My Dude Food Challenge

Duck and Mushroom Arancini with Spicy Saffron Mayo

MasterChef has its "Dude Food" Challenge tonight and I feel like I'm quite well practised in this type of food - way more than the delicate restaurant plating that is normally required.


The entree at our dinner party last night was a good example of hearty but fun snacky "Dude Food". My hubbie requested Arancini balls for his birthday, but with a day of activities planned, I promised it at the next dinner party we hosted. He is very proud of his risotto, which he slaves over for hours, so whilst I got to enjoy that for dinner on Friday night, we made double the dosage so we'd have enough for the risotto balls to serve to our guests as an entree. 

I've never made Arancini before but in my experience the rice in the centre is warm, soft and gooey whilst the breadcrumb is golden and crisp. I had my doubts about whether mine would be exactly that. A good tip of double crumbing though was the secret success factor and after deep frying the balls for a few minutes will golden, the crumb was crispy and the insides perfect -  scrumptious with the spicy saffron mayonnaise!

Get Forked

When we have dinner parties, recently we've preferred to have some canapes on the balcony before heading in for the main course. An interesting and quite an original concept, was Jamie Oliver's forks, and after locating some cheap but nice looking forks (not at Victoria Basement which wanted to charge us $90 for some great looking, but too exy forks), we decided that we'd try it out for a Christmas dinner party. Giving everyone a bite on a fork was a fun and easy to prepare canapé but something a little different.

Jamie called for 3 types of forks that we replicated for our guests. We started off on the most simple, but a classic favourite - proscuitto wrapped and threaded onto the fork, with a clump of rocket, lying in a bed of olive oil and balsamic. With the dressing on the plate, we could swirl our forks into the dressing before popping the forkful in our mouths.

The second was a smoked salmon fork with thinly shaved cucumber and a lemony creme fraiche topped with a sprinkle of chives. This was a great combination, and who doesn't love smoked salmon with anything! The lemon creme fraiche added a nice zing to the fork.

The fork de resistance, however, was the duck a l'orange fork, a combination of orange, threaded onto the fork with a medium rare slice of duck breast wrapped around a sprig of watercress with a mint, lime, chilli dipping sauce.

All scrumptious little morsels, easy to eat and dip into their respective dressings! And a bit of a laugh as my hubbie enjoyed telling our friends to "get forked!"

Christmas on a Stick!

Home-made Christmas in July Pudding

Vicky has hosted her famous Christmas in July party for many years now, and it's come to be expected every July. Also expected and hoped for is my "Christmas on a Stick" a simple canapé that has become a favourite at the party. The remit for guests is to bring something that reminds you of Christmas in your home country and being hosted by a fellow Brit, it's a chance for us to remember our warming Christmas feasts from home. Being a cocktail party though, a fully fledge roast turkey, with stuffing and cranberry sauce isn't going to work, but that's why I designed this delightful bite. It's nice and easy, and can be adapted to suit your favourite Christmas stuffing flavours! You can also jazz it up as much as you like - mine have to be transported across town and heated in my friends oven, competing with the other guests' creations, so I'm less precious about the finesse (and no one cares, they just want to get to it!)

Christmas on a Stick

Christmas on a Stick - makes about 50-60 bite sized pieces

Small Pre packed cooked oven roasted turkey breast*

500g pack of sausage meat

1 onion

few sprigs of sage

cranberry sauce

parsley (or any other green leafy herb to decorate)

cocktail sticks

For the Stuffing

1. Pre heat the oven to 180C°;
2. Finely dice the onion;
3. Finely chop the sage;
4. Mix sausage meat, onion, sage in a bowl;
5. Shape into a square sausage shape and wrap in foil;
6. Bake for 35-45 mins until cooked through (you're going to cut it up anyway, so feel free to have a quick check!);
7. Cool the stuffing.

Assembling Christmas on a Stick

1. Cut the turkey breast into 1cm cubes;
2. Cut the stuffing into 1cm cubes;
3. Lay the turkey out on a baking tray, place the stuffing on top and skewer with a cocktail stick;
4. Heat for about 15 mins in a preheated oven (around 180C° - 200C°) till heated through;
5. When hot, lay out on serving plate;
6. Spoon a little blob of cranberry sauce on each;
7. Decorate with a festive little piece of parsley for greenery;

Serve and be prepared to heat another batch because they go quick!

*you can buy this all year round in the same section of the supermarket as the hams

Food with Flares

Cheese Fondue

When it came to celebrating my husband's 40th a 70's "disco" party was the obvious choice. It ticked all the boxes - excuse to dress up in psychadelic gear and flares: check, dance around listening to cheesy disco music: check, justify purchase of a mirror ball: check and of course, delicious nostalgic 70's hors d'oeuvres (as they used to call them!): check!

Beef Wellington

It was with this last item on the party list that I was most excited! Being a food blogger and showing my food off to the world via the blog has it's disadvantages. All the guests somehow had high expectations of the feast that I would be presenting so my original idea of cheese cubes and tinned pineapple on toothpicks skewered into a half grapefruit, with a bowl of twiglets, just wasn't going to cut it. I had to think a bit more adventurous and impressive!

 Vol au Vents

Friends were guessing what they might taste, and all of them were looking forward to prawn cocktail, expertly prepared by our chef friend Neil, who lent a hand in the kitchen, and devils on horseback (juicy prunes wrapped in bacon  and grilled)! Cam prepared a chicken liver pate, and we had some prosciutto wrapped melon, reminiscent of our family favourite starters! Most guests also guessed the appearance of a 70's classic, a gruyere cheese fondue, which was as popular as it was in its heyday!

The Cake(s)

The chicken and mushroom vol au vents were a hit, and we really tucked into Gary from Masterchef's delicious Beef Wellington - perhaps not quite meant for canapes but fabulous tasting, and worth licking your fingers for!

Finally, we had black forest cup-gateaux and Cam's favourite - individual Margarita Lime Cheesecakes, courtesy of LivLife's fantastic recipe!

 Food fit for a fortieth with flare(s)!

Aussie Odyssey

Rick Stein is in town on his Australian Tour and invited me (as well as other Aussie Bloggers) to introduce what is the "Ultimate Australian dish" in a Blogger Competition. Describing Australian cuisine is difficult as it can't be summed up in just a few words. For me it's not only the freshness of the dishes, and the fantastic produce available in this country, but also the relaxed atmosphere that goes along with any great Modern Australian feast.

The quintessential Aussie BBQ is one of the most enjoyable occasions with food aplenty, beer and wine flowing, fabulous weather and  great company.

It was at my last BBQ that I prepared a canapé that for me epitomises Aussie tucker. It was a take on Valli Little's breakfast recipe from the December 2009 Edition of Delicious Magazine on p. 88 that I adapted for our late summer barbie. Scallops are such a delicious Aussie seafood and the other components on the dish put a unique, fresh spin on some favourite flavours from other countries. The creaminess of the adapted Mexican guacamole, the crunch of the French baguette and the flavour of the more sophisticated version of  famous American "bacon bit" worked perfectly with the BBQ seared scallops, having our guests come back for more.... and more!

Devoured on a summer evening with a bunch of mates on the balcony, what more could you ask for? The ultimate Aussie experience!

BBQ Scallop Canapé with Bacon Dust and Avocado Salsa

3 rashers of bacon

1 tsp coriander seeds, toasted
2 birds eye chilli
2 avocados
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, seeds removed, chopped
1/2 bunch coriander, leaves chopped
zest of one lime
1 tbs lime juice
lime wedges to serve
olive oil
20 scallops without roe
1 baguette

Method
Preheat oven to 190°C and line a tray with baking paper. Lay bacon on the tray and bake for 15 mins until crisp and quite dry. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and allow to cool. Place bacon and coriander seeds in a small processor or pestle and mortar and ground to a fine dust.

Thinly slice 1 chilli and set aside to garnish, then finely chop remaining chilli and place in a bowl with avocado, red onion, tomato, coriander leaves, zest of the lime and lime juice. Mash with a fork until you have a chunky paste. Season to taste.

Thinly slice the baguette and lightly toast on the grill portion of the BBQ.

Heat the plate of the barbeque and brush with oil. Pat scallops dry with paper towel, and season. Cook scallops for 30 seconds on each side, or until just opaque.

Spread avocado mixture on the baguette slices. Top with a scallop, a sprinkle of bacon dust, sliver of chilli and serve on a platter with lime wedges.

Long Necks and Rib Eyes

As we coninued our Summer Ambassadorial duties for Hahn White, they sent us a second case of beer to try with our friends - which this time, arrived well in time for our BBQ. We invited our Belgian friend to try the Belgian Low Carb White beer to give her verdict on authenticity, as well as a group of international beer connoisseurs who have sampled beer from their home countries: Australia, England, South Africa, China, Germany & Colombia (not to mention the places they may have travelled). The beer "long neck" bottles are more like wine bottles, having been designed for the ice bucket rather than the esky, and we also had some beautiful tall glasses to fill.

Our Belgian native had never heard of the Carousel Ritual of putting orange slices in the beer, but it tasted refreshing so we went with it anyway and guzzled the Hahn White (giving Oz Clarke style commentary on the coriander and citrus notes), whilst munching on our complementary canapés - crispy prawn and pork wontons and scallops on zesty avocado salsa bites - and enjoying being outside on the balcony for this warm summer evening.

We moved inside for the main course, keeping with the summer BBQ theme we had large juicy rib eyes barbecued to perfection by our chef friends served with chimichurri salsa, cous cous with Mediterranean vegetables, and a warm  potato and baby spinach salad. We had a few toasts to Hahn White as the beer matched all of these so nicely, but there wasn't enough to keep us going all night, so we had to crack open a couple of bottles of Shiraz too!

After a palate cleansing ginger granita prepared by one of our guests (when was the last time you had a granita palate cleanser at a BBQ!) we stuck to the citrus theme, this time showcasing our Italian purchased limoncello, with Gino D'Acampo's delicious crowd pleaser -  Limoncello Trifle. The whole meal was a fabulous combination of fresh flavours! Thanks to Hahn White for sponsoring, Soup Marketing for inviting us to participate and to our good friend's for giving up their entire Saturday evening all in the name of market research!