Today's recipe

[vickihb2]

Kenny you grind your own Cardomon pods! I am really very impressed. This sounds like a delicious recipe. We really have to do the dinner party thing soon.

Some of these Malay curries are quite oily, but I guess they are designed to be eaten in small qualtities with lots of rice and vegetable side dishes . You might cut down on the oil by taking the skin off maybe, cuts down cholesterol too but still tastes good.

I know a woman (another bloody Hack!) who makes a really good tasting laksa with (you will never believe this) low fat condensed milk and coconut essence. She had pregnancy diabetes at the time. I couldn't tell the difference honestly, between hers and Chinta Ria's and would never have guessed if she hadn't told me. Maybe she was winding me up.

[Kenny]

Last week me and Bennie and his aunty and uncle dined out at a casual buy v. trendy Sydney eatery called Nove Cucina.

I had mussels in a rich tomato broth - v. yummy, yet for once Bennie didn't want any of 'em! We had three crispy pizzas to start, and chocolate and hazelnut gelati and chocolate/almond cake to follow.

Anyway, not only did my sister pick up the bill, she also snagged me an autographed copy of the chef's glossy, glitzy cookbook.

So on Sunday I made his veal and pork ragu. I stuck precisely to the recipe. And it was just dry, dry, dry - I had to put in a couple of tins of toms to make it work.

So this afternoon I'm gunna ring him up and ask if the recipe is missing any ingredients.

[mum]

maybe your meat was too low fat. Some 'diet mince' is so low fat it is shit to cook a ragu with.

[Kenny]

Guest-mum said:

maybe your meat was too low fat. Some 'diet mince' is so low fat it is shit to cook a ragu with.

Nah, I doubt it.

The chef's ringing me back today.

[Kenny]

Well, good on the chef, Ed Halmagyi, for returning my call. We had a great chat!

1. He suspected the beef/pork mince I used was too lean. I told him this was not the case.

2. He then suggested I may have been in too much of a hurry. Quite possible.

3. He opined that putting in liquid not proscribed by the recipe was definitely uncool in this case.

It seems I may have fallen vuctim to certain cultural expectations that a pasta sauce is always gonna be fluid, liquid etc etc.

This one is MEANT to be pretty dry.

I also confessed to NOT adding a medium swede to the carrot, onion, celery.

Apparently, swede contains an emulsifier that acts to ensure the fat does not separate from the sauce/meat, making for a smooth sauce.

I'm excited about trying this again!

[God]

see you Mother was right pal.

[vickihb2]

Is ragu the Italian or English spelling of ragout?

A ragout is a stew. Stews do have gravy or sauce with them.

Pasta is not always served with a wet sauce, basil pesto being a good example and speaking of Pasta here is a great extra quick recipe to dazzle even the most bored lazy cook of all times (i.e. me).



A great 2 minute instant sauce/dressing for tortellini or sachetti or any pasta (recipe for four people) is:

3 tablespsoons EV olive oil
1 finely grated large clove garlic
Decent pinch of sea salt
Handful of chopped flat parsley, basil or coriander
Sambal Oelek or Chillie paste to taste
Juice of one lemon or very juicy lime
Black pepper


Combine ingredients
Stir through cooked pasta


If you are cooking non filled pasta you may want to add a cupful of frozen peas to the boiling pasta a minute before serving and some shaved, hard, matured, expensive cheese once in the bowl.

Shaved, hard and expensive - hmmm that could apply to a lot of good things!

[Kenny]

Guest-God said:

see you Mother was right pal.

Nope. Wrong again. Idiot.

[God]

I don't think you should speak to me like that Kenny. Do it again and you'll find yourself subbing the women's health pages.

[Kenny]

From the same recipe book ...

I love making stock, but usually just chuck all the basic goodies in the pot and let it boil for hours and hours.

In this case, though, I decided to take the time to make a more complex stock. What a joy it was - the aroma wafting through the house was far, far better (and cheaper) than all your wussy aromatherapy candles and incense and such like nonsense.

And the stock was the darkest, richest I've ever made:

chicken bones, browned for 1/2 hour or so in 250c oven.

2 onions, 1 large carrot, 2 sticks celery, 1/2 head of fennel - all reasonably finely chopped.

1 bunch each of oregano, thyme, marjoram.

1 tsp fennels seeds, 2 tsp black peppercorns.

1 glass of wine

Saute veges in olive oil until wilted.

Add wine and reduce for a few minutes.

Add bones.

Cook for 5 hours.

Strain into large bowl.

Put in fridge overnight.

Scrape solidified grease off top.

Spellcheck.

Freeze.

Jump for joy.

[Kenny]

Ahhh, I love the internet ... here's a recipe, I kid you not, for horse's arse:

Karta (Horse Rectum) (Kazakh)

From Kazakhstan National Cooking Web Page
(www.kz/eng/cooking/cooking.html)

For making one karta:

100 g of karta (this sounds a little light on BWTFWIK?)
salt
green pepper or dill to taste

The thick part of the rectum is washed without removing fat, then carefully turned inside out so that the fat should be inside, washed once more and tied up on both sides.

Karta can also be dried and smoked. To dry it karta is strewed with fine salt and kept in a cool place for 1-2 days, then dried up.

Karta is smoked during 24 hours, then dried during 2-3 days. After washing it well, karta is boiled for 2 hours on slow fire.

Before serving the table it is cut in rings and decorated with green pepper or dill.

(Before serving the table? Something's a little awry with the translation methinks)

[vickihb2]

A friend of mine worked in Kazakhstan at an oil installation for two years (2 months on 6 weeks off). That recipe above sounds genuine and sadly, one of the better ones, according to him. Poor Frank, but now he lives in Richmond California and is coming to Melbourne in November for decent food and great jazz.

[vickihb2]

by the way KW, do you boil or simmer?

[johnk]

we tried olive oil lemon and garlic etc recipe above on some pumpkin ravioli YUM YUM YUM last week a real quick one tx for the tip. dunno if i will ever boil stock for 5 hours but sounds good

tonight i cooked something i haven't had since i woz a kid Venetian style calf's liver and braised onions it was insanely fantastic & impressed the Mrs & raised our cholesterol. no one cooks liver anymore thats crazy coz its first rate and cheap as

[johnk]

hey what happened to my Superman logo?