My Super Crazy Meatball filled Arancini

I didn't quite have the patience and time to do a turducken but did manage to turn some leftovers into an equally crazy dish. If you have tried my cheese filled meatballs or arancini, then it is a matter combining the two into one.

A perfect picnic offering when the warmer weather returns. Watch you friends bite into these ordinary looking arancini and see the smile on their faces.... of course keep them away from vegetarians!

P.S My freezer is filled with goodies and I am looking forward to do a lot of cooking over the weekend, otak-otak, tamarind prawns and Johor laksa are a few of the dishes I have in mind.

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
makes 6
you'll need

~1 cups seasoned mince

mozzarella cheese or tasty cheese, cut into 1 cm cubes

1.5 cups of leftover risotto 

1 egg, lightly beaten

breadcrumbs

a little oil for frying

spiced tomato relish to serve

Divide seasoned mince into 6 equal serves and form each into meatball, fill with cubed cheese of your choice and set aside.

Brown meatballs with a little oil until they are golden all over, transfer the pan into the hot oven for 8 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

Meanwhile moisten the leftover risotto with half of the beaten egg and divide into 6 equal serves. Roll each portion into a ball, flatten it slightly and wrap over the cheese filled meatballs.

Roll the meatball filled arancini tightly before coating them with breadcrumbs.

Fry until golden and crisp, remove and drain on absorbent paper.

Serve with some of my spiced tomato relish.

I hope you might give this totally crazy but wicked snack a try!

Spiced Meatballs, Chickpeas And Vegetables Soup

Dinner was meant to meatball salad again but I settled on something a little more hearty after the weather took a nasty turn. However the meatballs remained on the menu but they ended up swimming in a delicious tomato based soup rather than frolicking among tomatoes and salad leaves.

I added some cavolo nero towards the end of the cooking; to freshen up and to add colour to the dish, if you are unable to obtain cavolo nero, spinach, chard or dandelion greens are all good substitutes.

I made a rather large batch of seasoned mince as usual, way too much for what was required for this recipe. Halve the quantity of mince if you only want to be able to make enough meatballs for this recipe, otherwise I will share with you a few quirky dishes that I came up with using my leftover seasoned mince in the coming days.  At the meantime you can use the leftover mince for the following recipes found in this blog;

1) kebabs and warm beetroot salad with spiced yoghurt sauce

2) burger and chips

3) bunless burger

3) spaghetti with meatballs

4) baked kofta rolls with egg filling

5) kofta rools filled with spinach, almonds, pine nuts and raisin

recipe from the tummies' kitchen

serves 4 to 6 as a one dish meal

you'll need;

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large onion, peeled and finely diced

3 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

4 celery ribs, sliced

2 cups of crushed tomatoes

2.5 l of stock

1 can of chickpeas, drained

2 bay leaves
1 bunch of cavolo nero

salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley to serve

for the meatballs;

1 kg of beef mince or mince of your choice

1 egg, lightly beated

3/4 cup of breadcrumbs, soaked with 1/2 cup of milk 

1 onion, chopped

3 stalks of parsley, chopped

1/2 tbs of coriander powder

1/2 tbs of allspice powder

1 tbs of cumin powder

1 tbs of smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste

a little oil for frying

Prepare the vegetables and set aside. Feel free to add other seasonal vegetables of your choice

Place all ingredients for meatballs/kofta in a large bowl and mix well. Cover and chill until needed.

Shape seasoned mince into meatballs the size of a 20 cent coin, you'll need about 30 meatballs. Brown meatballs with a little oil until golden all over and set aside, they don't need to be cooked through.

In a large pot, saute garlic, onion, carrot and celery for 2 to 3 minutes or until the onion is soften. Add the can of crushed tomato and continue to cook on medium heat for a further 5 minutes.

Add stock, chickpeas, bay leaves and allow the content to come to a simmer, season with salt and pepper.

Add meatballs to the pot, cover and simmer on low heat until the vegetables are tender and meatballs are soft and tender. Add cavolo nero and cook until wilted, check for seasonings.

Hearty but not too heavy... perfect for a mild spring night!

Baked Whole Snapper With Salsa Verde

My plan was to make ikan bakar (baked fish Malaysian style) for dinner but it would be too strange to serve it without some steamed rice on the side... and yes we are still on our carbless diet!

Ikan bakar will wait so I settled for plan B instead - baked fish with salsa verde with a simple salad and blanched green beans. Use fish fillets or chicken instead if you are not too comfortable dealing with a whole fish.

serves 2 
oven preheated at 200 C (conventional)
you'll need;
1 whole snapper, cleaned and snipped off fins and tail
1 lemon, thinly sliced
green beans, topped and tailed and blanched
tomato and basil salad to serve

for the salsa verde;

half a bunch of continental parsley, picked

half a bunch of basil, picked

3 spring onions, chopped

6 anchovy fillets

2 tbs of capers

6 garlic cloves

2 tbs of English mustard

2 tbs of white wine vinegar

about 200 ml of good olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the herbs and garlic for the salsa verde.

Place all ingredients for salsa verde in a blender and process to a coarse paste.

Rub the fish inside out with half of the salsa verde.

Insert some lemon slices inside the cavity of the fish and the rest all over the fish and bake in the hot oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Serve with blanched green beans, tomato salad and extra salsa verde on the side.

Tian Of Prawns, Tomato, Fennel And Cucumber With Shellfish Sauce - Christmas Lunch 2011 Part 2

I decided seafood would be more appropriate for our antipodean Christmas lunch instead of the traditional ham and turkey affair, after all we are right in the middle of a very hot summer.

The original recipe asked for crab meat but to avoid spending hours on the fiddly task of crab meat picking, prawns became the substitute and a very good one I must say. This is a very simple and straightforward recipe; most of the chopping and dicing can be done beforehand as it is with the shellfish sauce, all you need to do is to assemble the dish when you are ready to serve.

The mercury had climbed up to 30 C (with 90% humidity) by the time entree was served and we all agreed this light and refreshing dish was a very good choice indeed.

recipe adapted from Gourmet Traveller January 2008 
serves 4
you'll need;
20 whole prawns, poached and shelled, reserved heads and shells for the stock
4 tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeds removed and cut into 1cm dice
1 baby fennel, thinly sliced lengthwise
1 telegraph cucumber, seeds removed and cut into 1cm dice
2 tbs of finely chopped chives
2 tbs of olive oil
1 tbs of red wine vinegar
1 avocado, halved, stoned removed and sliced widthwise into 5mm slices
fennel fronds, coriander sprigs and chives to serve

for the shellfish stock;
reserved prawn heads and shells
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1/4 cup of white wine
2 tbs of Brandy
3/4 up of stock
1 tbs of tomato paste

for the shellfish sauce;
150 ml of thicken cream
1 tbs of white wine vinegar
1 tsp of Dijon mustard
pinch of sweet paprika
2 tsp each of finely chopped tarragon and flat leaf parsley

Prepare the vegetables and chill until needed.

Poach whole prawns for 3 to 5 minutes. When they are cool enough to handle remove heads and shells. Slice prawns lengthwise.

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat, add reserved prawn shells and cook for 5 minutes to release the oil and tomalley from the shells. 

Deglaze pan with wine, Brandy and stock, season to taste with sea salt. Add tomato paste, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing shells to extract all liquid, into a saucepan. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes until reduced to 1/3 cup. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool.

For the shellfish sauce - combine cream, vinegar, mustard and paprika in a bowl. Gradually whisk in the shellfish stock, add herbs, stir to combine and chill until needed.

To assemble - Combine tomato, fennel, cucumber and chives in a bowl, drizzle with oil and vinegar to taste. Lightly season prawns and avocado. Place a 8cm-diameter, 6cm-high ring in the centre of a plate, arrange 1/4 of the avocado in ring, top with 1/8 of the tomato mix, then 1/4 of the prawns, press down gently, then finish with 1/8 of tomato mix. Press down gently and carefully remove ring. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients. 

Drizzle plates with shellfish sauce and serve tians scattered with mixed herbs. We served a beautiful NZ Pinot Gris accompany this refreshing dish.

Top view of the dish.

Chicken Parma From The Tummies' Kitchen

I remember having my first chicken parma washed down with a few beers at The Standard Hotel in Fitzroy more than a decade ago, many more followed over the years at different pubs across Melbourne. Though I prefer a decent roast beef sandwich these days, chicken or veal parma will always be the ultimate Aussie pub meal for me.

As a meat lover my choice for this recent invention rather than the more traditional eggplant parmigiana is an obvious one. With some leftover mozzarella I decided to recreate my version of chicken parma at home and I must say it tasted just as good without all the noise and rowdy people speaking on top of each other.

I served my parma with oven roasted sweet potato chips but feel free to make your own chips if your heart desires. If you prefer a vegetarian version, please check out my baked eggplant and bocconcini in tomato sauce.

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
serves 2 as a one dish meal
you'll need;
2 x 200 g chicken breasts, butterflied and flatted with a kitchen mallet
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
panko (japanese breadcrumbs) or regular breadcrumbs
2 rashes of good quality bacon (optional), rinds removed
1 cup of grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
oil for frying
oven roasted chips to serve
a simple dressed salad to serve

for the tomato sauce;
olive oil for cooking
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
a pinch of dried chili flakes (optional)
1 cup of passata
2 tbs of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Crumb the chicken breast with flour, egg and breadcrumbs and set aside until needed.

To prepare the tomato sauce - Saute onion and garlic with some oilve oil until soften then add in the pasatta and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add seasonings and cook for a further minute. check for seasonings and allow to cool.

Pan fry bacon until golden and set aside.

Shallow fry crumbed chicken until golden, drain well and set aside.

Place pre-fried chicken on an oven rack, top the chicken with bacon strips and tomato sauce.

Follow with a generous amount of grated mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Place under the grill and cook until golden.

Serve with some oven ready chips and a salad of ur choice.

Baked Chicken With Mustard, Parsley And Fennel

Before we bid farewell to the cold weather for good, let's enjoy one of the most delicious vegetables from the colder months while they are still cheap and plentiful - fennel.

Fennel, despite its versatility is not the most popular vegetable around. Many find the aniseed flavour too overpowering in its raw state but not knowing the strong taste does mellow down after a little cooking, a bit like a feisty young woman transformed into a gentle motherly figure overnight.

This is also one of the dishes I cooked recently that I can claim as my own. The recipe is dead simple with easy and affordable ingredients and it is easily adaptable. I have successfully cooked this using figs in summer; so do try it if figs are still plump and plentiful on your side of the world.

P.S If figs are used, scatter fig halves over the chicken before baking.

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
oven preheated at 220 C (conventional)
serves 4
you'll need;
8 pieces of chicken thighs, removed excess fat
1 large or 2 medium size fennel, trimmed and cut into wedges
2 cups of chicken stock
olive oil for cooking
crusty bread for serving

for the marinade;
1/2 bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
juice and rind from 1/2 a lime
juice and rind from 1/2 a lemon
4 tbs of French mustard
3 tbs of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the marinade and marinate chicken pieces for at least an hour.

Remove (but reserve) most of the marinade from the chicken pieces and brown them in batches with a little olive oil until golden on both sides.

Pan fry fennel wedges in batches until golden.

Pour in the stock and the reserved marinade and bring it to a simmer. Check for seasonings.

Arrange chicken pieces in a roasting pan and pour the flavoured stock with fennel over. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

Serve chicken and fennel with plenty of crusty bread to mop up the delicious "sauce"