Spaghetti and Meatballs Jamie-style

I've been watching the series Jamie at Home, where he is often in his vegie garden and then cooking up a storm in the kitchen with produce from the garden. In the first program he made this really easy spaghetti and meatball meal and what caught my eye was that he used sausages for the meatballs. Now I'm for anything that makes cooking easier but still tasty. For this recipe not any old supermarket sausage, full of suspicious bits and pieces, can be used. Gourmet Italian sausages are preferred. So during the week we purchased some from the local butcher who is well known for his gourmet range of handmade sausages, for which he has won prizes.

Once you have the required sausages then its just a case of squeezing out the filling and shaping into meatballs - oh so easy! I probably got about 3 meatballs per sausage and these were then fried in a little olive oil and the put aside while I made the sauce.

The tomato sauce recipe came from Jamie's Dinners which I had got as a birthday present a couple of years ago but for a variety of reasons I never really looked through this book. I had seen the TV series and had every intention of using the book but as usual, life got in the way. Anyway I pulled the book out yesterday and used the Simple Tomato Sauce recipe, which is part of a chapter called Family Tree because as Jamie says, "once you've perfected one really good 'parent' recipe, you can make lots of 'offspring' recipes".

It really is a very simple recipe involving several garlic cloves which are sliced and lightly fried in some olive oil, and a whole red chili which is pierced - it gives a subtle heat to the sauce, some chopped basil stalks, and then several tins of Italian tomatoes. The tomatoes are left whole until the sauce has simmered for about 30mins and then they can be broken up. Apparently tomato seeds can be bitter, and that's the reason for not breaking them up earlier in the process.

I added the meatballs back into the sauce part way through the simmering process and while I was cooking the spaghetti - plenty of salt in the water but no oil. The reason being that salt adds or brings out the flavour whereas if oil was added the sauce would not cling to the pasta at all.

The chilli was removed and a handful of basil leaves (from the garden) were stirred through. Grated Parmigiano Reggiano was the only other accompaniment (mainly because of the dessert that was to follow!)

Verdict - the flavour of the Italian sausages was too mild so we will look elsewhere for more flavoursome sausages. Otherwise, it was an easy, tasty meal.

French-toasted chocolate and banana sandwiches

I bought the latest issue of Gourmet Traveller during the week and this particular recipe caught my eye - probbaly because of the chocolate component! Its in the section called Fare Exchange - recipes you're requested from Australia's leading chefs. This recipe comes from chef Geoff Lindsay from Pearl Restaurant, in Richmond, Vic. It may have been a brunch recipe but it makes for a good dessert too.

The original recipe is for 4 but there were only 2 of us eating last night so I reduced the quantities - not difficult in nay case. Also the recipe calls for 2cm-thick slices of white bread which you then make a deep incision in each slice along one side of the crusts, leaving 15mm around the other edges, to form a pocket. I used 2 thin slices of bread for each serve!

Recipe (adapted from Gourmet Traveller, Feb 2007 issue)
Serves 2

4 slices of white bread
100g dark chocolate buttons
1 banana, thinly sliced
1 Tbs butter
maple syrup, to serve
pouring cream, to serve
French toast batter:
2 eggs
125ml milk
1/4 cup caster sugar
40ml pouring cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
ground cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

1. For French toast batter: combine all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine, set aside.
2. On 2 slices of bread, layer sliced banana and chocolate buttons, leaving about 15mm clear around each side. Top with other slice of bread and press down firmly. Soak sandwiches in batter for 2mins each side.
3. Preheat oven to 180*c. heat half the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and cook each sandwich for 2mins each side or until golden, then place on an oven tray. Repeat with remaining sandwich. Transfer to oven and bake for 8-10mins or until puffed and golden. To serve, cut sandwiches in half diagonally, arrange on plates, drizzle with maple syrup and serve with cream.


Verdict - great! It was a little rich so maybe milk chocolate buttons may be better but otherwise, it was great comfort food!

Banana and Blueberry Stuffed French Toast

After last night's very rich and decadent dessert a healthy breakfast was in order! This recipe is from the 80/20 Diet book by Teresa Cutter. I'm not normally one for mucking around in the morning to make breakfast (but then again, a couple of months ago I wasn't one for cooking anything more elaborate than cheese on toast!), but this is actually quick and easy. A couple of months ago this breakfast would have been something to cook only on special occasions given the price of bananas (post-Cyclone Larry), but fortunately they have come down in price and bananas occupy their rightful place in our fruit bowl once more.

Recipe adapted for 1 serve:

2 egg whites
30ml skim or low-fat milk
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
2 slices good quality wholegrain sourdough fruit bread (ok I didn't have this so I used Burgen soy-lin bread instead)
1 Tbs low-fat cottage or ricotta cheese
1 small banana
ground cinnamon
60g blueberries

Combine the egg whites, milk and vanilla in a bowl. Dip both sides of the bread in the egg mixture for a few seconds. Transfer the bread to a hot non-stick frying pan sprayed with a little vegetable oil. Cook over medium heat until golden and crisp on both sides.

Place one slice of the French toast on a plate and top with cottage (or ricotta) cheese, banana, cinnamon and blueberries. I actually combined everything before topping the toast. Sandwich with the other slice, and eat, and enjoy. If I'd had thought of it at the time I would've drizzled over some sugar-free maple syrup.

The 80/20 diet - works for me!

For today's meal I decided to make something healthy followed by something sinfully rich and delicious! After all I had deserved it - running 32km this morning, some of it uphill.

The marinated roast pork with bok choy comes from the 80/20 Diet recipe book by Teresa Cutter. The book might promise a better body in 12 weeks but it doesn't mean that you will be surviving on rabbit food or cardboard for that time. Teresa Cutter, "the healthy chef" is one of Australia's leading authorities on healthy cooking. She is a qualified chef and fitness trainer, and has combined her knowledge of food, diet and exercise to specialise in developing healthy recipes for fat loss and total wellbeing.

The philosophy of the 80/20 diet is simple. Eat well 80% of the time, and 20% of the time you can enjoy a little indulgence. The book contains more than 130 recipes for simple, nutritious dishes that have been designed for people who love food, who love to eat and who have made a conscious decision to maximise their health and wellbeing.

I made the marinade for the lean pork tenderloin last night - a mixture of sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), crushed garlic cloves, grated fresh ginger, mirin and brown sugar. The pork was then marinaded overnight and for most of today. The pork was then put in a baking tray in a 200*c oven and roasted for about half an hour, occasionally basting it with the remaining marinade.

In the meantime I prepared the bok choy and then decided to also add snowpeas and mushrooms because DH is not a green vegie fan. I thought if I added some other vegies it might hold a bit more appeal! Also, I decided to prepare a salad of mesclun, sliced peach and yellow grape tomatoes....just in case. Once the pork was cooked, I left it to rest and quickly stirfried the vegies in a mixture of chicken stock, crushed garlic and a teensy drop of sesame oil.

It was all very simple and tasted great. DH did have some of the stirfried greens and salad so that was a bonus. We also had some woodfired Italian bread with it that we had bought at the markets this morning.

Now for the 20% part of the diet - the indulgence!

The recipe for Molten Chocolate Cakes comes from Donna Hay's latest book, Instant Entertaining. According to the blurb, entertaining doesn't have to be stressful. Which is why Donna Hay has put together this collection of simple menus for truly instant entertaining. So no matter what the occasion, entertaining has just become a whole lot easier.

I love chocolate - especially dark chocolate. In fact I like the 85% dark chocolate which not too many people seem to like, which is great because it means I don't have to share! When we were up on the Gold Coast in January I discovered a chocolate shop, Choclicious, which sold many, many different types of chocolates. I bought a block of Valrhona Guanaja dark bitter chocolate 70% cocoa with the intention of using it in a recipe, though at the time I had no idea what recipe. The chocolate is described as having floral notes, intense flavour and an exceptionally long finish, all typical of the cocoa beans of South America.

When I was flicking through the Donna Hay book the other day I came across this recipe and being the chocolate lover that I am, I had to try it. Its a fairly easy recipe - mixing together plain flour, icing sugar, almond meal, beaten eggwhites, melted butter and melted dark chocolate. I wasn't quite sure what she meant by beaten egg whites though - was I supposed to use electric beaters and beat until soft peaks form, or just use a fork and beat together? I decided to use the beaters and the cakes turned out so....?

The mixture, mixed well to combine, was to be spooned into 4 x 1/2 cup lightly greased ovenproof dishes. I don't have these so decided to use a muffin tray. So half the mixture was spooned into 4 muffin holes then 10g of dark chocolate was placed on this mixture, before topping with the remaining mixture. They were cooked in a 150*c oven for about 20mins and then served with fresh raspberries and thick cream - mmmmm!

The verdict? They are very rich. DH couldn't eat all of his but then he doesn't have a really sweet tooth or he's not obsessive about chocolate the way I am! However I have to admit that one cake was plenty. Also the fresh raspberries go really well with chocolate and the cream just topped it off perfectly.