Grilled Steak with creamy Garlic Mushroom Sauce.

Mmmmmm mmmmm mmmm!
Cooking steak well is a lot harder than you think.
But if you follow some basic rules, then you should get it pretty close.
Having a "Degrees of Doneness" chart handy is essential. Search for one on the internet.

Grilled Steak with Garlic Mushroom sauce

Equipment

·      Small fry pan

·      Chopping board and sharp knife

·      Measuring cup

·      Tongs

·      Serving plate

·      Ramekin for sauce

Ingredients

·      Rump steak, 2 portions, needs to be trimmed of fat and silver skin

·      Mushrooms, 2, sliced

·      Garlic, 1 clove or ¼ tsp, crushed and diced finely

·      Cream, 1/4 cup

·      Seasonings (salt/pepper/herbs)

·      Butter for mushrooms.

·      Oil for frying

Method

1.    Slice up the mushrooms and crush/dice the garlic.

2.    Heat up the small fry pan (medium heat) and add butter.

3.    Quickly add garlic, then mushrooms.

4.    Toss and fry until soft.

5.    Add the cream, reduce the heat and simmer until thick.

6.    Pour out the sauce into a mixing bowl and keep warm. Season if required.

7.    Clean the fry pan and reheat.

8.    Wait until the pan is hot before adding a small amount of oil.

9.    Fry the steak one piece at a time, waiting for the blood to come through before turning over.

10.  Test for “degrees of doneness” before removing from pan. Poke the meat with your finger.

11. Rest the meat on a plate for 5 minutes before serving with the sauce.

Things to remember:

·      The steak should be at room temperature before cooking (bring out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking).

·      Trim the steak of fat and silver skin.

·      Heat up the pan to medium hot.

·      Add a little oil. Grilled, not deep fried.

·      Season the steak after cooking.

·      Flip only once. Wait for the cooking juice to come through before flipping.

·      Cook to correct Degrees of Doneness

1.    Blue (very rare)

2.    Rare

3.    Medium rare

4.    Medium

5.    Well done

6.    Very well done

See the pictures for a better idea. Also use the finger poke test. Fatter steak will take longer to cook in the middle.

·      Resting the meat for 5 minutes after cooking allows the muscle fibers to relax which means the meat is more tender and easier to cut/chew. This should be applied to all meats after cooking.

Food Academy- Seafood Chowder.

Seafood is incredibly good for you. We need to try to eat fish or shellfish at least once a week.
This recipe is a good way to have lots of seafood in one dish.
Keep the mussel water for your stock. I used some fish stock that I had made, plus the mussel water.
I also used bacon pieces to add a smokey flavour to the chowder.

Seafood Chowder

Equipment

·       Pot and lid

·      Chopping board and sharp knife

·      Wooden spoon

·      Measuring cup/spoons

·      Sieve

·      Peeler

·      Mixing bowls

Ingredients

·      Butter, 25g

·      Flour, 1/4 cup

·      Onion, ½, diced

·      Mussels, 3-5

·      Fish, 1 ramekin (about 100g)

    Bacon pieces

    Shrimp

·      Potato, 1, diced and microwaved (optional)

·      Water from boiling the mussels, 2 cups

·      Seasoning (pinch of salt/pepper/curry powder)

·      Parsley, 1 tsp, diced finely

Method

1.    Bring a pot of water (2 cups) to the boil.

2.    Place the mussels in the water and boil until they open (5 minutes).

3.    Carefully drain the mussels through the sieve, keeping the water in a mixing bowl.

4.    Allow to cool before opening the shell and extracting the mussel.

5.    Remove the beard and chop up the mussels into rough dice.

6.    Place the pot back on the element on medium heat and melt the butter.

7.    Add the onion and cook until soft.

8.    Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring all the time.

9.    Take the pot off the heat and pour the mussel water into the pot a bit at a time while stirring.

10.  Return to the heat and bring to the boil. The chowder should thicken up. Keep stirring and turn heat down to simmer.

11.  Add the fish and potato and simmer for 5 minutes until fish is cooked (white flesh).

12. Remove from the heat then add the mussels, parsley and season.

13. Serve in a bowl with bread on the side

Banana cake with Chocolate icing.

An old favourite.
I have used a loaf tin for this recipe but a square/round cake tin would be better.
Rotten and mushy bananas make the best banana cake. The sugars have fully developed and they have lots of juice.

Banana Cake with Chocolate Icing

Equipment

·      Rectangular Loaf tin (greased and floured)

·      Sharp knife

·      Mixing bowl

·      Measuring cups/spoons

·      Wooden spoon

·      Whisk

·      Sieve

·      Cooling rack

Ingredients

·      Butter, 75g, soft

·      Sugar, ½ cup

·      Eggs, 1

·      Soft banana, 1 large mashed (or 2 small mashed)

·      Vanilla essence, ¼ tsp

·      Flour, 1 cup

·      Baking soda, ½ tsp

·      Salt, ¼ tsp

·      Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp

·      Milk, 1/4 cup

·      Lemon juice, ½ tsp

Method

1.    Cream butter and sugar until light.

2.    Beat in the egg.

3.    Stir in mashed banana and vanilla.

4.    Sieve in the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda).

5.    Fold into creamed mixture with milk and lemon juice.

6.    Pour into the greased and floured cake tin.

7.    Bake at 180⁰C for 20-30 minutes until cooked.

8.    Remove from oven and let cool down before turning out.

9.    Ice with chocolate icing.

Icing

·      Icing sugar, ½ cup

·      Cocoa, 1 tsp

·      Butter, 2 knobs, melted

·      Hot water, 2-3 tsp

Warm Salad with Bacon, Croutons and boiled Egg.

A warm salad is just a salad with some cooked ingredients (bacon, egg and croutons) in it.  I have used mesclun salad mix in this recipe but you could use normal lettuce.
Fry the bacon first, then add the croutons when the bacon is just about done. The croutons will absorb all the oil and flavour from the bacon. They won't take long to crisp up.
Tossing the salad means to mix all the ingredients through. You could serve it with some mayonaise or a dressing.
Remember: try to use free range pork bacon. Happy pigs equals better flavour.

Warm Salad (Bacon, Egg and Croutons)

Equipment

·      Chopping board

·      Sharp knife

·      Grater

·      Peeler

·      Large mixing bowl

·      Small fry pan and fish slice/tongs

·      Small pot

Ingredients

·      Mesclun salad, 1 cup

·      Carrots, 1

·      Spring onions, ½ stem

·      Tomato, ½ diced

·      Bacon, 3 slices

·      Bread, 1 slice, diced

·      Celery, 1 stem

·      Eggs, 2

·      Oil for frying

Method

1.    Slice up the bread into cubes.

2.    Slice up the bacon in small pieces.

3.    Fry both in oil until crisp. Place into mixing bowl.

4.    Add eggs to a pot of hot water. Bring to the boil for 8 minutes. Pour out the hot water and fill pot with cold water.

5.    Peel the eggs and chop up. Add to the mixing bowl.

6.    Grate the carrot, after peeling.

7.    Slice up celery and spring onion into thin slices.

8.    Dice up the tomato into small dice. Add all to the mixing bowl.

9.    Add the Mesclun salad to the other ingredients in the bowl.

10. Toss the salad together, mixing all the ingredients through.

11. Serve with tongs onto a plate and eat.