Get Stuffed!

Any meal that includes steak and bacon on the same plate makes for a very happy Neil, which is why this week's Nana's Recipe Drawer creation had to be her Stuffed Scotch Fillet.

Handwritten (and slightly hard to read), the recipe was fairly quick and easy to recreate. We teamed it with some golden polenta batons (made with plenty of parmesan) and sauteed green beans.

For me, it was another version of mushroom ragout (spot the mushie freak!) with fresh shitakes, oyster mushrooms, dried Chinese mushrooms and good ol' buttons from our trip to Norton Street Grocer. I added some nice peppery rocket rocket too.
Next time we'll probably cook the meat for a little less than the hour recommended as Neil prefers his cow medium-rare, whereas way-back-when the preference for meat was well done.

Roll on next time (and I may even try some).

A Gluttonous Sunday

Today started off badly and turned out to be one of the best Sunday's I've had for a while. I was rather hungover after a night out at the football so started the day with a big bowl of my homemade muesli topped with kiwifruit. From there it was off to Primo Italiano 2007, a food festival which was part of the Sydney Italian Festival. It was really busy and a bit of an assault on my still-recovering senses, but a trip to the Beppi's stand for a plate of polenta with wild mushrooms and parmesan and a bottle of San Pellegrino Aranciata sorted me out. (Tamzin had the eggplant parmigiana which was also delish!).

Next up was a chocolate, almond and ginger filled sweet shortcrust pastry (started with s...). It was melt in the mouth heaven! Feeling more than a little stuffed, we moved on to the second part of the day's activities... rollerblading! Tamzin is a bit of a pro these days but I'm a complete novice again after many years with my feet firmly planted on the ground.

We did a couple of laps of Centennial Park and despite a few hiccups with stopping (i.e: I couldn't) I managed to finish the afternoon without stacking once. Well done me... Dinner was a rather boring affair (soup) so I decided to whip up an old family favourite - Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding. As if I needed any more food today!









Mum's Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding
1 c flour
1 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
Topping:
3/4 c brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 3/4 c hot water

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
• Sift flour, baking powder, salt sugar and cocoa together into a large ovenproof dish.
• Add milk, vanilla and butter and beat until smooth.
• Sift over combined cocoa and brown sugar and gently pour over hot water.
• Bake for 55-60 minutes or until spongey.
• Serve with a dollop of organic unsweetened yoghurt.