Jolly Jerusalem

A bit of something different for dinner – pork and Jerusalem artichokes.  It could have been described as a culinary juxtaposition if only the Jerusalem artichokes had anything to do with Jerusalem!  Apparently, they are actually native to North America and are related to daisies (who knew?). So, sounds good in theory, but not quite!

Pork with Jerusalem artichokes

Anyway, other than trying to be clever with words, the meal was actually pretty clever in execution.  The artichokes were cooked in the oven with some sautéed red onions, garlic and a tin of tomatoes (a recipe called “smothered Jerusalem artichokes” from Marcella Hazan).  The pork, I quickly marinated in a little olive oil, garlic, light soy and a bit of Worcestershire sauce and then browned in a pan.  These were tossed on top of the artichokes, together with a few chopped up cherry tomatoes and cooked for about 15 minutes. Done!  How easy was that?

Even better, it tasted great and the Hungry Twins thought so too. They even devoured the Jerusalem artichokes!  Skye forgot how to use a bowl and tipped everything out….

Where’s my bowl?

Grace enjoyed the lot….

Love Jerusalem artichokes and pork chops!

All in all, not a bad effort!  The Hungry Twins ate everything on the plate (mushrooms and peas as well) and then had a few slices of plastic cheese, a big handful of grapes and still hungry…. Three bowls of yoghurt!!!

Back to their best.

Chicken cacciatore (rather eat veg)

Sometimes I am surprised by what the Hungry Twins prefer to eat.  I made a lovely chicken cacciatore for dinner tonight and the Hungry Twins certainly seemed to enjoy it.

Chicken cacciatore

But pretty quickly, they decided that enough chicken was enough and they wanted something else.  I had made a sauté of mushrooms and zucchini with a dash of light soy and white wine and had allocated a little for the Hungry Twins.  That disappeared in an instant.  We had to raid our own plates to keep them happy!  I think they ate nearly their own bodyweight in veg….

Is that all there is?

After all of this, the Hungry Twins still managed to put away a couple of cherry tomatoes, several sticks of cheese, a handful of grapes and a pear!

 

 

 

Super chicken

Dinner always tastes better in good company. It certainly seemed the case tonight!  Granny is visiting from Sydney for the week and the Hungry Twins were very excited.  This all translated into huge appetites….

Marrakesh chicken, broccolini and mashed potato

The chicken (marinated in marrakesh spices, bought from Saskia Beer at the Barossa Farmers’ Market) was devoured in about a micro-second.  We had to tear pieces from our chicken to share with the Hungry Twins!  The broccolini wasn’t much of a hit (thankfully, Monty the golden retriever eats cooked broccoli!) but the mash was enthusiastically eaten from a spoon.

Where’s the chicken?

Do I have broccoli stuck in my teeth?

After all this food, you would think that they wouldn’t need anymore.  But no, plastic cheese (three slices between them), pears and grapes were required before they were satisfied!

http://www.barossafarmersmarket.com/home/

http://saskiabeer.com

 

Delightful dumplings

After a lovely BBQ lunch (sausages, lamb chops and steak), a bit of something different for dinner.  Answer – pork dumplings!  Pretty easy to make as you can buy the wonton wrappers all ready to go.  After a bit of fiddling around, they look like this…..

Uncooked dumplings

And then once you have boiled them for a few minutes and then dunked them in broth, they look like this….

The finished product…

The Hungry Twins had an interesting response to these – Grace thought the wonton wrapper was fabulous and Skye loved the pork cooked inside!  A match made in heaven – each Hungry Twin liked what the other didn’t…..

Wontons are wonderful!

Pork only please…..

The Hungry Twins also had a few leftover sausages and steak from lunch, a handful of peas and the ubiquitous plastic cheese.  A few grapes and there you go – another meal all done!  Quite a few bits discarded on the floor = happy dogs.

 

 

 

Sausages, pizza and cheese

A dinner was a bit of everything tonight.  Sausages (from Barossa Heritage Pork, bought today at the Barossa Farmers’ Markets), stir-fry veg, homemade pizzas and plastic cheese!

Pizza with ham and olives

Sausages are always a hit (two nights in a row!) with the Hungry Twins, so no complaints there. Except that perhaps we could have given them another one (they had one each), but then we wouldn’t have had any dinner ourselves!

Anymore sausages? Or did my sister eat them all…..

The stir-fry veg was given a luke-warm reception, but some of it did get eaten.  Pizza was the hero of course.  Particularly given that it had olives, an all-time favourite of the Hungry Twins!

Can I have some more pizza?

They were still a bit hungry after all of this (hard to believe, I know), so we tossed them some plastic cheese.  Good move!  Not only do they love to eat it, but they also find it quite entertaining to break it into little pieces before eating.  Food AND fun all in one!

Plastic cheese is GOOD

A few grapes each and there you go – dinner done again!

http://www.barossafarmersmarket.com/home/

http://barossaheritagepork.com.au

 

 

Saturday sausages

The Hungry Twins are back in form.  A large breakfast of porridge (one bowl each) and vegemite crumpets, followed by morning tea (not something they normally have) of more crumpets and grapes.  All this food was needed for the Hungry Twins’ weekly swimming lesson – missed out on last week because they had colds.  Lunch was meat pies, leftover curry pasta and some cherry tomatoes (plus strawberries and yet more grapes).

Pies are pretty good!

Curry pasta (second time around) is ok too!

For dinner, the Hungry Twins had pork sausages (bought at our local Foodland), peas and leftover Italian rat.  The sausages went down pretty quickly, followed by the peas.  Then Grace proceeded to devour the rat, while Skye preferred the curry pasta left from lunch (and last night!).

Give me rat (lots of rat)…..

Do dogs like sausages?

A nice pear (gone in an instant) and a handful of grapes for dessert.  It looks like the Hungry Twins are back to their best!

 

 

 

Well, nearly (chicken cacciatore)

Sometimes I have a grand plan for dinner, make it, think it tastes delicious and then it is totally unappreciated by the Hungry Twins.  Tonight was such a night!  I made a lovely chicken cacciatore with fabulous free-range chicken (our good friend, Saskia Beer again) with tasty basil and garlic roasted potatoes and the Hungry Twins preferred the frozen peas!

Chicken cacciatore, potatoes and peas

Thankfully, all the effort wasn’t completely wasted – the chicken bones were a hit with the Hungry Twins…..

Well, that’s more like it!

Who needs fancy chicken cacciatore when you have bones?

The Hungry Twins did eat SOME of their dinner.  Then quickly moved onto cheese, strawberries and grapes.  At least they liked those!

Finally – fruit!!! (Don’t waste my time with boring chicken)

My husband and I liked the chicken cacciatore – all the more for us!!

Homemade baked beans

Pork chop night tonight!  Served with roasted carrots, homemade baked beans and a few peas.

Baked beans for dinner!

The Hungry Twins loved it!  First they gobbled down the pork, then the peas were spotted (just boring old frozen peas, but the Hungry Twins do love them!) and these went as well.  Carrots next and then it was onto the baked beans – saving the best for last!  The butter beans were eaten by hand and the smaller cannellini beans were spoon-fed to the Hungry Twins.  Plastic cheese, some poached pears and a handful of grapes and that was it.  The Hungry Twins went through their meal so quickly, I didn’t even get a photo, so here is the recipe for the baked beans instead!

Once you have made your own baked beans, you will never want to use tinned ones again. This dish goes really well with grilled meats, especially pork.  It also tastes really good the next day on toast for breakfast!

• Preparation time: 10 minutes
• Cooking time: Around 60 minutes
• Serves: 6 as a side dish 

Ingredients

• 1 tbs olive oil
• Medium onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 rashers of bacon or pancetta, chopped into small pieces
• 400gm tin butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 400gm tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 200ml chicken stock
• 400gm tin crushed tomatoes
• OPTIONAL100ml white wine
• OPTIONAL 1 small red chilli, finely chopped (you can use chilli flakes or we like to use homemade harissa)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200^oC.
2. Add olive oil to a heavy-based, oven-proof casserole dish over medium heat.  Cook onion and garlic until they start to soften (about five minutes).  Add the bacon pieces and cook until they start to brown (about five minutes).  Add chilli (if using) and stir.
3. Add butter and cannellini beans to pan and stir well.  Cook for about five minutes before adding white wine (if using) and stock.  Bring to a simmer and then add the tinned tomatoes and about 200ml water and stir well.
4. Bring to a simmer (about 10 minutes) then add to the oven and cook for around 30 minutes, stirring half way through.
5. Remove from oven and allow to rest for about five minutes before serving.

Perfect pork day

I can see that I will have to come up with some more interesting options for lunch for the Hungry Twins. The good old standard of vegemite and peanut butter sandwiches are no longer the business.  Pretty well rejected today out of hand, in fact.  Thankfully, we had been to the Barossa Farmers’ Market and picked up a picnic box of pork sliders (not sure what a “slider” is, but it was tasty!) from Saskia Beer.  A tasty little selection of slow-cooked pork, some brioche buns, aioli, chutney and pickle for condiments.  Yum!

The Hungry Twins were distracted with some fish fingers (after they had soundly rejected their sandwiches made on today’s bread) and then they tasted the slow-cooked pork.  What a revelation – they loved it!  Not that we wanted to share too much with them (we ate the buns with the pork and various condiments ourselves)….

I don’t know what a pork slider is but I like it!

Hmmm, I wish my parents would share more of the pork….

Some sticks of cheese and fruit and all over for lunch…..

But what for dinner? Pork, of course!  Lovely free-range pork fillets, also bought today at the Farmers’ Market, from Barossa Heritage Pork.  Delicious flavour and so easy to cook!  A simple marinade (our usual of olive oil and light soy) and then cooked on the BBQ.  Done.  Served with last night’s rat leftovers and some lemony potatoes.

A perfect end to the day!

Not to be caught out like last night, we served the potatoes first (tried with bowls again) and then spoon fed the Hungry Twins the Italian rat (a major hit today, it’s always better the next day anyway).

Love that rat!

The pork, diced into suitable-sized portions was then placed in bowls (still working on that) and then served up to the Hungry Twins.  Well, what can you say?  Grace ate more than her fair share of pork – I think perhaps Skye was confused by why the pork was in the bowl (what is the point given that she just puts it in her mouth, anyway??).

More more more!!!!

So, I take the pork out of the bowl and put it in my mouth?

Regardless of the bowl challenge, the dinner was well received by the Hungry Twins.  A simple dessert of strawberries and grapes (freshly bought) and some cooked apple and that was dinner.  Not a lot left on the floor for the dogs…. (sorry, dogs!)

http://www.barossafarmersmarket.com/home/

http://saskiabeer.com

http://barossaheritagepork.com.au

 

Lamb, lamb, lamb!

A lovely day today – the last of the Indian summer I think. The Hungry Twins and I went walking this morning (or more accurately, I walked and they sat in the stroller!) and then we caught up with friends for coffee. Well, after all that walking, I was too hot to have coffee, so opted for a mango smoothie instead (yum).  The Hungry Twins had some grapes (what will we do when they are no longer in season??).

At lunch the Hungry Twins rejected their old favourites of peanut butter and vegemite sandwiches (day old bread too stale for their refined tastes, perhaps?) and insisted on fish fingers, last night’s leftovers and some plastic cheese.    After all that rejection, I was aiming for something more interesting for dinner….

Lovely lamb, potatoes and rat

Lamb cutlets from our good friends at Hutton Vale Lamb (always a popular choice for the Hungry Twins), some lazy mother’s potatoes (more on that later) and some Italian rat were my solution.

The Hungry Twins were first fed lamb diced off the bone.  This time around, I had allowed TWO chops per Hungry Twin.  Not enough!!  It was all gone in a trice.  To keep them happy, I passed them each a chop bone.  Big mistake!  With such a prize, they decided that they didn’t really need anything else to eat.

Lamb tastes better on the bone….

Even better with two!!

Hmmm, now I have to eat it off the bone?

Ahhh, that’s how it’s done!

The Hungry Twins were quite happy chewing away on the lamb bones and occasionally would deign to eat a bit of the Italian rat (usually eaten with serious enthusiasm) and potatoes.  A few sticks of cheese were added to distract them sufficiently for us to remove the chop bones (my husband was home by this time) and then it was a crumpet with honey for dessert.  That hit the spot! A few grapes and the Hungry Twins were done.

Next time, I’ll give them the vegetables before I even think of handing over the chop bones!!

Before I forget – what are lazy mother’s potatoes?  Instead of my poor man’s potatoes (a Nigel Slater recipe I’ve used a few times), which take an hour or so to cook, these were roasted potatoes in 15 minutes.  First, I blanched some diced potatoes (skin on) in the microwave for five minutes and then tossed them in the oven with a bit of olive oil.   The oven was still hot from roasting the eggplant for the Italian rat, so they were nicely browned (and cooked) within 10 minutes.  Easy!  Not that the Hungry Twins appreciated my ingenuity – they were only interested in chewing a chop bone!

http://thehungrytwins.com/2013/03/22/caponata-italian-rat-recipe/

http://www.huttonvale.com/website/lamb/