Scones Recipe

I found this laying about and thought I better add it. Anyway, this seems to work just fine each time!

Ingredients:

• 1 egg


• 4 tbps vegetable oil


• 2 cups milk


• 4 cups self-raising flour


• 1 tsp salt


• 1 tbsp sugar

Method:

1. Beat egg, oil and milk.


2. Add flour, sugar and salt.


3. Then the usual. I use a large champagne glass to cut them out into a narrow but tall scone.


4. A buttered and floured tray in a 230 degrees oven for about 10-12 minutes, egg glaze if you will...

Kangaroo or Goat Bourguignon

I've been experimenting with kangaroo (and today goat) to create an alternative to bœuf bourguignon. This is how I've been making it:

Ingredients:

• 500g kangaroo rump or diced goat


• Olive oil as required


• 1 stick celery (diced)


• 2 carrots (1 diced, the other sliced into rounds)


• About 10 eschalots (small shallot onions)


• About 6 cloves of garlic, chop half, just crush the others


• About 3 birds-eye chillies


• Fresh garden herbs (I used rosemary, oregano, sage and thyme today)


• 2 pontiac potatoes (more if you want to serve with mashed potatoes - I recently tried mashed yams successfully) chopped to bite size


• About 1 cup plain flour, slat and pepper and chilli (today I used smoked pimento powder with goat)


• About 250g button mushrooms


• About 500ml of a good red wine (today I used Sandalfords Shiraz 2011)


• Optional: chopped Swedes, turnips, or any other of your favourite root vegetables...

Method:

1. Prepare vegetables beforehand.


2. Add flour mix to a bowl and coat the meat generously in the flour mix.


3. On a medium heat, add a dash of olive oil to the pot then brown the meat in batches (resting the browned pieces in the upturned lid of the pot works best) so that the individual pieces are not touching. Turn the meat with tongs, and occasionally scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to prevent the flour from sticking and burning Leave aside once finished.


4. Add the eschalots then deglaze the pot with a splash of red wine. Add the celery, diced carrot, garlic, chillies and herbs, then a splash of water. Cook for about ten minutes or until the vegetables start to soften.


5. Return the browned meat to the pot, add the remaining vegetables (except the mushrooms).


6. Add about 500ml of the wine and a good dash of salt and pepper.


7. Bring to the boil, then cook for about 40 minutes on low heat - I use a diffuser. Scrape the bottom occasionally to prevent burning.


8. Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste, then cook for a further 20 minutes on low heat.


9. Check again for flavour (salt and pepper).


10. Serve in a bowl with a spoon and some crusty bread as a side, or add mashed potatoes to the bowl before adding the stew.

Ma3moul for Eid al-Adha

This was our first attempt at making Ma3moul for Eid al-Adha. We borrowed from this recipe [click here].

We only used the date filling on this occasion. We used a wooden mould for the shape and the pattern (pictured).

It is difficult to get the size right - the thinner biscuits tended to have too little filling. Further, the dough needs to be quite dry yet strong enough to seal in the filling. We were certainly not disappointed, but next time we might try this recipe and see how it works out [click here].

Chicken & Okra

This is my wife's recipe for a quick, easy, healthy meal:

Ingredients:

• 1kg chicken thigh fillets (skinless)


• 2 onions (feathered)


• 6 cloves garlic (bruised & roughly chopped)


• 2 tins canned Roma tomatoes


• 3 x 313g packets frozen baby okra


• a dash of crushed chilli


• salt & pepper to taste


• olive oil as required

Method:

1. In a large pot, fry onions and garlic until translucent


2. Add chicken and brown. Add chilli


3. Add tomatoes and salt & pepper


4. Add okra and allow to melt down into pot


5. Cook for about 20 minutes and serve with rice

Garlic, Chilli & Lime Dressing

I was craving garlic so much that I thought I'd knock up some mackerel fillets with an ensemble of vegetables, but I wanted to add some garlic to the mix. We happened to have a whole stack of limes, so after searching the Net for options, I put together the following mix and it seemed to work well as a dressing for the veges:

• 5 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of raw sugar
• Juice from three limes
• 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of white wine
• 7 tablespoons of water
• 1 red chilli chopped rough
• 5 garlic cloves bruised and then chopped rough

I put this all in a 500ml Pyrex measuring jug and used the whizzie stick on super-low speed to whiz it all up, and then let people spoon it over their veges. It was so good I'll do it again!

Scones - best recipe so far...

Ingredients:

500g baker's flour

80g butter (not melted, but at room temperature)

80g caster sugar

2 eggs for mix, 1 egg for wash

5 tablespoons baking powder

250ml full-cream milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220°C.


2. Rub butter and flour.


3. Mix in sugar, 2 eggs and baking powder with wooden spoon.


4. Add half the milk and turn, then the other half (may not need all).


5. Flour on bench, turn twice, then roll twice, to about 1" thick.


6. Add egg wash, top only or scones will rise unevenly from run-off.


7. Oven for 15 minutes and Robert's your mother's brother...

Madras Beef Curry

 



Ingredients:

• 600g gravy beef (chopped into large chunks)


• 4 small onions (cut into 1.5cm squares)


• 4 medium potatoes (cut into large chunks)


• 12 cups beef stock


• 2 tablespoons tomato paste


• olive oil


• curry powder

To make the curry powder:

• 1 tablespoon dried chilli flakes


• 2 tablespoons ground coriander


• 1 tablespoon ground cumin


• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns


• 3 cloves garlic


• juice of 2 lemons


• 2 teaspoons minced ginger (from the jar)


• 3 bay leaves

Put all ingredients into a Magic Bullet and whizz. My wife trained the dogs to enjoy the sound (instead of cowering) by giving them treats every time we use the Magic Bullet, so I always have the treats ready or they go crazy with anticipation! Or you can use a mortar and pestle but if you do this skip the bay leaves.

Method:

1. Heat a splash of olive oil in a large pot and add onions. Cook until translucent but still firm. Put onions into a bowl for use a little later.


2. Add a splash of olive oil to the pot and add the beef. Brown the beef. Once the beef is brown, put it in a bowl for later.


3. Add a splash of olive oil to the pot and add the curry paste. Cook for one minute.


4. Add the beef, onions and potatoes to the curry paste and stir until all ingredients are covered with the paste.


5. Add the tomato paste and fry off.


6. Add the beef stock and bring to the boil.


7. Lower the heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.


8. Serve with rice and condiments