Spicy Casserole

A yummy recipe from my mum. I make it in the slow cooker, mix meat and dry ingredients the night before, then add liquids in the morning and get it going.

2lbs chuck steak, or similar

1tsp dry mustard

1tsp mixed spice

1 tsp salt

½ tsp curry powder

½ tsp ground ginger

3 dsp brown sugar

3 tbs flour

1 dsp lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

½ cup tomato sauce

¼ cup vinegar

1 beef stock cube

2 ½ cups water

Combine dry ingredients. Trim fat from meat, cut into 2” cubes. Toss meat in dry ingredients. Refrigerate 2 hours. Combine remaining ingredients. Put meat into casserole dish, pour liquids over. Cover and cook in a moderate over 1 ½ hours or until meat is tender.

Possibly The Best Apple Crumble

I have made and eaten quite a lot of apple crumble in my time and this is one of the better ones. Sometimes I have made crumble without flour, using rolled oats and coconut instead, but flour is the best for giving a great smooth texture. I also had a glut of red delicious apples, which I would not have normally used in apple crumble. I think I found this recipe by searching for red delicious recipes. I was a bit heavy handed with the slivered almonds, but it turned out great.



A Woolworths Recipe

Serves: 6
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 10 mins

Ingredients
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbs cornflour
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup sultanas
4 large Red Delicious apples
2 tbs water
1 tbs lemon juice
¾ cup plain flour
60g cold butter, chopped
1/3 cup slivered almonds

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 4-cup ovenproof dish and place on a baking tray.

2. Combine 2 tbs of the brown sugar with cornflour, cinnamon and sultanas in a bowl. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and toss in flour mixture to coat. Layer into prepared dish and sprinkle over combined water and lemon juice.

3. Mix flour and remaining sugar together in a bowl. Add butter and rub into flour with fingertips until crumbly. Mix in almonds. Scatter over apple, cover with foil and bake for 30 mins. Remove foil and cook for 30 mins more until golden. Serve with cream or ice cream.




Nutritional Information
Per Serve:
4.5g protein
13g fat (5.5g saturated fat)
63g carbohydrates
5g dietary fibre
1600 kJ

More Lunchbox Biscuits

Apricot Choc Chip Biscuits

Very yummy chocolate chip bikkies with the goodness and texture of dried apricots.

Recipe provided by:

Allrecipes

Ingredients

* 125g (1 cup) plain flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 125g butter, softened
* 125g (1/2 cup) raw sugar
* 90g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
* 1 egg, lightly beaten
* 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 150g (1 cup) chocolate chips
* 125g (1 cup) chopped dried apricots

Preparation method

1. Preheat oven to 190 C. Grease a biscuit tray.
2. Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl. In a separate bowl. Beat together the butter, raw sugar and brown sugar in a bowl until fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg, vanilla and salt. Stir the flour and baking soda into the butter mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips and apricots.
4. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the biscuit tray.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow biscuits to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

I have one son who found these a bit too sweet, but the other 2 loved them. The second time I made them I used 20g less sugar, and might try reducing it further. I might also try using some wholemeal flour.

Jamie Oliver's Slow Roasted Spiced Pork Loin with Black Eyed Beans and Tomatoes

This dish works as described here, but you can also stuff into hot flour tortillias or pita breads to be eaten like a kind of fajita or burrito - supurb.

Serves 8
7lb (3.2kg) rib end loin of pork with skin on French trimmed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 tsp smoked papriks
juice of one lemon
olive oil
3 red onions, finely sliced
6 - 8 fresh red, yellow and green chillies
7oz (200g) small whole chorizo sausages, thickly sliced
6 bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
3 14oz (400g) can of good quality plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 handfuls of fresh ripe tomatoes, halved
4 14oz (400G) cans of black eyed beans, drained
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
red wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 475F (250 C). First, score the skin of the pork in a criss cross pattern every 1/2 inch with a sharp knife, trying not to cut into the meat itself. Mix a little salt with a teaspoon of paprika, the lemon juice and a little olive oil, then rub this over the meal and into the score lines. Put the meat ina high sided roasting pan and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes to start the skin crisping up.

Remove the meat from the oven, turning the heat down to 350F (180C). Take the pork out of the pan and put it to one side, then spoon out half the fat and discard it. Place the pan on the stovetop, add the onions, whole chillies, chorizo, bay leaves and rosemary with the remaining paprika, and fry gently until onions are soft. Add all the tomatoes, the beans, garlic, parsley and a wine glass of water to the pan, stirring and scraping up all the lovely sticky bit from the bottom. Place the pork on top, returning to the oven and cook for another hour or so until the skin is crispy and the meat is meltingly tender.

When cooked, remove the pork from the pan and allow to rest. Take the sauce and season with salt pepper and a few swigs of red wine vinegar to give it a twang. Then remove the chillies and control the heat by chopping up as much chilli as you like, stirring it back into the sauce. Lovely served with sour cream.

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I looked for black eyed beans but could not find them so I used cannelleni beans instead. I couldn't get a rib end loin of pork, so I used a rolled shoulder roast, it seemed to work well. Very yummy!

Lunchbox biscuits

I am tired of going through lots of packet of biscuits for my boys lunchboxes. They enjoyed eating these at my mum's house in the holidays, so I got the recipe from her. My mum used to make them a lot when I was little, she got the recipe from her mother. They were always called Buddle cakes, named so because the Buddle boys, who were neighbours of my mum when she was little always had these biscuits.

Currant Cake (Buddle cakes)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

¾ lb currants

1 tsp cream of tarter

½ tsp bicarb soda

few drops of lemon essence

¼ lb butter

¾ cup milk

Method:

Cream butter and sugar well, add eggs, milk, with the dissolved soda, sift in flour and cream of tarter, lastly add currants.

Bake in a moderate oven (180C) for ¾ to 1 hour.

For small cakes, add 1 cup coconut, and no milk, essence vanilla. Bake in a hot oven 450F to 500F.

This was my grandma's recipe, but I found they were better baked at 180C for 10 - 15 minutes. I'm lucky I have an electric oven and not a wood fired one like hers! I do have fond memories of making toast on a big fork in front of the open oven though!

Easy Shepherds Pie

Ingredients

Base
1kg beef mince
1/2 teaspoon oil
1 large onion
1 zucchini, finely chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
4 teaspoons gravy powder
1/4 teaspoons mixed herbs
1 1/2 cups water

Topping
750g potatoes (I used some sweet potato)
2 large tomatoes
Grated cheese

Method

1. Base. Heat oil in an oven proof frying pan and brown mince
2. Add onion, zucchini and carrot. Fry until cooked evenly
3. Make gravy in about 2 tablespoons of water and pour into the meat and vegetable mixture
4. Gradually add the rest of water and herbs, and simmer for 10 minutes or until gravy is thickened.
5. Topping: Boil and mash potatoes
6. Place tomato slices evenly over meat mixture.
7. Top with mashed potato and sprinkle with cheese.
8. Bake at 180C for 25 - 30 minutes or until potato is browned.

I also added some worcestershire sauce for extra flavour.

Spiced fried fish with lemon pistachio couscous

From the AWW website. I used trevally, it was delicious!

Serving size: Serves 4
Cuisine type: Modern Australian
Cooking time: Less than 60 minutes
Special options: Heart friendly, Lactose free, Low Carb, Low fat, Low GI
Course: Lunch, Main
Favourite flavours: Easy recipes, Seafood

INGREDIENTS

We used bream, but you can use any firm white fish fillet, such as perch, blue eye or ling.

1 tablespoon plain flour
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
1½ teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 (800g) bream fillets
1 tablespoon olive oil

Lemon pistachio couscous
1 cup (200g) couscous
¾ cup (180ml) boiling water
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
½ cup (70g) pistachios
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 small (100g) red onion, chopped finely
½ cup coarsely chopped fresh mint

METHOD

Lemon pistachio couscous

Combine couscous, boiling water, lemon rind and juice in a medium heatproof bowl. Cover; stand about 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed; fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, heat a small frying pan; dry-fry pistachios until fragrant. Remove nuts from pan. Heat oil in same pan, add garlic and onion; cook, stirring, until onion is soft. Stir nuts, onion mixture and mint through couscous. Cover to keep warm.


Combine flour and spices in a medium bowl; add fish, rub spice mixture over fish.

Heat oil in large non-stick frying pan; cook fish, in batches, until browned on both sides and cooked as desired.

Serve fish with lemon pistachio couscous and wedges of lemon, if desired.

Not suitable to freeze or microwave.

WINE: Try the fresh, lemony taste of a young semillon with these flavours.