Salmon Burgers For Days When You Think You Have Nothing In The Cupboard

At the moment I feel like my life is being lived with the fast forward button jammed down. How is it already September? Why do I have days like today, when I feel like I am in a relay race where I run from A to B to C to D and so on until I collapse into bed when I reach Z? The problem with days like this is that not only is there no time to dash through the supermarket or butcher and gather something for the tribe, but there is no time to even reflect on what the tribe might like for dinner. Until of course, I am at home with two starving children and no inclination whatsoever to get back in the car and get some food.

Belinda Jeffrey to the rescue. I found this genius recipe in the "Belinda Jeffrey's 100 Favourite Recipes" cookbook, that I have referred to here before. The key ingredient is tinned salmon, which is one of those things that can be found in the back of most people's pantry, on even the most dire days. Mix in some mayonnaise to bind it together with some vegies and spices, roll patties in some bread crumbs, pan fry and serve. Children fed. Mother's sanity remains in tact. And the crowd cheers.



Red Salmon Burgers
adapted from Belinda Jeffrey's 101 Favourite Recipes

400g tinned salmon, well-drained and picked over to remove any skin or bones
2 green onions, chopped (you can substitute chives if you don't have)
3 tbls celery, finely chopped
2 tbls basil finely shredded
1/2 small red chilli (or to taste)
1/2 tsp tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup good quality mayonnaise
2-3 tbls of dry breadcrumbs
oil for cooking

Crumble the salmon into large flakes in a bowl. Add green onions, basil, celery, chilli, sauces, mayonnaise and salt and pepper to taste. Stir gently then slowly add the breadcrumbs until the mixture is binding together. Let the mixture rest for a few minutes then divide it into four portions and shape each into a pattie. Place the patties on a plate and chill for at least 1/2 hour to firm them.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium low heat. Add the burgers and fry for five minutes on each side, until they are crisp and brown. Be careful when turning them so that the patties do not fall apart (I use two spatulas). Once browned on both sides, drain them on paper towel. Serve in a bun with some lettuce and extra mayonnaise if desired.

Pine Nut Cake For Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day in Australia. The sun appeared for the first time in days, and it really was a sparkling Sydney day for all the Dads out celebrating with their families. Darling husband awoke to a gift he chose himself (very hard for someone to surprise you with shoes), and the usual motley collection of cards and little gifts from the two darling girls. And in the evening, with my father and brother over for dinner, I got the chance to spoil him and a couple of my other favourite fathers.

Given that the weather still remains fairly stubbornly wintry, I decided to make some osso bucco (recipe to come later in the week), with a lovely pea and mint salad, and a potato bake. The crowing glory however was the pine nut cake that I made for dessert. Darling husband loves pine nuts, but we usually have them in savoury meals or sprinkled over salads. This cake combined a base that was like a dense meringue, with the pinenut topping and an orange juice glaze. Really good. Really really good. And if you are prepared to ignore the sugar content, the cake itself had no butter nor oil, or even an egg yolk. That makes it nearly virtuous if you ask me, or at least that is the story I will be sticking to. The recipe comes from a cookbook put out by Marie Claire Magazine called "Taste 101: Inspire, Excite, Delight". While it is no longer in shops, I saw a couple of copies on ebay. This is one of those wonderful cookbooks that are dotted with extra ideas or recipes in the margins, that really inspire you to do more with your cooking.

Nut Cake with Orange Syrup

adapted from "Marie Claire: Taste 101"

200g almond meal

100g pure icing sugar

3 egg whites from large eggs (I used 4 from medium eggs)

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

70g pine nuts, toasted

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup water

125g caster sugar

double cream

Preheat the oven to 160C, then grease a square 20cm x 20cm cake tin. Press baking paper into the tin, to line the bottom and sides of the tin, with sufficient overhang to help you remove the cake. Sift the icing sugar if it is lumpy, then stir in the almond meal in. Put aside.

Using a stand mixer, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Slowly tip in the sugar, continuing beating until the mixture is very thick and glossy, then add the vanilla. Fold half of the egg white mixture into the almond meal then tip all the almond meal mixture back into the remaining egg whites, folding until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the baking tin, spreading it out evenly, then sprinkle the pine nuts on top. Bake for 45 minutes.

While the cake is baking, make the syrup by combining the juice, water and sugar in a small pot. Cook over medium heat until the sugar has melted and the glaze is thickened.

Remove the cake from the oven, and set aside to cool for 15 minutes or so. Once cool, use the baking paper to lift the cake out of the tin, onto a rack. Serve the cake warm drizzled with the warm syrup, with some chilled slices of orange, and some cream if you would like it.

Nursery Fish Pie For A Rainy Night

The weather this week has been abysmal. September started on Monday with one day that felt like Spring, a much-wanted gift for our first actual day of spring. After the coldest winter in 65 years, you could see everyone visibly relaxing to feel the warm weather was on its way. And then from Tuesday onwards it was all downhill; by yesterday it was gloomy, cold, rainy and revolting. Netball and football was cancelled and the malls of Sydney were packed with people hiding from the weather - pity the poor souls selling at farmer's markets yesterday. Weather like this makes me think of pies, and one of my favourites for the family is fish pie. I make a few different fish pies depending on who I am serving and how fancy I want to be. This fish pie is definitely not overly fancy - it is a good one dish meal for the family.

Some of my friends are squeamish about cooking fish, but I think that is a misplaced concern. Most fish is available already filleted, and cooks so quickly and easily, and as anyone who cooks it often will know: fresh fish doesn't smell fishy. This recipe comes from the Annabel Karmel "Baby and Toddler Meal Planner", but don't let that put you off. The whole family likes this pie, and it feels delicious, healthy and comforting. I have spoken of the Annabel Karmel books before. They were the first recipe books that I got for feeding my children once they started on solids. The books begin with suggestions for fruit and vegetable purees, before progressing onto recipes for older children. I always give these as gifts to new mothers.

Nursery Fish Pie

adapted from "The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner" by Annabel Karmel

600-700g perch fillet (or other mild white fish), skinned and boned

300ml milk

1 bay leaf

50g butter

2 tbl flour

4 tbl grated cheddar

2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

100g frozen peas

a squeeze of lemon

500g potatoes, peeled and chopped

milk

butter

Cut the fish into pieces, then put it in a saucepan with the milk and bay leaf. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 10 minutes. While the fish is cooking prepare the mashed potato for the topping - boil the potato until it is tender then mash with butter and milk to taste. Season the mash.

Remove the fish from the milk, saving the milk, and discarding the bayleaf. Melt the butter in a large saucepan, then add the flower and cook for a minute, stirring. Slowly add the milk to the flour, stirring and simmering gently until it is the consistency of a thick sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in the grated cheese until it is melted, then fold in the fish, boiled egg and peas. Add the lemon juice. Place the mixture into a pie dish and top with the mashed potato. Bake for 20 mins at 350C, then grill the top for a couple of minutes until it is crispy.

Jamie Oliver and Prosciutto-Wrapped Beef Fillet

I was tele-rouletting through the channels the other night when I came across Jamie Oliver doing some one-on-one coaching for a woman who was having some of her girlfriends over for lunch. He helped her design the menu, took her shopping for the produce and then gave her his number so she could phone with any queries as she made the meal. Then, inevitably, he turned up for dessert and flirting. I know Curtis Stone does much the same sort of thing in the US. How do I make this happen to me? Why are there are no TV chefs wandering around my local supermarket when I am looking confused and trying yet again to answer the eternal question*? I need help as much as the next person! Pick me! Pick me!



The sad reality is that the closest I am going to get to Jamie designing a menu for me, is cooking the meal that he made for the lady on his show. And it did look good, and it did seem easy. Unfortunately I was too caught up in my wonderings about TV chefs to pay attention to what he did with the beef, which then forced me to buy the cookbook in question ("Return of the Naked Chef " by Jamie Oliver). He's smart that Jamie Oliver, or at least smarter than me, it would appear. And I can tell you now, that whether or not you have Jamie Oliver in your kitchen or not, this is a simple recipe that looks quite dramatic presented whole to the table, and tastes good too. And if you know Jamie Oliver, would you mind sending him round?



* In case you were wondering, the eternal question is not "what is the meaning of life?", it is "what will I cook the family for dinner?"

Roasted Fillet of Beef Rolled In Herbs and Mushrooms and Wrapped In Prosciutto
adapted from "The Return of the Naked Chef" by Jamie Oliver

12 slices prosciutto

3 cloves garlic

200g mushrooms sauteed in olive oil with one clove garlic until cooked

900g fillet of beef, whole

Fresh chopped rosemary and thyme to taste

2 glasses red wine

Preheat your oven and baking sheet to 230C. Lay prosciutto out on a sheet of baking paper, each slice overlapping slightly, so that you have what looks like a giant sheet of prosciutto with no gaps in it. Spread the mushrooms along the length of the prosciutto. Season the beef fillet and roll it in herbs. Lay the seasoned beef on the prosciutto and, using the baking paper, roll up the meat in the prosciutto. Once rolled, discard the paper and tie the prosciutto on firmly with kitchen string (in about four spots will do).

Put the beef on the pre-heated baking sheet with a couple of cloves of garlic, and cook for 30 mins (medium rare). Halfway through, add red wine to the tray. When the meat is done, allow it to rest for 5 mins. Tip any juices that are released by the beef, back into the tray, mix juices together and serve as a jus over the sliced beef fillet. Serve with greens and mashed potato.

Even The Kids Like Oven-Roasted Broccoli

I am a great fan of broccoli, and always have been. I am happy to eat it hot or cold, in salads or pasta, and feel that it is a great bonus that it is really good for you as well as being really delicious. I do, however, also understand that the rest of the world does not necessarily feel the same way. And, unfortunately for me, I did not pass on the broccoli-loving genes to the darling daughters. For a long time, I insisted that they ate (at least some of) their steamed broccoli, but it certainly wasn't something they wanted to have.

I have now come up with a solution to the broccoli dilemma - I roast it instead of steaming it. I saw a reference to roasting cauliflower on an old Martha Stewart show, and decided to try it with broccoli. It is fantastic. The roasted, slightly burnt bits become caramelized and crunchy, and the flavour is a lot more appetising than soggy steamed broccoli (and this from someone who likes steamed broccoli). And it is a really easy way to prepare it, especially when you have something else roasting in the oven at the same time.

Roasted Broccoli

Broccoli

Olive Oil

Salt

Sugar

Herbs / Spices to taste

Preheat oven, and an oven tray to 200C. Slice broccoli thinly, so you have long flat pieces of stem with the florets on the stop. Also keep any little bits that fall off. Toss all the broccoli in a large bowl with sufficient olive oil to coat them. Season generously with salt, pepper and any other herbs / spices you would like to add. Toss in a teaspoon of sugar to help the caramelization. Spread in a single layer on the baking sheet, and roast for about 10-12 minutes or until they are nicely browned.

Bread Sauce For Roast Chicken

Regular readers would have gathered by now that I am very keen on a roast chicken as an easy family dinner. And I am loathe to mess with a good thing. But sometimes a little mess is a good thing (I've been arguing that point for decades now). And today I have found an addition for roast chicken, if you want to mess with it, that really makes the bird sing. Unlikely as it sounds, this magical addition is bread sauce from Mr Neil Perry? I know it looks like nothing special (apart from my poor photography skills, a camera crisis involving a leaking water bottle is to blame), but it is really wonderful.

In my mind, bread sauce is one of those ultra-traditional recipes that belongs with Yorkshire pudding as part of the English culinary heritage that never really arrived in Australia. I have made bread sauce before, but a slightly odd version with horseradish and melted cranberry jelly as the base, to serve with Christmas turkey. This version, which comes from "The Food I Love"

is beautifully introduced by Perry; he describes his first taste prompting him to wonder, "how could something so wonderful taste so good?" I can only agree.

Bread Sauce

80g day-old white bread

1 brown onion studded with 2 cloves

2 fresh bay leaves (I used dried)

1 mace blade (I forgot to buy)

500 ml milk

100 ml cream

30g butter

Remover the crusts from the bread, then whiz it in the food processor until it forms crumbs. Put the onion, mace, bay leaves and milk in a small saucepan so the milk covers the onion. Bring to the boil. Stir in the bread crumbs and simmer gently for 20 mins, stirring occasionally. Remove onion and spices and add the cream, then cook again for 5 mins. Remove from heat, then whisk in butter. Season to taste. Serve with any roasted poultry.

Devonshire Tea For Me - Scones With Jam and Cream

Scones with jam and cream are a lovely afternoon tea tradition that I love, especially at colder times of the year. Often referred to as a Devonshire Tea, because of a loose connection with a similar tradition in Devon in the UK, cafes and restaurants do a roaring trade. Even the local bread shops have jumped into scones with various flavours available. Unfortunately, I hate these scones - they are often the size of your head, and taste like something that should be bowled in cricket rather than eaten at tea.

Luckily making your own scones is incredibly simple, and quick. I like to make them quite small - stopping the insides from being quite as doughy as they might otherwise be. Serve them cut in half with either whipped cream, or double cream if you feel like being especially sinful. Strawberry jam is traditional, but any sort of jam that appeals to you will work.

Scones

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tbl baking powder

2 tbls sugar, plus extra for topping

1/2 tsp salt

100g unsalted butter, cold, plus extra for brushing

3/4 cup pouring cream, plus extra to serve

Preheat oven to 220C. Toss dry ingredients together, then rub in the butter. You can do this by chopping it into small pieces and literally rubbing the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs, or you can mix it with a pastry blender.

Stir in the pouring cream until the mixture forms a ball of dough. Scoop up the dough and knead it gently for about 30 seconds on a floured surface. Roll it out gently (dust the surface with more flour if it is sticking) until it is about 2cm thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough (I prefer them to be about 5cm in diameter). Re-roll the scraps and cut them out as well until there is no more dough. Brush tops with a little melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Arrange scones to be at least 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Bake until puffed and golden, approx 10 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold, with jam and cream.