2paw

Friday Food: Rhubarb and Apple Pie

I saw this on BH&G last week, and baked it on Sunday. It really can be in the oven in 20 minutes and in the dessert bowl 25 minutes after that. It is from the June BH&G magazine.

If you don't have rhubarb then perhaps plums or berries would be good, or even all apple. I think the tart rhubarb is a good partner for the apple though.

It took 10 minutes for all the fruit juices to reduce, but the fruit wasn't overcooked. You really do pour the hot fruit into the pastry, which is more like a short dough.

I think you could use more than 2/3 of the pastry for the base, I felt there was too much pastry on top when it was cooked.

I can highly recommend this recipe, I served it with custard, but ice-cream and cream would be lovely too.

Oh my word, the Granny Smith green is a bit bright!!!

 

Rhubarb and Apple Pie  serves 8-10

• 5 stalks of rhubarb
• 3 apples, peeled and sliced. I used Granny Smiths, a cooking apple
• 120g brown sugar
• 1/2 lemon, juice and zest
• 1/2 tspn cinnamon
• 130g unsalted butter, softened
• 125g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 225g plain flour
  
• 30g cornflour
• 1 1/2 tspn baking powder
• 1/2 tsn cinnamon
• 1 tbspn brown sugar extra ( 4 tspn)

Preheat the oven to 170*C and grease and line just the base of a 22cm spring-form tin.

Trim and wash the rhubarb and slice diagonally into 2.5cm or inch pieces. Dispose of the rhubarb leaves carefully in the rubbish bin, not the compost, as they are poisonous when ingested. I sliced my apples first and so I dropped them into a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon juice to keep them from browning. I drained them well before adding to the pan.

Heat a large pan over medium heat. Sprinkle half the brown sugar over the base, add the fruit and then sprinkle over the rest of the brown sugar, lemon juice, zest and cinnamon. DO NOT STIR for 2 minutes. You should see the juices of the fruit in the pan. Turn the fruit over gently and then simmer for 5 minutes ( mine took 10) until the juices are reduced.

While the fruit is cooking, make the dough. Whisk the butter and caster sugar together. It took me less than 1 minute with a fork as the butter really was at room temperature. Whisk in the egg.

Fold in the sifted dry ingredients: plain flour, cornflour, baking powder and cinnamon. Bring together with your hands to form a ball.

Take a little more than 2/3 of the dough and press into the base and slightly up the sides of the tin. It is best if it is fairly even, but since it is covered with fruit no-one will know if it is wonky. Pour in the fruit. Top with tiny balls of dough you've pinched, in two concentric circles around the circumference of the tin. Finish by sprinkling the topping with a tablespoon of extra brown sugar.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. I always turn the tin half way through.

 

Serve immediately piping hot, or a little later on, warm. Delicious any way.

Alas, Poor Yorick! I Nude Him, Horatio.

Why anyone would want to participate in a nude Winter's Solstice swim I know not, but I do feel it is very harsh for The Police to ban the event. I've seen people wearing only slightly more than that in the street and at the beach and there can be less than nothing on TV. If members of The Public don't want to see the Art of Dark Mofo, they could just not look.

Autumn is definitely here today, no Summer dress today, and I wore my hand-knitted socks, scarf, mittens and hat to walk The Labradors. We saw Rafa and Sandy. Sandy had not encountered mittens before and he pulled one off my hand and ran away with it. The temptation of a seaweed rice cracker was too much and he brought it back, dribbly, but intact.

It's drizzly and gloomy and I have started taking Vitamin D again. Just heard from the BOM on the radio that it was down to 6*C today. It was cold. We had Sun yesterday. Peri was sunbathing and having her belly rubbed. She'd be banned by The Police if they spotted her having a swim.

Miss Lorelai Gilmore has been making mud again. The ground has been soaked by some good rain, and there is a lot of digging to be done. And a lot of faux black boots to be worn. Inside. If we are not careful.

This afternoon, while I was knitting and watching first Lewis and then DCI Banks, they were curled up together being ever so cute on the couch.

I am knitting Ovaltine (or Milo) What a wonderful pattern and I don't know why I haven't knitted it before. I am doing the Hugs and Kisses XOXO cable option. It is ever so sweet!!! I've run out of wool, so it will need to wait till tomorrow to be finished.

I sewed a bunny for baby Zoe. I sewed it a while ago, but forgot to take a photo and so I had to unwrap it. It was wrapped in Labrador Christmas paper that said 'Imagine this is Easter paper', so I expect I can wrap it properly now.

In clothes news, there may have been a sale and I may have, on purpose, put four more pairs of green jeans on lay-by. Four new greens. But they were on sale and instead of $210, they were only $140, a whole third off. Too good to pass up.

In an 'I should have thought of that before' moment I realised that no matter how I cut this material,

there are always going to be interestingly placed circles on the bodice of a dress. Luckily, both Marilyn and Naomi have the option for a patterned skirt and a plain coloured bodice. I think I'll be going with that option.

I made some leek and chicken soup for tea and it was delicious. The poor Labradors missed out on the chicken, but they did have some yummy raw carrot and celery with their kangaroo and rice and some hot water from the kettle made it kind of soup-like.

Tomorrow I am baking a Malteser Cake for MrsDrWho's morning tea turn. It is totally covered with Maltesers, but I think that is too overboard even for me, and covering the top may be enough. Apparently the correct size of tin is crucial, so of course I shall just be using a tin I already own!!! I like to live in interesting cooking times....

Friday Food: Iced Vovo Tart

I feel very proud of my Iced Vovo Tart. It wasn't that difficult, I was able to source all the ingredients very easily, and it was really a question of following the steps and waiting for things to set.

I didn't have the right tin and so I cut some card and made a box to fill half the larger tray and used foil to keep it all together.

I think it is best to remove the jammy section of the Iced Vovos, it didn't really crush up well. I used Granitas for the plain sweet biscuits as they do crush up well.

If your marshmallow mixture sets too much, and mine did, beat it in your mixer for a minute or two and then continue..

The recipe asks for leaf gelatine, which I was able to buy here- McKenzies brand, but you can use powdered gelatine. You need the correct amount to set 2/3 cup liquid for the jelly.

None of the steps in themselves are difficult, but it did take me all day. I cheated by putting the tart in the freezer to start off to cooling and then transferred it to the fridge.

I bought a piping set at the supermarket with a star shaped nozzle and used that to pipe the cream. I had a few trial runs and then threw caution to the wind.

This post is quite long and I have been a tad tired, so please excuse any typos!!!

Oops, I fogot to say this is from the Good Taste Magazine's January issue.

Iced Vovo Tart   serves 8-10

Base

• 100g Iced Vovo biscuits (8)
• 150g plain sweet biscuits (12)
• 130 g butter, melted

Marshmallow Layer

• 150g pink marshmallows
• 20ml milk
• pink food colouring
• 200ml thickened cream
• 1 tspn vanilla extract or paste. I used one vanilla bean

Raspberry Jelly

• 2 McKenzies Gelatine leaves
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 80ml water
• 1 tbspn caster sugar (20ml)

Topping

• 400ml thickened cream
• pink food colouring
• coconut flakes- I used desiccated

 

You also need a 35 x 11cm loose base fluted tin. I used my 22 x 35cm tray, divided in half.

Base

Process or crush the biscuits in a bag with a heavy kitchen implement.

Combine with the butter.

Press into the tin, up the sides as well. Use a glass to press into every nook and cranny. Then refrigerate for an hour.

Marshmallow Layer

Put the marshmallows, milk and pink food colouring in a pan over a low heat and stir for about 3 minutes until the marshmallows are melted and smooth. I used natural food colouring and it took quite a lot of a 'few drops' to make a nice pink colour. Cool, longer than you think. At least 10 minutes.

Whip the cream and vanilla till firm peaks appear, then fold a little of the cream into the marshmallow mixture. Then a little more. Finally add this to the cream and fold in gently but well. By folding a little cream into the marshmallow mixture first, you lighten it and make it easier to fold into the cream.

Spread into the base, smooth the top and refrigerate for 2 hours. Mine didn't take that long, only an hour, so do check.

Raspberry Jelly

Soak two leaves of gelatine in cold water for 6 minutes. Put the raspberries, water and sugar in a pan over a medium heat, stirring for 1 minute until the sugar dissolves. Continue to stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Squeeze the water from the gelatine leaves, add to the raspberries and stir till dissolved.

Push the raspberry mixture through a fine sieve to remove the pips, remember to check the underneath of the sieve too. Cool in a bowl for about 25 minutes and then pour over the marshmallow layer. Refrigerate for a further 2 hours till set.

Topping

Whip the remaining 400ml of thickened cream with some pink food colouring, a shade you like, until firm. I fill the piping bag after I have attached the nozzle by standing it in a cup and spooning in the cream till it is half full.

Pipe one row of little rosettes and then another to match along one long side, and then repeat along the other. Sprinkle some coconut over the centre jelly strip and the pink rosettes.

Refrigerate till ready to serve. I found the base to be a tad crumbly, but the slight tartness of the jelly ameliorates the sweetness of the marshmallow layer.

Lady Caroline La(m)b

Thank goodness The Ribbet has a Red Eye fix, or in my case a White Eye fix, because The Labradors' photo made them look mad, bad and dangerous to know. After their tea they decided to play rowdy games in the quite hard rain and in the dark. The Game also necessitated running inside, around the house, and then back out again.

After Byron threw Lady Caroline Lamb over, he married, and his daughter Ada was the woman who worked with Babbage on his computer. I wonder if I knew that and had forgotten? I think I did.

Earlier this week on our walk I was patting Peri and Gilly when I realised there were too many legs: Sandy had appeared out of nowhere. He is so strong, and the hill so slippery and gravelly, his dad lets him off the lead and we usually hear him thundering like a horse towards us. The wet ground must have absorbed the sound.

I've finished The Walk Mittens. I am not sure I need buttons and loops. I'll see. I made a little pop-top for the right thumb. It works well enough. I have torn both my thumb nails about half a centimetre down from the top at the edge. It must have been the cold snap and not wearing rubber gloves enough. I am nursing them along with nail glue and tiny squares of tea bag material. I've noticed that when I click on Popular Posts on Bloglovin' they are mostly fashion, and nail polish. I am not a nail polish person, I am too gung ho and chip it after five minutes, but most of the popular world is nail polish obsessed it seems.

Sadly, it hasn't been cold enough to wear my mittens, but I have been knitting away on the back of Dreamy Vision (Aislinn) I am going to attempt short row shoulders. I love the way it is looking, nice and long and such a nice green. I'll be ready to start a sleeve tomorrow. I knit a sleeve and a back to check how much wool I will need. The pattern says about 1859m, but so far I've only used 400m for the back so I may need less.

Today I wore my sleeveless Pear dress to Leukaemia Support Group. It did rain and turn dark and cold later on, but I'm pleased to be getting so much mileage out of my dresses. And speaking of dresses, my Sew Serendipity patterns arrived from the US is eleven days. That's right, eleven days. Excellent service, and great communication. I am very happy.

In other complimentary news, Nestles has thoughtfully put a little hemispherical dip in the lid of their condensed milk so that when you slip your thumb under the ring pull, there is extra room and it is so much easier to open. And McKenzies has released Gelatine Leaves, with instructions in Australian and a clear indication of how many leaves to use for the amount of liquid you have.

I used the leaves to make The Iced Vovo Tart. It's going to be my Friday Food this week. There is no actual baking, but it does take all day to make, so you need a wet day at home and some dedication. I went to The Dutches' for tea on Sunday night and saw the wonderfully cute Bay Zoe. She's gorgeous and doesn't have her nasal gastric tube anymore and eats and is starting to talk. I am so happy for all The Dutches.

I sewed a Bunny bag for The Dutches for a very late Easter present.

I can't add any books to my Books I am Reading list because Typepad and Amazon are having issues again, but I picked up new Library books and there could be a day in bed reading later in the week.

In other happy news my sewing machine is back. MrsReno's dad kindly cleaned it and said that the plates were tight. I am not sure what that means, but I am so glad to have it back. MrsReno's dad has gone back home but when he comes back to visit I shall cook him something delicious to say thank you. He said he was very pleased to fix my machine because he is pleased people still like to sew!! How cool and kind is that???

MrsDrWho and I went to see Star Trek Into Darkness last week. We went on Friday at 6-30pm and there would only have been twenty people there. We saw it in 3D, because, well why not??!! It was great, it was full of lovely nods to the original series and explosions and Starship battles and angst and running and sacrifice. Pretty fabulous all round. I think they have done an excellent job with their casting and I could slightly swoon over Chris Pine's James T Kirk and Karl Urban's Bones. Oh my!!! I know some people pooh-pooh reboots, but I lived through the long Sci-Fi and Fantasy drought of the 80s and early 90s and so I am just ever so grateful that someone has gone to the trouble of making a new film that I can enjoy. It was over two hours long and by my usual rating system I did not look at the time once, didn't even think of the time I was totally engrossed, and ducking debris, for the whole time: so that's 5 Stars, A+++ and 10/10.

Friday Food: Little Banana Pancakes

Friday Food was on the list for Friday, but then I had a doctor's appointment, went to see Star Trek Into Darkness with MrsDrWho and found it necessary to have a long rest.

So once again I have declared Saturday, Friday.

These are based on Jill Dupleix's banana pancakes, but honestly, who has the time or inclination to whip the egg whites separately and fold them in?? Not me. To make these more pikelety, add another teaspoon of baking powder, just one egg and only 3/4 cup of milk and proceed the same way. The mixture is best if you leave it to rest for 30 minutes, but if you are in a hurry, adding a squeeze of lemon juice and resting for 5 minutes could do the trick.

I made 18 little pancakes using my large tablespoon for each one. If you don't like banana, then substitute some grated apple, berries- frozen or fresh, or whatever fruit you fancy. These can be eaten straight away or frozen for later on.

 

Little Banana Pancakes   makes 16-ish

• 2 eggs
• 250ml milk
• 1 tspn vegetable oil
• 150g plain flour
• 1 tspn baking powder
• 1 tbspn caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 bananas
• butter or oil for frying
• golden or maple syrup for drizzling
• extra banana for presentation
• pure icing sugar for dusting

Whisk the eggs, milk, sugar and oil. In another bowl sift the flour, salt and baking powder together.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and, adding a little of milk and egg mixture, begin to incorporate the flour with a fork or whisk. Slowly pour in the wet ingredients as you stir until they are all well combined. You can sieve out any lumps, but I never do. Good whisking and sifted ingredients seems to help.

Refrigerate (and cover if necessary) for 30 minutes.

Slice the bananas, and here I'd like to say that a finer dice or mash may be more to your liking, and fold gently into the pancake mixture.

Heat a teaspoon of oil or butter in a pan over a medium heat and then add tablespoons of the pancake batter. If you drop it vertically from the tip of the spoon, rather then over the edge, it is supposed to make your pancakes rounder. I usually only make 3 at a time in my pan. Of course a non-stick electric frypan allows you to make lots more with no chance of disasters!!! Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the top of the pancake has lots of tiny bubbles. You can check underneath, but it should be golden brown. Flip the pancakes and cook for another 30-60 seconds then place on kitchen paper.

And continue as before, adding butter to the pan and cooking the little pancakes. You can keep them warm in the oven.

Serve with some extra sliced banana, a drizzle of golden or maple syrup and a dusting of pure icing sugar.

That Old Black Magic's Got Me In Its Spool

The Craftsy Block this month is a spool (the picture is clicky to see the BOM), actually it is seven 7 inch spools like this:

I didn't really like the pattern and so I found a free pattern and we all agreed to sew that instead. I think it really does look like an old fashioned cotton wheel wound wildly with thread. First MrsReno and MesSherlock.

And then mine and some of MrsDrWho's. She's had an interesting week thus far, so just made part of her block.

I am part way through sewing the second spool. Next fortnight is catch up evening so I hope to finish my other circle and fan blocks and then there will be ten. Wow, that was fast!!!

The Walk Mittens have been quite fast too. I just have the thumbs to knit. I had to wait until they were both finished as I want to make the thumb of the right mitten with an opening and I couldn't do that till I'd knitted the left thumb. And of course, I knitted the right mitten first.

There is the little loop to be crocheted at the top of the pop-overs and two buttons to be sewn onto the cuffs and after the thumbs they are ready to be worn. The weather is strange, some places are expecting 25*C tomorrow, and I'm back to wearing Summer dresses with a cardigan that I can take off when it's too hot. This may be the first year when I wear a Summer dress in Winter, just twenty-two days to go to find out. It was frosty and foggy this morning and I wore my new hat.

I ordered new dress patterns from Sew Serendipity. The postage from the US was just $3 per pattern so I ordered two: Marilyn and Naomi.

Naomi will need a lower scoop neck and maybe Marilyn will need a slightly higher and shorter waist. I  love them both and they are shown in different fabrics to give you design ideas.

And now The Labradors. Peri is the most beautiful dog in the whole wide world. She in the middle of swishing her tail because she's been a good girl and come straight away when called.

And Miss Lorelai Gilmore is always a good girl and the most beautiful pup in the whole wide world. Except maybe today when she ran into the bush seeking the horrible smelly thing, but she did come back when I used my Teacher's voice.

I don't think I'm up to knitting a thumb, or two, tonight. I had rice, milk and a sprinkle of brown sugar for my tea, I suppose it's nursery food, but as a child it was something we had quite often. We ate macaroni the same way, all Italians are probably scandalised now.

So it's a cup of tea, the ABC News and then an early night for us all.

Help Me, Obi One Can Call Me. You're My Only Hope.

The Internet and Phone are back. It was not, in fact, my ISP at all. It was the Evil Darth Telstra. It appears that the cables to my next door neighbour's house were cut by mistake, and they were offered call diversion and compensation. Because I am not a Telstra customer they just didn't bother with me at all. I rang and that is basically what Rob from Telstra told me: Ha ha boo sucks to you. My ISP explained that this happens pretty regularly, especially in older areas here where phone lines are archaic. I can complain to The Ombudsman, but as I have no details or names, they won't be able to do anything. I do intend to write and explain what happened, as perhaps if they receive enough complaints the Ombudsman may act. I asked my ISP person to pass on to the people I spoke to what had happened. I may have become a little short when they both insisted on reading me long scripts instead of really listening to my problem. It was all very civilised.

Hence I missed Friday Food and May The Fourth. But I did not have a Georgette Heyer decline or even a Florence Nightingale take-to-my-bed. Which is very good.

We had a massive and very scary hail and electric storm last week. Here's eight seconds of what it sounded like in my car:

   

I thought I would get out and my car's roof would be covered with dents, but it wasn't. The sky was black and there were rainbows and it lasted for about half an hour. At MrsDrWho's house it settled deeply, like snow, and still hadn't melted the next day. 

The weather has taken a distinctly Autumnal turn: close to 0*C overnight with heavy morning frosts, but beautiful sunny days at 19*C.

Peri took the opportunity to roll in the most awful smelly and yucky thing, her best yet. I ended up buying some pampering spray to try and mask the smell even after a bath.

Gilly decided that the almost complete felt Christmas plum pudding would be a good toy. And so now it is.

The Labradors do enjoy their walks together. They run so fast and range so far that they need giant drinks from puddles and a dip in the paddle pool when they come home. Lorelai Gilmore likes to follow where Peri leads.

There has been some knitting. I've knitted up the two balls of wool into the back of Dreamy Vision (Aislinn) Yay. I love it. I am sad I didn't take more wool with me. I love the tubular cast on. It's as magic as turning a heel.

You can't see the Eiffel Tower lace very well and my close up photos are not terribly good.

I haven't found the rest of the 4ply to knit my convertible mittens so I've started a new 8ply pair. I think I can crank out a mitten a day. We'll see. The Walk MIttens are from a free pattern.

MrsDrWho's Lord of the Rings wool beret, My Precious,  is complete. I found the website for the wool, where you can buy all sorts of LOTR movie costuming. If only!!! There seems to be a severe lack of green though.

New denim leggings, or jeans as I like to call them, have been worn. Once with Labrador accessories, and once with MrsHouse Of's eldest daughter's new shoes. Surprisingly I could balance in them, even walk a little. Just.

The passsionfruit vine is bearing fruit and a bumper crop too. I made melting moments with passionfruit filling last week for morning tea. I plan to try some passionfruit curd this week.

Once the Sun goes down behind the hill at the back the temperature drops quickly every afternoon. It's 4-30pm and time to close all the windows and turn on the Warmy bed for Peri. There's chicken and vegetable soup to be made for tea and The Labradors' rice to be cooked and a mitten to be knitted. I have lots of blog posts to read and comments to answer. We plan to be online into the foreseeable future!!!

You Can't: Call Me. I'm Not On Line. You Can't Call Me, Call Me, Any Time.

I have no phone or internet access. I have twice called my ISP from MrsDrWho's house and they seem beastly careless about doing anything to help me. I will continue to pursue a solution.

Imagine a picture of Labradors here.

I am posting this at MrsDrWho's house. She let me use her phone and internet. I did laugh when the ISP recorded message implored me to email my fault information to them!! They couldn't quite comprehend that I wasn't at my house ringing them from my phone.

So I may be some time.

Talk amongst yourselves!!!

Wool Frontal

This post was shaping up to be all about knitting, but then some other things crept in: Labradors of course, and some material, clothes and weather.

Knitting first. I have knitted the Ding Dong hat out of the Socks That Rock 5ply Merino. It is the Rainbowret, a free and very simple pattern. I did twisted rib for the band and then just knitted away until I realised I was running out of wool. I wound up two strands of my Colour Me Surprised Opal sock wool and did a few alternate rounds, which you can just spot in the middle section, and then remembered I'd stopped winding the skein of STR when I hit a knot. So I wound more and knitted a hat's worth. It is very warm and if you wear it on a nice Autumn day you give yourself a warm hat headache.

I actually knitted this to check out what the hat was like for MrsDrWho. She found her Lord of the Rings Royal Mythral 8ply from two Christmases ago and now I am half way through her hat- My Precious!!!

The other emerald green 5ply is the wool for a new cardigan for me, Floriston. These are two pictures from the Twist Collective to whence the link leads. I think the pleat at the back is lovely, the vents in the sleeves too and it has a nice flared shape which I am learning is very flattering for me.

My newest cardigan had no wool yet. It might be this wool, unravelled from the cardigan it almost is.

It's Aislinn by Amy Herzog, who is my current cardigan pattern crush. MrsDrWho persuaded me to buy the pattern. I have one cardigan that just needs to be sewn up, one started in mohair, the Floriston ready to go and now I have Aislinn. I adore the pattern around the hems and the lovely lace, and as I have but an illusion of a waist, when I knit and add the ties at the end they can be at Empire Line height. And once again the photos are from Aislinn's pattern page and the link leads there.

So it's all about the knitting here and there has not been a dress at all this month. Luckily I had the extra dress up my sleeve. New dress material arrived from the FatQuarterShop. At $5 per metre it is too hard to resist, and nice teachery material. The fat quarters are metallic greens for something I've yet to decide on.

Peri rolled in something so smelly today that I had to drive home breathing through my mouth. Baby wipes met their match in Peri. She has her eyes closed as she blissfully rolls. This isn't the actually smelly site, that was somewhere in the bush.

When we came home she had to be washed. Again. She's on her lead because she runs away before she is dry and the weather is too cold for that. She's pretty happy with all the attention and wagging her tail at me.

It was 1*C this morning and there was ice on the car so I used my gifted ice scraper, which worked a treat, much better than a bucket of warm water.

Poor Gilly had an issue with the big metal plates we walk across every day at the dam. She runs across them and has never paid any attention until today. She put her little paw on the icy cold metal and then would not go near it again. No treat would entice her. No nice or commanding word would do. She tried valiantly, and in the end Peri was so exasperated she ran back down the steps, growling playfully, and herded Lorelai Gilmore across.

She seemed quite recovered after that.

RoseRed was an invaluable help in the purchase of my new Denim Leggings. Yes, that's right. RoseRed helpfully explained that they were less legging and more jean. She is right. An emerald and sea green pair arrived today in the post and as I tried them on I said a prayer to the Denim Legging gods. They were listening and fit was achieved. The colours aren't true, it was dark outside when I took this photo.

I've also had a crush on tiny quiches and lemon meringue tarts: I've made two batches of each, and more no-knead bread made with Atta flour as suggested by Jan.

There was a little special happening for a few moments at the lights on Sunday. Tony Robinson, Baldrick of BlackAdder fame, was filming an interview for one of his Time Walks. He'd been in town for a few days hosting rebellions and such like. I don't know who he's talking to, but I'll see when the programme is shown later this year or next.

And now we're off to bed. I slept for 3 hours this morning as I was feeling a little bit swimmy and dizzy in the head. Not poorly as such, but not quite right. And I am sure there are myriad people who would agree I am not quite right. If I'm still feeling dizzy tomorrow, it's off to the doctor for me.

Friday Food: Char Siu Beef with Greens

There is so little actual cooking in this, it barely qualifies for Friday Food. It is, however, so fast to make -  less than 10 minutes from start to finish and I was really tired today and needed something quick and good.

I couldn't find any Char Siu sauce in a bottle so I made do with some out of a sachet: beggars can't be choosers. Though the recipe specifies broccolini, I think any greens can be substituted and I had some pak choy already. I am not a coriander fan, so I left that out and I had almonds instead of peanuts.

Oh and I can't let a day go by without using an onion. I love onions and so I added one to the beef.

And that's pretty much it, so here's the recipe from Taste.com.au and originally from Delicious magazine. And I actually think this does serve 4.

 

Char Siu Beef with Greens   serves 4

• 100g rice or glass noodles, the kind that cook in boiling water
• 400g beef mince, or pork or chicken if that's what you have
• 20ml oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2cm fresh ginger, grated
• 60ml Chinese rice wine/Shaohsing
• 60ml Char Siu sauce, Chinese BBQ sauce
• 2 bunches of broccolini, or whatever greens you fancy
• 1/3 cup unsalted roasted peanuts
• 1 long red chilli, sliced into rings, seeds removed if you like chilli cooler.
• coriander to serve

Cook the rice noodles as per the instructions. I just needed to pour boiling water over my noodles and leave them for 5 minutes before draining.

Heat a frypan or wok over a high heat, add the oil, ginger and garlic and then the mince. Break the mince up and stir pretty constantly for 3-4 minutes. The mince should be very separate.

Once the beef is browned add the rice wine and Char Siu sauce and simmer for 1 minute.

Add the greens. I like to slice them on an angle because they look nice. Stir to coat with the sauce and cook until they are slightly wilted and tender.

 

Drain the noodles and place on each plate. Top with the beef mixture and then garnish with the chilli, coriander and peanuts. And then eat and enjoy.