Dessert: Pear Pandowdy

Tonight I also made Pear Pandowdy, which looked really difficult as I had to make my own pastry and I had every right to be nervous this recipe had so many weird instructions that I'm not used to, for example: 
...add the very cold cubed butter and, using a teaspoon, drop in the little lumps of cold shortening then slowly mix to cut the fat into the flour... 
Uhhh... shortening? cutting it into the fat? what?
Copha (Vegetable Shortening) is this weird clear-ish butter like thing that is really hard and crumbles and feels like candle wax, that contains hardened coconut oil and soya bean lecithin...whatever that is?
Once I had made the dough (which was extremely sticky) I got to the fun part of rolling out the dough and using my hands, but the dough was a lot weaker than expected, everything turned out fine none the less. 
So I put the pandowdy in the oven expecting it to come out golden brown and crispy... it came out the same colour as it went in...okay maybe it was a tad darker but still... Oh well it tasted nice so thats the main thing :)

Coming up we have Spatchcocked Poussin... this should be interesting...

Dinner: Risotto Bolognese

My Dad's favourite, Risotto!
Yes I agree it sounds quite strange Bolognese with rice in it? Odd.
But after a lucky break with the full fat milk we so happened to have in the fridge (our family only drinks skim milk) I was willing to give it a try. Everything was going well until I noticed the celery still stilling out, i walked over to the pan that was sizzling away and didn't recall adding the celery to the mushed up vegetables, so I blended up the celery with the diced tomatoes and continued on my merry way. Once I put the meat sauce into the oven, mum called out "Have you finished with the tomato paste?"... :S So I quickly ran over to the oven opened the door and stirred in the paste.
When I took the meat out I started adding the stock and the rice, but I was really worried thatI had put to much stock in... but mum gave me a helpful tip.
Mum's Helpful Tips:
"The rice will soak up all the stock and it should look something like little maggots"
Thanks? Thats...uh...helpful.


It felt like forever until the rice was done but then I filled up three heaping bowls and dad is going to take the rest into work tomorrow, for all of his staff to try tomorrow :)

Dinner: Spicy Sausage Patties

I am unaware of the real name of this dish as I am way to lazy to run downstairs and find the book so this is what I shall be calling them.
Now after having a bit of a disaster with the potatoes with them being way to spicy, I decided to reduce the amount of heat in this dish by only using half of each chilli... call me a chicken all you want but it was a smart idea :)
So getting to the fun part of using my hands to mix the mixture and then role them into little balls and place them on the pan.


Tip: 
Dont make the patties to thick or it will literally take them YEARS to cook! Make them thin but still juicy :)

I was expecting these patties to be pretty average but MAN WAS I WRONG!
Mum, dad and I all sat down wrapped up the first pattie and 10 minutes later the bowl was empty, they where amazing and would be great as a pre-dinner snack! YUM! I'll be making them again.
I recomend wrapping them up in lettuce leaves, but you can also wrap them up in pitta bread/ flat bread and with a bit of lime for a fresh blast!

From the 22/04/11 to the 25/04/11 we will be down at our family friends house 'the Coopers' so I wont be cooking for awhile but when I get back I will be getting straight into things again by cooking Risotto Bolognese and Pear Pandowdy, stay tuned.


Happy Easter :) 

Dessert: Churros

Or as I like to call it Calamari Churros and Chunky Chocolate, lets just say I wont be making these again considering the mess I made and the fact I could have been killed myself with all of that oil splattering everywhere!!
The chocolate didn't melt, it just burnt and the mixture was really runny so the churros looked like calamari and I made a massive mess... sorry mum.
But even though the chocolate was chunky and the calamari...opps churros had turned into oddly shapped oil balls it tasted alright, but I tasted kind of dirty afterwards or unhealthy.

Dinner: Quick Caesar Salad

The Quick Caesar Salad also known as the Salad containing Chicken, Lettuce and Corn Chips! A crunchy and tasty simple salad with a horrible and bitter salad dressing, which luckily we didn't pour over the salad, we had a taste test and... tipped it down the sink. All in all the salad was actually pretty good but it didn't take much skill to cook a bit of chicken and chuck it together with corn chips and lettuce leaves.
Bit of a failed salad...

Dinner: Indian Roast Potatoes

They look great, they smell great but they taste SPICY! Mum and I had to wash these SPICY potatoes down with a glass of water between bites. Dad has a lovely SPICY surprise awaiting his arrival home... This recipe has the following SPICES: Hot Ground Chillies, Black Mustard Seeds, Fennel Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Nigella Seeds and Tumeric!!! 

Tip:

Next time, put a little less of all the SPICES to suit your taste buds. TRUST ME!

Dinner: Minestrone

It's amazing how much half cabbage can actually produce nearly a whole pot full, and you would think this soup would turn out to be a yellow smelly peice of yuck, but it turned out really nice mum and I had two bowls each, my dad didn't have any because he doesn't like "lumpy soup"... weird.
This soup is really nice on a cold rainy night, it warms the tummy and is really healthy considering the amount of green vegetables it contains.