Scotch Fillet with Roast Beetroot, Rocket and Goats Cheese Salad

I made this Scotch Fillet with Roast Beetroot, Rocket and Goats Cheese Salad for lunch on Sunday and it's really quick and easy. Simply wash and halve a bunch of Beetroots and roast with the skin on at 200°C, until a fork is easily inserted (approximately 45 minutes to an hour). When they are done, remove them from the oven, discard the skin, slice and leave to cool. While these cool, cook your scotch fillet (I made mine rare and once you have finished cooking, rest the steak before slicing) and prepare your salad. Wash and dry your salad and drizzle on some dressing (I used 2/3 oil and 1/3 white balsamic). You are now ready to assemble - place the salad leaves in a bowl, scatter the beetroot, sliced beef and top with lovely moreish crumbs of creamy goats cheese. Ta da! A filling warm salad!

Chicken and Cheese Dog Treats

You would think this is the face that launched a thousand pet treats but you're wrong. I'm off to visit Dean, Skye and their new baby, a Golden Labrador puppy named Penny and made her a bag of Chicken and Cheese Dog Treats. These treats are modelled off this recipe and I've fine tuned them with the help of Baci. So easy to make and most of the ingredients are already in your pantry.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 75g unsalted butter
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3/4 cup polenta
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon powered chicken stock
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 and 1/2 cups of plain flour

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C and lightly grease four cookie trays. In a large bowl add the rolled oats, butter and the cup of boiling water. Allow the mixture to stand for 10 minutes.

Then add the polenta, sugar, powered chicken stock, milk, cheese and egg and mix well. After the mixture is combined add the flour in one cup at a time. Knead lightly until it forms a soft dough.

Roll the dough to a 5mm thickness on a floured surface and cut with your favourite cookie cutter shapes. Space the shapes evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Allow them to cool before storing them in an airtight container. At this point, you might want to give a few to your faithful friend as they probably at your feet drooling over the cheesy aroma.

New Year's Eve

"The only way to spend New Year's Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears." - W.H. Auden.

I subscribe to the W.H. Auden school of thought when it comes to New Year's Eve. Since I would rather spend it in the company of friends, as opposed to shagging a random stranger, I decided to host a dinner party. Entree was an Anti-Pasto Plate and Pork and Veal Terrine, main was Osso Buco with Soft Polenta or for those with allergies Roast Lamb with Chat Potatoes and Roast Pumpkin and a Berry Pavlova for dessert.

We also made Champagne Cocktails. Champagne Cocktails are so easy and delicious - blend one bottle of pink Champagne, one tub of lemon sorbet and serve in a champagne flute with fresh strawberries. Here are some food snaps from the evening:

Pork and Veal Terrine. My recipe comes from the lovely Marcus and features a number delicious ingredients - brandy, cream, pistachio nuts and moreish chicken livers. Mmm.

Berry Pavlova. The recipe comes from the 'Women's Weekly Cooking School' cookbook. I finished the Pavlova with Chantilly Creme.

The majority of the chocolates come from Chocolate to Die For (bar the Mint Cameos which come from the Blue Cat). Chocolate to Die For changed ownership about a month ago but the girls are still as friendly as ever. The new owner even has ambitions to make her own chocolates on site so stay tuned.

Cheat's Hollandaise Sauce

It's Boxing Day, you've got left over Christmas ham, you're in a hurry to get to the sales but you still want a nice breakfast. My solution is Eggs Benedict with Cheat's Hollandaise Sauce. Here is a quick recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons butter
• 2 teaspoons plain flour
• 250g cream
• 2 egg yokes
• Lemon juice

Method:

Melt the butter and plain flour in a sauce pan over medium high heat. When the mixture is smooth and combined, slowly add the cream and whisk in eggs one at a time. The mixture will become thick and then add lemon juice to taste. Pour over Egg Benedict and retain the rest for another breakfast or to pour over some dinner vegetables.

Caramelised Apple Crepes

Some children can be described as academic, others sporty or musical. I have always been an average Jo and in order to achieve anything need to spend time slowly absorbing and refining the required knowledge/skill set. I'm still working on my crepes, so today I made Caramelised Apple Crepes. I made the caramelised apple filling with:

• three granny smith apples (peeled and diced),
• three table spoons of caster sugar,
• 20g of butter,
• Cinnamon.

I then popped the apple, sugar and butter into a fry pan to cook and continued to add a drizzle of water as the apple cooked the Carmel had reduced. Once the apple had cooked, I mixed through the Cinnamon and started work on the crepes. Delicious.

Ah my nemesis, we meet again

Everyone has a nemesis - Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader, Dr Who/the Master, Queen Elizabeth/Mary, Queen of Scots and the list goes on. My culinary nemesis is the crepe as the result is too thick, too thin and/or stuck. However, I'm determined to get it right and have been using this basic crepe recipe to practice.

My favourite crepe filling has always been chocolate and strawberries. Here is a simple chocolate ganache I made from 1/3 cup of cream and 250g of 70% dark chocolate.

Plentiful amounts of sliced fresh strawberries are a must.

Towards the end of my epic crepe battle, I started to produce something vaguely resembling a crepe. Here are some tips and tricks to help you get the upper hand on this dastardly villain:

• Crepes should be cooked on medium heat.
  
• Have a small dish of soften butter and a pastry brush on hand to slightly oil the pan before you ladle the crepe batter into the pan.
  
• Only flip the crepe when it is cooked. You will know it is cooked as the edges will curl slightly and like pancakes, small bubbles will appear.
  
• As I continued to make the crepes, I found the batter was thicker at the bottom of the bowl. I would suggest adding a little milk to keep the batter viscous.

Hopefully these tips will assist you to produce beautiful crepes and minimise the amount that look like this:

Old Faithful: Potato Salad

There is something extremely comforting about potato salad. It can be served hot or cold, takes only minutes to prepare and is always a crowd pleaser. My Mother asked me to whip up a potato salad for tomorrow's traditional Christmas food-a-rama so here is one of my quick and easy variations. This recipe is extremely flexible so feel free to exchange the whole egg mayonnaise for sour cream or add finely slice spring onions for some extra zing. I personally can't abide cold eggs so I always leave them out.

Ingredients:

• 2.5kg of washed baby potatoes
• 440g whole egg mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 3 rashers of bacon, diced
• chives.

Method:

Roughly slice all your baby potatoes in half (or quarters if they are a little larger), place in a large stockpot and add enough cold water to cover. Boil the potatoes until tender, drain using a strainer and place back into the stockpot.

Pan fry your diced bacon and once the fat is translucent, remove from fry pan and place in a large bowl.

In a large bowl, combine the bacon, mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, seeded and dijon mustard. Once the potatoes are warm, pour the contents of the large bowl into the stock pot and combine. Prior to serving the salad, sprinkle some finely dice chives. This salad can be served either hot or cold.

Shortbread: Biscuits wrapped in Lies

One of the first cook books I ever purchased was David Herbert's Complete Perfect Recipes. This cook book is indeed what the title proclaims it to be, 250 simple, solid recipes that work, enclosed in a small, no fuss, square, soft cover publication with black and white photography. I've made a number of recipes from this book including his Shortbread recipe.

For the majority of my life, I have believed that Shortbread are buttery biscuits wrapped in lies. It isn't bread, it's a delicious biscuit. Why would the Scottish People lie to us? So after a little research I discovered Shortbread originated from a medieval biscuit bread which was a twice baked bread roll, rolled in sugar and spices. I'm gathering it was as unappetising as it sounds as the yeast was eventually replaced with butter, resulting in the lovely buttery biscuits we know and love today. Let us now embark on a visual field trip into the world of Shortbread.

250g of butter combined with 1/2 cup caster sugar, 2 cups plain flour and 1/2 cup of rice flour.

After resting the dough for 20 minutes, I rolled it out on a floured bench, cut out my shapes and gently placed them on a lightly oiled baking tray.

Three trays in a preheated oven set at 150°C for 15-20 minutes.



The result? Delicious buttery Shortbread. Still wrapped in lies, but ignore this issue. I suggest you make your own and enjoy.

Golden Syrup Horse Treats

I have often wondered what it was like when the first human had the foresight to tame a wild horse and ride. One of my greatest pleasures in life is my weekly dressage lesson and I count myself as an extremely fortunate individual that not only am I given the opportunity but that such a generous creature would allow me on its back. Most horse treats comprise of a number ingredients, that home cooks simply do not have access to or just aren't aesthetically pleasing. Here is a simple recipe I put together using home ingredients. You can make a number of modifications to this recipe such as substituting the rolls oats for bran, golden syrup for molasses, apple for carrot etc.

Golden Syrup Horse Treats

Makes approximately 60 treats.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1 cup of golden syrup
• 1 grated granny smith apple

Method:

Preheat oven to 190°C. In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients. If necessary add more flour until the mixture becomes a malleable piece of dough.

Roll out the dough to approximately 5mm in thickness and using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut out your shapes and space evenly on an oiled tray. Place in oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Allow the treats to cool and then store in an air tight container.

'When I Get Home' - Matt Moran

Super star chefs are today's celebrities and Matt Moran is no different with two restaurants, a string of media engagements and two published cook books. Following the super star chef mould Moran's first cook book was a compilation of his signature dishes and largely unusable for the average home cook. However his second foray into the world of cook books is far more user friendly and comes beautifully presented with a die cut hard cover and tactile spine. 209 pages of modern Australian cuisine which includes recipes such as Haloumi with Watermelon and Mint and Smoked Trout and Asparagus Tart. I've recently made this tart twice and it is just outstanding. It's delicious, presents well but a word of warning ... do not try unless you have a spring form tart pan. It's a must have piece of equipment.

Smoked Trout and Asparagus Tart
Serves six.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
• 3 eggs
• 300ml cream
• 100ml milk
• 1/4 bunch dill, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 300g piece hot-smoked rainbow trout
• 50g parmesan (preferably reggiano)

Shortcrust pastry

• 250g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• pinch caster sugar
• 160g butter, slightly softened
• 1 egg
• 20ml milk

Method:

To prepare the shortcrust pastry, rub the flour, salt and sugar with the butter until you form a crumb consistency. Mix in the egg and milk and knead gently two or three times. Wrap the pastry in plastic film and rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Remove from the fridge and allow the pastry to come back to room temperature before rolling.

Roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 5 mm and line a 25cm tart tin. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork, several times, then return to the fridge for about an hour to rest.

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Cut out a round piece of baking paper about 5cm larger in diameter than the tart tin. Line the pastry case with the paper and weigh down with some dried beans or rice. Bake for about 12 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 10 minutes. Brush the inside of the tart case with some beaten egg and return to the oven for 2 minutes (this will prevent the pastry from becoming soggy). Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Slice each asparagus spear into three pieces. Blanch in boiling salted water for 10-20 seconds, then drain and cool in iced water. When the asparagus is cold, drain off the water.

In a bowl, beat together the eggs, cream, milk, dill, salt and pepper. Remove the skin from the trout and carefully flake the flesh, taking care to remove any bones you find in the process. Scatter the trout and asparagus inside the cooled tart case, the pour on the custard. Finely grate some parmesan over the top and bake for 15 minutes or until the custard is set. Allow the tart to cool for 15 minutes, then remove from the tin and cut into wedges to serve.

Source: 'When I Get Home' - Matt Moran.

Delicious Lemon Curd

"When fate hands you a lemon make lemonade lemon curd! - Dale Carnegie (Bastardised).

As a grumpy young person, I find Christmas annoying. Mariah Carey is set on high rotatation, parking is a nightmare and frankly its an expensive time of year. However there is one aspect that I do love, it's the opportunity to thank the special people (near and far) in your life and tell that you love them.

This year I've found the ultimate Christmas gift - it's economical, quick, fail proof, ultra tasty and homemade from the heart.

Lemon Curd
Makes one and half cups.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
• 1/3 cup (80g) chilled unsalted butter
• Zest and juice of 2 lemons

Method:

Whisk whole eggs, yolks and sugar in a saucepan until smooth, then place pan over a low heat. Add the butter, juice and zest and whisk continuously until thickened. Strain through a sieve into a sterilised jar. Lemon curd keeps, covered, in the fridge for 2 weeks.

Source: Taste.com

This recipe is easily doubled and I was really happy with how this recipe turned out. As you can see from the photograph, I chose to present mine with Gingham Check, Toile and matching ribbon. To achieve this look you will also need jam jars, rubber bands and pinking shears. If you prefer a more rustic look I've also seen jars presented with brown paper and twine. Happy cooking!