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Please enjoy my life journey filled with memories of business, pleasure, family, friends and of course food.

Monday, 23 May 2011

Garlic Prawn Pasta & Cheats Chocolate Fondant "the donna hay way"

Sundays are such a perfect day to get in the kitchen and create a feast before you go back to work. Yesterday I was feeling a little unwell but i wasn't going to let that stop me on the first day of my "the donna hay way" challenge. Feeling a little fluey my taste buds were not working so I gave the fast, fresh and simple cook book to my husband (his name is Brendan but i call him horn). Horn's choices were Garlic Prawn Pasta & Cheats Chocolate Fondant (which is his favourite dessert at the moment).

Off to the shops we went, i had been putting off buying dariole moulds for a while so today i had to bite the bullet and get them. I purchased them from the crate at Q Super Store i got six for $21. Then off to Coles to buy all the ingredients, normally i would buy seafood from a fish shop but since it was raining, the produce was from Australia and they looked fresh and big i bought the prawns from the deli.

I think the hardest part of this challenge will be following a recipe to a tee, i am normally a little careless with measurements and timing. I normally wing it, so to make sure i followed the recipe exactly i carefully measured everything out before i began cooking.
400g of Angel Hair Past or Spaghetti
( I used Barilla Spaghetti No. 5)
90g Butter
2 Tbs Olive Oil
8 Garlic Cloves, Sliced
2 Tsp Chilli Flakes
2 Tbs Shredded Lemon Zest
24 Green Prawns
(I used Banana Prawns)
2 Tbs Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Flat Parsley Leaves, Roughly Torn
Salt & Pepper

1/4 Cup Plain Flour, Sifted
1/2 Cup Icing Sugar, Sifted
3/4 Almond Meal
2 Egg Whites
100g Butter, Melted
160g Dark Chocolate, Melted
4 Small Squares Dark Chocolate Extra
With my donna hay magazine free gift- electronic timer in hand i began cooking and following the recipe to a tee.

Garlic Prawn Pasta "the donna hay way":
Cook the past in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for 8 -10 minutes or until al dente. Drain and keep warm. While the pasta is cooking heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the butter and oil and cook until butter has melted. Add the garlic, chilli and zest and cook for 2minutes. Ass the prawns and cook, stirring for 3minutes or until prawns are tender. Add the pasta, juice, parsley, salt and pepper to the pan and toss to combine. Serve with a simple green salad. Serves 2


Lady Dash did:
The recipe in the caption has been double to suit my family, so it should have served 4 people but it only served 3.
To prepare the dish it took me 45mins- the prawns probably took me 25mins so if you wanted to cut the preparation in half you could buy the prawns already peeled and deveined for a little extra.
Barilla Spaghetti No. 5 took 8mins, which i would probably recommend cooking the pasta before you start the sauce as the sauce was finished a little before the pasta.
I didn't serve it with a green salad as we were having dessert and i cannot eat pasta without parmesan cheese so i had to add it.

Lady Dash says:
The dish itself was nice, good amount of mild heat and was silky and glossy, it scored a 9/10 with Horn (husband) and a 7/10 with Matty (brother), we would eat it again.

Cheat's Chocolate Fondant "the donna hay way"
Preheat oven to 150degrees. Place the flour, sugar, almond meal, egg whites, butter and melted chocolate in a bowl and mix well to combine. Spoon half the mixture into the 4 x 1/2- cup capacity (125ml) lightly grease dariole moulds. Divide the extra chocolate squares between the moulds and top with the remaining mixture Bake for 20-25mins or until cooked but soft in the middle. Stand in tin for 5-7 mins before turning out. Serves 4


Lady Dash says:
To melt the chocolate i put it in an microwave safe bowl and zapped it for two mins.
To grease the moulds I used melted butter from the recipe.
The chocolate squares i used where too long and thin so the centre wasn't really really gooey like it should have been, i recommend breaking the chocolate squares in half and putting them side by side in the mixture.
I was really scraping the bowl for the 4th mould so make sure you are even with your measurements (i had to pinch a little of the the others).
I baked the fondants for 23 mins.
I let the fondants stand in their tins for 6 mins.
Must serve with ice-cream and berries.

Lady Dash says:
This recipe was easy easy easy, it looked great and impressed the boys with two 10/10's. I am not a huge fan of dark chocolate so having the berries and ice-cream made it much more enjoyable for me, i would probably give it a 7/10.

Total Cost: $34.33 (not including ice-cream & berries)

Happy Cooking, would love to see you photo's if you give it a go!

Thursday, 19 May 2011

"the donna hay way"

Recently i added someone else to my list of food idols- the one and only donna hay. I know i have blogged about her previously in my don't ever give up post but i had never really watched her work, my new love and appreciation for this food stylist came about when i saw a sneak peak of her show starting on the lifestyle channel called fast, fresh and simple. The show is produced from her most recent cook book (wait for it)- fast, fresh and simple. In an interview donna hay explains the title and three chapters of the book: "fast"- really fast week night meals- "fresh" a fresh take on an old classic and then "simple" time saving shortcuts, she also uses a clever mix and fresh and store bought ingredients.

I was in Big W the other day (getting some socks for my husband) when i stumbled across the donna hay display and to my delight all her cook books had been massively reduced. I was so excited that i immediately scooped up the new book and had a quick glance around to see what else i could get (every girl loves a sale) and I noticed another of her books- donna hay "a cooks guide" the best of donna hay magazine's how to cook. Since both the books were reduced i thought what the hell i'll get both, later that day my husband asked me why i had bought two books and thinking quick on my feet i replied "it was buy one get one free" instead of explaining the sale! 

I immediately started flipping through the pages of the two books, the photography is picture perfect and she is very successful in making food look as good as it tastes (her motto). I consider myself to be pretty good in the kitchen but after reading the cooks guide it made me realise there are so many techniques and recipes i have not yet attempted or experienced.

So i have set myself a challenge inspired by the Julie and Julia Movie, i am going to make one thing out of each book each week and write about my experiences.

The challenge will be called "the donna hay way".

Hope you enjoy this as much as i will.

Thursday, 21 April 2011

Dont ever give up! Donna Hay Chocolate Layer Cake

Since its easter and easter always reminds me of Chocolate, i thought i would do a flash back to the Donna Hay Chocolate Layer Cake. The Cake of all Cakes, the cake that nearly got the better of me. But i didn't back down i was going to master this cake.

I am going to share the link for the recipe with you and give you some hints.
http://www.masterchef.com.au/four-tier-chocolate-layer-cake.htm

I originally followed the recipe from the 50th Issue Donna Hay Mag but i cant find that link to share with you. So i found the Masterchef version instead- notice there are hardly any steps to recipe? It wasn't until i saw Donna Hay hosting a masterclass on Masterchef that all the hidden steps where revealed!

My first attempt tasted amazing and looked not so amazing it was limp and looked like the leaning tower of cake. You can ask my good friends Jassie Fizzle Out and Kris Eye is for Image just how sad it looked. I was so embarrassed that they even saw the cake- they popped over and i had lost track of time.
I gave them a quick taste and threw it in the bin, even thou they told me not too.

If you want this cake to be a masterpiece you need to add the following steps.
1. Make for cakes instead of 2
2. Slightly freeze the cakes and cake the tops off.
3. So you don't get any cake breaking off while spreading the icing, use cake 1 upright, cake 2 upside down, cake 3 upside down and cake 4 upside down.
4. Measure out your icing equally.
5. Place it in centre and in soft motions work it to once cm from the rim

The result:

I could have bought a really cool cake, that would have costs less and not taken up a 2 whole days but the comments i got from friends and family was totally worth it- plus i think mine looks better than the masterchefs link ;)

Give it a crack for Easter!

Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Easy Peasy Japanesey (Cheap Eats)


Ingredients:

Beef (Fillet Steak)
Zucchini (Cubed)
Mushrooms (Sliced)
White Cabbage (Sliced)
Sushi Rice
Rice Vinegar
Sesame Oil
Soy Sauce
Teriyaki Sauce Marinade or Home Made (see below)

Salad Dressing
Japanese Mayo
Thousand Island Dressing
Mirin (Sweet Cooking Sauce)

Teriyaki Sauce (Home Made)
30g Caster Sugar
2 TBLS Japanese Soy Sauce
2 TBLS Japanese Saki
2 TBLS Mirin (Sweet Cooking Sauce)
2 TBLS Sesame Seeds

Added Extras: Garlic and Chilli

Notes: Initially you spend a little bit buying all of the Japanese ingredients but once you have them they will last ages, try and get to an Asian grocer as you will save quite a bit. We eat this meal every week without fail. If you have a rice cooker and a wok i recommend using them. If not, try microwavable rice it works every time and a really hot pan. It may look like a lot but once you have made this once you can do it in sleep.

I make my own sauces now but i used to buy everything ready to go in a packet, for an extra 2 minutes effort you can really taste the difference in making your own sauces. Give it a go, just remember to TASTE.

Instructions:
If you are making your own sauces, start with the Teriyaki.

Teriyaki Sauce: Put all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together- if you are adding Chilli and Garlic do so now. Slice the beef into thin slices, pop it in with the sauce and set aside.

Salad Dressing:
Two Large Squirts of Jap Mayo, One Medium Squirt of Thousand Island and 1TBLS of Mirin- Stir Well.

Veggies:
Slice the Mushrooms (I buy already sliced mushrooms lazy), cube Zucchini put in a bowl and set aside. Slice/Shred Cabbage on a 45 degree angle put in another bowl and drizzle with Rice Vinegar & Mirin- dont not add the dressing yet.

Cooking:
The Rice takes the longest to cook so put that on before you do anything else, if you have a rice cooker it will keep warm until you need it otherwise pop it in the microwave with minutes to go from completing the dish.

Add 1/2tsp of Sesame Oil to a Wok/Hot Pan, add Zucchini & Mushroom with a dash of Soy Sauce and stir fry for about 3 minutes, take out of Wok/Pan. Get the Wok/Pan hot again add the Beef and stir fry for 5 minutes to get the sauce nice and sticky.

Now that everything is ready its time to plate up, i call this style of plating 4 corners as there is something different in each corner of the plate. Don't forget to add your Salad Dressing!!!

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Beef Pops (Beef & Pineapple Skewers)

Ingredients:
Diced Beef
Fresh Pineapple
Bunch of Parsley
Garlic
Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar
S&P
Bamboo Skewers

Dice the Beef & Pineapple to your liking (i prefer big even chunks 2cmx2cm)
In a food processor blitz: half a cup of olive oil, bunch of parsley, 2 Garlic Cloves & 2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar with a pinch of S&P.

Mix half the mixture in with the Beef and put in the fridge to marinate for 3hrs. Once the beef has marinated assemble the Beef and Pineapple on the skewers and BBQ to your liking (i like it medium, which is about 3 minutes each side.) Serve on a plate, drizzle the other half of the marinate over the skewers or serve as a dipper.

Hints:
Vegetarian- Replace the Beef with Tofu or Button Mushrooms
The Beef Pops are even more delicious cooked the day before and served cold

Let me introduce.

This blog will mainly showcase 2 things:
Being the Lady of the House (cooking, cleaning, shopping, entertaining)
Operating Dash Gold Coast   (my small speciality events company)


The reason i am starting this blog is because of my life long friend Fizzle Out thanks for the push lovely!