Hot dang - a fast Beef Rendang

So, what do you do if you crave some beef rendang but don't have 2 hours to wait for the meat to cook? Why, you 'look for shortcuts', of course!

This usually happens when the lightbulb goes off above your head at, say, around 4pm.  But that doesn't leave much time to leave work, get to the shops, find and purchase your ingredients, rush home, chop and prep, then cook the meal.  And don't get me started on presenting it nicely on a plate.  Plating up? Pshaw!

The shortcuts I made to this version of rendang are numerous and many. Not really. I just used a prepared rendang paste from the supermarket, and pre-cooked the beef by briefly sauteing it then resting it while the sauce cooked.  The sauce is not the 'proper' dry rendang sauce, as it contains quite a bit of coconut milk and stock, and the extra liquid does help the meat cook properly, and keeps it moist.   The dry rendang is also very good, as I evidenced by this version by AlmostBourdain, that I've had the pleasure of tasting - it's something I'd like to have a go at if I had more time!

Simple Beef Rendang
serves 4

Ingredients
1 tblsp vegetable oil
500g beef rump steak, trimmed
2 eschalots, chopped
1 cup dessicated coconut
4 tblsp rendang paste (use less if you want it less spicy)
400ml coconut cream (reduced fat is okay)
1 cup vegetable or beef stock
2 tblsp fish sauce
1 tblsp lime juice
1 stalk spring onion, sliced (optional)
boiled rice, to serve

Method
1.  Heat 1/2 tblsp of oil in a large frying pan over high heat.  Cook the beef for about 3 minutes each side (for medium-rare), or until cooked to your liking.  Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with foil.
2.  Add eschalot and coconut to the pan.  Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.  Do not let the coconut get burnt. 
3.  Add the rendang paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute until fragrant.
4.  Add coconut cream, stock and fish sauce.  Bring to the boil and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the sauce has thickened.  Stir in lime juice.
5.  Slice the beef into thin slices and return to the pan.  Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes until just heated through.
6.  Serve with rice and spring onion.
 - Any leftover sauce can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for a few days - just reheat in a saucepan.

The steak is cooked whole to start off with, then sliced and added to the sauce later.

Keep the dry coconut and rendang paste on the move by stirring -
it can brown quite quickly

This dish does not really lend itself to plating up -
I just bunged it on a sort of Asian-style plate.

...and don't forget the spring onion to garnish

Peanut Butter Pie - short, dark and rich

Recently, I’ve gone through a phase of cooking from older issues of magazines. The March 2009 issue of delicious is a case in point, and it’s surprising when you look at a recipe afresh – what seemed ordinary just 12 months ago now becomes a must-make-now kind of dish.

And so we come to this Peanut Butter Pie. It’s from Maggie Beer, so I thought it would be a comforting, old-fashioned type of dessert. It is that, and more. It wasn’t till after I’d made the pie that I looked it up on the internet and realised that it is an American favourite. With peanut butter, cream cheese and graham crackers, what else could it be? There are even versions that have it smothered in Cool Whip....

I have to say, though, that this peanut butter pie is best made when you have a few guests – there is no way you could have more than one slice of the pie at a time, it’s that rich. For the filling, I used salted peanut butter because that's all that the supermarket had - it gave the filling an unusual salty taste.  Further, the pie is not very sweet, which somehow makes it even more rich and just a bit cloying.  Try alleviating this with some vanilla ice cream - it makes it much better!

Peanut Butter Pie
serves 16

the crust
180g digestive biscuits (I used 16 Nice biscuits)
90g unsalted butter, melted
3 tsp caster sugar

the filling
1 cup (250ml) pure (thin) cream
1/2 cup (75g) caster sugar
320g cream cheese, chopped, at room temperature
375g crunchy salt-free peanut butter

the topping
150ml thickened cream
150g dark chocolate (70 percent cocoa), chopped
20g unsalted butter

Method
1.  Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
2.  Process biscuits in a food processor until crumbled.  Add sugar and melted butter and pulse to combine, then press into the base of a 22cm springform cake pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool.
3.  For the filling, place the cream and sugar in a saucepan and simmer over low heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring until the sugar dissolves. 
4.  Blend the cream cheese and peanut butter in food processor until combined.  Add the cream mixture and pulse to combine (or mix in by hand).  Spoon the filling on top of the pie crust and leave to cool.
5.  For the topping, bring the cream to just below boiling point in a saucepan over high heat.  Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl, then pour over the hot cream.  Leave for 3 minutes without touching. Then gently stir to melt the chocolate and butter into the cream.  Pour the topping over the pie.
6.  Chill the pie in the fridge, uncovered, for 4 hours or longer.
7.  Dust with cocoa before serving very thin slices.

Recipe adapted from delicious (March 2009)

The 3 stages of the crust: crumbs in the cake pan, crumbs smoothed out, crust after baking. I actually left out the sugar in the crust because the Nice biscuits already have sugar on them.
 

The 3 stages of the filling: peanut butter and cream cheese in food processor, cream and sugar on the simmer, filling poured onto the crust.
 

The 3 stages of the topping: hot cream poured onto butter and dark chocolate, it's all combined, topping poured onto the filling.
 

Yes, a small slice would be good.  Hint: A scoop of ice cream (vanilla or butterscotch) really brings out the flavours and lightens the experience.

Aussie-American salad of Lamb and Pomegranate

Yes, folks, it's still summer, season of sun and mellow saladness.  It makes me wonder why I don't do more of this type of dish in the winter months.  Read on...

This is a lamb and pomegranate salad that is supplemented by small kipfler (fingerling) potatoes.  For some reason, pomegranates in Australia in January are all labelled 'Product of USA'.  The same applies to the common lemon - no matter where you see them in the shops (supermarket or grocer), they are all imported from the US.  Impact on global footprint aside, the fruits are sweet and full of juice.  Let's just hope the pomegranate and lemon travelled by sea, not air.

Salad of Lamb, pomegranate and potato
serves 4

Ingredients
juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tblsp olive oil
500g lamb fillet (I used lamb backstrap)
6 small kipfler or anya potatoes
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
80g baby spinach
2 roma tomatoes, sliced
1 pomegranate, seeds removed

Method
1.  Combine lemon rind, half the lemon juice, oregano and 1 tblsp olive oil in a bowl.  Add the lamb, mix and cover.  Put in refrigerator for one hour.
2.  Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling water until tender.  Drain, and when cool enough to peel, remove the skins and cut potatoes into thick slices. Place in a large bowl with the garlic, remaining olive oil and remaining lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper and toss gently to coat.
3.  Preheat non-stick frypan (or grill pan) to high.  Cook drained lamb fillets for 3 minutes each side.  Remove from heat and rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
4.  Add spinach and tomato to the potato and toss together.  Put the salad on a plate and top with the sliced lamb.  Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.

Do you like my potato scrubber? It was actually labelled as a 'pot scrubber', but I took that to be an abbreviation for 'potato scrubber'.  It works beautifully on potatoes.
To get the seeds out of the pomegranate, hold half a pomegranate over a large bowl and whack the skin with the side of a wooden spoon.  The seeds should fall out easily. Very satisfying.

This is just the type of dish to remind you of summer.  And of our American friends....

Fico Ristorante - Italiano romantico

Looking for a romantic, dimly-lit spot for a special rendevous? Valentine's Day is coming up, so you if you are romantically inclined, you may want to start thinking about it...

This is my second visit to Fico Ristorante in Balmain.  During my first visit, the restaurant was full and we were seated in a dark corridor.  This time, the restaurant was empty and we were seated in the dark front section.  The lack of patrons may be because it was just after Christmas, and maybe because most people were seated at the outside tables (it was a warm night).

The restaurant has a lovely feel about it, with tablecloths and good crockery and glassware.  Our waiter was friendly and seemed to know the menu fairly well.

Speaking of which, the menu appears to have changed since last time, with fewer choices and a less 'Italian' bent.

The bread is was lovely (soft, chewy with crisp crust) and served with olive oil and salt.

Here are our starters:

Scallops wrapped in ocean trout with an eggplant caviar ($20) - the nicely cooked scallops were a good size and they paired well with the almost pickled texture of the eggplant.
The fresh beef carpaccio ($20) came with summer black truffles and baby herbs - I loved the flavour of the black truffle on the carpaccio, and again, the serve was substantial.  As you can see from the photos, the plates were decoratively smeared with streaks of balsamic vinegar...

Here are the mains:

I had the homemade Gnocchetti ($27) with scampi and vanilla beans.  Unusual combination and unusual (though not unpleasant) flavour.  It was strange to taste vanilla in a savoury dish, and it was quite rich.  The gnocchetti were lovely and small, and very soft and pillowy.
The Calamaretti ($28) are filled with spinach (and something else I forget) and grilled.  Tender little calamari were tasty and artistic(?) squiggles of fish roe, broad beans and sauce adorned the plate.

Finally, here are the desserts:

Tiramisu ($15) tasted better than it looked, with very creamy mascarpone atop sponge and coffee liqueur.
Sicilian cannoli ($14) was alright, though I thought it was like the cannoli you can get in a cafe (for $3).  Both plates this time were grafitti-ed with chocolate, with the cannoli sitting on a wide chocolate skid mark.

So, for a pleasant dinner (inside or outside), I'd definitely consider Fico Ristorante.  The food came out at a reasonable pace, and the service was good.  Come to think of it, they may have even brightened the lights after we sat down, so, in all, it was a good night.

Fico Ristorante is at 242 Darling St, Balmain, NSW  Ph: 02 9818 3868.  Open for dinner Mon-Sun.

Have a Surf then Turf these on the barbeque

Admittedly, my barbeque does not get an regular workout because it is a portable (Weber Baby Q) that has to be carried outside and hooked up whenever it's to be used.  But in the summer season, it doesn't seem like such a hardship when there is the promise of a great-tasting meal at the end of the effort.

This recipe for Surf 'n' Turf skewers is from Ainsley Harriott and it's accompanied by a brilliant salad of rockmelon, tomatoes and cucumber.  I was particularly lucky to score a sweet, sweet rockmelon and extra-crisp cucumber for this salad and together, they danced in the mouth!

Surf 'n' Turf barbeque skewers
makes 4-5

Ingredients
1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp mild paprika
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
12 green tiger prawns, peeled, deveined, tails intact
350g piece of sirloin or rump steak, cut into 16 2.5cm (1") cubes
Lemon wedges, to serve

Garlic and parsley butter
50g unsalted butter
2 small garlic cloves, crushed
2 tblsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tblsp lemon juice

Method
1.  Soak 4-5 bamboo skewers in cold water for 30 minutes.
2.  Combine olive oil, paprika, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce plus salt and pepper. Dip prawns into the marinade then lift out onto a plate and set aside in the fridge.
3.  Stir the steak pieces into the marinade and leave for 15 minutes.
4.  Preheat barbeque to medium-high. Thread 4 pieces of steak and 3 prawns alternately onto each skewer and barbeque for 5-10 minutes, turning once, until steak is done and prawns are just cooked through.
5.  Meanwhile, for the garlic and parsely butter, put the butter and garlic into a small pan and melt over medium heat (or on side of the barbeque).  Stir in the parsley, lemon zest and juice.
6.  As soon as the kebabs are cooked, lift them onto plates and sppoon over the garlic butter. Serve with lemon wedges.

Recipe from delicious (November 2005)

Rockmelon and Cucumber salad
serves 4

Ingredients
1/2 rockmelon
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and sliced
1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup blueberries

Dressing
1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
1 tblsp red wine vinegar
pinch of caster sugar

Method
1. Cut rockmelon into wedges, then scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard. Cut the flesh away from the skin, then cut into slices
2.  Remove skin from tomatoes by cutting a cross in the base of the tomato then plunging into a bowl of boiling water for 1 minute.  Peel off the skin, then slice the tomato
3.  For the dressing, whisk the olive oil, vinegar and sugar in a bowl with some sea salt and black pepper to taste.
4.  Combine the rockmelon, tomato and cucumber in a large bowl. Pour over the dressing and sprinkle with blueberries.

After marinating the prawns and steak, thread them onto bamboo skewers

Barbeque for a few minutes - I like to save on washing up by using a non-stick BBQ sheet on the grill tray.  The garlic and parsley butter adds a richness to the surf 'n' turf skewers.

The salad is very fresh-tasting and colourful to boot.

Nothing's perfect ... but this comes close!

Kangaroo Salad with Asian flavours - hop to it

While kangaroos are a wild animal in Australia, they are a protected species and can only be harvested under licence.  Kangaroo meat has been legalised for human consumption in Australian States since 1993, and the meat is exported to countries such as Germany, France and England.

Roo meat is also readily available in Australian supermarkets, though it isn't considered a popular meat compared to, say, beef.  It is high in protein and low in fat, however, so consumption is becoming more widespread.  It has quite an intense flavour (gamey) that may take some getting used to, although you can substitute beef for kangaroo in most recipes.

Which is where this dish comes in.  The recipe is from Jill Dupleix in delicious magazine (Feb 2010).  It's a colourful and aromatic melding of Asian-inspired flavours while using kangaroo fillet as the base.  The original recipe emphasises the Thai flavours by using mint, basil and coriander in the salad, but personally, I prefer less 'herb-y' flavours, so used normal spinach and rocket leaves instead.

Thai Kangaroo Salad with crisp-fried garlic
serves 4

Ingredients
600g kangaroo fillets, trimmed
1 tblsp soy sauce
1 tblsp seseame oil
2 tblsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 eschalots, thinly sliced
2 spring onions, thinly sliced on an angle
70g salad greens (eg. spinach and rocket) OR
1/2 cup basil, mint and coriander

Dressing
2 tblsp lime juice
2 tblsp fish sauce
1 tblsp olive oil
2 tsp caster sugar

Method
1. Combine kangaroo, soy sauce and sesame oil in a bowl and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes to marinate.
2.  Heat olive oil in a frypan over medium heat. Cook garlic for 1 minute each side or until light golden. Remove and drain on paper towel.
3.  Return frypan to high heat.  Drain excess marinade and juice from the kangaroo before searing meat for 2-3 minutes on each side (medium-rare).  Transfer to a plate and loosely cover with foil and rest for 15 minutes.
4.  For the dressing, whisk the dressing ingredients together in a bowl until the sugar dissolves.
5.  Place tomatoes, eschalot, spring onions and salad greens in a bowl.  Thinly slice the rested kangaroo and add to the bowl.  Sprinkle with the fried garlic.
6.  Serve with dressing on the side.

Recipe adapted from delicious (February 2010)

The marinating of the kangaroo meat (in soy sauce and sesame oil) really improves the flavour of the meat. Make sure you do not overcook the meat - the low fat content means it can dry out easily.

Serve the salad with the dressing to drizzle over.  The crispy fried garlic is a pungent but moreish accompaniment.

Deconstructed Chorizo and Turkey Burrito

Here is an interesting take on an idea by Bill Granger (in delicious magazine Dec/Jan 2010).  It's intended as a way of using up leftover turkey, but you could substitute leftover roast chicken for an even more tasty treat.

The recipe also does this thing with the sliced red onion, by soaking the onion slices in boiling water for 10 minutes.  What this does is remove the strong odour of raw onion, making the onion much more palatable. It also turns the slices a lovely shade of hot pink, which I think is reason enough to always soak beforehand.

To further 'deconstruct' the burrito, I toasted the tortilla in a frypan before cutting into slices.  This was partly for presentation purposes, but also because the tortillas I had were a bit old (ie. dry and stale), and cutting them up made them easier to eat. Not to mention the fact that eating dinner with your hands (as you would with a normal wrapped burrito) makes it seem like fast food - try and use civilised cutlery, people!

Chorizo and Turkey 'Burrito'
serves 2

Ingredients
1 tblsp olive oil
1 chorizo sausage, thickly sliced
3 roma (or other ripe) tomato, seeds removed, chopped
1 cup shredded cooked turkey
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 red onion, finely sliced, soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes, drained
50g fetta, crumbled
1 tsp parsley, chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime, pluse lime wedges to serve
few drops of Tabasco or other hot sauce
1 handful lettuce leaves, shredded
Flour tortillas, warmed in a frypan, sliced into strips about 1 cm (1/2 in)

Method
1.  Heat olive oil in a non-stick frypan over medium-high heat.  Add chorizo and cook, turning once, until golden, about 4 minutes.
2.  Add chopped tomatoes and simmer for 8 minutes until they begin to break down.
3.  Add turkey and stock, then simmer for 8-10 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
4.  Season with salt and pepper.
5.  Meanwhile, combine the drained onion, fetta, parsley, lime juice and Tabasco in a bowl and toss to combine.
6.  Top the shredded tortilla with the chorizo and turkey mixture, lettuce and onion/fetta mix.
7.  Serve with lime wedges

Cook the chorizo and turkey with the tomato

Look at the brilliant pink of the soaked red onion

Reminder: Don't forget to enter the buysterlighting giveaway. There's an $80 voucher up for grabs!