Wednesday Girls Dinner - Miss Foodie

Vietnam Inspired

My Mum bought me the Food and Travels Asia cookbook by Alastair Hendy for my birthday.  This book is by far the best Asian Cookbook I have ever laid my eyes upon.  The talent of Alastair Hendy blows my mind on each and every page I turn; the photography is exquisite, the recipes are so traditionally spot on - it’s brilliant! I highly recommend this book if you’re a fan of Asian food. 

Every time I go out for Vietnamese (and that's a lot) I always order the Turmeric Fish if it's on the menu and I love slurping on a hot Pho Soup.  Of course these traditional dishes were in the cookbook so it was easy for me to pick my menu  for this weeks Wednesday Girls Dinner.

Entrée Cha Ca La Vong Noodles (Turmeric Fish)

Main Pho Bo (Hanoi Beef Noodle Soup)

Desert Vanilla Ice-cream with Lychees and Mint

Cha Ca La Vong Noodles (Turmeric Fish)

Ingredients

3 cloves garlic

4cm piece fresh galangal or ginger peeled

4cm fresh turmeric root or 2 tsp ground turmeric

500g firm white fish fillet (conger eel, monkfish, pollac, whiting) skinned and cut into chunks

2 tsp fish sauce

salt and black petter

pinch of ground chilli

1/2 tsp caster sugar

vegetable oil

2 very big bunches of dill, roughly chopped

To serve

4 spring onions, each sliced into 4

300g vermicelli noodles, cooked, drained and rinsed, according to the packets instructions

4 tbsp lightly crushed toasted peanuts

Nuoc cham (see recipe below)

handful each of mint and basil leaves

Pound together the garlic, galangal or ginger and turmeric to make a paste - or crush and finely grate, then mix together. Toss the fish with the fish sauce, a touch of salt, some pepper, the chilli and sugar, then toss through the paste, until the fish is evenly coated and leave, covered and refrigerated, for a good 2 hours or overnight.

Heat a heavy frying pan - something cast-iron is just the job - until smoking hot, then pour in about 2 tbsp oil. Pile in the fish. Allow to sizzle and splutter for about 2 minutes before turning the pieces over, then fry for a further minute. Add about 3 tbsp water, bubble up, then chuck all the dill on top and fold through - it should wilt but not go completely floppy. Ideally, you want to take the hot pan to the table (sit it on a thick mat) and let everyone take want they want, when they want. The remaining ingredients should all have been piled into bowls and set out on the table. 

Lay a piece of lettuce on your plate, top with all the scrumptious-ness that lays before you.  Roll it up and dip in Nuoc cham sauce and stuff it in your mouth and let the flavours take you to a sunny beach in Vietnam.  Repeat this process until everything is gone!

Nuoc cham

This is the classing dipping sauce you get on any Vietnamese table. Alaistair Henry says you can change it to suite; add grated ginger, shredded carrot or white radish, use all the lime juice and no vinegar; go more pungently Vietnamese and beat in a tsp of toasted shrimp paste; and for a milder sauce, stir in 2 tbsp water or coconut water - ideal for the dipping sauce to rice-paper-rolls (another HUGE favourite of mine) Makes an excellent fat free salad dressing too!

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic

2 yellow or red birdseye chillies, sliced

1 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp lime juice

3 tbsp fish sauce (nuac mam)

3 tbsp rice vinegar (or any soft vinegar, I've used brown vinegar before and apple cider vinegar too, both were fine)

Mix together all the ingredients and stir until the sugar has fully dissolved; I normally put it into a small old jar; keep your caper jars there perfect size, then leave to stand for about 30 minutes.

Wednesday Girls Dinner - Sarah

Entrée Escargot’s (snails)
Main Chicken Schnitzels with Red Grapefruit & Avocado Salad
Dessert White Chocolate Mouse with Strawberries

Escargots

Ingredients

One tin of escargot from Samios (36 Annerley Rd, Woollangabba) - drained and washed
Sauce:
Butter (as much as you like)
Red onion, diced
Italian flat leaf parsley (chopped - again, as much as you like)
2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
Pepper

Method

Place butter sauce mix over escargot in a casserole dish and bake at 180oC for 10 mins. Serve with crusty bread to soak up yummy sauce.

Chicken Schnitzels with Red Grapefruit & Avocado Salad

Ingredients

Baby cos lettuce
Ruby red grapefruit segments
Avocado
Chicken breasts
Dressing:
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2xtsp white wine vinegar
A dribble of grapefruit juice (if any is produced in the segmenting of it)
Olive oil to emulsify (60ml)

Crumb for chicken schnitzel

2 x cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 tbsp chopped thyme leaves
4 tbsp flat leaf parsley (Sarah actually added curly leaf in too and put in way more than 4 tbsp 'cos she likes herbs!)
Salt and pepper to season.
Plain flour
2 eggs - beaten

Method

Bash chicken breasts to make them a bit flatter, coat in plain flour, dip in beaten egg, then coat in bread crumb mix and fry for 3-4 mins either side.Slice up schnitzels when done (also cheaty way to make sure they are cooked - keep frying if they aren't!) and place over cos lettuce, scattered with ruby grapefruit and avocado, drizzle over dressing.

White Chocolate Mouse with Strawberries

Ingredients

285g white choc
80 ml milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups cream - whip until forms soft peaks
3 eggs separated - beat egg whites until stiff

Method

Melt choc with milk and vanilla in a bain marie, stirring until melted. Set aside to cool for 4 mins then add egg yolks one at a time, beating as you add. Fold through whipped cream (best done in portions rather than all at once). Then fold through egg whites until just combined. Place in fridge for 4 hrs to set. I topped mine with strawberries, but any berry fruit or passionfruit etc would also work.

Easy Tuesday Dinner - Lebanese Meatball Pockets

I made one of my favourite and easiest dinners last night; Lebanese Meatball Pockets.

I have been enjoying these since I was a rugrat living in

Darwin's Northern Territory.

As a family we used to go down to the cliffs at Nightcliff Beach with lots of friends to have dinner and watch the sun go down. Mum would make the Lebanese Meatballs and condiments to take down for our dinner. After e

xperiencing not-so-good Lebanese suvlaki from the local, Mum

decided to make up her own, s

he improved the taste by using lamb mince.

As Spring has arrived I feel this dish is great for either a mid week dinner or picnic.

Ingredients:

Lebanese Pita Bread

Lebanese Meatballs

500g Lamb mince

2 eggs

Bunch of fresh mint finely chopped

4 tbs of Cornflake crumbs or bread crumbs

2-3 garlic cloves (yes lots of garlic, so maybe not a date picnic lol)

Salt and Pepper

Tomato Condiment

2-3 tomatoes or punnet of cherry or roma tomatoes, diced

2 spring onions finely sliced

Salt and Pepper

Yogurt and Cucumber Condiment

4 tbls Greek Yogurt

1 garlic clove finely chopped

Small bunch fresh mint finely chopped

Fresh salad leaves opt.

Mixing it all up

For the meatballs, simply put all the ingredients into a bowl and get your clean hands in there and mix it all up thoroughly .

Then it's simply a matter of rolling the mixture up into small little balls, about 1 tbls size. *TIP* Damp hands make them so much easier to roll up.

I like to cook mine under the grill, it's a much healthier option. You could fry or even bbq them. What ever's easiest for you really.

For the condiments simply mix the ingredients together and pop into individual serving dishes.

To serve

Simply lay all the food out on display.

Slightly warm the Pita Bread just before you serve them. Cut them in half so you have 2 pockets. Stuff the pockets with a couple of broken up meatballs, layer the top with cucumber yogurt, tomatoes and some lettuce leaves.

Enjoy :)

Ed & Meg's Engagement Party Canape's

You know you're growing up when all your friends are getting married and having babies. The 21st parties are over, now its 30th's, engagements, weddings and baby showers.

Two of my closest friends; Megan and Ed, are tying the knot and their engagement party was on Saturday. They hosted the special event at their house on Brisbane's North side. Megan had been working hard all week preparing tasty canapes and tapas morsels. I offered to bring along a couple of tasty treats to help feed the 70+ guests that attended.

My mission on Saturday was to prepare Chicken Rice Paper Rolls. I'm a huge fan of Vietnamese food and I've searched for a tasty rice paper roll recipe that actually tasted good. I found this one on foodiewanderings.blogspot.com. and flavour is plentiful. Next was Tomato, Bocconcini and Basil Tartlets with Balsamic dressing. I made these a few years ago for a picnic, they are so easy and so delicious! Last but by no means least are Small Prawn Toasts. These tasty little toasts from heaven have been a party favourite for years. My dear Auntie Kathy would often bring them to family events and they would be gobbled down in minutes. I finally got the recipe and have been making them ever since!

Chicken Rice Paper Rolls:

1 pack of rice paper wrappers
100g vermicelli rice noodles
1 red chilli (deseeded & chopped)
1/2 to 3/4 cup spring onions, sliced thinly length ways into long matchsticks
1/2 red capsicum, sliced into thin, long matchsticks
1 grated carrot
1/2 continental cucumber, unpeeled, washed, deseeded & sliced into long matchsticks
Knob of fresh ginger
1 clove of garlic, minced or finely chopped
Meat from a cooked, bbq deli chicken
Bunch of fresh mint; a couple will be used for presentation per roll
Bunch of fresh coriander
1 teaspoon of lime zest
1 tablespoon of lime juice
1 tsp Sesame oil
3 tbls Soy Sauce
Ketcap Manis or substitute 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar & extra tablespoon of ordinary soy sauce
1 tsp Fish sauce
3 tbls Sweet chilli sauce
Paper towels to dry each wrapper as it gets removed from the soaking water
Roasted, lightly salted crushed peanuts... about 1/3 cup

Prepare all of your fillings and put on a large plate or platter; shred chicken, slice vegies, mince garlic, grate ginger, zest your lime, get your sauce bottles out.

Have a dish of water big enough to soak rice paper wrappers. They only take a minute to soak, so don't soak your first one until all of your filling ingredients are ready.

Soak your vermicelli rice noodles by soaking in cold water for 15 minutes & cut into smaller lengths; just use scissors.

After soaking noodles, put into a pot of boiling water for about 2 to 3 minutes & drain immediately & rinse with cold water. Briefly drain noodles in colander to squeeze out excess moisture.

While noodles are still draining, sprinkle a few drops of sesame oil over them and a splash of soy and about a tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce. Mix through so noodles don't stick together.

Have a clean, dry work surface ready in front of you.

In a bowl add shredded chicken meat and semi-seasoned noodles.

Prepare final step of noodle seasoning:

In a small saucepan saute the ginger, garlic, chilli & lime zest in some hot oil for about 30 seconds.

Pour hot seasoning mix over noodles and chicken and stir through well.

Assembling

Work with one rice paper wrapper at a time.

Soak wrapper, completely submerged in water for a minute.

Remove from water, drain and place on a clean, dry work surface.

When you've removed a wrapper, place another one into your water to soak.

Along one edge of prepared sheet of rice paper place 2 mint leaves.

Add vegie matchsticks, being capsicum, carrot and cucumber being careful not to overstuff.

Keep a centimeter or two at the top and bottom of your wrapper free because you'll need to fold down the top and bottom later when rolling.

Top vegie matchsticks with some chicken/noodle mixture (about 2 tablespoons).

Top chicken/noodle mixture with a generous amount of fresh coriander leaves, around 2 tablespoons.

Sprinkle with crushed peanuts (around half to one teaspoon per roll).

Fold down top and bottom part of your wrapper over mixture, then each side, start rolling mixture into a thick cigar shape. No need to moisten edges because once rolled up, the edges will stick together.

Repeat process until you there’s nothing left in the bowl!

Keep rolls covered and cool in fridge if not eating immediately.

Tomato, Bocconcini and Basil Tartlets with Balsamic dressing:

4 Sheets frozen puff pastry

Punnet of cherry tomatoes or roma

Bocconcini

1/3 cup cream

2 eggs

salt and pepper

sliced basil leaves

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Cut each sheet of pasty into rounds about 5cm larger that the base of individual tartlet tins.

Brush or spray tins lightly with oil. Ease pasty into tin, folding neatly into a free form edge.

Arrange some sliced basil and balanced amounts of tomato and cheese. Place on a baking tray.

Whisk together cream, eggs and seasonings. Pour equal amounts into each pastry case.

Bake in moderate oven (180 degrees) for 25-30 minutes or until pastry is crisp and filling is set.

Serve warm on a bed or rocket leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Aunty Kathy's Small Prawn Toast

250g good quality butter

2 tbls each of dried, basil and parsley

A bunch of fresh dill

Small fresh prawns (the sweeter the better)

Lemon segments (inc. skin)

Caviar

Mix the butter and dried herbs and fresh dill, reserving a few tips for garnish.

Spread a small amount of butter on each piece of toast. Top with a piece of fresh prawn, lemon segment, caviar and a dill sprig.

Sadly there are no photo's of these, they were gobbled up before I got my camera out. I will make them again soon I'm sure and will post a photo then.

I didn't manage to take any photos of the tapas and canapés at the party either; as soon as I got there it was party time and the hours got away from me. I need to lift my game next time I think.

Oh well it's been fun so far, and it's only going to get better :)

The beginning of Wednesday Girls Dinners

Every Wednesday a talented group of beautiful and kind girls get together to enjoy scrumptious food, wine and conversation.

Wednesday Girls Dinner nights started 3 years ago with only three; Kate, Jenny and myself. We lived on the Gold Coast together years ago and had gone our separate ways. Years later we discovered that we were all residing in Brisbane and agreed to have a catch up at Jenny’s house in Hawthorne. Jenny put together a wonderful meal, we sipped red wine (which turned into cocktails) and chatted about all the wonderful foods we loved, all the tips we had learnt, all the dishes we wanted to create. It was then and there we decided that we would take turns in hosting a dinner each week…… Wednesday Girls Dinner was officially launched.

Being in the third year we have said good bye to Kate and Jenny who are now living in Europe and said hello to the gifted Megsie, Sarah, Karolina and Alyssa.

Each week I’m going to give you the treat to have a sneak peak into the kitchens of these 5 talented women.