Beef Stroganoff

Typically for Christmas Eve we have either Fish Pie or a traditional English curry, both of which I have already cooked from the Master Chef Cookbook! Beef Stroganoff was the closest thing I could have made unless I wanted to cook an Aubergine and Massaman (vegetable) curry, sorry Aunty Katy maybe next year! Christmas Eve was no different from the rest of this part of the holiday in Margaret River, all I wanted to do was relax in the sun. So instead of cooking dinner when I got home later in the day, I browned the meat before we went to the River Mouth so that when I got home I had less to do. The instructions say that I need to take care not to overcook the strips of steak so they remain tender and juicy. The result was a creamy, satisfying dish that had a hint of spice that went well with rice and broccoli. The whole dish was prepared and eaten just in time for Father Christmas to visit 5 highly excited boys, 1 mildly excited older girl (me) and 1 slightly confused dog!
For similar recipe go to:
http://recipes.coles.com.au/recipes/2283/beef-stroganoff/

 
Ratings:
Taste: 7
Appearance: 6
Difficulty: 6- as it was Christmas eve I had a few Santa's little helpers

Salmon en croute with Asparagus and Hollandaise Sauce

My Grandparents, Aunt and Uncle and 3 cousins have joined us for an Australian Christmas. It is very hard to cater for 12 people, especially when most of the recipes serve 4 and I have to triple the recipe. This dish was no exception. I made 12 separate portions of salmon in pastry, all with the first letter of my cousins' names on the top to stop confusion between plates! I cheated with this dish, instead of making a cream cheese sauce, I just put the dill on the salmon and wrapped it in (pre bought) puff pastry. It was a huge success. For the adults I made Hollandaise sauce to accompany steamed asparagus- peas for the kids! I found that I had to stir the Hollandaise continually after adding lots and lots (and lots) of butter! Not the best for our summer figures! Did I mention that there was a bit of butter in the Hollandaise Sauce?!
For similar recipes go to: 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/salmon_en_croute
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/asparagus_with_hollandaise_sauce/

Ratings: Salmon en Croute
Taste: 8
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 4

Ratings: Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce
Taste: 8
Appearance: 7
Difficulty: 6- the stirring hurt my arm

Mummy and Daddy's Christmas Party- Australian style

For all who know, my parents always used to have a Christmas party. In Holland it was winter and we used the snow to cool drinks down outside. Now we have brought it to a new level, we're in Australia, Christmas is in the middle of summer, and I was in charge of the food!
In total I made 8 different dishes; Profiteroles stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts, Profiteroles stuffed with Chicken Liver Pâté, Blinis with Créme Fraîche and Smoked Salmon, Gazpacho Shots, Shrimp with Mary Rose Sauce, Sausages with Mustard, Honey and Sesame Seed Sauce, Mozzarella,Tomato and Basil Bites, and to finish everyone off, Christmas Pudding with Brandy Cream. The brandy cream had too much brandy in it because of a small misunderstanding between my Mother and Father, when both separately added a generous measure for good cheer!
I started preparing the food a week in advance and have been cooking and baking since then. Having made 300 profiteroles (slightly too many!), 100 blinis and a vat of gazpacho, I have learned how to cater large quantities in advance. Oh the joys of frozen shrimp!
The two most popular dishes seemed to be the sausages and the Christmas pudding, both of which were taken in multiples of two's and three's! Although the 'Master-chef cook book' has the recipes for Chicken Liver Pâté and Profiteroles filled with Cream, the inspiration to stuff one with the other, came from the legendary wine tastings by Gerard at Le Bouchon in The Hague. Although my Parents are always supportive and complimentary about my cooking, it gave me huge confidence to receive so much praise from other adults.
It seems that I prefer to cook everything in advance. I enjoy having time before serving so that there isn't a mad panic at the end. That said, it's back to dinners and desserts, this time for 12 people once the English relatives arrive for Christmas.

Ratings:
Taste: Profiteroles stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts 8: Profiteroles stuffed with Chicken Liver Pâté 9: Blinis with Créme Fraîche and Smoked Salmon 10: Gazpacho Shots 9: Shrimp with Mary Rose Sauce 8: Sausages with Mustard, Honey and Sesame Seed Sauce 9: Mozzarella,Tomato and Basil Bites 8: Christmas Pudding with Brandy Cream 9.
Appearance: Profiteroles stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts 7: Profiteroles stuffed with Chicken Liver Pâté 7: Blinis with Créme Fraîche and Smoked Salmon 10: Gazpacho Shots 10: Shrimp with Mary Rose Sauce 7: Sausages with Mustard, Honey and Sesame Seed Sauce 6: Mozzarella,Tomato and Basil Bites 9: Christmas Pudding with Brandy Cream 6.
Difficulty: Profiteroles stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts 7: Profiteroles stuffed with Chicken Liver Pâté 7: Blinis with Créme Fraîche and Smoked Salmon 6: Gazpacho Shots 5: Shrimp with Mary Rose Sauce 3: Sausages with Mustard, Honey and Sesame Seed Sauce 4: Mozzarella,Tomato and Basil Bites 6: Christmas Pudding with Brandy Cream 5.

Chicken, sweetcorn and courgette Pasties

My family and I decided to go to the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) Christmas concert in Langley Park (just outside Daddy's office) along with 20,000 other people.  The recipe in the book was for Chicken and Parsley Pot Pie but Mummy does not like parsley and it would be easier to made small pasties than pies for a picnic.  I made the filling with a white sauce and added chicken, sweetcorn and courgettes from Mummy's garden.  They were a bit crumbly but were filling and welcome on what was a very cold and windy night next to the river.
For similar recipe go to:
http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/13218/chicken-and-vegetable-pasties.aspx

Ratings:
Taste: 7
Appearance: 6
Difficulty: 4

Wholemeal Bread

When I made the bread I cheated, instead of spending ages kneading the dough and it all taking a while. I put in all the ingredients into the bread machine and 4:30 hours later… BOOM I have a loaf of bread. It always smells amazing when you make a loaf of bread and it is done. The bread was moist on the inside and the crust was crusty on the outside.
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10121/bread-in-four-easy-steps

Ratings:
Taste: 7
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 2

Roast Pork Belly with Gratin Dauphinois followed by Orange Sorbet

Cholesterol disaster! Gastronomic delight! The advantage of having parents who can cook well, is that I am learning how to adapt the recipes in the 'MasterChef Cookery course' cook book, to fit in with a busy family weekend. The trick to fabulous crackling, is apparently to score the skin and use plenty of salt on a high temperature. Then lower the temperature right down and cook the pork belly at a low heat for a long time. I used wine instead of water (3 guesses who suggested that?!) If anyone has any suggestions for a different approach to crackling - please comment on this blog - all input welcome! There was a divide in opinions with this meat. My parents and siblings adored it, claiming it was delicious, melt in the mouth, with very crunchy crackling. Personally, it wasn't my favourite because it was just too fatty for my palette.

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/pork-belly-roast/

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 7
Just to add insult to injury, I decided to completely clog up everyone's arteries by baking sliced potatoes in milk, then in cream, which keeps them sweet and tender. I can now add 'mastering a mandolin' to my list of achievements! The fact that our mandolin requires a major in physics and mechanical engineering to assemble, again required tuition from my father, who loves all culinary gadgets! The end product was perfectly al-denté (with a little crunch) and creamy with melted gruyère on the top. To balance out this health disaster, I steamed some broccoli to serve with the meal!

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3253/ultimate-gratin-dauphinois

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 6

Although we have an ice cream machine, it wasn't cold enough to use, so I adopted the traditional method of stirring the sorbet by hand! Each individual instruction taught me something new; how to make syrup, how to whisk egg whites into soft peaks and finally how to make a sorbet. The recipe suggests adding Campari for a grown up sorbet, obviously I didn't comply! I love citrus flavours, what is your favourite sorbet flavour? Please comment.
This was very simple to make and a wonderfully refreshing end to an indulgent meal.

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8760/orange-sorbet

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 5

Stuffed Chicken breasts with mushrooms & thyme. Followed by baked vanilla cheesecake with a summer fruit coulis

Had a tennis match first thing this morning, followed by a picnic and kayak trip on the Swan River with friends.  This only left me 2 hours in which to finish these recipes. The chicken was relatively easy to make, but instead of pan frying the breasts, I baked them in the oven for a healthier and less time consuming option. The chicken breasts were large, so I cooked 3 between the 5 of us and served them in slices. To give a bit of "va va voom" to the sauce, my father advised that I add some cream to the mushrooms - yum! I served the chicken with kale and new potatoes.
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10031/mushroomstuffed-chicken-with-lemon-thyme-risotto

Ratings:
Taste: 6
Appearance: 6 
Difficulty: 5

This was a classic American style cheesecake. Very easy to make, but difficult to find genuine digestive biscuits in Australia. So I had to settle for Granita biscuits (a harder, dryer substitute). The fruit topping was delicious and cut through the sweetness of the cheesecake. Trying to photograph the final plate was a challenge, I had to try hard to stop it looking like road-kill!!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2869/new-york-cheesecake

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 5

Seared Tuna in a sesame seed crust with Tabbouleh followed by Peach Tarte Tatin

I got back from hiking on the Bibbulmun track after 5 days and 51 kilometers through the bush. Very  dirty, very stiff calves and an absolute hatred of flies! I had more free time on Saturday to cook (with the exception of a decent lie-in!) so cooked for my Parents & Grandparents - we children had homemade pizzas (made by my mother.) Bought the sashimi grade tuna from the Boat Shed, for those who don't know, this is Harrods food hall in Perth with equivalent prices! And dangerously, just a short walk from our house. The tuna was very easy to cook, once it was marinaded it took approx. 30 seconds on each side to cook, which left it very pink in the middle. Apparently, as lovely sat he tuna was, it needed a bit more 'bite', so my parents added some soy sauce. I made the tabbouleh in advance and served it at room temperature. Sadly at short notice I couldn't find bulgur wheat, so instead I used cous cous, which was equally nice and went well with the tuna.

For similar recipe go to: Tabbouleh
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/25915/super+easy+tabbouleh
For similar recipe go to: Tuna
http://www.food.com/recipe/seared-sesame-crusted-tuna-89826

Ratings: Tabbouleh                                                              Ratings: Tuna
Taste: 9                                                                                  Taste: 8
Appearance: 10                                                                    Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 2                                                                           Difficulty: 3


Peach Tarte Tatin
I cooked this dish in a special copper tart tat in dish from Normandy. This is a summery variation of a French classic, apparently mango slices would also work well. The recipe states that this should serve 6 people, but with my Grandfather at the table, it only served 4 1/2 (the 1/2 was me!) Trying to get the skin off the peach and the flesh off the stone was awkward. I also learnt, just in time, to flip the dish away from me to get the dessert out of the pan! Served a la mode!

For similar recipe go to:
http://recipes.coles.com.au/recipes/2545/upside-down-peach-tart/

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance:
Out of the oven 8
Cut up 5
Difficulty: 4

Lamb and Apricot Tagine and Mixed Berry Fool

Tomorrow I am going on school camp, hiking on the Bibbulmun track in Southern WA. We need some healthy energetic food for the long and arduous trek. We have to be at school at 6:30am so my friend Hayley is staying the night. She is celiac, so this is a perfect recipe for her because there is no gluten. The lamb is accompanied by couscous and broccoli.
We have a beautiful Le Crueset red tagine, sadly it is not big enough to cater for 8 of us (my Grandparents are still here!). I am therefore using the old faithful copper casserole dish, which is large enough to feed a rugby team! The lamb tagine tasted to me, like a cross between a curry and a sunday roast, but with lovely spices. It was definitely more stew than tagine and would benefit from the apricots being cut into smaller pieces. It was a 'nice' dinner, but not my favourite!

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/19945/lamb+and+apricot+tagine

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 6
Difficulty: 4

With this all this is happening I decided to make something nice and easy for dessert. I adapted the strawberry fool recipe from the Masterchef Cook Book and made it healthy, by swapping double cream with yoghurt. I used mixed summer fruit and topped the dish off with mulberries from the back garden. Top Tucker!

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/cook/recipe/mixed-berry-fool-20130725-2qllx.html

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 1

Shallot, Chestnut & Venison/Kangaroo Casserole and Bread & Butter Pudding

Unless you are in Margaret River it is very difficult to find Venison in Western Australia, particularly at this time of year. I decided to add an Australian twist to this recipe and use Kangaroo as an alternative meat. Well, why not? Both meats are lean and gamey, the difference being, that Kangaroo is readily available in Perth and reasonably priced! Because the kangaroo was chopped up steak, I reduced the cooking time to only 1 hour, to prevent the meat becoming too tough. The result was an absolutely delicious, earthy casserole, with pancetta and mushrooms adding to the depth of flavour. Apparently you would have been hard pressed to tell the difference between Venison and Kangaroo in the finished dish. My brothers and I were not keen on the sweet chestnuts (which were equally difficult to find!) My parents and Grandparents, however, loved them, saying that 'they added an unctuous dimension to the dish'! All in all, a great success!

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.ocado.com/webshop/recipe/venison-shallot-and-chestnut-hotpot/1000434
From what I can see, this is an identical to the MasterChef recipe.

Ratings:
Taste: 9.5 
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 4

Bread and butter pudding is a time honoured classic! This recipe called for the sultanas to be soaked in whisky, but as a non-alcoholic substitute, I used mango juice. I also used buttered cinnamon & raisin buns instead of hot cross buns. All went according to plan, apart from the fact that I forgot to put the brown sugar on top of the dish, which would have added some much needed sweetness. Arguably, it would have been nicer with some sugar in the custard that was poured over the 'bread', but then I do have an incredibly sweet tooth! The pudding rose astonishingly high in the oven, like a soufle then sank to a normal level when I brought it out! I think that this should be served with custard or ice-cream, as it was a little dry. It was very easy to make and not as stodgy as I expected, but with all that butter and cream, it was hardly the healthiest dessert in the book!

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/community/hot-cross-bun-bread-butter-pudding-recipe

Ratings:
Taste: 8 (My Grandfather rated it 12/ 10!)
Appearance: 10
Difficulty: 3

Rabbit Provençal and Oaty Summer Fruit and Apple Crumble

Rabbit is not a widely eaten meat in Perth, but as usual, the Boat Shed came up trumps. Today my Father taught me how to joint a rabbit, not my favorite experience! This recipe calls for sun dried tomatoes made in the oven, it is the first time I have done this. Put tomatoes in the oven on a low heat for 2 1/2 hours and BINGO! Sun dried tomatoes. Ironic that it is raining outside at the moment!
The end result tasted like a mixture of turkey and chicken, I might try and make it with chicken next time as there is not a lot of meat on a rabbit.

For similar recipe go to:
http://metropolitan-market.com/recipes/520/Rabbit_Proven_Atilde;_sect;al

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 5

As my Grandfather is staying and he loves all desserts, particularly crumble, I decided to spoil him and make crumble from the MasterChef cook book. As my Mother isn't mobile due to her bad knee, she nobly sat at the kitchen table and peeled a kilo of apples for me. I added wholemeal flour to the recipe to try to make it a bit more healthy! This is a very easy recipe and the whole family loved it.

Ratings:
Taste: 9.5 Average, Grandad says 11
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 2

Leek and Potato soup

Again with this recipe, I doubled up the quantities to freeze half for a later date. I had to pass the soup through a mouli, because the potato chunks were still too large after mashing. I learnt a new culinary tip; that you can't whizz potatoes, because they become starchy and gooey. This was a lovely, warm, sustaining dish, continuing my comfort food theme! As usual, please use the link below for a similar recipe, as I am only allowed to print 5 recipes from the MasterChef cookbook, due to copyright issues.

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/leekandpotatosoup_1920

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 7
Difficulty: 4

Szechuan Spare Ribs and Coleslaw

I am slowly learning that the MasterChef cook book can overcomplicate some recipes. This is one such receipe, so instead of cooking the ribs for an hour and a half in a wok, I popped them into my Mother's pressure cooker for 15 minutes and marinaded them overnight. Barbecuing the ribs in the traditional way gave a lovely smokey taste, complimenting the spicy Szechuan sauce. Ribs are a family favourite, so I was competing against some of the best rib eateries in Holland and Texas! I think I made the cut .... !

For Similar recipe go to:
http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/15417/chinese-pork-spare-ribs.aspx

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 4

Coleslaw is a perfect addition to any barbecue, fortunately both recipes are in this book. To save an enormous amount of time, I used a Magimix food processor to chop the carrots, cabbage and onion. Again I made this in advance, and added the dressing last minute. This keeps well in the fridge, and was a great wrap filler for school lunches the next day!

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/creamy-cole-slaw-recipe.html

Ratings:
Taste: 8 
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 2

The combined result!

Coq au Vin

Coq au Vin means 'Chicken in wine' en Francaise! A glorified chicken stew using lots of red wine and in my limited opinion, this recipe over complicates it. The end result was very tasty indeed, but it felt like a 'deja vu' from the Rib of Beef recipe. Lots of marinading, chopping celery, carrots, onions, mushrooms, bouquet garni etc. and lots of stages to the recipe. According to my parents, this could have been done in half as many steps - I'm living and learning! Served this with mashed potatoes, to soak up the delish sauce.
I think I will make something simple and less time consuming next!

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1913655/coq-au-vin

Rates:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 6
Difficulty: 8

Chicken Tikka Masala

This was a delicious curry, as requested by my parents! Something to do with Saturday night, a movie and a cuzza from the old days! Marinaded the chicken for a couple of hours to get a strong flavour, I thought it was a bit too spicy, but my family disagree. Seeing as everyone in my family loves sauce, I added a lot more cream. These recipes are mostly designed for 4 people, so I am finding that I have to add a little more of everything to make the dish go further. Loved the creamy richness, the heat and the vivid colour, but a devil to get out of the pans when doing the washing up!

For similar recipe go to:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/authentic-chicken-tikka-masala/

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 10
Difficulty: 5

Fish Pie

Given that this is a comfort food staple, it required a ridiculous about of utensils whilst being made. It also took me a considerable amount of time to skin the fish! The end product, however was delicious and very similar to the one I have grown up eating. I substituted hoki for haddock and added a few more shrimp for good measure. Making béchamel sauce 2 days out of 3 has meant I am getting quite comfortable making it, this bodes well for the lasagne recipe! Again not a great visual masterpiece but warm and comforting, whilst the evenings are still chilly!

For similar recipe go to:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3174/fish-pie-in-four-steps

Ratings:

Taste: 9

Appearance: 7

Difficulty: 7

Risotto Primavera

Risotto Primavera means 'Spring Risotto'. This dish was light, fresh and delicious, perfect for the time of year (in Perth). Unfortunately there was none left for lunch tomorrow, I do so love left-overs!
This was one of the most enjoyable dishes I have made so far, because it was relatively simple. I only deviated from the original recipe by using home-made chicken stock instead of vegetable. I am quite pleased to have learned the basics of a good risotto (wine and parmesan), I am told the world is my oyster as far as risotto ingredients go, but I'm not very keen on mollusks!

For similar recipe go to: (the master chef cookbook recipe didn't call for peas, but I'm sure they are a tasty addition.)
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1956/ultimate-risotto-primavera

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 3

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

This was definitely the most faffy (by the way, faffy in this incident, means incredibly time consuming and fiddly) dish I have made so far! Imagine all the elements of lasagne but add a spinach and ricotta filling for the cannelloni and then stuff it into narrow tubes (good thing I cleaned my hands properly!). My family usually laugh at my adventurous food tastes when I claim "It's not my favourite". This is euphemistic for 'I don't really like it'! Well..... this dish wasn't my favourite! however the rest of my family seemed to have seconds and thirds, so I assume that it was theirs!!

For a similar recipe go to:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17107/spinach+and+ricotta+cannelloni

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 7
Difficulty: 9

Gingerbread Biscuits

I am feeling slightly daunted about the amount of time I have and the amount of recipes I still need to do. So today I had some time, and I baked a batch of gingerbread biscuits.
Who doesn't like tea and biscuits?

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.westernstarbutter.com.au/products-recipes/gingerbread-biscuits

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 7
Difficulty: 4

Lemon Sponge Pudding

Not the healthiest choice but delicious! Possibly a bit heavy after rich lamb shanks, but what the hell? in for a penny in for a pound as they say in the UK! This seemed a very old fashioned dessert and stodgy (in a good way), but the lemon cut through the sponge beautifully. I made the pudding in my Great Grandmother's ceramic christmas pudding bowl, she would have been so proud. It would have gone beautifully with custard, but there is a limit to how much a person can consume in one evening, so we opted for ice-cream!

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/self-saucing-lemon-sponge

Ratings:

Taste: 8

Appearance: 7

Difficulty: 5

Lamb Shanks in Red Wine

Despite this taking quite a long time to marinade (24 hours) and cook, it was worth it. Absolutely delicious, melt off the bone, lamb shanks with a deliciously rich sauce.
Since there were a lot of vegetables in the sauce, I decided to keep it simple by only serving the shanks with mashed potatoes and green beans. The remainder was the base for a great Mamma Capon 'stoup' (half stew, half soup!)

This is #1 of the 5 recipes DK publishers have allowed me to quote from the cookbook (next time I'm photographing it!):

Ingredients:
- 6 lamb shanks, approx. 1.8 kg in total, excess fat and sinew removed.
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 30g plain flour
- 750 ml beef stock, plus more if needed
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 30g butter
-  1 celeriac, approx. 500g, trimmed and peeled, cut into 1 cm cubes
- 250g mushrooms quartered
- 3 tbsp redcurrant jelly
- bunch of watercress, to garnish (optional)

For the marinade:
- 2 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 tsp juniper berries
- 4 shallots, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 onions, quartered
- 2 carrots, roughly sliced
- 1 bouquet garni, made with 5-6 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, 2-3 sprigs of thyme and 1 bay leaf
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 750 ml dry red wine

1. For the marinade, coarsely crush the peppercorns and juniper berries, then tip them into a saucepan. Add the remaining marinade ingredients, bring to boil, and simmer for 2 minutes. Pour into a large dish and cool. Add the shanks, cover, and leave in the refrigerator for 1-2 days, turning occasionally. 
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/ Gas 4). Remove the lamb shanks and pat dry with kitchen paper. Strain the marinade; reserve the vegetables and liquid separately. 
3. Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole and brown the shanks all over. Remove. Add the marinade vegetables and cook, stirring frequently, for 5-7 minutes or until they start to brown. Sprinkle with the flour and cook, stirring, for 3-5 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in the marinade liquid, scraping the bottom of the pot well.
4. Return the lamb with any juices and add the bouquet garni from the marinade, the stock, and some salt and pepper. Cover and transfer to the oven. Cook the shanks, turning them occasionally, for 2-2 1/4 hours or until tender.
5. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the celeriac, and season. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Transfer to a bowl. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes or until all the liquid has evaporated and they are tender. Add to the celeriac.
6. Transfer the lamb shanks to a plate and keep warm. Reserve some of the shallots and carrots, then press the sauce through a sieve into a large pan. Whisk in the redcurrant jelly with plenty of pepper. Bring back to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until reduced by half. 
7. Add the mushrooms, celeriac and reserved carrots and shallots. Check the seasoning. Return the lamb shanks to the sauce and reheat for 5-10 minutes. Serve hot.

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 7
Difficulty: 8

Yellow Passion Fruit Cordial

Our lovely gardener, Maurice, gave us a bag of yellow passion fruit from his garden. We haven't seen them before, and now we know that they are the same flavour but much more bitter than their purple sisters! This recipe wasn't in the MasterChef cookbook, I went off piste and found a Donna Hay recipe!
This was delicious, fresh and light, perfect for the Perth summer. I may try using the syrup drizzled over the cheesecake or pavlova recipes later in the book.

For recipe go to:
https://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/passionfruit-cordial

Ratings:

Taste: 10

Appearance: 6

Difficulty: 2

Trout en Papillote

This recipe must have been a success because my 13 year old brother, Archie actually said "yum"! Trout en Papillote means 'trout in paper' in French. Although this was a great success, I'm still learning time management and organization skills, it's a work in progress!

Received a reply to my email from DK books, sadly I am not allowed to print more than 5 recipes from the MasterChef cookbook, hmmmmm, which recipes to choose? Guess I will just have to substitute from my Mother's Good Housekeeping! Such a shame, from now on I will provide a link to a similar recipe online if you are interested?

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/3074/ocean+trout+en+papillote

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 8 
Difficulty: 3

Guacamole & Brownies

Odd combination admittedly! My parent's decided to invite 2 families over with young children for an early Saturday dinner party, and this was the perfect opportunity to tick 2 kid friendly recipes off the list. Guacamole is very easy, very tasty, and very green when spilt on white sofas! The perfect pre-BBQ nibble with nachos, added more lime than indicated.

Ratings

Taste: 10

Appearance: 9

Difficulty: 1

Who doesn't like brownies? These had toasted hazelnuts in them, and obviously I used minimum 70% chocolate. Served with strawberries and ice-cream, small kids and big kids liked them equally! Considering everyone was full after the main course, there were only a couple left at the end of the evening. 

Ratings

Taste: 10

Appearance: 7

Difficulty: 4

Macaroni Cheese

With hindsight cooking in the middle of the week whilst doing homework, wasn't the best idea. May need to reconsider my time options from now on. I don't find the recipes difficult to cook, just time consuming.
The recipe called for penne instead of macaroni, used brown bread crumbs instead of white, liked the addition of garlicky mushrooms, a good midweek children's tea. This was never destined to be a MasterChef beauty, but whilst the weather is still cool, trying to cook as many winter meals as I can.

Still waiting to hear back from MasterChef about the book's copyright, so that I can write the recipes.

Ratings

Taste:  6

Appearance: 4

Difficulty: 6

Irish Stew

The Irish Stew was delicious. It was more like a soup and was very easy to make and nutritious. My Mother calls these "enthusiasm stoups", because they are half way between a stew and a soup and she chucks everything from the fridge in it! Today was my brother, Henry's 10th birthday party, so it was a busy day with 14 young boys running around the garden in zorb balls- not much time for cooking, so an appropriate recipe for the occasion.

Ratings
Taste: 9
Appearance: 4
Difficulty: 2

Roast Rib of Beef

This meal looked delicious and tasted even better! It was a scrumptious end of the week dinner. In England this is a typical Sunday lunch. I cooked the Roast Beef with roast potatoes, carrots and Yorkshire puddings. Of course no Yorkshire pudding would be complete without gravy. I have to confess, I needed a bit of help with the gravy, that was where my Father stepped in. I learnt something new, that coating the beef in mustard enhances the flavour.

Ratings
Taste: 10
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 5

Shepherds Pie and peas

This meal is a winter special, it is warm and delicious, comfort food at it's best! I added tomato puree, a tin of tomatoes and an extra onion to bulk it out. With hindsight I wouldn't have made the mince quite so runny, as the mashed potato struggled to stay afloat! I stayed at home to cook whilst my Mother and brothers went to watch what sounded like the opposite of a chick flick. Feeling noble. I'm just composing a letter to MasterChef to allow me to include the book recipes on my blog. Wish me luck!

Ratings
Taste: 9
Appearance: 3
Difficulty: 5

French Onion Soup

Today I cooked my 2nd recipe! I chose to cook french onion soup.
Since I doubled up the quantities, the recipe took nearly double the time, I also chose not to put brandy in it!
In the middle of chopping up the onions my youngest brother, Henry, came back from a camping trip and I got distracted. Chopping and peeling the onions took a long time and I wore sunglasses to stop me from crying, it didn't work! I tried wearing goggles, no more tears! I really felt like Julia Child from the movie 'Julie and Julia', surrounded by piles of chopped onions, and brandishing a large knife!
The onion soup took longer to make than I had anticipated, so we ended up eating it for lunch the next day.
Ratings
Taste: 7
The soup was too sweet for my likings, but the cheese croûtes were really nice.
Appearance: 7
The soup looked nice, if you are into french onion soup.
Difficulty: 7
The soup isn't actually that difficult to make it is just time consuming.

 

Macaroons

My first post! I made macaroons today.
I made this recipe because my friend Hayley is celiac and this recipe doesn't include wheat, instead it uses rice flour. Half way through making the macaroons, Hayley was nominated to do the ALS ice bucket challenge and we decided to do it before her Dad came to pick her up. A rather cold interruption! We had to use blanched almonds in this recipe to decorate the cookies at the end. If you want to know how to do this, you put almonds in a bowl of boiling water, leave for a minute and take them out and squeeze. It is a lot of fun to pop the almonds out of their skins and make them fly all over the kitchen!

I will rate all my recipes based on taste, appearance and difficulty. All out of ten.

Taste: 9.5
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 4