Summer Shrimp Stir-fry

I never in a million years thought my summers would look like they do in Wellington.  First of all - it's January, and all of the calendar-y type things that the teachers put up in my classrooms had snowflakes for January.  Hearts for Feb, shamrocks for March, eggs for April, flowers for May, sunshines for June, ice cream cones for July, sailboats for August, fall leaves for September, pumpkins for October, turkeys for November, and evergreen trees for December.  And that's how the year went, none of this sailboats in January business. 

Oh!!  And the crappiest thing about it?  My birthday used to be in the summer time, and we'd do really cool stuff for it like go to the water park.  The place that has water slides and wave pools and things that generally involve hot weather and cool (but not freezing!) water to submerge one's self in.  And usually sunburn.  Now I only get sunburned because there's a big frickin hole in the ozone layer above NZ and Aus, not because I spend all of my time running around in a bathing suit. 

Now what do I do for my birthday?  Curl up on the couch under 17 blankets and make the hubs watch girlie movies in an effort to conserve heat.  Last year we did rent a bach at a winery and spend the weekend, but all the vines were dead for the year and it wasn't that pretty.  Mostly we sat in front of the fire. 

Anyway, back to summer things that are different. 

Please note, I am not complaining, just observing.  [Mom, I'm lookin at you!]

Exhibit A: The beach. 

Me and Jonno's private beach and I'm not telling you where it is!

Back in the US, we would go to the beach for a week each summer because it was over 2 hours away.  Here in NZ, I can walk to a beach.  In fact, I can walk to many beaches.  And I'm within driving distance of a few different surf beaches, depending on which way the wind is blowing.  The problem?  You need a wetsuit to go anywhere near that water, what with our proximity to Antarctica and all.  Yeah, that always puts a bit of a damper on my ocean swimming intentions.  It does however make a great ice bath for the legs after going for a punishing run - just wade on in on the way home. 

Exhibit B: Baking???

Plum and Lemon Cake - an easy way to glory among your workmates.

The only baking done in a Washington DC summer time was when it was rainy outside and the air-conditioning was going full blast inside, therefore making going near a hot oven bearable.  In Wellington?  Lots of baking can still be done!!  Good for my taste buds, not for my fitness resolutions.  Last weekend I made Mairi's Plum and Lemon Cake to bring to work, and by the time I remembered to go take a photo of it, this was all that was left. 

Exhibit C: Stif-fry in the summer

I'm not sure why this is so different, but in my world it's light years away from anything I've had back home.  But!  That's doesn't mean that people back home shouldn't make this in the summertime.  You should.  If you appreciate summer veggies like I do, then you. should. make. this.  Just please wait until June or July when the stuff is in season.  You really don't need to be eating a tomato that's traveled farther than you ever will, ever, coz you know that's where those winter tomatoes come from - Mars.

Difference difference difference, argh!! 

Ok, as Jonno would say, "rant over".  I'm adaptable.  I'm happy.  But for my 30th birthday next year, we're damn well going somewhere warm to celebrate!


It's a rainbow for summertime!  With tomatoes on the side for picky husbands.

Summer Shrimp Stir-fry
serves 2 with leftovers

• two handfuls of frozen shrimp, whichever size you like
• one tin of sweet corn, or two ears of corn that have been already cooked
• 1/4 of a red cabbage, shredded
• 1 punnet cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 2 small zucchini, diced
• large handful of fresh greenbeans, end snipped off and broken into bite-sized pieces
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 red capsicum
• 1 cup rice

1. In a wok or large fying pan, heat some olive oil on medium heat.  Throw in the onion, capsicum and zucchini and saute' until soft.
2. Meanwhile, cook the rice according to the directions.
3. Also, boil up some water in the jug and pour over the frozen shrimp in a bowl to defrost.  Use the rest of the boiling water to start the green beans in a small saucepan.
4. Drain the shrimp and add them to the wok/pan, adding a little more oil and some salt and pepper as well, stir to coat and combine.
5. Once the greenbeans are cooked, drain and add to the pan.
6. Stir the cabbage into the mix and take off the heat.
7. Serve the stir-fry over buttered rice and top with tomatoes.

Meatballs FTW!

One night after a run, Jonno and I got home absolutely starving and with a whole lotta nothing in the kitchen, except for some beef mince and the occasional about-to-go-off onion.  I was groaning to myself, moaning, "what the hell do you make with mince other than meatloaf and burritos that is also quick and filling and doesn't take too many other ingredients?!"

Please excuse the neon nature of these photos, they may have been slighly retouched.

Well, what we made didn't turn out to be too quick, but hot damn it was der-ish-us!!  (Say it out loud if you're confused as to my new word.  Patented by C.Hoey 2011)

I have never in my life made meatballs, and usually don't eat them if they're on a stick (and therefore lukewarm!) or a platter as someone's dish at a potluck.  Don't know why, maybe I had a cold-meatball-related trauma as a kid.  Maybe one rolled off a table and bowled me over, thus causing me untold embarrassment and shame.  

Well, I'm over that trauma now, because these meatballs undid me that night.  Jonno made some mashed potaters to go with them, and I went back for seconds, even when I felt my running shorts getting a wee bit tight.  No amount of spandex-induced pain was going to stop me - off came the pants!!  Any peeping neighbours certainly would have gotten a strange show indeed.

Now, if you will excuse me, I'm off to run a bagillion more times around the penninsula to work off these babies.

Comfort Meatballs

adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

The meatballs

• 500-700 grams of minced beef
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (PW calls for quick oats, but we didn't have any)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp finely diced onion
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• ground black pepper

The sauce

• 1 cup tomato puree
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp distilled white vinegar
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 4-6 tbsp finely diced onion
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (my addition)

1. In a large bowl combine the mince and bread crumbs (or oats).  Add in diced onion and salt.
2. Add the egg and use the back of a large spoon to mash all the ingredients together, adding the milk in spurts to keep the mixture at a paste-like consistency.  It doesn't sound fabulous, but it's worth it!
3. Roll into balls of 4-5 cm in size.  If the mixture is too warm and the balls don't hold together well, stick them in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
5. Pour some flour onto a plate and heat up a decently-sized skillet or frying pan with some oil.
6. Dredge each meatball in the flour to coat, then gently lay them in the oil.  Turn to brown all over, continuing in batches, and once completely brown place them into a rectangular baking dish.
7. Mix together the sauce ingredients and pour over the meatballs.
8. Bake for about 45 minutes or until sufficiently bubbly and gorgeous.
9. Serve with some kind of potato side dish or bread so you can mop up the extra sauce.  You won't want to waste any of it!

Sesame Beef and Noodle Salad

Noodles!! Noodles are fun, aren't they?  Even the word is fun.  Noodlenoodlenoddle.  Use your noodle! 

And other such silly things.

Now for the serious.  This noodle-y salad thing is seriously good.  So good that Jonno went back for seconds, even through it had some kick to it.  Jonno does not like much kick.  If you could measure the heat in something in terms of a soccer/football goal kick, Jonno likes things at a gentle tap to the goalpost that the goalie doesn't seem to be leaning towards.  This dish seemed to have somewhere in the region of a decent sock right at the goalie's head kind of kick. 

Oh dear, I think I've really been affected by living with Jonno (he who watches only sports on television) when I start using sport analogies in my food posts.  *Headdesk*

ANYWAY.

I don't know if it was because I made this dish at 8:30 at night after we'd gone for our run and were starving like some lions in the middle of a gazelle shortage, or what, but hot damn it was tasty.  Perfect for the summer time, nice and quick and you can use any extra veggies you might have on the verge of 'science experiment' status lounging around in the fridge.

Sesame Beef and Noodle Salad
adapted from Taste Magazine

• 800(ish) grams thick lean steak, trimmed and sliced thinly
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 2-4 cloves garlic, depending on how much garlic you like
• 1 tbsp sambal oelek (Indonesian chillli paste, found in Asian grocery stores)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1/8 cup white vinegar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 450g packet udon noodles
• 1/4 red cabbage, shredded
• 3 spring onions, finely sliced
• any other veggies you have on hand, I threw in some red capsicum

1. In a wok on medium heat, toast your sesame seeds until they begin to darken, about 7 minutes.
2. Dump the sesame seeds and garlic into a medium-sized bowl, and use the back side/bottom end/pestle to smush the garlic and sesame seeds together.  Add sambal oelek, soy sauce, caster sugar, white vinegar, and oil and mix together. 
3. Add the meat to the sauce mixture and then dump it into the hot wok.  Add the noodles to the wok and work them into the sauce to get them coated.
4. Cook steak for 1-2 minutes on a side while the noodles cook in the sauce at the same time. 
5. After a few minutes, add the veggies, stir through the mixture, then remove from heat.  Dinner is served!

New Year's Resolution Taco Salad

I'm back!!  Ok ok, I've been back in NZ for a week now, but you know I have to read through all of the wonderful posts that were waiting for me in my Google Reader before I could buckle down to do my own. 

What should be on my NY Resolutions: de-cluttering.  This is my junked-up coffee table, in all its junky glory!

In true New Year's style, Jonno and I have started our very own fitness regime in which he is the tyrant and I am the oppressed, jiggly peasant masses.  [Sorry, the word 'regime' just set me off on the semi-tangent.]  So far, we're a week into the Couch to 5K training program, which is a Big Deal for a non-runner like to me even consider making running part of my workouts.  Have I mentioned I hate(d) running?  For realz.  Hateness.

But it's really not so bad right now, mostly because it's gorgeous summer here in Wellington, or at least way better weather than over in America.  If I had attempted to start this thing over there, in the cold and snowingness and rainy dark and generally crappy weather, my training program would fizzle out faster than [insert non-offensive joke here].

So, you see, there's still kind of a problem with this whole exercise and eat well thing, namely being that I'm a food blogger and I still love love kissy kissy huggins love food.  Except for horseradish, nah I'll never ever touch that stuff, man.

When making our Grand Plans of 2012, I statutorily declared to hubs that I would not, WOULD NOT, abandon my foodie nature and give up eating the good stuff.  There may have been some foot stomping thrown in there too, just for good measure.  I need my chocolatepizzamexicanbutterpancakescurryhamburgers food.  To survive. 

Teaser: that Buttermilk Chocolate Cake is to die for.  I'll blog about it soon!

Solution?  Buy less cheese.  That's all that we could agree on.  So I keep making yummy things and taking photos of them and consuming them, but now maybe I'll share them instead of hoarding them in my refrigerator.  That would be nice of me, wouldn't it?

It would also be nice of me to share this easy recipe/idea for a quick taco salad, great for these summer nights when you don't want to spend any time near anything hot and you want to make something relatively healthy.

Please note: Jonno protests this being called a 'taco' salad, since there is really no actual taco anywhere in this thing.  My argument is that it's what you would put IN a taco, and you could really get some tortilla chips and spoon it up with them.  So there, Jonno, taco it is and forever will be. 

Match Point is a slightly disturbing movie, but it's by Woody Allen, so not all that surprising really.

Taco Salad
Serves: 4

• One bag salad greens, your choice
• 2 large boneless chicken breasts
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• one tin of sweet corn kernels
• one tin of beans - kidney, cannelini, chickpeas, or even Wattie's chili beans would work
• one large onion
• one capsicum, diced
• one punnet cherry or grape tomatoes
• 3 tbsp fajita spice (McCormick's makes a great one)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. Chop up chicken into bite-sized pieces and toss in a bowl with lime juice and fajita seasoning.  Put in the fridge to marinate a little.
2. In a large skillet or frying pan, swirl around some olive oil over medium heat.  Coarsely chop your onion (don't cry, it's not sad!) and saute' until soft, but not much more.  Remove onions from the pan.
3. Throw the chicken in the hot pan and brown up.  Sprinkle a little more fajita seasoning over the chicken, and season with salt and pepper.
4. While the chicken is hotting up, chop up the capsicum, drain the corn, and rinse the scungy gross brine off the beans.  Once the chicken is sufficiently cooked and will not poison anyone, toss in the corn and beans to warm them up and get all mixed up in the seasonings.
5. In a large serving bowl, compile the tace salad thusly: greens, capsicum, onions, chicken/corn/bean mixture, tomatoes.  The juices from the chicken/corn/bean mix should be sufficient to dress the greens, but if not, toss a little olive oil and lime juice in there as well.

Other veggies could make an appearance in this tasty dish, and cilantro/coriander chopped over the top may send it into orbit, but I did not have any on hand, sads.  Give this a try, if you believe that salad can actually be dinner.  Or just make it for lunch, whatevs.