George's Prawn Saganaki

George's Prawn Saganaki

 

Saganaki (Greek σαγανάκι, literally little frying pan) refers to various dishes prepared in Greek cuisine and is named after the single-serving frying pan in which it is cooked.

One popular example is an appetizer of pan-seared cheese. The cheese used in saganaki cheese is usually kefalograviera, kasseri, kefalotyri, or sheep's milk feta cheese. Regional variations include the use of formaella cheese in Arachova and halloumi cheese in Cyprus. The cheese is melted in a small frying pan until it is bubbling and generally served with lemon juice and pepper. It is eaten with bread.

Other dishes that are traditionally cooked in the pan include shrimp saganaki (Greek γαρίδες σαγανάκι), and mussels saganaki (Greek μύδια σαγανάκι), which are typically feta-based and include a spicy tomato sauce

 

This is a recipe that George the Barber, located in Nicholson Street in Fitzroy shared while giving a "short back and sides" in early 2000. There are other variations but this is his one. No proportions, because that's his style......

 

Spring Onions

Onion

Crushed garlic

Prawns (Sorry M)

Tomato paste

Diced tomatos (can be canned, but fresh with seeds removed is better)

 

 

1) Fry finely chopped onion

2) Add tomatos and tomato paste

3) Allow to simmer/bubble on low to med heat until sauce thickens (and concentrates

4) Sit shelled prawns on top of sauce and allow them to cook (change colour) for a few minutes (don't overcook)

5) Transfer saucey mixture to a warmed oven dish (won't be in the oven long enough in the next step to heat up and your masterpiece will be too cool)

6) Sprinkle with crumbled Fetta and chopped spring onions, then grill until cheese starts to turn golden.

7) Serve warm with bread and hey! why not a bit of wine too eh?

 

 

Zuchinni Curry

 

Ingredients:

 

About 500g zuchinni, sliced into circles

1 medium onion sliced

1 clove garlic, minced or chopped finely

About 1 tsp ginger, minced or chopped finely

2 medium tomatoes, sliced

3 tbs oil

1 tsp chilli powder

2 tsp fenugreek seeds**

A handful of coriander leaves

 

1. Heat the oil in the pan, and add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli powder. If you are brave, feel free to add some finely chopped fresh chillies at this point too. Fry off for a few minutes until the onions are soft, and the chilli powder is well combined.

 

2. Add the zuchinnis to the pan, and combine well for another few minutes.

 

3. Add the tomatoes, fenugreek seeds and coriander leaves. Add salt to taste. Combine well, and allow the mixture to cook for about 10 minutes. If the zuchinnis don't look full cooked through, then put a lid on the pan, and let it stew for a few minutes.

 

4. Once it is done, remove from heat and serve with rice or chapatis :-)

 

** Fenugreek seeds are this small squarish yellow spice. It has a wonderful, nutty flavour. Can be found at all good Indian shops :-)

 

 

'Sausage' Rolls

So I'm being slightly cheeky, and trying to make you convert to vegetarianism… hehe.. But I've even had carnivores tell me that these 'sausage' rolls are a winner :-)

To make the 'sausage' filling, mix the following:

 

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup pecans, chopped finely (I actually use whatever combination of nuts I have available, pecans, walnuts, peanuts, almond meal!)
• 1 medium to large onion, finely chopped
• 1 vegetable stock cube (I have often substituded this for random 2 minute noodle flavouring sachets that have been floating around)
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 250g cottage cheese
• 1 cup rolled oats
• ½ cup breadcrumbs

 

Thaw out some puff pastry and cut it in half, into two rectangles. Spoon a line of the non-sausage mix down the centre third of each rectangle and gently roll up. Slice the rolls into halves, thirds or quarters and cut some diagonal slits along the top. You can repeat and assemble the lot now, or just do as many as you want to eat and freeze the remaining mix for later.

 

Glaze the sausage rolls with milk, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 200 deg for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gazpacho

Ingredients

Serves 4

100g slightly stale crusty white bread, soaked in cold water for 20 mins
1kg very ripe tomatoes, diced
1 ripe red pepper and 1 green pepper, deseeded and diced
1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
150ml extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp sherry or red wine vinegar
Fresh parsley

Salt, to taste

Method

1. Mix the diced tomatoes, peppers and cucumber with the crushed garlic and olive oil in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Squeeze out the bread, tear it roughly into chunks, and add to the mixture.

2. Blend until smooth, then add the salt and vinegar to taste and stir well.

3. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, then cover and refrigerate until well chilled.

4. Serve with fresh parsley, freshly chopped chilli or a couple drops of Tabasco.

Crisp pork belly with caramel vinegar

 Source: The Age. Tuesday January 29, 2008

Ingredients

Serves 6

Pork Belly

• 1.5kg pork belly
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper

Caramel vinegar

• 1/2 cup (115 g) brown sugar
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) red wine vinegar
• 2 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup (250 ml) chicken stock
• juice of 1 orange
• 4 wide strips of orange peel
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Serve with steamed rice & asian greens (bok-choy for example).

Method

Pork Belly

Score the skin of the pork belly in a criss-cross pattern with a sharp knife. Rub the sea salt into the pork skin and set aside for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220C. Wipe the salt off the pork skin with kitchen paper and dry well. Drizzle a large roasting tin with oil. Put the pork belly in the tin skin-side down, drizzle with a little more oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast for 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 190C and roast for another 1 1/2 hours. Carefully turn the pork over and roast for another 20 minutes, or until the skin is crisp.

Caramel vinegar

Put the sugar, vinegar, star anise and cinnamon in a small saucepan and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, or until syrupy.

Stir in the chicken stock and simmer for another 5 minutes, or until slightly reduced. Add the orange juice and peel, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently until thick and syrupy. Season to taste.

Remove the pork from the oven, cover loosely (or it will not be crispy) with foil and set aside to rest for at least 15 minutes. Slice the pork and drizzle with the caramel vinegar. Serve with steamed rice, a steamed Asian green vegetable and some freshly chopped red chilli.

Sauce au poivre vert & Apricot chicken tagine

Excellent "sauce au poivre vert" for about 3-4 steaks....

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, unpeeled

100ml white wine

150ml beef stock

3 teaspoons green peppercorns in brine (see photo above), drained (you can leave a bit of brine

for extra flavour)

3 teaspoons Dijon mustard

40ml cream (crême fraîche if possible)

a bit of oil

Method

1. Pierce garlic cloves, place in a baking dish and drizzle with a little oil.

2. Bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Peel and mash when cool enough to handle.

3. Add wine, stock and peppercorns to pot and simmer until liquid is reduced by half.

4. Stir in garlic, then turn down heat to low.

5. Add mix of mustard and cream. Keep on very low heat! If it starts to boil, the fat will separate....

Serve with nice juicy steaks.

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Apricot Chicken Tagine

Ingredients

serves: 4

2 tblsp olive oil

knob butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

A couple sprigs of rosemary, 1 finely chopped, the others whole

A ping-pong ball-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

3-4 dried red chillies (depending how hot you want it)

1 cinnamon stick

8 chicken things/similar quantity of breast

180g dried apricots

2 tbs clear honey

400g can of tomatoes

salt& pepper

small bunch of basil

Method

1. Heat oil and butter in tagine or heavy based casserole.

2. Stir in onion, chopped rosemary, ginger and chillies and fry gently until the onion begins to

soften.

3. Add the chicken thighs and brown them on both sides.

4. Toss in the apricots with the honey, then stir in the tomatoes with their juice. (Add a little water

if necc., to ensure there is enough liquid to cover the base of the tagine and submerge the

apricots.) Stir in the rosemary sprigs and the cinnamon stick.

5. Bring the liquid to the boil, then reduce the heat.

6. Cover with lid (if not using a tajine dish, put lid on an angle) and cook gently for 35-40 mins.

7. Season to taste with salt& pepper.

Sprinkle basil over the chicken and serve the dish immediately with couscous/saffron rice and a leafy salad.

Tarte aux Champignons

1 sheet puff pastry (frozen)

1 big onion

2 cloves of garlic

500g mushrooms

3-4 bacon rashers

1 bottle of white wine (Riesling or Gewuerztraminer if possible)

About 100ml of crème fraiche (or the closest you can get)

2 bay leaves

Parsley

Butter

Salt, pepper

Open the bottle of white wine and check if it's alright by having a glass.

Chop onion (finely), mushrooms and bacon. Crush, then chop garlic cloves.

Simmer onion, garlic, mushrooms and bacon in pan with butter and bay leaves until nice and brown.

While the mushroom mix is simmering, prepare the pastry: Put puff pastry into baking form with baking paper, then use fork to make a few holes in the pastry, preventing it from raising too much when pre-baking.

Preheat oven to 200C, then have a glass of white wine while you pre-bake the puff pastry in the oven. Check if it doesn't raise too much (poke more holes with a fork if required), it is ready when the pastry is "dry". Take out of oven and let cool on bench.

Season the mushroom mix with salt and pepper. Then, while drinking a glass of white wine, add some to the pan (about half a glass) and stir until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add crème fraiche and chopped parsley to the mushrooms at the last minute (do not boil the cream!).

Put the mushroom mix into the baking form, bake for about 15-20min while drinking a glass of white wine. Optional: you can add grated cheese (ideally Comté) for a "gratinée" version.

Serve with a glass of white wine.

X.

Pear Brown Sugar Pie

1 X 30 cm (12in) pie dish with the base lined with baking paper
(You can use a slightly smaller pie dish if you like)
Sweet shortcrust pastry (enough for the base and the top)
6 or 7 Beurre Bosc pears, peeled, each cut in to 8 wedges and cored
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (you can use lemon juice)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
3 Tbsp plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
Small pinch of sea salt
½ cup of brown sugar
13g (1 Tbsp) butter cut in to large cubes
1 large egg beaten with 1 Tbsp warm water
1 Tbsp raw sugar


Preheat oven to 200°C (425°F)

Place the pears in a large bowl and add the lime juice and vanilla bean paste, mix through gently.

In another bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and brown sugar.

Add to the pear mixture. Gently fold through and let stand for 5 to 15 minutes.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to around 50 cm for the bottom and another piece for the top.

Place the first piece of pastry in to pie dish.

Add the pear mixture

Dot with butter

Top with the other piece of pastry and trim the edges so there is a 1or 2 cm overhang. Press together gently and roll under or over. I then use a fork to make a pattern around the edge.

Cut 3 vents (around 2cm) in to top of pastry.

Brush with egg mixture and sprinkle with raw sugar.

Place in the oven on a hot baking sheet for 20 minutes

Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C (375°F) and bake for another 40 minutes or until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling.

Cool to room temperature (around 2 hours if you can wait that long).

I serve this with Jocks cinnamon ice cream but of course cream would also be good!

Taken from http://www.rrr.org.au/playlist/8175/

Z.