Sunday Scones

There's nothing nicer than waking up on a Sunday morning and enjoying freshly baked scones in the sun with jam and whipped cream. It makes getting up the morning before and going out to the market in the cold and the rain worthwhile. This was a little treat from my resident Dessert Chef, C. Thanks, Honey.


Yummy Scones

Recipe is courtesy of Alison Holst's Dollars & Sense Cookbook. Full credit, Alison.

2 Cups of Self Raising Flour
1/4t Salt
1 T Sugar
25g Melted Butter
1/2 C Milk
1/4 - 1/2 C Water

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Heat butter until it melts, tip all the milk and 1/4C of water into the flour. Mix until blended, adding extra water as necessary to make a soft dough. Turn on to a floured bench and roll out lightly into a square. Cut into triangular sections, place 1cm apart on an oven tray . Bake at 220c in the middle of the oven for 12-14mins, until the tops of the scones are lightly browned.

Break open with your hands, butter and serve with jam and whipped cream. Then enjoy the rest of the day, because after all, it's Sunday. (Disclaimer - May not actually be Sunday)

Hot Diggity Dog

You can't always be good.

This has to be the ultimate in naughty comfort food, but I do put a tiny healthy spin on it. Hot Dogs are a good mid-week food, so long as you remember to get what you need at the supermarket on shopping day. The other good thing about them is that its easy to add whatever you like to them. Which may or may not make them good for you. But we all deserve a treat now and then, and if its one that only takes 15 minutes to prepare, then I'm happy with that.

American Hot Dogs

Boil a pot of water, and place 6 Frankfurters in to cook.

Slice 6 long rolls lengthwise across the top. Butter lightly, and place under the grill for a minute if you're sure you won't forget about them.

Grate some cheese and a carrot or two. Chop up half a red onion and some capsicum.

Stand by your favourite sauces: Tomato, BBQ, Sweet Thai Chilli, Mustard, Aoili or what have you.

When the franks are just starting to split, pull them from the heat and drain.
This is one of those meals that you just put everything on the bench and let everyone make their own. Better than anything you'll get from a street vendor, even in NY itself.

One Hundredth of a Second

I'm not a big sports fan, but I have to say I just watched what was perhaps the most exciting race I've ever seen.

Now, when your country wins an Olympic Gold Medal by 1/100th of a second, that's something to be proud of.
I think they call it Phelps' Syndrome, and it seems to be catching.

Things that Fatherhood has Taught Me

1. Anything which looks like something that you know the word for can legitimately be called by the name of the thing you know;
2. If it looks like a bug, its a bug;
3. If it says MEOW, its a Fluff;
4. If it has four legs and isn't a Fluff, it says WOOF;
5. Unless its a cow, in which case it says Moo;
6. Or sometimes WOOF;
7. Lions and Tigers say ROAR, but leopards don't. Silly Daddy.
8. Being overtired does not mean that the 18-month-old will go to sleep any more easily;
9. Being outside is much more fun than being inside, unless the Fluff is inside, then being inside is much cooler;
10. If there's water, then that's the best place to be;
11. If there's also mud, that's even better;
12. Helping Daddy with Cooking means grabbing any utensil you can lay your hands on and taking it to the couch, or the bathroom, or the bedroom, and then forgetting about it;
13. If it looks like a sausage, it probably is. Best try eating it to check;
14. Chairs are not for sitting, they are for climbing, as are couches and tables and beds and benches and clothesracks and anything else that can be reached, either from the floor or wherever a stool can be pushed to;
15. "One More" can be applied to any situation any number of times to allow a given activity to continue indefinitely, or until Mummy or Daddy enforces the "Last One" instruction - usually two or three times;

And finally, as a Dad I've learned that when you have to walk at the same pace as the 18-month-old, and you have to stop and inspect all the marvels of the world as closely as he does - things like flowers, and drains, and puddles, and pinecones - you'll find that there's more all around you to see than you've realised in the years since you used to walk that slow and look at the world with such awe and fascination. So no matter how old you feel, sometimes it can be worthwhile to take the time to see things like an almost-two-year old again.

Alfredo with Chorizo and Mushrooms

This is a variation on a theme using our favourite Alfredo sauce. Big Ups to Aunty A for the inspiration for this one. This is a great midweek meal, as it's quick, easy and tasty.

Alfredo with Chorizo and Mushrooms (Serves 3)

Boil a pot of salted water with a good lug of olive in it and put a handful of long pasta in to cook.

In a steamer over the pasta cook some brocolli, cauliflower and carrots.

Slice up 5-6 button mushrooms and 3-4 cloves of garlic. Heat 1T of olive oil in a small pan and brown the mushrooms and garlic.

While these are cooking, slice 3-4 Chorizo sausages. With just a little oil (the Chorizo will release plenty of their own!) brown the sausage on both sides.

In a small pot, prepare the Alfredo Sauce: Melt 2 T Butter. Add 1 Cup of cream and gently stir for 5 mins or so. Heat well without boiling. Whisk in 3/4 Cup of Cheddar Cheese and about 1/4 Cup of stronger cheese, like Parmesan or Emmental until melted. Add pepper and parsley to taste.
Everything should come together about the same time. Drain the pasta and mix in the Chorizo and Alfredo sauce. Dish, layering the mushrooms on top and drizzling extra Alfredo over the steamed veges. Serve with pepper and a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Ham and Vegetable Fritattas

Can you spell Vege Overload? This dish could just as easily be a vegetarian option simply by omitting the Ham. This is a great way to sneak a bunch of veges onto the kids' plates, and also a fantastic way of enjoying really fresh produce. Strange, you might say, it wouldn't seem that putting veges in a fry pan covered in egg would do anything for them, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Ham and Vegetable Fritattas (serves 4)

Cube and boil a kumara and two potatoes in lightly salted water.

Slice a handful of mushrooms, one red onion, 5 cloves of garlic, 1/4 of a capsicum, and 3 or 4 leaves of silverbeet. Cut a few florets of brocolli and cauli. Cut 3 slices of ham into small pieces (if you're not set on the vege rush).
When the potato and kumera are just cooked, drain through a colander, reserving the cooking water. Allow to cool slightly (so that the heat of the veges doesn't start cooking the egg prematurely). Return the water to the pot and put the pot back on the heat, bringing the water to the boil. Put the brocolli and cauli in a colander and place in the boiling water, blanching for about 4 minutes. This will heat the florets but leave them crunchy and full of flavour.

In a small non-stick frying pan, heat 1T of olive oil.

For each fritatta:
In a small bowl, add a portion of everything you now have ready, including a scattering of ham if you're using it, and 1-2 eggs (I always think I need to do 2, and it always ends up being too much for the pan, greedy boy!). Mix well. When the oil is hot (but not smoking) scrape in the fritatta mixture. Allow the egg to set on the bottom, then keep the fritatta moving by jiggling the pan frequently. When the upper side of the fritatta is semi-solid, flip the fritatta. If you're not confident that you can do this without destroying the meal (as I so often do), slide the fritatta out onto a plate, then place the frying pan upside-down over the uncooked side, hold it all carefully with a tea towel or two, and flip it over. Brown on the underside and dish with a bit of pepper and your favourite sauce or relish.
Repeat until you have cooked enough for everyone, or else some people might get a bit titchy at being forgotten.

The Ultimate Chick Fight

Roast vs Slow Cooker

In a completely arbitrary manner (my notion that this could be any sort of valid test was thoroughly disabused by Obi), I decided to put the Slow Cooker to the test against the good old Oven Roast.Well, I have to be honest. Chicken #1 was in the crockpot already when I learned that there were so many people coming to dinner that it would be a two-chicken night. So the second chicken had to be roasted, and the idea of the ultimate taste-test was a secondary consideration.

A lot of firewood was then moved. An awful lot of firewood. Did I mention that there was a lot of firewood to move? Again, I have Obi to thank for much of the firewood moving. But that has little to do with the Chick Fight.

After the firewood was moved (a lot of firewood), I put on Chicken #2. Both were cooked, along with a tray of roast veges, some steamed veges, some fried veges, and some boiled carrots, just to make sure we had all our vege bases covered.

The chickens were dished and I asked that everyone take a piece of each and tell me which they preferred and why. In other words, who would win the Ultimate Chick Fight? Not unanimously but overwhelmingly (in an MMP Democracy), it was Chicken #2 that was described as moister and tastier, and everyone trying it assumed that it was the Slow Cooked Chook. It wasn't. Roast Chook won the Ultimate Chick Fight.
But here's the thing. Because Chicken #1 was still a teensy bit frozen, I put it on at 10, on high for 2 hours, before turning it down to low for a further 6. Also, it was a size 12, and Chicken #2 was a size 16. Chicken #2 was also a different brand from Chicken #1. So its possible that Chicken #1 got a wee bit overdone, and since its not fair to compare apples with pears, the entire debate is, as Obi has said, a load of...

Or so any statistician will tell you.

In any case, Chicken #1 carved much easier than Chicken #2. Dinner was delicious, and both chickens were enjoyed equally. I'm not sure that we proved anything, except that after two bottles of wine, all chicken is good.

But here's the final word: As you'll see below, I took Giffy's advice and put a whole apple in Chicken #2, which I think is the reason it came out so moist.

Chicken #1: Slow Cooked Garlic Chicken

Dress the chicken with:
Freshly Ground Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil
Grated Garlic (about half a head)

Stuff the chicken with:
1 lemon, pierced all around
4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

Cook in the slow cooker on low for 6-7 hours.

Chicken #2: Apply Roast Chicken

Dress the chicken with:
Freshly Ground Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
Gluten Free Flour

Stuff the chicken with:
1 apple, sliced into eighths

Roast at 200C for 2 hours (allowing for a tray of roast veges underneath for the last 1 1/2 hrs).

And for good measure, dress your tray of roast potatoes, kumera and onion with freshly ground salt and pepper, olive oil, dried mixed herbs, and gluten-free flour.