The Christmas Meat Raffle

Thanks to the Christmas meat raffle at our local RSL on Friday and Sunday our fridge is full again. We won half a ham (4Kg) on Friday and on Sunday an esky full of cooked prawns; a tray of lamb 12 pces and if that wasn't enough we also won a breakfast tray with eggs, sausages, meatballs and bacon. Not bad.

Beef Wellington

Chef had been watching the Lifestyle Food Channel again while we were out and decided to copy the above recipe, one of my favourites Beef Wellington.

Very nice indeed.

Appel taart

Chef finally treated us to some of 'his' famous home made ''appel taart'' Dutch for apple pie today.
And it was great!!!

Pressed Belly of Pork

Swedish Chef hasn't made an appearance for roughly 3 months now. And you might think Australian Immigration has sent him back to Sweden. But nothing is further from the truth. Chef still cooks up fabulous meals for us. For example this Pressed Belly of Pork.

Chef cracking a joke about 'his' crackling.

If you are wondering what book Chef is using it is not Chef's Greatest Recipes EVER!!! in fact it is from Gordon Ramsay's Sunday Lunch (with DVD!!!).
It took us a while to figure that one out.

If you think it is easy for a top chef, like Gordon Ramsay, to cook pig look at the link below.
Gordon Ramsay's pigs are not going to the market but somewhere more sinister....

Not for the squeamish.

I am not a vegan, but I think it is good to know where your meat comes from when you do decide to eat any animal even if it isn't nice in the end.

Christening the Barbie

Sunday we finally christened our barbecue. We've had it for a while but because the evenings were relatively cold we hadn't bother to buy a gas bottle yet. Until yesterday and mostly because we HAVE to try it out this week because we have invited some friends over for a barbecue next Saturday.

And what do you christen the barbecue better with then a good T-bone steak. And because we are in Australia we also put another shrimp on the barbie and ended up with a nice plate of Surf and Turf.

Needless to say the Chef was exhausted after all that hard work.

The Dutch Shop in Smithfield

This photo was taken 3 years ago when it still took us a full day to go there and back by public transport now it is a mere 20 minute drive.

Saturday we went to the Dutch shop ' t Winkeltje in Smithfield to stock up on some much needed essentials.

And what would those essentials be:

Drop (liquorice), Haagsche Hopjes (candy), Curry saus (spicy ketchup) , Mayonnaise (funnily enough mayonnaise even though it has the same name everywhere it does taste differently around the world, where we've been anyway, and we have not found a nice Australian equivalent yet. We the Dutch, which I still am for the time being, like it with our chips/fries instead of ketchup (Pulp Fiction excerpt) and Caroline does too now) , Borrelnootjes (savoury flavoured coated peanuts), Beschuit (Dutch crisp bakes), Rookworst (smoked sausage) , Kruidnoten (a seasonal type of spiced shortbread similar in taste to speculaas used as a treat for kids during the Dutch equivalent of Santa Claus) and of course Frikandellen (skinless sausages). And Shoarma kruiden (kebab spices; for some reason kebab just doesn't taste the same outside Holland, I found). All things I might not eat very often but every once in a while it is nice to have some. Except for frikandellen they are just a MUST HAVE!!! Here are some prepared by our Swedish Chef earlier.

These were made back in the UK where they are very hard to come by, the only place were I had them was in a Dutch pub called 'De Hems' in London's Chinatown where they would cost an arm and a leg. Fortunately for me Caroline was studying Dutch at the time at the Dutch Language School in Oxford and her teacher Karin knew I was fond of Frikandellen. At times I thought Caroline would in her lessons only talk about me? Everyone in her class seemed to know me better than I know myself. Anyway so did Karin and when her brother was coming to Oxford and she had organised a Koninginnedag party for all her students and their partners she asked her brother if he could bring some with him just for me. And they were the best I had for a long time. Thanks again Karin .

Fairy Cakes?!

If the Prince of Darkness thinks it is cool to make 'Rock Cakes' so does our Swedish Chef.

And they were surprisingly nice even without the icing.

Our Burns Night

Haggis what can I say. We tried it. It was okay but not really something we will eat again....ever.

Not that it was particularly bad or anything but it is just the fact of knowing what's in it and the texture of the whole thing. A bit chewier than we had liked.

Here is what it looks like on a plate mashed potatoes, mashed suede(turnip) and of course the Haggis.

Big Fish!!!

Last Saturday we finally ate 'Nemo' the fish that filled our freezer for the last few weeks.
As you can see a nice salmon, gutted it weighed in at 3.7 Kg. Normally we would never buy such a big fish but when they sold it to us at Waitrose it was reduced from 40 pounds to only 7. We thought it would be a nice excuse to invite family over. When it came to preparing 'Nemo' we thought it had been scaled but when it came to scoring the fish I noticed they were still on. The next half hour I spent descaling the fish, the next few days were spent cleaning scales from all over the house. Chef prepared it for us following one of Gordon Ramsay's recipes and when it was time to put it in the oven we realised the oven was too small!!! We had to bend both ends upwards and slam the door shut, so it would fit in.

When it came out it was delicious. Caroline had invited her parents, sister and her sister's fiancee but with a total of six we could never eat it all. We had to give portions away "for the cat" and even so we had some the next 2 days once for dinner and twice for lunch. We really had a good time and the whole meal was fantastic. But we 've had enough salmon for now, atleast for another week or 2.

New Year's Eve

We spent the last day of 2006 well.
We slept in late, bought fireworks and we had decided to have canapes for lunch which turned out to be several starters instead. We made Crab filled lettuce wraps; Spicy Prawns in batter and last but not least Parmesan Baskets for our selves. The Parmesan baskets turned out best:

For dinner we thought we should have Partridge as a starter freshly caught at a local supermarket car park as you do:

Caroline and I did wonder when they would discover the bird sticking out of their bumber.

And the piece de resistance was a beautiful tender reck of lamb in a herb crust. At that time alcohol levels had rissen to a point where we just ate the thing rather then take another picture of Chef with it. It was REALLY nice though.

How was your halloween?

Chef made us a nice Pumpkin Rice Laksa -soup for the occasion.

We 'd only had one trick or treater this year. Which is still more then last year, when we had none. So we gave her 2 chocolates, and we will just have to eat the rest.

Our Swedish Chef!!!

Caroline and I are fortunate enough to have our own Swedish Chef.
(made on mobile phone)