chilli – Abstract Gourmet

Chilli Beef Noodle Stirfry

I feel like a bit of a fraud making meals like this. It isn’t really cooking so much as arranging ingredients in a wok and applying heat. In saying that though, this is the kind of meal that started me off on my cooking adventures, when I was young and impetuous and carefree.

Back in those days (circa 1997), men didn’t cook at all. Certainly not ones that went to university anyway. So I would throw together my stirfrys with all the flair and extravagance of a young Ernest Shackleton, boldly trudging into the unknown (but with a cocky assurance that I’d be rewarded with rapturous praise if I managed to assemble anything vaguely edible onto a plate). My gratuitous use of peanut oil, and my willingness to embrace the exotic world of coriander, baby corn and bean shoots made all my meals an instant success. The world was my oyster sauce… and I squeezed it for all it was worth.

So here again is my homage to simple cooking. To getting people excited about making their own meals, and to preparing food in less time than it takes to get in the car to drive to McDonalds.

Ingredients

Sliced Beef (I used about 400g of rump steak, but anything is fine, topside was my original goto cut)
2 chillis, chopped finely (less or none if you don’t want this to be spicy)
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 red capsicum
1 onion, sliced
1/2 zucchini
1 pack of egg noodles
Soy sauce
Oyster sauce
Red wine / Chinese Cooking Sherry
Big handful of chopped coriander
whatever else you can find in the fridge that looks tasty

How I Made Mine
Fry the chopped chilli in oil by itself. This gives it a real kick, and will infuse your oil with capsaicin (the stuff that makes chillis hot). Fry the garlic now too, and when its soft, throw in the beef to get it nicely coated. Fry the beef until its just cooked, adding some red wine or sherry while its going for a bit of extra flavour in the meat, then take out of the wok.

Now fry your onion, capsicum, zucchini, and whatever else you’ve decided to use. When they are getting a little soft (but still have some bite), throw the beef back in, add in the egg noodles, toss it all around, splash in enough soy sauce and oyster sauce to get the flavour your after coating the noodles and veges, then toss through your coriander (cilantro for americans), and you’re done.

Then place in front of your partner/friends/family/cat, and wait for the praise you so richly deserve :)

Good Friday

Really what can’t be good about a day when you get to invite you friends over, cook delicious food, drink delicious wine, and sit around getting merry and full. Yes ok… Jesus did die… But he did have a pretty tasty last supper from all accounts.

So the menu consisted roughly of:

Flamed tomato salad with garlic and basil (cooked on BBQ)

Halve tomatos and season with olive oil and salt and cracked pepper, then fry them on the bbq grill, splash a little olive oil over them for firey fun… and when they’re nice and soft but not falling apart, toss them in a bowl with a clove or two of crushed garlic and fresh chopped basil.

Chilli Mussels (4 kg of the suckers)

Chop some tomatoes, chillis (im using these little bullet chillis at the moment which have been severely messing me up in a good way), garlic, red or white wine (i use red of course), tomato passata.

Throw the mussels into a wok/pan/vesitibule and get them hot. Add the garlic and wine, and get it simmering away, and when the mussels start opening, throw the chilli and tomato stuff in too, and let it all soak in.

Oven Baked Barramundi (Good Friday after all, my inadvertent display of abstinence)

Really simple. Find lots of herbs. I used dill, bay leaf, parsely, stuff it into the fish with some butter, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper. Then pour a little white wine in the bottom of the pan, cover in salt, cover the pan with foil, and put it in the oven.

Potato/Chorizo/Mint salad (from my tapas post a while back)
Potato Salad (by Dan, with Egg!, Recipe-SVP)
Kebabs
More Kebabs
Flame grilled turkish bread with olive oil, beetroot dip, roast capsicum pesto.

I was also fortunate enough to have some wine lovers around, and could find an excuse to crack my bottle of Cloudy Bay Gewurztraminer (i’ve probably spelt that wrong). It was like a Reisling, but not like a Reisling. Soft on the palate with a lingering sweetness, but not too sweet. I have no idea what I’m trying to describe really, but it was good.

My aspiring photographer friend Mabel took some unreal shots of the mussels and the tomatos flaming it up on the bbq, so i’ll hopefully get those from her soon.

Nights like this are some of my favourite times ever. Lots of food and wine, and good friends sitting around talking, laughing and sharing. It was great.

Chilli Coriander Kangaroo

This is my first recipe post, so please be nice :)

Ingredients:

Kangaroo Fillets – If you’re in Australia, these should be available in most supermarkets or butchers, i have no idea how readily available Kangaroo steak is anywhere else in the world, but ask your local gourmet butcher
Fresh Coriander – As much as you like
Dried Chilli (or fresh if you prefer)
Fresh lime juice
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Kifler Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Baby Spinach

This isnt really a recipe, more a way of preparing Kangaroo that i think enhances the flavours of the meat. Kangaroo is quite a gamey meat, with strong flavours, and they tie in very nicely with the lime and coriander. The chilli is there just to give it a bit of a kick.

So firstly season your Kangaroo with good extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper… Then chop your coriander roughly, combine it with your chilli and as much lime juice as you… (Say 30ml if you like numbers), and rub the mixture all over the Kangaroo, massaging it into the meat. You can also use this mixture (along with a good dose of olive oil) as a marinade for more intense flavours.

Then once the meat is properly seasoned, drop it onto your hot place and cook to your desired level of completion… ( Which should always be medium rare :) )

While you’re doing all that, you will have cut your potato and sweet potato into thin slices and laid them on a roasting tray.
Cover them with olive oil (and optionally some crushed dried herbs like coriander seeds, fennel seeds) and salt and pepper, and roast them in the oven until nice and crispy.

Once the vegetables are cooked and the kangaroo done (and has been left to rest), serve the mixture up, placing your vegetables in a stack on top of a small bed of baby spinach (or roquette).

Slice the kangaroo fillets into elegant little portions and lay them on top. Pour the delicious limey/chilli pan juices over the meat.

Now sit down and enjoy with a nice glass of full bodied red wine. I’d suggest an Australian Shiraz.

Bon Appétit !