COWBOY MIXED GRILL

Rodeo Mixed Grill

I call this the husband silencer!  I just love watching my husband devour this meal he loves every mouthful and that’s exactly why I love cooking, seeing friends, family and strangers loose themselves in that moment of pleasure.  

Fire pit oak wood cooked thick cut rib eye steak, gammon steak, poached egg, rack of lamb, Angus chuck steak 80/20 burger with mozzarella cheese, tandoori chicken, posh sausages trying to be a hot dog, lamb Kofte kebab skewers, garlic mushroom skewers, charred tomatoes and whole charred onion rings.

This is why food is so important, it brings people together it is so precious and sometimes over looked as fuel, it is not, food is a privilege, not everyone has it and if you do that’s why it is a gift to be shared bringing joy, love, compassion and laughter to all you share your food with.

Ingredients 

(serves 2 greedy portions)

2 x 12oz thick cut trimmed ribeye steaks 

2 x whole gammon steaks

1 x rack of lamb

2 x 80/20 steak burgers 

2 x chicken breasts

4 tbsp tandoori spice rub

2 x posh hotdog sausages 

2 x tomatoes

1 x onion sliced in rings

2 x poached or fried eggs

Lamb Kofte Kebabs

500g lamb mince 

1 x small onion diced

1 x clove garlic chopped

1 x tbsp oregano 

Himalayan sea salt 

Ground black pepper 

Dried chilli flakes 

4 x skewers soaked in water

First fire up your back yard grill and let it establish a white coal fire ready for cooking.  Prepare all the meat on a large platter to take to the grill.  To make the lamb kofte kebab mix all the ingredients together then divide in to four, mould the lamb around a soaked skewer to form a sausage like shape.  Coat the chicken in the tandoori spice rub, slice the onions in rings and thread on to a skewer.

Chargrill all ingredients over white coals turning once until cooked and serve with condiments of your choice.

HOMEMADE TAMARIND PASTE

HOME MADE TAMARIND PASTE AND WATER

You can buy tamarind pulp already made or you can source whole and dried tamarind seed pods as shown below, I like to make my own tamarind water, all you have to do is peel the shell off the tamarind pod, pour over some boiling water and leave to soften for ten minutes or so, then pass the water and softened tamarind pod through a seive collecting the pulp and water that's all it takes to make your own pulp, fresh is best.

Tamarind pods are available from your local ethnic store or on line, these store really well and one pod makes enough tamarind for a couple of recipes and keeps well in the fridge in a ball mason jar for up to a week.

Peel the hard shell of the pod, place in a small bowl or mason jar and cover with around 100ml of boiling water, leave for a minimum of 10 minutes until the flesh of the tamarind is soft and pliable.  Push the liquid and pulp through a sieve with the back of a spoon until all that is left in the siege is the tamarind stones and membranes.

That’s it.

ULTIMATE GARLIC BREAD CROUTONS

WoW these garlic bread croutons are so good, rich creamy roasted nutty buttery soft garlic spread generously on crispy thin sour dough buttered toast these are great on their own even better dunked in to a bowl of fresh creamy tomato soup, chicken broth or french onion soup.

Ingredients

(makes 6 slices)

1 whole bulb garlic

Olive oil

Himalayan sea salt 

6 slices sour dough

Butter

Pre heat the oven to 180 C, roll the whole bulb in olive oil and season with the salt roast in the oven for 45 minutes until soft and squidgy.  Toast both sides of the sour dough, generously butter and then squeeze the cloves of garlic out on to the toast and generously spread on.  These are so good dipped in your favourite soup.

RAVIOLI SPINACH AND RICOTTA IN BUTTER SAGE SAUCE

Step by Step Guide to Homemade Ravioli 

Such a gorgeous and beautiful dish, super soft pillow ravioli pasta stuffed with rich light creamy ricotta, buttered spinach, Parmesan, sea salt, pepper and nutmeg, cooked in a gentle simmering sea salted pan of water, then tossed a simple elegant sage and butter sauce this is a decadent sumptuous meal that I make for my mum on Mother’s Day as it’s her favourite and my mum remembers being wowed with this dish served flambois table side in the 1970’s.

Ingredients 

(Serves 6-8)

The Pasta

400g 00 flour

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

4 beaten eggs

30ml olive oil

50ml water

Ricotta and Spinach 

400g ricotta

200g fresh spinach

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1 tsp ground black pepper 

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 

100g grated Parmesan

1 lemon zested

Sage Butter Sauce

200g Organic butter

12 fresh sage leafs chopped

Making the Pasta

Place the flour on your work top in a large mound, or in a bowl and season with the salt, make a well in the centre, beat the eggs and olive oil together and pour in to the well.  Starting from the outside flick the flour in to the egg, incorporating together until you have a ball of dough, sometimes you may need to add around 50ml of water to bring the dough ball together.  Knead the pasta dough for 5-7 minutes then wrap well but loose in cling film and leave to rest for a minimum of 20 minutes and up to a couple of hours.  If you don’t cover the dough the skin of the pasta dough will start to dry and will be unusable.

Rolling the Pasta Sheets

I have always used a rolling pin and my muscles or a manual pasta roller for years but this Christmas I got a electric pasta rolling kit attachment for my kitchen aid, wahoo I love it !  Brilliant, I have never made pasta so fast, so thin and so well !  

Cut your rested dough in to 4, take one piece, cover the rest with cling film, make the dough ball the same width as the pasta roller machine, dust with semolina, place on the widest setting and roll the dough through the pasta rollers, dust with plenty of semolina and set the rollers one number down and repeat, keep repeating until you have rolled the pasta on the thinnest setting. Dust the pasta sheet with semolina and lay out flat.

Ricotta Filling

400g ricotta cheese

200g spinach

1 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp nutmeg grated

150g grated Parmesan 

1 lemon zested

Melt the butter in a large pan and add the spinach, cook until wilted, drain on to a muslin or clean tea towel and squeeze out all the juice, finely chop and add to the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Place balled teaspoonfuls of the ricotta mix approximately 2” apart on the front half of the pasta sheet, brush with egg wash or water.

Fold the back half of the pasta sheet over the ricotta filling, cupping your hands hug the pasta around the ricotta filling squeezing out any air and sealing the ravioli’s.  

Next using a knife or ravioli cutter cut the ravioli’s in to squares, place on a tray dusted with semolina in a single layer, these will store for a couple of days ahead of time covered well with cling film.



Cooking Ravioli’s 

Bring a large pan of water to a gentle simmer, season with Himalayan sea salt, in a separate large pan melt the butter and add the sage, keep this on a low heat.  Add the ravioli’s  a few at a time to the simmering water not over crowding the pot, cook for 2 to 3 minutes, drain well and add to the sage butter to keep warm while you finish cooking the rest of the ravioli’s.  

Serve straight from the sage butter sauce pan with a dusting of freshly grated Parmesan on hot plates and enjoy.

SWEET POTATO TURMERIC CRACKERS

THESE ARE JUST THE MOST PERFECT CHIPS SO YOU CAN DIP!!!

Fabulous dip and scoop chips, gluten free, Paleo and really quick and simple to make, almost no mess!  Now I can have chips and dips back in my life again, these healthy gorgeous fresh gluten and grain free low calorie guilt free chips also mean I don't feel I have to limit my amount, well within reason and because of this I find I eat as many as I want which as there no major pressure I know I eat less than I would if I had that curfew!!!  Gotta love the psychological effect!!!

 With a gorgeous zesty raw chopped tomato, coriander and pepper salsa a creamy avocado dip or zesty lime and coriander full fat yogurt dip these are going to be your new best friend, they not only eat like a gorgeous treat but satisfy that sofa craving need to pick and dip, something I do not do very often but when one of those I WANT... moments pops up or a girly night out this is a brilliant option, ticks all the boxes and does not leave me feeling sluggish and pants the next morning as if I did go totally off piste and have some carb loaded junk food...

Prep time 10 mins / Cooking time 60 minutes / Use cooking time for salsa prep and extra dips

My geeky science bit...

The sweet potato is simple starches, a complex carbohydrate loaded with fiber and beta-carotene, a pro vitamin A carotenoid.  Small amounts of B5, B6, manganese and potassium, lots of calcium, magnesium, when baked higher vitamin C, phosphorous and sodium.  Sweet potatoes rank one of the highest in nutritional value.  Ground flax seed is high in dietary fiber, lignons, omega 3, fatty acids, lowers cholesterol, flax seed may stunt the growth of some cancers, helps stabilise blood sugars, high in antioxidants.

ZESTY SALSA

1 lime juice and zest is one full days dose of vitamin C.  Spring onions are a great antioxidant.  Tomatoes reduce liver inflammation.  Peppers full of betacarotene, vitamin C, (red A), strong antioxidant, protects heart and immune system, organ and blood cleansing.  Chilli in large quantities has vitamin C, carotene, vitamins B, B6, potassium, magnesium, iron.  Coriander, heart and circulatory protective coumarins and effective antiseptic linalcol.

INGREDIENTS

(makes around 40 tortilla chips)

1 sweet potato peeled chopped

1 cup of ground flax seed

1 spring onion 

1 red chilli

1 lime zested and juice

1 tsp sea salt

lrg pinch ground black pepper

1 pinch garamasala 

1 lrg pinch chilli powder

1 tsp crushed chillies

Place all the ingredients in your blender and whizz for a couple of minutes until you have a dough paste, line your work top with some grease proof paper around three foot long, dust half with some ground flax seed, scoop out your sweet potato dough and place on the first third of the baking paper, fold the paper in half over the dough and roll out the dough nice and thin, remove the top sheet of baking baking paper, using a pizza cutter wheel or knife cut the dough into triangle chips, transfer the baking paper with the tortillas on to a baking tray and bake in the oven 150 degrees for around 60 minutes, maybe a hint longer for the centre chips, you want them to be crisp and firm to touch, leave to cool if you can and then dive in.

ZESTY LIME AND TOMATO CORIANDER SALSA

1 spring onion fine chopped

1 pepper chopped

12 cherry tomatoes diced

1 tbsp coriander chopped

1 red chilli finely diced

1/2 lime zested and juiced

1 pinch salt and black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and season to taste with the salt and pepper, enjoy with your sweet potato flax seed tortilla chips, watch out these are so mooorish...