Quail

Took another trip to the Queen Vic Market today. Gave in to temptation and bought two quails (though resisted the further temptation to buy a couple of duck marylands). I've had quail a couple of times at Cho Gao in Melbourne Central, but I've never cooked it myself.

 

Salt and Pepper Quail with Balsamic Glaze

Quantity adaptable

Wonton Soup

I mentioned in an earlier post - Green Tea and Red Bean Cupcakes - that Benjamin and I had cooked a Japanese feast for some of his friends. This, of course, involved making a lot of gyoza (Japanese dumplings), but we couldn't find the round wrappers for them, only the square. We ended up having a lot of wonton wrappers left over, so I took them home, bought some more pork mince and made more dumplings, adding sesame oil, soy sauce and ginger to the mince. I cooked all the dumplings I could eat, then packed the rest into containers to put in the freezer.

The other night, I dug out the last container of six dumplings, but instead of cooking them "pot sticker" style (frying them in a little oil, then adding enough water to cover the base of the pan, putting the lid on and steaming them, before uncovering them and frying them until the base is crispy), I decided to make a soup with them.

 

Wonton Soup

Serves 1

Fix With Five II

When I visited the market the other day I bought a lovely butternut pumpkin with the idea of making pumpkin muffins. Unfortunately, that's not the recipe I'll be sharing today, as I didn't manage to get it quite perfect. I had some leftover mashed pumpkin and didn't want to freeze it, so I found four other ingredients: bacon, red onion, chicken stock and pistachios. Here is today's Fix With Five:

 

Quick and Tasty Pumpkin Soup

Serves 1

Asparagus

Asparagus is another of those foods I never really liked much. When I was growing up, it was usually boiled until soft, so I didn't much care for the texture on top of disliking the taste. In recent years, though, I've become reacquainted with this lovely spring vegetable, mainly through the influence of Benjamin and his family. My favourite way to cook asparagus (and green beans, incidentally) is to heat a little olive oil and butter in a pan, then add the asparagus, a pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper, and cook for not much longer than it takes to heat the asparagus through.

Today, I've been stuck inside finishing an assignment for my Certificate IV in Retail Management, so I didn't want to spare much time to make lunch. When Benjamin and I visited the Queen Vic Market yesterday, a display of asparagus bunches caught my eye: they were very skinny spears; younger asparagus than you'd normally find in a greengrocer or supermarket. I decided I had to have them.

 

Young Asparagus in Garlic Butter

Quanitity adaptable

Capers

"Yuk!" I can hear some of you say at seeing the title of this post. You might want to stop reading this one here, then. Although you could cook the recipe I am about to post, just omitting the capers...

I love capers. I grew up "acquiring tastes". I love all kinds of olives, and will usually buy a container from a deli just to snack on. I enjoy artichokes, blue cheese, coffee and really dark chocolate. I put spoonfuls of capers in my basic tomato pasta sauce, sprinkle them over pizzas and grill english muffins with capers and mozarella on top.

Today I purchased a small jar of capers in salt from a lovely deli in the Queen Vic Market. I had only ever had capers in vinegar before, so I thought I'd give them a go. They are a lot more salty than capers in vinegar (surprise, surprise) so you do need to rinse them quite well. While I usually use whole capers in my cooking, if you feel they might be a bit strong for your taste (or that of the people you are cooking for), you might consider chopping them in half, or more finely, so they are spread around the dish more evenly.

 

Penne with Bocconcini, Red Onion and Capers

Serves 1

Slow Cooking

I know, I know; slow cooking is generally associated with cold, wet and windy evenings in winter, where all you want to eat is beautiful hot meals that warm you up from the inside. I've never really been into slow cooking; I like dishes with a lot of preparation and detail. I like it when I can see the food I cook taking on its final form before my eyes.

There is definitely something to be said for slow cooked meals, though, as they require reasonably little preparation, and while they are cooking you can go and seek out a nice spot in front of the heater, or a window with some sun shining through, and have a cup of tea and maybe read a good book. They also require the less expensive cuts of meat, such as gravy beef, chuck steak, osso bucco, and my favourite, lamb shanks.

Despite the lovely weather Melbourne has been having intermittently over the last couple of weeks, the next few days are predicted to be cool and rainy: the perfect time, I thought, to try my hand at a slow cooked dish.

 

Slow Cooked Lamb Shank

Serves 1

Gluten Free Cupcakes

This is a recipe I adapted from my original gluten free muffin recipe. This is only the second time I have made them. The first was a few weeks ago at a Japanese "banquet" Benjamin and I hosted for some of his friends. My cupcakes were a hit!

To date, I have made cupcakes of the following flavours with my base recipe:

• Earl Grey and Orange;
• Chai Spice;
• Chocolate and Hazelnut;
• Chocolate and Cherry;
• Lemon and Poppyseed; and
• Lemon and Green Ginger Wine.

 However, I think this recipe is one of my best.

 

Green Tea and Red Bean Cupcakes

Makes 12 muffins in a 1/3 cup muffin tray