The Gnome at the Bottom of the Garden

For lunch tomorrow they are getting one of my favourite dishes, Mustard Chilli Chicken. I’ve banned myself from eating it for a while because it’s deliciously naughty seriously full of calories. The shearers, on the other hand, will burn this off pretty quickly.

 There isn’t a recipe as such -  just a set of instructions. I precook 1 chicken breast per person, then let then cool. Into a frypan, put a blob of Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce, a blob of Wholegrain Mustard and enough cream to make it into a sauce. Rip the cooked chicken breasts into bite sized bits and cook them into the sauce until everything is hot. Serve with a green salad using the sauce as a dressing.

Did you miss me? Life sometimes starts whirling around so fast that you just have to say “Stop the bus. I’m gonna puke!” When not a literal puke, but a metaphorical letting go of things.

But I’m here to reassure you that the Gnome at the Bottom of the Garden has returned.

Oh and the mud cake from the last post:

2kg of dark chocolate (plus some flour and eggs and some sugar……)

The angels on the top? Modelling chocolate! Yes chocolate that you can use like plasticine only it tastes better!!! Take 300g chocolate and melt in a bain marie or the nuker. When it’s all smooth and runny stir in 1/3 cup of glucose syrup (light corn syrup for those in the US). At first it will go gritty and grainy. When it is completely combined (it doesn’t matter if it’s still grainy). Cover with cling film (actually touching the chocolate, not just over the bowl). When it’s cool enough to touch, squish it in your hands (just like playdough) until it’s smooth. When you use white chocolate, you will get a lot of oil squeezing out. If it sets hard, just nuke small pieces for a few seconds. It sets quite firm after a while and you can use it to make all sorts of yummy decorations.

Tonight we made my version of Honey Crackles. Its pretty much the standard recipe that you find on the cornflakes box with a little twist. Tonight we baked them in patty pans (makes about 24), but as an alternative, you can bake it as a slab, making sure you press into a lined pan quite firmly. You will need to cook it a bit longer. While its still warm cut into bars (but leave it in the tin). When cold, remove form the tin and recut. Homemade Crunchy Nut Bars! 

4 cups Cornflakes
1/2 cup crushed nuts
100g Butter
1/2 cup Caster Sugar
2 Tblspn Honey

Place butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan. Heat slowly until the sugar dissolves then increase the heat until the mixture boils and becomes frothy.
Mix the  nuts and the cornflakes together. Pour 1/3 of the cornflakes / nuts into the saucepan and mix well. Pour all this back into the bowl with the rest of the cornflakes and mix well.
Place into patty pans that have been placed in a muffin pan. Pack the mixture in well. Bake at 150C for 10 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan. Try to eat just one! 

Lightening asked very nicely if I would put some of my “secret recipes” on my blog. Well, there are some that you will never see - like TimTam Cheesecake ($30 for a 22cm cake) but as she specifically asked for my Beef Wellington Recipe, which is not so much of a ’secret’ recipe as a recipe I found in a book and adapted for myself, I think I can manage it. I made this dish for the Valentines Masquerade Ball that was held in February 2003. It was in the middle of a heatwave and that days temperature had been 46C. It was held in a hall with no airconditioning. Suffice to say, the alcohol was flowing rather freely.

The recipe comes from “Short Cuts” , an Autralian Meat and Livestock Corporation publication that was available in butcher shops in the late 80’s. The original recipe reads like this: (with my suggestions changes in red)

32 minute Individual Beef Wellingtons. (I allow 2 hours)

Prep time: 90 minutes. Cooking time: 18-20 minutes.  Serves 4.

Ingredients:
4 Rib Eye Steaks I find that Scotch Fillet is just as good as Rib Eye. It is slightly cheaper but it still cooks up tender. It also tends to be a bit bigger - satisfying the man of the house. Have the butcher cut them nice and thick - about 2.5cm thick.
2 sheets frozen puff pastry I think I may have used 1 whole sheet of puff pastry for each steak. I may have trimmed the sheet a little, but I can’t remember. The steaks are bigger, so I don’t think half a sheet will cover them.
15g butter
2 Tblspn favourite chutney I’m pretty sure that I used Rosella Fruit Chutney (from a jar ), but I have also done it with Tomato, Herb and Garlic pizza sauce.
1 egg beaten with a little water
4 zucchini
4 baby squash
Handful green beans

1. Preheat the oven to 240C. Remove 2 (4) sheets of pastry from the packet, being careful not to break them. Allow to thaw while cooking the steaks.

2. Pat the steaks dry with kitchen paper towels. Before cooking the steak, allow them to warm up a bit. Don’t put them in the pan while they are still really cold. They don’t have to be room temperature - just not cold. At a room temp of 25C, you can safely leave them for about an hour on the bench (covered of course!). Heat the butter in a frying pan and brown the steaks quickly on each side. Make sure the pan is really hot before you put the steak in. Because I use thicker steaks, you need to cook them a bit longer , 4-5 minutes on each side. The steaks should be brown. Cook the steaks 2 at a time or the pan will cool off too quickly. Don’t touch the steaks while they are cooking except to turn them ONCE.  You can turn them now. Now cook them for another 4-5 minutes (still on high heat). The steaks won’t be cooked all the way through - but that doesn’t really matter because you still need to bake them in the oven. Transfer to paper towels . Remove the steaks and put them on a plate to cool. When back down to room temperature, you can wrap them in pastry, or you can put them in the fridge to get cold. You can keep them covered in the fridge for 24 hours if you need to. If the steak is too hot, the pastry gets really soft and can become hard to handle. Spread each steak with 1/2 tablespoon chutney. Place half a tablespoon of chutney in the centre and then place the cold steak on top.

3. Cut the pastry sheets in half, put a steak on each half and roll up Don’t put hot steaks on the pastry (see above). Bring the corners of the pastry into the centre of enclose the steak. You should bind the edges with some egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tblspn of water). Turn the Wellington over and place on a tray lined with non-stick paper. Prick the sides with a fork to let steam escape. . Brush with the beaten egg wash. Place on a wet baking tray With the advent of non stick baking paper the wet tray is unnecessary. and cook 18 - 20 minutes. I cook them for 5 minutes, then rotate the tray (yes even in a fan forced oven) Then I turn the oven down to 180C - 200C until the pastry is nice an golden in colour 

4. Put a pot of water on to boil for the vegetables. (I prefer salad)

5. Slice the zucchini in half lenghtwise, cut the squash into quarters, chop the ends off the beans. Cook for 6-8 minutes, drain. Serve hot with the Beef Wellingtons.