Pea and Ham Soup

Pea and ham soup is so yummy and perfect when it is getting cold.   This recipe is from Taste but I added some bacon bones for extra flavour and because more meat and fat will come off these.

1 x 500g pkt green split peas
1 Tbs olive oil
2 brown onions, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, peeled, coarsely chopped
3 celery sticks, ends trimmed, coarsely chopped
1 large (about 750g) ham hock (see note)

2 bacon bones
2.75L (11 cups) water

3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 dried bay leaves
4 black peppercorns

Place the split peas in a really large bowl and cover with cold water (note they soak up heaaaps of water so put in a big bowl with more water than you think necessary). Set aside for 6 hours or overnight to soak. Drain.

Wrap some unwaxed kitchen string/cotton string around the thyme and bay leaves to secure (that way you can pull them out at the end).

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook, uncovered, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until the onion is soft. Add the split peas, herbs, peppercorns, ham hock and water. Cover and bring to the boil.

Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1 3/4 hours to 2 hours or until the ham begins to fall off the bone and the soup thickens. Remove the pan from the heat.

Use tongs to remove the ham hock from the pan. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Use your hands to pull the ham off the bone. Discard the bone. Shred the ham. Return the ham to the soup. 

Stir the soup over low heat for 4-5 minutes or until heated through. Serve with buttery toast.

More quickies with eggs - pad thai omelet!

This is from "quickies in the kitchen" and looks so yum and easy.

60gms flat rice stick noodles
¼ cup peanut oil
6 to 8 shelled and cleaned prawns
1 teaspoon ginger minced
1 teaspoon garlic minced
1 teaspoon chilli minced
1/3 cup spring onions sliced
2 Tbs crushed peanuts
1 dash sweet soy (kecap manis)
1 dash oyster sauce
Squeeze of lemon juice
Handful of Bean shoots
1 cup of coriander chopped
4 large free range eggs, whisked
Butter for frying
Salt and pepper

Cook noodles in boiling water for a few mins and then rinse in cold water
Whisk eggs with salt & pepper to have it ready.
Heat oil in a wok.
Add prawns and fry for about 1 minute. Then add ginger, garlic and chilli and cook for another minute, being careful not to burn.
Add spring onions and peanuts and fry for another minute
Add soy, oyster, lemon juice, noodles, bean shoots, and coriander and toss to heat through
Melt butter in large pan and pour in beaten eggs and swirl the pan till the eggs evenly reach the edges. Cook over medium heat for about 1 min, until lightly golden underneath.
Spoon Pad Thai mixture into middle of omelette and fold omelette over.
Seal together. Serve omelette drizzled with kecap manis.

Remember with wok cooking it's best to have all your ingredients ready to go so do the prep before.

Quick and easy frittata

I love love love eggs and am thinking a frittata is a really quick lunch or dinner...The cool thing is you can mix up the ingredients to suit your taste or what is in the fridge.  Here is a recipe I found on taste and would like to try

Serves 2
30g unsalted butter
200g button mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into wedges
4 eggs
75g mature cheddar, coarsely grated
1/2 cup parsley

Preheat the grill to high.

Melt 20g of the butter in a non-stick frypan over medium heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and tomato wedges, and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes until tomato is just softened.

Lightly beat eggs with 1 tablespoon water in a large bowl. Stir in cheese, parsley, and the mushroom and tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Melt remaining butter in the frypan over medium-low heat. Add the egg mixture, stir briefly, then cook for 5-6 minutes until golden underneath and nearly set. Place pan under hot grill for 3-4 minutes or until just set and top is golden. Slide onto a board, cut in half.

Drunken and Bruised

This is a recipe from Masterchef contestant Alvin. I thought it looked yummy and easy and a good vessel for chilli.

Serves 4

Stock
1L shaoxing (Chinese rice wine)
500ml mirin
1-2L water, or enough to cover chicken
80g gula melaka (Malaysian palm sugar)
1 whole chicken
4-6cm ginger, thickly sliced

Salad3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tbs roasted peanuts
1 tbs dried shrimp, soaked, drained
2 bird's eye chillies
2 lime cheeks
6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
6 snake beans, cut into 4cm lengths
2 Lebanese cucumbers, peeled, cut into matchsticks
1 tsp sesame oil

Sauce
2 tbs very finely chopped gula melaka (Malaysian palm sugar)
Juice of 2 limes
2-3 tbs fish sauce

Place the shaoxing, mirin, water and palm sugar in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the chicken and ginger, then cover and simmer gently for 45-60 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the chicken to cool in the poaching liquid.

For the bruised salad, place the garlic, peanuts and dried shrimp in a mortar and pestle and pound to a coarse paste. Add the chillies and bruise gently - the amount of heat you want from this salad depends on how hard you bruise the chillies. Add the lime cheeks and bruise to release some juice. Add the cherry tomatoes, beans and cucumber and mix through gently with a spoon.

For the dressing, place the palm sugar and lime juice in a bowl and whisk to dissolve the sugar. Add fish sauce to taste and whisk to combine.


To serve, add enough dressing to coat the salad and then taste - it should be a good balance of sweet, salty and sour. Add sesame oil and mix to combine. Pile the salad onto a plate and drizzle with sesame oil.

Remove the chicken from the broth and place on a chopping board. Cut off the legs (thigh and drumstick), then chop off the end of the drumstick and trim the end so it is free of skin. Cut the legs into 2 pieces through the joint. Slice the breasts off the carcass and cut each one cut into 5 thick slices. Place the pieces of chicken in a shallow bowl, pour over a little broth and serve with the bruised salad.

Link to masterchef recipe site: http://www.masterchef.com.au/drunken-chicken-with-bruised-salad.htm

Rhubarb Upside-down cake

I really want to cook this but as I have no time to cook at the moment I'll just add it to my long wish list.

5 egg whites
1.5 cups (180g) almond meal
3/4 cup (120g) icing sugar
3/4 cup (105g) SR flour
75g butter, melted
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
8-10 rhubarb stalks, cut into 19cm lengths

Set oven to 180C
Mix egg whites, almond meal, icing sugar, flour and butter.
Grease a 20cm square cake tin. Sprinkle generously with caster sugar.
Arrange rhubarb in the base of the tin.
Pour mixture over the top.
Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes.  Easy peasy!!!
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or cream on a cold winters night.