Lasagne and Good Friends

So Food Babies has been very busy lately.
Car problems, holiday, sickness, the usual ups and downs I guess.
One of the ups was my cousin came home from Afghanistan! Hurray! And his wife and himself (Mr & Mrs Townsville) were around town to say hi and stuff, so I invited them to the Food Babies house for some delicious home cooked food. What better to serve up than a piping hot lasagne?

By the way, Mrs Townsville is one of the most beautiful people I know. She is an incredible person, and an amazing mother to Baby Townsville. And it makes me sad that she lives so far away!

Anyway, onto the Food!

Base recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 brown onion, halved, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 750g beef mince
• 2 x 400g cans Italian diced tomatoes
• 125ml (1/2 cup) dry red wine
• 55g (1/4 cup) tomato paste
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil, extra, to grease
• 4 fresh lasagne sheets
• 55g (1/2 cup) coarsely grated mozzarella
• Mixed salad leaves, to serve 

Cheese Sauce

• 1L (4 cups) milk
• 1 brown onion, halved, coarsely chopped
• 8 fresh parsley stalks
• 8 whole black peppercorns
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 60g butter
• 50g (1/3 cup) plain flour
• 70g (1 cup) finely grated parmesan
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• Salt & ground white pepper

My recipe

Pretty much the same as above, I just add plenty of herbs, a butt load more garlic, and heaps of cheese (both tasty and mozzerella). At the last minute I also chucked in a few handfuls of frozen veggies into the meat mix, just to brighten it up a little.

Just as a quick note, make sure you leave a good 2 and a half hours or so to cook this baby. I started to cook this early afternoon and just popped it into the fridge until I was ready to cook.

Dice up and fry your onions and garlic until nice and soft, like a teddy bear. Ok, maybe not a teddy bear. Just until soft. 

Add the mince to the soft onions and lovely garlic and make sure you break it up! No lumps of meat! Lumps are BAD. Cook until the mince is all browned.

Whack in the cans of tomato, tomato paste and wine and bring to the boil.
I think at this point I also added some Worcestershire sauce..
And I certainly added a beef stock cube. Flavour = love.
I also chucked in plenty of herbs, salt and pepper. Remember to keep tasting. But don't taste too soon after adding the wine. I always forget that...
Any who, let this baby simmer. Recipe says half hour, but that is never enough for me. It's always way too liquidy. So I let this simmer for a bit over an hour, just keep stirring and tasting!

When it is just about ready, it is time to make the cheese sauce.
I will just add that this is the best cheese sauce I have ever tasted. Bar none. Ever. Not even my Grandmother's sauce beats this. 

Add milk, onion, peppercorns, cloves and bayleaves to a saucepan. Sadly, my grocery store had no fresh parsley so I just used dried instead. 

Bring it all to a simmer, then take it off the heat and let it sit for 15 minutes.
Please make sure you don't boil your milk! Scalded milk is pretty damn horrible.
After 15 minutes, strain the milk and discard all the onion and stuff left behind.

Make a roux by heating the butter in a saucepan over high heat until bubbling. Take it off the heat and add the flour, then whisk whisk whisk! Once it looks a little like this, place it back on the heat, meduim high, and KEEP WHISKING. Other wise it will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. Keep going until it's bubbling, and has changed colour a tad.

You might need an extra set of hands for this part.

 Take the pan off the heat again. I am not trying to get you to do a weird version of the Hokey Pokey here I promise (you put your saucepan on, you take your saucepan off, you put your saucepan on and you shake it all about!).
For this next step you must keep whisking, or else end up with lumpy cheese sauce!
Add the strained milk slowly, whisking. Keep going! Add gradually and keep whisking until smooth and nicely combined.

Saucepan BACK on the heat. Ok, you can shake it all about if you want. Bring it just to the boil whisking constantly, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon dipped in the sauce. My suggesting is to keep testing until you are 200% sure. Just so you can lick the spoon :)

Take pan off the heat. Last time I promise :)
Add the parmesan cheese, and stir it all in until the sauce is smooth. Add the nutmeg. This might sound weird but trust me on this one! Taste test, and season with salt and pepper. Taste test again, and once more for good luck. And again for good measure...

Preheat oven! 180 degrees C. Grease up your dish. Recipe calls for a 3l capacity dish. I don't know how big mine is.. I just use my beautiful Scanpan dish.
I love Scanpan. I love my Mumma Bear for buying me Scanpan. I love my Mumma Bear full stop. 

So start off the lasagne with a layer of heavenly cheese sauce. 

Then some lasagne sheets. I don't use the dry boxed stuff anymore. Not since I discovered the fresh egg sheets. Find them in the cold section of your local supermarket! Seriously. They are so worth it. 

Chuck in a layer of the meat mixture and smooth it all out. I went for fairly thin layers because I am always left with left over lasagne sheets. But now I have a use for them! Stay tuned...

I also highly recommend listening to decent music while cooking.
I am right the way back into The B-52's right now. This song in particular.

More cheesy sauce! Then just keep repeating. I think I got about 3-4 layers of pasta. Just make sure you finish with a layer of cheese sauce! 

Ok so final layer. I hope you are ready for the next part..

Top it off with lots of tasty and mozzarellam cheese. I sprinkle the top with a little extra nutmeg, just beacuse I think it looks pretty. 

Please don't drool in the lasagne! Pop that delicious baby in the oven for about 40 minutes. It's ready when it's all bubbly and golden, or when you can't hold out any longer. I suggest distracting yourself with a good TV show. 

 I watched the Young Ones. Damn they are cool!
Ding! Dinner is done!

 Oh man. Jealous yet?
I served this up with veggies and garlic bread and chips and gravy. The end result? 

 Clean plates = the best compliment anyone can ever give me. Seriously. You could tell me anything, and the most flattering thing to ever say to me is "Damn girl! That food was delicious! Can I have seconds?"

On the Food-Babies scale?
Just check out that face!
It got Mrs Townsville's seal of approval! The only sad thing is that the dessert Mr and Mrs Townsville brought with them went untouched until very very late that night when I snuck out for a little snacky.

Done like a dinner.
I'm hungry...

Curried Noodles & Mother In Law's

Let's dicuss Mother-In-Law meals.
These are signature meals your mother in law makes, and her boy loves them to bits.

These meals are dangerous. If you make them and screw them up, he may just leave you.
If you make it better than your mother in law, she may never ever speak to you again.

So what's the trick to making everyone happy?

NEVER ask if it tasted better than the mother in law's version. EVER.

NEVER ask a man full stop to compare your meal to his mother's. EVER

This rule is ancient. Obey it. No one knows what happens if you don't follow this rule because no one has ever lived to tell the tale.

Seriously. Just don't.

True story: Last Christmas I made rum balls for the first time and Mr Food-Babies refused to eat them. Why? His mum makes awesome rum balls and point blank refused to try mine. 

Mr Food-Babies Mum is an amazing cook. And she makes Curried Noodles like a real pro. Lick the plate, spoons, pan, everything, spotless. Then go back  for more until you explode. I used to take the left overs to the bakery and make pies out of them. DAMN they were good.

Curried Noodles are Mr Food-Babies favourite meal.

So I took the plunge and made them from the recipe she gave me a year ago.
(It's taken me this long to pluck up the courage to make them!)

Ingredients:

• About 6 chicken thighs, cubed
• 1 onion
• 1 tomato
• Couple of cloves of garlic
• 3 tblsp Madras Paste (I use Pataks)
• Tumeric
• Chilli (LOTS of chilli!)
•  2 Cups water
•  2 tsp Palm Sugar
• 400ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsp Fish Sauce
• 250g noodles (I used thick noodles, NEVER AGAIN!)
• Bok Choy (Grocery shop had none, I used silverbeet)

KGO!

 Heat up a large pan and brown the chicken in batches. The idea is to just seal it, not to cook it completely.

Once the chicken is sealed, remove it from the pan and set it aside. Cover it. We don't want no flies in our curry! Make sure you keep the juices in the pan!!

Dice your onion, tomato, crush the garlic, add the paste, tumeric and chilli. Fry this up in the chicken juices.

Ahhh. Take a second to admire the smell and the colours :)

Fry it up until the onion is all soft and squishy.

This looks like baby sick.
It's actually the water, coconut milk, palm sugar and fish sauce. 

Whack the chicken back in the pan with the onion goodness and the baby sick coconut milk mix. 

Let it simmer for half hour - 45 mins. Whatever you feel is right.
I used 3 cups of water, just like the recipe said, and it was too watered down. Yukky. 

Scoop out as much chicken as you can. Set aside and again, cover it up. No one likes flies. 

Chuck the noodles in and let them boil for a minute or two, or until they are all separated.

Mr Food-Babies wanted me to use thick noodles instead of his mothers usual thinner noodles.
Never again. They were just too thick.

Now the recipe calls for Bok Choy. My grocery shop is pretty slack in the fresh food department. So I used silver beet. You only really need a little bit of silver beet, and chop it up good! Mine was a little big. 

Chicken goes back in, silverbeet goes in, simmer it for another few minutes and BAM
We have a Mother In Law Meal

That didn't quite live up to standard.

Serve with fresh white bread with plenty of butter.

Food Baby scale?
About 3 months pregnant. Needs thinner noodles and less water!

A Taste of What's to Come

My To Do List over the next few weeks:

New recipes:

• Fire in the Hole! - Stuffed and grilled jalapenos, wrapped in bacon
• Curried Pumpkin Soup
• Pumpkin Pie 
• Dulce de Leche Baked Mini Cheesecakes - Mini Caramel Cheesecakes

Old Timers:

• Flourless Chocolate Cake
• Roasted Pumpkin & Cumin Soup
• Cajun Burgers
• Eggnog Cheesecake <---- Do NOT miss this one. This is one of my most treasured recipes
• Secret Roast Beef (no longer a secret!)
• Fried Rice

And I'll also take the chance to show off some of my cake decorating skills!

Stay tuned for more Food-Babies! 

Irish 'Stew'

So the weather here hasn't lived up to its name of "The Sunshine State" lately. But I can assure you it is still HOT and MUGGY! Be right back, kissing my air con..

...K. So with this horrible weather, I decided to make a yummy slow cooked meal. Unfortunately I smashed my slow cooker a few weeks ago. Plan B, oven roasted Irish Stew. Not boring, traditional stew. Delicious, herby, gravy-soaked stew. Something I have never made before, or even made anything close. But I am glad I took the risk. And I can't wait for another sodden weekend to make this again.

Let us begin. Pre-heat oven to 130 C

Base recipe:

• 1.25kg lamb neck chops
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 3 brown onions, chopped
• 1kg sebago potatoes, peeled, sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced into rounds
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 cups boiling water
• 3 beef stock cubes, crumbled
• 1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
• 1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped, to serve

My tweaked recipe:

• 1.5kg(ish) lamb neck chops
• 3/4 cup plain flour 
• Salt & pepper
• 2 brown onions, chopped
• 1kg washed potatoes, chopped, skin on
• 2 carrots, peeled, sliced into chunks
• 2 Parsnips. peeled, sliced into chunks
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 cups boiling water
• 3 beef stock cubes, crumbled 
• Decent splash of spicy Worcestershire sauce
• Squirt of BBQ sauce
• Rosemary
• A PINCH of Cumin
• About 6 cloves of garlic (I LOVE GARLIC)
• Dried Parsley
• 4 Bay leaves

 Mmmm lamb neck chops!

Whack your flour into a freezer bag and season the heck out of it with salt and pepper. Don't be scared! 

 Add a couple of neck chops at a time and shake-a-shake-a-shake until all lovely and dusted, repeat until all of your neck chops are covered in seasoned flour. Do NOT chuck the left over flour! We need this for the gravy!

Get all your veggies prepared. I left the skin on my potatoes for the whole rustic feel. And they taste good. That's what Food-Babies is all about.

So make sure you have a nice BIG dish.

Shout out to my Mumma Bear for the Scanpan dish!

Anyway, start layering your veggies up! Depending on the size of your dish you can do one layer or 2 or 5. Up to you! I did 2 layers of veggies and potato but only 1 of meat.

 Pile in the taters

I had to really squish in my lamb to fit it all in

 Another layer of veggies and taters and we are almost finished!

So chuck your left over flour in a bowl. Make sure it will hold at least a litre!
Add the rest of the ingredients (except bay leaves and mint) to your own taste.

I wanted a really rich gravy, heaps of herbs, and don't get me started on garlic! I LOVE this stinky beast! Anyway, get a-mixing!

Pour the gravy all over your veggie/lamb stack, add a few bay leaves, stand back so you don't drool in the pan, and admire your work for a few seconds. Pat yourself on the back. You have earned it!

Chuck this baby in the oven for 4 hours.

Now, I recommend that you mix this baby up a few times while cooking. ESPECIALLY in the last hour. Otherwise your lamb may overcook a little, taters may burn, and the ones at the bottom may just be mush.

While this is cooking, let me teach you about my nickname... Cyclone Samantha..

Poor Mr Food-Babies nearly goes into a cold sweat when I spend more than 10 mins in the kitchen. I normally end up with food on the bench, floor, walls, roof, China... You get the idea. Mr Food-Babies even rates the Cyclonic force.
This mess I'd guess to be around a category 2. Not bad!

Ready for the final product?

Yep. It's ugly. But one of the most delicious meals I have eaten. EVER.
I heated up a french stick, smothered it in butter, and we dug in. Mr Food-Babies ate 3 times what I did.

On the Food-Babies scale?
I'm having octuplets. Twice.

BUT I did forget something VERY important! The fresh mint leaves over the top when I took it out of the oven! D'OH!

I think next time I will add mint sauce to the gravy....

What Babies?

Food Babies.

I don't quite remember where this term came from. I think it may have been my brother. Or one of his friends...

Anyway. It can be defined as that lovely bloated feeling you get when you eat WAY too much good food.

And I love good food. I find myself impregnated with food babies at least 3 times a week (this may not be helping my slightly high cholesterol levels)  and I think it is time I share food babies with everyone else.

A quick rundown before we start with the food.
My name is Samantha. I live with my partner Adam. He is often my guinea pig. I work in admin, and previously worked as a pastry chef. Cooking is something I am extremely passionate about. I love nothing better than a beautiful home-cooked meal. I don't do 5 star, fancy-schmancy meals that cost $500 for 2 bites. I prefer a big plate of comforting stew and mash any day. Cake decorating is a different story. I could (and have) spent hours meticulously decorating cakes.

I don't usually 'follow' recipes. I add things and make it up as I go along, using the recipe as a guide.

Here is my guide. Chop and change as you wish.