Category Archives: Grilled

Crumble Fish and Salsa

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My third finale main dish for Christmas lunch is a delicious crumble fish with salsa.  The fish is marinated with lemon, rosemary and coasted in bread crumbs.  The salsa salad is a combination of tomatoes, red chilli, coriander and cucumber.



   Fish crumble you will need:

Two large snappers

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon rosemary 

1 lemon  juice

I teaspoon lemon zest

Salt and peer to season

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Place the rosemary and lemon zest in the breadcrumbs.  

Squeeze the lemon on the fish, season with salt and pepper.  Coat the fish in the bread crumbs.

Line a baking tray with non stick paper and place the fish on the tray.  

Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

To make the salsa you will need.

250g cherry tomatoes

1 red chilli

125g fresh coriander leaves.

1/2 a lemon juiced

Salt and pepper to season.

Method

Chop the tomatoes in half. chop the chilli, chop the coriander.

In a salad bowl add the ingredients and season with salt. pepper and lemon juice. Mix well.

Beef log with Quinoa Salad

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Another simple Christmas lunch idea.  The meat is marinated in  red wine vinegar, cumin, ground fennel and chili flakes.  The fennel brings out the flavour of the meat.  The quinoa salad takes less than thirty minutes to prepare, cook the quinoa, add spinach,  nuts and drizzle red wine vinegar,  The red wine chilli sauce is a great sauce to drizzle over the beef and salad. 

To make this juicy beef log you need:

2.5kg beef log

2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 tablespoon ground coriander

Method

In a large bowl add the vinegar, oil, soy sauce and spices.  Mix well.

Pour the marinade over the lamb and season with salt and pepper.  Cove the meat with cling wrap and place in the fridge and leave overnight.

Preheat oven to 220 degresss

Place meat in the baking tray and cook for 1 to 1.5 hours or to your liking.   

Remove the meat and let it rest for ten minutes than slice.

Tip

Before cooking the meat, make sure it is at room temperature after removing it from the fridge.

 

Quinoa Salad

The quinoa salad is a simple dish to make.  All you need:

1 cup Quinoa

Handful of spinach

1/3 cup olives

Handful of walnuts

Handful of dried cranberries

Method

Cook quinoa according to packet instructions.

Once quinoa is ready and cooled remove a salad plate and place the quinoa, spinach, olives, nuts and cranberries and mix.

To make the red wine vinegar chilli  sauce you need:

1/2 red wine vinegar

1 red chilli

salt and sugar to season.

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix.  Taste to your preference.  

 

Chicken Tikka and Vegetables

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Christmas is usually a stressful time for the one’s who are cooking.  To ensure a relaxing Christmas, make dishes that are simple and delicious.  This recipe is simply to prep and all you have to do is put the chicken and vegetables in the oven and go and enjoy the day.  

To make the chicken Tikka you need to buy good quality Tikka paste instead of making one.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

2 tablespoon Tikka Curry paste

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Rub the paste over the chicken and let it stand for half an hour.

Place Chicken on a baking dish and cook for two hours or until cooked through.

Tip

To check if Chicken is cooked, poke the thighs with a skewer if it is clear than it is cooked.  

To make the Tikka vegetables you need the same Tikka paste you used for the chicken and red wine vinegar.

Ingredients

750 g baby potatoes halves

1 large cauliflower chopped in florets

250g Brussel sprouts halves

Coriander to garnish.

1 tablespoon tikka curry paste

Red vinegar to drizzle

To make  the Tikka vegetables

Preheat oven to 180 

In a baking dish add the paste, vegetables and red wine vinegar amd combine.

Place in the oven and bake for an hour or until vegetable are tender and crispy.

Tip

If you are cooking the chicken and vegetables together.  Half way through the chicken cooking time add the vegetables in the second oven tray. 

To make the cucumber sauce

Chop cucumber, add yogurt, and a squeeze of lemon.

To make the red wine vinegar sauce.

Add red wine vinegar, salt and sugar and mix.  Taste to your preference.  

The asparagus salad will take less than ten minutes to make.

Ingredients

250g Asparagus

handful of walnuts

Handful of pine nuts

Handful of dried cranberries

Red wine vinegar to drizzle 

Method

Blanch asparagus for 5 minutes in boiling water.

Drain Asparagus

On a salad plate add the Asparagus , nuts and cranberries and drile with red wine vinegar.  


Potato and Pea Cutlets

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I changed my mum’s Meat Cutlets recipe to Potato and Peas Cutlets. When I was younger my mum made a similar dish.  She added mince meat and potatoes.  Rolled it into a ball and  coated it in eggs and bread crumbs and deep fried the cutlets.

I changed the recipe to a healthier version.   Instead of deep frying I baked it in the oven.  Replaced the meat and added peas and spinach and coated it in egg and breadcrumbs.

Ingredients

100g mashed potato

100g baby peas

1 cup spinach

30g bread crumbs

1 egg beaten

 

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C and line tray with baking paper.

Boil the peas and place in a bowl and gently mash the peas.  Don’t mash them to much.

Chop spinach and add to the bowl.

Add the mash potato.

Mix the ingredients until combined and roll them into 3-4 balls.

Remove two plates.  In one plate place the beaten eggs and another plate place the bread crumbs.

Coat the mixture in the egg and then the breadcrumbs.  Coat evenly.

Place in the baking tray and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

 

Note 

This dish serves 1

Use frozen mash potato and peas.

To make the mash potato healthier do not add cream or milk.  Leave the potato plain.

 

Try these potato dishes

Lamb Cutlets with Spicy Potatoes

Pea and Potato Curry

Mustard lamb with Cauliflower and Potato Mash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beef Patties with Mashed Potatoes

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This were the tastiest mash potatoes I ever made, baked the potatoes the same way I made the pumpkins in the   Pumpkin Mash and Steak dish.  Baked the potatoes in the oven instead of boiling them.  Added the rosemary, garlic, black pepper and salt to the potatoes.

The beef patties were yummy, marinated mince with garlic, onion, Italian herbs, red chillies, black pepper and seasoned with salt.

Made a simple tomato sauce to have with the mashed potatoes and beef parttiie.

 

Ingredients

To make the beef Patties

500g mince meat

1 small onion

4 garlics cloves

¾ inch ginner

½ red chilli

1 tbsp. Italian herbs

1 tsp black pepper

salt to season

1 tbsp. olive oil

 

To Make Mash Potatoes

500g  baby potatoes halved

1 tbsp. fresh rosemary leaves

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 garlic crushed

I tsp. black pepper

pinch of salt

 

To make the Tomato Sauce

1 onion

1 large capsicum

4 garlics cloves crushed

400g canned tomatoes

½ cup basil

½ red chilli (optional)

tbsp. oil

1½ cups water

Season with salt and pepper.

 

Method 

To make the Beef Patties

In a blender add the onions, ginner garlic, herbs chilli and black pepper. Blender until it’s almost a puree,  In a bowl add the meat and spice mixture and combine.  Let it marinate for two hours or more.

Heat a char grill pan. Reduce heat to medium and  add the olive oil.   Make six round Pattie balls and place them on the char grill pan.  Cook both sides for 20 minutes or to your liking.

To make Mash Potatoes

Preheat oven to 200ºC

In a bowl, add the olive oil, rosemary, garlic, black pepper,  salt and mix.  Add the potatoes and combine.

Layer a sheet of aluminum foil and non sticking baking paper on a baking tray, place potatoes on the foil.  Add another foil paper over the potatoes and fold the foil to make a parcel and place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes.

Once ready, use a masher to mash the potatoes.

 

To make the Tomato Sauce

Heat a saucepan on medium heat with olive oil. Add the onions, capsicum, chilli and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until soft.

Add the canned tomatoes and cook for two minutes. Add water and bring to the boil,  Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until sauce is thick,

Chop basil and stir through and put heat off.

 

Notes

The dish serves 2-4

You can have the beef patties as a burger or in a sandwich for lunch.

 

Try these Mash or Patties Dishes

Mustard lamb with Cauliflower and Potato Mash

Grilled Beef and Mushroom with Broccoli Mash

Chicken and Vegetable Patties with Kale Salad

 

 

 

 

 

Spicy Chicken Wings

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It’s interesting how a one spice mixture can be versatile.  Had first used this mixture to make spicy potatoes in the Lamb Cutlets with Spicy Potatoes recipe, then used the same spice to make the Spicy Sweet Potato and Chicken Wings.  Last Saturday I made spicy chicken wings with the same ingredients. Unlike the sweet potato and potatoes, I marinated the chicken wings for an hour and placed the lemon juice on the wings before baking.

Ingredients

10 chicken wings

¼ cup olive oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp turmeric

¼ tsp chili flakes (add more for a Spicer kick)

1 clove garlic crushed

2 tbsp. lemon juice

 

Method

In a bowl add the oil and spices and mix. Place the chicken wings in the bowl and mix with the spices.  Let it rest for an hour.  Feel free to leave it longer.

Preheat oven to 180ºC.

Line baking tray with none stick baking paper.

Add the lemon juice to the chicken wings before baking.  Place chicken wings  on the tray and bake for 30  minutes or until crispy.

Serve with salad.

 

Note

Serve 2

If you don’t have mustard seeds, use mustard powder.

 

Try these dishes, They use the same ingredients.  

Chicken Schnitzel and Lamb Cutlets with Spicy Potatoes

Chili and Honey Barbeque chicken and Spicy Grilled Steak

 

 

 

Turmeric Chicken and Carrot Noodle

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Not only is carrot good for your eye sight and a good source of Vitamin A.  It also helps boost your immune system, has carbohydrates, iron, vitamin K and is one of my favourite vegetables.  The carrot noodles goes well with the turmeric chicken which is marinated in coconut milk and turmeric.  I made a lemon dressing to compliments this dish.

Ingredients

To make the Turmeric Chicken

4 chicken thighs

2 cloves of garlic

31.25 ml of coconut milk

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp fish sauce

To make the Carrot noodles

2 carrots

50g dried vermicelli noodles

To make the Lemon dressing

62.5 ml lemon

30 ml fish sauce

I tbsp. honey

 

Method

To make the turmeric chicken

Preheat oven to 180ºC

Add the turmeric, fish sauce, garlic and coconut milk in a bowl,  Mix well and coat chicken.  Wrap the bowl with cling wrap and keep in the fridge for two hours or overnight.

Place chicken in the oven and roast for 25 minutes or until cooked.

 

To make Carrot noodles.

Use a potato peeler to make the thin noodle shape for the carrot noodles.

Boil water.  Once the water is boiled add the carrots and vermicelli noodle in a sauce pan.  Boil for 1 minutes and run it through cold water to stop it from cooking.

To make Lemon dressing

Add the lemon, fish sauce and honey in a bowl and mix.

In a bowl add the noodles, slice the chicken and drizzle the lemon dressing over the chicken and noodles.

 

Note

This dish serves two

I didn’t add salt because the fish sauce is salty for me.  Feel free to add salt.

Don’t pour all the lemon dressing on your noodles, pour a bit and taste, if you want more add.

Use a grill pan instead of the oven.

If the chicken is too much, use it to make a sandwich the next day.

 

Try these lime recipes

Chilli Lime Chicken and Stir Fried Rice

Lamb Larb

Kaffir Lime Panna Cotta with Tropical Fruits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roast Beef

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After my success with Roast Chicken I tried roast beef.  This time round, I didn’t add Indian spices, placed Italian herbs instead.  It was delicious and enjoyed the process.

Ingredient

I kg beef

1 tbsp..  rosemary leaves

1 tsp. basil leaves

1 tsp. thyme leaves

Salt and pepper for seasoning

1 tbsp. olive oil

 

Method

Mix the herbs with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Marinate for 2-4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 180ºC

Place beef in a baking tray and cover with foil.  Add the beef in the oven and cook for 1½ hours or until cooked.  (I prefer my meat well done, therefore it takes longer,  check your meat earlier if you want it rare or medium rare.).

 

Note

Try these dishes

. Roast Chicken

Roasted Pumpkin and Beef

Pumpkin Mash and Steak

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roast Chicken

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Made roast chicken for the first time.  I usually roast chicken highs, breast, or drumsticks but never a whole bird.  One of the things I learnt about roasting a whole bird is that it is quiet simply, you marinate it, put it in the oven for 1½ hours and you are done.

Ingredients

½ a tsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp. paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 clove of garlic crushed

1 lemon

2 tbsp. olive oil (add more if it is to lumpy)

Salt and pepper

720g baby potatoes

 

Method

Add the garlic, smoked paprika, paprika, cumin, coriander, pepper and salt in a bowl add the olive oil.  Mix to a smooth paste. Pour on the chicken and massage and marinate for 4 hours or longer.  Place chicken in the fridge. (You can even do it the night before.)

Pre heat oven to 180°C.

Remove the chicken from the fridge and squeeze lemon over the chicken.  Massage chicken with the lemon juice.  Place a piece of lemon in the cavity.

Place the chicken  in a baking dish, breast facing upwards, and wrap aluminum foil over the chicken so the spices don’t burn.  Bake chicken for 1½ hours. or until cooked through.  Press skewer through chicken thighs to check if the thigh juice runs clear,  If it runs clear it is cooked.  Leave chicken outside to rest for 15 minutes, uncovered.

Bake potatoes for 30 minutes or  until crunchy in a separate dish.

 

Note

Serve 4

Feel free to use Italian herbs or other vegetables.

 

Try these grilled dishes

Roast Beef

Chicken Tikka with Steamed Veggies

Chili and Honey Barbeque chicken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Mash and Steak

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I never realised that making mash from grilled pmpkin would taste delicious. Instead of boiling pumpkin to make your mash, grill the pumpkin for a tastier flavour.  I seasoned my steak with Moroccan spices and roasted baby tomatoes and added spinach.

Ingredients  

2 cups chopped pumpkin

2 scotch beef fillets

1 tbsp olive oil

Olive oil spray

10 baby tomatoes

Handful of spinach

1 tsp Moroccan spices

Salt and pepper

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Layer a sheet aluminum foil on a baking tray, place pumpkins on the foil and season with salt and pepper.  Fold the foil to make a parcel and place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes.

Ten minutes into your pumpkin cooking time. add the tomatoes on the baking tray and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Once pumpkin is ready add ½ a tsp of olive oil and mash the pumpkin.

Season the steak with  ½ a tsp of oil, salt, pepper and Moroccan spices.  Add a grill pan on a high heat.  Once pan is hot, spray with olive oil.

Add the steak on the grill and cook for 3-4 minutes or to your liking.

On a plate, place spinach, mash and steak with the tomatoes.

 

Notes

This dish serves 2

If you are worried about the steak being raw or burning reduce the heat to medium high.

Try these Pumpkin recipes

Roasted Pumpkin and Beef

Spicy Grilled Steak