a week of new recipes

We had reached the point where even I was sick of what we were having for dinner every night. So armed with my trusty Evernote notebook of recipes and some help from Taste I came up with 5 meals plus the kids had to choose a meal that they had to make with me.

And the 7 recipes are (drumroll please):

Bacon, zucchini and lemon spaghetti
Although my 2 are not keen on zucchini, one of them ate this dish with gusto. The other one was in trouble and was sent to bed without dinner. The boy child suggested adding capsicum instead of zucchini next time, I'm not convinced, zucchini and lemon go really well together.

Next time I will add more zucchini and bacon, especially bacon. Mmmm bacon.

Really delicious, fresh and easy to make. 5/5

Balsamic steak with tomato pasta salad
Not one last bit was left on any plate! Very tasty, although next time I will buy a better cut of steak. The balsamic vinegar did a good job of tenderising the cheap steaks I bought. I added rocket (from the garden *ahem*) to the adult plates. 4/5

Beef quesadillas with avocado smash
We love tortillas and Mexican food. This dish was a complete hit and Alice chose it to make as her dish for the week. I'm not complaining, it's delicious.

I use pork mince for dishes like chilli and bolognaise, really so much more flavour. The recipe requires kidney beans which I know my children won't eat. So I pureed them with the raw onion and garlic then fried off the purple gloop (looked awful but smelled fantastic) before adding the mince and salsa, taco seasoning.

Use a sandwich press to make the quesadillas (that was a suggestion in the recipe comments), much easier and then use a pizza cutter to slice up.

This will be a regular in our house from now on. Absolutely delicious. 5/5

Cajun-style chicken with Mexican Rice
I made a couple of mistakes with this one. I used chook thighs instead of breast. And didn't make enough marinade for the amount of chicken I had. However the rice dish was delicious and would make a great cold summer rice salad with bbq. I'll have another go at this when the weather is warmer and the bbq is back in action. I would probably also have a go at making my own cajun seasoning. 3/5

And the dish chosen by Mark was Corn Fritters with bacon and salad. The recipe is from a fantastic book from New Zealand and it's my secret! Suffice to say that creamed corn is definitely the way to go for these.

So that's it. A long post but 6 dinners that were all eaten and enjoyed. Phew.

Roast Pumpkin, Chorizo and olive salad

I found this salad in the Masterchef magazine dec 2011 and made it for big BBQ.  A fantastic salad... love love loved it! So did everyone else too.

You will need:
2kg small jap pumpkin, seeded and washed halved and sliced into thinnish wedges (24 if you are using whole thing).
2 chorizo sausage sliced
1/2 cup kaamata olives
1/4 cup green olives
1 bulb garlic in separated but left in skins
1 long red chilli seeded and chopped finely
80g piece day old sourdough or rustic loaf torn roughly into pieces (croutons)
6 sprigs thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon sumaac
100 mls extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon zested and juiced

what to do:

Preheat oven fan forced to 220 C
Use very large roasting pan or two pans so as not to overcrowd ingredients ;)
Place pumpkin, chorizo, garlic, olives, chilli bread and thyme into a bowl. Sprinkle with sumac, dazzle with 1/4 cup of oil, and bless with salt and pepper to season.

Fondle ingredients to combine.
Transfer mixture to pans and roast for 25 mins until golden brown
Transfer to platter. Whisk remaining olive oil and lemon juice, and anoint dish and scatter with lemon zest.

Tuck in...
Amazing.