I wasn't planning to blog this one, as it was an experiment, but Lincoln has requested I do. I think part of the reason why he made this request is because then he gets to find out all the vegetables I'm sneaking him.
When you live with someone who won't eat any vegetables aside from: mushrooms; onions; tomatoes; potatoes; and corn, you tend to be somewhat creative when cooking.
And a grater will be your best friend.
So, this recipe was originally going to be my version of shepherds/cottage pie, which involves lots of garlic and chilli (common theme in most of my savoury cooking), then 2 pots, one gets vegetables and the other doesn't, potato on top, in the oven.
But Lincoln wasn't home...
This probably makes enough for 4 - 6 people?
So, ingredients:
500G mince (Barossa Fine Foods organic mince)
2 onions, chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 zucchini, grated
2C sliced mushrooms (ish? I just kept slicing till I had what looked to be enough, then after they were in the pot realised not enough, so sliced more...)
1T whole mixed peppercorns
2 cloves of garlic
1/2C hot & spicy V8 juice
1 sachet McCormicks pepper gravy
5 large potatoes
butter/milk/garlic salt/onion salt to taste, for mashing the above
cheese to go on top
bacon/pancetta to go on top (this was new for me, as were pepper corns, but hey...)
Fry the onions & garlic in a large pan, till the onions are translucent.
Crush peppercorns with mortar & pestle until cracked but not powder (yes, you could use a pepper grinder for this, if you happened to have one spare. Mine is full of normal pepper).
Add mince & peppercorns, continue stirring until mince is brown.
Add grated vegetables, v8 juice and mushrooms. Place lid on pot & allow to simmer for approximately 10 minutes (this was the point I realised I needed more mushrooms).
Add pepper gravy sachet + 1C water, and continue simmering until you can no longer see that there's grated carrot & zucchini in there (about 15 minutes).
While that's simmering, cut up potatoes & boil them for about 5-10 minutes (I don't really know time frames, I just keep poking them until they fall apart).
Drain potatoes, return to heat so the last bit of water evaporates - no more than a couple of minutes.
Mash potatoes, then add some milk (or cream, but hey, milk) and butter. I hide the butter in the mashed potatoes, so it melts while I'm adding onion salt & garlic salt. Normally I'd add white pepper as well, but I was a little hesitant, considering the amount of pepper in meat dish.
Get out whisk & whisk potatoes until smooth. I'm a mashed potato addict, though I haven't found any meetings for it yet. If you don't like mashed potatoes, or haven't yet garnered an addiction to them, you can use less potatoes.
Pour meat mixture in to large dish, add the mashed potatoes on top of that, spreading it fairly evenly. If you're concerned about whether it will spread properly, I've found that leaving the meat mixture to cool for a bit generally gets it to thicken up, so potatoes don't fall in to the liquid. Sprinkle grated cheese & bacon or pancetta bits on top.
Put in oven @ 140 for 30 minutes (ok, all right, you could do a higher temperature for shorter, but I'd misjudged timeframes and it was going to be ready before Lincoln got home, if I cooked it at a higher temperature).
When cheese is melted, it's done.
Next time: I'd probably add a little bit of beef stock powder, and 1T(ish) of cornflour, as the mixture was a smidge runny/watery. I'd probably use more pepper, too, and a whole red chilli, but I understand that not everyone has the same pepper addiction I do.
If I were making it for just me, I'd have peas and green beans in there as well.
So, voila, hidden veges in a pepper cottage pie.
Lincoln will probably never forgive me *laughs*
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
My first post! Sunday morning spicy brunch
So, now I've set this up, I probably should use it, right?
Just made breakfast, thought I'd share, minus the pictures (hey, I was making MY breakfast, I didn't think of it until after I'd made it!)
It doesn't really have a name. And until I was thinking of writing it down, it didn't occur to me how much chilli there is in it. Relax, if you don't like chilli, you can always leave it out.
I think this recipe stems from not liking fried eggs, and then trying to cook them on top of the fried tomatoes that I do like, and so on. It keeps evolving.
So, it's eggs poached in tomato juice/tinned tomatoes, with hot pancetta and mushrooms. And toast.
Man, I so need a better name for it than that.
I know! It's a breakfast THING! Bugger. Michelle is probably the only person who would get that joke.
Onwards...
Ingredients:
Tinned crushed or diced tomatoes (I like the coles home brand organic ones)
Hot V8 juice
Mushrooms
Eggs
Hot Pancetta from Barossa Fine Foods (though I suppose you could use bacon or normal pancetta)
Piri piri seasoning (or you can use pepper steak seasoning, too)
Garlic (I used dried, I'm lazy, I admit it)
Spring onions
Parsley
Bread. For making of toast therein. Butter if you want it.
I like to use as few dishes/implements as possible. That, and I don't have a toaster.
So, to start with, slice your mushrooms (as many as you want to eat, I'm a mushroom addict, so this takes some time), and a couple of spring onions.
Heat up a small saucepan (for one person, I use a saucepan about 15cmish across). Make sure it's one with a lid. Put your mushrooms, a drop of oil if you want, the spring onions, some chopped parsley, some garlic and some piri piri seasoning in. Stir, put lid on, let it almost cook through. You can do some washing up now, or cleaning, while you're waiting. Or go post on facebook. Or, you know, take a photo of what you're doing so that when you think about posting it to a food blog, you have pictures.
Once your mushrooms are mostly done to your satisfaction, put them on some alfoil under the grill. Include the little bit of moisture at the bottom of the pan. It's pretty much a tip & pour movement. If you like your toast well done, put that under the grill as well, and turn on. If you don't like well done toast, don't turn the grill on (hey, I used logic!).
Pour 1/2 a tin of crushed or diced tomatoes, some hot & spicy v8 juice (I use about 1/4 of a cup? Ish? I don't tend to measure. It doesn't matter if you use too much, as you can just boil some of the liquid off), more piri piri, more garlic, more spring onions if you want in to the saucepan. Bring to boil until it's the consistency you like.
Turn grill on if you didn't earlier. Also now put your hot pancetta under grill. Which should now be keeping your mushrooms warm, grilling your pancetta and toasting your bread.
Crack 2 eggs in to the saucepan. They'll pretty much be swallowed up by the tomato mixture. Turn saucepan heat off, and cover with lid. (If you're making this for just 1 person, you end up with a bit too much sauce for 1 person. But you need the depth to make sure the eggs are poached).
Probably a wise idea to turn over your bread now, and have a go at the pancetta to make sure it's cooked on both sides. You can also give the mushrooms a quick stir.
By the time your toast & pancetta are done, your eggs should be poached to a slightly runny consistency (runnyish yolk, not runny whites).
Serve by trying not to splatter too much everywhere. If it lands on the plate, you have succeeded.
Just made breakfast, thought I'd share, minus the pictures (hey, I was making MY breakfast, I didn't think of it until after I'd made it!)
It doesn't really have a name. And until I was thinking of writing it down, it didn't occur to me how much chilli there is in it. Relax, if you don't like chilli, you can always leave it out.
I think this recipe stems from not liking fried eggs, and then trying to cook them on top of the fried tomatoes that I do like, and so on. It keeps evolving.
So, it's eggs poached in tomato juice/tinned tomatoes, with hot pancetta and mushrooms. And toast.
Man, I so need a better name for it than that.
I know! It's a breakfast THING! Bugger. Michelle is probably the only person who would get that joke.
Onwards...
Ingredients:
Tinned crushed or diced tomatoes (I like the coles home brand organic ones)
Hot V8 juice
Mushrooms
Eggs
Hot Pancetta from Barossa Fine Foods (though I suppose you could use bacon or normal pancetta)
Piri piri seasoning (or you can use pepper steak seasoning, too)
Garlic (I used dried, I'm lazy, I admit it)
Spring onions
Parsley
Bread. For making of toast therein. Butter if you want it.
I like to use as few dishes/implements as possible. That, and I don't have a toaster.
So, to start with, slice your mushrooms (as many as you want to eat, I'm a mushroom addict, so this takes some time), and a couple of spring onions.
Heat up a small saucepan (for one person, I use a saucepan about 15cmish across). Make sure it's one with a lid. Put your mushrooms, a drop of oil if you want, the spring onions, some chopped parsley, some garlic and some piri piri seasoning in. Stir, put lid on, let it almost cook through. You can do some washing up now, or cleaning, while you're waiting. Or go post on facebook. Or, you know, take a photo of what you're doing so that when you think about posting it to a food blog, you have pictures.
Once your mushrooms are mostly done to your satisfaction, put them on some alfoil under the grill. Include the little bit of moisture at the bottom of the pan. It's pretty much a tip & pour movement. If you like your toast well done, put that under the grill as well, and turn on. If you don't like well done toast, don't turn the grill on (hey, I used logic!).
Pour 1/2 a tin of crushed or diced tomatoes, some hot & spicy v8 juice (I use about 1/4 of a cup? Ish? I don't tend to measure. It doesn't matter if you use too much, as you can just boil some of the liquid off), more piri piri, more garlic, more spring onions if you want in to the saucepan. Bring to boil until it's the consistency you like.
Turn grill on if you didn't earlier. Also now put your hot pancetta under grill. Which should now be keeping your mushrooms warm, grilling your pancetta and toasting your bread.
Crack 2 eggs in to the saucepan. They'll pretty much be swallowed up by the tomato mixture. Turn saucepan heat off, and cover with lid. (If you're making this for just 1 person, you end up with a bit too much sauce for 1 person. But you need the depth to make sure the eggs are poached).
Probably a wise idea to turn over your bread now, and have a go at the pancetta to make sure it's cooked on both sides. You can also give the mushrooms a quick stir.
By the time your toast & pancetta are done, your eggs should be poached to a slightly runny consistency (runnyish yolk, not runny whites).
Serve by trying not to splatter too much everywhere. If it lands on the plate, you have succeeded.
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