Sous vide pork belly

18 hours at 73c. Damn good.

Sous vide Skirt steak!

Marinated in pomegranate molasses and spices, on a bed of hummus, with pan fried almonds. Yes.

I also make burgers.

With roast kumara. Oh yes.

This uses White Rata beef mince (https://www.facebook.com/whiteratafoods/), which is damn nice. They are at the Hamilton Farmers Markets.

Black Bean Paneer Salad

 A quick and easy meal tonight, but it worked astoundingly well.

1 wedge (about 1/8) red cabbage, thinly sliced.
1 large carrot, grated.
1 cup coriander, chopped.
1 spring onion, thinly sliced.
1 can black beans.
2 avocados, diced
1/2 cup (or to taste) jalapenos. (I had a jar of pickled ones, so used those. Fresh would work fine)
300gm (1 package) paneer.
1/2 cup stock.
Ground cumin.
Ground coriander seed.
Salt.
Chili powder.
Garlic powder.
Hot sauce.

Warm the black beans with cumin/coriander seed/salt/stock. Drain.

Dice the paneer into 1cm/2cm cubes. Fry off with  chili powder and garlic powder. Add hot sauce to this once it is nicely browned, as a finishing touch.

Combine all vegetables, toss through black beans and paneer (both still warm). Serve.

Looks like this:

Also like this:

Chickpea Falafel

Falafel is easy. These ones are a can of chickpeas, a couple spring onions, a chili, couple cloves garlic, a big handful of parsley/coriander, salt, cumin, coriander seed and paprika to taste, blended with olive oil (about a tablespoon) until smooth in a food processor. Shaped into balls like you were making cookies, and flattened on a baking tray, then baked at 180c for about 20 minutes. Simple.

 

Some roast beetroot alongside it, a babaganoush, and some tzatziki.

Oh, and we had some cheese which needed eating, so why not?

Butter-corn Ramen

M has been wanting this for a while, but it has been annoyingly hot. We finally got sick of waiting for the weather to cool down and ate it anyway.  Shiitake mushroom broth, lots of veges, some hotpot beef in nice thin slices, and general amazingness. Oh yes.

Quince Paste

Quince paste is dead easy.  You should make it.  Right now.  Here is how.  Take as many quinces as you want, say 1 kg of them.  rub the fuzz off their skins, core and roughly chop them.  Add them to a large pot with 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup lemon juice, and boil for about 1/2 an hour.  Let cool a bit, then push through a coarse sieve, to get rid of the harder bits.  Ok. Prep done.  Photo time.

Now, weigh what you have.  Add that, with an equal weight of sugar, to a pot.  Cook it on moderate heat, stirring every few minutes (or more often, really, you could do well to just stir constantly), until it is as dark as you want it.  This might only take half an hour, if you like pale quince paste.  It might take an hour, if you want it dark and intense.  I do.  Don't give up though, it is delicious.  Eventually, it will look like this.  Now you can eat it.  

Once the above has cooled, I cut it into squares, and wrap in glad wrap. It keeps for ages (read: months) in the fridge, but you could also freeze it, if that is your thing.  Defrosts without issue.  I'd keep mine in the fridge until next quince season though, without worrying.

The pot you use will be sticky, but that is ok, just soak it.  It will clean up fine.

Home Cooking: Cauliflower Fritters

Fritter batter is easy.  You essentially make a thick, savoury pancake batter, and add your toppings. Here, they were cauliflower and feta.  Corn and coleslaw sides.

Fritters:

2 eggs
1 1/2 Cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
Milk until correct consistency (1/2-2/3 cup)
Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 brown onion, finely diced and cooked until soft.
1/3 head cauliflower, cut small, steamed for 3 minutes
150gm feta (although the amount doesn't matter much), in 1cm cubes

Mix batter ingredients together, whisk smooth.  Should be runny.  Add in the onion/feta/cauli, and stir to combine.  Place  a shallow frying pan on medium heat, with a good splash of oil and a knob of butter.  When hot, add spoonfuls of the fritter mix and cook until ready (3-4 minutes first side, 2 minutes the next)

Keep cooked fritters warm in oven while cooking the remainder.

Home Cooking: Ribs, cornbread, salsa.

More home cooking.  Cornbread, bbq pork spare ribs, corn salsa and some salad greens.

Cornbread recipe, for those interested:

3/4 c. yellow cornmeal
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar (This is apparently how it is done. It is too sweet for me, I knock it down to 1/3 cup)
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted (a stick is a USian term for 125gm)
3 eggs, beaten

In a large bowl measure cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and
salt. Blend well. Add buttermilk and butter slowly. Pour in eggs. Stir
only enough to blend the mixture thoroughly. Pour into 9 x 9 x 2,
baking pan (greased) and level with a spoon or spatula.

Bake in 400 degree preheated oven until the bread tests done when
pierced with a metal skewer, wooden toothpick, or the blade of a
knife. If it comes out clean and dry, the corn bread is done. Cut into
squares.

You can mix it up by making them in muffin trays, so they cook faster and are easier to separate.  Add jalapenos while cooking, or some cheese, if you want more flavour.

Volare French Toast

Volare make some nice breads.  We picked up a loaf of their Pain au Levain a while back, and finished it up one weekend morning with french toast.  The secret to sweet french toast mix is buttermilk + cinnamon, with just a little sugar.  I might have pan fried some bananas in butter to go with the rhubarb/boysenberry coulis, and the whole thing is topped with greek yoghurt for a little tart offset

http://www.volarebread.com/

Home Cooking!

This is broccoli slaw.  Apparently it is a thing.  It tastes pretty nice.  Recipe is a very basic (read: minor - basically fiddling with ratios in the dressing, and pureeing the onion there) adaptation of an old (2009!) one from Smitten Kitchen.

2 heads of broccoli
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 a red onion, finely sliced

1/2 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 red onion, puréed

Slice the broccoli finely.  It can be done by hand, but you could also machine it if lazy.  Toss it with onion/cranberries/ (1/2 of the) almonds.

Combine dressing ingredients (whisk, shake, whatever).  Grind salt/pepper into the dressing to taste.  Pour over broccoli. Top with remaindered almonds.  Enjoy.


We had it with a mushroom and venison stew, and crispy roasted agria potatoes.