Bitchin Kitchen
Oooh I just love a nice Butter Puff Pastry, the way it expands with golden deliciousness, don’t you? It can be fancy for a sit down meal; it can be really café or easy picnic food, not quite comfort and not quite healthy all at the same time.
As an apprentice, I learned to make pastry from scratch! Quite a challenge to teach you right here. So for now just buy it readymade from the supermarket. If you want to achieve an extra puff in your puff pastry, just marry two layers together to make it twice as thick or buy the ’butter’ puff as opposed to ordinary puff pastry, it rises better. Be sure not to make these both in the same meal though because pastry is a ‘sometimes food’… (more…)
Mediterranean Veggie Bake
(Serves 4- 6 people)
Having a few friends over for dinner? This is the sort of thing you can bang together and whack in the oven very easily. At first glance it looks daunting but after making it for the first time you will see just how easy it actually is.
Also a perfectly light and nutritious lunch, it has been a hit every time I have made it, for vegetarians and carnivores, alike. (more…)
Bitchin’ Kitchen - July
One rainy afternoon, my good friends, Miss Vic and Paul had popped over for some healthy social intercourse. They had caught me in the kitchen and I just happened to have a film crew handy. I was telling them that when I was a kid, I loved to make cookies on cold rainy days. Before I knew it, the three of us were up to our elbows in it. As the afternoon unfolded so did the comedy. This is a good recipe for kids of any age! These are really easy cookies to make and reasonably healthy, too. (more…)
Bitchin Kitchen
HOME MADE MINESTRONE.
When starting my formal training as a chef, my first lessons where of vegetable cutting, basic stocks and soups. Subsequently, after 30 years of commercial cooking, I find it very difficult to choose just one ‘soup de jour’. Due to modern dietary requirements of some customers, such as being celiac, lactose intolerant, vegan or vegetarian, it is necessary to offer alternatives. In the colder months, I would make huge pots of soup that would inevitably run out mid lunchtime and the specials board would be have to be updated to the next batch.This was an effective way to serve lots of people quickly and cheaply over a busy lunch period. I offered many flavours mainly because of demand but also because I was flooded with ideas. Our patrons also made specific requests and our specials board was soon aptly titled, ‘The soup of the moment’.
However, the most popular choice for a hearty nutritious meal, whether it was vegetarian or made with meat, was always…MINESTRONE WITH FRESHLY SHAVED PAMESAN.
This is a dish that is easily created by using your imagination. I was taught that Minestrone was originally the invention of Italian monks that used to keep a huge hot pot simmering on the stove. In medieval times food was in short supply, so every scrap and morsel left in the kitchen had to be used to avoid waste. The soup would simmer continuously as they kept adding water and other bits and pieces to it. As the liquid reduced the flavours intensified resulting in a hearty blend that became more of a meal than a soup. (more…)
Bitchin’ Kitchen
If you are on a diet, repeat after me - ‘Hunger is my friend!’
As the colder months engulf us with cravings for comfort food, our attentions turn to hot cooked meals and a more substantial portion size. If you are like me, you are probably watching your weight and are easily tempted by sweets as well. Scavenging for a quick sugary fix, in between meals, is common .Unfortunately the truth is that most of these snacks contain things that are not good for us. Clever advertising and availability make it so easy to over indulge in all this deliciousness. (more…)
Bitchin’ Kitchen
MAKE YOUR OWN FRIGGIN’ BREAKFAST
For many years I worked as a chef in a café and the locals would flock to try my all day breakfast. I never understood why people paid for something they could make at home so easily and much cheaper. Was it the experience of eating out or perhaps they were just too lazy to make it themselves? Eventually I conceded that it was the simple techniques I used to cook my eggs. (more…)
Bitchin’ Kitchen: Auntie’s Fluffy Scones
My mum and my Aunty both loved to bake and I guess I inherited the ‘baking gene’. Every house wife from the 1950’s onwards at some point tried their hand at this simple but classic treat. Simply, nothing is more like home than freshly baked scones ,served hot with jam and cream.
INGREDIENTS
4 cups of self raising flour (plus extra for rolling)
1 pinch of salt….. (Our neighbour, Mrs Sutton, used to say that anything that rises in the oven should have a pinch of salt to stabilize it)
300 ml of thickened cream (some use milk but I think cream makes them fluffy)
300 mls of water (I like to use soda water or lemonade to give added lightness)
Note: if adding sultanas soak them in a little milk overnight. (more…)
Bitchin’ Kitchen: Hot Crossed Buns
There is a certain knack to being able to make things rise successfully and my buns have been known to be quite popular. As an apprentice, I was taught about food chemistry and how yeast works and I wanted to make a traditional yeast bun at home. From the first week of January through until Easter, you can buy them in super markets but there is a certain satisfaction in baking them yourself. Needless to say they are delicious. (more…)
Bitchin’ Kitchen
SWEETS FOR YOUR SWEETHEART
Valentine’s day on February 14th is the perfect excuse to make some home-made favourites for your lover, friend or partner. Few things are more romantic than taking time to prepare something homemade and delicious for your ‘special someone’. If you don’t have a lover, why not make some lovely treats to share with your mother or a friend! (more…)
Bitchin’ Kitchen
Catering under the influence
MY MUMS HOMEMADE IRISH CREAM LIQUEUR
The 1980’s was a time for recipe swapping throughout suburbia. I remember many of mum’s friends & neighbours passing this one like the proverbial Olympic torch. It is lovely as a drink, served on ice (in a large martini glass of course) or as a sauce to accompany your favourite desserts. (more…)
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