Cream of Celery Soup

I've never tried, or even cooked, Cream of Celery Soup. Considering I'm going through a 'left-overs' phase at the moment, I thought I'd give the recipe a go. My fridge was full of unused celery.

Belief it or not, this tasted absolutely beautiful, and perfectly seasoned. Would be in my Top Five Fav Soups for sure, along with Vietnamese Beef Pho and Chinese Chicken & Corn Soup .

After 5 minutes of gentle cooking.

After adding stock, cream, milk and bay leaves.

Blended and ready to freeze.

Cream of Celery Soup

1 Tbs vegetable oil

1/2 celery head, chopped

2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 onions, chopped

700 ml vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

350 ml low-fat milk

salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Creamy tomato and tofu soup
• Cream of Leek and Potato Soup
• Irish Leek and Potato Soup
• Creamy pumpkin and thyme soup
• Autumn root vegetable soup

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1.		Melt oil in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add the celery, potatoes and onion and cook gently for 5 minutes.
2.		Pour the stock and milk  into the pan, add the bay leaves. Season. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Remove the bay leaves.
3.		Cool slightly. Using a ladle, lift the vegetables into a blender with some of the cooking liquid. Whizz to a purée, and do this in two batches.
4.		Ladle into warm bowls and grind a little more pepper over the top. Scatter with some crumbled blue cheese, if you like.
5.		Alternatively, freeze after cooling.

Lazy Dinner

For a quick and easy dinner soup, and for under $3.00, you can't go past the Trident Hot & Spicy Thai Noodle Soup. That's if you like it hot. I add quite a lot of water to this packet mix and  I feel quite full afterwards.
If you try this, you may notice that the 'rice noodles' come in the form of flat, opaque squares. Do not be alarmed, as these soften and curl up once the mixture is prepared and boiled.

Creamy Salmon Pasta

One of my regulars.

Oil, onion, butter and garlic.

Salmon fillets, cooked and shredded.

Capers.

Salmon added.

Capers added.

Finished product.

Chilli Jam

I've always wanted to make some Chilli Jam, and since I had some red chillis and tomatoes to use up, I thought better now than never.

• 3 long fresh red chillies, coarsely chopped
• 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped finely
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 40ml white wine vinegar
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 4 tsp fish sauce

1. Place the chilli, tomato, garlic and water in a medium saucepan.
2. Add the sugar, vinegar, lime juice and fish sauce. Stir over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves.
3. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the jam jells when tested (see tip). Spoon the hot jam into clean, dry jars. Seal. Invert for 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.

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  Cook's tip: To test if it's ready, place a teaspoon of jam on a chilled saucer and place in the freezer for 1 minute. If it's firm and set, the jam is ready.

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• Storage tip: Store, unopened, for up to 6 months. Once opened, store in fridge for up to 2 months. Use in Thai-style stir-fries and salad dressings.

Preserved Lemon

Since being given a tagine for a Christmas gift (I had given a big hint to my brother), I haven't even used it yet! I went through a big Moroccan food phase toward the end of last year, but just haven't had the time to sit down and choose something to cook.

Instead, I decided to preserve my own lemon (yes, a single lemon) as I had one that needed to be used. I had some small, empty, clean jars in the tupperware cupboard, and also some bay leaves in the pantry. In about one month the preserved lemon will be ready to use in a Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemon recipe that I plan to make for friends one night.

1 juicy lemon
cold water
rock salt
glass screw-top jar
3 bay leaves
boiling water

Break the pores of the lemon by scraping gently against the medium setting of grater. Place in large bowl and cover completely with cold water. Put aside in cool place.
Next day, pour the water off the lemons and cover with fresh water. This removes any bitterness.

On the third day, pour off the water. Using a sharp knife, make four deep slits in the lemon (they should go about halfway to the centre). Pack each incision with a good heaped teaspoon of rock salt.
Place stuffed lemon in a glass jar, add bay leaves. Pour boiling water over contents and screw on lid while the water is still hot. Leave for 40 days in a cool dark place.

Serve by themselves as an accompaniment to a cold beer; or use in tagine and couscous dishes.

Vietnamese Beef Pho

My new fav soup. For this recipe I used 'Asian Home Gourmet' Pho paste, purchased from Coles. I also omitted the noodles purely for kilojoule counting purposes, and I felt that it was still a hearty, high-protein soup. Here a few few photos taken over two nights of dinner.

Finely sliced onion, bean sprouts, finely sliced lean beef, and red chilli are added to the serving bowl.

First night.....

Second night....a little more appealing with some garnish.

I'm absolutely loving these melamine spoons at the moment.

Serves 1

1/3 packet Asian Home Gourmet Vietnamese Pho Spice Paste

2 cups water

1/4 onion, sliced finely

100g lean beef, sliced finely

1/4 cup beansprouts

juice of 1/4 lime

1/2 red chilli (or to taste)

Bring water and spice paste to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 5 mintues.

Place onion, beanshoots, beef and chilli in serving bowl, pour soup water over these ingredients. Serve with lime.

Tip: To slice meat thinly, semi-freeze and slice with a sharp knife.

Pad See Ew

I decided to try the Pad See Ew the other night....vegetarian-style. I simply had egg in the fridge, and I guess I made this to end my curiosity of the traditional Pad See Ew flavour combinations.

2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
11/2 tablespoons kecap manis
1 tablespoon caster sugar
3 eggs
200g 2-minute noodles, cooked following packet directions and drained (without flavouring)
white pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons fish sauce

1. Heat your wok over medium–high heat.
2. Add the oil and, when hot, stir-fry the garlic.
3. Add the soy sauce, kecap manis and the sugar.
4. Add the noodles and stir to combine. Make a hole in the middle of the noodles and crack in the eggs. Cook for a minute, scraping the eggs with a spatula every few seconds to break them up.
5. Add fish sauce and season with white pepper. Serve.

Chinese Chicken & Corn Soup

This is probably one of the best soups I have ever made, if I do say so myself. It tasted authentic and I just couldn't get enough!! It was also quick and easy to make, and stored well for lunches and dinners to come.

3 cups (750ml) chicken stock
1 cup (250ml) water
2 tablespoons Chinese cooking wine or sherry
3cm piece (15g) fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, sliced thinly
2 teaspoons salt-reduced soy sauce
2 (400g) chicken breast fillets
1 egg
420g can creamed corn
310g can corn kernels, rinsed, drained
3 green onions (green shallots), sliced thinly

METHOD

Bring stock, water, wine, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and chicken to the boil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer for about 7 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through. Remove chicken from stock; when cool enough to handle, shred coarsely.

Return stock to the boil. Break egg into a small bowl and whisk lightly. Slowly pour egg into stock, whisking constantly so it forms small threads.

Add creamed corn, kernels and chicken to stock and return to the boil.

Ladle soup into serving bowls and sprinkle with onions.

Suitable to freeze without egg. Not suitable to microwave.

Drunken Noodles (Vegetarian)

I am about to cook 'Drunken Noodles' for the first time (also known as Pad Kee Mao). I tried this dish at a Thai Restaurant in Manuka (Canberra) recently and loved it! I had actually decided to order it after much research on the dish. Some of the definitions are below:

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/pad-kee-mao/Detail.aspx

"Pad Kee Mao translates to 'Drunken Stir Fry' in English. This is one variation of many such 'drunken' dishes that are commonly hawked by street-side vendors in Bangkok. The 'drunken' description comes from the fact that it originated in late-night revelers' kitchens after stumbling home from the nightclubs in the wee hours of the morning."

http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/drunken-noodles/

In Thai, ‘pad’ means to stir-fry, and ‘kee mao’ means someone who likes to drink too much. ‘Kee’ literally means ‘shit’, and adding ‘kee’ in front of any verb means it’s a bad habit. ‘Mao’ means drunk. So, a ‘Kee Mao’ (shit drunk) is someone who has a bad habit of drinking!

No one is sure where the name of this dish comes from. Some believe it is called drunken noodles because it's an excellent hangover cure. Others believe that it is so hot that the eater has to be drunk to be able to stand it, while some are sure that it's because one becomes drunk trying to drown out the heat with alcohol. Still others believe that the name comes from the wide assortment of ingredients the dish contains: The chef is drunk enough to throw in a bunch of vegetables and spices without thinking it over. The most probable explanation is that this is one of the only foods available on the streets of Thailand late at night and in the very early morning, the times when inebriated revelers are leaving places of celebration. It is very possible that the extremely "wobbly" noodles themselves give the dish its name.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_drunken_noodles_called_drunken#ixzz1LMFpfHc1

In my opinion, the third link explains the dish of 'Drunken Noodles' the best.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1/3 cup (80ml) oyster sauce
• 1 tbs vinegar
• 2 tbs kecap manis
• 2 tbs fish sauce
• 1 tbs finely grated palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1 tbs lime juice
• 250g fresh rice noodles
• 1 tbs peanut oil
• 2 tsp chilli paste (sambal oelek)
• 1 brown onion, sliced finely 
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 zucchini, sliced to your liking
• 150g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tbs sherry
• 1 tbs soy sauce (light or dark)
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• 1 baby bok choy, sliced
• 2 green onions, trimmed, thinly sliced
• Lime wedges, to serve

Method

1. Combine the oyster sauce, vinegar, kecap manis, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice in a small bowl.
2. Prepare noodles as directed on packet.
3. Meanwhile, heat half the oil in a wok until just smoking. Add the chilli paste, onion, and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds or until aromatic. Add the zucchini, mushrooms and bok choy and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes or until just cooked through. 
4. Add soy sauce and sherry, stir to combine.
5. Add the eggs and swirl pan to lightly cover, until just cooked through to your liking. Add noodles, stir to combine. 
6. Add the oyster sauce mixture. Stir-fry for 1 minute or until heated through and well combined. Add the green onions and toss to combine.
7. Transfer to a serving platter and serve immediately with lime wedges.

Dining Out in Canberra

Here are just a few places that I have dined out in the last week or so.

Alto Restaurant - Black Mountain Tower

Polenta and crisp egg coated crab, lime chilli and garlic dressing, served with a mango and leek salad

Twice cooked black truffle and gruyere souffle

Grilled beef loin, chatel mustard and white truffle crust, petit pomme, celeriac and double cream puree, autumn vegetable melange

White chocolate and pistachio Bavarian, caramelised pear, glass biscuit and passionfruit coulis

Pan seared QLD scallops and pea puree, potato crisps, bacon and tomato vinaigrette

Dark chocolate souffle, poached black cherries, fennel and all spice ice cream



Aubergine Restaurant - Grifffith Shops

Trout tartare, Oyster vichyssoise, avruga caviar, fennel salad

Sauté of sand whiting, chorizo, south coast squid, smoked rice

Can't quite remember this one, but I do know it consisted of duck breast, duck sausage, potato tartine, pate and spring vegetables

Fillet of baby barramundi, kataifi wrapped prawn, sweet corn purée, bourride