Dinner with friends

On Saturday night my whole family was gearing up for a food adventure. We had been invited to our friends house for dinner and not just any dinner. Aaron, our host has a passion and talent for New Orleans food. His dad is from there and has passed down the love of fantastic seafood and the great New Orleans flare in the kitchen. I had heard about Aaron's chicken and dumplings and wanted to get in on the deal. I promised to watch, chop and help in any way. The fact they have a divine kitchen also makes cooking and hanging out a pure delight (a long way from my slap dash apartment kitchen- this is one I one day dream of owning).

 I left my family a few hours before we were asked to dinner so I could help out in anyway. When I arrive Aaron had stocks boiling, black beans simmering and a list of recipes to choose from. I couldn't help myself and recommended we cook the lot! ( I also thought I'd be able to have a bit of a play if we did a few extra) Aaron was up for the challenge.

Our chosen menu consisted of a 'Summer crab salad with basil and lime'- a great zesty punch to the meal. Aaron has all the seafood flowing in from New Orleans, the crab was a delectable sweet meat, drenched in a lime vinaigrette and finished with the smoothness of avocado- a fantastic way to begin the meal.

After the salad we had 'Grilled shrimp with black bean cakes and coriander butter sauce' This was a wonderful play with flavor and texture. The bean cakes were soft with a little kick from a jalapeno then tempered with the coriander butter sauce and grilled shrimp, you just can't go wrong!

After licking our lips Aaron then placed a divine, creamy 'Creole corn and Crab bisque' in front of us which was pure heaven. So creamy with a hint of cayenne for an added punch -that was Aaron going out on a limb and very well done I might add.

Just when we thought it was all over we were tantalized with 'Pre cooked shrimp, boiled in New Orleans which are just a luxury on their own and served with mini risotto cakes- I think I sucked on the shell for a good 15 minutes! 

Now it wouldn't be complete without a bisque of the tomato variety and that is exactly what Aaron finished with "Herbsaint Shrimp and tomato bisque'- I just loved this, the full body flavor of the shrimp stock coming through. The tomato rounding it off and finished with freshly poached shrimp just before served. I have to say I was in heaven. Aaron and I had high hopes for dessert but I am sad to say we didn't quite make it- however- Aaron didn't disappoint and whipped up 'Bananas Foster' but that needs it's own page.

In case you are wondering if we shared this with all the kids.......I have to tell you they were to busy getting down with Aaron's chicken dumplings (flavored with a ham hock) and marinated drumettes to notice the seafood and I can tell you none of us were giving up our serves!

Thanks for a fantastic evening Aaron and Susan- next time I'll cook for you on your trip to Sydney, and of course Roisin and Phil will be there...right guys?

Dumplings, dumplings, dumplings

We were all sitting around the table the other night tucking into dinner and I was distracted by a recipe I was thinking about for the up and coming book. I was wondering what would be a great meal for the family that would be healthy, yummy for all ages and realistic for someone who doesn't have a lot of time to waste. I'm looking around at my own family and what we were eating and then thought to myself- hang on a minute, this meal took me 20 minutes to whip up and we all love it.

  Nic, Max and I all dive into our respective chili sauces for our individual flavor hit while Alex is happily munching away dipping into the soy sauce- DUMPLINGS!

Granted I did buy the ones we were eating from the frozen foods section of the Asian market but I thought it would be ten times yummier if I whipped them up myself, and as I realized after I made them the following week they are really cost effective and I could load them up with lots more veggies than you get from the packet ones. They freeze really well, so I took an hour out of one of my mornings, bought the ingredients and spent the hour making 100's of (well at least 40) pork dumplings. We now have two or three meals in the freezer that will only take 20 minutes to put on the table and I can change it up with noodles, rice or salad. Serve the Hot, hot chili sauce for me, the sweet chili for Max and Nic and Alex can dip away in soy sauce. 

They do take a little extra time to make as appose to buying them but the benefits out weigh the 'fast approach' hands down in my book.

For the dumpling mixture you can do what you like. I find if you use vegetables you can grate like carrot and zucchini then you can chop them a little more and they blend in beautifully with the meat, just as if you slice a green onion finely, grate a bit of ginger and garlic, chop some basil or cilantro- the list is endless. You will find a lot of ingredients go a long way. For half a pound of (ground) pork mince I used 1 carrot and 1 zucchini and I had a lot of mix. I wouldn't recommend salting your mixture- instead use fish sauce, that way you give the mix a deeper flavor. Wonton or Goyza wrappers both work really well, you just need to wet on side with a little water to get them to stick together.

When cooking them, for the healthy option, layer a steam tray with lettuce or cabbage leaves and put the dumplings on top. Place the lid to cover and begin to cook your noodles or rice. As you can see above I also fried a couple. They are delicious either way. Frying you cook them in a wok with vegetable oil until they are brown, put in a little water to steam them with a lid on and then turn the heat down until they are ready. This was a little more work but very enjoyable.

The night I served the ones above I used noodles with veggies. The boys thought they were getting off lightly with the vegetable department and that was just fine- nothing is what it seems!

Chicken in pajamas

It was Nic's night to cook and sadly I missed out due to a private party I was catering the night the Baker boys ate 'chicken in pajamas'. I think it would have to be one of Nic's favorite chicken meals. I to love chicken P.j's (or the more common name chicken parmigiana) though I have to say I have not even thought about eating one in years due to the fact I use to make about 30-40 a day when I was working at a resort in Australia. I swear it was the most popular meal with kids and adults. The fact that you have to build the dish works in really well with family life. If you have someone who  doesn't like food touching then just serve the chicken separately, if they don't like tomato serve it without (As most of you know Alex HATES tomato, BUT if you make a sauce and put it together with cheese on top- he is all over it!)

Nic said the boys were asking what was for dinner, he told them 'chicken in pajamas' and they were curious, when he put the meal in front of them they of course said 'Oh, I don't know' but then Max asked if the cheese and tomato were the 'pajamas'. That got them engaged and they started to eat. Of course they loved it, a crisp chicken fillet flattened and breaded with fresh bread crumbs, layered with a piece of ham, rich tomato sauce and finished with mozzarella cheese and grilled- what is there not to like about that? Due to putting the kids to bed by himself, getting homework done and everything else that happens in the evening, Nic ate his when the boys were tucked into bed (which also gave him time to read Charlie and the Chocolate factory to them while they ate, one of their favorite times). The meal took 5 minutes to put together because he 'cooked' it all when making the boys- this way he got to eat with peace and quiet in front of the telly no doubt watching some sort of football game with a cold beer- now that is what I call relaxed eating!

Chickpea and harissa salad

Chick peas are my best friend when I am all out of ideas for dinner. I'd thawed out some pork loins the previous day and hadn't thought about anything else until it came time to make dinner. Vince (head chef from Union) and I were playing around with different versions of harissa last week and I had some leftover in the fridge, so I pulled it out with the idea of putting it on the side when serving the pork. I knew I wanted to use up the broad beans in the fridge but I need a 'vehicle' to carry them otherwise the boys would of be up in arms with a pile of foreign green on their plate. The can of chickpeas was my 'vehicle'. 

I'm not sure how it all came about but the colors of the yellow and bright green together clicked and then I thought about other foods that the boys would like to see as to disguise the fact I was offering up a new green veggie- feta cheese, an all time favorite! All of a sudden the penny dropped and I thought why not use the harissa as a dressing on our chickpea salad and make a quick red wine vinaigrette for the boys. Just before I put the harissa on I took out the boys portion, mixed theirs with 1 Tablespoon of red wine vinegar and 3 Tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper (added tomatoes to Max's- Alex got olives instead), poured the harissa over the remaining salad for Nic and I. The pork loins were seasoned with salt and pepper then grilled, rested and sliced and the salad served on top. 

We ALL loved this family meal. Boys are happy because they have the sharp soft textures and flavors of the feta and vinegar while Nic and I were enjoying the diverse flavors of the really HOT and garlicky harissa with the creamy Greek feta. Chick peas were perfect to match all these big flavors with the right textures for all age groups. The other good thing about harissa- it lasts for a long time in the fridge, so if you make it once you can use it through out the month in a number of ways.

 There is always a tin of chickpeas in the cupboard- you never know when they will come in handy, be it for a salad dip or burger.