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Brussel Sprouts with Hazelnuts, Cauliflower Mash & Steak = Delicious Dinner!

14/9/2016

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A quick, easy, delicious and nutritious meal - what more could you ask? The frozen cauliflower (no prep needed) took the longest to cook, and prepping the brussel sprouts was a wee bit fiddly, but not difficult. Here's how to make this lovely meal (or choose the dishes you like and team them with something else).
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Cauliflower Mash

This is an excellent alternative to mashed potatoes. And simple as! Bring a pot of water to the boil, empty one bag of frozen cauliflower into a steamer, place over the pot with lid on, and steam until hot and tender, stirring occasionally (about 20 mins).

Alternatively, prepare fresh cauliflower by cutting into even sized florets. Reduce cooking time accordingly.

Meanwhile, prepare other dishes below. If your cauli is ready before the other things, turn it off and leave it to sit above the hot water, which will keep it warm.

When you are ready to serve your meal, tip the cooked cauli into a food processor, add a spoonful of sour cream or butter or similar (to help it blend smoothly), salt if desired, and whiz until a fluffy mash. Serve. A 1kg bag of frozen cauli will make enough mash for 3-4 people.
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Brussel Sprouts with Hazelnuts

Ingredients for 4 (I used half this amount and it was probably enough for 2-3 people):
600g Brussel Sprouts, trimmed
50g butter
1/4 cup water
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skins rubbed off, coarsely chopped

To toast hazelnuts: heat oven to 180C/350F, place raw hazelnuts in a single layer on a tray. Bake 10 mins until lightly browned. Wrap in a tea towel and leave to steam for 1m, then use towel to rub off skins. Don't worry about any that don't come off. Coarsely chop nuts.

To prepare dish: Halve sprouts, remove cores, and slice thinly. Melt 1/2 the butter in a large pan, add the sliced sprouts, stir to coat. Add water and 1/2 of the juice, combine and cook 1 min. Season with salt and pepper to taste, add rest of juice, butter and nuts. Combine well. Place in warm dish to serve. 
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Because the sprouts are cooked so quickly, they retain a lot of flavour and maximum nutrition. I picked mine up from the market garden where they are grown, and there were on the plate just over an hour later. Fresh is best! Out of my own garden would have been even better. 

Cooking Steak and Serving Meal

At the same time as you are beginning to cook the sprout dish, sear steak in a hot frying pan in which you have heated a little olive oil. Sear by cooking quickly on both sides, then continue to cook, flipping halfway through, until desired level of browning is achieved. Steak is best cooked quickly, with the middle remaining at least a little pink.

To serve: Place steak, and portions of mash and brussel sprout dish on each plate. Use a spoon to drizzle drippings from steak pan over mash and steak. Serve. 
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Garlic-marinated Chicken Burgers

21/4/2016

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One of the teenagers was begging for home-made chicken burgers last week, so I made this family favourite - sooo easy, delicious, flexible, fast and simple. What's not to like?

This isn't really a recipe - more a series of simple steps.....modify ingredients to suit.

Use lots of home-grown and home-preserved ingredients!

This can be a very low-cost meal.

Garlic-chicken:
Cut up chicken breasts into nugget-sized pieces (I generally use about 150g of meat per person). Place in a glass dish. Dice up as much fresh garlic as you like (I like to use our home-grown garlic liberally). Sprinkle over chicken and toss to mix well. Cover dish and refrigerate for 30-60 mins.
Then, after you prepare the rest of the fillings (below), fry the chicken in some olive oil until cooked through.
Meanwhile, prepare other fillings:
Use whatever you have on hand - prepare each item and then place in separate bowls.
Slice some onions (and fry if desired - maybe along with some mushrooms)
Grate some carrot
Slice cucumbers
Tear up some lettuce
Take out jars of pickles and beetroot from your pantry (home-made of course - click links for recipes)
Grate or thinly slice some cheese
​Put out some dressing,sauces and/or butter if desired
If you like them, maybe put out some pineapple rings
What about the buns?
Buns are actually optional to burgers, believe it or not. You could use whole lettuce leaves instead, or substitute home-made fried potato slices. Or how about home-made sourdough or ordinary buns? But yes, this time, I used store-bought as I hadn't planned ahead to make burgers, and most of the time we don't eat bread, so I didn't have any on hand. 8 pack of King-size burger buns, on special for $2.99. Three of us were home that night, so we used 6 and put 2 in the freezer for another time. Haven't had burgers in soooo long - and they were soooo good! Toast buns under the grill for a few minutes if desired. 
Serve 'em up
When all of the fillings are ready, lay them all out on the table, along with some plates, napkins, and utensils. Call the gang, and let them build their own burgers. Fun, simple, and time saving, not to mention money-saving! Plus no-one can moan they don't like this or that, because if it's in their burger, they put it there!

A fun, easy meal when friends come over too.. 
And much safer than bought ones. Today in the news was this article: Researchers find alarming side effect from eating fast food. So next time you really feel like burgers - make your own!
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