FoodieChat

The other day I had a temporary lapse of good judgement and poured tap water into a glass pyrex dish that had a roast in it cooking at 230 degrees. Wham! Explosion of glass shards covered in pig fat . Well apart from wasting a 2kg roast and having to clean up the mess, at least no glass went in legs. Hence I still craved pork. But 20minutes before guests arrive and no meat, quick dash to the nearest woollies and bought some pork scotch fillet. Here’s a great way to marinate them before grilling : press 2 - 3 cloves garlic in a garlic press to mince; add a generous tablespoon of harrissa, a few finely chopped thyme leaves, and fresh oregano, olive oil, sea salt and pepper. The aroma of the fresh herbs is amazing as it permeates the sweet pork. This quantity was for 4 large chops.  Here I served it Rockpool Bar and Grill style: with nothing else on the plate hahaha.

Ever since watching Masterchef, I’ve had bad bad food cravings! By bad I mean naughty foods, but also unrelenting cravings! One was for seafood bisque - due to the masterclass (lobster bisque with linguine); and the celebrity chef challenge from that singaporean chef (scampi bisque sauce).  Since I didn’t want to bother with the billions of ingredients that Gary used which included tarragon, mint, lobster, thyme, I opted to use the singaporean chef’s one - but using prawn shells and heads instead.  So for 2 serves, it involved: 14 prawns, half a bulb of fennel, half a leek, and half an onion, 3 loaves of garlic - saute in olive oil until cooked; then add half a chopped tomato, and cover it with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes.  In another pot, I boiled up the linguine; and then when the bisque was almost done, I deveined and butterflied the prawns, and sauteed those in olive oil, garlic and chilli.  Then I strained the bisque, added a dash of cream and seasoning, poured over the prawns, and thickened with a little flour, and tossed throug hthe linguine. Garnish with chopped parsley. Very nice! Inspired by recipes from www.masterchef.com.au.  

Do you love fresh crab meat but can’t be bothered picking it yourself from the shells? Well, hope you’ve got more than spare change because at the fish markets, pre-picked crab meat is $20 for 200g! That’s very expensive compared to DIY-ing. The best crab to get is blue swimmer because it’s the cheapest, easiest to handle and I find that its flesh comes out the easiest.  At $18 a kg, one crab is about 1/3 of a kg, and has enough meat for a generous portion for one - 100g on the one I bought. That’s significantly cheaper!  Here’s how you do it.

Buy the numbers of crab you need (1 per person) - this recipe will be for one.  Then place in a steamer - improvised by using a metal dish on a rack in a wok filled with 5cm deep hot water.  Steam crab for 20 mins.  When cool, peel the bottom shell off, and peel off all the gills and guts. It’s not that bad actually! Then break off the hard top shell, and break the crab in half.  Using a crab picker, a bread knife or your clean fingers, pluck out the meat and into a bowl.

Boil your spaghetti according to the packet instructions. Finely chop 1 clove of garlic, half a small birds eye chilli and some parsley.  Heat up a frypan with a lug of olive oil, and heat up the garlic until softened, but not burnt.  Then add the chilli, and finally, toss through the crab meat and the spaghetti with a bit of the spaghetti water to loosen.  Scatter with parsley and serve.  Crab linguine with chilli garlic and parsley for $6!

This recipe is from my friend Jo. It’s also something that can be prepared the night before for lunch. Take 1 cup of cooked spiralli pasta (I use wholemeal as it’s lower GI), a few halved cherry tomatoes, some sliced capsicum, and a few rocket leaves, and make a dressing of 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1.5 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil.  Season to taste, and add a can of drained tuna in olive oil.  If you’re taking it to work, dress everything except the rocket, and place the rocket on the top of your lunchbox, and keep the tuna separate.  Low GI, high protein lunch - easy!

A very quick and easy lunch idea that can be made ahead, all you need is half a BBQ chicken (shredded), half a packet of farfalle or fusilli pasta cooked al dente, half a sliced red capsicum, half a punnet of cherry tomatoes (halved).  Toss together, with 4 large tablespoons of pesto with a little bit of the pasta cooking water to moisten it, or more olive oil if you’re not watching the waistline. You can add anything to it that you like - cucumbers, sliced mushrooms, or you could just eat it warm by stirring the pesto through the pasta just after it’s cooked.

If you wanted to be a bit more tricky and make your own pesto: one bunch of fresh basil (1.5 cups), 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts, 1 garlic clove placed in a blender, then turn it on and pour 1/2 cup of olive oil to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. It’s nicer if you leave a bit of texture in it rather than completely pureeing it.  Store in the fridge with some extra olive oil to preserve it on top.