Italian Deli Shopping

Found it very exciting to have an Italian deli just across a street from us so I decided to do a little snooping and shopping. Inspired by a recipe by Fratelli Fresh and envied how they could make something so simple so tasty, I decided to give this prawn orecchiette recipe a go.

Mega sized prawns I found in the fish markets
Gathered my ingredients.
All I had to do was blend a few cloves of garlic with two fresh red chilis, squeeze a cup of fresh lemon juice, peel the prawns and dice them and I was ready.

First I put my orecchiette on boil.

In a fry pan, heat up a tblspn of olive oil and stir fry the prawns til they're lovely and coloured. Add some sea salt and freshly cracked pepper and mix it around. Remove from heat.

Add more olive oil and then add the garlic chili blend. Fry til fragrant. Add the lemon juice to deglaze the pan. Add the prawns back into the pan and toss through cooked pasta.

And I never thought I'd say this but add a good handful of finely chopped parsley. Grate some parmesan on top and serve. Its amazing how the garlic-chili-lemon combo works.. oo so tasty.

And while I was in the deli, I couldn't resist but pick up some proscuitto and baby boncocinni


Hand a white peach in the fridge so I tossed it together with some mixed greens, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Wonder what I'll try next !

Beef Cheeks & Lamb Cutlets

After a vego post, I've got some meat dishes

Discovery of beef cheeks, it beats whatever other cheap cut of braising meat for a slow-cooking.
Don't know if its all the muscle tissue that breaks down that makes the meat have such a good mouth feel and moistness

I must say it looks strange, my vet friend told me beef cheek classifies as offal.. I see it as meat with little islet shapes on it, kinda like liver.

I used it in a great boeuf bourguignon, adapted from Julia Child's recipe easily goggled on the net. Essentially its a stewing cut of beef cooked for a long time in a full bodied red wine (thank God for aweseom $5 cleanskin shirazes sold in Australia) + beef stock + bacon + carrots + bay leaf etc..

Topped off with butter sauteed mushrooms and steamed greens. Best served with creamy mash! Yum!
Lamb cutlets, Glenmore meats near Wentworth park in Ultimo sells the cutlets cheaper than Coles. Get frenched ones i.e trimmed of all the cartilage & fat has been cleaned off the bone. When you get an fresh good cut of meat, all you need is some sea salt and cracked pepper to season and you're ready to go.

I've panned fried them for medium rare and served it with mushroom risotto and a balsamic rocket salad.