Tomato Soup Recipe

This soup is a bit more than just tomato soup - it's really more of a lovely vegetable soup that is simply dominated by the tomatoes in it.  Those other vegetables, however, provide a delicious flavour and a beautiful creamy texture.  This soup is incredibly healthy and incredibly addictive.

Tomato Soup

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, halved

2 brown onions, roughly chopped

4 sticks celery, roughly chopped

3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock

10 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped

black pepper

salt

fresh basil leaves

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, heat 2 lugs olive oil over medium heat.    

Add the garlic and onions, stirring until glassy.  

Add the celery and carrots and stir until the carrots begin to soften slightly. 

Pour in the prepared stock and add the tomatoes.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the carrots have softened.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Let the soup cool significantly and pour into a blender.  Blend until the soup is smooth and creamy.  

Please remember that blending freshly boiled soup is a recipe for horrific third degree burns.  You've been warned.

Serve hot with a garnish of fresh basil leaves. Yum!

Spicy Pan Fried Chicken Wings Recipe

In the eternal search to find something that my son will eat and that the rest of the family finds delicious (this morning he requested a carrot with a piece of ham wrapped around it, dipped in ketchup), I came across a recipe for fried chicken wings.  My first attempt was abysmal.  My second attempt was pretty bad.  Several months later and many, many changes to the original recipe later - this is my result.

Tender, juicy and (just a little) spicy fried chicken wings.  My entire family loves them and they are a massive hit for dinner.

Spicy Pan Fried Chicken Wings

Makes 16 pieces

Ingredients

8 chicken wings

1/3 cup plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 cup breadcrumbs

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons milk

1 -2 cup cooking oil of your choice

Instructions

Firstly, to prepare your chicken wings you'll want to cut them into pieces.  This video illustrates the process beautifully.  We'll be using the "wingette" also called the "mid-joint" and the "drumettes".  The wing tips are great for feeding to your pets and will help clean their teeth.  You can also boil them to make stock.

Rinse your prepared wings in cold water and pat dry with clean paper towels.  Chicken wings that are too moist will make it difficult for the coating to stick.

In a large bag or plastic container, combine your flour, salt, garlic powder, pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika.  Add the chicken wings and toss well to coat.  Refrigerate the chicken (I leave it in the seasoning) for at least 30 minutes - preferably 2 hours.  The more chilled your chicken is before you cook it, the better the coating will stick.

Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and milk and set aside.  Pour your breadcrumbs into a bowl.  Heat your oil in a heavy pan to 165C (I use my multimeter for this, you can just as easily use a kitchen thermometer).  Much higher and your chicken will burn but be raw in the middle.  Much lower and your chicken will be greasier and the coating will not be as crisp.  This takes practice.  Lots of practice.

Once chilled, remove your wings from the refrigerator.  One at a time, dip each piece first in the egg mixture and then roll through the breadcrumbs.  If you missed any spots with the egg mixture you can apply it with a pastry brush without having to dip the entire wing back in the mixture.

Using tongs, put the uncooked chicken into the hot oil 5-6 pieces at a time.  Leave some space between the pieces.  Overcrowding the pieces will affect the temperature of the oil and give an inconsistent cook.

Cook for 6-8 minutes, then turn the chicken pieces and cook again for another 6-8 minutes.

I have overcrowded them and had to cook these a little longer because of it.

Test for doneness by cutting into the thickest part of the wing and checking for any pink meat.

Remove your chicken wings from the oil, giving them a very gentle tap on the edge of the pan to shake off a bit of the excess oil before placing them on a stack of absorbent paper towels.  This will remove even more oil.  I sometimes like to put them in a box completely lined with paper towels and give them a little shake - but I can't stand greasy food.

Serve immediately with vegetables.  Chips also go very nicely with these and you can re-use the oil!

Carrot and Ginger Soup Recipe

I'm on a ketosis diet at the moment.  Don't judge.  It works for me and my doctor knows what's up, so I'm not doing anything that is going to hurt me.  Sometimes I just need a little help getting my hunger signals under control.

Anyway, what that means is that my diet consists entirely of protein shakes and non-starchy vegetables.  It's harder to find delicious things to eat when your diet is so limited.  Harder, but certainly not impossible.

Carrot & Ginger Soup

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 lugs of olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
3 spring onions finely sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2kg (2.2 pounds) of carrots peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken stock (I use homemade chicken stock so sodium is at a minimum)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground ginger (or 1.5tbsp freshly grated ginger)
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 tbsp whole almonds

Instructions

In a medium saucepan over a low flame, heat your olive oil.  Add to the pan the garlic, spring onion and yellow onion and toss with a wooden spoon until glassy.

Add the carrots, giving them a good stir to coat them in the olive oil, garlic and onions and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sprinkle in the nutmeg, ginger and pepper - stir for another minute or until fragrant.

Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the carrot is tender.  Remove from heat.

When the soup has cooled significantly, place into a blender with the almonds to puree (or use a stick blender).  Do not attempt to blend the soup while it is hot unless you're a masochist and you really love getting horrific burns and boiling soup on your eyeballs.  It isn't pleasant.

Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream, a garnish of chives and a sprinkling of pepper.  Goes nicely with a slice of lovely crusty bread.

For people trying to watch their waistline, this is also a really healthy dinner when served without sour cream or bread.

Per serving:

Calories		182.8
Total Fat		8.8 g
	Saturated Fat	1.0 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.5 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	5.9 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		499.1 mg
Potassium		740.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate		23.5 g
	Dietary Fiber	6.9 g
	Sugars	9.5 g
Protein		4.5 g

Australian Meat Pie Recipe

The Australian meat pie wasn't something that I encountered or had even heard of until I got here.  We had pot pies in the United States but those are extremely different to a meat pie.  Pot pies are something like a thick meat and vegetable stew in a crust whereas a meat pie is meat and gravy in a crust.  It's hard to explain how different it is - but it's very, very different.

Traditionally meat pies are made into little single serving pies - but they can also be made into larger pies for a whole family to share - this is the type that I made.

Australian Meat Pie

Makes 2 large family pies

Ingredients

Filling:

olive oil
2 diced onions
1kg beef mince
2 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
1.5 cups tomato sauce (what Australians call ketchup)
2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
2 teaspoons Vegemite

Crust:

500g plain flour
250g chilled, unsalted butter, cubed
2 eggs, cold
2 tablespoon icewater
2 pinch salt (or 1/8 tsp, whichever you prefers)

Instructions

Crust (do this first as it must chill):

Place your flour, butter and a pinch of salt in your food processor.  Blend until the combination looks like bread crumbs.  There should be no significant chunks of butter left.

Whisk together the egg and icewater.  Add to the food processor while it is running and continue mixing until the mixture comes together.

Remove from the food processor and turn out onto a counter or cutting board.  It should not stick to the surface even if it is unfloured.  Bring it together into a ball and flatten it with your hands or a rolling pin until you have a disc.  Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for chilling.

Shortcrust pastry must be chilled before baking.  The colder it is immediately before you pop it in the oven, the crispier your result.  Generally you would chill this disc for 2 hours.  Since heat transfer is linear, the thinner the object, the faster it will chill.  If you are in a hurry - flatten the dough as much as possible.  I roll mine out to 5mm thickness and chill it for 20-30 minutes.

Filling:

In a large saucepan, put a couple lugs of olive oil into the pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and stir until lightly browned.  Add the beef mince and break up, browning.

Meanwhile, separate 2 tablespoons of your beef stock into a small bowl and stir through 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to make a thick paste.  Add back into the rest of the beef stock and bring to a boil in a medium saucepan along with the rest of the filling ingredients (sauces and Vegemite).  When the sauce is hot and has thickened, turn heat off and set aside.

Drain the excess oil from your browned beef mince and onion and stir the prepared sauce through the mince.  Let cool completely (putting a hot sauce into your pie crust will make the butter in it melt before it hits the oven, leaving you with a chewier crust that isn't as crisp).

To assemble your pie:

Preheat oven to 220C

Spray or coat a standard pie dish with oil.  Roll out your pastry to 1/4 inch (6mm) thickness.   Place your pie dish upside down over the pastry and with a sharp knife cut all around the edges of the pie dish - allowing one extra inch of pastry for the sides.  Set this round aside.  Roll out another piece of pastry that will cover your pie.  Place the pie tin down onto the pastry and this time cut flush to the edge all the way around.  You now have your top crust and bottom crust.

Place the bottom crust into the bottom of the pan.  Form to the bottom and sides and trim any excess.

Fill the crust with your cooled pie filling all the way to the top.

Brush milk or water along the edges of the crust - this will help the two crusts stick.

Place your top crust on top of the filled pie and press all along the edges.

If you're feeling insane you can add an incredibly sad cow with some scrap pastry.  He looks mournful - like this pie was baked using his brother.  It probably was.  His brother was delicious.

Coat your pie crust in an egg wash and we're ready for baking.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.  Your pie is finished when the crust is a lovely golden brown and your sad cow looks mournful AND brown.

I shall name him Beefy.  His depression was tasty.

Cut into slices and serve to your hungry family!

This recipe will make 2 pies which will feed 6-8 people each.  To freeze a pie - simply complete the steps but wrap and freeze prior to baking.

Pizza Pops Recipe

My son's birthday is coming up and I wanted to make as much as possible by myself since we're on such a strict budget.

I decided to make these lovely pizza pops!

They're super easy to make and kids love them.

First, the pizza dough.

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1.5 cups self-raising flour
1/8tsp (or a pinch) of salt
1 egg
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup milk

Instructions

Place your self raising flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre.

In another bowl, beat together the egg, olive oil and milk.  Pour into the well in your flour and stir until thoroughly combined.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until the dough has reached an even consistency.

Pizza Pops

Ingredients

Prepared pizza dough
100g diced ham
100g mozzarella
100g crushed pineapple, drained well
1 jar tomato-based pasta sauce

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 220C

Press your dough out into a rough, rectangular shape about 1/2 inch thick that is about twice as long as it is wide.

Cut the dough into 1/2 inch wide strips.  Roll each strip into little discs - you may have to press them down as you do this to avoid creating cones from your dough as it will attempt to push upward.

Top each disc with a little pasta sauce, pineapple and ham and then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.  Repeat until all have been prepared.

Place mini pizzas on a lightly oiled baking sheet or on wax paper and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted.

When cooled slightly, press a kitchen skewer up through the bottom of the pizza pop careful not to go all the way through (or it will just slide down).

Voilà!  Pizza pops.

How many this makes will depend on how thin you cut your strips and how long your rectangle is to begin with.  Mine made about 15.