Pollo al limeno (Mamma Agata's Lemon Chicken)

Wow I cannot believe it is so long since I last blogged, July 29 is a while ago, no wonder I have been getting the hurry up from so many followers.

Jo and I started researching for a trip to Europe a couple of years ago, early on in her digging for things to do, Jo came across a cooking school on the Amalfi Coast in Italy, she has nagged me to take her there since.

Mamma Agata

Cooking Courses in Amalfi Coast

We don't go on our trip until May 2013, so when I saw Mamma Agata had released a cookbook, I thought we'd save some time and I would just buy the book and enjoy the food straight away, if it was as good as the many recommendations suggested.

The book arrived not long after ordering, personally signed by Mamma and her family, I cooked Jo a three course meal from the book in May this year, celebrating a year to our journey begins, you can see that blog here http://dinnerwithjack.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/mama-agata-simple-and-genuine.html

Pollo al limeno

Last week Chiara posted a photo of a Lemon Chicken dish from the book, it looked 
Last week Chiara posted a photo of a Lemon Chicken dish from the book, it looked
amazing and after making comment, Chiara suggested I could make as it was on page 121 of the book, I took her advise and prepared this for Jo's dinner tonight, accompanied by roasted potato and baby carrots, and steamed Brocolini.

Happy to say it was as delicious as it looked, absolutely delicious in fact, now of course Jo want's more and has suggested I could cook it for her parents when we visit Geraldton over Christmas, might just have to do that.

If you are not planing a trip to Italy any time soon, you can buy a copy of the book from Mamma  Agata's webpages, it might not make it in time for Christmas, but then do you really need a reason to buy a quality cook book?

http://www.mammaagata.com/

By the way, cooking great food with this book is a breeze, thanks to the step by step guide, photo's and Mama Agata's secret tips scattered throughout the book, which makes it a terrific book whether you are a seasoned cook or a beginner.

Boun Apetito

Yoshiya Japanese Restaurant

107 Pier Street Perth

Yoshiya Japanese Restaurant first opened their doors to Perth diners in 1987, since that time thousands of people have darkened the doorstep of the little premises at 107 Pier Street, the majority of them, like me, being return customers.

 

I first dined here on the occasion of my younger brothers 30^th birthday, he celebrated his 50^th birthday last year and I have since lost count of the number of times I have dined at this wonderful restaurant, nor can I remember that number of times I wished to myself that I had been there, rather than somewhere somewhat inferior, it is that kind of place.

When owner operators Francis and Sherry Lim first opened their restaurant it was known as the Hayashi Japanese Restaurant, the business was very good to them and in 1995 they opened a second restaurant by the same name in Applecross.  I was privileged to have been present for the opening night and the memories are still vivid of beautiful food and meeting some great people.  Sometime after however, the couple sold off the Applecross store and when they did the new owners kept the name of Hayashi, hence the name change at Pier Street.

As they say “Call a rose by any other name and it will still smell like a rose” and never a truer word could be said of Yoshiya Japanese Restaurant, the food I enjoyed there on Saturday night with my wife was just as exciting and just as delicious as that first meal I enjoyed here in 1991.

Niku Tataki - Tender marinated beef fillet so succulent and tender it melts in your mouth.

It has become a standard order for our entrée to include a serve of Niku-Tataki ($15.00), the thin slices of very rare beef are so succulent and tender, once marinated at the table in a soy vinegar sauce which you have added minced ginger, garlic, spring onion and daikon radish is unbelievable.  In more cases than not this is accompanied by a large Mixed Sashimi ($35.00), David the Sashimi Chef, is a master at his craft and the food he prepares always looks fantastic, tastes even better! 

Mixed Sashimi, my favourite.

I love the Mixed Sashimi, slices of Tuna, Kingfish, Salmon and Snapper with a little wasabi for spice and daikon for texture, and I believe my wife when she says she could live on nothing else but this food!  As Yoshiya is a BYO restaurant, I was able to enjoy a Windy Creek Chardonnay with my meal, it went so well with the sashimi, I was wishing we had taken a taxi so I could have opened a second bottle.

Main course, so much food!

There are so many choices on the Yoshiya menu, but when it comes to the main course my wife, always orders the same thing, it has become her all time favourite of any meal she has had and I cannot now get her to go without her Yaki-Niku ($27.00).  

Yaki Niku, Jo's fave meal of all time!

Yaki-Niku is another beef dish, this time marinated beef tenderloin fillet which is char grilled to perfection and comes with a spicy flavoured dipping sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds, the first time she experienced this meal, I experienced what Billy Crystal did sitting opposite Meg Ryan in “When Harry met Sally”, it was one of those blissful moments for her, as when you feel you have died and gone to heaven!

The Char Grilled Salmon was divine.

I ordered Sakana Shioyaki ($27.00), char grilled snapper, only to be told they were out of snapper, so Sherry offered to do the dish with Salmon instead, I was not disappointed, it was wonderful and cooked to perfection.  Both main meals are served with steamed rice and fresh salad.

Entrees at Yoshiya range from $6.00 a single serve to $35.00 for large share plates, with main meals ranging from $18.00 to $35.00, there are a couple of desserts on offer @ $7.00, you also have a choice of 2 set menus which can be ordered for a table or for a single person the first menu includes BBQ Prawns, BBQ Salmon, BBQ Scallop, Teriyaki chicken, and a marinated cubed beef dish, this comes with Miso Soup, Rice, Salad, Dessert and Japanese Tea or coffee, great value at $60.00 per person.  The second menu includes Sashimi, Tempura Seafood and Vegetables, Teriyaki Chicken and Yaki Niku and this also comes with Miso Soup, Rice, Salad, Dessert and Japanese Tea or coffee for $50.00 per person also great value and the food is awesome. 

I introduced a few friends to this restaurant last year, they enjoyed their entrees and mains so much, when asked what they would like for dessert they ordered what they had just had over again, knowing how good the food is at Yoshiya, I can understand why!

I really shouldn't because it is hard enough to get a table already, but I do highly recommend Yoshiya Japenese Restaurant, the food is the most exciting and delicious you will get anywhere and Francis and Sherry Lim, are the most wonderful hosts, they can never do enough for you to ensure you have a wonderful meal and evening.

Jukut Gedand Mekuah - Spicy Chicken Zucchini Soup

Jo and I have just returned from a twelve night holiday in Bali, staying 5 nights in Ubud and the final 7 nights in Seminyak, an area we both love to spend time relaxing, eating and drinking, it is hard to be back!

We arrived in Ubud after a one and a half hour drive from the airport, picking up a few things on the way to stock the bar fridge, Bintangs, soda water, orange juice and bottled water, just the essentials to go with the duty free items we brought with us.
Walking into the beautiful foyer of the Kamandalu Resort we must have looked a sight loaded down with our supplies, we were greeted by a beautiful Balinese woman who after placing a lei of frangipani around our necks, sat us down for an ice cold drink of freshly squeezed fruit juice, we were happy we had arrived, we were back in Paradise!

The woman then proceeded to tell us about the resort and informed us that we had been upgraded to a garden villa, as I had marked the guest register when booking as being on our Honeymoon, to say we were excited is an understatement, I had forgotten all about ticking the "special holiday box" and Jo having no prior knowledge was a little embarrassed, but we delightedly accepted the upgrade.

Once the business of paying was taken care of the young lady invited us to follow her to our villa, I hoped up grabbing the bigger bags we had walked in with and took off following her across the foyer, Jo following, as we walked all the other staff members came forward to greet us and to wish us a wonderful honeymoon etc, when the bag I was carrying with four 1.25 litre bottles of water decided to break open sending the contents rolling in all directions and me stood there with and empty bag trying to decide which way to run first, the laughs had begun!

We managed to gather the water bottles up and with our hostess sharing the load we made our way to the villa, the gate of which was decorated with streamers made from Pandan leaves and adorned with bright red flowers, the girl explained that this was traditional Balinese decoration to mark a Honeymooners residence, the decorations remained there for our entire stay, which meant the old grey haired bugger got a few wry smiles and knowing looks from the gardeners etc. as we walked around the resort.  But I was not complaining the villa was absolutely beautiful, as was the special Honeymooners cake we were presented with and the large fruit bowl adorned with yet more flowers, special.  On the bed there where two beautiful white swans kissing, above a red heart shaped from rose petals with  letters inside spelling out Mr & Mrs J, even though this was in fact our fifth honeymoon, it made it feel to us, as special as our first.

We had been through Ubud a few times on previous trips, but never stayed long enough to see what the place was all about and once I had made the booking for five nights a year ago, I began to wonder what we would do, so at that time I started to investigate and whilst doing so found some information about a cooking class which included a tour through a local market before going to the peoples home for the cooking class, I was taken by the idea and booked us in immediately.  I was very surprised to learn on the day that they had only just started the business venture a few weeks prior to my booking, had I known this I may not have booked, so I am so glad I did not as I would have missed out on the best day out, both Jo and I rated it as one of the best two things we have done during our travels, the other being the two nights on board a junk on Halong Bay we had in Vietnam 2010.  I intend to do a blog just on this very special cooking class so I will not go on about it any more now, other than to say the recipe for Jukut Gedang Mekuah came for this day, and it was the first thing I cooked on arriving home, I could not wait to do so.

The Jukut Gedand Mekuah, is in fact a Papya, mince chicken soup served with crispy shallots, however I was unable to souce a fresh green Papya so I substituted this with a zuchinni, as suggested by the chef  from the cooking class and quite frankly I could not tell the difference, the dish tasted just as it had back in Ubud.   However it did look quite different, mine was a lot richer in colour, I have put this down to the fresh turmeric being pumpkin orange, whereas the home grown variety we enjoyed at Lobong Villa was a lot paler in colour.

One of the things I really liked about this soup, was its simplicity, counting the spice paste as a ingredient, there where only 9 ingredients in all to make this wonderfully flavoured soup.
1 tbl spn coconut oil
1/2 cup gede paste
1 stalk of lemon grass, bruised
2-3 salem leaves, I used fresh curry leaves
200 gram chicken breast or tenderloins, diced to small mince
100 gram zuchinni, diced into 1cm cube
1 litre chicken stock, home-made is best
2-3 shallots, finely diced and fried until golden (Garnish)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a heavy based pot and add the spice paste, lemon grass and curry leaves, cook stirring for about five minutes, the aromas will fill your kitchen and your mouth should start to water at this point.

Add the minced chicken, stir into the paste and cook for about 5 minutes or until completely browned.

De-glaze the pot with a ladle of chicken stock, being sure to scrap up all the flavour from the bottom of the pan.

Add in the zuchinni or papaya if you are lucky enough to have some, stirring in well, continue stirring until the stock starts to boil, then add in remaining stock, bring to the boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes.

 Served garnished with the crispy shallots, I also added some finely sliced spring onion, some red chilli and a few curry leaves, looked great, tasted unbelievably good.

For the base spice paste you will need
100 grams red chillies
125 grams shallots
30 grams garlic cloves
50 grams ginger
30 grams galangal
50 grams fresh turmeric
25 grams candle-nuts, you can use macadamia
1 tsp coriander seeds, lightly roasted and crushed in a mortar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
75 ml water
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and grind coarsely, this will make a lot more than is required for the soup recipe above, if you are not making another dish straight away, simply spoon into and ice cube tray and freeze until required.

As I said earlier I will blog our experience with the Lobong Cooking Class in Ubud, in fact I think it will have to be split into three episodes, such was the day and the wonderful experiences we shared, can't wait to shared the stories it was so good!

I used more of the base spice paste today, to make my own version of a Rendang curry, it was bloody awesome too, but that is a story for another day!

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Well we are still on our little old health kick and I think it is actually starting to us both some good, I know my double chin does not appear to be as big as it was and I now remember what it feels like to be hungry at dinner time, heck and breakfast and lunch too!

The saddest part of all this for me is cooking what I thought would be bland food, but I must admit we have found some absolutely delicious recipes and tonight’s is no exception, in fact I commented to Jo that this recipe could get a run at our next dinner party, very easy to prepare and cook and every mouthful was gobsmackingly good, absolutely delicious!

I found the recipe on an American health site called Sparkpeople, this site has some fantastic tools if you are watching what you eat, type in your ingredients and it gives you a full run down on what you are eating, the only sad part tonight I did not calculate the serving size of the chicken so we ended up eating a little more than we intended, but once we started eating this YUM YUM meal, there was no turning back.  Anyway, the entire meal racked up 568 calories, so it was still well within a healthy diet range.

Goats cheese is what drew me to this recipe, it was only a few days ago that we enjoyed another meal which contained this ingredient, neither of us had tried it before that and we have both come to love it, it is like a very mild feta but is not so salty, has a beaut creaminess about it, I love crumbling it up and then I get to lick my fingers mmmmmm mmmmmmm!

I baked a couple of small pieces of sweet potato, a few cherry tomatoes and a handful of olives, then steamed a few Brussels sprouts to go with the stuffed chicken and the flavours and textures of these went amazingly well together, the only place I varied from the recipe was by adding a teaspoon of Italian Herbs to the stuffing and leaving it and the shallots out of the sauce.

I really was so pleased with this meal, who said healthy eating was dull and boring?

Nutritional Info when prepared as per recipe

Per Serving

Calories:           192.7

Total Fat:              7.0 g

Cholesterol:        49.5 mg

Sodium:             954.8 mg

Total Carbs:          8.9 g

Dietary Fiber:       0.7 g

Protein:               23.1 g

Summer BBQ's

One of the things we love most about summer is it is BBQ weather, there is something about cooking outside that brings added flavour to the table, a steak cooked on the stove top may be fantastic, but there is always a nagging question in the back of my mind about as to how good it may have been if cooked on the barbie.  And it doesn't matter if it is a gas, electric or wood fire, though I don’t think you can beat wood fired BBQ meat.

We have become very fond of Beef Fillet steak and I like it cut thick, however whilst out shopping the other day, I found a couple of thick cut Sirloins, that looked so good I had to take them and give them a go, they had that nice little square shaped bit of fat right in the middle and were nicely marbled right through the meat.

I like the BBQ really hot when I cook my steak, so everything else I am cooking gets done first, things like boned shoulder of lamb marinated in Moroccan spices, beef or pork sausages, tandoori chicken, the use of baking paper for the marinated stuff helps keep the plate clean and once it is all cooked and taken off, I ramp the heat up to high and get the plate red hot.

Whilst the plate is heating season the meat with salt, pepper and coat with a little olive oil, set a timer for 8 – 9 minutes and you are ready to cook that beautiful piece of meat, place it on the hottest part of the plate and then do not touch for at least 4 minutes for thick cuts, if it is sizzling and smoking, you have got it right! Keep an eye on the timer and once that 4 minute interval is up turn the steaks and again do not touch for a least four minutes, if you like to ruin steak and take it past pink, you can leave on a little longer. 

I reset the timer as soon as the steak comes off for 5 – 10 minutes depending on how much there is to do to get the table ready, I find the longer you rest the meat the greater the flavour anyway.

The next best thing about a BBQ is the awesome flavours different salads make to the meal, and there are so many to choose from, I love a fresh garden salad and you got to have some form of potatoes, whether baked, au gratin or as a cold salad.

Love curried eggs!

Pickled Tomato, Onion and Cucmber

Another thing I love on my plate for a barbie is boiled egg, my sister in law Pieta makes the best, I have tried her recipe and they were great, but I think she deliberately leaves one or two ingredients out as mine are not as good!

Now you’ve got your salads ready, meat is cooked, table set all you need now is a crusty loaf of bread, an ice cold beer or glass of red and few mates to enjoy it all with.

Roasted Beetroot with Feta and Greens

Garden Salad

Potato with Egg and Bacon

Great spread!

YUM YUM

BTW those sirloins were sooo tender and sooo full of flavour YUM YUM!

bon appétit!

Roast Chicken with Chorizo and Tomato

I wanted to cook this dish a few days ago, but when I told Jo what I was about to do she quickly said no way, as she did not like the idea of me firing the oven up on a 40C degree day.

By the look on her face she meant it and we opted for a BBQ that night instead.
I found a recipe on a fellow Perth bloggers pages and as he has similar tastes to my own, I was keen to try it out, however since my original yearning I had found a very similar recipe on the Gourmet Traveller site which included a video featuring Emma Knowles cooking the dish.  I opted to cook it in the way Emma had mainly due to the inclusion of a fresh herb and paprika marinade and the way she prepared the dish generally appealed to me.

The weather was somewhat cooler today, and as I did not have a lot of other options for dinner tonight anyway, I got the nod to prepare this extremely tasty dish and it was well worth the wait.  I love anything that includes roasted tomato and the berry tomatoes I used in this dish tonight were so full of flavour they almost stole the show.   There was one small bone of contention though as I mucked up in not having a loaf of crunchy bread on hand to soak up the delicious gravy!

If you'd like to try this dish have a look at these recipes,

Gourmet Traveller - Emma Knowles version or

Mangiere - Joe Camerilli's one pot version

Gary Renwick is FIFTY!!!

50 year old man looks like this!

Jo and I were fortunate enough to be invited to my friend Gary’s 50^th Birthday celebrations on the weekend.  Gary and his lovely wife Cathy, live on a 2.5 acre property about twenty minutes drive from our place, and it was the venue for the party, and what a great venue it was.

Myself, Gary and my brother Kevin

Gary went all out to ensure he and his guest enjoyed the night, providing beautiful food, more liquid refreshments than you could poke a stick at and a live band, which played our sort of music, a fantastic night, one which we will remember for a long time.

There were around 70 guests in all, a big mob to feed, so how do you go about that? Well if you’re from a wee island in the South Pacific, as Gary is, then there is only one way, a Hangi of course.

This was my first Hangi experience and I can only hope that it is not too long before I get to enjoy such food again, it was awesome, to say the very least.  And how interesting to watch the Maoris do their stuff, first wheeling in the purpose built, portable, steaming Hangi oven and then disrobing it of sheet after sheet of damp hessian, then banana leaves, stones and finally a couple of trays of foil wrapped full of beautiful vegetables, finally to reveal 8 chickens, 4 legs of lamb, a slab of beef and a slab of pork.  

The chickens where stuffed, the slabs of meat were peppered with cloves of garlic, my mouth was watering watching them carve the meat up and it was music to my ears when the chap called out “come on you lot dig in”.

It really is hard to describe just how good the food was, the meat was so so tender and the vegies so full of flavour, when they revealed just how much food was in the Hangi, I said to Jo there is no way this lot will get through all that, but they did and now knowing how good Hangi food is I have realised what a silly statement that was!

Easy Company belting out "They say it's your Birthday"

"Hope you have had a good time"

Happy 50^th Birthday Gary and thanks to you and the lovely Cathy for a great night.