Tag: onion

• 

  PK Makes River Cottage’s Citrus Braised Lamb Shanks

  Everyone has a dish that they feel slightly guilty about. Guilty because somehow it turns out exceptionally good every single time.  This is mine and it has magical powers :).

  It is originally from the hit Channel 4 series and books, ‘River Cottage’ and I merely adapted it to work in a slow cooker. I like dishes that are a bit different and I prefer this lighter white wine and citrus version over traditional red wine based lamb shank recipes.

  River Cottage’s Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstool can’t have known its romantic power when he added this dish to his cookbook though, surely not. It was the first meal I cooked for my wife to be and she fell madly in love with me. That’s the magical bit and might contradict her version of events :).

  You will be:

  1. Sweating the vegetables in the slow cooker.
  2. Browning the lamb shanks and deglazing the frypan.
  3. Cooking it slow.
  4. Serving.

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 4 lamb shanks
    • 2 carrots
    • 1 large brown onion
    • 2 celery sticks
    • 2 bay leaves
    • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
    • a few sprigs of fresh thyme or lemon thyme
    • a small handful of parsley or celery leaves, chopped
    • 1 large orange
    • 1 large lemon
    • half a bottle of white wine (I used a Sauvignon blanc)
    • 1 cup of home made stock (I used chicken stock as that was all I had) or 1 cup water
    • several slugs of olive oil
    • a good slug of tomato paste
    • ground rock salt to taste
    • cracked black peppercorns to taste
    • 0.5 Tbsp whole black peppercorns (optional)
    • A handful of small or chopped mushrooms (optional)
  •  Equipment:
    • a chopping board
    • a long sharp knife
    • kitchen tongs
    • a wooden spoon
    • a citrus zester
    • a citrus juicer
    • a large frypan
    • a slow cooker

  Steps:

  Sweating the vegetables in the slow cooker

  1. Put a slug of olive oil into your slow cooker and turn it on high, lid on.
  2. Rough chop the:
     • 2 carrots.
     • 2 celery sticks.
     • handful of parsley or celery leaves.
  3. Finely slice the 1 large brown onion.
  4. Finely chop the 2 garlic cloves.
  5. Add the above to your slow cooker to start them softening up, lid on (mix everything around occasionally).
  6. Once the onions have started to soften, throw in the 2 bay leaves and the sprigs of thyme.
  7. If you like a bit of peppery kick, chuck 0.5 Tbsp of black peppercorns in too.
  8. Juice and then zest the lemon and the orange and add to the slow cooker (retain some of the mixed juice and zest for serving time).
  9. Add the 1 cup of stock or 1 cup of water and mix gently.
  10. Add a good slug of tomato paste.
  11. Add a handful of small mushrooms now if you are using them.

  I love seeing ingredients together like this:

  

  Nice and soft:

  

   

  Browning the lamb shanks and deglazing the frypan

  1. Season the 4 lamb shanks with salt and pepper.
  2. Chuck another slug of olive oil into the pan and bring to medium heat.
  3. Slightly brown every surface of the shanks. Yep, even the ends with a bit of creative meat stacking :).
  4. Then add them to the slow cooker.
  5. I now deglaze the frypan with half a bottle of white wine. When boiling I then add it to the slow cooker.
  6. If the slow cooker looks a bit full don’t panic. Everything will shrink down as it cooks :).

  

  Cooking it slow

  1. Turn your slow cooker to medium and cook for at least 2 hours using kitchen tongs to periodically move the shanks around.
  2. Now you can keep the slow cooker on medium for speed or turn it down to low for a slower cook (my preference).
  3. When the meat is literally falling of the bone, when you are giving it a gentle mix with the kitchen tongs, it is ready.

   Serving

  I generally serve the shanks on a bed of mashed potato with some steamed green vegetables alongside. This time though I cooked my PK’s NoRecipe Oven Baked Potatoes and served the shanks on the bone with some greens.

  Remember how we set aside some mixed zest and juice? Sprinkle a bit of the zest and then drizzle some juice over each serve to freshen the citrus flavours and aromas.

  On or off the bone this dish is visually appealing:

  

  

  Make this dish for someone you love,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  February 17, 2017

• 

  FoodHacks: Karina’s ‘Quick Pickle’ Onion Salad

  My little family does a tasting plate meal night every week, they are so easy and quick to whip up. What is on offer varies but often involves cold meats, multiple salads, pate, cheese etc. I love watching my kids ‘build’ their own meal and there is lots of laughter round the table.

  I was telling my telling my good friend Karina about this recently and this was one of her suggestions for something new.

  You simply:

  • soak onion rings in vinegar (I used white wine vinegar) for about 15 minutes.
  • drain them.
  • top with sliced tomatoes, salt, garlic, pepper and olive oil.

  The result is amazing and I am never buying store bought pickled onions again 🙂

   

  Thanks Karina,

  PK

  Related Links:

  • see more salads here
  • see more NoRecipe goodness here

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  February 9, 2017

• 

  Karina’s ‘Quick Pickle’ Onion And Tomato Salad

  My little family does a tasting plate meal night every week, they are so easy and quick to whip up. What is on offer varies but often involves cold meats, multiple salads, pate, cheese etc. I love watching my kids ‘build’ their own meal and there is lots of laughter round the table.

  I was telling my telling my good friend Karina about this recently and this was one of her suggestions for something new.

  You simply:

  • soak onion rings in vinegar (I used white wine vinegar) for about 15 minutes.
  • drain them.
  • top with sliced tomatoes, salt, garlic, pepper and olive oil.

  The result is amazing and I am never buying store bought pickled onions again 🙂

   

   

  Thanks Karina,

  PK

  ---

  YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

  ANTIPASTO

  MORE NORECIPE GOODNESS

  ---

  Please consider subscribing to a weekly email summary of our posts or check us out on Facebook @growitcatchitcookit.

  [mc4wp_form id=”15771″]

  ---

   

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  February 9, 2017

• 

  Welchy’s Wonton Noodle Soup

  And so I’m back

  From out of space

  I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face …the sad face I am referring to is that of my older brother’s. I have been a bit busy and whilst I have been taking lots of photos – I then never got around to writing the actual blog. So here goes…

  My boyfriend loves Wonton Noodle Soup and will only eat it from one place (International Food Court in Morley if you ever get a chance). It’s divine – with slivers of pork, crunchy bok choy for texture, a gorgeous broth and then these silky full of flavour wontons… it’s basically Heaven in a bowl. And to top it all off they scatter crumbled pork crackling over the top.

  I finally convinced him to let me have a go at cooking my own and suffice to say the results were amazing. Like most men (my younger and ‘opinionated about food even though he never cooks’ brother is one) if he goes for a second helping then you know you are onto a winner. It’s a little fiddly so unless you make it on a weekend, try and make the wontons ahead of time as they can sit in the fridge until you are ready 🙂

  Ingredients:

  For the Soup

  • 2½ cup chicken stock
  • 2½ cup water
  • 1 tsp. soy sauce
  • 3 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 3 to 4⅛-inch thin fresh ginger root slices (approximately 1 oz.)
  • 2 green onions, cut in halves
  • salt and pepper to taste

  For the Wonton Filling

  • 4 oz. ground pork
  • 1 tsp. soy sauce
  • 1 tsp. Shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine, you can substitute with dry sherry)
  • 1 tsp. cornstarch
  • ¼ tsp. sugar
  • ¼ tsp. sesame oil
  • ¼ tsp. ground fresh ginger root
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • 1 green onion, finely chopped
  • small pinch of black or white pepper
  • 20 square wonton wrappers

  For the Garnish

  • chopped green onion
  • Cilantro leaves

  Method

  1. In a medium/large pot, add all ingredients for the soup. Cover, bring it to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let all the flavor come together. Meanwhile, let’s make wontons!

  2. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for the wonton filling and mix well with a spoon until cornstarch incorporated with other wet ingredients.

  3. Take a wonton wrapper on your left hand(if you are right handed) and paint edges of square lightly with cold water using your finger tip. Put ½ teaspoon of filling in centre of wrapper. Fold in half, triangle shape and seal it tightly by pinching edges together with your fingers. Paint one of lower side corners of triangle with water and bring right and left corner together (water painted side down) and press well to make traditional curved wonton shape. Place wontons 1 to ½-inch apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Repeat until you finish with wonton filling and wrappers.

   

  4. When your wontons are ready, discard solid ingredients from soup base and bring it to boil.

  5. Carefully add wontons and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. wontons will be fully cooked in 3 minutes, but cook it longer so all flavour from wontons will melt in to soup. Taste and add salt and pepper to your taste at this point.

  

  6. Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with green onion, cilantro and pepper to your taste.

  

  And then…being super sneaky…I fried a couple of the wontons while the wontons were cooking in the soup. So totally worth it! Would be amazing on a cold night, but no matter the weather I’d eat this haha.

  

  Katie

  Related Links:

  • see more Welchy posts here

  Written by

  lilwelchy

  ·

  December 22, 2016

• 

  Ben’s Beef Jerky

  Beef jerky is a great snack.

  Its healthy, flavoursome, and gives you a little burst of energy. I never follow a recipe, so everything is quantity based and taste based.  I use a dehydrator to dry the beef, however a light box will be just as good (if not better), it just takes longer.

  If I had to roughly write down what I do, this would be it:

  1. Put into a bowl ~2 tbsp each of Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce.  Add in ~1 tsp malt or brown vinegar, and ~3 tbsp sugar.  Mix till dissolved, taste and adjust as necessary until you have a nice flavour.
  2. Add in any other flavours you like.  I will usually add a combination of chilli, smoked paprika, smoke water,  coriander seeds (ground), onion or garlic powder.
  3. Cut ~1 -1.5 kg beef (try to get a topside or silverside) into strips ~1x1cm, as long as you like.
  4. Trim any fat off.
  5. Soak the beef in the sauce for 2-3 hours, making sure it is all well mixed.
  6. Place beef into dehydrator/light box, turn on and leave until you are happy with the toughness of the jerky (I like it tough, so ~24 -36 hours in the dehydrator). Also make sure it is preserved well enough to avoid food poisoning.

  Couldn’t be easier,

  Ben

  Here are some additional Jerky recipes and more from Ben: 

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  October 30, 2016

• 

  Dr C’s NoRecipe Roast Onion and Pumpkin Pizzas

  My scrumptious roasted onion and pumpkin pizzas with spinach and crumbled feta.

  

  

  Simply mouth watering,

  Dr C.

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  October 10, 2016

• 

  Dr C’s Roast Onion and Pumpkin Pizzas

  My scrumptious roasted onion and pumpkin pizzas with spinach and crumbled feta.

  

  

  Simply mouth watering,

  Dr C.

  ---

  YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

  MORE FROM DR C

  PIZZA , PIZZA, PIZZA

  ITALIAN CUISINE

  15 MINUTE MEALS

  ---

  Please consider subscribing to a weekly email summary of our posts or check us out on Facebook @growitcatchitcookit.

  [mc4wp_form id=”15771″]

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  October 10, 2016

• 

  PK’s Slow Cooker Chicken Stock

  This was the first time I have made my own stock. Up until this point I had thought it wasn’t worth the time and effort required. I couldn’t have been more wrong :).

  After a quick bit of prep I left it to its own devices overnight. In the morning I recovered the left over ingredients, filtered the stock and froze it in 2 cup batches.

  I got so much joy and reward from making this stock because I:

  • got to be in the kitchen cooking :).
  • gave a second chance to some carrots at the back of the fridge.
  • picked fresh vegetables from the garden with my young son.
  • used parts of chickens that normally go to waste.
  • didn’t add any packaging to landfill.
  • recovered the cooked vegetables for my compost bin.
  • recovered the bones to make my own bone meal for soil improvement (post coming soon).
  • retained some rendered chicken fat for cooking (hey I never said this was a good health blog hehehehe).
  • got an amazingly tasty stock that is salt, sugar and preservative free.

  STEPS:

  1. Get some chicken bones
  2. Gather/harvest and chop your vegetables
  3. Slow cooker time
  4. Straining
  5. Storing
  6. Recovery and resuse (optional)
  7. Defrosting

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 2 onions
    • 4 carrots
    • 2 – 4 celery stalks (leaves on)
    • 1 Tbsp peppercorns
    • 1 handful of basil leaves
    • 2kg of chicken bones and/or carcasses
    • 2.5L of water
  • Equipment
    • a chopping board
    • a long sharp knife
    • a tablespoon
    • a 1 cup measuring cup
    • a strainer (like you would use for pasta)
    • a fine mesh sieve
    • a large pot
    • several deep dishes to hold the leftover vegetables and bones
    • a slow cooker
    • freezer containers or glass jars
    • a butter knife when it comes time to defrost the stock

  Get some chicken bones

  There must be tons of methods for doing this but I went to the butchers and bought 6 chicken carcasses. It cost me $5 AUD and they weighed approximately 2.2kgs. There was a little bit of meat on them too.

  

  Steps:

  1. I took each carcass and wrenched them in the middle to separate them into halves. I only did that to help them fit into the slow cooker though.
  2. Put them aside and turn your slow cooker on its lowest setting.

  Gather/harvest and chop your vegetables

  

  Steps:

  1. Take about 4 stalks of celery (leaves on and hopefully fresh from your garden) and give them a good wash. Tap dry and then rough chop.
  2. Rough chop the 4 carrots (skin on) and 2 onions.
  3. Rough chop a handful of basil leaves (not stems). I used some from my garden that I had previously frozen.
  4. Add all the vegetables to the now warmed up slow cooker along with 1 Tbsp of peppercorns.

  Slow cooker time

  

  Steps:

  1. Place the chicken carcasses on top of the vegetables and pour in enough boiling water to cover everything. In my case this was 2.5L.
  2. Don’t worry if the slow cooker is full to the brim and a bit squishy. By the end everything will have shrunk down and there will be plenty of room to stir everything.
  3. Let it simmer for as long as you can but at least 8 hours on low. I didn’t have to add any water the whole time but keep an eye on the water levels.
  4. As you notice a bit of space developing you can start to give it the odd stir.

  In this picture you can see how everything has reduced down:

  

  Straining

  The last few steps can be a little time consuming if you want to make the best use of the left over ingredients.

  Steps:

  1. Pour everything into a pasta colander (or a strainer that will catch most of the larger ingredients but still let the liquid through easily) over a large saucepan. I was worried that using a fine mesh sieve at this point would end with stock all over the place so I used this two part process.
  2. Now run the stock through the fine mesh sieve over the slow cooker and pour the stock in slowly.
  3. Clean the sieve under the tap and then run the stock through it again but into the original saucepan.
  4. Keep putting the vegetables and bones aside if you intend to recover them.
  5. Let the now filtered stock cool in the fridge slightly to get the skim of fat on the top.
  6. Spoon a tiny bit of the fat skim off but don’t be too fastidious as I have a tip for that later. We don’t want to lose any more of the precious stock than we have too :).

  Storing

  At this stage the stock should be super tasty but it will also be oily. I trialled two methods for dealing with this.

  Steps:

  1. Initially I placed a sheet of paper towel on the surface of the stock and let it slowly draw in the fat beads. I carefully removed the paper towel and disposed of it.
  2. I then used a 1 cup measuring cup to ladle the stock into several freezer containers.
  3. I then turned the containers upside down and froze them. This means that most of the fat beads will rise to the surface.

  In this picture you can see the beads of fat on the top and nice clean stock underneath:

  

  Recovery and Reuse

  I will expand on this in a later post but here are a few tips if you want to reuse the leftover ingredients. I had fun doing it but making the bone meal was a labour of love.

  1. Keep the bones for making your own bone meal.
  2. Chuck the vegetables into the compost bin.

  Defrosting

  I would like to show you now the advantage of freezing them upside down in a slightly concave shaped container.

  Steps:

  1. Pop the lid off the container and let it ever so slightly thaw.
  2. Turn the container upside down again and pop the stock out.
  3. Using a butter knife, scrape the fat off the top of the stock block.

  I got about 1 Tbsp of fat off two cups of stock, enough to fry up some potatoes I bet :).

  I would love to hear from you if you have any tips you want to share about making stock.

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  July 6, 2016