Main Courses

Ramen Noodle Soup with Crispy Salmon

salmon ramen recipe
Ramen noodle soup with crispy salmon

Ramen is a delicious Japanese soup dish that is made with noodles served in a broth that’soften flavoured with soy sauce or miso. You can add any toppings you like to the broth: Sliced meat, dried seaweed or spring onions are all popular. However my favourite is pan fried crispy salmon and I can’t get enough of it! This recipe is (loosely) inspired a ramen dish that blew my mind at Wellington’s Wagamama restaurant.  Shamlessly I have attempted to rip theirs off whilst putting my own spin on it!

This recipe serves two, simply as this isn’t something my fussy seven year old eats (his eating preferences are the bain of my life), so it’s just Hot Hubby and I that scoff this back!

Note, this isn’t a good meal to serve friends, or eat on a first date: It’s pretty noisy!  (more…)

Pin It

Spice Roasted Chicken with Pumpkin and Pomegranate Molasses

Spice roasted chicken recipeSpice Roasted Chicken with Pumpkin and Pomegranate Molasses… *Contented sigh*. This Middle Eastern inspired recipe, from NZ’s delightful Dish magazine, is totally dinner party worthy and will knock the socks off your guests, or your family: Don’t feel you need to save it up!

The combination of the sweet/sour pomegranate dressing with crunch almonds, which is spooned over the chicken after cooked, makes it something oh-so-special. When I made this I doubled the recipe and we had it on salad the next night. I love leftovers…. A night off cooking = more time for blogging! (more…)

Pin It

Zucchini Slice

Zucchini sliceI love hearing about recipes that get passed down  through generations. This savoury slice of goodness was made for me by my friend Emma, who whipped this up for dinner when I was staying with her recently. This recipe has been in her family for ‘donkey’s years’ and she and her sisters all make it, with their own unique twist on the recipe.  

Bugger changing the recipe, I’m sticking to what’s below: It was fantastic and talk about easy.  (Hmmm, then again, this would be good post Christmas to use up my leftover Christmas Ham!).

 Anyhow,  as a full-time working Mum I’m a big fan of ‘biff it all together and cook it’ type food, especially when there’s likely to be leftovers for lunch.   We had this for dinner with roast chicken, homemade wedges and salad.   Guess what Emma served on the side as an accompaniment?  My Chilli Jam.  That made me smile!   (more…)

Pin It

Prawn, Pita and Salad Pile Up

Prawn Tostada Gordon RamsayYou might not know this: I really do NOT enjoy week night cooking. I find it an absolute chore: Time is limited and everyone wants my attention – and I’m so hungry after a full day of work that I’m eyeing up the corn chips and the hummus (and the baking) and my willpower is waning.  So, to get week night dinners on the table FAST there’s two ingredients I’ve just got to have on standby: Large wholemeal Lebanese Bread (of the ‘pita’ variety) and frozen prawns.  Both are super versatile and assist with getting dinner on the table in record time. (more…)

Pin It

Zoodles

image
Zoodles with meatballs and tomato and vegetable sauce (with a dollop of basil pesto on top). Tastes better than it looks…!

I feel like every time I surf the internet or pick up a magazine at the moment I’m reading about the Paleo Diet and, more specifically, Zoodles, aka Zucchini Noodles. You’ve gotta love the name ‘Zoodles’ – I can’t stop saying it. Anyhow Zoodles are simply ribbons or fine strips of zucchini, used in place of pasta. Zoodles are, I’m guessing, soaring in popularity due to being Weight Watchers, Paleo and Gluten friendly.

Seeing as Zoodles are ‘everywhere’, I figured it was a sign I should give them a bash. Convieniently I muttered these musings out loud on my Facebook page and some lovely people kindly came back with some cooking tips, which I duly adhered to (coupled with a quick poke around on Google). My thoughts on Zoodles? AH-MAZING! I’m a convert. Even Hubby gave them the thumbs up. Here’s what I did.

 

 

(more…)

Pin It

Lamb Rack with Dukkah Crust & Baked Eggplant Layer

lamb racks with dukkah crustYou know when you have a meal that’s so good, you keep thinking about it, over and over? Well, this dinner will have you re-living every forkful for a good week.

Dukkah. Contented sigh. Oh, how how I love you. Dukkah goes perfectly with lamb, and hummus, which was convenient on the night I whipped this all up as I had a couple of jars of dukkah leftover in the cupboard post Christmas and a fresh batch of hummus.  Bonus.  This Baked Eggplant layer dish was a side dish I made by chance: I had the latest Healthy Food Guide sitting on the bench as I was pondering what to cook for dinner and there it was, a picture on the cover, calling out to me as the perfect accompaniment…. I even had all the ingredients (I did tweak the recipe a little, I can’t help myself). Sublime. (more…)

Pin It

Damn Yummy Christmas Ham

SAMSUNG CSCAlrighty, not long to go till the Big Red Man comes! Time to think of Christmas Day’s menu. Well, think no further, I’ve taken the thinking out for you.  If you asked me, or my family for my best ever recipes, this is IT. Easy. It makes me happy even writing this blog post – I just wish I could capture the smell of it cooking and share it with you!  I always have a lot of ‘friends’ in the kitchen when I make this.

(more…)

Pin It