My geek used to live on Pizza Hut before he met me. He could easily go 5 nights a week ordering pizza. Obviously that had to change. Over the years we’ve created “Friday Fun Night”. This was intended to experiment with new recipes, but the only thing that we’ve experimented with is pizza. He still can’t live without pizza once a week, so if your beloved is a pizza junkie try this out for a special occasion.

When making your dough it always seems to rise better when it’s humid and hot. So a sticky day or night is perfect pizza making weather. If you can’t wait for warm weather make sure your house or at least kitchen is nice and toasty.

This makes 2 medium-family sized pizzas.

Dough Ingredients
1 teaspoon dried yeast
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup warm water
1/2 tbs honey
Approx. 2-3 cups 00 flour (the Italian 00 flour really makes the best bases)

Tomato Spread
3 tomatoes de-seeded (just cut in half and squeeze out the seeds)
1/2 handful fresh basil
Handful grated pizza cheese (mozzarella, parmesan etc)

Toppings
Fresh pineapple
Ham or prosciutto
Buffalo mozzarella
Anything else that takes your fancy - but keep it simple

Method
Mix all of the dough ingredients together except for the flour. Leave for about 10 minutes for the yeast to activate. There should be bubbles on the surface. Add one cup of flour and mix well. Continue to add half a cup of flour at a time. Keep mixing between adding flour. You want to stop adding flour when your dough has the consistency of being sticking, but not too sticky that is sticks to your fingers if you press it. You might not need all of the flour or you might need more. If you stuff it up and it starts crumbling and looks dry, add a bit of water to try to get it right.

Once you are happy with the dough you need to get it out of your bowl and onto a floured bench. Take out all of your frustrations for the day by pounding it for a few minutes. Then put it into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and put somewhere warm. You need to leave it for at least 1 hour, but really the longer you leave it the better. If you can manage 6 hours super!

Whilst waiting for your dough, put the tomatoes and basil together in a blender to create a paste. Then just wait, perhaps you want to listen to some Perry Como to get you in the mood for an Italian feast.

Once your dough is ready divide it in half. Roll out one half into a medium sized pizza base. Before you start rolling you want to put your oven on to really hot (around 220C). Pre-cook your pizza base for a couple of minutes with no topping on it.

Then take it out of the oven, spread it with the tomato paste, sprinkle on some cheese and place your toppings in an artistic fashion. Break up bits of buffalo mozzarella and place these on top. Then put your pizza into the oven. We cook one at a time in the top shelf, as the bottom shelf doesn’t get hot enough. Pizzas take about 5-10 minutes each depending on the strength of your oven.

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One of my new years resolutions is to waste less food. Usually with a roast chicken I’d use the carcass to make stock, but as my beloved thinks my risotto is boring, I’ve had to find new uses for my leftover roast chicken. Enter the easy Monday night meal.

Ingredients
1/2 left over roast chicken
1 cup couscous
handful of mint leaves
handful of basil leaves
1 lemon
2 shallots, sliced
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 zucchini/courgette shaved (use a peeler)

Pour 1 cup hot water over the couscous and leave for 5 minutes. In the meantime shred your chicken, zest your lemon and squeeze the juice. Mix lemon juice with vinegar and olive oil. Throw together mint and basil leaves, chicken, shallots, zucchini and lemon zest. Once 5 minutes have passed break up couscous with a fork and dress with vinegar and olive oil. Then mix with the remaining ingredients and that’s it. Dinner in under 15 minutes. Plenty of time for nookie.

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This is a really easy mid-week meal that’s impressive. It takes you to Morocco and the Middle East, so I suggest you put on that Middle Eastern music whilst cooking for your beloved. Serve them some mint tea while they wait for dinner or a lovely glass of white.

Ingredients
2 large chicken thigh or small breast fillets
1 onion finely sliced
2 gloves garlic finely sliced
2 tsp ras el hanout (or substitute for a mixture of tumeric, corriander and cumin)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp ground tumeric
400g can tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 can chickpeas
1/2 large eggplant sliced into chunks
6 dates finely sliced
1 lemon finely sliced
1 cup couscous
2 tsp honey
fresh coriander

Method
Preheat oven to 175. Heat some olive oil on medium low in a tagine or something that will you can use on your stove and in your oven. Add onions and stir for a few minutes. Meanwhile, cover the chicken in the ras el hanout. Add the chicken to the tagine with the garlic. Turn the chicken until it is browned on all sides. Add the ginger, cumin and tumeric and combine. Stir for a minute until the smell transports you to another country. Then add can tomatoes and chicken stock. Turn the heat to medium. Combine well. Add lemons, chickpeas, eggplant and dates. Your tagine should be nearly boiling now. Once it starts to bubble put the lid on and transfer to the oven. Cook for 30 - 45 mins depending on size of chicken. Ten minutes before it’s ready pour one cup of boiling water over couscous. Leave for 10 mins then fluff with a fork. Stir the honey into the tagine and server over couscous. Sprinkle with chopped coriander and serve to your loved one…

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These are very quick and nutritious. Perfect for a light snack or a starter, or in my case, to get your other half to eat vegetables. You might not look so sexy with sauce and noodles dripping down your face, but you could always get your date to lick it off…

Ingredients
1/2 carrot, cut into matchsticks
1/2 cucumber, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1/2 capsicum, cut into matchsticks
2 shallots, cut into matchsticks
8 mint leaves
1/4 cup coriander leaves
50g vermicelli noodles
4 rice paper sheets
Dipping Sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
4 tablespoons Hoi Sin sauce
1 tablespoon warm water

Serves 2

Method
Cover vermicelli noodles with boiling water and leave for 5-7 minutes. Drain and run under cold water until cool. Drain again.
Soak a tea towel in cold water and place on a plate.
Soak a rice paper sheet in warm water in a large circular bowl for about 30 seconds. Place on the wet tea towel. Arrange some of the vermicelli noodles at the bottom end of the rice paper. Place your carrot, cucumber, capsicum and shallots on top. Gently place the coriander down one side and neatly place the two mint leaves up the side. To roll either fold in both of the edges and then roll, or just fold up one edge (to leave the top open) and roll tightly. Cover with the wet tea towel and keep them all covered and in the fridge until you are ready to serve. The closer you can prepare them to serving time the better.

To make the sauce, mix the sugar and water in a bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Then add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

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OK, after some time not posting, I’ve vamped up my blog in the hope of posting more recipes. I haven’t not been cooking, our digital camera died earlier this year and we’ve been a bit busy. So far this year I’ve:

• Got married
• Had a honeymoon
• Went to England
• Moved house
• Tried to sell my car (anyone want a sexy Peugeot 206??) Sold!
  
• Still been running my business, writing for Flying Solo
• Got knocked up so, have merged my business with husband to form new company (he gets to do all the work)

Oh, am also about to launch an Australian online shopping directory as I spend far too much looking for new places to spend my money online.

Anyway with the moving house comes a new kitchen, and with the marriage came a video camera, so once I figure out how to download the videos to Linux I might start posting instructional videos instead. I’m talking about cooking videos of course!

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If you’re in a new relationship, the aim is to appear interesting to your partner. One way to fake interesting is to cook exotic food. The Three Pee Curry is just your ticket. If you’re very desperate, get some leis and drape them around your living room and you could get some paper umbrellas and whip up some cocktails.

This is a fusion curry, it’s part Indian, part Thai and part Tropical (insert whichever tropical country takes your fancy - personally I always call it the Tropical Hawaiian Curry).

Ingredients
400gm raw green prawns, leave tails on
1/2 small pumpkin, skinned cut into 2cm cubes
1/2 pineapple or small tin of pineapple pieces
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp ground corinader
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp red curry paste
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp palm sugar
1 tsp lemongrass, chopped
1 can coconut cream
Jasmine rice
Coriander to serve

Heat roughly 1 tbsp of oil over low heat in a pan and add your onions. Cook until soft and starting to change colour. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Add all of the spices and red curry paste, stir and cook for another minute. Add the can of coconut cream then add the fish sauce, palm sugar and lemongrass and stir. Add in your pumpkin cubes and reduce heat to a simmer for roughly 10-15 mins. If your curry sauce starts to dry out at some water. Meanwhile you can get the rice ready by steaming or boiling or whatever method you use.

Test the pumpkin to see if it’s cooked. If it is add the prawns and pineapple with any pineapple juice and turn up the heat. You want to cook the prawns quickly, so mid- high heat is best. Stir and watch. When they have changed colour and curled up they are cooked - it should take around three minutes.

Serve the three pee curry on top of the jasmine rice and top with coriander. Sitting it next to your tropical Hawaiian punch and you’re exotic!

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This is my “Burgh…it’s really cold and I want to snuggle up to someone sexy when I’m finished”… Cheesy au gratin is dead sexy, it’s a warm and comforting dish that should put anyone at ease, especially those of you who think fennel is pretentious.

So on the menu tonight we have redfish, which I think is also known as red emporer in the UK, in a dill and fennel marinade with cauliflower and broccoli gratin and roast pumpkin and potatoes.

Ingredients
400g redfish fillets
bunch of dill, chopped
1 small fennel bulb, chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
roughly 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 heaped teaspoon dijionaise (spell!)
2 large potatoes peeled and cut into small chunks
1/4 whole pumpkin peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 head cauliflower
1/2 head broccoli
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup grated tasty cheddar

Method
Heat oven to 180. Put the potatoes on to boil in a pot of water, once boiling leave them for 5 mins then drain really well. Once drained shake the potatoes in the pot to “rough them up” - yes you want them to look disshelved. Heat an oven tray in your oven with a dash of olive oil for about 3 mins then add your roughed up potatoes and pumpkin.

Meanwhile boil some water in another pot for your cauliflower and broccoli and prepare your marinade for the fish. Mix fennel, dill, dijionaise, olive oil, lemon juice and a good bit of ground pepper and salt. Add fish fillets and put in the fridge. I know, you’re saying “lemon juice cooks fish” but the redfish seems to cope with it, and the olive oil does water it down. Just make sure you don’t leave it marinating longer than an hour.

OK, after that mouthful, your broccoli and cauliflower should now be cooked. They only take a few minutes after your water has started boiling. Drain and put into an oven dish. Melt butter in a small pot, add flour and stir like there is no tomorrow. I cheat and use a whisk. When these have made a nice roux, add the milk and keep whisking over heat (mid-heat). This will thicken after about 5 mins then add cheese until it melts. Pour over cauliflower and broccoli and add to the oven.

You should also add the marinated fish to the oven now too in its own tray…if you are so lucky to have an oven that can fit three shelves…give it all 10-15 mins and that’s it. A yummy hot cool night meal…since it’s a cold night I give you permission to serve with a nice bottle of red, even though it goes against the rules, something like a Merlot would be yummy, then you can cuddle your loved one in front of the fire…

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If your fella is English, like mine, he loves a good curry and constantly complains about the lack of good Indian curries in Australia. As a special treat I’ll cook him an ‘English’ curry.

You have to love a good creamy, fat full dish. Some of you may think I’ve ruined it by sneaking in eggplants, but I’m trying to increase our vegetable intake and didn’t fancy cooking a side dish. You can’t take any shortcuts with the fat in this dish. The ghee gives it the butter taste. It’s all or nothing…

This will serve 4.

Ingredients
2 single chicken breasts (about 800g) chopped into 2cm cubes
4 cloves garlic
3cm ginger
a handful of cashews
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon chilli
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
1 tin (400g) tomatoes
2 tablespoons cream
1/2 cup coconut cream
3 tablespoons ghee
1 onion, sliced
2 skinny eggplant, sliced
corriander for garnish
boiled rice for serving

Method
Put everything up to and including the coconut cream into the blender and blend until smooth. Add to a plastic bowl with your chopped chicken. Cover in put in the fridge for at least half an hour, if not an hour.

After your marination time, heat ghee in heavy based pan (or big fry pan). Add onion and eggplant and fry on low heat for about 5 - 10 minutes. Add the giant bowl of marinated chicken and keep on low heat. You’ll want to stir it around for the first 5 minutes to encourage the chicken to change colour, after that put a lid on it and keep it simmering on very low heat. Cook for roughly another 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile cook your rice. When all is ready serve the butter chicken on steamed rice with corriander sprinkled over the top. Take your special treat one step further and serve with a can of Carling lager.

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It’s finally winter in Sydney. If you missed our treacherous weather last weekend, check out Fairfax for some pictures. The swell at Bondi was massive, but the wind was frightening. We went to have a look on Friday and aside from getting masses of sand in my eyes, I thought I was going to fly away in the wind. I’m not a cold weather person, however, the silver lining to cold weather is soups and dishes filled with cream and fat cuddling with romantic movie and a bottle of red.

This dish is an excellent winter entree if you want to impress your beloved, especially if you’re away somewhere in a tiny cabin with a log fire - the smell of this dish is sensual. You could follow it by another dish with strong aromatic tendencies, roast chicken.

Ingredients
Small head cauliflower, roughly cut
2.5 L stock (I used chicken, but veg or beef will do)
2 shallots (or spring onions), heads cut in half
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
100gm soft blue cheese

Method
Bring stock to boil with shallots and garlic. Add cauliflower and boil for 10 mins, then turn down to simmer for 40 mins. Strain half of the liquid out and put aside. Blend the remainder of the mixture together. Taste and add salt and pepper. Add cheese (I’m not a blue cheese lover so I add a bit at a time to make sure it’s not too overpowering) and continue to blend. Taste again. You might need more salt and pepper, or maybe more cheese. If you find your blend is bit too much like baby food, add some more of the stock that you set aside and blend.

That’s it. I don’t think you need any cream as the soft cheese is creamy enough.

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A super winter dinner, especially after a big lunch. We had ribs for lunch down at Hurricane’s today and whilst they are the best ribs in Sydney, they also make you feel lardy…so with with meat for lunch, it’s definitely time for vegetables for dinner.

Ingredients
3 kipfler pototoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 skinny eggplants, sliced
1/4 pumpkin, skinned and cut into chunks
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1 zucchini, cut in half
3 cloves garlic
olive oil
pepper
150g Halloumi, sliced

Method
Heat oven to 200. Heat olive oil in an oven tray (in the oven) for about 5 minutes. Add all of your vegetables and grind pepper over them. That’s it! Just wait for 40 minutes, check them once half way through and turn them over. Put the cheese over the top of the vegetables and move the tray up to the grill for about 5- 10 mins.

Halloumi doesn’t melt - it still, according the geek - tastes like rubber. However I love it. This is a great recipe for you vego’s and people wanting to detox from meat.

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