I’ve made no secret over the last few years that I just love meatballs. I make them often and I am always trying to improve on my recipes. So last week when I made my first batch of home-made Ricotta, I wanted to use it in a way I had never done before. I thought of serving the ricotta on top of the pasta, which I did at the end as well, but also decided to mix some of the ricotta into the meatball mixture. I know how deliciously light the ricotta made my Ricotta blueberry pancakes and thought it might do the same with the meatballs. And I was…
Archive for the ‘Meat’ Category
After watching one of my newest cooking show addictions, Meat & Potatoes (Food Network) this weekend, I was left inspired and motivated. I’ve said before how much I like Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri and Meat & Potatoes follows that same guideline, but amps it up a bit by visiting fine-dining establishments as well as the hole-in-the-wall kind of places. And then of course, the focus is on all types of meat & potatoes. This weekend’s episode showed the awesome Josh Henderson of Skillet Street Food making his bacon jam which he serves on burgers with Gorgonzola cheese. “Bacon JAM?” I hear you ask. Yes! Bacon Jam….
When I think of Steak and egg (with chips of course), I always think of my dad and one of my mom’s favourite films, Shirley Valentine. I think about my dad because when I was younger this was the one meal that stood out for me which my dad made really well. His steak was always melt-in-the-mouth and his chips were the best chips in the world. I think about Shirley Valentine because of her husband who always demanded his steak & egg on a Monday, I think it was. She eventually got fed-up, threw the steak & egg against the wall and went to Greece to have love…
The thing I love most about eating ribs (any ribs) is how your hands are left sticky and how you are forced to lick your fingers afterwards. My mom would be mortified that I’m advocating finger-licking but gosh, who could blame me? These riblets are incredibly easy to throw together and don’t require any marinating. They are great on the braai but I prefer making them in the oven and allowing them to cook under the grill for about 30-45 minutes until the fat has rendered out. It’s important to turn them often (as the marinade will burn easily) and continuously baste them so the marinade becomes sticky and gooey….
With Autumn very quickly making her way back into our lives (double yay!), I find myself needing comforting yet light food. I want something with ‘body’ but I need to feel like it’s not going to give me more body…if you know what I mean! These amazing tacos do just that. They are comforting and filling enough but don’t leave you feeling stuffed! I decided to use short ribs as, along with beef shin, it’s one of my favourite cuts of beef. It’s quite a fatty cut which gives it tons of flavour and if you braise it for long enough, it falls apart if you just look at…
It’s confession time. Along with all my other food obsessions, I can now add sandwiches, in every way, shape and form to that list. I’m not talking about a cheese sandwich on ‘plastic’ bread or a regular peanut butter & syrup sandwich, I’m talking about good quality breads topped with simple but great ingredients cooked/prepared with love and attention. It’s almost impossible to go wrong when you follow those guidelines. Another confession, I never liked BLT sandwiches. They were always sub-standard and almost bland, the bacon being the only component to add any flavour. I felt the tomatoes washed out all the flavour and so steered clear of them…
I am not ashamed about the fact that I dream about food. I do it quite often actually. Even when the dream isn’t ABOUT food, food features in my dreams more often than not. But when you dream about one ingredient, every night for a full week, you know the obsessive line has been crossed. Last week, this happened to me and I dreamt about Chorizo every single night. Now, I like to listen to my dreams when they repeat themselves and so I knew I would need to cook something with chorizo soon to stop myself from waking up, salivating! I wanted to keep it simple as my…
Be still my beating heart! When I first saw stuffed-burgers on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, I almost fainted. Well not really, but you know what I mean (my husband says I have a talent for over-reacting)! What could be better than a juicy, beefy burger stuffed with oozy, melting mozzarella cheese? Not much, if I have to be honest! If you know me, you know I have a serious burger addiction and I even ordered a cheeseburger in Malaysia!! Of course, you don’t have to stick to mozzarella for stuffing the burgers. Gorgonzola would be lovely if paired with a sweet and tangy onion marmalade, mature cheddar would be fab…
My husband and I have been together for 9 years this year. 9 years!! I almost cannot believe it. But believe I must because he’s sitting right next to me, working away and I could not be happier. Don’t worry, I’m not going to start gushing about how amazing he is. I’m not going to gush about how he’s a much better parent than me, or that he will do anything (and I mean anything) for me, or how he accepts me with all my issues and for a lack of a better word, CRAP! Oh gosh, there I went, gushing away. But there is a reason for this. If…
When you had a day like I had yesterday, you need comfort food to make you feel like everything is going to be okay. I know that this is perhaps a bad thing to do as food shouldn’t be used to make you feel better (or so says dieticians and psychologists) but for me, food is sometimes the only comfort I need (which is probably why I’ve struggled with my weight all my life). Food, and the right food at that, has the ability of soothing away your heart aches and putting a smile on your face when nothing or no-one else can. Or is that just me? These sausage…
