sartoric

Picnic chicken, baked not fried after the 11 secret herbs and spices 😉 with flat chips and salad. Things in a bowl, chicken on rice, baby pak choy and the last of the bag of bean sprouts. That’s 5 in a row where I’ve managed to use them all before the slime sets in !! I better give up now. Saturday night with the Carolines. Veggies, fruit, dip, cheese, note my dried mango slices from our tree.

The things in bowls series continues, this chicken has a lime, maple syrup and garlic sauce although you can barely see it. I served it on a bed of rice, simmered baby pak choy and white beech mushrooms, then topped with bean sprouts, herbs and fresh chilli. Next night, same bowl different content. This is poached chicken drumsticks in bone broth with smoked paprika, garlic, onions and herbs then deboned and served on rice. A separate salad with fennel, mango, blue cheese, baby Roma tomatoes, avocado and rocket.

I’m also dealing with an embarrassment of mangoes. This is what 5 dehydrator trays of sliced mango look like.

Things in a bowl, the almost bun cha version. Spicy pork patties on rice with white beech mushrooms, salad stuff, fresh chilli, mint and coriander all drowned in nuoc cham.

Thanks for these tips. We are expecting 39°C today, but will put the air on before it gets too hot inside. I might get an esky out to put it in. That’s easy enough to do. Thanks again.

I managed to score a proper crock at a second hand store last week. Yesterday we mandolined half a large cabbage and two fennel bulbs, massaged them with salt and crammed into the crock. Hope it works, cross fingers for me please 🙏

This week we had Friday night with the Carolines for a change. Here is a plate of smoked rainbow trout with a spread of cream cheese, yogurt with capers and garlic chives, some cornichons, lightly pickled red onion and sourdough baguette on which to build one’s tasty bite. Last night I made a salad with mango, fennel, rocket and blue cheese, dressed with a vinaigrette and scattered with toasted walnuts. Served with a lobster tail smothered in garlic butter and some more of the red onions for colour.

I just loved the one cup sakes available everywhere in Japan. Your food all looks fabulous.

We just call ‘em pies 😉

Wednesday was a favourite - chicken sausage with broccolini, chilli and garlic pasta. Thursday was a hot day, 36°C so salad was in order. Mango, avocado, cherry tomatoes on a bed of rocket, dressed with a spicy lime mixture and a few prawns for protein. There’s some bean sprouts in there too, and the mango is from our tree !

No idea, sorry. I do know they have a great flavour and are not at all stringy.

It’s mango season here. The skin looks a bit poxy, but who eats the skin. None are reachable to pick, so we wait until they fall and cut out any bruises. We share with possums and flying foxes too. The largest of these weighs 650g.

Marion Grasby’s 30 minute Thai style roast chicken with garlic rice. The sauce is made in a mortar and pestle with coriander roots, ginger, garlic, red chillies, and a few sauces. Next day, things in a bowl include roast chicken, white beech mushrooms, baby pak choy, over rice and swamped with bone broth, green onions, chilli crisp and coriander for the garnish. Yes, I bought another bag of bean sprouts. If we finish this one before the slime sets in, that will be 4 in a row. Wish me luck.

Once again I forgot I’m back posting here. So here’s a catch up. Things in a bowl with miso chicken, rice, baby pak choy and the last of another bag of bean sprouts. Roti canai using potatoes instead of chicken, smashed cucumber on the side. A cheat, seafood risotto at the local tavern which was sooo good I forgot to take a photo until partly demolished. A mixed veggie dal with rice, cucumber salad and a pappadam.

I need more info, are we talking chicken salt here ?

I don’t know what possessed me to buy a 1kg tub of Thai green curry paste, but because I have SO much, I always use TOO much. This green chicken curry was Thailand hot. The kinda hot where food cart aunty looks at your pale skin, wags her finger at you and screams TOO HOT FOR YOU !

There was a bowl of things, shredded roast chicken, baby pak choy, vermicelli noodles, crushed peanuts in bone broth. Then, another bowl of things. Laksa with prawns, tofu puffs, rice noodles, more pak choy and toppings. Note a new bag of bean sprouts. Countdown is reset.

My usual Saturday night catch up with the other Caroline changed to Friday this week. Taramasalata, dolmades, crudités and pita bread. Enough.

Pasta, egg tagliatelle with a sauce of bacon, mushrooms, garlic, chilli, and baby spinach. A sprinkle of finely chopped parsley and lashings of pecorino. I know that ‘he who must be fed’ will never say no to pasta.

Thank you, and I love the bowls too. I have a set, sort of, they’re from an Australian homewares store, and long out of stock. They belonged to my niece who died a few years ago. She had a rare genetic disease that caused next level clumsiness, so there’s 8 dinner plates, 7 side plates, 3 large bowls and only 2 of these soup bowls. She very much liked salads, her floors were tiled, and that’s why the bowls are in short supply. She would have laughed too 🤣

You’ve given me ideas here, although my panini press doesn’t open flat.

I’ve been remiss. I used the poaching broth from the previous nights meal to make another episode of things in bowls. This has wombok, thin egg noodles, leftover shredded chicken, baby bok choy, green onions and chilli crisp. My kitchen MO is sometimes like this; research intensely on YouTube and Instagram taking a little bit from each reel, then march into the kitchen armed and dangerous. This was a slow roasted boneless leg of lamb sitting on a bed of onion and garlic, heavily seasoned, rosemary strewn and white wine doused. After 3 hours at 150°C it rested while I smashed the gravy into submission using a stick blender. The veg cooked on the top shelf for about 90 minutes. Served with cucumber salad, because I always need green. Then another episode of “things in a bowl” with the addictive cabbage salad. It’s very simple, cabbage cut largish, washed and dried, rubbed with salt and chicken powder, strewn with minced garlic, crushed toasted sesame seeds and drizzled with sesame oil. A bit of leftover lamb and veggies to go with, but seriously, the cabbage is the star of this episode. And, the reason for that relatively light dinner, was this monster for lunch at the local pub.

Poached chicken in a chilli, garlic, green onion sauce with rice and smashed cucumber salad.

Sticky pork belly. It’s simmered in shaoxin wine, star anise, ginger slices and soy. Served on a bed of rice with steamed bok choy and topped with fresh chilli, green onions and toasted sesame seeds. Episode #38 in the series “things in a bowl”.

The turkey that keeps on giving, and yet another episode of “things in bowls”. I’m calling this poultry rice porridge.