Moroccan Chicken

I hear you are having some lovely weather over there so try this flavoursome light dish for those summer nights. Moroccan chicken with savoury Freekeh, served with our Chardonnay Viogner delicious!

I hear you are having some lovely weather over there so try this flavoursome light dish for those summer nights. Moroccan chicken with savoury Freekeh, served with our Chardonnay Viogner delicious!

Ingredients
8 chicken thighs fat removed, and cut into halves.
Half a cup of crushed pistachio nuts
350g of wholegrain freekeh
2 cups of chicken stock
1 diced red onion
1 diced carrot
1 red capsicum
2 cloves of garlic
½ a cup of feta cheese
Parsley and coriander

Spice Paste
1 brown onion chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh coriander
Lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Method
To start with you need to make the spice paste, so put all the ingredients listed above into a food processor and process until finely chopped. If you would like to add a little kick to the spice paste you can add as much or as little fresh chilli as you like.

Place the chicken in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Then add the spice paste and rub over the chicken to evenly coat. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour to develop the flavours.

Once the chicken has marinated place into an oiled grease proof dish and cook in the oven on 180c until cooked. Half way through, toss half a cup of slightly crushed pistachio nuts, this will crisp up and coat the chicken.

Serve with the following;
350g of wholegrain Freekeh cooked in 2 cups of chicken stock, until puffed and tender. Separately fry up 1 diced red onion, 1 diced carrot, 1 red capsicum, and 2 cloves of garlic.

When the freekeh is cooked add the vegetables plus 1/2 a cup of chopped Parsley and 1 cup of diced coriander. Squeeze some lemon juice over and toss through 1/2 cup of feta cheese. Serve the freekeh up on the plates with the chicken on top and make sure you pour any of the chicken juices over it. Garnish with more coriander and chilli if required.

Bonfire Night!

It is school holidays at the moment and once or twice a year with the children, family, friends and neighbours, we get together and have a big bonfire night!

It is school holidays at the moment and once or twice a year with the children, family, friends and neighbours, we get together and have a big bonfire night! We collect together all the off cuts of vines, branches etc from the winery and make a huge pile ready for the big night.

We bake potatoes in the coals and cook the sausages on top so they get a great charcoal taste, we love it! We then pile up the potatoes with cheese, sour cream, coleslaw, and fried onions, the flavours are delicious.

We then all sit around the fire and watch the flckering of the flames forming various shapes of dragons and lions (The children's imagination is fascinating). To finish off we usually toast marshmallows for the children and enjoy the night, sitting back with a glass of Red.

Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings!

We have employed a UK couple Andrew and Suzanne Boothroyd, who have moved over to Australia to work in our company.

We have employed a UK couple Andrew and Suzanne Boothroyd, who have moved over to Australia to work in our company. The weather is starting to cool down now, so we decided to cook something warm and hearty!

Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings (Suzanne's family recipe)

There was 10 of us for Dinner, so I bought a 3kg ribeye Roast with the bones still attached.

To the meat add cloves of garlic and cover with lots of cracked black pepper. Seal the meat first in a hot oven for 15 minutes and then turn it down to a moderate temperature and cook in the oven for an hour. Take the meat out of the oven, cover with foil and rest for 20 minutes.

Gravy

Drain off the juices from the meat into a saucepan and add 2 tablespoons of flour, a cup of red wine and half a cup of vegetable stock. Blend this altogether with a teaspoon of jam, if you like your sauce a little sweeter.

Suzanne's homemade Yorkshire puddings

 

For 4 people (we doubled this recipe)

 

Ingredients

75g plain flour

2 eggs

75ml milk

55ml water

salt & pepper

oil for the tins (my mum uses lard)

Method

Mix the flour, milk, water, and eggs together in a large bowl and add some salt & pepper to season. Put the yorkshire pudding tins in the oven, at 220 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes, before you add the mixture so that the oil is really hot. Pour the mixture in to the tins and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown and puffed up. 

Serve with horseradish potato mash (add a couple of tablespoons of horseradish cream to the Mash), steamed green peas, carrots, and Suzannes' yorkshire puddings.

Our Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo.

 

 

Smokin' Pork (Southern Style)

We have got ourselves a new large smoker cabinet and we did this recipe on the weekend

We have got ourselves a new large smoker cabinet and we did this recipe on the weekend.

Firstly we had our own salamis that we smoked using our shaved wood chips, from the wood planks that come out of the wine tanks. The Salami is now ready to use in paellas.

We then did a Smokin' Pork (southern style)

Pork (whatever cut you like and size dependent on how many people the recipe is for)

Smoky Paprika

Cumin

Brown sugar

Garlic

Cayenne pepper/Chilli powder

Salt

Smokey BBQ sauce

Coleslaw

Corn

Sweet Potatoes

Method

Firstly cover the pork with a dry rub blend of, smoky paprika, cumin, brown sugar, garlic, cayenne pepper or chilli powder and salt. Rub all over the pork and let it rest for at least a couple of hours or overnight in the fridge.

Take it out of the fridge an hour before you are going to cook it so it is room temperature. Cook in a moderate oven for half the cooking time (depends on the size and cut of the meat) and then place in the smoker for 40 minutes. If you don't have a smoker complete the cooking in the oven. If you use ribs, cook in the oven for 20 minutes and then 20 minutes in the smoker. If cooking a roast it can take 1-3 hrs in the oven and then 1-2 hrs in the smoker.

We used half oak wood chips and charcoal in the smoker and added whole bulbs of garlic too, cook these until there soft and serve on the side of the pork. Serve with Smokey BBQ sauces, coleslaw, corn and mashed sweet potatoes.

Our Shiraz Malbec goes really well with this Pork dish.

Peaches cooked with jack Daniels whisky!

Peaches

70g Melted Butter

1/3 Brown sugar

¼ of Jack Daniels Whiskey

Ginger nut biscuits

Cream

Method

Cut the peaches in half and place in a greased baking tray. Then make a mixture of 70 grams of melted butter, 1/3 of a cup of brown sugar and a ¼ of a cup of Jack Daniels whisky, pour over the peaches, cover them with foil and bake in the oven until soft.

Take off the foil and crush ginger nut biscuits over the top and cook for a further 10 minutes until slightly toasty. Serve with cream.

Serve this dessert with our Moscato
 

PHO Soup from Vietnam!

We have just arrived back from Vietnam, where we had some amazing food. One of the most famous dishes in Vietnam is there PHO soup that you can eat at any time of the day!

We have just arrived back from Vietnam, where we had some amazing food. One of the most famous dishes in Vietnam is there PHO soup that you can eat at any time of the day!

Usually it is made with beef broth, but Varn made it for us with chicken broth.

She arrived from the market with, fresh pork, chicken and lots of herbs, Vietnamese mint and corainder.

PHO (Simply pronounced Fuh)

1 Litre chicken stock
4cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and halved
2 star anise
3 teaspoons of light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
2 cups of rice noodles (pad thai) your choice of noodle
2 tablespoons of lime juice
2 cups of sliced cooked pork
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup of fresh coriander leaves
2 green onions, thinly sliced
Red Birdseye chili and lime wedges, and fresh diced garlic to serve.

Method

Place the stock in a saucepan with ginger, star anise, soy sauce and the fish sauce. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the noodles according to the instructions on the packet, and then drain well.
Divide the noodles among warmed soup bowls, then top with sliced pork fillet, mint, onions and coriander.
Pour over the hot soup mixture (the heat will gently cook the meat) and top with chili, lime juices and fresh garlic.

Our sweet Moscato would go well with this lovely soup.

Pork Meatballs over Laksa Soup

We have been very busy the last couple of weeks with entertaining overseas guest, from China, Germany and USA.

We have been very busy the last couple of weeks with entertaining overseas guest, from China, Germany and USA. We have mainly been providing them with our pork and our goat, and fresh fruits and vegies from our garden/orchard.

One quick dish I did was steaming Asian pork meatballs over a Laksa soup. I have a steamer with a reasonable size base that I cook the soup in the bottom (where you usually only boil water) and have the meatballs steaming above, getting all of the lovely flavours infusing through.

For the Meatballs
• 500g pork mince
• 4 shallots, ends trimmed, thinly sliced
• 5 water chestnuts, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves
• 3 teaspoons soy sauce
• 3 teaspoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 egg, lightly whisked
• 40g (1/4 cup) plain flour
• Steamed rice and Asian greens to serve with, or you can place in the Laksa to make it an all in one main dish.

First of all combine the mince, shallots, water chestnuts, garlic, coriander, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and egg in a bowl. Roll 1 tablespoonful of the mixture into a ball and roll in seasoned flour, with salt and pepper and place in the steamer. Place baking paper between the layers.

Laksa Soup
Fry 1 diced onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger in a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan of your steamer. Then add 1 full jar of Laksa paste(400mls) with 3 cups of Chicken or vegetable stock, 400ml of coconut milk and 125ml of coconut cream. Place the steamer on top, bring to the boil and let it simmer for half an hour or until the pork meatballs are all cooked through.
Whilst that is cooking, get your soup bowls ready with the following items divided between them. You can have it as an entrée, if you have lots of people or if you only have 4-6 you can have it as a main dish.

• 100g mung bean vermicelli noodles (cellophane or glass noodles)
• A kaffir lime leaf in each
• 2 cups of (110g) bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup coriander leaves
• 1/2 cup Vietnamese mint leaves
• Cooked prawns, diced chicken
• Sambal oelek and lime wedges, to serve

This dish goes nicely with a glass of our Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc

Leftover Sausage Curry

It's been really busy at our house recently with lots of dinner parties with friends, relatives and business partners.

It's been really busy at our house recently with lots of dinner parties with friends, relatives and business partners.

Please see below a recipe I did on Sunday night, after a BBQ we had for 20 people on Saturday night.

Leftover Sausage Curry
Fry in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the following ingredients;
1 diced onion
1 tsp. grated ginger
2 tsp. crushed garlic
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. Garam Masala
1 tsp. coriander powder
1 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. dried chilli or more if you like it hot.

Fry this all together, until golden brown. It's important to cook your spices first, as it brings out the flavour in them. Even better if you mortar and pestle the seeds of the above spices, before frying.

Then add a dozen leftover sausages diced, as these are already cooked, you just need to cover them in the spices, then add a can(400gm) of chopped tomatoes and a can(400gm) of coconut milk. Let this simmer until heated all the way through and the flavours have soaked into the sausages. This should take approximately 20-30mins.

Serve with Pilau rice
1 cup Basmati rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. Garam Masala
1 bay leaf.
1 tsp. crushed garlic

Place the chicken stock and spices in a saucepan and cook the rice for 12 minutes until light and fluffy.
Whilst the rice is cooking, fry up 1 thinly sliced onion, in 2 tsp of olive oil, until golden and caramelised. Spread out on a baking tray and place in a preheated 180°c oven for about 10 minutes until it is crunchy, then toast 1/4 of a cup of Salted Cashews.
Combine the onion and cashews and sprinkle on the top of the rice for serving.
Serve with a green salad, Cucumber and Yoghurt and red chillies for those who like it hot.

Enjoy with a glass of Rose.