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Wednesday, October 06, 2010
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A light dish, playful and insouciant.
Ingredients
  • 1 Basa Fish
  • Butter
  • Cooking Spray
  • Rice
  • Water
  • Spinach
  • Cucumber
  • Tomato
  • Cheese
  • Onion
  • Self-Rising Flour
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Milk
  • Thousand Island Dressing
Step 1 - Preparation
Flatten that thing out.
Pre-heat oven to 220C/425F. Spray a piece of aluminum foil with cooking spray. This piece of foil should be large enough to wrap the fish up in. Place the fish in middle of foil. Place a small spoonful of butter on the fish and wrap up the fish.

Measure 1 cup of rice into cooking pot. Add 2 cups water to pot.

Gather your ingredients for making the flour tortillas: self-rising flour, vegetable oil, and milk.

Wash and cut your veggies: spinach, cucumber, tomato, and onion.

Step 2 - Pan
After a few minutes, your pancakes should be perfectly - wait, wrong recipe.

Turn oven temperature down to 200C/390F. Place fish in oven (still in aluminum pouch). Cook for 20 minutes or until a little golden on edges and inside is white and flakey.

On the stovetop, begin boiling your rice by setting burner to medium-high heat. Stir frequently, to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Boil for 15 - 20 minutes, until rice is soft to the teeth.

While the fish and rice are cooking, make your flour tortillas. In a large mixing bowl, add 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, and 3/4 cup of warm milk. I warm my milk in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. Mix ingredients together forming a soft dough. Flour up your hands and roll the dough into 8 - 12 two inch size balls.

At this time, place a fry pan on a burner and set to medium heat. Leave this pan dry! Do NOT add oil. A dry hot pan is needed for making tortillas.

While the fry pan is heating up, lightly flour a clean surface and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough balls until they are very thin and flat.

I like to use a small piece of rolled dough to test to see if the fry pan is hot enough. When the pan is hot enough, the dough will bubble up.

Carefully, place the rolled dough onto the hot pan. Cook 30 seconds, then flip it and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove from pan and place on a plate. Quickly put the next tortilla in the hot pan.

Step 3 - Plate
Nearly there.
As tortillas finish cooking, stack them on a plate. After you have cooked up all the tortillas, turn off the heat and remove pan from hot burner. Do NOT place in water while pan is hot - it will warp pan. Place on a pot holder on the counter to cool.

Drain rice and take fish out of oven. Remove from aluminum foil and cut into strips.

Build your fish taco starting with a flour tortilla on your plate, add spinach, then fish. On top of the fish, spoon in some rice. Now, add your fresh cut vegetables: cucumber, tomato, onion. Top Thousand Island Dressing and cheese. Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
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A classic Australia dish. With the footy finals coming up, it's a perfect time to let loose your inner Aussie. Carn!
Ingredients
  • Sausages
  • 1 sheet of Puff pastry (fits 6 sausage rolls)
  • Cooking spray
Step 1 - Preparation
Careful now, with that knife.
Preheat your oven to 220° c/430° f. Defrost your frozen sausages in your microwave.

Lay out your puff pastry to thaw; it only takes about five minutes.

Separate the puff pastry from attached layers (see pic).

Step 2 - Pan
Mrs Speech apparently needs a new frypan for Christmas.

Spray your frypan/skillet with cooking spray and cook sausages on medium for about 15 minutes.

Now, spray a cookie sheet and set aside. Use a pizza cutter to cut puff pastry into strips to wrap around your sausages. Cut 'em about 1 inch wide.

Wrap strips around your sausages in a spiral fashion. Feel free to use more than one strip if you need to!

Now place your sausage rolls in the oven and cook until golden brown...our oven takes about 14 minutes.

Step 3 - Plate
Pull those fellas out of the oven. Watch your fingers.
Remove from oven, and drench with tomato sauce, the Aussie way add tomato sauce to your liking.

Now you're ready to watch the footy finals!
Monday, October 04, 2010
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Ingredients
Get those bad boys together.
  • Beef mince
  • Pasta
  • Olive oil
  • Water
  • 1 garlic bulb
  • 1 onion
  • Tin of pasta sauce
  • 1 tomato
  • Olives
  • 1 mushroom
  • Garlic salt
  • Oregano
  • Basil
  • Cheese
  • Breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg
Step 1 - Preparation
When we say 'combine' we really mean, 'git yer hands all mussy'.
In a bowl, combine mince with ½ to 1 cup breadcrumbs, egg, ½ to 1 cup cheese, 1 tbsp garlic salt, 1 tbsp oregano, 1 tbsp basil.

In a large pan heat 3 tbsp olive oil. Add chopped garlic and onion.

Roll beef mince combination into balls; 1 - 2 inches thick, while garlic and onion are sautéing.
Step 2 - Pan
Don't be afraid to make 'em bigger.
Add meatballs to pan with garlic and onion. Cover with lid. Allow to cook a few minutes before turning with tongs. Turn frequently to get ensure even cooking.

In a large pot bring water to boil (add a sufficient quantity of water for the amount of pasta you wish to make). Add a dash of olive oil to water. Once at a rolling boil add pasta. Allow to boil for 10 minutes then check for tenderness. Once done to taste, drain.

Once meatballs have browned, add pasta sauce to pan, with chopped mushroom, olive and tomato (to taste). Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes.
Step 3 - Plate
Now THAT'S pasta & meatballs!
Plate up pasta and add meatballs and sauce Top with shredded cheese. Enjoy!
Sunday, October 03, 2010
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So, for our second chicken recipe in as many weeks, we have herb & parmesan crumbed chicken! I hope Herb and Parmesan don't mind that we crumbed their chicken.

*cue laughter*

So! This dish was a cracker. Mrs Speech set it up and it came out beautifully. The two worst gastronomic things in the world for me are soft apples and dry chicken. Dry chicken is like swallowing a rock. Unpleasant. You gotta get that right, and Mrs Speech does, and did.

This dish is a classic 'meat, potato and veg' one. Nothing schmancy, just good tucker, I guess American style.

Anyway, on to the recipe:

Ingredients
  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1 sachet McCormick Herb & Parmesan Crumbed Chicken
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • water
  • 3-4 potatoes
  • butter
  • milk
  • green beans

Step 1 - Preparation
Bag that chicken.
Preheat the oven to 200C/390F. Gather your ingredients. Rinse off the chicken. Mix together McCormick Herb & Parmesan Crumbed Chicken recipe base, chicken and oil in a large freezer bag. Press the coating firmly onto the chicken.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. In the meantime, peel 3-4 potatoes. Rinse. Cut into small pieces. Tip: the smaller the pieces the quicker the potatoes will cook. I like to add a generous amount of salt to the water.

Step 2 - Pan
Okay, not appetising yet.
Remove from freezer bag and place the chicken onto a large baking dish. Bake for 30 - 60 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. I recommend cooking chicken for a good hour to ensure that it is cooked thoroughly. No pink meat. White meat is a sign that the chicken is done.

Add potatoes to boiling water and allow to boil a good 20 minutes. Potatoes are done when you can stick a fork in a piece of potato and find it soft. Drain potatoes and place in large mixing bowl. Add a generous dallop of butter and about a few tablespoons of milk. Mix till a creamy whipped consistency.

Open can of green beans. Drain. Place in bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes.


Step 3 - Plate
No pink? No poison!
Remove chicken from pan with tongs. Dish up potatoes with a large serving spoon add butter and salt as desired. Add green beans to each plate. Enjoy!
Sunday, October 03, 2010
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Mrs Speech introduced me to the wonders of BBQ chicken a years ago, after we had gotten married. What a revelation! I mean, I had had BBQ chicken pizza which over here, has been something of a delicacy for a long time.

But actual chicken, in BBQ sauce? Dee-lish.

I (Mr. Speech)generally prefer it done with chicken breast, instead of the drumsticks, but eating the leg does have a certain rustic feel to it, with yer hands all sticky and none of the 18th century kingly dining hall civilisation that using a couteau et fourchette produces.

Anyway, on to the recipe:

Ingredients
Get those bad boys together.
  • 4 chicken drumsticks
  • 1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • your favorite BBQ sauce
  • water

Step 1 - Preparation
This oven doesn't get very hot. Oh, wait! That's Celsius.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Gather your ingredients. Rinse off the chicken and pull off any remaining pin feathers.

Prep your veggies. Mrs. Speech decided upon mashed potatoes, cucumber & carrot slices. Rinse, peel, and cut your veggies. We encourage you to eat your veggies! Along with being good for you, they add nice colour to your plate.

As a side note: we use Online Conversion for all of our temperature and measurement conversions. Why? Because Mrs. Speech is American and the metric system never really took off there. Thus, our Celcius oven is alien to her.

Step 2 - Pan
Painting a masterpiece.
Pour olive oil in roasting pan and spread around coating the bottom of the pan. Place in roasting pan and put in oven on the middle shelf.

After 10 minutes, turn drumsticks. They should be turning a golden brown. At this point, remove pan from oven and apply bbq sauce brushing it on generously. Apply twice if desired and return to oven. Add 1/4 cup water to pan - to help moisten the meat and keep the bbq sauce from becoming a sticky mess on pan.

Repeat every 15 - 20 minutes for an hour. At the end of an hour, check chicken with a fork, pulling apart a piece of meat, looking for a nice white color. NO PINK! If pink, keep cooking until white.


Step 3 - Plate
No pink = ready to eat.
Remove from pan with tongs. Serve with your favorite veggies.

Mrs. Speech always tests the chicken before she removes it from the oven. See, in the photo - no pink! If it's pink, it always goes back in...the meat must be white.

After you plate up the chicken, dish up the potatoes. Place the carrots and cucumber on the side. Don't forget the butter and salt for your potatoes. Enjoy!













Saturday, October 02, 2010
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This timeless classic is the perfect winter warmer.

Mrs Speech likes it with tomato soup, which oddly enough actually isn't too bad. We (Mr Speech) here in Australia grew up calling these 'toasties' and making them in a special toastie maker. It's common, as a callback to our English heritage, to put other things in toasties, like meat or even bubble n' squeak.

Mrs Speech assures me that a grilled cheese is true American fare. She makes them with a pickle on the side, which is not something I have ever heard of before, being an Australian. Righty-o!

On to the recipe:

Ingredients
  • 2 slices bread
  • 3-4 cheese slices
  • 3-4 slices tomato
  • 1 dill pickle
  • butter

Step 1 - Preparation
Get those bad boys together.

Gather your ingredients. We used multigrain bread because it was what Mrs Speech bought. Normally we use white bread.

Butter one side of each slice of bread. We recommend soft butter, or the bread will look like you took a chainsaw to it.

Thinly slice the cheese, tomato and pickle.


Step 2 - Pan
I think we were running out of cheese that day.

Place a small pat of butter in the frypan (skillet). Then set the burner to a medium heat and spread the butter around the pan until it has melted.

Place one slice of bread, butter side down, in the pan. Then, place cheese and tomato slices to taste on the bread.

Now, place the second slice of bread, butter side up, on the cheese and tomato. Allow to cook.

After a few minutes, flip the sandwich with a spatula. Allow the other side to cook. Brown each side to taste.

Step 3 - Plate
I suppose you could cut it horizontally if you wanted. Go wild!

Remove from pan with spatula. Put on plate and cut the sandwich in two diagonally.
Friday, October 01, 2010
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I have no idea what this is.
So, something we were thinking of doing, is sharing recipes we like. Off to the right there, is one for a grilled cheese.

Obviously that's not too flash, but we've done a couple interesting dishes lately, and thought it would be good to share how good they were and whether our kitchen was still intact afterward. If I (Mr Speech) was involved in any way, it probably isn't.

Also, if anyone wants to suggest an idea for a recipe, please let us know! Maybe we can give it a shot.