Souper Thursday: Asian-Esque Beefy Broth

So; I mentioned last week (on what would have ideally been last Thursday; but was, if fact, last Friday... Whoops!) that it's a Swedish Tradition to serve soup on Thursdays. Which is awesome.

I'm using my love of Sweden and Swedish culture to influence what I am now referring to as "Souper Thursday" wherein I force my family to eat soup every Thursday. Thus far, this proposition has gone down remarkably well. It is coming into winter in NZ, after all.

I like soup.

This is an easy soup. It looks fantastic and classy.

Look at that classy soup. With that fancy, mixed focus photography.

But all it is is beef stock boiled with a couple of star anise and a few, whole cloves before being poured over vermicelli noodles and thinly sliced beef (here I used schnitzel)... Topped off with some bean sprouts and julienned carrots and cucumber, a soft(ish) boiled egg and sprinkled with fresh coriander and finely sliced chilli and spring onion.

And that's it. Honest.

In other news I'm about to move (back) out of home and down to my beautiful capital city... in the hopes that being in the city I want to work in will improve my chances of being actually employed.

I'm excited because this will be my first time cooking for one in my "natural" (or rather "familiar") environment! I will now be able to augment my previously "flat friendly" meals with meals and baking designed for one. Because, although I am no longer a student (I graduate in December - WOO!), I will still be on a budget, and cheap, flavourful and healthful food will still be my aim!

Here's to an exciting, if unknown, future together: you, me and this blog!

Skål!

Buttons and Bows

I may have mentioned this before... but I'm not a very effective preparer of "simple" dishes... the Great Alison Holst describes the following dish as a "well balanced family dinner which can be cooked in half an hour in one pan"... she neglects to add the bit "unless, of course, you are Kat. In which case this'll probably take an hour and a half several pans a couple of pots and maybe even a little floor-space for good measure. But don't worry! Your flat mates will love it!"

And, inexplicably, they do! This is not my favourite dish ever... but it comes to you highly requested by one of my most favourite people ever... and I aim to please! :)

Even I recognise that this is a very cute dish!

The flavour and sauciness for this dish comes almost entirely from a can of condensed soup - so make sure you pick a flavour you like from a brand you trust! I usually pick mushroom soup and then bulk up the flavour with some combination of; shit-loads of garlic, onion, Worcester sauce, soy sauce, chilli sauce, oregano, mushrooms etc... It's a stone soup type recipe!

The bows are provided by the pasta shape... and the buttons come, ideally from carrots and courgettes... but if, like me you don't have any courgettes to hand make buttons, bows and pearls! Substitute in any veggies you have lying around! Make this dish your own...

You can bulk out the greens with salad, as I did here - but with all the veggies in the dish proper salad isn't a necessary addition to make balanced-ness.

And so Joshee, I have for you (at long last!) the recipe for buttons and bow - enjoy!

Yummy Mince (Burger) Patties

These little mince patties don't have to be made into burgers... and have been well received even when served on their own!

The (unfortunately) over-exposed discs at the front are the patties I'm talkin' about!

I don't really have a recipe for these... but the basic idea is the same every time... a little bit spicy, a little bit aromatic and a whole lot yummy!

I first made this version while staying in India in 2010 so I guess you could call them Indian "influenced"? I think the mince used might have been lamb though... :)

My favourite spice (aromatic?) at the time was cumin (jeera) which is why I've included fresh ground, roasted and whole... the chilli is intended to be more of a subtle push than a kick and I added the onion, ginger and coriander for a bit of freshness and because that's what I had available.

These are all ingredients which I have always had readily available in any flat/home where I've lived and the photographs come from a flat-warming BBQ from early 2011 (I'm finally getting through my back-log of images!) so I'll call these student friendly...

The hand in the back is showing a big thumbs up, and a happy grin!

Delicious and easy - that's what a student likes!

Tamy's Beef and "Broccoli" Stir Fry

I love stir-fry! I like all the crunchy veggies, the spiky Asian flavours and the noodles or rice with a hint of dressing... What I don't love about stir-fry is my complete inability to make them! I always... well, to be perfectly honest I'm not sure exactly what it is that I "always" do... but I can promise you that "do a fantastic job" will rarely, if ever, follow when I'm talking about stir-fry...

Stir-fry (if you can do it, which - let's face it, most people can!) is an idea student food - quick, flavourful, healthy and, above all cheap! Very little protein is needed to make stir-fry feel like a meal - even an egg will do in a pinch!

However, I do have some schnitzel kicking around in my freezer, and Tamy of Always Eat On the Good China (who is, once again my partner for Taste & Create this month...) has a recipe for Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry... I haven't got any broccoli, but I do have some beef and a bagful of frozen, mixed veggies... So here goes nothing!

It's ALIIIVE!!! *ahem* I mean, it worked!!!

Student Food: Beef Wellington?!

I've done it. I'm a genius. I deserve a medal. And a million dollars. Or, at least to have my student loan paid off... But then again, that's kinda the same thing as a million dollars anyway... (not to blow my own trumpet, or anything... I am, of course very, very modest - I take after my mother!)

"My gosh!" you say... "What has she done?!" you ask...

Well. Well. I've taken that gorgeous, delicious, expensive Beef Wellington and made it affordable! Without losing any of the taste!!! (Yes. Three exclamation marks are necessary...)

The issue behind real Beef Wellington, by and large is that beautiful, expensive cut of beef fillet... Ouch! Here, I've replaced it with Bolar Beef. Now, because Bolar Beef has a reputation of being somewhat temperamental: sometimes tender, sometimes tough - I cooked it all the way through in a low oven before wrapping it in pastry. This resulted in a slightly drier Beef Wellington than truly ideal - but the theory now is: trade rump for bolar and cook as per normal, should be fine! :) Yum!

Joshee's: with hassel backed potatoes and carrots...

and from the inside:

Mine: with steamed broccoli and cauliflower...

Not super juicy, but real tender and tasty!

Read on for the revolutionary recipe.... :)

Home Food: Beef Wellington

Daddy asked: "What do you want for dinner"

Kat (thinking to herself): "What's the most ridiculous, unlikely thing ever... I know!"

Kat (out loud): "Beef Wellington"

Daddy: "Sounds great! Let's go shopping!"

Kat: "opgkpdokfmjgednvb jknb fd..." <-- that's what a dropped jaw sounds like.

So we did. From this we learned 5 things:

1. That Kat is not quite as imaginative as she thinks when it comes to thinking up ridiculous meals...
2. That Daddies have greater power to suprise than Kia cars.
3. That Kia car advertisements are apparently effective.
4. That Kat watches TV sometimes (when at home...)
5. aaand... We learned what a dropped jaw sounds like!

Beef Wellington aka something else... is basically beef sirloin, slathered in pate, shrouded in mushrooms and wrapped in pastry... It can be prepared individually, or in one, great, honking slab like this:

Beef Wellington looking all posh like with not one, not two, but THREE bow ties!

In short, this is NOT the kind of meal any student will EVER make in their own flat... unless something really, really important (like feeding the Royal Family) or a bucket load of money showed up... BUT it's an AMAZING dish, and should definitely be made at some point in everyone's life, especially when one's parents are funding the meal!

This: 

              is what BW looks like on the inside... It's not a brilliant photo, but the centre is beautifully rare! If however, rare is not your thing (tsk, tsk) then the outside parts may well be more to your liking.

I served this for our Easter meal... So I set the table fancy-ily, I'm gonna show it off now!

Setting tables is my current "thing" this ones all pinks, and whites and browns b/c  Easter is a springy thing in the Northern Hemisphere, so all our Easter decorations are spring, rather than autumn based...

Because I'd never made anything like this before, I followed Nigella's recipe nearly to the letter... Things to note though, are:

• I used my Daddy's homemade pate
• I made my own crepes - the crepes are used to soak up any juices from the fillet and, theoretically, stop the pastry from going soggy.
• Make sure your duxelles are really, really dry - or again, you'll have to deal with soggy pastry!
• Mummy and I went to the butcher's so that we could stipulate exactly how much beef we wanted, and it was cheaper than the supermarket anyway!
• I used store bought pastry - b/c I didn't feel like rolling out me own... :|
• Next time I'd maybe cook it on a rack - b/c despite my best efforts the  base of the pastry was still a bit soggy, but Daddy said that was just meat juices from slicing the beef...?
• I served this with roasted potatoes and steamed spinach!

And that's it! :) It's really not that difficult to make - just the beef makes it somewhat expensive. And it's a truly impressive, delicious result that will knock people's socks off for only a little effort!