Mountain Range

Grilled Chicken Skewers

This weekend we went camping out in the Watagan Mountain Range, to try out a few new purchases of ours. The first was our new Jeep "Nancy," a fun 4WD soft top, which we were keen to try on a quick weekend away to see how much she holds. The second was our new camping stove (or range!) which we'd purchased at the camping show earlier this year but hadn't used it yet. Our previous camping cooking appliance was a fabulous "Fire and Ice" BBQ/Esky combo which served us so well for many years. Last year in Darwin whilst camping though, we experienced the convenience and compactness of the gas camping stoves and decided to upgrade. We got ourselves a fabulous Colemans 3 Burner range.

Veg, potatoes and patties (for the kids)

We are known for our gourmet camping menus and this one was no different. We started off with some honey soy chicken skewers. Normally on the BBQ it would take about 20 mins to warm up and then about 30 mins to cook chicken but these were cooked through in about 15 mins. Our main was sirloin steaks with veg stir fry and potatoes. Again the stove did a great job. We had the grill plate over half for the steaks and used a fry pan for the stir fry on one of the other burners. What a great dinner to christen the stove for many more excursions to come!

Advance Australia Fare

Australia Fare

We often have guests from overseas, and last night with 4 visitors only here for a few weeks as well as a few more long term visitors (with only my husband as a true blue Aussie), I wanted to give them a chance to taste some of Australia's fare. We put together an Australiana menu that showcased a few different tasters of what Australia has to offer from the sea to the bush and back to the city!

Using the BBQ is also a big part of Aussie culture so we had that cranked, despite the rain, and cooked everything on there!

Here's our take on Aussie Tucker......

Entree

Australian Taster Plate:

Trio of Australian Flavours: Oyster with a squeeze of Fingerlime; Kangaroo fork with red currant jus; Lime, butter brushed Moreton Bay Bug

Main

Barbecued Basil Marinated Butterflied Lamb

served with roast beetroot, parsnip, potatoes, corn and broccoli

Dessert

Deconstructed Pavlova

Mini individual pavlova served with mango and strawberries with homemade Mango Frozen Yogurt

Festive Stuffed Chicken Thigh - Easy Christmas Dinner!

I like to have my Christmas Cake and eat it too! What I really mean is that I don't like to limit my Christmas spread just to Turkey or Ham or Prawns or..... The trouble with cooking for so many people and wanting such a variety is the oven space. Inspired by Christmas recipes of stuffed, rolled birds, I designed an easy festive stuffed Chicken Thigh that we're going to serve as part of a banquet for the family on Christmas Day. The thigh is much more moist than the breast, which is why I chose that part of the chook, and is a small enough to be individual and big enough to roll and with some tasty stuffing inside! We also cooked it on the BBQ meaning that the precious oven space will be freed up for bigger (not necessarily better) things!

Chicken Thighs on the BBQ

Festive Stuffed Chicken Thighs

Ingredients

Chicken Thighs - 1 per person
Bunch of Sage
Prosciutto - 1 slice per thigh

Stuffing (this stuffed 8 Chicken Thighs)
350g. sausage meat
1 med onion (or 2 spring onions), finely diced
4 sage leaves, chopped
Salt & Pepper

Sauce
Craisins
1 cup Red wine
2 tbs Plain Flour
2 tbs Redcurrant Jelly

The raw unrolled Festive Stuffed Chicken Thigh

• Prepare the stuffing first - mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Divide into equal portions (as many as you have chicken thighs);
• Spread the Chicken Thighs out flat and lay them on a board;
• Cover the Thighs with cling wrap;
• With a rolling pin, or another hard implement (meat tenderiser would do too!) whack the Chicken Thighs till they are flat;
• Lay a slice of prosciutto on a piece of foil (enough to wrap the whole thigh)
• Place a sage leaf on the prosciutto;
• Lay the flat chicken thigh along the proscuitto on top of the sage
• Place a ball of stuffing on the thigh and roll it tightly
• Wrap the foil tightly round the rolled meat;
• Repeat for the other Chicken Thighs;
• Leave to rest in the fridge;
• Meanwhile, soak the craisins in the Red wine for the Sauce
• When ready to cook, heat the BBQ;
• Remove the thighs from the foil and carefully place on the BBQ;
• BBQ turning often until the roll is cooked through.
• While the Thighs are cooking, prepare the sauce by adding the craisins and wine to a small saucepan;
• Add the redcurrant jelly and bring to the boil;
• Add a dash or red wine to the flour and stir to make a paste. Add the flour to the sauce to thicken it and make it glossy.

Mincing About

Spicy Lamb Burgers

Mince is such a diverse product that I inadvertently prepared a menu with mince in the entree and mince in the main! Given that kids were joining us for dinner, it wasn't too much of a culinary error and both meat dishes were a great hit. We started off with some pork and prawn wontons. They're so crunchy and tasty that all 40 disappeared quickly! It's been one of my favourites of the last few months (since we got our deep fryer) and they've featured already in one of my blog posts earlier this year (Long Necks & Rib Eyes)! They've been so successfully received, I've posted the recipe below.

We followed those with Spicy Lamb Burgers for the main course. This recipe makes such moist, juicy burgers. They have a slight spice that gives them great flavour but doesn't turn the kids off! We didn't serve them with this time with the tomato yoghurt relish, but instead slices of tomato, cheese (melted in the grill) and guacamole.

The two different cooking styles disguise the fact that it's really pretty much the same base, and they're just a couple of examples of the variety of mince recipes!

Pork and Prawn Wontons

It is such a quick mixture to make that if you are patient, and get on a roll with the wonton preparing, they can be put together without too much bother.

Deep fried pork and prawn wontons

Filling
250g green prawns chopped
250g pork mince
1/2 small can of water chestnuts
2 spring onions chopped
2 tbsps chopped chives
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt

1 pack 40 square wonton wrappers

Raw wontons

• Mix together all the filling mixture in a large bowl;
• Dust a surface with corn flour, and prepare a tray covered in corn flour; 
• Fill a small plate with warm water (this is to help seal the wrappers);
• Lay out some of the wonton wrappers on the dusted surface;  
• Place a small spoonful of mixture in the centre of the wonton wrapper;
• Dip your finger in the prepared water, and run it around the edges of the wrapper;
• Fold the wrapper over to make triangle;
• Pinch the two long ends of the triangle together so they look similar to those in the picture;
• Drop the wontons in the deep frier for around 5 mins till golden brown;
• Serve with Sweet Chilli Sauce