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Spaghetti Bolognese

Guilty as charged. This is a winter staple for me. Perhaps every two months I will cook a great vat of the stuff, eat some for supper – and maybe lunch later in the week – and freeze the rest. I’d like the judges to take into consideration that I probably eat this only once every two to three weeks when in season and only then when busy, tired or emotional.

Chilli con Carne

Guilty as charged. Another winter staple with basically the same story as above. Mitigating circumstances: At least I use loads of really hot chillis and 70 per cent cocoa solid chocolate to give it flavour.

Chicken Tikka Massala

M’Lord, I only made this dish once last year using a jar of Patak’s paste. Actually this is probably an annual or biannual event. Eating chicken tikka massala in both Luang Prabang and the Plain of Jars (that’s big burial jars in Laos and nothing to do with jars of Patak’s) should be taken into account in sentencing. Ditto my regular visits to Bala da Dhaba (56-58 Glen Eira Road, Elsterwick, Vic 3185 +61 9523 8683) where I rarely eat CTM but will eat plain chicken tikka out the tandoor and a whole load of other curries.
Bangers and Mash

Mitigating circumstances: only out and usually at the Dogs Bar (54 Acland St, St Kilda, 3182 +61 3 9534 3075) during the winter.

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Julie Poulson is looking for inspiration

Inflation is the bain of artist Julie Poulson’s life; pie and coke now costs $4.80.

Nevertheless she is beavering away creating works for her exhibition in Cairns opening on 9 March. Her current work is ” Mango cheeks $14 a box” is taken from roughly painted roadside signs, printed, painted and assembled through stitching.
Her work Hot Dog Fries is hung in the modern Italian restaurant Vivos in
Palm Cove in far north Queensland. She says it’s a nice antithesis to the food served: “It stirs a mixed response from the
public, very healthy I think.”

Now she’s looking for more inspiration, drawn to the Tomato blog by my classic picture “Indian/Italian cuisine mains $7.50″.

Have you got a classic menu or roadside billboard you would like to contribute?

I’ve created a menu billboard Flickr group and posted the results of a stroll through St Kilda with a camera phone. I suspect a few are too well crafted for Julie’s purposes but there are a couple that are well dodgy. Personally, I like “Tonight it’s ladies night $3 wine From 5pm to 10pm yeah!!”.

So wherever you are in the world get out there and upload some shots and you could have your menu photos turned into proper art.

I’ll publish the results next year

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“Even a speed-read list would help - say, a dozen whites and reds, chosen because they’re appropriate drinking and fairly priced. The longer the list, the higher the individual bottle prices, since stocking the cellar with thousands of bottles is expensive.

Neither do I have much time for the wine list full of big company wines, available at heavily discounted prices at the local shop.”

Nice one Rita (links to a dated profile).

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By now we all know the reasons for staging this monthly event. I need say no more.
A crew of ten cheese sandwich munchers (plus myself) show what cooking at home is really about and how imaginative it can be. It’s about trying to find a use for the limp celery lying in some undetermined liquid in the bottom of the crisper. It’s about trying to emerge from under a stack of dried bread crusts with something other than croutons or breadcrumbs. It’s about finding something unexpected in the back of a cupboard or fridge and putting it to good use. It’s about using every last scrap of food cooked and then knocking together a few dribs and drabs for lunch on Monday.
Occasionally, we may shop for specific ingredients for that special dish. I find those kinds of recipes annoying and impractical for everyday. I’ve more important things to do (blog?) than prance around like some ponce seeking the perfect ortolan that I’m going to ruin with truffle oil anyway.
How exciting is it is it to have a freezer stacked withhome made chicken stock? With a few left over veggies, herbs and spices and potato/rice/pasta/noodles to make infinite variations of dishes spanning the globe.
Thanks to all of you for taking pak and I’ll be back for more recycyling ideas mid-April.

In NewZealand, Bron Marshall managed to whip up a béchamel from some manky but surprisingly crisp celery with left over salami and some other kitchen staples. These were stuffed into impressive pastry cones made from, you guessed it, left over puff pastry. With a dusting of praprika finishing these delights the family were complaining that Bron hadn’t made enough.

Haalo at Cook everything almost once from my current hometown Melbourne (in Australian, not Florida) got all rhetorical: What more could be Pete Wells? Taking some savoury pie filling, feta, run of the mill, good ole everyday cheese that’s sitting in the dairy drawer and finally a couple of pita bread cases. With the help of the spiffy sunbeam toaster, stale-ish leftovers becaming glistening, crispy munchies.

From Germany Katja over at Kaffeebohne caught my eye with Serviettenknödl –a dough made out of old bread and other ingredients. Orginally from Austria and Bohemia, the dough is cooked wrapped in a clean towel (serviette or napkin and hence the name). Katja usually eats it with mushroom and freezes half for another time. Serviettenknödl can be eaten as either a sie or a main.

Queen of the herb bloggers Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen in Salt Lake City dumps all her chicken leftovers in the freezer until there is enough to make stock. She thinks of Pete Wells as she dices in some carrots and hacks at the onions as well as any other veggies past their prime. In the pot they go to create a delicious and versatile chicken stock…

M over at Not Gourmet in sunny Queensland, Australia uses every last inch of pork belly. The two main dished are Porketta (Italian Pork Roast) and Roasted Pork Belly with Asparagus and Mustard Sauce. But first a snack of Chinese pork ribs.

Eggy at Greedy Goose writes “that I have things like a whole container of chicken curry or the remains of some lunch dish from several days past. Straggler ingredients like the odd handful of spinach, a sole tomato, or two sticks of celery usually find their way into the dog’s bowl at dinner. Either that, or they get made into some sort of cake over the weekend.” Some cake! Actually a leftover curry comes out of the freezer reigniting childhood memories with prata, a flat bread similar to canai, paratha or roti.

Over a Cooking with Chopsticks in Kyoto, Hanna’s taken that unused chuck beef bought for another dish and made Ethiopian-inspired Beef Stew with Spätzle . She browned the meat in a cocotte adding (among other things) three mouldy tomatoes, half a giant North American eggplant, fingerling potatoes, some frozen beans and half a cup of undrinkable wine. Finally, from the back of the pantry come some raisins. Leftover Spätzle is reheated to complete the dish.

Ulrike at Küchenlatein recycled leftover lemon rice freestyle, with sprouting mung beans. She simply tossed them in a hot wok for one minute. Quick, easy, simple and tasty.

Over in New York Chef Paz is making Monday lunch with leftovers. “I think I’ll make another cheese sandwich with my American cheese slices ;-), finish off the Italian Wedding Soup, make a salad out of the lettuce leaves, marinated baby artichokes, roasted chicken and broccoli stalks…

Mee Goreng comes from Cuccina Rebecca in glossy Sydney. A few friends are over on Saturday night. Some hokkien noodles are blanched in hot water. Leftover chicken from the other night is shredded while some old lemon grass stems are excavated from the fridge…

Tempted by octopus in the market, I wonder what to do with it. Luckily I bought too much stuff for a paella the other week and have some indestructable but wrinkled mini roma tomatoes lurking in the fridge.

Lifetime student Betul At Rustic from England makes the Turkish favourite Ay Coregi, a crescent roll. Roasted peanuts, what’s left at the bottom of the biscuit tin, some hardened turkish delights, peanut butter sandwich pieces, little bit of marzipan, Betul’s previous cake failure, unwanted sandwich crusts, lots of chocolate with white coatings plus essential spices went into it. Wow, I want some. A welcome addition, that I’m sorry I originally left out.

Pete Wells Food Leftovers
Melbourne Australia

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I had high expectations of myself when I launched this Pete Wells leftovers thing. I imagined I’d go to the fridge and conjure up some amazing dish without buying a single thing.
My kitchen comprises lots of little leftovers and sometimes they do require a trip to the shops to put them to good use. Some Cos for the trusty Caesar salad (I flatly refuse to include bacon or chicken), a carrot or two to make chicken stock. Branston Pickle for a cheese sandwich.
You get the picture.
This weekend I reversed this idea. I’ve been broody over tentacled beasts ever since my Welcome Squid Overlords T-Shirt arrived. Specifically, I’d been eyeing Octopus at Prahran Market.
I bought home a one metre long dangler with no idea what to do with it. Surely there must be something in the fridge to spice it up?
Two weeks ago I made a huge Paella and found a left over Chorizo in the fridge and some tomato paste.
Then there was the small plastic container of mini roma tomatoes that had been in the fridge for over one month. I know, I know. They should be off by now but somehow they were only slightly wrinkled.
So here we go. Heat the oven to 180C. Slice the Octopus and the chorizo and toss in a pan with slices mini tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil, some sherry vinegar and white wine. Stir in tomato paste (having removed the top layer of mould first) add oregano, fennel seeds and salt and pepper.
Cook for about 20 minutes.
Serve with crusty bread and save the stale bits for next months event.

Pete Wells Food octopus Leftovers
Melbourne Australia

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Merde! I forgot some links and I’ve opened as can of worms here. Huguenots, Bourbons…religious wars and bad French.
Several regional dishes were planned but a late night meant an unexpected demand from J (avec a hangover) for steak au frites avec sauce béarnaise. Actually, she wanted a steak haché or probably a royale with cheese, but I’m a fascist and I’m cooking for IMBB23 over at Cucina Testa Rossa.
Although the origins may be obscure they are attributed to a sauce made for King Henry IV of France, the first of the Bourbon kings of France who was born in Béarne.
Béarn no longer exists but was on the border with Spain in the Pyrénéés and, before you fall asleep, was part of the Kingdom of Aquitaine.
The sauce, however, is as popular as ever. It was invented for the opening of a restaurant in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris, Le Pavillon Henri IV.
I’ve always had a gift for making these eggyolk-based emulsions. They simply take the time, effort and the sort of attention given to a risotto. That means you never leave it alone.
First grab a good handful (perhaps two if your hands are small) of tarragon, a fresh bayleaf, ideally chervil (at a push parsley), a couple of sprigs of thyme, a decent sized glass of white tarragon vinegar (you can bulk this out with white wine), at least a teaspoon of crushed white peppercorns and three or four sliced shallots.
Boil and reduce to a couple of tablespoons.
Put two egg yolks in a bain marie. Add the reduction and a knob of butter.
Whisk in and gradually add about 200g – you’ll need to use judgement here. Just keep whisking in little bits and add some salt to taste.
Griddle a couple of porterhouses (sirloin), rest for five to ten minutes while you grab some frites from McDonalds.
Cut off the grizzly fatty bits and feed the big cat, Uncle Monty (sound), who awaits his Weekend Cat Blogging debut.

Slice and arrange on the plate, spoon over sauce, add chips.
We drink with a wine from another little known outpost of France, a Clos Pierre Pinot Noir from the Yarra Valley. It’s sort of a Burgundy made by the stark bollock naked winemaker, by Burgundy veteran Pierre Naigon.
Sweet.

Food fascist

1. Porterhouse tastes better than poofy fillet.

2. Don’t leave the pan for Christ’s sake!

3. Safeway and other supermarkets please stock chervil for my last minute supplier. On second thoughts I’ll plant some.

4. McDonald’s chips really are the best. Don’t even think about oven chips or cooking your own (giant railway sleeper type chips are a another matter, dish and country).

5. Avoid salad with this one.

6. Wonder how and why the cat became known as Uncle Monty.

7. Demand more booze.

Tagged with: IMBB23 + French, weekend cat blogging

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“I have never quite been able to sit down to a meal in a Chinese restaurant without wondering. Wondering if the Chinese characters on the menu said the same thing as the alleged English translations.”

“The goal is to enable you to look at a restaurant sign and say, “oh, this place specializes in seafood,” or to look at a mystery-meat dish on a menu and see the Chinese and say, “ah, it’s a lamb dish.”

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