transfer to a slow cooker or cook covered in a low oven too.

Serve with steamed rice and garnish with leftover coriander leaves, chopped chilli and a wedge of lime.

Serves 4-6



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Seafood & Chorizo Paella

 

This recipe is great for dinner parties with friends.....as it's great for feeding crowds and smells amazing! For best results use Medium Grain rice; Bomba or Calasparra Rice is preferred.

1x Brown Onion, Diced
1x Red Capsicum, Diced
2x tsp. crushed garlic
1x Long Red Chilli, Deseeded, Finely Diced
1x Spanish Chorizo, Diced
1x TBSP Tomato Paste
2x cups Medium Grain Rice (Or use Bomba or Calasparra Rice)
2x tsp. ground turmeric and paprika
a good pinch of saffron threads
4x cups chicken stock (hot)
300gm Shelled, Deveined Prawns
300gm Cleaned Mussels
1x cup Frozen Peas & Corn
Chopped Parsley
lemon wedges


Mix Turmeric, Paprika and Saffron threads in the hot chicken stock and set aside to infuse.

Brown off Onion, Capsicum, Garlic and Chilli in some oil in a Paella Pan.

Season with Salt and pepper and add Chorizo until browned. Fry off Paste and add rice followed by the stock mixture and peas and corn.

Cover loosely with foil and simmer on low for about 20 mins until the rice is tender.

In the last 5-10 minutes arrange the prawns and mussels on top in a pattern and cover back loosely with foil.

Once the mussels have opened sprinkle with Parsley and arrange lemon wedges around the edges.

Serve!

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C Restaurant - Perths only revolving restaurant!

Just a few days ago we had lunch at C Restaurant, Perth's only revolving restaurant located at the top of St. Martins Tower on St Georges Terrace in Perth.

We took the quick elevator up to the 33rd floor, and my ears popped on the way up. As soon as we stepped into the restaurant we were right behind the main tills and it took a few seconds for me to realise that the main outer edge of the Restaurant slowly moving along.

We were seated quickly by our friendly waiter and given the menus. As I was reading the drinks list I could see out the corner of my eye, the window going past very slowly. It actually took me about 20 minutes to get used to the rotation, reminded me of being on a boat or catching the ferry over to South Perth/Rotto. Hubby was fine though!

For first drinks, I ordered a Champagne Cocktail which was Moet, Grey Goose and Pineapple Juice with a Maraschino Cherry. I love Moet and it was so smooth with the lovely pineapple juice, I must recreate this at home. Hubby had a long island ice tea and we ordered some house made bread for starters.

We decided to go the 3 courses which was $63 each, which was great value I thought, plus I had my Entertainment card.

Entrees were C's 'Famous' Gnocchi and Oysters done 4 ways; Kilpatrick, Chilli & Lemon, Natural and Orange Tomato Salsa. I had 1 Kilpatrick, my first Kilpatrick style oyster, I'm slowly starting to like them. The Gnocchi was soft and pillowy and the creamy Gorgonzola cheese sauce was very tasty. The portion size was generous I thought too.

Whilst waiting for the mains we ordered more drinks; a glass of Capel Vale Sparkling Brut and a bottle of James Squire Golden Ale. The Sparkling was so delicious, I'll be buying some of this on my next bottle shop venture soon.

My second course was the Pink Snapper 'special' with a sweet fruit quinoa salad and octopus croquettes. Again, my first time tasting quinoa, I have had some in my cupboard for a while but haven't cooked with it yet. I couldn't really tell you the flavour of it, it was neutral to me, but the it wasn't too bad with the Snapper.

The Octopus croquettes were crumbed legs of octopus. AGAIN my first time trying octopus, I had 1 and dished the other to Hubby's plate. It was like a strong calamari flavour encased in a yummy crunchy crumb and you could see the 'suckers' as you cut into them.

The other main meal was the Chicken Roulade with Pumpkin Puree, Sautéed Mushrooms, Pine Nut Polenta Cake and Creamy Morel Sauce. The Chicken was cooked to perfection and the mushrooms were to die for, I knew I could smell them as soon as the dish was presented. The pumpkin puree was so bright and orange and the smokey spiced popcorn was so good I snuck a piece straight away! Everything on this plate married well together and it was gone in a flash!! I didn't get any photos of our mains as we had the sun right on our table as they arrived.

1 Dessert dish was the Turkish Coffee Cake with Chocolate Tuile. I didn't try this as Hubby said it had mint in it, I really don't like mint (Though it's funny how Mojito's are an exception), so didn't try it but I was told the Mandarin Sorbet was very refreshing with the mint and chocolate.

I had the Blueberry and Vanilla Parfait and it was delicious! The fruits of the forest sorbet was sweet and fruity it tasted like a fantastic Raspberry Jam. The Blueberries on the plate were the biggest I've ever seen too, I don't usually like blueberries, the ones I buy are usually very bland tasting but these were massive and full of bursting berry flavour. I couldn't eat the middle bit because it was frozen solid but was pretty full by this stage.

All up we did about a 1 and 1/4 revolutions of the whole restaurant and were there just under 2 hours. Our waiter was attentive without being intrusive and cleared our plates and took drinks orders very promptly. There was a bit of a wait after entrée for our mains, longer than I expected but the revolving view was a great time filler.

We ordered a Long Macchiato and asked for our bill. I had my Entertainment Gold Card on hand so we used that and ended up getting $45 off the total bill. I've always been a massive fan of the Entertainment book, its great for people like me who dine out so often.

Our overall experience at C was a good one, it was a Saturday Lunch and the restaurant wasn't very busy, I found it spun around faster than I expected and in the beginning felt a bit dizzy.

Absolutely fantastic views of the Swan River and Perth surrounds, and its great pointing out/questioning thing as you spin around. Best views from a restaurant I've been too! Definitely recommended!

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Golden Syrup Dumplings

These dumplings are great for a cold night in and also great for dinner parties as they simmer away on the stove until they're ready.

Golden Syrup Dumplings

Syrup:

2 Cups Water

1/3 Cup Golden Syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 Cup Raw Caster Sugar

40 Grams Butter

 Dumplings:

1.5 cups SR Flour

45 G unsalted butter, slightly softened

¾ Cup Milk

1 TBSP Golden Syrup

Combine all syrup ingredients in a saucepan and heat on low until everything is melted. Simmer on low and then make dumplings.

Dumplings: Sift flour into a mixing bowl and rub through butter until fine crumbs appear. Slightly heat up the milk in the microwave (Just to take the chill out of it) and mix through the golden syrup. Add to flour mixture and stir until a smooth/stiff dough is formed.

Spoon heaped teaspoons of Dumplings batter into syrup and cook for 15 mins simmering until dumplings have expanded.

Serve with custard, cream or ice cream.

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Shakshuka

I love Shakshuka! I also love the fact there's a few versions being Spanish baked eggs and Mexican baked eggs too.

I first had Shakshuka at the Subiaco Farmers Markets where Eli, the son on Riki Kaspi owns the popular little stall.

This recipe can be varied and is great to use up the left over meats and veggies in the house.

This recipe is always a winner in my house. It’s very simple to prepare and is a crowd pleaser.

Here's my basic version.

Shakshuka

1x Brown Onion, finely diced
2 tsp Garlic, crushed
1 TBSP Moroccan Spice mix
1x 120gm Pack D'Orsogna Chorizo (or Salami, or bacon or ham)
1x can Red Kidney Beans (or cannellini, or navy beans, or baked beans)
2x cans Crushed Tomatoes
1x TBSP Tomato Paste
2 Cups Chicken Stock
2 eggs Per Person
Crusty Bread
2 TBSP Finely chopped Parsley (optional)

Sauté Onion, Garlic, Spice Mix in a little oil until fragrant. Add Chorizo, Beans, Crushed Tomatoes, Paste, and Stock, season to taste , stir and simmer covered for 30-40 mins, stirring occasionally.

Remove lid and carefully crack eggs into the sauce, trying not to break the yolks. Simmer uncovered on low until the eggs are done to your liking. Sprinkle with Parsley.

Scoop eggs with sauce into serving bowls carefully and serve with crusty bread!

This recipe is great for feeding a few people at breakfast/brunch time!

*You can vary this recipe a lot buy using what's in your fridge and cupboard at the time. Sprinkle with Parmesan or Feta and you can also add Mexican or Spanish Spices or a mix of your favourite spices to create a new flavour!

I've also added Sausages and some sprinkled Feta Cheese and had it for dinner once!

Serves 6-9

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 50 mins

You can find this recipe in the La Cucina section of the D'Orsogna website.

 This recipe was created in partnership with D'Orsogna Smallgoods

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