Antipasto Christmas Wreath

This Christmas my wife made this incredible antipasto Christmas wreath for our family lunch. The idea is so simple, yet so effective that I really think this is my preferred way of eating antipasto now.

The entire wreath is compiled from individual 16cm skewers, which look like….

Individual antipasto skewers.

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INGREDIENTS:

There is no strict list, but all of what we got was at Woolies;

• 16cm skewers.

• Salami (I like the Garlic & Fennel one)

• Hot Salami (Sopressa)

• Prosciutto / Jarmon

• Baby Bocconcini

• Little peppers stuffed with feta

• Pitted Green olives

• Pitted Black olives

• Marinated Artichokes

• Cherry Tomatoes (halved)

• Basil leaves

• Cocktail onions

• Fresh Rosemary Sprigs (Optional / Garnish).

It’s really up to you what you think would be tasty, but what I noted was that having a mix of items - salty, tart, fresh, different meats

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METHOD (constructing skewers):

• This is fairly obvious, but you set up all your ingredients and start shoving them onto skewers.

• We found that it’s good to place stronger/firmer items at the base and top of the skewer to ensure it all stays constructed (note: it’s usually a green olive or a cherry tomato).

• You can mix up the combos, we tended to have two meats on eat skewer. Note, this can be made vegetarian/vegan friendly by just selecting appropriate ingredients.

METHOD (constructing the wreath);

• On a large white square or round platter, carefully place individual skewers in a circle (wreath) shape.

• We started with a hexagon, and then kept overlapping

• Garnish with fresh rosemary sprigs

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An example of what two different skewers look like

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Bonus: You can use these skewers for a great picnic!

We had leftover components after Christmas and brought along the skewers to a picnic.

Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccolini

I made this pasta last night and it was so good that I immediately had to share the recipe. My wife sent me a link and bought all the ingredients to make it - like a personalised Hello Fresh kit. It’s fairly quick and simple to make and yields a large amount of pasta.

Ingredients:

• .Orecchiette pasta, 500g

• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (1 for cooking sausage, 4 for sauce)

• Italian sausages, removed from casings, 500g

• 5-10 garlic cloves, minced (or approx 2 tbsps worth)

• 1 cup chicken broth

• 1 bunch of broccolini (approx 2-3 cups worth), cut into small pieces

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon chili flakes

• 3 tablespoons (60g) unsalted butter

• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

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Method:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the orecchiette pasta and cook according to package instructions (approx 10 minutes).

2. Meanwhile, in a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium high heat. Crumble the sausage into pan and cook, breaking apart with a spoon (or kitchen scissors), until lightly browned, 5-6 minutes.

3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic; cook for 1 minute more.

4. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil, chicken broth, broccoli, salt and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom of the pan to release any meat that might be stuck, until the broccoli is tender-crisp (approx 3-4 minutes).

5. Stir in the butter until melted and simmer for a few minutes to reduce and concentrate the sauce. (Note: it will seem like a lot of oil & butter, but there is a large volume of pasta).

6. Drain the pasta well and add to pan. Stir through sausage and broccoli mixture, along with half of the cheese, to blend. Taste and adjust seasoning. (Note: you may need to adjust salt to taste).

7. Transfer to a serving platter or individual bowls and pass the remaining grated cheese at the table.

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Cooking the sausage

finished result (needed to add more chilli flakes!)

Ben’s Beef Bulgogi (불고기)

Bulgogi is one of those simple Korean dishes that is easy to make, and serves as a basic introduction to Korean food. I personally would introduce people via Galbi Jjim, Kimchi Jjigae, or Korean BBQ - but Bulgogi is a good safe option for most people.

This is my recipe for Bulgogi - which is quick and simple to make, and yields leftovers. You may have/want to visit a Korean grocer/butcher for one or two items (you can ask the staff to help you citing the specific items).

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Ingredients:

• 2 medium yellow onions, sliced into slivers 

• 3 spring onions, chopped

• 5-6 cloves minced garlic

• 1/3 cup light soy sauce*

• 2 Tbs normal soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil*

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• ¼ tsp Korean red pepper flakes*

• 2 pinches black pepper

• 2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds*

• 100g (or 1-2 cups) Shitake Mushrooms, sliced

• 1/2 pack Enoki Mushrooms, sliced

• 500g of thinly sliced beef. (you can get this from a Korean butcher).*

• Vegetable oil (or rice bran oil).

*Korean Grocer:

The items marked with * are definitely going to be at a Korean grocer (with maybe the exception of the beef, you may need to look for thinly sliced beef - check Japanese grocers too!).

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Method:

1. Check beef, if it has excess blood or is partly frozen, place in a medium bowl and soak in water for 5-10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, Add the garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, red pepper flakes, pepper, sesame seeds and stir, then add chopped ingredients; onions, green onions, mushrooms,

3. Add the sliced beef to the bowl and hand mix the beef with the bulgogi marinade for approximately 2 minutes. (Tip a food prep glove will help here).

4. If cooking the bulgogi immediately, allow the beef to soak in the bulgogi marinade for 15-30 minutes in the fridge before cooking. If you plan on cooking later, cover the bowl in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

5. To cook the bulgogi, heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a large non-stick pan.

6. Add half of the marinated bulgogi to the pan and cook in batches. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan. The beef only needs about 3-4 minutes to cook. Watch the colour of the meat, once you no longer see raw/under cooked parts it'll only need about a minute more before you remove from heat. You need to be careful not to overcook.

7. Sample a small amount - you may want to adjust salt (via small amount of soy) or pepper.

8. Repeat this process with remaining batch.

9. Serve the bulgogi with steamed rice, topping with roasted sesame seeds

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Photo steps:

500g of thinly sliced beef

Soaking beef in water to remove excess blood

Bowl full of ingredients pre-beef

Hand mixing

Ready to marinate in fridge

Cooking on high heat, watching meat to see when raw parts brown

Almost immediately after meat is all brown, remove from heat and serve (remember not to over cook!)

Bonus photo - a completed Korean feast (additional Kimchis and Seaweed/Kim)

Banana Pancakes

I've never made pancakes from scratch before - but yesterday I decided to give it a go as a special treat for my wife's birthday. I normally opt for the super easy (lazy) instant pancake batter that comes in the shaker bottle - but this recipe was so easy and the result was so good that I had to share.

(Makes ~10-12 pancakes).

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup milk **
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup melted butter (21g) **
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Butter or oil, for cooking pancakes
• 3 bananas sliced
• Maple Syrup
• Strawberries (optional) 

(**Note: you can make these dairy-free by substituting almond milk + nut butter)

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Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 100 degrees C (about 200 degrees F). Place a baking tray with sheet in the oven. This is where we’re going to put the pancakes once they’re done cooking so they stay warm.
    
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Set aside.
    
3. In a measuring cup or small bowl prepare wet ingredients. Measure and add milk, water, egg, melted butter, vanilla and whisk until smooth.
    
4. Preheat your pan or griddle over medium heat. When warm, brush with a teaspoon or two of oil or butter. (Note: Oil won’t burn, but butter is more flavourful). 
    
5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix (slowly with whisk) until flour is combined. Be sure not to over mix the batter.
    
6. Using a 1/4 cup measure, drop circles of batter onto your pan. Add the slices of banana to the surface of the pancakes (depending on how many slices you have you might be able to do about 2-3 slices per pancake).
    
7. Cook in batches careful not to over crowd your pan. You'll need to turn them once to have them golden on both sides. The trick with pancakes is to wait until bubbles appear on the top (which means the underside is just about ready to flip). Transfer the pancakes to the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining batter.
    
8. Serve with butter and maple syrup. Decorate with strawberries.

Kimchi Fried Rice (김치볶음밥)

My wife is from Korea and this is one of her favourite quick and easy dinners. The great thing is that it only has a handful of ingredients, and it can be cooked really quickly. 

SPAM, SPAM, SPAM

I want to preface something about this recipe, and that's the usage of SPAM. I know that to a lot of people the idea of SPAM is not popular (at least in Australia), but trust me - it is really great when cooked/used in recipes. If you are really adamant about not including SPAM, you can substitute in pork mince (but make sure you cook it properly, I would do this as part of step 2 in that case).

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Ingredients

• Garlic minced, 4-5 cloves minced

• Kimchi (3 cups), cut into medium bite sized pieces. (Tip: retain juice for cooking!)

• SPAM, 1-2 cups, cut into small cubes. (substitute = pork mince)

• Rice, cooked, 2.5 cups (Tip: if you have left over or day-old rice, that always makes for better fried rice).

• Rice Oil, 4 Tbs

• Olive Oil, 2 Tbs

• Sesame Oil, 2 Tbs

• Salt, to taste

• Egg (per person/serving), fried, as garnish.

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Method

    1. Cut up all the ingredients (kimchi, SPAM), and have kimchi in a bowl cut up into 2-3 cm pieces. 

    2. In a large pan, heat rice oil over medium heat, add in Garlic mince. Cook garlic (without burning/browning) for 1-2 min.

(NB: if you are substituting in pork mince instead of SPAM, then this is when I would cook the pork mince)

    3. Lower heat and add in kimchi, then bring heat up to medium. Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    4. Add in SPAM and stir. Once mixed, let it sit & cook on medium heat for 2 minutes then stir & flip so SPAM is being cooked. Continue cooking like this for 5 minutes.

5. Add in rice (approx 2.5 cups). The idea is to have more kimchi to rice, so the ratio is like Kimchi:Rice = 3:2 (it doesn't need to precise, just as long as its more kimchi than rice). 

    6. Stir, and then allow it all to cook on medium heat for 2 minutes without touching. This allows the bottom to become crispy / well cooked. After 2 minutes, stir and try to flip the stop rice mixture to the bottom where the pan is (to maximise crispiness).

    7. Add Salt to taste. Start with 1 Tbs at first, stir and taste.

    8. Add in Sesame Oil, approx 2 Tbs.  stir and taste. (when using Sesame oil, less is more. Add small amounts and taste)

    9. At this point you can take it off the heat (simply turn off the heat) and commence making the fried egg on top. Fry an egg in olive oil, over low-medium heat. As it is frying, at a pinch of salt on the egg yolk as it cooks.

    10. Serve with fried egg on top.

Enjoy! 

Let me know if you make this and how it turns out!