Cooking for a crowd and chocolate mousse

I get a warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach when I can provide loved ones with a tasty meal. You see, I'm slack most of the time. I'm terrible at keeping in touch with friends, my housekeeping skills are appalling, my organisational skills are 'interesting', my financial prowess is non-existant, but, I can cook. And, I think most importantly, I love it!

So when a dear friend of mine and my beloved invited us to a little soiree at his apartment for his birthday, I jumped at the chance to cook for his guests.

Dupree, as he likes to call himself and which I blogged about here, or as he is more widely known, Jamie, provides a great deal of support and friendship to my beloved, so the way I know how to show gratitude for this friendship is to cook.

And cook I did. For 25 people in fact. Arghhhhhh! This was honestly the most challenging cooking experience I've had to date. But I took the bull by the horns, got my organisational skills polished, got my head focused and did it.

The menu consisted of:

Asian style pork meatballs (GF)

Beef Rendang (GF)

Chilli con carne (GF)

Chicken and prawn wontons

Chocolate mousse shots with a blueberry flower on top (GF)

A number of the guests at the party were gluten intolerant, so after a little recipe tweaking, they were easy to accommodate and able to partake in all that I made, apart from the wontons.

As you can see from the food it was a carnivore's paradise. 

I used 3kg beef mince, 3kg chuck steak, 1.5kg chicken,
1kg pork mince, 8 chorizos, and 200g prawns

If you would like to cook up your own party storm here are some links:

• Asian pork meatballs - I used this recipe from taste.com.au. To make it GF substitute the plain flour for GF breadcrumbs (in a food processor finely chop stale GF bread to make this), and ensure you use GF soy and oyster sauce (both are easily available in supermarkets).
• Beef rendang - I used this recipe from Gourmet Traveller. I substituted the beef oyster blade with chuck steak (just make sure you give it plenty of time to cook so it is tender) and if you can't find galangal, replace it with ginger.
• Chilli con carne - I used this fabulous recipe from an awesome site called The Self-Raising Kitchen. 
• Chicken and prawn wontons - I'm afraid you will have to wait for another post on this one, as it is a secret recipe from my brother-in-law.
• Chocolate mousse - I am going to share the recipe with you below. It is from the Edmonds Cookery Book. If you are from New Zealand you will recognise the name. Basically, every Kiwi household owns this fabulous book, which was first published in 1908 and gives you simple, everyday recipes and cooking tips. My dad is a Kiwi, hence why my whole family are proud owners of this great book. In fact my mum's Edmonds book would be about 40 years old now and is well loved. I hope you enjoy this very simple and very yummy chocolate mousse recipe.

Chocolate Mousse

by Edmonds Cookery Book

serves 4-6

Deliciously light and fluffy chocolate mousse

Ingredients

150g cooking chocolate (I use dark)

4 eggs, separated

300ml cream

2tbls sugar

grated chocolate

blueberries

Method
Break chocolate into the top of a double boiler, Stir over hot water (not too hot or you will ruin your chocolate) until chocolate has melted. Allow to cool slightly. Stir yolks into chocolate. Beat until thick and smooth.

Beat cream until think. Quickly fold chocolate mixture into cream.

Whisk egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gradually add sugar, whisking until think and glossy.

Fold half egg white mixture into chocolate mixture until well mixed. Repeat with remaining egg white mixture. Pour into your individual ramekins or one large one or shot glasses as I used for a cocktail dinner. Decorate with grated chocolate and some extra whipped cream, or simply cut a blueberry into quarters, but not to the very bottom, and open it out to look like a flower like I've done.

*Tip - I used my food processor, blender and hand blender to do all the different steps so you can get it done quickly and don't have to waste time washing in between steps. Whatever you do, if you choose to only use one blender, don't leave your egg whites sitting around. They will separate and you will have watery stuff left at the bottom. Also, when you are folding the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, be gentle, as you want your mousse to be lovely and light so don't knock the good work you put into it when whisking.

Enjoy!

Beating the chill with homemade baked beans

A delicious old favourite that comes from a pot and not just a can.

Warming, comforting and tasty homemade backed beans

While the northern hemisphere is enjoying their time in the sun, the southern hemisphere is suffering through the cold. Granted, I live in Brisbane, therefore our winter is really quite pathetic. If we have a day where the temperature is below 20 degrees, we think we're about to hit another ice age and hibernation is the only way we'll survive.

Although I do defend our winters by saying that our evenings can get rather chilly, thus making the mornings ridiculously unwelcoming; especially when you are living in an old wooden Queenslander cottage breathing steam from your mouth while you are still inside the house. Brrrrrr!

I can think of nothing better during these cold winter evenings than a glass of red wine - oh who am I kidding, I mean a bottle - and something comforting in my belly to warm me up while living in my ice box.

Nothing like a bottle of red to keep you warm during a
cold winter evening

Homemade Baked Beans
Adapted from Delicous. magazine, July 2012 edition

Ingredients
2 x 400g can cannellini beans
1 onion, olive oil
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp thyme leaves
1 tbs wholegrain mustard
1 tbs brown sugar
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1 tbs cumin powder
2 tsp coriander powder
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste
600ml vegetable (or chicken) stock
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Parsley, chopped, toast/bread and butter for serving

Method
Heat olive oil in a pan over a medium heat. Cook onion, garlic and thyme, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add in spices (cumin and coriander), cook for 1 minute.

Onion, garlic, thyme, cumin and coriander cooking.
The smell is heavenly.

Drain beans and add to pan with mustard, sugar, worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, tomato paste, stock and a little salt and pepper.

Not terribly enticing at this stage but be patient, it is worth it.

Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook for about 45 minutes or until most of the liquid has gone. Check the flavour and add more salt and pepper if needed.

I will include a note here for the carnivorous folk here, i.e. me, I also chop and add two Kransky sausages to the beans. What can I say, it's the German coming out in me.

This is what your beans will look like after about
45 minutes of cooking (with sausages for the non-vegetarians among us)

Prepare your fresh bread or get your toast toasting. Ensure you have your wine topped and get ready to tuck into the tastiest and most warming homemade baked beans recipe you will find. I think it's my beloved's new favourite meal, closely followed by chilli con carne.

Enjoy!

Cooking with Goat - Goat Dopiaza (Goat Curry)

I love trying new things. I'm one of those people whose eyes light up when I look at a menu and see the name of something new and exotic that I, one, can't pronounce, and two, haven't tried before. I mean don't get me wrong, I have my old favs too. Ask my beloved, if I see calamari on the menu I find it very hard to go past it. BUT I do thoroughly enjoy breaking out of the daily grind by letting my taste buds do a little jig with new flavours.

So, when I was reading my copy of last month's SBS Feast magazine and they did a whole section on goat, once again my eyes lit up, my taste buds started to do their little jig, and my mind was made up - goat had to be cooked. Not sure how many of you have tried goat before, but I certainly hadn't.

To a good portion of the world's population, goat - or chevon as they call it in America - is not new and certainly not exotic. In fact, depending on where you get your facts from, some say it is the most widely consumed meat (New York Times and SBS Feast magazine), however I have not been able to substantiate this statement, as it looks like pork is the real winner (based on 2007 figures). But that's not what you're here for, is it!

Of course, I couldn't just cook a goat curry as I'd invited my brother and his partner (who normally live on the other side of Australia so it's always a bit of a treat having them join us for dinner), my sister and her husband and three children (one is only four months old so she doesn't eat much). However, plenty of food was required, so an Indian banquet was cooked...or at least my Austrayan version of one.

Indian banquet: Goat Dopiaza, Green Chicken Korma,
cabbage with spices and tomato, turmeric rice, cucumber raita,
pappadums (which we won't even mention the second degree
burns I got from making these) and my homemade pear chutney.

Goat Dopiaza
by SBS Feast Magazine

Goat Dopiaza
(meaning: onions twice)

This recipe is all about the onions. Feast magazine explains that piaza (or pyaaz) means onions and do means two, which explains the two different inclusions of onions in this recipe. I've also discovered from another great Indian cookbook that onions (as is pepper and garlic) helps with digestion and improves metabolism. Bring it on, I say.

Toasting cumin and coriander seeds,
chilli and turmeric powders.

Ingredients
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cm piece ginger, finely grated
3 long green chillies, seeded, chopped
3 large brown onions, 1 chopped, 2 thinly sliced
60g ghee (clarified butter)
800g boneless goat leg meat, cut into 2 cm pieces (get your butcher to bone the leg)
4 cardamom pods, bruised (this simply means smash the pod until it opens slightly as you want the flavour of the seeds inside)
4 whole cloves
1 cinnamon quill
70g natural yoghurt
Coriander leaves to serve

Great colour on this piece of Goat
from Huaff's at Market Square, Sunnybank

Method
Toast cumin seeds, coriander seeds, chilli powder and turmeric in a small frying pan over low heat for 1 minute or until fragrant. (SRKitchen tip: Once cooled I put this through my spice grinder, but the recipe says you can put it straight in the food processor.) Process with garlic, ginger, chillies and chopped onion in a food processor to a coarse paste.

Heat 1 tbs ghee in a large saucepan over high heat. Cook goat in batches, stirring for 2 minutes or until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon (or tongs) and transfer to a bowl.

Cooking goat in ghee until browned

Return pan to high heat, then add 1 tbs ghee, spice paste, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, then cook for 4 minutes or until mixture is dry. Gradually stir in yoghurt until combined, return goat to pan with 500 ml water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for 1.5 hours or until goat is tender and cooking liquid is reduced by half. (SRKitchen tip: I cooked it for about 2.5 to 3 hours and it probably could have done with a little more)

spice paste, cardamom, cloves and
cinnamon cooked until dry

Heat remaining ghee in a frying pan over medium heat. Add sliced onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir into goat curry and season with salt. Scatter with coriander leaves and serve with rice.

-recipe end-

I loved this dish and I will certainly be making it again. The goat was lovely and tender - although I could have cooked it longer still. Using lamb as a substitute would work just as well. The dish certainly has a little kick to it, which got stronger over the next few days when I had leftovers, but it wasn't over powering so don't be scared to follow the ingredient amounts.

If you want to try cooking a curry from scratch this is perfect as I don't feel it is too daunting for the uninitiated.

Go on…try it…I dare you! Oh, and let me know if you do :-)