leonas-recipes

[leonas-recipes]

Beef Stir Fry

500g Beef rump or round 2-3 mm against the grain 1t sugar 1t salt 1T cornstarch 1T baking soda 1/2 c ice water 1 egg white

Green veggie Onion whites Garlic Ginger Chopped green onion tops

Marinate Mix sugar salt and 1/4 c water Pour over beef Massage into beef until beef feels sticky Add small amounts of ice water in four batches and mix until beef feels sticky, then add more Massage until beef appears shiny Add egg white- massage Add cornstarch mix in thoroughly Let sit for 30 minutes If there is liquid in the bowl massage it in

Cooking Sauce 2T soy sauce 1T sugar 1t white pepper 2T Shao Shing Wine 1T dark soy sauce 2T water 2T corn starch

Stirfry the Beef Add a little oil to the beef to stop sticking Cook to 80% done and remove to side to drain

Stirfry Green Veggies Onion Ginger Garlic

Add beef back to pan Add sauce stir to coat Add green onion tops to beef Serve with rice

[leonas-recipes]

Chicken Stock

I have made chicken stock for over 50 years and I've recently found a way to simplify things when I purchased a 7 L crockpot or slow cooker. This recipe produces 4 L of nice concentrated chicken stock, and uses the slow cooker on the low setting to finish the job in hands-free 24 hours.

3 chicken carcasses

2 carrots

2 celery

1 onion

2 bay leaf

6 peppercorns

Chop the carrots celery and onion into small pieces. Fry them in a little olive oil until they soften.

Put everything in the crockpot and fill with cold water.

The objective is to extract and trap every every vestige of flavour from the bones and the vegetables in liquid form, so starting to cook in cold water on low temperature, which draws juices, is the first step to your goal.* Set the crockpot to low and in about 10 to 12 hours the stock will begin to bubble. I normally start my stock in the morning and by the time it starts to bubble it's time for bed. This is when I turn on my exhaust fan and let it go until I wake up in the morning. Then I scoop out the large pieces, strain the remainder through cheese cloth, and decant into 4, 1 L jugs. I add one half teaspoon cooking salt to each jug, which makes the stock very drinkable to my taste, but you may not want to do that.

* see "about stocks" in Joy of Cooking

[leonas-recipes]

Twice-Baked Crockpot Carnitas

6-8 pound pork butt

5-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

juice of 2 limes

1/2 cup orange juice

12 ounces cola

1/2 cup salsa

Start with a 6-8 pound pork butt and place it in your crockpot with a generous amount of finely-chopped garlic on top. Make a seasoning combination using the dry spices from the above list to put on top of the meat. Mix them all together and sprinkle them on top of the garlic and the meat. Slowly pour the salsa over the spices and the garlic. Next pour the liquid ingredients into the pot the lime juice, the orange juice, and the Coca-Cola. Cover the crockpot and cook for 6 to 8 hours on LOW.

When the 6-8 hours are up you should be able to shred the pork without hardly even touching it! It quite literally will fall off the bone when you start prodding at it with two forks. After you have shredded the meat, transfer it to a baking sheet and spread it out in an even layer. You might want to foil your pan first for easier clean-up, but I didn’t and clean up was not a problem. Spoon some of the juice from the crockpot on top of the meat. Preheat the broiler in your oven and put the pan in for 5 to 10 minutes or until the edges of the meat start to brown. Remove the pan from the oven. You will notice that only a small percentage of the meat in the pan has that nice browning on it. So stir and turn the meat with some tongs and put it BACK in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. Seems to bed dry sprinkle some of the juice from the crockpot over the meat. This will add spicy flavour back to the meat. Thus the name “Twice-Baked Crockpot Carnitas”.

You can eat this just as it is or you can put it in tortillas and fashion it into whatever you please. We used corn tortillas and garnished with cheese, tomato, cilantro, sour cream, etc. My sister serves it with heated black beans, some pickled jalapeños and pickled onion.

[leonas-recipes]

Cabbage Stirfry

[leonas-recipes]

Braised Lamb Shanks

Ingredients

lamb shanks , around 13 oz / 400g each (Note 1)

tsp EACH cooking/kosher salt and pepper

tbsp olive oil , separated

onion , finely diced (brown, yellow or white)

garlic cloves , minced

cup carrot , peeled, finely diced (Note 2)

cup celery , finely diced (Note 2)

cups red wine (full bodied (good value wine, not expensive! Note 3)

can crushed tomatoes

tbsp tomato paste

cups chicken stock , low sodium (or water)

sprigs of thyme (preferably tied together), or 2 tsp dried thyme

dried bay leaves (or 4 fresh)

To Serve:

Mashed potato , polenta or pureed cauliflower

Fresh thyme leaves , optional garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types - fan and standard).

Season shanks - Pat the lamb shanks dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Brown - Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Sear the lamb shanks in 2 batches until brown all over, about 5 minutes. Remove lamb onto a plate and drain excess fat (if any) from the pot.

Sauté aromatics - Turn the heat down to medium low. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the same pot. Add the onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Add carrot and celery. Cook for 5 minutes until onion is translucent and sweet.

Braising liquid - Add the red wine, chicken stock, crushed tomato, tomato paste, thyme and bay leaves. Stir to combine.

Add shanks - Place the lamb shanks into the pot, squeezing them in to fit so they are mostly submerged. (Note 1)

Oven 2 hours covered - Turn stove up, bring liquid to a simmer. Cover, then transfer to the oven for 2 hours (see notes for other cook methods).

Uncovered 30 minutes - Remove lid, then return to the oven for another 30 minutes (so 2 1/2 hours in total). Check to ensure lamb meat is ultra tender - if not, cover and keep cooking. Ideal is tender meat but still just holding onto bone.

Remove lamb onto plate and keep warm. Pick out and discard bay leaves and thyme.

Sauce - Strain the sauce into a bowl, pressing to extract all sauce out of the veggies (Note 5 for repurposing the veggies). Pour strained sauce back into pot. If needed, bring to a simmer over medium heat and reduce slightly to a syrupy consistency (see video) - I rarely need to. Taste then add salt and pepper to taste (Note 5 on sauce taste).

Serve the lamb shanks on mashed potato or cauliflower puree with plenty of sauce! Garnish with thyme leaves if desired.

[leonas-recipes]

Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients for 6 servings

Soup

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast (905 g), cubed 1 cup diced yellow onion 1 cup sliced carrot 3 cloves garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon salt (2t cooking salt) 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour 6 cups chicken broth (1 ½ L) ½ cup heavy cream (120 ml) ½ teaspoon dried thyme 2 bay leaves 1 ½ cups frozen peas (225 g) 4 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

Dumplings

2 cups all-purpose flour (250 g) 1 tablespoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon pepper 1 ⅓ cups heavy cream (320 ml) Preparation In a 6-quart Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned on both sides. Remove from the pot and set aside.

Add carrot and onion and cook until just tender, about 3 minutes.

Add the garlic and stir for another minute, until fragrant.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the butter and flour, stirring constantly for 3 minutes to prevent lumps from forming.

Add the chicken and any accumulated juices back to the pot and stir to coat in the roux.

Add the chicken broth, cream, thyme, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Once soup is at a simmer, add the frozen peas, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.

Make the dumplings: In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and cream. Stir until mixture comes together into single mass of dough.

Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, form the dough into small round balls about 1 inch (2 ½ cm) in diameter (the dough should yield 14-16 dumplings).

Place the dough balls in the simmering soup (making sure they don’t touch), add the parsley, and cover. Let the soup simmer for 15 minutes, or until the dumplings are cooked through.

Ladle into bowls, giving 1-2 dumplings per serving.

[leonas-recipes]

Fritatta

6 rashers bacon or 3/4 C ham chopped

1/2 Onion

12 aspargus 25mm pieces

1/2 cooked potato

Fresh spinach to fill fry pan

Grape tomatoes punnet

8 Eggs

60 ml cream or whole milk

1/2 t onion powder and garlic powder

1/2 t salt and pepper

1/2 C Swiss cheese

Prep: Chop onion coarsly, cut up aspargus, slice potato halve cheery tomatoes, break egges into mixing bowl

Preheat oven to 180C

Fry bacon to crisp, remove to bowl, pour off all but 1T fat

Cook onion, when nearly done, add spinach and wilt. Remove to bowl

Cook onion, open side down for a few minutes untill skin starts to peel. Remove to bowl

Add cream and spices to egg mixture and beat lightly. Do not over beat

Add egg mixture to bacon and veggies, stir lightly and add back to frying pan

Bake until just set, about 20 minutes

From https://www.cookingclassy.com/frittata/

[leonas-recipes]

Ricotta and Spinach Puff Pastry Bites

IngredientsFilling

▢ 1 egg

▢ 7 oz / 200g ricotta (preferably full fat but low fat also works) (Note 1)

▢ 8 oz / 250g frozen chopped spinach , thawed and squeezed of excess water

▢ 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (or tasty or gruyere or any other melting cheese with flavour)

▢ 3/4 tsp salt

▢ Black pepper

Pastry

▢ 2 sheets puff pastry (25cm/10" square), defrosted

▢ 1 egg , lightly beaten (egg wash)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

Spray 2 standard muffin / cupcake tins with oil.

Filling

Place egg in a bowl and lightly whisk. Add remaining Filling ingredients and mix to combine. Taste and adjust salt to taste.

Pastry

Cut each pastry into 9 equal pieces (18 in total). You probably won't use 3 pieces.

Mould 15 pieces of pastry into the muffin tins.

Divide the Filling between each, then bring the four corners into the centre and press down to stick together. Don't overfill otherwise you won't be able to seal the pastries or they will burst open when baking (which regularly happens with mine).

Brush with egg wash, then bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until deep golden brown.

Allow to rest for 5 minutes before removing.

Serve warm or cool.

[leonas-recipes]

GRILLED HALOUMI & ASPARAGUS WITH SALSA

2 Bunches Asparagus, ends trimmed

One tablespoon Olive oil

250 g packet Haloumi, sliced

AVOCADO SALSA

In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Season to taste:

250 g cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 Avocado, seeded, peeled, cubed

2 Tablespoons coriander, chopped

1 Eschalot, finely chopped

1/2 birds eye chilli

1/2 Lime juice

METHOD

Preheat barbecue grill and plate on high

In a bowl, toss asparagus in oil, season to taste.

Cook on grill 2-3 minutes, turning, until tender

Cook haloumi on plate 30 seconds each side, until golden

Pile aspargus and haloumi on serving platter, cover with Salsa

Dress with extra lime and corinader

[leonas-recipes]

Best Chilli Sauce

1/2 cup avocado, vegetable, canola, sunflower or peanut oil

20 large garlic cloves

2 small or 1 large lemongrass, roughly chopped

8 large red chilies (Frezno), roughly cut

5 thai chilies, optional

2 Tbsp fish sauce or soy sauce

1 Tbsp palm sugar or honey

2 to 5 Tbsp gochugaru (korean red pepper flakes), thai chili powderor red pepper flakes

1 tsp chicken bouillon, optional

Instructions

Heat oil in a wok or pan over low heat (if you’re using gas stove) to medium low (for electronic stove) heat.

Ground garlic and lemongrass in a food processor until fine chunks. Stir into the wok and cook for 5 to 7 minutes.

Now, ground red chilies and Thai chilis in the food processor- size of red pepper flakes. Stir into the wok. Add fish sauce, palm sugar, gochugaru and chicken bouillon then stir well until everything is combined. Now, cook the chili sauce for 10 minutes and stir occasionally.

That’s it for this amazing Asian mother sauce, Ultimate Chili Sauce!! You can use this chili sauce pretty much on/in everything and anything. Soup, ramen, rice, noodles, spread, dipping sauce, toppings… endless!!

https://seonkyounglongest.com/best-crispy-pork-belly/

[leonas-recipes]

Crispy Pork Belly Sandwich

1 Kg pork belly with skin on (about 1 lb per piece)

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1 1/2 tsp salt

Score the pork belly’s skin 1 cm wide, 1/8 inch deep. Mix vinegar and salt together in a small mixing bowl until salt is completely dissolved. Brush the vinegar and salt mixture on top of the pork belly skin. Let it dry uncovered in a refrigerator, skin side up for 6 -24 hours. This is the most important process for the crispy skin

Preheated oven to 400f. Place the prepared pork belly on the lowest rack of the oven and roast for 45 to 50 minutes. (depending your size of the pork) When pork belly is fully cooked, then turn the broiler to high (about 500f to 550f) and broil for 10 to 15 minutes. Check the pork belly every 2-3 minutes to keep from burning. Remove when skin is crisp. Slice along score lines

For the green filling

handful herbs – cilantro, Vietnamese mint and/or green onions

long red chili slices

pinch of salt, sugar & black pepper

Splash rice wine vinegar

Splash fish sauce

large pinch brown sugar

Pick the leaves off the stems, combine with red chilli slices, sprinkle with vinegar fish sauce and brown sugar. Toss with the chopped up pork belly

For the sandwiches

2 6 inches long roll or baguette. Spread each with:

2 tsp unsalted butter

2 tsp mayonnaise

1/2 tsp chilli sauce (see above)

Fill sandwiches with the pork and greens mixture and serve

[leonas-recipes]

Carrot Cake

1 1/4 Vegetable oil 255g

2 C Raw Sugar405g

4 Large eggs 70g

2 ½ whole meal flour

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

3 C grated carrot 525g

¾ C walnuts chopped 90g

2 tsp baking soda

Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

125g cream cheese softened

40 g butter softened

2- 21/2 C icing sugar

Zest of one lemon

Preheat oven 10 160

Grease & line 23cm dia baking tin protrude baking paper 20mm

Beat oil and sugar until combined

Add one egg at a time until mix is thick & creamy

In separate bowl combine flour, cinnamon, salt carrot & walnuts

Combine the two mixtures add baking soda and stir all till combined

Pour into tin and bake for 80-90 minutes

Done when skewer comes out clean AND DRY

Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

Beat cream cheese & butter until smooth & creamy

Add lemon zest

Add icing sugar half cup at a time

Beat until fluffy and lemon scented

Spread over cooled cake in generous swirls

Decorate with dried fruits & nuts

[leonas-recipes]

Honey Balsamic Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs brussel sprouts

3 tbsp olive oil separated

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp honey

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Cut the bottom off and slice sprouts lengthwise, remove outer leaves

In a large bowl, toss brussels sprouts with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to coat thoroughly.

Transfer the brussel sprouts to baking sheet and roast until tender and caramelized, about 20 minutes.

Place brussel sprouts back in bowl. Add remaining tablespoon olive oil, balsamic vinegar and honey and toss to coat evenly. Taste, correct the seasoning if necessary and serve.

[leonas-recipes]

Braised Steak and Onions

1 kg beef oyster blade trimmed

1 tbs plain flour

1 tsp salt and pepper

2 tbs oil

60 g butter

3 onions halved thickly sliced

1 tbs plain flour

2 1/4 cups water

2 beef stock cubes

1 tsp Vegemite

1 tbs tomato paste

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 pinch salt and pepper *to taste

Dust steak lightly with the seasoned flour.

Heat oil in frying pan and brown steak well on each side. Place in a Dutch oven. Repeat with remaining steaks.

Add butter to frying pan and mix with pan juices.

Add onions and cook until transparent, stir in extra flour and cook for 2 minutes.

Gradually add water and stock cubes, stir until sauce boils and thickens a little.

Add Vegemite, tomato paste and sauce.

Pour sauce over meat, cover and cook for 1½-2 hours.

[leonas-recipes]

Bircher Muesli

500g Dry Muslie (I use Aldi’s)

100g Additional dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, or Aldi’s mixed, dried fruit)

100g Whole almonds

400g Whole Milk

200g Yoghurt

5 tsp sugar

Mix well, rest in refrigerator overnight.  1 serve = 250g

[leonas-recipes]

Pie Crust

[leonas-recipes]

Clifton Springs Super Bowl Wings

2 kg Chicken Wings separated into drums & flats

1C flour

Salt & Pepper

Franks hot sauce 2-3T

2T vegetable oil

2-3T sambal

Coat the wings with the above then dredge in the flour, spray with oil, bake on an oiled pan for 30 minutes. Turn over, spray with oil, bake for a further 30 minutes

For the coating sauce

1 T Garlic

1 T Ginger

2 T Sambal

1/2 C rice wine vinegar

1/2 C packed brown sugar

1t soy sauce

Combine the above in a saucepan on low until it all combines and set aside. When the wings have cooked toss half the wings in half the coating sauce to coat. Repeat. Do not serve immediately as the carmalised sauce will burn the lips.