Life's a Picnic - Recipes

Chicken Biriyani - the Taj Mahal of Indian cooking

Chicken Biriyani - the Taj Mahal of Indian cooking

Firstly I am not a great Indian chef by any means but I have spent some time in both Dehli and Southern india, specifically Goa, and I love love love the food. The mystery of the aromas, flavours and spices has always intrigued me so I sought out a recipe for one of my favourite Indian dishes, Chicken Biriyani. It turned out far better than I expected given I had no idea what I was doing. At the start it was like arriving at the Delhi airport at midnight but once I got things

Mmmm Mousse au Chocolat

Mmmm Mousse au Chocolat

Continuing on with the French influence here is an old faithful that everyone loves. Aside from the bittersweet dark choclate there is hardly any sugar in this recipe, so it's not sickly, just rich, creamy and delicious! Mine was't as light was it a mousse may be because my egg whites just wouldn't stiffen - god don't you hate that. I'm going to search for a mousse recipe that doesn't need meringue because I suck at them basically. But in the meantime, here is this one - I'm

Boef en Daube or a languorous Sunday dinner.

Boef en Daube or a languorous Sunday dinner.

In honour of Le Tour we had a French theme this weekend and just like I had to wait for Noel to come to bed - it was the deciding phase you know... for this delicious beef stew, you will have to wait. But with planning and patience you are assured a hearty but delicate dinner that warms you to the very cockles of your heart. After living in France, I love the way the French eat, I've never mastered the French sized portion - everything is way too delicious, but I think they h

Baked Salmon with Lemon and Leek Risotto

Baked Salmon with Lemon and Leek Risotto

Quiet night in last night, just the two of us and our friends from the Voice, many of whom were shouting over each other. Thankfully I was a little removed from it in the kitchen whipping up this little beauty. Although I did make it back to the couch for Tim v Mark - what a great battle! Anyway, Salmon and Risotto... Ingredients Salmon 2 fillets of Salmon (I prefer skin off but at Coles on the weekend they were doing sides of Salmon for $15 per kg so I had skin on this time

Hungarian spaghetti and meatballs

Hungarian spaghetti and meatballs

Connor loves meatballs and we hadn't had them for a while so Monday night was meatball madness. I ended up with a bowl of spaghetti and sauce with just 2 meatballs... but they were delicious. The sauce is loosely inspired by my memories of Hungarian cuisine, smokey paprika, fennel and cayenne pepper along with rich tomato and cream. As usual there are some vegetables thrown in for good measure. The capsicum, garlic and chilli are more authentic than the carrot and zuccini so

Shepherds Pie - Sunday night special

Shepherds Pie - Sunday night special

There is nothing more comforting than a hot pie on a cold night, and last night was freezing. This is one of the boy's favourite meals so they have been telling me to post it since day one. Here 'tis. Enjoy! Ingredients 1kg lamb mince 1 large carrot - finely chopped 1 zuccini - finely chopped 1 red capsicum - finely chopped 1 red onion - finely chopped 4 cloves of garlic - finely chopped Olive oil Salt and pepper 2 tsp cumin 2 tsp tumeric 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp chilli powder 1

Roast tomato and white bean soup

Roast tomato and white bean soup

Another cold weekend so more cooking. I road tested the slow cooker so I could make soup while doing a few other things. I recently had a request for soup and vegetarian and with this one managed to kill two birds with one stone. This is a winter warmer, perfect for a light dinner or excellent work lunch. Ingredients Good lug olive oil Salt and pepper 8 tomatoes - roughly chopped 1 red capsicum - roughly chopped 1 red onion - roughly chopped 4 cloves of garlic - roughly chopp

Everything Pulled Pork

Everything Pulled Pork

Soooooooo excited! My first ever guest recipe. A huge thank you to Evan, this Pulled Port recipe comes all the way from Washington DC and comes highly recommended by my sister Sarah. I haven't made this yet, I'm going to buy a slow cooker today and next weekend its on. Evan says this about his Pulled Pork: I'm a fan of stick-to-your-ribs, satisfying meals, so invited a few friends over last weekend for pulled pork sandwiches. My coworker gave me his recipe, to which I added a

Irish Stew with a bit of spunk

Irish Stew with a bit of spunk

The Irish Stew of my childhood was just ok. It was warming on a winter's night, and you certainly weren't going to starve, but it didn't have a lot of flavour. So last night, when I wagged swimming training because it was just too cold to get wet, I had time to have a play with an Irish base and a few spices. The result was delicious! Ingredients 1.5kg forequarter lamb chops - halved with the bone in (ask your butcher to do it!) 1 tbs ground paprika 1 tsp cayenne pepper 2 tsp

Double chocolate flourless brownies

Double chocolate flourless brownies

I got inspired on Sunday afternoon, it was pouring outside and I had crazy chocolate cravings so I decided to make my favourite brownies. They are so simple, but god they are delicious. I love nothing more than a 1 bowl wonder and they are it. Give them a go if you love rich, chocolatey goodness! Ingredients 225g dark chocolate (70%) 225g butter 2 tsp vanilla essence 3 eggs - beaten 1 cup (or just under) of caster sugar 1 and a 1/3 cups of almond meal 200g dark chocolate chip

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