History:

This is an absurdly-easy dish to do, and is delicious as well! I was trying to use up a chunk of minced beef I bought - which was originally intended for kidney-and-steak meatballs, but I didn't have any kidney or breadcrumbs with me. Partly also because I missed Scotland quite a bit these days, and thought of doing up a better version of the microwavable chili con carne I had there.

The herbs I used can easily be substituted with whatever you have at hand, and the degree of spicyness is really an individual choice. In this recipe I used 3 different types of chiles, mainly because my first attempt using only chilli padi turned out to be rather 2D in taste.

Ingredients:

• 300g topside minced beef
• 100ml canned tomato puree
• 400ml canned diced tomato with basil
• Sage (1 teaspoon)
• Tarragon (1 teaspoon)
• Saffron (1/2 teaspoon)
• Canned pinto beans
• Canned red kidney beans
• Chilli powder
  
• Chilli padi
• Canned Jalapeno chilies
• Salt & Pepper
  

Method:

• Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and fry minced beef until just brown
  
• Add diced tomato, tomato puree and herbs. Heat until mixture boils, and simmer.
• Add chilli powder to taste (I used 2 tablespoons), throw in the canned Jalapenos and add chilli padi to taste. For the chilli padi, I sliced them length-wise and crushed them with the flat of the knife before throwing them in. Simmer with the chiles for about 5-10 minutes.
• Discard most of the liquid from the canned beans, and add them in. Simmer until the chili becomes piping hot.
• Chili con carne can be eaten as-is, served over rice or frozen and re-heated (this reportedly develops its flavours.) Dad and sisters used it as a salsa dip substitute and claim that it's excellent for nachos!
  

Posted by R. at 4:21 AM | Permalink | Comments

History:

I think a little explanation is in order, regarding the use of packeted cheese sauce. I'm a huge fan of making ingredients from scratch, but Yx and I experimented with cajun cheese sauce with absolutely no success at all! After spending half an hour in the kitchen with milk, parmesan and olive oil, we ended up with a congealed gunk that looked (and smelt) like vomit. This dish was made today as a little snack, to test out the packeted cheese sauce. One word of warning - beware of hungry Brownies (or any other dog for that matter) gobbling up salmon and linguine!

Ingredients:

• Salmon fillet
• White wine
  
• Linguine pasta
• Cheese sauce / cajun - packeted
• Large prawns
• Butter
• Salt & Pepper
• Dried tarragon
  
• Olive oil

Method:

• For the salmon - rinse the fillet and rub with rock salt, then marinate with full strength white wine for half an hour at least. I did this one overnight, and it was great! Quickly poach the salmon in boiling salted water, cool and tear up into flakes.
• For the linguine - Bring a pot of salt, water and olive oil to a rapid boil, then add the pasta. Cook for 20 minutes or until soft, stirring occasionally. Sieve out the pasta, cool under tap water, and toss with a tablespoon or two of olive oil.
  
• For the cajun cheese sauce - Follow instructions on packet. Milk is required for most instant packet formulas.
  
• For the Prawns au naturale - use only very, very, very fresh prawns for this dish, since no marinate is used at all for the prawns! Remove the shell, but leave the head and tail on. Keep the whiskers on especially - these will char very nicely in the pan to produce delightful prawn-ey smells. Slit the prawn's body part-way down the middle (do not end up cutting it into 2!) and remove the innards. To cook, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a shallow saucepan, throw in a pinch of salt (roughly 1/2 teaspoon) and a few twists of ground peppers. Arrange the prawns in the saucepan in a nice curved shape, and sear each side for 2 minutes. The 2 sides of the pranws will fan out nicely while cooking, and finally sear the fanned-out portion (now the top of the prawn) for a minute or 2 till just that wee bit brown.
  
• Putting it all together - toss in the salmon flakes, cajun cheese sauce and linguine in a plate, toss well together, then sprinkle generously with dried tarragon over the top to add some colour and taste. Arrange the cooked prawns by the side, and serve - ideally with a chilled glass of blanc.
  

Posted by R. at 12:28 AM | Permalink | Comments