The great cook-off

Saturday saw the great cook-off. I decided to cook a 3 course meal for my parents plus a little extra to see them through the week. Well, to see Dad through the week while Mum was away.

Fisrt off we had pumpkin, corn and bacon soup. After a few attempts at this, I've now found the secret is in putting the soup through a blender rather than using a stick blender. It makes the taste much more smoother and let me just say - secret ingredient is a pinch of curry powder!

Next we had pork in cider sauce with prunes and apple and potato mash. It's one I've been working on for a while now and it's beautiful. I finally got the consistency right on the sauce for this batch and the apples gave a nice creaminess to the mash!

The extra for Dad was lasagne. It's one of my signature dishes and thankfully one he loves. This one was a stand out as I've finally learnt the benefit of fresh pasta sheets! And lets face it, who doesn't love a great lasagne!


And finally, for dessert, my first ever cheesecake. My Dad is the cheesecake king so I was under a bit of pressure. This little beauty was a Violet Crumble Cheesecake and lets just say it was bloody beautiful. I think the recipe had too much butter in it but given I was a cheesecake rookie, I didn't feel confident playing with it, but now I will. Now the future is open wide as to what masterful versions I can make!

Back with a bang

I apologise for my break. I wasn't thinking anyone was interested in this until one of my faithfuls yelled "Update your blog" as I left work this afternoon. So, here I am and with 2 dishes to add.

First was the tried and true lemon chicken. This has been a family regular ever since my Dad decided to start cooking Chinese food many years ago. While Dad likes to deep fry his chicken, I take the healthier approach and just shallow fry it.

The secret dear readers is the sauce. Ahh, lemon sauce. Who would have thought that lemon juice, honey, chicken stock and a bit of flour could create such wonderfulness. The trick with lemon sauce - there's never enough so you have to make double! My leftovers are now stored in the freezer for next time.

And to serve.... fried rice of course!

And tonight's fare was pork with rice and veges in Chinese plum sauce. I have discovered Chinese 5 spice and I can just say what a wonderful invention it is. The taste that just a little pinch can add to a meal is truely amazing. Add that to some stock, garlic, ginger, soy and the secret ingredient plum jam, and you have a fabulous sauce. So much so I only ate half of it so I could take the rest to work for lunch tomorrow. A definite new fave!