seafood

Dinner twist

Posted on September 11, 2012September 11, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I must admit I was intrigued.
The concept is a box of groceries with all the ingredients for three mystery recipes.

I was a bit concerned that they wouldn’t really be ‘our style’. We can both be picky eaters about certain things. We both don’t like spicy food, I hate bananas, he doesn’t like rice. Sure the rice thing knocks out a whole heap of dishes, but pasta is an easy substitute.

So we got a box of mystery groceries and three recipes. All three were things I wouldn’t usually think to cook.
One was salmon with mustard baked carrots, a pork curry, and a salami, cottage cheese pasta.

All three meals where delicious in their own way.
But the best thing about it is being able to choose how you want to cook them.

Given that the Mister doesn’t like rice we had the curry with pasta instead. We got spicy Hungarian salami so we swapped it (with a work mate) for some less spicy salami.

Let’s see what we get this week!

I’m gonna eat you little fishie!

Posted on April 17, 2012April 17, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I almost didn’t take photos.
I’ve been trying to enjoy food rather than blog food, but halfway through I was suddenly annoyed with myself for not taking a photo.

It looked so pretty, and tasted so good.

Red Cray is a favourite seafood restaurant of ours.
It’s an every-so-often restaurant, mostly because of the price. At $30 for a main meal you expect quality, and we got it.

I could have ordered about 3 different main courses, but ended up with Herb Crusted Barramudi with scallops, spinach, feta, and capsicum, mashed potato and a lemon butter sauce.
The other half had the ocean and earth. Which was perfectly cooked steak with prawns and a bay bug.
My barramundi was delicious. I had to stop myself from gulping everything down, the lemon butter sauced helped it nicely.
Fortunately the other half ordered a whole bay bug which was fortuitous as that slipped down rather easily too.

We even had desert, which is a rarity for us. The sticky date was sticky and gooey. Though I would have enjoyed the caramel sauce and the vanilla bean icecream just as much. The taste I had of the tiramisu was pretty delicious too.
When the other half says ‘terrible!’ with a smirk and a licked clean plate, the sarcasm is implied.

It was an early dinner, and the service was exceptional. So attentive and friendly. It’s probably the reason we ordered desert.
We even had a spectacular sunset (why it doesn’t back onto the river I don’t know) and the fish tanks are always fascinating.

A reliable feed.
And given that the service and food is always quality, I don’t mind paying a bit more from time to time.
Delicious!

Best tuna bake ever

Posted on March 27, 2012March 17, 2012 by bekswhoknits

This is the comfort food that comfort food eats when it feels down.

And to think I very nearly didn’t put it in the oven.

Let me step back. Zomg! Tuna bake.

So I took a couple of chances, and used what was in the cupboard.
There’s three key differences between this and my usual tuna bake.
I still haven’t got any cream and was low on milk so I used evaporated milk to make the sauce,
I added ravioli into the pasta mix, and nutmeg into the sauce.
If I was only cooking it for myself I would have added pineapple but that’s neither here nor there (I’m dating a lunatic, albeit a lovable one).

And I have explicit instructions to write this one down so I can make it again, and again, and again.

the recipe
Cook the pasta. I used fusilli and cheese ravioli.

Empty 3/4 tin of evaporated milk into a pot and slowly bring to the boil.
Add a tablespoon of cornflour to the remaining 1/4 tin of evaporated milk. Whisk well.
Once the evaporated milk starts gently bubbling add the cornflour/milk mixture. Whisk until it thickens.
Add nutmeg (probably more than you think – i accidently tipped in more than I would have and it worked a treat), a small tin of corn, two small tins of tuna, and about a cup of grated cheese.
Whisk some more until the cheese has melted.

Drain the pasta, and pour into a lasagna dish.
Pour over the sauce.
Top with salt, pepper, a drizzle of garlic olive oil, and more grated cheese.

Bake in the oven (about 180deg) for half an hour.
You know when the cheese goes all crispy and slightly burnt but ridiculously delicious? Yeah that’s how you want the cheese on top to be.

Serve with some fresh parsley and a good episode of Grand Designs.

(They restored a sea rescue house and it was right on the shoreline, Kevin wore a nautical striped suit and the house was all round and it had pretty red window frames. It was a very relaxing house.)

I think this would be a perfect camping recipe. It’s mostly in tins and uses dried pasta. And would go very nicely baking on an open fire.

This is what happens when you follow a recipe

Posted on February 28, 2012February 22, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I’ll let these photos speak for themselves.

Apparently the secret is to listen to what the cooking shows say.

Dinner at the Scotto

Posted on November 1, 2011November 1, 2011 by bekswhoknits

We had to get out of the apartment. Last night there was a disturbance resulting in a lot of yelling and screaming, 3 cars of slashed tyres, and a broken window.
None of it affecting us except the yelling, but as tensions were running high in the complex we wanted to have dinner somewhere.

I’m without a car at the moment (my sister in law is borrowing mine due to writing hers off [not her fault] and be not needing a car to get to work whereas she does) so I have no other way to get to the local knitting stitch n bitch.

So I convinced (using that word very loosely) the Mister to have dinner at the Flying Scotsman and then drop me off at the Queens.

I had been craving fish all day so I had the Cider Battered Fish & Chips, and Mr had the ribs.

It’s always good portion sizes and really hit the spot.
I could then knit the night away and forget all my troubles.

A taste of growing up

Posted on October 17, 2011October 16, 2011 by bekswhoknits

Or fish cakes.

The recipe is from a cook book I gained custody of by being the first to leave home.

I would have flicked through this book so many time growing up. For inspiration or out of boredom or just in search of something to cook.

My signature dish growing up was the chocolate cake. It was always good for impressing the rellies when they came over.

But the fish cakes I remember as a family favourite.

Super easy, it’s mashed potatoes with tinned tuna. Rolled into breadcrumbs and then fried.

It’s a really simple recipe which is gentle on the stomach (part of it’s appeal this week.)

I only wish there was a couple left over to put in a sandwich. But they went pretty quickly. They’re good cold from the fridge as well as hot.

FO – socks!

Posted on September 8, 2011October 5, 2011 by bekswhoknits

I got home from work at 11 o’clock and then slept for the 4 hours I should have been at work.

Once I came through I made my way to the couch.
Fortunately my boy can cook and he took good care of me, making a surf and turf with a side salad.

I also managed to finish off a pair of socks that I had started some time ago. They’re going to be a pair of three because you may notice that they’re different lengths and there’s already a hole in the toe of the first one. But there isn’t a hole in the second one so I’m getting better.

I’m home from work again today, but feeling better. Hopefully well enough to start a new pair of socks and finish off a selection criteria for a job I should apply for.
And trying not to fall asleep so I can get a decent nights sleep tonight.

Fish Taco Thursday

Posted on August 19, 2011August 19, 2011 by bekswhoknits

There are pictures in lieu of words today.
It’s been a horrible week. I’ve been battling all manner of disgusting ailments.
And as we’re going camping for the weekend, I’m spending all my energy trying to feel better.
That was I can concentrate on more important things such as, what knitting project to take camping, and whether lamb or pork would taste better in a camp oven.

You know, the important things.

So I’m leaving you with a link to the taste.com recipe my boyfriend used to marinate the basa fillets in.
And now I’m going back to imagining myself well again.

My boy cooks

Posted on August 16, 2011October 24, 2011 by bekswhoknits

Fish and Chips.
And prawns skewers.

But I’m not one to complain.

It’s a kitchen invasion

Posted on August 1, 2011October 5, 2011 by bekswhoknits

I was all set to cook fish and chips for my boyfriend who had cooked the previous two meals.

I had some fish in the microwave defrosting only to discover once it had defrosted that it wasn’t fish, it was squid.
So J was called on to cook dinner, as I’m not too confident with cooking fish.

So he cooked up a seafood (prawn, squid, and barramundi all from the freezer) medley.
I put the chips in the oven (yay I helped!).

But while the oven was on I decided to make desert. And so I looked in my old high school cook book (yes I’ve still got it after all these years) and found a recipe. We’re not big sweet tooths in my household, so when I find a sweet recipes which can happily feed us two with no leftovers to go to waste, I hold on to it.
This quantity will easily serve two people, but you can have that amount to yourself with no problems.

3/4 cup milk, 1 egg, 2 tsp sugar, some nutmeg, and some vanilla were mixed in a mug.
Then poured over some buttered bread which had the crusts cut off, and placed in the bottom of ramekins.
That then went in a water bath, in the oven for 25 minutes.
It wasn’t fish and chips, but it was good.