Roast Rack of Lamb accompanied by Puy Lentils & Goats Cheese Salad

This was the first meal in a while where I haven't had to triple the recipe - I did have to double up, however, but it is much easier making dinner for 7 than for 12! I love all lamb meat, but especially this cut, which is unfortunate, because it is very pricey! Usually when preparing a rack of lamb, you have to trim the bones to prevent them from burning in the oven, it also looks more attractive. Great thanks to the 'Boatshed', who had already prepared the meat and I didn't have to go through that process! Given the exorbitant cost of this cut, great care needed to be taken and I had to pay particular attention to the recipe. Under the watchful eye of my father, I took the lamb out of a 200C oven after 30 minutes, rather than the required 40 minutes and let it rest under foil. The result was 3 delicious medium-rare cutlets each.
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1239/roast-rack-of-lamb-with-rosemary

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 4

The recipe in the Master Chef cookbook, serves the lamb with flageolet beans, which are a) difficult to find in Australia and b) too hot to serve for an Australian summer's dinner! The lentil salad was simple to make. The lentils came out of a can and I substituted roasted aubergine (eggplant) for the carrots. Olives and goats cheese were scattered on the top. To continue the Middle-Eastern feel of the meal, we served an Ottolenghi (my mother's favourtie chef!) Spiced Chickpea and Fresh Vegetable Salad and a Minted Yoghurt Sauce.
For similar recipe go to: 
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1755649/warm-roasted-squash-and-puy-lentil-salad

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 7
Difficulty: 6

Tray Baked Salmon fillets with Baby Leeks with Sun-dried Tomato Dressing followed by Strawberry Tart

My parent's bought salmon for dinner tonight.... I looked through my cookery book twice and there are no more Salmon recipes left to complete! so I decided to do an accompanying dish. With a top temperature today of 44.4C, we needed something relatively light!
Australia doesn't have baby leeks, only large ones. Fortunately, my mother has a vegetable garden and has grown some leeks, even more fortunately, these haven't grown very large - probably due to limited water and the severe heat. The recipe said to blanch the leeks for 2 minutes, then roast them. Sadly I over 'blanched' the leeks and therefore decided not to roast them for fear of them disintegrating! I added the sun-dried tomatoes, olives and oil afterwards. This went very well with the salmon and boiled new potatoes.
For similar recipe go to:
www.msn.com/en-au/foodanddrink/recipes/roasted-baby-leeks-with-tomato-dressing/fd-df75c755-87ee-525e-8dec-486b325f5178

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 4

I can now add 'making Crème Pâtissière' to my resume. Lucky for me that strawberries are on special offer in Woolworths at the moment. The appearance of the tart took a while to perfect and I wanted it to look as good as it tasted. The Crème Pâtissière needed quite a bit of attention and my arm ached after whisking it continually to prevent lumps appearing! Next time I make something similar to this, I am going to try and make my own pastry and not use shop bought - but it did save me time!

For similar recipe go to:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2315245/Great-British-Bake-Off-winner-John-Whaite-reveals-make-delicious-pastry-puddings.html 

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 6

Spanish Omelette

Lunch today was the last meal where there were 12 of us. My 3 cousins, Aunt and Uncle sadly left today for the long journey back to the UK. Spanish Omelette is also called a 'tortilla' and contains potatoes, courgette, peas and meat such as chorizo and chicken, served open rather than folded. This dish would be great for using up left-overs from the fridge. After cooking the omelette on the stove I placed it under a hot grill to melt the cheese and brown the top. This recipe isn't hard, it is just time consuming because you have to chop up everything and cook it before you can put it into the omelette. Great served warm for lunch with a fresh green salad.
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2738/real-spanish-omelette

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 5

5 Spice Duck with Green Beans with Toasted Hazelnuts

I spent most of today watching Christmas movies to try and get into the Xmas spirit. To me, it still just feels wrong to have this special holiday in the Perth summer heat. Is it just me or does any other expat feel the same?
My Grandmother has an old Yorkshire saying "there's only three people can eat from duck; thee, me and duck". No one quite understands it and it is the topic of much discussion and and angst, but we laugh anyway!
Again, this was quite an easy recipe. I adapted the recipe a bit from duck breasts, which are very expensive in Perth, and used 2 whole ducks, as we had them in the freezer. I rubbed Chinese 5 Spice onto the skin of the ducks and pricked the top with a sharp fork, which releases the (huge amount of) fat. I roasted the duck for 1 1/2 hours and then came the boning.... Yes I can now also add this to my culinary resume! Boning the duck was surprisingly easy and fun with a pair of chicken shears!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fivespiceduckbreasts_90212

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 7
Difficulty: 6

Cooking the green beans was particularly easy and necessary to complement the rich duck. The toasted hazelnuts added an earthy crunch to the meal but didn't go well with my newly tightened braces!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Green-Beans-with-Toasted-Hazelnuts-105816

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 2

Spatchcocked Chicken followed by Sachertorte

WOW! A sharp learning curve that required sharp poultry shears! To spatchcock a chicken, I had to cut either side of the backbone, remove it, flip the chicken over and crush the body by pressing down on the middle. (The backbone made a delicious stock!) Brutal yet satisfying, especially whilst skewering the chicken from left leg to right wing and vice versa.......times 3! I marinaded the chickens for 1 hour and used the remainder to brush over the meat on the BBQ. It took about an hour to cook including resting time. The chicken was beautifully moist with a chargrilled crisp skin. We served the meal outside with roasted cauliflower, tomato and onion salad and potato salad. A perfect summer meal for 12!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2186/spatchcock-barbecue-chicken

Ratings:
Taste: 10
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 6

Sachertorte is a specific, dense, bittersweet type of chocolate cake (or torte), invented by 16yr old Austrian 'Franz Sacher' in 1832 for Prince Wenzel von Metternich in Vienna. It is one of the most famous Viennese culinary specialties. The 5th of December is National Sachertorte Day (there actually is such a thing!) On that evening in 1832, Franz was in the mood for something dainty and made his famous chocolate cake that was the origin for a confection business and the Hotel Sacher.
Sachertorte is a cake with lots and lots (and lots and lots) of dark chocolate. The cake has a shiny and smooth finish with 'Sacher' piped on the top also with chocolate. To achieve this you have to spread the chocolate glaze while it is still warm; if it cools too much it will thicken. I had a special girly day with my grandmother and stayed at home and mastered the Sachertorte. Neither Granny or I had made one before, so we followed the recipe and made no changes. I am printing my 2nd allowed recipe from the Masterchef Cookbook (I am only allowed to print 7 in total due to copyright restrictions)

Ratings:
Taste: 6 (it was a bit overdone)
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 8

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