I’m really getting into potatoes lately. It has a lot to do with chilly winter nights, I’m sure. We’ve been experimenting with some lovely baked potatoes but I’m wanting to try something a little different and this recipe caught my eye. (Original recipe found here.)

Ingredients
4 Desiree potatoes, thinly sliced
50g butter, melted
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp thyme leaves

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Place the potato, butter, garlic and thyme in a large bowl. Season well with sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Stir gently until just combined.
2. Arrange the potato slices evenly among four 3/4 cup (185ml) Texan muffin pans. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and tender.
3. Remove from oven and turn out onto serving plates. Serve immediately.

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I’m deadly serious when I say I love these prawns. The ‘jerk’ seasoning is awesome – we’ve even used it on chicken drumsticks. (Original recipe found here.)

Ingredients
700 – 800grams of prawns (peeled and deveined)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon paprika
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon ground thyme
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Instructions
1. Pre-heat your BBQ or frying pan.
2. In a small bowl combine sugar, paprika, salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, thyme, and allspice.
3. In a large bowl combine prawns and olive oil tossing well to coat.
4. Sprinkle prawns on both sides with the spice mixture and toss to coat.
5. Thread prawns onto skewers.
6. Place skewers onto the grill/frying pan and cook for 6 minutes or until fully cooked turning once.

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My sister turned me onto the wonder that is S&B Golden Curry. I’ve often passed by the Asian section in the supermarket and have seen the box but I never thought of trying it. Until Wednesday night. This recipe is super easy and really tasty.

Ingredients
1 x box S&B Golden Curry
1 x medium sized onion, diced
3 x potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized chunks
3 x large carrots, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
1kg skinless chicken thighs

Instructions
1. Throw everything into a slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4.
2. If you want, you can pour in a little milk or cream at the end.

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I made this last night and whoa nelly it made my nose run. Might try adding a little less chili next time!

Ingredients
1/2 cup plain flour
1.5kg chuck steak, cut into 3cm pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 brown onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 red capsicum, deseeded, cut into 2cm pieces
2 long red chillies, deseeded, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground chilli powder
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup water
sour cream, and warm corn tortillas, to serve

Instructions
1. Place flour in a shallow dish. Season with salt and pepper. Lightly coat beef in flour.
2. Heat oil in a large, deep frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook beef, in small batches, for 3 to 4 minutes or until browned, adding more oil if required. Transfer to a plate, cover to keep warm.
3. Add onion and garlic to pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes or until tender. Add capsicum, chilli, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, cumin, paprika and chilli powder. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add tomatoes and water and bring to the boil.
4. Pour mixture into slow cooker. Add meat and stir until well combined. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or until meat is tender and sauce is thick.
5. Serve with sour cream, avocado and tortillas.

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When I’m sick, like I have been lately, I turn to comfort food. This soup is perfect and it’s pretty easy to make.

Ingredients
6 cups reduced-salt chicken stock
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 lemongrass stems, trimmed, bruised, roughly chopped (see tip)
3 small red bird’s eye chillies, deseeded, thinly sliced (see note)
5 kaffir lime leaves, spines removed, thinly sliced
2 small chicken breast fillets, trimmed
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon grated palm sugar
1 lime, juiced
1 cup coriander leaves
lime wedges, to serve

Instructions
1. Bring stock to the boil in a saucepan over high heat. Add garlic, lemongrass, three-quarters of the chilli and half the lime leaves.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add chicken. Simmer, uncovered, turning chicken occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is just cooked through. Transfer chicken to a plate. Allow to cool slightly. Shred chicken and set aside.
3. Strain stock mixture into a large heatproof jug or bowl. Return strained stock to saucepan. Bring stock to the boil over medium-high heat. Add fish sauce, sugar, 2 tablespoons lime juice and remaining chili to soup. Stir in 1/2 cup coriander.
4. Divide chicken between serving bowls. Ladle over boiling soup. Top with remaining coriander and lime leaves. Serve with lime.

I bought a deep fryer today – mostly because I wanted to see how it would handle the awesome honey prawns T makes. I think I’ll give these fritters a go over the weekend. Yum!

Ingredients
1 egg
Salt
4 tablespoons sparkling mineral water
3 tablespoons plain flour
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 crisp apples
Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Instructions
1. Half-fill a large wok or deep fryer with oil and put on to heat. Break the egg into a bowl, add a pinch of salt and whisk until frothy. Quickly whisk in the mineral water, then the flour – you don’t need a smooth batter.
2. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together on a saucer and put aside. Peel, core and slice the apples into rings about 5mm thick.
3. When the oil has reached a temperature of 190°C, and a few drops of the batter sizzle as soon as they are dropped in, dip each of the apple slices into the batter with a fork and drop into the oil. Deep-fry the fritters in two or three batches for 1–2 minutes each, or until puffed and golden, turning carefully with a slotted spoon halfway through cooking.
4. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately, sprinkled with the spiced sugar.

I made chocolate crackles for the first time in about 20 years last weekend. While they’re not an impressive culinary undertaking I thought it might be handy to have the recipe in my ever-growing archive.

Ingredients
4 cups Rice Bubbles
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 cup desiccated coconut
250g copha, chopped
3 tbsp cocoa

Instructions
1. In a large bowl, mix the Rice Bubbles, icing sugar, cocoa & coconut.
2. Slowly melt the copha in a saucepan over a low heat.
3. Allow to cool slightly.
4. Add to Rice Bubbles mixture, stirring until well combined.
5. Spoon mixture into patty cases and refrigerate until firm.

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I love, love, love Mexican food. If I had to pick my favourite Mexican dish it would be taquitos. While I don’t think anything I make will be as good as the taquitos I used to get at the Mexican Kitchen in Freo (about 15 years ago), these aren’t too shabby!

Ingredients
12 corn tortillas
1kg of minced beef
garlic salt
1 x red capsicum
1 x large potato, grated
1 x large onion, finely diced
vegetable oil

Instructions
1. Brown the beef mince.
2. Stir in diced onion, grated potato, garlic salt and red capsicum.
3. Remove from frying pan and wipe clean with a paper towel.
4. Heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Fry corn tortillas one at a time until soft.
5. Roll a spoonful of mince mixture in tortilla.
6. Place rolled taquitos onto a baking pan side by side. Bake in oven at 180°C for 20 minutes.

Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, salsa, or avocado dip. Yum!

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Today is my 36th birthday (eeeeek!) and in honour of this occasion I wanted to share my favourite meal. Unfortunately my favourite, favourite meal is roast chicken and…well…everyone knows how to roast a chicken right? So I thought about my second favourite meal and it’s this one – a roasted vegetable frittata. I made one yesterday so I’d have some frittatery goodness on my birthday (I also have roast chicken in the fridge so I’m in heaven!).

Ingredients
For the roast vegetables
Cut all the vegetables into small, bite-sized cubes
Half a butternut pumpkin
1 medium size sweet potato
2 zucchinis
1 capsicum

For the frittata
6 Eggs
1 cup of cream
1/2 cup of good Parmesan cheese
Shredded spinach (or basil if you have it)
finely sliced spring onion
cracked black pepper
thinly sliced tomatoes (to put on the top)

Instructions
1. Firstly you need to roast the veggies. I put mine in a 200°C oven, drizzled with olive oil for about 35 – 40 minutes. Ideally they should be tender (not crispy). Leave them to cool down.
2. Whisk together the frittata filling (eggs, cream, cheese). Add in the shredded spinach, spring onion and season with cracked black pepper.
3. In a oven proof dish (I used a 24cm round Pyrex dish) place the roast vegetables so the base is evenly covered.
4. Pour in the egg mixture.
5. Place thin slices of tomato on the top.
6. Bake in a 180°C oven for approx 40 minutes or until egg is set.

It’s getting chillier and there is nothing like a mug of soup to warm the bones. This is my favourite pumpkin soup recipe – I hope you try it and you like it!

Ingredients
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder (I like a tiny bit of a kick)
1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg
1kg peeled pumpkin, diced
1 large potato, peeled, diced
1L chicken stock (you could use vegetable if you wish)
1/2 cup (125ml) thin cream

Instructions
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat, add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, until transparent. Add garlic and spices and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add pumpkin, potato and stock and bring to the boil. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then blend in batches (I just pop it in the blender – works a treat).
2. Return soup to pan, stir through cream and reheat gently. Season and add a little more nutmeg if desired.

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