Week 30

Saturday
Chicken curry with Kuah Kari Daging curry sauce, with additional cashew nuts, and served with Jasmin rice, mesclun lettuce and home-made loquat chutney. Pretty nice!

Sunday
Maple pecan date scones!! Which were *awesome*.
In the evening had chicken larb from Avondale market, with some salad.

Monday
An amazing chicken tajine with saffron, almonds, honey, and spices, and some dried fruit (apricots and fig). Served with roasted garlic couscous (prefab).


Tuesday
Mango cucumber prawn salad with glass noodles, and peanuts. The prawns were marinated in and fried with chilli and garlic, and the salad had a lemon juice/fish sauce/fresh herb dressing. Also served a little omelette on the side (cos I felt like it).

Wednesday
Stir-fry orange beef with green veggies and Jasmin rice.

Thursday
Ate at the End of Year party of the Psychology Department.

Friday
Bought some sushi, teriyaki chicken and vegetable tempura. Was alright.


Tuesday's dinner

Week 29

Saturday
We fried leg of lamb (steaks) on the barbecue (in Kaitaia), with a little bit of rosemary, fried mushrooms, and a salad of red curly lettuce, bell pepper, orange, roasted macademia nuts, and a dressing of orange juice, olive oil, and rosemary and some lemon zest. Also grilled a garlic baguette on the barbecue. Excellent dinner!

Sunday
Kumara chips and a colourful salad: red curly lettuce, red bell pepper, loquats, pumpkin seeds, with lemon juice,olive oil and cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and sumac. Simple, but really nice.

Monday
Salad of brussel sprouts (very fresh, from neighbours in Kaitaia), mesclun leafs, fried bacon, little pieces of cheddar and parmesan, red apple, and a vinaigrette of cider vinegar, wholegrain mustard, olive oil, and some marmalade. Served with a garlic ciabatta.

Tuesday
Lebanese bread wraps with Mexican beef mince, tomato chilli sauce, grated cheddar, tomato, bell pepper and lettuce.

Wednesday
Lebanese bread wraps with grilled veggies (eggplant, asparagus and bell pepper) and hummus, baba ghanoush and sundried tomato-chilli pesto. Super-super-super-yummy!!

Thursday
Bell-peppers stuffed with South-African bobotie with brown rice and steamed broccoli and asparagus.

Friday
Pita with bacon, avocado and salad + left-over bobotie bell pepper.


Thursday's dinner

Maple pecan date scones!

Hii, got some apologies to make: I have been quite busy lately and haven't uploaded any interesting recipes, even been behind with weekly overviews (which are there to link to recipes, anyway), and, haven't been posting many interesting photos either!


I was a bit late with taking photos, as usual..

So I thought, for this weekend, I'll post a couple of recipes and pictures. Unfoortunaatelyyy I forgot to take photos of the cooking process again. Ah well! The scones we made today were absolutely amazing, so hope you enjoy this recipe (mostly made up, inspiration and some preciser measures taken from the web)! You'll love these scones if you like slightly wholemeal-y bakings, with nutty and 'molasses' flavours.

Maple pecan date scones
Makes about 9 medium-sized scones, or less bigger ones (yeeep.)

Ingredients
- 1 cup of high-grade flour
- 1 cup of wholemeal flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 2/3 cup of buttermilk
- 3 tbsp of maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
- 1/2 cup of pecans
- 1/2 cup of dates

Method
Start out with toasting the pecans slightly (in the oven on 180 degrees for example, until some browning occurs, or when you start to smell them). Melt the butter, and beat it with the sugar. Add the maple syrup, the vanilla essence and eventually buttermilk (the cold buttermilk might make the butter become hard and lumpy again, but don't worry, it doesn't matter :)). Beat until nice and creamy (as mentioned, little lumps are okay). In a different, bigger bowl, sieve the two cups of flour, and add the baking powder and soda. If you don't use salted butter like we did, now add a teaspoon of salt, or less. Add the pecans and dates to the flour mixture, and mix through.


Beautiful.. ^^

Then add the liquids (buttermilk etc.), and stir through and knead, until a nice dough is formed. It will be more sticky than a bread dough, but should not stick to your fingers. Try to refrain from adding flour unless you really have to! I personally just really dislike flour-y scones. :D Now form about 9 scones on an oven tray with baking paper on it. Bake for about 18-25 minutes on 200 degrees (C). Then try to wait until they're cooled down and eat them! We couldn't wait, and had two with butter (YUM), but they really were better when cooled down fully. :) A lovely, lovely nutty maple taste. You should now look as happy as this bloke. ;)


Say YES to lumpy pecan and date bits!

Week 28

We had an Italian theme food week, this week. It was amazing.

Saturday
Thai red curry (with additional herbs!) with kumara, white onion, and green beans, with Jasmin rice.

Sunday
Made home-made pizza!! (Pizza base was partly made with wholemeal flour). We made a big oven tray of pizza, divided into four:
- Margherita: tomato, basil and mozzarella
- Carciofi: tomato, basil, artichoke, later some rocket and parmesan on top
- Piccante: tomato, bell pepper, white onion, pepperoni, jalapeno pepper, cheddar
- Acciughe: tomato, anchovies, capers, white onion, jalapeno pepper, mozzarella

Monday
Chicken scaloppina, with boiled potatoes, carrot and broccoli, served with a luscious red wine sauce and a home-made focaccia, straight from the oven (with rock salt, garlic and rosemary on top). YES.

Tuesday
Quickly seared beef strips (sirloin steak) on a bed of rocket & spinach leafs, with parmesan shavings, next to grilled green asparagus (with olive oil and more parmesan shavings - woohoo!), a basil-olive oil-tomato salad, and grilled potatoes and kumara (garlic & rosemary), served with some focaccia bread (lightly toasted with some mozzarella) and olive oil & balsamic vinegar dip.

Wednesday
A quick dinner with fried haloumi (fresh lemon juice on top), a toasted wholewheat garlic pita, and salad: mesclun leafs, red bell pepper, avocado, sprouts, tomato, some fresh parsley and basil, balsamico vinegar and olive oil.

Thursday
Spring risotto: fried one white onion in butter and olive oil, until transparent, then added a cup of Arborio rice, stir-fried that, added some lemon zest (half a lemon), and started adding vegetable stock (1.5 cup, and then 0.5 cup extra water), and a little bit of lemon juice (of about half a lemon). In the end added blanched green asparagus and spinach, some grated Parmesan, and little parsley and basil. Served with the remainder of our haloumi, and some extra lemon juice. Yum yum yum!!

Friday
Ate out at Tonino’s pizzeria, Mission Bay.


Tuesday's dinner

Week 27

This one is of last week.. now catching up! (This was not a very exciting week - I was finishing on my last(?!) exam!)(Will also try to post some more recipes this week!)

Saturday
Ate at the Indian Lights festival: samosa chaat. Reaally niiice! (Samosa, chickpea curry, and chole – a salad like thing). Wayne also had aloo bhatura with coriander chutney(?).

Sunday
Kumara roasted with honey/lemon/olive oil and a salad with bell pepper, cucumber, feta, bacon, and a lemon/honey/olive oil/fresh oregano/dried thyme-dressing. Pretty good.

Monday
Had wraps with chicken thigh meat (fried with onion, garlic, cumin, paprika and oregano), fried red kidney beans, some pineapple, some lettuce and tomato. Chilli-tomato sauce. Easy, yum. Def. comfort-food.

Tuesday
Ate at the lab: wraps with some left-over chicken, beans, and salad.

Wednesday
Made a mixed quinoa salad with grilled veggies, sundried tomatoes and caperberries, parsley and basil, raw garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Also grilled haloumi, mesclun salad, and a ciabatta.

Thursday
Wraps with left-over quinoa salad, some fried chicken, or with some tuna and pineapple.

Friday
Ciabatta with omelette (two eggs, fresh herbs, feta), some salad and avocado.

Week 26

I'm running behind, have had some crazy weeks....but here we go!

Saturday
Hawke’s Bay: we got home-made beef burgers (nice!) on toasted buns, with tomato, coleslaw and beetroot (pretty Kiwi!)

Sunday
Hawke’s Bay: We got Sunday roast (pork), gravy and apple sauce, with roast kumara, new potatoes with mint and butter, boiled pumpkin, broccoli and asparagus. Nice!

Monday
Home-made pita-pizzas with pepperoni, feta, bell pepper, red onion, peppadew, sundried tomato, and some grated cheddar (and tomato base).

Tuesday
French red rice salad with grilled aubergine, asparagus and red onion. Also with: sundried tomatoes, caperberries, artichokes, black olives, parsley and basil. On the side we had grilled portabello mushrooms (two smaller ones each), filled with a mixture of feta, cut-up pumpkin seeds, parsley, sumac, thyme, black pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. Yeah!

Wednesday
Kumara fritters (one kumara, one small potato, one carrot – cumin, one red chilli pepper with seeds, salt/pepper, chopped coriander) with 10-second cucumber raita (honey yoghurt, piece of cucumber, one leaf of mint, black pepper) and a salad (mesclun leafs, chopped bell pepper, grated carrot, pumpkin seeds, and a dressing of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, sumac, cumin, some sugar and black pepper). Everything was really nice - really tasty.

Thursday
Japanese omelette, spinach and mushrooms with soy sauce and sesame seeds, with Jasmin rice, and miso soup. Light but nice.

Friday
Ate at Carolyn’s (leg of lamb, roast kumara, potato and kumara, fried bok choy), yum!

Week 25

Saturday
Jamaican beef patties! (Took about an hour). Made the pastry, made the filling (prime beef mince, garlic, chilli pepper, onion, kumara, red bell pepper, spices: curry, thyme, cayenne pepper, paprika, s/p). Made the pastries, and baked them in the oven. Ate them with chutney sauce: mango chutney, tomato ketchup and some Kaitaia fire.

Sunday
Made buttermilk pancakes for brekkie/brunch with left-over grilled pineapple, and berries. For dinner we had wraps with left-over mince mix, grilled aubergine, lettuce, ketchup & Kaitaia fire. Also made wraps with goat cheese, honey, walnuts and mesclun salad (YUM!!).

Monday
Persian marinated chicken skewers (cardamom, tumeric, etc.), millet (grains cooked in broth), and a Lebanese fattoush salad: consisting of baked pita bread crisps, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, red onion, and a fresh herb dressing of parsley, coriander, two leafs of mint, and some black olives, two garlic cloves, olive oil, lemon juice, pepper, and some sumac.

Tuesday
Oven-baked, marinated BBQ pork ribs (home-made marinade), stir-fried veggies (aubergine, mushrooms and asparagus), and Jasmin rice.

Wednesday
Ciabatta buns (baked with butter, garlic and parsley), with chicken burgers that were premade (chopped up chicken breast with parsley, some coriander, lemon zest, some lemon juice, salt, pepper), and aioli, tomato with basil and olive oil, avocado, and lettuce. Also had fried kumara ‘chips’ on the side. YUM.

Thursday
Went out for dinner (Carolyn’s) and had gnocchi. ^^

Friday
We were in Hawke’s Bay this weekend: we had bacon and egg pie (Kiwihihi ;p)


Monday's dinner

Tropical side dishes

I've been wanting to post some tropical side dishes that work amazingly well with hot, spicy (Asian) fish dishes. We often eat mango salsa with Mexican fish tacos, too. I love fruit in dinners! It adds another spectrum to the flavours (fresh, sweet, tangy, ahh..). Here are some favs:

Stir-fried pineapple

Ingredients
- 1 fresh pineapple, 'peeled' and cored, cut into pieces
- 1 Thai red chilli
- 2 cloves of garlic
- a piece of ginger, grated
- 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (I used light)
- 1-2 tbsp sugar (I used soft brown sugar)
- 2 tbsp roasted unsalted nuts (I used peanuts)
- 1 lime, wedged

Method
Heat a pan, and some vegetable oil (I used canola). Stir-fry the garlic, ginger and chilli until they start to colour. Add the pieces of pineapple and stir-fry them too until they start to change colour. Mix the fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar, and add it to the pineapple mixture. Keep stir-frying until it starts to caramelize. Serve on a plate with the roast nuts sprinkled over them, and wedges of lime on the side. Especially good with hot fish dishes (like stir-fried squid), and rice.


A borrowed pic of mango salsa - will upload my own soon!

Mango salsa

Ingredients
- 1 mango, peeled and cubed
- 2 spring onions
- At least 1 Thai red chilli
- Half a red onion
- A piece of cucumber
- Lime juice of one lime
- Thai fish sauce (nam pla), to taste
- Some palm sugar or sweet chilli sauce (1 tbsp-ish)
- Some fresh coriander
- Roasted, unsalted peanuts (chopped)

Method
Cut-up the mango, spring onions, chilli, red onion* and cucumber place in a bowl. Mix the liquids for the dressing, also add the coriander, finely chopped. If you're using sweet chilli sauce - don't add too much as it will take over the taste. You just want it slightly sweetened (so palm sugar or brown sugar might be a better way to go - honey is a good idea, too!). When serving, sprinkle with freshly roasted, unsalted peanuts. Really good with fried panko-crumbed fish.

Week 24

Saturday
Crumbed lamb chops with chimichurri marinade (parsley, garlic, red wine vinegar and olive oil), with grilled asparagus, yellow bell pepper and sundried tomato mesclun salad, and toasted ciabatta.

Sunday
Thai-inspired stir-fry squid with wild rice and stir-fried pineapple.
- (Stir-fry squid with white onion, okra and yellow bell pepper, garlic and chilli, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and lime)
- (Stir-fry pineapple: stir-fry garlic, chilli, and ginger, then add pineapple, brown a bit, then add mixture of fish sauce, lime juice and sugar – stir-fry until caramelised)

Monday
Oven-baked snapper with a panko-breadcrumbed, coriander, garlic and chilli crust, with grilled and fried kumara, and salad of avocado, asparagus, bell pepper and a fresh herb vinaigrette, and a garlic ciabatta.

Tuesday
Mexican poached chicken (garlic, onion, bay leaf, thyme and oregano), fried pinto beans (garlic! chilli!), grated cheddar, an awesome roast veggie-coriander-lime salsa(!), and mesclun salad, in huge wheatmeal wraps.

Wednesday
Two Indian curries: muttar paneer (niice!) and paneer butter masala (mwah), with asparagus, bell pepper and white onion, with Jasmin rice and mango pickle on the side. Yum!!

Thursday
We got home late, and made wheatmeal wraps with scrambled egg and bacon, avocado, tomato, lettuce, mustard, ketchup and Kaitaia fire (not that bad at all!).

Friday
Ciabatta with home-made black olive tapenade (black olives, 2 garlic, capers and parsley), grilled veggies (asparagus, red onion, red bell pepper and aubergine – marinated in olive oil, garlic and parsely), with crumbled French goat cheese and pine nuts on top (grilled in the oven, too).


Saturday's meal

SciFi Squid

Howdy! Yesterday, Sunday, we were off to the fish market as more often (usual?) in the weekends. We were gonna get some 'flat' fish to fry with a coriander & lime panko-breadcrumbed crust...and some already-fried fish (but no chips) for lunch! ^^ Gurnard as usual, with some tartare sauce, in the -albeit weak- spring sun in the harbour! Woohoo. :) Not bad!

When we were at the market, my eye fell on some arrow squids (..hm that sounds a bit gross). I've been preparing squids for a couple of years now, and once you get over the sci-fi element of it, you realise that squid really is a very versatile ..fish? ..sea-creature? Food! :D

In this post, I'll go through the different preparation steps for squid, to end up with a beautifully easy and tasty stir-fry recipe (which I made up & made yesterday). Not for the faint-hearted! But here we go:

SciFi Squid Preparation
First, one finds the squid and placeth it on a board:



Get ready to get your hands dirty. Grab the squid by the tentacles ("grab 'im by the beans!" ;P)(sorry in-joke), and try to pull out most of the intestines out of its..head/hat. Also be careful not to break any of them, as it can get quite messy. Cut off the tentacles below the eyes (again -sorry slightly alienesque- be careful not to hit the eyes. Believe me.). Pick up the tentacles, spread them out, and in the center you'll find the squid's beak. Take it out (you should be able to do this just by hand). You should have something like this now:



Alright. Still with me? Awesome. Time for the yucky bit ("What, that comes only now?!" ..sorry. :p). Put the knife inside the head/hat of the squid, and put the tip of the knife at the end of it. Now pull the knife towards you, opening the head/hat in one straight line. You can now fold it open, and remove any remaining yuckies. It's important at this stage to also remove the spine (or any other hard bits you might find). The spine is located along the middle of the hat (kinda where you'd expect it - if you ever had any expectations about squids). On the other side, remove all the skin - you can pull it off, or scrape with a knife. Your squid should be all cleaned by now, and look a bit like this (yeah that totally looks 'clean', doesn't it?):



Yay!! You just cleaned some squid :D Excellent. For $1.67 and the tastes you'll have later on, that was definitely worth it, right? Right? ;) When you cut up the squid for cooking, think about carving a little roster-pattern in the pieces - this makes them curl up nicely when they get cooked/wokked! ->



Thai-inspired stir-fry squid

Ingredients
- Two or more home-prepared squids (it's the best! ^^)
- 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 2 Thai red chillies, chopped up
- Half a white onion, or more
- Some beans (green beans or okra beans)
- Some chopped-up carrot
- Spring onion

- Oyster sauce (1-2 tbsp)
- Fish sauce (1 tbsp)
- Palm sugar, or brown sugar (1 tbsp)
- Soy sauce (1 tbsp)
- Lime juice (a wedge or two)

Method
Heat a wok up till a decent temperature - add some oil (we used canola), and the garlic and chilli. Stir-fry a little, and add the squid. Stir-fry until the squid looks cooked (when it's white, with a little purple (fo' real!), and looks chewy - that is, more firm). Combine all the liquids and the sugar in a little bowl, and add. Fry for a bit, and take the squid out of the wok. Now fry the veggies in the wok, and put the squid back in there when they're nearly ready. Add some more condiments if necessary, and some black pepper. Done! Serve with rice. Easy-peasy and supertasty, too! ^^


We ate this dish with wild rice and stir-fried pineapple. Yuum!!

Week 23

Not the most exciting cooking week, we've probably been a bit too busy..

Saturday
(At the section in Kaitaia). Soy and linseed pitas with grilled zucchini, red onion and bell pepper, mesclun salad, two pieces of cured salmon, cream cheese and horseradish sauce. Crème brûlée for dessert, finished on the section with a gas burner. \o/

Sunday
Got Burger Fuel burgers. Not very nice (too much sauce).

Monday
Thai chicken cashew nut – a stir-fry with chicken thigh meat, chilli pepper, white onion, asparagus, okra beans, some red bell pepper and spring onions, and a tamarind-sauce (bit too much tamarind though) and cashew nuts – with Jasmin rice.

Tuesday
Spring salad with roasted white and purple/black potatoes, garlic, grilled asparagus, spring onion, red onion and courgette, marinated artichokes, black olives, caperberries, anchovies and some boiled eggs. Niiihiice.

Wednesday
Thai yellow curry (with a little bit of red curry paste mixed through it, as well as a kaffir lime leaf), with shrimps, bell pepper, white onion and okras. With Jasmin rice, of course.

Thursday
Left-over yellow curry with some rice at the lab, and Wayne made kippered fish pie at home, which was awesome! Kippered fish (I forget which one..hoki?), milk and parsley (and something else..) filling, and a beautifully fluffy mash on top, with grated cheddar and sliced tomatoes laid out over it. For me..surprisingly tasty (;p)!

Friday
Dinner at Carolyn’s: mushroom risotto and oven-baked salmon and lemon, and sautéed bok choy and green beans. YUM.


The Spring Salad of Tuesday

Tiramisù originale!

"Great", you think, a food weblog that consists primarily of boasting/sharing cooking ideas over a weekly period. Gosh. Just what the internet still needs. But abide with me for now, as I will attempt to put up new recipes weekly, too! :) I'll start out with some retrospective Success Dishes (i.e. made & loved before).

And remember, as Shakespeare also pointed out, prudent as ever:

Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers.
- Romeo and Juliet: act 4, scene 2

Tiramisù originale
As some of you know, I used to work in an Italian food store/traiteur/caterer, as a shop assistant (and unasked-for-adviser, something I do quite well ;p). If it was quiet in the mornings though, I would help out in the kitchen, too. My favourite was helping out with making a traditional tiramisù, because I might just 'spill' some mascarpone-mixture and have to 'clean' it up..



Here is the recipe that we used to use, and that I have checked with several traditional Italian recipes online. More importantly, I, and others, have also tried the tiramisù that came from this recipe.......and, it is good people. It is Good. Give it a try sometime! Here is the recipe:

Tiramisù tradizionale

Ingredients:
- 1 package of savoiardi (Italian ladyfingers)
- 200g mascarpone, at least*
- 3 egg yolks
- 150 gr caster sugar (I used a bit less sugar than other recipes, because I don't like sugary desserts)
- 4 shots of espresso, lengthened with a little bit of water
- some Marsala (Sicilian red wine)
- cocoa (best quality you can find...like Dutch cocoa ;))
(*Actually up to 500g is good - more is better! Add an egg yolk and some sugar in case you use more though.)

Instructions:
Start off with making the 'zabaglione': beat the 3 egg yolks together with the caster sugar, and mix it well. Add some marsala (just a dash, or a bigger dash ;)), mix, then add the mascarpone, and mix again. Put on the side.

Dip savoiardi biscuits in the espresso until they are sufficiently soaked (soaked, but not drenched: you don't want them to fall apart). Make a layer in the tin/dish (which should be the size of a normal oven dish for the cited quantities) of the biscuits, filling the whole space. Add a layer of the zabaglione (use approximately 50%), and finish the layer with some sieved cocoa. Repeat with another layer of espresso-dipped savoiardi, zabaglione and cocoa. You can also add chocolate chips to the cocoa if you like.

And that's it! Put it in the freezer to make it 'settle' for a couple of hours, and then transfer it to the fridge (a while before eating it, so it isn't frozen). Then, eat, enjoy! It's as easy as that :D Buon appetito ^^

Week 22

I'm writing this now as we're leaving for Kaitaia this evening!! Woohoo up north again :D Where the sun shines and the beach is always near. ^^

Saturday
Tempura (of onion, kumara and salmon - should’ve done salmon differently, really) and home-made sashimi (salmon), with soy dipping sauce (combination of soy sauce & mirin and some other things), pickled ginger, wasabi and some Japanese mayonnaise. Also, an iceberg-cucumber mini salad with sesame and soy dressing.

Also made the cured salmon! (See other log)

Sunday
A Turkish pide (panino-like bread) filled with: garlic butter (garlic paste & melted Danish butter), omelette with feta, mustard, fresh avocado and tomato, some fancy lettuce. YUM! The bread was amazing (from the Fish Market).

Monday
Thai chicken lab/larb (with chicken thigh meat again), with Jasmin rice and som tum-style (spicy & sour-ish) cucumber salad with peanuts.

Tuesday
We made falafel and hummus with a 2.55kg tin of chickpeas ($5.50) we bought, which took a lot of time but was pretty nice. Ate the falafel patties with some corn wraps, and hummus (+ ketchup, Calve garlic sauce, Kaitaia fire), fresh tomato and iceberg lettuce. So good. <3

Wednesday
We had devilled sausages (I altered the recipe a bit though)(of course ;)), made with chorizo sausages, onion & apple, served with potato mash, and a small mesclun salad (with cider vinaigrette).

Thursday
Had left-over falafel, hummus, salad, tomato, bell pepper and a garlic pita bread. YUM.

Friday
Pumpkin soup with home-made chicken broth. (After this please no more pumpkin for a while!! We’ve been going a bit crazy with pumpkin this winter). The home-made chicken broth definitely added flavour to it though.



Mjaaaaaaaaaam falafel. ^^

Home-cured salmon

We've been getting into the habit of visiting the fish market (which is permanent) here in Auckland in the weekend. Though we're often looking for different kinds of fish, we always take a peek at the salmon tails too - if you get there early enough, you might get a pretty big tail for a good price. We make sashimi out of it ourselves (yuum!! Finally a more satisfying portion than the five slices you get in the restaurant), or prepare the salmon teriyaki-style, or even tempura. Last week however, I wanted to try something new.

I wanted to try to cure the salmon at home (as in the salting-sugaring process). So we bought two tails (yep, one for sashimi and tempura), and cured one of them (to cure sounds a bit odd..preserve? Hm.). I found a random recipe on the internet, and didn't compare enough, because this recipe had way much more salt than all the other recipes.. ah well this is what we did:

Home-cured salmon
1 salmon tail (skinned)
2/3 cup salt
1/3 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)
0.5 tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoons crushed black peppercorns

- Combine all of the spices, and sugar and salt into a large bowl.
- Cover a plate with plastic wrap, and pour half of the spices on top. Place the salmon on top of the spices, skin side down, and cover with the rest of the spice mixture.
- Wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 48-72 hours. Every 12 hours, flip and redistribute the spices with your fingers. You’ll notice that it’ll be extremely wet–that’s okay. The brine is pulling the moisture out of the salmon.
- The salmon will feel firm when fully cured. Unwrap, and throw out the brine. Rinse the salmon under cold water, and pat dry with a paper towel. Use a very sharp knife to thinly slice against the grain.

When I finally looked at more recipes and saw that they used 50-50 sugar & salt, I tried adding more sugar, but I don't think it worked ('cos the result was still quite salty). Anyway! After 60+ hours of turning the salmon every 12 hours, we tried our first piece, on a bun with some fresh avocado.



..We didn't know what to expect, but it was yum! :D It was quite salty as I mentioned, but supertasty, too! The meat was of an orange-pink colour, like the smoked salmon you see in the supermarket (but darker). The meat was firm, but not dry. I think it tasted gorgeous, and that it would be very good salmon to use in dishes, like pasta dishes (though not in my case of course! ;) No pasta for me thanks). So, yeah, good experiment, but next time less salt, and some fresh dill (Swedish styles - gravad lax)!

Week 21

Saturday
Real corn tortillas (Tio Pablo-brand?) with shallow-fried, panko-crumbed fish (snapper and gurnard), with guacamole (avocado, lime juice, coriander, chilli, red onion) and a papaya salsa (papaya chunks and cucumber with lime juice, coriander, chilli and red onion). YUM.

Sunday
Grilled lemon & chilli haloumi and grilled polenta (with a spicy mushroom 'filling') with a thick home-made Italian tomato sauce, ciabatta crostini and sun-dried tomato tapenade, and a side salad with a balsamic vinaigrette.

Also: made muesli with maple syrup and honey, mixed nuts, dates, fruit medley and orange-flavoured cranberries.

Monday
Soba noodles (Japanese buckwheat noodles) with onion, bell pepper, and portabellos in a miso-soy sauce with garlic & ginger, as well as fried tempeh. Win!

Tuesday
Indian chicken korma curry with onion & supertender chicken thigh meat, steaming Jasmin rice, iceberg lettuce and cucumber raita. Exquisitely tasteful. (Wayne-only cooking ;))

Wednesday
Fried up the left-over polenta (with mushrooms), and lemon-chilli haloumi (SO good!), and a mushroom mixture of portabellos, garlic & thyme. Also had green beans with a Sicilian-style tomato sauce (garlic, chilli pepper, fresh tomato, caperberries and sundried tomatoes).

Thursday
Red quinoa salad with roast pumpkin, kumara, red onion, feta and orange. Simple, tasty & wholesome - a home favourite.

Friday
The real corn tortillas (Tio Pablo) with warm mixed beans (tossed with garlic and some cumin), grated cheddar cheese, a chilli-tomato sauce, finely chopped white onion, some fresh tomato with coriander, and iceberg lettuce. Easy, and super nice!


Sunday Eve dinner with polenta & haloumi, woOohoOo!

Welcome!

This should become my regularly updated food log..

I am aiming for:
- Associative novelty (novel combinations of familiar elements)
- Good food (give that food some thought)
- Good food (give that brain some food)
- Photos that actually increase your appetite (this might take some time..)
- Inspiration for other people/myself! :D

Keep ya posted. ;)

Cheers,

Val