Thai Style Pomelo Salad

One thing that drives me absolutely insane with supermarkets and markets in Melbourne (and maybe it is everywhere else too!) is the unreliability that when you go there, the food you want will be there! And it's not just with the seasonal exotic produce either. Sometimes, you want scallops in the half shell and they're not there, or coriander, and it's not there. What's wrong with you people!!

Pomelo is one such case, though granted, i doubt it sells much in Melbourne. Before i went to thailand I'd never eaten it before, but now i keep my eye out in south east asia for it whenever i'm there. For the uninitiated, pomelo tastes much like a less intense version of a grapefruit. But it's not about the flavour so much as the texture, to me. Beneath the giant fruit's skin (they're like bowling ball size!) is a grapefruit sized mass of segments, each segment containing little balls of juice!It's truly a delight to eat.

Rich Tomato & Capsicum Gazpacho with Garlic Croutons

Some people really don't like the idea of cold soups, but once you try them, you'll love them! The important thing to remember is that seasoning for cold soups is different - your sensitivity to sourness and salt is reduced, so you need to be a bit more heavy handed with these ingredients. It's so refreshing on a summer evening to tuck into a refreshing chilled soup, particularly utilizing the delicious juicy red tomatoes that abound at the moment.

Finely Chopped Tuna on Rice

I've been on a slight health kick lately, probably subconsciously linked to new years resolutions! But also, the summery weather has just been calling out to me for fresh produce and evening jogs through Hawthorn. So despite the posting of sweets and other goodies, my diet has been largely composed of veges and unprocessed foods. Like this!

Before cooking this dish i had been going weeks with a craving for tuna sashimi. But how does one make an entire meal out of raw fish? An appetizer alone was not going to satisfy me, and when i tried to get a table at Kenzan@GPO there was no seats available!

Fear not, i found this fantastic recipe from Neil Perry on the Cuisine website. This i believe is the first Neil Perry recipe i've ever cooked (well, adapted), and i am happy to say that i'm not in the least disappointed. This meal was so fresh and zingy, and really luxurious but healthy at the same time. Highly recommended to anyone who likes sashimi and a bit of spice!

Grilled Vegetable and Haloumi Salad

Summertime, and i can feel a theme coming on! With long work hours, late sunlight, and back to cooking for one, salads are becoming an imperative this summer season! To me, a good salad is about fresh ingredients, with one highlight yummy addition. That addition might be cheese, it might be bread, it might be meat. It doesn't matter, but it's the drawcard of the dish to me! In this instance it's haloumi.

For the first few times i tried to make grilled haloumi i was so disappointed. Gone was the melty, salty goodness i'd experienced at Greek restaurants, and in it's place was a squeaky (yes squeaky!!) rubbery mass. The key is in long cooking; really cook your haloumi until it's starting to lose it's shape. If it's still a nice brick, she ain't ready yet!

Mushroom & Twice Smoked Ham Quiche

Eggs. We eat them. They are delicious. 

Mushrooms. Also delicious. 

Smoked Ham. More delicious

The three baked together? Gimme gimme gimme. I think quiche was one of my favorite foods as a child, hovering around the same place as Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup and Spinach Balls (i was nothing if not a strange child).  Here you can see my recipe for quiche lorraine with a pre-made base. This recipe below just kicks things up a notch. 

Trusty Zucchini Slice

What can one turn to when one has an abundance of eggs? The usual culprits come to mind:

• omelette
• quiche
• zuchini slice

And yes, i plan on cooking them all! This zucchini slice is one of the best i've had. There's nothing fancy about it, nothing out of the ordinary. But i've cut down on the oil in the slice, and the level of flour provide a slightly cakey spongelike consistency that i like.

This may be kind of dagsville for a recipe, but its also delish! Maybe i should call it courgette frittata... :P

Country Omelette with Gypsy Ham

I was so excited to be making an omelette this morning, as i haven't made one for years. The lack of a good non-stick pan in the house put the kibosh on that! Thankfully i used some gift vouchers yesterday to go out and get a top notch Anolon one and boy did it work well! The omelette just slid from the pan, so easily, i forgot how much of a boon non-stick coatings can be.

The gypsy ham used for this recipe (and for a couple more coming up) i got from my local deli. Gypsy ham and bacon always intrigued me, with the dark coloring on the outside with the richly pink meat inside. It turns out that gypsy hams are double smoked, enriching the porky flavor of the meat. And it was indeed very delicious.

Now, if you haven't made an omelette before, or need some brushing up on your technique, i recommend that you watch this youtube video of Jacques Pepin. This man is a clear expert in omelette making!

Pork & Veal Italian Meatballs on Summer Couscous

So i've decided to go off soups this year for lunches! I think i was starting to creep my colleagues out. So this year i'll just be looking for good, nutritious food that carries well throughout the week. And first up: meatballs!
I'm a big fan of the pork and veal mince that is common at supermarkets these days. I love the flavour of pork but it's terribly fatty. The veal evens this out! And finally, hopefully aussies will make true bolognese, with veal and pork rather than beef!

Trung Chien Thit Bam - Pork Omelette with Preserved Radish

The more i delve into the cuisine, the more i love Vietnamese food. I think i've only ever been to a few Vietnamese restaurants in my life, and far to many of those were 'Chinese/Vietnamese' hybrids, or dodgy cafes on Swanston St, Melbourne where the food is as Authentic as your average butter chicken.

From my favorite cookbook-of-the-moment, Secrets Of The Red Lantern, comes this beautiful Vietnamese omelette. I think it's the Cai Po or preserved radish that gives this dish it's special, subtle but delicious flavour. You can buy this ingredient at Asian supermarkets (or sucker your Singaporean friend into buying it for you, thanks Darryl!)

Kangaroo, Beetroot, Bocconcini & Grilled Shallots on Carrot Noir

Whilst at a work function the other week, i was flicking through the television in my hotel room when onto the screen came a blast from my culinary past: Gabriel Gate. Alongside Geoff Jansz, Gabriel Gate is probably the first 'celebrity chef' that i can remember seeing, from the good old days of midday television when i was a child. Funnily, i'd never seen anyone actually make their dishes. Well, Gabriel Gate was taking the viewer through, in 3 minutes no less, a beautiful French salad of beetroot and fresh herbs on this intriguing black puree, all of this somehow connected to the Tour De France.

Well a bit of research showed me that the black puree was made from burnt carrots, which i've decided to fancy up a bit and call carrot noir. The sweetness of the carrots is tempered by the smokiness that the burning imparts, but it was much less overpowering than i imagined. I tried to match the flavors in the 'salad' as best as i could, to turn it into a main attraction kind of affair. I think i succeeded!

If you're not in Australia, i would recommend replacing the kangaroo with spring lamb.

Bo Luc Lac (Vietnamese shaking beef)

Every now and again (namely after a work conference laden with rich company-paid meals and constant snacking) one feels like a salad. Alas, in the middle of winter, the green grocers tend to ignore the great herbs that makes a great Thai larb, or even most Vietnamese salad.

That said, on the hunt for a light dinner that wouldn't hurt the waistline, i came across recipes for Vietnamese Bo Luc Lac or shaking beef. Most of the recipes seemed to offer either a dressing or a dipping sauce; for me, i combined the two. Apparently the translated name, shaking beef, refers to the shaking of the wok as you sear all sides of the meat. So don't go expecting any plate theatrics here kiddos.

For a little extra indulgence i went and purchased King Island eye fillets; they were definitely worth it! For meat that is only briefly cooked you really do need to buy a tender cut of meat. These morsels just melted in your mouth as you devoured the plate of them.

Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe

I love a simple pasta. Back in the days of highschool holidays, i would get up every day and devour an entire packet of spaghetti, with a simple sauce of olive oil, basil, garlic and fresh chilli, covering it in a snowstorm of parmesan cheese.

Gone are the days of devouring entire packets of pasta, but there is nothing more satisfying than a simple sauce for pasta that can be whipped up in seconds. This roman pasta is perhaps the simplest that i have yet seen, consisting of only 2 ingredients to the sauce. Better still, they are ingredients that i always have hanging around! Bewarned though, that the pepper can pack a bite! If you don't like it so peppery, i can only say that you shouldn't make this dish.

Bubble & Squeak Cakes with Portabella & Porcini Ragu

It seems to me that a lot of people don't know what my blog's namesake, bubbles n squeaks refers to. Bubble n squeak is a traditional English dish that involved shallow frying leftover vegetables from a previous meal. My memory of it harks back to a boy scouts camp where they made a version of it that was basically bacon and potatoes. I was hooked, but i don't think i ever actually had bubble n squeak again!

So anyway, the blog name came from the philosophy of using odds and ends to create a delicious meal: ok, so i've deviated from that strategy. Sue me!

Although still not true to form, using leftovers, the following recipe omits the bacon and indeed the shallow fry to go for a healthier oven baked version. Unfortunately there's no substitute for the cream in the mushroom ragu!

Penne with Salami, Olives, Basil and Capsicum

So this is the second recipe i've cooked in Ringwood, and this time the core reason behind cooking was simple: my mum wrote 'pasta with salami and olives etc' on the fridge whiteboard. So there wasn't much leeway tonight! Nonetheless i've cooked it anyway, to fairly decent familial reviews.

Ingredients (serves 3)

• 4 cups penne pasta
• 1 tomato
• 1 red capsicum
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 1 handful black olives
• 75gm salami
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Method

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain and set aside. 
Dice the tomato flesh, onion and capsicum

Slice the salami into long thin strips

Pitt the olives and cut into small pieces.
Heat a medium saucepan over low-medium heat and then add the olive oil
Add the onions and garlic and saute until soft, careful not to colour the onions

Raise the heat to medium-high
Add the salami and cook for a further 3 minutes. 
Add the tomatoes, olives and capsicum and cook for a further 1 minute.

Pour the sauce over the pasta and season with salt and pepper.
Throw in the basil and toss the pasta through.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan on the side.

Pappardelle with Cos Lettuce, Peas and Prosciutto

 Pappardelle seems to be back in vogue again, and it's unusual that it's current reputation as an elegant pasta is quite converse to it's rustic appeal a decade or so ago. Also in vogue is the cooking of lettuce, which provides a taste almost like a mustardy spinach, to a dish. So i suppose this dish is very much a 'fad' dish; but that's not to say that at the same time it's not very very tasty.

As i couldn't find fresh pappardelle at the market i purchased fresh Lasagne sheets and cut them into 3cm thick ribbons which provides the same end result. Also, if you don't have a reputable grocer, don't use fresh peas: the frozen ones will be better, and cost a 10th of the price.

Quiche Lorraine

Again, using ingredients i had lying around. And again, one of my favorite foods that my mum used to make for me! Of course, i took the lazy option which my mother never did; i went and picked up a premade flan base from the supermarket. At $3 each these things make life so easy!! But in a recipe soon i'll show you how to make one yourself.

After a very large, very filling christmas dinner, i came home toting a freezer full of leftovers, and two other ingredients: cream, and eggs, leftover from egg nog. This is the first dish that came to mind.

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1 flan base (premade pie crust)
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 cup grated tasty cheese
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 5 short rashers bacon, chopped
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Par-cook the flan base as per package instructions. Remove, set aside and leave oven preheated to 165 degrees.

Set a frying pan over medium heat, and throw in a touch of oil.

Add the chopped onions and saute for 5 minutes or until softened (try not to brown them)

Add the chopped bacon and saute for a further 10 minutes.

Set bacon and onion aside on paper towel to soak up extra grease.

In a large bowl, whisk together cream and eggs.

Add the parsley, cheese and nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.

Place the bacon and onion on the bottom of the flan base and pour over the cream/egg mixture.

Set into the oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the centre of the quiche does not jiggle when you shake the tin.

Serve at room temperature with a light salad.