Braised Lamb Shanks

This was my first attempt at Lamb shanks, and was meant to be the virgin voyage of my new slow cooker. You can imagine my dismay when I arose bright and early last Sunday morning, recipe in hand, only to find my sweet little slow cooker won't fit six lamb shanks. My poor husband has learned that I do not cope well with unexpected change, particularly in the kitchen. However, with the aid of Google, my trusty Scanpan, and the 'All Recipes' application on my I-phone, we managed to rustle up this dish.
Being that this was to be the birthday dinner for my new father-in-law, I wanted them to be great. I think the outcome was pretty successful. I cooked them at about 150 degrees (Celsius) for about 6 hours, and they resulted in juicy, tender meat that literally was falling off the bones. The gravy was not too rich, but really well flavoured with wine, tomato, stock, and fresh herbs. Served with creamy, buttery mash and steamed green beans, I will definitely be cooking these again.  

Dinner at 'Scorched', Torquay

I have been dying to go to 'Scorched' for months and, thanks to a very generous wedding gift, I finally got the chance last Friday night. This is a fab little restaurant overlooking the Torquay beach. The service was impeccable, friendly yet sophisticated, and thoroughly on the ball.
I think I have mentioned before my love of all foods shared, so the 'grazing' style menu was a perfect option for us. So while enjoying some delicious local sourdough bread sticks with olive oil and house-made dukkah we perused the menu.
Our final selections were as follows:

Grated beetroot, with pistachios and goats cheese - a really fresh dish, with hints of lemon juice and dill, and complimented beautifully by the creamy cheese.

Crispy fried school prawns with chilli salt and lemon (shown above) - we loved these little guys. Crispy and salty and just popped straight in your mouth... divine.

Salt cod fritters with aioli - always a hero, these were no exception.

Fried black pudding with orange and date salad - I was definitely dubious of this one, having the aversion to sweet with salty, and also having had some not so flash black pudding in the past, this one was a real surprise. The pudding was quite nice (not at all gritty), but when eaten with the date and orange salad it gave it a real subtlety, and the sweetness complemented the dish so well, I may be a changed woman.

Little rabbit pies with sweet cinnamon - again with the sweet and salty, these were really good. The meat was juicy and tender, and not that dissimilar form our guinea pig experience, but the cinnamon mix just lifted all the flavours and made these little filo parcels taste quite exotic.

Potatoes, chorizo and garlic - an old tapas faithful, but with some fabulous chorizo with just the right amount of spice to it.

While there were definitely a few challenges for my 'no sweet with salty' I have to admit everything was amazing, and I was really enlightened by some of the combinations.
Of course, what is a dinner out without dessert? Well, being both unbelievably indecisive we shared the dessert board: Chocolate and pear torte, baklava, Turkish delight, honeycomb ice-cream and Persian fairy floss - all good enough to almost put us into a diabetic coma.

'Scorched' has definitely lived up to my expectations; please go there if you get the chance xx

Persian orange syrup cake

I really needed a win in the baking stakes this week, something to lift me from the shame of the uncooked brownie fiasco of last Saturday, and I am quietly chuffed with this little beauty. This gluten free delight is all moist in the middle and covered in a sweet and zesty orange syrup. I should have read the recipe before starting this at 7.30pm last night, as I find it takes a while to boil whole oranges 3 times over, however following that it was a pretty nifty little recipe available here:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/25079/gluten+free+persian+orange+and+almond+cake

Enjoy xx

Spiced chickpeas with haloumi...A little something of my own

I will whole heartedly admit that in the 4 weeks we've been home I have allowed myself to slip into a lazy post-holiday slump, completely neglecting my poor blog. Somewhere amongst all the friends having babies (all boys), getting back into work, and catching up with family and friends I have had plenty to relish, and selfishly shared nought with you. In the vain hope you won't abandon me completely, and so you know I like to cook as well as eat, here is a little something we rustled up last night. 

This was my first cooking experience with dried legumes (as we are trying to cut down on our rubbush following a film night put on by my ecowarrior husband's gang at Surf Coast Energy Group), and while they required a little more cooking than their tinned friends, I was pleasanlty surprised.

Here you see garlic and onion sauteed until soft, then mixed with cumin, turmeric, chopped tomato, chickpeas and some fresh spinach wilted in at the end. Served with pan fried haloumi, and some crusty Turkish bread it was a delish  and speedy little Tuesday night dinner.